So last week I was asked to be a judge in the speech contest final on Friday. I cordially agreed, expecting all the foreign staff as a whole to be part of the judging panel. But no, it was only myself and Lesley [+ Shay]. Whether the others had even been asked I don't know, but I felt a little disheartened by the lack of other foreign teachers. Last year the whole group had been asked and everyone had agreed to participate. However, this year for me, there was an improvement. I was actually judging (giving marks out of 100), as opposed to deciding a "best English speaking manners" prize. Lesley was the "Question Master", which involved reading out a question from a list provided.

Few things in Dalian have been as consistent as the Dalian Wolfhounds Quiz Night on Sundays, which kicked off years ago in the Tin Whistle Pub, moved to Hopscotch, and has been based in Brooklyn since late 2008.

For many, as well as being "a chance to exercise your braincells in premises designed to kill them," it was a chance to catch up with a lot of others that varying schedules and week-day locations meant were all too often distant in the small city of Dalian.  That and a bottle of vodka/gin for the winners, and generous amounts of free beer and DVDs for the second and third placed teams.