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Published: February 28th 2007
FRIDAY 23 FEBRUARY:
Well, I have arrived into Guigang and I could not have wished for a better school, apartment or teachers. Guigang is very clean, quite modern from what I have seen, with wide roads and friendly people.
The school is very small, 950 students compared to some of the others that have around 6000 students, the class sizes are 36 - 40 compared to some other school that have up to 100.
I was picked up from the bus station by the Headmaster, Mr Huang and the Vice Headmaster, Mr Deng (pronounced Dung) and the Head of English Liz, or Ms Li. They met me with much excitement and big smiles. We went straight out to lunch and I had the most wonderful meal ever, it was a feast of tofu, fish, duck, beef, pork, chicken and of course rice. I like the food here so much more than the food in Yangshuo. Soup is often served and slurped through out the meal and most of the time in addition to the meat and vegetables, it is common to have chinese herbs/medicine added to the soup by the chef.
After lunch Liz who speaks very clear
English and Mr Huang took me to a supermarket to buy me some essentials for my new apartment. A kettle, a rice maker, rice, chopsticks, new bowls, tea, coffee etc
I had a little nap then Liz came back to take me to her house for dinner and she is a devine cook. Absolutely sensational! She is going to teach me how to cook Chinese food. You must all come and visit! 😊 As I am still a little under the weather from my cold Liz taught me how to make herbal tea using the skin and seeds of a fruit that i have never seen before but from the outside looks a little bit like a passionfruit. It is delicious and cleared up my nose straight away.
I am in a 3 bedroom apartment with a huge lounge, dining room, kitchen and bathroom. Every room has a large window so there is a lot of natural light during the day.
One room is turned into a study, one room is for drying clothes however it has a double bed in it which will be good for visitors (hint hint ) and then there is my bedroom
Peach Blossoms
Japan has Cherry Blossoms, China has Peach Blossoms. These beautiful blossoms are blooming all around my area at the moment. Welcome spring!which is so cute. I have a cupboard, double bed with canopy and a desk. I also have 2 enclosed verandahs.. one in the back for drying clothes outside and one in the front which will be lovely to sit in the sun. I am now in the tropics and the weather will get REALLY humid so i dont know how much 'sitting in the sun' i will actually be doing, but it sounds good!...
I am being picked up and taken out to eat again. Liz is making me feel so welcome and said that now I am part of hers and the schools family.
The Chinese can say D very well, I was thinking that I would have to change my name to Ella so people could say it properly like when I was in Thailand, happily I wont have to. Daniella is a little hard, but i have said Dani will be just fine.
SATURDAY:
Liz my foreign affairs officer arranged for a lovely 13 year old girl named Lucy and her
Dad to come and pick me up for the afternoon and take me to the City Square. The City Square is a
huge park with peach blossoms, lotus statues, pebbled pathways and lots of grassed area. Lucy bought us both a kite and we flew kites for a while which as so much fun, i dont think i have ever done it before and I wasnt very good but I enjoyed it and hope to go back and do it again.
She also took me to a tea stand for some chinese medicine tea for my cold... It was vile!!! but definately helped.
Since I have been in Guigang I have not seen one other westerner/foreigner but i dont feel like an outside or that I stand out, some people stare but I just smile at them and say Ni Hao, Hello. The people that have befriended me have made me feel extremely welcome.
I had dinner with Liz's family, her cousins, grandma, sister and husband. China is so different from anything that i expected. The apartments are modern and spacious and clutter free and very clean. I think I have eaten more duck in the past 2 weeks than I have in my whole life 😊 and i love it. Apparently the fat on a duck is the
Off to the Zoo
These lovely 13 year olds took me to the zoo. They will be my new students starting Monday healthiest of all the fat of all the animals we eat.
SUNDAY:
Today Lucy, my new 13 year old friend (she is very smart and mature and her English is superb so she has been a great guide and invaluable regarding certain points about Chinese culture, for example her dad was buying some things for a picnic we were going to the next day and I wanted to give him some money for it. She said Chinese people dont talk about money between friends. The Chinese are so wise. The old people say when drinking tea all difficulties are gone and the happiness will come.) Anyway, Lucy and 4 other 13 & 14 year olds took me out to South Mountain. This was a great chance for me to get to know the type of students I would be teaching, the level of English they are at and for them to practise their English. I paid about 30 cents to go in and it turned out to be a zoo...! Is was also an amusement park with lots of rides and we went in the scary mountain which was pitch black with plastic dragons that would suddenly light up
Throw a coin in for goodluck
Either throw a coin at the turtles head that are alive in the water or throw a coin into the statues mouth.. I opted for the latter. and make sounds like a neighing horse.... It was pretty scary, but I am a baby when it comes to things like that!
We had a love picnic next to some Peach Blossoms and then climbed up the mountain to a look out right at the top. The view was really pretty.
Next we went to a temple where apparently the biggest statue of a buddha is kept. The biggest in the whole world i was told... (i have seen a 21 metre statue of a buddha in Ayutatha, Thailand and this was not that big - but dont tell anyone!) It was really interesting, we lit some incense and said some prayers. I got to bang the gong 3 times for a dollar which was pretty special and I was told a lovely story about a Monk who lived in this temple (which is in a cave) and about how grains of rice dropped through a hole in the roof of the cave, it was very beautiful.
We caught a bus home and Lucy asked me to dinner at her parents house. Of course I said YES!! A couple of hours later Lucy and her father
one half of this cage is for a lion, the other is for a tiger
The Zoo was not as bad as I thought it would be, however it was still in the dark ages regarding caring for the animals. came to pick me up and take me to their house for dinner. We had duck again and its little beek was still attached to the body hmmm.... I am getting used to this type of thing now though.
MONDAY
Being in China is amazing, I am experiencing every emotion possible from elation to dispair to intrigue to disgust to Love to connect to distress to happiness to making to best decision my life to what the hell have i done... And this is just in the last hour! But I just let the tears out and the laughter flow. Whatever I am feeling I just acknowledge it and get on with my day.
Liz came and picked me up to have dinner at her house once again. She took me shopping and showed me how to buy meat and vegetables and also bought ingredients for me to make pork dumplings (like steamed dim sims) from scratch.
After dinner we went out for a facial.
TUESDAY:
I went shopping by myself which was like I was a movie star. so many people stare. One man nearly fell off his bike because he was staring so much!
This bear seems so cute
This is only my opinion but I think these performing animals were starved/tortured into learning to do these tricks. China has so many beautiful, gentle, wonderfully surprising, spectacular things about it.... The zoo was not one of them. It is fun shopping when nothing is in English and you just have to hope for the best. Afterwards I went to get my hair washed. Liz's place for dinner again and then out for a massage. This massage was awesome. I think one of the best I have ever had and it was just 11 Yuen (less than $2 - what the...?) It is a famous in Guigang and apparently many famous Chinese people come from all over to go there. Sorry to swear, but is was farking awesome. You will just have to come over and try it for yourself.
WEDNESDAY:
Majoring in procrastination.... I should be writing up my lesson plans as I have 18 different classes a week but instead I have cleaned my room, done my washing, listened to some music, downloaded all my photos and sharpened all my pencils... Now I better get stuck into it.... But before I do that, tonight was going to be the first night that I stayed home by myself and would have to cook my own dinner. But at 7pm a Doctor from the local hospital called me and asked me out to dinner. Why hell yeah!
So he came and picked me up and we went to the hospitals dining room which was very flash. The table sat about 15 chairs all with a little electric stove top infront and a huge lazy susan with every type of raw meat you could wish for, fish, squid, pork, chicken... many other things I wasnt so sure of. And we cooked the meat in our own saucepan that was full of broth. It was very tasty and I am so full now. I think this dining room was just for the Heads of each department. It was wonderful and got me out of doing my lesson plans for a few more hours... Seriously, best I get stuck into it.
Much love to you all.
Daniella xx
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Aunty Julie
non-member comment
Hi Dani, have just read your latest blogs - sounds like you are having a great time and seeing heaps of the local surrounds. hope all goes well with the teaching (and that you have got your notes done by then!!) take care. lotsaluv xxx