There is storm on the Horizon.

OK well this week has been stressful!

Sunday

Today it was just Cecilia and I because Mike had a basketball date (selfish of him I know!). Cecilia and I headed into town late morning and went for lunch. We tried the Muslim food court for a change and the food was really tasty! We had some noodles and some really tasty bread. Next stop was shopping! I needed a few teaching supplies and Cecilia wanted to look around the market. I got what I needed and met up with her again and we both bought ourselves a pair of sunglasses each (£3 isn't too bad!). 

Next stop was the park, the sun was out and it was very busy. We found some rocks to perch upon and got out our books (well my audiobook and her e-reader, moving with the times!). It was really nice but very warm. Soon it was dinner time so we headed to Greenhouse (a western style cafe), we both ordered wild mushroom pizzas. The pizzas were simple but nice. We decided not to bother with the bus home and get a taxi instead. We eventually found a driver willing to take us and it only cost us 20RMB! Usually it costs us 100RMB! It was only so cheap because we told him that there is a fare waiting to come back into Xining. Will and Deena were coming back into town for a night out. Seeing as Mike was still out on his basketball date, we decided to watch 'Rock of Ages', namely because Mike hates musicals! We then watched the pilot of 'Supernatural', I jumped a fair few times. Especially when Mike knocked on the door at a tense moment, when this happened I jumped so hard I knocked the computer over! 

Monday

OK well we were definitely in panic mode this morning. Will and Deena hadn't returned from their night out and NO ONE knew where they were! Eventually Fish rang us saying Will was with her but still no one knew where Denna was. Naturally I found myself cursing Will's stupidity because it seemed like he had got so drunk that he had abandoned her; however after speaking to a distraught Will, I could see things were a lot less clear cut and much more serious. Will thought that he and Deena had had their drinks spiked. He woke up in a hotel room with no recollection of how he got there or who had put him there, later we found out that a friend of one of his friends had found him passed out under a tree and took him there. It was 1030 and there was still no sign of Deena, we were getting really worried now. 

Our Chinese hosts were panicking, they had been up all night trying to locate Will and Deena. There are definitely going to be repercussions for Will and Deena.

Thankfully about 11am Deena turned up at the school safe. She told us that she too woke up in a hotel with no recollection of the night.

Needless to say our Chinese hosts were angry, I don't know if Deena and Will will still be here next week because what happened is seen to be their responsibility. I am trying to make Fish see that although they were responsible, having your drink spiked can happen to anyone and what happened wasn't entirely their fault.

Tuesday

Back to normality for now because Mr Qi and Matthew are in Beijing and we will be having a meeting when they return. 

Anyway my lesson plan this week is to go outside and play lots of games because the last few lessons have been inside.

However I woke up on Tuesday to find it raining, great... 

The mornings lessons were good, if I am honest the mornings all seem to be the same...

Lunch was some tasty noodles with a couple of the students and a Miss Wan (I swear half my teachers are called Miss Wan...)

I hoped the sun would come out for the afternoon. It didn't...

So after some quick improvisation on my part, I managed to adapt my games to do them inside and ended up having a half decent class! Yay me!

Wednesday

I woke up in the morning to find that it was sunny! Thank goodness! 

I headed into town and met up with Erin, my liaison from Xi Guan Jie and my favourite teacher here in China. She wanted to take me somewhere before my first class so we got on a bus and I soon found myself in the very heart of the Muslim district. We walked up some side roads and soon found ourselves outside an American Ice Cream Parlour! Ice cream for breakfast was certainly unusual but its much nicer than pickled veg! The ice cream was incredible. The best ice cream I've ever tried, it made Ben and Jerry's look well sort of meh. We then headed back to school, me with a substantial ice cream headache!

Again my morning lessons went well and it was soon time for lunch! 

One of teachers at the school, Miss Xie, had invited me to her house for lunch. I gratefully accepted her invitation and we began the walk to her house. It soon became apparent that she spoke no English and my Chinese is incredibly limited. She has brought one of her students with her to act as a translator, however I quickly realised that his English was limited to talking about dogs...

I walked into Miss Xie's apartment and was greeted by her parents, neither of which spoke any English either... They presented me with slippers that were far too small for my feet and then proceeded to ask me loads of questions that I didn't understand. Miss Xie's father then proceeded to get out some bathroom scales and demanded that I weigh myself in front of the whole family. China does not know anything about tact but I am lighter than when I came out so that's a plus! 

Thankfully Miss Xie's son turned up soon after that and he acted as my translator so together we managed to satisfy the older couple's curiosity. Eventually it was time for lunch and Miss Xie's mother had prepared a feast! The food was delicious and there was certainly plenty of it! Miss Xie's father demanded I drink some baijo with him (a single tear rolled down my cheek) but I managed to get away with only one shot. They found my expression hilarious. Baijo is the devil. 

My afternoon's lessons went really well, we could go outside which was nice. I am always in a good mood when at my Xi Guan Jie. 

Thursday

TODAY I HAD A DAY OFF!!! MY FIRST DAY OFF SINCE COMING TO CHINA! 

To say that I was happy would be an understatement! 

Deena was off too so we decided to go and bake a cake, well I say that but the students wouldn't let us touch OUR cake! When it came to icing said cake, they ruined it... I dislike this school very much. 

We decided not to have lunch as neither of us were hungry, I had a pot noodles mid afternoon though. 

We then retreated back to our rooms and I napped all afternoon. It was GLORIOUS. 

I also spent a fair amount of time defending Will to Fish, because I thought he had learnt a lesson. 

It soon was dinner time and we were joined by the rest of the crew, however EVERYONE had gone home, including the chefs. Screw you China! So everyone was hungry and angry that this had happened AGAIN. 

Friday

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!! 

Well actually Children's day is on Saturday but the schools celebrated it today. Most people had the day off but not me, I headed to Gu Cheng Tai as normal so I could watch their celebrations! They were pretty good! However it soon became apparent that they wanted me to perform in front of the whole school, staff and parents (2,000 people at least). Thank goodness for Boom Sh Boom eh? 

The performance went really well, I was introduced as the superstar of their school. I got all 2,000 people repeating after me and it was pretty damn special! 

'I just want to be different!'

Sock Puppets!!

My introduction written by one of my students!

^^^^^^My performance ^^^^^

I am a Super Star! 

There were no lessons in the afternoon but the teachers took me out for hot pot. Now I am usually not much of a fan of hot pot but this was on a whole new level! The food was quite simply incredible! 

The teachers all brought their kids so I had Chris (Trouble 1), Linda (Trouble 2) and a 6 year old boy from the Easter party (Trouble 3). They soon began to answer to their new names! We went to the cinema and saw a children's film, all in Chinese of course, however I think I kept up with what was going on... However the main character was some sort of mammal (maybe an otter or beaver?) and yet that animal lived at the bottom of the sea for the entire film... 

After saying goodbye to triple trouble and their parent, I met up with Cecilia, Mike and Deena and we went to go get some food at Cafe Java. I got an amazing salad! It only cost 22RMB!!!!  

There had been no power all day so it was an early night all round. 

Saturday

Still no power, lukewarm showers. 

Will went out last night and has come back with wine and baijo. So much for learning his lesson, I can't believe I defended him...

We had been asked to cook an English breakfast for some students this morning. This seemed easy enough, we were so incredibly wrong...

We turned up and couldn't get in for 45 minutes!! 

We eventually got in and went into the kitchen and realised the stove wasn't working and we had none of the equipment we needed. This led to stress, anger and shouting and was made worse by the presence of Will. I volunteered for washing up duty so I could avoid being in the kitchen with Will. We eventually managed to serve breakfast, it was ok-ish, the students didn't think much of it, but the most important thing is that no one died or killed William. 

All of the student at the English corner were from William's school and he was ignoring them completely. Very unprofessional and not what you should do if you are already in trouble. 

At the end of the English corner he stormed off, with no explanation. These childish strops and sulks are doing nothing to help his case...

We headed to Chillin park and our afternoon English corner. We turned up and Deena and Will were nowhere to be seen. Neither of them had their phones on. They really are making things worse for themselves. 

I had an English corner one on one with one of Michael's students (16 years old) his English was very good and we just talked about England. It was really enjoyable!! Too soon, the time was up and he left. I then found Fish, she was upset, apparently Will had told her that we all feel cheated by her and Matthew and that we hate it here. I was angry, how dare he talk on our behalf?? 

Fish had sent them to the office and we were going to have a meeting with them. We said good bye to Cecilia as she had a girly break planned with one of her teachers and headed to the office. 

We arrived on the office to find Will surrounded by paper with scribbled notes as to what he felt cheated by. Mike and I had a read through them and many of them we felt frustrated by such as power cuts, transport and communication but none of them were Fish's fault! Communication issues and power cuts are just facts of life in China and the driver, well he is quite simply rubbish. 

We said as much to Will and talked about how there were many things we weren't happy with but we just had to accept. For example, when we meet a teacher we have to give Fish notice and sometimes it can feel as if we are asking for permission. However simply not telling them where you are going or who you are with is unacceptable! Rebelling against the rules, sulking and storming off makes him look like a spoiled child.

The Chinese want to send him home but no decision will be made until Monday when Matthew and Mr Qi return from Beijing. 

Sunday

STILL NO POWER- COLD SHOWERS ALL ROUND

I woke up feeling ill (upset stomach, headache, dizziness) but seeing as there was no power or food that day I had no choice but to go into Xining. 

Cecilia was still on her girly break so I spent a lot of time with Mike. We had some lunch, I could only stomach a couple of dumplings, then headed to Chillin Park to enjoy the sunshine. He got a beer and an I got a tea and we sat by the river and talked about everything and anything. It was really nice getting to know him a bit better. He's a great guy. 

We then decided to go and meet Cecilia at the ice cream place; I was still feeling sick but had some ice cream. It was delicious but I immediately regretted it as it made me feel much worse. Cecilia and Mike liked the ice cream too! 

Next stop was Bill's Place to meet up with Will and Deena. I took advantage of the wifi to let people know I am not dead and spoke to Mum. The guys got dinner but even the smell of food was making me feel worse and worse. Eventually I couldn't take it any longer so Mike and Cecilia took me home and helped me into my room. I got straight into bed and had a fitful night of tossing and turning with frequent dashes to the bathroom. I was not very well at all. 

Monday

POWER!!

Feeling better this morning, though still not anywhere near 100%. Today is the meeting with Mr Qi and Matthew, I will blog about the result.