A bit of culture, a bit of teaching.

Lots to catch up on . . .

Last Saturday (yes I'm really behind) we all went to the Great Wall which was incredible.  I can't wait to go back to have a proper look around so I'm glad we're not too far away from it.  Pics:

The Great Wall on a lovely sunny day

Random Chinese people taking a picture of Sarah, Simon and Katy.  No Chinese people have asked to take a picture of me yet.  They probably just think that I'm a monk.

In the afternoon we were treated to an acrobat show.  My personal favourites were the hat swapping / juggling / flipping men and the spherical cage of doom that at one point housed 5 motorbikes.  That was pretty intense.  Below are the performers standing in front of the cage.

The picture says it all.

 Monday to Thursday was split into Mandarin classes in the morning and teaching practice in the afternoon.  I volunteered myself for the non-beginners Mandarin class which was a bit of an error.  Some of the guys here can speak very good Mandarin and have studied it for a while.  I've had 8 classes.

I think most of us were quite nervous before our practice lessons as it was the first time that we would be leading a class by ourselves.  We needn't have worried though as the students were all incredibly well behaved and seemed to enjoy our lessons.  We even got some gifts from a couple of the students.  In the photo below are the students, their teacher (in green) and fellow ELAs Steph, Patrick, Sarah (duh), Jen and Gareth who are all also going to be based in Tianjin.

Intermediate 1 class in Beijing.

On Thursday afternoon we visited a Beijing Hutong.  A Hutong is an older part of town that has a whole load of interconnecting alleyways and roads which are perfect for tourists to get lost down.  Despite the old and slightly claustrophobic conditions, property in the Hutong we visited were valued at something ridiculous like £4,000 per square meter.  The gentleman we met below owned three properties in the area and was technically a millionnaire!?

Millionnaire martial arts instructor

Our transportation around the Hutong

Next up, a night out in Beijing and the closing ceremony.

Culture Shock:  Toilet paper goes in a bin, not the toilet.
Dinner cost:  £5 for a massive cut of lamb/mutton which you cook at your table.
Dialogue used:  Da jia hao!  Qing zuo.  (Hello everyone!  Please sit)