Easy week... for some

I have had a bit of an easy week this week as my school has had an exam week and therefore most of the activities that I do on a daily basis within the school have been postponed.

The good thing about this is that I have had the opportunity to visit other schools in the area. On Wednesday, I met up with another Chinese teacher in the town called Paula (most Chinese teachers who teach English give themselves an English name) and did some team-teaching.
It was good fun; the lesson was well structured and the kids were really responsive, if not a little shy at first.
Below are some students taking part in their compulsory run around the playground during their break.

Later on in the week, I got to go to some of the rural schools to see some demonstration lessons and to see what impact VSO has been making over the least couple of years. The feedback sessions were very formal and almost like a press conference with lots of photos being taken and the local dignitaries being present. They were tiring days but very interesting.


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This week also saw me also run my first 10K. It’s only taken me about 20 years of half-hearted running to achieve this. For those of you who know my thoughts about running, believe me, this is an achievement for me. It also happened quite unintentionally. 8am on a Sunday morning and only because I couldn’t sleep because of noisy neighbours. So thank you noisy neighbours but please, let’s try and remember what Sundays are really for!!

(Sabine)

Started Running also this week. The gives me a bit o jip but I hope this will dissipate ate time passes and the miles, sorry, yards increase. Returned to the man with strong hands on Tuesday. He administered the same Punishment sorry, treatment as before but I'm doing something wrong as I still suffer with it some days.

On Wednesday and Thursday I travelled to a few schools in and out of Xifeng with a previous volunteer and a researcher from the London office. We were gathering information regarding future possible work in Qingyang. Thursday also brought together two other volunteers from Qingyang, Jane and Susan. We all gathered to discuss ideas relating to the possible research and other topics.

Friday was another busy one: we were up early to travel to schools in Dongzhi for demonstration lessons and associated feedback sessions. Of course this included the obligatory meals out.

Yesterday we had an easier day. Tortilla brunch followed an extended snooze before a stroll up town to the Xinhua bookstore to purchase some DVDs. A quick shopping spree for groceries took us to up to teatime after which we watched a couple of movies before zeds.

(Phil)