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.

FYI

Skype is up and running.

Username: jdubbs2

Let's set up some appointments, yes? :)

Tomorrow I'm talking to Nathan at 9am my time. I usually wake up around 7am and go to bed at about 9:30-10pm. Thirteen hour time difference from Texas, twelve from the East Coast.

Mai dongshi.

Today Jennifer and I went back down to walking street to get some dvds and pick up necessities. After dvd shopping (I picked up Ugly Betty, Xena, Kung Fu Panda, and a few others) it began to rain so we ducked into another shop where Jennifer used to buy her candles. They were out of candles but I managed to buy myself a Hello Kitty keyboard (very much needed since the one I had was disgusting) and a cool painting of a black and white tree I plan to put up in my room.
We also went to New York pizza again for lunch. I had the BBQ chicken pizza which was delicious and I got a large vegetable pizza to go so I could munch on it later.
The rain storm was pretty good. Lots of lightening. Chinese people hate rain. I guess this is understandable since I'm pretty sure it must be acid rain. I hope my face doesn't melt off later.

When we got back to the apartments we dropped off our stuff then went to the little store on campus. I needed another bucket for my underoos and some water.
I tried out my dvds when I got back to the house, but alas, my dvd player doesn't work. This is typical. Tomorrow I will get a new one from the school.

I keep waking up at the ungodly hour of 7am. This is not natural.

Nathan should be here next weekend. I doubt we'll get to see each other, as it's a pain in the wutang to get to his school from here. We'll probably have to wait until the following weekend.

They're doing a special here on CCTv on the special olympics. This is good. China rarely embraces the mentally and physically handicapped, instead throwing them into the streets to live as beggars or into the orphanages. I hope this raises awareness.

I noticed a lot of wedding dresses while walking around downtown. I guess western weddings really are getting more popular. This has potential business written all over it. I need to keep practicing my Chinese before that happens. I asked about getting a tutor, but Jennifer says they are awful at teaching their own language. I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing, going out amongst the people.

Oh! I got money out of the atm today. I'm an idiot and was pressing the wrong button, it seems. At any rate, I figured it out.

After talking to Jennifer about class sizes, it seems Hamlin got his seventeen mixed up and meant to say seventy. This happens often, as I found out shopping with him.
I've already mapped out our first day of class which will involve everyone introducing themselves. Classes are two hours and I'm thinking this will probably take up the entire class period. Sweet.

I'm getting sleepy. A slice of pizza, then bed.

P.S. I ate Blueberry flavored Lays the other day. Ew.
See more pictures here!