Good Evening Manchester!

Greetings from the Netherlands!

It's cold, wet and cloudy here in Amsterdam but we are only 4 hours away from seeing our families!
Although we miss our Chinese friends already, it is a relief to finally visit European toilets!
It is almost 10pm in Beijing but we have set our watches to UK time ready to adjust.
Not long now....love to all xx

This is a Dutch police man. (We couldn't find anything better to take a picture of!) 

(Edit)

...We just found some tulips!

Our Welcome Party and Friends

From left to right: Mr Zhou (Mr Joe!), Mrs Gardiner, Miss Ding, The lovely Heather & Mrs Edwards.

These people have been our rocks. The most helpful, kind, thoughtful & generous people we could have hoped to have met.

Thank you x

Look who we Found...

As we were walking through the airport, jiggling our last few Yuan in our pockets, we spotted some beautiful pandas wearing traditional Chinese clothes. Pandas are an endangered species and there are about 239 living in captivity in China, 49 abroad and around 1590 living wild in the mountains. While the dragon is the national symbol of China, the panda is slowly becoming more recognisable and was even used as one of the main good luck mascots in the Beijing Olympics. These ones were so cute, they practically jumped into our shopping basket! (As well as a chocolate muffin) We hope they'll love their new home.

1hr 30 till be board. Love to all x

Homeward Bound!

We're up, dressed and having breakfast in the airport hotel which consists of coffee, croissants, chocolate & cheese spread crackers as well as a range of beef, pork and seafood dishes with rice. We opted for croissants & coffee today! 
Flight KL898 is on time & ready to depart at 10:55. 16 hours to go. We're on our way! 
Love to all, see you soon. Xx

School life in Qingdao

Looking back at our photos, reflecting on our experience and talking to the teachers here, it seems like there are many things we can learnt from each other.
In China the lessons are always very formal and text book based. The children stand up to answer questions and have a different teacher for each subject - much like English high schools. Each lesson lasts 40 minutes and they have daily 'exercise' where they raise the Chinese flag.
During a discussion with the teachers who observed our art and science lessons, they expressed how creative they thought the activities were. The children were keen to continue the tasks we set and were clearly learning independently, thinking for themselves and demonstrating enquiring minds. Mrs Jiang the principal explained to us afterwards that she would like to change the structure of her school day to include longer afternoon sessions so the children could benefit from English style creativity.

Life in Beijing

Many people in Beijing wear masks on the streets as it can get quite smoggy here.
During busy times of the day, roads get very full and traffic is a big problem. Many people travel on motorised push bikes, scooters, rickshaws and tuk tuks! Taxis are very cheap but so many people use bikes. Its so interesting to watch daily life here!

This is Mr Zhou (pronounced Mr Joe!) He has been our personal chauffer all week. He doesn't speak English but smiles so much and requested that we sing English songs to him in his car....Bruno Mars was his favourite. What a lovely guy.  Goodbye Mr Zhou!! X

Mr Dixon - one of these gifts is yours from Mrs Jiang. Looks good? Enjoy the picture because its coming home without the packaging!

Well, we're here. We are in the airport hotel having spent 5 hrs on the bullet train, 1 hour eating noodles in the station and 45 minutes in a taxi. If we can just fit 8 handbags, 5 purses, 6 Tins of green tea, 5 silk scarves, 2 Beijing football kits, 206 dragon festival bracelets and a Qingdao uniform in our case without exceeding our weight allowance - we'll be laughing. Zai Jian!!

A whirlwind of a day began with our first lie in...(until 8am!) We had our last breakfast of egg fried rice and watermelon before a quick shopping trip and packing our cases. We were picked up by the fabulous Mr Zhou who has been our driver all week, Miss Ding and the lovely heather, our translator. They took us to Pizza Hut for lunch where we also met some of the other lovely ladies from the Bureau who we got know this week. Sophia's mum popped in to thank us for looking after Sophia so well when she was in England and gave us a gift to bring back for Tierney who hosted her!

After lunch we headed over to the train station and said Tai Jian to our Qingdao buddies. They made us feel so welcome and so special we can't thank them enough. Once they were happy we were in our seats with bags stowed, they waved a final farewell. We have started our journey home. Love to all x

Qingdao Beach

Before tea this evening we were taken to the beach on the east coast of Qingdao. The air was clear and the landscape was beautiful! With the Laoshang mountains in the background we dipped our toes in the yellow sea! After searching for shells we wrote our names in the sand. What a beautiful place. 
2 sleeps to go. X

Jodie's letter.

This afternoon we read the letter Jodie wrote for Mrs Jiang. It explained how much Jodie enjoyed their visit and how much she learnt about Chinese culture. Mrs Jiang was so touched by the offer of a 'friendship forever' that she shed a tear! She has promised to write back and would love some of our children to visit her school next year!

 

 

In China today its Children's Day!

This a day where all the children are to have fun. It all started with a ceremony to open the Children's Day event at school where the grade 1 students were presented with their young pioneers neckerchief. ..and we got one too!

There were many fun activities they could take part in, including a bouncy castle tig game, a treasure hunt, Chinese writing challenge, an obstacle course and many more. Each time the children completed an activity they were awarded a wristband. 5 wrist bands meant they could choose a prize from a special tent. The children really enjoyed the fun and games that had been organised, but the best part was at 10:30am when they were allowed to go home - because its children's day! 

Mrs Gardiner and I are going to propose this idea for Padiham Green.... We'll wait till he's in good mood! :)

The Chinese way!

Yesterday we said we liked cherries and finished our day up a mountain picking cherries. Today we said we liked cake and have just been presented with this.

Thanks for your support!

We can't reach the blog ourselves but we have friends and family telling us about the messages of support.
Mr D- we have thanked Ellis lots! He made our first couple of days run very smoothly. The teachers here have asked about you and were upset you didn't come! Your face is on their walls and the lovely Heather says 'Ni hao'!
Mrs Ennis - we are being well looked after and have been pretty much escorted everywhere! We decided not to decorate a whole classroom but did put up an art display. The walls are mostly blank here...given more time, we could do so much!!
Mrs Atkinson - huge thanks for updating this blog...Google is not used in China and so we cannot do it without you!

Love to all,
Mrs G and Mrs E xx

Teaching in China.

One art lesson - check.
One science - check. 
A lecture on English education with a Q&A session to a room full of teachers and members of the bureau - check.
If only OFSTED had been in.... Because they all went very well! The teachers here enjoyed the creative style of our science and art lessons and have decided to try and lengthen their afternoon sessions to allow more practical activities! We made our mark by displaying children's work on the walls. One boy was so excited to see his work he stood by it for 15 minutes!
The teachers were very keen to learn about English education and asked many questions about lessons, behaviour and our daily routines. After school we walked through the halls and saw posters full of photos from when the children visited Padiham Green. Mr Wright, Mrs Mellor, Mr Dixon and Mrs De'Ath are all famous in Qingdao.
Next we are being taught how to make dumplings by the school cooks. We can't wait! Each day we have had a school dinner which has been delicious. Today was my favourite prawns. They were still in their shell which frightened Mrs Gardiner but I loved them!
Love to all at home xx

30.5.2016

Today has been an amazing experience. Firstly we enjoyed a traditional Chinese breakfast of egg fried rice and other treats, many of which we can't pronounce! After a short drive to school by Mr Jo, the PE teacher, and the lovely Heather who translated EVERYTHING, we were greeted at Qingdao #2 experimental Primary school by a group of girls wearing ornate costumes who performed a beautiful dance. As they finished we were taken to the great hall where 600 children sang Auld Lang Syne to welcome us in! As we approached the front of the hall, a microphone was thrust into Mrs Edwards' hand and she gave a speech about how excited we were to be observing, teaching and getting to know them over the coming days. We met Tom, Lewis & Sophia who came to Padiham Green last month. They all said they missed their host families very much!
After a day of joining in maths, English and science lessons we were taken to the mountains to go cherry picking. They were delicious!! We brought a few boxes back for the other teachers who travelled with us and have been visiting other schools here.
We were taken out for a pizza after that and finally finished the day with a trip to the night market! We were taken care of so well today and made to feel very welcome.
Love to all xx

Train to Qingdao

Yesterday we took a 200mph bullet train to Qingdao where we were met by a whole crowd of teachers, given bouquets of flowers and a very warm welcome! After taking us out for a wonderful banquet with some beautiful food we headed to our hotel for some much needed sleep!

Zao Shang hao - Good morning!

Early start for us today, as we visit the temple of heaven. For breakfast, there was a wide selection of Chinese and English treats. Mrs Edwards and I have had conflakes with warm milk, sweet toast with heart shaped eggs and round green stuff with seeds in the middle. We decided against tofu and seaweed but had watermelon and orange instead. It was delicious. Sun cream on, glasses at the ready....another hot day in Beijing. Zai Jian!

The Temple of Heaven

Wow! Today we visited the famous temple of heaven in the city of Beijing, just a short walk from our hotel. The sights were amazing and we spent a lot of time taking photos! We learnt that the temple was built in 1420 and was where the emperors would come to pray for a good harvest. As we left we walked through a beautiful park where Chinese men played checkers and dominoes on the side of the pavement. We saw a lady doing tai chi who invited us over to join in which was such an amazing experience. We also played Chinese shuttlecocks (like football but with a heavy feather like object!) With a group of older Chinese people under the shade of the trees. They kindly have us a shuttlecock to bring home! We're just off to the train station now to begin our journey to Qingdao! Love to all back home xx

Tomorrow Mrs Edwards and I are visiting the temple of heaven followed by a 5 hour train journey to Qingdao where our link school is! We are very excited to meet everyone...especially now we've learnt how to say 'good morning, pleased to meet you' in Chinese!!

(Pictures to follow when Mrs A gets home!)

Kung fu: tonights kung fu show was a real treat- an amazing display of dancing, acting and martial arts

There was a heartwarming story behind the performance of a young boy who left his family and used kung fu as self defence. Kung fu is not an aggressive tool for fighting but a way to channel you energies to achieve harmony and promote courage and strength of character. The cast were so talented and thoroughly entertained us...especially 5 very young boys who back flipped and somersaulted across the stage with ease?!

New Pictures from today.

Forbidden City

What a cultured afternoon we've had here! With our tour guide Ellis we took a took trip to the Forbidden City, a walled palace build for the Chinese emperors in the 1400's. Along with their servants and families, they lived here in grandeur holding feasts, a variety of political and religious celebrations. We got to see the thrones, the bedrooms and the hall of supreme harmony- a place where the emperors would go to reflect! We saw the imperial gardens with their creatively grown trees before riding back to our hotel on a tuk tuk ...ouch. A very bumpy ride!

Shopping!

So we've been to the peal markets today and looked at plenty of handbags! There are many beautiful items for sale and we are now VERY good at haggling. Off to the forbidden city and Tiananmen square this afternoon with plenty of water and sun cream - its 28 degrees in Beijing today! Love to all at home xx

Hi everyone!


Mrs Atkinson here!! No, I've not nipped over to China to meet Mrs E and Mrs G.


I received a message from Mrs Edwards to say that she couldn't get internet access to blog so she's sent me the last couple of updates so I could load the pictures and messages - modern technology eh.


It looks as though they are having good time. I love Mrs Edward's face and the excitement of street food. I told them we said a PG prayer for them in Golden Merit today and all wish them a safe and happy trip.

What a day!

Today has been eventful! We arrived into Beijing airport at 3pm and collected our luggage before taking a taxi to our hotel. The traffic here is pretty busy and it takes a LONG time to get even short distances!  Once we had freshened up we met Ellis and Candy who took us out for tea and a wander round some lovely souvenir shops. Its warm and stuffy here but we've seem some great sights with more to come tomorrow.... Night all xxx

Bonjour!

I bet you can't guess where we are?!

So we're here at Manchester Airport and about to board our flight to Paris! This is a short flight before we head to Beijing. We're hoping to get some sleep on that flight because it will be 3pm when we arrive on Friday. Keep checking the blog to see what we are up to!