你好， Today has been a rather mixed up day. Last night I received a text from Sophia asking if I could teach a lesson to a class in No.3 Middle School to try and get the pupils enthusiastic about learning English. Not really sure what I was going to do, I agreed as today Lucie and I had no classes at No.1 due to it being the first day of the 3 day sports meeting. At 9am I met Sophia and the teacher from No.3 (who I actually discovered is a college student c...

你好， Today Lucie and I were taken to Fuzhou by Sophia to go to the Police Department about our visas. When we arrived we weren't even sure if it was open as it looked like a building site! Sophia found a policeman and we were told to go around and use the back entrance. Inside we found the desk that we needed and proceeded to fill in a load of forms. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally someone told Sophia that we needed to go to a roo...

你好， So this weekend Lucie and I have spent cleaning our flat. On Saturday we spent the entire afternoon cleaning the living room - we were on our hands and knees scrubbing the floor with scourers, it was amazing how much dirt we lifted. We also rearranged our living room as before it was quite 'waiting room' style, with all the furniture pushed up against the wall and lots of space at one end of the room. The seating is now all facing in a sort of circle,...

你好， On the 25th October, Lucie turned 18 and so with a little help from Ivy, we arranged to spend the weekend in Fuzhou (福州). I started the morning by improvising a cake and candles (see pic) and giving Lucie her birthday presents from me (a packet of her favourite Chinese crackers, and some new Converse equivalents). Ivy had arranged for us to stay with her friend Earla (pronounced Ella) and Earla's daughter, Beryl (pronounced Berry) in their flat o...

你好 (Ní hăo), It's been a while since I posted, mainly because nothing that exciting has happened since our October travels, so here is the routine of our average day in Yihuang. Lucie and I teach at different times; Lucie never has a class before 10.20am (lucky) but on a Thursday I start at 8.15am and on a Monday I start at 9am. Getting up in the morning involves finding something for breakfast - usually steamed buns or fruit - pulling on a suitable ou...