Birthdays and theme park shenanigans in Shenzhen

Bribery and games – the secret to a fun morning with my most difficult grade 6 classes! George and I planned a review lesson to incorporate and try out some new games and to see how much our students could remember from the past two months. After beginning with a game of ‘what is the odd one out’ from a series of powerpoint pages we’d previously used for English corner, we went on to play the ‘basketball game’. Basically, you have to ask the students questions. If they get it right they have a chance at getting extra points by shooting a ball into a goal. I’d also promised sweets to the winning team – funnily enough, they all wanted a go. It was great! They loved getting to try and score extra points, and the game lasted until the end of the lesson. I didn’t even get onto all the other games we’d prepared! (meaning I can use them in following weeks...) so, this morning was a hit. I was getting fed up of not getting them wanting to participate! Although bribery really shouldn’t be resorted to that often...

Last Tuesday it was Elin’s 22^nd birthday. We’d bought her a huge (and I mean HUGE!) cake from the store – two tiers of sponge, lashings of whipped cream and fruit, although why they put cherry tomatoes on cake is beyond me. We had a mini celebration at lunch time – inviting the others over as well. The apartment was beautifully decorated with balloons and string and magazine cut-outs scattered on the table!  She was totally surprised! After managing to polish off pretty much the entire cake, we were stuffed...until that evening, when we all went to the market for dinner and ate and drank and got merry. I think we should have a birthday celebration every month!!!

The celebrations were continued at the weekend – with Theme Park fun in Shenzhen! We entered early Saturday morning to discover all the best rides from back home, bearing in mind I am a theme park expert having worked at Thorpe Park for three years...  We got soaked through on the water rides – it was a case of ‘spot the strange foreigners not wearing plastic ponchos from head to toe’ and we sure did get an audience, and cheers, and photos taken. We went straight back on for round two, then spent the next 4 hours drying off... ‘Twas marvellous! The rollercoasters were fun, though as I decided it would be good to stay on 3 times in succession on one due to no queues, I was left feeling slightly queasy...and looking a little bit green. Saturday night was spent dancing our socks off! Chinese clubs are a strange place, complete with a dancing man in orange hotpants, and random live singers. Let’s not forget the many Chinese people who want to be our friends, giving us glass after glass of whiskey and water...Mmmm...yum...not. After recovering in Starbucks the next morning and wondering the city with a new found friend, I began my – what turned into an epic –mission home. Stuck in traffic on a bus where one mother kindly allowed her son to poo on the floor as she held him up, thankfully not next to me – unlike some other poor passengers who did try to move away from her! She then proceeded to clean up after him as you would a dog – tissues, and tied up into a bag...nice. The ferry I eventually caught decided to break down...making me arrive back in Zhuhai at 10 at night rather than half 8. And could I find a taxi in the pouring rain? Oh of course you know the answer. Well, someone must have been looking out for me cos an angel appeared in the form of an English speaking high school student, who managed to get us both in a taxi that dropped her off first, then me (although the driver did get lost...) Phew. Was pleased to roll in to bed later that night, after planning lessons for the morning...

• China
• TEFL
• teach in China internship