the holiday season in china

Yes the holidays are upon us, and china celebrates christmas too, but in a very chinese way. i will post some pictures i took in the past week around Huizhou of the holiday spirit they try to put out. it just dont feel like the holiday season with the warmer weather, the lack of backing, no real christmas spirit and the non existence of all holiday factors. its almost like they are afraid of christmas here, the decorations are about dollar store clearance quality and there is no winter smell in the air. well take a look at the pictures and mind you these are the best decorations in the city.....

HONG KONG BABY!!

So Lisa and I headed down to the utopia of Hong Kong, on November 17 and came back on the 19. it was a great trip and really easy from Huizhou. we stayed at a great little hostel in causeway bay on the Island. we just really explored around the area, we had lunch near the escalators on central in a Mexican style place and it was great, then went to Mang Kong and ended up in the ladies market, which reminded me of the san lorenzo markets in Florence. then found an H and M in a nice shopping complex and had great coffee and muffin there. then went back to central and had a fantastic dinner at an Italian place called Vino a must try. then we found a jazz club doing a little Monday night jam session so we grabbed a bottle of wine and enjoyed the music. we took a boat tour of Victoria Harbor and watched the light show, it was a great show with music. all in all Hong Kong is maybe my new favorite city and i could see myself there.

Mt. Lofu

So today was our big trip to mount Lofu, that the Chinese staff lovingly put together for us. it was going to be a great trip, but it was poring rain when we left and when we got there, so we went to the temple, and the rain cleared up a little so we started to trek to a little pagoda on a peak. on the way it started to rain really hard so we turned back and went back down and took cover under anything we could, then the weather broke up and we went through the little Japanese vs Chinese war memorial. then had some lunch at a little local restaurant, the food was nice, nothing crazy just the lovely little snails. we came home to have papa johns 10 yuan mini pizzas for dinner and watched some movies. it was a surprisingly tiring day.

update on life...

hey all, i am just getting home from a pretty good day at work. as i was leaving i saw two of my students on a scooter with there mom, it made my day. then i went by the local fruit shop and saw the fruit man sitting in a an empty crate smoking his cigarette, it made me laugh. it sure beats last nights events that included the killing of a live goat on the street and some bbq. we also just had our halloween celebration here for the kids last tuesday, yes our day off, but only in great chinese style. we built all the class rooms up then had about 120 kids come through then tore it all down to have a normal week of classes. Well halloween is huge here and they are having a great big party tommorrow night, so we are all going to dress up and head to that. hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

yes the Big 23

and a few photos of the night...




so i just had the best birthday ever, it all started with all you can eat Japanese food and beer, yes unlimited beer. we took advantage of that part. in traditional Chinese fashion i was given a bouquet of flowers. it was weird i felt like i won a metal or some competition. ohh well just another great story, well we ended up going to bi la men, its a dance club here in Huizhou. it was a great birthday and i love the smell of flowers in my room. well i had a good time and am not feeling very great today, but it was once a year.

here is a video of the bi la men club

Birthday

Hey all i wanted to let you know the address to post mail:


Thames School of Languages
c/o JESS CHEYNE
1st Floor Block C Binjiang Gardens
16 Huishadi Road
Xiapu
Huizhou 516001
Guangdong
China

Birthday list:

-money send to the mom and dad to deposit in my account
-wine nothing too nice just cheaper stuff so if they take it
-family pictures
-penalton whiskey
thats all i can think of for now i will post more when i think about it.

Yangshou, national holiday!!!

I just got back from the national holiday here in China it was from October 1 to the 7th. It was amazingly beautiful, so beautiful its hard to even describe i will add some pics but they cant do justice. Lisa, Vicki and I all stayed at Monkey Janes hostel, it was a great place. we had western style food the whole week....which was amazing. the fajitas were great, either because they were made well or i have been on straight Chinese food for the past month and a half, anyway they were very good, better then the pizza and the spaghetti. Ynagshou the town was great it was very touristy and swarms of western people, all the menus were in English and we had bacon and real proper breakfasts. we did many trips and i will post them under different entries, this one i am just going to talk about the town and the people we met. we met Vicki's good friend Gabrel, he is a tour guide and had a tour in Yangshou he took us all biking one day. but he was really nice and liked to be around people his own age. he showed us some great places in Yangshou. the main street, west street has all the cafes and bars on it along with all the knock off goods that china is known for. its a nice city that is small and good for tourists, but a great location to be able to get out into the country. i will update more later.

Typoon Hagupit

SO just an update, there is a Typhon Hagupit hitting Hong Kong right now and we are feeling it here in Huizhou, its not that bad just some wind and rain. We are all safe and fine, we are just going to stay in tonight and hit the hay early, partially since we are so tired from white water rafting yesterday. the only real danger we have from the typhoon here is the wind that would blow things off balcony's on buildings. life is good we have to work 6 days this week since we are going to have 8 days off next week for the holiday, Lisa Viki and I are all going to Yangshou and looking forward to that. its the best time of the year to go there. well i am off to look at the news and see whats new in the world. love all.

Children at school

So an update on my classes. I will be getting two more classes in about a month, that will be 4 more hours to bring it up to 17.5 hours a week in teaching and another 4 hours in planning. We started training this week, and it is going very well. I am really starting to like the kids i am teaching, except the older ones are still tough for me to motivate. well this is short since i have to get up early tomorrow for kindy- corner, 120 kindergarten's, this should be fun. here are a few pics of the class room.

Massage

So i just returned from a foot massage, it was about two hours and it was intense, they soaked your feet as they massaged your neck and back then they started on the feet which they worked on for a while. they hit all the spots even the really tight and sensitive ones, you could see all of us creeping up in our chairs as they hit the spots, each spot that sends a sharp pain means that some organ is not healthy, i was told that my lungs and large intestine are not as healthy as the rest of my body based on the places i was most sensitive/ painful. thought i would share with you all since it was on my mind..

Internet back

Hey all just wanted to let you know that our internet is working again, so i will be posting here in the next week some updated pictures of my classroom and the weekend at the beach, hope all is well and keep looking for the updates

map of where i am

hey my grandpas wife suggested i post a map of the are i am in in China, so here it is...



create your own China map

First weekend

Hey,
Just wanted to make an update on or little trip to red flower lake on the outskirts in Huizhou, it was a ton of fun we took some bbq' s that fit in a backpack it was crazy and we just hung out there lounging for about 4 hours it was a great relax from the week. on our way back down the mountain from the lake we hitchhiked and caught a truck that happen to be a garbage truck i will post a picture. it was a great time, but now we have showered and going to the deans flat for a drink then to a new bar that is opening here in Huizhou. it was a great day already, i really like the others. we also got some new sofas in the flat i will post pictures also. well hope all is well.

Teaching

I just finished one of the longest days here yet, i had to teach four lessons and observe one today. all the lessons are an hour long and mine range from ages 6 to 14. the first class had only two kids in it so i ad them draw me some decorations for my classroom and it helped them learn the animals for that lesson. the next class was 6 to 7 year olds and they are a riot there is one that always says "no" its great and he keeps us all laughing. then i have a class of 14 year olds. right after the 7 year olds so its hard to switch gears. this class is "too cool for school" i think i need to be harder on them, but we will see next week how it goes, so if anyone has any ideas on middle school kids, let me know. Ya there was an earthquake in the Sichuan province yesterday and we didnt feel it. well i better get back to lesson planning since it takes over my life right now.

class room

Hi, i have just got back from school and watching two of my classes that i will be teaching one class has about 4 in it and they are tough, one is crazy out of control. But the other class is way more manageable and about 5 or 6 years old, so very impressionable. well here are a few pictures of the class room.

My room

hey thought i would just add a few pictures of my room, i am still working on it and realized i did not bring enough posters and things to hang on the walls, but ohh well that means i will just have to look for some here.

Around the city of Huizhou

Following are a few pics i have taken of the city so enjoy and if you have any requests let me know and i will be posting some of my room soon.

Exploring the city of Huizhou

Hey,

i explored the city of Huizhou today with my new friends Lisa and George. they are the other two new teachers. they are very nice, Lisa is from Toronto and George is from the UK. we saw the west lakes which are one of the main tourist sites here in the city. we also just walked around for about 5 hours. Had lunch at this restaurant called the Muslim, because it has pictures on the wall so its quite easy to order food. there are tons of shops around here and lots to just sit and look at, but today we really just walked around to get a feel for the city.

Other techers

HI all I have just learned that I am one of three that will be arriving in August in China to teach, I am the only American after all, the others are from Canada and the UK. I am supper excited and packing now so thank you for subscribing and I will post as much and as often as I can. I also have been assigned my adviser, so I am really excited to meet everyone and get started.

Link to school I will be working at

Hey all, this is the link to the school i will be working at in China.

http://www.tsl.cn/english/en.html

Welcome

Welcome to the blog of Jess and his time teaching English at the Thames School of Language in Huizhou, China. I will be teaching 6 to 8 kids in my classroom aged from 6 to 18 for about 25 hours a week. I am super excited to take on this adventure. In the process i will be brushing up on my Chinese and traveling when i can. Please post any questions you would have about southern China or teaching in China or just life in general.