October 14

Well I don't know if I am happy or sad. Something that we had been looking forward to for so long is now all over! On the plus side, all the students are back in Perth safe and sound.
On the minus side, it will be ages before something so mind blowingly amazing happens again.

I am also delighted to be able to get on the net again. The access while we were in China was not as good as we had hoped, so the blog will be mainly redundant as we are all back with our families. Although I look forward to reading other blogs to read other people's experiences. We were so busy all the time that many things happened that I only heard about two or three days later, and I am sure that there are other stories too.

My pink shoes had a good tour, although they refused to share the limelight and would not be photographed together!!!

At the Temple of Heaven, which is enclosed with a long wall.

Demy helped the pink shoes see the panda at the Beijing Zoo. Although this shoe seemed to think it was being held up for the panda to see it!!!

At the Summer Palace. This is where the Emperor, the Empress and the concubines would go for summer. Not far from the centre of Beijing, but a cool area, with an enormous man made lake.

We walked up the hill to the top of the building, walked down the stairs and caught a boat across the lake to return.

In the Forbidden City.

On the great wall, this interestingly was the first time that the shoes (or shoe here) was photographed by other people. I wish it hadn't happened, because now the shoe thinks it is a star like the other tourists who were constantly photographed by other people.

Monday 13th

Today we begin our last day at Huijia. We have some internet time this morning, then we will have classes. After lunch we pack, and prepare for the farewell presentation, dinner and bus to the airport.
It has been a little sad that we haven't been able to keep our blogs up to date, partly because we have been so busy, and sometimes internet access issues have arisen.
Second homestay stories are still being heard, some students went to KFC, some had camel rides, some went shopping, while some watched homestay students do homework!

Tuesday's adventures

After breakfast we left on the bus to go to the Summer Palace. It was a lot of walking, but an amazing man made lake and the buildings were just fantastic. We walked and avoided hawkers, none of us wanted to buy fake watches, or fake Gucci bags.

Lunch today was hot pot. The kids voted it the best lunch yet!

After lunch we went to the E Top centre, it has lots of floors, with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of electronic gear.

Back to school for dinner, I've never seen kids so excited to get fruit!

At 7 pm we have an hour in the computer room for internet access.

Tomorrow we will be Tianamen Square.

Tuesday 7 October

We have been soooo busy we haven't been able to get on to the internet to update our blogs.
Yesterday we went to the Chinese National Park. We expected that it would be a national park like we have in Australia, however it is actually a large area which shows the physical surroundings, dress and customs of many of the 56 ethnic groups in China. Emily dressed in a traditional costume to have photos taken, watch out for them later. We also saw two people climbing a ladder of knives, sharp side of the blade up, in bare feet!!!! Ouch!
When we left there we went for lunch and then to see the Olympic venues. Public access is no longer allowed to the Bird's Nest, we heard that it is to be converted to a shopping centre. After a walk along Liulichang Street, which sells antiques, we had dinner and went to the Laoshe Teahouse for the show. It was a variety show with some Chinese Opera, comedians, a face changing act, acrobats and a kung fu act. A late night, we didn't get back to school until after 10.40. While we enjoyed the kung fu and the acrobats, we didn't quite get the comedians.

Today we go.

In about an hour I will be leaving for the airport. There I will meet some very excited, and maybe a little bit nervous, people. I guess that we are all feeling the same.
Bertie Bateman is waiting outside for me.

Friday 26th September

A suprise for the students on Friday morning. It is getting to be very close now, with lots of things ready for the trip. Mrs McKay and Mrs Wright will be handing out diaries and T shirts today, and this is the last time we will be at school before we go away.











Reading Mitchell's post about new shoes made me wonder if I should take my pink shoes with me.

Monday 22 September

We are leaving in less than a week. We all have blogs set up now.