Ni men hao,
It hasn't been many days since I last posted so I suppose I can't say a lot. One thing worth mentioning is that I've seen fireworks out my window (I have a great view of the river and city) about 9 times in the nearmonth I've been in China. They are very popular for private parties and weddings and of course, all festivals. Speaking of festivals, the mid-autumn day has just passed. The mid autumn day is a day to enjoy the full moon and eat mooncakes. Having been to China previously during a mooncake festival I was determined to not receive and especially not eat any mooncakes. However a guy at our favorite dumpling restaurant (he might have been the owner) served us each a peanut mooncake and closely monitored our consumption thereof after which he told us we were wasting our time studying Chinese--English was the language to know.
Anyway I head off on vacation for the National Holiday soon. I stood in a line to get train tickets for an hour today only to not get all of the train tickets and have to adjust plans. I will be standing for seven hours on a train this coming Saturday, it will be crowded and fun. We are headed to the town of Yanji, in a Korean majority area to hang around town and possibly go on some day hikes--the scenery and terrain is apparently amazing. From there we will head to Changbai Shan one of the cool mountains China has so many of and there's a lake on top which is in both China and North Korea. I'd better head to study Chinese, but I'll of course be writing again after the break.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
"The whole country washes to colour the catena headquarters"
I don't know what the title of the post means but I read it on a shop sign in town and thought it catchy.
Teaching is going pretty well. It's difficult to plan classes that keep the whole class engaged for 2 hours when they are at such different skill and (especially) motivation levels, especially when there are 45 people. Overall though my students are pretty great. Most of them have more understanding than they let on (they have very restrained classroom habits) and are interested in learning to be more fluent. The job description I was given was something like "you will teach scientific english, here is your textbook". The textbook is not the best, so if anyone has neat short articles on science they think I could use send them my way (think 6th grade reading level, unless the article is very short). The students are especially interested in computers, cell phones, the internet, business technology, and the environment. A couple approached me after class on Monday to ask me about special relativity so we had great fun going through the bit that I remember from high school physics.
I'm realizing it is my third week and I have not yet done anything formally with my students outside of class, though I see and talk to them everywhere around campus and even in town. I head out shopping for electronics (phone, camera) though with a group of guys from one of my classes soon ("a group of guys" pretty much means all the males in the class, over 90% of English majors at colleges like this one are women). Life is still very social though, and I (often along with other Maryknollers) seem to always be meeting up with friends from somewhere in the world, occasionally riding there in a hilarious taxi that I won't talk about until I can get a picture. The thing would be illegal for so many reasons back in the States. My friend Ashley (from Korea) has this driver in her phone and calls the outrageous cab to drive her everywhere.
Anyway I've been learning more Chinese than last time I came. It helps to have studied it before, especially for the headstart on pronunciation. It also helps emmensely to be in a region where local pronunciation is far closer to the standard Mandarin which is being taught. The Chinese are very interested and welcoming toward foreigners, which adds to the incentive to learn the language. For example two monks delightedly belted questions at me after sitting me down in their shop the other day, spraying me with the cucumber they were eating the whole time. Taxi drivers and street vendors whom I buy things from also want to make lots of conversation, and many of the foreign students speak much more Chinese than English, so I get a bit of practice. The hardest thing though is to sit and study characters, the first few are great fun, but it's a slower way to learn foreign vocabulary than I'm used to.
Teaching is going pretty well. It's difficult to plan classes that keep the whole class engaged for 2 hours when they are at such different skill and (especially) motivation levels, especially when there are 45 people. Overall though my students are pretty great. Most of them have more understanding than they let on (they have very restrained classroom habits) and are interested in learning to be more fluent. The job description I was given was something like "you will teach scientific english, here is your textbook". The textbook is not the best, so if anyone has neat short articles on science they think I could use send them my way (think 6th grade reading level, unless the article is very short). The students are especially interested in computers, cell phones, the internet, business technology, and the environment. A couple approached me after class on Monday to ask me about special relativity so we had great fun going through the bit that I remember from high school physics.
I'm realizing it is my third week and I have not yet done anything formally with my students outside of class, though I see and talk to them everywhere around campus and even in town. I head out shopping for electronics (phone, camera) though with a group of guys from one of my classes soon ("a group of guys" pretty much means all the males in the class, over 90% of English majors at colleges like this one are women). Life is still very social though, and I (often along with other Maryknollers) seem to always be meeting up with friends from somewhere in the world, occasionally riding there in a hilarious taxi that I won't talk about until I can get a picture. The thing would be illegal for so many reasons back in the States. My friend Ashley (from Korea) has this driver in her phone and calls the outrageous cab to drive her everywhere.
Anyway I've been learning more Chinese than last time I came. It helps to have studied it before, especially for the headstart on pronunciation. It also helps emmensely to be in a region where local pronunciation is far closer to the standard Mandarin which is being taught. The Chinese are very interested and welcoming toward foreigners, which adds to the incentive to learn the language. For example two monks delightedly belted questions at me after sitting me down in their shop the other day, spraying me with the cucumber they were eating the whole time. Taxi drivers and street vendors whom I buy things from also want to make lots of conversation, and many of the foreign students speak much more Chinese than English, so I get a bit of practice. The hardest thing though is to sit and study characters, the first few are great fun, but it's a slower way to learn foreign vocabulary than I'm used to.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
It is too soon to actually write another entry. If you're reading this and you have a skype name, send it to me at my e-mail or facebook it to me. I probably will be on during the nighttime here, which puts me on at morning time there. We are 13 hours ahead, 14 come daylight savings.
If somebody would fill me in as to what "high school musical" is I'd be grateful. I've seen things about it everywhere (in Hong Kong, on Chinese TV).
working hard at Chinese, characters are tough
If somebody would fill me in as to what "high school musical" is I'd be grateful. I've seen things about it everywhere (in Hong Kong, on Chinese TV).
working hard at Chinese, characters are tough
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Campus Life
So here in China I can update my blog but not actually see the finished product. I believe I have posted a couple of pictures. One is myself and two fellow Maryknoll teachers with the fourth taking the picture. Jim is in the middle, Matt's on the right, James is taking the picture (with his camera, I still don't have one). So far everything has been excellent in terms of hanging out with each other, meeting our students, and meeting international students (we live in the international students' dormitory).
I have still only taught two classes and have another two tomorrow, then one on Friday. I have the option to attend Chinese classes for free and they are pretty good. The teachers speak very little English which is difficult in the beginning, but I have enough in memory to follow along.
The town of Jilin is pretty cool. There is very little old architecture left, it's all given way to apartment buildings and malls and such, but it is still a very Chinese city. It's out of the way of a lot of expats and tourists, and neither especially rich or poor for China. One thing I've loved is the grocery store. I realized I had only really been to a large (Chinese-owned) Chinese grocery store while in Beibei which is a much smaller town than jilin. The grocery store here is much much larger with all sorts of crazy food, the variety being somewhat due to the Korean influence as well as closer proximity to the ocean--the seafood here is crazy.
I'm blogging a lot lately and I'm sure I have a great deal more to discover, especially as I get to know people around here, but it's been pretty exciting to be back. It's certainly different than last time both because of where I am in China and because I think much differently than last time I landed here. There are however a lot of similarities: the friendly and timid "hellos" randomly from people in the streets, students who are incredibly shy and giggly around me, a lot of older men and women laughing and joking with me (if I only knew chinese, but they still have a good time) while I wait for food, and the need for 360 degrees of awareness no matter what lane I'm in. It's all pretty wild and it's a lot to take in even the second time around.
Monday, September 3, 2007
I love China
So I'm here.
I am teaching Scientific English to five different sections of College juniors. My first class I was a bit nervous and shaky. I had some rather intersting questions asked of me by the students. I was a little nervous for the first class, but the second class went very smoothly and I had a great time. There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on which is disconcerting but the Chinese laugh for a lot more reasons than we do. The biggest laugh came when I tried to pronounce a Chinese name. Anyway, The textbook contains scientific articles (they are incredibly simple) with some reading comprehension questions. I am going to try to find some articles from various magazines which are more up to date and maybe slightly more difficult than the ones in the textbook.
Anyway I'm living in way too large of an apartment in the international students' dormitory. I have a queen size bed, a restroom (with a view of the television). And my own kitchen. It's pretty ridiculous. It's also going to take some decorating to counteract the outrageous design concept of the place.
I ate donkey for dinner tonight with a Guy named Joe from Korea and his uncle who lives in the city. I was of great interest to the restaurant owners and other customers who wondered what I thought of the dumplings. Donkey is apparently a delicacy around here. It does taste good.
Anyway that's all I can think of for tonight I think I need to go retire to my ridiculous queen size bed.
Kevin
I am teaching Scientific English to five different sections of College juniors. My first class I was a bit nervous and shaky. I had some rather intersting questions asked of me by the students. I was a little nervous for the first class, but the second class went very smoothly and I had a great time. There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on which is disconcerting but the Chinese laugh for a lot more reasons than we do. The biggest laugh came when I tried to pronounce a Chinese name. Anyway, The textbook contains scientific articles (they are incredibly simple) with some reading comprehension questions. I am going to try to find some articles from various magazines which are more up to date and maybe slightly more difficult than the ones in the textbook.
Anyway I'm living in way too large of an apartment in the international students' dormitory. I have a queen size bed, a restroom (with a view of the television). And my own kitchen. It's pretty ridiculous. It's also going to take some decorating to counteract the outrageous design concept of the place.
I ate donkey for dinner tonight with a Guy named Joe from Korea and his uncle who lives in the city. I was of great interest to the restaurant owners and other customers who wondered what I thought of the dumplings. Donkey is apparently a delicacy around here. It does taste good.
Anyway that's all I can think of for tonight I think I need to go retire to my ridiculous queen size bed.
Kevin
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