Blogs from Shanxi, China, Asia - page 5

After my first day of teaching I feel slightly more relaxed. At least now I know what to expect and it is likely that I will only need to make to lesson plans per week and then adapt them slightly for the individual classes. Classes consist of at least 50 students and the seating arrangement means that is difficult to organise games and activities that allow the students to mingle. Lessons are also fairly short at only 45mins each which means that once the lessons for this week are over I can start thinking about the general syllabus that I want to teach over the next 13 weeks. I have a text book but it is simply filled with dialogues so I will take it simply as a guide and then expand upon it with lots ... read more

After an 8 hour restless train journey from Datong, we arrived into Pingyao at 1am. Our hostel pick up which was promised wasn’t there to meet us at the station, so we jumped in a taxi and rattled down the quiet dark streets into the old walled city. Once at our hostel we were shown to our room, which was set around a quaint courtyard and very original with high ceilings, stain-glassed windows, large wooden furniture and an oversized ‘bed’ built onto a big concrete platform – this was our first glance into this traditional town. We were shattered and even though it was cold and the electric blanket we excitedly found wasn’t working, we fell asleep quickly. The next morning we had a well-earned lay in until 10am, discovered we had both caught a cold ... read more

20 octobre 2012 Bien le bonjour, En direct de la Chine! Notre départ du Japon ne fût pas sans regret (je n’étais pas encore assise dans l’avion que j’avais envie de sushis…) mais en même temps nous avions hâte de débuter une nouvelle aventure. Une nouvelle aventure qui avait pourtant bien commencé, avec tous nos moyens de transports planifiés et notre hôtel à Beijing réservé… Nous sommes arrivés au centre-ville de Beijing à 21h30 du soir, et après une heure de recherche dans un quartier qui s’éteignait tranquillement, nous sommes entrés dans un hôtel que l’on soupçonnait être le bon. Dans une petite ruelle noire et presque déserte, si ce n’était des deux dames qui allaient aux toilettes publiques, toilettes que se partagent les habitants puisque les logements n’en possèdent pas tous. Nous sommes donc entrés ... read more

Pingyao is a 13 hour overnight train ride from Beijing. There aren't a lot of soft sleepers on this train, so I missed out getting one. Instead, I got one of the last hard sleepers, the top bunk of three. Having walked around the Forbidden City all day the day of my departure, I had no problem sleeping through most of the trip despite the hardness and lack of head room. Pingyao was a prosperous city during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. The claim is that it was the Wall Street of its day. The first trading banks ever established in China were established here, only because the right business people with the right idea happened to be here. Its importance declined as trade through coastal towns like Shanghai became more important. Because of ... read more

Zas spim na zemi ale teraz mam len karimatku v noci je dobra kosa.Rano idem ukazat kazachovi zastavku busu c.400,kupujem si ranajky,cesto volacim plnene za 4rmb za 4ks.V kazdom je ina plnka,vybera sa to nahodne z panvice. Ponukam kazacha ale ten je az po 18/00,neviem preco.Obaja su z anglictinou na tom lepsie ako ja ale tiez to neni nic moc.Co nevime povim po rusky/slovensky. Nasadam na bus c608 a smer stanica.Vystupujem na konecnej ale som zmatany.Vidavam sa zlym smerom.Opat ma naviguju domaci,berem mhd za 0.5rmb.Po vystupeni nasupu nachadzam bus do hua shan.Startujeme o 9/00 v zelenom buse c.1.V buse sa ma nieco sprievodkyna pyta ale nerozumiem,davam jej peniaze.Furt volaco mele az mi vydava,cena 36rmb.Neskor zistujem od spolusediacich ,ze sa ma pytal ci chcem spiatocny.Ten by ma vysiel lacnejsie,jedna jazda za 30rmb.Jaj nemohli mi to povedat hned,cul ... read more