Helloooo, long time no speak... once again i do not know where to start - seeing as i have not written for a while and so much has happened!

I hope all of you reading this are well and that the British weather isn't too cold for ya! So I have been living in Wenchang for a month now and time is going so ridiculously fast, i really can't believe it...

So since my last entry we have had a few visitors from the city - throughout the last couple of weeks our friends also teaching in Haikou - people we lived and trained with, have come to share our wooden plank beds and see our Wenchang life - i will probably get to that in a bit.

I feel pretty settled here and things like going to the market in the morning to buy the daily fruit and vegetables (with no more than 60pence worth of kuai in my pocket) are the things that i am really going to miss when i leave.

So people from the previous training group who've been teaching for a few months now are starting to leave or have left..(*boohoo!*) and last Friday was the first of many goodbye parties. It was a great night and we headed to the usual Chinese version of a club/bar that is Allens Bar - where i had a rather successful chat with the barman - in Chinese! And managed to tell him why he hadn't seen us for so many weeks - because we teach in Wenchang etc ...

The students no longer insist on clapping or cheering whenever i walk into class (with the few exceptions) and now i am used to being called teacher in Chinese and all the other versions of my name: Jo, Joey, Zoe, Jolie which i hear on a regualr basis - about every other student i pass around school!!... why can't i have an 'easy' name like Sarah (which, with Chinese pronounciation is very close to the word 'killer' here...) - however, she even has aquired the name 'Salad' in some of her classes.. I think i am happy with Joey.

About about the teaching, generally things are going well and i am lucky to have some fantastic students -whether they can speak English quite well or not, they are growing in confidence and i am getting letters and emails from the shy ones which is great - as long as i can help them in some way then my time here is already well-spent. There have been the odd tale since we have been here though - Sarah seems to always be funnier than mine: the first week she had one boy who, when asked "how old are you?", actually vaulted his desk and sprinted out of class, followed closely by his friend... Another is when she had left her last class of her first week, looking slightly white and worn out - i asked 'what IS the matter?!' To be answered by "I think I would rather throw myself into a pack of ravenous beasts than teach them again!" - She was doing a basic introductions game - throw the ball answer a question, ask a question, throw the ball etc... one boy realised by throwing the ball up into the fan it would be propelled at great speed across the class and then hit some poor soul in the face/head/back ... her class ended in a rugby scrum with all the boys piling on top of each other... I could only smile that my 'naughty' students are now on my side [i hope!] and i think all is well over in the Senior 1 building!! - Poor Sarah over in Senior 2..

Already, despite the odd moan and groan when it has been a long day, we have discussed how we will miss the "WE LOVE YOUs", "YOU ARE BEAUTIFULs" and "WILL YOU BE MY FRIENDs?!" screeched from all school buildings in all directions!! I love this school. And when i told my class i was going to Haikou Friday night, one of my girls seriously started welling up (so much for saving face!) and when another student said why, she was like 'i don't want to know, i don't want to know' - i asked her why she was saying it and she said 'very sad you go' and i was like "I am coming back!!" It's going to be so hard to leave.

At night we'll sit on one of our balconies and of course talk about homelife sometimes and society back home - so many things are different around the world and so many things are the same... but one thing is clear, that there is respect, and an immense amount of friendliness amongst the students and even teachers here - particularly as most of the kids have boarded all their life so the school becomes their home and the people in it their family... They work from early in the morning and until very late at night - they are working at school in the evenings and at weekends - they are busy all of the time and somehow manage to make time to be so friendly and welcoming. We are here to teach English - i think we can learn a damn sight more about what genuine hospitality is - what is happening to England?

So the week before last, some other friends volunteer-teaching in Haikou came to scope out Wenchang and stay for a couple of nights - they came to observe classes and before we knew it another week had flown by! Over the past 2 English corners, we have taught the kids the Macarena, Thriller dance, had them all doing the We Will Rock You thing, and got them to do a conga-line onto the sports field (this is a good few hundred students!!) and also taught them Oranges and Lemons - which was a perculiar choice and i couldn't work out if their faces showed confusion or horror [at the 'chop of your head'] - either way it was a success and we had fun

Another thing. Typhoon!! -Yes, the Friday before last, there was a typhoon warning, the heavy wind came and the rain was pouring and we thought our hopes of getting back to the city were going to be shattered (we were going back to Haikou for a goodbye party for some people who were leaving their placements after 4-5months) ... despite there not being a tuktuk or obviously a moto-taxi in sight, after walking to the main road we finally managed to hail one little tuktuk struggling to stay upright in the storm, that took us to the bus station (somehow we didn't blow over!)- thankfully there was a bus that was about to run to the city that hadn't been cancelled... So off to Haikou we went. The rain didn't stop our antics and starting the old-group/our-group/new-group party at the flat, we then trudged out in the storm to party at Allen's! (I've managed to get a few pics up on facebook ) - Those wierd people dressed as superheros? - Yes they are all self-invented superheroes! - And all English teachers in the city - It was the theme and i was supposed to dress-up too, however oculdn;t get my costume Friday morning as the storm meant everywhere locked up shop for the Typhoon...

Facebook. I can only get photos up in the city betweem 2am-8am so there probably will not be any more additions for the next couple of weeks - i was at the internet cafe until 6am Sunday morning.. all for you people mentioning no photos recently - but if people tag me then there will obviously be some more popping up...

Ok, so the weekend just gone, we headed back to the city (the last time for the next few weeks i think) bascially, there were too many goodbyes for me to mention! But it was a little sad - but i didn't cry! - But i think despite the good times we had back in the city we were happy to come home to Wenchang. We have had a rainy spell following the typhoon and it is as torrential here as back in Haikou, but at least we have our own beds to sleep in (be them wooden planks compared to flat-mattresses in the city!) and it's a bit wierd going back now when people have flown home or travelled on - when they should be there to give us hugs when we walk in after our trip from Wenchang, come to get street food with us, or play the guitar or sing on the balcony like old times... Argh!

Anyways, i apologise about this epic entry, i will try not to leave it so long next time so it's in more bitesize chunks! Oh, for those of you who don't know, i am planning to travel on for a couple more months after teaching; more of China - the West, then down to Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and ending in Singapore... - so i will be seeing you in England probably late summer now! It's quite exciting as Sarah is going to travel with me for a couple of weeks before flying home a month before me, which will be nice to have company for a bit - we have become really good friends It's Wenchang-buddy-love all the way!

Anyways, that's really it, much love and stars!! - How's life where you are? xxxxxxxxxxxxx