Blogs from Shaoyang, Hunan, China, Asia - page 3

Hi All, So it finally stopped raining, it seems like it's been non-stop, so we decided to go out for a walk. There is spring in the air but it's just not quite breaking through. Perhaps another week and we'll start to get some warm weather. Life here in Shaoyang plods on. We seem to be having more contact with the people here than in Zhengzhou and we've seen things here that we'd not seen before, funerals for example. I don't recall seeing one in Zhengzhou but here we've come across two or three in the space of a few weeks. Work is going well and the students all seem very keen and studious. If there is one thing here that has been an eye-opener and that is the food. The food in Zhengzhou was rather ... read more

Hi All, So we've managed to pass into the Chinese New Year unscathed. It's been fun here for the last few days. There is a real sense of families getting together and enjoying themselves. I must say thank you to Sandy who invited us into her family's home for a new year celebration meal. It was our first time into a Chinese home so it was very special. Yesterday I cooked us a meal and then we went and had a walk around the city. At midnight all hell let loose with firecrackers going off in all directions. We let some firecrackers off, they have a very short fuse and they frightened me half to death. Now we're planning for our travels. We will go to Dehang in about 2 weeks time and then go on ... read more

Hi All, I'm going to try again. I did a blog yesterday and it all crashed and I lost it all. Anyway we've made and we're all settled in. The journey was a bit of a nightmare. We had too much luggage. Thanks to the guys at the train station who helped with all our luggage, I'm sure we'd have missed the train if it wasn't for them! Also thanks to the couple in our compartment who had to put up with 3 tonnes of luggage and a cat!! So we got to Changsha to be met by Tom in a car. We all managed to squeeze into the car with all the luggage and Perry had to go on Tom's knee. Everyone here has been welcoming, friendly and helpful. Now after the dust has settled ... read more

Sup everyone. It's been awhile but i've been busy. As most of you know I got my job teaching at Shaoyang University. I'm pretty excited as I can be back in the city I really enjoy where most of my friends are as well as start teaching university. Not bad for a 23 year old I think. Granted it's China and it's not that hard but American employers don't know that ;). I'm happy because I actually have authority and more responsibility. Teaching high schoolers, if they are bad there's really nothing I can do about it. Going to the head master only gets me responses like "You don't need to worry about this, just try your best." thanks. So it doesn't matter that no ones listening to me in class and you're paying me a ... read more

Wow. So what a holiday i've had. I've spent New Years in Hawaii, with friends, without friends (mostly without friends KUKU! :( ) But this year was bar none the best holidays i've ever had. Amazing new friends, amazing new girlfriend (yeah yeah i'm sure you all heard from someone by now.) and an amazing new country. First off let me explain something. Christmas is NOT a holiday that is recognized by the Chinese government. More and more people are celebrating it every year, but it is not a national holiday. That being said.....students still had school. But I didn't. Why? Because i'm white. Yeah there are racists even in China, so I was banned from school on this day. So I had only one day off which was cool because since everyone else still had ... read more