Travel to Teach: China Volunteer Story

George, 18, UK

It is time to start at Cheng Mian Lu Primary School - I arrive with the Headmaster who waited for me until 1.00am the night before and I am introduced to every teacher in the school of 2000 pupils. They have all made efforts to learn "Hello", "Nice to meet you" and "Goodbye". I am given the Chinese name "Gao Shuai" by two English teachers which means "tall and handsome", both of which I am in China apparently. I am bombarded by excited children everywhere I go. They all know my name and are very happy if I shake their hands. I am told that the next school day I am expected to greet all 2000 students and teachers before the "rising of the flag" which happens weekly.

I say "Da Jia Hao"(How are you all), "Hen Gao Xing Jian Dao Ni Men" (Nice to meet you all), "Wo Jiao Jiao Zi"(My name is Dumpling!) - it is easy to say funny things like this by accident - and "Wo Lai Zi Ying Guo" (I am from England). They are all over-excited, but I am happy because they understand my Chinese. Learning the language is one of my favourite things about the placement. I am bad at European Language, but for some reason I click with Chinese. It is very functional and makes a lot of sense. Being around Chinese people 24-7 I always have the opportunity to practice. Jessie's 2-day lesson was a very good foundation for my Chinese!

The Food is spicy, varied, and shared by everyone around the table and includes pigs brain and stomach, yak and eel very interesting food. I don't look forward to going back to English food. The table etiquette in Sichuan is very interesting and fun to try and become used to. Each dinner everyone at some point gives a toast to the other people around the table - a sign of respect. Other signs of respect are to fill up another's glass of beer, and to put food onto another's plate or bowl. The first word I learnt when I came to MianYang was "Gan Bei", which means 'Bottoms up!" or 'Cheers". Drinking, eating and Mahjong seem to be three of the main things to do when meeting up with friends! The locals can always be seen playing cards, Mahjong or Chinese chess on the sides of the roads. It is fun to get involved with all the typical daily activities of locals, and eat all of the great street food and go to markets and fly traditional Chinese kites by the river.

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