Settling in

---

So, we have been in China two weeks now! It has gone so fast! We know our way around a bit more now, and can even direct taxi drivers to and from school. We have learnt a bit of Chinese so we can say thank you, right, left, straight on, and no meat..!

Today was our day off so last night after work we went out for tea with everyone to a BBQ place. We had sweet and sour tortillas, potato & vegetables and beer to wash it down! A few of the others were also off today so we decided that we would go out to play pool and have a few more drinks. We all went home to drop our bags off and get changed and met at the corner shop. We got into some taxis and got the taxi drivers to follow each other as only one of us knew where we were going! It was amusing as all the taxis are the same and as soon as we set off we couldn't see the other taxi so we were staring into taxis trying to spot the foreigners. It was a good game! We arrived at a quiet bar with a pool table upstairs and some sofas. We had the whole of upstairs to ourselves which was nice. Everyone got a little carried away and we ended up drinking all of the "girl drinks" (bacardi breezer type things) that the bar had, so we had to switch back to beer! We were all pretty drunk but we had a good time! After a few hours the bar closed so we jumped into some more taxis and went in search of another open bar! We couldn't find one so we went to this BBQ thing in the street and drank beer. The others ate meat that had clearly been sitting in the open for hours, but they were too drunk to care. We got talking (well, miming) to some local Chinese people and between our Chinese and their English skills it was a somewhat limited conversation! At 4AM we decided that it was time to head home; it was getting light! I woke up pretty early considering but, unlike the guy who puked over a balcony and then went down to look at it, I didn't have a hangover!

This afternoon we went to Tesco and bought potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, vegetable stock mix, curry powder, paprika powder, chopsticks (to practise!), a chopping board, sponges, crisps, a folder and paper for work, ice cream, yoghurt, ketchup, tofu, two cups, cheese, hooks and mixed vegetables! We were extremely surprised that it only cost £16.80!

This evening we were about to cook tea when we got a text from one of the guys from work asking if we wanted to go to a cafe with some of the others from work. He came to pick us up and explained how the washing machine works and translated a few of the food items we bought for us, then we went to the cafe. They had a menu which was in English so we decided to buy food there. We both got Vegetarian spaghetti with vegetables and some fruit tea which came with chopped up apple in it! The food was really nice and they even gave us a fork which is handy. Eating spaghetti with chopsticks is so difficult.. One of the Chinese girls from the street BBQ last night was there too and we recognised her (they don't all look the same) and continued our limited conversation a little! She asked (gestured) if we were drinking tonight, we shook our heads and she laughed. Oh dear.

Tomorrow I have one lesson from 11 till 12 then I have the rest of the day off! I need to plan some other lessons for the rest of the week but it shouldn't take too long!

---