tristanandcharlie

It’s 13 months since we left the uk and now we’re counting the days till we come home ON THURSDAY. The last 3 months has been very different to our first 8 in China... We’re the first foreign employees in our company and we've got used to answering to "Charlie Laoshi" and "Tristan Laoshi" (Teacher Charlie and Teacher Tristan). We have been training big groups (up to 250 at a time) of kindergarten teachers. We've been away from our apartment a lot having travelled to train in more than 10 provinces and loads and loads of cities. Tristan and I’ve spent most of the time apart travelling with our translators but we met up for some free time together in the best places- Guangzhou, Xiamen and Hohhot. Travelling seperately has been a completely new experience. We’ve ... read more

Last week we took a week of leave and went on holiday to Henan Province. Our Chinese friends and students were distinctly un-impressed that we had chosen Henan for our holiday over anywhere else in China. Especially as at first, when we were pronouncing the name of the province wrongly they often mistook us for saying Hainan, the beautiful tropical island province in the south (where very rich Chinese people go on holiday). When we put them right they were very disappointed! The province is really populous but, per capita, relatively poor. Our friends told us that some of the people are dishonest, and not very nice, we should be careful of our possessions, and that there's a village known as 'AIDS village' where 'everyone in the village has AIDS'. In fact, in the early 1990s, ... read more

Lantern Festival is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. For us it was a better night that new year's eve! New years is family time. People stay in their homes; only going outside for a few minutes at a time to set off fireworks. Lantern Festival is all about being out in the street with your friends and family. We went with three members of Brad's adult class to 'Government Square' to watch the official firework show. The streets were completely rammed with people all walking in the same direction, just like after a football match (or how I imagine it to be after a football match). The fireworks lasted for ages and were the best we've ever seen. There were some that exploded in the shape of hearts, smiley faces and ... read more

Happy new year! We arrived in Zibo about a week ago- the final destination of our 'journey to the east'. This is the place where we're going to be living and working until the end of August! It's the second city of Shandong ('East of the Mountains') Province and it took us four hours to get here on a speedy and slick train from Beijing. Our apartment is fab. A gigantic lounge and two double bedrooms (would you like to come and visit?). The only disadvantages are plumbing (smelly), wiring (terrifying) and the fact that it's on the 6th floor (no lift). Did you know it's the first time me and Tristan have lived together? We've bought a netbook and we have internet access here so it's brill (and hence the record-breakingly long blog entry). The ... read more

It's nearly Christmas and we've arrived in Beijing on schedule. We got here a couple of days ago after a 30 hour train ride from Ulan Bator. We were really sad to say goodbye to Mongolia and the family that ran our guesthouse. We spent quite a while in U.B.- partly because there are only 2 trains a week to Beijing. It's a brilliant city- despite having miainly Soviet architecture- it's got loads going for it and has lots of cafes and bars caterinfg for ex-pats (there are lots of them- mining industry maybe?). We spent one afternoon at an enormous market on the ege of the city- actually called 'The Black Market' (!). Apparently it's one of the biggest in Asia (certainly the biggest we've seen). It's nearly all outside and is absolutely massive. Noone ... read more