29th
Today I went for a run!!!
1st December
This morning we went to the christmas market. It was alright, not as exciting as I thought it would be, and everything was quite expensive. Got a few christmas gifts for people tho. This afternoon I was teaching and the first half of the class went really well, and my assistant just sat at the back and did nothing. But in the second half of my class I got Michelle as my assistant and shes so annoying because she always talks to the children in chinese when im trying to teach them and it just makes it impossible, and they all started shouting so I was having to shout over them.
2nd
This morning I got up early and went to work and I had to give everyone a test. But I was nice and gave everyone a good mark cos they all tried quite hard. Altho one of the children kept coming over when I was giving everyone their test and telling them the answers.
Didnt do anything else today.
4th
Today frankie and I went into town and frankie bought a saxaphone which was very exciting. We went to starbucks afterwards and they didnt have any hot chocolate, outrageous!!! But I had a nice cup of tea tho, altho it was the same price as a meal at some of the places near campus!
Went to work again this evening and I just had to review the whole book which was pretty easy, just played games for an hour and a half and sang various songs.
5th
This evening we took Beki to buy a bike, and then we cycled to our apartment to meet Mr Tu (our landlord). Some woman who also met us spent ages writing down what furniture and stuff there was in the apartment, and then we paid him our rent and we got our keys!!!!!
6th
Today I was lazy and only went to the second half of class. And then in speaking class today I actually had to speak which was a bit of an effort because usually I just sit at the back and dont say much. We went back to halls and started packing which didnt take too long, and then we got a taxi to our apartment and started to unpack everything. We didnt have time to buy bedding so we went back to halls and decided to stay there for another night. We went out tonight. We went round to our friends apartment first and played what was supposedly a traditional finnish drinking game. Basically you put a pack of cards on top of a beer bottle, and then in one breath you have to blow some cards off. And you lose if you dont blow any off, blow them all off or if you leave an Ace on top, it sounds pretty easy. but I couldnt actually blow any of the cards off, and then when I actually did I blew the whole pack off so I lost quite badly. After finishing a bottle of 60p chinese spirit (which was disgusting) we decided to go into town. However when we were leaving their flat we saw a little play area so I decided to go down the slide - but it was a bad idea because it had been raining and there was a big puddle at the bottom of it so i got quite wet.
We went to a club called MT club which wasnt that great. The music was good, but all the men were really pervy and at one point loads of random clowns on stilts came in and they set up a volleyball net across the dance floor and they started playing volleyball so no one could dance!!! We werent really enjoying it there, but there was another club downstairs called bonbon so we went there and saw the tallest man in the world again. There was a random dancing competition thing on the main dance floor and it was packed, but luckily we found a quiter dance floor near the back.
7th
This morning we got up and packed the rest of our things and left halls. But they wouldnt give us our deposit because we didnt have our receipts. So we packed the rest of the stuff onto our bikes and cycled to our new apartment to look for our receipts. Luckily frankie found hers and when we went back we both got our deposits back.
We went to ikea in the afternoon and get al new bedding and stuff, and we had a nice lunch there too. I went to tesco in the afternoon which wasnt as exciting as i thought it would be because it was the same as any other chinese supermarket.
Saturday 8 December 2007
Thursday 29 November 2007
Bonbon
26th
This morning I got up and had a shower, and then I thought that it was stupid having class so early in the morning so i decided to go back to bed. Today was pretty uneventful. I made it to listening class later on, and then ate at Sarahs for lunch and tea because its so good. Fran was going to see Beki after tea to sort out their travel plans so we all decided to tag along. After a while we decided to go and watch a film, but we stopped to speak to Justin on our way home and we ended up arguing with him for ages about the healthcare being crap in America. Altho we will go visit Justin more often because he gave us loads of stuff when we went round, frankie got a webcam and some trousers, and I got a computer mouse and he also gave us 10 dvds!!
27th
This morning I managed to get up and go to class on time, even though it was very boring. We went to get noodles for lunch, and then we watched one of the dvds that Justin had given us. We went for tea at the canteen and then I had to go to work. When i got there I discoverd that they were doing loads of building work at school and it smelt like glue and paint, and I was really concerned that the children would get high off the fumes and be even more crazy than usual, but luckily they moved us to another classroom at bit further away.
After work I went and met fran and justin and we went into town to a club called Bonbon. Vanessa had invited us out to karaOK but Justin and I had to work, and fran had dance, so we said we would just meet them at bonbon afterwards. When we got to the club we saw the tallest man EVER. He was definately over seven ft, he was huge!!!!!!!! and I was actually quite scared to give him my tickets.
We went upstairs and got some drinks and then we went to sit down. But someone came and told us that we could only sit there is we paid more money, so we went to sit somewhere else, and the same thing happened. Eventually they pointed out the seats that were free. We were just sat having a drink and we saw a rat run past - nice!! Apparantly there were several rats running around during the course of the evening. Shortly after, Vanessa arrived and she spoke to someone and got us a nice booth to sit it. We went to go and dance and after a while a chinese guy came to dance with me, but he was getting a bit too close and luckily frankie saved me. Later on I was dancing with some other chinese guys and one of them invited me back to his booth so of course i said yes. We were playing a drinking game - basically we were playing paper, scissor, stone and whoever lost had to down a glass of vodka and orange. I was losing quite badly so I left and went to go and dance with everyone else. I'd had quite a lot to drink by this point as it was £3.50 all you can drink, so I decided to start drinking beer rather than vodka, which wasnt the best idea i've ever had!! Frankie and I left not long after. We were followed to our taxi by a Nigerian man called Wendy who asked for my number, so i gave it to him to get rid of him, but looking back I should have given him a wrong number.
We got back to campus, and i decided to skip back to halls, but this was a bit idea as i tripped over the curb and landed on my knee infront of the security people at the entrance of campus. They were not amused. Despite my injury I managed to skip/run back to the waibinglou, only to discover that we had been locked out!! After banging on the door someone came to let us in, and pointed out the bell that we should have pressed rather than banging on the door.
28th
No suprises that I didnt make it to class this morning. Didnt do anything in the morning, and then we went for korean food for lunch. Watched a film in the afternoon, and then I went to go and teach. I was covering for someones else's class today, and it was the class that i was teaching a couple of weeks ago, where the children have silly names like yoyo and banana. And I discovered today that one was called Snail, hilarious
Just before I was about to go to bed, Wendy from Nigeria called to ask if i was "partying" tonight. I told him that I wasnt, and I couldnt understand what he was saying so i hung up.
This morning I got up and had a shower, and then I thought that it was stupid having class so early in the morning so i decided to go back to bed. Today was pretty uneventful. I made it to listening class later on, and then ate at Sarahs for lunch and tea because its so good. Fran was going to see Beki after tea to sort out their travel plans so we all decided to tag along. After a while we decided to go and watch a film, but we stopped to speak to Justin on our way home and we ended up arguing with him for ages about the healthcare being crap in America. Altho we will go visit Justin more often because he gave us loads of stuff when we went round, frankie got a webcam and some trousers, and I got a computer mouse and he also gave us 10 dvds!!
27th
This morning I managed to get up and go to class on time, even though it was very boring. We went to get noodles for lunch, and then we watched one of the dvds that Justin had given us. We went for tea at the canteen and then I had to go to work. When i got there I discoverd that they were doing loads of building work at school and it smelt like glue and paint, and I was really concerned that the children would get high off the fumes and be even more crazy than usual, but luckily they moved us to another classroom at bit further away.
After work I went and met fran and justin and we went into town to a club called Bonbon. Vanessa had invited us out to karaOK but Justin and I had to work, and fran had dance, so we said we would just meet them at bonbon afterwards. When we got to the club we saw the tallest man EVER. He was definately over seven ft, he was huge!!!!!!!! and I was actually quite scared to give him my tickets.
We went upstairs and got some drinks and then we went to sit down. But someone came and told us that we could only sit there is we paid more money, so we went to sit somewhere else, and the same thing happened. Eventually they pointed out the seats that were free. We were just sat having a drink and we saw a rat run past - nice!! Apparantly there were several rats running around during the course of the evening. Shortly after, Vanessa arrived and she spoke to someone and got us a nice booth to sit it. We went to go and dance and after a while a chinese guy came to dance with me, but he was getting a bit too close and luckily frankie saved me. Later on I was dancing with some other chinese guys and one of them invited me back to his booth so of course i said yes. We were playing a drinking game - basically we were playing paper, scissor, stone and whoever lost had to down a glass of vodka and orange. I was losing quite badly so I left and went to go and dance with everyone else. I'd had quite a lot to drink by this point as it was £3.50 all you can drink, so I decided to start drinking beer rather than vodka, which wasnt the best idea i've ever had!! Frankie and I left not long after. We were followed to our taxi by a Nigerian man called Wendy who asked for my number, so i gave it to him to get rid of him, but looking back I should have given him a wrong number.
We got back to campus, and i decided to skip back to halls, but this was a bit idea as i tripped over the curb and landed on my knee infront of the security people at the entrance of campus. They were not amused. Despite my injury I managed to skip/run back to the waibinglou, only to discover that we had been locked out!! After banging on the door someone came to let us in, and pointed out the bell that we should have pressed rather than banging on the door.
28th
No suprises that I didnt make it to class this morning. Didnt do anything in the morning, and then we went for korean food for lunch. Watched a film in the afternoon, and then I went to go and teach. I was covering for someones else's class today, and it was the class that i was teaching a couple of weeks ago, where the children have silly names like yoyo and banana. And I discovered today that one was called Snail, hilarious
Just before I was about to go to bed, Wendy from Nigeria called to ask if i was "partying" tonight. I told him that I wasnt, and I couldnt understand what he was saying so i hung up.
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Thanksgiving and Apartments
22nd November
Today I made it to class after only 4 hours sleep!! Got my reading exam result in class which wasnt great, and then in speaking I found out I got 89 which is a miracle cos it went so badly.
Sarah has a teaching job, which is teaching business english and this afternoon we went to her class to help. The people in the class got put into groups of 4 and we each had a group and we had to ask them interview questions and correct their english. It was quite fun and my group were really good and spoke amazing english so it was pretty easy, and then we just ended up talking about music and films.
This evening we went out with Justin for a thanksgiving meal. We went to the spot bar and the food was soooooooo good. I had a massive main course and I was so full afterwards I could hardly move, but I still managed to eat a pudding. All that and half a litre of beer was only £10!!! Amazing.
23rd
Nothing really happened today. Went to a nice Uygur restaurant for tea and then we watched the dvd that Justin brought round. It was really good, its a Michael Moore film called Sicko. I would recommend it.
24th
This morning we went to look for apartments and Sarah asked one of the chinese guys from her class to come and help us. We went into the first estate agent and it was far too expensive and they were blatantly just trying to rip us off because we're foreign. So we went to the estate agent just further down and they arranged 2 places for us to see. We had a bit of time before we were going to see them so we went for lunch. The first apartment we saw was really nice and very spacious, and the one after was really good. So we decided to go for the first one, and sarah and fran would have the other one. I had to go and teach at half 3 and it was really crap today because I didnt have an assistant for the first half of the lesson and the children were just going crazy and shouting. After class we went back to the estate agents to sign for our apartment and vanessa came to help us and be our translator. But we had to wait for 2 hours and they kept telling us that the landlord was stuck in traffic. And then at 10pm they told us that he wasnt going to come and sign the contract unless we paid more rent so we said no, and it was really annoying.
We later found out that the first estate agents we went to had followed us to see which apartments we were going to view, and they had contacted this landlord and told him they they could get someone to pay more than us. Its really annoying especially since sarah and fran had signed for their apartment, and we were hoping to get 2 close together.
25th
Today I got up and went to the antiques market in town and got a few christmas presents. It was so hard to find, and I managed to walk all the way around it before I actually found it - my map reading skills arent good. I went back to the estate agents in the afternoon because they had arranged for 2 more flats for us to see. I got there a bit earlier than everyone else so I just went and sat inside the agency and the woman who worked there insisted on showing me pictures of loads of flats, even ones that were for like 8 people. It was a bit strange.
The first one was saw was a definate no, it didnt have a good vibe and was really minging. The second flat was really nice tho and so we decided to go for it and it was in a good location too because its near a metro station. So we went back to the estate agents and signed for it and we move in in 12 days!!!! Also, I got to ride on the back of a moped to go and see the flats which was most exciting!!! And because we had just signed for our flat we went for a celebratory meal at KFC.
Today I made it to class after only 4 hours sleep!! Got my reading exam result in class which wasnt great, and then in speaking I found out I got 89 which is a miracle cos it went so badly.
Sarah has a teaching job, which is teaching business english and this afternoon we went to her class to help. The people in the class got put into groups of 4 and we each had a group and we had to ask them interview questions and correct their english. It was quite fun and my group were really good and spoke amazing english so it was pretty easy, and then we just ended up talking about music and films.
This evening we went out with Justin for a thanksgiving meal. We went to the spot bar and the food was soooooooo good. I had a massive main course and I was so full afterwards I could hardly move, but I still managed to eat a pudding. All that and half a litre of beer was only £10!!! Amazing.
23rd
Nothing really happened today. Went to a nice Uygur restaurant for tea and then we watched the dvd that Justin brought round. It was really good, its a Michael Moore film called Sicko. I would recommend it.
24th
This morning we went to look for apartments and Sarah asked one of the chinese guys from her class to come and help us. We went into the first estate agent and it was far too expensive and they were blatantly just trying to rip us off because we're foreign. So we went to the estate agent just further down and they arranged 2 places for us to see. We had a bit of time before we were going to see them so we went for lunch. The first apartment we saw was really nice and very spacious, and the one after was really good. So we decided to go for the first one, and sarah and fran would have the other one. I had to go and teach at half 3 and it was really crap today because I didnt have an assistant for the first half of the lesson and the children were just going crazy and shouting. After class we went back to the estate agents to sign for our apartment and vanessa came to help us and be our translator. But we had to wait for 2 hours and they kept telling us that the landlord was stuck in traffic. And then at 10pm they told us that he wasnt going to come and sign the contract unless we paid more rent so we said no, and it was really annoying.
We later found out that the first estate agents we went to had followed us to see which apartments we were going to view, and they had contacted this landlord and told him they they could get someone to pay more than us. Its really annoying especially since sarah and fran had signed for their apartment, and we were hoping to get 2 close together.
25th
Today I got up and went to the antiques market in town and got a few christmas presents. It was so hard to find, and I managed to walk all the way around it before I actually found it - my map reading skills arent good. I went back to the estate agents in the afternoon because they had arranged for 2 more flats for us to see. I got there a bit earlier than everyone else so I just went and sat inside the agency and the woman who worked there insisted on showing me pictures of loads of flats, even ones that were for like 8 people. It was a bit strange.
The first one was saw was a definate no, it didnt have a good vibe and was really minging. The second flat was really nice tho and so we decided to go for it and it was in a good location too because its near a metro station. So we went back to the estate agents and signed for it and we move in in 12 days!!!! Also, I got to ride on the back of a moped to go and see the flats which was most exciting!!! And because we had just signed for our flat we went for a celebratory meal at KFC.
Thursday 22 November 2007
Nights out and other stuff
16th November
I have booked flights to come home for christmas which is very exciting.
Tonight we celebrated my birthday, even tho my bday was quite a while ago, but we've been really busy because of the exams and the field trip so havent had chance to celebrate it before. The night started at McDonalds which was really good. And then we went to a bar called The Spot because they had ladies night. We arrived a bit too early for ladies night so we had to buy a drink, but then at 10pm it was free drinks so we made the most of those. Then we got a taxi to windows which is really good, lots of cheap drinks. I met a french guy, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to practise speaking french, but I couldnt actually say anything, and then i found out that he could speak some chinese so we ended up speaking chinese because it was easier!!
18th November
Today we went to the Shanghai Museum. It was really good - and only 5yuan with our student discount. There was loads to see and we were there for hours. Outside the museum we met some random chinese people who came to talk to us, and they were wanting us to come to see an acrobatics show with them, so we made Justin give them his number and we said we would call them - obv we didnt. We watched hairspray which was really good.
20th
Today was pretting boring. We went to a Uygur restaurant for lunch which was very nice. This evening I went to teach and I had to teach them 'in' 'on' and 'under'. It was quite easy, I just played games for an hour and a half. At the end of the class one of the girls dad came to talk to me. Usually her mum brings her to class, and she talks to me because she speaks really good english. Her dad was really nice, and told me that he was pleased that I was teaching them now because the teacher before was american, and he thinks its better for molly to learn British English. I agreed with him, and told him that British English was much better than American English! He told me that he was a teacher at my uni and gave me their family number so I can call them if I have any problems.
21st
Today in class we were learning the new words and one of the words was "golden" and so the teacher made up a sentence to show us how to use it, and he said "who in the class has golden hair?" (given that most people are asian, it was obv me) and everyone was pointing at me and laughing, it was tres embaressing.
This evening we decided to have a night out because it was ladies night at a few of the bars. We went to Barbarossa which is in people's square. It was really nice, it was on a little lake in the square and we got good seats on the balcony. AND we got free cocktails which were really nice, so had quite a few of those. Afterwards we went to Zapatas where there was also ladies night there, but it finished at midnight. We got there just before midnight so we went to the bar to get our free drinks. But there was some moody woman waiting at the bar before me, and she was crap at getting served and we had to wait for ages, and so by the time we got served it was past midnight and there were no free drinks left. Bt luckily we managed to get some drinks upstairs. After several free drinks we were pretty drunk and so we decided to go and dance on the bar, so funny!! We met several random people . There was a guy from finland who was hilarious and was trying to teach me sweedish which was hilarious, unfortunately ive forgotten it all though. Met a few english people who were quite funny, and very drunk!!
At the end of the night we decided to go to Lochlan's apartment because Justin had been there and told us it was really nice. It was only a short walk away from Zapatas which was good. It was such a nice apartment, and we were all being really nosey and having a look around. We were quite tired because it was about 3.30am so Beki, Frankie and I decided to go to sleep in Lochlan's bed. After a while he came in to see us and wasnt sure what to do when he discovered 3 girls in his bed, it was funny. Frankie decided to be nosey and have a look through his things and tried on some of his clothes which was really funny. We also discovered that he has lots of Rubix cubes - strange. After a while, Frankie came and told us that Justin had gone to sleep on the balcony outside so we thought we should go home. All 5 of us managed to get into the same taxi, even though you're only meant to have 4 people. When we got back we had been locked out of our halls, so after knocking on the door for a couple of minutes someone came to let us in!! Was a really good night, we will definately be going there again to make the most of ladies night and the free drinks!
I have booked flights to come home for christmas which is very exciting.
Tonight we celebrated my birthday, even tho my bday was quite a while ago, but we've been really busy because of the exams and the field trip so havent had chance to celebrate it before. The night started at McDonalds which was really good. And then we went to a bar called The Spot because they had ladies night. We arrived a bit too early for ladies night so we had to buy a drink, but then at 10pm it was free drinks so we made the most of those. Then we got a taxi to windows which is really good, lots of cheap drinks. I met a french guy, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to practise speaking french, but I couldnt actually say anything, and then i found out that he could speak some chinese so we ended up speaking chinese because it was easier!!
18th November
Today we went to the Shanghai Museum. It was really good - and only 5yuan with our student discount. There was loads to see and we were there for hours. Outside the museum we met some random chinese people who came to talk to us, and they were wanting us to come to see an acrobatics show with them, so we made Justin give them his number and we said we would call them - obv we didnt. We watched hairspray which was really good.
20th
Today was pretting boring. We went to a Uygur restaurant for lunch which was very nice. This evening I went to teach and I had to teach them 'in' 'on' and 'under'. It was quite easy, I just played games for an hour and a half. At the end of the class one of the girls dad came to talk to me. Usually her mum brings her to class, and she talks to me because she speaks really good english. Her dad was really nice, and told me that he was pleased that I was teaching them now because the teacher before was american, and he thinks its better for molly to learn British English. I agreed with him, and told him that British English was much better than American English! He told me that he was a teacher at my uni and gave me their family number so I can call them if I have any problems.
21st
Today in class we were learning the new words and one of the words was "golden" and so the teacher made up a sentence to show us how to use it, and he said "who in the class has golden hair?" (given that most people are asian, it was obv me) and everyone was pointing at me and laughing, it was tres embaressing.
This evening we decided to have a night out because it was ladies night at a few of the bars. We went to Barbarossa which is in people's square. It was really nice, it was on a little lake in the square and we got good seats on the balcony. AND we got free cocktails which were really nice, so had quite a few of those. Afterwards we went to Zapatas where there was also ladies night there, but it finished at midnight. We got there just before midnight so we went to the bar to get our free drinks. But there was some moody woman waiting at the bar before me, and she was crap at getting served and we had to wait for ages, and so by the time we got served it was past midnight and there were no free drinks left. Bt luckily we managed to get some drinks upstairs. After several free drinks we were pretty drunk and so we decided to go and dance on the bar, so funny!! We met several random people . There was a guy from finland who was hilarious and was trying to teach me sweedish which was hilarious, unfortunately ive forgotten it all though. Met a few english people who were quite funny, and very drunk!!
At the end of the night we decided to go to Lochlan's apartment because Justin had been there and told us it was really nice. It was only a short walk away from Zapatas which was good. It was such a nice apartment, and we were all being really nosey and having a look around. We were quite tired because it was about 3.30am so Beki, Frankie and I decided to go to sleep in Lochlan's bed. After a while he came in to see us and wasnt sure what to do when he discovered 3 girls in his bed, it was funny. Frankie decided to be nosey and have a look through his things and tried on some of his clothes which was really funny. We also discovered that he has lots of Rubix cubes - strange. After a while, Frankie came and told us that Justin had gone to sleep on the balcony outside so we thought we should go home. All 5 of us managed to get into the same taxi, even though you're only meant to have 4 people. When we got back we had been locked out of our halls, so after knocking on the door for a couple of minutes someone came to let us in!! Was a really good night, we will definately be going there again to make the most of ladies night and the free drinks!
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Exams and boring stuff
9th November
This morning I went to reading class. In the break three of the korean guys were talking to me, and one of them asked if i thought another one was good looking. It was such an awkward moment because it would have been really rude to say No, and I couldnt say yes, so i just laughed (quite a lot) and they gave me a strange look and asked again, but then luckily the bell went and class started again.
In the afternoon we went to speaking exam and the teacher was telling us about what would be in our exam next week. I didnt understand what he was going on about so frankie and I decided to ask him at the end of class rather than asking in front of everyone. But during class one of the koreans asked us if we understood, and when we said no, he put his hand up and shouted "the english girls dont understand" - it was so embaressing!!! But talking about the exam took up the whole of the lesson time so we didnt have to do any work.
We went for tea to an Islam restaurant which was really nice. And Frankie got Stardust on dvd - really random film, but really good!
10th November
This morning I got woken up by some really loud music outside which was soooooooo annoying. I had a pretty boring morning, just went to the supermarket and did some other stuff.
This afternoon I started teaching another class. The children were only 4 years old and it was their first ever english class. I had to teach them 'A' and 'B' which was actually quite difficult. When the parents left their children in the classroom, some of the children started crying. It was so bad! But I just gave them all some stickers which helped to cheer them up.
11th November
Today was very boring. Did my washing, did some revision and then phoned my twin because it was her birthday. But in the evening we decided to go out for a nice tea, and we went to an Indian restaurant. I have missed Indian food soooooo much!!! I had a chicken biryani, pineapple raita and a potato stuffed bread! It was all so nice, although it was quite pricey (well the same as it would be in england - but very expensive for china).
13th November
Had my listening exam today - it wasnt great. All the questions were ones that we had already done in our textbook, but I couldnt remember any of them! In the exam, the koreans we all blatantly cheating and the teacher didnt seem to care! As a treat after the exam, frankie and I went to KFC for lunch.
In the evening I went to work. Today I had to teach the children a song which was pretty easy, altho I had to sing in front of them which was quite embaressing.
14th November
When I woke up Frankie told me that I had been speaking and laughing in my sleep - im such a freak!!!
We had the writing exam today which was ok, a lot better than the listening one yesterday.
After class I went back to halls, and when I got there the man (who has the job of telling you where to put your bicycle) told me that I couldnt leave it outside where I normally put it, and he said I had to put in the underground bicycle room. I told him that I was going out in half an hour so I would need it again but he didnt care and made me put it downstairs! So annoying! (I hate putting it in the underground thing because our bicycles were down there when the bells got stolen).
This evening I went to teach again - I was covering for someone else. The class was quite good, I just had to teach them colours. In this class some of the children had really funny english names, the best ones were Banana, Yo Yo and Rain. So funny! At one point I didnt have my chinese assistant in the class and one of the boys hit a girl and everyone started shouting in chinese and it was all a bit mad - but I managed to deal with the situation (and succesfully speak chinese well enough for the children to understand me) and I made the boy sit at the front of the class by himself which he didnt like. Hopefully I wont have to cover for that class again.
On the way back to halls I went to the fruit stall on campus again and the wierd guy with long finger nails was working there, and he made the woman who works there tell me that he thought I was beautiful, and then he gave me a piece of watermelon to eat but it looked minging so I said no thanks and quickly left!
This morning I went to reading class. In the break three of the korean guys were talking to me, and one of them asked if i thought another one was good looking. It was such an awkward moment because it would have been really rude to say No, and I couldnt say yes, so i just laughed (quite a lot) and they gave me a strange look and asked again, but then luckily the bell went and class started again.
In the afternoon we went to speaking exam and the teacher was telling us about what would be in our exam next week. I didnt understand what he was going on about so frankie and I decided to ask him at the end of class rather than asking in front of everyone. But during class one of the koreans asked us if we understood, and when we said no, he put his hand up and shouted "the english girls dont understand" - it was so embaressing!!! But talking about the exam took up the whole of the lesson time so we didnt have to do any work.
We went for tea to an Islam restaurant which was really nice. And Frankie got Stardust on dvd - really random film, but really good!
10th November
This morning I got woken up by some really loud music outside which was soooooooo annoying. I had a pretty boring morning, just went to the supermarket and did some other stuff.
This afternoon I started teaching another class. The children were only 4 years old and it was their first ever english class. I had to teach them 'A' and 'B' which was actually quite difficult. When the parents left their children in the classroom, some of the children started crying. It was so bad! But I just gave them all some stickers which helped to cheer them up.
11th November
Today was very boring. Did my washing, did some revision and then phoned my twin because it was her birthday. But in the evening we decided to go out for a nice tea, and we went to an Indian restaurant. I have missed Indian food soooooo much!!! I had a chicken biryani, pineapple raita and a potato stuffed bread! It was all so nice, although it was quite pricey (well the same as it would be in england - but very expensive for china).
13th November
Had my listening exam today - it wasnt great. All the questions were ones that we had already done in our textbook, but I couldnt remember any of them! In the exam, the koreans we all blatantly cheating and the teacher didnt seem to care! As a treat after the exam, frankie and I went to KFC for lunch.
In the evening I went to work. Today I had to teach the children a song which was pretty easy, altho I had to sing in front of them which was quite embaressing.
14th November
When I woke up Frankie told me that I had been speaking and laughing in my sleep - im such a freak!!!
We had the writing exam today which was ok, a lot better than the listening one yesterday.
After class I went back to halls, and when I got there the man (who has the job of telling you where to put your bicycle) told me that I couldnt leave it outside where I normally put it, and he said I had to put in the underground bicycle room. I told him that I was going out in half an hour so I would need it again but he didnt care and made me put it downstairs! So annoying! (I hate putting it in the underground thing because our bicycles were down there when the bells got stolen).
This evening I went to teach again - I was covering for someone else. The class was quite good, I just had to teach them colours. In this class some of the children had really funny english names, the best ones were Banana, Yo Yo and Rain. So funny! At one point I didnt have my chinese assistant in the class and one of the boys hit a girl and everyone started shouting in chinese and it was all a bit mad - but I managed to deal with the situation (and succesfully speak chinese well enough for the children to understand me) and I made the boy sit at the front of the class by himself which he didnt like. Hopefully I wont have to cover for that class again.
On the way back to halls I went to the fruit stall on campus again and the wierd guy with long finger nails was working there, and he made the woman who works there tell me that he thought I was beautiful, and then he gave me a piece of watermelon to eat but it looked minging so I said no thanks and quickly left!
Thursday 8 November 2007
Recovering from the field trip, and lots of cycling
3rd November
I was really tired after the field trip because of the very early wake-up calls and all the walking - I still have nightmares about our guide shouting Zou La. Today i had a really really exciting day. I got up, did my washing, finished unpacking all my stuff from the field trip (its amazing how much i took even though I was only there for 4 days). Then I went to get some photos developed and I went to the post office. But in the 4 days that I had been away the post office next to campus had been closed and was now just a building full of rubble!! So I went to get my bicycle so that I could cycle around and look for another post office, luckily there was another one 5 minutes away from uni.
In the afternoon I read the OK magazines that mum had posted to me, and one of frankie's friends has posted Heat so that was good, I have missed the crap english magazines.
In the evening Beki came round and we watched the sound of music - its such a good film.
4th November
When we were on the bus back from the field trip we passed a xinjiang restaurant that was really near to uni so we decided to go there for tea tonight. We decided to cycle there because it would have been quite a long walk, but Francesca doesnt have a bike so she sat on the back of frankie's - the bikes in china are designed for 2 people because they have a flat bit on the back over the back wheel that someone can sit on. The xinjiang restaurant was so nice - I had a beef and carrot thing and it was really nice meat - not like the usual stuff we have that is mainly fat and bone. On the way back Fran wanted to cycle back to see what it was like cycling in shanghai so i sat on the back of frankie's bike which was fun, i could get used to someone cycling me around!!
5th November
This morning I had class at 8 so I had to get up really early. In writing class today our horrible teacher only made 2 sexist remarks which is quite good because there is normally at least 5!
This evening frankie, sarah and I went out for tea, and we thought we would try somewhere new so we decided to cycle and go somewhere a bit further away. Sarah was too scared to sit on the back of a bike though so she rode mine and I sat on the back of frankie's again. After cycling around for a while we ended up going to a sichuan restaurant. Sichuan food is known for being really spicey, but we were all really boring and asked for non-spicey food, but it was still really nice. On the way back I thought I would have a go at cycling with someone sat on the back of my bicycle, but it was a disaster. I could balance and I kept almost falling off, and then I couldnt stop laughing and it wasnt the safest place to be doing it because there were cars going up and down the road so I just sat on the back of frankie's bike to go back. When we got back to halls it was really quiet so I decided to try again, and i succesfully cycled with frankie sat on the back of my bike!
6th
This morning was another early start. I was a bit early going to class this morning, and so I was talking to a couple of the koreans that were there early too. And the Korean guy (i think he is called Minshou or something like that) was asking me if I wear contact lenses every day, which I thought was a really random question, and obv I said no. And then he looked really suprised, so I asked him why he thought I would wear contacts, and it was because I have blue eyes and he hadnt seen anyone with natural blue eyes before!! Class was pretty boring today. Part way through writing class the nice korean girl came and sat next to me, and she spent quite a lot of time pulling out Minshou's grey hairs which kept us amused.
This evening I went to work and I got paid, wooooooo. Im really enjoying my job. When I arrived at the school all the teachers came over and were saying 'hello laura' even though I havent met them all and dont know what they're called, but everyone is so friendly. Today I had to teach the children 'run', 'swim', 'jump' and 'fly' which involved me doing the various actions and making myself look stupid to help them understand, but they found it really funny though. At the end of the class I said bye to my class and they all ran over and gave me a hug which was really sweet.
On the way back from work I went to the fruit stall on campus and I dont like the guy who works there because I find him a bit creepy (mainly because he has really really long fingernails) and he told me that I was beautiful so i left very quickly!
7th November
This morning we didnt have to get up till 8am!!! Class was pretty boring today, altho the teacher did something that was sooooooo rude (this is the sexist teacher from our writing class). I really dont think he likes me and frankie at all. We were learning this grammer structure (which we've already learnt twice in england) which is when you say 'in adition to something, there is something else' and so for an example he said, 'in our class, in adition to korean students, there are italians, americans, japanese and indonesian students' and purposely didnt say english!!! he is so rude
altho maybe he can understand english and he understands when frankie and i are bitching about him.
After class we met sunny and vanessa for lunch and we went to a really nice restaurant on Guilin Road. We had a really nice lunch - the food was so good. The rest of the day was pretty boring. I did a bit of revision and then had an early night.
8th November
This morning I got up at 7 and went to reading class, which like all my other classes so far this week was pretty boring. But afterwards we had speaking class and the teacher told us that we were going to be playing a game. He would write a word on the board and then someone would have to stand with their back to the board while everyone else had to explain what the word was without saying the word. Once I got over the initial stress of being picked to go and stand up infront of everyone and be made to look like a complete idiot it was actually quite fun. (a couple of people volunteered to do it so i didnt have to). The fact that I found this fun shows how boring our class usually is!
We went for lunch at the korean place on campus and then i did some revision in the afternoon. Frankie and I decided to go back to the Xinjiang restaurant for tea, and sarah came round so we asked her if she wanted to come too. However, because we only had 2 bikes it meant that 2 people would have to cycle while 2 people sat on the back. Sarah wasnt too keen on sitting on the back of a bicycle so she decdied to cycle fran while I sat on the back of frankie's bike. However sarah was finding it too hard so she decided to sit on frankie's bike while i cycled fran. I think it was probably one of the worst experiences of francesca's life! Because I've only cycled and little bit with someone sat on the back, I was finding it quite hard to get my balance, but it was ok once i got going. But Francesca wasnt happy when I turned down a road and started cycling into the oncomming traffic - don't worry this is a normal thing to do in china, people usually cycle on the wrong side of the road if they cant be bothered to cross to the other side. Tea was really nice and I successfully cycled francesca back to uni.
I was really tired after the field trip because of the very early wake-up calls and all the walking - I still have nightmares about our guide shouting Zou La. Today i had a really really exciting day. I got up, did my washing, finished unpacking all my stuff from the field trip (its amazing how much i took even though I was only there for 4 days). Then I went to get some photos developed and I went to the post office. But in the 4 days that I had been away the post office next to campus had been closed and was now just a building full of rubble!! So I went to get my bicycle so that I could cycle around and look for another post office, luckily there was another one 5 minutes away from uni.
In the afternoon I read the OK magazines that mum had posted to me, and one of frankie's friends has posted Heat so that was good, I have missed the crap english magazines.
In the evening Beki came round and we watched the sound of music - its such a good film.
4th November
When we were on the bus back from the field trip we passed a xinjiang restaurant that was really near to uni so we decided to go there for tea tonight. We decided to cycle there because it would have been quite a long walk, but Francesca doesnt have a bike so she sat on the back of frankie's - the bikes in china are designed for 2 people because they have a flat bit on the back over the back wheel that someone can sit on. The xinjiang restaurant was so nice - I had a beef and carrot thing and it was really nice meat - not like the usual stuff we have that is mainly fat and bone. On the way back Fran wanted to cycle back to see what it was like cycling in shanghai so i sat on the back of frankie's bike which was fun, i could get used to someone cycling me around!!
5th November
This morning I had class at 8 so I had to get up really early. In writing class today our horrible teacher only made 2 sexist remarks which is quite good because there is normally at least 5!
This evening frankie, sarah and I went out for tea, and we thought we would try somewhere new so we decided to cycle and go somewhere a bit further away. Sarah was too scared to sit on the back of a bike though so she rode mine and I sat on the back of frankie's again. After cycling around for a while we ended up going to a sichuan restaurant. Sichuan food is known for being really spicey, but we were all really boring and asked for non-spicey food, but it was still really nice. On the way back I thought I would have a go at cycling with someone sat on the back of my bicycle, but it was a disaster. I could balance and I kept almost falling off, and then I couldnt stop laughing and it wasnt the safest place to be doing it because there were cars going up and down the road so I just sat on the back of frankie's bike to go back. When we got back to halls it was really quiet so I decided to try again, and i succesfully cycled with frankie sat on the back of my bike!
6th
This morning was another early start. I was a bit early going to class this morning, and so I was talking to a couple of the koreans that were there early too. And the Korean guy (i think he is called Minshou or something like that) was asking me if I wear contact lenses every day, which I thought was a really random question, and obv I said no. And then he looked really suprised, so I asked him why he thought I would wear contacts, and it was because I have blue eyes and he hadnt seen anyone with natural blue eyes before!! Class was pretty boring today. Part way through writing class the nice korean girl came and sat next to me, and she spent quite a lot of time pulling out Minshou's grey hairs which kept us amused.
This evening I went to work and I got paid, wooooooo. Im really enjoying my job. When I arrived at the school all the teachers came over and were saying 'hello laura' even though I havent met them all and dont know what they're called, but everyone is so friendly. Today I had to teach the children 'run', 'swim', 'jump' and 'fly' which involved me doing the various actions and making myself look stupid to help them understand, but they found it really funny though. At the end of the class I said bye to my class and they all ran over and gave me a hug which was really sweet.
On the way back from work I went to the fruit stall on campus and I dont like the guy who works there because I find him a bit creepy (mainly because he has really really long fingernails) and he told me that I was beautiful so i left very quickly!
7th November
This morning we didnt have to get up till 8am!!! Class was pretty boring today, altho the teacher did something that was sooooooo rude (this is the sexist teacher from our writing class). I really dont think he likes me and frankie at all. We were learning this grammer structure (which we've already learnt twice in england) which is when you say 'in adition to something, there is something else' and so for an example he said, 'in our class, in adition to korean students, there are italians, americans, japanese and indonesian students' and purposely didnt say english!!! he is so rude
altho maybe he can understand english and he understands when frankie and i are bitching about him.
After class we met sunny and vanessa for lunch and we went to a really nice restaurant on Guilin Road. We had a really nice lunch - the food was so good. The rest of the day was pretty boring. I did a bit of revision and then had an early night.
8th November
This morning I got up at 7 and went to reading class, which like all my other classes so far this week was pretty boring. But afterwards we had speaking class and the teacher told us that we were going to be playing a game. He would write a word on the board and then someone would have to stand with their back to the board while everyone else had to explain what the word was without saying the word. Once I got over the initial stress of being picked to go and stand up infront of everyone and be made to look like a complete idiot it was actually quite fun. (a couple of people volunteered to do it so i didnt have to). The fact that I found this fun shows how boring our class usually is!
We went for lunch at the korean place on campus and then i did some revision in the afternoon. Frankie and I decided to go back to the Xinjiang restaurant for tea, and sarah came round so we asked her if she wanted to come too. However, because we only had 2 bikes it meant that 2 people would have to cycle while 2 people sat on the back. Sarah wasnt too keen on sitting on the back of a bicycle so she decdied to cycle fran while I sat on the back of frankie's bike. However sarah was finding it too hard so she decided to sit on frankie's bike while i cycled fran. I think it was probably one of the worst experiences of francesca's life! Because I've only cycled and little bit with someone sat on the back, I was finding it quite hard to get my balance, but it was ok once i got going. But Francesca wasnt happy when I turned down a road and started cycling into the oncomming traffic - don't worry this is a normal thing to do in china, people usually cycle on the wrong side of the road if they cant be bothered to cross to the other side. Tea was really nice and I successfully cycled francesca back to uni.
Saturday 3 November 2007
The last day of the field trip
2nd November
This morning I got a lie in - I didnt have to get up till 7am!!! We had another nice breakfast of fried rice and strange bread things, and then we all got on the bus and went to Xidi Villiage. It was another nice village with old buildings, and they had some massive stone arches that were built for some special reason but I dont know what because I couldnt be bothered to read the information things or listen to the tourguide. But just for a change our guide was being really annoying and didnt give us time to look at anything - when i say she didnt give us time to look at anything, I mean she didnt give us time to look at any of the shops, and they all looked really nice and there was lots of nice bracelets and things that i could have wasted my money on.
We got back on the bus to go to the next place which was litterally 1 minute away. We got on the bus, drove down to the end of the road, and then got off the bus again .We could have just walked there, but the obv think we are really lazy because they drove us. We had a look round a nice garden, and the sun came out. We spent most of our time sat in one of the pagodas on top of a building enjoying the sunshine.
After that we went for lunch - even tho it was 11.30am. i dont know why that have to eat so early in china. But after lunch we got back on the bus, said goodbye to our tourguide (thank god) and then set off back to shanghai. The journey was so boring. It was alright to start with because the scenery was really pretty, but then I got so bored, and i was really tired but it was too uncomfy and i couldnt get to sleep. We had to stop at a tea place as well on the way back, and some woman gave us a boring talk about tea, but we left part way through and went to look at the gift shop, but I didnt have any money with me so i went back to the bus with frankie. There were some guys sat on the bus next to us (they were chinese so obviously they were staring because that is what chinese people do best) so i waved at them which they found quite funny, but then they didnt stop staring so we had to get off the bus and wait outside for everyone. But we didnt have to wait for too long and then we set off again. We eventually got back to shanghai, and when i got back I had a parcel from my twin which was full of sweets and chocolate :)
We went for tea at sarahs and had some normal food, and then I had an early night because I was soooooooo tired.
I had such an amazing time at the mountains though, altho it was really misty, the scenery was really pretty, and it was nice to get out of the city and get some fresh air!!
This morning I got a lie in - I didnt have to get up till 7am!!! We had another nice breakfast of fried rice and strange bread things, and then we all got on the bus and went to Xidi Villiage. It was another nice village with old buildings, and they had some massive stone arches that were built for some special reason but I dont know what because I couldnt be bothered to read the information things or listen to the tourguide. But just for a change our guide was being really annoying and didnt give us time to look at anything - when i say she didnt give us time to look at anything, I mean she didnt give us time to look at any of the shops, and they all looked really nice and there was lots of nice bracelets and things that i could have wasted my money on.
We got back on the bus to go to the next place which was litterally 1 minute away. We got on the bus, drove down to the end of the road, and then got off the bus again .We could have just walked there, but the obv think we are really lazy because they drove us. We had a look round a nice garden, and the sun came out. We spent most of our time sat in one of the pagodas on top of a building enjoying the sunshine.
After that we went for lunch - even tho it was 11.30am. i dont know why that have to eat so early in china. But after lunch we got back on the bus, said goodbye to our tourguide (thank god) and then set off back to shanghai. The journey was so boring. It was alright to start with because the scenery was really pretty, but then I got so bored, and i was really tired but it was too uncomfy and i couldnt get to sleep. We had to stop at a tea place as well on the way back, and some woman gave us a boring talk about tea, but we left part way through and went to look at the gift shop, but I didnt have any money with me so i went back to the bus with frankie. There were some guys sat on the bus next to us (they were chinese so obviously they were staring because that is what chinese people do best) so i waved at them which they found quite funny, but then they didnt stop staring so we had to get off the bus and wait outside for everyone. But we didnt have to wait for too long and then we set off again. We eventually got back to shanghai, and when i got back I had a parcel from my twin which was full of sweets and chocolate :)
We went for tea at sarahs and had some normal food, and then I had an early night because I was soooooooo tired.
I had such an amazing time at the mountains though, altho it was really misty, the scenery was really pretty, and it was nice to get out of the city and get some fresh air!!
Going down the mountain
1st November
This morning I woke up at 5.30am because the room was so cold!!! (altho i had been woken up a couple of times during the night by someone ringing my english phone to confirm my accupuncture appointment - after about the 3rd time of them calling me i answered and told them they had the wrong number and then hung up). at 6.50am we had our wake up call and i quickly got into the shower to try and get warm. We went down to breakfast and I had rice porridge which was pretty minging, but then they brought out some cake which was nice.
After breakfast we went to wait at reception for everyone to get ready, but for some reason it took ages and it was so cold sat there. Eventually we set off and we only had the annoying tourguide woman because the other guide had to go during the night. I was really pleased to be walking again because it made me feel less cold. We only walked for a couple of hours, but some of it was quite hard and we had to go up a lot of steps. Because we only had one guide we all had to go down on the cable car which was quite annoying because we had to pay 65yuan for it, and it was a nice day so i would have walked down if we'd had the choice.
When we got off the cable car we got on a bus down to the bottom of the mountain and then we got on our coach which took us to a restaurant nearby. We had such a nice lunch - there was the usual chinese stuff, but we got some really nice meatballs, and then we got chips!!!! yummy there was a bit of a fight over chips tho! We couldnt leave the restaurant through the door that we'd come in through - they made us walk out through the shop which sold ridiculously expensive carvings, jewels and pottery - did they actually think that a group of students would buy anything??
Afterwards we went to Hongcun village which was really pretty. It was a traditional village with lots of nice buildings, and some of crouching tiger, hidden dragon was filmed there. But it was really annoying because we had to follow the annoying tourguide the whole time and we didnt get chance to stop and look at anything because she kept say ing ZOU LA (keep walking). Although at one point we just ignored her and ended up losing everyone, but there was a guy from the uni there and he showed us where we had to go. I was carrying a flag that said shanghai normal university on it, and when we saw the tourguide woman again she waved her special tourguide flag at us, which i think was supposed to make us hurry up, but i just waved my flag back at her - she did not like that at all, ive never seen anyone look so angry. Altho, i think maybe she was slightly jealous of my flag because it was better than hers.
Anyway, after we were rushed around the village we got back on the bus and we went to the old street where we had been on my birthday. We couldnt be bothered to follow the annoying tourguide woman again so we asked if we could go to the bar where we'd been on my birthday, and the guy said that it was fine and that he would ring us when they would be going for tea. We got to the bar and had some yummy hot chocolates, and the guy who owned it remembered my name!! We were there for ages and the guy never called so frankie called sarah who said that they were sitting down at the restaurant about to eat, so we quickly left the bar and went to meet everyone. After tea we went to the hotel where we had stayed on the first night. We didnt do anything in the evening because we were all pretty tired from our mountain expedition, so we just went to the supermarket next door to stock up on chocolate.
This morning I woke up at 5.30am because the room was so cold!!! (altho i had been woken up a couple of times during the night by someone ringing my english phone to confirm my accupuncture appointment - after about the 3rd time of them calling me i answered and told them they had the wrong number and then hung up). at 6.50am we had our wake up call and i quickly got into the shower to try and get warm. We went down to breakfast and I had rice porridge which was pretty minging, but then they brought out some cake which was nice.
After breakfast we went to wait at reception for everyone to get ready, but for some reason it took ages and it was so cold sat there. Eventually we set off and we only had the annoying tourguide woman because the other guide had to go during the night. I was really pleased to be walking again because it made me feel less cold. We only walked for a couple of hours, but some of it was quite hard and we had to go up a lot of steps. Because we only had one guide we all had to go down on the cable car which was quite annoying because we had to pay 65yuan for it, and it was a nice day so i would have walked down if we'd had the choice.
When we got off the cable car we got on a bus down to the bottom of the mountain and then we got on our coach which took us to a restaurant nearby. We had such a nice lunch - there was the usual chinese stuff, but we got some really nice meatballs, and then we got chips!!!! yummy there was a bit of a fight over chips tho! We couldnt leave the restaurant through the door that we'd come in through - they made us walk out through the shop which sold ridiculously expensive carvings, jewels and pottery - did they actually think that a group of students would buy anything??
Afterwards we went to Hongcun village which was really pretty. It was a traditional village with lots of nice buildings, and some of crouching tiger, hidden dragon was filmed there. But it was really annoying because we had to follow the annoying tourguide the whole time and we didnt get chance to stop and look at anything because she kept say ing ZOU LA (keep walking). Although at one point we just ignored her and ended up losing everyone, but there was a guy from the uni there and he showed us where we had to go. I was carrying a flag that said shanghai normal university on it, and when we saw the tourguide woman again she waved her special tourguide flag at us, which i think was supposed to make us hurry up, but i just waved my flag back at her - she did not like that at all, ive never seen anyone look so angry. Altho, i think maybe she was slightly jealous of my flag because it was better than hers.
Anyway, after we were rushed around the village we got back on the bus and we went to the old street where we had been on my birthday. We couldnt be bothered to follow the annoying tourguide woman again so we asked if we could go to the bar where we'd been on my birthday, and the guy said that it was fine and that he would ring us when they would be going for tea. We got to the bar and had some yummy hot chocolates, and the guy who owned it remembered my name!! We were there for ages and the guy never called so frankie called sarah who said that they were sitting down at the restaurant about to eat, so we quickly left the bar and went to meet everyone. After tea we went to the hotel where we had stayed on the first night. We didnt do anything in the evening because we were all pretty tired from our mountain expedition, so we just went to the supermarket next door to stock up on chocolate.
Friday 2 November 2007
The trek up the mountain
31st October
We had to get up at 6.30am which was far too early. This morning I had my first chinese breakfast, even though I have now been here for over two months. There was fried rice, noodles and some kind of bread stuff which was all really nice to eat so early in the morning!! Afterwards we went and packed our bags and got on the bus to the bottom of the mountains which was only half an hour away. When we got there a few of us needed to go the toilets so i asked our guide where they were and she pointed us in the right direction. When we got there and saw the toilets we didnt know what to say, I had heard that there were "public" toilets that didnt have any doors on, but I hadnt seen any before. It was an interesting experience.
We got on another bus which took us part way up the mountains - the driver way crazy, he drove so quickly around the bends, it didnt feel very safe. When got off the bus we had to wait for ages, but eventually we got our tickets and we got a cable car part-way up the mountain. When we were in the cable car it was so misty and at one point we couldnt actually see anything and it was a bit claustraphobic. But then when we were near the top we got above the mist and the views were amazing. We had to wait for everyone to get to the top and then our crazy tourguide made us all start walking.
The guide was soooooooo annoying. She walked too quickly all the time and kept getting ahead of us. And then when she was tired she would stop for a break. But by the time we had caught up with her she would just start walking again so we would hardly have anytime to rest. And she had a really annoying voice as well. I did not like her at all.
At one point tho we got a 20minute break so i took a few photos and had a rest. But i saw that there was a little stall that sold random stuff so i went to have a look and i bought the best thing ever. I got a medal which said i had climbed the mountains and i got my name engraved on it and the date, its sooooooo cool. But then the walking started again and we had to walk down a bit that was sooooooo steep. It was really frightening because there was nothing to hold on to apart from the rock, and if you fell down to the bottom you would just fall off the edge of the mountain because there was nothing there to stop you - in china there are no health and safety laws! When we eventually made it down the really steep bit we were faced with the steepest rock and hundreds and hundreds of steps - there were 633 because I counted. At one point we had to walk up a really really steep bit which was so narrow, and near the top the rocks were wet and slippy and it was really dangerous. I didnt enjoy it. And then when we got to the top we couldnt see the view because the mist was so thick!!!! We got to have lunch afterwards so we got a bit of a break.
After lunch we had did some more walking. After lots of steps we reached a meteorological observatory thing and we sat down for a bit and had a rest. There was another tourguide there and he looked really confused and we thought that he looked as though he had lost his tourgroup. He went over to talk to our guide and I decided that he was probably trying to swap a chinese person from his tourgroup for one of us, but then our guide hit him with our flag which was so funny and we carried on walking again. We got to one bit where the was a massive rock and a huuuuuuge drop off the edge and i was a bit too scared to go near the edge so i was just stood taking some photos and then the best thing happened - a chinese man asked if he could take a photo of me!!! Everyone else has had their photos taken by random chinese people but this was my first time, I hope he has it framed and put on display somewhere in his house. Eventually i got some courage and i went and lay down on the edge of the cliff, it was really scary tho.
we eventually made it to our hotel near the top of the mountain. we were all really tired so we just stayed inside and chatted for a while before tea. Our rooms we so cold tho, but luckily frankie discovered the massive coats in our wardrobe so we put those on and we were all really cool and went for tea in our matching coats. After tea we decided to go and sit somewhere outside on the mountain in the dark and tell ghost stories because it was halloween. It was really scary. We went and sat on a path that had a few dim lights going up it so we werent in total darkness. At one point and guy ran down the stairs past us and I was slightly concerned that he was running away from a murderer/bear/tiger.
After a while we got too cold and tired so we went back to the hotel and I had a nice warm shower and then went to bed.
We had to get up at 6.30am which was far too early. This morning I had my first chinese breakfast, even though I have now been here for over two months. There was fried rice, noodles and some kind of bread stuff which was all really nice to eat so early in the morning!! Afterwards we went and packed our bags and got on the bus to the bottom of the mountains which was only half an hour away. When we got there a few of us needed to go the toilets so i asked our guide where they were and she pointed us in the right direction. When we got there and saw the toilets we didnt know what to say, I had heard that there were "public" toilets that didnt have any doors on, but I hadnt seen any before. It was an interesting experience.
We got on another bus which took us part way up the mountains - the driver way crazy, he drove so quickly around the bends, it didnt feel very safe. When got off the bus we had to wait for ages, but eventually we got our tickets and we got a cable car part-way up the mountain. When we were in the cable car it was so misty and at one point we couldnt actually see anything and it was a bit claustraphobic. But then when we were near the top we got above the mist and the views were amazing. We had to wait for everyone to get to the top and then our crazy tourguide made us all start walking.
The guide was soooooooo annoying. She walked too quickly all the time and kept getting ahead of us. And then when she was tired she would stop for a break. But by the time we had caught up with her she would just start walking again so we would hardly have anytime to rest. And she had a really annoying voice as well. I did not like her at all.
At one point tho we got a 20minute break so i took a few photos and had a rest. But i saw that there was a little stall that sold random stuff so i went to have a look and i bought the best thing ever. I got a medal which said i had climbed the mountains and i got my name engraved on it and the date, its sooooooo cool. But then the walking started again and we had to walk down a bit that was sooooooo steep. It was really frightening because there was nothing to hold on to apart from the rock, and if you fell down to the bottom you would just fall off the edge of the mountain because there was nothing there to stop you - in china there are no health and safety laws! When we eventually made it down the really steep bit we were faced with the steepest rock and hundreds and hundreds of steps - there were 633 because I counted. At one point we had to walk up a really really steep bit which was so narrow, and near the top the rocks were wet and slippy and it was really dangerous. I didnt enjoy it. And then when we got to the top we couldnt see the view because the mist was so thick!!!! We got to have lunch afterwards so we got a bit of a break.
After lunch we had did some more walking. After lots of steps we reached a meteorological observatory thing and we sat down for a bit and had a rest. There was another tourguide there and he looked really confused and we thought that he looked as though he had lost his tourgroup. He went over to talk to our guide and I decided that he was probably trying to swap a chinese person from his tourgroup for one of us, but then our guide hit him with our flag which was so funny and we carried on walking again. We got to one bit where the was a massive rock and a huuuuuuge drop off the edge and i was a bit too scared to go near the edge so i was just stood taking some photos and then the best thing happened - a chinese man asked if he could take a photo of me!!! Everyone else has had their photos taken by random chinese people but this was my first time, I hope he has it framed and put on display somewhere in his house. Eventually i got some courage and i went and lay down on the edge of the cliff, it was really scary tho.
we eventually made it to our hotel near the top of the mountain. we were all really tired so we just stayed inside and chatted for a while before tea. Our rooms we so cold tho, but luckily frankie discovered the massive coats in our wardrobe so we put those on and we were all really cool and went for tea in our matching coats. After tea we decided to go and sit somewhere outside on the mountain in the dark and tell ghost stories because it was halloween. It was really scary. We went and sat on a path that had a few dim lights going up it so we werent in total darkness. At one point and guy ran down the stairs past us and I was slightly concerned that he was running away from a murderer/bear/tiger.
After a while we got too cold and tired so we went back to the hotel and I had a nice warm shower and then went to bed.
MY BIRTHDAY
30th October
well i had a lie in this morning, we were supposed to go to class in the morning but i decided to have a day off because it was my birthday. Altho i did get woken up at 6.55am with a text from william to wish my happy birthday, and i think he had done that on purpose because i texted him really early yesterday to get him to go on skype.
I finished packing and then at 12 we went to get on the bus to the mountains. We had to listen to 2 guys talking at the front of the bus for ages, and i think one of the guys was giving us some kind of cultural talk because he was going on about different cities and provinces and other boring stuff, but i just sat there eating the cake that gemma and beki gave me so i was happy. We watched Mr Bean on the bus for a bit which helped to pass some time, but i got bored of that after a while. Spending 5 and a half hours on a bus isnt fun!! We went to a restaurant when we arrived at the town at the bottom of the mountain and then we went to the hotel afterwards.
It was quite early when we arrived, so after we left our stuff in our rooms, we went with the italians to the old street. we went on one of the bicycle taxis which was really good fun, and frankie got our cyclist to sing happy birthday to me!! the old street was nice, but a bit touristy. At the end of the street we found a nice bar so we all went and sat in there and had a couple of drinks, and the guy there gave everyone a free drink because we told him it was my birthday. When we were walking down the old street we bought some small backpacks because we were told on the way to the mountains that we would be spending a night at the top of the mountains and i didnt want to have to carry my massive backpack all the way to the top, so i bought a small bag that i could put all my essentials in (make-up and hairstraighteners).
Afterwards we got in a taxi back to the hotel and we kept asking the driver to sing happy birthday to me but he kept saying that he couldnt sing, but when we got at the hotel he sang one ine so i was very happy. And the best thing of all - i put the tv on in our room and they had harry potter on and it was in english!!!!
well i had a lie in this morning, we were supposed to go to class in the morning but i decided to have a day off because it was my birthday. Altho i did get woken up at 6.55am with a text from william to wish my happy birthday, and i think he had done that on purpose because i texted him really early yesterday to get him to go on skype.
I finished packing and then at 12 we went to get on the bus to the mountains. We had to listen to 2 guys talking at the front of the bus for ages, and i think one of the guys was giving us some kind of cultural talk because he was going on about different cities and provinces and other boring stuff, but i just sat there eating the cake that gemma and beki gave me so i was happy. We watched Mr Bean on the bus for a bit which helped to pass some time, but i got bored of that after a while. Spending 5 and a half hours on a bus isnt fun!! We went to a restaurant when we arrived at the town at the bottom of the mountain and then we went to the hotel afterwards.
It was quite early when we arrived, so after we left our stuff in our rooms, we went with the italians to the old street. we went on one of the bicycle taxis which was really good fun, and frankie got our cyclist to sing happy birthday to me!! the old street was nice, but a bit touristy. At the end of the street we found a nice bar so we all went and sat in there and had a couple of drinks, and the guy there gave everyone a free drink because we told him it was my birthday. When we were walking down the old street we bought some small backpacks because we were told on the way to the mountains that we would be spending a night at the top of the mountains and i didnt want to have to carry my massive backpack all the way to the top, so i bought a small bag that i could put all my essentials in (make-up and hairstraighteners).
Afterwards we got in a taxi back to the hotel and we kept asking the driver to sing happy birthday to me but he kept saying that he couldnt sing, but when we got at the hotel he sang one ine so i was very happy. And the best thing of all - i put the tv on in our room and they had harry potter on and it was in english!!!!
My birthday eve
29th October
This morning we got up a bit late because we decided to be rebels and go to class ten minutes late to miss the test because we couldnt be bothered to learn all the words. Today I had to organise all my stuff for the field trip because we are going tomo. so i went to the trust mart (im not sure if ive mentioned this before in my blog, but it is the best shop in the world, and just up the road from the uni and it sells everything), and i got a backpack which is huge and only £7!!!
The rest of the day was pretty boring, but this evening i had a suprise birthday celebration. frankie had been all the way into town and got me an amaaaaaaaazing chocolate cake and i had some really nice gifts from sarah and fran. it was so nice!!
This morning we got up a bit late because we decided to be rebels and go to class ten minutes late to miss the test because we couldnt be bothered to learn all the words. Today I had to organise all my stuff for the field trip because we are going tomo. so i went to the trust mart (im not sure if ive mentioned this before in my blog, but it is the best shop in the world, and just up the road from the uni and it sells everything), and i got a backpack which is huge and only £7!!!
The rest of the day was pretty boring, but this evening i had a suprise birthday celebration. frankie had been all the way into town and got me an amaaaaaaaazing chocolate cake and i had some really nice gifts from sarah and fran. it was so nice!!
Sunday 28 October 2007
Windows scoreboard
27th October
It nice to have a lie in the morning - the only one this week!! I got dressed and then got the bus into xujiahui to buy my twin a birthday present. After a bit of shopping it was getting really busy so I got the bus back to uni and after lunch frankie and i went to some estate agents because we are thinking about renting a flat next semester, but we couldnt find anything that was right. When we were walking around the estate agents I got a call from Ada asking if i could go and teach in an hours time cos someone had called in sick so obv i said yes. When i got to school it was so busy and i didnt know what i was supposed to be teaching or what class it was, but then someone gave me a book and I had 10 mins to prepare my class which was a bit stressful but it went quite well. The class I had to teach were a couple of years older than my usual class and they all spoke really good english so it was quite easy.
This evening we all went to a bar called windows scoreboard which was really good. It was owned by the people who own windows too that we went to last weeked so they had all the same really cheap drinks. But i was really good and just had an orange juice and a bottle of tiger because I had to teach the next day. There were loads of expats there, but they were all just ugly white men with pretty chinese girlfriends. At half 11 frankie and I decided to walk to mister donut to see if it was still open and luckily it doesnt close till midnight at the weekend!!
It nice to have a lie in the morning - the only one this week!! I got dressed and then got the bus into xujiahui to buy my twin a birthday present. After a bit of shopping it was getting really busy so I got the bus back to uni and after lunch frankie and i went to some estate agents because we are thinking about renting a flat next semester, but we couldnt find anything that was right. When we were walking around the estate agents I got a call from Ada asking if i could go and teach in an hours time cos someone had called in sick so obv i said yes. When i got to school it was so busy and i didnt know what i was supposed to be teaching or what class it was, but then someone gave me a book and I had 10 mins to prepare my class which was a bit stressful but it went quite well. The class I had to teach were a couple of years older than my usual class and they all spoke really good english so it was quite easy.
This evening we all went to a bar called windows scoreboard which was really good. It was owned by the people who own windows too that we went to last weeked so they had all the same really cheap drinks. But i was really good and just had an orange juice and a bottle of tiger because I had to teach the next day. There were loads of expats there, but they were all just ugly white men with pretty chinese girlfriends. At half 11 frankie and I decided to walk to mister donut to see if it was still open and luckily it doesnt close till midnight at the weekend!!
Where is my bicycle bell?
25th October
This morning we got up and went to get our bicycles to cycle to class and we discovered that someone had stolen the bells from our bicycles!!! I couldnt believe it. I reckon it would have taken just as much effort to unscrew my bicycle lock as it would to unscrew the bell, its soooooo annoying!!!
There was hardly anyone in speaking class today and we just had to read a dialogue which didnt take long so frankie and i were chatting to the two korean guys with gold teeth and one of them pointed at my tattoo and asked if it washes off so obv i said no. and then the other korean guy was telling us how only gangsters and prostitutes have tattoos in korea which i thought was quite funny. It was also quite amusing how they dont speak any english, but they know the words "gangster' and 'prostitute'.
This afternoon frankie and i went to find the emirates office and we booked our flights home for next July!!
This morning we got up and went to get our bicycles to cycle to class and we discovered that someone had stolen the bells from our bicycles!!! I couldnt believe it. I reckon it would have taken just as much effort to unscrew my bicycle lock as it would to unscrew the bell, its soooooo annoying!!!
There was hardly anyone in speaking class today and we just had to read a dialogue which didnt take long so frankie and i were chatting to the two korean guys with gold teeth and one of them pointed at my tattoo and asked if it washes off so obv i said no. and then the other korean guy was telling us how only gangsters and prostitutes have tattoos in korea which i thought was quite funny. It was also quite amusing how they dont speak any english, but they know the words "gangster' and 'prostitute'.
This afternoon frankie and i went to find the emirates office and we booked our flights home for next July!!
The class meal
24th October
This morning and this afternoon was pretty boring - went to class and then did some work. But this evening frankie and i went out for our class meal! We met everyone outside the main entrance of campus and then a few of us went to the restaurant. I thought we would be going somewhere nice, but we ended up going to the restaurant in the other foreign student halls across the road. It was alright tho. Because there were about 30 of us we had a private room. On the way there I was talking to the american girl which was interesting, shes so good at chinese and she sometimes makes me feel stupid in class, but i found out that she has been living in china for 2 and a half years so im sure that if i had lived here for that long my chinese would be just as good, hopefuly.
One of the guys said that we should each order one thing off the menu but i think that got a bit confusing and so someone just ordered for everyone. The food was . . . . . interesting. There were the usual things like chicken feet, but there were also some strange things like jelly fish and something involving chicken blood which i decided not to try. We were sat on 2 different tables and unfortunately we had the sexist writing teacher on our table, great!! we counted 8 sexist remarks during the meal, but im sure there were more.
During the meal the guys insisted on having drinking competitions with the writing teacher and with each other which was quite funny, altho it wasnt so funny when we got the bill because we ended up paying for loads of beer that only a few people had drunk. Afterwards a couple of people went to karaoke but we decided not to go, I really dont think my classmates would like to hear me singing really badly out of tune. On the way back to halls we saw the little korean guy from our class who was sooooooo drunk, and when we saw him he was driving into town - safe!
This morning and this afternoon was pretty boring - went to class and then did some work. But this evening frankie and i went out for our class meal! We met everyone outside the main entrance of campus and then a few of us went to the restaurant. I thought we would be going somewhere nice, but we ended up going to the restaurant in the other foreign student halls across the road. It was alright tho. Because there were about 30 of us we had a private room. On the way there I was talking to the american girl which was interesting, shes so good at chinese and she sometimes makes me feel stupid in class, but i found out that she has been living in china for 2 and a half years so im sure that if i had lived here for that long my chinese would be just as good, hopefuly.
One of the guys said that we should each order one thing off the menu but i think that got a bit confusing and so someone just ordered for everyone. The food was . . . . . interesting. There were the usual things like chicken feet, but there were also some strange things like jelly fish and something involving chicken blood which i decided not to try. We were sat on 2 different tables and unfortunately we had the sexist writing teacher on our table, great!! we counted 8 sexist remarks during the meal, but im sure there were more.
During the meal the guys insisted on having drinking competitions with the writing teacher and with each other which was quite funny, altho it wasnt so funny when we got the bill because we ended up paying for loads of beer that only a few people had drunk. Afterwards a couple of people went to karaoke but we decided not to go, I really dont think my classmates would like to hear me singing really badly out of tune. On the way back to halls we saw the little korean guy from our class who was sooooooo drunk, and when we saw him he was driving into town - safe!
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Teaching
23rd October (one week till my birthday)
Today listening class was so boring - about 1/3 of the class went to sit in the smoking room down the corridoor and a lot of people who stayed in the class went to sleep. After it finished we went to McDo for lunch which was really nice - its good to have a break from the chinese food!
This afternoon I met up with sunny and she helped me with some work, and i helped her with some english work. And she gave me a really nice birthday present - its a chinese stamp that has my english name and chinese name on it! and i got a little thing of ink as well so i have been stamping my name in my books cos im cool.
Later on this afternoon I had to go for my training session before my first class this evening. When I got there I talked to Ada and Tina (the other teachers - who are chinese) about what i would be doing, and then Tina spent about 10 minutes telling me what i should do in my class and then she left me to prepare for it. It was quite scary because I didnt really know what to do and i felt like i had been thrown in at the deep-end. But there was a chinese girl called nicole who was my assistant so she got all the props and things that I would need and she helped me a lot. Her job is to sit in my class and stop the children from shouting and being naughty.
So at half 6 my class started. the children are all 5 or 6 and they are really cute. I had to teach them four words - breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert. It was quite fun, and I made them play lots of games to keep their attention and stop them falling asleep cos its quite late for small children. But some of them were really naughty and they kept shouting all the time even after id told them not too, and even when nicole had shouted at them in chinese. But it was still lots of fun, but by the end some of them were falling asleep.
I really enjoyed my first class,even tho it was so tiring, and ive got a couple more training things before my next one so it shouldnt be so scary next time!
Today listening class was so boring - about 1/3 of the class went to sit in the smoking room down the corridoor and a lot of people who stayed in the class went to sleep. After it finished we went to McDo for lunch which was really nice - its good to have a break from the chinese food!
This afternoon I met up with sunny and she helped me with some work, and i helped her with some english work. And she gave me a really nice birthday present - its a chinese stamp that has my english name and chinese name on it! and i got a little thing of ink as well so i have been stamping my name in my books cos im cool.
Later on this afternoon I had to go for my training session before my first class this evening. When I got there I talked to Ada and Tina (the other teachers - who are chinese) about what i would be doing, and then Tina spent about 10 minutes telling me what i should do in my class and then she left me to prepare for it. It was quite scary because I didnt really know what to do and i felt like i had been thrown in at the deep-end. But there was a chinese girl called nicole who was my assistant so she got all the props and things that I would need and she helped me a lot. Her job is to sit in my class and stop the children from shouting and being naughty.
So at half 6 my class started. the children are all 5 or 6 and they are really cute. I had to teach them four words - breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert. It was quite fun, and I made them play lots of games to keep their attention and stop them falling asleep cos its quite late for small children. But some of them were really naughty and they kept shouting all the time even after id told them not too, and even when nicole had shouted at them in chinese. But it was still lots of fun, but by the end some of them were falling asleep.
I really enjoyed my first class,even tho it was so tiring, and ive got a couple more training things before my next one so it shouldnt be so scary next time!
Duck feet!
22nd October
This evening frankie, fran, sarah and I deciced to try somewhere different for tea. On the bus into town we always go past a mongolian restaurant called little sheep and it always looks really busy so we thought it must be quite nice.
We ordered a big hotpot and then we had to choose what we wanted to go in it. So we choose chicken and duck palm (which turned out to be duck feet - which is pretty obv if you think about it) and then we just got some bamboo shoots and potatos. It was all really nice apart from the duck feet. I decided to try one even though they look so unappetising. So i picked out one of the claws and tried to eat some. But all there is on it is skin and bone. I had a bit of skin but it didnt taste of anything and it wasnt very exciting. Loads of chinese people love eating chicken and duck feet but i dont really know why - its a bit gross and very overrated!
This evening frankie, fran, sarah and I deciced to try somewhere different for tea. On the bus into town we always go past a mongolian restaurant called little sheep and it always looks really busy so we thought it must be quite nice.
We ordered a big hotpot and then we had to choose what we wanted to go in it. So we choose chicken and duck palm (which turned out to be duck feet - which is pretty obv if you think about it) and then we just got some bamboo shoots and potatos. It was all really nice apart from the duck feet. I decided to try one even though they look so unappetising. So i picked out one of the claws and tried to eat some. But all there is on it is skin and bone. I had a bit of skin but it didnt taste of anything and it wasnt very exciting. Loads of chinese people love eating chicken and duck feet but i dont really know why - its a bit gross and very overrated!
the hairdressers!
21st October (9 days till my birthday)
Today we all met up for lunch in the canteen which was nice. Afterwards frankie and I went to meet vanessa and we went to the hairdressers!! It was . . . . . . .interesting. In china you dont need to make an appointment which is good, and the best thing of all .. . . . . its so cheap! It only cost £2! and you can get your hair chemically straightened for only £10 so im going to have to get that done sometime soon.
We went to sit down and they gave us some magazines to look at, but i couldnt find a picture that i liked so i said that i just wanted it the same style but a bit shorter. Then we had a dry-shampoo which was interesting, and while they were doing that we had a head massage which last quite a long time. It was nice and relaxing at first, but then the guy started doing wierd things like flicking my head which i didnt really enjoy so much. After they rinsed the shampoo we had to wait for about 10 minutes for a hairdresser so the guy who had given me a headmassage gave me a back massage which was quite nice, but a little bit painful.
Then my hairdresser came over - vanessa said that he looked very proffessional because he had a box full of products and stuff! Vanessa told him that i wanted it the same but just a bit shorter and i showed him how short i wanted it, BUT he kept cutting and cutting and it was getting soooooo short and it was getting a bit worried so i had to ask vanessa to tell him to stop cutting because I dont know how to say that in chinese. He did cut it really nicely, but its just really short.
Afterwards we went out for tea, and then when we got back to halls i got frankie to dye my hair blonde again :) altho it is quite yellow, but never mind.
Today we all met up for lunch in the canteen which was nice. Afterwards frankie and I went to meet vanessa and we went to the hairdressers!! It was . . . . . . .interesting. In china you dont need to make an appointment which is good, and the best thing of all .. . . . . its so cheap! It only cost £2! and you can get your hair chemically straightened for only £10 so im going to have to get that done sometime soon.
We went to sit down and they gave us some magazines to look at, but i couldnt find a picture that i liked so i said that i just wanted it the same style but a bit shorter. Then we had a dry-shampoo which was interesting, and while they were doing that we had a head massage which last quite a long time. It was nice and relaxing at first, but then the guy started doing wierd things like flicking my head which i didnt really enjoy so much. After they rinsed the shampoo we had to wait for about 10 minutes for a hairdresser so the guy who had given me a headmassage gave me a back massage which was quite nice, but a little bit painful.
Then my hairdresser came over - vanessa said that he looked very proffessional because he had a box full of products and stuff! Vanessa told him that i wanted it the same but just a bit shorter and i showed him how short i wanted it, BUT he kept cutting and cutting and it was getting soooooo short and it was getting a bit worried so i had to ask vanessa to tell him to stop cutting because I dont know how to say that in chinese. He did cut it really nicely, but its just really short.
Afterwards we went out for tea, and then when we got back to halls i got frankie to dye my hair blonde again :) altho it is quite yellow, but never mind.
Saturday 20 October 2007
Windows Too
19th October
This morning after reading class I went for a walk to find the building where my interview was this afternoon so that I wouldnt get lost and be late. After I found it i decided to go for a little walk but i somehow got really really lost even though i was like two streets away from university. After about half an hour I ended up at the back entrance of campus - i have no idea how i managed to get there. After lunch I went to my interview. When i got there someone asked me to go and wait upstairs, and then a chinese woman called Ada came and met me. The first thing she said in the interview was that she had to appologise to me because she had lied, she didnt want me to teach her children, she wanted me to teach at her school. I dont know why she couldnt just tell the university this, it was a bit strange. And then she gave me some books and told me I had 15 minutes to prepare a lesson and then I had to teach it to her, it was quite scary but I think it went quite well.
After my interview i went to speaking class which was in the park next to uni because it was a nice sunny day. It was really fun. We spent about 20 minutes doing speaking stuff and then we just wandered around the park.
In the evening we all went out for a nice italian meal and then we went to find a bar that we had read about in the guide book. However when we got there the guy said that it opened at 4am!!!! luckily there were lots of other bars near there so we went into one called tequila sunrise. This was a mistake. There were lots of ugly western men surrounded by pretty chinese woman we were blatantly prostitues. There was a french guy there called frank who came to talk to us and we asked him if the woman were prostitues and he said that they werent and that they just got commission for every drink they sell - we didnt believe this.
So we quickly drank our drinks and then got a taxi to a place called windows too which was a really nice club, and the drinks were so cheap - so obviously I had far too much to drink. There were loads of western people there! We were dancing quite a lot and then we saw three korean guys from our class which was really funny. But then apparantly I said i had to go home so frankie and sarah came back with me. I dont really remember much else. I was in the toilets in our halls for quite a while and I wanted to sleep there and I said I would scream if anyone tried to move me, but after a lot of persuasion from frankie and sarah and decided that it would be best if i slept in my room and i managed to crawl into the lift and then crawl into my bed.
20th
horrendous hangover today!
I spent pretty much all day in bed and spoke to william for a bit which was nice.
In the evening I managed to get up and get dressed and frankie and I went to the uygur restuarant for tea which was really nice.
This morning after reading class I went for a walk to find the building where my interview was this afternoon so that I wouldnt get lost and be late. After I found it i decided to go for a little walk but i somehow got really really lost even though i was like two streets away from university. After about half an hour I ended up at the back entrance of campus - i have no idea how i managed to get there. After lunch I went to my interview. When i got there someone asked me to go and wait upstairs, and then a chinese woman called Ada came and met me. The first thing she said in the interview was that she had to appologise to me because she had lied, she didnt want me to teach her children, she wanted me to teach at her school. I dont know why she couldnt just tell the university this, it was a bit strange. And then she gave me some books and told me I had 15 minutes to prepare a lesson and then I had to teach it to her, it was quite scary but I think it went quite well.
After my interview i went to speaking class which was in the park next to uni because it was a nice sunny day. It was really fun. We spent about 20 minutes doing speaking stuff and then we just wandered around the park.
In the evening we all went out for a nice italian meal and then we went to find a bar that we had read about in the guide book. However when we got there the guy said that it opened at 4am!!!! luckily there were lots of other bars near there so we went into one called tequila sunrise. This was a mistake. There were lots of ugly western men surrounded by pretty chinese woman we were blatantly prostitues. There was a french guy there called frank who came to talk to us and we asked him if the woman were prostitues and he said that they werent and that they just got commission for every drink they sell - we didnt believe this.
So we quickly drank our drinks and then got a taxi to a place called windows too which was a really nice club, and the drinks were so cheap - so obviously I had far too much to drink. There were loads of western people there! We were dancing quite a lot and then we saw three korean guys from our class which was really funny. But then apparantly I said i had to go home so frankie and sarah came back with me. I dont really remember much else. I was in the toilets in our halls for quite a while and I wanted to sleep there and I said I would scream if anyone tried to move me, but after a lot of persuasion from frankie and sarah and decided that it would be best if i slept in my room and i managed to crawl into the lift and then crawl into my bed.
20th
horrendous hangover today!
I spent pretty much all day in bed and spoke to william for a bit which was nice.
In the evening I managed to get up and get dressed and frankie and I went to the uygur restuarant for tea which was really nice.
Carrefour
18th October
This morning we all skipped class and went to the airport to meet Beki. When we got there we looked at the arrivals board and the only flight that she could have been on was coming from Frankfurt, but the time of that flight was slightly different from the time that we thought she was arriving. We were all really worried that we'd come at the wrong time or if it was 9.50pm that she was arriving, and then we thought that it couldnt be her flight because why would she come from Germany. But luckily it was the right flight and we got on the bus back to Xujiahui. We were just sat on the bus waiting for it to leave and then some people at the front started having a massive argument, it was really exciting to watch.
In the afternoon frankie and i cycled to carrefour. it was so exciting. They had loads of imported western food, but it was realy expensive. Some english cereals were 80yuan!! While I was upstairs getting some food, Frankie went to look around the other floor and she bought me the back to the future dvds for my birthday!!! (only 10 days to go)
This morning we all skipped class and went to the airport to meet Beki. When we got there we looked at the arrivals board and the only flight that she could have been on was coming from Frankfurt, but the time of that flight was slightly different from the time that we thought she was arriving. We were all really worried that we'd come at the wrong time or if it was 9.50pm that she was arriving, and then we thought that it couldnt be her flight because why would she come from Germany. But luckily it was the right flight and we got on the bus back to Xujiahui. We were just sat on the bus waiting for it to leave and then some people at the front started having a massive argument, it was really exciting to watch.
In the afternoon frankie and i cycled to carrefour. it was so exciting. They had loads of imported western food, but it was realy expensive. Some english cereals were 80yuan!! While I was upstairs getting some food, Frankie went to look around the other floor and she bought me the back to the future dvds for my birthday!!! (only 10 days to go)
Wednesday 17 October 2007
shopping!
14th October
Today we went to the yu gardens so that we could go to the tea house. We got a seat upstairs and we both got flower teas which were really nice. They also gave us some interesting snacks to eat! There were some little eggs that were really brown and I wasnt tempted to try them. The other things were ok, but not sure what they were. Afterwards we went for a little walk into the centre of shanghai and then we got the metro to the jinmao tower so we could go to the cloud 9 bar. I had a nice fruity cocktail and dad had a james bond martini which was so strong! It was really nice to go the bar during the day because the views were amazing.
15th October
Today was shopping day. We went to one of the fake markets and it was sooooooo exciting. It was just in one of the underground metro stations and as soon we got into the market there were people shouting "you want watch?you want bag?you want shoes?". We went to look at one of the watch stands and all the watches looked a bit crap, but then the guy started unlocking the drawers and pulled out loads of fake watches that looked really good so dad got one of those. I got a new Abercrombie coat which is really nice, altho its still really hot here so I wont be able to wear it for a while. But they had so much stuff that I really wanted to buy. We went to a cafe afterwards and there was an american guy there talking to a chinese couple. but he was asking them loads of questions like: "what do you think of the government?" "do you think censorship is a problem here?" etc etc. I felt so sorry for the chinese lady because her husband just got a magazine and ignored the american guy so she was just left to answer all the questions and she seemed really scared.
After that we went to peoples square because there was another market there. It was sooooo exciting. There were so many bags that I wanted to buy. Before I go home next year Im going to take loads of money and just get soooooooo much stuf.
In the evening we went for tea to a restaurant on the same road as the uni. The food was really nice and the woman was so excited when she realised that I could speak some chinese. After we finished the meal she came over to talk to me and asked me to follow her, so I did. And she took me to a fish tank to show me a huge fish. It was quite strange but she seemed really excited about the big fish so I pretended that it was really interested and so she was happy.
16th October
Frankie came back last night. I woke up when she got back but the light was off and I couldnt see her properly, and because I was half asleep I didnt think it was frankie and I was really stressed because I thought someone had broken into our room. So i lay in bed and didnt move, and then I thought it might be frankie so i said her name and she said "go back to sleep" so i did.
Didnt really do much today. Had class all morning, and then just dossed around. I bought a dvd at one of the markets so I watched that, and then did a bit of work.
17th October
This morning I had to get up at 5.30am to go to the airport with dad. After I said goodbye to him I got on the bus back and I was back in time for class. When we were in class the koreans were listening to umberella by rhianna and they were asking if we'd heard of her so obv we said yes. And then they were saying english bands that they liked - westlife and blue!!! During the break, one of the korean ladies had made some sushi for everyone so I had a bit of that and it was so nice. Altho she said it was korean food even though I thought that sushi was japanese.
Frankie and I went for lunch in the canteen. I hadnt been for ages, and it was sooooooo nice. I did some work in the afternoon, and then in the evening frankie and i decided to go somewhere different for tea and one of the guys on our course said that there uyghur restaurant just down the road. It was really nice and only 7yuan each!! Definately going to go back there. Afterwards we went to the supermarket and frankie got some dried fish for us to try (its a popular snack for chinese people). It was tasted alright, but I couldnt eat a lot of it because it smelt so bad. It smelt like those fish flakes that you feed to goldfish!
Today we went to the yu gardens so that we could go to the tea house. We got a seat upstairs and we both got flower teas which were really nice. They also gave us some interesting snacks to eat! There were some little eggs that were really brown and I wasnt tempted to try them. The other things were ok, but not sure what they were. Afterwards we went for a little walk into the centre of shanghai and then we got the metro to the jinmao tower so we could go to the cloud 9 bar. I had a nice fruity cocktail and dad had a james bond martini which was so strong! It was really nice to go the bar during the day because the views were amazing.
15th October
Today was shopping day. We went to one of the fake markets and it was sooooooo exciting. It was just in one of the underground metro stations and as soon we got into the market there were people shouting "you want watch?you want bag?you want shoes?". We went to look at one of the watch stands and all the watches looked a bit crap, but then the guy started unlocking the drawers and pulled out loads of fake watches that looked really good so dad got one of those. I got a new Abercrombie coat which is really nice, altho its still really hot here so I wont be able to wear it for a while. But they had so much stuff that I really wanted to buy. We went to a cafe afterwards and there was an american guy there talking to a chinese couple. but he was asking them loads of questions like: "what do you think of the government?" "do you think censorship is a problem here?" etc etc. I felt so sorry for the chinese lady because her husband just got a magazine and ignored the american guy so she was just left to answer all the questions and she seemed really scared.
After that we went to peoples square because there was another market there. It was sooooo exciting. There were so many bags that I wanted to buy. Before I go home next year Im going to take loads of money and just get soooooooo much stuf.
In the evening we went for tea to a restaurant on the same road as the uni. The food was really nice and the woman was so excited when she realised that I could speak some chinese. After we finished the meal she came over to talk to me and asked me to follow her, so I did. And she took me to a fish tank to show me a huge fish. It was quite strange but she seemed really excited about the big fish so I pretended that it was really interested and so she was happy.
16th October
Frankie came back last night. I woke up when she got back but the light was off and I couldnt see her properly, and because I was half asleep I didnt think it was frankie and I was really stressed because I thought someone had broken into our room. So i lay in bed and didnt move, and then I thought it might be frankie so i said her name and she said "go back to sleep" so i did.
Didnt really do much today. Had class all morning, and then just dossed around. I bought a dvd at one of the markets so I watched that, and then did a bit of work.
17th October
This morning I had to get up at 5.30am to go to the airport with dad. After I said goodbye to him I got on the bus back and I was back in time for class. When we were in class the koreans were listening to umberella by rhianna and they were asking if we'd heard of her so obv we said yes. And then they were saying english bands that they liked - westlife and blue!!! During the break, one of the korean ladies had made some sushi for everyone so I had a bit of that and it was so nice. Altho she said it was korean food even though I thought that sushi was japanese.
Frankie and I went for lunch in the canteen. I hadnt been for ages, and it was sooooooo nice. I did some work in the afternoon, and then in the evening frankie and i decided to go somewhere different for tea and one of the guys on our course said that there uyghur restaurant just down the road. It was really nice and only 7yuan each!! Definately going to go back there. Afterwards we went to the supermarket and frankie got some dried fish for us to try (its a popular snack for chinese people). It was tasted alright, but I couldnt eat a lot of it because it smelt so bad. It smelt like those fish flakes that you feed to goldfish!
Saturday 13 October 2007
Zhujiajiao
13th October
This morning we got on the number 4 tourist bus to Zhujiajiao. Zhujiajiao is an ancient fishing town outside shanghai. It was really pretty, although a bit touristy. There were loads of really nice old buildings and there was so much to see. First we went to see the display of shanghai handicraft which was really interesting and we met a lady who was telling us about all the paintings. When she found out that I lived in Shanghai she told me that I mist join her club, im not entirly sure what her club is, something to do with foreign people meeting up and learning about chinese culture, i think. Anyway I thought it might be fun so I gave her my email address. Next we went to the Hall of Paddy and Rice custom which showed the history and culture of rice growing in zhujiajiao. We had a walk along some of the narrow streets by the river which led to the Yuan Jin Buddhist Temple. It was a really big temple and we saw all the monks wandering around, and just after we arrived they started chanting and praying which was really interesting to watch.
We saw the Fengsheng Bridge which is the most famous thing in Zhujiajiao. It was built during the Ming Dynasty in 1571 by a buddhist monk who said that the bridge could only be used for freeing fish and turtles and he forbid people from fishing there.
We then went to the Kezhi Gardens, the Great Qing Post office (which is the only historical post office site in east china) and the Silk Road Museum.
We went into the City God Temple and some one called us into the temple to pray, so we did. And then he told us to write our names on this big thing that would bring good luck, so we did. And then he made us pay 100yuan each for it!
It was a really nice day though, and a really interesting place.
This morning we got on the number 4 tourist bus to Zhujiajiao. Zhujiajiao is an ancient fishing town outside shanghai. It was really pretty, although a bit touristy. There were loads of really nice old buildings and there was so much to see. First we went to see the display of shanghai handicraft which was really interesting and we met a lady who was telling us about all the paintings. When she found out that I lived in Shanghai she told me that I mist join her club, im not entirly sure what her club is, something to do with foreign people meeting up and learning about chinese culture, i think. Anyway I thought it might be fun so I gave her my email address. Next we went to the Hall of Paddy and Rice custom which showed the history and culture of rice growing in zhujiajiao. We had a walk along some of the narrow streets by the river which led to the Yuan Jin Buddhist Temple. It was a really big temple and we saw all the monks wandering around, and just after we arrived they started chanting and praying which was really interesting to watch.
We saw the Fengsheng Bridge which is the most famous thing in Zhujiajiao. It was built during the Ming Dynasty in 1571 by a buddhist monk who said that the bridge could only be used for freeing fish and turtles and he forbid people from fishing there.
We then went to the Kezhi Gardens, the Great Qing Post office (which is the only historical post office site in east china) and the Silk Road Museum.
We went into the City God Temple and some one called us into the temple to pray, so we did. And then he told us to write our names on this big thing that would bring good luck, so we did. And then he made us pay 100yuan each for it!
It was a really nice day though, and a really interesting place.
Friday 12 October 2007
The Wlidlife Park - not the zoo!
12th October
This morning I got up early and went to reading class. I got there a bit early and the teacher came and sat with me and started asking me loads of questions about what degree I do in newcastle, and what Im going to do after I graduate, which was nice but a bit scary.
After class dad and i went to get the bus to the zoo. Luckily the tourist buses all go from the stadium which is close to where i live. I went to the ticket office at the bus stop and told the lady that i'd like to go to the zoo and she said i could get the ticket on the bus and that the bus was just outside. So we got on the bus and after a few minutes i realised that it was going in the wrong direction!!! An hour and a half later we arrived at shanghai wildlife park. I had read about this place in sarah's shanghai guide book, it was a bit like a safari park, and a few years ago someone had got out of the bus and been killed by a bear!
It was a really good place though. All the animals were really well looked after and they had loads of space. Part of the park was a bus tour, and you could walk around the rest of it. We went have a look at the bit where the elephants were and one of the elephants came running over which i thought was nice. I stood next to the wall to have my photo taken with it in the background, and just after the photo had been taken the elephant sprayed water all over us! i was soaked, but it was sooooo funny. We saw 2 pandas which were so cute, i want one!
This morning I got up early and went to reading class. I got there a bit early and the teacher came and sat with me and started asking me loads of questions about what degree I do in newcastle, and what Im going to do after I graduate, which was nice but a bit scary.
After class dad and i went to get the bus to the zoo. Luckily the tourist buses all go from the stadium which is close to where i live. I went to the ticket office at the bus stop and told the lady that i'd like to go to the zoo and she said i could get the ticket on the bus and that the bus was just outside. So we got on the bus and after a few minutes i realised that it was going in the wrong direction!!! An hour and a half later we arrived at shanghai wildlife park. I had read about this place in sarah's shanghai guide book, it was a bit like a safari park, and a few years ago someone had got out of the bus and been killed by a bear!
It was a really good place though. All the animals were really well looked after and they had loads of space. Part of the park was a bus tour, and you could walk around the rest of it. We went have a look at the bit where the elephants were and one of the elephants came running over which i thought was nice. I stood next to the wall to have my photo taken with it in the background, and just after the photo had been taken the elephant sprayed water all over us! i was soaked, but it was sooooo funny. We saw 2 pandas which were so cute, i want one!
Thursday 11 October 2007
The typhoon and other stuff
8th October
Last night the typhoon was quite bad and kept me awake for ages. In my room the windows arent very good and they were rattling loads because of all the wind.
Today was the first day back at class after golden week so it was an effort getting up at 7, especially with the weather being so crap outside. We had planned to go on a boat trip in the afternoon, but because of the wind and rain we decided against it and we just went shopping in xujiahui instead.
9th October
This morning we got the bus and the metro into town and we went to pu dong to have a walk around and look at all the huge buildings. Even though i've seen them quite a few times they're still amazing. We went to walk by the river because i've never seen the bund from the other side of the river, but the walkway was flooded because of all the rain from the typhoon.
We went to get some lunch and we found a nice italian place - was nice to have a change from chinese food.
In the afternoon we went to the aquarium which was really good. There were soooooooo many fish, nemo was my favourite!
10th October
This morning on the way to class I saw Gemma and Fran who told me that we had to sign up for field trips before friday which was annoying because on the timetable the uni gave us it said we had to sign up on monday next week. After class i went to sign up but there was no one there and i didnt have time to go in the afternoon, but fran said she hadnt got round to doing it either and that there would be places left because only 2 people had signed up so far.
In the afternoon we went on a boat ride which was really nice, and it was a nice sunny day. After the boat ride we went to bookshop street (actually called fuzhou lu - but its just the street where the bookshops are) and I got a french grammar book because I thought I should try and learn some french this year so that im not really crap in 4th year. We went for tea on one of the boat restaurants on the river which was really nice.
11th October
Today I managed to sign up for a field trip. We are all going to the yellow mountains which look really pretty. And I will be there for my birthday which i'm really looking forward to!
Last night the typhoon was quite bad and kept me awake for ages. In my room the windows arent very good and they were rattling loads because of all the wind.
Today was the first day back at class after golden week so it was an effort getting up at 7, especially with the weather being so crap outside. We had planned to go on a boat trip in the afternoon, but because of the wind and rain we decided against it and we just went shopping in xujiahui instead.
9th October
This morning we got the bus and the metro into town and we went to pu dong to have a walk around and look at all the huge buildings. Even though i've seen them quite a few times they're still amazing. We went to walk by the river because i've never seen the bund from the other side of the river, but the walkway was flooded because of all the rain from the typhoon.
We went to get some lunch and we found a nice italian place - was nice to have a change from chinese food.
In the afternoon we went to the aquarium which was really good. There were soooooooo many fish, nemo was my favourite!
10th October
This morning on the way to class I saw Gemma and Fran who told me that we had to sign up for field trips before friday which was annoying because on the timetable the uni gave us it said we had to sign up on monday next week. After class i went to sign up but there was no one there and i didnt have time to go in the afternoon, but fran said she hadnt got round to doing it either and that there would be places left because only 2 people had signed up so far.
In the afternoon we went on a boat ride which was really nice, and it was a nice sunny day. After the boat ride we went to bookshop street (actually called fuzhou lu - but its just the street where the bookshops are) and I got a french grammar book because I thought I should try and learn some french this year so that im not really crap in 4th year. We went for tea on one of the boat restaurants on the river which was really nice.
11th October
Today I managed to sign up for a field trip. We are all going to the yellow mountains which look really pretty. And I will be there for my birthday which i'm really looking forward to!
Grand Prix
7th October
Today it was the shanghai grand prix.
Ive never been to a Grandprix so I thought it would be a fun thing to do. We had a look at tickets on the website but they were really expensive so we just decided to go to the course and see if we could get tickets there.
It was mad getting there. We got a bus (which was free) but just at the bus stop there were loads of people selling tickets - we didnt get any of those cos they were probably fake.But all around the bus stop there were just people trying to sell you stuff.
We got to the track, which was quite far away from the centre of shanghai. It took about an hour on the bus. We went to the ticket office and luckily there were tickets left. The tickets were really good, we were sat just near a long straight bit and a bend, and a couple of cars went off on the bend which was exciting. It was really bad though when Lewis Hamilton came off cos i was obv hoping he would win.Afterwards we got to walk on the track which was cool.
When we got back into town we decided to get a taxi back to halls because i couldnt be bothered to go to the bus stop, and when the taxi driver set off she pulled out infront of a moped and it was raining really badly because of the typhoon, so the moped tried to stop but couldnt because of the rain and it skidded and the guy fell off and it looked quite bad. But instead of stopping to see if the guy was ok, the taxi driver told me that it was his fault for going too fast, and then drove off and didnt stop to see if he was ok.
When i got back to halls sarah and fran came round because they had just got back from their travels. They said Hong Kong was amazing so im really looking forward to going there.
Today it was the shanghai grand prix.
Ive never been to a Grandprix so I thought it would be a fun thing to do. We had a look at tickets on the website but they were really expensive so we just decided to go to the course and see if we could get tickets there.
It was mad getting there. We got a bus (which was free) but just at the bus stop there were loads of people selling tickets - we didnt get any of those cos they were probably fake.But all around the bus stop there were just people trying to sell you stuff.
We got to the track, which was quite far away from the centre of shanghai. It took about an hour on the bus. We went to the ticket office and luckily there were tickets left. The tickets were really good, we were sat just near a long straight bit and a bend, and a couple of cars went off on the bend which was exciting. It was really bad though when Lewis Hamilton came off cos i was obv hoping he would win.Afterwards we got to walk on the track which was cool.
When we got back into town we decided to get a taxi back to halls because i couldnt be bothered to go to the bus stop, and when the taxi driver set off she pulled out infront of a moped and it was raining really badly because of the typhoon, so the moped tried to stop but couldnt because of the rain and it skidded and the guy fell off and it looked quite bad. But instead of stopping to see if the guy was ok, the taxi driver told me that it was his fault for going too fast, and then drove off and didnt stop to see if he was ok.
When i got back to halls sarah and fran came round because they had just got back from their travels. They said Hong Kong was amazing so im really looking forward to going there.
Saturday 6 October 2007
Museums!
5th October
This morning we got the metro to people's square to go to the urban planning museum. It might sound like quite a boring place, but it was sooooooooooo interesting. They had loads of old photos of shanghai and the surrounding areas. and on one floor there was a huuuuuuuge scale model of shanghai, it was massive and looked as though it would have been loads of fun to make. It was really detailed. They also had loads of stuff about the future of shanghai and about making it more environmentally friendly which was really interesting.
After lunch we went to Pu dong (the other side of the river) to have a walk around and look at the skyscrapers. It was really good, but still really busy everywhere. There was a big shopping mall called the "branded mall" so we thought we'd go for a look and it was just full of western shops, and we went into next and it was more expensive than england, outrageous!!
6th October
Today we went to the Shanghai art museum which was really good. They had loads of nice paintings and prints, but the best thing was the silk exhibition by hermes!! It was a story about the silk road and it was really interesting and really well presented. And there were loads of hermes scarves with amazing designs and i wanted to steal them all, but obv i didnt cos i would probs have got arrested. It was amaaaaaazing tho.
In the evening we went out for tea with sunny because she has an english exam next week so i was testing her on stuff. we went for tea at sarah's, the best place!!!
This morning we got the metro to people's square to go to the urban planning museum. It might sound like quite a boring place, but it was sooooooooooo interesting. They had loads of old photos of shanghai and the surrounding areas. and on one floor there was a huuuuuuuge scale model of shanghai, it was massive and looked as though it would have been loads of fun to make. It was really detailed. They also had loads of stuff about the future of shanghai and about making it more environmentally friendly which was really interesting.
After lunch we went to Pu dong (the other side of the river) to have a walk around and look at the skyscrapers. It was really good, but still really busy everywhere. There was a big shopping mall called the "branded mall" so we thought we'd go for a look and it was just full of western shops, and we went into next and it was more expensive than england, outrageous!!
6th October
Today we went to the Shanghai art museum which was really good. They had loads of nice paintings and prints, but the best thing was the silk exhibition by hermes!! It was a story about the silk road and it was really interesting and really well presented. And there were loads of hermes scarves with amazing designs and i wanted to steal them all, but obv i didnt cos i would probs have got arrested. It was amaaaaaazing tho.
In the evening we went out for tea with sunny because she has an english exam next week so i was testing her on stuff. we went for tea at sarah's, the best place!!!
Thursday 4 October 2007
The Silk Museum
3rd October (27 days till my birthday)
Today was our last day in suzhou. In the morning we went to the silk museum which was really interesting. Suzhou was the centre of the silk trade in china. In the museum it showed how they used to make all the stuff and they had loads of silk worms which i thought we're plastic ones just so you could see what they looked like, but they started moving so i realised that they werent plastic.
After we went to the museum we decided to have a walk around the new part of suzhou (which was really similar to shanghai so not that exciting) We couldnt be bothered to walk to the centre so we got on of those bicycle taxis that has a seat on the back and the guy completely ripped us off! He charged us 100yuan (£7) for a 10 minute ride and I tried to argue about it but he wouldnt speak and just kept pointing at a hundred note that he already had which was so annoying!
The centre wasnt that interesting. It was sooooooooooo busy and just the usual shops.
For lunch we found a restaurant on one of the side streets which looked really nice. The menu was all in chinese so i just guessed at things. I picked something off the vegetable menu which turned out to be celery, and then we got a beef thing with sesame buns which i think had been deep fryed (healthy) and then beef soup which was basically a bowl of msg with a bit of beef in it, it wasnt very nice.
We went back to the hostel to get our bags and then got the train back to shanghai. It was really nice to get back to uni. I really liked suzhou and tai hu but it was just too busy. Although ive learnt not to go to a popular tourist place during golden week. I think next semester when we get a week off im going to get a sleeper train to the middle of nowhere to escape the crowds!
Today was our last day in suzhou. In the morning we went to the silk museum which was really interesting. Suzhou was the centre of the silk trade in china. In the museum it showed how they used to make all the stuff and they had loads of silk worms which i thought we're plastic ones just so you could see what they looked like, but they started moving so i realised that they werent plastic.
After we went to the museum we decided to have a walk around the new part of suzhou (which was really similar to shanghai so not that exciting) We couldnt be bothered to walk to the centre so we got on of those bicycle taxis that has a seat on the back and the guy completely ripped us off! He charged us 100yuan (£7) for a 10 minute ride and I tried to argue about it but he wouldnt speak and just kept pointing at a hundred note that he already had which was so annoying!
The centre wasnt that interesting. It was sooooooooooo busy and just the usual shops.
For lunch we found a restaurant on one of the side streets which looked really nice. The menu was all in chinese so i just guessed at things. I picked something off the vegetable menu which turned out to be celery, and then we got a beef thing with sesame buns which i think had been deep fryed (healthy) and then beef soup which was basically a bowl of msg with a bit of beef in it, it wasnt very nice.
We went back to the hostel to get our bags and then got the train back to shanghai. It was really nice to get back to uni. I really liked suzhou and tai hu but it was just too busy. Although ive learnt not to go to a popular tourist place during golden week. I think next semester when we get a week off im going to get a sleeper train to the middle of nowhere to escape the crowds!
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Tai Hu
2nd October
Today we went to Lake Tai, although it was a bit of a mission to get there!! We asked one of the guys who worked at the hostel which bus we should take so he found a map and told us, and when we were leaving he shouted good luck so i thought it might not be the easiest place to get to. When we were walking to the bus stop there was an old lady stood at the side of the road stamping on a snakes head!
We found the bus stop and got on the right bus, but the bus went to the train station and everyone got off, so obv we should have got on the bus at the other side of the road. But we just got back on the bus, and (2 hours later!!) we arrived at the end of a huge island on lake tai. It was a bit of a sight-seeing journey because we got to see all of suzhou, which was really modern and i preffered the old part of the city where we were staying.
It was really pretty around the lake, there were loads of islads and huge hills and old buildings and temples. We saw a nice restaurant just by the lake so we thought we'd go there for lunch, but when we arrived the woman pointed at a boat so i assumed we could have lunch on there, but i was wrong. Instead we went on a boat ride around the island which was really good. We got to see loads more of the lake, its huuuuuuuuuuge.
When we got off the boat we went back to the restaurant to get some lunch but i didnt understand the menu - the only thing i could understand was tofu and obv i didnt want that so we asked for some chicken and rice, and we got a whole chicken which was floating in a bowl full of chicken stock. It was sooooooo yummy. But, in china when you order a whole chicken you do actually get a whole chicken! I was expecting the feet to be on it because everyone eats those, but I got a bit of a shock when i saw its head floating around the bowl.
We went into the big garden on the end of the island and had a walk up the hill to see the views which were really nice, although i made the mistake of wearing shorts and no insect repellant - i have soooo many bites. In the garden they had a budhist temple so we went into have a look and I gave the old lady 10yuan because we lit some of the insence and she gave me her orange which was quite random, but she seemed so pleased when i took it.
We went to get the bus back, but there was a huge queue so we had to wait for an hour. But when we got on the bus it was really quiet and we managed to get a seat, but when the bus was going back accross the lake loads more people were getting on. I didnt know it was possible to fit so many people on a bus. There were 40seats on the bus and it wasnt that big, but we worked out that there were at least 120 people on it. One girl stood next to me couldnt even stand up properly so i moved up and let her share my seat, and people kept getting trapped in the doors in the middle of the bus whenver they opened. It was mad.
When we got off the bus we went to get some tea before going back to the hostel, but we went into a restaurant that was owned by the scariest man ever. He just walked around shouting at everyone all the time, and when we were looking at the menu he came and sat by our table and he was pointing out things that he thought we would like, but they were also the most expensive things on the menu, The food was really nice tho. On the way back to the hostel, a guy who lived in one of the little houses by the cannal was hanging his washing out - he was hanging it on metal coat hangers onto an electricity cable - SAFE
Today we went to Lake Tai, although it was a bit of a mission to get there!! We asked one of the guys who worked at the hostel which bus we should take so he found a map and told us, and when we were leaving he shouted good luck so i thought it might not be the easiest place to get to. When we were walking to the bus stop there was an old lady stood at the side of the road stamping on a snakes head!
We found the bus stop and got on the right bus, but the bus went to the train station and everyone got off, so obv we should have got on the bus at the other side of the road. But we just got back on the bus, and (2 hours later!!) we arrived at the end of a huge island on lake tai. It was a bit of a sight-seeing journey because we got to see all of suzhou, which was really modern and i preffered the old part of the city where we were staying.
It was really pretty around the lake, there were loads of islads and huge hills and old buildings and temples. We saw a nice restaurant just by the lake so we thought we'd go there for lunch, but when we arrived the woman pointed at a boat so i assumed we could have lunch on there, but i was wrong. Instead we went on a boat ride around the island which was really good. We got to see loads more of the lake, its huuuuuuuuuuge.
When we got off the boat we went back to the restaurant to get some lunch but i didnt understand the menu - the only thing i could understand was tofu and obv i didnt want that so we asked for some chicken and rice, and we got a whole chicken which was floating in a bowl full of chicken stock. It was sooooooo yummy. But, in china when you order a whole chicken you do actually get a whole chicken! I was expecting the feet to be on it because everyone eats those, but I got a bit of a shock when i saw its head floating around the bowl.
We went into the big garden on the end of the island and had a walk up the hill to see the views which were really nice, although i made the mistake of wearing shorts and no insect repellant - i have soooo many bites. In the garden they had a budhist temple so we went into have a look and I gave the old lady 10yuan because we lit some of the insence and she gave me her orange which was quite random, but she seemed so pleased when i took it.
We went to get the bus back, but there was a huge queue so we had to wait for an hour. But when we got on the bus it was really quiet and we managed to get a seat, but when the bus was going back accross the lake loads more people were getting on. I didnt know it was possible to fit so many people on a bus. There were 40seats on the bus and it wasnt that big, but we worked out that there were at least 120 people on it. One girl stood next to me couldnt even stand up properly so i moved up and let her share my seat, and people kept getting trapped in the doors in the middle of the bus whenver they opened. It was mad.
When we got off the bus we went to get some tea before going back to the hostel, but we went into a restaurant that was owned by the scariest man ever. He just walked around shouting at everyone all the time, and when we were looking at the menu he came and sat by our table and he was pointing out things that he thought we would like, but they were also the most expensive things on the menu, The food was really nice tho. On the way back to the hostel, a guy who lived in one of the little houses by the cannal was hanging his washing out - he was hanging it on metal coat hangers onto an electricity cable - SAFE
Travelling to Suzhou on national day
1st October (29 days till my birthday)
This morning I got up really early because we were getting the train to suzhou at 10.30 and it was going to be really busy travelling to the train station because its national day, and one of the busiest times for travelling in china. But we managed to get to the train station ok and we had a bit of a wait, but id taken some work to do. I was just trying to translate the reading passage and the girl sat opposite me said she was studying english and that she would like to help me,so she basically did all my work for me. She was really nice,she was called stephanie and she had been learnng english for 7 years and she gave me some tips for learning chinese.
The train was so exciting. It was really comfy and spacious, and it only took half an hour to get to suzhou. But when we got there it was mad, litterally hundreds and hundreds of poeple everywhere. I had expected it to be bad because of national day, but i never thought it would be this bad, and then none of the taxi drivers would take us to the hostel because aparantly they'd never heard of it, but one guy offered to drive us, and completely ripped us off. He dropped us off at the end of the road because it was a really narrow old street running down the side of the cannal and i thought that it couldnt be right, but i found a signpost and it was the right place so we set off down there, and then we had to turn down an even smaller narrower lane. It was really interesting walking down there, we could see inside some of the houses and poeples homes were just one little room, id never seen anything like it. Part way down this little street we found the hostel which was amazing. From the outside all you can see is a white wall, but when you go in there is a big courtyard with all the rooms surrounding the courtyard. It was the most amazing place that i've ever stayed, it was so pretty and the history of the building was so interesting (but quite long so i cant be bothered to write about it). We left our bags and went exploring the old part of suzhou around all the canals and we arrived at the east gardens which were really pretty and they had a little zoo. (Suzhou is famous for its gardens). In the east gardens there were lots of streams and people were fishing in them for goldfish and crabs to take home. After we left ths garden we went to get some lunch and then carried on walking around suzhou until we found the Lion Forrest Garden which is the only surviving garden from the ming dynasty. It was really pretty, altho i little bit too busy. We were walking back on one of the main roads back to the hostel and all along the street they had loads of pet shops and dog hairdressers, and i saw a little white dogs with pink ears and a pink tail, i want one!
This morning I got up really early because we were getting the train to suzhou at 10.30 and it was going to be really busy travelling to the train station because its national day, and one of the busiest times for travelling in china. But we managed to get to the train station ok and we had a bit of a wait, but id taken some work to do. I was just trying to translate the reading passage and the girl sat opposite me said she was studying english and that she would like to help me,so she basically did all my work for me. She was really nice,she was called stephanie and she had been learnng english for 7 years and she gave me some tips for learning chinese.
The train was so exciting. It was really comfy and spacious, and it only took half an hour to get to suzhou. But when we got there it was mad, litterally hundreds and hundreds of poeple everywhere. I had expected it to be bad because of national day, but i never thought it would be this bad, and then none of the taxi drivers would take us to the hostel because aparantly they'd never heard of it, but one guy offered to drive us, and completely ripped us off. He dropped us off at the end of the road because it was a really narrow old street running down the side of the cannal and i thought that it couldnt be right, but i found a signpost and it was the right place so we set off down there, and then we had to turn down an even smaller narrower lane. It was really interesting walking down there, we could see inside some of the houses and poeples homes were just one little room, id never seen anything like it. Part way down this little street we found the hostel which was amazing. From the outside all you can see is a white wall, but when you go in there is a big courtyard with all the rooms surrounding the courtyard. It was the most amazing place that i've ever stayed, it was so pretty and the history of the building was so interesting (but quite long so i cant be bothered to write about it). We left our bags and went exploring the old part of suzhou around all the canals and we arrived at the east gardens which were really pretty and they had a little zoo. (Suzhou is famous for its gardens). In the east gardens there were lots of streams and people were fishing in them for goldfish and crabs to take home. After we left ths garden we went to get some lunch and then carried on walking around suzhou until we found the Lion Forrest Garden which is the only surviving garden from the ming dynasty. It was really pretty, altho i little bit too busy. We were walking back on one of the main roads back to the hostel and all along the street they had loads of pet shops and dog hairdressers, and i saw a little white dogs with pink ears and a pink tail, i want one!
Yu yuan gardens
Today we went to the yu yuan gardens in the centre of shanghai which were built in 1559-1577 and they were sooooo pretty. We had lunch there in a place called "the designated tourist restaurant" and had xiaolongbao which are a kind of bun filled wth pork and they are a shanghai speciality - very nice! When we went to the garden they had a special exhibition on with ornaments from the forbidden city, some of the jade and gold ones were amaaaaaazing.
Afterwards we walked round some of the streets in the old part of the city, and on one street there were people selling loads fish, and they just had plastic trays full of live fish and crabs, but they also had nets full of live bull frog and terrapins that people were buying for their tea, yummy!
Afterwards we walked round some of the streets in the old part of the city, and on one street there were people selling loads fish, and they just had plastic trays full of live fish and crabs, but they also had nets full of live bull frog and terrapins that people were buying for their tea, yummy!
walking, walking and more walking
28th
This morning we went into the centre of shanghai so dad could see what it was like. We walked for miles. First of all we went along nanjing road, which is the main shopping road, and we walked towards the bund which is on the riverside. It was soooooooooo hot today tho so we just say on the bund for a while.
We went to a few of the parks in shanghai (there are loads) and we ended up in a place called Xintiandi (which means new heaven and earth). They are old terrace houses that have been restored and really nice architecture, and one of the buildings was where the chinese communist party was founded!! And the most exciting this off all, one of the buildings is now pizza express!!!!!!!!
In the evening after a few chinese beers (my favourite drink) we got the metro back, and couldnt be bothered to walk to the uni so we got a taxi, and i told the taxi driver where I wanted to go but he blatantly didnt know where it was and drove off in the wrong direction, so i asked him where we were going and he didnt really give me an answer and he had to stop and ask another taxi driver where it was, and then i had to try and direct him back, and when we actually got to the uni it was loads more money than usual, but i succesfully managed to argue in chinese and we only paid 11yuan!!
This morning we went into the centre of shanghai so dad could see what it was like. We walked for miles. First of all we went along nanjing road, which is the main shopping road, and we walked towards the bund which is on the riverside. It was soooooooooo hot today tho so we just say on the bund for a while.
We went to a few of the parks in shanghai (there are loads) and we ended up in a place called Xintiandi (which means new heaven and earth). They are old terrace houses that have been restored and really nice architecture, and one of the buildings was where the chinese communist party was founded!! And the most exciting this off all, one of the buildings is now pizza express!!!!!!!!
In the evening after a few chinese beers (my favourite drink) we got the metro back, and couldnt be bothered to walk to the uni so we got a taxi, and i told the taxi driver where I wanted to go but he blatantly didnt know where it was and drove off in the wrong direction, so i asked him where we were going and he didnt really give me an answer and he had to stop and ask another taxi driver where it was, and then i had to try and direct him back, and when we actually got to the uni it was loads more money than usual, but i succesfully managed to argue in chinese and we only paid 11yuan!!
Howie arrives in China
27th September
Well, i have now been in china for one month, and its gone sooooooo quickly!
This morning I went to the airport to meet my dad because he is coming to visit for 3 weeks.
I went on the Maglev train again, but it wasnt as exciting as last time.
When I met dad we went back to the uni because he was renting a room in the foreign guest house (where i live) but when we got to south shanghai railway station it was soooooo busy on the metro and dad managed to get off but I didnt get off in time, and the door tried to shut while i was stood the doorway, and I had a bag with some shopping in it which got stuck in the door on the station platform. It was really annoyng. I had to go to the next stop and then come back on the other train, and dad had to get someone to unlock the door at the station to get my shopping bag out!
We went to xujiahui in the afternoon and did a bit of shopping, and i went to starbucks for the first time since ive been here!
Well, i have now been in china for one month, and its gone sooooooo quickly!
This morning I went to the airport to meet my dad because he is coming to visit for 3 weeks.
I went on the Maglev train again, but it wasnt as exciting as last time.
When I met dad we went back to the uni because he was renting a room in the foreign guest house (where i live) but when we got to south shanghai railway station it was soooooo busy on the metro and dad managed to get off but I didnt get off in time, and the door tried to shut while i was stood the doorway, and I had a bag with some shopping in it which got stuck in the door on the station platform. It was really annoyng. I had to go to the next stop and then come back on the other train, and dad had to get someone to unlock the door at the station to get my shopping bag out!
We went to xujiahui in the afternoon and did a bit of shopping, and i went to starbucks for the first time since ive been here!
Thursday 27 September 2007
Babyface!!!
26th
Today was the best day for class because we dont start till 9.30, and our normal teacher was away so we had another teacher who was much better. and during the break we had a nice chat with some of the people in our class and because frankie and i cant go out for the meal tomorrow they said that they would arrange something else for after golden week which is really nice.
Gemma wasnt very well today so i said i would go to the doctors with her, and we discovered that there was a hospital on campus so we went there. It was an interesting experience. Gemma got to go straight to the front of the queue and our doctor only spoke a bit of english, but i had brought my electronic dictionary which helped. After they took some blood and did some tests the woman was saying that gemma would need to have something done but we couldnt understand what that word was and when i put it in my dictionary it came up as a blood transfusion!!! so gemma was obv really worried about what was going to happen to her and we thought that it had to be a mis-translation we started ringing all our chinese friends who could speak english to see if they could explain it to us and eventually we found out that it was an IV drip. So in China, if you're ill you dont get medicine, they drip the medicine into you so that you get better more quickly and so you dont have to miss uni/work, genius!
So gemma got her drip and we went and sat in "drip room" which is a room full of people on drips, it was really wierd.
In the evening frankie and i went out with vannessa, cherry and justin to a club in town called babyface which was so cool. we had to spend over 600yuan on drinks to get a table, but thats only £7 each. In china people buy drinks by the bottle rather than individual drinks so we got a bottle of whisky and mixed it with brown tea which was really nice. and in the clubs people play drinking games with dice which was really fun, altho some people had a bit too much to drink. The music was really good too, some chinese dance music! the chinese men were really into their dancing, it was so funny. At one point everyone was just sat at our table so i thought i'd just go and dance in the middle of the really busy dance floor and see if any chinese men would come and dance with me, and one guy came and said "we just dance, ok?" so i said yes, but his dancing was hilarious and i couldnt stop laughing. and he asked me what was so funny and i just said that i was really happy, and then her carried on dancing. frankie came to dance with me, but we saw that cherry was really upset so we went to find out waht was wrong and it turned out that she'd just broken up with her boyf and some horrible sleazy western man in the club had just gone up to her and asked her to go back to his hotel room, sooooooooooo horrible!!! and then unfortunately vanessa wasnt very well so we went home. but we werent very tired so frankie, justin and i went to lie on the sports field for a while, and cos it was 2.30am no one was there and it was really nice and peaceful. but then a strange man started walking round the running track wearing his pyjamas and a white face mask like the ones that doctors wear, it was so strange.
Today was the best day for class because we dont start till 9.30, and our normal teacher was away so we had another teacher who was much better. and during the break we had a nice chat with some of the people in our class and because frankie and i cant go out for the meal tomorrow they said that they would arrange something else for after golden week which is really nice.
Gemma wasnt very well today so i said i would go to the doctors with her, and we discovered that there was a hospital on campus so we went there. It was an interesting experience. Gemma got to go straight to the front of the queue and our doctor only spoke a bit of english, but i had brought my electronic dictionary which helped. After they took some blood and did some tests the woman was saying that gemma would need to have something done but we couldnt understand what that word was and when i put it in my dictionary it came up as a blood transfusion!!! so gemma was obv really worried about what was going to happen to her and we thought that it had to be a mis-translation we started ringing all our chinese friends who could speak english to see if they could explain it to us and eventually we found out that it was an IV drip. So in China, if you're ill you dont get medicine, they drip the medicine into you so that you get better more quickly and so you dont have to miss uni/work, genius!
So gemma got her drip and we went and sat in "drip room" which is a room full of people on drips, it was really wierd.
In the evening frankie and i went out with vannessa, cherry and justin to a club in town called babyface which was so cool. we had to spend over 600yuan on drinks to get a table, but thats only £7 each. In china people buy drinks by the bottle rather than individual drinks so we got a bottle of whisky and mixed it with brown tea which was really nice. and in the clubs people play drinking games with dice which was really fun, altho some people had a bit too much to drink. The music was really good too, some chinese dance music! the chinese men were really into their dancing, it was so funny. At one point everyone was just sat at our table so i thought i'd just go and dance in the middle of the really busy dance floor and see if any chinese men would come and dance with me, and one guy came and said "we just dance, ok?" so i said yes, but his dancing was hilarious and i couldnt stop laughing. and he asked me what was so funny and i just said that i was really happy, and then her carried on dancing. frankie came to dance with me, but we saw that cherry was really upset so we went to find out waht was wrong and it turned out that she'd just broken up with her boyf and some horrible sleazy western man in the club had just gone up to her and asked her to go back to his hotel room, sooooooooooo horrible!!! and then unfortunately vanessa wasnt very well so we went home. but we werent very tired so frankie, justin and i went to lie on the sports field for a while, and cos it was 2.30am no one was there and it was really nice and peaceful. but then a strange man started walking round the running track wearing his pyjamas and a white face mask like the ones that doctors wear, it was so strange.
Tuesday 25 September 2007
A boring week
Im afraid this is another dull blog entry as I havent been doing much.
22nd
Last week Frankie and Fran were going out to get some tea and two chinese guys aproached them and asked if they could be friends so obv frankie and fran sad yes and the two guys took them out for a meal. So today they were going to take them out for a meal and sarah and i tagged along too. They are called vincent and greg and they are really nice, although possibly the biggest geeks ever. They couldnt meet for lunch or tea during the week because they had to study, and when we asked tehm what they would be doing in golden week they said that they would be studying, fun!
We had lunch at Sarahs and they werent sure what to order because it wasnt chinese food so i told vincent that he should have a pizza. but when it arrived he couldnt use the cuttlery because he's only ever used chopsticks so i had to explain how to use a knife and fork, which is actually quite hard to explain but he got the hang of it eventually.
In the afternoon I had to go back to the post office because I had a couple of parcels to send and when i gave the guy the parcels he didnt even ask what was in them, unlike the woman the day before who insisted on opening everything.
23rd
For lunch today frankie and I decided to go the korean restaurant just down the road from campus. I really liked it until I started looking through the menu and I saw that they had dog!!!!!!!!!!!! its so wrong, people shouldnt eat it. We ordered our food and then a guy came and started a fire in the middle of our table and frankie had to cook the chicken that shed ordered. The food was all really nice, but when we got the bill there was something extra added on and we had to pay for the oven on the table, so as well as paying for our food, we had to pay to cook it!
25th
Today was mid-autumn festival. Im not entirely sure what that is, but i think that its the day when the moon is supposed to be at its brightest and people eat moon cakes. So in the evening we all met on the sports field and had a little picnic and moon cakes, although they werent really very nice. They look slightly like pork pies but they have something really wierd inside them which is really sweet. The moon festival wasnt really that exciting but it we had a really nice evening anyway and Justin persuaded frankie and i to move to cleveland.
22nd
Last week Frankie and Fran were going out to get some tea and two chinese guys aproached them and asked if they could be friends so obv frankie and fran sad yes and the two guys took them out for a meal. So today they were going to take them out for a meal and sarah and i tagged along too. They are called vincent and greg and they are really nice, although possibly the biggest geeks ever. They couldnt meet for lunch or tea during the week because they had to study, and when we asked tehm what they would be doing in golden week they said that they would be studying, fun!
We had lunch at Sarahs and they werent sure what to order because it wasnt chinese food so i told vincent that he should have a pizza. but when it arrived he couldnt use the cuttlery because he's only ever used chopsticks so i had to explain how to use a knife and fork, which is actually quite hard to explain but he got the hang of it eventually.
In the afternoon I had to go back to the post office because I had a couple of parcels to send and when i gave the guy the parcels he didnt even ask what was in them, unlike the woman the day before who insisted on opening everything.
23rd
For lunch today frankie and I decided to go the korean restaurant just down the road from campus. I really liked it until I started looking through the menu and I saw that they had dog!!!!!!!!!!!! its so wrong, people shouldnt eat it. We ordered our food and then a guy came and started a fire in the middle of our table and frankie had to cook the chicken that shed ordered. The food was all really nice, but when we got the bill there was something extra added on and we had to pay for the oven on the table, so as well as paying for our food, we had to pay to cook it!
25th
Today was mid-autumn festival. Im not entirely sure what that is, but i think that its the day when the moon is supposed to be at its brightest and people eat moon cakes. So in the evening we all met on the sports field and had a little picnic and moon cakes, although they werent really very nice. They look slightly like pork pies but they have something really wierd inside them which is really sweet. The moon festival wasnt really that exciting but it we had a really nice evening anyway and Justin persuaded frankie and i to move to cleveland.
Friday 21 September 2007
外 国 人
21st September
This morning frankie persuaded me to skip class, and we went to have a cultural day. We cycled to south shanghai metro station, got on the metro to the train station and then took the bus from there thinking that the bus would take us to Jiading. The bus ride was quite exciting because we went quite far out of the centre and saw loads of shanghai that I havent seen before, and we drove past B&Q which was most exciting. The guidebook was quite vague about where this bus took us to, and when the bus turned around to go back the way it came we decided to get off. However, it was in a really random part of shanghai which wasnt really that nice, and they obviously didnt have many foreigners there because everyone was staring at us, and some people who drove past were shouting hello and beeping the car horns at us. Also, there were quite a lot of people walking around in their pyjamas, strange behaviour.
We saw a security guard and frankie went to ask him where we should go to get to the gardens, so he pointed us in the right direction and said that it wasnt far. So we set off and after a while we thought we should ask someone else so I went to ask a guy and he didnt understand but his friend did and he told us to carry on going and that it wasnt far so we carried on walking. But it didnt seem like the kind of place that the guidebook had described and we saw a hotel so we thought we would go in there and ask. But they didnt know where the place was, and after several phone calls they told us that we could take a taxi or a bus, so obviously we went for the taxi. They told us to sit and wait and that they would call one so we waited and waited . . . . and then eventually a woman came over to us and said that they couldnt get us a taxi and she pointed at a man and said he would drive us for 30yuan so we got in his car. At one point he turned down a little track and i was slightly concerned that he was taking us to the middle of nowhere to kill us but then we eventually got to a main road and we arrived at the Guyi yuan garden.
the garden was so pretty, and it was so nice to be somewhere that wasnt polluted and really noisy, but then loads of school children arrived and they ruined the peacefulness. But they were so funny. I was just sat on a bench by the lake and a group of girls came and stood behind me and I heard them whisper 外 国 人 (foreigner) and then they stood there for a while whispering and eventually one of them said hello, and i replied in chinese and then one of the shouted 外 国 人 侻 中 丈 (the foreginer speaks chinese) and the screamed and ran away, it was funny. And then loads of younger school children started walking past me with their teachers and they were all pointing at me and shouting 外 国 人! 外 国 人! it was really funny. Frankie and I hired a boat and went around the little lake for a while which was really cool but there were school children all around the garden and we kept shouting 外 国 人 or "hello" whenever they saw us.
We left the garden and walked to the yunxiang temple. We followed the directions in the guidebook, and on the way there we stopped for KFC which was good. We carried on walking to the temple but we got really lost somehow even though it was supposed to be really close to the gardens. So i went to ask a lady and she told us to follow her and she took us to the temple. The directions in the guidebook were wrong, sooooooo annoying!!
But the temple was amazing. When we got there there were some people burning something in a courtyard and when they set fire to it, the monks came out and were chanting and had various little musical instruments, it was amazing (and such good timing to arrive then). After that the monks went back into one of the temples. The temples were all so amazing, and they had massive gold budha statues in them. It was an amazing place.
This morning frankie persuaded me to skip class, and we went to have a cultural day. We cycled to south shanghai metro station, got on the metro to the train station and then took the bus from there thinking that the bus would take us to Jiading. The bus ride was quite exciting because we went quite far out of the centre and saw loads of shanghai that I havent seen before, and we drove past B&Q which was most exciting. The guidebook was quite vague about where this bus took us to, and when the bus turned around to go back the way it came we decided to get off. However, it was in a really random part of shanghai which wasnt really that nice, and they obviously didnt have many foreigners there because everyone was staring at us, and some people who drove past were shouting hello and beeping the car horns at us. Also, there were quite a lot of people walking around in their pyjamas, strange behaviour.
We saw a security guard and frankie went to ask him where we should go to get to the gardens, so he pointed us in the right direction and said that it wasnt far. So we set off and after a while we thought we should ask someone else so I went to ask a guy and he didnt understand but his friend did and he told us to carry on going and that it wasnt far so we carried on walking. But it didnt seem like the kind of place that the guidebook had described and we saw a hotel so we thought we would go in there and ask. But they didnt know where the place was, and after several phone calls they told us that we could take a taxi or a bus, so obviously we went for the taxi. They told us to sit and wait and that they would call one so we waited and waited . . . . and then eventually a woman came over to us and said that they couldnt get us a taxi and she pointed at a man and said he would drive us for 30yuan so we got in his car. At one point he turned down a little track and i was slightly concerned that he was taking us to the middle of nowhere to kill us but then we eventually got to a main road and we arrived at the Guyi yuan garden.
the garden was so pretty, and it was so nice to be somewhere that wasnt polluted and really noisy, but then loads of school children arrived and they ruined the peacefulness. But they were so funny. I was just sat on a bench by the lake and a group of girls came and stood behind me and I heard them whisper 外 国 人 (foreigner) and then they stood there for a while whispering and eventually one of them said hello, and i replied in chinese and then one of the shouted 外 国 人 侻 中 丈 (the foreginer speaks chinese) and the screamed and ran away, it was funny. And then loads of younger school children started walking past me with their teachers and they were all pointing at me and shouting 外 国 人! 外 国 人! it was really funny. Frankie and I hired a boat and went around the little lake for a while which was really cool but there were school children all around the garden and we kept shouting 外 国 人 or "hello" whenever they saw us.
We left the garden and walked to the yunxiang temple. We followed the directions in the guidebook, and on the way there we stopped for KFC which was good. We carried on walking to the temple but we got really lost somehow even though it was supposed to be really close to the gardens. So i went to ask a lady and she told us to follow her and she took us to the temple. The directions in the guidebook were wrong, sooooooo annoying!!
But the temple was amazing. When we got there there were some people burning something in a courtyard and when they set fire to it, the monks came out and were chanting and had various little musical instruments, it was amazing (and such good timing to arrive then). After that the monks went back into one of the temples. The temples were all so amazing, and they had massive gold budha statues in them. It was an amazing place.
Electronic dictionaries are so cool
20th September
Today after class we met sarah and went for lunch with her and some people in her class. We went to an amazing place for lunch which is run by a little chinese guy who speak english and indonesian, and he has a funny beard. The food was so good. We had sweet bananas (bananas covered in caramel) and sweet potatoes which were covered in caramel and a couple of other things, it was so yummy and really cheap.
After lunch we went to xujiahui because we wanted to get electronic dictionaries. Its so hard doing work when you have to look up chinese words in a dictionary because it takes so long and all the korean people in our class have electronic ones so we thought we should get them too. Frankie and I got really cool ones which let you write the character on the screen with a special pen and then it tells you what it means. Its amazing. And sarah got one that does loads of different languages because she wanted it to translate chinese to german. But it took sarah a while to get hers because she had to wait for a guy to finish his break. But we didnt mind because the shop was soooooooo cool. First of all frankie and I played on all the pianos and guitars and the electric drums and then we played computer games for a while, and when we got bored of that we went to look at the laptops and checked our emails. It kept us entertained for ages!
Whe we got back justin was sat downstairs in our halls using the wireless so we talked to him for a while, and he was telling us that the other day he was thinking about which of his friends in america would be the most suitable boyfriends for us, mines called Jim!
Today after class we met sarah and went for lunch with her and some people in her class. We went to an amazing place for lunch which is run by a little chinese guy who speak english and indonesian, and he has a funny beard. The food was so good. We had sweet bananas (bananas covered in caramel) and sweet potatoes which were covered in caramel and a couple of other things, it was so yummy and really cheap.
After lunch we went to xujiahui because we wanted to get electronic dictionaries. Its so hard doing work when you have to look up chinese words in a dictionary because it takes so long and all the korean people in our class have electronic ones so we thought we should get them too. Frankie and I got really cool ones which let you write the character on the screen with a special pen and then it tells you what it means. Its amazing. And sarah got one that does loads of different languages because she wanted it to translate chinese to german. But it took sarah a while to get hers because she had to wait for a guy to finish his break. But we didnt mind because the shop was soooooooo cool. First of all frankie and I played on all the pianos and guitars and the electric drums and then we played computer games for a while, and when we got bored of that we went to look at the laptops and checked our emails. It kept us entertained for ages!
Whe we got back justin was sat downstairs in our halls using the wireless so we talked to him for a while, and he was telling us that the other day he was thinking about which of his friends in america would be the most suitable boyfriends for us, mines called Jim!
the TYPHOON
18th September
For the past few days there had been these announcements around uni from the little speakers that there are everywhere and obviously i couldnt understand them so i thought they werent important and i just ignored them.
This afternoon i met sunny and taught her all about british politics and she translated my reading stuff for me because its soooooooooo difficult, and i asked her what the announcements were saying and she told me that they were safety announcements for the typhoon that was about to hit shanghai.And when i got home I had an email from my dad asking if i was ok because he'd heard about the typhoon on the news.
It was so exciting!
We looked for information about it on the internet and frankie read that it was a level 10 typhoon was is quite serious!
19th September - the most dissapoiting typhoon ever
The typhoon was supposed to happen during the night but all that happened where we live was just loads of rain and a bit of wind that made our windows rattle slightly.
Although quite a lot of people used it as an excuse to miss class this morning, but because im so dedicated i still went lol.
In the afternoon I went to the post office to post jen's birthday gifts, I hate the woman who works at the post office. She asked me what was in the parcel so i told her that they were birthday gifts and that wasnt a good enough answer for her so she opened the envelope and took out all the gifts, that were beautifully wrapped, and asked me what they were. So i tried in my best chinese to explain what they all were. But she didnt understand and she unwrapped them!!! i was sooooo angry. And then I had to fill in loads of forms saying that I didnt mind if the customs people opened my parcel to see what was in it and it was so much hassle. And then she put them all into a different envelope and i didnt see what she put in that envelope because she took it to another room so i couldnt see.
Went to sarahs and had beer and curry for tea, was nice.
For the past few days there had been these announcements around uni from the little speakers that there are everywhere and obviously i couldnt understand them so i thought they werent important and i just ignored them.
This afternoon i met sunny and taught her all about british politics and she translated my reading stuff for me because its soooooooooo difficult, and i asked her what the announcements were saying and she told me that they were safety announcements for the typhoon that was about to hit shanghai.And when i got home I had an email from my dad asking if i was ok because he'd heard about the typhoon on the news.
It was so exciting!
We looked for information about it on the internet and frankie read that it was a level 10 typhoon was is quite serious!
19th September - the most dissapoiting typhoon ever
The typhoon was supposed to happen during the night but all that happened where we live was just loads of rain and a bit of wind that made our windows rattle slightly.
Although quite a lot of people used it as an excuse to miss class this morning, but because im so dedicated i still went lol.
In the afternoon I went to the post office to post jen's birthday gifts, I hate the woman who works at the post office. She asked me what was in the parcel so i told her that they were birthday gifts and that wasnt a good enough answer for her so she opened the envelope and took out all the gifts, that were beautifully wrapped, and asked me what they were. So i tried in my best chinese to explain what they all were. But she didnt understand and she unwrapped them!!! i was sooooo angry. And then I had to fill in loads of forms saying that I didnt mind if the customs people opened my parcel to see what was in it and it was so much hassle. And then she put them all into a different envelope and i didnt see what she put in that envelope because she took it to another room so i couldnt see.
Went to sarahs and had beer and curry for tea, was nice.
Thursday 20 September 2007
My blog is going to be boring!
Well, im afraid that my blog is now going to start getting a bit boring because all I do is go to lectures and then work, so much fun. Although I have been doing a couple of things that arent just going to class and doing work . . . . .
14th September
This afternoon we had to apply for our residents permits so we went to the ICCS building and there we had to give our passport to a policeman and then he filled in our application form. The policeman was sooooo rude. He read my chinese name, and then he asked me if my name was 劳 拉 so i said yes, and then he just started laughing because he thought my name was really funny, so rude!
In the evening we thought we'd go to the womens world cup football and watch england play germany because fran and sarah had tickets, and we thought there would still be tickets left because no one likes womens football. But it was sooooooo busy, it was crazy. So many people had come from UK and Germany to watch the match!! So because we couldnt get tickets we went to the pub next to the stadium and I had a chinese beer which was very nice, and soooooo cheap.
15th and 16th September
Watched heroes all weekend because justin bought the box set and gave it to us. Its so good
17th September
SARAHS - this is the best restaurant in the world.
There is a restaurant on campus called sarahs and it does proper food, its sooooooooo good. The have pasta, pizza, salads, chips and the other night I had curry which was really good.
It is probably the best restaurant I've been to as im getting a bit sick of chinese food now, and its all so unhealthy.
In the afternoon I went shopping to xujiahui and I was just in the underground market and two chinese girls came up to me and said hello and i replied in chinese, and they were really excited that I could speak chinese and we had a little chat. And then one of them said to me that I was really beautiful and so I disagreed, and THEN she said, yes you are really beautiful because you have a big nose!!! HOW RUDE
14th September
This afternoon we had to apply for our residents permits so we went to the ICCS building and there we had to give our passport to a policeman and then he filled in our application form. The policeman was sooooo rude. He read my chinese name, and then he asked me if my name was 劳 拉 so i said yes, and then he just started laughing because he thought my name was really funny, so rude!
In the evening we thought we'd go to the womens world cup football and watch england play germany because fran and sarah had tickets, and we thought there would still be tickets left because no one likes womens football. But it was sooooooo busy, it was crazy. So many people had come from UK and Germany to watch the match!! So because we couldnt get tickets we went to the pub next to the stadium and I had a chinese beer which was very nice, and soooooo cheap.
15th and 16th September
Watched heroes all weekend because justin bought the box set and gave it to us. Its so good
17th September
SARAHS - this is the best restaurant in the world.
There is a restaurant on campus called sarahs and it does proper food, its sooooooooo good. The have pasta, pizza, salads, chips and the other night I had curry which was really good.
It is probably the best restaurant I've been to as im getting a bit sick of chinese food now, and its all so unhealthy.
In the afternoon I went shopping to xujiahui and I was just in the underground market and two chinese girls came up to me and said hello and i replied in chinese, and they were really excited that I could speak chinese and we had a little chat. And then one of them said to me that I was really beautiful and so I disagreed, and THEN she said, yes you are really beautiful because you have a big nose!!! HOW RUDE
Friday 14 September 2007
The British Bulldog Pub
12th September
This morning frankie and I went to get our bikes so we could cycle to class and our bikes weren't where we had left them. So obviously we thought they'd been stolen. We spent a while looking for them in case they had been moved, but we couldnt see them anywhere so we went to ask at reception, and the lady told us that they had all been moved to an underground bike store across from our halls. Such a relief, I actually thought they'd been stolen!
Class we so much easier, I actually understood what was going on and i didnt feel as stupid as yesterday. Part way through class Frankie pointed at the american girl's t-shirt, it was sooooo gross. It looked as though someone had been sick all down the back of it. I was just looking at her t-shirt and frankie elbowed me and I realised that everyone was quiet and the teacher was looking at me. He'd asked me a question but I didnt recognise my chinese name so I just ignored him - it was slightly embaressing, and I really need to learn my name.
In the afternoon, sunny gave us a guided tour of the library which was exciting - they have english newspapers and magazine and loads of english books to read!
Later on we were all talking about how we miss english food so we decided to go to the English pub for tea which is called "The British Bulldog". It was so exciting. It was just like wakling into a pub in England and they had a nice english menu. After tea we went upstrairs to play pool and I was just playing against Gemma and heard something move behind me and Gemma shouted "rat, rat". There was actually a rat in the pub. It was awful. The bar woman just looked at it and smiled as though it was her pet.
So after that we went back downstairs to take part in the pub quiz, and there were loads more western people there, although they were all quite old. Two American guys asked if they could be on our quiz team, they were Ric and Bernard. Ric was really nice and friendly and he was hoping to get a teaching job in shanghai. I didnt like Bernard at all, he took the quiz far too seriously and he was so competitive. He was also a genius and know-it-all. He had done a degree is cryptology, and he'd done a post-grad degree and was now on his second masters, he was also a restaurant critic and a sommelier. We didnt stay till the end of the quiz cos it was taking ages and it was quite boring and I was still traumatised because of the rat.
This morning frankie and I went to get our bikes so we could cycle to class and our bikes weren't where we had left them. So obviously we thought they'd been stolen. We spent a while looking for them in case they had been moved, but we couldnt see them anywhere so we went to ask at reception, and the lady told us that they had all been moved to an underground bike store across from our halls. Such a relief, I actually thought they'd been stolen!
Class we so much easier, I actually understood what was going on and i didnt feel as stupid as yesterday. Part way through class Frankie pointed at the american girl's t-shirt, it was sooooo gross. It looked as though someone had been sick all down the back of it. I was just looking at her t-shirt and frankie elbowed me and I realised that everyone was quiet and the teacher was looking at me. He'd asked me a question but I didnt recognise my chinese name so I just ignored him - it was slightly embaressing, and I really need to learn my name.
In the afternoon, sunny gave us a guided tour of the library which was exciting - they have english newspapers and magazine and loads of english books to read!
Later on we were all talking about how we miss english food so we decided to go to the English pub for tea which is called "The British Bulldog". It was so exciting. It was just like wakling into a pub in England and they had a nice english menu. After tea we went upstrairs to play pool and I was just playing against Gemma and heard something move behind me and Gemma shouted "rat, rat". There was actually a rat in the pub. It was awful. The bar woman just looked at it and smiled as though it was her pet.
So after that we went back downstairs to take part in the pub quiz, and there were loads more western people there, although they were all quite old. Two American guys asked if they could be on our quiz team, they were Ric and Bernard. Ric was really nice and friendly and he was hoping to get a teaching job in shanghai. I didnt like Bernard at all, he took the quiz far too seriously and he was so competitive. He was also a genius and know-it-all. He had done a degree is cryptology, and he'd done a post-grad degree and was now on his second masters, he was also a restaurant critic and a sommelier. We didnt stay till the end of the quiz cos it was taking ages and it was quite boring and I was still traumatised because of the rat.
Elementary Level 3
11th September
Today I had my first level 3 class and it was quite difficult. When we first got there we had a vocab test but obviously we couldnt do it because we'd not been in the lesson the day before. The teacher is really nice tho and really friendly. During the first break I stayed in the classroom and the two koean women sat near me offered me a chocolate biscuit which was so nice, they are the first friendly korean people. They asked me where I was from and I said that I was English (in chinese) but I had to say it about 6 times before they understood, and then when they did understand they assumed I was from London, so I corrected them and said I was from York. One of the korean women got really excited and said "ooooooooo yorkshire, lots of sheep" which was quite amusing.
The next class was listening class which was impossible, i think i only got 2 questions right.
In the evenng I met sunny for tea and she explained all the grammar stuff to me that I didnt understand, and she helped me with some work, shes so nice. We went for tea at a korean restaurant on campus, and I was slightly concerned that there might be dog on the menu because I keep being told that korean people like to eat dog, but I was pleased to see that there wasnt any. The food was really nice there as well and soooooooo cheap!!!
Today I had my first level 3 class and it was quite difficult. When we first got there we had a vocab test but obviously we couldnt do it because we'd not been in the lesson the day before. The teacher is really nice tho and really friendly. During the first break I stayed in the classroom and the two koean women sat near me offered me a chocolate biscuit which was so nice, they are the first friendly korean people. They asked me where I was from and I said that I was English (in chinese) but I had to say it about 6 times before they understood, and then when they did understand they assumed I was from London, so I corrected them and said I was from York. One of the korean women got really excited and said "ooooooooo yorkshire, lots of sheep" which was quite amusing.
The next class was listening class which was impossible, i think i only got 2 questions right.
In the evenng I met sunny for tea and she explained all the grammar stuff to me that I didnt understand, and she helped me with some work, shes so nice. We went for tea at a korean restaurant on campus, and I was slightly concerned that there might be dog on the menu because I keep being told that korean people like to eat dog, but I was pleased to see that there wasnt any. The food was really nice there as well and soooooooo cheap!!!
Wednesday 12 September 2007
First day at uni
This morning I had my first class!
I went to the ICCS building (the foreign students building) because I assumed that the classes would be in there, but when i got to the room that was on my timetable it turned out to be someone's office, so a helpful man took me to a big map of campus and pointed out where the building was. It was actually on the east campus on the other side of the road - the people really should have told us that when we got our timetables.
There was a german girl (who looked chinese) who was a bit lost as well so i walked over with her. She was sooooooo small and she was wearing massive heals as well - loads of the asian students walk around uni wearing really high shoes which is just so impractical and pointless at uni. The german girl spoke really good english because she had lived in Bournemouth for a year. She was asking me how long I'd been learning chinese for so i said that i'd been doing it for 2 years and that I was in the elemenatry 2 class, and then she said that she'd only been learning for 7 months and that she was in the class above me - Great!
I was a bit late for class and everyone was already there when I arrived. When I sat down the teacher told me to stand up and I had to introduce myself (in chinese) which was ok, but people were just looking at me with blank expressions and I dont think they understood what I was saying. The class started and we spent ages reading words from the textbook, and they had pinyin next to them so it was really easy, and then we spent ages learning 比 which is something I did in first year in newcaslte. And then some people in the class couldnt understand anything, and there was one guy who answered "shanghai" to every question that the teacher asked him!
After class I went for lunch with frankie and an english guy called David who was in her class. He had been teaching in china for 18 months but he had got bored of that and decided to learn mandarin properly. He was very useful to have lunch with because he knew what things were on the menu and we had a really nice lunch.
In the afternoon Frankie and I went to ask about changing classes and it was fine. We went to change our text books and they were a lot cheaper than the level 2 books so we got some money back!!!
I couldnt be bothered to do any work in the afternoon so I went shopping instead. There was a massive supermarket up the road so I had a walk up there. There was loads of interesting stuff and I just spent ages wondering around and looking at the food.
In the evening Gemma, Frankie and I went out for tea to this little place on campus where Gemma had been a couple of days ago with Justin (an american guy on our course). The food was so good. We had beef stew with lots of nice vegetables. It was so nice to have food that wasnt fried and covered in MSG.
Afterwards Frankie and I decided to cycle to Mister Donut which was just by the big supermarket. We dont have any lights on our bicycles but we thought it was ok because some other people didn't have lights on their bicycles. Cycling there was fine, but on the way back it was soooooooo bad!! A bus pulled in at the bus stop so I decided to cycle round the outside of it because someone else was, but I didnt realise that there was another bus in front of that one. When I had overtaken the first bus that was stopped, the other bus pulled out and pushed me into the busy road. It was sooooooo scary. I couldnt pull in behind the bus because there were other ones behind it so I had to cycle really fast and I just managed to get in front of it and get back into the cycle lane.
I need to buy a light for my bicycle.
I went to the ICCS building (the foreign students building) because I assumed that the classes would be in there, but when i got to the room that was on my timetable it turned out to be someone's office, so a helpful man took me to a big map of campus and pointed out where the building was. It was actually on the east campus on the other side of the road - the people really should have told us that when we got our timetables.
There was a german girl (who looked chinese) who was a bit lost as well so i walked over with her. She was sooooooo small and she was wearing massive heals as well - loads of the asian students walk around uni wearing really high shoes which is just so impractical and pointless at uni. The german girl spoke really good english because she had lived in Bournemouth for a year. She was asking me how long I'd been learning chinese for so i said that i'd been doing it for 2 years and that I was in the elemenatry 2 class, and then she said that she'd only been learning for 7 months and that she was in the class above me - Great!
I was a bit late for class and everyone was already there when I arrived. When I sat down the teacher told me to stand up and I had to introduce myself (in chinese) which was ok, but people were just looking at me with blank expressions and I dont think they understood what I was saying. The class started and we spent ages reading words from the textbook, and they had pinyin next to them so it was really easy, and then we spent ages learning 比 which is something I did in first year in newcaslte. And then some people in the class couldnt understand anything, and there was one guy who answered "shanghai" to every question that the teacher asked him!
After class I went for lunch with frankie and an english guy called David who was in her class. He had been teaching in china for 18 months but he had got bored of that and decided to learn mandarin properly. He was very useful to have lunch with because he knew what things were on the menu and we had a really nice lunch.
In the afternoon Frankie and I went to ask about changing classes and it was fine. We went to change our text books and they were a lot cheaper than the level 2 books so we got some money back!!!
I couldnt be bothered to do any work in the afternoon so I went shopping instead. There was a massive supermarket up the road so I had a walk up there. There was loads of interesting stuff and I just spent ages wondering around and looking at the food.
In the evening Gemma, Frankie and I went out for tea to this little place on campus where Gemma had been a couple of days ago with Justin (an american guy on our course). The food was so good. We had beef stew with lots of nice vegetables. It was so nice to have food that wasnt fried and covered in MSG.
Afterwards Frankie and I decided to cycle to Mister Donut which was just by the big supermarket. We dont have any lights on our bicycles but we thought it was ok because some other people didn't have lights on their bicycles. Cycling there was fine, but on the way back it was soooooooo bad!! A bus pulled in at the bus stop so I decided to cycle round the outside of it because someone else was, but I didnt realise that there was another bus in front of that one. When I had overtaken the first bus that was stopped, the other bus pulled out and pushed me into the busy road. It was sooooooo scary. I couldnt pull in behind the bus because there were other ones behind it so I had to cycle really fast and I just managed to get in front of it and get back into the cycle lane.
I need to buy a light for my bicycle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)