Being British, I have never ever celebrated Thanksgiving. So when I got a message from a fellow British expat here in China, asking a group of us if we’d like to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday I wasn’t too bothered. I told Mitch but he thought we should go, sure, we’re in China, but why not celebrate other cultures and festivals.
Category: China
Teaching in Hangzhou, China
I wake up feeling groggy at 6am as my alarm goes off. Sometimes, if my hair doesn’t need a wash, I give myself the luxury of staying in bed until 6.30. I leave Mitch in bed asleep and feel envious. I enjoy a hot shower to wake me up and put on some ‘teacher’ clothes. A lot of the Chinese teachers dress casually, in jeans for example, but I can’t bring myself to do that. I check that I have everything in my backpack, eat a banana for some energy before my cycle to work. My school is split between …
Autumnal Evenings in Hangzhou
It’s technically autumn here in Hangzhou but it doesn’t feel like it. The temperature can still reach about 25 degrees in the daytime and I get hot walking around in jeans and a t-shirt. There are a few times when it does feel colder. I leave the house about an hour after the sun rises and you definitely need a jacket. The evenings are similar.
Hangzhou Holiday Adventures (Part Two)
We kick-started the holiday with beer, ridiculous amounts of food, McDonalds’ ‘Modern China Burger’, mooncakes, and discovering new parts of the city (Part One can be found here). The second part of the holiday had similar experiences but also a few days to chill out. One day was spent catching up on Doctor Who and finally getting Mitch into Utopia. No matter what country you live in, you still need those chilled days.
Hangzhou Holiday Adventures (Part One)
Despite only starting teaching 3 weeks ago, I’ve just had 12 days of holiday. The holiday was for two reasons. The first is the Mid-Autumn festival. This festival ties in with the full moon and people view the celebration as a time to spend with family. The full moon symbolises peace and wholeness, and so it also involves eating a lot of mooncakes (not as nice as they sound). Still, I got give a box of them from the school which was very kind. The second festival a few days later is National Day: celebrating that the People’s Republic of China was founded on …
Exploring Hangzhou’s West Lake
Firstly – all credit to Mitch for these photos. He takes my iPhone and snaps away, sometimes for a long time and I impatiently look at my watch. I then look at said photos later and they are stunning, so, credit to him. One of the main tourist attractions in our new hometown of Hangzhou is the West Lake. A gorgeous natural lake which was made a UNESCO site in 2011. Being so beautiful means on the weekend it’s buzzing with tourists (national and international), plus locals coming to enjoy the scenery, market and restaurants.