Kunming

After saying goodbye to the kids of the kindergarten, we set off to the trainstation of Chengdu. Despite the random availability of hot water and the occassional flea in our beds, the school took good care of us and they provide us with transport to the station. We have to wait quite a while before the train leaves, so we decide to have dumplings. With our previous trainride still fresh in memory, we figure a light lunch is recommended. Even though the trainride was up to 16 hours shorter than the previous trip, it was definitely a worse experience. Because we could not arrange hardsleeper-tickets, we had to spend 20 hours with regular seat tickets.

While arriving at the platform, we encountered the first problem. The amount of people waiting to enter our wagon could not possibly fit in all the required seats was my first thought. Unfortunately, I was right. It took some effort to actually get on the train and the wagon was flooded with people. This meant that almost all overhead storage was used as well. I found a spot for my bag somewhere and took a seat. Later it would  become clear that it wasn't a safe spot for my bag as it came crashing down on someone's head. Luckily, the tequila bottle stored inside did not break on impact (the man on whose head it crashed was fine too). The reason why the wagon was so full, as it turns out, was because of standing-tickets. I was not aware that such tickets could be bought, and I could not imagine anyone buying those for a ride of at least 20 hours. I couldn't have been more wrong, the majority stayed all the way. A real shame because this meant the wagon would be overcrowded for the entire ride. This certainly did not help at night, when the lights remained on and many of the people were in fierce discussions. It also did not help that the lady pushing the trolley of had the most annoying voice I've heard since I first heard about Rebecca Black.I knew I would not be able to sleep, especially in such uncomfortable seats, so in order to pass the time I read a lot (Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a quite intriguing read) and tried to learn about Chinese culture from my fellow volunteers. The trainride wasn't all bad, but once the desire to sleep kicked in, all small annoyances of the past and following hours were put under a magnifying glass. One lady in particular was a big nuissance with her indecent behaviour. She just occupied seats of my fellow EPs, or used them as backrests when she wanted to sit in the aisle. But this is starting to become a very negative post so far, so let's quickly move on.
Upon arriving in Kunming it seemed like the city was way different than my expectations of it. Having talked to other people about China, I had high expectations concerning the beauty of this city. The area around the trainstation, however, looked horrible and it was one big chaos of people. Not exactly the beautiful serenity that I romantically, yet mistakenly, imagined. When I opened my eyes nearing the end of our bustrip to the Anning Middleschool, this picture was completely reversed. The school and the new business center, as well as the roads in this area, look nice and clean. It also helped that the sun started to shine at this point. This made me very curious about the city center, which I have not yet been able to go to.

Because of a few changes in the plan, we arrived early at Kunming. The purpose for this was to give us more time to prepare. We were greeted by the vice-principal upon arrival and it became clear that expectations were very high in the management of this school. The schedule also became clear and everyone had to prepare two 70-minute classes of their own interest (although some classes had to be specifically about English, my second class as well) and a workshop. Later in the program we will have to create another workshop. The morning is filled with two 70-minute classes (although not everyone will always teach) and the afternoon with activities that we created together for every of the classes. Before it came to that, however, we had to prepare an opening ceremony for the students. I was chosen, practically by default, to be the host of this event. Exciting, but also a little scary.

Admittedly, I did not spend much time preparing the first days. As the only person who did not bring a computer (I mistakenly thought that we would have access to computers in the computer roomsthat we talked about in the interview, but it turned out that this meant internet access instead), I kind of feel like a special help kid and I have to wait until I can borrow someone's computer (Attila is the usual victim). Instead, I spent a lot of time playing basketball with the Chinese volunteers and helping with preparation of the opening ceremony. Luckily, we took full advantage of the good weather of the first few days, as it has been raining nonstop since the 14th (coincidentally, at the time of writing I see the first rays of sun entering our room). We have excellent facilities at this campus and we even have wi-fi in our room, which is moderately stable for Chinese standards and helps a lot in preparation. The food isn't all that bad either, with a proper cantine where we can actually choose what we want. We got a card that allows us to spend up to 40 yuan on food each day. More than plenty, especially because we have consistently skipped breakfast (which is at 7:00) so far.

The day before the opening ceremony, and the start of the summer camp, we take some time of to see a local buddhist temple and visit the hot springs. It was great to see a beautiful buddhist temple for the first time, and even better to relax in the hot water in the hot springs. With the absence of a proper shower in our previous location and the busy days ahead, this was a really nice way to spend the day. However, when we get back (two hours later than expected) a concerned vice-principal is waiting for us in the conference room. He starts about punctuality and enthousiasm and voices some concerns. It seems, however, that he grounded this on nothing substantial, so we feel that it was more a scaretactic to ensure our dedication. The rest of the meeting passes with a much more lighthearted atmosphere.  The next day, it is time to host the opening ceremony, we created a video (which is available on my facebook page) of all volunteers and we have some nice speeches planned. The hosting, together with my co-hostess and translator Rachel, goes smoothly and I feel like the children enjoyed the ceremony, or at least the majority of it. At times it did feel like I was talking to a brick wall, as their mastery of English listening is a little dissapointing (as I find out later in my Oral English class), but luckily everything was translated. All in all, it was a nice and educational experience for myself.

My teaching schedul was a bit slow the past days, but it will pick up the following days. The class on sustainable development that I had today was much more succesful than the Oral English one, which I definitely have to adjust to a lower difficulty level. I will be off again tomorrow, and then the busy schedule will start. This gives me a little time to relax and make a few adjustments.

In a few days it will be my, and a Chinese volunteers' birthday. Unfortunaly, we are not allowed outside of campus after 10 pm, which makes it difficult to plan something nice for this day. The thorough reader, however, will know that we have it covered. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit more of the city if we have some free time. Perhaps I will get the opportunity on our only day off the 22th, but a trip to dinosaur valley is planned as well. Luckily, the time we are supposed to be back in the evening is extended to a whopping 10:30pm. Plenty of time for fun.