Verdict on birthdays in Chinaland...very cool! Wednesday night the program leaders threw a suprise party for all the birthdays happening during this training month, incidently, mine was in that catagory, so, upon stage with about 9 others and sung 'Happy Birthday' in all the represented languages. We had Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch, Polish and a few others... it was like having just the one plain English version on your birthday but 10 times more embarrassing. But very sweet. Anyway, all the birthday people got a cake each, a crown and a present. Then we had a pub quiz type thing. My team came joint 3rd out of 9 or 10 i believe.
Then, my birthday, i had classes during the day but in the evening i went to dinner with, what i thought would be just Josie and Jenny, turned out to be 13 of us which was really cool. Had a gorgeous meal, and if i haven't said before, China...so cheap! £48 for 13 of us! And it was a really nice restaurant too! Then finally, the bar district here. In one bar one of our lot told the bar staff it was my birthday, to which i was took one stage, sung happy birthday to in English and Chinese and given a 2nd crown and a 2nd cake. Very yummy. The have sponge cakes full of fresh exotic fruits! Really nice! I was given a free drink of rice wine in another bar down the road, it's not good. In fact, it's disgusting.
And today, i climbed the Great Wall! Yes! I finally felt, yeah...I'm in China. But, i didn't realise how tiring that wall could be, it's so steep! I was shattered! We managed 5 towers from the entrance in the time we were allowed to explore. We visited the Ming Tombs afterwards which was dull, but nice for a break. There was a nice picnics sort of area surrounding it so it was really pleasant. Then onto the Olympic area this evening. We saw it as it went from daylight to darkness so from being not lit up to all the lights on, gorgeous, so inspiring! They blast out that 'One world, one dream' song over the PA surrounding the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Very Cheesy, but it works! :P
I'm going ice skating tomorrow afternoon which will be very cool! Oh and I'm very proud of me, i managed to buy myself a phone, just a cheapy nokia for my Chinese Sim Card but i was all aloney and there are lots of fakes and things that just don't work here so i was a little nervous. For all those on facebook, just to let you know I'm having some difficultly getting on it so it might be quite unkept. I can read your wall posts though because it emails me those so thank you all so much for the lovely messages, you just make me miss you more.
Plenty of love and hugs for you all! xxx
Saturday 31 January 2009
Monday 26 January 2009
Happy New Year!
Chinese New Year kicks ass! It’s exactly how you’d imagine it and more! I got in at 5am buzzing. Even today, after everything that went on last night, fireworks are still lighting up the sky! I had no idea when it even turned 12am. Fireworks were non stop all night. I took some pictures and a video in order to try to do it some justice, but it doesn’t. The deafening noises and variety of fireworks can’t be caught on camera.
Forget safety too. They are set off all around you, bits of shells from the rockets hit you and smoke surrounds you. I could barely breathe with all the smoke! Often, when walking down the road you have to walk around fire crackers being set off right there in the middle of the pathway. There’s no other way to avoid it other than stay as many metres away as you can and run past during the breaks in fire. The Chinese would just stand right by them and dance around them, set them off right by cars and electrical wires.
Truly amazing. I want to come back every year for that one night. Unforgettable. I just don’t know how else to describe it.
I’ll fill you in on the past couple of days too. Time is very precious out here at the moment. My lessons for my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course have started. We work from 8.45am-5pm, with breaks for lunch and to stretch our legs. My first lesson was straight in there with Phonetics and Phonology. It was supposed to be about classroom management but my teacher (Neil) is a real intellectual and went straight for the complicated stuff. I’ve actually just finished the homework he set us too.
The food here...yeah. It’s not like home at all, not that i expected it to be, but it’s very different. None of your prawn crackers and spring rolls and the like. But they do have some gorgeous food out here. Just today I had this beef noodles dish, gorgeous. I washed it down with a lovely cu of hot citrus tea. I can say with about 70% assurance that I have not eaten dog. I can say with 0% assurance that I have not eaten snake. It was chewy.
I am learning the odd phrase in Chinese but it’s difficult to remember it all when so much else is going on. Next week I start Mandarin lessons though so that should help me focus on learning it.
The girl on my flight out here, Heather, has been struggling a great deal with homesickness, culture shock and the food. She’s decided she wants to go home so I’ll be saying bye to her shortly, as soon as she can get a flight. She’ll have lost her money which she paid for the entire thing but she’s made up her mind to go because she can’t see herself being happy if she stays any longer. It’s a shame. A real shame. We’d been getting on quite well so I’ll miss her being around.
(A note that only my mum will care about...) Hi Mummy! I did my first lot of washing today. I’ve discovered the art of guessing what the Chinese writing says and going for it. Clothes in, powder in on top (shaken out from my bag of ariel powder because I have no way to measure it out), comfort in the strange leaky drawer, shut lid and hope for the best. It went very well; everything is still the same size as before. It’s now all hanging out to dry in my conservatory/balcony area. I did a black wash and a colour wash. Oh and on an aside note – all the public toilets are those hole in the ground toilets, squatting is the new sitting, so I’m told. The strange thing is though, they all flush! Why not just stick a seat over the hole?? At least the toilet in my apartment is a normal one. Oh and it’s a toilet paper in the bin rather than flushed down the toilet situation too. – Maybe I should’ve emailed this instead...whatever.
Today I went to a Festival Fair for the New Year. It was absolutely packed. Everyone was squished up against each other despite how massive the place was! Insane and nakkering! But good fun! Everyone’s taken it easy today because we’ve all been getting up early everyday and then staying out till 4am Saturday night and 5am Sunday night. We’re all having early nights tonight because we have our second day of lessons tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll go out that late again until Thursday for my birthday. We plan to go to either Mix or Vix – two local clubs that night. I look forward to it. Everyone’s really up for celebrating it with me, which I find very sweet.
Last night we ended up in a bar on the main bar street where a band were playing. They were a very talented bunch to be fair. Although their range of music was hilarious. Bon Jovi, Bob Marley, Greenday, Rianna, Evenessence. The main singer was a Chinese guy with dreadlocks! But yeah, a great night out.
I will end this now because I have no doubts that you’re probably bored to tears. I must mention though that my roommate Nawwal is, it must be said, the best roommate ever! And! She had a special treat today when a guy she thinks is very pleasant looking, emptied out her washing machine full of underwear so he could use it! We think he stole her yellow socks as a souvenir though. :S
Love to you all xxx
Forget safety too. They are set off all around you, bits of shells from the rockets hit you and smoke surrounds you. I could barely breathe with all the smoke! Often, when walking down the road you have to walk around fire crackers being set off right there in the middle of the pathway. There’s no other way to avoid it other than stay as many metres away as you can and run past during the breaks in fire. The Chinese would just stand right by them and dance around them, set them off right by cars and electrical wires.
Truly amazing. I want to come back every year for that one night. Unforgettable. I just don’t know how else to describe it.
I’ll fill you in on the past couple of days too. Time is very precious out here at the moment. My lessons for my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course have started. We work from 8.45am-5pm, with breaks for lunch and to stretch our legs. My first lesson was straight in there with Phonetics and Phonology. It was supposed to be about classroom management but my teacher (Neil) is a real intellectual and went straight for the complicated stuff. I’ve actually just finished the homework he set us too.
The food here...yeah. It’s not like home at all, not that i expected it to be, but it’s very different. None of your prawn crackers and spring rolls and the like. But they do have some gorgeous food out here. Just today I had this beef noodles dish, gorgeous. I washed it down with a lovely cu of hot citrus tea. I can say with about 70% assurance that I have not eaten dog. I can say with 0% assurance that I have not eaten snake. It was chewy.
I am learning the odd phrase in Chinese but it’s difficult to remember it all when so much else is going on. Next week I start Mandarin lessons though so that should help me focus on learning it.
The girl on my flight out here, Heather, has been struggling a great deal with homesickness, culture shock and the food. She’s decided she wants to go home so I’ll be saying bye to her shortly, as soon as she can get a flight. She’ll have lost her money which she paid for the entire thing but she’s made up her mind to go because she can’t see herself being happy if she stays any longer. It’s a shame. A real shame. We’d been getting on quite well so I’ll miss her being around.
(A note that only my mum will care about...) Hi Mummy! I did my first lot of washing today. I’ve discovered the art of guessing what the Chinese writing says and going for it. Clothes in, powder in on top (shaken out from my bag of ariel powder because I have no way to measure it out), comfort in the strange leaky drawer, shut lid and hope for the best. It went very well; everything is still the same size as before. It’s now all hanging out to dry in my conservatory/balcony area. I did a black wash and a colour wash. Oh and on an aside note – all the public toilets are those hole in the ground toilets, squatting is the new sitting, so I’m told. The strange thing is though, they all flush! Why not just stick a seat over the hole?? At least the toilet in my apartment is a normal one. Oh and it’s a toilet paper in the bin rather than flushed down the toilet situation too. – Maybe I should’ve emailed this instead...whatever.
Today I went to a Festival Fair for the New Year. It was absolutely packed. Everyone was squished up against each other despite how massive the place was! Insane and nakkering! But good fun! Everyone’s taken it easy today because we’ve all been getting up early everyday and then staying out till 4am Saturday night and 5am Sunday night. We’re all having early nights tonight because we have our second day of lessons tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll go out that late again until Thursday for my birthday. We plan to go to either Mix or Vix – two local clubs that night. I look forward to it. Everyone’s really up for celebrating it with me, which I find very sweet.
Last night we ended up in a bar on the main bar street where a band were playing. They were a very talented bunch to be fair. Although their range of music was hilarious. Bon Jovi, Bob Marley, Greenday, Rianna, Evenessence. The main singer was a Chinese guy with dreadlocks! But yeah, a great night out.
I will end this now because I have no doubts that you’re probably bored to tears. I must mention though that my roommate Nawwal is, it must be said, the best roommate ever! And! She had a special treat today when a guy she thinks is very pleasant looking, emptied out her washing machine full of underwear so he could use it! We think he stole her yellow socks as a souvenir though. :S
Love to you all xxx
Thursday 22 January 2009
Cold, so very cold
Depsite the below freezing temperatures outside, our bedrooms are baking hot! It just makes going out so much more effort. Although knowing you have that room to go back to is also lovely!
Well, i slept the whole night. It's a hard matress but i was that tired! Most people slept in or got little sleep so it worked out well for me. But they should all be tired enough tonight to sleep on the beds the whole night.
I'm getting on really well with Heather, it's like we've known each other for ages. She picked Shanghai to go to afterwards too so we're desperately hoping we'll be together, if not close by. We've already decided that we were so good at waltzing earlier that we make a very cute couple :P Yes, waltzing. We had some very strange activities in our team building day. Had to draw out personal crests that represent us is some way. I attempted to draw things like the Arsenal shield, a guitar, a cross etc... although if anyone knows the extent of my drawing talent, you can probably imagine how awful it was.
We got these Uni T-Shirts when we arrived yesterday which they want us to wear for all the group things we do. It's fine, just washing it will be an effort. I haven't done anyway washing but i've seen where i can buy the powder and comfort, both for less that 1 pound!
I have my welcome dinner tomorrow at some posh restaurant. Going to the great wall on Jan 31st. Probably won't be back till July 16th, earliest and i'm getting a Chinese Sim Card tomorrow which should make things much cheaper.
Missing everyone lots
Love love xXx
Well, i slept the whole night. It's a hard matress but i was that tired! Most people slept in or got little sleep so it worked out well for me. But they should all be tired enough tonight to sleep on the beds the whole night.
I'm getting on really well with Heather, it's like we've known each other for ages. She picked Shanghai to go to afterwards too so we're desperately hoping we'll be together, if not close by. We've already decided that we were so good at waltzing earlier that we make a very cute couple :P Yes, waltzing. We had some very strange activities in our team building day. Had to draw out personal crests that represent us is some way. I attempted to draw things like the Arsenal shield, a guitar, a cross etc... although if anyone knows the extent of my drawing talent, you can probably imagine how awful it was.
We got these Uni T-Shirts when we arrived yesterday which they want us to wear for all the group things we do. It's fine, just washing it will be an effort. I haven't done anyway washing but i've seen where i can buy the powder and comfort, both for less that 1 pound!
I have my welcome dinner tomorrow at some posh restaurant. Going to the great wall on Jan 31st. Probably won't be back till July 16th, earliest and i'm getting a Chinese Sim Card tomorrow which should make things much cheaper.
Missing everyone lots
Love love xXx
Wednesday 21 January 2009
A Message to my Friends and Family
I've made it, safe and sound. I've also managed to find a weak connection in my room which is very handy. It's only 10pm but i'm about to call it a night, i haven't slept in over 24 hours. For some reason i just couldn't sleep on the plane. I watched three films during the flight instead, 'Knocked Up', 'The Simpsons Movie' and some film about racing cars. Aside from not sleeping on the plane, the flight was fine. I only got an ear ache during the landing.
Not too much else to report. Apart from everything is so cheap! 2 Litre bottle of pepsi cost me 58p. Yay. And it's much the same story for lots of stuuf. Like my 2 litre bottle of water which cost me 25p. Yay.
Anyway, expect better blog entries than this, i just wanted to reassure you all that i'm here and well.
Missing you all muchly. Love love.
Not too much else to report. Apart from everything is so cheap! 2 Litre bottle of pepsi cost me 58p. Yay. And it's much the same story for lots of stuuf. Like my 2 litre bottle of water which cost me 25p. Yay.
Anyway, expect better blog entries than this, i just wanted to reassure you all that i'm here and well.
Missing you all muchly. Love love.
Monday 12 January 2009
Preparations:
Greetings Friends and Family. This will be the space where you should come if one of the following happens:
- You haven't heard from me in a while
- You want to hear what I'm up to
- You're not sure what to pray for me, or
- You're mind numbingly bored.
In the event of such cases I have provided this place and I will try my up most to keep up to date.
Here are all the details I have so we're all on the same page, so to speak:
- My flight is from Heathrow to Beijing on Tuesday 20th January at 5:40pm. It will last 10 hoursish and will get me to China at 4amish - 12pm local time.
- I'll be 8 hours ahead of you so phone calls and catching me on MSN will be a rare occurrence, much like when I'm the the UK in fact.
- My Teacher Training Course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language - TEFL) course starts on the 22nd January.
- I will be studying at the University of International Business and Economics for the first 4 weeks of my trip.
- 3 weeks into the course I will be informed of where I'm going to teach for the remainder of my time out there.
- I haven't started packing yet.
If there's anything important I've missed out then just ask. I'm going to use this blog as a place for my musings, my thoughts on my experiences, my diary and to keep you all informed. You can always email me at: spirited_child@hotmail.com or rachelbradley@gmail.com or message me on facebook if you're that concerned.
Thank you for your time, support, prayers, money and love. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in China, 再见 !
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