Hello everyone, sorry I haven’t written much for a while, we haven’t been doing very much since we got back from Shanghai, we spent all our money! I have now been back at teaching for a week, and I don’t really like my new department. I am teaching in International, which is where the richest kids are and they don’t really want to learn anything. Even if they fail their exams, their parents just pay more for them to stay at school, and they are all guaranteed to go to Wales and study, so they don’t really have anything to work for.
I am also teaching girls P.E for this department which is the biggest joke you have ever seen! None of them want to move. I managed to get some of them bouncing basketballs, but it looked so wrong with loads of jewelry on their wrist and long painted nails!! Oh, how I miss my nice junior children!
Jake and I have decided to take up tennis while we are here. We went looking for racquets yesterday and hope to start playing soon! However, I am seriously BAD at tennis, and Jake use to play for his county, so this could be interesting! I will keep you updated.
Sophie and Jake’s dad Kevin are due to arrive here in 3 weeks which is very exciting! We are both looking forward to showing them the sights that Changsha has to offer. I am also trying to find restaurants where Sophie won’t end up eating dog or something worse.
Miss you all
xxx

More of ZhouZhuang.

Jake in a temple garden. All the ribbons had names on them that were to be wished luck and fortune.
More ribbons and the temple.
Jake and a large Buddha urn.
Ancient writing.
River boats.

Another nice bridge.
A high pagoda stretching up.
The gate to the ancient town.
Jake in an ancient medicine house. They had demonstrations of how they used to make beer, pottery etc.

We went on a day trip to ZhouZhuang, an ancient water town nearly 2000 years old! Some of it had been slighty ruined by tourism, but the main and central areas were nearly untouched.
Jake standing by one of the main canals.
The bridges are all very romantic. The lanterns are because of Chinese New Year.
This is the biggest bridge in ZhouZhuang.
A view down one of the water streets.

The widest part of the river. All along the sides were small shops selling local produce and very cheap pearls!