Back to reality!

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This week has all been about getting back to reality after our travels. Since getting back we have done a huge amount of washing which seemed to have come from nowhere(!!!) and caught up on some much needed sleep.
Despite the new semester not officially starting until 24th August, we had a day’s training to finish preparing for the leaders at Number 4 Middle School. This was held on the Friday and went rather well. On Saturday, we went to Heshui, another county, to support some training that some VSO trained teachers had organised as part of the teachers’ “Continued Education Week”. During the summer holidays, every teacher has to take part in this and then take an exam at the end. From what we have been told, some schools organise this better than others. What took place in Heshui was a pilot scheme initiated by the local education bureau and involved over 500 teachers (nothing in China is small scale!) over 3 days attending lectures and doing task-based learning. It went well, and by the sounds of things, will then be rolled out to other areas for next year.
We also invested in a set of wheels each! Phil and I bought two second hand bikes at what can only be described as a car boot sale for bikes! We went with our neighbour and after much bargaining, rode our bikes home. Well, that is to say, the neighbour rode my bike home and Phil gave me a “backie” on his. A whole new world has been opened up to us now. We are seeing parts of Xifeng that we would never have seen. The following day, we went on a bike ride with our neighbours to the countryside, riding past fields of corn, walnut trees, apple trees with bags on (this is to protect them), the last of the water melons, and some other types of crops which despite much gesticulating and explanations in “Chinglish” from our neighbours, were unrecognizable to us. Just as we thought we were on the home straight, we took a left into a garden, dismounted from our bikes and were told by our neighbour that this is where her auntie lives and that this would be were we would be eating our tea. As usual, you have to expect the unexpected in China and a few hours later, having eaten some rather nice noodle soup and salad, we then rode our bikes home in the dark - no lights of course!

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