Home Sweet Home?

I'm sitting on my bed which is in-training to become hard as nails (nearly there) sipping on the second to last of my lemsips. Beijing smog is slowly clawing its way out of my lungs, unfortunately it seems bent on taking the rest of my sinuses with it. Delightful. Will be hocking lugeys with the best of them by the end of the week.

So what day! Sophie and my good self are slowly muddling our way towards settling in.

We were whisked away from our cosy motel and popped into a taxi for a drive across the city. I really do wish that I had had my camera out for you to share what an enormous place this is.

Turns out we were in the central part of the city- very close to the main train station- but as we drove away from the centre for a good 25 minutes more and more city kept appearing in front of our eyes. Apartment block after skyscraper loomed out of the distance with their designs varying from cookie cutter concrete blocks to new age steel and glass to (and I kid you not) Disney castle-que hotels/communities. We got a little excited when we pulled into the forecourt of one of the latter, but had to belay our enthusiasm when it became apparent that the taxi driver was just using the space to perform a U-turn that then allowed him to cross eight lanes of traffic with minimal effort (such as using the official lanes).

Eventually we pulled into the school in which we will be staying, but not teaching at exclusively. We are working for a language company that will have us at a couple locations. But more about that later.

First impressions: Outstanding. If I went to a school like this in England I would consider myself the cream of the crop and would be downright disappointed if I was not offered a place at Oxford on a silver platter. All in all a little intimidating! Regarding the school itself, as I have not even explored the grounds properly, I will save its virtues and exciting nooks and crannies for a future post. You can expect multiple pictures, and I will expect to be sitting in McDonalds for a long time as they upload. Woop.

Teacher's Digs:

We share a floor with many of the teachers of the school- apparently there are six other foreign teachers, however they live off campus. My Chinese will clearly be taking leaps and bounds if I am to buddy up to my new floormates.

Pictured: Shawshank….. I mean my corridor

Sophie acquired a room of three beds (not sure if she will end up sharing the room with someone!) and I am in what appears to be to only one bed room on the floor!

Pictured: Y'all know how much I love panoramas :)

Walking in initially it is a little like stepping into your university dorm room in the run down block for the first time.

Pictured: I mean, who doesn’t like to have their shower and toilet on top of each other?

But, as you do with your dorm room, you accept your fate and make it your own. In fact, in the light of my bedside lamp, this looks so darn cosy I will just have to share it with you.

Pictured: I'll give you three guesses as to where I am from.

But enough about the room. The rest of the day consisted of being lead to a bus stop, then a metro station to cross the city back to the city centre to find our other school. Forty minute commute. Hmph. Turns out the headquarters for the language school we are working for is nearby in (you guessed it) a skyscraper! We were then informed that we would be getting our curriculum books on Friday and will be given a couple weeks training before we a thrown into class. Doesn't sound all too bad!

Turns out we were a little early in arriving for the school's liking so we are essentially being left to our own devices for a few days. After this short introduction to the boss man and boss lady, our quiet contact Carey packed us off towards the subway with some words of encouragement and the assurance that she would see us…. Maybe? But definitely by Friday. Hmmm. We know where you work now- so expect visitors Carey!

Tomorrow's mission:

• Explore the school.
• Find the canteen/get a meal card.
• Make way back across the city to bother poor Carey with all our questions.
• Visit Ikea to buy a mattress topper. With some urgency. Ouch.
• Make friends in this enormous city. Nearest bar please!

In Guangzhou a mystery unfolds…

Pulling into the station at 3:45pm today (only 45 mins late on a 22 hour journey- I tell you, British Rail would not be up to the challenge!) fifty interns duely unloaded their life's possessions in the form of backpacks and unwieldy wheeled cases. Sometimes both. Not pointing any fingers here.  Ahem.

Collection was a little bit like being picked for sports teams in P.E. class. The group for Hong Kong were siphoned off immediately, followed by trickles of other interns being grabbed by their smiling school contacts and whisked away. Eventually, all that were left standing in the chaos that is the arrivals gate of Guangzhou Station were five of us that ironically are going to be based within the city itself! Little awkward.

Following a flurry of exchanged phone numbers and promises to meet up on the weekend, Sophie and I were eventually claimed by a quiet young woman by the name of Carey. She was friendly and welcoming, if a little overwhelmed at the enormity of movement in front of the station. She duley herded us into a taxi and answered all of our incessant questions with the cryptic "You will find out tomorrow". The mystery continues.

We have been  dropped off at a motel with a key card and the assurance that we we will get a call tomorrow at 9, or 10, maybe 11. I can barely contain my excitement/anxiety- we have waited for so long only to be denied another 24 hours! I imagine this is a mental version of Chinese water torture.

So, brief summation of the evening as it contains first impressions of Guangzhou.

• Sticky. It is 22 in our room at the moment and when walking out for dinner you were aware of the humidity. Usual  humidity is around 80% and temperatures reach 35 degrees in the summer. Somewhat steamy
• Despite the heat, everyone is in long jeans and jackets. Hmmm
• BIG. The station gave some indication of this, but further research has revealed a core city of 12 million people. However, officially the outlaying mini cities are included in the 'megatropolis' as there is actually no break in the urban sprawl. This brings the grand total to 40 million. Yikes!
• Food = fish. Decided to be adventurous with my dinner and just point to something on the menu. Turns out it was some kind of seafood curry with rice. Yum :)

Must do better at shaky camera work. Apologies, but the stares were getting to me!

• Its deliciousness didn't stop me from getting it all over myself. However clearly Guangzhou is full of mothers as four women immediately handed me a pack of tissues.
• Food also = obsessed with some kind of sweet red kidney bean. Thought I would tune down the excitement by pointing to what I thought was a milkshake on the menu. Turns out it was some sort of tea with red beans at the bottom and sweet milk floating at the top. Kept taking sips to see if it got any better. It didn't.

Pictured: Hmmm (*Also before the seafood all over the shirt incident)

• Culture = Western yet not. Having felt like I could now handle Beijing all by myself, Guangzhou was a bit more of a culture shock. What I knew to look out for had suddenly disappeared. This may have something to do with the fact that I am no longer walking around with a group of westerners, but everything is slightly different here. Will keep you updated.

Pictured: Couldn't resist!

• On the topic of western yet not, walking around with dear Sophie is an experience. The combination of my height and her hair makes us and open air attraction. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. We'll be here for the whole monsoon season.

Blogging from the train

I write to you from the top bunk of a sleeper train on my way to Guangzhou as the  landscape speeds past. Kidding. I will class it as 'rolling past' and no more. Bullet train would get us there in seven hours. But I am going to go ahead and say that twenty two hours is way more fun.

So! Around fifty of us lucky interns lugged our luggage into possibly the biggest train station I have ever been in. It was literally heaving with humanity. Consider that the train I am on has upward of fifteen carriages each with twelve cabins of six beds apiece, and that the station has goodness knows how many platforms. You will get some idea of the numbers.

We trundled off to find our cabins. I was lucky enough to have drawn a ticket that placed me with a group of interns for the night and not with strangers for my first sleeper train experience.

Hello roomies!

Turning down the delightful prospect of a jam session down in carriage 12 I took advantage of the proffered extra strength night-time cold and flu medicine  (thank you Beijing), climbed into my coffin and clocked out. 'Coffin' is actually a regular nickname for the top bunk of sleeper trains as it is eight feet up and about two feet away from the ceiling. The upside is that at least I know where my bags (and everyone else's) are.

Pictured: A bed for the night. (I just about fit!)

 Awaking 13 hours later I praised the heavens for destroying over half of the journey with sleep. Go team! Pottered about to find the loo, needed counselling when I got back (still a little shell shocked), before digging out my breakfast provisions. Chased down a trolley lady who clearly didn't actually want to sell anything, just train for the trolley Olympics with porridge and noodles, before settling down to a hearty breakfast.

Pictured: one classy meal, complete with browning rice paddys rolling past.

Will now amuse myself and compatriots for the next six hours before being picked up at the other end by my school. Excited and bricking it at the same time!

Zài jiàn for now!

PS. 'Zài jiàn' is now irrelevant as they speak Cantonese where we are going. Thanks for the Mandrin lessons guys.  -_-

Placements!

The time has come! The list was posted at midnight and I was roused from my bed my an extremely excited compatriot to check out my future. Elbowing my way through the crowd I spotted my name in the middle of the 170 strong list of candidates:

Kathryn Forsyth

Guangzhou Linggefeng Language School

Guangzhou City

Guangdong Province

Primary and Middle School

Can you spot where I'm going?

To give you a little information about Guangzhou: it is the third largest city in China, heavily industrialised and a Chinese stone's throw away from Hong Kong (aka 75 miles). The temperature is currently 18C and hits 45C in the summer!

I have very little information about my school as of yet, but apparently it is a language school that loans us (myself and Sophie my new colleague) out to a couple local schools. One of them is the Zhi Xin Middle School on whose campus we will be living!

Check it out!

http://www.zhxhs.net/html/main.html

Also, in our 'Teaching in Chinese Schools' lecture, they showed us this video clip, which I thought you mighit find interesting. It certainly opened out eyes to the kind of environments we are heading into!

Chinese School - Episode 1: The Year of the Golden Pig - Watch Free Documentary Online - BBC, Marcus Jones

I am typing this as Emma packs behind me- we are due to depart on a 22 hour train in a couple of hours. There are around 50 of us heading to Guangzhou Central Station to be picked up by our respective schools (and 20 to head across to Hong Kong to fix visa mishaps).

There have been tears and heartfelt goodbyes; all interns have bonded and become extremely close over the past two weeks. At the local last night someone stood on a chair and told us not to think of today as a goodbye but rather a 'Seeya later!'. So with that in mind I will drag my suitcase stuffed with now useless winter clothing down the stairs to bid 'Seeya later' to all!

The Silk Market

It is a well known fact that in order to strike a good deal with a Chinese stall keeper one must essentially forgo all sense of English reticence and social embarrassment and embrace the cutthroat nature of hard bargaining.

The other day I took off with a couple friends to search out the Beijing Silk Market. Although I have  could  been easily distracted by fact that one of them was clearly a young John Lennon....

Pictured: the lovely Luke

.....I wasn't :) and was able to appreciate the Chinese love of impressive steel and glass buildings. The drive through the ring roads of the city was lined with skyscrapers- each one bigger than the next! 

The silk market isn't what you would expect when you first think of a traditional market. Where I was expecting an open outdoor stalls, I found an enormous five storey building with directions to the various goods on large overhead signs.

Brightly lit booths with similar stock held confident stallkeepers who leaned out into the main walkways to call out to their potential customers. As I walked past, they would spot something on your person and try to entice you to purchase something similar from their stall. My converse hi-tops for example lead a few to immediately ask for my size straight away, and some to subsequently laugh as my feet were twice the size of theirs!

I would like to make a deposit....

Upon hitting the fourth floor I fell in love. This is a terrible thing to happen when you are bargaining because you really can't walk away. After 20 minutes and nearly reducing the saleswomen to tears I walked away with my new baby. God help whoever is in the room next to me!

Love at first sight!

As a parting gift I would like to share with you the video that they showed us at our orientation. I found it both hilarious and overwhelmingly informative! Do enjoy :)

Love to all!

Becoming a teacher!

So this week has revolved largely around our classes here at the CAMIC centre. I can indeed confirm that I am a fully qualified TEFL teacher! During our final 2 day course and assessment we had to teach two lessons, with feedback between the two of them. As a group we participated in so many icebreakers I'm sure  I could happily trust fall on any member of the and be sure that they would at least try to catch me!

I've settled into CAMIC nicely, opened up a café in my room, standard :)

 I lie, it may be a bar. Either way the fridge is well stocked!

TTC welcomed us with a lovely buffet dinner and a variety of entertainment including this lovely gentlemen who did an impressive Tai Chi demonstration with fans. Sounds a little tame when you first think abut it, but the first time the fans opened up with a load SNAP!, you appreciated the level of balance and concentration the whole performance needed

Beginning my tour of the local delicacies and delights northeast beijing has to offer, we must first stop off at the canteen. After living off a steady diet of local grub wherein the noodles were made in front of you and you could practically hear the chicken's last breaths, the CAMIC canteen was a bit of a let down. Pictured below is the best meal I have had so far, complete with chopsticks and durable canteen tray.  Chopsticks still add to the fun of the whole meal, so no matter how full you may be, the veritable delight you experience every time the food actually reaches your face makes you want to keep eating!

Pictured: as good as it gets! (*Note, the Kebabs are lumpy due to being half bone……)

Pictured: the alternative at a local supermarket. They really take their pot noodle quite seriously here! And all in all it is DELICIOUS.

Pictured: a local 'Greasy Spoon' The closest I may have come to heaven on earth.

So, moving swiftly on: upon culmination of our teaching course, we began our Chinese Language and Culture classes. Mornings entailed an overwhelming three and a half hour dose of Manderin (hen hao!) followed by a more sedate dip into Chinese Culture in the afternoons. Below are the examples of my work!

Papercutting: reached an intermediate level.

Calligraphy: apparently enthusiasm doesn't count for everything. Still needs work!

Other fun facts:

• In China, the host, or the most important person at the table faces the door. This is so that they would be the first to see any intruders.
• Your should never point at anyone with your index finger.
• You should never stick your chopsticks upright in a rice bowl. This is highly offensive as it mimics the incense sticks put on graves at a funeral.
• You should never write your students names in red or cross them off a list with 'x's as this harks back to the death lists during the days of the cultural revolution.
• If the spout of the teapot is pointing at someone at the table, it is a sign that they are not welcome.

This occurred at dinner. I get the message guys.

As a final point, you may all address me as Fú Kăi Lìn Lăo shī. Which basically translates as 'Teacher Kathryn Forsyth'! That's right- I have a Chinese name! I'm off to find the other Fús so we can have a family reunion!

More soon to follow!

Zài jiàn!

Regarding Smog

I want to chat to y'all about my recent antics and what it is like here at CAMIC (Civil Aviation Management Institute of China) but as we are on a break between classes, I want to share with you the difference a day can make on the view out of our seventh floor classroom window:

Yesterday 

Today

I assure you this is not fog!

Counting on your hands in public is acceptable.

Having been in the country for nearly a week now a few things have become apparent:

• Chinese people are not as short as initially thought. They are petite in frame but not tiny
• Westerners smell like milk- who knew?
• Expat bars are the busiest, friendliest places to drink and converse in broken english.
• I will develop a second hand smoke addiction before I leave. If I seem slightly on edge by the time I come home, put me in the smokers area, I will probably feel better.
•  Basketball is insanely popular here- there was even a court in the forbidden city!
• Fashion here is bright, very bright.
• You consider yourself ripped off if you pay any more than ¥30 (£3) for a meal. For anything in fact.
• Noodles are not a date food. You will slurp and smack your lips with gusto.
• Pointing to food the local are eating and making positive noises is acceptable as a form of communication in restaurants, diners and food stands.
• Leftover fireworks still going off in the street on New Years Day = Standard. Am not in fact living in a war zone.
• Numbers can be communicated with hand signals. Initially baffling, but now highly effective.

I am still working my way through numbers (and pretty much everything else  in this language) but as was explained to me by a lovely receptionist at my hostel, the locals are not making the sign of the devil at me- they just want me to pay!

Check it out!

Also:

 Things that are not allowed in the hostel. Aww shucks

Lights, so many lights, for as far as the eye can see.

Visited the National Art Gallery. I'm in love, please can I have it?

Olympic Park? We should have a competition for crossing the road!

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so in order to justify being blog-lazy , I will instead inundate you with pictures of the adventures of today! Also, regarding the title: I consider myself on par with the local skill set. In other words, I can cross the road like a boss. One has to just not take the blaring of horns to heart, it seems to be how they greet each other here.

I must begin with a picture of breakfast- in China breakfast is typically a steamed roll with pork, steak or some sort of veg in it. So this morning we ventured out to the local 7/11 to source some breakfast and came out with this roll of warm deliciousness. I could get used to this :)

Yum :)

So, braving the subway system once more (I'm actually getting quite good at it now-  I can even pronounce some of the station names! Although I haven't tried to say '  ' yet! Showed up at the Olympic Park after a few slick changes to emerge across the  road from the Water Cube and Birds Nest stadium.

Really impressive up close, although you do really want to pop the Water Cube with your finger like a bubble!

Braved (yes, braved) the wind and cold just long enough to get some lovely photos and slightly frostbitten fingers before sheltering in the only open shop for miles around. A McDonalds. Seriously, for a place that was the hub of the Olympics only eight years ago, the Olympic Park is all in all a little run down and very empty excepting a few men hawking photos and postcards. Saying this, the-lack of other tourists could be attributed to the weather, -5°C (-10˚ on the flats with windchill)!

Brad and Mark bundled up looking like Ninjas

Dived into the subway again to cross the city to the Temple of Heaven. About 600 years ago it became popular to worship Heaven. These temple grounds (now in the middle of the city) were highly ornate and peaceful place for the Emperor and up his officials to offer up sacrifices and pray. It was a little mind boggling as all of this splendour was sat practically in the middle of Beijing! You could turn a full circle around the highest Temple and see industrial and steel and glass buildings!

Other notable occurrences of the day:

Pipas (sunflower seeds) being sold at the morning market down the road from the hostel- I want to share these with my Camino friends as I know I am dangerously close to becoming addicted again.

Mid morning snack and also first food bought from a street vendor. He was cooking these over a charcoal fire in a cauldron of some kind. Best guess is that it is some form of squash, he did ones with  purple innards that looked waaay more exciting but didn't ask to partake quickly enough.

Have decided what to call my restaurant if I ever open one…..

This was the temperature inside one of the exhibits at the temple. This felt warm.

Apparently this is the norm. I have now been warned.

So now, delighted and exhausted I retire to my bed to bring up my core body temperature. Tomorrow the adventure continues…..

Venturing out.....

Began the day by persuading two lovely fellow interns to forgo sleep and head out into the city with me. (apologies boys- you have to beat jetlag somehow!)

Braving the Chinese underground (remarkably simple and colour coded) we headed across the city to Tiananmen Square. Mark commented that I was grinning like a child the whole time- its true! I still can't believe that I am here! We chilled out for a while with all the Chinese tourists (chill being the operative word here- it is f*****g freezing here). Note to self- never think gloves are an option, they are a necessity.

Me and the Chairman. Chillin'

Strolling into the Forbidden City we were distracted from the awesomeness of the whole building by the site of a man struggling with his boat in the moat- it had become stuck in the ice! While he and a friend struggled to dislodge the boat we did what all tourists should….

….take a picture

Was slightly nervous about taking pictures of the lovely men in uniform as they were flanked by stern looking fellas in all black with earpieces. That is until I saw one that clearly thought he was in Mission Impossible, complete with the black aviators and a pair of screaming red Nike trainers. Clearly the Chinese secret service haven't worked out a uniform yet!

So, the Forbidden city. Massive, we walked through the whole thing for about an hour without even coming close to the outside walls. You can believe it when you are told that some nobility never left its walls in the duration of their lives. We saw throne room after throne room after throne room. Apparently some of these buildings were for the emperor to rest in whilst travelling between meetings in their various other throne rooms! They all had of rather flowery names such as the 'Room of Eternal Harmony' and the 'Seat of Peace and Serenity'. But my favourite of all was located on the outskirts of the gardens….

…. in other words, the bookshop :)

Pottered about until we found a lovely place with a picture menu (they know us foreigners far too well) and got some chopstick friendly munch. In finding our way back to the hostel we became aware of the stares- as much for my height as for Brad's multiple facial piercings. A kind elderly gentleman stopped us to point us in the right direction and practice his english (he knew the word for 'flatter' so I was impressed!), and when I stepped towards him to look at the map he was holding he let out an exclamation that I assume translates roughly as 'Holy cow, a giantess!'. I feel special in this country :)