Hi everyone back at placement today but photos up soon
Thursday 20 June 2013
Monday 17 June 2013
Fighting stuff......
Watch out ....I have been practising my kung foo.....( in traditional Chinese costume )
Sunday 16 June 2013
Downside to China
The only things that i can say were not good were.....
Not having western toilets...so we said they had squatty pottys...
Also we missed having blue skies...in China they do not have blue skies...although very warm and muggy at times there was not often sun.
The drivers are a bit crazy...can i say that? Well it like a game of cat and mouse when trying to cross roads there doesnt seem to be any laws on sticking to light controls or pedestrian crossing..you take your life into hands when crossing at green man as you still get cars and mopeds especially zooming past...oh and the come onto the pavements...see i can say crazy lol.
Ni Hao wo hen zian ni.........Chinese lessons paid of. Liz x
Thank you GCU
I would like to thank first of all GCU for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity to represent the university and be an ambassador for them. I have had a superb learning experience in Chinese Culture and language and had the opportunity to be part of talking to students learning English to help them and support them along with encouraging them to continue to keep links with GCU. I have made many friends and look forward to seeing the students again when the come to GCU in a couple of months time. I would like to add that ECUST were marvelous hosts and ensured that we made the most of our short time with them. We were all really sad to be leaving. I look forward to letting you all see the photos of the beautiful city then you can see for yourselves.
Zai Jian China(goodbye)
We leave for the airport tonight. So myself Ann and Lesley decided to go back into Shanghai Cit to visit the popular and famous "Yu Yuan" Gardens which was built in 1559, it was originally a private garden in Ming Dynasty. . Inside the garden lies the command post (Dianetangchun Hall) for that yeats revolt of Small Swords Society. Having a taste of steamed puddings, winkles and spiced beans in the Old City God Temple and wandering around the Nine -Turn Bridge, you can truly experience the genuine Shanghai style. finish our time in China. It was so peacful and beautiful with many bonsai trees and many more plus beautiful buildings including the very famous Dragon Wall ...There was huge carvings and one particular Dragon whose body/tail makes up the roofs along the gardens. Again there were many happy Koi fish very large and colourful (happy fish).
Hangzhou two day tour
In the beautiful city of Hangzhou!!
This city has been called a blessed land of fish, rice and silk and "paradise on earth". The city is ranked as one of the happiest cities in China for 8 concecutive years and one of the best business friendly cities in Chinese maneland. Wear Lake is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. The Lake lies in the arms of beautifully undulating hills on three sides, creating a matchless merge that only nature can achieve. We stayed in an amazing top class hotel called "Zhengshao International. Again we were amazed by Chinas (EUCUST) Hospatality ...VIP treatment again and all paid for a one night stay with a specially arranged meal.
Zhujiajiao tour of Southern China water town
We travelled with our French students to this gorgeous town. We had free time to mingle with the crowds through the tiny streets laced with market stalls and many different wares to sell. There was a famous bridge that we walked over called Happy Fish. If you caught a fish and returned itvto the water you made a wish and it would hopefully come true. Myself..Kate and Lesley went on a gondola and I began singing the song " just one cornetto and you take the high road" before i knew it the chinese were taking videos and photos of me...i dred to think what they tought but it was all fun. :-)
Nanjing Road
Nanjing road is the worlds famous Chinese street. In the early 20th century, it won great fame ...over 600 shops gather on both sides of the very long street. "No 1 Department Store" Wing on Company and Sincere are still very prosperous New World and Brilliance Shimo Plaza attract thousands of tourists from around the world every day. It was just amazing to be there and feel the vibe from the street. As usual photos to follow.
Oriental Pearl Tower 12/6/13
Today in our limited free time we all decided to be proper tourists and try our skills of travelling to nothe part of the city by metro train...the station is incredibe it is so large, busy and difficult to navigate where we where going as this was our first time however Ann had her map and we were able to work it out. So we got to the tower and it was fefinately worth the wait. This building is 468m high. It consists of 15 spheres of different sizes at different levels creating an artistic conception of "large and small pearls dropping onto a jade plate" At night colourful lights glisten and dazzel your eyes. Just spectacular to see and be there. Inside includes a space capsual sightseeing tour..revolving resturant..game city..indoor roller coaster and a glass floor in which you could walk on from that great height which was amazing but also very scary. Photos will be added later when downloaded :-)
McDonalds delivery
A much needed western dinner..and they deliver along with a free meal ...cant beat it :-)
Last night out in Shanghai
Hi everyone this is the nightclub we all went to on our last night.There is absolutely no other night club could match the splendor and magnificient decor and the attention that staff give to you. We met students from ECUST university that were also promotors for this club Camel and Watson who were from South Africa and are in their last year of a five year course. They made sure there were five taxis waiting outside the university to take us to the club. When we got there we signed in and were on the VIP list. This place was out of this world (sorry but i am not exagerating) no other nigjt club in Scotland could be this good. We were given a large area of two soffas and our own waiter. They brought us over a basin of ice with bottles of Grey Goose vodka in and jugs of juice. We were not at any time left without a drink.As soon as our class was empty the waiter filled it up again. Once that basin of vodka finished more arrived and then the champagne came. Honestly thought i was in heaven lol. The people that were in the club were all buisness people and the ladies dressed to impress. They adored us westerns and treated us so well ...our hosts looked after us right up to the end 4am approx oops and then made sure we got taxis back to campus. OH i should mention that on the four/five occasions that the group attended the club no-one paid for anything...they loved having westerns in their club and it was seemingly good for business. We are truly special lol. Photos to follow (some) long lie staurday is needed liz x
Friday afternoon
This afternoon we met up with the middle school...ages 12-18..it was such an amazing welcome, a lot of the kids were waving and shouting out the classroom windows as they were awaiting of our visit...they thought we were so exciting people and wanted to know all about us and Scotland. We went to one classroom and were greeted with lots of eager children waiting to pick one of us as their partner for the morning. We painted maskes together and talked about each other helping with their English, which for 12 year olds was impressive. The little girl that choose me was given the English name of Coco. She want to become an English teacher and come to visit us in Scotland one day when she finishes her studies. After the painting three boys carried out a play although in Chinese we still knew it was a comedy and they made us laugh with their actions. Then onto the dance studio and the kids there performed another special dance with Chinese fans whixh was explaining about their family names and what their choosen name means. Their names are picked with expectations in mind or how they see their child it is a very important and special time for them. It was a great day and we swapped email addresses with the kids if they want to keep in touch.
See you all too soon Liz x
Saturday 15 June 2013
Friday
last night we all decided to have a night out since we have no classes until thie afternnon it turned out such a great night. we started off at a hotel who wouldnt serve us as they dont seem to serve people who do not stay there. We tried talking to them to find out the address of other places we could visit however the language barrier made it too difficult so we googled a place called The Club and it was in Shanghai so we split into three groups with the address of this club on it and hoped for the best. we got three taxis to a The Club it was a bit scary at first as no one spoke good english and we were taken to a private room (there were several of these rooms with different themes) They were all beautifully decorated with lush sofas and lighting, and a screen on the wall however it was cool it was a karaoke room and we paid for the rooms hire and we all had a ball. Apparently it was supposed to be paid up until midnight however we were allowed to stay on for free as long as we were drinking lol (no problem) we stayed until until around 2.30am and got taxis back home safe.
This afternoon we are meeting up with the middle school and chatting with them to help them understand our culture and our english. nearly time come home ....quite sad about that see you soon
Friday 14 June 2013
Thursday
Today we were up a little later 8am to meet for our trip to Shanghai Museum.
We all had to go through security very similar to the airports and if we had any bottle of water/juice they made us drink some of it in front of them to make sure it was nothing else. I was also searched, I must have looked suspicious (nice).
This Museum was established in 1952, the Shanghai Museum is a world famous museum of ancient Chinese Art. It's present building, completed in 1996, is shaped with a square base and a round top attached with arches like a bronze Ding, indicating the ancient Chinese philosophy of the universe that earth is square while the sky is round. In front of the buildings stand eight imposing white marble statues of guardian lions.
Amomg one million pieces of collections, there are nearly 130,00 pieces of national treasures. They cover 21 catagories, such as, bronzes, ceramics, calligraphy, paintings, jade and ivory works, bamboo and laquer wares, oracle bones, seals, coins, and artifacts of the ethnic minorities, the first four of which are the best collections in the World.
This is the place to experience the brilliant history and enjoy the fabulous atristic creation of China.
The museum organizes for visitors attending of all age levels cultural activities, programs for special exhibitions, summer and winter school vacations.
My Favourite was the amazing Furniture, the carvings were just breathtaking and produced from such top class wood and to such perfection (I would love to have some) There was also a huge display of costumes (more than 600) some dating back many years.1I have taken some photos to put on at a later date. I loved the many scrolls by masters from Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties which were displayed in showcases in a long corridor flanked with flying-eaved roofs and low balustrade, unfolding the glorious history of Chinese painting.
There were several school children and many individuals from other countries in attendance today.
Entry to the museum is free.
I will post more when I can and cant wait till I get the photos on you will be amazed!!!! It is such a beautiful City and so much to do. The people are so helpful and generous.
Bye 毕业 佛如弄完
Tuesday 11 June 2013
Tuesday 11th
Hi people,
I do not remember what days I have tole you about as I cannot log onto my blogger. I am passing emails through to uni to send to blogger so hopefully i have not said too much of same things .....
ZHUJIAJIAO
This morning we met at a more appropriate time 9am....Today this trip was for ourselves from GCU and Students from France. The first couple of hours we had time to discover the little streets and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the market places, which were very crowded and the bargaining was very popular here also. Then we headed to a lovely restaurant which was upstairs and had balconies with french doors therefore this was very comfortable to eat and not to stuffy. The tables were the customary large round tables and the food as usual was amazing and many dishes laid out in front of us. too many too eat everything but the hospitality that we have received throughout it second to none. The people seem to be amazed by us and continue to make us feel like super-stars always looking/staring sometimes they cannot take their eyes off us. It is so lovely they all take many photos of us, all the females of the group have been told very often that we are beautiful and special. It is really unbelievable how besotted they are by our being here, however very interesting city to be a part of.
The city was very busy due to it being a holiday here. We split up into groups as it was easier to stay together as the streets were narrow and crowded. There were many markets so more shopping was being done by all, we are now worrying that we have no more room in our cases for our return journey. China people are so interesting they are very proud people and always doing some sort of fitness regime, although I think they eat vast amounts of food their lifestyle is such that you hardly see anyone obese.
There are a few things I miss back home;
My kids hugs, my kids voices.... my mum and papa J. kisses goodnight,....HUGS ......toast......special k ....and a soft mattress and of course my friends from uni including the health team.
Wish I could put my photos on as they are what everyone will want to see as they do impress with the sights we have been to.
Bye for now ,....sorry this is not more interesting but we are really having the time of our lives and the photos will be testament to that. We are all so tired by the schedule that's why we only spend limited time on computers. we have tried to change the schedule however the Chinese are also very strict in their timetables and will nor budge on anything, I must say however that they have been terrific hosts and look forward to seeing the students again when they come to Scotland to GCU, we will show them how Glaswegians do it.
I'm not sure if i said about us going to the onsite radio station at another of ECUST campus? a selection of students (including myself) went on and spoke a few words regarding what we have liked about our visit to their campus and how good they have been to us.
This was the biggest campus in China and was so big that the students use bikes to get from one class to another.
Tomorrow morning we have Chinese language again (do not be thinking that I will be fluent in Mandarin language) This is such a hard language to learn. Then we have a lecture on economics then a free afternoon so we will make plans to do something else, I would like to visit the many churches around so maybe i will do that. The last thing on our schedule to do is a visit to Shanghai's Urban planning exhibition centre.
We have met so many people and made a lot of new friends from universities all over the world! We have met a group of visiting French students from Lyon, all of whom study Chinese and Politics; three Americans who are here for five weeks from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and also a visiting lecturer from the University of Baghdad.
Monday 10th
Hi everyone,
Attended a culture class at 8am this morning. A presentation and talk was given by a Professor Yan whose great, great, great, great grandfather was a decendent of Confuscious's number one student a highly intelligent gentleman who they say was so clever that he never had to take books to classes as he remembered them of by heart. Unfortunately he died at the early age of 34yrs. The professor had very interesting stories on the culture of China.
The last Emperor of Shang Dynasty was Emperor Zhou who led a luxurious life and tortured both ministers and his people. This intensified conflicts across the kingdom and the Shang Dynasty was finally over thrown by Wu (Chief of Zhou tribe) ending the long reign of the Shang Dynasty in Chinese history.This gave rise to the Republic of China, ended the feudal monarchic rule which lasted for more than 2,000 years.
There is a collection of three hundred poems which contains love lyrics, didactic poems, religious hymns and folk songs which taught the people how to speak and to sing but it also taught them how to think. It contains many poems of high religious fervor and devotion, it also included a great many others which expressed grave doubts of the religious faith of old or openly critisized the social and political order of the time.
China is a multi-religious country.......
Daoism, Buddhism, Islamisim, Protestantisim,Catholicisim, normal religious activities are protected by the constitution.
We also learned of some rather odd words that the Chinese have for food;
Pork lungs in chili sauce = slices of husband and wifes lung
spring chicken= Chicken without sexual life
Griddle cooked chicken with pepper = this is rather rude so I couldent even put it on here lol.
I have many photos of these as actual signs in resturants and signs of direction which are hillarious.
We had another Chinese language lesson today and then had free time
yeeeee hhaaaaaaa!!!!
We all went into Shanghai again and shopped till we literally dropped my back is very sore and has been for over a week now so being on our feet for over 8 hours shopping was not a great idea at all. However I did get many nice gifts and enjoyed the bargaining which is part of the markets culture. At times it was very amusing how much the price would drop and at other times they would not budge on the price. Tonight we are chilling with some beers in one of the girls rooms then off out to a bar then club.
Tomorrow is another early start to a river cruise................So do not expect me to be in one piece when I come home because these young ones are hard to keep up with. However as my family know I'm always up for a challenge.
keep well see you soon L x
Sunday 9 June 2013
Sunday
Just back from our two day stay in Hangzhou. Hanzghou is the capital of Zhejiang province. I think I already said that there are around 4 million ppl there. This city only produces 2,000 number plates every month at a cost of 15 hundred dollars I'ts the governments way of keeping the traffic down as much as they can.
We travelled to the most amazing, beautiful peacful Lingyin Si Temple & Feilai Feng Mountains. This was just spectacular and so much history and stories to be heard. The exotic sourunding names...Temple of the souls retreat, The Flying Peak conceal but perhaps hint at a remarkable Juxtaposition of nature & religious art. There is a shaded valley with a stream and on one side of a cliff decorated by an ancient sculpture and on the other an impressive Buddhist Temple. Tjhe monastery was founded by an Indian monk in 326, Later from the 10th and 143th centuries more than 300 Buddhist sculptures are hewn out of this rock. In the middle of the hall of the heavenly King there is a cheerful Pot-Bellied Buddha at the back is Weitoo, guardian of monasteries and Buddhist teaching, both housed in magnificant shrines and along the sides stands the four heavenly kings, protectors of the earth and fighters against evil.Truly an amazing sight. Some of the group prayed in front of the statues and made wishes. It is said if your wish comes true you have to return to thank the Buddhas....I will have to win the lottory if mine comes true then.....
I have to leave for now as we are meeting up to go do some touring of the city...lizzi x
Saturday
Hi everyone this morning we travelled to the beautiful city of Hangzhou which means Heaven on earth and has 4 million inhabitants. By coach it took 3 and a half hours. When we arrived we went to a lovely hotel for our lavish meal set out in a large private room on a round table which is custom to the chinese people. We had the most amazing feast of several dishes served to us in the middle of the table of which we helped ourselves by turning the large glass lazy susan.....the food was everything you could think of including tiny whole fish..crab....jelly fish (which wasnt so nice) frogs.....chicken...beef...and loads more that i just dont have a name for and yes most of the group was brave enough to try it all including me :-) . After out meal we went to the most famous and beautiful lake. It has numerous temples(which we will get to visit) pagados. Pavillions. And the most beautiful gardens you have ever saw. This Lake has the most beautiful love story to tell . the love of a man and woman who fell in love at one of the bridges only for the man to find out that she was not a real woman. I will try remember the story and post at a later time. After the lake we went to a proper posh hotel called Hangzhou zhongshan international the group were blown away with Chinas generosity. It was proper top class and staff were amazing when it was descovered that only two of the group brought their passports which we required to check into hotel with. So a collegue from our uni campus accommodation had to go into all the rooms to retrieve the passports and get the fast train into Hangzhou otherwise we could not have stayed. Thank goodness ! more tomorrow guys
Friday 7 June 2013
Friday 7th
Hiya
Today is a very rainy day :-( however we were prepared and have the correct clothing/umberellas to hand.
This morning I found it really hard to waken as I was up late. We had a class a 8am (yes classes here seem to be really early) the first class was our Chinese language lesson and the second was Chinese folk songs very difficult to understand especially when our guide and interpreter left the class room after 10 minutes. In the afternoon we have a Chinese painting class.
Last night some of the group went to a night club and were treated like celebrities and VIP's. Free entry, free booth and free drinks all night which included champagne. They danced till the small hours of 3.30am. We are arranging another night at a club maybe a different one or the same as they were brilliant hosts who even paid for the taxi there and back which is around 30-40 minutes into Shanghai city. Apparently the clubs all give Western folks VIP treatment as they like to see us in their clubs it is good PR for them.
I think the rest of the afternoon will be a chill out day as everyone is tired after the late night at the club and we have a two day trip tomorrow. We will be staying over at a hotel so it should be very comfortable.
I still cannot believe how fit and dedicated to health the Chinese people are here, ranging from the very young to the very old. Breakfast canteens open at six due to most out early training not just doing their morning routine of tai chi. They have vast amounts of training grounds and pitches, along with many canteens through the campus. You do not see anyone who is overweight everyone seems to be fit and healthy. The Chinese are also very dedicated to their studies, always in the library to study not to email or on facebook lol. I like the culture very much.
Hope all is well back home....kinda starting to worry about my own studies and that I really should be doing my essay........................however I would not have missed this opportunity.
Thanks 佛如有人support爱上always
Love安定 理智
Thursday 6 June 2013
Thursday 6th June
Today was a very hot day. We boarded a coach at 9.am to travel to another campus of ECUST, which is called Fengxian
to communicate with students who were learning English. We presented a
powerpoint presentation of GCU and spoke of our city. Considering we had not
prepared anything for this, luckily Anne our group leader (Physiology
Lecturer at GCU) had brought along her pen drive with information on the uni
and various pictures of our city. All twelve students from GCU sat with a class
full of Chinese students and sat and communicated with them helping
them with their English and also learning from them about their city.
Later in the day we all attended a special
meeting and were entertained and joined in with games which we all
enjoyed and intend carrying this out at home also. We exchanged gifts, and
emails of all 12 students were given to the students who are coming to GCU.
Next was a tour of the campus which is the largest and newest in China
supporting over 10,000 students.
I have many photos to
show when I return of the vast amount of space and buildings that these campus'
enjoy. The students and people of China are very fit, they are always doing
some sort of sports and the campus has many pitches for football,
basketball etc. They eat very healthy and amazing food.
Tomorrow we have classes
in Chinese language again and Chinese folk songs
and Chinese painting very busy day ahead.
Wednesday 5th jUNE
Hi everyone today we are traveling into Shanghai City, we are all very excited about this as there are many shops and beautiful building to see.
This trip took around 45 minutes by bus.
The roads are very busy here I think worse than London. Very crowded with lots of bicycles, and mopeds. I would be very mixed up driving here and you have to be very careful crossing the roads as when the green man on the cars don't stop.............
We split up into two groups for the gardens tour as it is a very busy area and we felt it would be easier to walk around. It was not what we expected, gardens we thought would be lovely greenery and flowers however it was more spectacular it was beautiful buildings which I have photos of to show everyone on the blog later. There was lots of shopping to be done and boy did we all shop!!!!!!
It was that good we are arranging another trip by ourselves later in the week.
We also enjoyed Huangpu River Cruise later on in the evening. This was also spectacular, the building were amazingly lite, I have many photos which I am excited about showing when I come home. I will have to arrange a showing lol.
We are looking forward to visiting Shanghai Museum/Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre.
I am delighted about being given this opportunity and loving every minute of it. However I am also very tired as we are out all day and night no time to sleep at all but of course I am managing to keep up with the young ones.
Wednesday 5 June 2013
Tuesday 4th June (via Lizzies email)
Today our group and the group
from France had Calligraphy lessons and Chinese language lessons.
This seems to be a very difficult language to learn and the basic takes around
6 weeks so we could only learn very little. The language has certain
"Tones" to their voice for particular letters.
We then in the late afternoon
went on a city tour of Shanghai City and also The Huangpu River Cruise....This
was one amazing trip of a lifetime. I have some brilliant photographs of
the city lite up.
I wish I could put on
some of the photos as they are amazing :-)
The weather is very warm and
although not always sunny the heat is enjoyable. We have had just a couple of
light showers that only last a matter of seconds.
We mostly eat in the
universities canteens (three of) the food is always in vast amounts and choice.
The shops on the campus are pretty good too with most things that we like at a
cheap price. Beer is especially cheap and very cool and enjoyable. There is one
particular shop which sells English pastries ...I recommend the doughnuts for
breakfast (yummy)
Ohhhhh We ate outside the
campus last night at a lovely restaurant we all had something
different including frogs legs.....however I would say they were more like the
actual frogs back ..going by the bones eeeewww I did taste them and they
were OK just tasted a little like chicken.
The toilet in the restaurant was
on the floor ....so ladies had to squat to relieve themselves, It was an
experience anyway.
I will try blog again soon as
the timing is very tight with all the tasks that we have ahead of us. We are
seven and a half hours behind the UK
Tuesday 4 June 2013
Arrived (submitted by email)
So far I have not been able to access my blog account. It seems to use your phone over here takes too long and we will be home before it logs on.
Anyway we arrived safe and sound :-) accomodation good we have own own rooms with en suite. Food is amazin noodles everywhere. Its very cheap to eat on campus.
We had our opening ceremony this morning and our tour of the uni, and this afternoon it is martial arts so i will be hopefully learning some interesting moves.
I will take many photos but may not be able to post whilst here but will have loads to show when I return.
Sunday 2 June 2013
Night before flight
Well folks thats my case and hand luggage packed...if i have forgot anything too late now! Hopefully get mega excited tomorrow at airport :-) cannot wait to post some photos of the lovely Shanghai see you back here soon troups.....X
Saturday 1 June 2013
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