Hi everyone,
Well I ended up spending nearly 3 weeks in Yangshuo and enjoyed every moment of it. Apart from the orientation and teacher training, the rest of the time was spent relaxing and looking around the place. Having already spent a few days in the town last year on my holiday I found it very easy to get around and found the good eating places etc.
I met a great bunch of people over the 3 weeks and saw nearly all the courses that came through. Also attached to Buckland College is a private language school called Owen College and I spent a lot of time talking to the students from there. They were all in their early to mid twenties and had spent a lot of money to come to Yangshuo to learn English. They think it is fantastic to have so many foreigners at their disposal to talk to and we loved talking with them.
On the Saturday after the orientation finished I had hired a pushbike and went for a dawn ride into the hills with Laura, a Canadian teacher who was volunteering at Owen for the summer. We got up at 5.30 and rode for about 30-40 mins and came to a spot between the Karst hills to watch. Unfortunately it had been raining the last couple of days and the cloud cover prevented us from seeing the sunrise. But it was very beautiful and peaceful all the same. (See photo)
Well I ended up spending nearly 3 weeks in Yangshuo and enjoyed every moment of it. Apart from the orientation and teacher training, the rest of the time was spent relaxing and looking around the place. Having already spent a few days in the town last year on my holiday I found it very easy to get around and found the good eating places etc.
I met a great bunch of people over the 3 weeks and saw nearly all the courses that came through. Also attached to Buckland College is a private language school called Owen College and I spent a lot of time talking to the students from there. They were all in their early to mid twenties and had spent a lot of money to come to Yangshuo to learn English. They think it is fantastic to have so many foreigners at their disposal to talk to and we loved talking with them.
On the Saturday after the orientation finished I had hired a pushbike and went for a dawn ride into the hills with Laura, a Canadian teacher who was volunteering at Owen for the summer. We got up at 5.30 and rode for about 30-40 mins and came to a spot between the Karst hills to watch. Unfortunately it had been raining the last couple of days and the cloud cover prevented us from seeing the sunrise. But it was very beautiful and peaceful all the same. (See photo)
The next week was spent relaxing and waiting to find out when I was going to my school. I was being paired with another Aussie, Mick, who was still teaching at Owen so had to wait for him to finish the week out. We were told we were going to a small town called Lanshan and it would be either Saturday or Sunday. When Saturday came they could not give us a definite answer and said probably tomorrow. So we had packed and were waiting Sunday morning, when the boss called us into his office and said we were not going to Lanshan now but to Xintian No. 1 Middle School instead. Okay no biggie. We were then set to leave Tuesday, and leave we did.
Also whilst in Yangshuo Michelle had a birthday (another full time teacher at Owen) and we all went out to celebrate. Michelle is an Aussie from Brisbane. (See photo)
Also whilst in Yangshuo Michelle had a birthday (another full time teacher at Owen) and we all went out to celebrate. Michelle is an Aussie from Brisbane. (See photo)
Along with that I have made friends with a Canadian named Jen and she is teaching in a town about 2 and a half hours from me so we agreed to try and keep in contact. (See photo)
There were so many other great people I met that I will keep in contact with also from around the world. We even had a Polish guy, Blazej (or Frank to us), there at Owen as well as people from Britain, Canada, America a few Aussies and a Kiwi couple doin g the teaching courses.
Well that was my fun in Yangshuo. It is time to go to my new home in Xintian.
Well that was my fun in Yangshuo. It is time to go to my new home in Xintian.
Take care
Gabby
