“New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Shanghai doesn’t even sit down, and not just because there is no room.”
– Patricia Marx
What can I say about Shanghai other than it has 50.000 % more colour than Beijing, 60 % more night lights, and the Bund.
“If you want to know where the Great Wall is, it’s at the bottom of people’s hearts.”
– Chinese Proverb
It means: if the people make a concerted effort, and their wills unite like the Great Wall, the people will overcome all troubles together.
Other than that this post isn’t about Chinese proverbs or uniting to overcome obstacles, it’s about my second visit to The Great Wall of China (first visit – click here).
”One of my students realized he could clap too, like I do when I want them to be quiet. That was the moment the line between student and teacher got wiped out… This kid… His face… It was like he… like almost FERAL.”
– Joshua Cremer
How do I sum up five months living and working in China? I don’t even know where to start…
I can sum up one night of work Rachel and I had to do, where the Chinese aid told us:
“You have to go on stage and maybe teach, maybe singa song, maybe teach animals. We have cards with colours, maybe sing a song, maybe Baby Shark, maybe? All foreign teachers sing Baby Shark, maybe we have cards for colours and cards for animals and maybe ten minutes before the play you sing a song…”
“It’s important to be comfortable with uncertainty.”
– Xiaolu Guo
I stayed in Beijing for two weeks preparing for my teaching assignment and during that time I checked off several bucket list items. The Forbidden City was nr. 2.
The Forbidden City was designed to be the centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing. The former Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty (1420-1912), it now houses the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years.
“Building the Great Wall thousands of workers suffered; when will the end be of Meng Jiang’s lonely crying.”
Chinese Proverb
I have finally seen the Great Wall of China with my own eyes… Some in my group found it underwhelming. I didn’t.
“When I was in Moscow I saw Lenin… and he’s in good good nick for being over 100 years, but he still looked rank. He was just sent off to Pyongyang to be re-pickled.”
– Joseph
I have arrived in China and I’m fine. Internet is shit, but my fellow teaching interns are awesome. We’re a good group.
I can’t log on to Facebook, SnapChat, Instagram or WhatsApp though. Trying to get around it, but it might be six months…
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
– Lao Tzu
February 26th 2019 I will officially have been travelling for two years. I am writing this blog post a little ahead of time as I am getting ready for my trip to China. I’ll be arriving in China second week of February to teach English for five months and travel around for one, therefore I’ll be in the middle of introduction week and course when this blog post was supposed to go up. I decided to be efficient 😉
“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
– Ernest Hemingway
Living in Paris for a time and going to school to (re)learn French has been a point on my bucket list for near 15 years.
Now it is done. I have checked off this point on the list… And I have massively improved my French, made some friends for life and collected a bucket of new jokes and hashtags to take with me. #PourqouiMoi #PourqouiJapprendsFrancais #Pepe #Boulangerie #LhommeDeVache #LaPorteEstFermee #FrancaisEstUneLangueTresRiche
“Stop. This is the empire of death.”
The Catacombs of Paris are underground ossuaries in Paris, France, which hold the remains of more than six million people in a small part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone mines, the ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries.
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“Paris is always a good idea.”
– Audrey Hepburn
I have always loved sunsets. It’s a calm time, when you can breathe easy knowing you made it through another 24 hours and reflect on what you have experienced this day. What made you laugh? What did you see that your mind focused on enough to store in your memory bank? Who were those seven kids who ran down the road ahead of you this evening, what’s their story? What smelled good, and how about that godawful smell from the “poubelles”?
