I figured I should write a bit about what I'm actually out in China to do so here is a bit about my teaching placement in Yi Min middle school. The school is about 10 minutes away from our flat by bus, which is the most crowded, hot and dangerous experience of my life. I'm pretty sure I've already talked about public transport here in China but there is genuinely so many people on a bus you can't even move and the bus drivers emergency stop every 5 minutes to avoid oncoming traffic as overtaking on corners is a completely normal occurence here. I just try to not look out of the window anymore in any form of bus or taxi because it is absolutely terrifying. I read in one of the previous volunteers blog that drivers here drive like you can't hit anyone and pedestrians walk like they can't be hit. It is such an accurate saying. I seem to keep divulging from the point of my blog post but anyway.. The school is absolutely massive, with about 4000 students; 2000 of which we teach. The class sizes are huge aswell, about 65 in each lesson. If someone had told me I would be teaching 65 students alone I would be absolutely terrified but it seriously isn't as daunting as it sounds. Surprisingly I wasn't even nervous on the first day of teaching, no idea how. Every time we enter the class the students all stand up and say 'good morning/ afternoon teacher' then break out into the loudest round of applause which is the nicest thing. Emma and I each have about 7 lessons a week but when we can we go into eachothers lessons for something to do so we actually teach around 14 lessons a week. Emma teaches Senior 2 who range from 15-18 years old and I teach Senior 1 who are anything from 14 to 18 years old. It is really strange teaching students who are practically the same age as you, and in Emma's case they are older (She is 17). The school day starts at 8 am (not a fan) and finishes at 530 which means it's a much longer school day than in the UK but we get a 3 hour lunch break which is perfect for a little siesta! In addition to our teaching we have 2 mandarin lessons a week, we have had one so far and it was really helpful- I can officially tell the time in Chinese, yay! I am really hoping that I can pick up quite a lot of Mandarin this year, it's such a cool language. Twice a week we also have English Corner, which is basically English club where there is about 70 students again where we can do more fun things because it's technically not a lesson. We asked the students what they would like to learn about and most of them said basketball and English songs, I can tell it's going to be a fun year!

Aside from the teaching, Liuxiajia is such a brilliant town and we have met some lovely Chinese people. Our flat is equally lovely minus the lack of lights in the kitchen and bathroom and the lack of hot water which will be fun when the temperature drops to subzero. I can't believe I have been away from home almost a month and that Emma and I are living by ourselves, it's so surreal but the best fun I've ever had!

Okay I will try and update my blog again soon, thank you for reading!

adios x