It started when we had to get to the Winnerway Hotel (where it was being held) 1 1/2 hours early for no apparent reason. Our table was great, 3 from the front of the stage and central which I think has to do with us being foreigners and that we're interesting specimens to be viewed.

Here is a photo of myself and two other teachers, Daniel and Klara from Germany.

The ceremony was okay, all the foreign teachers had to get up on stage and say 'happy teacher's day and have a nice night' in different languages, mine was 'Australian'. It kinda went 'G'day everyone, Happy Teacher's Day and I Hope you gave a beaut night, hooroo'. MMMMMM. We were then pulled up onto the stage (twice) without any notice to hand awards of excellence to the Chinese teachers...such is the Chinese way.

Then came the food...suffice to say I only ate from 3 dishes out of ten and if you look at the below picture you'll understand why. Yes that is a boiled chicken's head...all we wanted was McDonalds!

After many toasts and drunk Chinese teachers telling we're beautiful and handsome we headed to a private room at the hotel for the 'after party' which was the strangest part of the night. The room was amazing and we had Chinese people come into the room that we didn't know and then they'd start singing Chinese Karoke...bizarre.

Left to right: Daniel, Olivia, Tamzin, Klara, Kathryn, Aine, Ville and Charles.

Then...then...one of the attendants opened the door with another foreigner next to him and ushered him into the room. This poor foreigner is Andreas (who is Swiss and lives in Beijing) and he only asked if they could show him somewhere to have a drink...they thought he was a teacher too! Very surreal. However, Andreas has a great sense of humour and after we insisted he join us he had a good laugh as well. Andreas works for a company that has the rights to televise Chinese basketball and was in Dongguan for a match but it was cancelled. This is the great part of the night..Andreas offered to get us tickets for a basketball match in October and if we're ever in Beijing, we can stay with him! How great is that!?!

Left to right: Aine, me, Andreas & Klara

This is all part of the 'China experience' and I'm having the time of my life even though I'm missing my family, friends and Oz.

I'm adding more photos to Flikr (see previous post for address).

Love
Katrina

written by  KatrinaB on September 11, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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FYI - my computer is being looked at today to see why my microphone won't work so I may not have it for a couple of days...don't know.

So, have a great weekend and I'll chat later.

Love
Katrina

written by  KatrinaB on September 9, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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Most of the teachers are going out for dinner and drinks to celebrate and then tomorrow is Teacher's Day, which is HUGE in China. We had to go to the Winnerway Hotel this morning to practice speaking and walking onto the stage. I'm taking my digital camera and I promise to take pictures and post them on Flikr. Promise!

I still need to get ready, so good night.

Love you all.

Note: RIP Peter Brock...disasters come in 3s, I wonder who's next?

written by  KatrinaB on September 8, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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The afternoon sessions today were my Class Rules! lesson plan and it worked by george!

The first lesson was quite funny because I didn't even get to the 'consequences' part of the lesson because they kept breaking the rules I'd written on the board! The other two classes (including the 'difficult' one on my first day) worked like a charm. I made sure we ended on a fun note though and played hangman with them, . It was hilarious because they screamed when they didn't get a letter right.

Now I have to make their name tags and make sure I follow through on my discipline. I don't think that's going to be a problem :) Stop laughing!

Have to go, I'm going out to Metro (a wholesaler that's not overcrowded) to buy my name tags, 9 boxes in all!

I can't wait for tomorrow!

Love you all
Katrina

written by  KatrinaB on September 6, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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They tell me the 1st week is the hardest and they'd better be right. It can be rewarding and horrible all in the same lesson, some children make it worth putting up with the other little horrors.

Tomorrows lesson plan is on Class Rules and it should be interesting to see how it goes down! I Hope some of them challenge me so I can get them into trouble....I don't think I should feel like that LOL.

Hey Michelle M, did you get the poem?

Hi to Beans and Kel, missing Thomas Street and going down Pako with you for coffee. I dream of Gloria Jean coffee!

I'm going to put my feet up now and mentally prepare myself for tomorrow.

Love
Katrina

written by  KatrinaB on September 5, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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I taught 3 classes of Grade 6 with varying results. I'm going to have to come up with discipline methods for one of them, man, they were hard work.

Tomorrow I'm teaching 4 classes of Grade 5 and have yet to write the lesson plan. I might wait til after dinner.

All the teachers are going to dinner to 'de-brief', relax and get ready for another day. I have 4 classes on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday (yikes) and 3 on Friday.

I'm drinking my pineapple beer and thinking of lovely, familiar home.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Love
Katrina

Note: RIP Steve Irwin

written by  KatrinaB on September 4, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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We spent the morning going over lesson plans, games, activities and discipline (anxious nibble of finger nails!).

In the afternoon Tamzin & Geno (2 teachers from last year) demonstrated lessons for Grade 4 and Grade 1 students. It was great to watch and I tried to take in as much as possible but it was hard because either I was laughing or trying not to melt in the heat.

Tomorrow we will sit in a demonstration class for Grade 6 students (phew) which I will be taking notes in as I'm teaching Grades 5 & 6.

The new teachers are really excited and very nervous at the same time, so I'm not alone in how I feel.

Bring it on......gently :)

written by  KatrinaB on September 2, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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Love
Katrina

PS. I am going to take some more photos and load them onto Flikr...just not sure when :)

written by  KatrinaB on September 1, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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Most of us went to dinner and Walmart tonight for a little retail therapy. I need to buy a Mobile phone and there are so many choices in China! Walmart (below) has a great selection but some are really expensive. Decisions Decisions.

Tomorrow is the first day of work and is an 'easy' day, thank God, because I haven't used my 'working' brain for a month! I think it may hurt :)

Spoke to Michelle from work today on messenger and I started missing home, my work colleagues (hi guys!), friends and family. I'm really missing my nephew Will. I have to keep reminding myself of all the reasons why I'm here.....to have an amazing experience and spread my wings.

Need to go to bed now, early start.

Miss you all.

Love
Katrina

written by  KatrinaB on August 31, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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Well I finally feel like I've settled in, though there are still moments that I feel like I'm in another universe.

There is a great bunch of teachers from all of the world who are going to be a great support network when I start feeling 'fragile' :)

I've spent the last few days getting to know the other teachers, discovering the surrounding district and buying DVDs for Au$2!

Orientation starts on Friday (which I think is the day after tomorrow) so the fun is nearly over and the hard slog starts. After 3 days of training we then go into a 5 day working week, so we're all going to be exhausted by the weekend and won't feel like going out at all!

There are a couple of nice 'foreign' restaurants and bars but they cost 3-4 times as much as chinese restaurants. One of us always seems to have a phrase book with us so it's not too bad.

I had a lovely day today with Klara, Kathryn and Olivia having our nails done at the Walmart centre (picture below). It cost about Au$8 to get a manicure and flowers painted on my nails! I think it might be a once-a-month treat.

We're going out again tonight, so I'll try and take some pictures of Nancheng (my district) Walking Street and post tonight or tomorrow on my flikr account.

Love
Katrina

PS. For some reason, my a's are being capitalised when followed by an u. Strange.

written by  KatrinaB on August 30, 2006 from Dongguan, China
from the travel blog: China Dreaming
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