labour day and stuff

We headed to Shenzhen for our May Day holiday, which involved one complete disaster trip to the beach (because of course, it rained) and one gloriously sunny morning on the beach where I actually got a bit of tan, which then turned into thunderstorms. Living in the tropics is starting to get a bit old... Nobody warned me it was going to be monsoon season! I'm English so can obviously handle a bit of rain, but the thunderstorms here are just on a whole different level - they come out of absolutely nowhere and throw down rain heavier than I've ever seen in my life. But it was nice to have a dip in the South China sea when we did, and seeing a wave of 24,000 identical black haired, tanned bodies on the beach is something I'll never forget... it's safe to say we stood out a little bit (for a change). Chinese people at the beach are funny, they all hide away from the sun with these little umbrellas; they're dying to be whiter (strange when we just want to get tanned) they even use suncream with bleach in it. Aside from that, a few of my friends from Zhongshan were also in Shenzhen so we had a chance to have a bit of a catch up and explore the night life (of course). Finally we made a quick trip to Ikea so my Swedish flatmate could get some China-Swedish meatballs, so all in all a pretty successful trip!

 
Luckily we only taught two days last week so we had a chance to recover a bit, and then I started my new weekend job on Saturday tutoring 8 children. I think it's fair to say it was the best lesson I've taught so far. With 8 children instead of 40 it's a lot easier to understand each individuals language level and cater to everyone, so that they end up actually learning something. Me and my new boss, Julia, even took them out of the classroom to the supermarket so that I could show them how to use English in real life contexts which was great! I think they all actually learnt something, which is something I'm not entirely sure if I have achieved with my classes at school yet, so that was a nice feeling. Being paid in cash at the end of the lesson also felt pretty good!

Everyone in my flat was heading to Foshan for the weekend, so naturally I tagged along after work. In typical China fashion though, everyone in Foshan was going to Guangzhou for a night out, so as our bus was passing through there anyway, we got off and hunted down a hostel there for the night. Loads of people ended up coming out so it was great to see some faces again before another week back at the daily grind in school. Also great to be back in Guangzhou, I think it's the best place I've seen in China so far - a really big city like Beijing (I'm definitely a big city girl at heart), but a lot more flashy and just western enough without being too touristy.

 A couple of pictures from Guangzhou - night out and morning after ferry

Anyway time is just flying now, our contract with our school ends in exactly two months. Not sure how I feel about that really... the novelty of teaching has definitely worn off but I'm still really enjoying it, as hard work as it is. Either way, I'm so glad I chose to see China this way, I've seen aspects of this country that you just don't experience as a 'backpacker' and I really feel like I've lived in a proper Chinese community. As shabby as it is, I've also really grown to love Houjie and all it's weird residents: Noodle Man, Dumpling Lady, Crazy Landlady, Linda, Stella.... I really will miss them all. All that aside though, I am itching to get out to Thailand now to begin the next chapter of my adventure!