China time.....anytime????

Well I've been here 4 weeks now and the time has just flown. I finally went into the city with some students ready and willing to translate for me. we had loads of fun and the girls then decided to buy me a city map so that I could go in by myself....only problem is that it is in Chinese!!!! not even pinyin which at least I'd have a sporting chance of translating!! Needless to say I now have a map with much highlighter pen and english writing all over it BUT I will know where I am going!!!

I've decided that the Chinese love festivals or any excuse for a celebration. We had "Happy Teachers Day" a fortnight ago. I received some lovely cards and gifts from my students who had obviously been listening in class because there was much pink and purple- my favourite colours- which we had covered in class!! Every student I passed in the grounds yelled out happy teachers day and one of my classes decided I should have a "happy every day" and decoratd the blackboard accordingly!!

This week we have had Mid Autumn Festival  or moon cake day as most of the students called it. The school presented each teacher with a beautiful box of mooncakes and then I was also inundated with mooncakes from my students. They know I am allergic to eggs and had got their mothers to make me mooncakes with no egg...how sweet is that???

I have been adjusting my body clock and "thinking" to China time which basically means things will happen in there own good time!!! my chinese language lessons haven't commenced yet, my wardrobe doors are still leaning up against the wall from before I arrived, my school computer is broken and has been for 2 weeks but I am assured that all is in hand and will be fixed "soon". So imagine my surprise on Monday night when, on my way back to my apartment after teaching all afternoon,  one of my FAOs came up to me and said that the school was taking all the (Chinese) English teachers out for dinner and I was invited to join them. I said that would be delightful when is it......the answer... RIGHT NOW!!! No time to freshen up, no time to change...I just jumped on the back of the teachers motorbike and off we went!!! Oh but what a feast we had and it was great to finally meet all the Chinese English teachers,.

I had a laugh to myself when I got home....I've now learnt that "China time" can mean anything from immediatley to whenever!!!! The joys of new experiences.

• China
• teaching