I don’t like Mondays.......

Monday morning rolled around and bleary eyed, I stumbled to work clutching a cup of coffee and a bag of cashew nuts (still no milk at the supermarket so cereal isn’t an option). Even though I was having the same students again, I felt really nervous! However, as soon as my first class started I calmed down and managed to enjoy teaching them again. I also received so many gifts from my students throughout the day! Nougat, chocolate, special food from hometowns e.g. a dried corn on the cob, dried fruit – I got these from both my university students and my children when I tutored in the evening, so that was a nice surprise.

After teaching all morning, I felt starving so I had a cheeky McDonald’s before heading home and having a FOUR HOUR NAP! Well, I don’t even think it constitutes as a nap but more of a sleep. I was so confused when I woke up, but managed to muster the energy to get up and go tutor my children. I had a new girl start in my class that night. Her name is Alice and she’s only 5 years old but she’s very cute and her spoken English is remarkably good. Hopefully, having two girls will start to tame the crazy boys!

Tuesday was such an exciting yet busy day. I met Brooke for lunch near Baotong Temple and then we popped into H&M for a browse. I got a bargain outfit for less than a tenner, despite aiming to spend no money. Then we got back on the subway and travelled right to the end of line 2 (something like 17 stops from my home) before getting a taxi ride to Polar Ocean World!!

Finally made it!

This elusive sea world esque place isn’t really mentioned online but we found out about it and decided to see what it was like. After paying our entry fee, we wandered round and managed to see sea lions, walruses, seals, sharks, dolphins, fish, polar bears and lots of other animals. We also watched two shows, but my favourite was the dolphin and beluga whale one just for the pure hilarity of it. They had men riding beluga whales to music by Whitney Houston and dolphins swirling around to Christina Aguilera! Brooke and I also goaded a child to join in one of our pictures and he was so baffled by these two insistent laowis that he came over but refused to smile!

Being very Chinese in my pose

Dolphin show

Oh heyyy

Seeing the penguins

Very confused child!

Waiting for the sea lion show

The penguins were so cute

 The final part of our adventure was a ride on a whale thing, which swung us around and was actually quite scary! Sadly the carousel was shut, but there’s always next time. Our journey home wasn’t quite as smooth as the one there, as we got on a bus that the driver said was going to the subway station. However, when it made an unexpected right turn we had to hop off and flag down a taxi!

I made it home in the evening with just a few minutes to spare before meeting Dean, Brendan and a new neighbour, Patrick, for dinner. Both the restaurants that we normally go to were shut so we ended up at another, which was still as nice. We had some different dishes for a bargain price of £1.50 each and then headed back home.

Wednesday morning was spent teaching just one lesson before heading over to China Normal University (best name ever) to meet Marie and Charlotte. This university proved too difficult for me and my limited geography, and I ended up lost and without a phone because it was having one of its many Chinese moments, where it decides to turn itself off. So there I was with no idea where they lived other than directions on my now turned off phone until I saw a foreign lady coming towards me. I asked the right person as she knew exactly where I wanted to go and within a few minutes, I was reunited with Charlotte and Marie. They live in student accommodation and it’s very similar to England, but I definitely have the better deal as a teacher in China!

Marie and I chilled for a while before meeting Charlotte at a local area with shops and cafes. I went to print some photos so I can make a scrapbook of my time in China, and then we went to get some lunch. The place we were going to eat at was shut, which was devastating because I was told that it was similar to Nandos and that’s all I want in life at the moment. Instead, we walked back to near their university and ended up at the old favourite, Kebab Kingdom. The food is just too good here and relatively cheap.

After lunch, I wandered home and sorted through my millions of emails from students. It is only day 3 of teaching. I am not impressed. I also had an email from a student ‘applying for the position of TA in one of my classes. This is a position that I’ve not heard of or even advertised for, so it will be interesting to find out who has advertised a job that I don’t need filling! Oh China. On Thursday I had a very lazy day off and spent most of the time watching films. I also made some lovely western food to try and make my day slightly more productive.

Friday soon came along and after a morning of teaching, it was time to start my weekend. My new TA person came to see me and I said that he could help in my class so that will be an interesting sight on Monday morning! I went home after teaching and cleaned my apartment before attempting to have a nap. I hardly ever get texts or phone calls, but this particular time in which I’d set aside for napping saw 5 texts and 6 missed calls go to my phone! In the end I got up, having unsuccessfully tried to sleep.

I went out Friday evening to Prison and it was lovely to have everyone back in Wuhan again, I really didn’t like it being quiet. Dean and Olivi gave everyone their souvenirs from Indonesia and then Charlotte and Carley came to Prison and we’d not even spoke about coming! Very random. Anyway, after catching up with everyone, I got a taxi home and fell straight asleep.

Me and Will

Me and Char

 On Saturday I went to meet my new students for an extra job that I’m doing. It is the most random thing I’ve done since coming here, but basically the professors and lecturers of Wuhan university must go abroad for a 6 month placement after qualifying and in order to go, must pass some Goverment aptitude exams in speaking, listening, reading and writing. I will be teaching them speaking and listening on customs and cultural differences, for example, how to rent an apartment or how to order in a restaurant. I will be teaching 100 people in a huge lecture hall but I’m looking forward to it because it’s so different However, it is going to be a challenge teaching the Chinese this because they are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of etiquette and courtesy!.

After my random meeting, I went along to Mr Mai’s to volunteer. One of the children there was American and she instantly decided that I was her new friend. For the whole time I was there she followed me about and insisted on watching the film sat on my knee. It helped that she was extremely cute and so clever for her age (full conversation age 3). On my way home that evening, Mr Mai showed me a place to grab a roujiamo (meat pitta) so I ordered one before walking home to Skype some people. I then decided to be sensible and have an early night for once – 10 hours sleep please.

Today is Sunday (why do the weekend days always go so much quicker?!) and I’ve just come back from meeting Brooke, Paul, Marie, Carley, Elena and Maggie for the day. Brooke and I met up early to get coffee and then we met the others for lunch at Zhongnan Road. We went down into a huge food hall and you buy a card and put money onto it to buy the different food. I got a beef and rice dish, which tasted delicious and was also gigantic. I still can’t face dinner!

Hmmm which one to choose

Beef and rice and vegetables

Enjoying lunch

 After that, our plan was supposed to be to go to one of the bridges connecting Wuchang and Hankou and walk across it, but nobody really knew where they were going. After going on the subway to Hankou and then getting the ferry back over to Wuchang, 3 hours had passed and I’d had enough faffing around for one day. I successfully hopped on a bus to the nearest metro station (di tie if you fancy learning the lingo) and then came back home.

Tonight, I’m going to Skype home and then relax before starting the working week again tomorrow. My first week back has gone ridiculously quick so I hope that my days at work this week go as fast too. I think it helps that the weather is suddenly much nicer and much warmer so being outside isn’t horrendously depressing. I really want summer to hurry!

Until next week....

xxxxx

p.s. Some pictures of my students :)