Coming Soon: "Catherine's Corner"

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English Names In China

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I work at a preschool in China as an English teacher. I am surrounded by the Chinese language but I'm still pretty clueless about it. This week I've been thinking about names. Here are a few of the nice English names that the schoolchildren have: Here are the name cards of some students  with some unique English names Its so useful that students have English names in addition to their Chinese names- remembering 120 Chinese names like 'Wang Jia Yi' which is Wendy's Chinese name, would be quite a struggle. Whilst I am thankful for their binomial nomenclature, having a name that's written in English and having 'an English name' are not one and the same.  Example: The child who is called “Chocolate’’.  Whilst I can't deny that her name is written in English... its not a name I'd expect to hear anywhere in the UK! Equally eyebrow-raising the name Herny- though I think he’s supposed to be Henry. If I could communicate with th...
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Whilst In Tokyo...

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Spending six days in Tokyo was one of the highlights of a recent three week trip to Japan.  I guess it’s a place like London, Paris or New York- A city that you might have a clear picture of before you've ever been there, through its portrayal in film and TV... But how much of that can you trust? The notion that I had over-huped the city in my mind did occur to me, but I was still really eager to visit for myself and see how it matched my expectations.  Those expectations were that it would be crazy, cool and super busy.  I have to say that I was not disappointed at all. I’m going to describe the great things I did in Tokyo to give ‘at a glance’ ideas for other travellers, as well as transport and capsule accommodation. Including: Food Drink Shibuya Crossing Ghibli Museum Pokemon Centre and Hello Kitty Store DisneySea Metro Skylines & Shrines Odd Cafes Robots Capsule Hotels Food What do you think of when I say ‘food’ and ‘Tokyo’ in the same breath?...
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Whiskey in the Jar

There is a bottle of 45 percent rum underneath my bed. Here it has rested since December 31st, when half of the bottle had either been consumed by myself or awarded to friends. Its pretty disgusting, but I bought it, so I intend to drink it, because wasting alcohol is a sin. However, it now sits there, next to a bottle of J.P Chenet and the dregs of someone's Malibu, untouched, as I am sober for January whilst on a Ski season in France. This marks the  longest period of time that I've not had any alcohol since I was somewhere in 17, which was seven years ago. My initial thought was: its pretty bad that drinking has been such a frequent occurrence in my life. But then who else could say that they've not had any booze in a month unless they were actively avoiding it? (I guess the answer to that is people who don't drink that much!) Having said that, I know I did drink too much. I had not been the 'responsible biologist' that I advocate myself as being...
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