Buckland Orientation!!

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Wednesday: The first day was basically a day to just relax and have a look around. We could eat meals at the school canteen and they were pretty good, we ate rice with a selection of about 7 different dishes for lunch and dinner and toast or noodles for breakfast with soya been milk. Mel and myself missed breakfast as it finished at 8:50 and I didn't really want it so early as the jetlag was still killing me but we got up and checked out the city. Yangshuo is very beautiful even more so than Guilin, the mountains and the river and although some of the buildings are old and there is alot of construction work going on there are some very nice areas. We checked out West Street where the market it and they handmake so much amazing stuff! It was nice to just have one day to slowly meet the new teachers and see some of the town before everything started and all the staff are so friendly too, its nice to sit and chat with them.

Thursday: The day of the medical check and finally arrived and I was not looking forward to it! And of course I was starving! I hadn't been eating breakfast all week but the one day I wasn't allowed to eat and all I could think about was eating from the moment I went to bed! We had to have an x-ray, blood and urine tests, an ultrasound, wires attached all over us to check our heart rate and the 5 sensers test. It was erm interesting. The toilets looked and smelt like they had never ever been cleaned and then everyone had to put their little cups with a number on it all on a tray together : ) It was amusing to say the least, we found it quite funny as the doctors didn't speak any English and we just had to go into all the different rooms but if you hadn't been in and they were waiting for you but you were waiting for a different room they would come and get you.

Anyway after getting back to Yangshuo we had lunch and relaxed before Ryan took us on a tour of the city, showing us what mountains we could walk up in 10 minutes and which took a little longer. It really is a very beautiful city.

Friday: First real day of orientation and as Owen was in Guilin we had Ping teach us in the morning about TEFL in China and Ryan in the afternoon teach us about his experience of teaching in China (he is American), in the evening May taught us some basic Chinese. The lessons aren't lessons as such but a chance to ask questions and find out lots of information that you really want to and in many cases need to know. It was a long day but at the end I definately felt more confident about everything and after meeting all of the other teachers I was getting more and more excited.

Saturday: Owens lessons on Chinese culture and traditions : ) 6 hours of lessons on Chinese culture and traditions might seem alot but it was definately interesting and helpful, the Chinese way of life and understanding of situations is so different to the Western way that especially in Gansu as it is so remote they will think we are either crazy, strange or just plain stupid most of the time. Although they will probably want their photo taken with us all the time! I love to learn about different cultures and can't wait to really discover China. After lessons I headed up one of the lower mountains with Leanne and Peter where here was a beautiful view over the city. It only took 10 minutes to walk up the steps but they weren't good steps! There is a temple at the top and although not a big amazing temple it is worth the walk up there mainly for the view.

Sunday: It was Ryan's job to make sure everyone could actually teach and give everyone the opportunity to practice teaching. It was another very long day with a 3 hour lesson in the morning, afternoon and evening but it wasn't too bad. We discussed about teaching large classes as we could be teaching classes of upto 90 students, different age group, the difference between Chinese and Western students and then Ryan tried so activities out on us before it was our turn to practice teaching on eachother. In the evening we had to do a lesson plan for our demo teaching which we were doing over the following two days. We each had to teach 20 minutes of a forty minute lesson. I paired up with Mel and we did a lesson on emotions and feelings. It took us a couple of hours to plan (yes I know you can actually plan a lesson in 15minutes but we wanted it checked and a chance to improve it so it took time) but we were looking forward to teaching it.

Monday: Mel and Myself had wanted to get our teaching over as quick as possible and we were up last monday morning so we had a chance to see a few of the other teachers first. This was good as its always nice to learn from other teachers. It went well and Ryan and my potential FAO were impressed with both of us : ) it was finally time to relax all we had to do now was watch the other teachers and wait. During the lunch break Cindy helped us to set up a Chinese bank account which is really easy when you have someone who speaks Chinese help you. Once all the teachers had finished for the day some of us were told to go to the office at 510 (which actually turned into 610) to find out where we were been placed. I still wasn't sure I had chosen to go to Baiyin but there was talk of me been sent to a private school in Hunan, which sounded amazing but it just wasn't me, its rich, the people are rich and Baiyin is in one of the poorest provinces in China and thats where I wanted to be most. I was happy though I got placed in Baiyin with Ben a teacher from Manchester and we would be leaving in the next few days!!! So exciting. After dinner I had been asked to teach conversational English to some students, it turned out to be three students and they spoke really good English. It was nice to just sit and casually chat with some Chinese students desperately wanting to improve their English.

Tuesday: I still wasn't exactly sure when I would be leaving Yangshuo but I knew this could potentially be my last day. In the morning we headed back over to the school to watch some more of the teachers so their demo but I asked Ping if we could have the afternoon free. She said no problem which was great as I wanted to head over to West Street to buy the Principle of the school a present (we had been told to) and after lunch I found out I would be leaving at 8 the next morning! Whooo! SO I had to pack too. In the evening we were supposed to have a graduation ceremony but as Owen had to go away on business it was changed to the following day which I wouldn't be able to make : ( For those teachers on Z visas things were going to take a while longer and they would have to spend a few more days in Yangshuo but for those on an F visa most of us were leaving on Wednesday. In the evening we did however go out for a meal together with some of the Chinese staff. (They had been great!!) It was a traditional Chinese meal with lots to try and very delicious after we headed over to Mojo bar, a rooftop bar with a view over the city that would be amazing at sunset. It was a night of mixed emotions as some were happy to be leaving the next day but sad to break up the tight group that we had formed. But it was a great and fun night with some great friends that will now make great teachers all over China!! : )

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