The Teacher's First Three Days

Tuesday 30^th September

Waiting at Singapore airport was a tiring few hours. Once we had found a meeting place on some comfortable lounges that happened to be in front of a television the students went off in small groups to explore coming back to check in with the teachers every half hour. For most of them the first stop was Burger King for Coke and fries!

 

Our very tired group boarded the next plane to Beijing just after 1am and although we were exhausted it was a while before anyone slept. I have never taxied as far as we did in Singapore on any flight I had taken before – we were starting think the pilot wanted to taxi his way to China!! However after almost half an hour on the runway we took off at last. 

 

Some of the students settled down to sleep straight away – eye masks and blankets on – and others continued to chat and play games. Most of us had at least some sleep but it was an extremely tired bunch of people who got off the plane in Beijing!

 

After waltzing through immigration and customs we were met by Sharon (Zhu Qi) our guide from Huijia Private School. The bus ride to the school took about an hour and because we had arrived a little late, the students were whisked away quickly to their dormitories to organise their bags for their first homestay as many of the families were already waiting to collect their students.

 

Once all the students had gone the staff were shown to their rooms. We decided that it was not a good idea to sleep although we had all had very little sleep since leaving Perth. We headed into the local town of Changping by taxi. Mrs Wright and Mrs McKay decided a neck and back massage was the go and Ms Van Beem and I wandered around the nearby area.

 

Next stop for us was lunch and what an amusing experience that was! We chose a restaurant that had pictures displayed so we could order easily. We decided that the noodles pictured on the wall were called Beef Noodles on the translated menu we were eventually given. Expecting a plate of noodles each, we were very surprised when large bowls were put in front of us. The beef and noodle soup was actually very tasty although not what we thought we had ordered. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around in Changping. Eventually we found a supermarket/market. We strolled around for a while and then purchased bits and pieces to bring back with us (water, snacks etc). We discovered we were very close to where we had started so we returned to the same restaurant for dinner as the staff there had been very friendly. This time we decided pointing to the pictures was the go and we enjoyed a meal of fried rice and chicken kebabs. Then it was back to Huijia by taxi and after chatting for a while four very tired teachers hit the sack!

 

Wednesday 1^st October

After the best sleep I had had in a while it was off to Beijing for the day that turned out to be a day of new experiences!

 

The teachers had spoken to the students they could reach and all of them were having a great time at their homestays.

 

Our trip into Beijing took quite a while. Firstly a half hour taxi drive to Lungze Station, the nearest subway station to the school. When we arrived there the queue to get into the station was very long but we quickly passed through the security, bought tickets and found our platform. Riding the subway was interesting – what we would call a packed train is anything but packed. Even when you think the train is full more people push their way on. We negotiated the change to the second line quite easily and found ourselves not far from Lulichang Street, our first destination.

 

Liulichang Street, which was built in the Qing Dynasty, had lots of Chinese history to experience. Crowded with shops selling antiques and ancient books, calligraphy tools like Chinese pens, ink, ink stones and paper, and Chinese ink drawings. There were also shops selling teas of many varieties, tea sets and also interesting Chinese snacks like green tea biscuits.

 

After strolling down one section of the street, we found ourselves wandering through a Hutong – a traditional Chinese housing area. This was also a very interesting experience!

Next stop was a Peking Duck Restaurant for lunch.

 

Back to the subway for our next stop- The Silk Market. In the basement we had to push our way through crowds of people, Every step saw another seller shoving their wares in our faces – Bali is nothing compared to this! After the shoe, bag and clothing floors we headed straight for the top floor and found lots of beautiful jewellery. Pearls, Pandora bracelets (fake, of course) and much more!

 

After a late dinner we went back to Huijia by taxi exhausted after a very interesting day.

 

Thursday 2^nd October

Into Beijing again today – taxi then subway with 2 interchanges. After changing money at the bank, recharging our phone cards and some morning tea, we headed into the Silk Market again.

 

First stop – jewellery again!! Some more purchases of Pandora bracelets and pearls for gifts. We also wandered around the toy and electronic floor. Then after a pizza lunch we continued browsing, this time at silk scarves, ties, homewares etc. Then after some hard bargaining for a lovely leather bag we decided it was time to head back to Huijia.

 

As the students started to arrive back at their dormitories we recorded their thoughts and experiences about the homestay visits. (These will be added later!)

 

They were all very excited and it took some time to settle them for the night. From the chatter about their experiences all the students have had a fantastic time and experienced many new things. What a fantastic way it was to start their China experience!!

Posted by email from Jane's posterous