Those who’ve been following this blog for a while know that me covering weddings is a fairly regular thing. When you have a friends group whose age is around 21-25; it’s just what happens. Anyway, These photos are actually from back in September; I almost forgot I had them. One of the Aston CTs who I’ve known for a long time; Maggie – married her high-school sweetheart. Enjoy the pics!

So, Beryl only has one photo from her childhood. In fact, I think her next photo after this one was when she was about 8 years old. So, needless to say, this photo is highly cherished by her. Anyway, it may be cherished; but it’s seen better days (despite being kept in cellophane.) Anyway, for her Chinese birthday (her ‘Western’ birthday was last week…why two birthdays…? It’s confusing…don’t ask. Maybe I’ll explain another day!) But yes; for her birthday, I decided to restore and re-colour the photo for her…

Every year Aston holds an Annual Managers’ Conference (AMC) and, after taking the reigns of manager at Weinan, this year it was my turn to head to the meeting. This year it was hosted in the city of Dalian (大连) in China’s Liaoning province (in the North-East, see this map: click.) There’s not much time to explore the city, as most of the time is spent in meetings, but I managed to grab some snaps of the city…

So, should I just write this post as if nothing happened? Or should I acknowledge that it’s been over a month since my last post. Oops! Ahem! Well, Sorry! I was busy with this that and the other. A few trips to various parts of China; all of which will make for good blog posts, but – first I need to catch up. So, long story short I placed 3rd in an Aston photo competition (woo hoo) and they wanted a photo of me “looking excited” to go on the website, so…I grabbed my equipment and my assistant in training (Beryl) and we headed to the garages outside my apartment for a little shoot…

It’s (or, it was) that time of year again. When we introduce our students to the strange and weird customs of Halloween. As always, the kids really embraced it. I guess it’s a pretty cool holiday – you get to dress up as whatever you want, and then people give you candy. What more could you want? As usual this proved a goldmine for photos, so… enjoy!

  
Following on from Part One, here’s Part Two! Day two included trips to “Fairy mountain” and “Wulong Karst” – The latter being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The day started with a four-five hour minibus ride out to fairy mountain, on the way we stopped off at a rest stop and I saw this…

Every year for National Day Holiday (October 1st) the folks at Weinan Aston English all go on a trip together. Last year I was in England at the time, but this year I was in China, so I decided to go along. We were heading to ChongQing (重庆) for a few days taking an overnight train, and there was around 20 of us in total. As usual, lots of pics, so go make a brew and come back for a gander…

So, this actually happened when my parents were here, but I didn’t think it fit in very well with the other posts. While they were here I decided to show them the masses of people practising tai chi, kung fu, badminton, etc. in the square. I took along my camera (of course) here are the photos.

Okay, we’re done with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3… it’s time for Part 4! Highlight of this part is a visit to the Terracotta Warriors. Enjoy!

So, carrying on from Part 1 and Part 2, here’s Part 3 of my parents in China! Highlights include a trip to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an…