Ups and downs (mainly ups)

So, it's coming up to my second week and Harbin and I thought it was a good time (i.e. one of my five days off) to offer a catch up about the crazy goings on in northern China.

Firstly, the weather is getting warmer - now i'm not talking tropical temperatures or swealtering heat - just a mere few degrees warmer and a lot of sunshine which means that the snow and ice is melting making it easier to walk without looking like a penguin and less bruises to the backside. Which is nice. However, the ice sculptures are melting away, and unfortunately we were too late to witness the sculptures on Sun Island which is quite dissapointing. However, we were in time to visit a park (not sure the Chinese name of it) which contained the most beautiful sculptures made out of, you've guessed it, ice. We visited in the evening, so each one was lit up with coloured lights and a magical soundtrack echoed through the park, I literally felt like I was in Narnia. Also, I use the word "sculpture" lightly; these were actual life size buildings made out of ice blocks. An Aladdin sized palace even provided rubber rings to slide down the ice on. Other ice palaces did not provide this luxury and in a bout of over-excitement I thought it would be wise to slide down without any apparatus, instantly regretting it as remained slightly damp for the rest of the evening. It is safe to say there will be no more ice sliding.

Thursday night Angus and co took us out to a Blue's bar which was great - all candlewax and overturned barrels, not much blues though. The evening was going along fine; drinking some beer, throwing some shapes, when suddenly we all heard a loud electric shock noise. Looked down over the balcony and a massive brawl had started below us. It was mental, people clambouring over each other, blood shed, glasses smashed, one guy was even knocked out. Whilst he was being dragged over the dance floor and towards the exit I asked Angus' friend Marsha why he was still unconscious, when she replied, in such a casual manner "maybe he's dead" and shrugged her shoulders I looked at the others, thank god they all had their mouths open as well. Only in China eh. The evening carried on as if nothing had happened, with an appearence from some Russian... erm, "dancers".

Saturday I taught two lessons which went quite well. After arriving at the school extra early and filling up a lesson plan with as much "T-S" and "drilling" lingo you could imagine (have to say, very proud of my efforts for 9 o clock on a Satruday morning) it was a bit of a suprise/annoyance when a teacher thrust a textbook into my hand 5 minutes before the lesson began and told me to work from that. So I had to spend the next hour and 40 minutes teaching the children about a boy called Billy whose dog goes into the water and fetches a stick. Oh yeah and he was looking through a telescope. God knows why. But hey ho, it's China, they do things differently here, and at the end of the day if one of those kids is asked "what is the function of a telescope" in their exam, it is safe to say they will know the answer (remember I had an HOUR AND 40 MINUTES to teach them this).

Sunday was slightly different. I had my wallet stolen on the bus into work. Not a great start to the day, especially as I had just withdrawn my weekly budget from an ATM. Walked into work slightly misty eyed not really knowing what to do. The realisation that I had to get hold of home to cancel all my cards, including my driving licence (which I had only just got) and had no way of getting money AND had to be teaching a bunch of rowdy kids in less than 30 minutes all got to me. The teachers just looked at me, panic in their eyes, as I tried to explain the situation, then jumped to the phone to ring home which didn't work, then had to act out the whole scenario (yes, had to act out being on a bus and being pick pocketed) in a slightly manic fashion. Once it dawned on them what had happened, there was a sudden surge of activity in the staff room, one teacher making me green tea, another fetching food, another leaving her computer for me to email from. Despite the mornings shenanigans the lessons were the best yet. I did absolutely no planning whatsoever (the first lesson due to the theft thing, the second lesson due to me accidentally getting the bus back home rather than to the next school so having no time) and yet they went pretty smoothly.

Sunday night a few of us decided to go out for some grub, and we came across a really lovely Korean place. It being Sunday night we had the place to ourselves, and what started as a quick bite to eat turned into a rather raucous affair. It all went wrong when the rice wine was ordered and the shots began to flow. We all ended up at our apartment, and when witnessing Simon snorting a vitamin C tablet from a spatula, decided it was time for bed. That was 3.00 in the morning. We had to get up for Mandarin lessons at half 6 the next day. When my alarm woke me my first thoughts were "not going not going not going not going".

And then there I was, barely able to speak English let alone Chinese, at a ridiculous time in the morning, staring at Chinese characters on a blackboard. On my right, Will had fallen asleep on his desk. We didn't have a clue how long the lesson was supposed to go on for so asked one of the Korean students sat infront of us. When she responded with "half past three" I nearly collapsed there and then, luckily it finished ten minutes later. All in all though it was quite a lot of fun, next week however, Sunday night means early night.

In summary it's been a very fun week, and I have learnt more than anything that in China, anything can happen. So best bet is to just go with it.

All for now xxx