Basically, to get you all in the know, I'm going away to China next year with the organisation Project Trust. They send volunteers (like me) out to third world countries to help improve the community and help develop the country. I'll be teaching children English and will be living in a flat with my partner. I'll find out who my partner is on training in July next year (all very exciting) and basically, we'll be spending the whole year living and working together.
China is a country where everything I will experience is different: the food, the language, the colourful festivals and the people. I will attend a week long language course at the beginning of the year and will get on-going weekly tuition in Mandarin by another teacher working at my school.
I can't wait - it's just going to be oh so amazing!
A couple of weeks ago in the October half term, me and 40ish other people all went to the Isle of Coll in Scotland, a tiny island with only around 200 people. We all learnt dances for the Ceilidh at the end of the week, we had lessons on how to teach and then held a lesson of our own, we dug lazy-beds and climbed to the tallest point on Coll (and sat on a rock), we played in the sea and wrote essays, we played group games and gave presentations on Coll, we had an amazing time. We were all strangers but now, we have all become amazing friends. It was such a good week and the feeling of accomplishment after just those 5 days was incredible! Because of that, I can't even imagine how a year in a completely different country will feel like, but I'm guessing, it'll be pretty nice.
Once I got my letter telling me that I'll be going to China, I had to begin thinking about fundraising. The cost for the whole year is £5100 and so far, I have around about £0. So there's no time like the present to get going! I already have loads of ideas to fundraise - so far I've come up with hiring and holding a formal dinner evening in the local Chinese, having a sponsored bath of beans in a local town, organising and holding a professional concert with pianist Christopher Weston, and simply having jars for spare coins on counters of pubs or shops etc.
But for now, I'm just going to put up some photos of Coll :)
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| Half of us on the top of the rock I was talking about (I'm sitting down in the red coat) |
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| The other half |
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| When we went for a dip in the sea - so cold. |
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| Random photo of one of the individual groups |
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| Coll had nice beaches. Oh so very nice. |
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| Oscar and Lucy (Oscar is the 9 year old and Lucy is the 7 year old. I know. You'd think it's the other way round, but it's really not). These are my hosts children who I stayed with :) |
