Getting Out of the Bubble

We are currently in the middle of a heat wave here in Suzhou. In the UK this would be something to celebrate but here its just sticky. Imagine only being allowed on a London tube during said heat wave and you're getting there. When the temperature never dips below mid-20s writing something witty and meaningful isn't necessarily top of my agenda, stopping from overheating would take that spot, but I persevere. Experiencing Suzhou's heat is a mild introduction to what we can expect as we head south during June and July. Guangzhou, where we're heading towards, is known as one of the Seven Furnaces (七大火炉) of China because of its unforgiving summers. At the moment while Suzhou is 31° and feels 33°, Guangzhou is 33° but feels like 45°. Yuck. This is because of the high humidity, it makes everything horrible and sticky and basically is like sitting in a sauna. Its the one thing I'm not looking forward to on our travels. We went to one of the other Seven Furn...

Being a teacher, the majority of my time here is spent in school.  Initially I didn't think that much would be different but the longer I'm here the more I notice more and more strange things. Last week I posted my list of weird and wonderful things in China, but schools didn't really feature at all. I guess this is because the differences between British and Chinese schools aren't so much confusing, just a contrast.  I don't know how typical my experience of Chinese school is but, whether it's typical or not, it is a big part of my experience, and so it is something worth mentioning.  Just to give a context, the school I spend 90% of my working week in is the New District Experimental Primary School. It has 9 grade 1 classes and 10 grade 2 classes, so 19 classes in total. Teachers typically have one form, and then teach about 3 classes their own subject. I teach all of them. Classes start at 8:45 and all have at least a 10 minute break between them. Lunch is fr...

China is a country of contradictions; ancient architecture sits happily beside towering skyscrapers, and Chinese culture is fiercely protected while Western culture is coveted. I've mentioned before how living here hasn't been the culture shock that I anticipated, but that doesn't mean that there aren't many many things here that make me stop and just think " why?! ". Much of Chinese life is familiar, and often charming and beautiful; however there is another side of Chinese life that, as a foreigner, I struggle to understand.  This list started as a conversation between me and a friend (who is also here teaching English) and I don't think either of us ever imagined it would be quite so extensive.  Everything on this list is something that one can see on any given day here in China and I want to stress that it is all in good humour; highlighting the weird and wonderful differences that present when adapting to a brand new culture.  So here i...

Sometimes it can be very freeing to be stared at all the time. This might sound like a contradictory thing to say, and I have said before how uncomfortable it can be to be constantly looked at wherever you go, but after a while those stares become a personal license to relax. At home if someone is staring at you it's pretty likely that you're looking a bit odd; maybe you have something on your face, maybe your skirt is accidentally tucked into your pants, or maybe you're just having a rough hungover day. But in China people are staring at you regardless of all these things. They do think that you look a bit odd but only because you are a Westerner, they're staring at the pale skin and wide eyes, not specifically you. I like that I could be wearing a ridiculous combination of clothes, or just looking worse for wear, and the stares aren't going to be any more or less. This is a freedom. Freedom not to worry what one looks like when stepping out of the front door, ...

It's hard to have a negative thought when the weather is as glorious as it is today, it's almost impossible to be anything but happy in the sun! This feeling is exaggerated by the fact that today is the end of my working week, thanks to the Labour Day holiday. Holidays are a strange affair in China. The general working population have two big holidays a year; the two week Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), in January/February, and the week long National Day, in October.  Aside from these two there  are other holidays, like the Tomb Sweeping Festival we enjoyed in Shanghai a few weeks ago, but they don't really seem to count as proper holidays to me. Any hours or days missed, because of a holiday falling on a working day, mean that those hours have to be made up outside of work hours. Fun. Does it really count as a day off if you just have to stay at work longer another day or go to work on a weekend?! I don't really understand how school holidays work here but,...