A Mongolian Wedding

I received my very first Chinese wedding invitation the day before I left Tianjin from my colleague Yuki. Unfortunately, I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it since I was going to be in Deqing for the next 4.5 weeks. So, I was a bit sad to miss out on going to a traditional Mongolian/Chinese wedding (imagine all that yummy food!). Anyway, I managed to get some photos but will have to wait until I return to Tianjin to get all the gossip.

Deqing - my next home

Deqing Foreign Language School

Two days after the summer camp I boarded a small plane to take me from Tianjin to Hangzhou. The flight was only 1.5 hours long but I happened to sleep through half of it as I was still tired from the intense weeks teaching in EF. Once I arrived, I was picked up by a staff member from Echo English and taken back to a small, dirty hotel to rest for the remainder of the night. 

The next day I was told I would be catching a bus to Deqing but this time another staff member would accompany me to make sure I got off at the right stop. As we moved further away from the densely populated city of Hangzhou we began driving through small rural towns and then this eventually became just trees and hills. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried, where the heck was this place? Well, it was much further away than I expected and we finally arrived 1.5 hours later where out of nowhere tall apartment buildings began to appear with wide streets and lots of trees and greenery.  We got off the bus and Tiger, the Echo English employee asked for directions to the middle school that would be my home for the next month. 

The town was much prettier than I had anticipated and has very little smog which means everyday I can see the sky and clouds - yay!

After we located the school we were quickly met by one of the Chinese English teachers and ushered to the Headmaster's office so they could discuss my schedule. My teaching schedule is very light which maybe the result of my temporary stay. I only teach the 8th grade (13-15 year olds) therefore, I have only 8 classes (45 minutes each) per week. After working my butt off in Tianjin this was going to be a well-deserved break!

While I was out for a walk last week I noticed some guys sitting around holding snakes. I found out later, that in the same county there is a village famous for its snake farming. They produce around 3 million snakes per year which are either supplied live or preserved to restaurants or used in Chinese medicine. They even make snake infused wine!

More summer camp photos

 Just a few more photos from the last round of summer camp classes in Tianjin. Some of you who are on Facebook may have seen these already so these are the benefit for all of you who haven't.  Those long days and nights planning, teaching, organising resources and doing the achievement ceremonies (a cross between a meeting the parents, a demonstration of how you teach and a mini graduation) are over - phew. Thank goodness summer camp only comes once a year! Roll on Winter camp aargh....

Below is a photo of my Chinese colleagues from a conference they had to attend a couple of weeks ago. On the far right is our big boss and Centre Director Pepper. Next to her is Tracy our Senior Teacher and the rest of the local academic staff. I'll post a photo of the other foreign teachers like myself once I return.

I have left Tianjin to work out my notice period from a recruiting company. Then on October 1st, I catch a plane back to Tianjin to begin a new contract with the same training school I was working at over summer. But for now, I am in a small town just north of Hangzhou called Deqing. Photos of this picturesque place will be uploaded tomorrow!

Robin from my phonics class

Awesome colleagues from Tianjin

Storytellers class

Reading Science class