Junior/Middle high school entrance exam day

Well over 2000 kids came yesterday to sit the entrance exam for our school. It is the best middle school in Yichang and because of the success rate here, competition to get into our school is fierce. Only about 300 of these kids will make it in. Look at the chaos on the road outside my apartment as the hopeful parents and nervous students left just before lunch time. It was this crazy from very early (about 7.00 am). The cars were parked for many miles up the road and some parents and kids had to park and walk for around twenty minutes to get to school.

Such Chaos

Back from Wuhan....such a big, crazy, unorganised city. Taxi Drivers are crazy there!...but the people were friendly and we had a great time shopping, drinking Starbucks coffee and hanging out. Actually found "Harvey Fresh Milk" from W.A in one of the major stores....amazing :-)and we stumbled upon a very beautiful Daoist Temple. Really one of the nicest temples I have seen since I have been in China. Not crowded and a haven away from the crazy city outside. I actually forgot to take my camera but Nettie used her phone to snap a picture of me with Lao Zi (Lao Tzu/Tsu)...I'll see if I can add it soon. Whenever I go away it always makes me appreciate Yichang even more when I return, but still it was a welcome break and the paperwork is organised :-)

Wuhan

Starting to organise things to bring home to Australia for the holiday. After this week I think I have two weeks of teaching until the end of my semester. The kids and Chinese teachers will stay on for about another four weeks. This week is an easy one for me as I only had two periods yesterday and two periods today. Nettie and I will go to Wuhan (The capital of Hubei Province) tomorrow morning for a few days to organise renewing all the paperwork for me to stay teaching here again next year. It's about a four or five hour journey by coach. In my two years here, I've only really stayed in Wuhan once before and that was to organise the paperwork when I first arrived. It is a huge city split into three main areas which are on both sides of the Yangtze river. A VERY BUSY and chaotic place. I may actually take more in this time though...last time I went there I was still a little shell shocked at just being in China.
So nearly at the two year mark here in China, I think I'm quite settled now. I have moments where things really annoy me and moments of complete wonder. Living a Chinese lifestyle is very, very hectic and by the time it gets to this end of the school year...EVERYONE is very tired...My battery is drained very low and a holiday back home seems to have come just in time.

Lunch is on me!

So as I mentioned, when I was layed up in bed last week, my friends really looked after me by bringing me homecooked meals and many other things. This week I wanted to thank them and take them all out for lunch my treat. We often eat at Jiangnan Restaurant, just down the road from our school so I invited my friends and we had a fun, relaxing lunch. They still rarely give me chances to pay for lunches or dinners, so I'm glad I got to treat them for a change.

This is how you eat snails...actually very tasty!


So good to have great friends!

励志警句

"Dont interfere with life. Life knows what to do. You just go along for the ride and stop shouting at the driver".
Ajahn Brahm

With the bad comes the good

When you're laying in bed all week with a herniated/bulging disc, barely able to move whatsoever. It gives you time to do other things like "think too much"...but also, interesting stuff like read, meditate and listen to the interesting world of China going on outside my apartment.
In the reading department I have very little in the way of English books to call on but one of my work mates loaned me a book she had at home called "Wolf Totem" by Jiang Rong. It's very, very interesting. I've scanned through my Lonely Planet China, caught up on some history of the different Dynasties and absorbed inspirational quotes from Buddhism etc.
My friends and work colleagues seem to have taken it on themselves to work in a roster like situation of home cooking me meals so I don't starve and bringing me fruit, books, dvd's etc. So kind of them because in situations like this, can be very easy to feel alone and far away from the comfort of what you know.
I'm very lucky. I guess these are the type of times that you look and see that with the negatives come the positives.

"It is the enemy who can truely teach us to practise the virtues of compassion and tolerence"
His Holiness The 14th Dali Lama