China is amazing.

Just thought I'd get that bit out of the way first - basically, I'm loving my time here and the people I've meeting/getting to know. China Fellows are wicked! Anyway, it's been AGES since I last blogged so I feel a bit guilty - 13 days! Terrible. I've just been so stupidly, stupidly busy that I haven't had time - I'm currently typing this out at exactly 2.28am in the morning after coming back from the most amazing Karaoke bar I've ever been to. The place looked like a 5 star hotel! Leather sofas, all-you-can-eat buffet and wide-screen TV for about 30RBM (£3ish) each? And that's including taking a taxi there and back... Wow. London, take note.

Today was our first proper day in Beijing and we still spent quite a bit of time sorting stuff out. We flew for so long my internal body clock was messed up, but I think it's fine now... she says at half two in the morning. Heathrow was fine, Dubai was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT to the point we thought the plane had crashed and we knew what death felt like, and arriving in Beijing was perfect; we all got through without any hassle. Arriving at about 11pm meant we could only manage to meet some very drunk American students who are staying with us at Beijing Normal University (enough of the "where's the abnormal bit then?" jokes, please) who gave us an impromptu tour of the campus, which ended up being sureal and funny in equal measure. It mainly consisted of loads of random swear words peppered between sentences like: "hey, this is the restaurant... but it's shut right now. And here's where you can sort out your Internet... but that's shut now too. Let's go for beer! Oh, they're shut... maybe we should just wake them up? They sleep in the bar dude, they'll hear us if we're loud enough!" Found out later that they're some sort of Gifted and Talented group of language students from Ivy League Universities - Princeton and Dartmouth. Erm. No comment.

This morning, after finally getting our Internet paid for (we get Hong Kong Google! But Facebook and Twitter and banned... although all the lovely British news websites are ok so that's good). Had quite a bit of time to wander about ourselves before we had out Orientation at 2pm. It only took us one and a half hours to purchase some nice lunch of noodles and these pancake thingies that tasted like eggy bready... well done China Fellows. I have to say though, our group decision-making is pretty atrocious. It seems there are no clear leaders of the group, but none of us are followers either, so we wander aimlessly until someone sucks it up and starts walking somewhere.

After talking to our new teachers and some students studying English at the Uni, we went on an epic tour of the campus, which looked incredible. HUGE, yet beautiful architecture. Have to say though, I’m not so impressed with the amount of stares I’m getting because I’m black – am not too annoyed about it because I can understand that some people genuinely don’t see black people in their day-to-day lives and so I’m obviously a novelty, I just feel so self-conscious. I don’t think I’ve ever  felt like a minority back at home, aka South-East London… funny that. Think I’ve just gotta suck it up, I’m just shocked people are so blatant with their staring – at one point a guy stopped in the middle of the road to look at me. And apparently the English people are rude all the time!

Dinner was really nice; with the help of a lovely student called Bob (well, his English name) about 12 of us managed to get some lovely food at a resturant across the road from the hotel. Due to us all ordering stuff we genuinely had no idea was in, we ended up pushing the boat and splashing out on 30RBM each for out enormous meal. Also managed to have my first odd dish - shredded chicken stomach! In some sort of vegetable thing... it was genuinely nice, but the texture was a bit like rubber bands so I don't think I'll be tasting that anytime soon. Karaoke, as I mentioned before, was fantastic – the Chinese just don’t do anything by halves, do they? Had a lot of fun belting out everything from Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Prayer to Pass Out by Tinie Tempah and Barbie Girl by Aqua… yeah, I know. Pretty sure I’ve lost my voice now, obviously the best thing I could have done before the first Mandarin lessons tomorrow… Bridget Fail. Although, who knew N-Dubz were big in China? You learn something new every day.

I just want to say (type) it again: I am in China. Wow. Actually can't believe I'm saying that out loud... well, typing that, but you know what I mean. To be honest it really didn't sink in until long after the initial flight from Heathrow, the stop over in Dubai, the arrival in Beijing until this morning - when I woke up in a strange bed and remembered where I was. The itinerary of stuff we’re doing over the next fortnight is pretty cool – the Great Wall walk, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square all to come in the nest couple of days. Wicked.

Am going to stop this now, this seems really long and I am so knackered after jumping around all night and singing at the top of my voice. I need to up by 8am! Am also  debating having another shower because of how disgusting I feel… but it would be third of the day and that’s just crazy excessive. For some strange reason having 20 people in a small room + being in Beijing during July + jumping up and down like the happy idiots we are for 3 hours + the air con not working = a very, very hot, sweaty and generally grimy bunch of global fellows. Who woulda thunk it?

As a side note, I'm really loving th Global Fellows I'm with. It seems like we're really jelling... plus, loads of them are minor insomniacs like me so have managed to just been distraced for half hour while finishing this blog by Vivek and Jess who I heard mooching in the corridor... at 2.45am. Funtimes. The next 6 weeks are going to be awesome.

Conversations About China With Fellows: "wow, we made it to the karaoke bar alive!" "I'm actually impressed, the driving was crazy... and we nearly ran over some dog in the road on the way-" "was it grey?" "yes..." WE NEARLY KILLED THE SAME BLOODY DOG TOO!" "maybe we can finally get it on the way back? third time lucky in the Global Fellowship attempt to kill the stupidest dog in China?"

Conversations About China With (American) Friends: "so, you're from England, you're in China for 6 weeks, and you speak no Mandarin?" "erm, yes..." "...cool. Do you know Russell Brand?"

 

I LOVE CHINA!  I cannot express to you in words how welcome I have felt over the past two days. The flight was extremely long but it was worth it to be in such a place. There was no initial shock as Beijing just lokked like any normal city at night BUT in the morning when I opened my curtains it was buzzing with Chinese-ness. The beeping horns, shuffling movements of people, the floating umbrellas, the jam-packed bicycle stands, little chinese children playing in the street, street stalls and cyclists. I love it!

The flight was very loooong. I met a very nice Chinese man, Tian Da Sheng, who was sitting next to me on the plane and we talked a lot about anything and everything. He was practicing his English and me, mandarin. This was my first challenge as it was pretty hard to communicate. I really enjoyed talking to him though because as difficult as it was there was always a sense of satisfaction when Tian Da understood me and I’m sure it was the same for him. This was my first real confrontation with a Chinese person which definitely exceeded my expectations as he was so incredibly friendly and worked just as hard and was just as interested in learning about my way of life. Exchanging views and opinions with people from another “world” is an achievement in itself and so enriching. He was a 35 year old Chinese man yet we still had lots to talk about. It was so fulfilling.

When we reached the hotel the only place open and the only place closest was Macdonalds (surprise, surprise). It really isn't very different to what you would expect in England. I was a little disappointed as I really want to eat some traditional Chinese food. Luckily in the morning we got to try some of the local stuff from a stall near by, it was an egg fried pancake with chicken, an interesting Chinese sauce and lettuce. It was gorgeous!!!! Bring on more of that!!!!!!

We received our welcome to Beijing Normal University, one of the best universities in China and found that the open minded world views that we hold are very similar to those of the people leading the group. It was so fascinating to see that even in a different culture people can share views on widening horizons, creating opportunity, working hard and respecting differences in culture and lifestyle. It’s inspiring to know that there is unity in the world alongside conflict and that even when we do feel alone, we shouldn’t because there will always be a community of people who feel the same way.

I spoke with my tour guide, Huang Xue, for a very long time about Chinese politics, relationships, learning languages, Chinese culture etc. I had so many questions and she was more than happy to answer them. It was shocking to see how many similarities there were between “us” and “them.” My stereotypes were instantly shattered and I felt like I was talking to a friend back in England. It was just so strange how close we became in such a short amount of time. She was absolutely lovely and I know that I will definitely keep in touch with her.

All the fellows are also becoming so much closer and are really enjoying their time here. The jetlag should pass soon (hopefully). The real work starts tomorrow where we begin on the schedule which includes meeting some very important people from the British Embassy. (Nervous? Erm...yes. :s)

Thanks again for reading my blog J

Pooja x

 

First morning in Beijing today, and in typical me style, I had forgotten to set my alarm properly and so I overslept, missing the breakfast convoy! However, I was down in plenty of time to sort out the bits of paperwork, and receive the goody bag which had a Beijing Normal University t-shirt, a photo frame and phrase book among other things. Then came the Chinese test (which I had completely forgotten about). It didn’t start too badly, I could tell he asked my name to which I replied :”Wo jiao Zac”. And then he just went off on one, and I didn’t have a clue, so I just replied with “ho hen hao” (I am very good). After this he switched to English to ask how long I’d been learning Chinese. 

 

After that was all done with, I headed out with a small group to get some food. We went to this patisserie which had come highly recommended by some of the other fellows from earlier. The food it had was really interesting, because it was fundamentally Western in style, but with some crazy Chinese twists! For example a sweet pastry, but with a hot dog sausage running through it, or cold Garlic bread, well more like Garlic cake that Oli ended up with. We tried to find a nice park or area to sit and eat, but after walking for about ten minutes we decided just to sit on a wall, and just hope we were doing anything illegal! We were attracting a lot of attention though, but later on in the day we were told that people didn’t mean to be rude, they were just intrigued to see a group of Westerners.

 

There were a few other shopping stops after this, including my Hair Song shampoo and Chinese toothpaste and shower gel; all of which I’ve just used, so I didn’t accidentally buy something that would make my hair fall out (a thought that did cross my mind). These bits of shopping showed to us just how cheap China is. The patisserie for example was about a £5, for which a got a lot and would have probably been more like fifteen or twenty pounds at home. And the toitleires I bought, plus a bottle of Diet Coke cost only £2.60- and this is a capital city!! 

 

In the afternoon we had our orientation session, meeting the British Council representatives, and then going on a tour with some current students at the uni. Lilly and I were paired with two Chinese girls, and I cannot for the life of me remember their Chinese names, but we did help them choose some English names, so they were Sarah and Rachelle. I found it particularly interesting because Rachelle is studying at the Beijing Conservatiore and wants to be a singing teacher when she’s older, which is so similar to what I want to do. We also learnt that there isn’t a Beijing Abnormal University (a little disappointing) and that the Beijing Normal University was traditionally a teacher training institute, and is highly respected in China; I guess the Chinese version of Oxford or Cambridge. Sarah told us the school motto, which I want to write down so I don’t forget, and that is: Learn so as to instruct others, act to serve as examples to all. I just quickly want to add as well that at one point we were working in mixed groups to think about our thoughts and feelings, and when I was writing, Julliette (one of the student organisers) said how beautiful my handwriting is! And then only moments later she took hold of the pen and started writing in Chinese, leaving me gobsmacked that she thought my writing looked so good when she had pretty much produced a piece of artwork with what she wrote!

 

In the evening we went to a Chinese Buffet, it wasn't amazing, but it was alright. And then onto a karaoke bar...

Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

This had to be one of the nicest karaoke bars in the world, the entrance looked like some Ancient Chinese palace, we took the lift to floor 6, where there was a buffet of food laid out and a load of drink machines. We were then shown to our private room and let loose with the machine! Food and drink was all you can eat, and there were always staff on hand to help out. It was amazing (and off course it was karaoke as well, which makes it even better) Oh, and did I mention it was under a fiver each! It was also our first taste of what it's like in a Chinese taxi.... The journey there wasn't too bad, we did nearly kill a dog that was running down the middle of the road though, but it was the way back that was more "interesting". It was going fine until we got to where we needed to stop, and he had passed where we wanted to stop, so we let him know and tried to tell him that we were happy to get out, however the driver had a different idea and just put the car in reverse and starting reversing. Reversing along a busy 3 lane dual carriageway type road, we were very happy to be able to get out escape!!

 

Anyway, I’m very tired now and need to be wide awake for tomorrow, so I’ll leave it there. Hopefully I’ll try and upload a photo or two tomorrow!

Ni men hao! We landed a mere 24 hours ago in Beijing after an extremely long and sleep deprived yet fun flight. I may have managed to get about an hours sleep on the plane but I was being fueled by the adrenaline pumping through my system! After landing in Beijing we immediately experienced the hot and humid weather on our way to Beijing Normal University's student accommodation at Liyung Apartotel. This is student accommodation like no other with a reception, a McDonald's connected through the lobby, a fridge in the room, daily housekeeping and much, much more. Its almost like staying in a 3/4 star hotel! The wonders of globalisation meant that my first meal in China was in McDonald's and though we knew little mandarin the words 'Big Mac Meal' is universally understood. Having unpacked we went for a midnight stroll around the block and met some delightful (drunk) American university exchange students who gave us the low down on the local area.

The next morning I woke up after just 3 hours of sleep ready to start the day of introductions (with an obligatory breakfast at McDonald's of course!). After registration and a placement test to check our mandarin skills we had a few hours to kill and so we set off to acquaint ourselves with the local area and to try to find some appetising street food. Having bought some spicy noodles for myself I tried helping Patricia buy some plain noodles which took us a lot of effort with me trying to say plain noodles by pointing and saying no (bu, bu, bu, bu) to every sauce, which the vendor thought was extremely weird and unusual! Afterwords having managed to get food some of us were stopped in the street and asked to pose for pictures with some of the locals with Seun proving to be the most popular amongst us. We were then told that in China people are a lot more relaxed when it comes to these sorts of things which also included asking ones age, weight and annual income. That over with we finally entered the University for the introductory briefing where we were asked to list our hopes and fears. Certainly the main fear amongst everyone in the group was the fear of offending the locals especially the families we'll be staying with. But most of us had high hopes of learning the language and making the most out of this experience. After this session we were taken on a tour of the University and myself, Seun, Aman and Asher were shown around by two BNU students Wendy and Nini; who were two excellent people and who took us to experience our first taste of student food in China and I must say it was some of the best food I've tasted and extremely cheap as well! A very detailed tour followed with Seun taking many, many pictures. The campus itself is huge and everything is located within a few hundred metres of each other. We kicked around a football for a while with some of the students and then I played a bit of badminton (a game I considered myself to be quite good at before I was outshone by the skills of the Chinese person I played). 

That was pretty much it for the day. We arranged to meet Wendy and Nini the next morning for breakfast to repay them for showing us around, then I came straight to my room to hit the hay. Its currently about 2am whilst writing this post, something I thought I ought to do before day 2. But now I shall be back to the really comfortable double bed to recharge for an intense day tomorrow and possibly even some karaoke in the evening! So for now Zai Jian!!

Arrived yesturday! :)

Ive only been here 24 hours but it feels like a lifetime already...

Explored Beijing Normal University today and had a look around the streets close by... you never really learn much about a culture and a way of life by simply reading a book, I'm already noticing how China is both simular and different to the UK by being here and seeing it for myself. The diets are different - completely different! - people seem to have meals at midnight... im used to having food by 6! its not doing any favours for my jetlag! Also no real dairy products which for me is odd. This evening I tried chicken stomach which was actually really nice - you just have to forget what it is :)

As a driver I've seen a difference in attitude here too - people use the horn constantly! So its fairly loud on the road and near the road! The smog is becoming rather heavey too... by around 4pm most the cars are covered in dust.

One of my fears about gaining a place on the fellowship was wether or not I'd get along with all the fellows here and also those involved on the fellowship, so far I feel soo stupid for worrying! The programme is great and everyone involved is really supportive and kind! I'm so excited for the next 6 weeks here!

Great Wall on Saturday! cannot wait!

L x

After a day of travelling and little sleep, I was surprised at how easily I was able to wake up this morning for a 09:00 breakfast. Perhaps due to the loud traffic outside!!! Despite this, however, I still managed to miss the group to go off to the breakfast lounge, having spent 15 minutes waiting for Imtiyaz to wake up! Fortunately, we were not alone and after struggling to find the breakfast hall and with the advice from an American international student, we decided to try our first Chinese meal- off the street. On arrival last night, I was shocked to see that just outside my hotel were a man and a woman sleeping in a hammock, tied between a lamppost and a tree.  Had I gone with what I thought was best, I certainly would not have tried it, however I came to China with an open mind and if the student said it was ok, I was willing to take the risk. I’m not sure what it was called but for 3.5 RMB (35p) we were given a kebab style wrap, which had a bit of chicken and lettuce inside; the bread was made with egg, almost like French toast, but a lot thinner. Considering the price, the appearance and the conditions it was made in, I wasn’t expecting much, however much to my surprise it was a delicious first meal in China! I would also like to point out that 12 hours have passed since I ate it and I am yet to feel any effects of food poisoning! As much as I understand the risks of eating street food and the importance of hygiene, I believe it is just as easy to get ill in a restaurant and at least on the street you can see them cooking it in front of you. Tomorrow morning I might just go back! 

Having eaten, I took a walk with Juliette (our main guide) to purchase an Ethernet cable for my room, 2 weeks worth of internet and a local SIM, before meeting back in the lobby to register our room card, receive our itinerary and have a brief conversation in Mandarin to determine ability levels. For the next three hours we had time to relax, take a wonder around and do what we liked, so feeling a bit tired still, I came back to my room, uploaded last night’s blog and had a nap. 

At 13:45, we met back in the lobby, where we were taken around campus to a building where we were given an introduction to all the people from the British Council and Beijing Normal University and we took part in various activities with some Chinese students and teachers. Following this, we split up into groups to be taken on a tour of the campus. The main areas worth pointing out was the library which was easily the largest I have ever seen and the sports area which consisted of an athletic track, football pitches, tennis and badminton courts and a gym. It didn’t surprise me so much to see these facilities, particularly in a top university, however I was amazed at how many people were actually using them! Every court was busy, the pitch had easily more than 22 players, 80% of the machines in the gym were being used and there were hundreds of people around campus on bikes!  It seems the attitudes towards sports over here are a lot stronger than back home and I believe the Olympics has had an impact on this.  Hopefully the effect will be the same back home. 

On the way back home, I was given some oddly disappointing news confirming recent speculation- cat and dog meat has been officially banned in China. Of course it would still be possible to buy in outer regions, however I was genuinely saddened by the news that I won’t get to try a meat which has sparked so much controversy across the world and clearly now here. I was told that if you were to be given a plate of beef and a plate of dog, you would do well to tell the difference, so I suppose that is as much as myself and anybody back home will ever know! 

For dinner, a few of us went to a restaurant over the road from the hotel, as recommended by one of the Chinese students. The waiter’s spoke no English whatsoever and the menus were only in Mandarin, but thankfully, we had our new Chinese friend Bob to help us. He ordered us a few dishes, which included Kung Pow Chicken, a spicy beef dish and some vegetables; we also had the usual noodles and rice dishes. The meal was excellent and Bob spoke very good English, which helped massively when we needed to order. Also it was good to be able to ask questions relating to culture and etiquette, particularly at the dinner table; we were all shocked to see him put his chopsticks vertically in his rice (something we were told was deemed offence and dangerous at a dinner table.) He simply laughed it off, as it was an informal meal. To me this showed an aspect of China which none of us expected; despite all the etiquette and manners that we were told are a necessity, people still break these, and these differences are what make a culture. Not everybody in England waits for everybody to be seated before tucking in, even though it is expected, so why should any other country stick to the rules! As the food and the delicious Yangjing Beer came out, we all quickly grabbed our cameras and started snapping away. In all the excitement, I quickly reminded myself of all the times I have been with friends and we laugh about the stereotypical Chinese tourists who are always snapping away at road names, shop windows and people on the street! Now we are on the other side of the dice and I feel the same as they probably do in England- all I want to do is take photos! I suppose it shows exactly how similar we are. After what seemed like a feast we were delighted to find that all we had to pay was 15 RMB each (£1.50), including the beer! 

Later on in the evening, around 20 of us met to go to a Karaoke bar- a seemingly common social activity for young people here. The taxi cost 20RMB for a 10-minute journey and entry to the bar was 45RMB with our own private room. This was one of the poshest karaoke bars in Beijing and although 20RBM for a bottle of Bud seemed a lot in comparison to the 3RMB litre bottle earlier, it was still considerably cheaper than back home! We had a brilliant night and sang our hearts out for 3 hours before coming home dripping in sweat and with no voices- perfect for tomorrows first mandarin class! 

Overall, my first full day in China has been very relaxed and it was a nice way to settle into the climate, culture and lifestyle but I still cannot believe how many people there actually are here! Just walking around campus there are hundreds of walkers, bikes and cars; I don’t even think this is the worst of it. The thing that has shocked me the most is the level westernisation of the university campus. It’s surprising how few people speak English and how much we actually stand out on the street, as foreigners. Something that would suggest a lack of western influence; yet just on the road of the hotel there is a McDonalds, Subway and KFC all within 100m of each other. Despite this, tonight was the first time I have dined without an English menu and I look forward to the challenge of doing so without a language assistant by my side. 

We have an earlier start tomorrow and a very busy day so expect a lot more reading! It’s 00:37 and i’m going to sleep now because I am shattered! Until tomorrow- Zai Jian.

 Highlight of the Day- Karaoke...everybody loves the cheesy hits from the past!

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Brazil being renowned for footie, it would seem wrong to have not played any whilst I am here. Eddie and I were invited by some locals to play in a 5-a-side game on Ipanema beach on Sunday evening, which was great! Was a bit tiring running on sand, but the lad who we were playing with, most of whom were 16-17 had good English. As Rio will host the World Cup in 2014, and the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016, I asked the lads who we played with their views. Obviously they were really excited about the World Cup and it was great to see them showing such enthusiasm.

 

Monday was another great day. We visited Vigario Geral, a community about 30 minutes from where we are staying. The community was really interesting and we were met by a Samba band which was pretty awesome! We then saw a performance with music, singing and acting/dancing about life in a so-called “favela”. The performance, which was in Portuguese, was difficult to understand, but nonetheless extremely powerful. We also saw a really good Samba band with solely girls. Lunch was paid for by Natura, and was cooked by a lady who has a dummy...i’m not too sure on the background to this, but the food was really nice. We then continued our extremely well planned look around, and went to the cultural centre which was really impressive...I will tell more next blog!...I don´t want to miss anything out.

 

Ian

After What felt like an eternity in a seat that suffocated my notoriously large derriere; (By the way) I acknowledge talking about one's rear guard is not the most overt display of masculinity, but hey I'm just working with what my Mama gave me...So don't judge me lol. We step of an aeroplane to the sorroundings of Beijing International Airport, which is so quiet that its passive. All Guards,Border Control Officers and Cleaners alike, seem to be systematic but human in their approach to their duties. Later on we give our luggage  to the people that will be taking care of us at Beijing Normal University and eventually head towards our home for the next two weeks. Immediately I get off the coach, as we arrive at our destination..It's SMOGGOMANIA! The sticky, humid and dense air makes trafalgar square seem like a nature orientated getaway retreat! The morning after, we wake up to the sounds of 'Ni Hao'. Good Morning in Mandarin, the cleaners have come to clean our rooms.But I want to sleep! Which brings me to one of the first things I have learnt, the locals wake up early and like to make the most of their day and its common practise to wake up at 6(even uni students!). So after rolling around and feeling satisfied with my dream of me and Alicia Keys on a Beach In Monte Carlo, I wake up. After getting a very Chinese breakfast (At Mcdonalds), Me and some of the other Fellows attempt to work off our Big Macs with a walk around the neighbouring streets and feel like local celebrities. Everyones' staring! You would think being close friends of Rio Ferdinand(Not true) and Barack Obama(Not true) that I would be used to the papparazzi like interest locals have taken in me, BUT I'm not. So I soaked up every minute of the extra attention :) . The Next phase was the orientation which was an informative session that broke down what we would be doing during the next 2 weeks. Being introduced to many people from the British Council China's department within the British Embassy, I realise how much I can learn and take home to England. From our Guide Juliet to the university students wendy and ni ni, now known as nicole thanks to shahbaz (it's a long story lol), I have seen how hard working, zealous, humble and fun Chinese people are!It's this attitude and ethos that provides the backbone for their high academic achievement not only in a China but also the countries they adopt as their own.

Day 1 Over and out.

Second entry from brazil- there is very little free time after the project has gotten into full swing, i´m munching down sandwiches whilst writing this before we head off to an NGO project in a favelá at 2 o´clock.

The way i see it, spending too much time sleeping is an insult to Brazilian culture! The idea is to take in as much as we possibly can, right? In keeping with this, the last two nights have been pretty crazy... On tuesday, when walking through the streets of Rio we ended up in conversation with a pair of Reggae guys, one Brazilian and one Columbian, who were selling hand-made jewellery, pipes and the like. Being the polite hospitable people we are we sat down with them for a conversation, a couple of beers etc. Their english was very good, and other fellows kept walking past and stopping for a while to talk, so it was lots of fun. After a few hours they got up and started to show us some Capoeira, a traditional Brazilian dance done by African slaves. It is essentially a martial art, but is practised as a dance as the slaves had to hide it from their masters. We then wandered off ´to the pub!!´ for a few refreshing Capirianhas, one Reggae man (Jimmy) in tow. He quickly set about weaving a bracelet onto Carlos (Charlie), and we then went on to Emporio (another bar, surprise surprise) to meet up with more people. Tsoek had an interesting encounter, nearly trying a bit too much of Brazilian culture... enough said for the internet i think! Four of us then headed to the beach with one french guy and three brazilians, and sat around looking at the stars. Back to the bar for a while before arriving back at the hotel at a very reasonable 4-15... Up at 8. The next morning we had Portuguese lessons until the afternoon, before going in three minibuses across Rio to a viewpoint... This was simply stunning, the best view i have ever seen in my life. Huge skyscrapers, huger mountains, azure-blue sea and lush green grass with favelás sprawling upwards all the time means only a picture can even begin to do justice... and sadly i don´t have one! The group then took the short drive down the hill to a truly majestic cathedral... It looked kind of like a dalek, and was so huge nno-one could get far away enough to take a proper picture.

A quick dash to the hotel before most of the fellows went to MARACANA home ground of Flamengo, which according to Roberta is the biggest football stadium in the world holding in excess of 100,000 people, all seated. The atmosphere was very different to a British game, with far more drums, whistles and thankfully no vuvuzelas! The game itself however was pretty drab... for all the reputation of Brazilian football, neither team could seem to string more than two passes together. Flamengo took an early lead but then gave up on playing, and it was nothing less than they deserved when they were pegged back to 1-1 by a superb late freekick which sent the 100 or so travelling fans (who must´ve come thousands of miles) into raptures... not that we could here them over the tide of Portuguese swearwords, which i´m now picking up at an alarming rate.

Today was the first full day in China we started off bright and early in the morning with registration we had to go and get our Beijing Normal University Goodie Bag in we received our books and leaflets, photo frame and also our University t-shirts. After we received our goodie bags we had our introduction to China so we met some of our new teachers and had a very brief introduction to what we will be doing during the two weeks in Beijing. After the talks we had a little wonder round Beijing to see all the different sites on and around campus but after this most of us all wanted some nice food and then we wanted to rest so a lot of us went to the Chinese buffet and spoiled ourselves with all the choice of food then after the buffet a couple of went to the hotel to rest as we were so tired though 16 of the fellows went to a Chinese karaoke bar I heard they had fun though you will have to check there blogs out to find out what happened ! So that is pretty much it sorry it is so short but it was a pretty quiet and relaxing day. Off to bed now will blog again tomorrow.