http://supertidy.net/wordpress Joe Whittingham; Photographer, 3D Vehicle Artist, Car Obsessive, and Educator. Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:14:42 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/04/xinjiang-may-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/04/xinjiang-may-2011/#comments Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:14:42 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=611
So, every May myself and Beryl celebrate May Day by jumping on a plane and going on a 5 day holiday. In '09 we went to Luoyang, In '10 we went to Qingdao and last year we headed to Urumiqi in Xinjiang province. Xinjiang is the most north-westerly province in China. It borders lots of countries including Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. 45% of the population are also Uyghur. A minority of Turkish-speaking Chinese who are mostly Sunni Muslims. The whole area is a totally different side of China. Here are some photos from our holiday...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/04/xinjiang-may-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/easter-at-aston-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/easter-at-aston-2011/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:54:29 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=608
Ah, the wonders of being almost a year behind with my blog. Things I post about from last year are almost relevant again! Like today's post; Easter! So, at Aston we like the kids to "celebrate" the western holidays to try and absorb some of our culture. We don't go into the details...well, in fact, we don't even tell them anything about the holiday's religious roots. They just think it's a holiday about eating chocolate and painting eggs. Well, not too far off...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/easter-at-aston-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/random-snap-my-god-daughter/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/random-snap-my-god-daughter/#comments Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:12:09 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=605
This is a snap of my god-daughter taken last year in April. She's so cute! Her English name is Flora. There are some more photos here.]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/03/random-snap-my-god-daughter/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/02/bike-rides-april-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/02/bike-rides-april-2011/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:20:13 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=601   
So, back in April of last year I convinced Michael to buy a bike and join me on some bike rides. I love riding my bike, but it gets a bit boring on your own when you're out for 4-5 hours. The hills to the south of Weinan have some challenging roads with steep inclines. That's part of the reason why I rarely take my big camera with me, and instead choose to use my cell phone camera (which sucks, thanks HTC!) ]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/02/bike-rides-april-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/beitang-primary-school-april-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/beitang-primary-school-april-2011/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:27:33 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=597   
So, those familiar with the blog will know about Beitang Primary School. It's the primary school that I teach at when I'm not teaching at Aston. Chinese primary schools are very different to their western counter parts. Firstly as the left-most photo shows. There are a lot of students. A lot. Each grade has 7-8 classes. Each class has 60-70 students. And that's "small" class-sizes. Beitang is one of the best primary schools, it's "proud" of that class size. Anyway, there are 6 grades in primary school, so conservatively thats 6*7*60 ... more than 2,500 students! My primary school (Hayes Meadow Primary School, represent!) The other two pictures also highlight differences, read on for more...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/beitang-primary-school-april-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/ktv-march-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/ktv-march-2011/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:31:49 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=588
"KTV"? Karaoke TeleVision. Well, it's just what the Chinese call "Karaoke." It's a huge past-time here. Some people take it very seriously too. I, personally, can't sing for toffee so I usually refrain. Plus the beer is usually over-priced and over-watered. Anyway, occasionally for various festivals or holidays the owner of our school, Max, invites all the employees of the school out for a meal. On this occasion, lots of baijiu was consumed so someone thought it would be a good idea to follow up the meal with a trip to a KTV bar...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/ktv-march-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/videoroll-lantern-festival-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/videoroll-lantern-festival-2011/#comments Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:49:14 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=592
In addition to last week's blog post with photos from Lantern Festival, I dug out this video which helps to convey the atmosphere. Just listen to those fireworks!]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/videoroll-lantern-festival-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/a-trip-to-bbq-street-march-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/a-trip-to-bbq-street-march-2011/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:38:39 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=583
So, after wrapping shooting of mine and Beryl's post-engagement photos, we all headed to BBQ street for some much needed food and drink. Camera still in hand, I took some snaps. Above you can see oil being liberally applied with a paint brush...You'll either have to trust me that it tastes great, or come out here and try for yourself...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/a-trip-to-bbq-street-march-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/lantern-festival-2011/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/lantern-festival-2011/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:54:55 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=579
Two blog posts in 24hrs!!! Get in! So far this is like all good new year's resolutions: starts great...then... well, lets see how often you all are going to the gym in a few weeks, shall we? Anyway... back to the matter at hand. Lantern festival! It's a festival that takes place 15 days after Chinese New Year and... well, I'm sure Wikipedia can tell you the boring stuff. These days people just set off LOADS of fireworks. It's like bonfire night (if you're in the UK) or the 4th of July (if you're in the states) combined with new years. After a few hours of Lantern Festival, you have a good idea what it must have been like in Baghdad, circa 2003...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/lantern-festival-2011/feed/ 0 http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/classroom-studio/ http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/classroom-studio/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:10:56 +0000 Joe http://supertidy.net/wordpress/?p=573
2012! Bang! That sounds like the future! "Twenty-twelve." New years resolution? Get on with my blog. So, with no further wait: Every so often I use my photography / cinematography skills to help out the school. Last year this involved making some photos for use on a flier, and also making some testimonial videos that other potential teachers could check out. I'm quite happy with the results, it turns out my classrooms can be converted to makeshift studios quite easily...]]> http://supertidy.net/wordpress/2012/01/classroom-studio/feed/ 1