Wednesday 22 April 2009

2 days worth

So i have been pretty rubbish these last two days as i have been much much busier

apologies

well yeterday i was at the prphanage again.
it was reasonably similar to the day before. poop. cry. giggle. poop. feed. etc but one baby came back from the hospital after having the left in it's lip repaired. it was so amazing to see. once that has healed she will be able to be adopted. we also got a new baby in from teh city orphanage and they said they are expecting 8 more.

when i got home the boy that will begin work here in june was in teh house iwth his friend. her 'english name' was olive.. i thought that was quite sweet. his used to be 'victory' but he changed it to 'nas' after the rap star

i was going to explain that this isn't actually a name but i just left it. so far the 'english names' of the chinese people i have met have been geegee, olive, cherry and nas.
?!?!?! i have never met a single english person with these names
nevermind.

all the babies in the orphanage have good english names because the woman who owns it is south african.
my favourite babies were Libby (heart condition) Julia (also heart condition-- hole in her heart) Noah (FOR A GIRL!! CAN YOU IMAGINE!!! THEY STOLE MY BABY NAME) but she was starving when they first got her and she could barely move.
boys are
thomas (he has a hole in his heart, kidney problems, heart problems, an exposed bladder --- as in, on the outside of his stomach! it almost looks fake when he is naked!! and he just had pnuemonia... it's pretty amazing that he is still alive. but he is literally blue)! and i also really like carl. he is a cleft baby and literally his upper lip basically is his nose; he looks a bit like an elephant :S but he always laughs and when he does it's such a big smile it's amazing.

anyway.

in the evening, olive came with me and we taught 3 8 year olds english. they did some chinese dancing and made me show them some ballet. they were really keen and actually spoke very good english. i will also teach them tomorrow night - but it's quite tiring. example of conversation

Anna - so, what is your favourite colour?
Girl one - anna, do you like carrots?
Anna - yes I do they are very healthy. Do you like fruit and vegetables?
Girl one - anna, do you like swimming?
Anna - I like to swim outside when it is sunny? do you like that?
Girl two - anna, what is your favourite animal?
Anna - what is YOUR favourite animal?
*girls break into song about animals*

aka. HILARIOUS

(girl 3 did not speak much)

but girl one (very keen) made me a bracelet and a necklace to add to my 'i'm super cool and i did a gap year and look at me 'memory evoking arm-wear' - ellie baker supplied me with my first piece at the airport and i got very excited.

one of the older babies 'jack' (about 2 and a half) - initially my favourite for three reasons... name was jack and reminded me of mister merriman. although obviously didn't because of the second reason i loved him...... he had water in his skull so his head was HUGGGGGE - he looked like an alien which i foud amazing
anyway i digress. jack put ellie's pracelet in his mouth on the first day and got black ink everywhere. very funny for jack and i.. i think crazy chinese nanny was a little bit scared. but it was only a little bit. and his brain is full of water --- what's a little drop of black on the tongue gunna do???



olive came back to my apartment. it's a bit of a struggle to talk to her constantly as we talk mainly about differences in england and china and although she speaks very good english you have to be alert to what she is saying/means all of the time. she is also very lovely and i enjoy her. but i was getting tired... i didn't know what she was doing in the house (as i hadn't asked her).. i didn't know whether she was going to leave. so i whacked out a couple of fake yawns and eye rubs and she said 'you must o to bed if you are tired'.. i then thought 'but what will you do!? watch me sleep?!? jam in my house?!?!?' but then when i said that was a good idea she said that she would sleep in the room across from the kitchen... so obviously it was a sleepover. it was nice to know i was not entirely alone.



today

i woke up and went to xi'an normal university games (her and nas's uni)

it was pretty fun and the cheerleaders were ho-dam-larious. they were exactly how you would imagine chinese cheerleaders to be. i will give you a moment to imagine and smile


then after that we went to their canteen.. i got a huge bowl of beef and otehr yumminess noodles that was way too big to finish for 20 PENCE! as in.. if i were in england i would have looked in my purse, found an off-hexagonal silver piece, given it to the woman, and received a feast!! wow.
unfortunately i was less amazed by the dorms.

okay. for anyone who ever complained about the quality of their uni room. take note.
there were 4 people per room. the rooms were only slightly bigger than a british uni room. but with two beds on each side. bunk beds. with desks underneath and for privacy they had a show curtain round their section. i saw no evidence of wardrobes. then the bathroom off their room had NO TOILET. (it was chinese style not western) it was a hole in the floor where you had to squat and then shake as there was no paper. - what happens for number twos?!?!
it's quite normal for them i suppose but they were amazed when i showed them pictures of our university rooms. they said they looked like hotels!


i went on an investigation to see about other food prices (my chef always cooks for me so i just had no idea) - in the local noodle place it's 30 pennies. can you imagine. I MAY JUST ABOUT BE IN CULINARY HEAVEN.

i went to the shop this evening as i want a little mini movie night so i bought 4 packets of biscuits, a 'cinema-size' bag of fake malteasers (yummmmm) and a chinese chocolate bar - they had copies of kit kat and snickers but i thought NONO i will eat china food.. and then i sw a pair of trainers that said anna on them and i thought aahhhhh i was looking into taking up jogging and they are hilarious... all of these items. NINE POUNDS. i kid you not. (i do not joke about food)


anyway. i'm home now. ready for mini movie night. can't get the dvd player to work. brilliant.


but i just had my massive dinner anyway so i'm not ready to load it up again immediately.




i will just end with the t-shirts of the day for toda and yesterday
( i have also changed the name of this feature tooo TOP O' THE MORNING TO YA

yesterday's top of the morning
love is in the air - love is all asound.... SO CLOSE, and yet so far.
today's
i will be cheeky and instead give you the funniest thing i heard someone say to me.
"do you have swimming fools at your college" (he meant pools)! ha

oh no. just tried the malteaser alternatives "my likes" they are made with 'cocoa butter alternative'. it is not an alternative. it is a downgrade



then this morning i was very tired

1 comment:

  1. anna this is hilarious.

    but may i say, GIGI is most definately an english name that you know and love!

    miss thee mucho x

    ReplyDelete