And the adventures begin .....: 2013

Saturday 18 May 2013

Birthdays

A little late, but these are the photos from our birthday's. Mine was the 6th of april it was a lovely sunny day. Dave got me some lovely pig related presents (of course) and some gorgeous underwear, as the chinese washer has destroyed most of mine. My mum sent over presents too with candles and a cake it was a lovely surprise . It was really nice to have some things to open, I didn't except it at all. Normally, I would have spent my birthday at home surrounded by all my friends, going out and drinking crazy amounts and eating loads of food and having a great time; but, being in a different country this is close to impossible, but Dave made it very special. I guess also getting older, birthdays aren't as big and crazy as they used to be, but I still had a great time. We went for a great meal at this French restaurant. It was a little on the expensive side but was worth it, it was a real taste of home with no hint of chinese food :) REAL food !!! The place was very posh and we were treated like kings and queens with our water constantly being topped up and bread been given to us, it was really nice. All in all it was a fantastic day. I mean don't get me wrong I would have loved to have gone home and seen friends and family but that wasn't possible and also it's not long now until I come home :D.

For Dave's birthday(20th april) I made him a full english breakfast chinese style (unfortunately no sausage). I bought Dave a t-shirt and 2 photo's framed of us to put in our flat and a keyring :D. Then we went for a meal with everyone and there was great food and drinks. After the meal we got a little tipsy and it was a lovely celebration :).A great month :D.

We have been really lucky and made some great friends out here. Cook is a guy we have meet playing badminton and he has been really nice. He pays for us to play badminton and buys us drinks . He took us to the local mountains which was something we wanted to do for ages, but we didn't know how to get there. It was great, we picked a great day with clear skies and hot weather. It was nice seeing the countryside. Everyone we walked passed said hello and took pictures, it was rather embarrassing. Cook decided to take us a different route to the normal path and it was exciting and less touristy which I preferred, but it was a lot steeper and had more cliff edges, which Dave hated hahahahahaaaaaa. Eventually, we made it to the top and had lunch which included chinese noodles, tofu and potatoes. Luckily, we packed a packed lunch :D . At the top we found out Cook had carried a whole watermelon up the mountain so that we could eat it, but then he decided he was full from lunch so put it back in his bag and carried it all the way down hahahahaha, the Chinese really make me laugh sometimes their mannerisms are so strange, it's cute . Cook especially always makes us laugh. He has been very kind and very good to Dave and I, we appreciate everything he has done for us. He is a great, true friend.

Another close friend is a student . She is so cute she asked me to come up with a beautiful English name for her . I gave her the name Megan, the same name as my sister, because firstly Megan is very beautiful name and I thought it would be appropriate for this student. She is cute, I am like her agony aunt and she has come to me with problems with her family, boys, school etc. For my birthday she bought me two glass pigs that looked very expensive and drew me a picture of an elephant because she couldn't draw a pig hahaha. She also bought me a clip and a drink for my health, as I had a sore throat. She told me to wear the clip to her class and she had the same clip on too, very cute . She makes me smile so much and in her I feel as if I have made a difference to at least one students life since being here.

my birthday cake from the school :)

opening presents

birthday day sun out ice cream in hand won a prize on a game what more could you want :)

first blossom

chinese break dancers

fun times on the log flume :)

all kitted out

ready to go . I screamed all the way down all the chinese were laughing and we made a massive wave hahahaha standard

dressed up for birthday meal :)

sophie and andrew

Jesse and Lucy

Dave and Tiffany another chinese friend from extra teaching she is so cute always talks to me and is really cute bought me a nice hanging lamp for a candle so nice of her.

Dave's dinner nom nom nom

My dinner chicken in white wine sauce and rice was so delicious making me hungry now haha

my birthday cake :D

playing badminton :)

View from the mountain unfortunately a lot of litter around the chinese don't have concept of littering and bins makes me sad

Cook and I

Dave and I :)

At the top temple with water fountains very peaceful

our delicious lunch NOT!

we went for a slapped up meal after the mountain we deserved it hahah

steak and chips yes please :)

pigging out hahahaha

literally pigging out , finally got a onesie (not stolen)

Megan and I so cute :)

present from James and Sophie my name in chinese

full english nom nom nom nom

good morning :)

dave's cake :)

dave playing badminton

having a cheeky rest

cutting the cake

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

good news :) singed the contract signed sealed delivered im yoursssssss

s future tops . All singed we will be teaching 2-5 year old so cute in a brand new fully equipped school cant wait to unleash my creative ideas on the children :D. Dave and I are really happy to coming back next year now,we just need to complete the dreaded paper work when we get home . Things going good here been a stressful week as per. Had a last minute listening exam to prepare which pissed me off but luckily Dave helped me. We thought we would do it properly and record ourselves no American voices hahahahaha! We had to do it quickly we were under a lot of pressure i think it got to us as when we started we couldn't stop lauging over and over again it too us half an hour before we got anything recorded :D. The bonus of doing this exam was having thursday and friday off so Dave and I relaxed. Just come back from the hot springs it was amazing very relaxing and interesting pictures and further information to follow :) xxx

just thought i would show this . This is a what i see everyday hanging in the road when we walk to the bus or supermarket and by the end of the day EVERYTHING is gone i mean just bones left the chinese literally eat every part of the pig its crazy. ENJOY !!!!! xx

Sunday 31 March 2013

China celebrates Easter too you know

So i have been meaning to sit down and update you guys, but never find the time haha always so busy. So China celebrates easter too Dave and I discovered yesterday, unfortunately we didnt have a camera . There was a woman on the side of the road selling chicks and ducks in a box, so cute and so awful at the same time, but the funniest part was that she had dyed some of the chicks BRIGH PINK and blue it was mental!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha love it there is always crazy stuff happening here

never a dull day in china !!

So update of no 42 everything is going great apart from a thursday been having a tough time :( had teachers come and observe and sit through my lessons because the kids have been so loud and naughty, not doing their work, on phones etc have made me really upset :( but things have improved slightly so hopefully they will stay like. Otherwise I think i will just drop the classes its not fair on me or the other kids i teach after it puts me in a bad mood.

So my birthday is coming up yaaaayyyy on saturday (6th) excited but also not that bothered it wont be the same as being at home the past few birthdays i have had have been amazing, with friends coming up to surprise me wild nights out love it going to miss it this year it wont be the same out here . Luckily, i have Dave and he will make it special :D. His birthday is on 20th, close to mine, birthday buddies haha, so next month we are going to book a hotel so i can finally have bath woooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo. Looking forward to coming home so i can do all the things i want to do without going to such a massive effort or massive expense.

So the good news i was talking about before i went away to Thailand it has taken longer than i expected due to a few complications and delays but Dave and I are staying another year in China together yaaaayyyyyyy!!! This time at a different school working in amazing new school with loads of resources and amazing facilities aged 2-3. The school is great, the teacher Daisy speaks amazing english, we have fun fridays, get to learn chinese and some many exciting things. I am so happy :D . It is in the same city so means we will still see our friends who stay, it is also great as we know the places which is perfect as i am not sure i fancied attempting to explore another city . I like the shiz i mean apart from the pollution its a great place to live . So we sign on friday and then out for a birthday so a double celebration this friday so excited for my future :) just means i will have to do the rounds on people when i get back

miss you alllllll !!!!!!!!

xxxxx

Saturday 16 March 2013

Oh no :(

http://news.linktv.org/videos/airpocalypse-now-in-chinas-most-polluted-city

watch this video :( makes me sad but unfortunately where i live its like this. Thinking maybe i should buy a mask :s actually maybe i should definitely get one as Dave and I are planning on staying another year :D . Slightly anxious now about my health someone send me fresh air over ......

missing home , but not long now till i am back xxxx

Sunday 10 March 2013

Thailand

After a long few months of teaching, we finally got a holiday yaaayyyy. So Dave and I headed to Thailand for sun, sea and sand :). We had an amazing holiday as you can tell from the photos. We spent one day in Singapore, which was great we had a tasty curry. Then we traveled to the south of Thailand to a place called Krabi. We stayed in this area for a while going from island to island, which was great. We finally arrived at the mainland in Phuket, which was great. We stayed in the Old town which had loads of vintage cafes and bookstores. We then hired a motorbike and road around the area, which was pretty scary but so much fun. We then moved on to Bangkok for a few days which was a shock it wasn't what i expected, it was very modern with loads of shopping centres, which was nice to look around. We then moved further north to Chiang Mai which for me was the best place we saw in Thailand and was a lot cooler. We decided to treat ourselves and went on a trek for Valentines, where we stayed in rainforest with the locals. We went bamboo rafting, elephant riding and visited a waterfall. It was the most incredible experience ever so cool going basic and seeing how Thai people really live .

I really enjoyed Thailand it was nice being understood and being able to speak english . The best was the food we were able to decide to eat whatever we wanted Italian, Mexican and British etc it was so refreshing :D.The heat was a little too much for me, it was a bit of shock going from -5 to 38 hahaha Dave went really brown, whereas I stayed the same maybe slightly red typical. We felt very relaxed when we came back , we were actually happy to be in China although a part of me wished i flying back to England. Going back into teaching has been hard . It has been extremely tiring, consequently i have cut my extra teaching down to just one evening. This is so i can have more time with Dave and more time for myself, especially now as the weather is getting much warmer, between 18-24 atm :D

Enjoy :D

the pictures will speak for themselves what a great time we had :D!!!!!!

(The first few are from my camera the majority of from Dave's. Also they arent in order :( stupid blog uploaded them wrong but i have said where each photo is from :))

Railay Beach :)

Dave was happy to see monkeys :D his fav

watching the sunset :) in Railay

cheeky kiss

AMAZING

we took a canoe out and found a private beach was incredible. There was a cave and loads of rock pools.

There were loads of caves close to where we were staying :S

we decided to go in one , i wasnt too happy about it

whereas Dave was rather excited :D

which quickly changed to fear hahahaha

inside trying to put on brave face but there were loads of bats and the bridges werent very stable

aftermath both scared

big hugggg

dave found humus which is his fav so was very very happy

me being brave and climbing into a cave teepee

dave whilst drinking a bucket

a little tipsy

burnt :(

View from our room in Phi Phi island

tres burnt but still smiling

SMOOTHIE!

chnag chang channngggg

Daiquiri - NOM!

MUSSELS nomnom nom but then gave me food poisoning :(

cocktail time

phuket :)

vintage cafe in Phuket :)

taking the bus to the beach like the yocals woooo

chilling on the beach

taking a dip

pretty lights :dinner in phuket

very very very hot curry

me with my hot hot hot curry and burnt arms :S

Bangkok :)

golden temple - Bangkok

on the boat :)

Dave's Photos

Singapore found dave's hospital hahaha

airport a couple of whities

An nang first place we arrived at

first cocktail of the holiday :)

first meal :)

first sunset :)

boat boat boat !!

MONKKEYYYYYY!and BABY MONKKKEEEYYYYY

on the boat on the way to phi phi

wind swept :D

wow

the day i had food poisoning so not looking the best but i manned up and went on a boat crazy i know, but we had spent money on this tour and it was our anniversary so i wanted it to be special . Unfortunately i was sick twice and we left early but still had an incredible time. We went snorkeling saw a turtle we saw the beach where they filmed the beach , a cave , and a private island where we had a BBQ. We nearly died on the boat the as it was a long tail and the waves were huge we were holding on for dear life so that we didnt fall out of the boat.