It was my first day at my new Saturday job teaching.Miss Shi met me at the yard gate at 8:30 and we got a pedi-cab to the Happy Tree kindergarten.On the ride there she gave me a carton of what looked like milk but I'd only just had my breakfast so I put it in my bag.As the pedi-cab made its way to the school she tried communicating with me in a sort of sign language with a few simple Chinese and English words.She told me she had seen Ruth this morning and woken her up by letting herself into the apartment to pick up some spare bedding.I only really understood her because I had already had an unimpressed text message from Ruth telling me exactly this.Miss Shi started telling me it's cold and looking at my legs.I was wearing a thin pair of trousers because it was actually a warm day (by English standards!) and I was quite comfortable.The next thing I know, she was pulling up my trouser leg and running her hands up and down my right leg!(Thank goodness I'm still a slave to the razor!)Her hands were cold and I squealed and she stopped and then she lifted up her own trouser leg to show me that she was wearing a second layer underneath.Then she got Alyssia her daughter on the phone to tell me in English that we would have to go shopping after my classes to buy warmer clothes.I told her I didn't have any money with me.So she told me Miss Shi would pay me for the work in cash and then take me shopping.

The Happy Tree kindergarten is another random school building tucked down an alleyway and smells like pee.We were greeted at the gate and I was taken to a classroom.The classes here are an hour which is longer than my lessons at my other schools.I was a bit worried how I would fill the time but I just did all the activities I usually use with my other kids and made sure more kids took turns at each.The children were really well behaved.I taught a class of 6 year old and a class of 3 year olds and then opened the carton of 'milk' Miss Shi had given me, well I have no idea what it actually was but it tasted disgusting and I hope never to have it again!

After school we went into town and sat down in a café in the market.Miss Shi gave me her phone again and Alyssia said "Miss Shi said you are really good now, you have improved a lot" then she started talking figures and they were going to underpay me.When I accepted the job I'd been told the amount I would be paid for 4 hours.Today the school I was supposed to teach in the afternoon had cancelled so I was expecting to be paid for 2 hours.But the figure Alyssia stated was less than half the original I'd been told.So I was sat in the café arguing with Miss Shi the leg-rubbing lawyer, via her Chinese daughter who speaks English with an American accent. It was all very bizarre but I stood my ground and in the end I was paid what I had been expecting for 2 hours work.We then went around the indoor market and she kept trying to get me to buy the vilest clothing.Eventually I gave in and bought a top and leggings combo to go under my clothes.

We went to get some lunch at the fast food place.It is so frantic in there, all the food is ready prepared and even the Chinese people just point at what they want so language is no issue.There is a vague queuing system in that you have to walk in a straight line behind a barrier from one end to other to get to the bit where you pay.But people just pile in to the barred off area and you can't get past.It is a feat of patience and balance, getting from one end to the other without dropping your food or getting bashed by someone else's tray!

After lunch we waited at the same bus stop I use when I go home from Flower Garden.Miss Shi started talking to the lady on the fruit stall and bought some fruit.As we were waiting for the bus, a pedi-cab approached us so she told me to get in.As we travelled towards my apartment, she dished out half the fruit she bought into a second bag and gave it to me.It was a bag full of dates and Persimmon (Sharon fruit).When the pedi-cab got to my yard gate, Miss Shi got out and paid and told the driver to drop me at my apartment.I usually just get drivers to drop me at the gate because the roads are one-way and some of the roads have been shut because of road works.The poor driver drove us around and around and was asking people for directions.The style of pedi-cab was one where I was completely enclosed and bolted in, so I couldn't even jump out and save him the trouble.Eventually I got home!

In the evening I was supposed to be meeting Ruth to go and have Hotpot with Chinese Paul and April.Ruth cancelled and my phone cannot receive Chinese characters so I didn't have the address where to meet them.I managed to contact Paul and ask them to meet me at Lilly Coffee instead as I could get there easily.They met me there and we walked to a hotpot restaurant, where we had a large table for the six of us.They remembered I am vegetarian so they selected a wide variety of vegetables and noodles plus some meat for themselves.Then the pot was brought to the table and I noticed it had shrimps in it.I said I couldn't eat it.They asked if I could just spoon the soup from around the shrimps.Uh, no!So they requested a soup made from just water and herbs (the first one was 'boiled with bones' i.e. meat stock).The pot was divided in two, one side spicy, the other mild.I tried some cabbage from the spicy side and my entire face started to leak.They certainly know how to put the 'hot' in hotpot!So I told them they could put the meat in the spicy side as I would only be eating from the mild side anyway.After the meat and shrimp issues were resolved it was actually a really nice evening and the restaurant staff let us have 2 bottles of orange juice for free.I wonder if I could read Chinese, if one of the posters would say "Bring foreigner for free gift" hmmmmm.