Yesterday we drove by bus to our partner school in Tianjin to meet some of the teachers and pupils, including Lucy, who briefly taught us Mandarin at Balfron. Everyone was lovely and we found ourselves showered with lots of little gifts. We took part in a clay moulding class (making tiny minions), made pizza and took part in a kung fu session. Afterwards, we split into smaller groups and some of the students led us to meet their families, with whom we spent the rest of the day. We ate meals with our families, some of us went for walks, played games, others sports, and some even sang their hearts out in a private karaoke room! In the evening we all met up again.

Today we travelled from Tianjin to Shandong. Our day started with a hectic morning trying to fit in breakfast and packing to have everything ready for 12pm. Once we said a very emotional goodbye to our fantastic volunteers we made he 6 hour bus journey to our fabulous 4 star hotel. We spent dinner tonight in a restaurant near our hotel trying traditional Chinese dishes which was an interesting and new experience for us all. We look forward to exploring Shandong tomorrow.

Lauren Harvey