26th AprilWhen children ask, 'teacher what is your name?' I usually respond with their name or animal they've just learnt which they find very funny. In Elephant Class, some children do actually call me Teacher Caterpillar now. Anyway, one lesson last week Hobert was persistent in finding out my name. I told him I was called Hobert, then cat, monkey but he kept pushing so I finally told him. He walked away clearly satisfied with this new fact. Sat in a small wood...

18th AprilI went to the hairdressers by the apartment before but only for a trim on the sides and back, this time I decided I wanted a full hair cut and I was nervous.The floor hadn't been swept from the day before, nor the hair washed from the scissors. A man sat on a couch smoking a cigarette. It was 8am, but I don't think the time really mattered; Cleanliness of hairdressers in Songjiang clearly isn't the same standard as back in England. I did some scissor ge...

12th AprilThe train from the airport to Hong Kong Central only took 24 minutes but I was desperate for the loo by the time we finally arrived."Do you have a toilet please?" I ask a uniformed man "One moment please" he said. I ask again in Chinese just in case he didn't understand my English. In fact he did, he'd radioed a colleague to escort me to the toilet. I soon realised when the guy used his ID card to open a door that they didn't have an...

5th AprilTransferring at Xujiahui onto Line 1, I soon realised (well I say soon, 5 stops later) that I had been travelling the wrong way! What should have been only 4 stops to Shanghai South Train Station ended up being 12! Despite my mix up on the subway, I still had time to catch the 9:30am train to Wuxi. Rushing to the ticket office a lady behind glass screen exclaims "No seats" "Next one?" Her face blank, "No!" "Any today? P...

31st MarchFact is, I am young and have choices in my life. I tell myself today, "Emma at least you have choices!"I now feel guilty for even complaining, for not taking a step back and thinking how privileged I am to even be in the position I'm in right now. Silly girl! I don't remember complaining in Uganda, never once wanting to just give up. Why the unexpected outlook here? I suppose I suddenly took it all for granted, money, freedom, youth, 'the worl...