Here again for another in depth episode of Sarah's EXCITING travel stories.

This week has been terribly interesting; we have observed several classes to get an idea of the standard of English our potential pupils are at. I have spoken to children of 14/15 years of age whose English is fantastic, despite their assurance that they are not very good. I was utterly stunned by their confidence, they came over to us immediately and asked us all sorts of questions, including the gossip on boyfriends/girlfriends! Cheeky. Watched a class of 3/4 year olds, which, while being absolutely adorable, I would NEVER want to do. Screaming, out of control, Mandarin speaking, limited english knowledge kids en mass in one room. No thank you. Adults too I feel would be a challenge, although far more appealing than toddlers! They, for some unknown reason, group people of completely different abilities into the same class, so you end up with part of the class in utter confusion and the other just plain bored!

China itself is a completely insane place. The island is lacking in the traditional buildings i'd expected, but it's still beautiful in its own way. There are no rules on the roads - cars, motorcycles and bikes will go up onto the pavements to drive if it means avoiding traffic. Many do spontaneous U-turns without checking mirrors etc and people beep all the time! We have taken many a taxi with at least 6 people squeezed into the back and I, now parents don't panic, LOVE motorcyle taxis. So SO fun! And tuc tucs. Very cool.

Food wise, i'm living on rice, noodles, green things and soy sauce. Mmmm. The cooks confessed that our veggie meals aren't entirely veggie: they cook all the food together and then pick the meaty chunks out of our dish! Not good, especially when the meat could potentially be dog...Street food is always yummy though...except the testicle soup I thankfully missed out on! We went out for a birthday meal this week at a Muslim restaurant, which was delicious.

My fellow volunteers are all completely fantastic, I love everyone of them. It feels as though we've known each other for ages! LOTS of gossip on the group already - we have couples emerging already and it's not even been two weeks!

Nights out are still in abundance, but I have not repeated last week, fear not. Stage dancing though continues to be the height of amusement, especially when YMCA comes on! We had a house warming for some of the previous volunteers, but bed space was limited. Three people in a single bed = much pain, limited movement, dead limbs, pins and needles and general lack of sleep. Thankfully, sleeping in the middle meant I had max duvet coverage!

A couple of the guys rescued a tortoise from the live food section from the supermarket and he has become the group pet. Sadly, Donnie the tortoise is suicidal. He has forced himself under electrical appliances, put his head in gutters overflowing with water, tried to suffocate by turning upside down and has had many attempts at hurling himself from the balcony!

This weekend we are going to a temple and old village - hopefully i'll see some more pagodas!

That's all for now I feel. I hope I have brightened your day with my wondorous stories! Spreading the love, joy and sunshine to you all.

XxX