The Kokoburra dance

This day we had more fun :))

We covered the topic of culture today, so talking about culture we mentioned our folk dance as well. For the hungarian dance they had to stand in a circle and hold hands.. well at this part the situationbecame a bit chaotic :D All in all it went quite well I think. I just showed them some very basic steps ^^

In the afternoon Emily tought them Australian aboriginal dance, that was really entertaining!! ^^

At te courses we used some PPT, but at the last course it was free conversation(we had a topic, so I had to adjus questions and direct the connversation according to that) in 2 groups, they really enjoyed it.

During the launch break Emily, Sheenal and me went to explore the other direction of the main street. We found a little stationery full of cute and cheap stuff ^^ I bought a little pack of mushroom shaped post-its. In the afternoon I gave a post it to every student 'from Anna to xx :)'

They were very happy about it ^-^

Paparazzi

- Can I take a picture with you?

- Of course!

This is the most repeated conversation... I start to feel a little bit offended by the number of paparazzis O.O

Really they took about 50 pictures of me today, if not more... I'm not used to this... Just as an illustration of the situation: I took this picture during the break when they surrounded us (Emily and me). 

okay, it's quite embarrassing, but maybe they'll get bored of this after a while..

Regarding the courses: it's an extremely tough thing to be a teacher. They get bored very quicly, also they have extremely much energy, wwww I'm so tired now. T_T

After school we went to the supermarket. I found that there are many pockies here at an acceptable price, so I got two boxes of it ^^

I think I'll go and have a sleep now.

Opening ceremony & first day of teaching

We had the opening cermony in the morning. Wow there were more than 130 students there... After the principle's speech we introduced our countries shortly and we had the talent show. The local volunteers danced to Gangnam Style, the boys sang two chinese songs with guitar and we, the girls danced to Sistar - Push Push :D (nana thought us the dance yesterday, it was quite funny^^)

In the afternoon we held uor first classes, bt as they told us in the last minute that we'll have 3 classes in the afternoon, instead of two we had no prepared course for the third class. So we watched a movie, some Jackie Chan. Not the best thing that could happen on the first day, but it wasn't that bad either :))

About the schedule:
7:30 - breakfast
9:00-11:30 - classes
12:00 - lunch
13:30-16:15 - classes
17:00 - dinner

We got some metal bowls and spoons, we have to wash them after eating, and we should remember which one is ours.

Arrival at the school

We arrived at the school...'GaoTangLing School'

We gathered at the Western Station in the morning. When I was transferring from bus 303 to 134 I met Emily so we went together. We gathered at the McDonalds and after it we took a bus. We travelled for more than an hour, the bus was very crowded T_T

When we arrived we had to find out the exact location of the school. Finally we asked for help from spme policemen, aaaand here somehing unbelievable (for me) happened. They not just helped us, but took all our luggage to the school in the police-car.

The school is quite impressive, they even had a welcoming message at the school gate. After we put our belongigns in the hotel we came back and took a look at the place of the opening ceremony...quite impressive again O_O they were really waiting for us!!

I almost forgot to mention, we will have a talent show at the opening ceremony, so I'll go and practice the dance with the girls now...

Last meeting

Today was the last meeting before going to the school, we finalized the schedule. Our afternoon was free, so I went on a walk with Emily, we discovered a little narrow street with many bars and a uniquely peaceful athmosphere.. and we had a green tea ice cream :))

Training and Skating

Today we had training day, this is our schedule for the next week. On monday we will leave for another city, and we'll live there for the whole week. All the trainees and  our buddies are divided into four groups, and we'll hold the classes with our group. Tomorrow we will have another meeting, where we'll discuss the details of the classes.

In the afternoon we went skating. That was fun!!
At first I could hardly stand, but in the end I enjoyed it very much and I managed to go quite fast (good that I know ice skating..)
I'm sorry but I have no pictures from there, because I didn't want to risk my phones' life :D

But I have a picture of 'my' house and a bus stop for you to read
(^-^)

A Day Off

 Today we had a day off. In the morning we (Flynn and me) stayed in the flat and we tried to make a cake. It was quite hard to do as they don't have the most basic ingredients and equipment here... But luckily Flynn had some things (eg.: flour, baking powder, butter) finally we managed to make a tiny little vanilla cake with blueberry jam. We made it in a little grill oven :D
In the afternoon we went to the walking street, but before that we dropped in the little dumpling shop of the family. I had the chance to make some dumpling. I really like these dumplings, they are foilled with mixed meat and mushrooms. My dumplings..well, let's say, they weren't that pretty :D
That's me and Flynn's aunt (her mother's twin sister) in the second picture.

After this we went ti the walking street for some breakfast for tomorrow, we were just walking around. It was very relaxing (if we ignore the high heels :D )

We arrived back to the flat at abot 9PM. Then my host mother was so kind and straightened my hair.. which took about 2 hours. And it became curly agai today. My hair really likes to be curly.

Did you notice that I am actually cheating a bit? :P

Now it's not even 25th but 26th, but sometimes I just don't have time to write and I leave it for another day. I hope you don't mind :D

I'll just quickly write about today, then I'll go to sleep because it's already 23:29 here..

No1 High School - Changsha

Waow, this school looked super elite. The building is new, everything is clean, they had an airconditioner in the céassroom, and it made 23°C. So warm ^^ Also the didn't have a projector, but a very huge monitor like something.

We had about 20 students, because the others had classes. We held prezentations about our countries and cultures. The kids here were extremely outgoing and talkative. They study at the international department, they even have foreign teachers, for example from Australia.
This two boys on the pictures sat next to me and they were very kind and friendly. When some parts of the prezentations were held in chinese they translated it to me. And when we had a break they bought me some coconut drink it was really a hospitable thing to do.
For lunch, we (we+students) went to some restaurant, and ate together. At first I was sitting at the table of my teammates, but then the students asked me if I want to sit at their table, of course I went. Nana and Kevin also came to eat at their table. A chinese launch is very noisy :D

In the afternoon we had some more interactive courses together with the childdren. Only a few of them could stay there for the afternoon, but still I think it was worth to do... :)

(picture) After leaving the school we went to a korean restaurant and tried some korean food. I think I start to like spicy food. Going t restaurants is way too expensive for me, but I just wanted to be together with the others so I joined them :)
I had to try this... although I don't eat too much here, I can't find a reason for that. But as much as I had, it was very delicious. As you can see we had to get the meet slices ready in the middle of the table :D

Washing Machine

 Today I have two pictures for you guys :)

The first one is the view from the flat I live in

The weather is quite foggy and cold today.
It doesn't matter, according to the weather forecast it will be a bit warmer from Thursday.

The second one is the inner part of the washing machine...even this looks different.

...tomorrow we will go to the first school
it will be only one day, but I'm excited about that, and I'll have to get up at 6AM, that's the only bad thing about it.

Changes in the project

We got the news today, that some changes were made to the project. We won't go to Xiangtan tomorrow, but we'll have a day together going somewhere, and the day after tomorrow we'll go to a high school in Changsha. SO we'll have 16 years old children. I have to prepare the PPT till tomorrow morning, but I already have it, I just have to put some words on it for them :)

These days I should apply for the courses at the univerity in Hungary.. but it's so late and I'm too tired T_T

Also I have some tasks to do for my AIESEC LC at home... I don't know when to do it O.O

These days it is quite rainy here, and very cold,but I just had a look at the weather forecast and it will be around 13°C from tomorrow, that sounds much better ^^

Today I got a gift from Flynn.. a book for little kids with some useful words...thanks :))))))

Post Office

This day we had a meeting at 11:30 to prepare for the class simulation. Flynn took me there by car, but we arrived there 45 minues earlier :D She went home and I started to search for a post office, becase I wanted to send some postcards to my family and friends. I've asked two people on the street:

first (boy aged about 20):

 - Hi, do you speak english?

 - Yes, a little.

 - Great :D Do you know where could I find a post office?

 - A post office?

 - Yes, a post office.

 - I'm sorry, I don'T know. But you're beautiful.

 - O.O

 - o.o

 - Thank you...

 - o.o

 - >.>

something like this :D

But I was lucky with the second one, so I could find a post office, I've sent the postcards and I managed to get back in time. :)

After this e had a meeting. We prepared for the class simulation with our group. Demi bought some drinks made of red date(I don't know what's that) and oats and something, but she didn'T like it, so I had it O.O I liked it quite much. When we finished we met the others because the training started at 2PM as usual. The training was not just useful, but fun again. We got many advices about how to hold the class and we talked about the schedule as well.

When the training was over I took (actually Journey showed me the bus station :D) ... so I took a bus back to my host family (this took quite a long time because of the traffic jam) and we went to her uncle's new flat and we had a dinner party. They didn't speak english so flynn had to translate every concersation which was quite tiring for her. The dinner was delicious, and not spicy :D

After we left we (Flynn, her mother and me) went to the METRO (supermarket) and bought some things.

And now I'm sitting on the sofa with my laptop and I'm typing this story^^

...this is te view from 'home' :))

New experiences, new shoes

I have a pair of new shoes >_>

The thing is that after the training (I managed to get there in time today..) all the girls and two boys went together to have a dinner which was really delicious, and really tooooo much :D (and I realized that I don't like tofu) We got some things on a plate and when they brought us a big bowl of boiling water we had to put everything in it as soon as possible..funny^^ 

I couldn'T eat it all, but there were some chicken thingies in it which tasted incredibly good :P

After it we went to a walking street full of shops. Here I was a bit depressed, because I really missed Flynn, I thought we really could've had a great time there, and also I don't have the key, so she has to be awake until I get home. But after a while I started enjoying, I didn'T want to be all depressed.

We joined a group of dancing old ladies on a little square. That was really fun :))

We went to a shoe store where Demi found two pairs of shoes she liked, but she didn't have the money for them, so we left. But like 5 minutes later she had the idea that we should go back so that she could try them on. Unfortunately it turned out that the biggest size was 38, and she'd needed bigger size. So she could't buy any of them. On the other hand Nana and me bought a pair of shoes >_>

Short Check In

Today it was the first training day and I was late. Flynn took me there by car, but we got lost. We made the travel twice as long as it was supposed to be >_>

Luckily I didn't get punished because it was the first day. We were at a little tea bar, or something like that.

It seems like today I don't have much to say though...

sorry for that :D

City Tour - 湘潭 ( Xiāngtán )

Today we met the others at the Western bus station at 10AM and took a bus to Xiangtan, where we visited a school. We promoted the Winter Camp there, and after the class visits we met the kids on the schoolyard. We had conversations with them and we played some games. They were very cute. At first they were extremely shy and didn't want to come to us, but then they slowly approached us.

After a while they had quitemany questions, mostly like this: 'Hello, how are you?' 'What is your name?' 'What is your favourite food?' 'What is your favourite subject?'

And many of them asked for pictures taken together with them :)

They said I'm very tall (I'm only 166cm). They were really cute kids, but they had so much energy, we got quite tired at the end of the day. On the way back to Changsha (it took about 1 hour) we were having a nap. Some of the trainees were having a conversation, but much less than in the morning^^

All in all this was an exciting new experience.

Talking about new experience...do you know how's a chinese toilet? It's nothing like in Europe. Today we had a chance to meet a very 'interesting' public toilet, whch had only a kind of a long ditch in the ground, and above it waist high walls separated the 'cabins'. And it was not that clean. Anyways it was not as a catastrophic situation as you might imagine it. :D

Tomorrow we will have a training day.

..I almost forgot about my new bus card. You have to pay so there'll be some money on it, and then you can use it when paying for the bus. So you don'T have to keep 1 yuan banknotes all the time.

And another thing, before we arrived home we went to the little restaurant of her family, and we got noodles (actually onnly I ate this time) it was sooo delicious. I told it to her mother too: 这很好吃。 She was happy about it :)

So now Flynn and me are sitting on the sofa, whith a big blanket and that wonderful thing called leg heater ^^

...I'll try to get pictures later :)

Short story about a long day...

Today I was told hat I have to finish my PPT about Hungary, so Flynn took me to her grandmother's placewhere I could use the WiFi. It took quite much time to finish it, and then it turned uot that I don't need it today, anyways, at least I am ready with that :))

After it we went to do some paper work, and in the evening we had the welcome party, where we met all the other trainees, and also trainees form the other project. All of thm were nice...ok I'm sorry I'm quite sleepy now so I won't go in details >_>

It was a quite long and very full day, we had a great time. And I also had the chance to try new kind of yummy food, like salty pencake filled with vegetables and egg, yummy...:) 

2nd day at 岳麓山

Today I the mother we were having a little bit of rest at the flat, then in the afternoon we went to the mountain again. But before we met Journey we took my phone to a service, because it turned out that I can't use my phone with the chinese SIM card, because it is locked to my hungarian network. TT_TT They said they can do it for 100 yuan but it is not sure that it will work. (Journey asked it too at another place, they said itt's 50 yuan...maybe it's because here they saw that I'm a foreigner, nice :D) And in the meantime he borrowed a phone for me.

So we were supposed to meet him at the entrance... but there is two entrances so we missed each other :D

In the end we were climbing up with Flynn and we met him on the top of the mountain. Flynn and me were just passed other people while walking up, and then we had a break, than passed everyone again, then a break.. it was quite funny, mostly because everybody was just staring at us. Like I came from the Moon^^

Some guy just took a picture of me when he thought I don't notice him :D

So we met Journey, and we had a rest on the top. He gave me the phone, and the two batteries (the batteries can be charged only outside the phone)...as it turned out later it rejects every call too, but at least I can send a text message :))

After we went down Flynn went home, and we went to a meeting with AIESEC. While he was talking with the others I could use the wifi and I could reply my e-mails and facebook messages O.O

Then when the meeting was over the 2 of us went to a huge store and I was just looking at everything and asked 'what's this and what's this?' Finally I bought some sweets and he escorted me home.

岳麓山 - Yuelu Mountain

Today, we went to the city with Journey and Evangelin. First we registered me at the police office, then we went to explore some parts of the city. We went to the island, where there was a nics park, I liked it very much. In the afternoon we visited a walking street, with a lot of stores and restaurants, we ate in one of them, the food was so spicy ond hot (both temperature and taste) O.O but it really wasn't that bad^^

After it I've tried some sweet things that were fried,(tangyoubaba) those were delicious.

After it we went up to a mountain, well we didn't have time to go to the top, but we went to a lake, which was very beautiful, and the good thing is that here the trees have leaves on them in winter (most of them) so the nature was more or less green :)))

I changed money and bought a sim card (actually the others did it for me, because all the papers were in chinese, and I couldn't understand a word of it :D)..I was surprised, that I had to fill out quite many papers, and they needed my passport too.

In the afternoon I met my host, actually she arrived right at the moment we arrived home. Her name is Flynn. She is a very nicce girl. In the evening I brought my belongings to her family's flat. I'm sharing the same room with her (although I have another room for my things). She ordered a WiFi router so I can use the internet too, it will arrive in a few days. Until then I can use her computer to reply my messages.

Arrival

I arrived today, after a 25 hour long travel, which seemed even longer because of the +7 hours time difference.

When I arrived to the airport the others (Journey and Elema) were already waiting for me :)

It must have been easy to recognise me, because there was only a middle aged european men besides me, all the others were chinese people.

We waited for the third girl to arrive, then we came to the city which was a 40 minutes travel by bus, then another ... well long way by another bus in the city. The bus ticket here is 10% of the hungarian price.

The streets...they are loud and everybody goes into every direction (seemingly there are no rules). People walk cross the road even if the traffic lights are red like it was only natural to do so. And there's no pause in the sound of horns.

All in all it is quite shocking at first :D

Finally we arrived to my host family. For the first 2 days I'm staying at the twin sister of my host's mother. (The flat is 4 floors above the other - 31st floor O.O). I've never been this high in a building.

This fmily is very kind, although they don't speak english we had a great time together in the evening. We communicated by gestures and both of us used the dictionary (yay for smartphones :D ) I've even learned some calligraphy, since the father is a calligraphy teacher. And the mother made some special very tasty food :)

At The Airport

I'm waiting for my next plane at the airport of Wien I've been waiting here for 2 hours and I still have 2 hours left. My laptop will run uot of power soon :D

So far I've mde 3 pictures for you pictures, one at home before leaving, one at the airport of Budapest, and one last on the airplane. (this airport is bigger, but quite boring)...okay I'll take a picture here too, because from here the airplanes can be seen
from the waiting hall. (unlike in Budapest)

I almost forgot to mention that this was my first flight in my life... but the amazement was repressed by the feeling of leaving home. Well I at the next one I'll be simply tired. But I think I'll get excited when I'll arrive to China :D :D
 

And till then I'm reading about not getting lost at Beijing airport. I'll arrive to T3, whish is the world's second largest airport terminal (after Dubai) - perfect place for a beginner ^^

Feelings of Last Week at Home

As I get closer and closer to travelling I started to say goodbye to friends and family. This made me realize how many valuable freindships and relations I have in my life. People (including myself) tend to forget about thing they have until they lose them... Wll in my case fortunately I don't have to lose them forever, I just get a feeling of it ^^

This way I'd like to thank my family and my friends all the support they gave me before travelling. If it weren't for them it'd have been much harder to prepare. Thank you <3

...
and last but not least many thanks to my cats for enduring my overly excited reactions to their cute existance. =^.^=

After I finished being sentimenal, I'd like to say a few words about school:

I had 5 exams altogether, I managed to do 4 of them on the first week of the exam perion, only one last exam remained for january. Finally I made it on the 8th. I don't say that it was easy, but I prepared myself for that mentally, saying that it's only one week and the it's winter break. Actually I made those 4 exams in 3 days. So it's not impossible, you just have to be prepared (easy to say so :D)

First mail from the host family

 Today I received my first mail from the host family. I was waiting for it sooo much!! :)))

And about the content of the mail?.. it's a secret :D

..now I'm going back to studying for my last exam TT_TT