Student Christmas Party - 2008

So we are a merry bunch, I am not going to lie. If you don't believe I have proof - just look at this.

I mean seriously, how can you not laugh at that? So yeah, this is what a pre-warm-up looks like to a student Christmas Party that could potentially have 800 students when there are only 7 American teachers. But seriously, what would you do if you were hosting that many students for 8 hours? Albeit we invited all our classes to come at different hours and only for one hour each. The turn-out rate made it enjoyable, but not overbearing. Plus, we had had training in Zhengzhou during their Halloween Party in which everybody and their neighbor - it was crazy!

To give you a little insight into our party strategy we broke it down into 3 separate activities with some transition time to give us a buffer between different student groups. Our first activity was the "Dizzy Bat Santa Relay", which I watched over for a good part of the day. Our second activity was Christmas caroling and drinking apple cider. And lastly, our third activity was the Christmas story via dialogue by the students with some clarification and narrating by the teachers. So all in all, it was a pretty cut and dry; just executing it would have to be seen.

So the hour came for our festivities to begin. Jonathan and I made sure to dress in our dashing CTF green shirts with a red santa hat and stand guard outside our dorm building. We were blessed that day to recieve back-up by our friends from the old campus who helped to fill in the gaps in our ranks when we were greatly outnumbered (which was pretty much the whole time). We begun by having the students do the "Dizzy Bat Santa Relay", which I must brought me more joy than I could have thought. Despite the weather not entirely working in our favor and being a little brisk (as my friend Katie would say), the students willingly participated, even if slightly hesitant at first.

Jonathan and I worked together to explain to the students that they would need to put on the whole Santa Clause outfits - which we had obtained from somewhere as well as had - as fast as they could, run to where people were holding "bats" (which was actually one bat with a piece of a broom as you can see in the picture above), and put their heads to the bat and run around in circles 5 times. Of course, the Chinese were a little taken aback at first, but found our game somewhat humorous and must have written it off as something that only Americans would think of. At any rate, we lured hundreds of Chinese students into playing our game and it was great. I mean its not everyday that you can have hundreds of Chinese Santa Clauses running haphazardly, almost tripping over themselves, and jumping up and down.


I should also mention that as China is a collective cultural in contrast to us, we decided that it might be a good idea to encourage the other students to help their teammates get all the Santa apparel on. This worked out well in many ways: (1) It allowed a lot more people to be participating at once, (2) Students were some times able to help each other dress faster (if not it just brought joy to everyone else watching), and (3) to help Santa make it back to the line as sometimes students became so dizzy that they fell, hit walls and fences, and/or simply had to be carried back to the finish line. Ultimately, the whole ordeal was just really funny and I could spend some much more time than I have had talking about everything that happened in relation to the "Dizzy Bat Santa Relay". So instead I am just going to post a series of pictures to express what I can't say in words.

(Jonathan and I instructing the students)

(Student nearly tripping and falling)

(Student going around the bat 5 times - kind of)

(Students running away and taking the bat with them)

The rest of the party went well too. My students came in force and brought me great joy. Those kids are so funny. I am looking forward to spending more time with them next semester. Well, I would write more, but I would just ruin it at this point.

The Orphanage: Unforeseen Blessings

A few weeks back our team was able to go visit and help out - if "help out" means playing with the kids - at an Orphanage just outside the main part of Nanchang city. It was truly a blessing to have such an opportunity to go visit those young kids, and I think they gave us a much greater gift and blessing than we could have ever given them. It is amazing how such experiences can open up and shape you despite your ignorance and/or blindness to such places. It is almost like our Father knows just when to spring surprises of this nature on us and bless us with such compassion and love that we might not otherwise know.

The Orphanage that we visited was set up - in what seemed a unique fashion to me - so that all the kids lived with a "mother" who was in charge of watching and/or caring 8 young kids each. In this manner, each kid was given a rather stable environment to grow up in, instead of just being put all together without any family structure at all. By all means, I must admit that I am rather ignorant to the way that orphanages are run. Perhaps, this method of placing children without parents would be similar to the way that Foster Parents act in the States.

Nonetheless, we arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon and were welcomed by 30 or so young children ranging from 5 to 14 years of age. At first, both the groups - kids and us - weren't exactly sure how to interact. On a good note though, our girls had been bright in thinking ahead and had prepared sugar cookies for the kids to put frosting on as well as sprinkles. This activity, while approached tentatively by the kids at first, soon took hold of their attention as well as their eyes and allowed us to interact freely with them.

The younger ones were perhaps most trusting and curious in figuring out what these strange foreigners had brought that looked like food. With some help from the director in encouraging the kids to come over to our tables of cookie-making-operations, the kids lined up rather methodically and with discipline that it would have seemed somewhat peculiar to the Western eye. Bundled-up in Chinese like fashion they hovered quietly around us waiting for instructions. We awkwardly begin to demonstrate how to spread the frosting over the sugar cookies and fumbled intermittently between English and our poor Chinese to engage the kids so that they might make their own cookies.


At first, I have to admit, it seemed like we were making their cookies more so than they were. However, after the first two groups kids had gone through the process, the rest started to get the idea and begin to experiment and/or direct their peers and younger sibling in how to put frosting on as well as how to use the sprinkles. In addition, by the time that seconds were offered most of the kids fears and inhibitions about being around the foreigners had faded. In true American like fashion the girls had over-prepared and had made 80 some cookies - so there was more than enough for the kids to have seconds. On the other hand, perhaps it was eating the cookies that heightened their conversational skills and willingness to interact with us. Furthermore, there is something about watching children's eyes light up that seemingly breaks down ones' guard and attempts to be reserved when interacting with these little kids.


An hour into visiting with the kids we were starting to make friends and finding little kids attached to our arms and legs. We decided that we should play some games with them and "Duck, Duck, Goose" was suggested. So after making a short attempt of it inside, we headed outside and found it to be a great success with the children. More specifically, the game drew-out the younger and older boys who were incredibly reluctant to interact with us, let alone speak. Within in half-an-hour we had most of the young boys and some young girls laughing and playing it, even if they created some unique and distinct cultural adaptations to the game.

Many of them so greatly desired to be picked that you would constantly hear "Gei Wo (给我)" or "Give Me", which I guess roughly translates into "Pick Me". Anytime someone was picked it usually just ended in the kids laughing and rolling on the ground as it also usually ended in unfair match-ups. At which point, the whole group was good in making sure that the level of playing field was evened out - this took form in older kids being joined by youngers in ensuring that the person was either stopped from catching the other too fast and/or getting away and having no chance of catching them.

We played with the kids for a total of about 3 hours, which was such a blessing. We were loved on more than I could possibly share with words, unless you had some time to sit down and talk about it. The kids latched on to us like we had known them for years and rested their little heads on our shoulders. It was perhaps one of the most endearing things that I have experienced since coming to China. I hope that we will have an opportunity to go back and visit those little urchins and entreat them to another game of "Duck, Duck, Goose".

Teaching English

My students are all great and bring a lot of joy to me. It is funny to think that I have already taught "Business English" for about 3 months or so now. I would admit to you that teaching is not necessarily my gift, but something that I am learning how to do as well as adapting to. It challenges me more than most things, and I feel it is something that would keep my attention longer than most jobs.

Teaching English: Who would have thought?!?

Teaching English at a university in China isn't really something I pictured myself doing after college. Plus, it just doesn't look anything you or I would really have pictured if somebody had asked us to come and teach English to university students in China. Sometimes I think to myself "How did I get here?" and who really trusts me to teach some 200+ students English. Mrs. Bjur - my English teacher in high school - would be shaking her head if she knew I was in charge of instructing others about English. Monday to Friday I walk into class and there are 40-50 students who say, "Good Morning Mr. Aaron." My BE1+2 class is the most enthusiastic of them all - 54 girls and all. Not a single boy exists in that class. If he did I would know when he was late or didn't show up everyday.

(BE1+2 in full force)

During this last semester every week was the same old saga for me: Behind and wishing I had more time. I have to admit that I have a slight bit of perfectionist in me and I can drag out some of the most mundane tasks that many of you would balk at me for doing. In addition, I have this obsession with organizing everything that comes into my possession and everything has to be in its place or I just freak out. It's kind of sad. At any rate, the learning curve for teaching is humongous and I have to say that it is going to be awhile before this guy really understands everything that is going on in the classroom. Creativity is not something that i was gifted for and to be honest there are many aspects of teaching that I just don't see unless someone else points it out.

Going to watch my teammates teach can be intimidating and scary. I fear that if I go watch them teach I will find out just how bad of a teacher that I am. Then there is my competitive edge that tries to tell me that it is just better not to know and learn things on my own and overcome all the unknown obstacles that I am facing. The truth though is that I need to watch others so that I can be a better teacher and learn from their strengths and weaknesses. I am hoping to go watch more of my fellow teachers next semester as well as some of the Chinese teachers so that I might learn from them.

(Left to Right: Pauline, Becky, Jody, and Danielle)

Grading is definitely a challenge and I can advise you to pay attention to the importance of assigning homework only when needed and making sure that it really measures what you think it does. I spent the better part of the last month grading some 800 papers that I decided to collect as a way to give my students some accountability and responsibility in studying English. You can't just have your students think that they can come to class, do nothing, never study, and pass your class. However, I am a big push-over and need to make idle threats to keep order.

(Juicy...yes that her name)

My classes are kind of intense and thrive on lots of energy. Sometimes it appear to the outsider that my class in near complete chaos, but that it just the way I like things. However, I have two classes that are a little low on energy and seem to zap mine in trying to get them motivated and excited. I tend to approach everything in life with lots of energy and when it isn't reciprocated I tend to lose heart and be drained of my own energy. I tease my students daily telling them that they don't smile enough and look like they are dead when they are in my class. I tend to use myself as most of the examples and my willingness to make a mockery of myself usually is enough to gain my student's attention, but when that doesn't work I am left to guessing. I must admit that I have given my students lectures and chided them for not paying attention and/or not doing what I have asked them to do. Overall, keeping student's attention and control over a class is a delicate thing.

Chinglish: This stuff is great! I am not even lying.

So in grading my homework and/or tests I begin to notice that my student's attempts to translate their ideas from Chinese to English were running into some slight problems. For the most part, the grammatical structure of Chinese in comparison to that of English is rather different and cultural differences - especially common sayings - do not help. Thus, we have what many like to call Chinglish. So in some of my spare time I started recording many of my students sentences and thought that I might share them with you. Below is a list of the top 10 that I have collected.

1. I’m hot in this field. (a student explaining why he should be hired)

2. I am here waiting for you. (a student ending a Cover Letter)

3. I have wishful thinking that we should study hard at Blue Sky University.

4. You don’t cheat old people. I stand corrected.

5. If you are not high. Your parents also not high. You are runs in the Family.

6. I déjà vu to you.

7. Bad friend wants to have what you have and he is horrible.

8. If you want to change yourself the chance is coming.

9. Is you broken my cup? Yes, I did it. I feel very sorry about it.

10. When I see Lily, I think she is a boy, but she is a girl. That I stand corrected.

Christmas Cards:

During one of the last weeks of school I taught my students about Christmas and traditions that we carry out every year when celebrating Christmas. So I decided to teach my students about making Christmas cards after seeing the amazing results of my friend Jodi with her class. I didn't have much in the way of making Christmas cards, but I was well supplied with index cards and color markers so I thought I would take a shot at it. Making Christmas cards might have been the highlight of my teaching career thus far (I am not sure if that is a good thing though).

I showed my students how to fold the index cards (3x5 cards) in half so that the lines were inside and encouraged them to decorate the outsides of the cards with whatever they wanted. I told them that it would probably be a good idea to say something like "Merry Christmas", "Happy Holidays", and "Best Wishes" and reinforced that idea by writing those common sayings we greet each other with during the holiday season on the chalkboard. I also told them that I had friends back in America that might see these cards and that they should try and write message and/or questions to them. Apparently my instructions were lost in the excitement and out of some 200+ Christmas cards only 25 questions were written. Furthermore, once my students saw colored markers all was lost and near chaos broke-out.

I realized later that most of a Chinese student's education in his/her early years is as intensive as what we might do during college and that most students had never had the opportunity, let alone time to color. As Americans, many of us would just think drawing and coloring are a natural part of growing up, but as a quickly figured in my classroom it isn't. At any rate, here are some of students cards.

(by Jill)





(by Amy & Joana)

A Delinquent Blogger's Update + Thanksgiving

So it has been quite awhile since I updated my blog and I am so glad that time has been afforded me to sit down and write to all of you about everything that has been happening over here for the last month. I have to admit that it was a very busy month and that almost all moments of relaxation we spent doing mindless tasks and/or staring off into space. Nonetheless, I am going to slowly but surely begin catching all of you back up. I am hoping that it might take a few blogs that way all of you who kept on checking and finding nothing new will actually be excited to find something new once again :) .

Thanksgiving

Well, shortly after I posted my last entry about coffee we quickly headed into the great season of Thanksgiving. Everything was hectic, but our team - especially our girls - managed to make an amazing dinner with what seemed like very little time to do everything since we were all still putting together lessons and grading mid-terms. We invited as many of our fellow Chinese colleagues over as possible and had a great time eating together. It was one of the few times that the cultural challenges actually were swapped from us to the Chinese as they tried to figure out how to use a fork and knife. They were slightly confused on where exactly to begin since we set it up buffet style and encouraged them to go first since they were our guests. However, once they started eating they moved about with greater ease, but it was still funny watching each newcomer try to figure out how to eat. In fact, our friend Stephen at mashed potatoes and gravy with chopsticks (to your left).

Our Filipino and Japanese friends came over too, which was fun since they drink coffee with Shannon and I at work. Here is a picture of them too. Takao and Tomoka always love to drink the coffee that I make in the office and it brings me joy to do so for them. Takao is an older gentlemen who often talks to me in broken Chinese and English. Ern and Christina are a married couple from the Philippians and teach both at the new and old campus. Ern has taken us out to eat a couple times and is rather hilarious, although he sometimes has some questionable humor and then I have to remind him that I am a minor.

(Left to Right: Christina, Ern, Me, Takao, Jodi, Tomoka, and Laura)

( Left to right: Billy, Mr. Lee, and Amy).
Our friends from the Foreign Affairs also came over and it is also kind of funny when they come since it is an odd bunch to be honest. Billy is kind of like our Boss and has a very interesting if not questionable sense of humor and just does things that you wouldn't necessarily expect. Mr. Lee is our driver and pretty much awesome, although he doesn't really speak any English. However, there is some great suspicion that he might know more than he is letting on to (lol). And lastly, there is Amy who is a recent graduate of Blue Sky University herself and sligtly younger than me.
They all make sure that our lives here run smoothly as possilbe, but it is funny to think that they all sit together in the office during the day working together.

I figure I would leave off this blog with a group picture that we took together with all the Chinese teachers for you.

Coffee: French Press Style

So I decided that I would dedicate this post to coffee as it is something that is dear to my heart as well as something that I crave nearly every day of the week. It is also something that just allows you to ease into the morning and your lesson plans for the day. However, as it is a precious commodity here in China it must be used sparingly. Thus, my teammate Shannon and I have it about twice a week (Monday and Wednesday).

If you look at the picture to the right you will see our French press and the little pastries we have found to accompany them when we go to work. I must admit that finding pastries to go with your coffee is not entirely something that is easily done in China. Thankfully, we have found two good little snacks to pair with our coffee: Muffins and Chocolate Egg Rolls. I would say that we tend to buy the muffins more often as they are a little healthier and filling, especially when drinking coffee on an empty stomach.

I actually sent my French press and 3 lbs of coffee from Starbucks before I left for training back in August so that it would be in Nanchang by the time I arrived mid-September. I had thought for sure that I a few individuals on my team would like to drink coffee for sure, but I was mistaken. Upon arriving at training I was quick to realize that only two people - including myself - liked coffee. Moreover, of the two people that liked coffee both of them had worked at Starbucks. At first I was kind of shocked, but then I was like well that just means more coffee for Shannon and I.

I keep a stash of all the little goods that are needed for coffee mornings at work. However, I only bring our coffee supplies in on Monday and take them home on Thursday or Friday. It actually requires forethought and preparation to bring all this in as I have forgotten and slightly felt the wrath of Shannon :)
What you are looking at is actually the lower left-hand side of my desk. In it - as you can see - is a box of Nescafe (used only in emergencies), half a pound of Sumatra from Starbucks, a water boiler, a grinder, and the top to our French press. What you do not see that is usually in here is: the rest of our French press, cups, muffins, and whatever chocolate we have at the time. What does it bring: Joy to me every week!

To be sincere though, I would actually say one of the coolest things about having coffee at our office is our ability to share it with our fellow Japanese teachers from time to time as well as get to know them better. Besides having Shannon to drink coffee with, I would say that building relationships with our Japanese friends has been a really blessing.

Today, I told them that I would make them some coffee as Tecao (I am sure I spelling this absurdly wrong)is always hinting at Starbucks and having a real cup of coffee. However, I didn't get back as soon as I thought I would from lunch and only got back to catch them leaving for class. So I asked Temocha (this too...) and Tecao what rooms they were teaching in and begin making a French press as quickly as I could. I don't really think they thought I would make and bring them coffee, but in 10 minutes or so I had steaming hot coffee ready and I set about getting coffee to take it to everybody. I took coffee to Shannon first - she wasn't surprised - and then went and delievered coffee to Tecao and Temocha who were both surprised that I brought them coffee. Tecao was so happy he grabbed me and introduced me to his class, all the while wearing that great smile of his.

I have invited him up for coffee this weekend and I am looking forward to hearing more about Japan and anything else.

Well, to end this post I thought I would finish it with a picture of my friend Shannon telling me that I needed to be quiet and get back to work. Too much coffee aparently keeps me jabbering a little more than is pc appropriate - what can say? Shannon is trying to teach me time management, but it is a little slow catching. Then again, it was never really something that I could say that I specialized in, let alone had. In the end, I don't think that coffee and time management go together....or something like that....yeah.

Sports Meet: The Mini Olmpics

(Me and the Olympic Bear)

Good story: So I have told some people that being white and being in China kind of makes you a "mini celebrity". It is hard to explain, but I thought I would take a moment to explain this picture. When my friends and I tried to get a picture with one of the Olympic bears that we have all seen advertised as a part of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing we ran into some problems. As we started to take the picture, the Chinese students realized that the foreigners were going to take a picture and they wanted to be a part of it, which caused some problems for us and our photographer. Christina - our photographer was quickly pushed out of the way and she barely got a picture with my camera...that is why this picture looks so crazy...

Closing Ceremony

So today our university was performing the Closing Ceremony for its Sports Meet, which has been extended over two weeks - due to weather - and has lasted a total of 4 days. It's a pretty big deal to be sure and it is really hard to explain the magnitude with which the Chinese put on an event. Plus, it is just simply too hard to explain without showing pictures how many people can turn out to such an event. Our university claims to have over 50,000 students and I would believe it. On the new campus there is about 30,000 students and on the old campus - where we live - there are about 20,000 students. It is really hard to picture sometimes. After the Sports Meet I am NO LONGER A DOUBTER, I AM BELIEVER : ).

I wanted to include some of my favorite pictures from today since I have some time while I gather energy to write some more lessons - mainly a midterm - for next week.

(Ern Gearing-up the English Students)

(Tecao and Me)


(Sitting VIP: 2nd to the Left is the President)


(Students flooding the Stadium)

If you want to see more is link to my album is on your right and labeled "Sports Meet".

Zhengzhou Train Pictures

Here are some pictures I thought you might enjoy!

Catching Back Up

So much has happened since I last wrote. Our team has been very busy both traveling and trying to catch up with all our work. Since coming back to Nanchang our team has had little time to catch-up and has had to practice being patient with our school. When we left for Zhengzhou, Henan we were told that the classes we were going to miss didn't matter since our school was having their "Sports Meet". Unlike most schools that I know in the United States, Chinese colleges apparently have an event called the "Sports Meet" in which students compete against each other in some kind of 'mini Olympics'. This event can last for one day or up to nearly a week. In our case, the Sports Meet was suppose to last for about 4 days; however, due to the weather it has been postponed several times. So our team has been constantly in a state of uncertainty over the last last two weeks as to whether we were going to teach or not teach on a day to day basis. I must admit such a constant state of unknowing has caused me to be lax at times and/or confused about what I was teaching each class. I would say that only in the last two days have I really caught back-up and have a good idea of where each of my classes are and where they need to be.

Zhengzhou, Henan

Our trip to Zhengzhou was a really nice reprieve from teaching and a nice of change of scenery, even it if was only for three days. It took us about 11 hours by train overnight to get to our destination where we were picked up by another team leader names Aaron. There were actually 2 other teachers at Zheng Da (Zhengzhou University) with the same name as me. Upon arriving in in Zhengzhou, I realized that the quality of the air was much better than that of Nanchang. In addition, Zhengzhou is a much more modern city than Nanchang. It is something that I constantly realize about the differences between living in the North as compared to the Southern China, albeit Guangzhou and Xiamen would be prime examples of the opposite.

(Zhengzhou Team + Our Team: I am in the front)

Zheng Da was located quite a distance from the main part of the city and it appeared that most of it's campus - if not all - was recently built as all the buildings were new and very well kept. Our fellow E.L.I.C teachers each had their own apartment all to themselves; I must it was very impressive, but at the same time I think I don't know if I really want or need 1000 sq. feet to myself. Heck, I haven't really even had my own room for nearly 5 years, except for very short periods of time back in Washington. As soon as we made it to their apartments though, they sat us down to an amazing breakfast in which they served us COFFEE and homemade SCONES! I can't tell you how - to be Chinese - 'delicious' it looked. In addition, the teachers there had aslo made a fruit salad, which was also pretty amazing. Eating breakfast that morning made me feel as if I was back home in Washington just chilling with some pretty cool sisters and brothers.

(The amazing scones are on the left; fruit salad is the upper right; granola is on the lower right)

Most of our time spent there was helping them with their Halloween/Harvest Party that they had put on for all their students - and when I say ALL I mean ALL their STUDENTS. We arrived in Zhengzhou on Friday and begin helping teach their students about Halloween on Saturday. It started at 8 am and went all day until 5 pm. It was crazy! At the same time it was the one of the coolest demonstrations of how to facilitate nearly 400 students and direct them through several activities. The teachers had set up 3 different rooms in which they taught the students and/or had them perform different activities that could be tied to Halloween. The three activities were: Telling Scary Stories, Dressing up as a Scare Crow and racing, and Pinning the Stem on the Pumpkin. Perhaps some of the activities would cause one to raise their eyebrow over since they might not be the most universal activities that we would do (or have done) for Halloween. At any rate, the activities appeared to work well and kept most - if not all the students - entertained and paying attention.

My two favorite parts of this Halloween Party were: telling the students scary stories and watching them race with the scare crow clothes on. I spent a lot of my time helping with telling the students scary stories and enjoyed watching the students jump and scream every time we were able to scare them. I think that Chinese students - especially girls - are more easily frightened than Americans. I mean, we told some pretty silly stories and the students were easily frightened by somebody slamming the door or jumping out from behind a current. The lightening in the room, however, helped to give us a some darkness that was otherwise hard to obtain due to the fact that we were having the party during the middle of the day.

(The Room we used for telling 'scary stories')

On Sunday we traveled into the city to have a small gathering of sisters and brothers so that we could spend time with our Father. Again, we were blessed with some amazing food including homemade muffins. I felt like I hadn't had any pastries that tasted like anything in America for so long that I was surprised to taste things like cinnamon. After having some time of fellowship, we spent the day hanging around the downtown Zhengzhou before we got back on the train to head back to Nanchang. I should note that our train ride there was spent sitting on hard seats for 10 hours, but on our ride home the Zhengzhou team had managed to get beds for us. Word to Wise: Make sure you get beds and not hard seats when traveling by train, especially overnight.

Health: Where did it go?

I am not usually one to get sick and if I do, I am out for quite some time; this year has apparently served to prove the exception. I actually participated on the first day of the Sports Meet at our school. Doing so was probably not the best decision I have made. I had been pretty amazed that I hadn't been getting sick, while most of my team had been getting colds, flu, etc. However, deciding to run 200 meters without being HYDRATED and not eating BREAKFAST quickly changed that for me. Our Foreign Affairs Officer, Billy, had asked that Jonathan and I partcipate on the opening day last week. So we showed up and it wasn't long before Billy asked us to run in a race against the other Chinese teachers. I am not a long distance runner and the 100 meter run is the longest distance that usually ever run as I am a soccer player at heart. So lining up to race the Chinese teachers I knew that after 100 meters I was going to be destroyed and have barely anything left to finish the race. As soon as the gun was fired, I easily passed all the Chinese teachers and my teammate Jonathan to take the lead, but at the 100 meter mark I ran out of energy and started feeling very sick. I can only describe it as feeling as my legs were going to give out, experiencing heart burn, and feeling like I was going to throw-up all at the same time. The moral of my story is that you should drink more water and eat something before running a race, especially if you are out of shape like I am.

The rest of the sports meet I particpated in various activities and was actually stupid enough to run against my FAO and our driver Mr. Lee in the 100 m. After Jonathan and I finally made it back home I just went and fell down on the bed and preceded to get worse as my muscles stiffened and my stomach decided to turn against me for some unknown reason. The next day I went to school to teach, but had to return home as I felt like I was going to throw-up in the middle of class. I was able to return and teach both Thursday and Friday, but felt incredibly weak and I somewhat convinced that I lost 5 pounds in the process. As fate would have it though, I got food poisoning on Friday and was again very sick most of Saturday. I think that between Tuesday and Saturday of last week (Nov. 4th - Nov. 8th) I ate like 6 small bowls of rice and two packages of crackers. All in all, I much better know and have had a lot more energy.


Here are some more pictures of our trip and the Zhengzhou Team:

(Front to Back: Jennifer, Alison, Shannon, Erin, Mark, and Jonathan)

(Eric & Alison)


(Jonathan, Shannon, Jennifer)


(Left to Right: Erin, Shannon, Aaron, and Jonathan at an amazing Korean Restaurant)

Year of the Rat

Title was inspired by the events of tonight. You can skip to the end if you want.

So this week has been pretty eventful and rather a joy despite the non-stop pace of teaching and everything else that seems to fill up my schedule. I have a Sony Clie - palm pilot - that seems to beep every 30 minutes to tell me what is next in my life and/or to accomplish. I have to say that I am enjoying the challenges of becoming forced into developing my - much lacking - time management skills. (I must give props to my buddy Joel for giving it to me - it is a blessing - thanks!)

Teaching @ Nanchang Blue Sky University

Teaching has been good, but challenging. It is amazing what kinds of 'highs' and 'lows' you can have when you are teaching. One day you feel elated that your students are able to understand you. The next moment - like today - I asked my students for their homework and over half the class hadn't done it. I felt crushed and very disappointed - I didn't even know what to say at first. I was like "Uh, oh...." I love my kids too; Chinese kids just seem more innocent and love-able at times than Americans. I know this is not entirely true. It is probably just my bias in liking China, not fully understanding everything that is said around me at all times, and finding students enjoyable. Mind you everywhere I go I hear: 外国人 (wai guo ren) which literally means outside country person and/or foreigner, 老外 （lao wai) which means once again foreigner), and wai jiao - don't know the characters, but means foreign teacher. One must remember that when you are in China you will be - and will always be - a foreigner. This is twice as true when you teach in a rural part of the Southern China with a population of only 4 million. Because in China, 4 million people is a small city; basically we are living in the equivalent to that of Georgia. Maybe this is a bad analogy, but I can't think of anything else based on the similiar size of geography of China in relation to the United States.

The Office: Why Starbucks is Important

Every week in the office is an interesting. All of us - my team - is required to keep a minimum of 10 office hours each week. My hours are in the morning from 8:00-10:00 am Monday through Thursday with some office hours scattered in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday. At any rate, Monday and Wednesday have become Shannon and I's coffee time. Thanks to the French press I sent and the the 3lbs of coffee I sent myself, we have been enjoying French presses in the office about twice a week. It makes the day that much better and definitely gives me energy to make it through the longest days of teaching, which involve me being at school from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Classes

Basically each of us have 4 classes that we teach. I teach all Business English students. More precisely, I teach all FRESHMEN Business English. Each class meets twice a week for 100 minutes. So the class runs for 50 minutes before you have a 10 minute break and then continues for another 50 minutes. It is definitely different than the way we run things in America, but what can I say, we're in China.

I should point out that the Chinese have their own siesta, except it isn't called a siesta. Its called a SHOUXI = Rest in the middle of the day. So this is what happens: At noon everyone goes and eats as fast as they can before heading back to their dorms or offices were they fall asleep. So basically you have tired students in the morning and afternoon, becuase everyone is always getting to class in the PROCESS OF WAKING UP. I constantly have to call on students who are falling asleep in class - it cracks me up.

On the campus we teach at - which is the New Campus - the dorms are located quite a distant from the classroom buildings. So just before classes start in the afternoon - 2pm - students start to migrate back towards the campus in droves and it is something to see. I will give you a pictures of what it looks like from outside our office from a perspective before the 'masses' attack and after. : )

(Before: Notice pathways are clear)

(After: Students heading to Class)

Home Life

After showing the pictures above it reminded me that I have been wanting to revive the subject about how much Chinese love to play basketball. I really don't think that my descriptions have done justice to what my eyes have seen over here. Therefore, to satisfy my desire for you to understand this I am going to post some pictures below of what the basketball courts look like all day from around 7am - 10pm.

Year of the Rat

So tonight after our Tizo (team time) my teammate Laura had left to go back up to her apartment before everybody, but returned again after a short while freaked out and telling us that there was a RAT in her KITCHEN. I guess being the guy that I am said, "Come on Jonathan, we gotta go check this out." Sure enough, we got upstairs, went into the kitchen - which she had shut the sliding door to - and started poking around and found it underneath the burner next to the sink. We tried to get it to budge, but were still formulating a plan on how to capture it, when her roommate Rachael just decided to force the rat to make a decision by moving the burner and that is when things got very interesting.

As soon as Rachael moved the burner, the rat jumped from the counter where the burner is located and tried to run away but was confused by the mass of human bodies in every direction it turned since all of us - 7 - were up there. It did a FULL ON BODY SLAM into the sliding glass door before managing to make it out of the kitchen to where the rest of the girls were. This - of course - caused all the girls to start SHRIEKING and looking for the nearest chairs to climb. In the end, after the rat escaped, it looked a little something like this:

(Laura, Shannon, Jodi, and Joelle)

Well, that is about the whole of it. I will make another post here hopefully this weekend. Hope you are all well!

- 计划赶不上变化 -

-Plans cannot keep up with change -

I believe this should be the motto of China. It was relayed to us during our training in California, and I thought of this Chinese idiom (common saying) as I was sitting down to write.

Things are going well. I have found most of my quiet time has been found at one of two extremes: early in the morning or late at night. More recently, it has been late at night as I have been staying up late to finish lesson plans. I am convinced that creating and implementing lesson plans is a form of a CRASH COURSE that all teachers must go through. This is the season of my life for sure. Each week I must have the following weeks lesson plans completed by Friday and I must admit that this is a challenge for me.

Living in another Culture

TIME is not something I would consider myself to have much of. I think it is just the reality of adjusting to living in China. One cannot easily dismiss the realities and challenges of moving to a new country: living in a new country and culture; starting a new job; language barrier and limitations; living, working, and getting to know 6 other Americans; and, last but not least, making and getting to know new Chinese friends. I guess the best way of thinking about it if you have never spent time and/or lived in another culture is to imagine mental fatigue or stress coming from everyday activities that you go about everyday of your normal life. By far, I am probably experiencing the least of this compared to many of my teammates, but it stills takes times to establish a routine, places to relax, and a mode by which you can go about your life without being drained all the time.

An added FACTOR for me is the fact that I need a LOT of DOWN TIME to function well and a lot of times I don't get it. Unfortunately, this can put me on edge, but the Father has been good in seeing that it doesn't get too bad. Another challenge for me is that I can be CLOSED OFF when IN LARGE GROUP settings and this is a challenge that I am struggling with and working on overcoming, especially as the program that I am with revolves around team building. I could use some up-lifting thoughts if some of you find some time.

Team

I should add that my TEAM is AMAZING. I am enjoying my new group of friends. I admit that it has been a little bit of a rough start for me, but things are really starting to flow and I am grateful for that. I do not think there is anything quite more important than team dynamics to be good when you around the same people everyday 24/7 .

We have been able to explore a little more of Nanchang and it has been pretty cool. The other day we went to a NATIONAL DAY like "fair" downtown and it was pretty crowded, but then again when isn't it crowded in China? Just imagine the 4th of July, but instead of everybody setting-off fireworks at their place all of them going to a fair and hanging out all day. If you are from Vancouver, just think of the Fort and everybody trying to see the fireworks at night. Below are some pictures of what it looked like walking around downtown.

I also took a picture of a lady selling some kind of Chinese nuts that looked about the size of walnuts and I thought it turned out well. In addition, there was a older man holding sugar coated dates who stood out against the crowd.

We also went on the third largest Ferris Wheel in the world, which is kind of crazy to think about. Mind you I not scared of heights, but I am aware of when I am 30-50 stories up in the air.

(This thing is huge!)


(Our Team and our Friends)

Well, it is getting really late and I need to catch some sleep! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Nanchang (南昌) + 2 Weeks

Well, it has been about two weeks or so since I last updated and it is the first time in a long time that I actually have time to sit down and let everyone know what is going on. So what has been going on? Let me tell you.

Arrival

I arrived here in Nanchang about two weeks prior after an 11 hour train ride. It was much better than the 19 hour plane ride to Beijing by far since I can actually sleep on trains - due to the fact that you get a BED. The train ride was - for all intent and purposes - our first time to really get to know our F.A.O. (Foreign Affairs Officer). Our FAO's name is Billy. Billy has quite the sense of humor - one that can be both good and bad. Nevertheless, our train ride was very enjoyable and without incident.

Upon arriving in Nanchang, our team ate at a local dumpling place and then made our way to the dorms where we would be staying. I have to admit that the size of our dorms - or should I say apartments - surprised me. Each apartment has two rooms, a main living area (which couples as a living room and dining room), a bathroom, and a kitchen. Below are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I am talking about.

(This is the living room/dining area)


(Entertainment / Living Room)

(My room)

(My bed)

(The Kitchen)

Teaching

My first week was a mad rush of getting ready to teach for what we thought was 3 days. It is always interesting to see how well the theoretical works when put into practice. My lesson plans managed to do okay with my students, but it did become apparent that there was much I needed to address before writing anymore lesson plans for the following week. I should note that I am currently teaching 4 CLASSES with about 50 STUDENTS EACH. So all in all, I have about 200 or so students; however, attendance does seem to fluctuate and I will need to do something to account for that this upcoming week.

It is hard to know what exactly to teach, when teaching students English. I looked at the books that Billy (FAO) and felt that it was somewhat lacking. In addition, students are always seemingly all over the place in their language ability instead of all being on the same level. Three of my four classes seem to be on the same level in their English speaking ability, however, I do have one that is definitely sophomore level. Last week they pretty much became bored with the lesson plan that I had created and I had to revert to just talking in class. I am hoping that I can stay on top of that this upcoming week. We shall see.

Living in China

Living in China this time around has been very different from my last two experiences. I have felt little or no culture shock and I still wonder sometimes if it has really hit me that I will be here for another 8 months or so. Most of the time I am so preoccupied by hanging out with my other teammates that I don't really think I have time to consider where I am or what is happening. I would almost call my experiences so far like that of a little America in Nanchang. At the same time, I think this is what some of the people on my team really need since this is their first time to China. I remember my experiences the last two times and I definitely needed some breathing room from China and have little places to escape when the culture shock is too much.

In the same breathe, I am trying to be on my guard against culture shock factors that can play against me when I am living in another country. For example, I am hoping to make some friends here and hang out with them as often as time permits. I am also looking forward to our Chinese lessons and practicing more on my own as time goes by. I have also started making friends with some local side-street dealers that sell amazing Chinese food. Another thing that I want to do is to get a good feel for the bus system and the other local side-streets that sell food that you can bargain with dealers for.

I should mention that in writing this blog I have had the POWER GO OUT in my building at least 7 TIMES. So I am going to finish this with a couple pictures of my teammates and I and go.

(Jonathan and me at KTV or Karaoke)


(Left to Right: me, Joelle, Jonathan, Shannon, Laura, Jodi, Rachael)


(Laura, Shannon, and Jonathan)