Friday 22nd June

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, I have no idea what that is, but it means a day off school so I am already a fan!
I was up at 5am this morning to go to the airport with Raena to say goodbye. Mr Wang picked us up and when we got to the airport we were both a bit emotional saying goodbye. After Raena had gone and Mr Wang was driving me back to Houshayu he asked if I was sad because I had “lost my friend” which I just nodded as I was a bit choked up, Mr Wang then asked if I knew when I was going to see Raena again to which I just started crying “I don’t know!” it was really sad, I honestly don’t know when I will see Raena again but we both said we will have to meet up in the future in some exotic location. Mr Wang then asked if I would like him to take me for breakfast, which I declined. Instead I went home and started packing which is a definite first, usually I don’t pack until the day I leave! Surprisingly I had room in my case left over so in the afternoon I went to Yashow market with Doreenda, Anna and Shanna. When we got to Yashow it was obvious that there had been a raid recently as there were empty shelves everywhere and no designer gear in sight which is extremely unusual. I still managed to get a few pairs of Ugg boots for friends, but was extremely disappointed that the bag I wanted was nowhere to be seen.
After the market we all went to Carmens, the Spanish restaurant that I love for dinner then Doreenda and I got a taxi back to Houshayu at 8pm.

Thursday 21st June

I was woken up by my alarm this morning at 7.30am and I lay there listening and couldn’t hear a thing, I got dressed and then we had to wake the kids up for breakfast at 8am as they were still asleep! After breakfast the kids had free time until 11am to use up any vouchers that they had left. At 11am everyone started packing up their things and we were out of the cabins and they had all been checked by 12. We had lunch and then at 1pm got on the coach to return to school.
We were back at school by 2.15pm and there were a few parents waiting to pick up the kids. After school I rushed home to shower and change and a group of us went into the city for dinner. Today was Raena’s last night in Beijing and Amanda and I were leaving for good so it was sort of a farewell dinner. I’m trying not to think about when I leave, I’ve made such amazing friends here that I can’t imagine not seeing them every day, it’s going to be a very emotional goodbye!

Wednesday 20th June

What a night! The kids finally went to sleep between 3-4am, we were constantly having to tell them to go back to their rooms. Then by 5.30am most of the kids were up and awake and banging on the teachers doors wanting to know what time breakfast was! Where do they get their energy from? By 8am I took them over to the clubhouse where there were pool tables and table football and breakfast was served at 8.30am. The breakfast was Chinese style, consisting of dumplings, soup, some sort of noodle dish and a hard boiled egg. A lot of the western kids didn’t eat anything, it surprises me just how many of them refuse to eat Chinese food.

After breakfast they had free time until 9.30am when we got ready to go on a hike. We met the guide at 10am near the mini golf course and the horse riding and then started the two hour hike up the mountain. I was at the back to encourage the slower kids and I was really surprised at just how steep it was in parts. There were lots of loose rocks and kids kept losing their footing and slipping, it was not an easy climb! The girl in front of me was a new student and barely spoke any English and was wailing every time she took a step and slipped. We were a lot further back than everyone else, apart from two other students who were just in front of us and I was quite worried about if anything happened we were too far behind and had no phone signal. I was especially worried because the girl in front of me slipped a lot and on numerous occasions fell into me and nearly knocked us both down the mountain which was pretty much a straight drop down, it was really steep! We were ¾ of the way up when the girl said that she wanted to go back and couldn’t do it anymore, she had been shaking and wailing pretty much the whole way up but looking down it looked far too steep to get down that way so I pushed her to carry on, by this point I was carrying her bag as well as mine and pulling her up when it got too steep, I was exhausted! We finally made it to the top and it was a glorious view across the countryside. We walked along the spine of the mountain for a while and then started the climb back down. This was much easier because there were steps, but after the Great wall on Saturday, my calves were burning! I was so happy to make it to the bottom, scratched and bruised but everyone made it.

We walked back to the cabins for a shower and then went for lunch at the Goose and Duck clubhouse. After lunch there was free time until 2pm when we gave out the vouchers for the activities on the ranch. Each child had 15 tickets worth 1RMB each and each activity had a different value. There were all sorts of things to do, there was swimming, bumper cars, train ride, archery, bumper boats, badminton, basketball, tennis, pedal boats on the lake, horse riding, mini golf or go karts. The pedal boats and go karts needed an adult present so we rotated supervising those and the rest of the time wandered between activities checking on the kids. By 4pm most kids had used all of their vouchers and had gone back to their cabins until dinner at 6pm.

Dinner was another “BBQ” where the only thing that was barbecued was the chicken skewers. The kids played on the pool table and table football for a bit and then went back to their cabins until it got dark and we could have a bonfire and toast marshmallows. At 8pm we were getting ready to go to the bonfire and the kids sneaked up on another teacher and threw a bowl of water over him, apparently the kids did this last year and they were continuing the tradition. It was really funny but it also made me really paranoid that I would be next! They got another teacher and then I saw them coming towards me with a bowl of water so I ran away and 3 of my grade 4 kids said they would be my body guards and protect me. I had to go back to the bonfire to set up for the marshmallow toasting and as I turned the corner they tipped a mop bucket of water over my head, I was drenched! There was only one more teacher for them to get now and as she had seen it happen to three other teachers it was going to be difficult, but the kids (36 of them) did it by brute force, all surrounding her and holding her arms while one kid threw a bucket of water over her. Now that the soakings were out of the way, we could start the bonfire! We toasted marshmallows and made s’amores which the kids loved because most of them had never done this before. Everyone then returned to their cabins and had free time until lights out at 10pm. During this time some of the boys had caught a frog and put it in one of the girls beds, you can imagine the chaos we were dealing with until bedtime! At 10pm we went round checking on the kids and telling them it was time for lights out and by 11pm every kid was actually asleep!

Tuesday 19th June

I arrived at school this morning to lots of excited squeals from the grade 4 class, we went over the rules for the field trip and then at 9am we got on the coach and were on our way. It took about an hour to get there and it is a lot like an American summer camp. Think Butlins after its been abandoned for a few years and you get the idea. It would have been beautiful in it’s day but it obviously hasn’t been maintained very well over the years and looks a bit run down.

We were taken to our cabins on the opposite side of the ranch and let the kids settle in. Each cabin has two beds downstairs and two beds upstairs (or in some cases a double bed). There is an upstairs balcony and downstairs is the bathroom, sauna and Jacuzzi!! I managed to get a cabin for just me which I am really happy about and was just as excited as the kids looking round it.

At 11.30am we walked across the bridge over a lake and to the restaurant which is built to look like a boat (imagine the titanic on land) there we had a Chinese lunch which was OK. A lot of the western kids didn’t eat much, but they had been snacking on sweets and crisps since we got here so probably weren’t hungry anyway! After lunch we went back to the cabins and had an hour before swimming. I had just started getting changed into my swimming costume when two of the grade 4 boys burst into my cabin thinking it was theirs (they were next door) and caught me topless, I don’t know who was more embarrassed! Oh the shame!

At 1.30pm we set off for the indoor swimming pool which is on the opposite side of the ranch and a 15 minute walk away. It was really hot and the kids were all so excited, but when we got there it was a bit disappointing. The water was a bit dirty, there was lots of sand in it and the water was freezing! I just dangled my feet in the water and after a few minutes my feet felt numb it was that cold! After only 10 minutes a lot of the girls were too cold and wanted to go back to the cabins so I walked back with them.  The boys weren’t far behind and we had more free time. I played cards with some of the girls and then at 4pm we went for a game of football. After the game we had even more free time until the BBQ dinner at 6pm. It wasn’t really a BBQ, there were only chicken skewers that were barbecued. After dinner the children could play pool or table football and then we went back to the cabins where the girls were having a “girls only party”.  This turned into a massive girls vs boys pillow fight which went on for ages, then as I was checking the rooms I found that it had evolved into a wrestling match, with students taking it in turns to take on each other and wrestle the other person to the floor and hold them there for ten seconds on one of the mattresses.

By 8.30pm most people had drifted back to their own rooms and were getting ready for bed on their own without having to be told, this I was not expecting! It didn’t last though, lights out was at 9pm and all night we were having to tell kids to go back to their rooms as they were playing outside!

Monday 18th June

I woke up this morning and my legs were still really sore! I got to school and the kids were SO excited about our field trip tomorrow to the Goose and Duck ranch. I spent the day finishing grading the standardised tests from last week and finishing anything that needed doing while I was away with grade 4. I started my departure form (I have to get signatures from each department before I leave to say I have returned all school equipment before I get my final pay check). I am going to be at the Goose and Duck Ranch Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday it is the Dragon boat festival so there is no school. Then I only have Monday next week to get the checklist done as I want to be paid on Tuesday as its my last day on Wednesday and I want that day in case anything goes wrong, this is China, I kind of expect something to go wrong. Then I fly home next Thursday!

After school I went with Raena to drop her bike off at home and we got Mr Wang to pick us up, picked up Doreenda and Amanda on the way and went to get a burrito from the Avocado tree which we took to the park for a picnic. We just sat on Raenas picnic rug and sang along to her ipod and chatted and it was a really nice way to spend my last night with just the four of us (Raena leaves early this Friday so I won’t get to see her properly again, apart from calling round to her apartment Thursday night after I get back from the Goose and Duck ranch). We all felt really sad that this was possibly our “last supper” together as a foursome, I’ve grown really close to all three of them and I am going to miss them all so much when I leave. 

Sunday 17th June

Today I slept in until 10am for the first time in weeks and it was bliss! My calves are still really sore and walking is a bit painful still! I got ready and met Raena to go to the pool at 11.30am as it was 38 degrees today, too hot to do any sight seeing! We had a great day by the pool and left at 4.30pm. I had arranged to have dinner with Doreenda and Amanda at 6.30pm so Mr Wang picked me up to take me to the restaurant and asked to take a photo of me which I thought was sweet, then he didn’t want to charge me for taking me. I gave him 10 RMB (£1) which is what the taxi ride would have been and then went to meet Doreenda and Amanda for our last meal of Peking duck pancakes!

Saturday 16th June

The last 24 hours have been amazing! Yesterday the end of year tests finished which I am so glad about and all day I have been really excited about our adventure. After school I tried to go to sleep so that I wouldn’t be tired but I was too excited to sleep. I packed my bag and Mr Wang picked me up at 10pm. Mr Wang was very concerned as he said that it was dangerous to be climbing the Great Wall at night and he wanted to make sure that we were not climbing until the sun had come up. We then went to pick up Raena, Doreenda and Amanda and then we were on our way to Jinshanling Great Wall. We had brought pillows to sleep in the car but we were all too excited and singing songs which Mr Wang thought was funny, then we finally arrived at Jinshanling Great wall at 1am.

1am showing our driver Mr Wang the map of our route 

It was pitch black but we had all brought torches and Raena and Doreenda went to investigate how to get past the gate while Amanda and I tried to reassure Mr Wang. He kept saying that we were far too early as the ticket office didn’t open until 8am, he didn’t understand that we were planning on jumping the fence and not waiting for the ticket office to open. Mr Wang was obviously very worried about us as he was smoking quite a few cigarettes while we waited for Raena and Doreenda to come back and he never smokes in front of us. A little while later Doreenda and Raena came back to say that they had found the way and we got our things together. The gate was made up of a few turning style gates which we were surprised to see were open so we could just walk right in. There was a huge map on the wall which showed the route we were taking and we showed this to Mr Wang and asked him to pick us up from Simatai Great Wall at 8am which he reluctantly agreed to after we promised to text him to say we were safe on a regular basis. I thought this was extremely sweet as what other drivers would be that concerned?

1.30am climbing the staircase up the mountain to the Great Wall 

2.30am finally made it onto the great wall and are at the first watch tower 

walking along the Great wall 

At 1.30am and at 18 degrees C, we started the hike up the stairs that would take us onto the great wall up the side of a mountain and it was one of the hardest and steepest things I think I have done. It was pitch black and the only light we had was from our torches and head lamps, but halfway up my torch batteries died (new batteries as well!) I was annoyed but there wasn’t anything that I could do, apart from stay in the light of the other girls torches. We were constantly being attacked by bugs attracted to the light of our torches and even though we had sprayed mosquito repellent, they were everywhere! It was quite creepy going up those steep stairs in the dark on our own, I couldn’t help thinking that this was like the set of a horror film where a group of girls go off into the woods alone to be tracked down one by one by a serial killer! I was all ready to say that once we had gotten to the first watch tower I was going to watch the sunrise and turn back to go to the car as it was so hard I didn’t think that I could do it as my back was already hurting. I took some painkillers and at 2.30am we reached the first watch tower. We were in the middle of a victory dance when we saw a sign saying that this was the end of the wall and we had to go back to the car park. We hadn’t come all of this way to do that so we investigated the watch tower further. Where the exit of the watch tower onto where the wall began we found that the wall had crumbled away and it was a big 4 metre drop down to a path which then led back onto the wall. To get there we would have to lower ourselves down out of the doorway as far as we could and then drop the final 2 metres onto a steep slope down the side of the mountain. If any of us lost our balance we would slide right down the cliff edge! I dropped down first to see how far it was and luckily it looked further than it actually was. It took some coaxing but then the other girls followed me and I caught them at the bottom, then we were finally on our way. Just getting past that first hurdle felt like a huge achievement and I was so proud of everyone for doing it.

Can barely see the way

The watch tower we had to lower ourselves out of and jump down 

The wall itself really was a “wild” wall. It was not restored anywhere and in some places there were no side walls and just drops straight down the cliff. It was overgrown and crumbly everywhere you looked, but it was beautiful. We got to the second watch tower after clambering along downhill using our torches to guide our footing and found that this watch tower also had no adjoining wall, it had crumbled away. The drop was much further this time and I wasn’t sure if we could make it down, but I noticed that there were foot holes that we could climb down with and I gave it a go. I made it down safely and the others followed. This part of the wall had crumbled away so badly that we could only walk single file clutching onto the side wall with the cliff edge on the other side of us, it was a little bit scary in parts but we made it. By the time we had reached the third watch tower we were dreading what condition it would be in, but there was the Great Wall attached to the watch tower and we could easily move on. The wall was still crumbling and you had to be careful where you stood as there were a lot of loose stones and it was very overgrown in parts but it was much easier to navigate.

3.20am the sun starting to rise

 sunrise 

 sunrise 

At 3.15am we noticed that the sun was starting to rise and we were able to take better photos and could see a bit further in front of us without relying solely on our headlamps. The wall was absolutely stunning and we could see for miles as there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We had been taking photos at each watch tower using our hands to show the Chinese numbers so we could keep track of how many watch towers we had passed. As the sun rose higher we didn’t need our headlamps anymore and could cover more ground quicker and appreciate the stunning scenery around us.

The Great wall at dawn

the view to the west of the Great wall during sunrise 

the view to the east during sunrise 

celebrating the full sunrise

taking a break

celebrating the full sunrise

This was the 8th watchtower, we hiked all the way to the watchtower in the top left of this photo! 

What we had already hiked

5.30am It really was a "wild wall" 

By 4.45am the sun had completely risen and we stopped to do Tai Chi on the Great wall. By 5am it was now 22 degrees C so we decided to carry on before it got any hotter, we breezed through the next 13 watch towers, each in different stages of disrepair before reaching a suspension bridge over a river which we had to climb down a steep staircase to reach. There was a sign saying that we had to pay to cross or face a penalty, but with no one around at 6am we decided to cross anyway. The bridge was very creaky and swung from side to side as we crossed but it was a beautiful sight. At every watch tower we had stopped for a quick water break but by watch tower 14 we were getting tired as we had all been awake for 24 hours by this stage with only adrenaline keeping us going. We stopped for a snack break as we had been continuously hiking for 5 hours now and needed to keep our energy up as the next stage looked quite hair raising. So far we had climbed up a mountain to reach the first watch tower, then climbed down it to the suspension bridge. We now had to climb up the second watch tower and it looked steep!

the suspension bridge

6.30am taking a break at watchtower 20. 

6.30am taking a break at watchtower 20. 

Watch towers 14-21 were by far the hardest thing I think I have ever done. Our legs were aching and at stages we were on all fours climbing up the steep stairs of the Great wall.  It seemed never ending and instead of stopping at every watch tower for a water break, we were now stopping 1 or 2 times in between watch towers as it was so steep. The whole time we had been climbing the wall Raena had had her Ipod playing upbeat music to motivate us and it really worked. There were parts that I just wanted to sit down and stay there as it was so steep I was convinced that I couldn’t do it, we were all aching so much, were sweating like crazy and were starting to get tired every time we stopped, so we never stopped for long. We each supported each other and whenever anyone started to feel jelly legs we stopped and ate an energy bar and drank more water. This also helped as we each had started the trip with 4.5 litres of water in our backpacks and every time we stopped, our backpacks got lighter. I couldn’t of wished for better friends to share this experience with.

oops!

By 7am we were at watchtower 21 and we saw a sign for the cablecar down, which meant that we were almost at Simatai! His gave us an extra boost of energy and we kept climbing in that direction. We knew that the cablecar didn’t open until 8am so we felt that we had time to rest until it opened. At 7.30am we were almost at the cablecar, climbing down the last steep steps to it when my phone started ringing. It was a friend of Mr Wang’s (his English is quite low so he quite often gets his friends to translate for him) This woman told us that Mr Wang was at Simatai waiting for us, but it was closed because it was under construction and the workers would not let Mr Wang in or let us through so we would have to go back to Jinshanling and he would pick us up from there. It had just taken us 6 hours to get to Simatai. We were exhausted and I knew there was no way I would be able to go back and do those watch towers again so I said that we would climb down the mountain and meet Mr Wang at Simatai. The woman was quite insistent that this was not possible and that we should go back to Jinshanling but I was just as stubborn saying that that was not going to happen. We got to the cablecar and it looked like it had not been used in a while so we started to search for an alternative way down the mountain. In the meantime the woman phoned me back again to say that we had to go back to Jinshangling but I was adamant that that was not going to happen. I was a bit annoyed at this as we had come all this way and we did not want to have to go back and we also felt that we were so close to the end, there had to be a way.

 7.30am the trail down the mountain because the cable cars were closed 

I found a dirt trail down the mountain and we followed that through the overgrowth for a while, it turned to small stones which were quite steep in parts and we were constantly skidding on loose stones. At one point I slipped and twisted my ankle and grazed my arms but I was determined to get to the bottom even though it was quite painful to walk on. We walked along this trail down the side of the mountain for 40 minutes before coming across a campsite. There was a construction man there and he pointed the way to Simatai after questioning us about where we were from. We were worried that we would be in trouble and be made to pay a fine if they knew we had been climbing the Great wall overnight (which is forbidden) so we pretended that we didnt understand and he didn’t speak English so we carried on. We turned the corner and two more construction workers waved to us and showed us the way, shouting in Chinese that we were from Canada, America and England, which is what we had told the first worker. He had obviously gotten straight on his phone to tell his friends! We carried on walking until we reached the ticket office for Simatai, which was a full blown construction site. We were stopped by security here and told we could not go further in Chinese. The security man spoke no English so I phoned Mr Wang to explain that we just needed to cross the building site to meet our driver and get home. The security man the escorted us across part of the construction site to another man who was extremely friendly but also spoke no English but kept repeating Canadian, American and English and pointing to us. We were then escorted across the building site by this friendly man and taken to a car park. We were then told to get into a car with a driver and we started protesting that we had our own driver. I phoned Mr Wang again and he spoke to this security man and then we were told to get into the car. By this point there was a big crowd of construction workers all taking photos of us on their phones, they obviously don’t see many white people in Simatai. We got into the car and this driver took us through the rest of the building site to the security gate about 5 minutes drive away where Mr Wang was waiting for us. Now if we were Chinese I think we would have been made to go back the way we came, but luckily for us we could play the foreigner card of “we don’t understand” I think that it definitely helped that we were white females. Especially to then get the VIP treatment of escorting us through the site and then have a driver take us to our driver. Not that I am complaining, my ankle was throbbing by now, I don’t think I would have been able to walk all of that way.

following the trail of the cable cars 

When we got out of the car and saw Mr Wang, I wanted to run over and hug him, I was so relieved to see him. We had done it! We had hiked the Great wall from Jinshanling to Simatai! Mr Wang looked equally relieved to see us and kept saying how worried he had been about us. We slept in the car on the way back to Houshayu and then went for breakfast as it was now 10am and we were starving! We asked Mr Wang how much we owed him and he said nothing, not to worry about it as he was just happy that we were safe! Now driving is Mr Wangs job and he was telling us that he was not going to charge us as he was so relieved we were all safe, it just goes to show that he is as fond of us as we are of him which is nice to know. We tried to take him for breakfast but he wouldn’t accept, so we put some money together for him and left it where he would find it as we knew that he would not accept it otherwise. Over breakfast we all talked about what a lovely caring man he is and how guilty we felt that he had obviously been worrying himself silly over us climbing the Great wall throughout the night. It just made us like him even more.

At 11am I finally got home to my apartment and had a nap. I woke up again at 1.30pm and felt like I had been hit by a bus, my legs were agony every time I moved them and my ankle was throbbing like crazy! It was worth it though, it was the perfect trip to end my time in China, made even more special experiencing it with my three best friends in China!

I spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up and getting ready for mine and Amanda’s joint leaving party that evening. At 6pm Amanda, Doreenda, Shanna and Raena came round and we ordered pizza and swapped photos from each others cameras before everyone else arrived at 7.30pm.

I had made a Family fortunes game for us to play, during the week I had asked people who were not coming to the party questions like the family fortunes survey and I had also asked classes questions such as I asked Doreendas class what they liked the most about being in grade 3 and I asked Amandas class “If Miss Amanda had a superpower, what would it be?”. Then the people at the party split into two teams and had to guess the answers, like on family fortunes. It was a lot of fun and then a few people started to leave. When there 6 of us left we started a game of poker and it was 2.30am before everyone left. By this point I had had an hours sleep in 44 hours and I was dead on my feet! This has definitely been a day to remember!

All pics and videos to be uploaded next week!

Monday 11th June

Today has been a really busy day! The report cards are due in on Wednesday and tomorrow grades 2-8 start their end of year exams. I had to check that there were enough test papers for each student and photocopy enough answer sheets for each student and then create a marking sheet for each test. I then had to put enough test papers and answer sheets into a basket with pencil and erasers for each grade which in between lessons has taken me all day!
After school I just came home as I was so tired but I did manage to find a trip to do. Yesterday there was a beautiful sunset as we were driving to Raena’s and I said that I would love to go somewhere to see the sunset or sunrise properly. When I got home today I googled places to see the sunset in Beijing and one of the most popular was on the Great wall. One entry in particular said: Quote from: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/China/Beijing_Shi/Beijing-1024960/Off_the_Beaten_Path-Beijing-Great_Wall-BR-1.html “We hired a driver for about $60 USD, left Beijing at 2:00 AM and arrived at Simatai at 4:30 AM. We jumped the gates with ease (of course, we do not condone this illegal activity), but they do not open until 7 or 8. We reached the summit at around 6:30 AM. The site was absolutely awesome with no tourists and complete silence. Watching the sun rise at Simatai is a religious experience. As a reward for scaling the steep steps, you should ride the cable car afterwards to relish it all. If you are leaving Beijing at that time, however, make sure you have a caffeinated driver that you trust. We were back at our hutong by 1 PM after this impressive experience.”
This got me really excited and I messaged the girls that I thought I had found the perfect trip. The basic plan is that we get our driver, Mr Wang to pick us up at 11pm Friday night and drive the three hours to Jinshaling (110km away) and we can sleep in the car. We will arrive at Jinshaling roughly 2.30am and we can jump the fence pretty easily, it will probably take us about an hour to find somewhere to jump the fence and actually get onto the Great Wall. The view is supposed to be amazing and it is downhill from Jinshaling Great Wall to Simatai Great wall, which is a 10km hike and takes roughly 4 hours (but it will probably take us longer). It sounds like it is pretty steep in parts but by the time we have seen the sunrise it will be light enough for us to safely hike to Simatai. Sunrise is at 3.45am Saturday morning so we should of found a good spot by then to watch it. The good news is that there is also a cable car down when we reach Simatai and we can always ask our driver, Mr Wang to pick us up from there at about 10-11am (giving us 6 hours after the sun has risen to hike the 10km) then sleep the 3hours back in the car. Obviously some sort of picnic will have to be involved and we will have done it before it gets too hot as according to my weather forecast it will only be 19 degrees at 5am Saturday morning. I am so excited about this plan and Amanda and Raena are really excited too. We wanted it to be a special final thing we do together that we will always remember so we decided not to tell Doreenda where she was going as she can’t keep a secret and we felt like if other people found out they would want to come too as a lot of people have been wanting to camp on the Great wall but not gotten around to it yet. All Doreenda knows is that we are leaving at 11pm and she needs a flashlight, she jokes that we are going into the desert to kill her because we won’ tell her anything else!
I was pretty exhausted today and in bed by 7.30pm, i’m hoping I have more energy tomorrow.

Sunday 10th June

Today I went into the city to meet a few friends for lunch and then we went to the Silk market and I couldn’t resist buying some jewellery and a few summery dresses! Afterwards Amanda and I went back to Raena's to try things on as Raena is the only one who has a full length mirror and they don’t let you try things on at the market. We had fun doing a mini fashion show and ordered food and then swapped photos from each others camera from the year so far. It was 10pm when I left which is really late for me on a school night!

Saturday 9th June

I was up bright and early today as it is supposed to be 33 degrees so we are spending the day by the pool. I was picked up at 10am and we picked up Amanda on the way and met Raena there. The weather forecast said that there were going to be thunderstorms in the afternoon so we only stayed until 2pm but it was just what I needed, being able to relax by the pool with my book. The temperature of the water was lovely and warm as well and up until lunch time we had the pool to ourselves. We had lunch at the hotel next to the pool which we hadn’t done before because its quite expensive and the food wasn’t even that nice!

After the pool we went to the supermarket to stock up for the week and then went home for a few hours before Janie’s leaving party at 6pm.

Just before 6pm I met up with Raena and Amanda again and we went to Janie’s apartment for her leaving party as she is not going to be here next year. Janie was giving away a lot of her things and I got a few books and a really nice handbag. We played a quiz game which was fun and it was nice to hang out with people I don’t normally see outside of school. We all left at around 9pm as everyone is really tired this week, I can feel it myself that I am constantly exhausted and I can see it in a lot of other teachers as well. We just have 19 days left to get through!

Friday 8th June

Today is the grades 1 and 2 field trip. We were supposed to be going to a place called “fun dazzle” which is like a big wacky warehouse, but because there have so many outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease we had to change it. We ended up going to a big park in the city (I’ve forgotten the name). The park is a lot like any normal park, except there is a lake, a science museum, a 3D cinema and a small theme park inside as well!

I was going with grade 2 and had two children that I was assigned to. When we got to the park the children were allowed to go on four rides for free. This would have been really good except that the school had picked the four rides and they were pretty lame compared to the roller coasters we could see around us.

After the rides we went in search of somewhere to have our picnic lunch, it was 33 degrees so it needed to be somewhere with a bit of shade. The school lunch that we had been given consisted of a sandwich (a bit like a cheap version of subway, but covered in mayonnaise, tomato, gherkins, everything I don’t like!) a pear, a bottle of water, a hard boiled egg and a yogurt (nothing like what we would call a yogurt back home). Pretty horrible so I only ate my pear!

After lunch we had a walk through the park and a parent paid for us to go on a boat ride on the lake which was nice. By this point it was almost time to get back on the buses so we stopped for an ice cream and then piled back on the bus back to school.

After school a bunch of us went out for dinner to The Avocado Tree for Mexican food, then home by 8pm. Report cards are due next week so everyone is stressed out and trying to get them done.

It was a lovely day, and I have decided that I want to go back to the theme park without the kids! I had put suncream on and still managed to get sunburn on my back and shoulders!

Saturday 2nd June

Today we had planned to spend the day by the pool but it looked a bit overcast, even though the weather forecast said that it would brighten up by lunchtime. We decided to go anyway and Raena, Doreenda, Amanda and I took a taxi to the hotel. The pool wasn’t very busy and by the time we got there the sun had come out and it was 29 degrees. We had a lovely day in and out of the pool and reading our books. At one point we were even doing acrobatics in the pool, we were doing handstands and then we had the baby pool to ourselves so we were doing human pyramids and stayed there until we started to get hungry at 4pm. There was a strip of restaurants on the way back home so we stopped there for a late lunch after a very chilled out day. We got back home at 6pm and Doreenda and I went to another teachers house as they had had a BBQ so we joined everyone there for drinks for the rest of the evening.

Friday 1st June

I woke up Wednesday morning feeling fine and didn’t need to go to the hospital which was great news! The rest of the week has dragged really, I’ve been in bed early each night and not much else has happened.

Today was teacher appreciation day and I was given lots of gifts from my students which was a big surprise as I didn’t realise it was a special day. From my grade 4 kids I was given lots of chocolate, a stationary set, a jigsaw puzzle, a bottle of Malibu and even more chocolate. From my grade 2 kids I was given chocolate, a silk scarf, an incense set, sweets and a picture which each child had written a thank you message on which is by far my favourite present! I was also given a ruler from one of the kids from my grade 1 class which was really cute, it’s been like it is my birthday, what a great start to the weekend. 

Tuesday 29th May

On Monday we had VIP visitors from Hong Kong visiting the school and I was given the task of making folders for each visitor for the meeting in the afternoon. I worked all morning and through my lunch making these folders (12 in total) and I was so hungry I felt sick by the time I had finished by 2.15pm. I had a bite of the sandwich that I had bought for lunch and felt even sicker and could feel a headache coming on so I lay down behind my desk. I felt so ill that my boss sent me home and I slept from 4pm until 7pm when one of my friends phoned saying they had bought me a sandwich for dinner and they were outside my apartment. I still felt really sick and couldn’t eat it so I went back to bed. I had set my alarm for the next day as my visa expired today and I had to go to the visa office at 8.15am. If it wasn’t for this I would have stayed home as I felt sick every time I moved. I got to the visa office and was back at school by 10.30am and I went to see the school nurse. Now at the moment there are a few cases of hand, foot and mouth and one of the symptoms is feeling sick and loss of appetite, along with spots on your hands and feet (which I didn’t have). The nurse thought I might have hand, foot and mouth disease and wanted me to go to the hospital to see a doctor but as I couldn’t find my medical insurance I didn’t want to do that so I went home instead. I slept all day and by 4pm I felt a bit better and also hungry (I hadn’t eaten anything since Sunday) so I went out for dinner with a few other teachers for Amanda’s birthday. I was back in bed by 8pm and slept through until the next day.

Sunday 27th May

I was just dropping off to sleep last night and I heard the tell tale sound of a mosquito. When you are just falling asleep I don’t think there is a worse sound because you are now faced with two options. A) cover your whole body with the duvet and hope it doesn’t get in during the night and bite you
B) get up and sit in wait with mosquito repellent until you see the mosquito
I chose option B and I was sat for a good 10 minutes waiting for the mosquito, but then I had peace of mind that I wouldn’t wake up with multiple bites the next day. The mosquitoes have only come out this week really and that was the first that I have seen in my apartment.
I managed to sleep in until 7am and then at 11am I was picked up to go to a hotel that had an outside pool and sunbeds as it was forecast to be 36 degrees today. I went with 3 others and we lay by the pool for most of the afternoon. It was really good to just do nothing and read my book and chat with the girls for the day and even better to dip in the pool when it got too hot. By 4pm the sun had gone behind the hotel so we decided to leave and go for dinner and then home. A very relaxing day, just what we all needed!

Saturday 26th May

Today I managed to have a lie in until 8.30am. Now if you had told me that this was a lie in a few years ago, I would have thought you were crazy! Seen as my day usually starts when the sun wakes me up through my curtains between 5.30-6am, today was bliss!

The driver we use all the time (Mr Wang) picked me up at 9.30am and we went to pick up Amanda and Raena to go to Badachu. Now I had been told about Badachu when I was in Shanghai in October by another tourist. I had been told that it was a temple on a mountain and when you get to the top there is a toboggan that you can take back down the mountain. This was the bit that I was looking forward to!

It took us over an hour to get there as the traffic was quite bad and by this point it was already 34 degrees. In my guidebook it had said that there was a cable car up the mountain but it wasn’t very well sign posted so Raena (who speaks the best Chinese) asked a man which way we went to get the cable car and he went to ask someone for us. He then came back to tell us that he thought it was down the hill, but then surpassed our expectations and ran down the hill to check for us! Now if this was the other way around and a Chinese tourist had asked me which way something was and I didn’t know, I wouldn’t go and ask someone and I certainly wouldn’t run down a hill in 34 degrees heat and check for them! We were really grateful that he did though and he walked with us to the cable car to check we got there ok, then asked for a photo with us which was funny.

We took the cable car up the mountain, which we were glad we did because it took 15 minutes in the cable car, can you imagine how long that would have taken hiking?! We then walked round the temple at the top and had an ice cream from the little shack up there. It was a clear day so the views were really good, then we got the toboggan back down the mountain which was really fun. At the bottom there was a nunnery and another temple that we looked around and then we got our driver to pick us up again and went back into the city for lunch.

We went to a BBQ restaurant that Raena had been to before which was really good and sat in the sunshine enjoying a Dr Pepper (a very rare thing in China, we were excited to see it on the menu). We then went back to Houshayu and I was home by 7.30pm and started reading a book that I have borrowed called “Chicken for the soul: teachers tales” from another teacher.

I am really enjoying these day trips and that is another place that I have been wanting to go to ticked off my list and also my new thing/place for this week.