AH! QUARANTINE!

As we (the i-to-i teaching interns) were well aware of on arrival in China we would be placed in quarantine to make sure that we didn't have swine flu. What I didn't realise was just how much fun quarantine could be! I'd assumed that we'd be confined to our rooms or at best one floor but we could go anywhere in the hotel, just not out into the street. The first couple of days we had not been given any activities as we were still waiting for people to arrive but we got through a fair few games of cards and at about 50p a beer you can't complain. Although we couldn't do the usual move when coming to a new city and head out exploring we could at least get to know everyone who'd come out to China with i-to-i, there were over 50 of us in the hotel so there was plenty of people to chat to.

After everyone had arrived and had some time to shake off the varying levels of jet-lag we had our first planned activities. The first was a lesson in Tai Chi by a very funny and clearly very skilled Howard. Everyone seemed to pick it up well and in no time we were doing some basic but very impressive movements (I forget what they were called but something like 'Grasping Phoenix Tail'). Howard told us that he had studied Tai Chi at University and I couldn't help but be a tad jealous...

After the morning of Tai Chi we had a well needed lesson in Mandarin. It was very good to get started with such a different and difficult language and it was also very interesting to see almost 3 hours of teaching speaking pretty much only in Mandarin! I was trying to take mental notes in preparation for my teaching but my brain was too busy trying to take in the Mandarin and it's complex use of tones. The following day we had another Mandarin lesson and also got to learn some traditional Chinese calligraphy, my spidery scrawl is bad enough in my own language never mind in another! Needless to say I didn't take to it very well but considering the teacher we had has been practicing for 30 years I feel I have time for improvement but probably not the patience!

The next two days we were allowed to go on two optional trips. The first centred around going to the Great Wall and the second to the Summer Palace. The first day to the great wall was absolutely fantastic the Great Wall truly is quite amazing especially when you take a second to think how long it is. The day we went there was a thick fog so unfortunately there wasn't much of a view, it did add to the atmosphere of the place though. After that we went to the birds nest stadium for some pictures outside it on the way to a silk market. Silk markets are crazy! Every stall you pass will shout at you to buy something from them until either you buy something or move on (to the next stall of shouting). It is a lot of fun though and you can pick up some things pretty cheaply if your any good at bartering. As a rough guide pay 80% less than their first price for clothes and 30% for electronics though in both cases watch out for fakes! The day ended with one of the highlights of my trip so far, we went to an acrobatic show that was absolutely amazing, lots of high flying stunts and at one point about 12 girls all on one bike!

The final day before people started moving off to their placements we went to the Summer Palace, we went back to the birds nest stadium beforehand so people could pay to look round if they wanted I didn't bother so someone else will have to tell you about that . The Summer Palace was really beautiful and sported the longest corridor in China (it may be the longest in the world but don't quote me on that!) originally enough it was called The Long Corridor... The final part of the day was a meal at a really nice restaurant a few minutes walk from our hotel. The food was the best I'd had all trip which is saying something and it just kept coming, I'm not sure how much food I ate but I was surprised I had the ability to stand without metal supports!

All in all it was a fantastic week especially considering we were in the dreaded quarantine, the TTC staff were absolutely fantastic and very welcoming. But we're here to teach after all so it's off to Shanghai...