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

Differences between Hong Kong and mainland China

So The first thing I smelt when we stepped off the bus in Hong Kong was chips - I haven't smelt, let alone seen anyone eating chips whilst I've been in the Mainland! The kinds of food available in Hong Kong is one of the many major differences between there and the mainland. The food was much more heavily western influenced than the mainland - KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut is about as Western as they readily get here, whereas Hong Kong had just about every western chain going and a lot of restaurants had a western inspired chinese section on the menu. Saying that the restaurants here in the Mainland could have that but I wouldn't have a  clue because everything is in Chinese!

That was definitely a welcome difference on our little holiday - knowing what we were ordering and being able to read the signs (even though I'm still enjoying the food lottery). Most people in Hong Kong also speak English - the national languages in Home Kong are Chinese and English - life was very easy for the last few days! The minute we crossed the border back into mainland China no one could speak a word of English (no word of a lie). It was funny though because our almost habitual attempts to speak mandarin were completely wasted because they didn't seem to have a clue - this is supposed to be their national language now. The south of China (where I am) is cantonese speaking country but everyone can also understand and talk mandarin - but then they have been using it longer than they have in Hong Kong.

I'd forgotten, before we went to Hong Kong, that none of the signs here in the Mainland are actually in English, only Pinyin (which is the romanisation of Chinese characters) and even then that's only mostly the road signs - tourist information maps are a no go and to males matters harder they aren't even orientated the right way! If you're lucky, public announcements come in English!

The cost of living is much much higher in Hong Kong than it is in the Mainland - something I didn't expect to such a degree. The average meal price would be about 60hkd (about 55rmb) whereas the average meal price in Foshan is about 15rmb - so not such a teachering salary budget friendly place! I think the cost of living is closer to the cost of the UK than Mainland China - but still slightly cheaper if you are going on holiday there, most things would seem like a bargain. Except alcohol (that stuff is pricey) I payed 60hkd for a glass of wine! I haven't had wine since I arrived here though so it was money well spent.

People in Hong Kong have a much more western body shape than their mainland neighbours aka they are a bit fatter. This is by no means saying that Hong Kongers are fat because they aren't, but I think it's definitely got a lot to do with the easy access to fast food (we walked past a kiosk purely selling chips and what looked like a million different topping choices).

The Chinese population of Hong Kong also look different to the population of the mainland, in the same way that British people look subtly different to continental Europeans. But we did learn at the history museum that Hong Kongers are decended from the Your people and the majority of Chinese are decended from the Han people in the north.

Religion is legal and embraced in Hong Kong, whereas preaching, or even  education for that matter, of any religion is illegal in the Mainland. I hadn't realised this difference until we passed an outdoor sermon at the Occupy Central protest - I genuinely had a nervous look around for the police.

Protesting is also something that wouldn't and couldn't happen on the mainland - that alone shows you how different the culture is in Hong Kong.

Cars also drive on the left there, here in the Mainland they drive on the right.

People queue in an orderly fashion for things is Hong Kong - Tom and I regularly had to reign in our new chinese style of queuing habit a.k.a ignore the end of the line and stand wherever the hell you want.
Queuing on the right side of underground escalators was great it means you can actually get past inside of someone causing a back log because they just fancied stopping half way up next to an old man. I did hear that they were promoting that habit on the underground in shenzhen yesterday but not surprisingly that was ignored.

Spitting does not happen in Hong Kong - its seen a revolting (which it is) whereas everyone spits everywhere I'm the mainland; this includes hotel foyers, corridors, carpets, indoors outdoors - whenever the mood takes them!

Western toilets (with toilet roll and soap) are everywhere here - definitely a pleasant surprise as I braced myself to use the ones in the shopping mall the day we arrived!

The prevalence of western toilets could be due to the sheer numbers of westerners in Hong Kong - I saw more non-chinese people in the first hour in Hong Kong than I have in the entire time I've been in the Mainland (Beijing included). It's funny though, you don't feel particularly unique when there's so many other people that look similar to you and no one is stopping and staring or trying to take a sneaky picture (a women in Foshan nearly crashed her car the other day because she was so shocked to see me crossing the road!)

I genuinely never thought that within 500m (between border controls) there could be so much difference within one country! I would have expected more obvious differences between Beijing and Guangdong due to the distance but mind is slightly blown by the differences between Hong Kong and Shenzhen - the unfluence of British Colonisation is very evident everywhere.

It's not only a case on one country, two systems but a case of one country, two cultures.

G x