After the glitzy skyscrapers and romantic side streets of Beijing, we’ve come down to earth with a bump, and a hard one at that.

Lanzhou is definitely the “real” China and the thick smog hit us the moment we stepped off the train yesterday, although apparently the air was relatively clean by Gansu standards.

The air pollution is not helped by the fact that the city sits in a valley, and the surrounding mountains are very dusty as, we discovered on the train ride, is a considerable amount of northern China.

Far from the hellish journey we had been expecting, though, sleeper trains are actually rather enjoyable, particularly for someone my height, and I managed to crash out for sixteen hours despite the rock solid mattresses which we’ve now come to realise are commonplace in Chinese homes.

I was greeted at the station by my host Chen Yi Ru, a student in Senior Two (aged 16) who was very excited to have a ‘sister’.

Her parents presented me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers (see pictures) before taking me for beef noodles, which Lanzhou is famous for.

These were greatly appreciated as I hadn’t eaten for two days, having felt really nauseous after the rather chewy dumplings we ate for dinner on Sunday, although looking back I think the Baijiu I was persuaded to try may have had something to do with it.

The best way I can describe Baijiu is like liquorice-flavoured vodka, only considerably stronger.

I only had a little, but even now thinking about how rancid it tasted is enough to make me shudder.

Mr and Mrs Chen are lovely, but neither speak a word of English which makes dinner time very interesting.

Mr Chen is a businessman and works in another city during the week, whilst Mrs Chen is very glamourous and used to be a TV news reporter, but is now involved in producing and training presenters to enunciate properly, so should hopefully be able to help me with my tones. Her cooking is delicious, and she is always trying to force me to eat more but I still haven’t really recovered my appetite, shocking as that may be to read for those at home.

Tonight we ate dove meat which is apparently a delicacy, although they neglected to tell me what I was eating until I’d finished.

I was rather fatty and not particularly flavoursome, I have to say.

I’m also being handed at least fifteen cups of green tea a day as the tap water is not safe to drink here.

However, I’m going to have to cut back as the toilets at the school are nothing more than latrines with no doors for modesty, and the pupils think nothing of approaching you to practice their English as you try to go to the toilet, as we discovered today, much to our horror.

Breakfast was interesting also, and we consumed yoghurt through a straw and drank instant coffee which had the milk powder and sugar included in the packet, as well as leftovers from last night’s dinner.

The mornings are bitter in China, and you can barely see in front of you for mist. As a result, none of the shops open until about 10.30am and they then stay open until midnight.

This was the same in Beijing too. I now wear a mask whenever I’m outside as it’s just so cold, too cold even for it to snow. I wear thermals all the time also, even in bed, which I share with Yi Ru.

One good thing about the low temperatures, my dad will be pleased to know, is that I haven’t bitten my nails since I got here, it’s far too cold even to contemplate doing so.

Yi Ru and I caught the number three bus to school at eight o’clock, careful to avoid the crazy Lanzhou drivers who don’t appear to understand the concept of a pedestrian crossing.

The journey takes forty minutes, but only ten in the car, as the bridge which cars use to cross the river is too weak to take buses so we have to drive along to a sturdier one a few miles down the road and then back again on the other side.

The whole experience felt very surreal, like being part of the Truman Show.

Buses are smaller than those in the UK- maybe twenty seats- and everyone sits in silence, glued to the TV at the front, a far cry from the noisy 135 journeys I’m used to.

A great contrast also was quite how efficient the service is, and the moment one bus leaves a stop, another is right behind it, ready to take its place.

The school is massive with just under 1000 pupils in each year group. Alicia and I will be teaching Senior 2, who are aged 16-17.

We worked out today that we will have around 500 pupils each to set and mark work for, so count yourself lucky, mum!

The pupils work exceptionally hard and are under a ridiculous amount of pressure to succeed and go to a foreign university.

Only the most elite students study at Chinese universities.

Although at the moment the timetable is altered as only pupils wishing to study at American universities are in school preparing for their TOEFL exam, the normal school day starts at 7.30 in the morning and doesn’t finish until 5.30 at night, with a two hour lunch break to sleep and catch up on homework.

On top of this, Yi Ru tells me that she stays up until half past midnight completing the homework set by her teachers, a routine which isn’t worth fathoming for most UK students.

Today we also found out that our apartment on the school campus probably won’t be ready until at least 1st March when the new term starts due in part to messages being lost in translation, but also because the school is reluctant to allow two 18 year olds to live alone.

Project Trust are doing their best to get the apartment sorted ASAP but because in China everything has to go through a number of people to before reaching the official who makes the final decision, we’re not expecting to be moved in any time soon.

In the meantime, Ali is living on her own in an apartment her host family is renting for her, although she can’t use any gas to cook things, so we’ve suggested that I stay over at hers a few nights a week to keep her company in the evenings.

In my lunch break I went to buy a Chinese sim card and discovered that the phone companies like to reward their customers with gifts.

I was allowed to choose two prizes out of the lucky dip and am now the proud owner of a bright pink drinking flask and a laptop cleaning kit which may actually come in very handy.

The bizarre behaviour doesn’t end here though.

Every night, the older women from the apartment block the Chens live in gather to practice dance aerobics to what sounds vaguely like an instrumental version of MGMTs ‘Electric Feel’ in the main high street. Chinese television- ironically named CCTV- also has many weird and wonderful offerings.

Last night we watched Beijing’s answer to Lady Gaga hold a press conference, and a dating show called ‘Just for You’ in which rich old men had their pickings of pretty young girls.

And they say romance is dead. The most shocking sight, however, had to be that of miniature dogs kept in tiny glass boxes ready to be sold on the street outside the supermarket. Yi Ru wanted to take a look at one of the dogs and the sound of it yelping as it was let out of the box was incredibly distressing.

I’ve just returned from having my hair cut- quite an experience.

The hairdressers oozed cool and was full of young men in skinny jeans and blazers with meticulously coiffed hair and androgynous looking girls, hanging out on the sofas, reading magazines- the kind of place I wouldn’t dream of setting foot inside in Manchester.

When I entered there was quite a commotion and they all gathered round to watch as the head stylist cut my hair.

The end result actually wasn’t too bad, or won’t be after I’ve washed the products out.

So far, I haven’t seen any other white people in Lanzhou - even Robert and Maria, the Canadian couple also contracted to teach English at the school are of Chinese descent so blend in far better than we do.

As a result we do get a lot of stares and double takes, with many people rubber-necking to get a better look.

I’ve taken to walking quickly with my head down to avoid stares, which has the dual benefit of also helping to keep the cold air from making our eyes water.

I realise I’d also forgotten to mention in previous posts quite how cheap everything is out here.

My haircut cost 10 Yuan, which is equivalent to £1, and a litre of beer can be bought for just 30p.

The only things that are really expensive are imported goods such as shampoos and chocolate.

Having just read over it, this post has been rather sporadic, but there’s just so much to write about, I can’t believe I’ve only been here for a week!

It may sound like there are a lot of negatives, but we just need to find our feet and adjust- it’s the adventure I’d wanted after all.