Getting Out of the Bubble

Life-size gingerbread house! One of the strangest things about living abroad is being away for the holidays. Christmas is a time of year that is filled with more traditions than any other and being away from home during this time really makes you consider what the most important aspects of the holiday are. Last year was my first holiday away from home and it was an odd mix of extreme fun and extreme disappointment. Things that I would have said really weren't that important turned out to be some of the things I missed most.   This year is the first year that Orion and I are celebrating Christmas properly together, and Orion’s first proper Christmas ever – I can’t imagine getting through 30 years of life without a proper Christmas! But trying to make the most authentic Christmas possible in China can be a bit of a struggle. Lots of the things that I consider essential to a true Christmas that don’t really exist here (mince pies anyone?) so there’s a bit of mix and mat...

One thing I knew about Yinchuan before I came was that it was going to be cold, but it's difficult to understand how cold somewhere is without experiencing it. Now, for the second time, we are experiencing the cold of the North first hand and, yes, it's very cold. When a 'warm' day is -2 ° c you know you're living in Arctic conditions.  But the thing about the cold here is that it's dry. Snow is a rarity, even though when it does snow the white blanket hangs around for weeks, and icey pavements aren't something we have to deal with that often. Just crisp, pure cold. I haven't decided yet whether this dry cold makes everything feel colder or less cold, but I guess when the temperature is below freezing the nuances of cold seem less important... The weird thing though is that I'm quite enjoying the cold, sure the inside  of the bus windows are covered in ice from frozen condensation, and sure  *slightly gross alert!*  I did once blow...

DISCLAIMER: This is, once again, my perspective on a very broad topic. I can only write from what I have seen and heard. I do not think this is a definitive view, just one person's experience.  Disability is something that is still slightly taboo in China, with the one-child policy (soon to be two-child policy) there is great importance placed on having strong healthy children and, when healthcare isn't universally available, simple problems can become debilitating. Something that would be relatively easily handled in the UK with NHS resources becomes a lifelong disability, it's sad to see a child out begging on the street who could have probably been "normal" with physiotherapy in early life. Of course, not all families abandon their children for a life of begging on the street and many disabled children are loved and integrated into society, and most of the time that means being put into mainstream schools. Working at public school in Suzhou there were a f...

If China is known for one thing (other than pandas) it has to be for Communism and the way Chinese Communism has developed and evolved in a way that has allowed it to persevere when other communist nations succumbed to Western Democracy. Of course China isn't the only country that has kept a Communist government (Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, North Korea), but I think it is fair to say that China is the country that has done the best under Communism. China is quickly becoming a global force to be reckoned with and it is predicted that it could soon overtake the USA as the world’s biggest economy, and all of this done under a system of control and structure that many frown on. Cultural Revolution Era memorabilia But, mention Chinese communism and one of the first things that comes to mind for most people is Mao. Mao is probably the single biggest symbol of modern China and his legacy has shaped how we see China, and how China sees itself. He turned China on it's head and can b...

My boyfriend and I just came back from holiday. It might not sound like much, but to him it was a pretty big deal. The way Chinese and Muslim (benefits of living in a Hui Muslim province) holidays fell this year meant that my boyfriend got an unprecedented two weeks off work, this was an opportunity that he was convinced not to waste. About two months ago we started making big plans, we were going to get my boyfriend out of China for the first time. We set our sights on Spain because, Spain is one of my favourite countries in the world, I love the food, the people, the culture…everything My boyfriend supports FC Barcelona and the thought of seeing Messi in the flesh makes him giddy as a school girl. We started research early and got all the required documents together for the long and tedious process that is getting a Chinese National a visa to Europe. Just over a month before our intended departure date we submitted all the relevant paperwork via an agency that we had been...

Straight off I am going to recommend that this blog post is read listening to Stevie Wonder's Superstition, because why not? And for those of you who need the extra nudge here is the link . Okay, have it playing? Good, now we can begin. Every country has its own set of superstitions or Old Wives Tales and it's always fun to discover them and wonder at how they seem to have no resonance with us as outsiders. But, a country's set of superstitious beliefs are something that I think can say a lot about its culture and also the history of how the country has developed. China is a very superstitious country and superstitions have huge scope and can even effect daily life, Days that are considered auspicious, or  inauspicious , can effect anything from when to get married, to what (and when) to name your baby.  My boyfriend has explained Chinese  superstition  to me as a big part of the Chinese culture, so much so that people will look for ways to call somethi...

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Maimonides Whoever says that teaching is an easy job has presumably never tried to teach. Over the years I've heard people say that teaching was a bit of a non-job, a failure and something you do if you're not really good at anything. As the saying goes " those who can, do; those who can't, teach ". But I can tell you that is rubbish. Teaching is hard. Even TEFL teaching, which I think is considered the least "proper" type of teaching (something I disagree with but that's a different matter all together), with its lower hours is extremely taxing. To get students to engage is hard enough but when those students have no idea what you're saying, well, that's even harder. I've learnt so much from teaching and I don't think it's a mark of not being able to do anything else. Teaching teaches you a lot that is valuable a...

In the West we seem to have a sort of fascination with China. It's viewed as this slightly mysterious country that has suddenly been flung into the limelight as it's economy develops and brings it to our attention. Slowly, more and more travellers are making it past the typical South East Asia backpacker route and into the Middle Kingdom, and I think a lot of people are surprised by what they find. Just before I left the UK it seemed like China was everywhere, the newspapers heralded China as the new hot place to travel and TV programme after TV programme was aired that revolved around various aspects of China and Chinese culture. I have now become invested in China and so I try to make it my business to watch as many of these TV shows as I can, to get an insight into how the West views China and how that compares to the reality of my experiences. Often these documentaries do a pretty good job of representing China but, as is always the way with TV, it is sensationalised. Th...

Last week I had some time off work and I knew that I needed to make the most of it by going somewhere . The only problem was that I was the only one with this holiday, I was going to have to go solo. The best way to describe how I felt about going it alone was nervous, I'd never travelled alone before and I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I'm an extrovert, I thrive on the company and conversation of others and when that's not available I will often resort to talking to either myself or inanimate objects. Possibly not the best candidate for solo travel? But getting out of your comfort zone (dare I say bubble?) is part of travel and it's not always possible to travel with someone else - although I'd still say it is always preferable. So with determination I set out to experience the joys and trials of solo travel  in Chengdu, a not-so-brave choice as it's actually a city that I've already been to once before. Dragon standing guard at the Green R...

Last week marked the end of an era for my time in China. It marked the completion of a full year contract in China, and a full year teaching in a private school environment.  We ended the year with a weekend of make-up exams and graduation ceremonies; the students had an opportunity to celebrate all they had learnt over the semester and we had a chance to relax and have fun with the students outside of the classroom. The whole graduation was a relaxed way to end a manic semester and was followed by the less relaxing end to the term that we gave ourselves, a Mexican themed party and awards ceremony.  TEFL is a weird world to work in because it has an unnatural amount of endings; semesters end and people move on to different place and experiences all too quickly, you make close friends in a matter of weeks but then a few months later they're gone. It's a hazard of the community. So for us, the end of the term is bitter sweet. Although I'm staying in...

MASSIVE DISCLAIMER : This is not by any stretch of the imagination a definitive guide to relationships in China. This is just my perspective on how having a relationship in China is different to what I'm used to in the West.  As many of you know, since coming to Yinchuan I've managed to find myself a lovely boyfriend and we've managed to put up with each other for the best part of my time in Yinchuan - surprising, I know. Dating in China can be confusing and difficult because of the differences between Western and Chinese dating culture, and like with everything in China there has been a bit of a learning curve. How we got together was pretty typical, we met through people I work with now and he used to work with. We got on and then one day plans to go out as a group fell through, but we decided to still go for drinks. After that we hung out more and bonded over watching The Walking Dead (zombies are romantic!) and slowly but surely we became a couple. Pretty ...