Sunday 20 May saw Real Life English teachers, students, guests and friends kick up their heels at Durty Nellie's Bar, Beijing all in a good cause.

Children and parents at Xin Xin Migrant School were facing a difficult decision as they completed the 6th grade. The school does not have a 7th grade. These children were facing leaving their parents and siblings behind and returning to their countryside homes to live with grandparents in order to be able to continue their education – or at the age of 12 they would just 'drop-out' of school and face a very uncertain future.

Through the continual efforts of Real Life English teachers we have established a very deep connection with the children at Xin Xin, bringing presents at Christmas and taking part in a Fun Run to raise the money for replacement doors and windows, as well as teaching English as volunteers and thus enabling the children to score higher in their national exams.

All our previous efforts had been for stand alone projects – to do this task we need this much money - but now we were considering taking on a long term commitment to the school that would involve continual fundraising over a 3 year span with budgets and deadlines to meet and the setting up of a project that we would be able to pass on comfortably should we, individually, no longer be working in China

There was never any doubt in our minds that we should do this, but whether we could do this.

Well, there was really never any doubt in our minds that we could do this and we kicked off our 3 year fundraising program with a Rock n Roll night at the local Irish bar where Phonograph played live all evening, silent auctions were held for artwork created by the children at Xin Xin, two raffles were held for amazing prizes and apart from having a great evening we raised over RMB 25,000, putting us half way towards our first years target of RMB 50,000.

Plans are already in place for a similar night to celebrate Halloween in full costume.

Silent auction table	Everyone pitching in	Looking over the selection

Rebecca - New Girl In Town

Every time I leave my apartment I look around and think - wow, I'm living in China! That may seem strange, but I really did take a long time to finally decide to make the move away from my home, my family, my friends – everything I know and love. Yes there were also the things I disliked about home – but at least I could understand them.

China is a fascinating country, but at times difficult to understand – there is the language thing but there are other little things too. But it's to be expected, this is after all China! Full of little quirks and very different ways of thinking.

I've only been here three months and already I have experienced so many new things.

One joy has been teaching at Real Life English. Just before I walked into my first class I was incredibly nervous; however I quickly discovered that was completely unnecessary. The students are extremely good-natured and enjoy talking and learning about my hometown, which makes the classroom a comfortable place to be. I have made friends with many of the students; some have even invited me into their homes for an authentic Chinese meal, which I have enjoyed thoroughly.

I definitely do not regret my decision to move to China at all.

Life here is challenging - I have had ups and downs for sure. But each day that goes by I become more and more comfortable. I have made great friends with other teachers – especially the teacher I roomed with when I came – we had some bumps initially until we made a particularly funny discovery in our apartment one day – from that time on all we seem to do is laugh together.

I have already enjoyed traveling in and around Beijing and seeing many historical wonders and this weekend I am off to Xian by train and will be experiencing a 'hard sleeper'!

I look forward to the day when I have improved my Chinese to the point of being able to actually communicate with the many remarkable people I encounter each day!

Rebecca Petretti

Wang Jing Campus

2007 has been an exciting year at Real Life English Beijing – and the Olympics haven't even started yet, though the build up is in full swing.

A few weeks ago our new campus at Wang Jing, Beijing was opened for students – it took just 6 weeks to turn the forth floor of the Lead International Building into an incredible teaching and learning environment and we are all bubbling over with the great things that we can now do with the 3 massive outside patio areas – yes, outside areas on the forth floor with panoramic views of the city and cooling breezes all day long. Cross cultural bar-b-ques, wine tasting’s, cooking demonstrations and open air graduation celebrations to name but a few – and all in the name of making teaching and studying at Real Life English a memorable and rewarding time.

On site there is a purpose built cafeteria and a spacious teachers room fully stocked with resource materials and computers. The classrooms are all equipped to a very high standard, are clean, well lit and ideally proportioned for the small student class sizes that we specialize in teaching at Real Life English.

The local area supports tree-lined streets, numerous cafes, bars and restaurants and even beer gardens where you can sit quietly under a tree, read a book and taste the locally brewed hops whilst relaxing and taking in the fact that China is such a great place to be.

Next to the apartments where we all live is a daily large vegetable market where you can practice your bargaining skills and know that you are buying fresh produce directly from the people who grow it or you can just walk across from the international standard office building where our campus is housed and find a horse drawn trailer piled high with locally grown melons and peaches.

Wang Jing is a perfect sister for our other campuses at SOHO in the centre of the CBD Business district and at Haidian in the centre of the University area

I love being in China, and especially living in Beijing, this fast paced city fill of history and change and although some days I tear my hair out, within minutes I laugh about it and there is always someone to swap stories with and share the laughter

Jacqui Miller