Dragon Boat Festival

This weekend is the National Dragon Boat Festival, which means another holiday weekend for the people of China. While we had hoped to see some of the traditional dragon boat racing, which only happens in southern China, we had to settle for holiday atmosphere and the traditional decorations. Apparently there is no racing this weekend, it's happening at a different time but we did see some dragon boats and their crews doing a little parade down a narrow river (some expert steering was required) so that kept me happy. During this festival it is traditional to eat Zong Zi, which is sticky rice cooked in bamboo leaves but after our lunch of duck, noodles and fried rice I was too full to contemplate anything else which is slightly disappointing on the cultural front but not the end of the world. This is my very last weekend in Foshan so it was nice to spend it with friends and witness an important event in the Chinese calendar. I think i've managed to see all the Chinese festivals his year which isn't bad going really.

Our final group photo

After my little bit of culture I headed home to pack all my worldy goods into my big black suitcase ready for the journey home. Its going to be hard leaving my little corner of China tomorrow. We've had some good times and I'm going to be sad to shut the door for the last time...

G x

My last week

So this week has been very strange. I've spent a lot of it feeling slightly lost, I had no lesson planning to do which has given me lots of extra time (perhaps too much) to ponder what the future holds now that I am officially unemployed. My happy little China bubble is very much about to burst.

However, it has been a good week. The 2nd year English teachers took us out for a farewell lunch on Tuesday which was delicious. I've also had some lovely letters and thoughtful little notes from my pupils which has been a very touching sentiment, but it may all be because I gave them sweets and all the British themed mementos I brought will me. In which case 'Operation: Gillian is a wonderful teacher' was a success. I've also featured in more selfies this week than I have in my entire life, i'm sure they'll be firing into my inbox over the next few weeks which will be a lovely momento. Slightly frustratingly all the classes who I feel like i've been fighting to teach all year were very well behaved and seemed sad that I was leaving, I only wish they'd shown those feelings throughout the year and I might have fonder memories of them!

One of the pictures drawn of me - I'm very impressed.

And some of the pictures that have been sent to me

Me, mid gift give- away, trying to explain who Nessie is

I think I nearly concussed a few people launching sweets into the class...

I've definitely felt the love this week...

G x

Living the high life

Last weekend, as it was our final weekend together we decided to do something a bit different.

After an afternoon of tourist shopping at various locations around Guangzhou, including the Changshou Lu jade market street, Beijing Lu and Haizhu Square, we headed to Social & Co for a very western dinner, falafel and roast potatoes were too good and opportunity to miss. I think it's the only place I've eaten this year where there was absolutely no Chinese people there and it was very strange, it felt like cheating on the experience of living in China. But the food was good so I'll let myself off with it this time.

After dinner, we headed to the IFC building for a drink at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was too good an opportunity to miss when their Tian bar is on the 99th floor. As I haven't been up the famous Canton Tower this year I hadn't had the opportunity to see the vast expanse of Guangzhou from a height. The city is pretty impressive when it's all lit up at night and looks never ending.

Admiring the skyline is definitely the best way to enjoy drinks

 The Canton Tower

G x

Classroom antics

We after all this time I'm no stranger to the sometimes bizarre and always unexpected extracurricular activities that pop up in Chinese classrooms but recently the strange activities seemed to have reached an all time high.

For instance the dwarf hamster (happily snuggled up in it's cage) that was produced, mid lesson, from under one of my pupils' desks one day. Obviously this distracted me ever so slightly and when I asked her why she had her pet with her response to me was "be quiet you'll wake it up". That was me told, but it didn't really didn't answer my question, especially when another pupil announced that they aren't allowed pets in school! On the plus side that class now all know what a hamster is. Definitely more successful than the time I tried to explain what a hedgehog was with a blackboard drawing that ended up looking like a beaver had run into a wall. Drawing is not my talent, as my pupils have learnt on various occasions throughout the year. Mind you my drawings of fireplaces and lighthouses have been quite successful in comparison! Inanimate objects are obviously my strength.

There has also been an empty wine bottle sitting on the windowsill in one of the classrooms, how I got there I can't even imagine...

Handy crafts also seem a popular classroom past-time, amoungst them there has been a girl doing a celebrity cross-stitch using neon thread (i'm not sure that would make anyone look good), a boy building a battleship - I didn't even notice until I started getting slightly over-excited off the glue fumes - and origami is also a popular one. I also walk into classrooms and there are regularly various picnics happening: full blown meals requiring chopsticks, fruits being chopped and peeled with knives and posh European chocolate are often being quaffed in the 10 minute break. It doesn't half stink up the classrooms.

One of the most bizarre things I regularly have to stop are girls attempting to cut their own hair mid- lesson. Why they do this I have no idea.

G x

An afternoon of eating

On Thursday afternoon Tom and I were treated to an afternoon out in Guangzhou by one of Tom's pupils, which was very kind of her. In true Chinese style this turned into an afternoon of eating our way around Guangzhou, which was good because she showed us lots of different foods to try that we hadn't seen/dared to try before. Amoungst the foods she plied us with was various types of offal on sticks more puddings than was ever needed for 4 people and fresh fruit slushes. The fresh fruit slushes were definitely my favourite, the offal not so much...

G x

Gao Kao weekend

So this weekend I had extra days off for the Gao Kao exam. This exam is deemed to be the most important in the life of a Chinese high school pupil because it determines whether or not they are good enough to go to university. With millions of final year students (about 18 years old) competing for the same university spots they are put under a lot of pressure to perform well.

In order to give them the best chance schools close to anyone who isn't taking the exam, this includes all non-third year teachers, who all get a nice 5 day holiday out of it. Result!

So as I'm down to my final few weekends here I decided to make the most of it. While my Friday was spent being very studious and domestic -complete with another early am cockroach attack - my Saturday was much more energetic. I finally managed to climb Baiyun (white cloud) mountain, in Guangzhou and we weren't defeated by the weather! After a slightly shaky start of the navigation front we (Imti and I) made it to the top for some lovely, if fairly smoggy, views over a beautifully sunny Guangzhou and rewarded ourselves with some fruity ice lollies, which tasted amazing in our slightly dehydrated state, before strolling through the park and taking the cable back down (just because we could). Afterwards we refueled with some tasty dim sum, one of the dishes was decorated to look like pandas, before heading home just in time for the rain to start again.

Smoggy scenes of Guangzhou from Baiyun Mountain

Our Dim sum - we'd eaten most of it by this point

On Sunday, as I had to be in Hong Kong for Monday morning I decided to detour past Macau on my way there, as despite how close it is too me 3.5 hours by bus, I had never been. Macau is a former Portuguese colony so the architecture and cuisine are very much Portugal meets China. Overall my day there only really amounted to about 8 hours in the city but it was plenty of time for me to hit the popular tourist spots and do plenty of walking. I'm going back to work on Wednesday for a rest! The buildings and cobbled streets in the city, which all form a UNESCO world heritage site, are very pretty, it reminded me a bit of France, especially Lyon, I think it was all the coloured buildings and cathedrals. I haven't been to Portugal so I don't know how that compares! Whilst I went to the city to look at the pretty buildings and sample the famous Macau Portuguese tarts a lot of people, especially the Chinese, go there to try their luck in one of the 32 casinos in the area. I read that 85% of the gamblers and 95% of the high rollers are Chinese. It would seem that this definitely is China's playground.

The money that the city makes from these big spenders is definitely evident, especially in the gaudy casino buildings themselves - one is shaped like a squat pineapple - but it's also clear that the city looks after itself. All the old buildings are in pristine condition, the city is tidy and the public transport is really good, there is even free public wifi coverage over most of the area which always comes in handy. Overall I liked Macau, it's a feast for the senses after being surrounded by Chinese buildings for the last year, but because its not that big it would only take a day or two so feel like you'd seen and done everything it has to offer. At least though you can then pop over to Hong Kong on the speedy ferry that only takes an hour!

Some pictures from around Macau

So after my speedy, though rather bumpy ride to Hong Kong (I'm not sure why tight cornering and boy racer-esk driving is required in the middle of the sea but what do I know) my planned two day Hing Kong itinerary was cut short with me having a strop after a visit to the Chinese visa office. The long and the short of that story is that I'm now going to be back on British soil on the 30th June and not the 7th as previously planned. It does mean I'll have to miss the Sichuan part of my planned Beijing bound itinerary but this was involves a lot less stress and (most probably) silent hissy-fits in the streets of Hong Kong.

G x