First appearances...

Day one of China life was met after an average first nights sleep despite my tiredness, but nevertheless I was raring to go! The school induction programme started at 8.30am so there was n messing around and we were thrown straight into it - which I think was the best way to do it. The school is in a fantastic location next to the lake, with a new modern secondary school building. It was lovely getting to know the other newbies, having a tour of the school and Christmas came early when we picked up our box fresh Macbook Air and Mini iPad as well.

First shopping experience at a Chinese Shopping Mall

So, the teachers became the kids, loaded onto the mini bus and whisked off to experience our first Chinese Supermarket and Mall for some essentials. If I am totally honest, I am surprised at how easy it was to understand what the majority of things were, some staff spoke some English (and attempted to sell you things) and not too many staring faces at us Westerner's! Some interesting fruit varieties and the fishmongers was something else - your can pick which fish you want, whilst it is still swimming around! And the best thing... the price is heavily reduced vs the UK. Another win for day 1!

---