one week on =)

so i have arrived in beijing yaaaayyyy cant eblieve i have been here for a week time is just going so quickly
after a long journey getting two planes one to heathrow then onto beijing (i am not the best flyer as some of you may know =) but i coped ) luckily i had great company on the plan with eleanor and tom fellow teic teachers. we arrived at the airport hoping to be created by TEIC unfortunately no luck :s so i made a few phone calls and eventually got picked up the weather is so hot over here very stuffy and humid.
the chinese no concept of how to drive, i thought we were going to crash they are mental drivers and car safety in the car is also non existent with no seat belts :/ ekkkk.
the hotel we are staying in is basic , but it will do. after being very jet lagged we were thrown straight into teaching at a school which was extremely scary and tough as i haven't really had any real training luckily i was paired with Sophie and we helped each other out . we eat our lunch and tea at the school which is really weird , the food has been ok nothing like chinese food back at home a lot of it tastes the same however yesterday we did get duck pancakes which were AMAZING today we also got birthday cake as martin another teacher in my school its his birthday tomorrow so we are going to really celebrate hard =).
　
the children are adorable so cute they are really passionate and really want to learn at first they were shy now the cant stop asking questions and they also wants pictures of me with them and today i was made a bracelet and a key ring for my bag so cute =) .
we have a helper teacher in the class who translates sometimes mine is called schofield he is like a member of the class he hangs on everyword i say he loves learning everything about england.
today i have taught for 6 hours all on my own so i am very proud of myself and the children have loved it as have i.
i am just excited to move to my new school and to be able to have free time i am so busy planning for lessons the next day as well chinese lessons teic have planned for us on an evening i start my day at 8 and don't come back to the hotel till half 6 there are 7 lessons in a today so the day is quite long in comparison to the u.k
today has been the best day so far i am starting to feel more comfortable and confident with teaching and the people at the same school are so funny we are having some much fun in our lunch times and little breaks lots of banter and they are making it easier to not miss home so much .
this evening was the first time we have had free time we went to the shop where alcohol is only 35p for 500ml 53% and it is actually very nice =) we also discovered chinese people come out on the street on the night when it is cool to chat and play games there was a group of older women having a dance lessons and then a group of men playing football with a feather symbol ball thing it was awesome they let us join in and they loved us every time i kicked they clapped and cheered at me which was cute and then they gave us the ball that they played with which was really nice.
i now have two days off but i have to get up 2moro at 6 as we are leaving at half 6 to go to the forbidden city then saturday is the great wall i am soooooooo excited , i will try to post again soon with pictures love you all miss you all peace out !
　
Joanne
　
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