First week back at work since Golden week

Well the first week back at work after the Golden week holiday went quickly,forgot to say in my previous post during the Golden week I had a foot massage which was a first for me.
Never before having had a foot massage it was incredible my feet felt renewed after the experience lasted 1 1/2 hours and including having my nails clipped cost 60 rmb which is approx £5.00 superb value for money and I cant recommend it highly enough.

Also before returning to work went with my work colleague for a hair cut which cost 8rmb and included having my hair washed and a head massage so all that for approx 70 pence unbelievable I used to pay £7.50 minimum for a hair cut. So one tenth of the cost and a more than reasonable haircut.

During the week the IT Manager wanted to visit his old university in Wuhu so on Wednesday we jumped in a taxi and heading to the university.
The university has a corner called English corner where students go to practice speaking English to people who have English as there first language which in theory means me complete with slight Geordie accent and an ability to talk very fast not a good combination.

In previous weeks I had met 2 English teachers from the UK called Rick & Steven who teach in Wuhu. So at 8.00 pm I am deposited at English corner by my colleague,However it soon becomes apparent I am the only English speaker there and am soon mobbed by lots of people who want to talk.
One young freshman girl asked questions for about 45 minutes as no one else seemed to want to ask me anything.
Thankfully Rick and Stephen appeared and my group of people became more manageable and easier to talk to which was then more enjoyable. We stayed till approx 10.15 and I repeated the process on Friday evening with my boss his wife and their baby this time we were the only English speakers so we had a fairly large crowd some of whom I had met on Wednesday.
I will definitely go again but perhaps only once per week possibly Wednesday as we normally have a meal and activity on Friday after work and I feel that i am also learning to speak more slowly which is good for me to practice.

On the subject of Friday meal and activity this week it was decided to move that to Saturday so we could visit a Mongolian Restaurant for a meal and then we could fish in the lakes.
Saturday we all met up at the Mongolian restaurant which comprises of small tent type areas to sit inside and eat the pictures show it better than I can describe apparently they are authentic and from Mongolia Have to say i cant comment on the authenticity but the food was good and it was an enjoyable experience.
We then move on to the fishing and armed with 3 rods and some live worms we start fishing after a while I come to the conclusion that I do not have the patience required for fishing and I pass my rod on to someone else.
Nett result of all our combined fishing activity one small fish and one shrimp caught not sure that counts but any way it was a good day and an opportunity to try some new experiences, which is one of the reasons I came to China so all in all a successful day.
All the pictures mentioned in my post can be found by following the link on my Blog.

Pictures

Finally managed to add some photos.
Will add some more over the next few weeks

Office view

Golden week holiday

For the uneducated IE me and all non residents China has an autumn break called Golden week and nearly all the country has a holiday for 7 days.
Nett result big queues for train tickets and the streets are very busy did try to take a photo of walking street in Wuhu to try and capture how busy it was but not sure i quite captured the overall crowded chaos of lots and lots of people in one place all trying to shop for the bargains in the stores who offer discounts up to 80%.

My week was fairly uneventful wandered down to new park on the side of the Yangtze river which is nearly complete now and looks great and is very nice and if I ever manage to get the photos linked to this blog then you can see what I mean. There is an old tower and in the back ground a new building in the shape of a sail (shades of dubai just not so large).

Also earlier in the week went to Zhe Shan Park which has small amusement park a zoo and is next to the Guangji buddhist temple, spent a pleasant afternoon walking around the park and did go up on the Ferris Wheel for the bargain price of 10 rmb again did take some photos and next time plan to properly explore the buuddhist temple.

Towards the end of the week went to Nanjing by bus on Friday with my boss and his wife without who's help I don't think I would have managed the trip by myself they really took good care of me.
Had a good day in Nanjing did some shopping managed to buy 3 new shirts in my size ( don't think many shops stock larger sizes) which isn't surprising because how many 6ft English people are going to wander in through the doors of your shop in Wuhu or anywhere else for that matter.
We came back by train which was also an experience don't think I've ever seen such a large facade as the train station in Nanjing very impressive very busy but easy to navigate.

So apart from some typical English weather on Saturday ie it rained very hard and lasted most of the afternoon and evening that was my week off which seemed to fly by (doesn't it always) Also through the week had a meal and met one American teacher and his wife and two Chinese teachers for lunch so extended the people i know beyond work.

Next week back to work and during the week I have my first lesson in learning Chinese wish me luck.