I can’t believe I’ve only got two weeks left of being an intern; there’s so much I haven’t told you about! Let me start with pomello, since I’m eating some as I type and everyone should know about pomello. It’s a citrus fruit we first had at Andy’s house back in the day when his fiancée made hotpot for us. I think it’s known as Chinese melon, but I can only ever sing the name to the tune of ‘mellow yellow’ and that’s part of the charm for me. Pomellos come sized like coconuts – big ones, small ones, some as big as your head – and are yellow on the outside, have a soft, white pithy layer inside half an inch thick. They taste a bit like a combination of grapefruit and lemon, but not as bitter as that makes it sound – just a bit tangy and refreshing. YUM YUM YUM.

Ok, now breakfast is done with, I will crack on with the serious business of blogging about being an intern while I still am one!

Not before time, as I get to the end, I’ve had a break through with teaching. One little lassie, who usually bursts into hysterical sobs at the sight of me, didn’t cry for the FIRST TIME! Not even a whimper! I can’t go as far as to say she smiled at me, it was more of a blank look, but still she joined in as we sang the alphabet and I think that is something of a triumph. I also brought out the big guns of ‘the wheels on the bus’ which was surprisingly successful. ‘1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive!’ turned me into the Pied Piper of Handan as I led thirty odd toddlers marching around the classroom and one of my evening classes greeted me with a rendition of ‘Red and Yellow and Pink and Green’ (the rainbow song) as I was taking my coat off, and my private student liked that one too. Ah, the power of music… !!!

I seriously can’t believe I’m the same teacher who was ready to throw up at the thought of kindergarten! Having said that, I’m definitely ready to have a break from teaching now and re-engage my brain. In the New Year I’m moving to Beijing to work for a new travel company, so I’m both excited and almost as scared as I was before walking into the classroom for the first time. I don’t think ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ will help me much in an office, but if there’s one thing this internship has given me, it’s the knowledge I can do all kinds of things I didn’t think I could. It hit me this week as I was being driven home from tutoring just how lucky I am. I don’t know why coloured lights at night (and shiny things in general) induce an inflated sense of wonder in me, but they do. Maybe it’s an echo of the excitement of going to see the Christmas lights when I was little; maybe I’m just a magpie in disguise. We were driving along the most beautifully illuminated avenue and I did a bit of blessing counting. I can hardly believe that this internship ends with the year. It’s had its ups and downs and frustrations, like everything else, but it’s actually been brilliant for me, even though teaching has turned out not to be my thing.

This might seem a bit of a jump, but I’ve always thought that whatever it is you have to do, being dressed for the part is half the battle. For teaching I wear two jumpers and leggings under my jeans, and the kids are all wrapped up like mini-Michelin men. It’s getting cold here but so dry that we’ve no snow and lots of static electricity! No more high-fiving for me – the shocks were getting ridiculous. Anyway. Sometimes it’s enough to be wearing matching under-crackers or my favourite ‘give me a job!’ earrings, which I bought in Istanbul. I have to say, I really didn’t think that my school hockey coach’s advice “Look smart, play smart” would be one of those phrases I would end up living by, but hey ho, I didn’t think I’d be a teacher in China either and look what happened! Imagine, therefore, just how good it feels to own two perfectly tailored and beautiful silk dresses. Oh hell yes!

I’d mentioned to Swallow that I fancied getting one made, so a couple of weeks ago so rang and asked if we wanted to go to a tailor’s that she knows. Obviously, the answer was yes. The shop was behind yet another branch of KFC – I swear it’s bizarre how we’ve ended up navigating by fast food joints – and with four of us, plus employees and another couple of customers inside, you couldn’t swing a chopstick. Hung up on rails around three walls were made up garments for you to try on for style and fit. Below the clothes were hundreds of rolls of the most beautiful silks in every colour and pattern under the sun. Dress-making heaven. I ended up buying (investing) in two dresses and a top, which we picked up last Friday, just in time for Laura’s birthday night out. Some of our Beijing friends came down for that and we met up with Denise which was fun. I wore one then, I’ll wear the other one at Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, we had our Lilac Christmas dinner yesterday – more weird food! We went to a hotpot restaurant (the same dish we had when I first ate pomello) which was lovely. Swallow played Santa and handed out Christmas presents from the school. I got a woolly hat, which is really cute and typically Chinese in that it’s adorned with sequins that don’t even vaguely go with the colours of the wool! Steph and Laura got scarves, the guys all got gloves. The hotpot was delicious. If you haven’t tried it, do. Everything is cooked in a pot in the middle – there’s a spicy side and non spicy side – and everyone has an individual bowl of sauce that you dip the things you’ve taken from the middle pot into before you eat them. As well as nice normal things like mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, sweet potato, strips of ham, tofu etc, we had the obligatory weird addition: cow’s stomach. It’s rubbery and looks like a brown brillopad; nicer than live shrimp, but not much in it.

Until after Christmas then guys, have a good one!