Documentary China

September 2018 School’s back!   It seemed like a quick flight back home to China. Beijing Capital Airlines has a new route directly from London to Qingdao. Got window seat and filmed the last images for The Sea Hut . My mother was so good with me in England; even though distraught about Pat my brother and his slow recovery from the stroke, she managed to do a final interview which basically has the film tied up. Got it in the can! Students Of course, I still have animation to do, colour, motion, resizing images, subtitles, before I can really say I have finished. Never done till it’s done, and even then we always think of things we could change, add. Musings on a plane. One drifts between time zones and clouds, and sometimes one country becomes like a meditation. Russia is huge – it takes 6 hours or more to move slowly from East to West, and then dive onto Turkmenistan, curve around, outer, then inner Mongolia, to China. By this time, and having watched the...

June - August 2018 All around me things are changing: the weather, the students, my own daughter who – on the same day my brother Patrick had his stroke - found out she is pregnant. All these things I think of on the plane back home . Do I stay or do I go? I want to stay in China. I love China, I love the chance I have been given, the people I know here, the friendships, the heartaches, students’ stories, creating, eating fish and drinking endless beer, still stumbling over this – for me – impossibly hard language, grateful for two wonderful jobs here, grateful to Concordia University and teachers like Marie-Ellen Davis, Marielle Natasloska and Donato Tataro for being such inspiring, giving teachers and keeping their teachings close to heart. I want to stay, but I also want to go Fish Grapes Princess Boys Sign Tasty food Lovers Home, to where my heart is: my family, mother, daughter, brothers, my love, France, my village of Tuchan. To...

May 2018 For those interested in astrology, Uranus entered Taurus in April; erratic behaviour will be the result for the next 7 years till it moves onto Gemini. This affects us all personally and globally. Weather disasters, rains, storms, and huge weather changing patterns, money and the way we make it, collapse of some banks, and online entrepreneurship will be on the rise as we find new and innovative ways to make a living, and have that Uranus freedom, but also family issues for many of us will be more prevalent than before. For me, in many ways, this is the month my family were dreading for a long, long time. I will not dwell on it. Those who know me and my family know Patrick’s story; for others, who hap on this blog, I will just enclose the link: www.gofundme.com/patpope   My dear, sweet and lovely brother, Patrick, better known as Pat, a talented photographer, brave and determined, who has fought so hard in so many ways, overcoming many physical hardships, suff...

February 2018 I left my mother with a red rose in her hands that had been plucked from my garden in France on St. Valentine’s Day. What will this new year bring, as our new year in China begins? For a long time I have wanted a new experience, so decided to go and get teaching experience with younger children. Enter Wall Street English, downtown Qingdao, formal and posh. You know, all matching beige, nice flower arrangements, Ikea prints on the wall, seamlessly and beautifully dressed Chinese teachers with perfect English. It scared me. Wandered off to meet sweet Yuan, who took me to AMIO in 4 th May Square. Tucked downstairs is a messy school, children running everywhere, doting mothers waiting by classes. Vera, the head, gave me an instant interview and I was employed on the spot. Pinned on the wall, the head of the international section bio reads: I started giving my first English lessons in Istanbul back in the days no one cared who you were and what...