I sit here for one final time, my departure being this afternoon. I've just said farewell to my students and am awaiting a school photograph. The prospect of saying 'goodbye' is heartbreaking, I cannot believe the time to leave has so swiftly arrived. On Saturday last week, myself, along with top students, had planned a shopping extravaganza. I had seen many students in an amazing apple t-shirt and was determined to get it. So, in the early afternoon, we met S...

I sit now, less than a week left to go in Wenchang, unable to conceive the sheer difficulty of saying goodbye to all these amazing people and this lovely place. In a matter of days, my experiences on this island will be a collection of memories and photographs.... ...I shall not dwell on the sadness though and more on the utter chaos that life has become. At the weekend, we began the first of our farewells, going to tea with two of the older, more fluent English...

'When Will the Sun Shine Again?' by the charming Dan Howells and I believe, Liz Fyfe, now plays around this smokey IT room, men beside me, as always, playing online poker, Zoe nearby, potentially typing up her blog too! We have been utterly soaked for several afternoons now, the weather becoming truly tropical; intense humidity in the mornings, making us disgustingly sweaty throughout class, chalk dust latching onto moist fragments of skin, drips trickling down o...

Aching limbs, drooping eyes, saturated clothes, dripping hair and red nose, I now sit in the IT room, the rain, flashes of lightning and the distant rumbles of thunder - the delightful leftovers of a nearby typhoon - fill the sky outside. The school, roads and potentially our flat are filling with water; gutters, windows and general building structures unable to cope with these common down pours. Oh, China! I had the most awesome weekend of my trip, probably som...

I don't think I could be any more content than I am at this very moment. The past few weeks have been utterly fantastic, my students never cease to put a smile on my face, this country never fails to surprise me, the people never stop me from feeling welcome and the sun continues to shine down on us all. Really, I don't want to spend my time rambling away about my day-to-day routine over the past few weeks, more I want to express the complete pride I feel over m...