Birthdays, training and goodbye Shangahi

---

This is a very back dated blog that will probably jump around alot and maybe repeat some stuff I've already said but its been a crazy week or so and I just haven't had the time. Anyway lets get start....

1. Mae's Birthday in Shanghai

So it was Mae's birthday on the 18th December and we hadn't really seen much of each other since the previous friday as we were sent to seperate centres to continue our training. Her's not that far away on the tube and mine 2 different lines and an epic walk from the station. However I'll get back to that. Mae wanted to do something special for her birthday so we decided to check out the nearest international catholic church go to mass and then do something in the evening. Of course McDonalds isn't really going to cut the mustard on a birthday in another country so Mae enlisted the knowledge of some friends and found the solution. The Shanghai Oriental Pearl radio and TV tower equipped with its very own museum and revolving resturant 259ft in the air. We had previously seen the tower from the other side of the river when we visited the Bund promenade. At night Pudong is lit up with so many lights, my favourite is the one that looks like a bottle opener. We arrived and looked at the prices and services and decided that since we made it all this way we might as well pay for the whole shabang going up the whole tower and having a buffert dinner as well. IT WAS SOOOO WORTH IT at 330 Kwai we made our way up to the tower.



Here's a little bit of history - again so I can include some more pictures within the text of the blog



The Oriental Pearl TV Tower is located in Pudong Park in Lujiazui, Shanghai. The tower, surrounded by the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast and the Nanpu Bridge in the southwest, creates a picture of 'twin dragons playing with pearls'. The entire scene is a photographic jewel that excites the imagination and attracts thousands of visitors year-round.

This 468 meters (1,536 feet) high tower is the world's sixth and China's second tallest TV and radio tower. However, even more alluring than its height is the unique architectural design that makes the Oriental Pearl TV Tower one of the most attractive places anywhere. Its base is supported by three seven-meter wide slanting stanchions. Surrounding the eleven steel spheres that are 'strung' vertically through the center of the tower are three nine-meter wide columns. There are three large spheres including the top sphere, known as the space module. Then there are five smaller spheres and three decorative spheres on the tower base. The entire structure rests on rich green grassland and gives the appearance of pearls shining on a jade plate.

Visitors travel up and down the tower in double-decker elevators that can hold up to fifty people at the rate of seven meters per second. The elevator attendants recite an introduction to the TV Tower in English and Chinese during the rapid 1/4-mile ascent. Once you reach your destination, you will be amazed at the variety of activities available as the various spheres and columns actually house places of interest, commerce, and recreation.
Oriental Pearl TV Tower
The inner tower is a recreational palace, while the Shanghai Municipal History Museum is located in the tower's pedestal. The large lower sphere has a futuristic space city and a fabulous sightseeing hall. From here, on a clear day a visitor can see all the way to the Yangtze River. The base of the tower is home to a science fantasy city. The five smaller spheres are a hotel that contains twenty-five elegant rooms and lounges. The pearl at the very top contains shops, restaurants, (including a rotating restaurant) and a sightseeing floor. The view of Shanghai from this height fills you with wonder at the beauty that surrounds you. When viewed from the Bund at night, the tower's three-dimensional lighting makes it a delight of brilliant color.

So yeah we made it up to the resturant part first and enjoyed a truely marvalous international buffet. Now at this point I hadn't had bread in any other form apart from a burger bun and nearly cried when I found tiger bread in the dessert section - yeah I'm confused too but I'm not complaining. If I had a lunch box or some form of bag with me I would have filled it up. OO I miss bread, cheese and marg :-(.... Anyway we all literaly tried everything that had to offer, come on we did pay Y330 for the privalaged and were going to take fully advantage of the food and the amazing view. As we ate we saw the Bund from above with all the lights, ships sailing by underneath us and off into the distance, it was truly spectactular. (By the way the picture is a photoshopped version of the tower in light of the announcement of DisneyLand Shanghai). The desserts were amazing, I had chips and we all were fulled to the brim by the time we decided to visit the rest of the tower. However when the resturant you're eating in revolves it takes a while to find the exit again, but also the tasty food slowly became further and further away from us - another reason for us to vacate because we couldn't be bothered to walk back and forth anymore.

We eventually made our way to the viewing platform. A perpex walk way that looks down on the Pudong area below, lights, roads and towers EEEKKK!!!! now I completly freaked out from walking over 3 panes of the stuff at the aquarium in London with sharks swimming underneat. This was a whole 360 walkway around the tower. I'm not someone who usually backs away from a challenge but you could feel the wind sweeping across everywhere and we were really up high. Now Phillip has the most funniest video of me actually persuading myself to just do it by sitting down on the glass and not actually making it to the side of the window. But hey I made it ok and I sat there posed for a photo and swiftly made it back. It was good fun either way and I'm sure if it was daylight I would have made it, but at night I don't know it seemed pretty scary. So yeah an awesome birthday day/night was had.

Now onto the boring part.....

Disney Training

So yeah I mentioned in the previous blog about my crazy adventure trying to find my training centre so this will focus on me actually being there and now using the much easier route to work. Within the training schedule the purpose for being at the centres is to observe a couple of lessons, co-teach some parts, teach a whole section on our own and then work our way up to teaching a whole 2hr session. 2hrs sounds dauting but by the time you delayer the kids, have a bathroom break and go over the rules, recloth them and give out rewards you're probably only teaching for an 1hr really. But yeah that couldn't really happen this week the schedule because it was EOTP week, or End of Term Presentations week as it was week 12. So I did some assessments with the kids testing them on this terms knowledge. Bless some of them literally had noooo clue whereas others were amazing giving a lot of effort even if it made no english sense, and one even had a British accent on some words. I also got involved in helping and running the EOTP practices with the classes that my trainer Chuck had. Bless he really struggled with trying to fill and complete my own assessment sheets because I could never teach a whole session. We had a laugh because he kept saying I have loads of postivities but I can't think of any negatives to which I of course replied 'well that's OK I know I'm amazing/awesome already but thanks for confirming it' there were lots of HIGH 5's throughout most of the classes whilst we had a laugh about various things. Usually I would know what the practice session would involve but Chuck surprised me with a Step Up (6yrs +) class where I could do some Christmas content to fill in some time. Now I'm pretty good at blagging but even I surprised myself this time round. Now these kids are very confident and the lesson before I heard some of them singing christmas carols (those girls attended the international school) so for the rest of the week we'd simply been teaching the students 'Merry' (CLAP hands in front) 'Christmas' (raise hands above head to resemble christmas tree) So I took it one step further and taught the Step Up class the chorus for 'We wish you a merry christmas' incorparting the actions at the same time. Now at Disney English its all about chanting etc so this was perfect. So good and involved were the students we ended up adding it to the actual presentation to the parents that was 20mins away. BIG SMILE.

Overall in the training I was a little fustrated I still hadn't seen an actual lesson, nor would I get to teach one. So I was always asking a million questions about routines, club house activites ( we are expected to collect the students 15mins before the start of the lesson and do some reviewing and chatting with them, within listening distance of the parents - this is all good and well but if you have back to back lessons its pretty crazy) how to get the phonics section out the way, writing practice and many many more questions. I was only supposed to be there for a few days and had planned to stay Friday 13th - days off Saturday 14th, Weds and Thursday - and finish Monday 22nd. Chuck was worried about me not teaching a lesson and had requested me to stay till the following Friday 27th so I could observe classes on the thursday and teach on the friday. But HR had other plans. My VISA interview was booked for the Monday 22nd at 1415, which was strange in itself as the other 5 in my group all had theres booked for 1015 the same day so I had to find the place all by myself which was an adventure in itself espicially when you're on your own and following a basic map. I got to the interview and well lets just cut it short and say they seriously need to work on their customer service because a stressful trip was nearly made worse by their attitude.

Anyway back to the change in my schedule situation. So yeah I was hoping to stay till the friday but then amongst the VISA interview emails was one from HR saying 'when you've done you interview you need to book your train tickets to Hangzhou as your transfer date is Tuesday 23rd' PANIC STATIONS!!!!! So after the stressful VISA interview thing (the interview itself is sit down, take a photo, recieve your permit, that wasn't stressfull it was the whole going alone, rude people part that was stress) I then had to go all the way back to near my hotel via the metro to go to the only train ticket booking place I knew of and book my tickets for the next day, without a passport and without much chinese. Luckily the lady behind the glass spoke some english so the ticket was booked for 0830 the next day. Now this if you worked it out is Christmas eve on which I'd be traveling. I had tried to ring and emailed the lady from HR to say 'its my day off that day, and christmas eve please can I stay in Shanghai till thursday as I've made plans with friends in Shangahi for christmas day' the reply was simply 'that's your transfer day you have to go'

So to sum it all up:


• 1. I wouldn't get a chance to teach or observe a lesson before I went to me new centre where I'd be working from now on. Although Chuck did kindly pass me on everything regardless
• 2. I would potentially be spending Christmas day on my own, being made to travel to Hangzhou on my own on Christmas eve on my day off at stupid o'clock in the morning not knowing whether I'd be met by someone or any other situation



Wait for the next installment to find out what actually happened to my christmas. :-)

---

Photos

Mae being brave
She was actually hanging off the bar upside down after this picture. CRAZY!!!