The fact is...

I'm leaving for Huangshan tomorrow at 8:30am-ish.

I have little to say other than that.

I have 5,300 yuan in my pocket and endless possibilities. Life is too grand. I may only go to the mountain and the grottoes, then go to an entirely different city. I HAVE THAT OPTION!
Hell, I could get on a plane even.
But I won't know until I get there.

Look for another posting in a few days.

Ta ta for now!

Oh my gosh....

I really have nothing to say.

Watched Lemony Snickett with my secretary's today.

Jennifer and I went downtown. I picked up a fanny pack so I can keep my money and my passport safe while I'm traveling, and I got some supplies for the trip.

Tomorrow I have one more class to teach. I actually have to teach, and I'm so not feeling it. Bleh. It's cruel of them to make us work 7 days a week. Nathan got to have the weekend off.

Tomorrow I get my passport back along with some money from the school. Both are necessary for my travels.

Wow! I leave for Huangshan soon! Can't believe I'm going alone.
It's still going to be fun though.

I wish Aaron were here to go with me.


Edit/// A few hours later//

Do you know what I just realized? The day I'm supposed to climb Huangshan is the 6 month anniversary of Aaron's passing.
I kind of wish I hadn't remembered that.

Today we're going off to a magic land....

A number of inconsequential things occurred today which all led to..... my complete and utter exhaustion.
I taught three classes; BE 3 at 8am, BE 1 at 10am, and my Secretary's at 2:3opm.

In BE 3: Since I had BE 3 class A (occurs on Tuesdays) twice this week I let them watch the movie Stardust and choose to do their lesson on Sunday instead. Well, apparently, some of my kids from Class A also come to Class B. Those are my smarty pants kiddos. Anyways, those kids who had come to both classes wanted to finish the movie. Um... except the kids in Class B hadn't even started the movie, so that was quickly vetoed. We watched Smallville instead, then did Lesson Four: On The Phone.
After class my dear outspoken Jane (I think that's her name) came up to me and said something to the effect of, "If you're going to make the two classes different I think you should just combine them into one big class again." I kicked her in the face.
Not really.
I simply explained to her that Class A was meeting twice in the week, and since I didn't want them to get ahead of Class B, they got to watch a movie and would be learning the lesson we had just covered on Sunday.

In BE 1: Nothing of consequence. One of my favorites, Track, is in that class. His English is very good and he tries so hard. Actually, the class surprised me today, they all did really well. I made them close their books to write the dialogue which absolutely stunned them. I mean, you should have seen their faces, they were shocked I wouldn't let them use the textbook.

In Secretary class: These girls are some of my best speakers so I thought I would reward them by letting them have a fun activity. We finished watching Stardust and afterward I asked them to make up a magic land and describe it for me. So, loyal readers, here is your treat, some of the essays my Secretary's wrote:

A magic land in my mind.
Our life is cruel, we need some active and fresh mind to keep our brain sensitively. Once, I always think about a place which we couldn't see in our dialy life except in dream or imagine.
There are two couples of witches. They both lived in deserts. One is named good, the other is named bad. One day a human being is forced his way into the desert. At first, good found him. She took him back home and made friends with him. Then, bad came up an bad idea. She wanted that human being gave her his eyes, so that she could go out to see the beautiful world. Oh, forgot to tell you, both of the two witches couldn't met with light. They just lived behind dark all the day. But if they can get eyes of that man, they can free to see anything they want. Later, good knew bad's idea, she helped the human being away from the desert, but as we all know, witches are very difficult to deal with. As good helped the man, she broken with bad and left desert with the man. She couldn't see anything after she left desert, the man become her eyes, told her beautiful the world it is.
Time passed quickly, the man fell in love with the honest witch, good. Miracous appeared, good could see everything when they got married. Then, they lived a happy life.
Yeah, there is another witch, bad. Yes, because she is dishonest and couldn't treat other with her true feeling and just thing about herself. So, she stayed in the desert forever.
So I always think that if I treat others with my heart, they will returns smile to me. Yeah, it need my alway trying to prove it.



There is a magic land which is made up by witches and wizards. Everyone is unordinary, and has magic power. They are different from human being. They can show in oceans deserts and jungles. They move as fast as wind. Some animals have dog heads, deer bodys, and bird legs they are strange which we can't find on earth we have never seen before. The plants are colorful and beautiful. Some flowers are as big as beds, they attract the tired people to lay on them then they burn the sleeping people. They eat witches and wizards too.
But this world is peaceful wizards have to find their true love and marry to them they can live long or they'll die of their thirty and their true love must be human being only. Witches too.
They don't need to work hard because they can create everything they want. So it's a peaceful and lovely world all people are happy.


A magic land in my mind is very beautiful, and aren't fight, you and me get well along with others.
In magic land witches and wizards are needed because of their magic, this land become so beautiful and magic. Certainly, have oceans, deserts and jungle, the same as on earth.
There have many donkeys. You know donkey in people's mind is stupid, but, now, in here, they are so smart, and they are people's good friend.
There are not only one of the same color, there are seven colors. Do you know why? because Rainbow is the bridge, she makes the magic land wonderful, and full of colors.


There are many witches and wizards. They eat every kinds of animals and baby. It is covered in jungles. Everything in there is black. But they change into different colors in the night. The water in rivers turn into red. The fish in rivers become to pretty girl. The animals are strange for me. They all have five legs, three eyes and they can use many kinds of enchantment. People are honest, kind and smart. They are a team. The witches and wizards live in a place and people live in another place. The birds can sing. Everything looks like very good except witches. There is a boundary between witches and people.



These kids are great. They are really taught not to be creative, but the fact that we can still tap into that, and that they can express it in English, gives me hope.


In other news, I cleaned my kitchen counters today and burned the tip of my finger with the cleaning solution. I need to get some rubber gloves, that stuff is dangerous. At least everything is clean now!

Nathan left for his trip today. Hopefully he'll have a good time, it's looking like the area he's going to is about to get hit with some pretty nasty weather. Gotta love rainy season.

Bed for me. I'm off on holiday in t-minus two days. Rock on.



P.S. Did I ever mention that I have a student named Demon? Now, the Chinese know what Demon means in English. I find this all just so fascinating.

Ingrates

Today was filled with totally unnecessary drama concerning the school and my teaching methods.
Apparently they're starting a new policy where students can complain directly to the chairman (aka the head honcho) if they are unhappy with their classes.
Well... I had ONE (keep in mind, I have 200) student complain about my class and they made Max (head of the foreign teachers) come talk to me and tell me that they would be monitoring one of my classes to see how I was teaching. Well, I should have known that they are too lazy for that, so Max comes by my last class of the day and says he instead needs to survey my students. Never mind the fact that I was in the middle of having them do dialogues. I leave early and he asks them how I'm doing.
Their response: Great! She speaks a little too fast, and sometimes we have a hard time understanding. She is very nice.
So now they're not going to sit in on my class. Everything is fine.
Can I just say how RIDICULOUS it was for this to even have happened in the first place?!

A. It's only the third week into school. And apparently I got 'rave' reviews the first week. The only thing that's changed is, oh, I started making the students do actual work.
B. The student not only didn't complain to me first, they didn't complain to Max, or even the next guy up from Max. They went straight to the top.
C. They didn't even tell me what the complaint was. So I have no clue.
D. I don't think they realize that I have about 3 different levels of students in my class. Some of very low, beginner level, some are intermediate, and some are very good speakers. Which is a HUGE problem, because there is only one of me and thirty of them and I don't have time to get them all to the same level. For some of the smarter kids they may get bored, but I have to cater to the majority, and the majority of the students are still at the beginner level.
E. A lot of my students are lazy and shy. It is like pulling teeth to get them to speak. Max says they just need one on one encouragement, but I don't have time to give them all individual attention. I'm not here to make them feel good about themselves, I'm here to provide them with the information and they are the ones who are supposed to actually take that information and run with it. GAH!!!! I can not spend the entire class fluffing their egos.
F. Do these sound like college kids to you? Honestly, I think they gave me high schoolers and lied about it.

I'm already getting tired of this place, and you're crazy if you think I'm going to be re-signing my contract once it's up.

No more Mrs. Nice Teacher.
No more watching tv shows at the beginning of class (which we watched the Apprentice because it pertains to their major; business).
No more nice power point presentations.
No more using the book as an aid to write their dialogues.

If they're going to act like high school kids, they're going to be treated like high school kids.

Again with plans changing

So... I found out that getting a train ticket to Huangshan on Sunday was impossible. Thus, I had to change my plans. However, it's only gotten better!
I am leaving Monday morning on the bus. I shall arrive in the area in the afternoon. I am staying at a different hostel which is actually closer to the southern gate of Huangshan Mtn. It's going to take me another hour bus ride to get out there though. I figure Monday will be my day of orienting myself to my new local and talking with the other people at the hostel. The room I am staying in is one with 6 bunks, which is not only 3x cheaper than the last hostel I was planning on staying in, it means I will be forced to meet people. Rock on. I'm staying for four nights instead of three, so I'll have an extra day. I'm thinking of going to these ancient villages they have around there which are supposedly incredibly gorgeous. Or... I may go back to the mountain and enjoy the hot springs. There are so many options!

This week is booooooring with school. Actually, the class I had today wasn't too bad. I'm still a bit yucky from the cold, so I had them do most of the talking today. I think everyone got a chance to speak.

I'm off to put away my laundry.

P.S. Thought I would post a map of the grottoes:

I don't have much to report. My cold has steadily worsened, but I think those Theraflu strips are going to save my butt. I just want to be better by this weekend.

Nathan sent me a message earlier saying Nikoli may want to join me on my trip to Huangshan. Sounds good to me, I think he would be good company if he ends up coming.

I've sent Hamlin to change the rest of my US dollars, I've transferred funds from my savings to my checking, and I've asked for an advance on my pay. I'm hoping that Dad will give me some money for my birthday, but if that doesn't work out, I should be fine. Should be enough to get me there and back.

I must admit, I've already started packing, that's how excited I am. Today I gave Hamlin money to buy my ticket, so I should be getting that pretty soon. Wahoo! It's all coming together!

I'm off to copy down useful phrases and vocabulary into my notebook.

Slight change of plans...

I've decided to spend only one day at Huangshan (Mountain) and the second day at the Huangshan grottoes and Huangshan Stone Forest. They look really amazingly cool. The grottoes are these man-made caves that no one can figure out who built them or why.
You can read about them here, here, and here.
They're close to my hotel and the entrance fee is half of that of Huangshan (Mountain). I'm looking forward to riding on a bamboo raft down the river. I may even go horseback riding if I feel like it.

I've come down with a rather nasty cold since Nanchang, so I decided we would watch a movie in my Secretary class today. We watched Stardust, which they really seemed to enjoy. I'm going to ask them to write a short story or something to accompany the movie when we finish it on Friday.
After class Jennifer and I went downtown so I could buy a backpack for my trip. We found one on walking street, and I found another cute Le Sportsac that would be a good size for my clothes when I visit Nanchang. I also found a hairstraightener which was only 25rmb, so we'll see how long it lasts. I left my sunglasses in Nanchang at Nathan's apartment, and I know I'll need some for the mountain so I bought some Louis Vuittons for $1. They make me look super fly.

I finally finished Eat Pray Love. It's really brilliant and I highly recommend it. It is, in a lot of ways, the reason I'm really excited to take this trip alone next week. I'm lending it to Pearl (one of Nathan's fellow teachers), so hopefully she'll enjoy it too. Perhaps I'll even do a little meditating on Huangshan (Mtn.).

I've got to make my Lesson 4 power point for tomorrow. I also need to get Hamlin to buy my train or bus ticket to Huangshan for me. Excited!

P.S. I have Washington state and Texas postcards, but I need some from other states and countries to show my kids. Please?!

Weekend in Nanchang

Hello! I am home safe and sound after my trip to see Nathan in Nanchang.
I took my first train trip by myself and Nathan picked me up from the train station. The next day we ate Sichuan food with one of Nathan's fellow teachers then we went into town to have a look around. It was boiling hot there, so I bought a skirt to wear instead of my jeans. We walked around for awhile but it was truly too hot to enjoy it, so we headed back to the campus to get ready for the evening.
Nikoli, Nathan, Simon, and I went downtown for some dinner. It was pretty good but the service was terrible, most likely because they were understaffed and incredibly busy. Post dinner we walked around and tried to decide which club to spend our evening in. We ended up in Babyface where we danced, sang, drank, socialized, and spoke Chinese. A good time was had by all. Nathan and I ended up crashing on Nikoli's couches because Nathan's electricity was out and it was too unbearably hot to sleep in his apartment.
This morning I was still feeling awful from the Chinese food we had eaten the day before and the boys were incredibly hungover. We had brunch at a baozi and noodle place before heading back to Nathan's apartment so I could pack up. We bused into town then I took a train back to Jiujiang.

Next week we have a holiday (seven days off!) so I've decided to go to Huangshan. Nathan is going with a friend of his, Liz, to Shennongjia, but they are leaving on Friday so I can not go (I have to work on Saturday and Sunday). Huangshan is a few hours away by bus or train in Anhui province. It's a world heritage site and there are monkeys as well as hot springs.
You can find the official website here.
I'm going to stay in a hostel that's next to the train station and bus into the park which should only cost about 13rmb. I plan on spending at least one whole day, most likely Monday, hiking up one of the many paths. I would really like to see sunrise there, so I'm going to have to rent a private bus one day, since the regular bus doesn't leave quite that early.
I'm staying in this hostel for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday night. It's pretty cheap and I get a private room. Since it's the busy season, I'm betting there are going to be a ton of foreigners there, so it will be pretty neat to meet up with some other westerners, plus, this is a great opportunity to practice my Chinese.
I know some of you are going into blind panic right now about me traveling by myself. You all know, of course, that I'm an adult and can take care of myself. If I have any issues with language I have more than one friend who speaks English and Chinese. This is too great of an opportunity to pass up. I promise I'll be safe and take every precaution necessary.
I'm so excited!

P.S. Check out the wikitravel for Huangshan here.

Penelope

Today was relatively uneventful, once again. I know I taught two classes today, but this morning is a blur, so it's a good thing I collected their papers so I know it even happened.

My 2:30pm class was pretty great though. I had already had them earlier this week, but due to the new schedule, I had them again. Since I didn't want them to get ahead of the rest of the classes, I decided we were going to watch a movie instead. I picked Penelope, and they loved it! They wouldn't even let me pause it so they could go on their ten minute break.
I had them write up a short paragraph about 'Who was your favorite character? Why?', and I figured I would post a few of their answers up here.
So, here goes:

'My favorite character is the main actor of the movie. I don't know how to spell his name maybe it's 'Jonhny' or 'Johnny'? I'm sorry. But I really like him very much. Because he is so handsome and so man! My feeling of him is very special. He is a gentleman, though he has no money. I like him also because he makes the actress Penny feel like so happy. They're really happiness. He's a good man.'

'I think Pene is my favorite person in the movie. In my opinion, she can face her reality. She knows want her want and what to do. At least, she is smart and brave. When she have a trouble, she can't give up. At that time, she is work hard to explore true love. At last, she defeat her psychology obstacle acquire freedom. In that situation, she stick to study and enrich her knowledge. The spirit is worth us to study.'

'From the movie, I like Penny's character best. Although she had a pig's face, she never gave up the hope of living. Her childhood was still happy, she had lots of toys. And what's more, she changed Jony's life. Jony didn't go to gamble. And he found a job what he liked to do. Finally, Penny wasn't a pig's face, she and Jony lived a happy and enjoyable life.'

'I like Johny. Before he is a blackship and he gambled all the day. Quickly, he lost his family's pocesses. He is handsome and honest. When he saw Penne, everything changed. Many people saw Penne were all run away, except him. He destroyed the photo. Maybe he fell in love with her, he begged the other two people give it up. As a matter of fact, he wanted to help her, but he didn't meet her situation. He felt sad. Then he changed a lot for her. They love each other. At last, they live together!'

In short, go see Penelope, it's the bees knees.


Only one other thing of any somewhat importance happened today... air raid sirens went off for about five minutes. Now, anyone who has lived on the UNT campus would be used to this, but the light in the elevator was also out adding to the confusion of the moment. Frightening! However, one dark elevator ride complete with air raid sirens to the eleventh floor later, I am home and ready for some dinner.
Is it the six-month anniversary of the earthquake?

Lucky me!

Today I received not one, not two, but THREE care packages and a nice card! I am such a lucky girl.
I am now stocked on cereal, mac n cheese, and various other goodies thanks to Liz, Mom, Grandma, and Jenna. THANKS!!!!

Today wasn't particularly special. I taught only one class but I was so wiped when I got back that I crashed out on the couch chair. A text message from Hamlin woke me up and he dropped off my packages and card. He invited us foreign teachers to dinner, mostly so Mr. Chao (head honcho) could meet Cary the Canadian. It was good times and pretty darn good food. Cary showed us a new liquor store after dinner where you can get some western and Korean goodies.

Oh! When I woke up this afternoon, there was some kind of something going on in the courtyard with a ton of students. There was ballroom dancing, roller bladers, and hip-hop dancers. Pretty awesome.

Tomorrow I have two classes to teach. One of them I already had this week, but since they have changed the schedule, I have them again. We're going to watch a movie. The other class is only on Lesson 2 and I need to get them caught up to the other classes. Friday is my yucky day with classes from 8am-4pm. I'm sure it will be fine though, I'm starting to get the swing of this.

Relaxation time, then bed.



P.S. For all those who don't know how to leave a comment on the blog-a-log:
Just write your comment in the little box on the right hand side of the screen. Make sure to sign your name. Then click the little bubble next to 'Anonymous'. After that just hit 'Publish Your Comment'. Simple as that. :)

Well, I'm lazy

Nathan was here this past weekend so I haven't updated in quite some time.
Class must have gone fine on Friday, because I don't remember any of it. I do remember the loooooooong wait until Nathan got here at around 10pm that evening. I think I mainly just cleaned the apartment and took a nap though.

We went to bed relatively early Friday night, but instead of being nice and letting me sleep in, Nathan made me get up at around 10am Saturday. I was not happy. We spent the day exploring Jiujiang on foot and taking the 'long way' to McDonalds. After McDonalds we explored the city some more, even got to see the Yangzi. I would have to say the highlight of the day was playing basketball at some underground arcade we found. A true work out... and I kicked Nathan's bootay.

Saturday evening Jennifer joined us for an evening at the DXD Club. Nathan soon made friends with the manager who was a nice guy. I even had a chance to practice my Chinese with the random people that joined us for drinks in our booth. At one point the manager had his 'cousin/sister/friend' come over to our booth to join us. She immediately found Nathan rather intriguing and was "all over him" (i.e. she had her hand on his knee, from what I saw) while I headed off to the bathroom. We found out later she was a prostitute from Anhui Province. Pretty amusing.

In Jiujiang the night life usually begins around 8pm and ends at 12am. We stuck with that theory and bailed around midnight.


I was not feeling stellar the next day so Nathan and I opted to stay in and watch movies. I would defintely recommend Speed Racer, Shoot Em Up, and Happy Together.

On Monday was more of the same. It was a holiday here so we stayed in for the most part watching more movies. I love Penelope and In Brugues, brilliant movies. We bought Nathan some school supplies, but I've just noticed that they're sitting on my coffee table. So much for that.

Nathan left today and I had class. Class went just fine apart from the tv episodes I showed the class not having subtitles. Shame. They also gave us new schedules this week. My Thursday and Fridays are awful, completely stacked with classes. The rest of the week is looking okay though. I've already had one of those classes for the week, but after reading their dialogues it looks like we have a few things to discuss. It's rather sad when they don't know the difference between when to use 'is' and when to use 'are'. Sigh.

Not sure what this weekend holds. I was going to head to Lushan with the school, but they want to leave Friday at 6pm and return Sunday. I have told them I will not be attending, mostly because I know that I would come back absolutely exhausted. I think I'll try to get a ticket to Nanchang to see Nathan.

Right, I'm wiped. Sorry this isn't the most stellar of blogs. I promise I'll be more detailed next time.

Will update this evening.
I am alive, just been busy with Nathan.

Thursday

Today went a lot better than the last time I met with BE3. For one, the bad kids decided not to show up for class. Hey, no sweat off my back, they get zeros for the day. For another, I was way more organized this time. We watched Apprentice, then did a lesson on hotels. They wrote up some dialogues which I had them turn in. All in all, a successful class.

Jennifer and I went downtown again after we finished teaching. We got some great fleece blankets which will be a commodity here in the winter when we have no heaters. We also saw another bai ren (white person), but he didn't come talk to us, and I feel pretty guilty for not saying 'hi'. He looked like a nice guy, so I hope we run into him again so I can make up for it. Every time we go to McD's we seem to see foreigners.

My apartment is relatively done being finished. I'm still debating painting the walls, but for now, it looks pretty good. Certainly a lot more homely than when I first moved in. I took pictures which you can find here .

Nathan is probably coming to visit this weekend. We haven't had much of a chance to talk because I've been so tired and stressed from school.

Three day weekend, three day weekend, three day weekend!

Happy teachers day!

Yesterday was hellish. I had two classes, one at 10am, the next at 2:30pm. But first, I had my health exam.
Yeesh. That was an adventure. Hamlin picked me up at 8:30am and we drove out to the boonies. I'm serious. The absolute boonies. This hospital had nothing remotely near it. It was an old style hospital. The x-ray machine was archaic. The woman who game me my sonogram was grumpy and mean, she put suction cups on my chest and zapped me, I had to pee into a tiny plastic cup using a squat pot (no easy task!), and they stole my blood. It was not my favorite experience.
When I got back from the hospital I had to go straight to class. BE3 is a nightmare. The kids are juniors which no one bothered to tell me. Which means no CET review for them, which means I have to come up with even more material. I had them introduce themselves and answer a few questions and one of them was a brat and told me she thought introducing themselves was boring because they had been doing it for the past three years. Uh... hello! I haven't been here for the past three years. She's on my poo-poo list. Another girl came up after class and told me I should use the computer. Well that nice. I didn't have the key to unlock the computer, but let me just break in to it anyways. Gah. I don't like most of them.
BE2 went much better. We watched the Apprentice, the season with the celebrities. They really like that show. We did the lesson I had planned in the second hour, and it went pretty smoothly. Thank goodness.
I spent all evening watching Roswell and making power points.


***

Today was nice.
This morning I had my secretary class. They really are adorable, and totally my favorites. They brought me flowers for teachers day! It was a nice way to start the day.
We watched Project Runway in class then did a lesson on restaurants. We're going to work on restaurants some more next week because we only have class once (due to the lunar festival) and they have no idea what Italian food or American food is (other than McDonalds).

I only had one class today which was a welcome relief. After class Jennifer and I went downtown to get some dvds for our classes and ourselves. We had McDonalds for lunch and while there we saw other white people! They were high schoolers, so they must be expat kids. Pretty crazy stuff. We walked all the way back from downtown along the lake. It was nice to look at (minus the smog) but very, very hot. I picked up some school supplies along the way. We also stopped at mom and pops, and mom taught me a new measure word. I've forgotten it now though. Shame.

We're having an absolutely wicked awesome storm right now. Lightening everywhere. I love it. It's pretty funny to see all the students scatter as soon as the rain starts to fall. I don't blame them though, I wouldn't want to stand in the rain here. ACID RAIN!
I'm watching the Little Mermaid: The Beginning, or whatever it's called. I just ate instant mashed potatoes which were pretty tasty, and some ramen as well. I'm done grading papers, and my power point for tomorrow is finished up.

Ahhh.... done.

If you know of any shows involving business I could use in my class, let me know. We're going to watch Ugly Betty, Apprentice, and Project Runway, at the least.

I should have some time this weekend to reply to e-mails. I've still got to do all my power points and lesson plans for next week, but those can wait until Saturday. For now, I'm taking a break!

Oh so tired

Will update tomorrow about BE 3, BE2, and health exam.

So exhausted.

Urgh

Well.

......

Teaching today did not exactly go according to plan. My enormously huge Business English class took only 20 minutes to introduce themselves. Wow. Twenty minutes for 55 people. That's a record right there. So... we spent the rest of the time (two very very looooooooong hours) reading ridiculously boring dialogues from the ridiculously boring book and playing word games. Getting that class to speak English is like pulling teeth. It was painful, it was long.

However, my secretary class turned out to be great. I figured out that I just needed to ask the kids (who are all my age, by the way) to answer more questions. It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to get through a class of 22. Oh... and I have two girls auditing my class. So, yes, in secretary class we all introduced ourselves, I had them ask me questions, and we talked about some things in the book. Their English is much better than a majority of my Business English kids and they are all girls. Which is so much more pleasant.

I know you're really only reading this to hear the interesting names I have in my classes. So far the best are Piano, Jeans, Happy, Elient, Fairy, and Paper. I also have two Candy's.
Some of my secretary's do not have English names so I told them I would make a list for them to chose from.

I have my nightmare Business English class again tomorrow. Gaaaaaaaaah. I've prepared power point presentations (took me many hours) because, at least for this week, we've got media in our classrooms. Huzzah. Their level of English is, quite honestly, upper beginner for a majority of the class. I just... I'm at a loss. They are not at a level where I can teach them anything really relevant to their book. In fact, the book (the one with 50,000 dozen) is way too advanced for them.

Health exam tomorrow. Hopefully the squirts will all be cleared up. Been fine all evening.

P.S. I did my laundry today. I'm am so over the overly complicated washing machine. You have to plug it into the faucet and the sewer? Honestly?

Full day tomorrow. Bed for now. Love love.

Tomorrow!

School begins tomorrow. Yeah, I'm nervous.

I've also got liquid guts, so that's going to make tomorrow more fun. Hopefully the pepto-bismal will work.

Nathan has arrived here in China. Poor guy was absolutely exhausted when I talked to him, so hopefully he's getting lots of sleep.

Meh. I need to get to bed.

Relaxed

Jennifer and I headed downtown for some KFC this evening. We ran into a couple of her students who all like to say her name as soon as they catch sight of her.
After consuming much fried food (and mashed potatoes!) we went to the local shopping places to get a plunger for my ever clogged toilet. Except the first place we went to we ended up buying granola bars and lotion, but completely forgot about the plunger. However, we found one in the second place.
We took a taxi back to the school to drop off said items then walked to the massage center. Man, oh man, my masseuse beat the crud out of me, but I feel much better now.

Now it's back to Roswell and relaxing.

And that's all she wrote.

Happy future birthday to me!

Before I left for China, there were some inquiries as to what I would like for my birthday.
So... I have compiled a list to do with as you please.
The list:
Love Spell body butter
A few books (don't judge me by these, I've been watching the Roswell series and I want to know what happens after the series ends)
-Roswell: A New Beginning
- Nightscapes (Roswell series)
-Little Green Men
-Turnabout
-Loose Ends
-Pursuit
-No Good Deed
Tinned spaghetti
Pizza flavored goldfish
Coconut body butter
This dress
This shirt
This dress too
Granola bars
Candles
Velveeta
Corn chips

Basically... send food! Although... we are getting a Walmart in October (supposedly) in which case I may be able to get all those things (unlikely).

Update on the evening later. For now, more Roswell until dinner time.

It's always a good night when you can't feel your face...

Right now my cheeks and lips are not exactly numb, but definitely lacking in as much feeling as they normally contain. This is most likely due to consuming much Jim Bean and tea with Jennifer and David.

Today I did nothing except watch Roswell, chat with Hamlin, and converse with Grandma and Grandpa via Skype. But this evening... well... that's where all the action was (yes, I'm ending that sentence with 'was', and it's wrong, so wrong, but I don't care).

This evening we ventured off to Phoenix Club. It ended up being only David, Jennifer, and I, but that was just fine. We drank, chatted, and played a Chinese dice game which will never really make sense to a westerner. I also watched the bar be lit on fire, the bartender juggle fire, and a flaming drink be prepared. Western fire marshals be warned, you are not welcome in these parts. (Wow, I really just had to type 'welcome' about three times. Make that numb fingers as well.)

I left the club with a stuffed animal, a candle, and 9 pictures from a photobooth. The pictures are available via flickr as soon as they load. (28% complete at this point.)

All in all, a grand night. I even used the squat pot successfully, which few foreigners can claim.

I'm off to figure out how to unclog the toilet with no plunger. I fear this may end in an Ian incident. (For that story, please refer to Nathan Baker).

For those of you worried about a consequential hangover, I've consumed 1 liter of water since being home (which has only been 30 minutes.)

Zaijian!


P.S. Rachel... the best English name I've encountered thus far is 'Nemo'. Lovely chap.

As per usual, find pictures here. Look for the two videos as well!

New, New, New

Yesterday the freshman started their military training. I woke up to yelling outside my window, which was unpleasant. They all look so adorable in their little camo outfits. They would make awful soldiers, they are constantly wiggling, can't follow direction, and would rather giggle about the people walking past them.

Later that day Jennifer, David and I went rug shopping out in the boonies. David bargained for me and I now have a great pink rug in my living room and a nice purple one in my bathroom. Definitely makes these more cozy.

David dropped Jennifer and I off, so we went to Bonny Coffee to get some dinner. I wanted to get a drink so I pointed to the menu (which was in Chinese) and ended up with purple koolaid+sprite. It wasn't a bad combination. My pasta was absolutely disgusting though, so I picked up some kung pao chicken and rice from the restaurant in the hotel. After eating Jennifer and I hung out and talked for a few hours.

Pretty straightforward day. Tonight we're going to the Phoenix Club and perhaps meeting some of the other foreigners in Jiujiang.

My lessons planning for next week is done. We're just doing introductions so I can learn my hundreds of students names. Oy.

Oh. I got my roll sheet from Max (head of the foreign teachers) and it's in Chinese. I can read 小 (Xiao), 王 (Wang), 李 (Li), 张 (Zhang). The rest of them I guess I have to guess on, or just call them by their student number. Bah.



Also, I miss Taco Bell.

Why?! Why?! Why?!

Today we received our teaching schedules. Holy crap, mine is the suck.
I have business English 2 at 8am on Monday. It is a class of 60+ so they said I can instead split it into two classes. I will do that. The second Business English 2 class meets at 2:30pm on Tuesday.
After Business English 2 on Mondays I have some class they couldn't translate. I think it's a secretary class. This class has no book. It also comes with no pre-set curriculum. Fine. We're learning American culture and they can suck on it. This class meets again on Wednesday at 8am, it is not a class I am able to split.
On Tuesday at 10am I have Business English 3, yet another 60+ students class which I can split. The second Business English class 3 meets on Thursday at 8am.
Business English 1 is my other 60+ student class. It can be split with them either coming to the 8am class or the 10am class.

Uhhh......

Is anyone else confused by the ridiculous scheduling?
AND (!) the schedule will be changing after the first week. So once my kids think they have their stuff down... wham bam thank you ma'am, we're changing it up again.
BAH!

So... I have no media options in my classroom. We're straight up old schoolin' it here with a chalkboard and chalk. No computer, no cd or tape player, not even an overhead projector or tv.


And to make matters worse, here are some excerpts from the Business English book they expect me to use:

Mr. White: Hello, glad to see you in your company.
Mr. Wang: So am I.

.....

Mr. White: I'm afraid that tightly woven materials generally become shiny with wear rather tightly.
Mr. Wang: This material is different from others in this respect.
Mr. White: What do you mean?
Mr. Wang: Because the luster will laboriously and yet delicately woven in to the fabric.

....


Importer: Thank you. I am pleased to tell you that the 40,000 dozen t-shirts have arrived in good condition and are selling well.
Exporter: Good.
Importer: We would like to make a repeat order for 50,000 dozen.


DOZEN?!?!?! DOZEN?!?!?!?! Am I missing something here?!?!?!?

Also, can I mention the fact that my Business English students are already studying this book with two other Chinese teachers? So, really, it's old news here for them. I'm throwing this damn book out the window.

Apparently my students (I'm teaching sophomores) have to take a CET exam in December. CET stands for Cambridge English Test, but let me tell you, this test was not produced by Cambridge. A majority of students fail it. I've decided instead of us re-hashing their awful book, this exam is what we're preparing this semester. I have a copy of it from 2003, so that's what we'll have to use. The exam is also ridiculous in the same way the book is, but I would rather we concentrate on this than stupid dialogues they will never use. We'll save the book for next semester and conquer it then.


Right, so I have some lesson planning to get at.

Tomorrow, rug shopping and perhaps meeting the other foreigners at English corner/ bar time.
Nathan recieved his papers, finally! He's off to get his visa today. I get to see him next week! Hooray!


Oh, did I mention they want to add a debate class to my schedule later on? It's the best speakers in the school who participate in the competitions and the like. Ehhh... I'm not sure I'll let myself get badgered into that one. Leave it for the Canadian. (He gets the freshman, which means he doesn't have to start school for another two weeks due to them having military training.)

P.S. There is no copy machine.


Bed.

Just a quick one...

I've come to realize I have no one's skype name except Nathan's. Oo'er. Please send those over promptly.
xoxo

Not much to report on...

I've literally spent the past two days in the dark, resting my eyes, and sleeping a lot.
I'm doing a lot better now, although I haven't put my contacts in yet.

Since I haven't been out, I don't know if the Canadian has arrived yet. What I do know is that someone has been smoking in our hallway and it's seeped into my apartment. Stink.

Tomorrow I shall venture out. I need to get more bottled water, and I'm dying to get out of the apartment.

I did have one disappointment. I bought Joan of Arcadia while at the dvd store but after popping it in the dvd player realized it's porn! Certainly not what I was expecting.

I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow.

My eyes are incredibly angry right now, bright red and refusing to focus on anything too long. I think the air here is finally starting to get to me. I've spent the day holed up in the apartment, sitting in the dark, and watching Xena.

Just wanted to update you all. I'm off to take another nap and rest my eyes.