China thoughts......

This week I have been a bit of a domestic goddess, making Birthday cakes, scones, cleaning, laundry and sewing on buttons.

On Wednesday there was the Leonid Meteor Jo and I got up super early to watch it in the freezing cold and saw....... nothing.

This is what we should have seen:



So, 2 days until China! I am so excited. I am looking forward to travelling again and experiencing a new culture. As I previously mentioned I have never had an interest in China but I have been reading up on some things. I actually have about 4 pages of questions to ask and talk to the staff about when I get there. I am not sure whether I am maturing and appreciating different cultures more but China has really intrigued me.

The biggest thing that interests me is the one child policy. Obviously I do not know the ins and outs but the title is pretty obvious! What I found interesting is that if a couple has 'a girl or or has a physical disability, mental illness or mental retardation' they can apply to have a second child. This leads to a lot of female infanticides. I am really interested in talking to the staff about what they think of this and getting actual real peoples opinions rather than information from the media.

Another thing is that Facebook is blocked in China. Shock horror for a TEFL teacher who spends at least several hours on it a day. (Yes teachers in Korea have a lot of down... err preparation time). Twitter, Youtube and many other. See here for a list.

It amazes me that hotmail and gmail have also been blocked at some point. In a world where freedom of speech is a human right and that a government can be publicly so controlling, is a little scary.

I have also been reading about the death penalty and 'black jails' and the fact that there is a generation of people that do not know about the Tianamen Square protests because all the information is blocked in China.

Obviously I do not know everything and am only summarising some the articles that I have quickly scanned,. Some of this information could well be wrong but it definitely has got me thinking of questions to ask people and really wanting to learn more.

I do not want to focus on the negative as I have also read about the rich and interesting culture it has, how it is one of the worlds earliest civilisations, the beautiful calligraphy they do, the Beijing Opera and much more.

I am definitely excited and intrigued to learn more! That is another thing I love about Cross-Cultural Solutions, I can just turn up at the airport and know there will be someone there to pick me up. I don't have to worry about all the logistics, I can really focus on volunteering, immersing myself in the culture and pestering the staff with my questions!