I'm taisty... Are you bitey?

The boys have taken a liking to the name 'meow' & whenever our Chinese names are mentioned, they all go 'meow!' to me. So it would seem I am not a sighing piece of rice but a cat sound instead... wow, life here is just getting better & better!

We also had a sad moment this week. We got given a new fish by Caroline which looked like it was dying to me from the start, but we named him Kim Jong Il after the Korean leader as he was all black. He died last night. He was a creepy fish though, flaking which was just plain gross so I wasn't that sad to see him go!

Also, we've found luxuries in Walmart such as cheese & pringles! But cheese only seems to come in two varieties, 'taisty' or 'bitey' which makes me laugh. I prefer bitey personally, but others seem to like taisty. It causes great conflict as you can imagine!

Shui Yang Middle School - shoot me!







Man, Shui Yang sucked this week. Andy & I were under the impression that we would have the seem classes every week at Shui Yang & so we would get to build more of a repour with our students. But when we showed up with Bain & Nakata, our assistants, on Wed, we found that we were teaching different students again! He was teaching the classes that I had taught the week before & vice versa. We weren't happy.



We also didn't really get on with each other's classes which didn't help. For example, one of my original students actually threw something at him, for in China is very out of character! They are usually so timid & polite! Similarly, my 7th & final class of the day just didn't gel well with me. I had one girl, who admitedly,her English was far better than anyone else's in the class but she kept shouting at me, 'this is boring,' 'I'm bored,' which just irritated me more than anything as I have to cater to those in the class of the lowest level to make sure they are on board. However, this week coming, I'm putting a lot more effort into my lesson plan just to shut her up!



That being said, Andy & I complained when we got back that we wanted to return to our original classes for good so that's what we're doing which is good.



They are funny though! Their school bell is actually a little tune which is played over the sound system & twice a day they have to do eye exercises! Apparently because they work so hard here, they have to keep their eyes in good condition... sounds a bit odd to me!

Woohoo! We have a social life in Wuhu!

The social life here is beginning to pick up somewhat as we're finding more bars & places to hang out which makes me happy! Last weekend, we were in Bar 8 (one of our more chilled hangouts) playing pool & a Chinese girl wanders through the door. She makes a beeline for Andy & just wouldn't leave him alone; this aroused our suspicions & we also began to find it quite entertaining as we watched Andy squirm!

We came to the conclusion that she was a hooker - which is very illegal here & could end up with the death pentalty if you're found to be 'working the streets' - especially after she complimented Andy's "tall nose". She also kept commenting on his "big muscles" which we all found highly amusing as, to be polite, Andy resembles a twig! There's now a sign, compliments of Neil & I, on his door reading "tall nose" in Chinese characters!

We've also found Club 1001 - 'the best club in Wuhu'. It's gotta be said, there isn't a lot of compotition for it! But it is good fun. There's a bouncy dance floor! Admitedly, it's actually very hard to dance on as if you dance out of rhythm with the floor, you go flying as though you've double bounced on a trampampoline, as I found out when I went flying into a group of Chinese guys - eek! I was like 'eeeeew' as all their eyes lit up as they'd 'touched the Westerner!' Neil wasn't so impressed as Habby & I attracted a lot of male attention (again, a bit creepy) & we went to get some water at one point leaving him & Andy & they looked around to see three rows of guys surrounding them. In their words, "we felt a bit gay!"

The dancing technique here is, ummm, interesting! You plant your feet firmly on the ground & rock violently from side to side, sometimes singing your head so that your hair wacks everyone within the space around you. Unusual, I think you'll agree. Habby & I didn't really know what to do as if we'd danced like we normally would, we would have looked really out of place... what am I saying, sorry, I meant, more out place than usual (!) but we didn't really want to 'rock violently' so we struck a happy medium.

We also won't be forgotten by the barman at 1001 as we ordered tequilla shots & were banging them on the bar as you do & then shooting them back. The barman's face was a picture! I'm not sure they've ever seen anyone even drink more than a few beers (which in China is only 2.8% & thus more like drinking sour water) let alone down tequllia shots! Andy hadn't been well the few days before & so was not up for shots. But we'd already bought them, so, not liking to see alcohol go to waist, Neil picks them up, pours them in one glass & downs it. I honestly thought the barman was going to drop dead there & then from the look on his face - it seemed like a cross between awe & sheer horror!

Habby also took photos of the singer at the club who then came over to us as he wanted to check they were ok or something. Then starts talking to Patrick in Cantonese & wanted me to dance with him. It was so embarassing! In the end, he was very persistant & so I didn't really have much choice. But it was quite odd; dancing was at arms length, holding hands. I felt like I was back in year 7! I wasn't complaining mind, it meant that it was all very innocent & safe! He also then got up to sing again & dedicated a song to me. *cringe* We left shortly after...

Half way through the night however, it was quite strange, they stopped the music & started playing the card game, suck & blow! They just pulled a couple of people out of the crowed, one of which was Habby who won 15 free entries into the club. Very strange entertainment for a club we thought!

Caroline's birthday

We all had to go out for another company dinner on Sunday night as it was Caroline's birthday. Fun fun fun! There was a really down mood in the office all day, all the staff, the assistants, even us wai gou ren (foreigners) were not looking forward to it. Then we realised it was a free meal with free booze... our spirits picked up a bit then but not a whole lot!

On the up side, it wasn't another 'come speak to this person so we can show you off to the local businesses' meal, it was truely just a staff dinner which was a relief. It was quite bizarre though as foreigners were on one table, staff on another, assistants on their table with volunteer teachers & then 'top table' if you will with Caroline etc. We had a laugh in the end though, & the meal was actually very nice. Much closer to what you would find at home - which we found odd in a way!

The 'wai gou ren table' were the only ones drinking beer (of course) & Bain, one of our assistants, we have discovered likes a tipple. So we took advantage of this & kept reaching over to his table with a bottle of beer for him. The others wouldn't drink, but slowly, we got Elly drinking beer as well, then Nakata & slowly but surely they all followed suit. Was highly amusing as they don't usualy drink at all so as you can imagine they are rather the light weights, bless them!

Afterwards, we persauded them to come out with us to Bar 8 & we all ordered alcohol, but the only way we could get them to come out was if we said they didn't have to drink... once we got to Bar 8, Neil ordered a bottle of tequilla & well, they all joined in eventually! It was quite the experience for them; we showed them how its done & opened their eyes to the world of drinking!

We got Nakata doing drinking games (which we were all pretty surprised at) & the girls wanted me to teach them how to dance which I just found funny as I'm not exactly an expert. As I have said, however, here I seem like a great dancer! They were funny though, they tried on my heels & could barely stand up let alone walk! Girls here just don't wear heals that are very high or that are little more than a wedge so as you can imagine, my 2 1/2 inch skinny heels were a trial for them!

I got a text from Elly when they had got home saying, "thank you so much, we are happy. We had much fun," which I thought was very sweet. They had to leave at 9:15 as the university gates shut at 9:30pm (!!!) and so they were worried they already would have missed the curfew! We were all a bit shocked by this custom as it's quite different to home!

Golden Week - Tibet & X'ian

The week of Oct 1st - 7th is our week off as it is a National Holiday here: Golden Week. Habby, Andy, Patrick & I have booked to go to Tibet for a few days, stopping of at X'ian to see the Terrocotta Warriors for a day or two on the way. We're all very excited. We're going by train which will take 3 days but it's a very modern train which is good (with Western toilets!!) & it will allow us to see a lot more of the countryside on the way & way back.

I niavely asked, "will the train have a shower on it?" Everyone just laughed at me. So that will be lovely... sponge baths in the bathroom it is then!

Neil was dafter though as he asked, "what are the Terrocotta Warriors made of?" We all just looked at him in disbelief it that needed explaining!

So we leave on Friday, Sep 28th & return October 7th I think. Obviously that means my blog entry will be a bit late & also that I won't be able to access emails for a week. There will be lots of photos which I'll put up for everyone to see.

I'm a Piece of Sighing Rice...

Well it's been a bit of a crappy weekend really. as I've not been very well. I've come to the conclusion it must have been food poisoning which is just delightful! I'm feeling much better today thank god, but then again I've barely eaten anything for 2 days so I should hope so! (Those of you who know me well will know that I must have been ill if I wasn't eating!!)


Medical College


As I explained last week, I only see the same class every 2 months at Medical College despite teaching multiple classes from the same year every week (thus showing how many students there are)! One upside to this is minimul lesson planning as I can just do the same lesson plan again & again & again. However, this is getting very boring after only one week.


We start every lesson with a 'question & answer' session about myself, England, etc. If someone else asks me, "do you like China," "do you like Chinese food" or "do you have a boyfriend" I might scream! What they class as an impolite question is different here & so we've all developed a persona for teaching, for example, Neil has suddenly aged 7 years & I have found myself a boyfriend who lives in England! I made the mistake of answering that I was single in my first class & then the questions of, why not & do you like Chinese men followed & so it's just easier if I answer 'yes' as that prevents further questions on the matter!


The question of age is a tricky one for me as well. Many of my students are older than me due to the fact that they are at Uni already. Obviously, Neil looks older than 18 & so he can get round this easly but I have had to resort to telling them that 'it's rude to ask a woman her age in England & so my age is a secret'. Apparently Chinese people can't tell Westerners' ages so that sort of helps my case.


Shui Yang Middle School


This one's the killer - up at 5am on a Wednesday to take the hour and a half car journey to Shui Yang. We leave here beore 7am to arrive for our first class at 8:40am. Andy & I both work there on Wed's & both take a Chinese assisstant - usually Nakata & Bain (pronounced Ben). We teach 6 or 7 lessons each - all the same lesson plan of course as they are all in the same year - of 14-18 year olds and then set back off to Wuhu, through the paddy fields & pot holes, not arriving home untill around 7pm. It's a long day.


Some of them are very shy though. I played a game with my students where they had to take however much toilet role they would normally use when they go to the bathroom - which of course got them all giggling & the boys were taking reems of the stuff trying to be funny - & then I tell them that how ever many sheet they have is how many things they have to tell me about themself in English - their faces dropped at this! The boys were all trying to hide their loo role in their desks & stuff which made everyone laugh. So the lesson went well, but some of the students, particuarly the boys, could barely even tell me their names because they were that shy & physically shaking when I asked them to stand up. I'm hoping this will improve as they get to know me better as I see the same classes every week at Shui Yang which is nice.


Was quite bizarre in a way though; as I walked into each classroom, I received a round of applause merely by showing up! I ham up the 'Westerner tthing' as well in order to try & get them on side & make them laugh, for example, I tell them I'm rubbish with chopsticks & things which isn't entirely true, but it makes them laugh which is the aim!


Lunch was very odd at Shui Yang as , as the special geusts, we were taken to a private room & given the local specialities... eek!! actually, it could have been a lot worse, as it happened, only one thing which looked to me like a mini carcus broken into smaller pieces was very difficult to eat, everything else was ok. Thank god! They get very offended here if you don't eat the food they prepare for you which, as most of you can probably imagine, could become very awkward for me!

Chinese Lessons


We started our Chinese lessons last week which are intense to say the least! We (Andy, Neil & I)sit for three hours learning Chinese which is difficult anyway, but keeping your concentration going for that long is tough! It's very much the Chinese way of teaching as well, which is fair enough, but makes it harder for me to get to grips with the language as it's more parot fashion learning than understanding & applying as it is at home. Yesterday, we persauded our Chinese teacher, Rebecca, to have our lesson in a cafe (which sells good waffles!!) so that we could learn how to order food etc. In reality, we just wanted waffles but the fib worked, tee hee! I actually had to leave early as after only a melon juice I thought I was going to be sick, but other than that the lesson was good!


Chinese Name


Our names are a bit crap which is a shame as Chinese names usually have a meaning & link with what you are like as a person, etc. However, Linda, who gave us our names, hates her job & so my theory is that she siomply couldn't be bothered to think of a proper name for us & so just translated our English names into Chinese characters. So, my name 'Ai' "Mie" means 'sigh' & 'rice' so I am a sighing piece of rice. Great.


That being said, Rebecca in my lesson said that she thought the character meant 'meow' so who knows! Maybe I'm not a piece of rice but actually a cat sound - it's getting better & better!

I was really disappointed as I had wanted a proper Chinese name & Melissa, who we live with, said they were rubbish too as she usually picks the names as she knows the foreigners best due to living with them but Linda was doing the business cards & therefore said she'd do it. Nevermind.


The New Arrival - And then there were 7

Hardeep (known as Habby) arrived late on Saturday night when I'd only been asleep about 30mins as I wasn't feeling overly well. She stomped through the back door (very close to my) banged the door, shouted about the amount of stairs... I didn't warm to her all that much on Saturday night!

Neil was also up & so the two of us sat & chatted to her into the wee hours of the morning (4:30am). I tried to go to bed at one point but the stomach cramps would not allow it so I gave up & went back to chatting. She's also a smoker which isn't great as on the first night she smoked on our balcony, on which I had clean clothes drying. I wasn't impressed. However, today she apologised & realised it was a daft idea & smokes in the stair way now so hereah!

Our rooms are joined & untill now, I've have a quiet room with a private balcony. As you can see on the picture of my room below, there is a brown wall on the right. This is pretty much just MDF & this is the partition between our rooms, same between Andy & Neil's who share a balcony as well. This means that if we drop a pin we can pretty much hear it in the other person's room. Ok, slight exageration, but you see where I'm going with this!

Habby is quite a character. She's very loud & 'in your face' but we're similar in that we're girlie, like our hair to look nice & Habby even brought a bigger suitcase than me!! So the boys might stop taking the micky now... pigs might fly.

In Closing

Melissa & Shining are cooking us a Chinese meal tonight, so that will be nice. I get on with Melissa really well. She's 23 (22 English age - in China you are already 1 year old when you are born) & we may be starting a Latin Dance class together which will be cool.

Speak to you all soon; I felt quite homesick on Sunday for everyone as I wasn't well & just thought how much easier it would be if I was home! But I'm feeling better today.

Missing nights out with the girls... actually, just missing nights out & the girls in general!!

Love to all xx

Only 5 Days of Training

These are the 118 steps (12 flights of stairs) that we must climb every day to get to Aston School. There is also a back staircase which we use when the front door is locked in the evenings, and that only has 112. This is what happens when there is no TV... we count stairs!

This is the view from the living room. I eat breakfast looking at this... very picturesque I'm sure you'll agree. Not. This morning I was certain I heard a distressed dog... that was probably tonight's dinner for someone!!

This is my room (before it got all cluttered up with papers, files, pens, etc etc etc). All the rooms have the same format. Through the door on the left is a nice enclosed balcony which I like to stand on & watch the world go by. When I was jetlagged, I stood out there for an hour at 5am... I was shocked at how many people were up & about! And by 6am the horns had started again. Surprise surprise.

Behind the wooden door frame on the right of the picture is my closet space. It's ok, but to be honest, no closet space is ever enough for me!

This is our living room with our lovely orange sofas. They're new you know. Caroline bought them especially for the new term... at least they brighten the place up!

You can see a small breakfast/dinning table in the backgroud & the TV & DVD player are on the right (not pictured). It's nice that there is somewhere we can all hangout, but sometimes it seems like if the Westerners are in there, the Chinese staff don't come in. Sometimes the do, but not always. And if they're watching something in Chinese they are so apologetic as though there is something else in English we could be watching. It's interesting how different Caroline treats the Chinese & foreign staff; we are quite clearly treated better. Sadly, it would seem that she feels she can replace them easily & therefore can treat them how she wants. Which from hearing her shouting in Chinese in the office, isn't always particuarly nicely.

These are our fish. They were here when we arrived but they didn't have names & so we have adopted them. We named them Mao & Bush (the red one is Mao of course).

When we asked Caroline who fed them she said she didn't know but apparently they were fed rice!! "Chinese fish eat rice" we were told. So we trooped down to the market to buy some fishfood for them & have basically taken them under our wing, saving them from the crazy Caroline!


Training

On Wed, we started our 5 days of training. We observed teachers here such as Pavlina (from the Czech Republic) teaching different age groups. She was very helpful, told us good lesson plans, how to handle a class, etc, etc.

On Thu, I taught my first class - it was only a practice, but it was a real class, so technically, you could argue it was a real class - anyway! It was at the Business College at Anhui Uni (look right); it went well thank god!

It's quite strange teaching as you'll suddenly see a camera phone pop up out of the corner of your eye which can be a bit un-nerving! At the end of my lesson, three students timidly came up to me, held up their phone & asked, "do you mind?" I said no & they were so excited! They crowded round me smiling & doing peace signs. It was all a bit sureal! For many of the students, it is the first time they have seen a foreigner so they get very excited.

I was the last one up to teach & the other Westerners observed our classes & gave us feedback at the end of the class, so that made it more nerve racking. I was shaking to begin with but quickly got it under control & then got into the swing of it. Andy said I seemed like a natural, really comfortable in front of a class - turns out I'm like my mom in even more ways than people at home tell me!

The hardest part is speaking slow enough for them to understand - I feel as though I'm treating them like thickies my talking so slowly, but it is the only way they can fully catch what I'm trying to say. Also, trying not to fill my speech with slang, British phrases, long & complicated words - and this is for the Uni students! Also, they are so shy and reserved that it can be hard to get them to speak; this i simply find frustrating though it varies from class to class.

On Friday, Andy, Neil & I went to the local car company, Chery Cars, & had an informal session with some of the employees there. We call this English Corner & it is just so that they are reguarly speaking English & able t practice more easily. I didn't like this at all. They were painfully shy - even more than the students - & when you did finally get them to speak, they giggled like 16 year old school girls. 30 & 40 year old men giggling! We were all a bit taken aback!

The boss made me feel very uncomfortable though; he said in Chinese to Linda, the Chinese teacher who came with us, that he wanted to talk to me because I 'was beautiful'. I was mortified! Andy & Neil were laughing becuase my cheeks were the same colour as my top! What made it worse was that as he sat across from me, I felt his eyes drifting down which was horrible! I found myself leaning against the table with my arms crossed completely over my chest so that I was totaly unvisable!

I find the attitudes towards women very difficult here. In the bar we went to last week, the owner came & shook all the guys' hands & totally blanked me. At the time, I felt a tad insulted at this, however, now I'm thinking that that is easier to deal with than feeling as though I'm a piece of meat for the taking! Eek!

Out & About

For the beginning of the week, we mainly went out as a crew of foreigners as we didn't really know where we were going & stuff. However, yesterday, I went out on my own to buy stationary supplies & what not from Century Mart (the biggest supermarket in Wuhu). I was happily walking down Walking Street (the main shopping street here) listening to my iPod when a girl falls into step beside me. I turn & look at her, somewhat bemused by her behaviour, & she shouts "hello!" in a very excited manor! I took out my earphones & said, "hello" feeling a little bit unnerved. She basically, was trying to sell me her product which was photos & wanted to practice her English. She seemed excited by the prospect of selling to one of the few Westeners in Wuhu, though I was not so keen as I knew that if I let them, my face would be plastered all over their posters as the Westerner!! I tried everything to get away, feinged I had a class to get back to, but then she merely became more excited because I was a teacher & so could test her English better! She ushered me into the tent, practically taking my hand & dragging me in, sat me down & sowed me all the books of photos. In the end I just got up & quickly said, I'm really sorry, I have a class, I really have to go. She gave me her name & number, offered me Chinese lessons, asked me to call her. I'm sure she was only being polite & was excied by the chance to teach a Westener but I was like, "errr, thank you..." Run Away!!!

This is Restaurant St or, Pheonix St. It is literally lined with Restaurants from one end to the other & when we're in doubt of where to eat, we go here. Sorry it's a bit blury, but it was beginning to rain & we wanted to get in doors before it down poured! (NB: crazy taxi, bottom left, shooting down what in Britain would be a pedestrianised street. Hmmm...)

Western Food!

We caved on Thu night - Patricia, an American lady who works here, had given us a talk about teaching here but it sort of turned into a 'how to survive Wuhu' talk! She told us of a few places which were good hang outs where the few Westerners go and stuff. We came back to the living room & Russell said, "I'm thinking it may have to be F.Y.Old Tree tonight". This is the restaurant that sells steak. I was so happy! I wasn't sure I could face rice for another night!

The steak probably was't that great to be honest, but damn it tasted good! They were so funny the staff; we were trying to explain that we wanted fries with our steaks & they said, "but set menu, it's a set menu". We gave up in the end thinking we weren't getting through.

When the meal arrived, little baskets of fries arrived as well which surprised us. We laughed & said, wouldn't it be funny if they had run out to McDonald's... & low & behold, they were Maccy D's fries!! Well, they tasted very like them anyway. We felt quite bad, but to be honest, we didn't care we were that happy!

The restaurant itself reminded me of a hareem... not that I've ever been in a hareem... anyway! It had huge padded booth seats with tons of cusions, fake ivy around the ceiling, big drapes in the windows with like, a whispy netting thing. Comfy, but a bit odd!

Similarly, tonight I cooked pasta which I then had to eat using chopsticks as we have no cutlery. And interesting, sloppy experience which has ended up in a top cover with pasta sauce! *sigh*

Nights Out In Wuhu...

On Saturday, by the time we had finished training & relaxed & were ready to maybe go out for dinner, none of us could really be bothered. So we went to Century Mart to buy something & bring it back to cook. So, my Sat night was speant buying groceries... not quite my idea of fun!

At Aston Language School (where I'm working) Monday is the day off, however, as we do weekend language classes. So Sunday night is more of the social night. Nevertheless, last night we had the 'Aston Welcome Party'. We went to Caroline's restaurant (this women has a finger in everything it would seem) & all the school staff & some representatives from the businesses we teach came as well. Now, in theory, this was a nice idea. In reality, as the Westerners we kept being dragged off to speak to various different people from different places. We would just sit down again & then Linda would come drag us off to a different group of people. It was, how can I put this... an interesting evening. I had one very awkward question from a man who works at Chery; "what do you think of the one child policy". We have been told that we should avoid all political topics, religion or sex when teaching or chatting to Chinese people as it could get us into hot water. This was difficult to avoid when he was so direct! I ended up sitting happily on the fence replying something along the lines of, "I understand why it is necessary, but I do not know if it is fair".

Thankfully, Andy & Shining (one of the Chinese teachers) popped their heads over the table & said, "do you wanna get out of here". Yes! I didn't realise we were going to 'KTV' - Kareoke. At home, with my friends, and a substantial amount of alcohol, I would happily grab the mic, however, we had a private room & it was very intimidating! Andy kindly chose the song "Barbie Girl" for me & thrust the mic into my hands then & I was forced to sing. That one I took the piss with - what else can you do with that song! Later, they chose Avril Lavigne for me, handed me the mic again & I showed them what I can really do - they were all a bit surprised! tee hee! However, now they'll probably make me stand up & sing every time now. Hmm... not so good.

This is Mirror Lake by night which we pass pretty much every day to get to & from places. It's very pretty with pedelos (which we are yet to try out) on it by day. Hope the photo is clear enough!

Last night, we stopped off at a little square to play on the hover craft style bumper cars. They were brilliant fun but sadly no photos as the lady didn't give me a chance busimply shouted at me in Chinese the instructions on how it worked. As you can imagine, this was very helpful!

This is the view of Mirror Lake from my balcony - sadly partly blocked by the Bank of China building - which has only been renevated on the side that faces the road, so it really is quite a shabby view from my side!

Monday mornings? No, Wednesday is the bain on my life!

I got my timetable on Saturday. I teach at the Medical College at Anhui Uni on Monday mornings for one lesson and Tuesday for three lessons. I also teach at a rural middle school outside of Wuhu called Shui Yang.

I taught at the Medical College this morning - up around 6am as we had to leave Aston at 7:30am in order to get to my 8am class. *cringe* On Tuesdays, it's an 8:40am start, but on Wednesdays, I have to be up at 5am because we have to leave Aston before 7am to get to the middle school in time! 5AM!!! This time doesn't exist on my watch!

We get a Chinese teaching assisstant so that if the class really have no idea what we are saying in English, they can translate for us. We get an assistant at the Uni's for the first week but then we are on our own - eek! At the middle school, however, we always take an assisstant as their level of English is simply not up to lessons in full English.

There are 6 new assisstants at Aston who started this week from the Business College we taught at last week. They were laughing at me yesterday as I was in the office & Wendy said to me, "Bainma is your assisstant tomorrow & he will meet you downstairs at 7:30am" & I went, "pardon!?" Bainma rang me at 7:15 this morning to make sure I was awake! This made me laugh.

I've found normal English caffinated tea though - so I'm ok, I can get up in the mornings! I like Chinese tea, but the lack of caffine is no good for me in the mornings!

My class went well this morning. The Medical Students' English is reasonably good so Bainma really didn't have to do anything. He sat & read his newspaper! The weird thing about the Medical College is that we only see the same class once every two months. Instead, I teach 5 different classes of 50 - 60 2nd year students a week the same lesson plan - that is how many students there are!

Questions

some of you had some questions when you replied to the last post. In answer to "do parents clean up after the kids" - I saw this the other day, somewhat of a surprising site! But it would seem that they make the toddlers squat over the drains. So cleaning up isn't really an issue.

And so it begins...

Neehow!

Well, I'm here, believe it or not. I know it's all been a bit sereal for me! Sorry it's taken so long to update the blog - I actually did ths yesterday, however, my lack of knowledge of Chinese characters meant that I clicked 'delete' instead of 'save'. Hoping I won't make the same mistake twice!

People

I'm living with 3 guys at the moment; Patrick - British Chinese & speaks a bit of Cantonese, learning Mandarin & so is basically acting as our translator of menus at the moment! - aged around 36, Andy - speaks about 3 or 4 languages as it is & now learning Mandarin - aged 21 & Neil who is the other 18 year old. Jenny & Russel are a couple living of site who have traveled here from the UK by train the entire way! They've been traveling for 7 or 8 weeks now. Mardeep & Kelly (from the US) will also be joining us next week & early October respectively. (Yey! Another girl)

We all get on seemingly well thus far, but then, the stress of teaching hasn't hit yet! We start on Monday...

Where am I?

I am staying in a small town called Wuhu - I say small, it has 2 million people! Only 100 foreigners though, so we are somewhat the local celebrities! Everbody stares at us as we walk down the street... to begin with, I found this a tad off putting, but it's amazing how quickly you just don't notice it!

In transit...

I left Heathrow at 10:25am on Sat morning & didn't arrive untill nearly 10am the next day in Shanghai airport. Melissa met me there (a lady from the school) & we took an hour's bus ride into Shanghai to catch the train to Wuhu. We stopped for lunch (where we picked up Patrick) & then headed to the station.

I had a bit of a traumatic experience there; I thought it would be a good idea to go to the loo before the train journey which was apparently going to take 5 hours. (So much for an hour outside Shanghai!!) I was wrong. The toilets just about resembled a hole in the ground, if that! A drain ran between the cubicles & you were to squat over that to do your business. This, I could have possibly dealt with after living in Malaysia... It was the complete lack of a door that got me! I was taken completely by surprise & couldn't bring myself to go!

By the time we reaced Wuhu at about 8pm that night, I was ready for a shower & definately the loo (which thank god is Western style in our living quarters... though will a frosted plastic door. Not quite total privacy, but it's a door all the same!)

Dining in Wuhu...

Well, as you can imagine, it's mostly Chinese food, though there is a KFC, Pizza Hut, 3 24 hour Maccy D's & though we are yet to see it, a Ben&Jerries! We have been informed by a guy who taught here last year that suddenly our morals against Maccy D's no longer matter & it becomes out haven!

The other night, Caroline (the head of the language school) took us all out for the welcome dinner. It wasn't untill we got there however that she announced, "this is one of the bes' seafoo' res'uaran's in Wuhu". Anyone who knows me, knows that my heart sank at this. But what could I do?! I couldn't be rude. So, I tucked into the vegetable dishes, rice & something surgary which was pretty good & hoped for the best.

Then the seabass (head, tail & all) arrived & Caroline pushed the lazy susan around to Jenny & meself. "Ladies first". "Oh" I though as I tried to hide the sheer dismay on my face! So I picked up my spoon & delved into the middle (furthest away from anything that had eyes or gills!) and plopped it into my bowel. Avoiding the skin, I slowly put it in my mouth. It was surprisingly ok! Didn't really taist of anything. But I didn't take anything else from that dish. Had a similar issue when scallops were brought around - Andy, who was sat to my left, whispered, "don't worry, you can't taist the fish".

Apparently Caroline was good to us that night & avoided any dishes with bones. You see, meet, chicken inparticular, is thought to be only worth the money if its on the bone... head & all. So far, we've only seen this in pictures & that's bad enough!

When we are on our own however, there is a lot of pointing at pictures & looking to Patrick who can make out beef, chicken, noodles, rice or fish on a menu, but we have no idea what kind of anything is! So far, no stomach soup has arrived or chicken testicals... not that we're aware anyway!

The other day, my breakfast consisted of rice, beef & mushrooms. (yes, I've even had to start eating mushrooms simply because I can trust what they are! That didn't stop me from having to choke down the gags though!) Neil & I went & bought cereal yesterday! We also found bread & peanut butter... mmmm I was happy. I think I'm going to have to have a snack tonight as well as I didn't eat much at dinner. There were no pictures on the menu & none of us really ate much of what we ordered. It smelt revulting & didn't look much better. The rice was good though!

I find my hand has cramped up by the end of the meal too from using the chopsticks. I'm a bit out of practice but I'm getting better!

Sights & Sounds...

The honking of car horns here is not seen as an aggressive or rude act on the roads. Instead, it is seen as a way of letting pedestrians, other cars & the millions of cyclists know you are there. Thus, everyone honks at all times. It's 9:18pm here, and even now I am still being deafened by the sound! I woke up at 3am this morning & was so pleased to hear, nothing, simply nothing! I've already had two bad headaches since I got here!

Also, diapers don't exist here. So instead, toddlers & babies wander the streets wearing trousers with a hole in them & no underwear. When they feel the urge, they simply stop walking, squat & do their business then off they go again. It's pretty gross!

On a similar note, i was looking out of my window the other day, admiring the view of the lake & park when I looked down to see a man unzip & take a leek into a bush. Suddenly I didn't think so highly of the park!

Andy also saw a woman squatting behind an open umberella on the street. Privacy just doesn't seem to be an issue here as it is back home - I wish it was!

Spitting is also not seen as rude. During dinner, people simply hack & spit all over the table as they feel the need. Down the street, you suddenly hear a hacking noise from the person behind you & on the bus to Wuhu, I kept thinking I was going to get hit by one!

There are hundreds of cyclist around Wuhu. It seems to be one of the main forms of transport. We've been offered bikes we can borrow from the school, but I'm still getting to grips with walking on the roads, let alone biking! Anyway, one woman I've seen was cycling along in what looked to me like a witch's outfit, only it was her real clothes! Her hat was literaly a huge black cone on her head! Really made me laugh. Other people attempt to carry bags of stuff twice their size on their handle bars - how they see where they're going god only knows!

Crossing the road here is literally taking your life into your own hands. Traffic lights were only installed in Wuhu a few years ago & so some people follow them, some people don't. It seems to be personal choice! We find ourselves stepping out, stopping 1/2 way, taking a step back to avoid a car then running across! It's maddness here!

What's in store...

Training started today and lasts till Sunday. Monday is our day off apparently so we officialy start on Tuesday. We're all beginning to get rather nervous. We've heard stories of past experiences, for example, 'number 11 school' is supposed to be the worst as the kids just aren't interested. Just the name sounds ominous!

I'll post pictures of where I'm staying ASAP and post them up for you all.

I have photos all around my room which I'm really appreciating. Got very home sick on the first night thinking, "what have I done!" But I'm feeling better now & beginning to settle in.

Apparently we are going to be given a Chinese name, so that should be interesting!

I had better be off as I have to plan a practice lesson for the business college tomorrow. My topic is travel... what do I do for that!?

Wish me luck & keep in touch,

Bye!
xx