It's been ridiculously long since my last blog post. I'll just summarize what's been going on.
First of all, teaching has been extra challenging this semester. Last semester was certainly difficult, but I felt like I was simply getting used to things and getting comfortable with the idea that I am teaching. this semester I alsways want things to go pretty well and it's a little more upsetting when they don't. That being said I've had some of my better students give me complements recently on my class, and we've been told that us foreign teachers get a much higher level of attention and interest than their professors.
Here's the rundown of how it's going.
First of all, I've been lazy about the sophomore class. Father Jim Teaches the other 6 sections of the Bible class and I've been following his lead on what we do in class. While he commands a great deal of respect as an older, well-educated, chinese speaking foreign teacher. I really can't get away with his lecture heavy teaching style as a young foreigner. The students are totally uninterested in reading the text of the Bible (though they're remarkably good at understanding it). So I'm going to shift the class toward more oral English and include certain bible stories as for reading and discussion
I'll give a bit more context before I get to my junior lit. class, I may have discussed much of this already but it bears repeating. A Chinese University (outside of top universities) is a bit more like High School in the U.S. Students do not choose their classes--many do not choose their major. They have around 10 courses per semester. There are lots of mandatory meetings and even mandatory study halls. In terms of their lives as well it's their first taste of freedom. Up until college, the students would go to school until 6 p.m. or later.
Also students pass college. It's very difficult in China not to. If you fail, you retake the exam. If a student gets into college, they generally get out with a degree. (Though one of my students managed to leave, after not attending class for 3 semesters.) As a side note, last semester my grades were taken and made into ten 90s, ten 70s and about one hundred and sixty 80s.
In my Junior class the story has been interesting. Having ceased to take attendance all of the time, I've kind of let some of the completely uninterested and ready to nap ones stay home more often. Of the ones who do still come, it feels like a much better proportion of the class is interested and it has a positive effect on the energy of the class. There are still a good number of students who do homework in the back but I tend to let them and teach the interested ones. I don't know that this is the correct course of action but I don't want to fight college students. The classes seem to go pretty well that way, and the students who stay with me seem to be more into it.
Anyway that's what's been going on now. I've been thinking mostly about my Job, as well as about the end of the year which is coming surprisingly fast!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A few hours in Burma
(Most of this was written in the evening after I arrived back from Burma, but I didn't get a chance to finish and post until now)
I headed over to Burma for a few hours today to look around and re-enter thailand for a new visa. I had read that travellers to burma tend to have a bit more of an intense experience of "Old Asia" (whatever that is) though obviously that ambience is not present for entirely good reasons.
The boat ride involved two immigration offices, both thai and burmese, that were out over the water. It was pretty cool to pull up to immigration on a longtail boat--though it was pretty scary to hand my passport to one of the small children who help on the longtails and watch him skitter across the crowd of boats with it and into the office for my stamp. Arriving in Burma my bags were immediately checked (for drugs I think, there was a big sign about narcotics nearby) and we were stamped both in and out, but permitted to hang around for a few hours.
We were followed by three boys who wanted to guide us and identified themselves as "tsunami boys" but they left us after they realized we were following none of their directions as to what to go. We attempted to get food, but it seemed that all that was available early in the day were various cakes to go with tea. I tried a couple funky semi-dry fruit cakes, and Joel (a guy I met) found some chicken filled bao zi (steamed bread). Communication was exceedingly difficult as we pretty much had nothing but pointing to go on.
After we had gotten out food in the little restaurant a man who identified himself as a physicist and former translator came over and talked to us. The man went on and on about the relative prosperity of North America which could well have been an instance of the subtle hinting at discontent that I've heard of from other tourists who have visited the country.
Given that it was a few hours I don't really have any overall themes to go on, just a few quick impressions. Obviously, Burma was much poorer than Thailand. There was a great deal of trash everywhere including a market that was basically a boardwalk over a small nasty dump. I saw a guy sorting his lettuce on the garbage which was kind of appalling, I insisted he sort my salad on the walkway (no, I didn't actually buy lettuce there). Most of what was being sold/handled in the area was food which was rendered entirely unnappealing by the setting.
There were also a lot of rickety boardwalks over the ocean (really it's an estuary area). Which were pretty cool and there was a smal fishing dock full of cool looking boats.
One of the final things we saw was both sad and little creepy. A shop had a stuffed tiger (which was not entirely preserved, it was decaying in a number of places) with its mouth stuffed with money. Some stuffed (again still decaying) monkeys sat on a shelf and all sorts of teeth bones and a skull or two were on a tarp spilling onto the front step. The woman wouldn't let us take pictures but I snapped a dim one before she came in and tried to sell us what I believe were tiger teeth as she pointed to the tiger we were gaping at before pulling out the bag of them.
That was about it for what we saw in Burma. I'll get to more updates soon.
I headed over to Burma for a few hours today to look around and re-enter thailand for a new visa. I had read that travellers to burma tend to have a bit more of an intense experience of "Old Asia" (whatever that is) though obviously that ambience is not present for entirely good reasons.
The boat ride involved two immigration offices, both thai and burmese, that were out over the water. It was pretty cool to pull up to immigration on a longtail boat--though it was pretty scary to hand my passport to one of the small children who help on the longtails and watch him skitter across the crowd of boats with it and into the office for my stamp. Arriving in Burma my bags were immediately checked (for drugs I think, there was a big sign about narcotics nearby) and we were stamped both in and out, but permitted to hang around for a few hours.
We were followed by three boys who wanted to guide us and identified themselves as "tsunami boys" but they left us after they realized we were following none of their directions as to what to go. We attempted to get food, but it seemed that all that was available early in the day were various cakes to go with tea. I tried a couple funky semi-dry fruit cakes, and Joel (a guy I met) found some chicken filled bao zi (steamed bread). Communication was exceedingly difficult as we pretty much had nothing but pointing to go on.
After we had gotten out food in the little restaurant a man who identified himself as a physicist and former translator came over and talked to us. The man went on and on about the relative prosperity of North America which could well have been an instance of the subtle hinting at discontent that I've heard of from other tourists who have visited the country.
Given that it was a few hours I don't really have any overall themes to go on, just a few quick impressions. Obviously, Burma was much poorer than Thailand. There was a great deal of trash everywhere including a market that was basically a boardwalk over a small nasty dump. I saw a guy sorting his lettuce on the garbage which was kind of appalling, I insisted he sort my salad on the walkway (no, I didn't actually buy lettuce there). Most of what was being sold/handled in the area was food which was rendered entirely unnappealing by the setting.
There were also a lot of rickety boardwalks over the ocean (really it's an estuary area). Which were pretty cool and there was a smal fishing dock full of cool looking boats.
One of the final things we saw was both sad and little creepy. A shop had a stuffed tiger (which was not entirely preserved, it was decaying in a number of places) with its mouth stuffed with money. Some stuffed (again still decaying) monkeys sat on a shelf and all sorts of teeth bones and a skull or two were on a tarp spilling onto the front step. The woman wouldn't let us take pictures but I snapped a dim one before she came in and tried to sell us what I believe were tiger teeth as she pointed to the tiger we were gaping at before pulling out the bag of them.
That was about it for what we saw in Burma. I'll get to more updates soon.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The catch up post
It's been way too long since I've written and I've had some complaints from dissatisfied customers. Forgive the continued lack of pictures, the photo tour is pending! It's also a long one here those of you who were with me during the adventures forgive me if I left anything out (James).
So to fill in:
After returning from HKG I finished up with exams and grades before heading north the the even colder city of Harbin for their famous ice festival. It's kind of the thing to see if you're crazy enough to want to be in Northern China for the wintertime. Harbin is a city with a heck of a lot of Russian architecture and had a pretty cool feel about it. As far as the festival itself. I've made a short video about the trip, the release is pending. Also in Harbin I met up with a former Jr. Billiken (and former student of my dad's), Josh, who was a really good guy and shared a lot of interesting China info with us.
After Harbin we returned to Jilin to pack and check out with our bosses. I found out that next semester I'm teaching five sections of American lit and one of Biblical lit/Greek Mythology.
I then began the epic journey southward through China with James, his mother, and Jenny.
The first stop on the journey was Beijing. I have to say even though I was cold Beijing was sweet even the third time around. I repeated the Forbidden City, wandered many of the alleyways and saw a new section of the Great Wall. We met up with Tom , (a St. John's friend who was a fellow study-abroader) for dinner and beers. (If you know Tom, you know we had a great time.)
As a sidebar, James' friend Letizia arrived in to join us in Beijing just after James' mother had left for the states again. Letizia succeeded at not getting lost in Beijing but rather being right across the street from us without either party finding the other before she gave up and headed back to the guesthouse where James found her while Tom, Jenny and I nearly had some belligerents fall into us in Beijing's bars and drank the worst beer any of us have found in this country (so incredibly bad it was almost an interesting experience, I managed three sips, the most of anyone).
After Beijing we continued south to Shanghai which was not in the initial plan but it was the closest we could get to Hangzhou as Hangzhou itself was sold out. Shanghai was nice, at least for seeing for a couple of days. We had a great time walking around seeing old town and the needle tower thingy. ("Thingy" is actually a quite fitting word for it.)
Hangzhou wasn't too great due to the cold. The main attraction of Hangzhou is the lake with the surrounding gardens and sights. We basically were just chilly and imagined how nice the place could maybe be in the summertime.
Speaking of cold the whole country was freezing. The next leg of our trip, to Huang Shan (China's "most beautiful" mountain) was cancelled due to snow, no busses were heading into Anhui province from Hangzhou. It was a good thing too, those who had made it to the mountain pror to that ended up stranded at the top for a number of hours. We might have been there with them would have been with them were it not for the unplanned days in Shanghai.
Our detour took us to Yangshuo via an "18 hour" bus ride that turned into 33 hours. At that point I dropped the idea that I'd visit Hong Kong again before Thailand and we all relaxed for a few days in Yangshuo.
I had been to Yangshuo on study abroad but I'm pretty sure visiting will never get old. James fittingly noted its similarity to something you might see in a Dr. Suess boook. The town is a little backpacker haven completely surrounded by the stone hills commonly seen in picturesque photos from China. It's the perfect place to relax (at least in the tourist off-season) enjoy some western-style treats and bike around among the hills and villages. The highlight of the time there was getting a bit lost on biking around with James and finding a little bit of a seemingly less-travelled area that was quite beautiful.
From Guilin (the go-point to and from Yangshuo) we caught an overnight bus to Guangzhou. The overnight was completely unpeaceful with beds that didn't fit me we had to engage in highly strategic collusion to get the driver to give us a bathroom break.
In town we met James' Aunt and Uncle from Hong Kong who own a place in a nice Guangzhou suburb. We kicked around the suburb chatting for a few hours stopping to eat some fascinating medicinal foods.
That very afternoon I bussed over to Shenzhen airport (it took about 3 hours total) To catch a flight out to Bangkok. After a long wait in the airport I climbed on board the plane completely exhausted where i passed out and got a solid but utterly insufficient 2 hours of sleep.
So I arrived in Bangkok completely unprepared, unrested, and unbraced for the chaos. I found a bed to crash in for 10 bucks along Khao San road (it's total carnival there from lunch through 5 a.m.) and got another few hours of sleep before waking up to random noises.
To be honest I hated my first day in Bangkok. There is no relaxation to be had there for the budget traveller and I was completely exhausted after the few hours of sleep I'd collected over the past couple of days. Anyway, Bangkok grew on me--I didn't flee immediately like I first wanted. Travelling the canal thereis pretty nice, and Chinatown Bangkok is quite the sensory experience.
Needless to say the food here is amazing, though I think I'm suffering from the infamous "Bankok belly" that results from being unnaccostomed to certain ever-present ingredients in the food. But every meal is basically excellent and I do loads of noodles, though I haven't sought out enough great curries yet.
Leaving Bangkok by train, I had the spiciest thing I've ever eaten for lunch on board with the railway police. It was a salad to which I added afew noodles. It tasted like nothing but heat to me and everyone just smiled and chuckled at me sweating and tearing up.
Arriving in Ayuthaya I had to smile. Finally things are a lot slower paced, and nights are quiet. My guest house is a nice change from the semi-secure cramped cell that was a rather poor haven from the madness down the steps in Bangkok.
That pretty much brings me to today. I had a good time seeing some ruins around town. They sure were ruined, but still quite cool. Early in the day though I randomly ran into a fellow Maryknoller, Scott. We hung out for a couple of ruins, lunch, and met up again for dinner after I went to fill in on 2 of the top ruins which he had already done.
The only worry here in Ayuthaya is aggressive dogs. I've had a couple of good sprints already though I recently learned the official dog-recognized "I'm throwing a rock at you" motion which seems to work a lot better.
Anyway tomorrow I'll hit a couple of last sights before heading up to Lopburi which apparently has impressive ruins ruled over by monkeys which rival Ayuthaya's dogs (though they're probably nothing compared to HKG's "naughty little monkeys"). I'll try not to get my camera stolen by them.
Anyway it's been alot of writing so I'm going to quit and post this thing. I'll try to update more often as I'm on the internet a lot in the evening, I'm not into doing much nightlife while travelling alone.
The photos of Haerbin through the present are coming! I've actually been taking less in Thailand because I'm a bit more language-shy here (still don't know "can I take a picture" or something like that in Thai) and less familiar with the norms on photos.
So to fill in:
After returning from HKG I finished up with exams and grades before heading north the the even colder city of Harbin for their famous ice festival. It's kind of the thing to see if you're crazy enough to want to be in Northern China for the wintertime. Harbin is a city with a heck of a lot of Russian architecture and had a pretty cool feel about it. As far as the festival itself. I've made a short video about the trip, the release is pending. Also in Harbin I met up with a former Jr. Billiken (and former student of my dad's), Josh, who was a really good guy and shared a lot of interesting China info with us.
After Harbin we returned to Jilin to pack and check out with our bosses. I found out that next semester I'm teaching five sections of American lit and one of Biblical lit/Greek Mythology.
I then began the epic journey southward through China with James, his mother, and Jenny.
The first stop on the journey was Beijing. I have to say even though I was cold Beijing was sweet even the third time around. I repeated the Forbidden City, wandered many of the alleyways and saw a new section of the Great Wall. We met up with Tom , (a St. John's friend who was a fellow study-abroader) for dinner and beers. (If you know Tom, you know we had a great time.)
As a sidebar, James' friend Letizia arrived in to join us in Beijing just after James' mother had left for the states again. Letizia succeeded at not getting lost in Beijing but rather being right across the street from us without either party finding the other before she gave up and headed back to the guesthouse where James found her while Tom, Jenny and I nearly had some belligerents fall into us in Beijing's bars and drank the worst beer any of us have found in this country (so incredibly bad it was almost an interesting experience, I managed three sips, the most of anyone).
After Beijing we continued south to Shanghai which was not in the initial plan but it was the closest we could get to Hangzhou as Hangzhou itself was sold out. Shanghai was nice, at least for seeing for a couple of days. We had a great time walking around seeing old town and the needle tower thingy. ("Thingy" is actually a quite fitting word for it.)
Hangzhou wasn't too great due to the cold. The main attraction of Hangzhou is the lake with the surrounding gardens and sights. We basically were just chilly and imagined how nice the place could maybe be in the summertime.
Speaking of cold the whole country was freezing. The next leg of our trip, to Huang Shan (China's "most beautiful" mountain) was cancelled due to snow, no busses were heading into Anhui province from Hangzhou. It was a good thing too, those who had made it to the mountain pror to that ended up stranded at the top for a number of hours. We might have been there with them would have been with them were it not for the unplanned days in Shanghai.
Our detour took us to Yangshuo via an "18 hour" bus ride that turned into 33 hours. At that point I dropped the idea that I'd visit Hong Kong again before Thailand and we all relaxed for a few days in Yangshuo.
I had been to Yangshuo on study abroad but I'm pretty sure visiting will never get old. James fittingly noted its similarity to something you might see in a Dr. Suess boook. The town is a little backpacker haven completely surrounded by the stone hills commonly seen in picturesque photos from China. It's the perfect place to relax (at least in the tourist off-season) enjoy some western-style treats and bike around among the hills and villages. The highlight of the time there was getting a bit lost on biking around with James and finding a little bit of a seemingly less-travelled area that was quite beautiful.
From Guilin (the go-point to and from Yangshuo) we caught an overnight bus to Guangzhou. The overnight was completely unpeaceful with beds that didn't fit me we had to engage in highly strategic collusion to get the driver to give us a bathroom break.
In town we met James' Aunt and Uncle from Hong Kong who own a place in a nice Guangzhou suburb. We kicked around the suburb chatting for a few hours stopping to eat some fascinating medicinal foods.
That very afternoon I bussed over to Shenzhen airport (it took about 3 hours total) To catch a flight out to Bangkok. After a long wait in the airport I climbed on board the plane completely exhausted where i passed out and got a solid but utterly insufficient 2 hours of sleep.
So I arrived in Bangkok completely unprepared, unrested, and unbraced for the chaos. I found a bed to crash in for 10 bucks along Khao San road (it's total carnival there from lunch through 5 a.m.) and got another few hours of sleep before waking up to random noises.
To be honest I hated my first day in Bangkok. There is no relaxation to be had there for the budget traveller and I was completely exhausted after the few hours of sleep I'd collected over the past couple of days. Anyway, Bangkok grew on me--I didn't flee immediately like I first wanted. Travelling the canal thereis pretty nice, and Chinatown Bangkok is quite the sensory experience.
Needless to say the food here is amazing, though I think I'm suffering from the infamous "Bankok belly" that results from being unnaccostomed to certain ever-present ingredients in the food. But every meal is basically excellent and I do loads of noodles, though I haven't sought out enough great curries yet.
Leaving Bangkok by train, I had the spiciest thing I've ever eaten for lunch on board with the railway police. It was a salad to which I added afew noodles. It tasted like nothing but heat to me and everyone just smiled and chuckled at me sweating and tearing up.
Arriving in Ayuthaya I had to smile. Finally things are a lot slower paced, and nights are quiet. My guest house is a nice change from the semi-secure cramped cell that was a rather poor haven from the madness down the steps in Bangkok.
That pretty much brings me to today. I had a good time seeing some ruins around town. They sure were ruined, but still quite cool. Early in the day though I randomly ran into a fellow Maryknoller, Scott. We hung out for a couple of ruins, lunch, and met up again for dinner after I went to fill in on 2 of the top ruins which he had already done.
The only worry here in Ayuthaya is aggressive dogs. I've had a couple of good sprints already though I recently learned the official dog-recognized "I'm throwing a rock at you" motion which seems to work a lot better.
Anyway tomorrow I'll hit a couple of last sights before heading up to Lopburi which apparently has impressive ruins ruled over by monkeys which rival Ayuthaya's dogs (though they're probably nothing compared to HKG's "naughty little monkeys"). I'll try not to get my camera stolen by them.
Anyway it's been alot of writing so I'm going to quit and post this thing. I'll try to update more often as I'm on the internet a lot in the evening, I'm not into doing much nightlife while travelling alone.
The photos of Haerbin through the present are coming! I've actually been taking less in Thailand because I'm a bit more language-shy here (still don't know "can I take a picture" or something like that in Thai) and less familiar with the norms on photos.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Hong Kong (and one naughty monkey!)
Once again it's taken me too long to get back to posting. I spent Christmas in Hong Kong with Uncle Brian and Aunt Beth. I flew into Shenzhen (the city in mainland China across from HKG) and crossed the border overland. Entering Hong Kong overland for the first time I finally got a sense that the region really was much bigger than the island plus Kowloon.
Eating constant Chinese food has gotten to me a lot less this time around and I haven't notices as much of a craving for western food. However, arriving in Hong Kong after awhile in China, one realizes it was there. Eating proper pizzas and burgers along with holiday home cooking is quite a treat after 3.5 months in China.
Anyway I spent most of the time hanging out with my aunt and uncle and relaxing. We went to a couple of parties where i was kind of the young guy but of course everyone was friendly and to someone who finds both Asia and business interesting it was fun to listen to the stories and discussions of all of the Hong Kong dwellers.
After one of our shopping trips we had a very friendly cab driver who was into practicing her English. She was really quite cheerful and was letting me know I needed coffee after hearing me yawn. Then she decided I needed strawberries because she had heard something on the radio about strawberries helping people to stay wakeful. Soon she was telling us how she was a 50 year old woman but when the music turns on she "just has to move" like a "naughty little monkey". I suppose I feel precisely the same way about dancing but I had to stifle my laughter at the whole thing while in the cab because it was just so ridiculous and random.
That's the story on Hong Kong. A new post will follow this one soon because I've just purchased a digital camera here and am putting together the basic photo tour of life and sights in Jilin.
Eating constant Chinese food has gotten to me a lot less this time around and I haven't notices as much of a craving for western food. However, arriving in Hong Kong after awhile in China, one realizes it was there. Eating proper pizzas and burgers along with holiday home cooking is quite a treat after 3.5 months in China.
Anyway I spent most of the time hanging out with my aunt and uncle and relaxing. We went to a couple of parties where i was kind of the young guy but of course everyone was friendly and to someone who finds both Asia and business interesting it was fun to listen to the stories and discussions of all of the Hong Kong dwellers.
After one of our shopping trips we had a very friendly cab driver who was into practicing her English. She was really quite cheerful and was letting me know I needed coffee after hearing me yawn. Then she decided I needed strawberries because she had heard something on the radio about strawberries helping people to stay wakeful. Soon she was telling us how she was a 50 year old woman but when the music turns on she "just has to move" like a "naughty little monkey". I suppose I feel precisely the same way about dancing but I had to stifle my laughter at the whole thing while in the cab because it was just so ridiculous and random.
That's the story on Hong Kong. A new post will follow this one soon because I've just purchased a digital camera here and am putting together the basic photo tour of life and sights in Jilin.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A pre-departure post.
I think I was asked for a weather report for the area and failed to include it in our last post. Most days are cold, much like Minnesota this time of year though maybe a bit more of the biting wind to deal with. Often the weather report that comes to my friends' laptops reads "smoky" and often they're quite right. Some days we just breathe a thin haze of smoke. It's not a daily thing ever and the situation is way better than a lot of Chinese cities but it still is a little gross that there's literally smoke all over (from coal I imagine).
I'm getting different rumors now on what I'm teaching. Our bosses have told us nothing and seem to like telling us nothing while our students have had two conflicting schedules released to them. Some students are pretty sure I'm teaching them literature, while others are convinced that I'm teaching them technological English and a Bible/greek mythology class. The possibility that both are true is remote but it could happen.
Upon arriving in Jilin I was shocked at the number of questions I recieved about Jesus and the Bible. Some of this is due to the fact that the students had a Biblical Literature class with a previous Maryknoller. However, there is a rather high-profile group of Christians in town. They run multiple English corners (free, open English practice) and a large portion of Jilin's serious English students seem to know them. I'm sort of intrigued by their presence in this random corner of China. I'm interested to know the story as to exactly how they got here and how they stay.
Between the Christian school in town, the Chinese-Catholic seminary next to Campus, and the old church at the riverfront (looks like a mini St. Francis De Sales) Christianity seems surprisingly noticeable in Jilin.
I'm getting different rumors now on what I'm teaching. Our bosses have told us nothing and seem to like telling us nothing while our students have had two conflicting schedules released to them. Some students are pretty sure I'm teaching them literature, while others are convinced that I'm teaching them technological English and a Bible/greek mythology class. The possibility that both are true is remote but it could happen.
Upon arriving in Jilin I was shocked at the number of questions I recieved about Jesus and the Bible. Some of this is due to the fact that the students had a Biblical Literature class with a previous Maryknoller. However, there is a rather high-profile group of Christians in town. They run multiple English corners (free, open English practice) and a large portion of Jilin's serious English students seem to know them. I'm sort of intrigued by their presence in this random corner of China. I'm interested to know the story as to exactly how they got here and how they stay.
Between the Christian school in town, the Chinese-Catholic seminary next to Campus, and the old church at the riverfront (looks like a mini St. Francis De Sales) Christianity seems surprisingly noticeable in Jilin.
Monday, December 10, 2007
It's been a long time since I've written and some people have let me know it's time again. Time has gone very very quickly here. I am now thinking about things like giving exams and starting to get final grades together. It's weird to still live life on the semester schedule while suddenly being on the other side of the podium (though I usually move my podium out of the way before class).
I found out the course I'm teaching next semester is something like "Selected Readings in American Literature". If anyone has recommendations on stories, poems, etc. that are worthwhile and not too difficult, I am open for suggestions. (The ideal piece would be one that makes good reading practice [not too easy, but not incredibly wierd], is short, and lends itself to discussion.) I think I'll have a textbook which will be mostly excerpts from American literature Classics. I also have a tenuous rumor that I have an electronic multimedia room, which would be nice.
Anyway I am coming right up to a whole lot of travel. I head to HKG for xmas, return here to finish up with giving examinations and grading everyone, then head with the other foreign teachers north (Yes, north in January) to see the Haerbin ice lantern festival which is apparently quite cool. After a few days in Haerbin we return to Jilin to pick up our salaries and catch a train south. We'll stop briefly for Beijing and two of the most famous mountains in China. I'll then part with my friends and head directly to HKG for a couple days of relaxing before jetting off to Thailand for a month. It all seems kind of unbelieveable right now, especially after how routine things have been for awhile.
Anyway that's about the whole story. Not much new has happened but I'm up for a lot of changing scenery soon. I always love getting e-mails from people so keep me updated.
Kev
I found out the course I'm teaching next semester is something like "Selected Readings in American Literature". If anyone has recommendations on stories, poems, etc. that are worthwhile and not too difficult, I am open for suggestions. (The ideal piece would be one that makes good reading practice [not too easy, but not incredibly wierd], is short, and lends itself to discussion.) I think I'll have a textbook which will be mostly excerpts from American literature Classics. I also have a tenuous rumor that I have an electronic multimedia room, which would be nice.
Anyway I am coming right up to a whole lot of travel. I head to HKG for xmas, return here to finish up with giving examinations and grading everyone, then head with the other foreign teachers north (Yes, north in January) to see the Haerbin ice lantern festival which is apparently quite cool. After a few days in Haerbin we return to Jilin to pick up our salaries and catch a train south. We'll stop briefly for Beijing and two of the most famous mountains in China. I'll then part with my friends and head directly to HKG for a couple days of relaxing before jetting off to Thailand for a month. It all seems kind of unbelieveable right now, especially after how routine things have been for awhile.
Anyway that's about the whole story. Not much new has happened but I'm up for a lot of changing scenery soon. I always love getting e-mails from people so keep me updated.
Kev
Friday, November 16, 2007
A post I made and forgot to actually post on time because I neglect my blog sometimes.
Last Wednesday I was a judge at an English "journalism" competition. I suppose it was called this because the first round involved each of the contestants reciting a news article or report. This was about all it had to do with journalism.
The next round was for each of the contestants to do something with the judges. Prior to the competition I thought this meant that they would have some sort of conversation or something with us to demonstrate their English. However I was dragged up to dance by one of my students (which was outrageously awkward) and then asked some things in Chinese and apparently my responses were hilarious to the 200 or so people present. The whole thing was a little odd.
I attempted to make chicken in a barbecue-like sauce the other night but it ended up being the worst smelling thing I've managed to (externally) make in years. Saturday night, our friend Jenny came over and we had a big jiao zi (Chinese dumplings, they're sold as "pot stickers" in the U.S. often) making party. They were outrageously delicious and we have a bunch of frozen leftovers.
Class this past week went well, I broke up the period a bit more which helps their attention. I still definitely feel I do a much better job with the classes I teach later in the week after I've run through the plan a couple of times and adjusted it.
There's snow on the ground. There was a big dump of snow this past week. A huge number of the foreign students I live with have never seen snow so I ended up taking part in a ridiculously large snowball fight. The snow wasn't great for making the snowballs but it was still pretty cool and it was such a good snowfall to be the first for so many people. It was difficult to imagine seeing snow for the first time as an adult.
That brings me to Thanksgiving stuff I guess. There was a big "thanksgiving party" at English corner Wednesday night. This meant that one girl read something she found on the internet about thanksgiving. Then there were some people who performed dances to pop music while students flickered the lights to set the mood. There were some games as well but most people watched. None of the other foreign teachers made it so they wanted me to participate in absolutely everything. A human knot, a ridiculous-looking pop-the-balloon game, and again, dancing which was slightly less awkward than the above mentioned dancing incident. It was great fun but I'm not sure the idea of thanksgiving got through.
For Thursday we were all pretty busy so we went to a barbecue restaurant which, unbeknownst to us had obtained turkey as part of their meat selection for the night. It was pretty tasty turkey. I've heard of t-day turkeys for U.S. expats in China coming from local zoos--though that certainly could be rumor. The plan now is to take Saturday to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal to the extent possible.
There are occasional instances of utter political incorrectness out of people here. It's interesting because the students obviously have absolutely no idea that what they've said is considered somewhat offensive on the other side of the Pacific.
I head to HKG to see my Uncle Brian and Aunt Beth for Christmas, a fact I'm pretty excited about. When students hear we have been/do go to HKG they often say "they have very good shopping there" or "you can buy many good things there".
Also while looking at vacation possibilities I realized that Malaysian Borneo is within very affordable reach. My inner child went bonkers (or should I say "went ape!").
The next round was for each of the contestants to do something with the judges. Prior to the competition I thought this meant that they would have some sort of conversation or something with us to demonstrate their English. However I was dragged up to dance by one of my students (which was outrageously awkward) and then asked some things in Chinese and apparently my responses were hilarious to the 200 or so people present. The whole thing was a little odd.
I attempted to make chicken in a barbecue-like sauce the other night but it ended up being the worst smelling thing I've managed to (externally) make in years. Saturday night, our friend Jenny came over and we had a big jiao zi (Chinese dumplings, they're sold as "pot stickers" in the U.S. often) making party. They were outrageously delicious and we have a bunch of frozen leftovers.
Class this past week went well, I broke up the period a bit more which helps their attention. I still definitely feel I do a much better job with the classes I teach later in the week after I've run through the plan a couple of times and adjusted it.
There's snow on the ground. There was a big dump of snow this past week. A huge number of the foreign students I live with have never seen snow so I ended up taking part in a ridiculously large snowball fight. The snow wasn't great for making the snowballs but it was still pretty cool and it was such a good snowfall to be the first for so many people. It was difficult to imagine seeing snow for the first time as an adult.
That brings me to Thanksgiving stuff I guess. There was a big "thanksgiving party" at English corner Wednesday night. This meant that one girl read something she found on the internet about thanksgiving. Then there were some people who performed dances to pop music while students flickered the lights to set the mood. There were some games as well but most people watched. None of the other foreign teachers made it so they wanted me to participate in absolutely everything. A human knot, a ridiculous-looking pop-the-balloon game, and again, dancing which was slightly less awkward than the above mentioned dancing incident. It was great fun but I'm not sure the idea of thanksgiving got through.
For Thursday we were all pretty busy so we went to a barbecue restaurant which, unbeknownst to us had obtained turkey as part of their meat selection for the night. It was pretty tasty turkey. I've heard of t-day turkeys for U.S. expats in China coming from local zoos--though that certainly could be rumor. The plan now is to take Saturday to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving meal to the extent possible.
There are occasional instances of utter political incorrectness out of people here. It's interesting because the students obviously have absolutely no idea that what they've said is considered somewhat offensive on the other side of the Pacific.
I head to HKG to see my Uncle Brian and Aunt Beth for Christmas, a fact I'm pretty excited about. When students hear we have been/do go to HKG they often say "they have very good shopping there" or "you can buy many good things there".
Also while looking at vacation possibilities I realized that Malaysian Borneo is within very affordable reach. My inner child went bonkers (or should I say "went ape!").
Sunday, October 28, 2007
A Random Story (Halloween Pictures)
This is me being plunged by Jenny. I know that's a really bad toilet costume.
Matt was a mummy The other day while eating lunch, the table behind us had a soup with a sternoish can of flames beneath it. Deeming it hot enough one of the diners began to use his wooden chopsticks to fish the sterno out. The liquid within it spilled all over the base of the stand and the whole wide puddle of the flaming liquid was now heating the bowl. They pulled the soup off and finally removed and put out the flames in the can. One waiter decided to simply do away with the fire and yank the whole burning stand out of there spilling the liquid all over the table and the client. Thank God the client didn't catch on fire but the table now had a 2 foot stretch of flaming puddle across it. Another waiter thought that a paper napkin would be a good way to wipe at the edges of the burning puddle. This had obvious results. It was both frightening and utterly ridiculous.
Other than that, we threw a great halloween party. It was a tasty international potluck. It was mostly Korean and Chinese food plus Matt's (another Maryknoller) chili and my mushroom cheese sauce on bread. I dressed up as a toilet and had a small (new, clean) plunger, the combo lent itself to some great toilet-plunging dance moves. It was good to party with the people we live and take classes with. My friend Joe (From korea) had a good time putting small wipes of chili on the toilet paper component of my costume, it was really gross looking.Classes have gone a bit better the last couple of weeks, I'm also getting to know my students better, remember a lot more of their names, and find out a lot more about them. A lot of students have the same names and many students have kind of odd (occasionally unfortunate) names which I won't go into.
This post has been in progress for a long time (I kinda forgot about blogging for awhile), but I've just realized it's November. I have 2 months until the semester break and still don't know exactly what I'm going to do for said break. My idea is to fly to some Southeast Asian Capital, see some of Southeast Asia, then make my way back up to China a little after the new year's craziness has died down.
Anyway, I've been cooking a lot lately (for the fun of it, I'm really not too sick of Chinese food yet, I'm convinced Northern food is better, much less greasy). Great veggies are cheap here (I love the available green leafies) and the mushroom situation couldn't get much better. Making simple soups or curries is pretty cheap. There's really very little in the way of standard ingredients I can't get here and cheese is the only truly expensive item.
Monday, October 22, 2007
I've been in China for a Little While
After returning from vacation back to my apartment and classes I've started to feel like I really do live here in China. Everything has begun to feel a lot more routine. Even my kabob-gobbling frenzy has died down to nearly-reasonable levels. I stay a lot busier on campus and make less runs into town. I've booked out Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night for getting tutored and Wednesday night for helping the oral English club with "English corner"--basically extra spoken English practice for first-years. Teaching five sections of the same class does help a bit in terms of time spent planning.
I've felt like my classes have been a bit lacking so far. Though my Maryknoll Coordinator told me I did a good job after sitting through one of them (which was encouraging), I still feel like I need to come up with a bigger variety of ideas. As the course is Scientific English I do a lot of articles and discussion questions and throw in some more general English practice activities as well. The class goes pretty well most days in terms of getting people to speak English though I think that the students' past foreign teachers have made class a great deal more fun and exciting. The students want games and movies all of the time and I've done just a little bit of each so far. Informal taboo/catchphrase can be astounding for getting almost every student to speak a lot of English, the beauty is that the game loses it's fun if they aren't speaking in English. We haven't found anything else that does the trick quite so elegantly. If you're ever playing a game that heavily involves language use and you think I could possibly adapt it to English teaching, let me know.
The Chinese is coming along slowly, I just added a second tutor and am now being tutored four times a week. Meeting with tutors is especially good as it encourages more studying, I'm a long way from conversational but I guess it's a good sign that I've begun involuntarily thinking about Chinese in my mind.
Other than that, I'm bracing for the winter.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Photos of Vacation
The post below has the written detail.
Behind us is where the lake should be. Astute Kevin experts may notice that my pose an alpine trekker derivative. However, in this situation it was quite neccessary.
This is the closest edge of the lake just coming into view.
Oh! I think we're gonna see the lake! (Imagine lots of excited yelling behind you as you see this.)
Now there's a funny looking guy in front of the lake.
This is how the lake empties and becomes the begginning of the Songhua river (which my apartment looks over, that picture to come) The staircase you see on the right was closed due to falling rock and we were sad we couldn't climb to the top of the falls.
This is what North Korea looks like.You can see the river in there somewhere. One of the bushes under the bridge began to walk as we looked, no joke.
After close examination I determined that North Korea approximately follows the dictates of Newtonian Physics.
I saw some people playing cards on the ground, and some people walking around, and some really badly maintained buildings. All of it was way more interesting than it sounds, seeing bustling, loud, bright China butting up against this eerie ghost-town looking place.
I saw some people playing cards on the ground, and some people walking around, and some really badly maintained buildings. All of it was way more interesting than it sounds, seeing bustling, loud, bright China butting up against this eerie ghost-town looking place.
I don't know that it's appropriate to pose and smile for a picture in front of North Korea, but there we are, the red line behind us is the bridge border.
Hiding in the concrete mushrooms.
Is it safe to come out now?
.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Back to School
I'm back home in Jilin after a week(ish) of vacation. We headed over to Yanji, capital of Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture, on the border of North Korea. The town itself was not as exciting as we had hoped but the food was great with a lot of great cheap grill-it-yourself restaurants. We took a day trip from there to the small border town of Tumen. From there we could look across a river to an eerie, dilapidated north Korean town which was pretty much darkness at nightfall. All of it was in rather conspicuous contrast to the endless construction and the more than plentiful lighting behind us in China. Borders can be really interesting.
Anyway, the main goal of the vacation was to see ChangBai Shan. Literally "long (as in "constantly") white mountain" The top of the mountain (Shared by China and North Korea) holds heaven lake, which is the largest crater lake in the world. Many who climb the mountain don't get to see the lake due to fog, and I initially thought we'd be in that boat. However, after about a half hour on the crowded mountain (everything beautiful is put up for mass tourism in China) we started to make out the closest edge of the lake. The crowd started screaming with excitement and we were suddenly afforded a good ten minute long view of the lake. The fog lifted for a second time as we made our way around to the different viewing spots after a short snowball fight we headed back down to see the rest of the ridiculously crowded attractions on the mountain range which included some views of the sweet waterfalls, a hot spring with eggs being boiled in it. There was also a little mountainside pond whose informational sign had a comical mix of highly academic words and broken grammar giving us the greatest fun in its deciphering.
After the mountain, we hung out in the nearby town of Erdao/Baihe (two towns in one, basically) for another day, walking the local sculpture park and playing cards in a tea bar. We all became rather addicted to "Red tens" a Chinese card game whose sheer number of rules makes it feel like a few games in one. We played the whole train-ride home as well.
Budget traveling in China can be an adventure at times. Last time I really traveled by ground here it was in the middle of the low season. Travelling during a national holiday however, means you join quite a large portion of China's population in doing so. Headed out we had standing room tickets on the train which emptied enough that we were able to sit after just a little while. Headed back to school (and therefore toward the largest city in the province) the train got more packed as we went. Our card-games drew a great deal of spectating, as did another Maryknoller's ramen prep, as did just about everything we did.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
the post before I go on vacation
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.
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.
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
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Heading to the Mainland!
Orientation is winding down and we're about to begin the last day of classes. This week has been far more helpful than I could have imagined. I feel a lot more ready than I thought I would and I've had a great number of gaps in my knowledge concerning China filled. I've heard a lot of great things about Jilin as well. Having been pretty much in the southwest before I'm excited to get a real look at North China.
I don't know yet what classes I'll be teaching and when, and we have been warned that such information may not be given to us until the morning of our first class. I guess I have to be ready to hop into a classroom and go. We were told that it will most likely be oral english which is what we've been learning about much of the week but we've been instructed a little on the running of a writing class as well. The encouraging and exciting thing about the teaching is that we have an opportunity to run a non-lecture class, something which students have not previously had much of.
Hong Kong is becoming a little more familiar to me as well, the layout is starting to stick a little and I'm starting to get just a little bit of the flavor. Last time through Hong Kong it felt a little like a return to the States with all of the English and westerners around. This time through the tonal languages, the smells I can't always identify, and the packed streets have all brought me right back to China and made me more excited to get to the mainland.
I don't know yet what classes I'll be teaching and when, and we have been warned that such information may not be given to us until the morning of our first class. I guess I have to be ready to hop into a classroom and go. We were told that it will most likely be oral english which is what we've been learning about much of the week but we've been instructed a little on the running of a writing class as well. The encouraging and exciting thing about the teaching is that we have an opportunity to run a non-lecture class, something which students have not previously had much of.
Hong Kong is becoming a little more familiar to me as well, the layout is starting to stick a little and I'm starting to get just a little bit of the flavor. Last time through Hong Kong it felt a little like a return to the States with all of the English and westerners around. This time through the tonal languages, the smells I can't always identify, and the packed streets have all brought me right back to China and made me more excited to get to the mainland.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Holy Cau!
I spent the last couple of days with my Aunt Beth and Uncle Brian in Hong Kong and Macau relaxing, as well as seeing and smelling a lot of familiar asian smells. I'm not sure what they all are but they sure are familiar and they have really brought me back and made me realize how much asia has gotten into my blood. So my first couple of days were spent hanging out with my aunt and uncle, getting over jet lag, and savoring some luxuries which will be scarce in China (octopus sashimi, tandoori salmon, lasagna, red wine that tastes good). Macau also has a sweet art museum with a great feature exhibit upstairs.
I arrived at maryknoll house this morning and joined in for mass before a lunch at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Afterwards we wandered a little in central hong kong and came back for dinner. It was a day filled with a lot of talking.
I'm really looking forward to orientation. Dr. Richard Bohr from St. John's University is here to help with the orientation especially with regards to teaching history and culture. There are a number of highly experienced and semi-experienced teachers, volunteers etc. I obviously have a little exposure to chinese culture which only makes me more excited to hear from the longtime students of China.
As much as I'm looking forward to orientation, I'm moreso looking forward to actually getting back to China.
I arrived at maryknoll house this morning and joined in for mass before a lunch at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Afterwards we wandered a little in central hong kong and came back for dinner. It was a day filled with a lot of talking.
I'm really looking forward to orientation. Dr. Richard Bohr from St. John's University is here to help with the orientation especially with regards to teaching history and culture. There are a number of highly experienced and semi-experienced teachers, volunteers etc. I obviously have a little exposure to chinese culture which only makes me more excited to hear from the longtime students of China.
As much as I'm looking forward to orientation, I'm moreso looking forward to actually getting back to China.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Heading to china
Welcome to my blog. I'm headed for Jilin City, Jilin to work at Beihua University teaching english conversation.
Jilin is a city of about 2 million 11 hours north of Beijing by train, 1.5 hours by bus outside of the provincial capital of Changchun, and a 7 hour train ride from the North Korean border.
The blog will contain highlights of my time in china, photos, and thoughts. I'll probably include an inordinate amount about food as I'm very into cooking and eating.
Jilin is a city of about 2 million 11 hours north of Beijing by train, 1.5 hours by bus outside of the provincial capital of Changchun, and a 7 hour train ride from the North Korean border.
The blog will contain highlights of my time in china, photos, and thoughts. I'll probably include an inordinate amount about food as I'm very into cooking and eating.
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