Half Term & Hong Kong

I've been so busy, hence the long time between posts. Apologies.

A couple of weeks ago, now, we had half term, so I used the time to try and see a bit more of Beijing. I got out to the Great Wall with lots of people from school, which was fantastic. We went to a section on top of a mountain, so took a cable car up. We walked along it for a few hours, taking innumerable shots of effectively the same photo! To get down they have built a toboggan chute, so you sit on a little car and control how fast you go down! Awesome. I also went to a Chinese acrobat show, which incredible - some of the feats of strength, balance, dexterity etc were unbelievable. I discovered the student-y area of Beijing, which has a really cool feel to it, and lots of great bars, restaurants and markets. One favourite bar runs beer pong every thursday night, it's a totally Western crowd. A friend and I went along and played and had a great night.

On Friday of half term, with term due to restart on tuesday, the headmaster's secretary rang me, at about 2pm, and asked if I could go to Hong Kong, to sort out my visa. At 6am, the following morning. So 18 hours later I was flying to Hong Kong! With my flatmate, Louise, who had similar issues. We couldn't go to the visa office until Monday morning, so I met up with one of my housemates from uni, Owen, who is my Asia buddy and is working in Hong Kong, and we had a crazy weekend! Went up to survey Hong Kong from The Peak (highest point in Hong Kong), took a ferry between islands, saw the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas, went out to the beach, went to a bar where they give you fur coats n you stand in a freezer....and so much more! Fantastic weekend. Spent ridiculous amounts (Hong Kong is expensive!). Great times.

Since then have been working pretty long hours; the choir at school had their big concert this week so have been rehearsing like crazy. It went really well, and I was called on stage and presented with wine, which was really nice. There's no rest though - Christmas carol concert in two weeks, so it's going to be busy 'til the end. Last week should be full of parties n stuff which I am looking forward to. Three weeks to California!

I have been thinking a lot about what to do next year. The headmaster implied if I wanted to stay they'd like me to, and I could even take a PGCE whilst working here, but I'm not going to (though it was nice to be offered!). Am thinking of coming home n settling in London, either to do a PGCE, or another year's study, conversion course in languages or economics. I change my mind every day!

Off to watch England get battered at rugby later! Playing football tomorrow, it may be the penultimate match before the winter break. Beijing is cold right now. Cycling to school in the morning, it's in the minus temperatures. Brrr.

Peace out. x

Two months...

So it's been a while; in the last two weeks, I've been very busy at work.

Of the four full time music staff, one is in Japan for a fortnight and the other two got ill simultaneously last week, so I ran the department for a few days! It was pretty stressful, but I think I came out with lots of credit, so no complaints. Last Friday we had HaRRoween; an event in school with food and lots of music, stalls and games, which pretty much falls to our dept to organise. It was a big success, and was actually pretty fun; we had lots of different musical acts, some with or run by us, some put on by the students, all fairly decent. We also had our inter-house music competition on the same day; hence why I have been so busy. The competition was really good - there are some fantastic pianists here, and a really, really good drummer, so it was a good day.

After those events lots of the staff went to a karaoke bar, where we drank and sang for a few hours, which was great. The Chinese staff are, without exception, AMAZING at karaoke; even I was put to shame! The best I managed was a few Backstreet Boys numbers...

The weekend just gone the Girls Choir at school spent the weekend at a spa outside Beijing, and I had to go to supervise. It's an annual trip - they do lots of rehearsals during the day (their big concert is coming up), then go to these lovely hot springs and spa in the evening. They're a really nice group, so it wasn't very hard work, so I helped out with rehearsals, then was able to relax in the evening. I had my first ever massage! Back and feet...I didn't really know what to expect, and, to be honest, I really didn't like it! She hurt me! Was a fun weekend overall.

Have been playing every weekend for the Beijing Barbarians, and have started playing midweek 5-a-side as well. Got on the scoresheet last weekend in a 6-2 win, played two 5-a-side games midweek, one win, one loss, three goals in two games, then had a 2-2 draw this weekend. We're up to 4th in the table. We're having a club dinner on Friday, which suits me as it's half-term at the end of this week - all the guys are really nice, so that's going well.

So yep, one more week 'til half-term. Am STILL having visa issues, but there is a still a fair chance I will go to Hong Kong next week. And it's under 7 weeks until California!

x

P.S. Had a nice three-way skype with the family on my Gpa's 90th, and had my first skype with the boys in York last weekend, which was awesome. Although the nudity was probably unnecessary. Anyway, if anyone ues it, let me know!