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’