Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all well as we both are here,Spring is here now, well the Chinese Govt say's it is officially spring on the 15th of March and thats the day they turn off the heating, so I guess it must be haha.
Well i managed to pass my driving test yesterday i had to be at the transport police headquarters for 10am and i joined about another 30 foreigners we all went into a large classroom each with our own desk and computer and the police patrolled up and down the lines while we logged on then started the test,there were 100 questions taken from the regulations book of 700 and you had 45 minutes to answer them with the pass rate at 90 I scraped through on 91 but judging by the way everyone drives here the memory of it must be deleted within 48 hours as no one takes any notice of the traffic law.I collect my licence on friday which has my Chinese name on it  (remember the carry on I had registering) which is Ba We Li (Barnett William).
I have just got back from my morning swim i go to the pool 3 times a week and for a massage twice a week it's a hard life,going to take the dog out shortly then make a bit more effort to start learning the language now that the driving test is out of the way.
We visited the art area in Beijing the other weekend it's about 1 square mile and used to be factories,workshops goods train yards and now it has been taken over by artists,all the old factories and workshops are studios, art galleries,cafes,restaraunts,photography shops,exhibitions ect, it's a lovely place to walk around but it would take more than a day to see it all.
Last week we went down to Tian' anmen square as over the last few weeks there had been some demonstrations named the jasmine revolution people gathering sitting quietly or walking around but the police were determined to stop it they closed some of the subway line down and closed off some streets blocked mobile phone signals stopped reporters talking to people.When we went down during the week after going to the driving school it was finished but there was a huge police presence and they were stopping and searching everyone.There was a joke going around that there were that many police undercover they didn't know who was who and they were going upto people and whispering "Are you one of us?"
Jun and I went out for a meal last friday to a place that specialises in food from Sichuan province i said i will try the red pepper potato hotpot Jun said are you sure it is very hot and spicy but i went ahead and ordered it,It's the first time in my life food has managed to numb my whole mouth and tongue I couldn,t feel anything haha Jun said people get addicted to it but there's no danger of that to me.