Hello!!

How are you??? So this is my first entry from here in Wenchang - this is where i am living for the next three months and where i am teaching. It is so unbelievably hot here and the humidity reaches 98% so i think it then makes it feel even hotter!!The mosquitos are out in force and i have already managed to start a nice dot-to-dot style picture on my legs - in bites!! - I think it resemembles a whale.

Ok, so Sarah and me - one of the volunteers who trained with me, + who i am sharing a flat here with in Wenchang, and me have lived here for 2 and a half weeks now - and time has flown by!! The first week was nice as the school let us get are bearings and actually get prepared for teaching - getting to know the school (5000 students at this middle school) and observe classes and stuff. However even though their intentions are always good - they are lovely and helpful, the first week was so intense as our days were booked up from 6 o clock in the morning to late at night. We were shattered the whole of the first week...

-Just being white here is exhausting as people want to parade you around because you are a foreigner and its just like you can only smile for so long and it's so hot! - The whole of last week when we had a moment to ourselves, all Sarah and me seemed to do was tiredly exchange 'i want sleep!' glances... our second Sunday night in Wenchang, we thought we'd finally shut off from the world, when at half past 9 a call came through - it was the school - wanting us to go and be introduced to our classes - Sarah teaches Senior grade 1 and i do Senior grade 2 - 12 classes each - thats was 24 classes - and yes they have school til 10.30pm - every night!! - incl weekends, so off we pedalled to school (the teachers brought us bikes!! - well the school paid for it, but it was really nice of them as its a 10 - 15 min bike ride which is much better than a 40min walk - especially if you're going to and from school twice a day!!) - and having a bike makes life much easier - just travelling around where you want when you want...

So the weekend before last, we went to the beach with some of the english teachers and they brought some of their children along which was lovely - Sarah, myself and Selina (one of the teachers with an english name, speaks the most English and is really helpful biked to the beach (about an hour and a half away - on a no-gear bike, which was fun.. ) So we were at the beach for most of the day, sitting in the shade drinking from coconuts, attracting a lot of attention from the locals kids ( it was a national holiday called tomb-sweeping - when the whole of china get 3 days off work/school to go and visit their ancestors graves and tombs and pay their respects - burning paper money etc...) - which menat another excuse for firecrackersto be going off for 3 days solid - at all hours - and being awoken Saturday morning thinking bombs were being dropped!! So yeh, spent time at the beach - the sun was so hot that you can only stay out in it for like 15mins or so before its unbearable, however we did go in the sea - and then retreated back to the shade where we attempted Chinese and the daughters of the teachers shyly tried English - with a lot of encouragement! - They are a bit younger than those we are teaching and are in Junior school... One of them had an English name and the other wanted one, however wanted us to choose - we asked her what her Chinese name translated to - it meant sweet, spring, growth.. etc and so we went through flowers and things like "acorn".. and then we were listing tree names and then leaves... i suggested maple - as in maple syrup is sweet and its a tree... and she liked that, so we named her Maple!! After the beach some of us went on to a little restaurant on the way home - having motobike races with the teachers with their kids on the back - us on our bikes it was so fun! And then one of the lovely teachers - quite shy but does approach us one on one, insisted on paying - we got our money out and insisted it was not necessary but she paid all the same...

Last Monday was my first day teaching... My timetable isn't as good as Sarahs' - she has 2 afternoons and 3 mornings off a week + one late start - i just have one morning off a week, but hey ho... - and we both get 2 days at the weekend off. I teach Senior Grade 1 and Sarah teaches Senior Grade 2. So much has happenend in the last couple of weeks it's hard to know where to begin! - So some of my classes i have had twice now..and generally things are going really well. The main issues are having so many kids in one class - i have 12 classes of 70-80 students, and then there is a big issue of having so many of them not being able to actually speak a word of English - like they can read it and write it, just they've never had the chance to speak it properly or hear it ... then you get the massive varying of ability - i have one Key Class - which is like a top set... but just because it is top set then it doesn't mean they are top-set in English - they could be in there because they are good at Chemistry or Sport... The rest of my clases vary from very very little understanding - maybe with the odd student who gets it (i am still working on what level to teach what class) and then som classes that get the jist and it can go really well. So far this week its gone pretty well - i thought id start off on a topic they are supposed to know - Festivals, thinking that they will think - i know something about this i can contribute to the lesson... but what they have learnt in a book earlier in the term, is not something they have learnt to understand from a native speaker.. Sarah and i are trying to do all we can to get them to come out of there shells (and finally i think we are getting somewhere!!) - originally kids were too shy/nervous whatever to say hello, now we are having short conversations on the balconies of the grade 1/2 buildings - kids talk to me in the stairwells and if i speak first at the least i'll get a hello back - even if that sometimes is still followed by a nervous giggle and then running away!

I got one of the classes to write something about themselves, whilst i was doing a one-on-one activity last week around the class with each student. When i collected in the written work - some students (particularly the trouble makers) only produced there name, others have written a whole paragraph. In almost all of the ones that had written more of a sentance they mention how bad there english is and what they hope to get out of the next 3 months... They are absolutely lovely kids. And it's such a shame really as they are under so much pressure - exams are coming up at all times - the work from 6.30 in the morning and, by evening they are doing exams until 10.30... - they are expected to be the best at everything. I am trying to get them to see that only in my English class [if nothing else] then them trying is what's important - they are so scared of getting it wrong - and have been brought up with this whole 'if you're not right - then you're no good' concept. And i think i'm actually getting somewhere, there are some random answers to questions i have asked in class that really dont make sense, but the fact they are answering at all is great. I am really enjoying teaching even the absolutely mad ones - and even though many of my students are my age (some even older!) and more than half of them are boys, they are constantly making remarks, some of them are sweet, some of them just try to impress thier mates, but to be honest it's all harmless and they are so immature compared to people the same age back home. You wouldn't believe some of the girls we played basketball against were 18, they look about 13 and act that age too! But they are generally lovely kids, and most of them say/ or write how they hope we can be friends...

So at the weekend some other volunteers from the city came to visit - it was really nice to see them and we played basketball at school on the sunday with some students who didnt have lessons - we then took all the kids out for lunch. I've had some really great times already with my students - we get invited into their dormitories (they board at the school) and even some of them want to take us back to meet their families at some point - to the villages outside of Wenchang. That would be absolutely lovely.

I think its really important that the kids who are not any good at English don't see us as enemy-teachers - so Sarah and i always try to see at least 2 basketball/volleyball matches a week and get involved with the cheering -the girls wanted to learn a 'english cheer' to cheer on the boys - but our 'Yellow' *clapclapclap, tuned into "Jello!" clap "Jello!" *clap. - If you can't beat em join em, so Sarah and me always cheer "Jello" whilst standing on our seats totally getting into it!!

I am known around the school as Joey (as most people can't pronounce the 'z') and i am even known to the other volunteers as that now... I like the poeple thinking they can approach me around school and generally i am really enjoying life here - i can't beleive i have been in China for 2 months now! My Chinese is embarassing and i hope to find more free time - probably getting up even earlier - also one of the teachers has offered to help me learn Chinese 2 times a week when we both have a free period. I am very grateful for that but she insists me not to pay...

Anyways, i really better get going, but i hope you are all well and i hope to hear from you soon!! xxxxxxxx