Again I'm really behind with this blog. I will skip over the weeks because I can't really remember it and not much has happened anyway.

Monday 23rd February

This was the second week of classes and it started to feel like I'd never had a break! The weather was horrible and my sleep patterns didn't improve, it's warmer to sleep in the day!

Early (very.... a stupid idea by Rich!) on Saturday morning, me Rich and Kevin got a taxi to Changsha. We arrived at the hotel but it was too early to check in so we left our bigger backpacks behind the desk and caught a taxi into the city centre. The weather was horrible it was cold and raining but we spent a lot of time wandering around shops so its was OK! We found an arcade, Rich had a go on one of the weird skateboards and we went to Subway for breakfast :D

About 2pm we met up with Amy and went for some coffee, it was very nice and was good to see her again. After about an hour we got a call saying Kerri and Steve had arrived so Amy stayed with some friends and me, Rich and Kev went back to the hotel to meet them.

It was very good to see them and they fit into the group very well! Once we had checked into our rooms we split up and agreed to meet a bit later once we were ready to go out. This didn't quite go to plan though when we went to our rooms and me, Mat, Rich and Kev had double beds in our room... I think Rich was a little disappointed but we managed to get them changed (he was sharing with Kev) after some help from Amy.

When we were ready we went back into town and met up with most people on the walking street (me, Rich, Kev, Keri, Steve, Amy, Mat, Matt, Jenny, Tony). We were waiting for Sam and Aggy so we went to the bar street for one beer. It was quite expensive but we weren't there long when Sam and Aggy called. We went back to the walking street and tried to find somewhere to eat. Most people's hearts were set on pizza so after a lot of running around and waiting we finally managed to get a table in Papa John's, which is the new pizza chain and it came highly recommended.
We all pigged out it was great! You can't beat lots of cheese and bread!! :D

Afterwards we had a group vote and decided to go to 4698, it has pool and cheap(er) beer. When we arrived there was a live punk band on which was awesome because I've hardly seen any live music whilst I've been in China! They were obviously popular and were pretty good too, and we all got a bit over excited when one guy started playing bagpipes!
Kev left quite early I don't think it was really his scene, but the rest of us stayed quite late, decent music, debates and football on the TV meant everyone was kept happy!

We left in the early hours of the morning and had a stop and McDonalds (me and Aggy went for some veggie BBQ) before crashing at the hotel.

When we woke up Sunday morning we rushed to check out of the hotel (we weren't sure what time check out was). Once we were sorted, Kev took a taxi back to Yiyang because he doesn't spend money on a Sunday and the rest of us hotel people (me, Rich, Mat, Keri and Steve) went into town for a subway breakfast! Keri and Steve then went to get their train and we met up with Matt for lunch. It was the last time I saw Matt in China so I'm glad we decided to stay a bit later. After wandering around and eating some food we split up, the Mat(t)'s went home and me and Rich went to find the fabled cheese at Carrefour! The supermarket was a slight disappointment but we did find cheese and rice crispies so it was good enough!!

We then started out trip back to Yiyang and it seemed to take forever. After buses, lots of waiting around and special taxis we finally made it home. I was so tired and just rested that night.

Monday 2nd March

I was ill on Monday so I cancelled my classes and spent the day in bed :( It was so cold the whole week!

I was still a little but off on Tuesday but I only had one class first thing so I decided to go and stepped out into the snow! I couldn't believe it and neither could my students! I have some pictures on my phone but I'm having problems getting them onto my laptop, stay tuned I guess.

The rest of the week was just cold and horrible, I spent most of it hiding in my apartment in my bedroom with my heater and my aircon both on. I didn't do much else really...

By Saturday I'd started to get a little crazy in my room so I asked Rich if he wanted to go for some food in the evening. He agreed and he met me outside, sneaky b***** "forgot" to mention he was with Peter... so the three of us went for a meal at the nice restaurant on campus. We had a few beers and it got us in the mood for a night out so we decided to go into town (with Peter at Richard's suggestion...) It was fun though, we went to a new bar which was quite exciting but we ended up going back to He & She which is our regular because it's busier and there's always people dancing. We stayed there until it closed about midnight and then went to the KTV across the road with Peter and some of his friends. It was very funny and I wish I'd taken my camera. It had been a long time since we'd done karaoke and and me and Rich were both happy crooning to Delilah and Frank Sinatra.
It was quite late by the time we went home by Chinese standards, but was actually only about 1pm so I stayed up quite late online chatting to people.

Sunday was spent mainly resting and planning lessons.

Monday 9th March

At the start of the week the weather was much better. I even had some classes outside! Although it got quite windy so I gave up on the idea quite quickly. I had a productive week spending a lot of my free time trying to plan ahead with some lessons. I was mainly avoiding my marking with something else I could call "work" but at least it was useful!

On Tuesday afternoon I met one of my junior students called Ava and we sat outside and I helped her with some English reports. We also had a good talk which was nice since I've found it quite difficult to talk to Chinese people sometimes. On the back of this conversation, I asked her if she would be able to accompany me and Matt to Shaoshan when he comes to visit, so now we have a tour guide which is very convenient!

As far as I can remember the rest of the week was quite uneventful. The weather got worse again and I spent more time inside!

Luckily by the weekend the sun came out! I was very behind on my marking and on Saturday I spent a few hours sitting on the grass catching up with it and it was very pleasant :) In the evening me and Rich had planned to go out for some food and to try to find a birthday present for Lisa.

We were craving western food so we called Kevin and the three of us went to the new Jono's that had opened in the city centre. It was very nice and the staff were very helpful. I had salad and pasta and me and Rich shared some red wine which wasn't too bad, it was a very pleasant meal :D
Afterwards we took a trip to Better Life to stock up on mayo, bread and ketchup. They taunted us with Heinz ketchup that wasn't on their system, even though it was on the shelf, and we ended up buying some other rubbish brand which is gross and pink.

It was quite late by the time we had finished in the supermarket so we decided to call it a night and we would shop for Lisa on Tuesday when we were both free.

Sunday was fairly quiet I spent the day resting, avoiding marking, playing games and learning the guitar :D

Monday 16th March

This week the weather has been so much better! Even in the evening it stays very warm now, although it's still very humid.

Monday was an easy day, I spent two of my three classes watching What's Eating Gilbert Grape :D On Tuesday I only had one class and I was supposed to meet Rich after it to go and buy a present for Lisa. When it got to the meeting time though he was nowhere to be found and his phone was off. I guessed he was still asleep so I went into town by myself and managed to find some girly things for Lisa. In the afternoon I had not much else to do other than avoid my marking!

Wednesday was a very unexpected fun day :D I had a class in the morning and it didn't go very well, I ran out of things to do and didn't follow my plan properly. I went for lunch afterwards and talked with one of my good students which helped me feel better, and she invited me out at the weekend if the weather stayed nice to a park with her and some other students :)
I then had a rest in my apartment and I wasn't feeling very prepared for my final class that afternoon. It was a catch up for my largest oral class and they can sometimes be a handful. Luckily it went really well. It was a very relaxed class and I taught them how to sing "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles and "Thank You" by Dido. My choices were actually quite popular this time, and it was very funny when they were acting out being a band. I either love that class or I hate it and it finished very much on a high :D
I met Rich for some food at the canteen afterwards and I showed him I'd found some proper ice tea with no sweeteners from the tea shop, I was very excited :) When we had eaten Rich wanted to buy something for Lisa. Because it was such a nice evening we decided to go into town since the shops stay open late. We caught the bus and tried to contact Kevin, and a Chinese teacher called Panda to see if they wanted to meet for a drink. Kevin was out but I managed to get in touch with Panda. After a lot of confusion and messing around we decided to go to KTV with him and some friends. It was fine with me since I didn't have class until 2pm the next day!

Panda found us and we got in a taxi and he took us to a bar/KTV street we'd never seen before! It was very exciting and we had a really good night. He paid for everything which was very nice. The KTV turned out to be the gay hangout of Yiyang which was quite a surprise! Being gay is illegal in China although I think it's quite common. It was nice to see a side of China that is usually hidden away. It was also a very enjoyable night, I did some dancing, Rich got down to some Frank Sinatra and Panda was an amazing singer! Also for once it wasn't me that was being hit on by the old men, although I think it scared Rich a little bit hehe.

Today is Thursday 19th March (also Lisa's birthday).
I was woken up quite early by Peter calling me trying to find Richard. I'm not his keeper and I wasn't happy being rang 7 times when I was trying to sleep!
Eventually I gave in and got up. I had an easy morning, I text Lisa and we decided we'd meet up next week when she is less busy, and I left early for class. I had some stupidly spicy noodles for lunch (mmm cold noodles are the best though) and then went to do some marking. When I got to my classroom I had a chat with Kevin who was in the room next door and then I talked to one of my students. I didn't do any marking but I didn't complain!

After class me and Rich went to the canteen for food and then I have just had a lazy night. It's almost the weekend yay!