Well, the temperature has certainly dropped! *shivers* It's about 11 degrees here today which is mighty cold compared to how it has been. What really takes the biscuit is that there's no central heating in China either & so we're all wandering around in coats indoors & drinking cups of piping hot tea! However, I asked Andy to pick me up a water bottle whilst he was at Walmart today as if I drink any more tea I'll turn into a tea pot but there's currently no other way to keep warm!
What brings insult to injury is that this morning, I went to get in the shower & even after letting the water run, it was like icey arrows shooting through the shower head as opposed to the usual steaming hot water. Each one of us in turn went in only to hear a yelp & the scurrying of feet back to our rooms in shock! It was not a pleasant experience! I also did 4 lots of washing yesterday but none of it has actually dried as we don't have a dryer & so it just hangs on the balcony waiting for the breeze to catch it... that's hard to do when it's rainy & freezing cold!! So I'm also now running low of clothes - not clean or dirty, just clothes in general as they're all wet!! Not impressed. Not impressed at all.
Buying clothes here is interesting. I braved the shops again this weekend in a vain attempt to find something again, however, all the fashions I hated in the UK are here, but twice as tacky, twice as cheap (in price but sadly also how they look) & just embellished with a mesh of sequins or beads or, my personal favourite, bad English!
For example, one girl was wandering around Number 11 Middle School the other day with something along the lines of "Easy to Open" across her chest... She didn't realise how that could be perceived! I didn't think it took a great amount of knowledge (or brains) to know what that meant, but apparently, here, it doesn't matter what it says as long as its in English!
Also, 'Kappa' - the clothing range with Vicky Pollard from Little Britain wears - is mega popular here. I think it's safe to say that I can't bring myself to buy that despite it being practically being designer here! We tried to explain how they had had to stop selling the brand in the UK after the Chavs just simply massicred any kind of positive branding it had had but the Chinese just don't understand. They think it's great!
Who knew 'layers' were so complicated!
Those who know me know how particular I am about my hair. You also know, that I get it cut pretty much every two months. Well, yesterday, I couldn't stand it any longer & had to get my hair cut... in China.
It's safe to say that it was an interesting experience. Elly, one of the assistants who we trusted, recomended a place to us & so off Jenny & I went.
It was quite a trendy looking place & they spoke a little bit of English - by which I mean, they understood we wanted our hair cut & could tell us the price. Other than that, Elly had written down 'trim' & 'layers' for us in Chinese characters in hope that this would help us to explain what we wanted!
The wash itself was interesting enough - you basically lay on a bed with your head in a sink which worked well for me as it meant I didn't have to sit on a phone book in order for my head to reach the sink as I often have to in the UK because I'm always too short for the chairs! She washed my ears though which I found quite bizarre & the head massage was not particuarly relaxing as she only concentrating on one section of my head which actually began to ache a bit after a while!
Then, a guy - who in England we would lable as 'deffinately gay,' but of course, here, he's simply being Chinese - begins to cut my hair. It was all going well untill he says, ok, dry straight or, then motions the 'curly hair' to which I replied, what about the layers? I received a blank look to this comment & so tried to mime layers - this is not an easy task I would like to add! So we start looking through hair style books, me pointing to all the layers, then he understands, but tells me it will cost me 280 kwai rather than 35 kwai! Errr, I don't think so. Jenny's getting layers in the chair next to me at this point, all for 35 kwai so I was quite confused. It then warrented a call to Rebecca, one of the Chinese girls we work with, for a translation. Turns out, he said that he could not cut my hair into layers as I had English hair. I told him this was rubbish & to do it anyway & low & behold, it looks fine, despite me having English hair!
It's a bit different to my usual style; it was the first time in nearly 3 years that I've come out of the salon with long hair rather than it getting shorter with every visit, but I"m happy with it & he gave me the cut for 35 kwai, despite giving me layers. He also said, 'like Chinese hair!' when he had finished & was waxing it into place... I was dubious about the wax but though "meh! We'll go with the flow whilst I'm in the chair & see what happens!" I haven't waxed it today & it's fine. So yes - I have a Chinese hair cut now! Which looks relatively normal... thank god.
I got a present!
Class 4 are my lesson before lunch at Shuiyang & they are by far my favourite as they are just good fun, & even though their English isn't the best, they are willing to speak & answer my question which is always good!
Anyway, this week, I had planned to do music. One of the tasts was to fill the board with as many adjectives (describing words) as they could & then use these words to describe the music I played them e.g. Queen - We Will Rock You, Green Day - Basket Case & Celin Dion - My Heart Will Go On (with which they are obsessed to this day in China!) It was going reasonably well but after this, the lesson feel apart with most classes as the other task I had prepared was too difficult & so I was desperately trying to think of something else to do when they asked me to sing! In the end, the 2nd half of the lesson for each class turned into more a talent show of students singing than a lesson, but they were having fun & it was an easy lesson for me so I wasn't complaining!
There are usually two rows of boys at the back of each class - some things obviously don't change from country to country! - & in Class 4 last Wednesday, I noticed a lime green thing flying around the back of the room from one boy to another. I asked what it was & they began passing it under the desk to each other frantically untill one boy gets up & approaches the front of the class, saying, "for you".
As sweet a gesture as it was, it was the ugliest looking green duck I've ever seen & we've been using it as a football up & down our corridore all week! I'm not entirely sure if they had bought the duck especially for me, or if I effectively stole some poor boy's toy duck - in which case I was probably doing him a favour as if he's 15, 16 years old, he really shouldn't have a cuddly toy duck!
A stalker in the making?
We had an 'English Corner' on Sunday night which is basically an informal chat with the adult students that attend classes in Aston. All 7 foreign teachers chat to the students informally about whatever springs to mind & the students can move around the different teachers, ask questions, etc.
Anyway, I managed to find the only 4 18, 19 year olds in the group & chat to them & they were actually pretty cool. One gir, Field (yes, that is her name) listened to Green Day, My Chemical Romance to name but a few which is really unusual here as they rarely know any Western music beyond Westlife, Back Street Boys or Michael Jackson! So I gave her my email as she wanted to keep in touch (I've set up a separate account for this reason so they don't have my regular email). The next day, I'm watching a 'Sex in the City' box set DVD I've bought here & my phone rings. It's Field letting me know that my email doesn't work & wondering if I was free this weekend! God knows how she got my number but it sort of creeped me out a bit & I feigned not knowing my teaching schedual yet for this week... She didn't ring today, but I've stored her number for future reference.
Anyway, that is pretty much all my news for this week. I sent some postcards when I was in Tibet/Xi'an & I do believe they should arrived this week so would be nice to know if they did!
See you all in 6 weeks
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment