Teaching in Foshan

So I got my teaching internship at a kindergarten school in Foshan, Guangdong. I couldn't be any happier! 9 of us got placed at the same school so we all flew down at 5.30am on Thursday. 

We got of our flight and got taken straight to the school, all we wanted to go was go to our new apartments and unpack and relax, but instead we got shown round the school. The school is AMAZING. I have never seen any school like this one, I feel so lucky to be working hear for the next 6 months. We started training the next day, and to celebrate Chinese New Year we all got given a red envelop, it's all so exciting!

First day teaching

Today was my first day teaching English, I was so excited to get started as we have been in the school a week now, watching other teachers. My class is KS1, so that's small class. There are baby classes, small, middle, big and big big.

For my first lesson I taught the new Easter/spring vocab. I used flash cards and then played a game where two kids at a time had to run around the cards and when I shouted a number that had to go find that card and read it out. It worked really well, we also had a few songs and dances to wake the kids up.

My second lesson was about colours. I wanted to see what the class knew song I decided to recaps. I had flash cards and went around the class asking each individual student what the colour was. Then we played a flash game on the to where the kids had to say the colour they seen. I found a fun colour dance so I played that, then for the rest of the lesson I asked the kids to colour in a Easter bunny.

We were meant to be celebrating lantin festival in the afternoon, but it's been cancled as its raining, so hopefully we get to celebrate it tomorrow! 

Speak soon,

HanHan

XX

Beijing - Chinese New Year

I arrived into Beijing on the morning of Chinese New Year. It was so cold after being in Thailand for a couple of weeks! I got a taxi straight to ny hostel, I was staying in a tiny capsular room, you couldn't stand up in it! But it was so cosy and when we changed accommodation a few days later we all missed the cosy little hostel. 

Chinese New Year was amazing, so many fireworks going of into all hours of the morning. It was such a great 1st night in China! 

Friday was the start of our orientation week, we got ourselves to the university where we spent the next 6 days together, and met up with the other 50 people that were also on the internship.

The next 6 days consisted of ice breakers, receiving our internship deatails, getting drunk, being hungover and missing teacher training, getting to the top of the Great Wall of China, leaving training early to go to the forbidden city, lakers bar and my 21st!

The few of us that arrived before our internship start date all got on really well and we made friends quickly. It was so sad when we all had to go our separate ways at the end of orientation week, but we are all going to try and visit each other. 

Unexpected visit to Kuala Lumpur

So one day me and my boyfriend are traveling around Thailand islands and the next we decide to head to Kuala Lumpur. I was excited as I couldn't wait to visit a new city! We arrived late in the evening, our hotel was amazing. We had a huge apartment on the top floor of the hotel overlooking the Petronas twin towers. We went to sky bar for a drink, the cocktails were so strong and the club had its own private swimming pool! The next day we set of to see the city sights, China town, central market, shopping malls and butterfly park. Such a busy day, and so much walking. The last night we visited the Heli bar, it's basically a working helicopter pad throughout the day and at night turns into a bar. There is nothing to stop you falling of the edges but if you go too close a member of staff rushes over and tells you to step back. The staff are all dressed up as pilots or air hostesses. For a Friday night it wasn't very busy, but there was a live band and there was a great atmosphere. The next morning Simon proposed to me before we headed to the airport back to Bangkok! I will always remember my time in Kuala Lumpur..

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

Phi Phi island

HPhi Phi Islands

Where did we stay?

We stayed in an tiny hut - PhiPhi hill bamboo 

How long?

2 nights, we arrived Thursday morning and left Saturday morning to Koh Lanta.

What did we do?

  We arrived in Phi Phi with no hotel so we decided to stay near the view point. There are no cars on Phi Phi so a man put our bags in a wheel barrow type thing and wheeled them to our accommodation. Our room was awful... right on top of a huge hill, bed was just a matarass on the floor and it was so noisy. We headed down to the beach to get dinner and sunbathe, when it got to hot we went to get a oil massage, then headed up to the view point. There were monkeys throwing fruit on the way up! The view point it quite a long walk so its best to do it in the morning or early evening so its not to hot. 

The next day we had booked a snorkeling trip, we had breakfast included and we took a long tail boat to the islands. The trip was good as we got to see lots of different places but we spend way to much time on the boat, I would recommend paying a bit more and getting a speed boat. 

Budget

800 baht for 2 nights accomadation

20 baht tax to get onto the island

30 baht tax to go up to the viewpoint

30 baht water

30 baht ice-cream 

90 baht Phangan curry

180 baht for an Indian meal and Nan bread

550 baht for an all day snorkeling trip

40 baht for an ice coffee on Maya bay

50 baht for pringles on the long

40 baht for a brownie

100 baht for fired rice and a fanta

200 bath for the ferry to Koh Lanta

Speak soon,

HanHan xx