Day Seven and Eight. Teaching, Shopping and Singing.6th and 7th of July.

Still feeling a ill, I had little enthusiasm for my second day of teaching. However Elise and I decided to completely change our lessons. Instead of getting the students to discuss the lyrics, something which proved to be like pulling teeth we decided to play the song, go through the lyrics and discuss the meaning, then get them to repeat the lines after us and finally sing the song. This seemed to work well as it got the best response and made them actually participate.  Luckily we were in a computer lab both lessons so having the lyrics easy to read, was a big help.

We had  a boy actually fall asleep in class but hey, I would have rather been asleep too so we let him be, although it took all my might to hold back from doing a clap in his face to startle him.

That night we caught a bus into Ningbo city to have a browse and go to a restaurant the buddies chose for us. They really enjoyed being guides for us and it was great being shown around from their perspective.

The place they chose to eat at was quite fancy and seemingly exclusive. They let us all in despite the mass of people waiting for a table and we sat and began to order. We ordered around 8 dishes for the ten of us on one table and shortly afterwards the waiter came and informed us that as we were at this big round table we needed to order at least 600 RMB worth of dishes. Our total was only at like 100 RMB at that stage. Unsure of what to do and whether we could physically eat that amount of food, we pondered whether we just leave and find another restaurant the food started to arrive. We had no choice but to order more. We ordered every type of potato on the menu, ostrich, ribs, a chicken soup, pretty much anything we could find that seemed nice and was reasonable expensive. We also purchased a bottle of red wine for 288 RMB, which is approx.  50 bucks, making it the most expensive bottle of wine I have probably had. The food was all exquisite but sadly we were so full we nearly needed to be wheeled out of there.

After the meal we thought best head home as our buddies had a 10pm curfew. But alas we could not get a taxi so had to brave the buses. Now you have all seen those videos or pictures of public transport in India where there are what seems like hundreda of people squished into one carriage, well this was exactly like that. We forced our buddies onto one bus, and waited for the next one and squeezed in where we cold fit even if it was under the arm of a sleepy fat man holding on to the rail. But I am glad to say I survived.

Next day we were once again not looking forward to teaching but the classes were fantastic. So far we had sung some Slim Dusty, John Williamson, Men at Work and Christine Anu. We thought we better show them some Australian Rock and showed them a clip of ACDC. Now didn’t they enjoy that! Yes that is sarcasm. It seems that Chinese boys prefer the more placid music of boy bands, nothing with too much testosterone. However they did seem to get a kick out of Jimmy Barnes and John Farnham. Mostly they liked how I taught them to do Jimmy Barnes grunts and screams and made the boys act out moves like Mr. Farnham. Again, don’t think it was assisting in their English skills but at least they were having a little fun.

That night the buddies took a few of us to a place near their dorms that translated to ‘Double Bridge’. It was a few small streets lined with clothing stores, restaurants and other shops that after school were the place to be. With my own bargainers and advisors I purchased two dresses, two tops and some beautiful Tibetan bracelets. The buddies then took us to a restaurant, which cooked traditional Chinese dishes served in a hot pot. Now this was not really my cup of tea, but I gave it ago. While they were paying the bill a girl came into the restaurant and started yelling at me in Chinese. Unable to respond I waited for my Jessie to come and translate. Elise guessed that the girl had a brother that she wanted to meet, however the buddies said that she had a company and wanted me to model for her. However my buddies were quick to inform her that I was only in town for another week and was unable too. So there goes my modeling career. It was probably a company making dumplings for all I know but I will milk it for all I can.

We then met the rest of the teachers at KTV which is what they call Karaoke over there. We had an awesome night, with a few too many beers singing all the English songs which were popular to the students so you could expect some shocking renditions of ‘My heart will go on’, ‘My love’ by Westlife and I would have to say a stirring yet hauntingly beautiful performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. A song the guides had never heard before. We walked home a little tipsy, embarrassing our buddies by asking passers by if they would marry us in very bad mandarin. 我爱你 Wo Ai Ni.

Once had left the buddies we turned into our street only to find at least 3 police vehicles including a van and a number of uniformed men on the street, we just quickly bypassed them and entered our rooms. it was intense! I checked my closet for Chinese serial killers incase one was taking refuge I'm my abode. But alas, thankfully nothing.  I hope we find out the deal tomorrow.