49. Imperialism on Earl Grey tea.

The morning of the 1^st of June was spent listening to an informational talk on Wellington School, Shanghai. The biggest development I learnt that day was the new Director of Sport would be 18-capped England ‘hero’. Carlton Palmer. I was one of few who knew who he was so we had a decent chat after. I let him know about the TRI World Championships of which I've been picked to represent England!!!

Palmer.

England's kit for Monday

Upon arrival, you had to present your business card. My minimalist card design stood out quite nicely, hopefully this can put me in good stead for getting a job there.

 The room was filled with big dog parents and corporate people. The exchanging of business cards was outrageous. I accumulated about a dozen within half an hour of circle chatting. I can’t imagine how many Carlton Palmer received.

A reminder of my 'mingpian' produced in November

There is a ‘Lujiazui’ group that has helped finance the building of this private English school. It will be a notable landmark in a new renovated part of Pudong by the river.

An English education is obviously still hugely sought after.

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Minor drama today, upon realizing my Earl Grey tea bag supply was running alarmingly low.

Ventured out and found the infamous ‘Avocado Lady’ shop. It’s reputation for a decent supply of Western goods far exceeded what the shop actually was. It felt more like a hangout, and the shop was too small for that to be the case. Popped across the road to ‘M. Eat’ and bought myself my first decent looking sausages since I arrived 8 months ago. Cannot wait to cook them.

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Before this tea calamity had been semi-resolved I had gone to the Shanghai History Museum with fellow teacher Alicia.

There was a number of things that struck me as we made our way around this very good museum.

1. The old generations of Chinese people are crazily shorter than the current crop of Chinese. The diet has obviously changed for the meatier.

2. The British were the first to develop modern society therefore they will always have a say in the world.

The Industrial Revolution of the late 1700 to mid 1800 in my opinion saw the development of the modern city and the industry that powered them. Half of the world’s population now live in cities and this is surely growing. Cities contain a large number of internationals. English is the most commonly used language and will therefore be the lingua franca to these emerging cities.

Britain’s Imperialism in this period has given the language and the country a stability that we’ll always have. 

Wax model of Britain instilling themselves on the Shanghai judicial system after successfully invading in 1850.

A great motivator/appeal to learning a language is knowing its people (something which I'm experiencing at the moment.....;-).... ), its culture, its way of life.

Therefore England will become more and more a tourist destination as language learners fly to our shores. English customs might even come more and more commonplace around the world.

The worrying fact though is the most stereotypical Brits will be found living an expat life, milking their passport’s international value, tuning into the Six Nations perhaps and like me worrying over their Earl Grey reserves.

I don’t think they are in touch with the British multicultural landscape back home. There lies the misconception problem. Now English is a world language which language/culture do we teach, I say this as the rooms in my language school are named 'Cambridge, Oxford, London and Hastings'. 2 University towns, the capital and a place famous for a battle. Basically says all that needs to be said.

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I feel a country also needs global stars from which to almost model their country. Thankfully Britain has been blessed with people like, David Beckham, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, stars who are likable, globally known and can fly the Union Jack. I kind of feel that our supply line of genius’ are running low.

That being said Benedict Cumberbatch’s global popularity in Sherlock is having more of a say on his country than he probably would imagine.

Mr Hun, or something similar he's called over here which translate to Mr Stupid. Undeserved personally.