Jetting Educated

Location: Huadu, Guangdong Province, China Setting: A small local supermarket Time: 1725, on a Thursday China is a big place and I'm in a very little part of it Being stared at in China is something that I have grown accustomed to. Since I live in the suburbs, which has a very low concentration of anyone who is not Chinese, I stick out like a Panda amongst Snowmen. Actually, I stick out even more than that Panda would, as my facial hair (not at all common) and nose piercing (unheard of) make me more much more noticeable. Therefore I was not too concerned when a young Chinese lady was staring in mine and Holly’s direction when we were queuing to pay for fruit for a ‘kids kitchen’ lesson. Our students were going to make fruit salads which necessitated an unlikely quantity of fruit being presented at the till, and it was the fruit which the lady was goggling at- not us! What Chinese people think is odd: my beard and nose ring. What I think is odd: This...

Setting: Near the city of Guangzhou, Southern China. Role: Teacher of English and Music/Movement to pre-school children Elapsed time: Day 114 in China... If I said to you ‘’I work abroad as an English teacher’’, you might imagine me in front of a semicircle of adults, encouraging them to repeat new words- or with a classful of high school kids who can’t sit still in their seats. That’s probably what I would have pictured too. That is, before I accepted a job to become a pre-school teacher in China. When I arrived in Autumn, these pretty lanterns the students had made were adorning the playground One slight problem with accepting this job was that I didn’t have knowledge of how to teach English to 2-5-year-olds. I was honest during my Skype interview: ''I’ve taught teenagers and I’ve looked after younger children in France''. And that experience along with my CELTA qualification and summer school work was enough to get me the jo...

I get the idea that recently that people weren't collectively overjoyed about the President of China coming for a visit to the UK.  This made me think. Its hard to know what actually goes on in other countries if you've not been there personally. I don't know much about the history of human rights in China- more of what I've read has been about how animals are treated. Such as stories of dogs being boiled alive and cats being beaten, also still alive, to create a 'better' product. I've heard the quote from a Chef in Guangzhou who said "the worse you treat them, the better they taste". But I've not experienced these things first-hand so I'll refrain from comment. Instead, I decided to take advantage of being a British citizen in China, witnessing how animals are treated, and report on instances I have personally seen since I've been here. Keeping cats on leashes. Just another sight around town that I would describe as...