Yesterday we were told by Matthew (who is Chinese by the way! Matthew is his English name!) that we were going to each give a 10 minute lesson to the senior management! They encouraged us to aim it at the age group we wanted to do teach, so naturally mine was aimed at primary school students.
I chose to do mine on transport, I showed them pictures from my journey to China and Xining and elicited from the group the names of the methods of transport. We then played a game, where I shouted out a method of transport.
Taxi - BEEP BEEP
Train- CHOO CHOO
Coach- Groups of 3
Plane- Arms out and plane noises
Subway - Conga line!
The staff loved it and I loved watching them conga around the classroom! Overall I think we were well received though there was an argument between the headmistress and the vice head (all in mandarin) once we had finished. Matthew assured us that it wasn't about us...
Yesterday afternoon, we went into Xining so we could go to the supermarket and get the essentials, for me namely milk for my tea, fruit, water and some snacks. One of the Chinese teachers took our passports and went to the police station to register us (and about time too!)
We then had to sit through another lecture which was entirely in Mandarin, this time it was Matthew giving the lecture. Again not a clue what it was about, I played hangman with Alex and Deena.
Highlight of yesterday was definitely trying Yak jerky! It is really nice, not dry though!
We are feeling a little bit isolated and captive here at 'the complex' so emotions are running high; we just want to know what's going on and how we can have some freedom! Its like a prison here, they send us to our rooms and knock on our doors when we need to go somewhere or eat. They call it 'rest' I call it confinement! Seriously there is an exercise yard and EVERYTHING.
Woke up this morning; yesterday the shower had no hot water, today the shower had no cold water. Getting sick of these showers! On the plus side we got a Western-ish breakfast of eggs, hot dog sausages, sweet stale bread, Haw Jam and hot 'milk'! It was glorious! And we stayed full for more than a couple of hours after eating!!! Chinese food fills you up quickly but you don't stay full very long. Plus the majority of it seems to go right through you, if you know what I mean.
Been chilling out this morning after putting a bit of pressure on Matthew to answer our questions. I've been playing Chrononauts and Fluxx with Alex, she loves it!
Off to a school in Xining soon to meet all the head teachers of the schools here, hopefully should get some clarity as to our role here. Either that or it will all be in mandarin and we will have to resort back to hangman.
See you later!
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