I am led into a large, whitewashed room to face a jury of 99. They are arranged in rows, and we look at each other through a cloud of yellowchalk dust. They have never met a foreigner before and eye me nervously as I step forward. I am in China for a year to work with 20-year-old students learning English. It felt odd being younger than my students, but I never felt too inexperienced to cope. It had not been an easy choice to take the opportunity of doing a gap year. I was afraid of not being able to settle down to a life of studying when I returned and of losing touch with my friends. But once the decision was made, I looked for somewhere challengingto live and work, with the possibility of travelling around the country at the end of my work placement. I worked at a huge, concrete institute in a city with a million inhabitants and I grew to love it. The size of the class which could sometimes indude up to 99 students, of very mixcd ability and enthusiasm, left me feeling exhausted, but rewarded. One of the best things about the work was that I met hundreds of people, and felt appreciated and welcomed by them - people who had had practically no contact with the West. In China, everyone wants to be your friend. My best Chinese mate was Mr Chow, a 35-year-old electronics teacher with a son, wife, and a cheerful face like a full moon. I helped him with his English and he coached me at table tennis, and taught me how to ride a motorbike. Best of all, he was a great storyteller, and some of my best nights were spent eating with
him and his family. In China I learnt that fun takes on different forms. In the more remote areas of China where life and landscape have changed little in hundreds of years, you can really feel like a cross between a celebrity and a creature from outer space. I've been on train journeys when kids have asked me to sign their clothes,been on television a few limes - and just what do you say when Chinese men are stroking your legs, amazed by the fact that they are so hairy? So, what have I come away with? I had no choice but to adapt, budget, bargain
and become more independent. There's no faster way to grow up than having to stand in front of those 99 students, all older than yourself and tell someone off for turning up late again to a lesson. Most of all I loved the experience of living in a different country and the challenge of trying to understand it.