Paris

 We visited Paris, France for Seth's 19th birthday. We spend two nights at the Generator Hostel. We just love these hostels. Simon and I decided to take advantage of the VIP airport lounges and got very, very drunk. I am surprised they let us on the plane. Seth managed to get us to the hostel where at this point we had sobered up and headed straight to Hard Rock Cafe. Then to check out the Eiffel Tower. It looked very impressive at night when it was lit up. But there are so many 'lucky lucky men' that try and sell you everything from overpriced wine or mini souvenirs, so that did kind of ruin the atmosphere. 

The next day was full of sight seeing. We went to the Louvre museum and saw the Mona Lisa, back to the Eiffel tower to see it in day light, the Notre Dame. Everything you would expect to visit we saw! It was a very busy day. Went back to the Eiffel tower again, this time we went up it so se the view from the top. It was great and I would recommend doing so. 

The next morning we went for the most amazing breakfast at Laudree. I would fly back to Paris just to eat here as it was so delicious. 

Camp Paivika, California

Camp Paivika was an experience I won't ever forget. It has been the more rewarding job I have had, and I hope that I will return here one day to meet the staff and my campers again. 

I feel so blessed that I was able to spend the summer living in the San Bernardino mountains at camp. It's a perfect location with great views and inspirational people. Camp felt like a family as you lived and worked so closely with everyone and on breaks you would spend your time each other going on adventures such as travelling to Las Vegas and San Diego and relaxing on the beaches. 

It was great meeting so many new people and getting to know your campers. I had two 1-1's over the summer, and it was so rewarding as you got to know them so well over the five nights. Leaving day was always sad. The night before campers left there would be a closing campfire where we sang songs and watched pictures of the campers time at camp. Then it would end with the hugging song, so everyone got to say their goodbyes. Once everyone was settled and in bed we the staff would go around all the cabins and sing. I still listen to 'lean on me' now when I miss camp! 

Love you all, and I hope we get to meet again! xxx

Road trip in N'Ireland

Last month the start of my 'American Dream' started. Simon and I flew to Northern Ireland to attend a J1 visa appointment. We decided to make a little holiday out of the trip so hired a car and drove around a lot of the country, nearly 1000 miles in fact! 

Over the few days, we spend we walked along beaches, over rope bridges, stepped in national parks, found a dam, ate an Irish breakfast, made friends with a pony and chilled in the hotel spa. It was great to explore N'Ireland with a car and its something I would defiantly recommend doing.

Speak soon, HanHan xxx 

Visiting the Terrocota warriors in Xi'an

Today I visited the terrocota warriors. I decided against going with a tour as I was told it was fairly simple to get there via public transport.

I took the tourist bus 5 (306) bus from Xi'an train station. The bus cost 8y and took a hour. You stay on the bus until the very last stop. When you get of the bus you follow the crowds of people all also heading to the museum. The entry to costs 150y. After paying its a 5/10 min walk to the 3 pits. However there is the option of a taxi golf cart thing, that cods 5y. However it's easy enough to walk, and by the time you wait for one you probably could have got yourself there. 

I heard the pit 1 was the most impressive so I decided to check out pit 2 & 3 first. I thought it was amazing. How much work had went into making there's figures. They apparently all have different faces, and they hold different weapons. It really is a whole army. I can't believe it has only been discovered in the past 50 years. It's such a huge part of history. 

Pit 1 was definitely the most impressive however was also the busiest, full of people taking selfies and pushing to the front to try get a better photo. It is the largest pit and the most warriors have been found and restored hear. 

Pit 1 

Pit 2 

Pit 3 

Speak soon,

HanHan xxx

Teaching 'Baby 2'

So I am settling in with my class now. I have been teaching them for nearly 5 weeks now, I have had some bad days where my lessons didn't go to plan and when the kids didn't listen to me but things have decently improved since I have had help from my training teacher, and gotten to know the children better.

Last months teaching content theme has been Easter & spring. So I have been teaching them all about Easter eggs, chocolate bunnys, jelly beans, chicks, lady bugs, and much much more. Last week I done a Easter hunt. They really enjoyed it!

In the morning before clas starts all classes have morning sentence, this is a game that 2 of the foreign teachers run. I played a parachute game when it was my turn. 

Also when children turn up at school, there is morning greeting. 2 foreign teachers do this, and today was my day. We have a board and ask the children to answer our questions then they receive a sticker. There is a picture below! 

This is Mr monster! The kids love it. I take a flash card out his mouth and they say what it is, then when all the flash cards are on the floor, 2 at a time them come up and race to be the 1st to find the flash card that I shout. Then Mr monster eats the card!

Speak soon,

HanHan xxx

Tomb sweeping weekend

For our first long and probably only long weekend in China we traveled to zhao quing. It was 1.5 hours away on the train from Foshan. 

The train journey wasn't as bad as expected, we had standing seats on the way there but had seats on the retun journey, they were a lot nicer than expected! 

We arrived and checked into our hotel then headed for some food. Out first day was pretty chilled, we wondered about the area, found a park. There was so many people flying kites, and not just children but adults too! It was amazing to see as this would never happen back in England.

We walked around the park and got a taxi boat back towards our hotel area. On the night we got a few drinks and chilled in the park, there was a fountain light show, and so many children just rollerblading about!

On the Sunday we got up so early. We had such a busy day. We went to the 7 star crags. It's an amazing area, we climbed up two of the crags, the 1st one was a lot nicer as it was early in the morning so not many people were abou. The 2nd crag had so many people, everyone was just taking photos of us and wanted photos with us, so it slowed us down a bit. 

After the crags we jumped into a taxi to get to the dinghu mountain. By the time we arrived it was about 2pm, we were so tired from all the walking in the morning that we took our time at this place. We didn't manage to see it all, but we walked to some waterfalls and walked the nature trail. This place was so overcrowded and had lots of tourists!

Overall I had a great weekend away! Was so nice to get out of Foshan and explore a new part of China.

Speak soon,

HanHan xx

Koh Lanta

Koh Lanta

Where did we stay?

We stayed at Lanta Dream House Apartment.

The room was nice and we had a balcony overlooking the pool. We were close to the beach and a short ride away from the ferry. The staff were very friendly to us during our stay. 

How long?

1 night

What did we do?

 Koh Lanta is a lot quieter than Phi Phi, we stayed near the pier as we decided to only stay 1 night. We sunbathed at the beach and chilled by the pool. On the night we went to a tiny Thai restaurant for food, then had a walk towards the pier to look at the night market and get some mango sticky rice, which was amazing!! 

Budget

100 baht for a pancake and smoothie

50 baht for a taxi to our accomadation

500 baht for the accomadation

70 baht for a papaya salad and coke

70 baht for mango sticky rice

Speak soon,

HanHan xx

Koh Lipe - The most amazing island

Koh Lipe

Where did we stay?

We stayed at LeeLaWadee Lipe Resort

The room was amazing, we were based on walking street for wasn't far from everything. 

How long?

2 nights

What did we do?

 Koh Lipe is so far away, it took us 3 hours in a speed boat from Koh lanta, but it is definitely worth the journey. People say its the new Phi Phi and I couldn't agree more. We sunbathed and planned out next part of our trip on our balcony. Then headed out for food, we tried loads of weird fruits and tasty pudding street foods. Then had a few drinks before heading to bed.

The next day we sunbathed again, making the most of this gorgeous island. Then got a back, neck and shoulder 

Budget

20 baht for banana bread

80 baht for mango sticky rice

50 baht for coconut ice cream 

70 baht for green curry

100 baht cocktail

120 for a breezer

40 bath for papaya and pineapple

35 baht for coconut bun

Speak soon,

HanHan xx

1 night in Krabi Town

Krabi

Where did we stay?

We stayed at Vieng Thong Hotel

How long?

1 night, we arrived late Wednesday evening and left the next morning to Phi Phi island.

What did we do?

  We didn't have a hotel booked so we wondered about looking for somewhere to stay, we eventualy found a dead nice hotel with breakfast included! We were starving so we headed out to get some food, we went to Crazy Bar, the food was ok but they got our order mixed up a bit however the music was good. Afterwards we headed to the night market to see what they had. We got pancakes and smoothies. When we were walking back to our hotel there was a Thai wedding happening! 

Budget

20 baht for taxi to ferry

120 baht for sandwich, coke and water 

100 baht for taxi to Krabi town 

45 baht a nutella pancake

450 baht for the hotel with breakfast included

195 baht for Thai red curry and spring rolls

20 baht for pineapple smoothie 

100 bath for a taxi to the ferry

Speak soon,

HanHan x

What makes me happy

Blogtober14 day 19: What makes me happy?

-Traveling

-Watching 'Confessions of a shopaholic' movie

-Jelly babies

-Exercise

-Beaches

-Baking

-Reading a new book

-Cuddles

-Long runs

-Long drives with Seth

-Late night trips to Starbucks

-Baby tigers 

-Thai food - fav thing ever

-Sweet potato fries!

Speak soon,

HanHan xx

A letter to myself in 10 years

Hannah, your doing great, your married with a child, another one on its way! You have traveled all over the world, you have worked abroad, Im so happy for you, its what you always wanted. You also spent a year teaching english to children in Asia. You have made lifelong friends on your travels. 
Your husband, he's great. They all said it wouldn't last, that you were to young. But look at you's now. Been together nearly 15 years baby. He's definitely a keeper. 
You love your job, your a primary school teacher now. You love planning lessons and seeing the children develop over the year. When you finished university you worked abroad as you were very interested in promoting education in developing countries. You made a huge difference in the counties you visited, you should be proud of yourself babe. 

You love coffee, remember in your 20s and you hated it, you said you would never enjoy coffee but now you do! Hate to say I told you so but.. i did tell you ;)

Your of to work now so I better go, I don't want you to be late. 

Love your younger self. xoxox

Best/Worse Vacation

Day 6 of #blogtoper14  - Best and worse vacations 

All my vacations have been different, so this question today is very difficult. I have traveled around Thailand for 6 weeks, and around the state of New England, America. Had beach holidays in the Caribbean, school trips to Europe, cruises around Egypt. 

Best vacation ever...  Dominican republic 2012

This place was lush. White sand beaches, gorgeous weather, it was perfect. We stayed hear for 2 weeks. During this time we went to paradise island, went snorkelling, amazing meals, sunbathed, and relaxed. I would absolutely love to go back hear. Most amazing beaches ever.

I don't have a worst vacation, but hears the worst bits of a few vacations

In Austria within 5 minutes of arriving I jumped straight on the trampolines and fractured my wrist. 

In Egypt our tour bus left without me & my roomie, and a man tried to sell us for 3 camels.

In America, we were biking around Cape Cod and I was trying hard to keep up with everyone, when we had a rest i realised bikes had gears and I had been in the wrong one for the whole time!

(Best american pancakes ever!)

Speak soon,

HanHan xx

Fav Instagram photo

So its day 4 of #blogtober14, today is: Your favourite photo you have posted on Instagram. 

So hear it is:

This was taken when I was in Thailand summer 14. I was volunteering for a week in a school in Sangkhlaburi. On my 1st day this little girl ran over to me, she wanted to much attention and always wanted carried about. She loved taking selfies and playing on my phone. She knew exactly how to use it and everything! We were so amazed about that! These children have so little but yet they are so happy!

 Ever since I have got back I have been looking into a new volunteering project, I have a selection day in London next week, so hopefully I get to go abroad In January with ICS volunteering for Restless Development!!!

Speak soon,

HanHan xx