Well it's the day after Beijing, and I'm KNACKERED. Not fair that I had a 9am class today.. but it was oh-so worth it!! Yesterday was definitely, without a doubt, the best day I've had here. I didn't want to come back to teach!

We got up at 5.30am, i showered, got dressed, grabbed a yoghurt, finished packing my rucksack (oh-so attractive!) and headed out! Our train was at 7:05 but we had to walk to the station, so we left really early! We got to the station no worries though, and found our seats on the train (2 cheeky Chinese guys were sitting in them at first, but when they saw us they did move with no problem) the train journey was just over 3 hours and I napped a lot, and read Jeremy Clarkson haha :)

We got to Beijing at 10:25, and then headed to the Subway to get to Tiananamen Square. Was really disappointed with the weather though, it was SO hot - like literally I've never been warmer - but the pollution was SO bad, it looked like pure fog. Was a shame, coz last time we were there it was bright blue skies - but never mind! Anyway, we walked around the Square, saw where General Mao's body is kept (it's frozen, and they bring it up for 2 hours twice a day for people to see - but its closed on Mondays :( :( ) and we saw the famous big picture of him at the North entrance :) Got some piccies of that! Also got a picture of these statues... and I found it so bizarre that someone was carrying a massive gun in one of them. Communist countries are really bizarre.

Anyway, after that we walked on till we got to the entrance of the Forbidden City! This was what I was most looking forward to, I'd watched a programme about it with Mum yearrrs ago, and it was so interesting. We got there and we managed to get tickets for less than half of what they were meant to be! They were meant to be 60RMB(about 6quid), but we got them for 20! Good ol' student cards :) Hehehe! So we walked in, I got some bracelets for the Zingers and my sister, and then we started walking around. It was amazing. The buildings are BEAUTIFUL and so intricately decorated. They're SO colourful, and I know that's because they've been restored, but to think they were originally like that.. stunning. We saw lots of decorations, I almost DIED trying to get a picture of the thrones... honestly, people were pushing and shoving (all in over 40 degree heat) and my GOD it was horrible. But i got a good picture :D We got stopped a few times by people who wanted their photos taken with us (this isn't the first time it's happened - and yesterdya we got stopped about 10-12 times!!) and I managed to get a photo of us with a little girl and her sister :) She was so cute, and she spoke to us in good English for her age!!

After the Forbidden City we took a taxi to the Subway, and made our way to the Olympic Village!! I was really excited for this too coz I really wanted to see the Birds Nest Stadium!! Again it was slightly ruined by the fog/pollution... but it was AWESOME. It's freakin' huge. Saw the bubble building (or the Aquatic Sports Building but whatevs..) too and that MADE my day haha. It was amazing being there and thinking it was only 2 years since the Olympics were there... and in 2 years it'll be in London! It was incredible.

We were running out of time before our train, so we made our way back to the city centre - went browsing on the main shopping street and I got Lizzie her panda, and i also... FOUND A USB SPLITTER! Which means I SHOULD be able to get my camera working on my laptop... so I'll fiddle about with that and see what happens.

We got the tube back, made it to the station JUST in time to grab a KFC and then boarded the train. Was all set for spending the 3 hours sleeping... but whilst Paul and I were talking, the guy next to us suddenly spoke English! He was going to Jinan to take a test to study in the US, and he was lovely. Then about 10 minutes later the girl in front of us turned around and joined in the conversation too! Their names were Para (don't ask...) and Kelly and they were so lovely. Para is 21 and is doing all his studying, and Kelly is in high school, and is off to Atlanta at the end of August :) We gave them both our e-mail addresses, and I really hope we hear from them! It was so nice to finally meet some other Chiense people, and we had awesome conversations. I've been given a Chinese name, but it's written in symbols so I'm goign ot ask one of the local teachers to write it in Pinyin (western characters) so that I can tell you what it is :D It means red and blue jewellery though :) hehe.

WELL that's about it... I managed to get sunburn THROUGH the pollution which was a bit skilled. But it's nowhere near as bad as last time :) Beijing is just ... amazing...breathtaking. It's so surreal thinking that I've been to these places that mean SO much to Chinese history. It's amazing.

It was back to teaching at 9am today which was a bit of a harsh welcome back to reality... but I'm halfway through my last class now. Had a major disaster with it though, it was meant to be my England presentation, but the schedulers mcked up and gave me the same class again, so I got there, saw it was students I'd taught before, and was like "crap". So I went to talk to them, got rather angry actually because they just said "well give them a topic to talk about then". They saw that they were being unrealistic so the students are watching a movie atm, and tomorrow I'll prepare another country presentation for them. Honestly, the organisation of this school sometimes is shocking! But oh well.

Well I hope you've stayed reading till the end! The Beijing photos are on their way, and there are some CORKERS. Leave me comments!!

Zai Jian :) xxx