Yes.... as the title confirms... I had pizza hut AGAIN!! popcorn chicken flavour! Really nice, but I defo need to avoid going again for at least a few days!! It's been like 6 days of Pizza hut! To be fair we did wander around for a while trying to find something other than pizza hut or Chinese food, but I suppose coz we're in China its guna be hard!!
After Pizza Hut, we had a shop, I found a dress I really liked, but they only had a Small! I did attempt to try it on but it was defo a no go, people in China are way smaller than me! But i'm not surprised they are so skinny, with all the steps they climb (everything is always on the top floor with no lifts) all the squatting they do just to have a pee, and they eat the smallest portion size!! I think I eat double the amount these people eat!!
After a couple of hours we had back to Miss Guo's home, a couple of beers and bed, for another early start in the morning! On the upside we get to go back to Ningbo tomorrow!!
Friday, 27 April 2012
Thursday, 26 April 2012
My 'nearly' family....
Part of my 'family' almost finished..... only thing that stresses me out is they have to have short sleeved top with shorts and long sleeve top with pants!!! GRRRRR! such a random method!!
Hopefully finished off for tomorrow and maybe samlples made!!
Robo Designs
Thursday.... I had a super sleep last night!! The extra bedding worked a treat, it worked so well I actually couldn't get up this time! We left for the company at 7.30 and the traffic was insane, these Chinese drivers are completely nuts!! I am actually scared for my life every time I get in to a car!! We finally arrive at the company at 8.30! Plus a cheeky nap on the way over here!
Today I must start designing part of my collection, and I better start with a jacket as they need you to do this first!! Hopefully they will like what I do today!!
Dinner is KFC, chicken nuggets and chips! Sweet!! The customer from Paris has been here all day again, he's had a little look but not really said anything, I think they are still discussing the autumn/winter collections!
Thursday's work in the office.... the head designer likes!! YAY!!!!!
My jacket and Dungarees
My first t-shirt for the dungarees, still needs working on
Maybe one of my final outfits, but I still need to do some playing around!
Deciding what to eat for tea is a right nightmare so I imagine it will be pizza hut again!! Can I make it 7 days really??? I desperately need to become more adventurous with food over here!! I think i might leave China possibly having a heart attack with the amount of crap I have eaten!!
But... Jeremy has just informed Laura he will take us for a Sunday Roast.... hope this is even possible in China the craving for normal food is getting ridiculous!! I have found chocolate eclairs and mentos, these have started to become my daily snack routine... maybe a couple of packs a day!!
Today I must start designing part of my collection, and I better start with a jacket as they need you to do this first!! Hopefully they will like what I do today!!
Dinner is KFC, chicken nuggets and chips! Sweet!! The customer from Paris has been here all day again, he's had a little look but not really said anything, I think they are still discussing the autumn/winter collections!
Thursday's work in the office.... the head designer likes!! YAY!!!!!
Deciding what to eat for tea is a right nightmare so I imagine it will be pizza hut again!! Can I make it 7 days really??? I desperately need to become more adventurous with food over here!! I think i might leave China possibly having a heart attack with the amount of crap I have eaten!!
But... Jeremy has just informed Laura he will take us for a Sunday Roast.... hope this is even possible in China the craving for normal food is getting ridiculous!! I have found chocolate eclairs and mentos, these have started to become my daily snack routine... maybe a couple of packs a day!!
Draping to Robo Circus....
On Tuesday I had my first draping class at 8am, I had a conversation with the teacher about the work I needed to prepare for it, but as her english wasn't brilliant, it was a case of just doing what I thought she meant. So I did a presentation on draping we do in England... only to find out this isn't the same in China. Although the class was a huge success, they had never done draping the way I showed them and they loved it. The class lasted for 4 hours which was ok as there was lots to do, and this class didn't seem as shy as the other classes I have been in. They were ok talking to me and asking me questions!
Laura text me half way through to say she had received an email from George (ASDA) about the kidswear project we did before we came to China, saying that they needed her details urgently... when I checked my emails I had the same email!! Very exciting... Now I am just waiting to find out what happens and why they needed our details...
Class finished at 11.20 and then I had some free time till 3.30 to catch up on some work, and some Towie! I had pasta 'n' sauce for lunch as I couldn't face another chicken burger and chips, I do really need to find some other variety of food! At 3.30 I had another English class for a different department! The english wasn't very good, so it was very basic introductions, ages and where they live! Even this was a struggle for some of them! One boy managed to tell me he had 3 girlfriends but wouldn't disclose any details about them as it was a secret and so they wouldn't find out about each other! Charming boy!
This class finished at 5, then I had quick dash home, Jeremy had come over with Pizza Hut for us, I don't think I have ever eaten pizza so fast, pizza is another food that is becoming a bit of a habit! I would even go as far as saying as Pizza Hut in China is better than Pizza Hut in England! As soon as I finish, it's then straight back to class at 6.30pm for my kids english class!
I only had 2 kids on tuesday evening, which was a blessing!! I just did colours with them, they are only 6 so they can't remember a lot of english in one class! Green is a right struggle to get them to remember! 7.30 class finishes and I needed to pack for Hangzhou in the morning. Me and Laura have to go back to placement this week! We have to be ready for 6am to be on the coach to Hangzhou at 7am! Grim! Bed early for me!!
Wednesday Morning.... my alarm went off at 4.45, so disgusting but at least we can sleep on the coach! Tong Tong and her husband Peter drove us to the coach station! Kind of sweet they got up so early to take us there, especially when Tong Tong didn't have any classes either!! Across the road from the coach station is a bread shop called 85 degrees, where the nicest chocolate bread is from! So we did a quick stop off there and breakfast was done with, 4 chocolate breads for 80p! On the coach, I put my earphones in and slept all the way to Hangzhou! Definitely needed it!
When we got off the coach, we was told we would need to get a taxi to the company as the driver couldn't come and get us because they had a customer from Paris arriving today to select the designs they want to purchase! If only it was that easy.... I had a message on my phone of the company's address which I showed the taxi driver! Before we knew it we had like 50 taxi drivers surrounding us all screaming at us in Chinese, why?? I have no idea!! The oddest experience over here yet... we was refused about 15 taxis before we phoned the company, who also tried to speak to the taxi drivers which just made them even more mad and shout at us more!
After like an hour of waiting we were shoved into a taxi by the security man, without any idea if the driver knew where we was going.... and him just asking us questions in Chinese!! Christ it was hard work... I think this was possibly the worst experience over here yet, and the only moment I actually wanted to cry! When we arrived at the company the owner Mr. Chen said the driver should always come and get us! So I don't know why we was told to get in a taxi! But I will not be trying that again!
Once I got to the company I was ok, just needed to get on with some work, for Mr. Chen to see and possibly the customer!
So here is my new idea.... I have changed to boys designs and the theme now is robo ciricus...
Mr Chen and the customer didn't get chance to really see us, so maybe they will tomorrow! But my final theme interpretation is finished and now I just need to use this to design my collection!
This my final theme... fingers crossed they like it..
After work, we head back to Miss Guo's home, where we stay when we come to Hangzhou! But we had rice and beef for dinner so we dont want egg fried rice for tea again, so I guess its Pizza Hut again! I had american black pepper steak, and for some reason its not steak and chips its steak and spaghetti... weird, I ordered chips on the side as well! It was actually really nice! And it only cost me 70rmb, for steak chips and beer! After Pizza we popped to the super market, to get some beers and some food for work tomorrow!! 26p for 1 litre bottle of beer! amaze!!! Maybe they were on sale! So we got 4!!
I was hoping when we got to Miss Guo's home she had given us some extra quilts to make the beds more comfortable for us to sleep, as last time we was here, I didn't sleep a wink, and I was just so tired I needed a good sleep! First we had to walk the crazy ass dog, Davey! Not good when I was desperate to pee and get into bed! Finally bed time and yes she had given us two extra quilts to lie on!! I think I will sleep well this evening, especially with the alcohol also!!
I will let you know how the sleep goes!
Laura text me half way through to say she had received an email from George (ASDA) about the kidswear project we did before we came to China, saying that they needed her details urgently... when I checked my emails I had the same email!! Very exciting... Now I am just waiting to find out what happens and why they needed our details...
Class finished at 11.20 and then I had some free time till 3.30 to catch up on some work, and some Towie! I had pasta 'n' sauce for lunch as I couldn't face another chicken burger and chips, I do really need to find some other variety of food! At 3.30 I had another English class for a different department! The english wasn't very good, so it was very basic introductions, ages and where they live! Even this was a struggle for some of them! One boy managed to tell me he had 3 girlfriends but wouldn't disclose any details about them as it was a secret and so they wouldn't find out about each other! Charming boy!
This class finished at 5, then I had quick dash home, Jeremy had come over with Pizza Hut for us, I don't think I have ever eaten pizza so fast, pizza is another food that is becoming a bit of a habit! I would even go as far as saying as Pizza Hut in China is better than Pizza Hut in England! As soon as I finish, it's then straight back to class at 6.30pm for my kids english class!
I only had 2 kids on tuesday evening, which was a blessing!! I just did colours with them, they are only 6 so they can't remember a lot of english in one class! Green is a right struggle to get them to remember! 7.30 class finishes and I needed to pack for Hangzhou in the morning. Me and Laura have to go back to placement this week! We have to be ready for 6am to be on the coach to Hangzhou at 7am! Grim! Bed early for me!!
Wednesday Morning.... my alarm went off at 4.45, so disgusting but at least we can sleep on the coach! Tong Tong and her husband Peter drove us to the coach station! Kind of sweet they got up so early to take us there, especially when Tong Tong didn't have any classes either!! Across the road from the coach station is a bread shop called 85 degrees, where the nicest chocolate bread is from! So we did a quick stop off there and breakfast was done with, 4 chocolate breads for 80p! On the coach, I put my earphones in and slept all the way to Hangzhou! Definitely needed it!
When we got off the coach, we was told we would need to get a taxi to the company as the driver couldn't come and get us because they had a customer from Paris arriving today to select the designs they want to purchase! If only it was that easy.... I had a message on my phone of the company's address which I showed the taxi driver! Before we knew it we had like 50 taxi drivers surrounding us all screaming at us in Chinese, why?? I have no idea!! The oddest experience over here yet... we was refused about 15 taxis before we phoned the company, who also tried to speak to the taxi drivers which just made them even more mad and shout at us more!
After like an hour of waiting we were shoved into a taxi by the security man, without any idea if the driver knew where we was going.... and him just asking us questions in Chinese!! Christ it was hard work... I think this was possibly the worst experience over here yet, and the only moment I actually wanted to cry! When we arrived at the company the owner Mr. Chen said the driver should always come and get us! So I don't know why we was told to get in a taxi! But I will not be trying that again!
Once I got to the company I was ok, just needed to get on with some work, for Mr. Chen to see and possibly the customer!
So here is my new idea.... I have changed to boys designs and the theme now is robo ciricus...
I was hoping when we got to Miss Guo's home she had given us some extra quilts to make the beds more comfortable for us to sleep, as last time we was here, I didn't sleep a wink, and I was just so tired I needed a good sleep! First we had to walk the crazy ass dog, Davey! Not good when I was desperate to pee and get into bed! Finally bed time and yes she had given us two extra quilts to lie on!! I think I will sleep well this evening, especially with the alcohol also!!
I will let you know how the sleep goes!
Monday, 23 April 2012
Monday Morning blues!!
I just did not want to wake up when my alarm went off!!! Even more annoying that I don't have class will 1.30pm and its for modelling again, and the most ridiculous hats! The money makes it more worthwhile me dragging myself out of bed! When the photographer arrives he tells us we (me & Laura) will be done within 1 hour.... perfect! Plenty time to get prepared for my class after dinner! The modelling finishes at 9am! Bargain! 1 hours work for £40! Seemed more worthwhile when I got paid! Defos not getting any of them pictures to embarrassin!!
After the modelling we head back to the room, to do work or so I thought, turns out I had a nap for 2 hours.... Shit!! Oh and then I have managed to figure out how to get The Only Way is Essex!! Amaze!!! So we watch the first episode and then head off to class!!
Class finishes at 4.30pm, I had fashion buying again, I had to give a presentation on customer profiles today! Time to head home and prepare for tomorrows class! Draping, apparently the students have never done this before, so I will be introducing this to them! Should be an interesting morning! Hopefully!
Dinner is Beef, Peppers and Egg fried rice AGAIN!! But I had chicken burger for lunch also so that was out the question again! For afters its the second episode of The Only Way is Essex... well untill my internet buggers up!!
Maybe I will catch the third one tomorrow!
Pretty quiet day really, even though I have like a million jobs to do for tomorrow, and I have managed to do 3! I imagine tomorrow will be pretty hectic!! And then back to Hangzhou on Wednesday! Blah!
After the modelling we head back to the room, to do work or so I thought, turns out I had a nap for 2 hours.... Shit!! Oh and then I have managed to figure out how to get The Only Way is Essex!! Amaze!!! So we watch the first episode and then head off to class!!
Class finishes at 4.30pm, I had fashion buying again, I had to give a presentation on customer profiles today! Time to head home and prepare for tomorrows class! Draping, apparently the students have never done this before, so I will be introducing this to them! Should be an interesting morning! Hopefully!
Dinner is Beef, Peppers and Egg fried rice AGAIN!! But I had chicken burger for lunch also so that was out the question again! For afters its the second episode of The Only Way is Essex... well untill my internet buggers up!!
Maybe I will catch the third one tomorrow!
Pretty quiet day really, even though I have like a million jobs to do for tomorrow, and I have managed to do 3! I imagine tomorrow will be pretty hectic!! And then back to Hangzhou on Wednesday! Blah!
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Dumpling Sunday!!
Sunday Morning 9am.... English class with 4 kids and a cold, wasn't the best!!! patience was running thin, to make matters worse I had all the hats in the room I am modelling on Monday, which they had to just try on, which ending up being a massive distraction to them!! Wearing 3 hats on your head is not cool kids!! 11am couldn't come quick enough!!
1pm... get picked up off Jasmine and Tong Tong, we have been invited to make dumplings at Jasmines home, hope they are nice as I have had no lunch!! I am excited about all the tea we will be able to drink at her home, she is like the queen of tea!! And yes I was right, lots of tea! Jasmine is soo sweet, she'd been out and bought us all pepsi and green tea! Her husband was home preparing all the dumpling stuff, he wasn't what i expected, really typical chinese man... small, little and cute!
Becca also got landed with a cool ass apron she had to wear, even though she only was sat in the living room drinking tea!! She took us to a market near her home, to buy fruit! For some reason, I got very experimental with food, and tried some random chicken of some stall and some beef and onion bread! stupidly cheap, it cost like 20p and it was like a freshly made naan! It was really nice! Surprising as I am normally so fussy with food! When we got back to Jasmines we made the dumplings, they looked and smelt really nice, it was really fun making them as ours were so shit compared to theirs! However when they were made they were pretty gross to say the least! I managed one and had to leave them, as my gag reflex's started to kick in!! So I had to pretend, I had eaten some more! A few fiddles with the bowls and some chopsticks!
All i could think about was eating pizza and drinking some beer!!! Jeremy has offered to bring us pizza hut!! I love this guy!! He's like so nice to us!! Ahhhh pizza hut arrives!! Beer arrives!
I was meant to have a successful night in of doing work! But that didn't happen!! So a major late night tomorrow!! Bloodyhell!!! I must get an early night, up early for some ridiculous modelling of some ridiculous hats!!
Night!!
Becca's hot apron
My first dumpling... pure shit!!
meat and veg filling... looked ok, tasted disgusting!!
1pm... get picked up off Jasmine and Tong Tong, we have been invited to make dumplings at Jasmines home, hope they are nice as I have had no lunch!! I am excited about all the tea we will be able to drink at her home, she is like the queen of tea!! And yes I was right, lots of tea! Jasmine is soo sweet, she'd been out and bought us all pepsi and green tea! Her husband was home preparing all the dumpling stuff, he wasn't what i expected, really typical chinese man... small, little and cute!
Becca also got landed with a cool ass apron she had to wear, even though she only was sat in the living room drinking tea!! She took us to a market near her home, to buy fruit! For some reason, I got very experimental with food, and tried some random chicken of some stall and some beef and onion bread! stupidly cheap, it cost like 20p and it was like a freshly made naan! It was really nice! Surprising as I am normally so fussy with food! When we got back to Jasmines we made the dumplings, they looked and smelt really nice, it was really fun making them as ours were so shit compared to theirs! However when they were made they were pretty gross to say the least! I managed one and had to leave them, as my gag reflex's started to kick in!! So I had to pretend, I had eaten some more! A few fiddles with the bowls and some chopsticks!
All i could think about was eating pizza and drinking some beer!!! Jeremy has offered to bring us pizza hut!! I love this guy!! He's like so nice to us!! Ahhhh pizza hut arrives!! Beer arrives!
I was meant to have a successful night in of doing work! But that didn't happen!! So a major late night tomorrow!! Bloodyhell!!! I must get an early night, up early for some ridiculous modelling of some ridiculous hats!!
Night!!
Steak and Chips... Chinese cuisine???
Yes I had the most amazing steak and chips on Friday night! Even peppercorn sauce and garlic bread! I had a Chinese beer with it, so at least I'm sticking with some of the Chinese cuisine!! Jeremy, a chinese australian man, a friend we have made over here, and luckily he was born in Ningbo, took us to a place called SuperSteaks in downtown Ningbo. I must go back there! The food has cost me a little more money this week, but every meal has been worth it! I don't know if I could of hacked chicken burger or beef and blackbean with egg fried rice every day for the week!
We went to Lao Waitan after the steak, the taxi driver me and Becca had was just the funniest man I have ever met. We got in and asked for Lao Waitan which then caused him to start screaming Lao Waitan, Lao Waitan Lao Waitan at us... we also managed to teach him 'Cheeky Cheeky!' So for our 15 minute trip in this taxi, all the taxi driver said to us was 'Lao Waitan Cheeky Cheeky' Very very amusing, as he probably had no idea what he was saying! I managed to stay relatively sober, stayed on the beer, with the random shot of B52 thrown in there, defos did not want a hangover as we had a pretty busy day on the Saturday planned! What was meant to be home for midnight turned into a 3am kebab, (pretty grim to say the least) and hometime!
Saturday Morning.... I wake up with a grim cold!! We had arranged to meet Jeremy at Starbucks, and he is taking us to some Historical parts of Ningbo. The oldest Library in Asia, some real parts of China like slum areas, to se how people really lived and Moon Lake, we did want to go to a temple but we didn't have enough time so we will have to do this another time! Moon Lake is what used to be an Island, where Jeremy great grandmother was head of the residence community many many years ago, the island now has been turned into a park, but he pointed out where his family home used to be and even the willow tree that was outside his house! To get to the library we had to walk through some old houses, China have decided to restore a lot of the streets like this, so nobody was living in them, and some work had already been started! It was really interesting to like all the old doors and architecture was still all in tact, the smell however was pretty bad!! especially the parts where they had started to restore. Even the water pot that collected rain water was still there and being preserved!
We arrived at the Library, and it wasn't a Library like I expected, it was more like a Palace. A Chinese family was having their family picture outside the entrance, we somehow thought it would be excellent if we managed to sneak in to the picture... we hovered behind and then posed, which then made them include us in their family picture! The library was called Tian Yi Ge. It is the oldest existing library in China. Founded in 1561 by Fan Qin during the Ming Dynasty, in its heyday, it boasted a collection of 70,000 volume of antique books. Over the years this collections of books has been stolen by theifs and during a war called the Opium War, but they have managed to still maintain around 30000 books. It was really beautiful and some really good photos! Oh yes whilst in the one of the gardens me and Becca, found ourselves a little freak, who offered to let us live in his home and possibly kill us! (JOKE) but no seriously he was really really strange, he tried to get our mobile numbers, NO! he then tried to give us his number! NO! then he offered to be our guide! NO! and then said we could live in his home as he has a room for us! ER defo a NO!! Jeremy to the rescue!! The little stalker then followed us to the toilet, so Jeremy had to stand outside as he was so odd!!
Tea on Saturday... Papa Johns, meatballs to start and a meat feast pizza! Maybe an apple juice will shift this cold, as well as the vitamins Jeremy has given us to help with all our germs!! After tea, we went to have our hair washed! I know what you will be thinking... Lazy, but Jeremy said it is something we have to experience!! And my God he was right... first you sit in a chair and they bring you some tea, and then they was your hair... at your seat, shampoo and a water bottle, for around 20 mins you get a proper good shampoo and a head massage! once they wash it off, they recline your seat and you have 30 minutes of a head, back, neck, arm and hand massage! and then a blow dry however you want it! and all for 70RMB (£7)!! I will defo be doing that again! the best £7.00 I have ever spent!!
A quiet night for us, as we are all feeling a bit grim, tired and dying to get into bed! Well me especically as I have class in the Morning, at 9am, 4 children learning English, with a crappy head cold, I need some sleep!!
Good night!!
Jeremy.... our chinese australian friend
Moon Lake...
Spot the odd ones...
We went to Lao Waitan after the steak, the taxi driver me and Becca had was just the funniest man I have ever met. We got in and asked for Lao Waitan which then caused him to start screaming Lao Waitan, Lao Waitan Lao Waitan at us... we also managed to teach him 'Cheeky Cheeky!' So for our 15 minute trip in this taxi, all the taxi driver said to us was 'Lao Waitan Cheeky Cheeky' Very very amusing, as he probably had no idea what he was saying! I managed to stay relatively sober, stayed on the beer, with the random shot of B52 thrown in there, defos did not want a hangover as we had a pretty busy day on the Saturday planned! What was meant to be home for midnight turned into a 3am kebab, (pretty grim to say the least) and hometime!
Saturday Morning.... I wake up with a grim cold!! We had arranged to meet Jeremy at Starbucks, and he is taking us to some Historical parts of Ningbo. The oldest Library in Asia, some real parts of China like slum areas, to se how people really lived and Moon Lake, we did want to go to a temple but we didn't have enough time so we will have to do this another time! Moon Lake is what used to be an Island, where Jeremy great grandmother was head of the residence community many many years ago, the island now has been turned into a park, but he pointed out where his family home used to be and even the willow tree that was outside his house! To get to the library we had to walk through some old houses, China have decided to restore a lot of the streets like this, so nobody was living in them, and some work had already been started! It was really interesting to like all the old doors and architecture was still all in tact, the smell however was pretty bad!! especially the parts where they had started to restore. Even the water pot that collected rain water was still there and being preserved!
We arrived at the Library, and it wasn't a Library like I expected, it was more like a Palace. A Chinese family was having their family picture outside the entrance, we somehow thought it would be excellent if we managed to sneak in to the picture... we hovered behind and then posed, which then made them include us in their family picture! The library was called Tian Yi Ge. It is the oldest existing library in China. Founded in 1561 by Fan Qin during the Ming Dynasty, in its heyday, it boasted a collection of 70,000 volume of antique books. Over the years this collections of books has been stolen by theifs and during a war called the Opium War, but they have managed to still maintain around 30000 books. It was really beautiful and some really good photos! Oh yes whilst in the one of the gardens me and Becca, found ourselves a little freak, who offered to let us live in his home and possibly kill us! (JOKE) but no seriously he was really really strange, he tried to get our mobile numbers, NO! he then tried to give us his number! NO! then he offered to be our guide! NO! and then said we could live in his home as he has a room for us! ER defo a NO!! Jeremy to the rescue!! The little stalker then followed us to the toilet, so Jeremy had to stand outside as he was so odd!!
Tea on Saturday... Papa Johns, meatballs to start and a meat feast pizza! Maybe an apple juice will shift this cold, as well as the vitamins Jeremy has given us to help with all our germs!! After tea, we went to have our hair washed! I know what you will be thinking... Lazy, but Jeremy said it is something we have to experience!! And my God he was right... first you sit in a chair and they bring you some tea, and then they was your hair... at your seat, shampoo and a water bottle, for around 20 mins you get a proper good shampoo and a head massage! once they wash it off, they recline your seat and you have 30 minutes of a head, back, neck, arm and hand massage! and then a blow dry however you want it! and all for 70RMB (£7)!! I will defo be doing that again! the best £7.00 I have ever spent!!
A quiet night for us, as we are all feeling a bit grim, tired and dying to get into bed! Well me especically as I have class in the Morning, at 9am, 4 children learning English, with a crappy head cold, I need some sleep!!
Good night!!
Super Steak!
Steak and Chips??
Lao Waitan Cheeky Cheeky!!
Lao Waitan
Chinese Harry Potter??
This is the man who built this Library
The Gardens and Library
Oh shit double chin?? Having my hair shampoo's no where near a sink
The hairdressers
Friday, 20 April 2012
Pictures from Friday
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