China in a nut shell My dealings with China

So right now it’s the 29th and I last updated on theeeeeee 24th? Lots to say. So on my first day in the school there was a morning staff meeting. I got to meet almost everyone at the school and they were very friendly and some have great English. Right now Hugh, Fred and are the only native English speakers but Fred being part time and Hugh leaving encourages me to learn Chinese so it seems like a plus. Meeting told me more about who does what, books used etc. Staff training later in the day was just a revision of sensibilities when teaching. Had lunch at the school and chicken was in a bowl….with the head in the bowl too! Freaked me out dudes. I was sure it was staring at me. Had the evening to myself cause classes were still off due to repairs. You might think I saw the city? No. I went to the shopping mall to see what was happening. Let me tell you its an intimidating experience. Staff literally loom if you go near anything, not to give the impression of tight security but to actually help the sale…didn’t work! I bought nothing mwhahahaha. This is a big store. L1 is clothes shops and accessories, L2 is food, L3 is…more clothes? Can’t remember now anyway! and L4 is electronics. Some sales assistants tried to speak to me but I couldn’t even say I didn’t understand so I just started at them or ignored them which made me feel like a total ‘c u next Tuesday’!!! The next day in for the final part of training and to get our classes and match us with our Chinese teachers. I have a few lesson with a girl named Ivy, a few with a yet to be employed teacher, some with co owners Jane and Jesse and some with APPLE. And let me tell you….<3 She is like super dooper pretty, quiet though….give it time ;) Finished the training and went shopping for veg and shit for my first home cooked meal. The meal itself was ok but the cooking was a bit of a disaster…almost everything went a bit wrong: too much oil, burnt veg, didn’t oil rice cooker so it stuck and burnt etc but it tasted ok. This day I went for my full body check. Yuki looked after me so everything went ok. I on the other hand was very much self sabotaging the operation. I forgot my passport, had white backed passport photos (should have been blue) and not enough cash. 300 yuan!!! I was outraged for about 5 minutes till I saw what they did. I had: An x-ray of most of me, an ultrasound of my lungs, height weight blood pressure, blood drawn and urine test. All by different doctors and it only took…..15 minutes VERY efficient. More sabotage came when I was coming back with the urine sample to the office and tripped in the one main hallway….messy! no one saw so I just walked on! No problemo. Back to the school and did some textbook planning for the coming semester which was good as Hugh was on hand to help out. That evening went out to this pool side bar and ordered chicken and Drew ordered eggplant which was DELICIOUS. Chicken had more bone than chicken and was just not edible, off chicken right now. This place was awesome though because they sold mini kegs for 38 yuan which was good for 3 people. Great night and view. Pool open till 10 so it was cool to see people swimming about in the almost dark. Walked along the river running through Huizhou at like 10 30ish and it was packed. Kids and all just running about. I sat in on my first lesson yesterday which was good to see, one of the kids was so god damn cute! I want one!!! The lesson really calmed my nerves though cause it was relaxed and the students seemed keen. Later on had some beers and watched some TV with Hugh! Had a instant noodles for dinner which were OK but this thing I added to the sauce ruined them. Today! AT LAST. Sat in on a few more of Hugh’s classes and think the kids are awesome. Some are really smart. E.g. Jeffrey from a class today was very good at English and he is only 6. The classes are only half sized right now cause some are still on holiday but on Monday they should be back to full (around 8 to 10). The second class was on the level I will be doing a lot of teaching and they were great as well so I am really looking forward to this if I can get on with the students as well as Hugh does. One more class to observe then its off to watch some local football west vs east. Give me a chance to meet more westerners before Hugh leaves (he is like my only foreigner contact) right now so MUST MAKE FRIENDS! @KATHERINE HENAGHAN: hope this updates you, sorry to hear about poor tom and those people from rothes. Cuillean is welcome to my bed! @FACEBOOK: I can’t read any messages you guys send because its blocked in China right now. I can go on facebook chat via my itouch somehow but that is about it. Linda is posting my blogs as well because blogging is banned too! Safety first for them I guess. P.S. My First class is tomorrow and is a revision class for an oral test….on a book I didn’t teach and hadn’t seen. Sigh, things are a bit disorganized but I think I will be ok I have prepared well. I hope everyone will let me know how they are doing. Email me if you can so I can read it :p Peace and Love, Sam xxx 