Diaries of a Travelling Author - China 2013

This is the first entry for my back log of travelling adventures. It was during these travels that I became more focused on my writing and eventually decided to go for it and become an author.

In 2013, straight from university, I was whisked off to China to volunteer at a Summer school in Nantou, Guangdong Province, for a British company called Fired Up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UXUtGFDQHM

I spent two months teaching Dance, Music and English to the children of the factory workers and the people of Nantou. I lived in the factory with the workers and ate at all the locals restaurants. Our favourite place we nick named 'The Shrimp Bar', as you could catch your own shrimp to eat there.

There aren't any bars in traditional Chinese towns. If you want to drink, you go to the game rooms or restaurants and it is normal to finish eating your meal but remain to drink in the establishment.

This was my first time working abroad and travelling without my family. But, this just meant we made a new one.

We lived and worked with the locals and we just became the weird celebrity group in town. But, as long as we stuck together, everything was always alright. (Even when my passport was stolen :s)

Everything was interesting for us and still remains with me to this day.

Such as, hearing our translators say "Why, why," when answering their phones. In translation, this just means hello but for English speakers... It never got old.

I will also remember our driver, Lang, who didn't speak any English, saying "no beep." (It's a long story, but car horns are used frequently in China, so we used to preempt when he would beep and say beep beep. But one night, when we did this, he said "no beep." When you've never heard someone use English but have spent a lot of time with them, a small thing like this can be utterly memorable.)

Monday - Friday we taught classes, but on the weekends we travelled together.

We went to Guangzhou, and saw the temple of a thousand Buddha's. (Believe me, by the end of this trip I had been thoroughly Biddha'd out.)

I learned many things during my two months working and living with everyone.

One- As a vegetarian in China, just tell everyone you're Buddhist. Other why's they will give you meat.

Two- I can use chopsticks with both hands, (unfortunate basketball accident...)

Three- People are always willing to help.

We met so many lovely people who fed us and showed us what they loved about their home. They all wanted to help and to learn from each other. It was so lovely.

On a side note:

Finally, whilst in China, I rediscovered my love for reading after a final year of university reading nothing but non-fiction. I read the Hunger games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins, within 2 weeks, whilst living abroad, teaching full time and sight seeing every weekend. This was the beginning of my brain remembering how much I enjoy writing and to stop just dreaming about my characters.

At the end of the two month's of classes, we put on a big show for the local government. We were rained out, and I will forever have vivid memories of a cicada falling onto my arm. But the show had to go on and we were moved into the town local gym hall.

I will never forget my students, or the show we put on at the end of our time there. We all had a wonderful time and if I had to the chance I would most certainly do it again.

Beijing

After finishing my time with the summer school, my partner and mother flew out to travel China with me. And the first stop was, of course, Beijing and the Great Wall of China.

I really enjoyed our time exploring beijing and it's surrounding area. China is such a beautiful country and their history so interesting. (Even if some of it, sadly, involves us :s)

The forbidden city, the water palace, and... Pandas. Though, they were too lazy to turn around and look us.

The most memorable thing during my time in Beijing was learning the Chinese word for Panda. Shou Mow, which translates as Bear Cat. (Cuteness levels blown.)

Xi'an

We all know why people go here ;)

The Terracotta Army. Other tomes were more detailed, but the sheer scale of the Terracotta army is hard to believe.

Xi'an was one of my favourite places in China. The centre of the city still has the original city walls which you can walk or cycle around. And all of the buildings on the inside line of this wall must be built in the traditional Chinese style. So for a history and architect lover, it was a dream come true.

It was also here in Xi'an that we found Bero, the fattest Panda in China. If you have followed my blog, you'll know that Bero has featured in a few of my other posts. i.e. Critique Writers.

After Xi'an we flew back to England. Would I recommend visiting this amazingly historical country, yes. Do I miss it sometimes? Yes. But that is the sad part of being a traveller, you will always miss something, or someone, somewhere. However, you will have lived your life to the fullest and experienced everything you possibly can.

It all depends on where you place the most value.

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