Ok I'm really behind with my blog, so I'm just going to write about last week quickly!
I wrote part of a blog last tuesday but I couldn't save it, and then the rest of my week was very busy.

Last Tuesday I started my 4 weeks of tutoring for two students for a provincial english speaking competition. It was nice to just have two people to talk to had we had a chat about Yiyang and England, and differences between the countries.

After the tutoring (which is at the old campus) I met with Lisa and she invited me to dinner with her, Mr. Liu, Mr. Hu their boss, some other teachers from the school, and someone who I think was the deputy head of the school.

It was a very interesting meal, and everyone was very friendly. I learnt a little about ganbei and drinking baiju, and I also learn that people just drive home afterwards, so I was glad Mr. Hu was only taking us around the corner back to campus!

Wednesday afternoon, me and Richard went to explore another area of town we had spotted on the bus. A new KFC had sprung up, next to a G&M which looked suspiciously like a H&M. It was a little like a department store, but it had clothes and shoes for pretty reasonable prices and I bought a few tops.

We then walked a little further down the road to have a look at what looked like a shopping complex. There were lots of shops and outdoor cafes in the square, but it was very quiet I think the chinese have a sort of siesta. Officially everything doesn't close, but in practice everyone disappears for a long lunch. There were also lots of "KTV" signs, so it might be somewhere we explore in the evening at a later date.

We took the bus back home, and I started my marking, and for the remainder of the week I just seemed to be marking or doing lesson plans! So I'm going to learn from my mistakes, start mnarking earlier, and set less homework!

After my final class on friday, I went to the canteen with a student called Becky who helped me order some egg and tomatoes, and then I slept all afternoon!

When I woke up, me and Richard went to the restaurant next to our apartments for some food. We struggled with our ordering, and asked for "vegetables", "beef, no chilli" and "soup". As always what we received was delicious :)
After the meal we bought some cheap chinese wine, yummy, and had some cheese and crackers (!!!) and a night in.

On saturday we went into town and did some shopping in the "Better Life" mall. We had 50rmb as a gift card to all teachers, but we were stocking up on things we couldn't buy on campus and spent much more than that! I bought some more cheese, some black tea, some tuna, a tin of mackrel in tomato sauce and various other bits and pieces :D

We caught a taxi back to campus and both had a quiet night, I spent mine cleaning since I'd had no time in the week.

I was up early on Sunday morning and finished my cleaning. Me and Rich then went into town to post some parcels (SOOO expensive!!!!), change his kettle that didn't work, and then try out a chinese/western restaurant we had spotted.
It was very posh inside, but it wasn't too over priced and I had some form of spag bol (was lacking in tomato sauce) and we shared some chips. Rich had a steak :)

That afternoon/evening it was back home to relax, eat more tuna, and plan my lesson for Monday morning.

This morning I ot up and went to class, I had my students role-playing interviews which went ok, and I think it was something they found useful.
On my way back I stopped at the tea house near the apartments and ordered something by pointing at it. I got an iced tea which was pretty nice and sat and did two of this weeks lesson plans.

Now I'm just waiting for Peter to arrive and help me to put up the rest of my curtains, then I'll grab some lunch... :)