Volunteers UNITE.

So its coming up to the end of my volunteering stint here in the South of China and on the rare occurrence I actually get given a few days holiday from time to time, I like to go and explore what China has to offer. This was probably my last holiday out here and luckily all of the volunteers had the same time off so we thought it was now or never to have one last time together before we went our separate ways. When we all thought about a place to meet, it only seemed logical to all go back to where this all began, where the adventure started, Kunming. I've done a few post's on Kunming before but after going back there again I have definitely decided that it is one of y favourite places in the world. The weather is perfect, the shopping is great but it also still has that charm of China. Small amounts of Chinese architecture still scatter the city and it really is an up and coming place, not so far from the metropolitan cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

Some of the volunteers took 16 hour trains to arrive in Kunming, I however rolled out of bed and met Natalie to get the just 1 hour bus to Kunming. The people of Yunnan, the province I live in, say that my home town Yuxi 玉溪 is the best place in the south and the nicest place to live. I happen to agree and it was oh so convenient to live so close to the capital. Everyone was there pretty early but Natalie and I decided to rock up late...as usual! When we arrived it was like nothing had changed. It was so surreal. My first few weeks in China were spent teacher training in Kunming and I associate the city with such incredible happy memories. It was so great to see the guys from Sichuan and the other volunteers from Yunnan, or the "Yunnan 5" as we like to dub ourselves! We stayed in a really cool hostel called 'The Hump'. We had been there a few time for drinks as it has the most incredible roof terrace in the middle of the city. The rooms were really nice and I actually enjoy sharing with 9 other random people - meeting fellow travellers normally results in lots of advice and sharing stories of adventures. We dropped our bags and headed to the one place we knew so well from our previous trip - foreign street!

I love foreign street, but its not as western as it sounds. It has the best restaurants, the best street shopping and a really cool atmosphere. We went for dinner, did a little shopping and headed to a bar called 'The Box' (incidentally this is where most of the messy events of the weekend occurred - they did sell nice cookies though) We then met a group of American people who were studying in the city so we invited them back to the hostel for a few drinks. By the time we got back, it was about 1:30am ish and everyone was either crashing out or going out to the clubs. Becca (the most amazing person ever) and I decided to just hang out together and have some drinks. It was so great and such a perfect night.

The next day we all decided it would be more than a good idea to extend our reunion in Kunming and booked ourselves in for one extra night there. The weather, as usual, was perfect and we all decided to go our separate ways in the city and just enjoy the day. I spent the day with Odette, mostly drinking, going shopping and chatting to Chinese make up artist in the MAC store, the guy had trained in London and assumed that Odette would want to look JUST like Lady GaGa - she didn't. After spending way too much money we headed back to the hostel and decided to grab a bite to eat and then head out for another night. Things started in the Box bar and pretty much ended there. I don't remember much, but lets just say calling it a messy night would be an understatement. Sorry for using the term 'messy night' I know I sound like a 16 year old on Smirnoff ice but its a more than appropriate term for that night!

Needless to say, the next morning everyone was feeling pretty rough and we all decided to just relax on the roof terrace until it was time for us all to catch our mode of transports home. It was really sad saying goodbye as, for a lot of us, we probably would never see each other again or for at least many years to come. I personally enjoy to 'hug it out' so it was really nice to have a really awesome time before we all went travelling and then back home to University. I know I'm going to keep in contact with everyone and I'm already looking forward  to more trips away to Asia and beyond together. Thanks guys for being the most incredible bunch of people and I would not have wanted to do this with anyone else, hope you all have safe journeys where ever you end up and have the most amazing time!

Oh and ... Wode pongyou zai nali?  我的朋友在那里？ 我爱你！！

Foreign Family

It's fair to say that I have had pretty different experience in China than to my fellow volunteers. I am the only person who is placed on their own, with no partner. Now though, I could not be more happy with the way my whole trip has turned out, even more so than doing it alone. It has given me a sense of independence and I'm really proud to say that I have done this without the support system of having a partner here. However, if you know me well, then you will know that I love company and talking with people so when I first arrived here in China, I found the solitude of being on my own very hard to deal with. Although with the best efforts of the  volunteer's nearest to me (about an hours journey as a whole) I still struggled to not feel very alone here at my placement. Then, after a random meeting with some students, I finally got hold of the mobile number for another foreign person teaching just near me in Yuxi.


This was about 2 months into my placement so I was MORE than happy to contact them. That is how I met Ellen and its pretty hard to think that I have only known her for a few months because she has literally been so great to have around. After out first meeting all that time ago, I'm pretty sure we meet up at least 3 or 4 times a week. But with the introduction to one foreigner comes more! Ellen then introduced me to a bunch of great people all out here teaching and living alone. It was really nice to have people who were also living alone doing this as it was kind of the first time I got to talk to people who really understood just how hard it is. 


It's fair to say I am the baby of my foreign friends, with the average age of them being about 26, I feel so young at just 18. But I'm so glad for how much older they are, I was always going to mature from this experience but having older friends has really opened up my eyes as to what is really important in life and what won't be by the time I'm their age!


Ellen does not get too pleased when I constantly remind her how she is 24 and I'm just starting out in life at 18...jealousy perhaps! But seriously, I feel like I have my own family here now, which makes leaving this place even more traumatic than its turning out to be. If you had asked me 6 months ago if I would be looking forward to going home at this point I would have screamed yes! but now, I just feel so happy with life, so content that I don't want this to end. I would be more than open to staying here for another year and taking up a permanent teaching job but alas University is calling me!


On the bright side I'm going for a big farewell meal with the family on Tuesday as we all seem to be going our separate ways in July. I'm definitely going to miss Ellen the most, she has been like a big sister and a best friend all in one... can't wait to come back you visit next year!

FuXian Lake

Most schools in China are boarding schools and a large percentage of the students live on campus. So this means I get lots of invitations to go and visit families in their home towns and explore new parts of China. This week I was invited to go and stay with a student for the weekend in a local town. Where she lives is also the home to the famous, Fuxian Lake. Now I know back home the biggest lake we see is probably Rutland water or something on that scale so when I first saw Fuxian Lake, I was taken back for a few minutes. The lake itself is the 2^nd deepest in the China and one of the largest in the world. It stretches for almost 30 miles so it’s no wonder that the students tend to call it ‘The Ocean’.

I was met by some of my students, Crystal and Cherry on a Saturday morning and, with pooch in one arm, set off to get the bus to meet her family. It was about an hour journey there and after living in china for almost 6 months that is one of the shortest journeys around. I’m used to 8 hour trains and 9 hour coaches to get to where I want to go. Once we arrived I went to Crystal’s family home. It was so great to be in a traditional Chinese home, it’s actually where I feel most relaxed and happy over here, besides getting waited on by everyone, it’s the only opportunity I get to really be in a family environment, which I miss so much now I live alone. We had some lunch, one of my favourite Chinese dishes and particularly special to this region of China called ‘Mi Xian’ English translation – Rice Noodles.

For a Chinese person it’s a really huge honour to have a foreigner, especially who is the complete polar opposite of the Chinese in both looks and culture like me, in their homes. They go to the extremes of buying copious amounts of food, tea and buying me anything they think I could want. So after having a great lunch and watching some of my favourite Chinese TV, we finally set off to visit the lake. I was really excited, I had read and heard so much about this place and I was so lucky to have my own family tour guides with me. When we arrived at the lake, I was completely blown away by the sheer size of the thing. It was so beautiful and it was the perfect day. It also contains some of the cleanest water in China. There is so much history and myth behind the lake and it was not until recently that scientist discovered that there is a city at the bottom of the lake. Some say it’s a famous city that mysteriously disappeared hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  

I handed Pooch over to Crystal’s family for the day whilst my students and I rented a boat to sail over to an island in the centre of the lake. Its English name is ‘Money Island’ as not so long ago it used to be home to many monkeys that would even swim in the lake. The boat was bobbing up and down and it really felt like I was out as sea. We got to the island and ate some of the most amazing fresh water sea food. Fried prawns, Octopus and white bait, all delicious. We decided to climb the island mountain and explore the temples. The temples, views and experiences in China never cease to take my breath away and this island was doing no less. After the trek we decided to cool off and get a boat back to the mainland where both Cherry and Crystal’s parents were waiting for us, as was my Pooch.

We now moved onto a famous cave where you can go and fish for yourself and take your fish home to eat but unfortunately there has been a bit of a drought whilst I have been out here and the caves where bone dry, no fishing for us. But we did how ever get the chance to go swimming.  I was not told we would be swimming so I ended up just having to go into the lake with my shorts, much to the shock of my students family who were adamant that I should borrow some speedo’s from Crystal’s dad, no thanks. The water was cool and clean and it was so nice to swim. The sun was now starting to set over the lake and we were all pretty hungry so we went to a restaurant about 5 miles down the road. The families had arranged for a huge feast in my honour and served up the famous ‘Fuxian Lake Copper pot Fish’ which was delicious, as well as other typical Chinese bites.

 After being fully stuffed we then went to watch the sun set and dip our feet in the lake. It was a moment I’ll never forget for as long as I live. Everything was perfect, the sun, the lake and the company, just everything. It was that moment I really realised how much China has changed me, my outlook on life, on people and the natural beauty of the world. I realised that I’d had the most incredible months of my life and that they were coming to an end. I just felt so lucky to be in that moment. Being happy is so important to me and volunteering could not make me more happy. It really is true what they say; ‘You get out of life what you put into it’

Poochie!

I HAVE A DOG!

So, I have been living alone now for 4 months and its been really hard at times. I'm such a sociable person and I love company. One thing you notice when you come to Asia is that there is a pretty big epidemic of stray dogs. They aren't cared for and a lot are just left to rot in the streets. Its really sad. Being alone, I really wanted to get a dog but I wasn't prepared to raise a dog and leave it on the streets when I left to go back to England. I had been waiting for about 2 months to hear about someone who wanted a dog and wouldn't mind if I took care of it for the time being. Then about 2 weeks ago I finally got a call saying a teacher wanted a dog and that I could look after it as my own and she will take him of me when I go home!


So that night, Ellen (An English girl I met out here) and I decided to go to the night market and find a dog. Which we did. I picked the healthiest one I could find and called him "Poochie" and his Chinese name is "在在" pronounced like Zai Zai, meaning BARK! Its so great to have dog around the flat and have some company at night. He is the nicest little dog, its almost like dogs over here are programmed from birth to think that they are going to have a bad life so as soon as you show them some love they become the most loyal, tame and incredible pet. 


Although I didn't really realise how much work a new puppy is. I had to take him to the vets and stand there trying to tell the vet in Chinese that he needs his injections and anti-flea stuff....that took a while! But other than thinking he can go to the toilet anywhere he pleases, he is such a great dog and I will miss him so much when I leave. But hey, beats living with a human you don't get along with!

Teaching

After so many updates about all of the amazing sights I have seen whilst being here in China, I thought it was about time I gave a good overview of what exactly I am doing here. As I have said in previous updates, I am volunteering here in China with a charity called "Lattitude Global Volunteering". Teaching English to students from ages 13-17, ranging from teaching spoken English to our culture.

My average week consist of teaching just over 600 students. I have around 2 hours of teaching a day, but sometimes that can also go up to around 5 hours a day. So although it may seem like I am on one big holiday, I really am volunteering full time out here. At the start of most weeks I tend to plan my lessons. Recently I have been teaching about music genre, dreams and aspirations, the Royal family and about western festivals. I actually find planning a lesson very difficult, its so important to inspire the students here to learning English as having a good knowledge of the language could really see them gain an excellent job. I try to be comical, that's the kind of teacher I am. It's important to set the right tone in the classroom, the students are here to learn but a big theme throughout Chinese schools is that everyone is too shy to answer anything you ask them! So by breaking the ice with some random bad joke or telling them a quick story about how my Chinese can sometimes get me in very strange situations normally relaxes them and they are keen to talk to the blonde English boy!

When I teach a lesson I normally have a game for the first part and then for about half an hour teach vocabulary , show pictures relating to the topic, oral practise and a little written work too. One of the hardest things I find about teaching is making sure the students are doing my work and not some of the homework from another subject. It didn't take me too long to realise how much homework is set here but it was a big step for me to be a figure of authority and take work off students so they can concentrate on English. Some students excel in my lessons to a level that is unreal, but most really struggle and I often find myself repeating many things. This may sound really frustrating but the rewards are worth every single moment.

Sometimes I will have to teach at 7:50am which is tough! but then some days I won't teach until the afternoon which is great. Not only do I have formal lessons with the students but 3 times a week I run an "English Corner". This is basically an hour slot after school where students can meet me and have a chat about anything. I have actually had some really great talks with the kids. The younger students just like to play games but the older students who are a similar age to me like to talk about how teenagers are treated in England, what are the western views on topics such as homosexuality and the Chinese one child policy. I do however stress that I let the students start these sorts of topics as its very easy to get yourself in a bit of a problem if you begin a conversation about these things and say, politics. But I have been so impressed and amazed at some of the views of students and I really enjoy hearing the opinions of the Chinese teenager.

If you ever think about Volunteering in China it's very difficult to truly know what you are in for. The education system is slick and full of pressure. Getting a good job is vital and dreaming of one day going abroad is something that you will hear everyday. Due to the media and the government here, its tough to really know what China will have in store for you. I didn't realise how happy people would be here but also how much poverty there is. I am placed in the south west of China, possibly the poorest region. I did not really know what to expect but I have seen poverty at its worst but I have also met some of the happiest people I have ever known. I have seen sights, taught my language and appreciated life. All this in just your average week in China!

An introduction to Chinese bubble milk tea...

When ever a student asks me if I want some milk tea, I normally leap at the chance to have some milk in my tea! Traditionally, "Cha" or "tea" in English, is drank as dried tea leaves and boiling water. That's it. No milk, no sugar. When I first arrived I really did not enjoy any of the tea but with time, like most things, it grew on me. But now China has a poor version of the beloved English cup of tea called...Bubble Milk Tea.


When you come to China its pretty apparent that dairy products are not a common thing here and the milk that they do provide is just down right awful. So they invent this drink, bubble milk tea. Instead of using animals milk they tend to mix a whole tub of condensed milk into the tea. It really is better than it sounds, but so disappointing all at the same time. It can be drank cold or hot and it doesn't end there. You can flavours ranging from strawberry all the way to chocolate milk tea. Basically really cold, sweet tea with strawberry flavour added to it. Oh if that wasn't enough for your gag reflex they also put these tiny, bland, gelatine-like balls in the bottom of the drink. They are suppose to be the "bubbles" in your tea and are made from tapioca. If the sweet tea doesn't make you want to throw up, they sure as hell will!

..Look tasty?!

Sorry to do a whole post on tea, but I'm so tired of the Chinese assuming this is how our tea in England tastes, therefore buy me one all the time and bring it to my flat. Nice thought, shame about the taste!

Full Body massage

Booked in for a full body massage next week, Chinese style!...


Ready to get lathered up and rubbed down! Oh yeah!


I shall tell you how it goes next week, looking forward to this one!

Nat's guide to Tokyo..

After asking Natalie for a guide to Japan, as I will be going there in July with Tina, she spent a good hour writing me a full on essay! It was too good to waste so I thought it would be good to post on here. All copyrights go to Natalie Sew :) 

1.       Go to R Burger.

BEST. BURGERS. EVER. SERIOUSLY. (Don’t buy the tea though). There’s one in Roppongi that’s really near a CRAZY PET SHOP with baby monkeys in it. Paris Hilton has gone there. Therefore you should too!

2.       Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

Museum of Studio Ghibli films (like the Disney of Japan). You need to buy the tickets in advance from a 7/11 or other convenience store.  Even if you don’t follow the films it’s worth going as it’s just the most cute/whimsical museum ever. They limit the number of people allowed in (hence the tickets in advance) which means the experience is really nice and not crowded.  Really special place and no other museums are like it. Watch one/two of the films and it’ll mean a lot more though. It’s far out, but it’s nice to visit since you’ll see domestic Tokyo- it’s apparently one of the most sought after neighbourhoods to actually live in.

3.       Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku.

Free to go up and you get skyscraper views over Tokyo. The audio guide is hella funky too. It’s free! Do it! Got a yummy bento box from a cool organic café from Shinjuku station on the way there too.

4.       RENT BIKES! It’s only like… 200yen or something?

Really fun just for half a day or so. Cycle around the quieter areas like from Asakusa to Ueno and it’s a great way to see it. You will also feel superior to pedestrians and feel awesome for finally NOT being run over by other bikes. You can cycle on the pavement so it’s really safe.

5.       Sensoji Temple in Asakusa.

Big fat cool temple which was in the area I stayed in. The Asakusa area is really nice and is super different to Shinjuku so it might be nice to visit! There’s lots of tiny family run restaurants round here and some cool old shops. There’s a street called “Kappashi-dori” that just sells cooking equipment…? There’s a really cute restaurant called “Sometarou” nearby which is in the Lonely Planet and it serves really cheap okonomiyaki in a fabulous setting. It’s like you’re in someone’s house, you have to get your own tap water and they give you slippers. But you get a hotplate and they cook your food in front of you AND there’s an English menu. Genuinely old building too. TOP MARKS!!

6.       Harajuku on a SUNDAY on the bridge outside the Meiji Shrine.

I was unfortunately not there for a Sunday so I didn’t see this. But on a Sunday, cosplayers/crazy J-fashionistas gather on the bridge for photo shoots etc. After taking awesome Asian smiley photos of them, go to Yoyogi Park where everyone in Tokyo seems to be doing what they want there. People skateboard, practice dances and bands rehearse in the open. At least, this is what I was told (but I regrettably wasn’t there on a Sunday!!). Take a bento box and picnic whilst people watching here.

7.       Harajuku on ANY DAY.

Go to Takeshita-Dori to see some crazy clothes! Closet Child / Bodyline / Jesus Diamante are some crazy clothes shops down this street which are pretty fun to look at. The staff will be dressed to the knees in the pinnacle of alternative fashion.

Down this streets are lots of side streets and totally awesome shops. E.g one where everything is 300Yen and it’s vintage clothes + weird accessories. There’s also a 3 floor 100yen shop (really good for presents, they sell typical looking “Japanese” stuff). There’s also a shop which only girls are allowed in (sorry Lew) but the concept of it is so trippy – there’s a cake shop on the top floor, photo booths and dressing rooms so girls can relax after shopping. Takeshita-dori is very near the Harajuku station exit. It has a banner over it.

There’s a department store called Laforet which has crazy clothes on the basement floors (and apparently golf on the roof??? I didn’t see this!) and is a department shop JUST for teenage girls. Basement floors have the most quirky stuff, the other floors are normal clothes. All the clothes only come in one size though… i.e tiny so it’s more fun just to watch.

Ometosando-dori is the main giant street in Harajuku that leads to Shibuya (but it just has expensive Chanel etc. which is pretty boring) so there is a street called Cat Street on your right as you walk from Harajuku to Shibuya which is more interesting. There’s a shop called “kiddyland” which is a big cute toy shop with.

Oh, and there’s a shop called Condommania in Harajuku near the station too. It just sells condoms. I think it’s opposite Laforet…

8.       Get Lost.

You’re in Tokyo, it’s not cool until you just wander around aimlessly. Walk around without a plan sometimes. It’s cool! You’ll find cool shit everywhere! Plus, when you’re tired, there is ALWAYS vending machines.

9.       Don’t go to Ginza.

It’s kinda shit here. I don’t recommend it. The emperor’s palace is here which is alright, but you can’t actually see much of it since it’s behind a MASSIVE WALLED COMPLEX and only opens 2 days a year (I was there one of them, inside it’s not anything impressive). It’s an interesting place to go to in terms of architecture, but it’s like visiting Canary Wharf in London (if the Queen’s Palace was in Canary Wharf and behind a wall). If you do go, BUY FOOD BEFORE YOU GO WALKING. Since there’s like 3732048 skyscrapers, it’s the only place in Tokyo we were stuck without any convenience stores and there’s no food in the park where the palace is. The park is nice, but not when you’re hungry damnit. Also, don’t get lost here. There’s nothing interesting to find except more skyscrapers. If you do go here, just go to the food hall in the department store, that’s alright and also the Tokyo International Forum is a nice looking building. If you go to Ginza, go with a plan, bring food, don’t get lost and then go do something else. Then you’ll have a nice time! My friends and I spent a day wandering around being hungry here.

10.   Odaiba

I didn’t go here, but I wanted to. It’s far out. Research it!

11.   Food.

CoCo Ichibanya (good curry!!!), MOS Burger (very small burgers, but fun to try), convenience stores (awesome), Ootoya (really good, cheap Japanese restaurant with typical food), Yoshinoya (cheap beef bowl chain, reaaally fun to go here at like 1am).

Careful: If you go to some restaurants (izakayas) there is a table charge and if you get given pickles or something, these are CHARGED TO YOU, THEY ARE NOT FREE. REFUSE THEM. At Ootoya there is no table charge and no shit like surprisingly expensive pickles, plus they have an English menu and the food rocked.

12.   Roppongi - Roppongi Hills / Tokyo Tower / Zozoji Shrine

This stuff is all near each other. Don’t pay for Tokyo Tower, it’s short and it’s expensive. But it’s nice to see J. Zozoji shrine is next to it. I think you can walk to Roppongi Hills and the general Roppongi area where there is some FREAKING HUGE and NICE buildings. Proper classy area with ex-pat bookshops and generally ultra classy. This is the area celebrities get put up in a hotel when they visit. Tokyo MidTown and Roppongi Hills are 2 big shopping/office/housing complexes which are just NICE and CLASSY. Plus, R Buger is here.

13.   Tsukiji Fish Market

Right, you don’t have to wake up at 4am to have a good time here like the guidebooks say. We went at 9/10am and the market was still buzzing. Only go at 4am if you want to watch the tuna auction. Also, no one follows the rules of “not being allowed in before 10am etc.” so ignore them. Aside from the fish market (which doesn’t smell btw, at least it didn’t in Winter) there’s general market-y goodness around here. Really nice atmosphere in the morning. Go for the buzz! And I ate tasty handmade riceballs (onigiri) here, eel (unagi) is the bomb btw. P.s don’t die. Little carts will try and run you over.

JAPANESE / NIPPON LESSON

Do you have an English menu? - Eigo menyu o- onigaishimasu?

Where is the metro? – metero wa doko desu ka?

Excuse me – sumimasen

All you need J

MOVIES

·         The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – just a nice film.

·         Watch Studio Ghibli stuff - Spirited Away, Laputa, Ponyo, My Neighbour Totoro

·         Kamikaze Girls – chick flick based on a novel about crazy Japanese fashion.

·         Densha Otoko – true story about a massive nerd (otaku) who saves a woman on a train from a perv and his story of how he falls for her. I think this is a drama not a movie. Watch the drama. Shows the Japanese nerd stereotype and changed the stigma against massive nerds “otaku” a lot.

ANIME SERIES

 "Welcome to the NHK" - I haven't watched it, but it's a slice of life thing that everyone rates highly. About a TV show where they get people who are unemployed/not in school to kick start their life.

“Samurai Champloo” – gangsta’ samurais. Lol.

“Yakitate! Japan” – It’s about baking bread. Literally, about the life of a kid who bakes bread in Japan. Need I say more?

Err… and these are some classic animes which you might like since you are, after all, a DUDE. Don’t really show JAPAN JAPAN though.

Neon Genesis Evangelion – massively trippy, but about giant robots, woot! This is THE classic and you’ll see random logos/characters in shops/arcades etc.

Cowboy Bebop – SPACE COWBOYS. WOAAH.

MANGA

Nana - http://www.anymanga.com/nana/001/001/001/

I feel like I'm on Holiday..

The weather has been insane this past week. I'm talking well over 30 degree's, blisteringly hot sun and the perfect cool breeze, literally paradise. So since the weather has been so great I have been taking full advantage of the "Beach" in my city. Yep, that's right! In my city. As the Chinese people tend to want to make things look beautiful here, they decided to build the most amazing fresh water lake to the side of my city, no only building a temple there but also an artificial, white sand beach. The beach, combined with the crystal water and mountain scenery make it one of the most beautiful beach's I have ever been too, and I have been to Thailand, home of the worlds most beautiful beaches! 


Judge for yourself.

Sunbathing here did not feel like China at all, it was amazing! It was almost like I was on Holiday, away from the volunteering and just relaxing with good company and drinks. Bliss.

Lijiang, the most beautiful place in China..

So this past weekend was the May bank holiday and we all got some time off. I had been waiting for the opportunity to visit a place in the North West of Yunnan, right next to the Tibetan borders called Lijang. It translates to ‘Beautiful River’. This is classed as a world heritage site and for good reason.

Nat, Zoe and I made our way to the capital of Yunnan, Kunming at about 6:30am. I was not happy at this point. After a 2 hour bus journey we made it to the train station. Here I was faced with the awful realisation I was going to have to use a Chinese public loo. For those of you who don’t know, they are just a hole in the ground and you squat over them, normally with no cubical door, without going into much detail, I was too desperate to care and took the plunge and went.

We got on the train to see that in China you don’t get a seat but instead sit on a bed with 5 other people. At this point I was moody, hot and not looking forward to an 8 hour train sitting on a bed. Fast forward 4 hours in and after some food I found myself making friends by using Nat’s phrase book and practising my Chinese chat up lines. Ranging from saying ‘ We should have safe sex’ to ‘I want some weed, do you have weed? We are friends right?’. After I broke the ice we were offered food, shared some laugh and found out the guy I was sitting next to was a medical student and spoke some pretty good English! It turned out to be a really fun journey.

We arrived in Lijiang, it was beautiful, it was green, it was raining. This was not any rain though. This was the hardest, biggest and fastest rain storm I have ever seen and I have been in Thailand in rainy season! This was one crazy tropical rain storm, thunder and lightning too. We were drenched yet still very happy. We got to our hostel and took our stuff up to our shared room. Where we met Joe, a guy from Argentina who had grown up in England since he was 12 years old, so he had a pretty convincing English accent! He was really cool, doing the same thing as us, teaching English out here. He offered to show us around and take us for dinner. Despite the bad weather, I was hit at how incredibly beautiful the place was. The streets were narrow and cobbled. The houses were just as you would imagine any Chinese building with curved roof edges and red lanterns hanging from every wooden beam. But perhaps the most beautiful part of this ancient town was that it had a system of cannels running through it, picturesque and perfect, this place had it all.

After a good feed and a good night sleep we were ready to explore the ancient town, luckily the sun was out too and I was more than ready to get my tan on whilst looking around. Lijiang is home to the minority of people called Na’xi . They have a famous type of flat bread called BaBa. We found a street stall cooking some traditional BaBa with eggs and spring onion, in other words, egg-y bread!! It was so delicious and with a hint of salt it was the perfect breakfast. The sun was soon beating down on our heads as we explored this labyrinth of shops and cafés.  Lijiang has the best shopping you can imagine. There are handmade garments, jewellery, house decorations and art work. Lapping up all of the incredible scenery, we decided to head to ‘Black Dragon Pool Park’ which we had read about. Pretty epic name! We stopped at a place called ‘Through the window Café’, where you literally climb through the window to get in. Here we met a native kiwi from New Zealand who cooked me a pretty mean B.L.T. He also offered us some advice into how to get into the ‘Black Dragon Pool Park’ for free, as we later found out it was 80Y just to get in! Luckily with our new friend’s advice we managed to find a cheeky gate at the side where we could stroll into the park for free! I felt like a spy, a superhero and I was finally doing what I set out to do here, conquer China.

We got into the park and the view was mind blowing. There is a huge mountain here called ‘Jade Snow Mountain’ Every name of anything in China seems to be epic. The park had lush vegetation and incredible scenery. The highlight was that there were small pools of the coldest, freshest water that had melted and made its way down from Snow Mountain. There was lots of people collecting the water and blessing the area that surrounded the rock pools. We then walked further into the park and came to a huge pagoda, traditional and beautiful, it was a perfect picture opportunity! However I was much more preoccupied feeding all of the huge Koi carp fish in the lake than to admire the view. We sat in the park for a few hours, soaking up the sun and relaxing. Zoe wrote some post cards, Nat tried to paint the landscape and dropped her water colours in to the lake, while I was approached by university students to fill out questionnaires, still doing my part for the education system! Even when I’m on holiday .

We left the park, had some dinner and rested up for the next day.  The 2^nd day was just spend being lazy on a balcony café, eating food and reading some books for hours on end, the perfect holiday! We did a little shopping and explored a little more. When we were back at our hostel we found we had a new roommate, a Chinese lady who was to climb the snow mountain the following day. Not much to say about her really apart from she was nice and got her hair caught in a hair dryer. I laughed. A lot.

On our last day Nat and Zoe thought it would be a great idea to hire bikes in the rain, I did not. So I met some guys from Sweden and a man from Singapore and spent the day with them. The great prt about staying in a hostel is that you meet some many cool people, everyone is friendly and willing to spend the day with you, hang out and just have a good time. I showed them around Lijiang, took them to Black dragon Pool for free and just relaxed. It was nice to have some ‘boy time’ and just sit around talking about classic computer games, you would not believe how happy I was reminiscing about Mario 64, Diddy Kong racing and of course 007 golden eye, all for the classic Nintendo 64! We had to be on a train at 10:30pm that evening to get home, so I met the girls and we headed on a bus to the station later on.

The train was epic! I got my own bed, shared with 3 random Chinese people and just relaxed under the air conditioning. Shame about the Chinese man, whose snore was louder than the train engines, meaning I had about 3 hours sleep. Tops.  We made it back to Kunming around 6am, got a bus back to Yuxi by 10am and then I slept all day. Words cannot describe how amazing Lijiang is. It’s has so much shopping, culture and beauty. If I was to recommend some top places in China to visit, this would be up there. An amazing weekend away in an amazing place, bliss, do I really have to come home so soon?

All good things come to an end.

A night of Luxury

So I was about half way through my time here in china at this point. It was time for our charity to check up on us all, see how we are all doing, if we are decent teachers and to sort out any issues with the school we had. Helen, the lady who was chosen to visit and who incidentally picked all of the schools for us to work in came to see me. It started with a few questions about how I was doing, taking a few pictures, using my loo. You know, the usual way meetings pan out.

Once we had a chat we went to visit my head master. No one spoke English so with my new Chinese skills all I could really pick up was that I was a good teacher and the kids like me, mission accomplished!  Then I had to get back to the reason I am here, to inspire and teach Chinese children the joys of our language and culture. Helen also sat at the back of my class just taking a few notes and making sure I was doing ok with the kids. With some very nice feedback on my teaching and me feeling positively smug, we went to have dinner with all of the senior staff of my school. An epic meal was had.

Then we shared a car to the local town of E’shan, China would describe it as small, but it’s pretty damn huge.  This is where Nat and Zoe teach, unlike my school, theirs is not number one. Haha. To my surprise the school had put me up in one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in! The room was HUGE. The bed was HUGE. The T.V. was HUGE. The Bathroom was…surrounded by glass walls. Awkward!

I did however abuse every free luxury that was on offer, slept for a solid 15 hours and walked around naked in the privacy of my 11 story high room. This was such a nice break after roughing it in my apartment (check out my facebook for the epic killing of the Rat I found in my Kitchen). After a relaxing night and a present of Cadbury mini eggs from Helen, (life saver!) I made my way back to Yuxi and back to teaching!

Xishuangbanna

There are lots of different minorities in China, from the Han people to the Dai people. Yunnan in particular has the most variation and population of many of these minorities. The Dai people celebrate the ‘Water Festival’ and it is mainly held in the southern part of the Yunnan province in a place called Xishuangbanna. This is one of those one in a life time festivals where you get to have fun with the local people and get absolutely drenched in the process. The Dai people believe that by throwing water on each other we cleanse our souls and it will bring us good luck in the New Year!

Luckily for me, my Chinese teacher from Kunming, Cathy, who is the nicest and most caring woman I have ever met happened to move back to her native area of china, Xishuangbanna, and offered to let all of the volunteers stay with her and show us around, an offer we could not turn down! So on Friday 8^th April, at about 8pm, Zoe, Nat, Maddy and I hoped on a ‘sleeper bus’ from my hometown of Yuxi and got ourselves comfy for the 7 hour, overnight bus journey. The sleeper bus is basically a bus with bunk beds on, a pretty nifty system if you ask me! They aren’t the most spacious of beds so the best way to sleep is just on your back but I was very happy to find that it was the softest and most comfy bed I had slept on in China at that point. In no time I was asleep…..well I had to be after some crazy Chinese lady basically went all mortal combat on Nat and I, telling us to ‘shut up!!...please’ ahh how the Chinese are so polite!

We arrived in Xishuangbanna at about 3am, but luckily the bus driver let us stay on the bus and sleep until about 6:30am. This place is so far south it is basically on the borders of Cambodia and Thailand. The heat was pretty strong at 6:30am, around 30 degrees and 80% humidity. So I did what all English people would have done at this point, seek refuge in the local KFC and sit under the air conditioning until I had plucked up the courage to step outside and bear the heat.  Xishuangbanna was the closest thing I could get to the Thailand I was craving. The buildings, the people and the food was so reminiscent of Thailand and Koh Samui I felt right at home, yet still not used to the now 35 degree heat and 90% humidity!

We met Cathy, dropped our bags off and headed to a botanical garden in the middle of the City. The place was pretty huge and Odette (one of the Auzzie girls volunteering here) thought it would be a great idea to rent a golf cart instead of walking. That was until we found out it was £20 for an hour. It was so hot and my pure white baby soft skin was not enjoying the burning rays of the sun, however it was a beautiful place with lots of incredible flowers and even a small lake. We ended up spending about 3 hours here. With everyone well and truly exhausted, we headed to a local place for some ice cold drinks, ice cream, oh and some pickle chillies..yum?

That night we went to a pretty famous place for the locals for dinner called MeiMei’s. A western/Asian restaurant with a pretty big following. I almost collapsed looking into the place. There was white people everywhere, speaking English. At first I thought I should say some Chinese racist remarks towards them like I am victim to a lot of the time, then I realised that I am in fact not Chinese. I then relished in the fact I could people watch and eavesdrop and actually understand what they were saying, paradise! Good food and good company, followed by a good night sleep.

The next day was finally time for the water festival! We got on a 2 hour bus to a remote village in the South Western Mountains of China.  Here the streets were crowded with people, happy and celebrating the fact it was their water festival. It’s bigger than Christmas here. We went down some dirt paths and ended up in a field with hundreds of people, crammed together. The smoke of BBQ filled the air, people screaming Chinese phrases and offering to show me a good time were also a common occurrence here. We made our way through the crowd until BAM, some little Chinese kids attacked us all with some water balloons. Thus began the war of the western adults VS the Chinese kids in what can only be described as the most epic war since WW2. It would have been even better if we had been armed with water bombs and pistols instead of just standing there, crying, in the hope that they would soon stop, 2 hours later, they did. Drenched and hungry but still very happy we went for some local delicacies. They were pretty good, unlike the rest of China this place knew that Chilli does NOT have to be added to everything!

Once we had eaten we were hit by the news we would not be making it home that night, even though we were all due to teach the following morning. Luckily with a bit of talking, the odd sexual favour and Adam offering cigarettes to people, we finally managed to get a bus to Simao, where some of the volunteers are and then another sleeper bus to Yuxi that night. Making it back by 5am and teaching at 8am. It was an incredible place and an amazing weekend. Thank you Cathy!

Dumplings, car crash, police check, stolen phone..your average weekend in China

So this seems to be a 2 week occurrence, when I finally get the time and patience to write this blog! Anyway although I have loved teaching the kids here, who are incredible to me. I have had some of the most memorable and great weekends travelling China on my own and visiting my friends near by!Natalie and Zoe, who teach at the school about 20km away from me are always so welcoming and offer me a bed to stay over! I think they could tell that I was nearly at breaking point when they met up with me in the first week so were quick to invite me over to their apartment to stay for the weekend! Their school is so great. It was nice to delve further into the mountains and go their school.
It's smaller than mine but everyone is so nice and friendly and the school is literally built on the side of a mountain (fun hill climbing anyone?!) We went to the market on the Saturday morning with some students and learnt how to say all the crazy Chinese names for vegetables and meat! We got some pork, onion, salt and pastry so the students could teach us the traditional way to make Chinese dumplings!! They were so easy, just mince meat in the pastry and wrapped in their parcel and then boiled for a few minuets and then BAM, delicious meal on the table! So great! As well as cooking we watched some movies and just had some English conversations which was so refreshing after my panic attack inducing week of NO English!... Although I am starting to slowly grasp Mandarin, which is so so so fun to learn!So after this weekend I got back to my school and planned my following weekend trip away to some more volunteers down in the south of China in a place called Simao or also known as Puer.
It's where the most famous tea in China is made. The journey was crazy long, around 6 hours on a smoke filled coach, and to top it all off, it was night time and I was on my own with my English only speaking mind! To say I was nervous is an understatement! I thought I would sit at the back of the bus for some extra room, but ended up sitting next to some old me who sat the whole journey smoking a bong. They literally took the whole 'cool kids sit at the back' to a new level. I actually think I may have got high just sitting there. It's funny how you can make friends alone, in the Chinese mountains, as long as there are some drug's being pumped into the air! Well 6 hours later, I stumbled off the bus after arriving at, what I hoped!, Simao. I finally managed to get to Puer Yi Zhong, the school where Becca and Odette teach. I dropped my bag off and went straight from their place to a local bar that the lads, Adam and Lawrence, had strangely called 'The Locker' ran by communist China loving locals. Shisha pipes, good booze and snooker... it felt like I was home!!So I spent most of the weekend meeting the guys in Simao for food and drinks. We also climbed 'Chashan' meaning 'Tea Mountain'. Although it was tough, we got the most incredible view of the city from high in the mountains. It was definitely a breath taking moment that really made me realise where I was and how far away from home I am...but at that moment, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. It was so surreal, it felt like home, and thats exactly what China is to me now...home.
So after an amazing weekend down in the south, it was time to head back up north to my home town. Yuxi. The bus journey was even more exciting on the way back. I can tick off 'being on a bus that crashes' and 'being searched by the police' off my list to do in China, as that's exactly what happened on the way home. That was fun all alone, oh, and to top it all of, someone stole my phone on the bus! So an epic 8 1/2 hours later I finally arrived back at Yuxi and just dropped my bags and went to bed. It was the most draining, dangerous and interesting journey of my life!!So as you can see, I teach in the school, but I do so much more when I actually get to travel the mountains of China and meet everyone. Next week I will head down into the jungles of Xishuangbanna to celebrate the Dai people traditional 'Water Festival'. Basically a big excuse for huge street parties and get drenched in water. So I'll let you know how that goes! Check out my facebook page for some cool pictures of where I am! 

Yuxi, Home Sweet Home

So this update is long over-due but I have been so busy these past few weeks it's so hard to find the time to update this. Anyways, after my week long teaching course in Kunming I finally was picked up by a personal car to take me to the school I will be teaching at in China. My school is called ' Yuxi No.1 Middle School', its the top school in the area and possibly in my province, Yunnan. When I first arrived I was pretty overwhelmed at the size of the school, number of students (over 3500) and the most incredible mountains everywhere. Yuxi is a pretty urban area for countryside China, the place is pretty cool, lots of markets and things to see and the people are great. Although I am getting a little tired of people constantly staring at me and asking for photo's! I suppose that comes with being the only white person for about 100km (excluding some of my fellow volunteers).

So when I got into my appartment I was pretty shocked, the size was fine, I had to give it a pretty good clean, but the lack of internet and a working landline was a little too much to take. It broke me down being on my own in such a remote area. The first few days here were, in all honesty, hell. I have never felt so homesick and alone. It was one of the hardest thing's I have ever had to deal with, I know that when you read this you'll probably just think I was over reacting, but imagine having no one to talk to in your native language, not understanding anything anyone says and not being able to read basic road signs. It was so overwhelming it made me not want to leave the safety of my flat - or so I had convinced myself.

The students were incredible, on the second day there was a knock at the door with some students wanted to take me out to dinner, and although feeling pretty low I jumped at the chance to spend some time with people....and from that first meal I havn't had a single day where I have been alone. They have become such amazing friends of mine that show me so much of the culture and teach me the language. That's the experience that I wanted and why I came out here.

I also got the oppertunity to go to a traditional Chinese family reunion party at a local flat, which was fantastic. I finally got to see the 'real' China and they kindly showed me around the City, what Yuxi has to offer and gave me advise on how to deal with the homesickness. One of the women in the family has been on an exchange to England when she was my age so she gave me some great advice.

So after the first couple of days I finally got into teaching at the school. In the first lesson I may have taken advantage of the Chinese students not understanding my sarcasm and asked them to adress me only as King Lewis, which lasted a whole hour until I finally cracked! ha, I didn't realise how much har work goes into teaching one lesson, since being here I have so much more respect for my teachers wish I payed a bit more attention.

So there you have it, my first few days on my own in China, I will put some pictures up soon and update a post about the awesome weekend I had! Come back soon!

England-Hong Kong-Kunming

It's taken me this long to finally get onto blogspot in China, the filter system is pretty epic and really hard to get around! Anyway on to more important things....I MADE IT TO CHINA! I met all of the guys going with me on the morning of February 21st. All absolutly knacked but more than excited to get going on the trip. We first said our teary good byes to our parents at Heathrow airport and anxiously waited to board our flight to Hong Kong. This was my first long haul flight without my family, so you can imagine how nervous I was. But all in all the flight was a really smooth 12 hour journey. It took us nearly 6 hours to fly over China, which just puts everything into perspective and how huge this country is. When we finally landed in Hong Kong, we were all soooo sleepy we were practically walking zombies, but zombies with an apetite! Becca, Joe and I decided that since we were in China is was apropriate to order some crazy chinese food. So we found a place that served some noodles. How ever, they did not have anything that was really on the menu and simply pointed at what was available. So we had what they chose....BIG mistake. Upon collecting our food we found we had ordered some freak beef noodles with fish soup on the side. We ate it, as we thought we should try and get used to it! but wow did I regret it...I haven't been able to eat beef noodles since. So on top of the awful noodles, it turned out that out flight had been delayed by 2 hours, which meant we would be in the airport for 7 hours....fun!We finally got on a small plane and headed to mainland china to a place called Kunming in the province of Yunnan. The hotel was...acceptable! Here we spent the 8 days learning Chinese and exploring the city. We were also prepared on how to teach English to the Chinese students we would soon be heading to. It was an amazing week. We got to see so many things like the Golden Temple and even showed off our singing skills at the world famous KTV's!!

We also got some free time, so Becca, Zoe, Odette and I decided to spend the day heading down to the Chinese markets and then rent a boat at the water park located in the centre of the city...think Central Park, New York...but with lots of water and on a smaller scale.

Yes that really is real life chicks in China!

So it was an amazing week full of crazy food, experiences and an unbelievable amount of laughs. Its crazy how you can become such great friends with people you have only known for a week. But when you're placed in such a foreign environment you only have each other for support!It was an incredible week and I've now arrived at my school here in Yuxi, but I'll do a post on that in a few days...Chinese internet continues to slow my life down!

10 days until departure!

These last few weeks have gone so fast. I thought I had so much time to get ready and pack but as per usual I seem to have left most things until the last minute! I've been thinking a lot about all the essential things I should be taking and I'm trying to get into the mind frame of "if I don't use it here, I won't use it there". I've been reading a lot on the web about what I should realistically be taking with me to China and found a great website called 'What to Pack' which has put a lot into perspective for me.

Clothes wise I'll probably take a weeks worth of clothes and take advantage of the washing machine the school I'm staying with will provide. Although, unlike other's, I decided to choose a hard case instead of a back pack I still am trying to pack as light as possible to make the transition through China and over to Japan as easy as possible for me. I know its going to be pretty hot whilst I'm there (it's already 70 degrees and climbing!) in my area so I don't plan on taking any heavy weight jumpers/fleeces. Also we got told that we need to be smart casual when we're teaching in the school so I'm going to have to invest in a decent pair of Birkenstock's as rocking up to teach in my neon orange Crocs simply wont do!

Regarding medical supplies, I've already had my jabs for a few years now from when I went over to Thailand so that was some money saved! But I need to invest in some malaria tablets, which unfortunately I'll have to take everyday whilst I'm out there. Due to being so accident prone and clumsy I've taken it upon myself to invest in a pretty well packed first aid kit. No doubt I'll be the one person to get food poisoning or break a bone while we're out there. I have how ever been forbidden by my mum to do anything remotely adrenaline pumping in China, so that's parachuting and bungee jumping off the cards! Then again what she doesn't know won't hurt her!

So the flight is going to be roughly 12-13 hours long until we get to Hong Kong. Luckily Becca and I took it upon ourselves to completely check over all the films/music/t.v. on offer on the Cathay Pacific flight! After all the stuff we plan on watching, the flight won't be long enough! The flight is at 11:25am on the 21st, so luckily I wont have to get up at a ridiculous hour as I'm staying at a hotel down near Heathrow the night before! If you know me, I simply just don't do early starts. Full stop.

So whilst I'm getting packed and prepared for the travelling side of the trip, I also need to get some school supplies, the basics  you would expect and a decent planner for my lesson plans. I found out that I will be teaching 3 lesson's a day, all of which will be an hour long ! So I defiantly won't be short of things to do. I am starting to get really nervous about the teaching side of the trip, I just don't want to disappoint them all! I know if I do a good job out there it could change a lot of the students lives. Oh and on the theme of what I'm going to do in China, I invested in possibly the greatest guidebook I have ever had 'The Lonely Planet Guide to China'  This book has literally become my bible, it has everything in it! From places to see, bus times, prices, places to stay and places to eat. It's great. Although its full of notes and cards splitting up the important things I want to see, its so hard to decide what's simply 'too far' away. I know it sounds crazy but to put things into perspective a journey that takes up to about an hour here to an attraction would take about an 8 hour bus ride in China as everything is soooo spaced apart. The great news is it cost's around £5 for a 12hour bus journey so I should be able to see all the things I want!

So that's it for now. I'll probably update the night before the flight/ in the airport and if I can find some wireless internet, try and get an entry done in Hong Kong!....wish me luck with my huge amount of packing!