chinese new year

This week has been quite awkward. It's Chinese New Year and spring festival so everything is shut! including the campus canteen. It's been quite daft getting food. The staff have finally realised this though and are taking us to a restaurant for every meal payable on our meal cards of course. Some people had been living off fancy pot noodles for a day or two. Yeurch. I bought some eggs and bread from the supermarket and had soldiers and toast. It was an inventive way of making them though as it involved boiling the eggs in the kettle and using chopsticks to hold bread over the hob. Nevertheless, it was better than a pot noodle!!
We spoke to the headmistress person about the woman who observed us. Apparently there have been a few other complaints. We found out yesterday that she had been fired. =/ there were a few birthdays this week. We all gathered in one flat on Tuesday (it was seriously crowded) before so going for a night out from which I have picked up a large number of bruises. As in my left thigh is blue. I didn't see a fence and I fell over it. Before anyone asks no it wasn't because I was too drunk because in my defense it was tiny; it didn't reach my knee! I'm proud of myself for remembering to ring my parents to wish them happy anniversary too!! Wednesday was New Year’s Eve. Aaron and I made an attempt to go shopping but didn't realise how early the markets were shutting. Instead, we found a little Italian restaurant and had pizza and tiramisu! It was soo good! We made everybody jealous lol. For the evening TTC had rented out a bar for us so we had a party. I'm telling you, you haven’t lived until you've seen Chinese New Year in Beijing. It was amazing!! We were around this lake which was frozen over so we went out to the middle to watch the masses of fireworks which went on for an hour or so. Seriously cool. Only problem was when I tried to climb back on the wall to get off the lake I put my foot through the ice. Clever of me I know. We all had a good night though. New Year’s Day was spent at a festival fair. It was stupidly busy but good fun. We lost most people so there were just four of us wandering around together. We decided to buy these crazy wigs and 2008 glasses. we stand out enough as westerners anyway (plus one of the guys is 6'something" ) but dressed like that we were stared at and more than 20 people asked for photos lmao we even ended up on stage with Hello Kitty teehee. And they say you have to be sensible to be a teacher! We have worked out that everyone on the course is at least a little crazy, this just proves it! Yesterday was back to lessons. We have started on actual grammar, as in learning names of tenses etc. it's not that interesting tbh. Last night, we went for a 2 hour long massage. I somehow ended up with the only male masseuse even though we had some guys with us. This just meant that it was slightly more painful when they were doing things like cracking your back. Faith was so ticklish. She kept squealing and nearly kicked her masseuse in the face poor girl! It was hilarious. Have to admit though, we all felt so good afterwards! I spoke to Esther last night! Had a good girly chat. I had to wander round in the cold because my flat mates were trying to sleep but it was worth it. She said hello to one of the guys who thought we sounded exactly alike and thus must be sisters! We got set our final assignment today. Most of the work is done now. We finish our training on Thursday and we have another tour day on Tuesday. This time next week I should be off to a much warmer climate yeah!!!