Spent some time volunteering at the Jing’an Disabled Centre the other weekend. The people there are always so warm and friendly, and they’re walking distance from our place.. so it’s a total pleasure to spend time there.

This time, it was teaching basic English to them.. in preparation of Shanghai’s 2010 Expo in May. Not many regular people would have heard of the Expo, but it’s to business what the Olympics is to sport. IT IS HUGE!! Shanghai is pumping with activity right now, with frantic preparations for the Expo – everything is being renovated and improved – so it’s actually great that we’re in Shanghai while the entire city is re-hauled and spruced up 🙂 You can read all about it here.

Anyway, since Shanghai will be flooded with foreigners, the government is also doing a massive program to teach English. Primarily to restaurant staff, shop staff, and taxi drivers. It’s totally cute, they even rolled out a very spiffy looking uniform for all the cabbies, and they look so smart in them! So, our idea was to also teach some of these guys English, for when they meet foreigners on their outings, and also for a bit of fun.

I got the smartest ‘students’ so it was quite easy for me 🙂 It was fun, but also exhausting talking and repeating the same words over and over again. But they did get it, which was very cool!

All the diligent students

Learning how to say “Goodbye”

In turn, one of them performed a traditional song for us – so sweet!