Shandong University Academic Center Weihai

... a total length of 14.93 kilometers. In general, the terrain of the island slopes down from the north to the south. Qiding Mountain, is the highest point of the island and its northern slope is made up of cliffs and the southern side of the hill is much more gentle.

More than half the of island's area (about 1.8 square kilometers) is covered by forest, predominantly consisting of ...

... Although it was painfully hot, 3 hours long and all in Chinese it was totally worth it to see Helen warbling at the end and a few cute kids falling and getting lost on stage, however there was not much of that in this super ordered communist country, and the backstage word is that they were really punnished for making mistakes. Im definitely off to Beijing this weekend with Andrew, Carlos and Hong. Give me an email anyone who is going to be there too. Ciao

... socially. Helen has had a friend from Beijing staying (I prefer 'fling from Beijing' actually) hes called Sam and Bens been in Beijing sorting out his visa for India as he goes next week. So Ive been doing lots of organizing decorating and lesson planning, but hopefully this weekend will make up for it. However as its been a bad teaching week for me I've been having thoughts about how Im going to cope with another month of surly teenage faces (as Im not sure if me and Helen are ...

... were rumored to have later drank the bar dry. It was so funny, it looked like they hadn't seen a female for years and to make matters worse were all about my dads age. This made for some light entertainment on our nights out. We also met over the weekend a group of guys from England and some Americans who are all over here studying/working and are all living together, whom we saw again on Saturday night. There are only 2 ...

... An escapee crab running over my flip flopped foot in the local sea food and suspiciously illegal looking items market (they appear to be selling real coral, puffer fish and pearls down by the sea)Que much squealing on my part and much enjoyment on the part of the locals and some of my students. Will keep you updated with more

... Then we went off and drank too much and left during daylight the next day, had two hours sleep and then taught three lessons, ouch! I did however manage to teach the Seniors 'New York, New York' which they loved! Anyway we had a weekend of slightly more chilled out enjoyment. On the Friday I went to a friend's student's house for dinner. It was wonderful food and after a few beers we were taught the card game that all the old men play. Jon was rubbish (sorry but ...

... Chinese! I was photographed looking suitably like an idiot, and then taken away for an interview. Perhaps the most special bit was when the photographer asked if he could have a photo with me himself, because I really am that special out here! Oh summer is here as you can see by the gorgeous cheery blossom! On a rather less inspiring note, I visited Yantai zoo this week. What can I say, I normally am distinctly unphased ...

... phlegm its no kind of spitting you're used to in England. What arrives on the floor is almost alive and tends to be a variety of shades depending on how much said Chinese person smokes. The thing is its done everywhere and by everyone, even little kids do it, miss and get your shoe... Perhaps almost worse than this are the people who squelch their spit through their teeth. I was privy to a whole night of spit squelching on the train on the way to Yantai, which ...

... my mark on China, it's been leaving its own on me! This week has involved quite a lot of food in a variety of guises. The canteen food has been as one would expect canteen food to be. My least favourite... battered fish so heavily battered, head, tail and spine are all unrecognisable until you bite into the thing and find it yourself! Nice. Equally as shocking ...

... class and then 2 more 45 minute classes until... 9:35am - Exercises! 9:50am - 2 x 45 minute classes until... 11:30am - Lunch! (sooo early... no need for breakfast eh!) 12:05-1:05 - Sleeping time! 1:20-1:30 - Eye exercises (yes they really sit there for 10 minutes and massage their eye muscles!) 1:30pm - 4 x 45 minute classes until... 5:10pm - Dinner 5:55pm - 3 x 45 minute homework classes until... 8:50pm - where if you are lucky and live in you have ANOTHER class 10:00pm - Bed ...