Well, I should probably keep my current blog going because it'll take me a while to type up my backlog from my big trip. Also I'm avoiding doing any work!

So, to continue from my blog which you haven't read yet...

1st February

I landed in Changsha safe and sound, successfully managed to catch a bus from the airport to the city centre then caught a taxi back to Yiyang.

When I arrived in Yiyang I was SO tired after the long day travelling and lack of sleep the night. I had to call Peter to unlock my door and give me the spare key since I had lost my first one with my wallet. In true Peter style, he stayed for ages then invited me for tea and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Eventually I agreed and went to visit his new apartment for a meal with him and his father in Law. His apartment was very nice although the meal was all meat and I had to pick at the few vegetables around it.

When I got back to my apartment I took it easy then had a (relatively) early night.

2nd February

The next day Mat came to visit. He was planning to come the night before but he had problems getting out of Liuyang. When he arrived we went for some lunch at the restaurant on campus (there wasn't much open...) then we went into town for a food shop. I bought some bread and some HEINZ ketchup!!!!!!

Back at my apartment we played some music, drank some wine and made curry dumplings. It was fun and they were veeeeeeery nice :D

3rd February

I got up early and left Mat asleep whilst I went into town with Lisa to sort out my bank cards. I reported it missing and ordered a new card, I found out I had more money than I thought which was a very nice surprise!

I woke Mat up when we got back and we started to build a plan of what to do next. We decided to get some lunch and then head to Changsha to see Matt and Jonny.

We went into town and the music shop was open so I bought a guitar! We had dinner at the dumpling restaurant then we went back and caught a bus to Changsha.

I'd never caught a bus there before but it went pretty smoothly, didn't take too long and dropped us off pretty close to Matt and Jonny's uni. When we arrived we left our stuff and then got ready to go out for some food.

The four of us went into town and went for some Western food at Jono's for a treat. This wasn't so successful though. They didn't have a large selection of vegetarian food but I'm not that picky so I ordered a fruit pizza. They didn't have any. They also didn't have the beer I wanted, the veggie patties, the salad I ordered. By the time everyone else's food had arrived I still hadn't ordered and there wasn't a whole lot else left. We decided at that point to cut our losses since it was getting stupid, paid for the chips, bread and beer that we'd eaten then complained and refused to pay for the rest. Once we got it sorted we went next door to Pizza Hut. It was brilliant mmmm pizza!

After we'd eaten we went to the 4698 bar and played some Kings until Amy joined us with her friend. We had a nice evening chatting and playing pool. When Amy left we drank up and decided to head back to campus. It was raining outside so we flagged down a taxi quickly and got some food when we arrived. I was awkward and refused to climb over the gate (it's bloody high....) so we had to walk the long way around (sorry guys!).

4th February

The next day I woke up a bit late, had a shower then me and Mat went into the city centre to try and find a birthday present for his girlfriend Amelia. We did pretty well and got pretty much everything we were looking for. It was quite late by the time we had finished though. We met Amy briefly and she gave me a present for my birthday which was very kind :)

We had to catch a taxi to Liuyang since the buses had stopped running. When we arrived we went for some noodles then some waffles. In the waffles restaurant we briefly ran into some of Mat's friends and arranged to meet them the following night.

When we arrived at Mat's apartment we relaxed with some beer and some music and then got an early-ish night.

5th February

This was my full day in Liuyang. We woke up a little late then went into town. We walked along by the river then went up a hill to a pagoda. Afterwards we stopped for a coffee and organised to meet people about 7pm. We had time to go back to Mat's for a rest and I had a short nap.

We went back into town to meet Mat's friends in a restaurant. Mat wasn't really sure where he was going but we met one of his friends outside. The meal was good then we went for a few beers sitting outside by some night food places.

6th February

The next day I packed up my stuff and got ready to head back to Changsha. After some research we still couldn't work out if there was a bus straight from Liuyang to Yiyang and the Changsha buses arrived/left from the opposite side of the cities so I decided to go for the ease of two taxis.

The Liuyang taxi arrived almost as soon as we arrived in the town centre. I'm not sure how I survived that taxi journey but I made it to Changsha with some very frayed nerves. I called Lisa and caught a second taxi back to Yiyang which was much calmer!

Back in Yiyang I cooked some tea and had a relaxing night, with no alcohol!

7th February

My Saturday was very relaxed, it was nice to have a whole day doing nothing! I also decided to try and eat healthy and not drink any alcohol for the next week to try and anti some of the chaos of the last month!

8th February

Sunday afternoon I went into town to try to find a birthday card. I didn't have a lot of luck, I had to walk for about 2 hours before I found something that resembled a card, then it took me almost another hour to get it posted, the woman in the post office was not being helpful! I had to ring Lisa and she sorted me out.

During my wandering around I met one of my students. She was very nice and bought me some special cakes and told me that there would be lots of celebrations the following day for the end of the Spring Festival.

9th February

I had arranged to meet Lisa to see some of the celebrations. However, she never mentioned a time and at 8:30am I got a text telling me we could meet at 8:45am! As you might have guessed, I was late and she had already left, thus started my treasure hunt run into town.

I was aiming for the Olympic Park and had I known this to begin with it would've been much easier. As it was, I caught one bus, walked for half an hour, walked for another 10 mins, walked back a bit, caught another bus and arrived there about an hour and a half after I'd set off!

In front of the government buildings near the Olympic Park there was a show as the parade started. There was some lions and dragons and bands and some kind of shrimp thing and balancing kids (standing on ducks?!?!), it was very exciting! Me and Lisa followed the parade into the town centre then caught the bus back to campus.

I had a rest that afternoon then at 6pm I went outside because Lisa told me there would be dragon dances around the apartments. I couldn't see anything so I walked to the shop and found two dragons against the wall and lots of people hanging around, so I hung around too. I attracted a lot of Chinese kids and they kept trying to talk to me, it didn't go too badly... although they stuck with the long tradition of "if she can't understand, just talk louder!". Eventually the dragon people arrived but then they got in a bus and drove off. I was fairly disappointed and went back to my apartment.

A couple of hours later the fireworks had gotten really loud so I went to look out of my window and my whole street was exploding! The dragons and lions were running around avoiding firecrackers and going into people's apartments! I grabbed my camera and ran outside and spent about an hour taking pictures and getting deafened.

Eventually I got tired and went back inside, but I still heard the drums after 11pm, they must have been so tired by the time they'd finished!

10th February

The next morning I met Lisa and we went to the Old Campus so she could give me my schedule for the new semester. Unfortunately I don't have any week days off, and the May holiday is only one day long, but I guess I can't complain too much. I also found out I'd have a new class, so I will have a lot of new faces to name and remember!

Afterwards we went to the bank to collect my card, but it was closed for lunch, so we decided to go back the day after.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing until I noticed some ants on the floor! At which point I went on a mad cleaning spree and swept and mopped the entire apartment... They haven't been back yet but we shall see...

11th February

Yesterday morning I met Lisa again, but this time I asked if it could be a little later! We went to the bank and I got my new card and my internet banking sorted!

Afterwards we stopped on the way back and did some shopping which was fun and the weather was loooovely and then caught a lift back to campus.

I had a bit of a rest then went back out in the sunshine with my new bank card to do some shopping of my own. I didn't find much that I liked though, Chinese fashion is pretty rubbish. If you don't like diamonds you're screwed!

I got back quite late and spent most of the night trying to play my new guitar!

12th February

Ok I'm back up to date yay! Today I woke up and had a bit of a tidy. I went out to buy some fruit and got a milk tea (woo the shop is open again!) and then organised which lessons I needed to plan, called Nanny, called Orange, tried to play guitar but my fingers hurt, and decided to write my blog.

Anything I could do to avoid lessons hehe :) Anyway I guess I'm out of distractions so I better et some work done!