Well this is weird.

So its been 2 days since Alex and Siz left us. Will is still in hospital. And we still haven't a clue what's going on.

Yesterday was weird, Alex didn't knock on my door to get me out of bed for breakfast so I very nearly missed it. I got to breakfast late and thoroughly down in the dumps. 

Alex had told me the night before that Rice (from TTC) had told her that you needed to have graduated 2 years ago, this panicked us slightly because none of us fell into that category. However after some intense research done by Cecilia and I we have come to the conclusion that Rice was speaking rubbish. I have talked to visa agencies who give out Z visas and they had never heard of that rule and Cecilia had looked at the forms we had to fill out and could find no mention of it either. Plus TTC helps interns convert their visas to a Z visa when they finish their internship and only a very small proportion have been out of university for 2 years! It seems that most people would be unable to get a Z visa. Rice also said that Matthew wanted rid of us, he has a funny way of showing that... But yeah we had come to the conclusion that TTC did want the best for us so the fact that we were fed this information is worrying but our research doesn't support it. 

We were then told that our lessons had been cancelled today, well everyone's lesson but mine. I was required to go to Gu Chengtai to help them make a video. I asked if I would be teaching and everyone assured me that I wouldn't so I left all my teaching stuff and went with nothing. It turns out that by telling me that I was not teaching, what they in fact meant was the opposite... So I was facing my youngest class with nothing planned and nothing with me! Improvisation for the win! Duck Duck Goose, Huggy bear, Simon Says. I had to pull out all of the stops! It was bloody difficult. Luckily I only had to teach 2 hours instead of the three so I just about managed it. It wasn't one of my better lessons though...

I got back to find that Matthew had still not turned up, he was supposed to come in the afternoon but he didn't turn up to dinner. At dinner he tried to tell us that we did not need a new visa at all, this was scary because we thought he had already begun the process! He rang up his friend in Beijing University, he had lived in Cambridge for 12 years so could speak English, he also worked with Matthew on this project. We explained to him our situation and we tried to make him see that we needed a new visa, he seemed to understand and conveyed our message to Matthew. Fingers crossed the message got through... 

Today was trip day! We were going to the Ta'er Lamasery with Michael's school. Deena had spent the night with Will in hospital so, after checking that Matthew would take her to meet us there, Cecilia, Michael and I left. We were treated to a delicious lunch of noodles and some weird orange drink, it was served hot and with orange bits, tasted like hot squash. 

I was knackered, a mixture of a late night and not sleeping very well. The Lamasery was a long drive away and I struggled to keep my eyes open... We got there and I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't it. It was big but it just looked the same as the rest of China. There were lots of statues of Buddha housed in temples. There were a lot of monks and there was some pretty architecture but that was it... Bit of a disappointment but the seniors that Michael taught were a laugh and I had fun with them. We spun some prayer wheels and prayed to Buddha, we need all the help we can get to get this bloody visa...

Oh I should mention that Matthew did turn up but with no Deena... Turns out he did not understand what I was saying just agreed and Deena was left at the Complex all day. Still don't actually know where she is...