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I haven't updated this for ages。 I have been so busy recently。 Having 4 senior lessons that I need new lesson plans for all the time is getting pretty draining。I also collected in written work from my juniors which was just stupid because there's 200 of them。 They had to write pamphlet's outlining different customs in China。 Some of them made such an effort and have pictures and stickers all over them。 I actually don't want to mark them because it will ruin them putting red pen on them。
I didn't get up to much last weekend。 I decided to spend some time researching lesson plans so that I would have more time during the week to chill out。 I have been finishing lesson plans at 11 at night, which just makes me tired for the lesson it's self。
I did go out on Friday。 We tried to discover some new places, but didn't get too far。 We began the night going for barbeque。 Oley has been vegetarian as of 2 weeks ago, so Adam and I ordered some meat and she ordered sea food。 One of the dishes she ordered was a shell fish, which was the first to arrive。 As the waiter put the dish down he said Ji something, as Oley picked one up I said “He said Ji, I think that's chicken“。 She didn‘t believe me and tucked in anyway。 A few more dishes arrived and Oley continued to enjoy her food having eaten 3 ”shellfish“。 Then the shellfish arrived on the table。 We all stopped what we were doing and started at the plate that Oley had been eating from。 Suddenly Thore pipes up “ummm。。。。。I think those are chicken heads”。 Oley had been eating barbequed chicken heads that had been cut in half and cooked。 When she thought was the shell had actually been the skull。 She ran out of the restaurant feeling a little ill。 When she came back in again we how they tasted, and apparently they didn't taste too bad – but none of us were willing to find out for ourselves。
After dinner we went Bowling in a damp smelling bowling alley。 There was a table tennis table at the ally and Adam and I played table tennis for an hour。 It reminded me of the times that Dad and I use to play table tennis during our family holidays in Britain。 I don't think I have improved much since then。 There was one point when I missed the ball and then couldn't find it anywhere。 I suddenly cracked up in hysterical laughter and couldn't physically tell Adam that it had landed in my pocket because I thought it was so funny。 After that we went to an Irish bar (very expensive) and to a new club。
On Saturday I came home for a crab party that one of the Japanese teachers had organised。 It was very strange because a Japanese form one of the other Yucai schools that I had bumped into on the train to Inner Mongolia was there。 We are Chinese Mitten Crabs (An invasive species in the UK – what a great fact to have at my finger tips) and sushi。 They all screamed when I ate wasabi, and I still don't think that they believe that I really like it。
The weekend before last we saw a lot of sites around Shenyang。 On the Saturday we had intended to go to the Botanical gardens by train。 We stupidly didn‘t look at the train time tables before we left (actually I don‘t think we know how to) and when we got there we discovered that there were only 2 trains a day to the Botanical gardens one at 9。30 and one at 14。30。 Bother were useless。 So instead we went to the Ming tombs。 There are some beautiful gardens around the Ming tombs which looked amazing in the autumn light。 There were also some lakes around the tombs。 They had some inflatable things that looked like hamster wheels on the lakes which we got in and ran about in, but they just made us feel sea sick。 You couldn‘t go inside the tomb, but we went around the area around it。 I think it was an old palace or something。 Anyway, they had an alter for a Llama monk called wikipedia there。 We obviously all took photos and showed out respect to him since we all owe him for our current lessons, help with essays, help for life in general and for getting our degree’s。 When I got home I wikipedia‘s wikipedia and there was no mention of him!!I really want to find out more about him now。
On the Sunday we went to the botanical gardens。 They were very beautiful and in true Chinese tradition, very random。 It had a theme park there, an go kart track and paint balling。 The best (and free) thing that we found was again based around water。 There were rope walks to get over some lakes which we went across。 In the same place there were Takishee‘s castle like methods for getting across the lake, including big barrels that rolled when you stood on them, swings and monkey bars to get across。 I guess they are a lot of fun in the summer, but not many people were getting into it when we were there。 The best bit was there was a big wooden barrel that you walked in (again like a hamster wheel)across a track。 Sandra and I went in it and went so fast that we fell over as we hit the end because we hit the end with such force。 On the way back we went really fast again and I fell over and Sandra couldn‘t stop, so I was just rolling aorung in the bottom of the barrel as it was wizzing across this track。
This week I have been doing loads of things about Halloween with my kids。 I swear that I ddin‘t really know that much about Halloween until this week。 The children loved it。 We have had bob apples, doughnuts hanging from string and jack-o-lanterns。 I have also had lots of teachers watching my lessons to try and find out more about the holiday。
When I ran out of time telling them about Halloween I told ghost stories。 Unfortuantely I think I maybe a little too good at telling them and the children had to open the curtains in the class and said that they wouldn‘t be bale to sleep tonight。
The last Halloween lesson that I have been doing has just been giving them each some info on a creature and they have to talk to each other to complete a table on where all these creatures live,what they look like etc。 My 2。4 class have been so awful recently that I made a different lesson for them because I couldn‘t rust them to walk around talking to each other。Instead I recycled a senior lesson on Edgar Allen Poe and just made it a lot easier。 Can you believe that every single one of them was listening and they loved every second of it? One of the students even asked for a copy of the story at the end of class。
I put so much effort into these lessons so that we could have fun。 I even hunted down a pumpkin to carved and bought 20 apples for bob apples。 We finished them all today and moments after that lesson I had a knock at more door。It was one of the teachers with a 15kg box of apples that they give the teachers every year。 Now that I have already played bob apples, I have no idea what I am going to do with 15kg of apples before they rot!!
Anyway - it is the end of another week and I have yet again managed to teach my students the most random vocabulary - but they loved every second of it!!
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