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!