Sorry!

I have been the worlds worst blogger the last few days.
So I last posted the panda blog,

lots has been going on.

Sunday was terracotta-time!!!! Still felt SO ill in the morning so went back to bed. pretty dull. But by half ten i dragged my snotty self out of bed, got ready and went to get the bus into town. I had to change buses in town before i even reached the major bus station where the coaches for teh terracotta warriors were. i got the wrong bus, so got a taxi to take me back to the bus stop nearest where i was. then i got the wrtong bus AGAIN - had to eventually just get a taxi to take me to the train/coach station. STRESSFUL. so by about one i actually managed to get on b oard the terracotta bus.
the journey was about 40 minutes. then the woman told me to get off.


so poor old tourist anna, thinks, oh terracotta warriors looks very quiet - good.
i buy a ticket. cruise into this very beautiful hilly area. start reading the museum boards --- oh very interesting info about an emporer, very nice. right. lets follow the heard of people (this has been a massive habit of mine if i do not know where i am going. FIND WHITE PEOPLE AND LARGE GROUPS)
it took me a good 15 minutes before i realised this was NOT the terracotta warriors and infact in was the masoleum of emporer qin something or other.
excellent.

i leave the gate, the ticket man looked pretty confused as he had just seen me walk in.
i bought ANOTHER bus ticket to the warriors. ten minutes later i arrive at the REAL destination.


the warriors were very spectaculor and the concept of them being burried underground for so long was really very amazing. the DETAIL of some of the work as well was just amazing. they had a couple in glass cages for you to look at close and they were incredible.

i was there about 2 hours.
went home still feeling so ill!
had a nap

got up so i could speak to you UK folk at a REASONABLE time your time.

then sleep

got up monday morning at 6
got ready
got the bus to the university.

i thought i was going to be sitting in chinese lessons - not knowing what was going on - doodling or whatever.
NO NO

they wanted me to speak to the chinese students and answer their questions from 8-4.30 (with lunch break)
it was SO FUNNY
a boy drew a picture for me.
a class wrote me a poster saying friendship from 'politics major students of xi'an shaanxi normal university'
and a boy asked me to marry him
excellent


major differences at chinese universities includdeeee
the calsses are between 25 - 60
the students have cute little textbooks and exercises (it's more like a high school really)
it's also more like ia high school in the sense that the desks are arranged in pairs or rowns facing the teacher

very bizarre

i had some intersting discussions and some trivial discussions.
a boy in one class asked my oppinion on tibet!!! wow. i told him that english people generally wanted to free tibet and tried to insult his government as LITTLE as possible
ha
every class i taught had similar questions --- do i like xi'an? do i like chinese food? do i have boyfriend? am i scared here?
one girl asked who i thought the best looking boy in the class was - i said i didn't know. i asked her what she thought - she ACTUALLY SAID THE NAME OF A BOY
declared her love across the classroom. poor boy. he looked very shy
(he was also quite geeky!?!? :S)



by the time i got home i could not even speak

so i drank LOTS of special tea. had dinner. went to bed at 7 and did not wake up until 6am. so much for getting lots done yesterday evening.

today was easier
i did pretty much the same but only taught 8-12.

was a little insane when one class did an on the spot performance for me when the teacher asked.
i have 2 female solos, one male solo, one male duet and then a dance.

i'm pretty sure if a foriegner came to an english uni/school that is THE LAST thing we would do. BUT I LOVED IT!
then i did some ballet for them! haha

went and got some lunch after i finished
AMAZING
chinese version of subway

steamed bread in like a burger bun esque shape. you can put whatever you like in.
i had some sweet and sour - esque pork, with so many cute veggies and egg an d chicken and other china goodies. oh my god. it was amazing.

over the last couple of days speaking to loads of chinese students and also hai-fi last night --- i have learnt some interesting facts

• chinese people eat certain foods for good luck before an exam. for example. they eat one long food (a rib) and two round foods (2 eggs) so that they eat 1 --0 --0 - aka 100%
• they eat pistachio nuts for intelligence (because they look a bit like a brain)
• if a chinese couple has a child out of wedlock - that child is not recognised as a citizen by chinese government
• also - communism in full swing - the uni i am teaching at is a special uni for people who want to become teachers... they must have a teaching position when they leave. so for example if they got a bf or gf at uni - they lived in a different province - they would have to leave that partner after uni because they must return to their home province to teach

tonight i am teaching the eight year olds again. it is one of their birthdays. i should probably buy her something. but i would have no idea what. i don't even know if i can buy cards? do they give cards in china? should i buy one>??!?!?x