Okk so my family arrived on saturday and by the time I saw them they looked less like humans but more like some sort of zombie/vampire hybrid but that's what jet lag will do to you! I managed to drag them along the bund before they could take no more and retired back into the underground layer that was the NEW ASIA HOTEL.
By the next day they seemed better and they took a taxi over to boxing lu where they got a tour of my school, and the japanese fastfood noodle restaurant...

Wednesday evening began the great train of Beijing trip. The sleeper train was quite amazing, the waiting room had leather sofas, a grand piano as well as a overpriced cafe. All the things needed in a place which makes you feel like you are too poor to be there. It took only 9 hours too. The distance between Shanghai and Beijing is eqivilant to the distance between London and Rome so it's a fantastically fast train. Not to mention the TV's we had built into our bed!

Awake at 7.30, and time to leave the train at about 8. Quite in a horrible reversal from the upper classness we were drowning in beforehand, breakfast required a trip to McDonalds for pancakes and breakfast muffins. Oh what were we thinking!

After that it was a quiet taxi drive and a rainy walk to our 4 star hotel, (which didn't seem posh once our tour guide pointed out the 7 star hotel...), where we were to camp out in for the 3 night Holding family siege of the north captital.
On Friday we arranged to be given a tour by some people recommended by my friends. It was 140RMB per person, but we got to go to the Ming tombs, The great wall, as well as other places hand picked by the tour guide (with VERY large gift shop sections...). I thought one of the intresting parts of the tour was when we got examined by a Chinese doctor! Apparently I have a bad sinus and an irregular heartbeat and if I don't treat it I will die! Only joking, though apparently my bad sinus plays havoc on my memory. Now I know why I never did good at school!





Saturday we went to see dead Chairman Mao in his huge temple/mausoleum. He seems to be considered more like a god than a man...
My mum bribed the guard so we could skip about 45minutes worth of queue which was funny too!

I think with my parents here I have neglected to post on the blog, so i'm sorry to other people who read it. It's been strange having my parents in the same city, It's like having some sort of tie back to reality I suppose but it's quite nice none the less even if they can't use chopsticks. I do however feel as though I am more noticed when walking around with them. We look very touristy as a group - sort of like a Brits on tour kinda thing - but touristy isn't bad. I mean I haven't done all the touristy things in Oxford or London even though I live next to them so It's a good excuse to get out of my office and do some stuff (which is paid for my my family of course...)

Tonight we go to Beijing. It cost some what of a small fortune to get there even on the train. 700ish yuan per person ONE WAY! Ahhh. We are soft sleeper though. Yes it's the life of luxury for us!

Somewhere in this massive city and I've yet to work out where, the rest of the Holding clan now resides. I'm not quite sure how I'm meant to contact them but somewhere they are here!

Right now I'm writing chinese charectors. I think I must have gone crazy but I'm really enjoying it. I think i've got 'ning', 'jiao', and 'shen ma' down to a tea.... ha haa

Zao,
Somehow teaching is actually going very well this week, I think it's because I'm giving out more stamps due to next week being my last full week of teaching at this school. I will really miss the children! I think i've made quite good friends with alot of them and now I think about it there is not a grade I will miss most. They've all been amazing and even though I've felt like jumping out of a 4th floor window a few times sometimes you get this feeling, like a feeling that actually maybe you are helping and somehow it seems to make all the negative thought disapear. I can see why people become teachers, it is, no matter how many times people have said it, a very rewarding thing to do.

Today I really need to pick up my visa from the visa office. I've forgotten to do it since Monday which is quite bad. Hopefully there isn't a fine or something.
On top of this I'm looking into reserving a table at a special restaurant for when my family arrives on Saturday but I'm not sure if you can reserve. Who knows. I don't even know when they are arriving... ... ... ...
Also maybe to the glasses market!! On the way back from Nanjing I found a amazing looking market where they just sell glasses so maybe i'll get a new pair or something. That would be really really cool but considering I'm so stingy maybe not.

Something I don't think i've talked about is how my mandarin skills are coming on. I think in two months I have got better, I mean I can sometimes understand what people say if it's about ordering food now. This seems to be when I practice the most which I suppose is both good and bad. I really want to get better though! I've been trying to find out ways of continuing learning when I return home but with little success. I emailed goldsmiths to see if there was a way of taking a year abroad but with no reply... Maybe i'll spend another year learning chinese like Albin is going to do and Betty is doing, who knows! That would be amazing. Betty has pointed out though that some of the things I have learnt though the tapes I have used are wrong though which is a bit stupid...

Bennnn

There was alot to write so rather than try and force myself to do it while I didn't have the time I really wanted to feel free to take my time.

Friday started well. A lesson off in the morning which meant a nice relaxing sleep hurraah! The day continued like most others I taught my lessons, had a shower and after quite a lot of confusion about where I was meant to go I met with betty and her father. It was good, a nice trip to Starbucks with my mocha frappechino thing. It was cold and had lots of cream either way so it's got my approval. I took a taxi back to Boxing lu, and quickly ran to the school - the time was about 4.30 and I had to organise myself to get on a train at 6.40...

Uh ohh...where's my wallet! Ahhhhhh where is it!?!? Damn I must have left it at Starbucks!!
Do I have enough money for a taxi? JUST ABOUT but only in change and not enough to get back.
How far? 5 km. Do I know the way - NO.

Please go to Decathlon/Carrefour!!

Luckily when I got to starbucks they actually did have it and it even had everything in it! This good luck far outways the bad luck of loosing it so really the day was going well!

It didn't matter though, I was running late. REALLY LATE. It was about 5.30 now and by the time I got back to boxing lu (after having the slowest taxi ride of my life) I was literally RUNNING back to the school to collect my clothes for the weekend - don't ask me why I didn't take them to starbucks, I don't know.
Take the metro - HA too slow, I'll get there in time if I get a taxi! Oh wait this taxi driver is refusing to take me. Time 6.00 - REALLY REALLY NEED A TAXI. OK now this guy is taking me there, brilliant!
WHY IS THERE SUDDENLY SO MUCH TRAFFIC!

Cut a long story short, it took an hour for the taxi... I took SO long to get through the tunnel to puxi urghhh.
Ok new plan - buy a ticket for later this evening. Only 4 hour sleeper trains left? ...Great... 96rmb. That's 10pounds i'll never see again! Oh and to make things better it meant I would arrive at 12.45am.
Moral was kinda low at this point so I bought a king sized burger king, which was actually really really good! I did feel a bit sorry for myself though sitting there alone...

The sleeper train was actually quite nice, apart from the smell and I managed an hours sleep or so. I had a nice conversation with Betty on the phone only to find out that Jessie thought I was arriving at 12.45PM not AM! I had to phone her and she said that all I needed to do was phone the manager of the youth hostel when I arrived. It was around then my phone started making noises which I had been ignoring for a while but finally realised it was because the battery was rediculously low! Oh dear, if it runs out how will I find the hostel? PANIC PANIC PANIC. oh and wait, how do I know if i'm at Nanjing? It's like 12.45 now? Have I missed the stop? errr
"Nanjing zai na li?"
...
"kgrkghnegnhegohivpoierpoisb[opijepij["
...........
"ok"

1.00am ->1.20 -> 1.30

1.40 we got to Nanjing!

By this point I'd turned my phone off to try and prevent the thing I was dreading most - that my phone would run out. It did indeed turn back on, not without telling me that battery was low though...
I quickly phoned the manager - I think I was talking very fast though because I kept on having to repeat things - who told me that I should give him to a taxi driver. I could only see illegal and unlicenced ones though...
They would have to do. I gave the phone to some random women and she beckoned me to follow her into the car park. She started shouting at people (as the chinese do) and eventually some guy showed me a car and told me to get in. I was actually a bit scared so I took my debit card out of my wallet just in case...

All was well though, he did indeed drop me outside of the hostel and the manager found me. Albin however had decided to switch rooms and as the manager didn't know and was unable to get into his/my room he allowed me to sleep in his bed. I have no Idea where he slept but either way it was a strange ending to a hectic day.

I feel writing down what happened on the rest of the weekend is actually not so exciting as that one evening but I'll give a bit of a synopsis.
Saturday started with visiting a museum, which was quite similar to the Shanghai musuem. Next we went to the confucius temple after having a amazingly cheap hot pot (50yuan including drinks for 6 people!)

Sunday included going to this museum dedicated to the invasion of Nanjing by the japanese. The Chinese have had such bad luck over the years.

I feel I have lost momentum but I'll update with pictures soon!

Benn

and i'm only in Shanghai for one more month! It seems to be all disapearing to quick. I've said many times before but perhaps not online that Shanghai seems somewhat like a dream.
I mean it would be so easy to just stay here forever, it's like a magical land where I can live a brilliant life earning loads of dosh just because I'm born in a western country. I just turn up without any degree/experience/money and can get a job which pays 10000rmb a month if you know where to go.
Which is of course actually very unfair seeing as a salary for an educated chinese person could just be 1000rmb...

hmmm...

Nanjing today! Scary meetings as well. Not to mention two more lessons!

Ben

Ok I've been inspired, blog posts everyday from now on. Except maybe not Saturday I'm in Nanjing... but after that for sure!
Today was my free day off, which I expect you to know from studying my timetable below in depth.
I woke up really late which resulted in a bit of panic as today was 'Bad Betty' day and we had arranged to meet at the flowery cow at one and when I woke up it was twelve. Being Clark Kent/Harry Potter (delete as appropriate) has it's advantages obviously as I managed to be only 10 minutes late. A supernatural act I think...

Lunch->present buying->park going->meeting Albin for dinner.

Due to a new teacher coming to the school my first lesson is canceled tomorrow which is nice. I've hardly taught this week...
After school I'm meeting Betty's Father. Scary. Then meeting at 6 for the train to Nanjing. If you want to see an itinerary go here...http://www.xubo.org/monthly-gathering.html

ben

Wednesday - my old arch enemy. Firstly I thought you might like to see this...this is my current timetable:

Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
9.15-950	C3G5	C5G5			C3G5
10.10-10.45	C1G5		C3G2
10.55-11.30	C2G5		C2G2		C4G5
LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH	LUNCH
12.50-13.25			C1G3		C1G2
13.35-14.10	C1G3	C4G5	C5G5		C2G5
14.20-14.55			C1G5

As you can see Wednesdays are my most busy day but what you don't see is that they are also the worst classes! My grade 3 is by far and away the worst class out of an already awful year group and I had to break up another fight in G5G5 today. I tried to teach them how to play chinese wispers and wink murder... neither worked.
I spend the whole week building up my confidence with the children then let wednesday slowly destroy everything i've built up. It's really not satisfying.
I feel I should mention that on the whole I really enjoy teaching but I feel more up for talking about the bad parts it seems.

Tonight is Sebastians going home party so another late night for me

Ben

Ok so I have now been away to my secret destinations and arrived back safe and sound. This weekend has been super ace because Monday was a school holiday and the previous Friday was the field trip which meant my weekend was really long!
Whoever told me Chinese people love to do things spontantiously was right because the first thing I had heard about the field trip was when my supervisor, called Lily, text me the night before. It was such a nice change though and I think the children really enjoyed themselves.
The place we went to was a bit of a cross between a zoo, a theme park and a safety education place. They taught the kids all about what to do in a earthquake (using a really funny earthquake simulator) what to do if there is a fire and so on. There was also animals to look at (bad conditions) as well as like fairground type rides...



In case you're wondering I think visa application was successful and I need to go back next week. I actually kinda needed it on friday for when I go to Nanjing but I think it should be ok. If I don't write again then it's probably best to assume I am in Chinese prison.

Saturday again was very fun. For 'busy Ben day' we decided to go to Ikea. The epitomy of things I dislike (no offence to my Swedish audience). It's not Ikea itself I don't like, actually the opposite I quite enjoy playing with all the furtinure and stuff, but it's the crowds! I've dubbed it the 'Ikea sickness'. Perhaps it's a phobia caused by my parents dragging me around the one in London for hours on end who knows! I think everyone (but me as I can't eat them) was pleased to get their swedish meatballs though haha!
We then met with Alex and Ben(was that his name or maybe it should of been?) - two canadians working as English teachers (REAL English teachers with REAL money and a REAL apartment (*drool*, this is whatI should have) - who had decided they NEEDED to buy a Wii with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. After about 2 hours trying to find all of the above we ended up back at their (really good) appartment. Playing some computer games was exactly what I needed and even though I sucked it was a lot of fun!
Man I'm so jealous. I'm a bit annoyed at the moment because the school has decided that we are not allowed any visiters to the school. Which is really rubbish because Boxinglu is so far away from everywhere and if people do come here they have to leave straight away. Not even Betty can come it seems oh so stupid! This is why I am jealous., plus I just realised yesterday that I spend more on taxi's that I do anything else. The only thing I've been able to actually buy for myself (apart from food and going out) is my guitar which feels abit bad. 8000RMB sounds good right now... A moan for another day perhaps...?

Sunday was the trip to Wuxi. Wuxi is a little city about 50 minutes train ride outside of Shanghai (don't ask me the distance or direction - I don't know)
The city was a bit boring in all honestly but the main attraction was it's wonderful 'Scenic Spot' which contained a boating lake, a cable car, a temple... EVERYTHING.

So yesterday was April Fools day and the school has especially asked me to do a 'special lesson' for the 3rd graders. The original plan was to pretend I had broken my arm but surprisingly my mother did not force me to pack any bandages or slings and I didn't want to try and ask the pharmacy in case they got the wrong idea and thought my arm was broken or something (plus I felt quite lazy). Instead I opted for pretending I had changed my name to the unpronounceable 'Xochiptzihuatl'. Sadly I don't think quite a lot of people were really listening to my explanation about April fools day and therefore weren't really getting the joke. I think some people actually think I've changed my name as well. Ohh well...

Tomorrow apparently the school is going on a trip to somewhere and asked if I wanted to go with them so I said yes. I have no idea where the trip is too or when I get back. I really need to be back kinda early thought because I need to go the visa office!
I'm also going somewhere on Sunday. I really need to listen more perhaps.

Ben