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| Nothing better than free food! |
So after reading the title of this post there are no prizes for guessing which muppet woke up with a eye infection at the beginning of the week!
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| Finger puppets with grade1 |
The Chinese healthcare system is quite different to the UK. They don't have doctor's surgeries, only hospitals. Obviously I couldn't go on my own; I didn't know where it was or how to communicate with them. I went into work as normal and showed Daisy (who is now basically our Chinese mother despite only being 2 years older than us). She messaged our official support lady, Tammy (I didn't message her straight away because a) she works the other side of town and ironically near the hospital and b) very heavily pregnant). Anyway Daisy organised for me to meet Tammy at the hospital who would help me. This meant braving the motorcycle taxis 😱. It actually wasn't too bad; he had a spare helmet and didn't go fast. It was almost nice (if it wasn't for my painful and swollen eye!)
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| Grade 3 |
Anyway the hospital was impressive. When I arrived Tammy had already registered me, we went straight to the eye department and immediately saw a specialist who poked my eye before muttering 'infection', then telling Tammy what I needed to do. Then we went straight to the desk to pay for the appointment and medicine (£6 in total by the way - includes eye cream and tablets), then picked up my prescription. Before I knew it Tammy put me on another moto taxi and I was on my way back to school! By far the quickest and easiest doctor's visit I've ever had!
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| Our Chinese mother, Daisy :) |
This all happened during the week long Halloween celebrations. The Chinese love this holiday! Bond put on a big English event in the town centre, where children can showcase their talents (in English of course). Lots of children from JuCheng School came along and it was a job to recognise them in their costumes! The performances were great and I had a nice surprise when I saw some of my Grade 2s up on stage performing. After there were different games the children could compete in to earn points; Daisy and I had a game together - no idea what it was called but it involved children picking a bean bag with a letter on and say a word beginning with that letter. Then they had to throw it at balloons to earn points. It was exhausting!
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| Grade 2 |
To say thank you for helping, Bond invited us all out for dinner Monday night. It was nice to socialise with everyone (and get free food!), even with a sore eye!
The rest of the week involved some Halloween games, teaching children 'trick or treat' and then giving out candy. My Grade 1 art classes have all been about pumpkins and witches! They have done a great job and I have enjoyed myself.
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| Henry from Grade 1 loving chocolate! |
Grade 2 and 3 were lucky to have class on Halloween and I also had to lead English club that day. It meant that I had to come up with some games for them. As you can see, I went for a calm activity that involved no excitement at all....😆 Obviously I am joking - that's not my style at all! I used 10 rolls of toilet paper that day making Mummies with the children. They all had fun. Plus they automatically helped tidy up without me having to ask (this is actually something they do all the time, they always make sure a classroom is tidy before leaving). At the end of each mummy making session they all excitedly shouted 'trick or treat' before I gave them some sweets.
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| Wendy: our second Chinese mother! |
The downside to all this, is now all the children - including those who do not learn English - run up to us saying 'trick or treat' in the hope of getting some sweets. I'm hoping they will soon take the hint that we don't have any more!
In other news, I finally went to the cinema! My first visit in over 10 weeks (and since leaving the UK), I was so happy I almost cried tears of joy. Unlike the staff who looked panic stricken at seeing 4 foreigners waiting to order tickets. I had already taken pictures of the film and time we wanted to see it to make it easier on them, but they found an English speaker among their staff who helped us. The same lady then turned up at the food counter and again at the screen entrance. She clearly had been told to follow us!
That's all for this time folks!
H 😛
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