Daily Life

picture of passengers preparing to fly to china

How to get the best flight ticket price for China

Almost all teaching positions in China include a one off lump sum intended to contribute towards the cost of flying to and from your school in China. As you are given a lump sum, it is all the more in your interest to get the best deal possible when booking a flight out. Here are a few tips. Book at least 53 days in advance Recent research by a large comparison site Momondo found that on average booking 53 days in advance or earlier gives you a 29% saving compared to booking on the day of departure.This highlights the importance of getting…

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Chinese Junior classroom

How to feel more prepared for teaching

Moving over to the other side of the world to teach classes of hungry students hours of English can obviously be a rather daunting prospect, particularly for those with little to no prior teaching experience. However there are ways in which you can prepare yourself before you arrive in your new Teaching world. Prepare some lessons First of all, you are gonna need to think of some pretty entertaining and effective lesson plans. A good one to start with is the introduction lesson. Remember these kids will be new to you and you will be a fresh face for them.…

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Xijiang Miao village courtyard

Xijiang Miao Village

A while back I went to a very remote and culturally different place in China and have been meaning to write about it ever since. This place is Xijiang, a remote mountain village in isolated Guizhou province and home to the Miao people; one of the ethnic minorities of China. This place is  becoming more and more popular than tourists and if burying relatives alive and drinking Rice wine from a yaks horn sounds interesting to you, then you may want to consider going… The village is now a very popular tourist destination and has an abundance of hostels, guesthouses…

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Christmas dinner, A Chinese Christmas Special

In the spirit of the festive season i thought that it would be interesting to see a Western Christmas dinner to cook Chinese style. That’s exactly what we did!   Picture of the bits that we left out of the roast Mashed potato, vegetables and a roast chicken, ate on paper plates and eaten with chopsticks. This was my first Christmas dinner in China and was a crazy fusion of Western tradition with an Eastern mix. After the dinner we cooked between us we went to a club and finished the night in style. Not a bad way to celebrate…

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