My first week in China!

On my first day in China it was so rainy and foggy, you could barely see in front of you.

The next day, I went to meet Crystal, the lovely lady who is looking after me over here in China. When I met her she had a look of excitement on her face! She pointed at the sky, and said “blue sky, blue sky!” She was even more excited by this than everyone back home in Wales would be.

This week, there has been quite a lot of blue sky here in Zhengzhou. Like all Chinese cities though, it is filled with smog! (When the Olympics were held in Beijing, they practically shut down the city for two months in the hope of reducing the smog.) There is so much dirt and pollution in the air, that most people wear masks to stop themselves from breathing them in. One Chinese girl I met actually gave me a mask as a present! My lips are always dry and I wonder if it's because of the dirty air.

The city is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

It’s MASSIVE! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find my way around!

There's so many people in this city, there's always someone near by. That could be creepy!!? But it's kind of comforting. There's sometimes scary sounds of a hungry cat, a man who rides on his bike every day shouting Chinese things through a microphone (I always wonder what he says) and I've even heard someone going around on a bike playing 'Jingle Bells' on a loud speaker!

Everywhere always smells of food. I don't like some of the smells, they're strong! There's also the smell of cigarettes, like Italy, despite being a non smoker, it always clings to my clothes. It's annoying!

The traffic is also ridiculous. I got used to the crazy road systems in Italy, but the traffic here is ten times worse! Today I saw two heated arguments, being watched by a crowd of onlookers. 

I get a lot of stares from everyone too. 

The little kids who stare at me are adorable, but it feels strange when the adults stare. And when the old people stare it’s just uncomfortable because you know they’re thinking ‘look at that foreigner.’

Not being able to understand anyone is extremely frustrating. Even just trying to order food is a nightmare!! I have to point at pictures (if they have any) and hope for the best or discretely point at other peoples food! Today I was so hungry I managed to find a place that sold chicken and chips! (Luckily they were taking them out as I was ordering and I just pointed at them!!)But everyone I’ve met so far have been incredibly helpful! They give me cards with Chinese instructions on them and they’re helping me with my Mandarin!

I've caught a taxi a couple of times by myself now! Go me!! You have to wave a special wave to draw the taxi's attention, which looks like you're trying to fly by using one arm. I literally say hello and thank you in Chinese and shove the directions at them! haha 

When I was in a taxi I heard 'Lemon tree' by Fool's Garden in Chinese! The taxi driver made me laugh as well because Crystal translated and said that he said if my hair was black I'd look Chinese....HAHAHA

Electric scooters also seem a good way to travel around here. (Buses are so overcrowded and take up to an hour to get to the school where I’m teaching because the traffic is so bad.)

I got a ride the other day with another teacher who told me that scooters are ‘like a video game. Except you only have one life.’ …

Many of the teachers I’m working with have been here for up to nine years! I don’t think I’ll be staying out here that long!! It is so different here and I do miss home so much already!

But it has been such an exciting week, and I’ve already done so much here!

Unfortunately lots of websites that I'd usually use are blocked here, including Facebook and blogger. I've asked my sister to upload things for me until I sort out a UK VPN which will give me access to them!