So, a while back, Max (the owner of our school) invited us to a tea festival he was hosting. Max owns a few tea houses around town (as well as other business) and he threw together a tea festival to promote them. It was basically a night of (mostly) traditional Chinese entertainment, and entertaining it was…

First off, Happy Birthday to my old man who turned 48 on Thursday, and Happy Birthday to me, I turned 24 yesterday! I’m half his age now — but not half as handsome.
Last week we went to watch the crucial England game against Slovenia. I invited some of my Chinese friends to drum up support. We went to watch it on west 2nd street, which we dub “barbecue street” because there’s a bunch of outdoor barbecue restaurants — win! Here are the photos…

Last week Weinan Teachers University (B’s university) celebrated it’s 50th anniversary, and celebrate they did. B and I went along with our cameras, but we were met with a huuuuge crowd. Luckily I’m acquainted with the head of the school’s dance society, who would be heading up lots of the performances of the night. With backstage access secured, we enjoyed the show and took plenty of pictures…

So, in my last post I alluded to this. On the way home from Fuping, I was looking at the sun and thinking “that looks a bit strange.” at first I shrugged it off as my eyes going a bit funny… but then it started to look more and more odd, until I realised… it’s an eclipse

So, Halloween isn’t really celebrated isnt celebrated at all in China, but at Aston we like to teach culture as much as language; so a few weeks back we set plans into motion to celebrate Halloween, including getting all the kids to dress up. It made for some excellent photographs…

On Monday the 2nd of November Geri and her husband got married. I was honoured to be invited, as was my camera. As you’ll know from my coverage of Rob’s wedding Chinese weddings are quite the affair. It started the night before with us going to their new apartment to meet the groom’s side of the family, and generally plan the next day. Myself and B went, and were then treated to dinner with the groom’s nearest and dearest. The next day saw a 5:30am wakeup, for a 6:00am rendezvous, we were collected by minibus and headed to the couples new apartment to again meet the groom…

“Cheers!” or “Prost!” as they say in Germany. So, myself, Beryl, Rudy, Joanne and Kai headed to Xi’an for the Oktoberfest held at the Sofitel hotel there. The Sofitel is a totally pimp hotel, and Rudy knows someone who works there, so we got hooked-up price wise, so kudos to him.

So, back at the start of August I got wind of some sort of fashion show happening in the square. Unfortunately that night I had to teach, but I figured I’d go down after work and see what I could see. Armed with my camera; of course.

Rob & Cheers Traditional Chinese Wedding, Weinan, originally uploaded by Akira2506. If you haven’t already, be sure to read part 1. As usual, all photos can be viewed bigger, or saved. Just click the photo go to flickr, then click the “all sizes” button above the photo. So, inside Cheer’s parents’ apartment, Rob had some [...]

Rob & Cheers Traditional Chinese Wedding, Weinan, originally uploaded by Akira2506. So, following on from the previous rehearsal post, the wedding day was a day of craziness! But very, very cool. I took 1500 photos that day, shooting with 2 cameras. My 400D with the 24-105mm F4 L, and Tim’s 450D which I alternated with [...]