I finally got a Journal!! I can't believe this and it has the name of my school on it and its blue and it makes me feel like a real teacher.

My contact teacher was told by the principal that I am too strict with the students.
So this is my story... Every week I pick a different discipline method because the class gets so noisy and or the previous routine wears off. So last week I made the kids stand up and sit only if they answer a question correctly. It was effective for some classes but not others. This week I send kids out of the class for making noise, (majority of whom are boys). I really hate it when idiots disrupt the learning of eager students. A boy catapulted a piece a paper into a girls eyes and I sent him out. ( So how does this make me strict???) next time I will reward him with sweets.

My contact teacher has suggested I play a film or play songs for the kids if it gets too noisy and I cannot stand the noise. I support this notion 100%.
The war is on, I have been happy, smiley and chatty with other teacher but no more. Since they are in support of terrorist acts of the student.

This reminded me of Nigeria, the poor chicken was butchered in front of me and i stood and watched for ages even if i had no interest in buying it. Thought i should share.

Staring

All time favourite habit of Chinese people, if you can visit their beautiful country then they can stare at you... First scene, a woman stared so hard in Shanghai, the got knocked down, another scene, a group of people shouting mei guo ren ( they assume black people can only come from the states... Thank you Obama). Another scene, people shouting Serena Williams .. I got excited thinking she was somewhere close, only to realise they were talking to me...(KMT) if you know me you would that calling me Serena Williams would make me very sad, i would rather be called Venus Williams. 

They might even go as far as taking pictures with you, once a woman handed me her infant child so that she could take a picture of a foreigner (Wei guo ren) holding her baby. Another scene, a little boy crying because his cousins had taken a picture with my and my friends when he went to use the toilet, so we had to take another picture with him. Another scene, me and my friends running away after standing and taking pictures for 10 minutes with random people in tian'an men square Beijing. I really don't mind the attention because it makes me feel like a celebrity but when you stand for more than 20 minutes in the blazing sun taking pictures with strangers or waiting for your friends to finish taking pictures with strangers, it can get tiring and annoying to a point that the darker side of me pops up, or like me and some friends did, start running until the coast is clear.  However the level of staring depends on the city you visit. Economic zones like shanghai and Shenzhen have mild staring, because there are loads of foreigners doing business, so you are nothing special, but other areas like suzhou, cheng du, tian jin, chongching can get really bad, they laugh at you openly, might touch your  hair, point at you too often. 

They don't mean any harm, they are just excited to see foreigners and want to study us to see if we behave like them or imitate our strange behaviours.

So most times I wear my sunglasses, turn my iPod on the loudest and cover my face with my iPad! This certainly works for me.

I just got my second pay check so i must be doing something right!!..so maybe they just cant be bothered....
whatever the case may be....I am gon celebrate this weekend!...

I had an amazing week last week. for many reasons.
It was China's national holiday September 30th , celebrating 67 years as a republic and the whole nation was given a week off to celebrate. Although we were asked to work on Saturday before the start on the holiday, yeah everything is last minute in China so before i book any trips i have to wait for the government to decide how they feel.

Moving on.....My contact teacher invited me to different breakfast, lunches and dinners to celebrate with families of the students and other teachers (Like I don't have a life outside school)...
I regrettably turned down the invitations because I had planned a trip to Guangzhou, Macau and Hong kong to celebrate in my own way.
So on Saturday I went in to teach, but instead of teaching i watched movies and played irrelevant games with the kids (A holiday is a holiday and i was in no mood to plan lessons).
Immediately after, I packed my shit and ran to the bus station to catch the bus to Guangzhou
Rewind...I had heard a lot about Guangzhou .i.e. (Trading central, chocolate city, mini lagos...e.t.c.) but surely this was all an exaggeration. On arrival, I was expected to be greeted by My Nigerian brothers, but it looked Chinese to me.
My friend and I dropped off our bags at the hotel and went to look for african food!..we couldn't find any, but we were greeted by some Nigerian men whistling to us and calling us 'baby'..(typical Omata traders).
It was obvious the stories were clearly not an exaggeration. We were invited by some random guy to drink with his friends and since we were bored and lost we accepted. Andy (short for Nnamdi) and his friends Jeff, PO and boyoyo were an interesting bunch, from the fashion style to the accents i not only felt like i was in Nigeria but Onitsha or Aba.

The story of my experience with my new Nigerian friends is too long, but basically, I had to lie about my name and relationship status to ensure minimal future communication with them. The catholic church (English mass) was 85 percent male and 90 percent Nigerian, there are several Nigerian restaurants, clubs (dangerous for females, Non-prostitutes) and hair salons in Guangzhou.
I walked away with 3 marriage proposals and offers to pay for my ticket to visit Nigeria (SMH)...too much money...

I was happy and sad to go. Happy because the presence of too many Nigerian, men can be overwhelming and sad because I had completed the first part of my holiday. I envy housewives......

This is a picture of Yuexiu park in Guangzhou, this giant thing is a symbol of the holiday. The sign on the symbol is for good luck/best wishes.

 Back in shenzhen a beautiful place called Seaworld! breath taking views, with all kinds of restaurants, Japanese, Mexican, British and American.

We hopped over to HK, for more sightseeing.....Sea ferry

Hong kong is a different story, So modern, so diverse, so beautiful...from the Sea Ferry view to Victoria park, to the Women market in Mong kok, to the posh areas in causeway bay. HK has something to offer everyone, It is clean, there is no spitting or staring (except from Chinese visitors), it is more ''Civilized than China''. My friends and I spent a day there shopping and looking around, then went to the western areas to boggy at night. The club we went to had free drinks for ladies till midnight so we had 2 hours of free drinks +++++++++ the music was sick, the dj played Oliver twist and some other Nigerian songs (IN HK)...i was too impressed..

There is nothing to dislike about Hong hong as a city until you hear vicious statements HK natives make about Chinese people. (LOL) details coming soon.

The third week of september

I am really sorry for my absence, I was having minor issues with my internet which slowed down my computer and Internet. Anyways I am back now..

 This week has been lazy and tiring!! On Monday I had five lessons, as usual most of them were bad.. As some point I left the class 10 minutes cus I couldn't be bothered.... Then in another class, I decided  to sit down and wait the noise out!! They got the message and kept quiet... But it only lasted for 5minutes... Choi...in my mind I had flogged them especially one boy whom I call dick face (he doesn't understand so it's fine). The best thing is not to shout at them because they don't understand, they tend to shout imitate your shouting which makes the situation worse and u are the only one loosing your voice! 

Yeah!! they look like Angels in this picture, but this is really not the case.....
Btw!....can you spot the twins....pei pei and zen zen....I love them (i try my hardest not to show it though).

Before I came to China my family and friends all thought I would come back single (bad belle people).. Even my grandmother said it would take two Chinese men, one standing on top the other for me to find a suitable boyfriend in China...... Hmmm well, I have found the ONE... Although he hasn't found me, we often communication through body language, this is best since he doesn't speak any English.. But when the opportunity arises I will take advantage and make my move.. He even looks cute when he eats, choi how many men can boast about this.

Another dinner party on Tuesday made it possible for me to plan lessons, i was sooo tired cus I went for dinner with my  English department and it was amazing. But too much food, a table for 9 people (soup, chicken, Goose, steamed vegetable, pork, assorted fish, Steamed brown bun, Tofu, with Jasmine tea and Corn Juice) costs 30 pounds. I was too impressed, but i didn't feel guilty about wasting food this time. In the UK where such a meal with cost about 120 pounds, I would have eaten everything down to the last bone...(LOL). I still haven't tasted Tofu, my Chinese friends suggest its delicious but it still looks vile and until that changes I ain't interested...I explain to my native friends that Tofu in the UK is for meat haters or rich people (I am neither of these) so I stick with eating Chicken, duck and PORK!!

Free drinks sent to the table. 

More pictures of my friday night out!

Last week was really good, I had Mexican dinner with my friends. Although it took one hour to arrive and it was quite small, it was just nice to make contact with adults who could speak English not Chinglish (Chinese English). The restaurant was surrounded by Americans, they seem to be everywhere, all giggly and enthusiastic, pretending they love their jobs and making us British people feel bad for hating the first few weeks of teaching. (LOL) why do i sound so angry right??.....

These are my favorite students of the week. Koko, Jenny, Pat and Melody (i think). In total i teach a total of 600 students (I cant say its meaningful teaching) so i find it really hard to keep up with their text book English names and I have stopped asking after their Chinese names since it takes me 2 secs to forget. These students come to pick me up for lessons!!, I take this as an indication that they are willing and interested in learning but when i get to the classroom, its a different story. Their loyalty is to their friends first before any teacher.

Fast forward to Friday. It was Ria's birthday and the thought of meeting up with friends kept me going from wednesday-friday. It was an eventful night, a lot to drink (free drinks from Chinese people). We met some new people (american and Chinese) who added color to the evening, the birthday girl on the right looked lovely in white and had a lovely night. As usual, it was fun to share and swap teaching stories with others and catch up on interesting things people had done during the week.

I really enjoyed this week and I hope next week will be even better. Pictures of my trip to the beach coming up and also pictures of the cutest 6 year old twin girls in my class coming up!. Hope everyone has a great week ahead, I miss you all...xx

First few days in Shenzhen were amazing!....we were treated like kings and queens. Taken from one hotel to another, taken to expensive banquets, bought beautiful bouquets.  We all look so happy, we saw this as a sign of greater things to come. 

....(LOL)...unfortunately this happiness was definitely short-lived. Dear Simon seems to be looking for a way to get deported, in order to depart from this job....this is what our lives have resorted to. I went for mexican dinner with my ELA friends yesterday and we all found it really hard not to complain about our different problems with our different schools or living situations. To top it all, we were also informed (last minute) that the China govt has declared Saturday 29th sept a working day (ONLY IN CHINA). To be honest, we were warned by the british council that there will be moments like this. They referred to it as a cycle of adjustment. (An upside down semi circle) the excitement peaked when we got here, but has died down due to the different cultural and social differences. I cant wait for the cycle to peak again ( I need this to be real soon).

I miss my friends and family, but I appreciate this independent time i have in china to grow as an individual.

One of my favorite co-workers is trying to base our friendship on politics. I constantly explain to her that i do not watch the news or have any interest in politics, she does not understand this, but goes on to ask me my views about Obama. When i suggested he was OK, her face suddenly changed like I had said (China is bad). So i quickly said, I do not like him. LOL, now she knows where my loyalties lie (at least for a year). Apparently, she does not like Obama because he supports Japan, so in her view that automatically makes him an enemy of China. Again, I have no views on this, I do not care. I just want to get paid and party all night.

Tibet, Taiwan, Japan, Tienanmen square. These are popular issues we are advised not to discuss with Chinese people, due to the sensitive nature of such issues. Also Chinese whispers is real, the language barrier can easily lead to word mis-interpretation, so it is best to avoid such topics either way.

Today was really stressful, I had five lessons and two of my classes were really noisy, so I taught for half the lesson and let them go. This is why i have very little to write, I can bitch about my school kids all day but this would be rude right??

I do not really class myself as a food lover.... In the UK i go out for meals with my friends, explore different restaurants if my pocket allows. However since coming to China things have changed. I got invited to different restaurants everyday at first but now its every week, thank God, all the meat i was digesting was beginning to give me a heart burn. Still I find that i am constantly losing weight, how is this possible? I have been pulled or dragged to Japanese, Brazilian and Chinese restaurants which all have one thing in common. MEAT!! my sister would love this place, the picture shows a variety of dishes like pork, chicken, donkey and duck, these are common dishes in China. This country will spare no Animal or no part of the animal when it comes to enhancing the nutrients in their body.

How much food can these little people eat...A lot!!...the outside world (wai guo ren) should be informed that in China Rice is considered POOR mans food. During lunch time in my school, I am the only one is eating rice, everyone else has a plate filled with assorted meat and vegetable (rich mans food) while i am happy to be eating my starchy rice. 

But Chinese people are very happy when they see foreigners eating different Chinese dishes, so I am encouraged to try everything and by everything i mean everything. I tried hotpot dinner the other day and I tried pigs blood, it was gross but i was glad i tried it, after this I stopped asking about the content of other dishes in order not to upset myself. I also tried cows tongue, it was really sweet and tasted like goat meat (I tried not to think of what the cow ate before it died).

I haven't even mentioned drinks, a 500ml bottle of coke, fanta, sprite is 40p-50p in China, a bottle of water is 10p-20p. The more wine a lady is able to drink, the more praise or fame she receives from hosts or elders around.

This is a step by step explanation of the food culture in China.

The person who invites you to dinner is the person who pays for dinner (so if you invite a Chinese person to dinner you might be expected to pay).

If Chinese people ask you if you want to go for dinner with them, they expect you to say YES!!

In some instances, it is considered rude not to taste the food ordered by your host.

Any quarrel or query is settled over dinner.

In general, the food culture in China is amazing, it is very different from any other country, every Chinese person i meet wants to take me out for lunch or dinner to give me a taste of their amazing food culture. I cant wait to explore more food options and taste more scary stuff.

Where do I start......
I really wanted a journal, somewhere I could write my thoughts on China and teaching each day, something I could tell my kids i had written on my travels. But It seems like Journals are less common in this part of the world. So I have decided to rely on my digital journal.

Although I was going to start this blog from day one, my laziness took control of the situation. Many people on the same program, have set up exciting blogs and this encouraged me to finally start one. It is really interesting to read about the different experiences of other ELA's (English language assistants)  on the same trip. Some luckier than others in terms of accommodation and school schedule, however at the end of the day, it is all a learning experience. Most important thing to me is the people I have and will meet along the way.

The key focus of my blog will be chinese culture, my interaction with my adorable 6-12 year old kids, my exciting experiences and my trials along the way. Hope you find it informative and interesting.