Well it's been an eventful weekend!

So, on friday I had a very welcome day off and a nice lie in! Me and sarah had a relaxed day just going down to the nail place so sarah could get her nails done. They were really nice girsl in there and tried to talk to us as much as possible! For 15 yuan (£1.50) it wasnt bad either!

We went for some early tea and got green noodles. They put chilli in with warm celery and other veg, they're really nice and really cheap too. We sat outside the cafe with a beer and played a few cards which got quite embarrassin cuz cards are a big thing over here and we managed to attract about 10 locals who surrounded us and were watchin us play.

We went home after and had a little nap cuz our boss jaoquin had informed us of this gig that was happenin at a little place in the city. We went to meet him at a little shop and sat outside with him and his friend Pon You (pon-yo) who owns the shop and were playin 'yi, er, san (ee-argh-san)' which to you and me is rock paper scissors. Except every time you lose here, you have to drink a shot of bai jiu (bye-jo) which is bloody disgustin.

we met everyone at school then and after what might as well have been a feast was brought to the shop from the restaurant next door we eventually got into town. However, when we arrived everybody had left the gig early so we decided to try and find a good bar. Theres a bar owned by an american in the city called Vice Versa where other westerners go so we tried there and played a bit of table football before eventually heading home.

I got up about 9.30 on saturday. We had decided to cycle the city wall, but one of the guys from the school (Jason) emailed sarah a load of work to do and so I decided to go on my own. It was a lovely day and the 2 mile walk into town didnt take long. I got onto the city wall for free with my tourist card which was also good and then hired a bike. It took me about 1 hour 20 mins to cycle 6 miles around the city with getting off to take photos. I also got latched onto by a chinese man who said he wants to be my friend and wouldnt leave me alone until i gave him my number. Luckily I can throw this phone away as soon as i get home!

Things started goin a bit downhill at this point. I got off the city wall and walked home. I was around 5 mins away when i stopped to buy some pineapple to find my bag wide open and my purse gone. I walked all the way back to town to inform the tourist centre that my purse was gone in case id lost it and it had been handed in but i knew i wouldnt get it back and it had been stolen. Very frustratin and felt a little bit stranded for a bit, but i got myself together and walked home to tell the girls. They were amazin, they bought me tea and some chocolate to cheer me up bless them! I managed to cancel my card from here and decided to try and let it go and go out that night to cheer up. Luckily I was holding all my other valuables so i tried to think it could have been worse and everythin can be replaced apart from the lost money.

We went out after i'd sorted myself out as one of our managers was leaving that day, so he had organized a night out at KTV which is the chinese equivalent of karaoke. Each group of people have a separate room with beer and food so its quite fun cuz you just sing with your friends and not in front of strangers! And the chinese take it very seriously so it was very funny!

We left there at around 11 and as the guys from school knew I'd had my purse stolen, they took us out to a club, buyin us drinks and payin for taxis and things. We had a really good night, but it's a bit scary. The chinese boys are not afraid to just grab you and circle you, cuting you off from everyone else. Sergiy, the russian teacher almost started a fight trying to protect us from one particularly drunk bloke which thankfully didnt escalate as much as it could have done. We headed home around 3 and finally got ino bed.

Sunday was really good with it being my birthday! I woke up to find that emma and sarah had bought me 2 little cakes with a big candle in one, and a big bag of chuppa chups for my b'day. They also took me out for a chinese waffle breakfast which was lovely. We all had to teach and so had to go into school. When i got there, joaquin and gulhan (the french teacher) had bought me another chocolate cake with candles in and sung me happy birthday! I took it into my students and we had cake and a birthday lesson which was really fun and they really enjoyed it. They also bought me 2 presents which was really unexpected and really touchin.

When i got home we decided to go out and get some food from our local place cuz its really cheap and amazin food. Aubergines are dead popular over here and the sauce they do them in at our local is delicious. We sat outside with it being warm and took a couple of bottles of wine with us too and sat playin cards and talkin (kind of!) to the locals. It was a really nice finish to a good weekend and felt really loved and at home despite being away from everyone at home, cuz i thought i'd feel very homesick. Thanks for all the birthday messages that Ive had too.

So, that's all for now. I will try to put the pics up from the city wall this week sometime and update again when there's more to say. :D

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