時間都去哪兒了
Zhouyi, our latest HelpX guest from China, has joined Anqi (who had responded to Jiang's WeChat appeal for a student in London to teach me some Mandarin) and Louise (my singing friend who is studying Classical Chinese).  Our last few Mandarin Study meetings have been rehearsals for our performance of Where has the time gone (with an added verse of our own) at my 70th birthday party

 Jason, who prefers to use his English name, was our second HelpX guest from China.  When he was 16, Jason won a competition to become a DJ and he worked for many years as a radio DJ. Jason has 4 older sisters and he is not the only young person we've met whose parents found ways to get around China's "one child" policy. As the only son, however, Jason feels that he is primarily responsible for providing financial support for his parents.  

Jason liked to dress up and go out on the town, but when I asked him to help me in the garden, it was evident that he was no stranger to manual work.

 Confronted with a bag of compost,Jason didn't do what I've always done (reach into the bag with a trowel and get compost all over my arms). When he carefully rolled the sides of the bag down, he betrayed his experience of manual work.  My heart went out to him as I realised that this 'city boy' does what men  (it's usually men) do if they've worked in construction or farming. And now I do it too!