China has always been on my ever-expanding list of must-visit countries, and I was certainly not disappointed! An undeniably monumental culture change from a small town in Africa, Shanghai is a buzzing metropolitan like no other city I've ever seen. According to the Chinese Government, the population is 24 million people in 2015. When you compare that to the population of the UK as stated by the UNDP as 63.4 million in 2014, the city is phenomenal! I explored quite a lot during my 3 week stay, but I'd still say the city felt small and cosy, not as if more than a third of the UK population was living there! Clearly I had some more exploring to do...
For two weeks of my stay, I volunteered at a day centre for people with learning disabilities in a suburb of Shanghai. Classes for around 30-40 adults ran in the morning and afternoon, teaching a range of lessons including music, Chinese crafts, life lessons, reading, cooking and many more! Although no one there could speak any English and I could speak no Chinese, I had such an amazing time and met some great people. Non-verbal communication, basic sign language and smiling a lot seemed to get me by just about!
Around classes and at the weekends, I did a lot of exploring and sightseeing including historical temples, famous gardens, museums and galleries. As well as this, I made some great fellow European volunteer friends as well - two of which actually just visited me in England over the summer for a week. If you ever fancy trying some great (if not a little interesting!) food, learning how to cut paper in ways you never knew possible or just embracing some fascinating culture I'd sincerely recommend visiting Shanghai.
The centre had several classrooms, a multi-sense room and a fully functioning kitchen for both western and Chinese cooking.
They were very excited to show me Chinese baking!
Never have I been in such a positive place with such positive people.
Such a city of beautiful contrasts!
About as close as we got to seeing a real Chinese panda!
Statistics as reported by the Chinese Government - http://www.stats-sh.gov.cn/tjnj/zgsh/nj2011.html
UNDP statistics - http://report.hdr.undp.org/
More information on volunteering in China with the organisation that I used - http://www.lovevolunteers.org/programs/china
Personally managed births to go: 17
