Halloween was something I was very excited for in China. Whenever the words “holidays” and “China” came up for a China veteran, I got a comment like “Wait til Halloween! Two words for you: cheap tailors”. While some went the old fashioned route of going to the mall to find the same boring, lame or scandalous adult costumes, many took advantage of the tailors, which made for better costume ideas, as well as great group costume opportunities. I convinced three other girls to join me in dressing as the four seasons. They were a little hesitant because this [View Full Entry]

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So after my last blog, I had three random people message me saying that it wasn’t bamboo I was eating, it was sugar cane… haha that makes a LOT more sense. Guess my Chinese communication skills aren’t that good after all. Time has been flying here in Wuhan. A few weeks ago, we had a Sports Day which brought back a ton of memories. It was basically a track meet with some other fun games added into the mix. It reminded me of my elementary school days when all the schools got together at the college for the track and [View Full Entry]

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I’m not sure if it’s because I’m getting used to Asian food or just getting brave in my food choices, but I have been experimenting with food I would never even think to eat in Canada. It is often said about the Chinese diet, “If it’s back faces the sun, they’ll eat it.” You name it, and you’ll be able to find it somewhere in Asia. Although I refuse to try dog meat (at least knowingly,) here are a few things I have tried: Bamboo - In Guilin, walking past a street vendor I see him peeling off the outer [View Full Entry]

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The second half of the trip we spent in Shanghai. We got to the airport from Yangshao and noticed that there weren’t many people around so we were hoping for a spare seat. No such luck as we crammed our big Caucasian selves into the seats with an Asian man. Then I looked up and realized how they seated the plane. The plane was at the most half full and the middle of the plane was jam packed while the rows at the front and back were completely empty. As soon as I realized this, I asked the flight attendant and [View Full Entry]

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Life since my vacation has been crazy (as it usually is after relaxing for a week) but I’ve been working on this blog for 5 mins here and there and finished it at last! After seven days and 354 pictures (and that was after I deleted everything but the best ones) I returned to Wuhan with a new love of China. Claire and I made the most of our trip, waking by 10am every morning and to collapsing on our pillows between 4 and 6am every morning. I was lucky enough to experience two polar opposite lifestyles of [View Full Entry]

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Fall has definitely fell upon Wuhan. The leaves are turning color, the temperatures are dropping, umbrellas and coats are brought out as it lightly drizzles for a day. After living in a summer climate with perpetual heat for the past 15 months, to say I’m welcoming the change is an understatement. People laugh at me as I stand in the rain taking pictures of leaves and trying to figure out the 7,602 functions on my camera. Fall is definitely one of those don’t-know-what-you-got-til-it’s-gone things for me, and I’m loving that I have it back. I do miss some things abou [View Full Entry]

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Life continues to be fantastic in Wuhan. Things have started to calm down a bit as everyone settles into their apartments and classes. Students of every grade are writing in their journals about how hard they are going to work this year to be the top student in the school, then they come to class with their homework incomplete and they are sans dictionary. Oh teenagers. Walked to the office during a break I had this week and looked outside to see a van and 4 men in full on black swat get up holding huge guns. I go into [View Full Entry]

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I hope everyone had a good long weekend, although I heard it was supposed to be a wet one. It’s weird everyone talking about summer still, I’ve been working for 2 weeks now and it feels like it should be end of September. We had our first week of classes this week. I am teaching one class of grade 10 English, and 2 classes of Communications 12 (Communications is like easy English for people who wouldn’t pass English 12). I am really enjoying the grade 12’s, which is surprising. I always said I never wanted to teach high school because it [View Full Entry]

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Life in Wuhan continues to go great. I have moved into a new apartment off campus. It is in a community called Vanke (pronounced wuan- kuh) and the majority of the teachers have done the same thing. I live in a two bedroom apartment wtih three balconies (well 2.5... the third one is kinda gross) that is quite spacious, at least for China standartds. Definitely a step up in living spaces from Thailand, and a step down in price! It’s about 50 dollars cheaper. Just before I fell asleep the other night, it hit me: I have a spare bedroom. I [View Full Entry]

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*For some reason, my pictures won't upload. I'm going to keep trying and update it when i can* Ahhh, off to another country again. This time, China is the destination. After a better summer than I could have possibly asked for, I made the move to the Wuhan Maple Leaf International School, another Canadian schools, which has many campuses all over China. I flew over from Vancouver with 20 or so teachers who were also new teachers. We have spent the past few days together and the returning teachers arrive tonight. It’s been a great couple of days bonding with [View Full Entry]

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