Well…what an absolutely jam packed Month. From missed trains to mute drivers, Beijing in the rain to Heavenly Lake in the sun, I don't even understand how we have managed to fit so much in to the past month and a half! Over the next three day's I'm going to upload 3 new blogs to bring you up to speed with life in China! I'm also going to attempt to upload some photos (exciting I know!) so keep an eye on the Photos tab above!

Anyway, lets go back to the start! Remember in my last blog when I explained I had to go quickly to get a train to Xinjiang? Well turns out, the group and I weren't quite quick enough. In pairs we were bundled in to taxis and told to re-group at the train station where the taxis would supposedly drop us off. I use the word supposedly because we weren't exactly dropped off at the train station. The taxi driver decided it would instead be a really good idea to drop Laurie and I (another volunteer) right in the middle of the road. When I say in the middle of the road, I don't mean on the side of a busy road, I mean in the MIDDLE of the road.

So there we are, in the middle of a busy road in central Beijing, being told to get out the taxi while he continues to shout at us for money. Simultaneously being beeped at by every other car within 50 meters and trying to get our massive bags out the boot. Yes, it was as horrendous as it sounds.

To cut a long story short, when all 10 of the Xinjiang volunteers getting the train eventually re-grouped and found the right place to pick up the tickets, we were told - "You're too late, there is no way you are getting on this train." All in all a good day wouldn't you say? Stressed and tired, we returned to the hostel where we had been staying the last few days and waited on instruction from our country-rep, Mike.

Because of our missed train, we were instead flown to Urumqi (6 hours instead of 50!) on Monday as opposed to our train-leaving day, Saturday. As a result we gained an extra day in Beijing, and what an absolutely amazing day that was!

As a group we decided that because we enjoyed cycling so much on the first day, we do it again, and go and explore! The forecast was heavy rain, but it didn't deter us at all!

Most of the time when we were cycling round and round we didn't even know where we were, but you don't really care when you're swerving for dear life. We found a shopping centre with dancing chefs and giant dinosaurs as well as a market where a woman threatened to kill me because I wouldn't buy her coat (Just another day in a Beijing market!). When it was beginning to hit darkness we decided to head home, and as we did the heavens opened! Buckets and buckets of rain fell from the sky and we got absolutely soaked! Do you know when you hit that point of wetness where you think, 'I don't even care anymore'? Well yeah, we all hit that point and it was hilarious! The extra day in Beijing was definitely worth the stress from the day before! (Take a look at my album, Beijing)

Jumping ahead to the next day, we safely arrived in Urumqi airport and in turn were bundled in to a car and driven to Fukang. It's safe to say that at the time I was pretty nervous. What's it gonna be like? Is it big or small? Will I like it?

As we drove in to Fukang, most of my questions were answered. Fukang is what I would call a large town that is getting bigger and bigger by the day. Everywhere you look there is a building site or something new popping up. I think there is more cranes in Fukang than there is in the whole of Wales, they are everywhere! Instead of building one thing at a time, the Chinese seem to take on the technique of build it all at once. I really don't understand how they have the workers and the equipment for so many simultaneous projects, but they do.

Day and night the town is constantly busy. Everywhere you turn there is a different market, shop, restaurant or activity going on. It does make me wonder when the people of Fukang actually sleep? As you read my blogs you will see that the lack of sleep some of these people get is crazy, especially the school children! (I'll get on to the school in a minute!).

Our flat is a big-ish, standard Chinese flat. We have two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living area, a bathroom, and a couple of small storage rooms. One of the things that I am most grateful for is the western toilet that we have. Even though a squat toilet would be the 'proper' Chinese experience, I could not use one for a year, especially when every other toilet in china makes you want to be violently ill with just a glance.

One big problem with the flat is keeping it clean, it's an absolute nightmare!

I know you're probably thinking, 'Oh, don't be lazy and just clean it…..', but general cleaning isn't the problem. Because of the sand and dust storms that hit Fukang on a regular basis, the floors just get covered in black dust and sand. Even if you close the windows the dirt still manages to get in and cover everything. At first I though that we wouldn't have this problem during winter, but I've been told that as well as the -40 temperatures and the Icy floors we also get snow and sand storm, at the same time. I mean…I didn't even know that was possible!

(If I get a chance I will take some pictures of the flat and upload them! This is dependent on power, as over the past few days we've been fluttering in and out of electric and it's very temperamental!)

As well as everything else that has happened in the past couple of weeks we have also started teaching! The school that we teach in is a nice school, it consists of about 3,000 pupils and about 500 Uighur pupils (The minority's here). Theoretically in January we will move to a new school on the other side of town and the current buildings will become a fully Uighur school. From our office window we can watch Uighur primary school pupils, who have been moved away from home in the south, doing military training from dusk till dawn in the boiling heat. If I'm honest, I do feel sorry for them!

Teaching here in China is an unusual but challenging task. A popular stereotype in the west is that the children here will listen to your ever word in a strive to be the best, in a lot of these aspects these are true, however the listening to your every word is not so true. With a class of 50 - 60 students, trying to get them to listen and not be disruptive is one hell of a challenge. A lot of students see foreigners lessons as being a bit of a break compared to the other lessons. In a way I don't really blame them, some of the kids here start at 8am and don't finish until midnight, then they go home and do 3 hours of homework! Passing their university entry exams is the make or break of their life, they have so much pressure on them to do well, but it would be nice if they were quiet!

There is so much more I could talk about, but for now I am going to leave it there as I have lesson planning to do and my eyes are beginning to turn square. I will upload another blog tomorrow and then another on Wednesday! So if you want to know how Brian and I ended up staying in 2 police mens house, be sure to check back tomorrow! Until then….

Peace out!