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So today was the start of our Mandarin lessons in a Beijing high school. The hotel provided breakfast for us, but it was exactly the same as what we eat for dinner and tea, with the exception of sweet bread. So we just had the bread for breakfast. We were up early as well as lessons started at 8:15 am. So all of us were extremely tired and grumpy and really didn't feel like going. My ankle was swollen like a balloon too when I woke up, so I really wasn't in a good mood! Anyway one of our teachers Iris, came to the hotel to collect us and took us over to the school which was 10 minutes away. When we got to the school, we got given a tour. Its completely new and its massive! Very nice though. It has three buildings for three different age groups, which is what makes it so big.
Our lessons started, and I have to say its the most intriguing language to learn. A lot of the words sound Welsh so Reece and I are picking it up quite fast! We have two teachers, Iris and Harry who teach us for 3 hours a day. Its very different, but were learning so much already! After the lessons, we had lunch at the school. The school is still closed for the summer, so we have the school to ourselves. The lunch was really quite nice, but there was a lot of it. The best bit was the flat bread! It tasted a bit like nan bread. It was soo good! Mike joined us for dinner as he was taking us out afterwards.
After dinner we went on two public buses and walked quite a lot to an Art district called 798. Its basically a big bit of land with old warehouses where artists moved into and tuned into gallery's and studio's. Well worth a visit! The art is so diverse and incredible! I didn't get to see much as my ankle started to hurt, but I did get to see some transformers sculptures which were amazing!! The bus rides over to the art district were so crowded, we had to stand and hold onto rails and you don't pay the bus driver, you pay someone who sits in the middd or back of the bus. Its so weird, and hot but quite fun.
Anyway, after everyone had arrived at the meeting point which was a Cafe called Flatwhite. (I swear they do the best hot chocolate and homemade carrot cake ever! Worth trying that place out!) Mike surprised us by taking us to a Western food place. He had heard some of us saying that we didn't feel like eating Chinese food today as we had had so much. So he took us to a friends place inside the Art District, where i ordered a pizza and fries. That was probably the best meal i'd had since getting here. It was so tasty, better than the pizza and chips you get at home. Literally the best thing for us all that day.
After food, we jumped back on the buses and went back to the Hotel. The buses were much quieter now and we were all able to sit. It didn't take as long to come back to the Hotel either.
The day has just exhausted everyone, so i'm going to bed pretty early now.
Fourth Day in China - Exhausted, used the buses and had some western food. Good day!
- comments
Michelle Dunning Well pizza and McDonald's eh? sounds like you're in Llanelli lol :-) glad you're enjoying the Art xx