The kids all made me gifts which was lovely! I got lots of paper cuttings, a mobile (the ones for babies), origami, hand made flowers, drawings and even a painting! My favourite had to be a card from a girl called Tina, in this card she introduced herself and said she was very happy to have a 'happy man' as her teacher. Really sweet!
Last night was really chilled! Will and Deena were out seeing a concert, so Siz, Alex, Cecilia, Mike and I hung out and got to know each other better! I didn't know Alex was ambidextrous for a start! We played cards and had a lot of fun. I went off to bed pretty early as we had to be up for a 730 breakfast and an 8am depart.
Having said that, the canteen wasn't unlocked until 8... Will and Deena overslept majorly and so we were really late for our excursion (my school had been waiting in the cold for 40 minutes! And it was COLD). There was a massive argument in the car because Will was upset at us because we didn't give him enough time to get ready; this then blew up into a heated argument because I sent him a text telling him we had to be gone by 8 and he was still asleep at 820! Mike got really annoyed and the journey wasn't much fun, well for them at least! I said what I needed to say and then plugged myself in to listen to Miranda Hart's audiobook, a great way to escape any situation.
Today's excursion was up South Mountain, now we had tried to go up there before but it was closed. I joined my class (Wednesday's school - my favourites) and we began the walk to the mountain! The kids were lively and full of questions which I was more than willing to answer. The Swallow came too! We made it to the base of the mountain and began our climb, needless to say it was pretty hard work! I was expected to climb, sing songs, interact with the children and yet I wasn't allowed to take my jumper off despite the fact that, by this point, it was very warm!
We made it to the top though and the view of Xining was certainly impressive. We took loads of photos and I mean LOADS. I swear I had a picture with every student AND every member of staff AND some random members of the public!!!! We played lots of games including duck, duck, goose, we sang songs and we just had fun!
Soon it was time to head back down the mountain to lunch! Beef noodles, yum! However this was beef noodles with oodles of chili! Being watched and more often than not videoed while I was attempting to use chopsticks to eat my noodles is definitely an experience!
Next it was time to go meet the others so I bade farewell to my class and headed back with the Swallow. We got there and met up with everyone before going off and doing jobs, Michael needed his computer fixed and I wanted my haircut so we went with Fish to the electronics market and then onto the barbers. Now Chinese barbers are interesting! They wash your hair and give you a head massage before getting you in the chair, it was very relaxing. I don't think they understood how short I wanted it so it is still longer than I would normally have it but its better than what it was! Plus for only 35RMB (£3.50) you can't complain.
After the haircut, we went for a walk so Michael could buy a guitar. We got lost a couple of times but we made it eventually. He got his guitar and we decided that, seeing as it was such a nice day, we fancied a beer! So naturally we ended up wandering to try and find one for about an hour! And when we did find one it wasn't even cold!
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| For Kathryn |
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| Fish with Fish |
After that, we made our way back to the bus stop and back to school (via a ridiculously crowded bus...).
Oh and some last exciting news! Thanks to the lovely Victoria, next weeks lesson will involve establishing some form of communication between the kids I teach here and the kids of 5G at Hyde Park! I can't wait to start this!
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