Christmas is a-coming (fast)

I'm massively loosing track of time probably because all the hype in the run up to Christmas doesn't happen here, it's nice not having to think about Christmas and all the associated mayhem. Saying that though, our local supermarket was playing awful cover versions of western Christmas songs using Chinese singers with bad English accents -  it took me a while to work out which songs they were murdering. Surprisingly the supermarket also had a small section of Christmas decorations - not sure what the quality was like though. I've decided to just sort of pretend Christmas isn't happening this year, swapping turkey for tofu might be quite refreshing (ok maybe not the tofu part).

I did come across an area in Guangzhou where I could buy enough tinsel and Christmas trees to decorate the whole of Guangdong if the mood suddenly took me....

Owen and I went Christmas browsing in this area on Saturday, here are some of the gems we found.

 This is an ingenious way to use strawberries!

G x

Winter's coming

So after last week's sweat inducing temperatures and humidity, the weather has changed to more winter like weather. Saying that the temperature is about 12oC so the swimming pool isn't quite freezing over yet...

The change in temperature has made everyone dive into their wardrobes and dig out every item of clothing they own and proceed to wear it all at the same time - even last week's sports day jumpers. Everyone looks like they've landed in Siberia. I don't think i've ever seen so many ski-jackets in +0oC temperatures. 

I walk into every class and i'm greeted with 'are you not cold?!?' and all the teachers just stare at me when I walk past because i'm still wearing skirts and shoes with no socks - I have donned a cardi though. I think i'm going to have to go and buy some tights at the weekend just to pacify everyone - I think they are all concerned that i'm a bit mad and that i'm trying to get hypothermia or something - even the male pupils (who hardly ever talk in class) are concerned for my welfare! Next week's topic is definitely going to be about the weather (except I think it's supposed to be warm again next week).

I walked into on classroom yesterday and just laughed. In one corner of the classroom a group of boys were eating ice cream, which they'd bought from the school tuck shop, whilst simultaneously moaning about the cold and on the other side of the classroom a girl was knitting a scarf! (not something I expected to see this year).

Gotta love China and all it's quirks

G x

Sports day

Last week was easy peasy teaching wise - I only had to teach 10 out of my 19 weekly classes - gotta love sports day! It did mean I didn't really get to teach my St. Andrew's Day lesson though so I haven't quite got the youths of China greeting each other with 'Fit like i' day' but there's plenty of time yet for that.

Sport's day here is quite and affair. Each class designs and wears their individual t-shirts or jumpers, some were were better than others, it has to be said but funnily enough most of the slogans they had written on them were in English  - this made for an entertaining morning for Tom and I. 

I'm not really sure how sports day works at the school - not everyone seems to take part but sports seem to include track running, high-jump, long-jump and shot-put so not all that different from sports day anywhere else - not a half-time orange in sight though!

To be honest I think the main attraction of sports day turned into Tom and I - i've never had my photo taken so many times in the space of an hour. Everybody seemed to want pictures with the white teachers - I didn't even recognise half of the pupils who all seemed to know my name (not that they can pronounce it properly - Julian seems to be the closest pronunciation they can manage!).

There were even two pupils (well at least I think they were pupils) dressed up as Minions. I say I hope they were minions because Tom and I decided to simultaneously run at one and hug them - definitely not what they were expecting when they excitedly waved at us - he ran off pretty sharpish afterwards as well which was funny.

So whilst the students were pretending to do two days worth of sports I got 2 days off work to enjoy the very hot weather we were having - i'm not complaining! Here's me thinking I was going to be worked to the bone and I think i've had more weeks incomplete weeks than complete weeks!

G x

Culture kick

So somehow the whole of November has runaway with me so i'm very behind on the blog posts - time for some serious catching up!

A few weekends ago I had a very full on Chinese themed day. The university, where some friends and I go to mandarin class, has some cultural events every now and again and November's event was an afternoon of Chinese tea art and Tai Chi.  Maybe not the most thrilling sounding way to spend a Sunday but when in China...

The afternoon started with some displays of different kinds of Tai Chi (there are 5 different types apparently). One type involved a very large sword, the woman wielding it was very impressive...

We also got to have a go at practicing some Tai Chi - I was rubbish but it was fun. In order for the Tai Chi master to prove his strength, 10 of us had to try and help each other push him over - it all ended with us in a pile on the floor and him merrily standing there looking strong! I enjoyed the Tai Chi - it's definitely harder than it looks!

After the Tai Chi, there was a tea ceremony demonstration. I've got to say it's not quite as exciting the second time round - maybe it was the lack of wishing frog this time - didn't mean I didn't happily drink the varying rounds of tea though (some habits never die).

The following weekend I was invited to one of the teacher's houses for Sunday lunch, China style! She used to live in the same building as me with her son and husband but she had recently moved to a new apartment and Sunday lunch was her house warming party. I am genuinely chuffed that she invited me to join her and her friends - none of the other teachers have really paid any attention to us!

There was a group of about 8 of us in total, the only problem was though that everyone else was Chinese and they were all talking a local Cantonese dialect so my basic Mandarin skills didn't exactly come in handy.

I definitely experienced the Chinese hospitality - i've never eaten so much mutton in my life! I had been warned that you will just kept being fed until you put up a fit or collapse from eating exhaustion. I was treated to a traditional style  Cantonese hotpot - a famous local dish in these parts. It's a bit like a stew - it's the closest thing I can think of to compare it with. The meat of choice in this dish was mutton. As the guest who didn't have a clue what the etiquette was at this my bowl was promptly ladled full of mutton, I think only about one vegetable made it into the mix.  I definitely wasn't quick enough off the mark when my half empty bowl was snatched away and refilled. After we'd all polished off the mutton the stew (which was kept on the heat) tofu was added and then vegetables and it probably would have just kept going if we hadn't all refused to keep eating - hilariously enough after being made to sample everything on offer (at least twice) I was told I don't eat much...this definitely isn't true!

After the meal it was repeated rounds of tea and a giant grapefruit type thing - both good but I never learnt the lesson that if you drink your little cup of tea (even if it's just a sip) it will promptly be refilled! 

If I sounds skeptical, I don't mean it, I genuinely had a great day mingling with the locals the hardest past is definitely trying to work out what are good table manners when it comes to spitting out the bones and eating 12cm long bits of vegetable!

The had nice views out of Foshan too (or at least I think they are nice)

G x

Wallace and Gromit save the day

So in order to earn my holiday over the last week I had to work all weekend, the weekend before (it's just how it works here). I decided to use the old teacher trick of putting on a video. Let me just say that this was not just me skiving out of having to design a whole new fantastic lesson for just 6 classes but a conscious effort to introduce the children of China to British culture and entertainment (can you smell the bullshit?)! But basically I wasn't going to waste time planning an entire lesson and then trying to get 6 classes to willingly partake in it during the weekend - that would have just ruined everyone's weekend even more! And they've been nagging at me to show them a video so this ticked that box.

So I decided that it was about time I introduced the teenagers of China to the British institution that is Wallace and Gromit! I had all four short films on offer and they absolutely loved it! I wasn't sure if they'd get it or not but it seems that Wallace and Gromit can bridge both cultural and language barriers - i've never heard them so silent and engaged for so long! They even got most of the humour. Even the video questions afterwards went ok....

So basically this is a public announcement to any teacher who has to work the weekend - Wallace and Gromit is the way forward!

G x

The impromptu holiday: Days 5 & 6

Friday 7th - Day 5

So my trip to Hangzhou started with a fast train ride from Suzhou. I did have to stand the whole way because there were no seated tickets left (that's what happens when you buy last minute tickets here) but it was only for an hour and a half, so it wasn't too bad.

One thing I never expected to see on a train in China is the Trolley Dollys walking around selling Haagen Dazs ice cream! Every train seems to do it. There also seems to be lots of Haagen Dazs ice cream shops in this country. Maybe its a favourite here...

I arrived in a rather overcast Hangzhou and spent a while trying to find my hostel. It's in an traditional, pedestrianised part of the city which is full of shops selling Chinese trinkets. If I had more room in my bag I would have packed it with things by now. I've still got another day here so so plenty time left to backtrack and buy myself a Chinese Saxophone (it looks more like a wooden pipe instrument - I want to know what it sounds like though!).

I was originally aiming for the West Lake (the massive expanse of water that Hangzhou is known for) when I went for my afternoon outing but I instead ended up Wu hill looking across to Westlake. Sadly the slightly smoggy air ruined the view slightly, but at least I know what direction to walk in tomorrow.

I'm sitting writing this in the hostel, whilst plucking up courage to go out in the cold for and evening exploring session of my surroundings and the very kind Chinese man who sat down next to me has just given me a lolly. I'm not going to lie, it tastes awful. The outside is tastes like treacle and goodness only knows what the ball in the middle is supposed to be. I think it tastes salty but I can't decide. I'm very jealous of the tea he's just made himself though! He did have to use his own mug though - I don't think we are quite that friendly yet!

Saturday 8th - Day 6

The only word to describe the weather on my second in Hangzhou was dreich! It rained all day long - it was like being back at home (just not quite as cold). Despite my desire to just hide indoors all day I walked all the way West Lake - it took 5 hours! The West Lake is a very famous lake in China due to it's beauty - it's even on the 1 Yuan notes (I learnt this from my train buddy on the way back to Shanghai). Sadly I don't know how beautiful the lake and surrounding area was because I couldn't actually see it (as can be seen in the photographs). I have just googled it though and the place looks breathtaking on a clear day!

https://www.google.com/search?q=hangzhou+west+lake&rlz=1C1_____enGB496GB496&biw=1366&bih=638&noj=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=KGFjVMj2FejdsAS9moLwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ

The pictures kind of make me want to go back on a nice day but since the city is over 1200km away that's not going to happen.

The next street food I tried on my walk around the lake was corn-on-the-cob - it had been boiled for a bit too long. I'll have too try the bbq/roasted one next time. I feel i'm getting the hang of this China living - brollie in one hand, corn-on-the-cob in the other and camera around my neck (if I wasn't for so obviously foreign I could be a local). 

On my walk I took a detour in past the National Chinese Tea Museum. Amazingly I didn't get lost; Hangzhou seemed to really mess up my sense of direction - it took me forever to find the lake first thing! A museum on tea held so much potential and promise for a tea lover - which it didn't fulfil! There could have been tea tastings galore, and demonstrations on tea making but sadly no such luck. I do now know what a traditional tea cake looks like (it's the same shape as a Tunnock's one as well!)

Some pictures from my walk around West Lake...

Continuing the taste adventure for the day I tried some hot milk tea after my walk. I would have loved a cup of Yorkshire tea with milk but that was never going to happen. Milk tea is very popular, i'm not sure what kind of tea they use, possibly Chinese black tea, but the taste was a weird hybrid between tea and Horlicks - once I got used to it it was ok but the first mouthful was a bit strange.

After a speedy train ride back to Shanghai in the evening (1 hour) I managed a very brief but lovely catch-up with some friends from Beijing who had been in Shanghai whilst I was in Hangzhou (they were off to Hangzhou on Sunday morning - I didn't recommend the tea museum).

I stayed in a different hostel on Saturday night to the one I had stayed in before. I should start a hostel review blog - I slept in 4 different beds and one airport bench in the space of a week.

Sunday 9th - Day 7

The last day of my holiday was pretty low key. I had the start of a cold (which has consequently kept me off work for two days - an oral English teacher who can't talk isn't much use) so I wasn't in a very touristy mood. Saying that I had another quick flick through the guide book and with the recommendation of my friends from the night before I went to a tourist street called Tianzifang. This is a quirky little warren of streets packed full of interesting little shops and chock-a-block with tourists! They even have a toilet restaurant. Toilets are the seats and all the crockery is toilet shaped. The picture of a swirl of chocolate ice cream in a toilet was just too much me!

After getting annoyed at people thinking they were slyly taking pictures of me (I really wasn't in the mood - clearly my grumpy face didn't cross the culture barrier) I decided to go the airport slightly early.  The weirdest thing happened on the metro; Some girl in a 'naughty schoolgirl' type outfit got on the metro and started posing for the photographer that she was with which the rest of us normal passengers looked on trying to work out what the hell was going on. I was trying to work out who the pictures for for - Shanghai metro marketing campaign, school transport department, metro enthusiasts club...I turned round so that my foreign face isn't forever associated with whatever was going on!

After my busy week I was pretty pleased to get home. I even managed to pinch another Air China blanket (you can never have enough blankets), I did get a funny look off the hostess this time though!

G x

The impromptu holiday: Days 3 & 4

So the next part of my solo trip on the east coast was to Suzhou - a handy 25 minutes from Shanghai on the fast train.

Suzhou is known as the 'Venice of the East' due to all the canals and waterways in the city, so fittingly, I discovered, the two cities are twinned. At a population of 1.3million people it's pretty small-fry compared to a lot of cities in this country. 

Wednesday 5th (Day 3)

After a lazy start in Shanghai (this was a holiday after all) and a lot of sitting outside Suzhou railway station trying to work out the most fail-safe way to get to my hostel (I settled for the metro) it was 1.30pm before I'd got to the hostel and dumped my bags. I hadn't realised before I'd arrived in Suzhou, that the centre of the city (where the majority of places of interest are) is just one large square which is surrounded by water on all sides - this means that everything in central Suzhou is a perfectly walk-able distance. Good news for me because everything down-south is so big it takes forever to walk anywhere!

On the first afternoon I decided to walk south towards the river and the tourist attractions there.  I've always got a soft-spot for water so the combination a river, sunshine and Chinese bridges was a winner. I had a nice time just wandering about watching the locals and taking pictures (whether any of them are any good will be a different story).

On my way there I came across the Confucius temple (every Chinese city worth it's tea seems to have one). They had some old stones with original city plans and layouts carved into them which were interesting to look at.

I managed to accidentally sneak into the Pan Gate gardens without paying (still not quite sure what happened there). The Pan Gate is a water gate for the river that is connected to the last remaining 300m of ancient city wall. This area was very pretty and if only I could speak Chinese I could have latched myself onto a Chinese tour group to tell me all about it (there were a lot of those in Suzhou).

Pan Gate gardens

Strangely time seemed to pass quite slowly so I managed to fit more in than I expected in my afternoon. Walking is definitely the way to see central Suzhou you'd miss too many of the interesting, lively little streets in a bus or taxi.

After stopping for some street food in the form of a baked sweet potato (very popular here, and I'd never had a baked sweet potato before), I just decided to wander the busy streets and alleyways for a while to see what goings-on I could find. I walked down a lovely street which had trees down the middle and was lined with lots of lovely shops - it was hard to limit myself to window shopping and not buying the lot. All the winter coats looked so beautiful and enticing but definitely not required in Foshan!

SWEET POTATO!

Whilst wandering along I bumped into one of the Suzhou based ELAs on his way home from work. I'm getting pretty good at chance holiday meetings it seems! So my evening plans took a much more exciting turn as I ended up joining a lot of the other ELAs, who work in the city, for dinner, fireworks and giant sparklers in their favourite pub (it was November 5th and it's an expat bar). We were missing not having a bonfire though!

Thursday 6th (Day 4)

The promise of a Chinese silk museum was just too much of a lure to ignore so that was where I headed first on my second day in Suzhou. I detoured in past the North Temple Pagoda on my way there - at 9 stories tall I wanted to see what the views over Suzhou were like. From a birds-eye view Suzhou is not the most picturesque of cities but its got sections that are definitely packed with character and charm.

Suzhou from the 9th level of the Pagoda

It turned out the Silk museum was closed. It also turned out the man chasing me down the street had been trying to tell me this. I had ignored him because I thought he was trying to sell me a taxi ride or sightseeing trip like all the overly persistent locals who had approached me were trying to do!

So after this nice man showed me the sign saying the factory was closed he showed me to the nearby silk factory instead. I nearly ended up amoungst a group of Chinese models in long silk dresses when I walked it - that would really have lowered the tone of the promotional video they were making!

The factory (naturally) had a an extensive shop. I very nearly bought a Chinese silk gown but I couldn't decide on which colour - I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to rectify the situation. They were also demonstrating how they turned silk cocoons into silk thread and how they stretch the cocoons to make duvets. So my desire for a silk museum was fulfilled. I also hadn't realised how big silk worms work and that you had to kill them to get the silk (I was clueless about silk production before then).

The trusty little guidebook map then led me towards 'The Humble Aministrator's Garden'. This is an enormous, UNESCO listed garden. According to the bumf, one of the top 4 gardens in China. I discovered I was following in the steps of Margaret Thatcher by visiting it (her's was the only picture I recognised on their visitor wall of fame). This was a lovely, and very busy garden, full of little pagoda huts, beautiful flower beds and traditional stone bridges - a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon.

Suzhou was definitely the perfect place for shop window and market stall browsing - I was in my element just wandering around seeing what was on offer. In my wandering I was making a bee-line for Pinjiang Lu. Pinjiang Lu is traditional, canal lined Suzhou street - most of the canals have now been paved over. There were some traditional hand-rowed boats taking tourists down the canal so Suzhou definitely does live up to it's 'Venice of the East' name. I spent quite a while merrily wandering along this street and noseying in past some of the quirky shops - they even had a 'Cat Cafe' (I didn't go in but I think you drink tea with cats rather than eat the cats...)

Traditional hand-rowed boats on the canal

My last sightseeing trip of the day involved me getting lost inside the Soochow University campus - I'm definitely not going to follow the guidebook anymore if it suggests a foray into another university to look at the buildings - thankfully some students directed me out, otherwise I might still be there...

To end my trip to Suzhou I met up with the others again for happy hour at The Bookworm (the pub we'd been to the night before). A nice way to end my little visit to the city.

G x

The impromptu holiday: Days 1 & 2

So because it always takes me so long to give a a summary of my holidays and trips (they always seem to end up as a blow by blow account) I'm going try and write as I go along. It will mean pictures will have to be added at a later date though (the technology isn't quite that good) and the story telling might be all over the place. It's also written on my phone so there will be lots of typos...

I ended up coming to Shanghai by plane instead of my original plan of train. Purely because the only train ticket I could get was a seat (instead of a bed) for 16 hours. 2 hours in a car and my bum goes numb so I wasn't rating that. There were also no return tickets available to having to ring the school and tell them I was stuck in Shanghai would not have made me popular!

So my late night flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai got in at 12.30am. So naturally I decided to do the classy thing and crash at the airport until the metro started again in the morning. As a nights sleep goes it was surprisingly not the worst I've had. The other 'terminal crashers' around me seemed fairly comfortable as well. It was bloody freezing though - stealing the blanket from the plane was definitely a good call...if only I'd had the courage to take the pillow as well!

Monday 3rd - (Day 1)

I decided to take the frivolous mode of transport from the airport - the Maglev. I'm not entirely sure how it works but its kept on the track by magnets and the top speed when I was on it was 300km/hr...it was a novelty and something to tick off the to-do list if nothing else. It did at least mean I was guaranteed a seat and didn't have to fight with everyone else on the metro. The map of Shanghai I picked up here has also proved a life saver.

As soon as I stepped of the nice cosy metro in the Pudong area of Shanghai I was treated to a weather reality check. My clothing selection was far to optimistic for 18oC (when I'm comfortably used to 28oC + humidity). It has shown me I need to start fashioning myself a winter wardrobe...

In light of my ill-preparedness (not a word I'll be teaching my pupils) my stolen blanket has come into a league of its own in terms of its versatility. It is now doubling as a wrap jacket in the chillier evenings.

So as wonderful as my blanket jacket is, It did mean I started off Monday morning looking a bit like a lost Romanian gypsy (2nd day curly hair and and maxi skirt didn't help). As luck would have it I decided to head to the Pudong area of Shanghai first. The Pudong area is the modern, skyscraper filled side of the river. Which also means at 8am on the first Monday morning of November it is full of smartly dressed business people...and me (looking like a tramp).

After behaving like a tourist for a while (taking lots of pictures and getting lost) I decided to copy Shanghai's hard workers and have breakfast at the Chinese equivalent of McDonald's. And the porridge style thing (it looked like cous-cous grains) I had was much better than anything I've had at McDonald's. Maybe I'll start a western franchise...

The Skyscrapers of Pudong

So after breakfast I continued my wandering around and ended up on the very pretty and peaceful riverside promenade. The sun was out and my lack of sleep and cold feeling drew me to the sunny spot. I also had to find somewhere to sit down and plan my day. I decided on heading to the Bund area first, which was directly across the river from where I was sitting. This area is full of beautiful old buildings and basically where everyone goes to take pictures of the famous Pudong skyline (I was no exception). After walking along to the end of the Bund I found some Cows which are part of the Shanghai cow exhibition (or something like that).

Looking across to the Bund

I also found some Chinese girls (now new wechat friends) who were going to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony and invited me along. I love how friendly Chinese people are. This unexpected surprise in my day was really nice. One of my new Chinese friends translated the whole ceremony for me, and got very excited when I could say words or small phrases in Chinese (ego boost for me). The ceremony involved tasting 6 types of traditonal Chinese tea, each were served using different cups and pouring methods - it's definitely an art-form. Stroking a lucky frog, which had been showered in tea first, was also part of the ceremony. Obviously I just stroked every lucky part of the frog - so fortune, health, love and everything else should be coming my way any day now... The price for good quality tea in China is (I now know) expensive so after the ceremony I parted from my new friends before they bankrupted me entirely! But I've decided to see my investment in tea and the tea ceremony as a unique Chinese cultural experience - one which I've been wanting to see for a while.

For the rest of the afternoon I was following the guidebook. I saw the former British Consulate building, which was very grand looking (as you'd expect). I walked down East Nanjing road, which is a very busy shopping street. I lost count of the amount of times I got people coming up to me listing things I might want to buy from them...

I also went to the Shanghai museum, which is in the People's Square (a big park in the middle of the road). The museum was nice (full of traditional Chinese furniture, jade statues and Chinese paintings) but I have to confess I raced through it - Chinese paintings, whilst pretty, aren't really my thing.

The arrival at the hostel was a welcome break for my feet, as well as a chance for it to get dark so that I could go and see the famous skyline of Shanghai at night. 

The bright (and pretty) lights of Shanghai are going to have to be my equivalent to bonfire night fireworks for this year. But I spent ages just looking at the changing lights and the brightly coloured boats going past so I'm quite happy with that exchange.

The 'Blanket Jacket' in it's glory (and the Shanghai skyline)

I can definitely see why people fall in love with Shanghai, the evening atmosphere definitely won me over.

Tuesday 4th (Day 2)

I started off my day with a trip to Qibao old town. This is a traditional little village away from the centre of Shanghai which has been preserved for tourists to explore. I really liked it here, anything that seems traditionally Chinese tends to win my attention quite easily - I think it's because I'm used to living in a city full of shiny, new buildings. There were tourist sites in it the town that you were supposed to go and visit but I got so absorbed in raking about the little shops (which were full of endless gifts to buy - foot-bath anyone?!? - And different street foods to eat) that I forgot to go into any of them. I don't feel I cheated myself, I was having too much fun fighting my way down the narrow alleys with the other tourists.

One of the lovely bridges spanning the canal into the Old town

The newly downloaded guidebook on China has definitely been a good last minute buy - everything I've done has been straight out of it - I lose count of the amount of times I look at it in a day.

I decided to check out the Yuyuan gardens area of Shanghai next. When you get off the metro you walk into a bazaar. There were a disappointing number of Starbucks and department stores stuffed into these old fashioned buildings for me, but it was nice just to wander around - it was a bit difficult to avoid being shoved into the nearest dumpling shop queue but I survived. I got so used to shooing people off who were trying to get me to buy things that I almost ignored a nice group of Chinese people who wanted me to take their photograph. This led to a nice little conversation (in English) about their trip to Shanghai and my trip to Shanghai and what I should go and see whilst I was there. They were quite impressed when I said I'd already done everything they suggested To slightly escape the crowds I went into Yuyuan gardens themselves. They were pretty, Chinese style gardens (I don't have much more to say there).

In trying to cover as many areas of the city as possible, I went to the French concession. It promised lovely rebuilt French buildings and tree lined streets. I wasn't so enamored. It was just reconstructed buildings filled with Starbucks and lots of Western-wannabe restaurants offering afternoon tea. I only lasted 10 minutes. The evening I spent in the hostel languishing on the sofa (I don't have a sofa in my little home), speaking to the other temporary residents and planning the Suzhou part of my trip was definitely more enjoyable. I've decided, apart from the fact that they had sofas, my hostel was great because the street outside the closest metro station was packed lots of good street food - nothing like dumplings and steamed buns for breakfast!

G x

Shanghai here I come

So my surprise 5 days off has turned into a surprise 9 and a half days off! So I have decided to go to Shanghai and surrounding cities for a few days. My current plan of action is Shanghai and then I want to try and see Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nangping if I can fit it all in.

I was going to take the train but they were all sold out since this trip is so last minute - the dates have changed 3 times in 3 days - so I'm flying with China Air.

I'm hoping Shanghai has postcards a plenty because the south of China doesn't seem to do postcards (I haven't forgotten about you all - Promise!)

I hope everyone is having a nice Halloween - i'm a bit jealous to be missing Bonfire Night but hopefully the nation that invented the firework will be putting on a show sometime soon!

G x

Happy Halloween

So this week's lesson is all about Halloween. 

I've even learnt about the origin of Halloween when I was lesson planning - we are all learning something new this week. I'm definitely going to know more about British History and culture by the time I leave here purely through all the background research and reading I do. If all else fails I'll be well informed enough to become a tour guide or tourist book writer next year!

So this week my students are getting very excited about the pictures of Halloween themed food - especially the witches fingers made from bread. I've also put some of the pictures from the Halloween party I had last year into my presentation - i'm not entirely sure if they've clocked that it's me and friends in the pictures or not yet...

I've also been showing them this video. Their reaction is priceless and definitely classes as revenge!!

DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE A NERVOUS DISPOSITION OR A HEART CONDITION!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7J3up1SJMk

I also discovered  (yesterday) that I get about a weeks holiday next week so last minute holiday planning will have to commence ASAP. Why is this country so big?!?! There are too many places to visit and so little time! I learnt today that the reason that I have my little holiday is because my students are going to the countryside to build a road. They were pretty insistent that I should make a scene with management and demand that I get to go as well - I'm not so keen. I would definitely be a different experience though! 

G x

Guangzhou Botanical Gardens

So after our Chinese lesson on Saturday morning (my mind was more than a little bit melted afterwards!), we decided to take in the sites of Guangzhou Botanical Gardens. It was a little bit of a trek to get there but the walk in the sunshine was nice (the directions from the locals were also helpful!) The gardens were also quite close to the edge of the city so seeing the looming mountains (in the distance) behind the skyscrapers was a nice change of scenery.

The gardens were much bigger than I expected and very nice. Everything in China is clean and tidy, even if a lot of it still seems like a work in progress (here especially). The evidence that China is a rapidly growing and developing country is everywhere.The gardens were lovely but we were definitely out of season - our hopeful hunt along the mango trail proved fruitless. I bet in spring time time its beautiful and exotic looking. We also didn't have much luck on our hunt for the medicinal herb garden - that would have been educational (and potentially useful).

We decided to hire some of these bikes things to tour around the grounds - so much fun but I think we ruined the tranquility slightly. If there were rules to abide to we certainly didn't but we'll blame that on the language barrier! Owen and I did have a great time bringing smiles to the faces of everyone we passed though by saying Ni Hao and waving VERY enthusiastically. It was definitely an afternoon of hilarity (and some pretty hard work - those things are not efficient to peddle).

It's obviously the place to come for wedding dress photoshoots - the need to blindfold the bride is a interesting though!

Afterwards some of us went to street food (my first experience). I'm a bit disappointed that it's taken so long for me to try street food, most of the stuff i've seen looks less than appetising, and when I have seen good stuff I haven't been hungry. But anyway, this street is full of stalls where you can get a huge variety of food. I was taken to a stall where you pick some things (which are all on sticks), put them in a bowl and the nice chefs cook them up for you. I'm getting used to this not cooking thing. I had a whole aubergine which had been sliced in half and was covered in chopped garlic - i've never eaten that much garlic in one go in my life (probably for good reason). Maybe that's why I haven't had any insect bites for a few days! Despite that it was still good. I also had oysters for the first time which were thankfully cooked and pretty tasty. I've also discovered i'm quite enjoying tofu - something i'd never had before 10 weeks ago (that was also when I vowed never again after accidentally eating some horrible braised tofu at the hotel in Beijing). Thankfully though, i've accidentally chosen it a few more times since then and i've discovered I quite like it now (I think it's always fried though so probably not very healthy).

I was trying to explain to one of the students my 'point and hope for the best' approach when choosing what to eat - she didn't quite understand the wonder of it!

Some of my other students also recommended snake (we were talking about pets), so that will be something to look out for. 

G x

Time is flying

So somehow i'm one day away from finishing my 8th week of teaching - how on earth is time passing so quickly?!?!

I've got to say though, that it feels like i've been teaching for a lot longer than 8 weeks! Maybe that's why my teaching stamina has gone and abandoned me this week - I only seem to have the energy to sit or sleep this week! Not quite sure why that's the case! So my lack of energy has definitely made the teaching less enjoyable this week (the subject was family). Saying that the students feel less enthusiastic and more rowdy this week - maybe it's not just me.

The weather is also on the change which i'm not particularly happy about. Today is a lot cooler (probably low 20s) - i'm going to have to start digging out the trusty jumpers soon! The sun also hasn't come out today - the one day this week when I remember to pick up my sunglasses.

Saying that i'm interested to see what a Guangdong winter is like. I keep telling my classes it's 2oC in Scotland - i'm not convinced they even know what 2oC feels like!

G x

Local foreigner

So I feel like i'm being gradually excepted by the local community and my colleagues as more than a foreign novelty.

This past week I feel like i'm being acknowledged as being a local resident rather than just a passing tourist. More teachers than every before have acknowledged me and smiled as we walked past each other in the corridors of the school (maybe it's because I always pointedly look at them whilst saying 'Ni hao' (hello) and smiling) - maybe my tactic of being friendly to everyone I walk past is working!

The security guards at the school gate are endlessly entertaining. One of them won't stop shouting 'hello' at me until I also say hello back (even though i've already greeted him in Chinese first).

I was teaching a bunch of older male teachers the other day the word 'bald' the other day - obviously having bald friends is also a source of entertainment here!

But truely, I feel my greatest moment of acceptance are the gate and security guards around my building happily greeting me with recognition rather than confusion  and curiosity.

Saying all this though the bus driver the other day took a good few seconds to register the fact that a non-chinese girl was getting on his bus the other day. One women also nearly crashed her car because she was so busy watching me cross the road - maybe I should wear a t-shirt saying 'keep your eyes on the road' (in chinese obviously).

Life in China is never dull

G x

So it's not just me...

I found this article an expat in China wrote and I agree with everything. Thankfully i haven't had to deal with noisy neighbours and barking dogs though....

number 8 - in my experience people just give you their children to take pictures with.

http://www.businessinsider.com/things-people-do-in-china-that-outsiders-find-crazy-2014-10?utm_content=buffer010f8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer


G x

First, let me take a selfie...

So people here seem to take photos of themselves everywhere!!!!! and I mean anywhere and everywhere - i'm not entirely sure the background matters. Either that or due to me not being local i'm taking pictures of the wrong things! Naturally this means that just about everyone here seems to be taking selfies. So the people of China (especially Hong Kong)  have found a way to make your selfies even better. They have found a way to overcome the 'my arm just isn't quite long enough' problem. Introducing the selfie stick!

They were everywhere! Be warned, someone is getting one of these for a present, its too great an idea not too!

I just felt that I had to share this life changing invention with the world.

If this thing doubled as a tripod it would become one of life's necessities!

G x

p.s. if you are wondering how they take the picture when you can't reach the screen you can also buy  a remote control - they have got it all covered!

Holidays are the best

So for our National Day holiday (which was 6 days long), Tom and I decided to go to Hong Kong and Shenzhen for a few days. We left our planning very last minute which meant we ended up staying in a very nice hotel in Hong Kong (but it sadly wasn't very teaching salary friendly) instead of the usual standard of hostel.

Our little holiday started with a nice scenic bus trip to Hong Kong with a chaotic detour past border control -I honestly hadn't realised we had to do that - its not quite the same as crossing the border between Scotland and England.

Since our trip was so last minute (not advised when the whole of China is on holiday at the same time) we hadn't made any plans for things to do - but we definitely managed to fill the days.

On Wednesday (day one), we arrived about 12pm and spent the afternoon exploring our surroundings. After walking around Hong Kong island a little bit we came across some marching bands who were joining in the protest that was happening in the Central part of the city. I counted nearly 200 musicians and their timing was impeccable. 

We decided to follow the protest...

The musicians (I can count, the other half are round the corner)

After that we went down to the waterside to take the obligatory photos, before taking the Star ferry across Victoria Bay -  a lovely little trip and just being in a boat made me happy. I also cleared the tourist office out of leaflets, so for any information on Hong Kong I am your girl!

Victoria Bay with one of the other Star ferrys 

The return trip as the sun was beginning to go down.

For dinner we met one of Tom's uni friends, Tanya, who afterwards showed us the Occupy Central protests

I was a bit nervous at the prospect of seeing the protests because my only sheltered experience of protests is the resulting riots that commonly ensue, which the whole world sees on the news. The Occupy Central protest was nothing like this. Everybody was very relaxed and purely sitting with their friends - simply put they were 'occupying' the space. The atmosphere was very calm but you could tell people felt quite strongly about the cause. When we walked through the crowds along the main road of Hong Kong - walking along a 4 carriage road full of people is a strange experience - we were offered yellow ribbons (yellow is the colour to show protest support), food and water. There were people with spray bottles to provide some cooling spray in the very humid air as well as people walking around with bin bags to collect all the rubbish. When people come to leave the protest site there will be no trace of them - all the rubbish is being collected and there is no damage. Protesters had set up volunteer first aid posts and lots of people were working very hard to make sure everybody was keeping healthy and we'll hydrated. The friendly, welcoming, but determined atmosphere was something I hadn't expected.

After our enlightening trip to the protests we headed for some free champagne at one of the pubs (they clearly know how to party in Hong Kong) - it was ladies night after all (and a national holiday) - before heading back to our very modern hotel ready for the next day of adventures.

Thursday started off with a trip to the History museum of Hong Kong. I liked this museum because it covered everything from the volcanic eruptions which formed Hong Kong right up to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China by Britain - no wonder it was 4 floors. It was definitely interesting to read more about the politics surrounding 1997 given the protests that we had seen the night before. The older history was good as well because naturally some it is relevant to the traditions and customs of mainland China.

After this we visited the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, but somehow ended up in Ikea for lunch beforehand (as you do). All the Buddhas are different, which is no mean feat given the sheer number of them - it does mean that they definitely don't resemble your stereotypical Buddha statue though. Sadly the views from the top weren't very inspiring but it was nice to see none the less. Something else to tick off on the tourist trail.

This one i've nicknamed 'sexy Buddha'

Some of the more unorthodox Buddhas - I'm not sure why they won't flip round to be the right way up but I just wanted to include them anyway.

I've decided to name him 'squat toilet face Buddha'

After our quick trek up and back down again we got straight back on the tube to central Hong Kong to take the tram up to the top of the Peak. The Peak is one of the many mountains surrounding Central Hong Kong which has an old tram up to the top - definitely a good tourist destination. We did forget that the entire world was still on holiday that day, even more so than usual due to the protesting, so the place was heaving to say the least. Sadly it wasn't a very clear day but the views were still pretty. We also got one of those audio tour things when we were up there so spent the rest of the day trading facts about Hong Kong with each other (i've completely forgotten them now). 

The Hong Kong skyline (on a foggy/smoggy/haary day - i'm not sure which it was)

Our final day was spent going to the very picturesque (and busy) Lantau island. This island is very popular with tourists due to the big Buddha on the top. It was also pretty popular with me - I really liked it. If I every find myself in Hong Kong for an extended period of time it would be great to spend a few days just walking around the island - all the hills and scenery would definitely keep you busy! To get to the Buddha on top of the hill the most popular mode of transport is by gondola - definitely something to recommend. There is a footpath that would take you to the top but it would take a long time - something we just didn't have. Once at the top we spent quite a lot of time just chilling out by the big Buddha, getting in the way of other tourist's pictures and putting the world to rights - despite there being lots of tourists it's a lovely environment. There was also some monastery buildings to wander round and a shop purely dedicated to selling chopsticks - turns out Tom and I have very different tastes in regards to our perfect chopsticks! Mine would be flowery and made of porcelain (could be hard to hold onto food) and his would be black wood with silver ends. I never knew there was so much choice.

The gondolas and Hong Kong airport in the background (i really need to see if I can sort out this picture orientation thing - they usually come out the right way).

The big Buddha up close

The big buddha from below

On our way back down we crashed into some of the other ELAs, Roberta (Bert) and Elisa who we didn't even know were in Hong Kong - so that was a nice surprise.  That made for a very happy and chatty reunion all the way back down on the gondola and back into central Hong Kong (via metro).

We finished off our day in Hong Kong by heading back to the border and negotiating border control - joys. 

I enjoyed our little tourist trip to Hong Kong - but it's very expensive on a Chinese teaching salary - from a UK point of view the cost is more or less the same as stuff at home I think. I think I got culture shock being in Hong Kong though - the difference of going from mainland China to Hong Kong messed with my head slightly I think.  Seeing all these other westerners and Chinese people speaking English pretty much flipped everything i've got used to in the last few weeks.

There were a few things we didn't get to see because of the protests. There were supposed to be fireworks on the 1st October to celebrate but they were cancelled (for obvious reasons). There was also supposed to have been a free concert on the Thursday night but that was also cancelled. One general tourist thing to forgot to go and see was the symphony of lights - it's a nightly light show on Victoria harbour - if we hadn't been in a queue to get back down we probably would have seen it from the Peak on the Thursday.

After our days in Hong Kong we decided to finish off our little trip in Shenzhen, the Chinese city which sits on the border with Hong Kong. Everyone seems to rave about Shenzhen, it was nice but I almost feel like we were in the wrong part or not doing the right things because to me it was just another city - it did have a lot of hotels and spas though!

After a slight mishap with our accommodation (the hostel didn't exist), we ended up staying in an alright hotel (which just so happened to be where the hostel was supposed to be - all very confusing).

After a lazy Saturday morning start - we needed it after our busy days, we did a little bit of exploring our surroundings. We found a lovely park in the middle of the city - definitely more natural than the one in Foshan. The culture trip continued with an afternoon in 2 museums - one was lots of modern art installations -  they had an art exhibition by artists from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China which was interesting. The second museum was a design museum on which had lots of costumes designers had made - definitely more my kind of art!

All the pretty lanterns left from national day

Boat on the top of a hotel - I really wanted to go and play pirates!

our street in Shenzhen was a looked a little bit like a Chinese Vegas!

On the final day of our holidays we treated ourselves to a Chinese massage - that woman had thumbs like rods of steel! I thought it was only going to last 45 mins, not 2 hours! I was genuinely lying there thinking 'i'm glad my 40 minute classes don't feel this long'.

G x

The Scotland Skirt

So basically my work here is done. Importantly I've taught my students what a Kilt is and what Tartan is, I've also been educating them on what beheading means as well as showing them a video on Morris dancing - it's been a very comprehensive week in my 'Clothing lessons'. So now that i've shown them a man in a Kilt and told them exactly what it's called, prior to this it was being referred to as the 'Scotland skirt'! I've also been telling them about tartan. I feel like my Scottish legacy is well underway - tourism Scotland should be paying me!

So as well as my students learning, my students have taught me something new this week. They have taught me that 'ya tao' is the Chinese word for braces (they featured in my lesson on clothing and accessories). Another word to add to my growing vocabulary list (not that I can actually remember any of it yet!).

I've quite enjoyed teaching  this week - possibly due to the fact that the students are all wearing the clothes we are talking about means I can use them as props which is always fun. Their terrified faces when I ask them to stand up to (because they are wearing the item of clothing we are talking about) is also quite funny. One girl took off her check patterned jacket because I kept referring to it (i'm not quite sure how she was wearing it in this heat in the first place...suffering for fashion).

Another class tried to tell me that a material that clothes are made of is leaves!! I wasn't entirely sure if they were serious to begin with or if it was actually a Chinese word instead of English. I eventually worked out that they were talking about their Chinese ancestors who made their clothes out of leaves - it was a fair point (I was quite impressed) but not quite what I was going for in terms of modern clothing.

Life here in China never fails to entertain.

G x