Nikrio

Long time no see since last entry. However busy life has gotten in the last month, i am merely enjoying an everyday life, exciting none the less. I was picked up in Chengdu airport about a month ago by two sketchy looking strangers who took me and Jack (my roommate to be at the time) to their car and started driving. A friendly looking man with a strange sense of fashion in jackets engaged in casual conversation with us, His name is Chang gui ("Chaang guei"). I Pass by a massive looking bridge under construction and stop by a red statue of two men carrying a huge rock in the main square of town. Chang gui welcomes us to Shehong, Sichuan, China. A tiny litte place of only a million people and one considerably sized apartment ... read more

Its been a while since i've added an entry but here it is. The Teaching practise is over for the week, i had a lovely class with a lovely variety of students age 9-10. Tonight we had the farewell dinner an ceremony to hand us our teaching diplomas. These diplomas cover the theoretical part of the course and our skills will come to a test from tomorrow on and 5 months ahead. I leave on a plane at 4 am in the morning so im going to sleep now to get ready for it, bags packed and all. The destination is the Sichuan region, Zhehong province to a small town of only 1 million people. Sichuan is known for its subtropical temperatures, spicy cuisine and humid misty air. The adventure is only about to start now! ... read more

Its been allmost 2 weeks since it was chinese new year but it still sounds like a warzone outside my window they simply wont quit with the fireworks. The cold im having is a really tough one, but i hope it'll have passed by tomorrow when teaching practise starts with the practise student. At 7:15 tomorrow we will all be driving to the same school where we get our own little test class and for the next five days we'll practise teaching with them. I sure do hope i get some nice and polite students else i'll just have to start handing out spankings! ;)... read more

Busy busy busy, lets seeee. Ah yea, food. A few days back I and a bunch of people from the program were taken to the foodstreet where you can eat all maners of delicious things. These things might not be in everyones taste as mentioned before but i tried this and that and came to a few conclusions. I like a whole snake on a stick, and monkey meat aint bad either, furthermore I do adore, a ricedumpling dipped in some sort of tomato junk. What I liked a little less. The scorpion on a stick is just as crunchy and tasteless as the tarantula, lizard and starfish. And at last but least i was pursuaded into eating a slice of donkey phallus, which apparently, all gay jokes aside, is supposed to make you stronger according ... read more

I'm affraid there wont be much of an entry on my new years capades, as it might show from my new picture I am speechless in the moment. In the old part of town at 4corners, in the smallest dirtiest Hutong you can find, Im standing on a small ledge ontop of the room of an ancient styled little house. Then heaven erupted and ripped apart at the seems. It is something to be experienced in person as I find it indescribeable and fantastic beyond anything i have ever seen. Today after class we are off to Wangfujin to the food market where anything edible is be found. There might be diffrent oppinions on some of the items edibility but it shall all be tried none the less.... read more

Contrary to what i said yesterday im adding a blog entry today as it is a special one today. Today is the night for Chinese new years eve, a night for dumplings, beijou, fireworks, getting together with your loved ones and family. As I never really like to plan too much ahead so as to not having a chance of those plans going wrong and disappointing me, I haven’t really planned anything for tonight, but it is the custom to visit your hometown and go to the local temple and pray for good fortune. Lets talk about last night though. Last night was a tough day, I was exhausted from the all nighter I pulled the day before so as mentioned I took a powernap and felt refreshed. Last night we were taken out all together ... read more

I havent been this busy in a long time. By now, having a powernap is part of must peoples day including my own in order to keep up with all the classes and the work that follows. last night i was up until 4 writing an assignment on teaching vocabulary, took me 6 hours in total. on that same day we went to the summer palace in minus 10 degrees weather, went clothes shopping, went to a chinese acrobatics show and to a peking duck restaurant. I just finished classes for today and Im about to indulge in a 2 hour powernap then get up for dinner and go for a karoeke bar with most of the people from here. tomorrow is our first day off since we got here but i got another assignement to ... read more

Yesterday was amazing, i can hardly keep up with it all or even remember half of it. We introduced to hour teachers that going to be preparing us for our placement later and they all seamed really nice. We later had an introductory dinner at the banquet hall with the played a few games and mingled with the other people from all the other countries, and by now im already quite settled with a few friends but i pratically know evryone and we all do things together anyhow. We've been tought about a thing here in china called "mien zi" which means face, and is sort of equivilent to the english word image. In china its all about image and getting the respect and recognition of as many people as possible. There is many ways of ... read more

After a very long trip by plane i finally arrived at beijing airport and met some of the other from the meeting whereafter we all went to the nearby starbucks to wait for the rest of the crew. There was a few people late due to typical airplane reasons, but we finally boarded the bus for the 2 hour ride through beijing heavy trafik to the Beijing university of telecomunication and post. I am then installed in a marvelous hotel room with big screen tv, amazing shower facilities and a desk each for me and my roomate Jonas berg, who also happens to be danish. I've already met a bunch of nice people and after a quick tour of the enormous campus, about 14 people decided to go down foodstreet and get some real chinese food! ... read more

Im sitting at the airport at starbucks and just got my kindle to work. Mom managed to say goodbye and leave without making a "cheese-window" as she calls it, and im just about ready to get this trip goin. I wonder whats goin to happen :)... read more