【正文】 oms are made of bamboo and the roofs of grass. It takes me only a few minutes to walk to school down a muddy track. When I reach the school grounds there are lots of “good morning” for me from the boys. Many of them have walked a long way, sometimes up to two hours, to get to school. There is no electricity or water and even no textbooks either. I am still trying to adapt to these conditions. However, one thing is for sure, I have bee more imaginative in my teaching. Science is my most challenging subject as my students have no concept of doing experiments. In fact there is no equipment, and if I need water I have to carry it from my house in a bucket! The other day I was showing the boys the weekly chemistry experiment when, before I knew it, the mixture was bubbling over everywhere! The boys who had never e across anything like this before started jumping out of the windows. Sometimes I wonder how relevant chemistry is to these students, most of whom will be going back to their villages after Year 8 anyway. To be honest, I doubt whether I am making any difference to these boys’ lives at all. You asked whether I’m getting to know any local people. That is actually quite difficult as I don’t speak much of the local English dialect yet. But last weekend another teacher, Jenny, and I did visit a village which is the home of one of the boys. It was my first visit to a remote village. We walked for two and a half hours to get there first up a mountain to a ridge from where we had fantastic views and then down a steep path to the valley below. When we arrived at the village, Tom’s mother, Kiak, who had been pulling weeds in her garden, started crying. We shook hands with all the villagers. Everyone seemed to be a relative of Tom’s.Tom’s father, led us to his house, a low bamboo hut with grass sticking out of the roof this shows it is a man’s house. The hut was round, not rectangle like the school buildings. There were no windows and the doorway was just big enough to get through. The hut was dark inside so it took time for our eyes to adjust. There was a fireplace in the centre of the hut near the doorway. The only possessions I could see were one broom a few tin plates and cups and a couple of jars. Outside Mukap was building a fire. Once the fire was going, he laid stones on it. When hot, he placed them in an empty oil drum with sweet potato, corn and greens. It smells delicious. We ate inside the hut sitting round the fire. I love listening to the family softly talking to each other in their language, even though I could not participate in the conversation.Later, I noticed a tin standing upside down on the grill over the fire. After a short time Tom threw it out of the doorway. I was puzzled. Tom told me that the can was heated to dry out the leftover food. They believe that any leftovers attract evil spirits in the night, so the food is dried up in the can and the can is then thrown out of the hut. Otherwise they don’t waste anything.We left the village the next morning after many goodbyes and firm handshakes. My muscles were aching and my knees shaking as we climbed down the mountain towards home. That evening I fell happily into bed. It was such a privilege to have spent a day with Tom’s family.It is getting late and I have to prepare tomorrow’s lessons and do some paperwork. Please write soon. Unit 5 Chinese student fitting in well Six months ago, Xie lei said goodbye to her family and friends in China and boarded a plane for London. It was the fir