Blogs from Xiaolan, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China, Asia

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE! It's been quite an experience being in China for Christmas and New Years - I've learnt a lot and really enjoyed everything! It's been bitter sweet being away from home, but we've made the most of the holidays and really had a great time keeping busy and in the festive spirit! We had a lot of great dinners out with our friends here for Christmas. My favourite being our Christmas Eve dinner. We went to a restaraunt here in Xiaolan called "Little Italy" which served us a feast (literally) for dinner. We got salad (which was the first one I had had since being here, and it was out of this world) - lasagna, pork, sausage, pizza, lamb kebabs, turkey, soup and a great Italian dessert. We were so stuffed walking out of ... read more

Last weekend in Hong Kong was amazing. It has definitely made my list for top favourite cities I have ever been to! We woke up really early on the Thursday morning to catch the ferry from the mainland over, which went very smoothly and we got into Hong Kong around 930am. We headed to the Visa center to get that over with and then moved onto our hostel to get the bags off our back and rest for a bit! The hostel was in an awesome area of the city, right on Nathan St and about a block from the Harbour. For my first hostel experience it was great - the place was clean and tidy and the people were awesome. Courtney and I had our own private room with two twin beds and a bathroom ... read more

It’s been a crazy busy few days, but awesome nonetheless. We took care of our mouse problem, and I am sorry to say that Stuart Little is no more. But now I can sleep at night and not have to dream that the mouse is in my bed, so that’s a plus! We have barely been home this weekend. Thursday night we went to BBQ Square for beers after Chinese lessons and learnt how to play an awesome Chinese drinking game – it’s name is unknown to me, but the jist of it is that you have 5 dice in a cup, and you have to shake the cup upside down on the table. You reveal the dice only to yourself and then pretty much play “Cheat” (the card game) but with your dice. It’s honestly ... read more

Ni Hao! It’s been another great few days here in China, I can’t believe how well I’m settling and beginning to fall in love with the place! School got way better by the end of the week, and by my third day of classes – a lot of the kids would run up to me, hug me and scream “teacher Lauren! Teacher Lauren! – How are you? Nice to meet you!”. They couldn’t get any cuter, seriously. It feels great knowing that they are already learning my name and remembering me, considering there are SO many of these kids to remember myself, I am recognizing a few more each day. We went to an amazing place for food the other night for dirt cheap prices! The boys introduced us to it and they call it Beer ... read more

We’ve been here for 5 days now, even though it feels like we’ve been here for weeks! This first week has gone by veeery slow, however it’s been the biggest learning experience of my life! I feel like I am already such a stronger and open minded person being here. I can’t wait to see what else is in store and how this experience will change my life from here on out. Yesterday (Friday) Courtney and I traveled to her school to observe the Chinese English teachers in class and get some ideas about how to set up our own classes. It was fantastic, we first observed a grade one class and they were the cutest! All so interested and eager to learn English, it is truly amazing how badly they want to know the language. ... read more