Feast your eyes upon my phototastic delights...

Woweee! I just found these old photos that I had saved in a draft blog post and abandoned for months! So here they are, bringing back many a memory!

What do we have?
1. Liam and Lin Xiao Feng on our expedition to the botanical garden, Shijiazhuang (or 'Plant Park' as the signs like to call it!)
2. My 26th birthday dinner.
3. Yours truly and Lin Xiao Feng.
4. Intoximacated yours truly and intoximacated Lin Xiao Feng.
5. Corinne and her self-made sandwich at the Korean BBQ. (Aww, I miss you China bud!)

The Final Countdown: da da daaaaa daaaaaa da da daa daa daaaa

Well guys and gals, believe it or not, this time next week I will be leaving Shijiazhuang! Argh! Am I excited to go home? Yes. Am I sad to leave here? Yes. Am I ready? Erm, next question please... There is sooo much still to do!

In the last two weeks we've had four birthdays, the last of which was yesterday. Ten of us went boating on the lake before dinner. Whilst we were in the boats a HUGE storm hit - it was amazing! We had to hide under the shelter of an overhanging pagoda and wait (about 45 minutes!) for it to pass! The sky grew so dark it could have been the middle of the night, and the wind was so strong we had to use the posts to stop ourselves being blown away - the lightning was just spectacular! I've never seen a storm like it before: wooooooeeeeeeeee! Whilst admiring the view we smoked, drank beer and composed an 'on the lake in the storm on Corinne's birthday' poem, which will certainly make interesting reading!

Later this week we have a hen night and a wedding. We're going to a funky Tibetan restaurant for the hen night where they sing Tibetan songs to you at your table, make you drink three glasses of tasty alcohol from a curious metal jug, and then drape a pretty Tibetan scarf around your neck. The first time I went there I tried to give the scarf back and they were horrified - oopsie!

My birthday was also excellent, although it didn't involve any wind, rain, thunder or lightning! The day was filled with cards, gifts, birthday wishes and around eight rousing renditions of Happy Birthday to Bec! We went to a street restaurant for dinner (I love them!), followed by a bar, followed by a nightclub! Lots of friends came out and, thanks to my pal Matt being the most fantastic host, I got to sit back, consume alcohol and generally make merry! Kegs of beer were 20 RMB a go, and they paid 13 RMB a head for food - including a little extra to pay for the birthday lady (that's less than a pound!).

This is, I suspect, my last post, so I will drone a little longer, and then delight you with a selection of my fine photomagraphs (the most recent not taken with my camera which I sadly lost on my birthday! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!).

I will never regret coming to China - it has turned out to be a mind expanding, life shaking experience in ways I couldn't possibly have anticipated. I have met a group of excellent friends spanning many ages and nationalities, and the words 'cultural differences' have revealed a whole new dimension to their definition! I have also rediscovered how fantabulous my family and friends at home are - thank you for your thoughtfulness, encouragement and persistence (I am truly shoddy at keeping in touch, I admit), especially at Christmas when I was ill, cold and homesick! I look forward to catching up in the land where grass is green and the temperature isn't creeping towards 40 degrees...

Bless you, bless you, bless you all!

The Bec
x

Googleless!

As if not being able to view one's own blog for a whole nine months wasn't bad enough, they have now dealt an even harsher blow: THEY'VE TAKEN AWAY MY GOOGLE! ARGH! What am I without it? A knowledge-free zone, that's what! The only Google that we can now access is google.cn (Chinese Google) - I am pining for my beloved google.co.uk. Woe is Bec.

That aside, things are progressing swimmingly. My trip to Beijing was most enjoyable and I heartily recommend the Red Lantern House hostel to you all. Here are two snaps of the place:



I met a collection of interesting folk, most of whom were in the middle of venturing around as much of the world as they could. When it got dark we sat under the fairy lights in the courtyard and discussed life over a bottle of beer. They also served a steak breakfast, with orange juice and a pile of toast (and BUTTER!), for 20 RMB. Some may say that life gets considerably better than this, but I would beg to differ. Bliss!

China celebrates Children's Day on June 1st, so all week I have been caught up in our kindergarten's festival, which was fantastic. I even joined them on stage and sang a line in Chinese on my own - wooooo! Here they are (these are the 4 and 5 year olds - the babies had their festival in their classrooms):

















Tomorrow is my 26th birthday! Ooh ooh ooh! I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20 - maybe it's time to start thinking about growing up. Hmm...

Damn and Blast

Why am I not answering many emails, you may ask. Therein lies a story that goes something like this: every time I try to move around my Gmail account my whole life grinds to a halt! Perhaps not my whole life, but most certainly my PC. Bloody, bloody, bloody thing (sorry Ma)!

This weekend I am going to stay in a hutong hostel in Beijing! (Please see photo) How jolly exciting! This is my last trip to the city before I fly home from there next month, so I am planning to discover a little more of its hidden gems - especially the hutongs (hu tong: 胡同 the small, ancient lanes that wind their way behind the big, modern developments), and to get down with the hutongren (ren: 人 person/people)! Yay! Hurrah!

Love to all - see (some of) you soon! x

Bite, bite, nibble, nibble...

Yes, the sunshine has arrived, and with it come the mozzies to feast on my delicate 皮肤 (pi fu: skin). I am in danger of turning into one GREAT BIG mozzie bite - itch, itch, scratch, scratch! Argh!

Now please meet the new addition to my life: Kevin the Panda (Kevin to his friends)! As you can see from the snaps that follow, he's quite the little tyke!





















Don't be deceived, he's only little - I managed to find Kevin-sized bananas to feed him! Awwww!

Here's Kevin's friend, he belongs to my pal Liam and lives at the bar with him. Kevin likes him because he doesn't try to eat his little bananas, unlike me.



















Love, as ever, from us in the East!

Bec and Kevin
x X x

It's all party, party, party...

For your viewing pleasure:

1. Andy and his friend the dragon shrimp (direct translation - does anyone know if these things have an English name?)
2. Our school campus, looking very jolly in the sunshine!
3. Merry making at Lin Xiao Feng's birthday party.

1. My babies on their sports' day parade!
2. The fantabulous twins (nope, they're not identical. Honest.)
3. Another, erm, eye catching Chinese birthday cake (note the presence of a candle in the polar bear's eye - muhahahaha!)

I'm freeeeeeee

Believe it or not I have another week's holiday! Woo hoo! Oh yes, it's the May holiday! Well, actually, I exaggerate and so do the school: they have moved our days around a little so that we work the weekend in order to get the following week off! It's all good anyhoo!

I'm thinking of venturing to a funky little town called Pingyao in Shanxi Province, but it's tricky to get train tickets there from here (as if purchasing train tickets in China isn't tricky enough!), so we shall see...

Here are a few more Spring Festival snapshots:

1. Ma Lynch at the Shaolin Temple
2. Looking up inside the Shaolin Temple
3. Mart Lynch with his piece of the Great Wall (vandal)
4. Us in Beijing on Chinese new year (yes, I'm choking on a cigar) (thanks to Jeremi for the photo!)
5. Us and our new buddies in Xian. Emma, Bernadette, Leon and Dave: hello you wonderful people!

Happy, happy Easter one and all!

This picture has been a source of endless amusement to me ever since I first saw it. I think it's just wonderful! The mere thought of it kept me sniggering throughout much of the train journey to Beijing last weekend, which was a good thing because an older man opposite me starting having a shouting fit approximately a third of the way into our travel time. (Not due to my sniggering - I hope!).













Ah yes, so I went to Beijing for a little outing and had myself a jolly time. I bumped into some Shijiazhuang friends in a bar and subsequently didn't do ANY clothes shopping at all, but nooooo regrets, no regrets! I did eat REAL fish and chips and drank Snowballs: oh, the luxury! I also ended up on the top bunk in a youth hostel YET AGAIN! I am yet to get a bottom bunk - the bunkbed gods clearly resent me.

Long overdue Spring Festival photos ahoy...

My dorm in the Captain's Hostel, Shanghai.














People's Park, Shanghai.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Hello beautiful people!

Wow! I haven't been able to access the blogger site for over a month, but suddenly the restriction has been lifted and, well, here I am!

There is much to tell and I won't relate it all now, but life is very good and I find myself loving this country more than I would ever have imagined possible. Three months ago I could not conceive of the idea that I would be reluctant to leave, but as June approaches I am already feeling twinges of pre-departure nostalgia. It will be wonderful to be home, to breathe clean air and see all of you, but there are many things here that I'm going to miss.

I'm in the process of completing UK job applications which is just torturous. Urgh! FE teaching posts are not abundant and I'm at a distinct disadvantage being too far away to attend an interview. However, I plod on feeling oddly assured that it will all work out perfectly! I also have a plan B which is so appealing that it's on the verge of becoming plan A, but I'm keeping it under wraps for the time being. Muhahahahaha!

Photos later, my hangover demands that I take it for a lie down right now!

x

Heyooooo!

This is the brief version: Mart and I backpacked around China for a week (more on that later) and I loved it soooo much that I decided to carry on! So I bimbled around Beijing for a while and then got a flight to Shanghai! Currently in a Shanghai bar where they handily have free internet and Kahlua and Coke for 10 RMB a go! Wa hey!

I have seriously caught the travel bug and am not seeking a cure! Watch this space!

Mwahs etc.

Bec
x

More photos...

Happy noooooooooooooo year!

I can't stop long, it's complete and utter chaos here at the moment - in the best possible sense of the phrase!

It's Spring Festival time: Chinese new year! That means four weeks jolly holiday for Bec! Oh yes!

Ma (the famous mother Lynch) is in China as I type. We went to Zhengzhou and Kaifeng together last week and saw the Shaolin monks! Tomorrow we meet up in Beijing, and the day after Mart (the infamous brother Lynch) flies in. We're then heading off for mischevious wanderings around the capital and Xi'an.

Here are some pictures of my festive season in China (I make no apologies for drunken poses) and the Shaolin monks (I want one for my mantlepiece)! We can't access weblogs again, unfortunately, so apologies if the layout would benefit from a little tweaking!

I hope the new year is treating you well!

Mwah dee mwah,

Bec
x

P.s. Family snapshots in the next edition!