Hey everyone!

This one will be a bit longer because everytime I try to write a post I somehow manage to delete it! So I'm currently sitting in my office (yes my own office!) at work on a mission to get this blog post done before my next class!

Okay so after an incredibly long and tiring journey we finally touched down in Beijing and nearly died with the heat when we left the airport! We made it to the hostel and went out for a banquet dinner with Mike, our representative...that meal was slightly questionable? The next morning most of us rented bikes and cycled through Beijing! It was the most terrifying, most incredible experience of my life so far! Put it this way, the drivers drive like maniacs, the cyclists cycle like maniacs, the pedestrians walk like maniacs and the traffic lights are just purely for show! You just have to take a deep breath and go and hope that whatever is coming at you stops..

We did lots of sightseeing in our 9 days in Beijing! We went to Tianamen square on the first day and we very quickly became the main tourist atttraction with everyone taking pictures of us! We also did The Great Wall, The Temple of Heaven and The Forbidden City amongst other places. My favourite thing we did other than cycling was shopping at one of the markets! Haggling with the stall workers is one of the most amusing things I have ever experienced and you can't beat that feeling of satisfaction when you win!

For the last 5 days of our time in Beijing we stayed in a hotel and attended a language course at Beijing No. 50 middle school. We had two teachers whose English names were Iris and Harry, they were two of the most genuinely lovely people I have ever met! Mike's theory during our orientation was that if he kept us incredibly busy during the day then we would sleep at night and thus not experience jet lag. Didn't quite work like that, it went more like being kept busy during the day and being exhausted and grumpy, and then by the time we got to bed we were all wide awake! So all of the volunteers were like walking zombies for our orientation and I know for a fact that Gina and I are still walking zombies. In desperate need of a day and night of sleep!

On Saturday it was time for all the volunteers to part ways and travel to their projects! It was horrible saying bye to everyone. Throughout orientation it felt like we were all going to go to one project as big group so leaving everyone was weird! After a bit of a disaster with 12 of the volunteers missing their train, Gina, Harriet, Jess and I made it safely on to our 19 hour train to Lanzhou! We very quickly became the entertainment on the train as we were the only English speakers and we couldn't work out where our bunks were and when we did, there was people in them.. I couldn't stop laughing as Jess was trying to tell a Chinese lady that she was on the wrong bunk! Anyways we eventually got our bunks sorted and began our long journey to Lanzhou.

When we arrived at Lanzhou, we were met by a lady called Amy and Mr. Fan. They took us for lunch and showed us around the province capital! A few hours after arriving it was time for us to head to our home for the next year in LiuJiaXia. We arrived at the flat and were both pleasantly surprised at how nice it is and the fact that WE HAVE A REAL TOILET INSTEAD OF A SQUAT! That was truly a marvellous moment!

The next day we were taken to Yi Min middle school and shown around whilst the head teacher created our timetables. Gina and I decided that she would teach Senior 1 ( 15-16yr olds) and I would teach Senior 2 ( 16-17yr olds). Yesterday was the day we began teaching, I had 2 classes and Gina had 1 but we decided to teach them all together! Teaching was such good fun, all of the students were so excited to have a foreign teacher! All 3 classes were up for having a laugh with us which was great because I was worried that the students would be too rigid and not take part in the activities that we had planned! The first couple of weeks will just be trying to establish how much English the students actually know. Then we can actually start planning lessons that will be productive and still good fun for the students! Gina is determined to get the whole school to do the "Cha Cha Slide" before we leave next summer!

Okay so I have to go and teach now but yay! Second blog post finally done!

Will try to update again soon but with my luck....