What should have been the last blog I write in China, is actually being written at Dubai international airport, as I wait for my connecting flight home. It has been a busy few days with the final ceremony and packing etc. Fortunately, I had finished my project, so this morning I had no worries or stresses, as everyone rushed around to add the final touches to their own work.

All suited and booted, we left for the Luwan youth activity centre, where our ceremony was to be held. There was an exhibition hall for the people who had written essays or produced some artwork, and there was a theatre for performances. When I arrived, I saw a laptop set up with a projector for our videos. It seemed incredibly unfair that after all the time and effort that all of us had put into producing videos, that they weren’t going to be showcased for all to see in the theatre. In addition, Jason, whose video was exceptional, had been given a slot to show his video AND to discuss it on a panel. After a few kind words, we persuaded the people in charge to show the four extra videos, after Jason.

The ceremony was attended by some of the corporate hosts, some of our host families parents, the Chinese fellows and the deputy head of the communist party in Shanghai. The ceremony opened in style, with a fashion show run by Katie and Sierah. For their final project they were showcasing firstly what they thought Chinese fashion would be like, before showcasing how it actually is and how it is more of a leader in world fashion, than a copy-cat. After this there was a song from one of the schools and some dances from Aman and Pooja. Both of them are experienced Bangrah dancers and so they both took a class from their respective schools, and choreographed an excellent dance. They also did a Chinese dance which they learnt in Beijing. That was unfortunately the peak of the show; Jason’s video was played but the computer wouldn’t play it properly. They next hour or so was a series of speeches and talks, from people outside and inside of the programme. Apart from Hollie and Vivek, who were on a question panel, there were no fellows involved. What was supposed to be a celebration of OUR work and OUR findings in China, was more like a school assembly that made you want to fall asleep. Moreover, Jason’s video was eventually played at the end, but the rest were not. We were given the excuse that “there is not enough time” and that if people want, we can show them after, when everyone has gone home. Quite frankly I don’t think this is good enough. If I said that I don’t have enough time to finish it, which I didn’t really, I would have been asked to make the time because we have had enough time to prepare. Back in London, we were given training and advice using video and sound equipment, which they even sent out to China for us to use. So why, if they encouraged us to produce a film or other forms of media, were they not prepared firstly to show it without glitches and secondly with enough time. We were told in London that everyone will be allocated 5 minutes. Where were mine?

We did show the videos, to about 20 fellows who were kind enough to stay and watch, however I couldn’t help be disappointed. The fellows are important, but the message of my video was meant for people outside of the fellowship, as well as the people involved in it. I feel that a lot of my time was wasted because I had spent so much time to get it ready in time, and they couldn’t find a few minutes to show it. The 15 minutes that we could have watched the four extra videos wouldn’t have done any damage and it would have been better than listening to a speech from people who aren’t involved in the programme. Considering the pressure that was put on us to create a piece of work to showcase our findings, the failure was an event in my opinion; with the exception of the earlier performances and Jason’s video.

In the evening, we went for our last meal at the bottom of the financial centre (the bottle opener), before going out to a club for the night!

My last night in Shanghai and tomorrow we leave to go home. Please don’t forget to check on Sunday evening for my final blog!

Highlight of the day- Watching the fashion show and dance performances at the start of the closing ceremony. 

We got to spend the morning at schools with our Chinese fellows today; different people went to different schools depending on their partners. It was boring to sit in the lessons in Mandarin; however it was interesting to observe the behaviour of the students. Everybody knows that the Chinese are known to have an incredible work ethic and with a lot of pressure on a single child to be successful enough to support their parents and grandparents in the future, it’s no surprise. That said, I was surprised at how little attention, a lot of people seemed to pay to the teacher. Likewise, the teacher didn’t seem to be bothered. This was another challenged preconception, because in fact, they weren’t all heads down with pens scribbling; it was as disrupting as it is in England, in some cases. Perhaps there is too much pressure on the children to succeed, or maybe it’s because this is the first generation to grow up in an almost westernized society, with iPods and the Internet, that these students are rebelling against the expectations of a proud nation.

At lunch time, Aman and I went to go and get some photo’s printed, just enough so I can show my family at the airport, then we went to lunch. In the afternoon, there was a visit to a school for disabled children and, as much as I would love to have gone, I needed to use the time for my final project and I needed to use every hour possible to get it done. At 18:00 I went along to the rehearsal to make sure that the video would be shown on a big screen rather than a projector during the exhibition; I want everybody to be concentrating on it, rather than watching it as they chat and look at other showpieces. I was told this wouldn’t be the case and it angered me slightly but I just carried on editing and then popped out to Starbucks to upload my blog from yesterday.

I officially finished my final project at 01:30, and even then people were running around sticking photos to boards and getting theirs ready for tomorrow! I can now sleep knowing that I have something to show tomorrow; something that will reflect one small aspect of my experience over here. I hope it all goes well and I am looking forward to seeing other peoples too. Until then, Zai Jian.

Highlight of the day- the feeling of relief when I finally finished my short documentary!

Wow, it’s September. Nine months ago today, I was in Australia; a lot has happened in the last nine months! The excitement of a typhoon alert arose from the small hope that we might have our flights delayed so we could extend our stay, even if just for a two!  In all honesty, it was largely disappointing and didn’t seem any worse than any of the other storms we have experienced in recent weeks.

We were meant to be going to school with our Chinese fellows today, but as you know, the typhoon alert meant that all schools were unable to open for the first day of term. I slept in until 10:30, after a very late night, before beginning work on my final project. The sun was shining outside and there was no sign of a light shower, let alone a typhoon! I took the opportunity to quickly pop to the shops to buy some fruit and water, before it started raining. I then spent most of the day in Aman’s room, where he, Pooja and Imtiyaz were all working on their final projects. The typhoon alert was definitely a blessing for everyone who was behind on this!

I made a lot of progress today, for the first time. The crashing is still temperamental and the further into the film I get, the more frustrating it becomes when it crashes! I only have tomorrow evening now to finish it and I am determined not to sleep until it is as good as it can be with the resources I have!

We were all in agreement that if the schools were shut, then we had an excuse not to go to “school”, this evening for our language class. It seemed acceptable; after all there was a typhoon on its way! Despite this, when we received a text confirming that the class was still on, some of us felt too guilty to not go. The teacher puts in the effort to get there, so why shouldn’t we, without no honest excuse.

Rather inconveniently but predictably, the heavens opened up as Jason, Aman, Pooja and I searched up and down Sinan Road, for a taxi. This normally wouldn’t have been a problem, but with everybody in Shanghai rushing to get home, it was impossible. For over half an hour we stood there, cramped, under two umbrellas, until eventually we managed to get one. We were ready to go home, but we saw the green light on the taxi windscreen, so we ran for it!

We arrived at the lesson half an hour late, presented our under rehearsed speeches, that don’t in any way shape or form reflect the work we have done in the past four weeks, sang a song and came home. It didn’t seem worth getting soaked for, but I felt better that I had gone. As lovely as the teacher is, I feel I have learnt very little from her. I learnt more during the lessons in Beijing and I think this may be because the classes aren’t as big. I am easily distracted in big classes with people who aren’t interested in the subject; one of the reasons i didn’t like GCSE German half as much as I did at A Level. I think everyone will agree with me, that it’s much easier to work in an environment with 10 or so people, who are equally as passionate as a subject; rather than a class of 20 chatty students. 

We went to the cheap Italian for dinner and then a few of us came to Starbucks to write blogs, emails etc. I worked on my final project until 01:30 or so and then went to bed. I’m about 60% through and assuming there aren’t any major problems with the software, I should get it done in time.

Early start tomorrow and it’s going to be a very long day. Until then, Zai Jian.

Highlight of the day- Making progress at last! 

After a very unproductive night last night, I was tempted to skip the morning’s activity, but in the end i decided to go, because I would have from 13:00 to begin the work on my final project. The plan for the day was: go to cooking class, write my blog and then record my narration and start the editing process. It had been planned that we would go to the bar on the 87^th floor of the Jinmao tonight, as some of us are still yet to go. I was only going to stay for one drink, before coming back and continuing work on my final project. Most of that happened, but not how I planned it!

The cookery lesson was really fun; we learnt how to cook four Chinese dishes: dumplings, sweet and sour pork balls, tofu in a hot chilli sauce and some battered pork. When they were demonstrating how to cook everything, we were under the impression that we were going to be cooking everything, however when it came to it, they had already pre-battered the pork and made the dough for the dumplings. As a result, I wouldn’t actually be able to cook it when I get home and we weren’t given the names of the sauces or types of pork that we would need, in order to prepare the food. The dumpling session got a bit crazy and people were throwing flour everywhere! The food we cooked actually tasted pretty good and there was enough to fill me up for lunch!

We finished early, which gave me more time to work on my project, so I rushed home, hoping I’d have the room to myself for a bit, so I could record my narration. This wasn’t the case and Seun hadn’t planned to go out until later on in the afternoon, so I decided to edit what I could. Once again, the software crashes prevented me from doing this and with no internet in the room to try and diagnose the problem; I went to Starbucks, bought a coffee and abused their free Wi-Fi! After three hours of searching the internet and trying almost everything, I was left with one last option. It seems a common fault and so there were other people who had reported the problem on forums and one person suggested that there may be a corrupt registry. I found the most recommended software to fix this, bought it and found that there were quite a few corrupted registries that were fixed as a result. Fortunately, this has reduced the crashing quite significantly, however it seems that whatever I do, I cannot fix the problem. I can at least be grateful that it has allowed me to make more progress than before! I only hope that it doesn’t let me get the project 95% done, before crashing and not letting me finish it! When Seun went out later on in the afternoon I managed to record all the narrations.

By this point, it was nearing 20:00, when we planned to meet to go to Cloud 9 at the Jinmao Tower. When I got to the lobby, people had changed their minds and most of the group were going to an open bar! This annoyed me, but it didn’t matter because I was going to the Jinmao whatever happens. I was, however, delighted for two reasons. Firstly, lessons had been cancelled tomorrow because of a typhoon warning and more importantly, Tolus had flown over from Beijing to come and spend our final few days with us! It was an amazing surprise and it is great that he values his friendships with us enough to come all the way to Shanghai to see us, even after swearing he would never come to Shanghai again after a bad experience. Unfortunately, Juliette and Ariel couldn’t come because they had work, but they wrote a lovely email to us to apologise and to tell us how much they missed us. I really hope I get to see them again. In the end, Aman decided to come to out and because we had the day off tomorrow now, we decided we would go out after the Jinmao. Once he had messed around with his hair and we had a few drinks, we left with Ravi to go to Cloud 9. Because we don’t have enough money left to justify spending £13 on a drink, we only really wanted to go there to see the view and be able to say we have been there. The views were spectacular, but difficult to capture in a photo because it’s obviously quite difficult to clean the windows on the 87^th floor! The bar was more suited for couples I think- it’s probably the perfect place to propose to someone or take someone on a first date, but not somewhere for a few students to go to get drunk and spend as little money as possible!

After this, we went and met up with the rest of the group, stayed at the open bar until midnight and then went off to a club. I didn’t come home and work on my project, as planned, but tomorrow I have the whole day to get more done!

Highlight of the day- quite a few personal jokes at the bar and club! 

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The next week is going to be very hectic and the most stressful since we have been here. The days are long and we all have to prepare for our final projects, presentations for the language class and performances at the final ceremony. Today I filmed my final interviews, with Jason and Adam, and I am ready to put it all together. If only it was so simple.

In the morning, we went to Luwan Technology centre, where we had a lesson of metal work. I had done this since year 8 and it was never really something I had a strong interest in, nonetheless I put all my effort into it. We made a pencil holder with a metal base and a model of Haibao- the expo mascot! All we had to do was chamfer the four sides of the metal slab and screw in the fittings for the pencil holder and the model, but it took around two hours and with no air-conditioning, we were all sweating buckets!

After this session, we ate lunch and then a few of us had to head off to the activity centre, to prepare for this week’s workshop. Each week, a different group of students have facilitated the workshoweek, a different group of students has facilitated the ad off to the activity centre, to prepare for this weeks workshopps and this week it was my groups turn. We had planned to split into two groups of 16 and four facilitators per group, but as only two-thirds of the group turned up, we joined together for the first activity, which was to compare the English and Chinese educations by thinking about stereotypes, attitudes and experience. Nadia had an excellent idea to split the group into two, with one being an English school and the other Chinese. The groups had 20 minutes to prepare a short role-play, representing the respective education systems. The activity worked brilliantly and everyone got involved, producing some hilarious scenarios of lessons, parents evenings and meetings with the headmaster.

Following this activity, we decided it would actually be better to keep the groups separate to do the next section of the workshop. We created three A3 posters and stuck them on the board, with a picture of a heart, a head and a hand. Each person had to go up and write a few words on each sheet, about how they feel they have changed in the last 6 weeks (heart), how their thoughts about China differ maybe to six weeks ago (head) and what are their feelings about the new things they have learnt (hand). The most recurrent theme was that even though we thought we didn’t have many preconceptions and that we were all open minded, there were actually many occasions when realised we do have them, because all we previously knew about china, was what we had read or seen in England. We concluded that it was impossible to not have preconceptions about a place and in some ways it is good to have them, because it allows you notice them when they are challenged.

The final phase of the workshop, we were all together, in a circle. The focus was on how, we as fellows are going to communicate our message to people, schools and communities, when we are back home. There were lots of interesting ideas for things we can do in the next few years. Personally, I think it’s difficult to establish one clear message as a group, because everyone has learnt different things since we have been here.

When we came back I finished my filming and started to crack on with my final project. I’m experiencing some frustrating problems with the software I am using; every time I play a specific clip, the software crashes and I have to start again. It wouldn’t matter so much, however it’s the opening scene of my film that is making it crash and without it, my film will be useless! I am yet to solve the problem and I am becoming very nervous as the ceremony is on Friday and I have the whole thing to do, as well as recording my narrations. I’m going to be spending a lot of time on it over the next few days and if I cannot solve the problem with the crashing, I will need a plan B!! Help!!!!

Highlight of the day- the workshop went a lot better than we had expected and people seemed to enjoy it more than usual. 

This morning, Eddie and I woke up at 08:00 to go and play badminton with Matt, Katie, Sky and Riki. We only had the court for an hour, but we had some fun games and I really enjoyed it, having not played badminton since year 11.

Eddie and I went home after badminton and got showered and ready for a meal with some other family members. We went to a restaurant in a five-star hotel, round the corner from where the family live. When we arrived, I was amazed at how many people that were sat around the table waiting for us! I thought I was only meeting the grandparents, but actually there was Eddies mum’s brother, his child and wife, her brother and his girlfriend, and two sets of grandparents. Only Eddie’s uncle could speak a little English so I sat with him and he helped me communicate with everyone, as did Eddie. I felt truly privileged to meet everybody and Eddie’s granddad told me how proud and honoured everybody was to meet me. After the meal, the men were smoking expensive cigarettes, whilst everyone else ate some deserts. I was surprised by how much my preconceptions about family meals, actually differed in reality; although there were many things that I observed to be customary around the dinner table. For example, as a guest, I was offered to try everything as it was brought to the table, before anyone else. In addition, the “Maciel” tradition of almost forcing more food upon everybody seems to be a custom that is shared by the Chinese. After the meal, we took some photos in the lobby of the hotel before saying our goodbyes to everybody and heading off back home.

After a few hours back home, Eddie took me back to the hotel in a taxi. I said thank you and goodbye to Eddie’s parents, however I told them I will go and see them for some tea maybe on Wednesday. I checked into a different room than the one before and quickly got ready for the evenings activity- FOOTBALL!! We booked 10 tickets to go and see Shanghai Shenhua play against Dalian FC. Along with Eddie, Aman, Seun, Imtiyaz, Asher, Owen, Matt, Jess and Lily we had one of the best times since we have been here. A few of us bought some shirts from the ground and we found our seats- 8 rows from the front, on the half way line. The stadium was relatively small, although it appears to be quite big from the outside, and the attendance was only around 8,000, however that didn’t matter because the atmosphere was electric. Behind both goals were the die-hard season ticket holders, where most of the singing and chanting came from, and in the top tier of our stand, on the right, were the thuggish looking away fans who looked like they had just walked off the set of Green Street. The standard of the football probably compares to our League 2 or below, with a slower tempo and route one football, however it didn’t matter because we were entertained by both the crowd and the occasional break, which should have produced a goal, but obviously didn’t! Aman and I, wearing our Shanghai shirts, didn’t take long before we were joining in with the chants and singing along to songs, but with the Man Utd lyrics, rather than the Mandarin version! The game finished up at 1-1, but we weren’t really bothered because we left feeling satisfied and well entertained. There was a scuffle at the end, following a few aggressive tackles during the game, which led to a huge roar from all of the fans. My only disappointment was the treatment of the referee, even over here! Being a ref myself, I can empathise with them when they are abused. At one point during the game, the manager of Dalian ran onto the pitch and squared up to the ref because he had given a decision against his team! The manager wasn’t sent to the stands like he would have done, were he in most European countries. Moreover, as the game progressed, there was a lot more trouble arising in the away stand; bottles, cans and coins were being thrown at spectators and players and there was a sense of the hooliganism that swept through England in the 80’s. I left the ground buzzing from the incredible atmosphere and Aman and I had almost lost our voices! 

When we got home, Aman and I went out on was supposed to be a lads only night, but after one club we went and joined the others.

Our final few days begin tomorrow and I am under a lot of stress to complete my final project, but hopefully a few late nights should be enough to cram in all the editing! Until tomorrow, Zai Jian

Highlight of the day- Singing and chanting at the football match! SHENHUA!!

Today was simply amazing! I had a lie in until 08:30 this morning; although it wasn’t enough to stop me sleeping in the car. At breakfast, Eddie’s parents gave me a few presents: a beautiful clay tea set, some Jasmine tea (my favourite) and a book about Chinese culture.  They are so kind to me and I am so grateful for these gifs because they will always remind me of my time here.

 We set off at 09:00 on the two-hour journey to Jiangsu, a province west of Shanghai. The place we went to in Jiangsu was called Jinxi and it resembled Venice, with a canal running through the small alley ways and Chinese “gondolas”. We visited some small museums, run by locals, with many historical relics from the Qing dynasty. In addition, we visited a museum that was themed around the Cultural Revolution, a dark period of Chinese history, particularly in these rural areas where the younger generations were sent, during the revolution. I was amazed by the propaganda posters, spread around the museum, portraying Chairman Mao, leading armies of happy youths towards “a new world”. Having only read one book and a few articles online, I am not highly knowledgeable about the topic, however I am extremely interested in the effects this had on the Chinese people and how it has shaped the country.

We ate lunch at a small restaurant, where I tried pig trotters for the first and last time! It’s not because of what they are, but more because I am not a huge fan of pork itself; unless it’s in a bacon and sausage sandwich! We carried on walking around in the “venetian” alley until we found a small tea shop that had a garden, overlooking the river and some beautiful scenery. Eddie’s dad ordered me some black Chinese tea and we sat there for about an hour taking photos and enjoying the peace. This was the China I had envisaged, with the imperial architecture, the tea houses on the river and people singing and enjoying their lives. Far different from the cars, skyscrapers and M+S’s that you see in Shanghai!

When we finished our tea, we carried on walking around for an hour or so, taking more photos and learning more about the area. By the time we got back to the car, it was about 15:00 and we were exhausted. Eddie and I slept most of the journey home, as I had done on the way there!

I had the difficult task of repacking my suitcase when I get home; tomorrow is quite busy so I won’t have time to do it then. As I am constantly buying things to bring home, it is becoming more difficult to pack each time but hopefully I’ll manage next week!  I gave the family a painting of the great wall that I bought yesterday, as a present to say thank you for everything they had done for me. They were very humble and tried to refuse taking it but i insisted on them having it, especially having showered me with so many gifts themselves! So what did they do? They went into their bedroom, took out a large album of collectors stamps from the Expo and a box of badges from the Expo, and gave them to me as more gifts! I feel incredibly guilty taking them, but they insist and it is considered rude not to take them. I am now going to have to re pack!

Eddies mum cooked for the first time tonight- a small meal consisting of some rice, chicken and vegetables. The reason we have eaten out so often is that during the summer, it is very hot and when Eddie’s mum comes home from work every night, she is too hot and tried to cook, so they go out to restaurants during the summer.

That’s it for today, I am just watching the Chelsea vs. Stoke game with Eddie’s dad and we are going to sit up to watch United vs. West Ham later. Come on you reds, don’t let us down! Until tomorrow, Zai Jian.

Highlight of the day- sitting in the tea house, overlooking the river and the beautiful scenes surrounding it.

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Today Eddie and I went shopping with Matt, Katie and their Chinese fellows. We all bought some presents for our friends and families and probably spent money we didn’t need to! Up until now, I had not been pestered too much by people following me offering me cheap goods, however today I seemed to attract them like moths to neon light. It wasn’t too difficult to get rid of them though; i just told them i was German and couldn’t speak any English. They soon went away! I need to avoid the markets from now until I go home, otherwise I will end up coming home with four suitcases of stuff!

We needed to be at the school by 14:00, where we were presenting our research projects from the Expo. When we got to the room, it was laid out like a talent show, with a stage, a row of panel judges and then seats for the audience. There was me thinking it was just a short presentation about a few countries. I don’t want to come across as ungrateful for what the BC have done for us, because I cannot thank them enough for everything we have done so far on this trip; however I am slightly disappointed with the way the last few days have been laid out and I think it’s fair to give an honest opinion so that future improvements can be made. Personally, i didn’t think there was much point behind the projects we were given. Not only were we limited to the pavilions we were expected to visit, the questions were too general to relate to every pavilion, as each one has its own focus point. Therefore, most of the information in the projects was taken from the internet, hence defeating the need to see the Expo. That said, there were some very creative presentations, where the groups used music, dance or video to present their findings. I understand that the aim of the project was not necessarily the outcome, but the processes that we went through and how we integrated and cooperated with the Chinese students, but even so I believe that it would be a lot more engaging if each group presented on ONE country of their choice, rather than one continent. That way, once they have visited the pavilion of their topic, they could use the rest of the two days to visit whichever pavilions they like. In addition, there would still be the cooperation between the Chinese and English peers, because they are still putting together a presentation. It suits everyone that way. My second point which I am disappointed with, is that the whole week has been focussed around the Expo and we have spent a lot of time with the other fellows. I may have misunderstood the task, but I thought this week was meant for embracing Chinese life, with our hosts; a task I feel is only possible if we are spending the whole time doing so. Again, however, I appreciate that there is no other time for us, in the itinerary, to go to Expo and I am glad that the BC included it. Maybe it would have been ideal, had we not had to spend so much time together as a group, when we weren’t at the Expo.

After the presentations, I went for dinner with Eddie and his Mum. We went to a Japanese restaurant, where I ate some interesting but delicious food. We had sushi, prawns, fish, chicken and bulls tongue. The last was something I had never tried before, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  Normally this would have put me off, but not today. I think they were trying to get me drunk too; we had a bottle of rice wine AND another alcohol drink which tasted a bit like amaretto but stronger. Thankfully I didn’t drink enough to get drunk, but I was surprised at the culture of having shots of rice wine, whilst eating your dinner!

I apologize that today’s blog may sound a bit like a rant and I want to stress once again that I am not complaining to the BC because I don’t want to sound ungrateful! I am just leaving my views so that improvements can be made for future fellows. That’s all I have to say for today; tomorrow I am visiting another province outside Shanghai, with Eddie and his parents. Until then, Zai Jian!

Highlight of the day- Maybe the shopping this morning or dinner at the Japanese restaurant!

This morning we had a language class at 10:00, however Eddie had a shooting class at 08:30 so I thought it’d be nice to go along and see some of that before my class. He said it would last one hour, hence leaving ample time to get to the school. The place where he does shooting is 15minutes away from his home, near the hotel, and the school is 15 minutes the other way. When we arrived, however, he told me the class would last for 2 hours and that he wouldn’t be able to take me to the language class. This was fine, as I knew the way; however what was I going to do for the next hour before I met Katie on the way to the class at 09:30! Katie’s partner Riki lives near Eddie so we had arranged to meet and go to the school together. I sat around in the sun playing on my iPod for hour, when I could have been in bed catching up on some sleep!

The lesson was quite fun today, we learnt about temperatures and the weather, which is quite useful! We then had lunch, before heading off to whichever school’s our Chinese peers went to, to plan our presentations for tomorrow. As we hadn’t really stuck to the research task, we were scraping for information and I was using my knowledge of the Asian pavilions, from last week, to put together a few slides about my chosen country, Malaysia. Having finished this, I went home early with Eddie, to chill out and relax whilst the heavens opened up outside. The storm today lasted hours longer than any other that I have experienced since I have been here and the lightening was a lot more frequent than normal.

When Eddie’s mum returned from work, we went for what was probably one of the strangest meals of my life. We went to a Thai restaurant and I was excited by this because Thai food is one of my favourites. I let them order what they thought was the nicest on the menu and we shared various dishes including lobster, red curry, mango salads and prawns. They were all cooked in delicious sauces with a combination of sweet and spice. It was not the food, however, that made this meal strange, it was something that Eddie’s mum referred to as a “surprise”. There was a band made up of waiters and chefs that were dancing and singing in the restaurant. Following that, they began singing soul-style “Happy Birthday’s” to people celebrating. During the duration of the meal, I must have heard their happy birthday song 15 or so times and I am very doubtful that all of them were actually celebrating; they were most probably using it for the 10% discount! Once we had paid, the band, on request from Eddie’s mum, came over to our table and asked me to request a song. I had no idea and before I knew it, they had got me up dancing whilst singing “I love you more than I can say to me”. This would have been fine, had it not been a man covered in make-up, kissing me on the hand and telling me he loved me! Not that I’m homophobic or anything; I was just shocked by how quickly I went from eating a delicious meal, to being serenaded by a Thai drag queen! Eddie’s mum only said one word to me afterwards-“interesting”. Yes, I think she’s right.

We came home, had some ice cream and feeling exhausted still from the Expo, I retired to my room to write my blog, reply to some emails and go to sleep. Tomorrow I am shopping in the morning and presenting in the afternoon. Until then, Zai Jian!

Highlight of the day- only because of the delicious food, the Thai restaurant. 

Every time I come to write my blog, I worry because I am getting ever-closer to the 47^th blog, my final one. Without sounding too disappointed about seeing my family and friends, had I the choice, I would stay here for longer. This morning we set off to meet Katie and her homestay partner Riki, as they live nearby. We didn’t wait for the rest of the BC group; instead we headed straight to the Germany pavilion, where we queued up for 2 hours, even though we seemed to have got there early! It was very hot, but thankfully we were inside. The Germany pavilion is one of the biggest at the Expo and its creative design attracts thousands of guests daily. The theme of it is “balancity” and their aim is to present their biggest cities, as green as well as industrial. The first section had images and descriptions of all the major cities and regions in Germany and we then progressed through to an indoor section where there were lots of exhibits of German technologies, traditions and plans for the future. The final part was in a dark room with a huge glowing sphere, which acts as the generator for all the power within the pavilion. There was a short demonstration about the use of the energy source and there were lots of colourful lights to finish of the display. This was by far the best pavilion I had been to, not because of how they present German culture and society, but because it offered something for everyone and we were inside for at least one hour. No other pavilion offers that. I also pinched a few opportunities to exercise my out of practice German, with some of the native speakers. I was impressed by some of the name badges which indicated that some of them were able to speak fluently in German, English, Mandarin, Chinese and Polish!

By the time we had finished, it was time for lunch so we went to a fast food Chinese restaurant where we sat down and enjoyed a quick meal with another one of Eddie’s friends. Following this it started to rain lightly so we headed to Iceland which was nearby. During this queue, it began to thunderstorm as it had the other day and only some parts of the queue were undercover. Hence, I got soaked! I was wearing a white t-shirt, shorts and flip flops and within 5 minutes, there was not a dry patch on me. It didn’t help that we waited for about an hour to get in, and when we did it was so cold because of the air-conditioning! When we left it was still pouring it and there were regular forks of lightning lighting up the grey skies. When it is close, I can understand the fear that the lightening stimulates in some people, however from a distance, it is an exciting spectacle; even if you are getting soaked from it! We headed straight for the nearest pavilion, Ukraine, where we tried to kill some time before it stopped. It didn’t stop and rather than standing in a cold pavilion, we carried on outside and set off for the France pavilion. It seems everyone had the same idea and the queues were closed, so we opted for Italy instead. Much to our disappointment, the queue was also closed so we decided we would head off for the Puxi site, on the other side of the river.

When we eventually got there, the rain was light enough to walk without an umbrella and we walked around a few corporate pavilions. Our final stop was at the city pavilions sections. Only a select few cities were represented here, London included, but as it is twinned with Shanghai, Liverpool also had its own pavilion. As Katie is going to university there, we thought we’d pay a visit and see what the city has to offer. There was a strong focus on The Beatles and the two football teams, neither of which excited Katie, the Chinese fellows or myself. At the beginning they asked if anybody knew any Beatles songs and there was a competition for who could sing the best. Feeling obliged to represent our fellow Englishmen, Katie and I got up and sang two verses and a chorus of “Yellow Submarine”, which seemed to delight everyone in the room! There was a short 3D film about the city and then some exhibits of Liverpool. My excitement levels soared through the roof when I saw a penalty shoot-out simulator in the corner of the room! Having not kicked a ball for over a month, even a sponge ball was enough to satisfy my hunger to play football! Unfortunately I had to be Liverpool, rather Everton and so I stepped up to take one of the most nerve racking penalties of my life. Two young children had just scored so the pressure was on to slot one past the computer generated Tim Howard! I stepped up, I shot and..... I scored! Phew, at least I don’t have the embarrassment of missing in front of loads of Chinese people ha!

This concluded a very good day at the Expo. The only disappointment I had was that I forgot my passports so I couldn’t get any stamps today! At home Eddie and I got a takeaway and drunk some jasmine green tea with his parents. Tomorrow I have a language class and in the afternoon our group has to prepare a presentation about our findings in the “Asian” pavilions. Oops! Until tomorrow, Zai Jian.

Highlight of the day- the German pavilion was the best I had seen and I was excited to speak some German for the first time since my exams!