LEAF-go-VSO
Journal 2005-2006
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Journal 2005-2006 |
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As of 2009 the Journal pages are redundant. For our latest news please refer to the blog. September 2005 -December 2006 Mid-December 2006 Fly-on-the-Wall, Warts-and-All We've just said goodbye to the CCTV camera crew who've been following our (and our pal Paul, over in Jiang Cheng) every move for the last week. They managed to film over 20 hours of footage (Lesley's classes, Lesley's reflexology, Freda's nursery, breakfast with LEAF, home-school, lunchtime with LEAF, our newly set-up Christmas Tree, as well as more formal 'interviews') which will somehow be edited down to a 25 minute news 'documentary' to be shown on Christmas Day as part of a series on Volunteers in China. CCTV News has an audience of about 20 million...
October 2006
SEPTEMBER 2006 Hello! We have made some recent updates to these pages. Perhaps the most significant change (not counting Ali's travelogue of course) is the long overdue inclusion of more information on Lesley's work. A good friend recently returned to the UK after a year slogging her guts out as a volunteer, only to be met with the view that she'd been on an undeserved jolly. Reflecting on this, we realised that our website was contributing to the notion that our main purpose to being in China is to travel. While this is most certainly a highlight, it is not our reason for being here. Ironically, the lack of ponderings on work and VSO life reflected our need to escape in our free time, given the emotional, physical and mental exertions taking place during the week. So, here's an exert from Lesley's first, 'here's what's really going on' installment, which can be read in full on our Teaching page: "The personal cost of the
mountain of aims and objectives is, however, the inevitable disappointment at
the end of a day, or week, when I see the things I haven't done glaring at me
from a list. This term may be less of a professional and day-to-day challenge (I
know the system a little more now and domestic life breaks less new ground) but
emotionally I can already anticipate the roller coaster." Our Summer Holiday (July/August 2006) We finally got back to Simao on the 16th August, almost 7 weeks after leaving. The flat was a bit musty and a few cockroaches were sniffing around (not for long!) - but it's really good to be home after our inter-provincial adventures.
We are all enjoying a few days of pottering, reflecting and for Lesley, lesson planning, before term starts on the 28th August. We had a great holiday: a tour of Yunnan (Menglun, Jinghong, Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian, Kunming) with Ali's parents and sister Katie, followed by the NW province of Gansu (Lanzhou, Great Wall at Jiayuguan and a 2-night camel trek in the desert at Dunhuang). We then returned overland to Chengdu in Sichuan via the Tibetan Monastery at Xiahe and the high road over the Aba Grasslands. Here we managed a couple of multi-day pony treks (at Langmusi and Songpan). The highlight of our time in China so far was undoubtedly the 3 days we spent trekking and living with the nomadic Tibetans (Goloks), sleeping in their unique yak-butter scented tents, eating tsampa and watching the yaks being herded and milked. For this we teamed up with our friends Patrick and Karen, VSO volunteers in Hezuo. We, of course, also managed to fit in some challenging bus journeys, and one epic ride in a jeep-taxi where we were held up by highwaymen. The road ahead was closed (highway repairs) for 8 hours - they wanted Y50 from us so that we could drive over their grassland bypass route! We paid up... JUNE 2006 Last night we took part in the College Inter-departmental "Youth Enthusiasm Dreams" Performing Art Competition. The English Department entry was a performance of the Military Two-Step/Highland Fling by Lesley, Ali and 11 other couples. This is perhaps the first time Scottish dancing has been inflicted on the people of Simao! Lesley choreographed the whole thing, and even managed to persuade some of the teachers to take part. We had been practising hard for the past two weeks...
Due to the dearth of men in the English Department (certainly ones that could dance), most male halves of our couples were actually female (above left). "Gentlemen" were dressed in rather fetching orange tartan trews, white shirts and matching bow ties. "Ladies", however, were kitted out in green tartan pleated skirts and matching sashes (above right). Here you can see us preparing for the big event in our flat. Freda found an extra head to play with (above centre).
Here is Lesley, with her partner Michael; Edie and Freda getting into party mood; and Ali, with his partner Cindy. As we were getting ready there was a tremendous rainstorm and we feared that the show would be postponed (the stage was outside in the playground), but fortunately it passed and stayed dry until the show was over.
There was some serious competition - 16 acts in total, and the stage was a very professional setup with towers of spotlights and a booming sound-system. The panel of judges, consisting of teachers from the department of music and dance, sat out front at desks. It was quite nerve-wracking in the run-up to our turn, especially hearing the scores gained by other teams. We relaxed, however, when we heard the cheers and whoops from the crowd when we paraded onto the stage. The two-and-a-half minute performance went remarkably well given that some of the participants were shaking with nerves, never having performed on a stage in their life. Lesley had advised them to focus on a distant tree as this would keep their head up without having to make eye contact with the audience. As it happens, we were completely dazzled by the lighting that we could only just make out the judges! A few smiles were flashed their way. We were thrilled to discover that our efforts had gained us Second Prize! Here are Lesley and the girls collecting our certificate - you can see the Dance Department Wa dancers (not competing here as they would have a slight advantage over the rest of the College) in the background, and one of the show's beautifully- dressed comperes (back right).
The winners were the Art Department (above right) who gave an amazing performance of "In the Depths of the Bamboo Forest", a Dai Minority dance. The central role, usually performed by a female dancer, was performed here by a male student, to superb effect - the audience was awestruck and in stitches simultaneously. We were all absolutely thrilled and the Dean of English, as well as other teachers in the department, were grinning like Cheshire cats. We were given a job to do and we did it. The surprise of the evening, however, was Ali wearing makeup and announcing that he had enjoyed the whole thing - something he NEVER thought he would say about participating in the performing arts!
We were allowed to take the certificate home for the weekend but it must be returned to the department on Monday. We are, however, arranging to have a certificate and photos printed for everyone who took part and we will be making one further performance on Simao's central square on Tuesday evening, as part of the International Day of the Child variety show arranged by Freda's nursery. April 2006 It's now 2 months since we returned from our Spring Festival 2006 travels around Yunnan and our feet have hardly touched the ground. We are now fairly well-settle back into the routine of family life and work although we've all got a bit more on our plates this term.
Lesley's work has changed a little this term. Although she is still teaching Culture and Writing to Grade III students, she is now involved with Grade II methods training. This means co-teaching a course with one of her Chinese colleagues. They plan, deliver and develop the course together. Although there were a few raised eyebrows at this rather novel idea, it is proving to be a great success. President Du is extremely keen on positive teaching innovations and has proved an invaluable support in Lesley's work. Other teachers are showing an interest in working together to develop their skills. Lesley is learning a great deal about Chinese teaching methods and classroom culture. Lesley is also developing and In-Service Teacher Training (INSETT) Programme for the College and some Middle School teachers. Two afternoon workshops have been held and at the beginning of the month two other VSO volunteers (Gillian, Becky) came to Simao to help run a one-day workshop for College and Middle School English teachers. This also provided an opportunity to celebrate Ali's birthday, shared with Gillian. The biggest news from the English Department is that we have a new Dean. Mr Chen Yong has already been a fabulous support to us since our first day in Simao. He used to work principally in the Teaching Affairs Office, with some Foreign Affairs and English Teaching thrown in. Now the English Department are fortunate to have him steering the ship. He is very supportive of the work of VSO and is looking for ways to maximise the efficacy of Lesley's work here. As well as collaborative ventures developing with Chinese colleagues, Lesley is working with students to develop Simao Teacher's College's first English writing publication - a monthly newsletter - edited by students with Lesley's support. The first two issues are available at SUNFLOWER. Freda and Edie are both attending Iu Er Yuan Simao State Nursery, three mornings a week. Freda has a great time with her classmates and teachers and particularly likes maths and art. She also helps serve breakfast and lunch to her classmates. On Monday they participate in the Flag-Raising ceremony on the school playground and they all do morning exercise. Well, the other children do it while Freda 'guards' the mountain of jackets and bags. She hasn't quite got into the aerobics-cum-Chinese dance routine. Give it time.... Edie also attends a class with other 3 year olds. She's only been in the room twice now and Ali nipped off today for 10 minutes. In another few weeks we hope that she will stay there without Ali. That will give him the chance to continue his 'teaching' work - primarily English reading, playing games and, we hope, some fun crafts. As well as giving Freda and Edie free places in return, the nursery have offered to pay him. His main 'job' is to provide a modern of parenting/child care. Why not visit Home School for more information and photos? Home School continues with various projects including insects, book-binding; story writing; the stars and family crests. We make a little time every day for reading practice and Edie is now desperate to learn to read. She seems to think we just 'do' something to her and she'll be able to do it.... Alex and Feng left today for Australia, where they hope to live for at least 2 years. Alex has worked in China as a VSO volunteer for over 5 years, with 2 and a half of those spent in Simao. Responsibility for the Twilight Zone and Film Club is still primarily in the hands of the students with Miss Liu (a newly qualified teacher) and Lesley as support, if need be. At present no new VSO volunteer has been placed but we wait with crossed fingers for news. There is a lot of work to do here, particularly developing the Middle School and College teacher training and, most importantly, TRAINER TRAINING before VSO withdraws from ELT in China in 2009. So, if you're a potential volunteer and reading this, PLEASE don't delay. WE NEED YOU!!!! Last weekend we celebrated our
third family birthday in China. Edie turned three and we marked the occasion
with a pond-side picnic with some friends and students. Lesley’s co-teacher
came with her nine year old daughter, Nini and the Dean of English brought along
his toddling son, Ahan. We were also joined by two loyal and responsible Grade
III students who do the odd bit of baby-sitting for us. We ate watermelon and a
large, synthetic cream-covered cake with a big picture of Edie on top. We’ve
had our fair share of these cakes and have grown accustomed to the white,
fluffy, creatively-piped coating that first seemed like a poor substitute for
icing. Edie received some great little gifts – a teddy (her only one in
China), a teddy-shaped travel pillow, a ‘mechano’ style building set and a
water gun. An odd gift for a 3-year old you may think? As it happens, the shops
are full of them at the moment. We’re not talking about small, pocket-sized
water pistols. On the contrary, there’s a serious arms trade in rifles,
machine guns and a kind of bazooka-cum-pesticide sprayer, with a water tank that
straps to your back. The reason for this? Edie’s birthday coincides with the
Dai people’s most important week in the year: the Water-Splashing Festival.
The origin of this festival can be found in Dai folklore. According to
this, the Dai Kingdom was once oppressed by a tyrant with magical powers. Among
his consorts, there was a woman who took pity on the Dai. She discovered that
her master’s vulnerable point was his neck, which could easily be broken. So,
as he slept one night, she strangled him with
a single hair from his head. To the woman’s horror, his head dropped
off and a torrent of blood and fire spurted out, threatening to destroy the
whole kingdom. The consort and her Dai friends poured water over the King’s
head, the fire and the blood. With the spell broken, harmony was restored to the
land of the Dai and each year, in thanks for their delivery from the demon-king,
and to wash away their own sins, they hold the Water-Splashing Festival.
Xishuangbanna Prefecture, neighbouring Simao Prefecture to the south,
is the centre of the Dai people. Jinghong, the prefecture’s capital, is
host to dragon-boat racing, the slaughtering of buffaloes, singing contests and
giant, bamboo sky-rockets. The festival runs for a week. Even in Simao, however,
the streets are full of drenched people and any outing into town means running
the gauntlet of open windows overlooking the pavement. Water symbolises emotion
and wisdom so the consolation is that being ‘splashed’ (or drenched) will
bring good luck. Thus, armed with water guns, water bottles, bowls and basins,
the people take to the streets and, essentially, play. While in Jinghong we particularly enjoyed a visit to a temple, where Dai women were preparing offerings to the Buddha, a ‘request’ for protection and luck for the coming year. These preparations took place throughout the festival, for the first week of the Dai new year.
Edie’s birthday also happened to coincide with a College-hosted show to
celebrate Pu’er Tea. We spent two hours on the College playground watching a
combination of Beijing opera-style tea homages, traditional Wa and Dai dance
performances, as well as a tea preparation ceremony. That's all for now. An afternoon of meetings and paperwork await, as well as a trip to the seamstress to pick up some trousers being altered! On Friday we head up to Sichuan Province to visit the Panda Breeding Center at Chengdu. It's the May holiday and we're REALLY looking forward to it. The last 10 weeks have left us all quite tired - no teaching loads, new school experiences, new weather (it's getting hotter and hotter with virtually no rain YET). So, keep in touch and we'll be back to update these pages after our Panda experience. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday 27th November 2005 We have been here for almost 3 months now and are finally finding our feet in this exotic new location. Lesley is busy running extra-curricular activities (Singing Club, English Corner, Pronunciation workshops and writing competitions) while Alastair, Freda and Edie are getting to grips with the challenges of home-schooling as well as putting food on the table. As you must know by now, Simao is situated in the south of China’s Yunnan Province, very close to the borders with Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Vietnam. As we are in the tropics, at an altitude of about 1000m, the climate ranges from mild in the winter (we are currently experiencing a very cool 15 degrees centigrade!) to a bearable heat in the summer (maximum 30 degrees C.). The wet season starts in May and lasts through to August, but the rain never lasts all day. It’s a pleasant and cooling diversion, often accompanied by thunder and lightning, rather than the irritation it can be in Scotland! Umbrellas are the order of the day – when not being used for deflecting precipitation their secondary function is as parasols. Alastair was very pleased to purchase a press-button (semi-automatic) brolly for a very reasonable price of 6 Yuan (less than 50p). Flowers bloom all year round, birds sing in the palm trees and the ancient forests close in around the town, inviting exploration into the countryside to explore remote villages. In close proximity to Simao there are also emerald green lakes surrounded by pine trees and tea plantations where it’s very easy to spend an hour or two soaking up the atmosphere of a hilltop tearoom. As well as spotting exotic plants, insects and meeting tea-pickers (the two wee girls are great icebreakers in these sorts of situations!) we enjoy the stunning views of the town. It’s always good to get a little bit of a breather from the College. Tea is what Simao is all about, and the Chinese will tell you that the origins of tea drinking and cultivation lie here. The climate is ideal, so many different types of tea are grown here. The most famous is Pu’er tea, a fermented red tea which has a character very similar to our favoured British brew. Another subject the Chinese love to make conservation about is the health-giving properties of various food – and you won’t be surprised to hear that Pu’er tea has been scientifically proven to prevent and alleviate cerebral and cardiovascular diseases. Lesley still favours Chrysanthemum tea (with little flowers floating in the cup) and Alastair’s ‘indulgence’ is a mug of Lipton’s with milk! Despite being unaccustomed to the taste we are, nevertheless, enjoying the culture and history revolving around this distinct tea. During the Qing Dynasty (around 1750 AD) a fabled incident occurred which accounts for the discovery of fermented, as opposed to green, tea. The Simao tea growers pressed their green tea into bricks and sent them (as a form of tax-payment or tribute from the frontier territory of Yunnan) by horse-caravan to the imperial court in Beijing. During the 4000km-long journey the tea became damp, fermented, and turned brown. At this point the caravan leader feared for his head and even considered suicide. He soon discovered, however, that the fermented tea had a delightful fragrance and deep red shade which, fortunately, the Emperor in the capital found to his liking. Thus, Pu’er tea became famous (at least in China!) and ever since then the Simao region has been benefiting from the economic results of the tea trade. Thus, in our free time we are happily exploring part of the route that the tea-caravans would have taken on the long road from Simao to other parts of China, and other countries (Nepal, India, Tibet), from as long ago as 200 BC. The Tea Horse Ancient Trail, or Southern Silk Road can still be followed in places, as a narrow, flagstone-paved path through the forests and up and down the hills north of Simao. A half-hour bone-shaking bus ride took Alastair to the starting point of this 5-hour ramble back home. The flagstones are still, in places, perfectly preserved, though sometimes worn out by centuries of heavily laden pony hooves. Earlier this year, in April, a caravan of 120 horses and mules laden with raw tea left Simao, stopping at points along the way to sell its cargo. Last month it arrived in Beijing, where a final auction took place as a way of raising money for the building of five primary schools for poverty-stricken Yunnan children. Simao prefecture is, indeed, an impoverished part of China. This, of course, is the reason that we were ‘placed’ here by VSO. As well as having a serious shortage of qualified primary and middle school teachers, this area has major problems with HIV and AIDS due to prostitution and drug abuse. The heroin producing countries of the Golden Triangle are a mere bus journey away to the southwest, and Simao is on the major road route. It is not just tea that is transported north from Simao. According to the Centre for Disease Control approximately 30 % of all China’s reported HIV and AIDS cases are in Yunnan. As well as English language teaching, therefore, Lesley is also incorporating HIV and AIDS into her teaching as a cross-cutting theme. You can read more about this work in future instalments. On that note, lesson planning and child-rearing await! This week Lesley is exploring the concept of a Welfare State with her students and Alastair is exploring new methods of cooking vegetables without excessive amounts of oil!
1st November 2005 We are back in Simao (after our holiday in Kunming) and fairly settled into work after our mid-autumn break. In fact, I think the second part of the autumn seemed to speed past and I am sitting in a fleece and woolly socks, still feeling cold! It is lovely to have some rain though. Makes me feel closer to Scotland, which, of course, we are all missing a little. I guess we are still trying to find a way to play as well as work. Hill running has been put on the back burner for a while. We are trying to recruit some keen runners from my students to venture out into the tropical vegetation to penetrate the hills that surround the town.
Freda and Edie sharing some noodles at a lime kiln canteen we gate-crashed on our bike ride along the old road to Kunming (left). Just before heading home the rain came on but it didn't dishearten us as we were eager to try out our new cycle capes! (right) Meantime we are enjoying cycle trips and walks. We usually end up getting caught out by the rain but with our recently purchased bike capes, who cares? Last weekend we had two visitors (whooppieieieie, it was GREAT!) - Gillian and Becky who are both VSO volunteers at Xingyi Teachers' College, Guizhou Province. We took them for a walk around the tea plantation road only to be descended upon by thick, dark gray rain clouds that shed their load on us. So we sat in a little room drinking green tea, watching the view and being watched.
Freda, Gillian and Becky having afternoon tea and a play at our house (left) and our friendly spectator at the tea plantation (right). He and his other holiday-maker friends had been drowning their wet weather sorrows in a bit of bai jiu by the smell of things. Before you go, here is a short piece I wrote for a couple of Scottish papers (Peebles-shire News and The Highland Courier), incase you missed them at your end! Greetings
from Simao or, as I should now say, “Chi le ma”, meaning "have you
eaten?" This is one of the expressions/questions with which people greet
each other here! We
have been here for over 2 months and are still settling in to our new home and
routine in this slightly sleepy tropical town. It doesn't feel very tropical at
the moment. Nevertheless, considering the climate, the geography, the diet and
the people I have to say that we have landed on our feet. When VSO offered us
this placement they suggested it would be ideal for a family. They were right. As
you may have seen already from The College
pictures, where we are living and working is peaceful and picturesque. There are
palm trees, tropical flowers, rock gardens, a pavilion and rose garden and a
pond on which the fountains start up at 6 o’clock in the evening. We have been
given a large flat near the basketball courts, in prime position to see the
daily flight from Kunming take off and land – a highlight at dinner time.
Freda and Edie are delighted to have a bedroom each and we also have a
study where Lesley locks herself away to do marking and lesson preparations. The
College have also provided us with a bicycle and we bought a second one so that
we can enjoy family cycle trips. Both are fitted with child seats but it’s not
uncommon in China to see at least 3 people and 2 live chickens on one bicycle. As
it happens, we have almost everything we need very close to the campus. The
fruit, vegetable and meat markets are situated 2 minutes from the back gate.
Alastair and the girls come back with tales of toads in sacks, cat fish chasing
them down the aisles and unrecognisable vegetables. We
also have a stationery shop, a bakery (great for sweet breads and UHT milk), a
DVD shop, bank, seamstress (who makes trousers for us and repairs ripped
sunhats, bags etc) and some handy restaurants right at hand. Our favourite local
venue is a Muslem restaurant, which offers fried bamboo shoots, grated potato
fritters, cabbage soup and beef with mint and fennel. Other favourite eateries
offer “jaozi”, similar to ravioli and “across-the-bridge-noodles” – a
piping hot soup to which one adds a plateful of vegetables, noodles, meat and
fish to cook. For
posting letters, eating dumplings and ice-cream, buying trainers and fabric or
other more “specialised” items, we take the No1 Minibus into town for 1 yuan.
Gone are the days of shivering at the bus stop on the A702 waiting for the X100
to Edinburgh. Gone also are the days of a bus drivers telling us we can’t get
on because there’s already a buggy on board. Buses are respected as an
essential means of transport – for everyone. So far we haven’t seen any
livestock on one but the aisles are often filled with sacks of grain or rice and
tea-pickers’ baskets. What’s more, we never wait for more than 3 minutes for
a bus to arrive. As we’re not allowed to drive in China, it’s great to have
such a good service. Given the Highway Code that seems to be in operation (or
lack of it), driving is something I would rather leave to the professionals. Finally, a quick note on what brought us here – the teaching. Both courses, Writing and The Culture of Britain and America are going well. I am getting used to classes starting at 8 am and look forward to lunch at 11.30. I’m happy not to be teaching in the afternoons or evenings. As I’m currently working without text books, I spend a lot of time designing materials. How I miss a colour printer, glossy magazines and even supermarket fliers – black and white photocopies of food, clothing and scenery just don’t look the same! Nevertheless, the students seem to be happy and are adjusting to the new British accent (with a twinge of Scottish of course). Despite the fact that the students will begin their teaching practice next term, their level of English is still very low, on the whole. Thus, a great deal of time is spent correcting homework and encouraging oral practice in the weekly English Corner. I am also publishing some of their work on the internet – at Voices of China - so that their writing efforts have a greater sense of purpose, namely communication with the world beyond Simao Teachers’ College. Why not have a look and even send them a message? They would love to get your feedback. As well as the classroom teaching I help a small group of students with their pronunciation as they have a Primary School Teachers' Exam coming up soon and are quite anxious. I also have a 'language/culture exchange' with one of my Chinese colleagues. She helps me with my Chinese pronunciation and I with her English. I now have a Chinese Language teacher, Miss Wang, with whom I meet for 2 hours every Wednesday afternoon. I'm trying to learn to read and write Chinese characters at the same time as learning oral Chinese. It's slower than using Pin yin but I think will be better for my language learning and comprehension in the long run. My homework for the week is to write about "My Life" in Chinese characters - a very simple description, believe me. It's cold today so we're all sitting around in fleeces. Time to get back to work – 69 crossword puzzles to correct by tomorrow! Byee for now Lesley Friday 16th September 2005 We made it!! After 2 weeks of in-country training in Xi'an we flew south to Simao, where we have been living for nearly three weeks. We arrived in this beautiful Yunnan town to be met on the tarmac by 3 of our colleagues from the College. We were taken to a great little restaurant situated on a hillside and surrounded by tea plantations. We drank green tea, cracked open sunflower seeds on which to nibble before being ushered into a little room for a great spread. The driver spoke no English and in-country training provided some useful shopping vocab but not much beyond. "ni shi Simao ren ma?" meaning, "are you from Simao?" So Mr Chen Yong and Mr Wang, our other two hosts, chatted with us about Simao, the College and the tasty food. Edie latched onto the boiled eggs, Freda the spinach and I chewed my way through a chicken's stomach. We're definitely out of the city now.
When we arrived at the College later that evening we were absolutely thrilled to be shown to our accommodation. Not only did we have fit and enthusiastic basketball players to carry our 100 kilos of luggage up the three flights of stairs but we also found ourselves in a very spacious flat. We have one double and two single bedrooms, a study, a huge living room (where we could easily host a ping-pong tournament), a kitchen, dining area, shower/washroom and enormous hall area. The latter is the location for the home school. e spent the first few days cleaning and the College have kindly fitted cages on the windows (not something we would normally be so pleased about!) so that, in the absence of child-proof locks, we can have open windows without worrying about the children falling out. We also have mosquito nets up so we can, in fact, have the windows open 24 hours a day if we want! The weather is warm, sometimes hot, never cold, regularly wet...although it will all change a little as we progress into winter. When we are set up with a computer at home and can provide a more thorough update, Alastair will be able to share his weather/temperature stats with you all - minimum/maximum etc. In fact, there is so much to look forward to - photos, tales of ill-health and, I hope, some student and teacher contributions. So PLEASE log-on again soon and if you have any specific information requests, just send us an email and we'll see what we can do.
Meantime, I have to get on with some lesson preparation. The teaching is going well so far. I am fortunate enough to have a light teaching load this term. I am teaching a writing course and a culture course, both to 130 third year students. The writing course has plenty of marking to do so I'm not short of work. I have also become involved with a Tuesday evening English Corner where students, staff and the occasional middle school pupil get together to discuss various topics in English. Some do more speaking than others. Freda and Edie usually come along in their pyjamas and are always a useful distraction if conversation dries up. The students are also doing some peer teaching each week, in either the writing or culture class. This involves extra planning and meetings but seems to be worthwhile so far. Next term they will be heading out to middle schools for their teaching practice so I think most of them are glad to have the opportunity to practice in the comfort of their own classes. Today's excitement on campus is the English Department's Performance Party where students will be singing and dancing the night away to welcome new teachers and students. Before that we will be having dinner with the other VSO volunteer, Alex, and her husband Feng (who also teaches at the College). All-in-all we are busy, happy and adjusting fairly well to the climate and the food. Health and other news to follow soon. Please keep in touch and my apologies for the haste with which this is written. Bye for now Lesley
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