We kick-started the holiday with beer, ridiculous amounts of food, McDonalds’ ‘Modern China Burger’, mooncakes, and discovering new parts of the city (Part One can be found here). The second part of the holiday had similar experiences but also a few days to chill out. One day was spent catching up on Doctor Who and finally getting Mitch into Utopia. No matter what country you live in, you still need those chilled days.
Despite only starting teaching 3 weeks ago, I’ve just had 12 days of holiday. The holiday was for two reasons. The first is the Mid-Autumn festival. This festival ties in with the full moon and people view the celebration as a time to spend with family. The full moon symbolises peace and wholeness, and so it also involves eating a lot of mooncakes (not as nice as they sound). Still, I got give a box of them from the school which was very kind. The second festival a few days later is National Day: celebrating that the People’s Republic of China was founded on …
Firstly – all credit to Mitch for these photos. He takes my iPhone and snaps away, sometimes for a long time and I impatiently look at my watch. I then look at said photos later and they are stunning, so, credit to him. One of the main tourist attractions in our new hometown of Hangzhou is the West Lake. A gorgeous natural lake which was made a UNESCO site in 2011. Being so beautiful means on the weekend it’s buzzing with tourists (national and international), plus locals coming to enjoy the scenery, market and restaurants.
We’ve been here for two weeks and I’m slowly learning the new culture and things I need to adapt to whilst here. Here’s my top ten: Tea I’m British. Nothing beats a lovely tea (with milk!), in the morning and when coming home after a long day. Although you can buy lipton black tea here, milk isn’t so frequent and quite the same. What’s more, when someone offers you tea, it’s not what you think. Yesterday I had a cup of tea, which was basically hot water and flowers. Not bad though. Roads The roads are mental. Traffic is awful. On …
For those of you who don’t know, Mitch and I got ourselves teaching jobs in Hangzhou, China. It’s in the East, not far from Shanghai. We found jobs through a teaching agency who sorted us with school, accommodation, and a visa. So far, there have been highs and lows, but it’s all a new adventure in life and I remind myself I’m very lucky to be here. We felt nervous and excited. For me, it was three big changes all at once: moving in with Mitch, starting a new job AND moving to a new country/continent. Madness eh? Our flights over …
