Two down...

I won't let myself say how many to go... gotta be thinking location, not the destination.

Last night I spent at "Julie & Mu"'s, during the day we bought potatoes, fish and other ingredients and made (among many delicious Chinese dishes) potato latkas. I can't remember the last time I tasted one, so I have no idea whether or not the ones we made were great, reasonable or WAY off.
They tasted good, and I think in a way it was a miracle - done without a recipe or experience, just a faint idea, some intensely diced potatoes, salt, egg and flour to make it hold together while being fried.

I also got a gift from Jada - small Beijing Opera masks that she got on a trip she took there this last week. Now if I only knew what I could get her.



Final presentations today went OK, most of the student did well - I was pleasantly surprised by my first class (normally so mellow and quiet) being so active in their discussions.

I was, however, disappointed with one group who I saw using index cards tucked into their sleeves to help with their talking.
I haven't calculated exactly how much I'm going to dock them for that behavior - but they know it's going to be steep and harsh.

My boss 柯素芬 says that next semester she doesn't know if I will teach another evening class at the Foreign Language School - I hope I don't, 18:30-21:00 just isn't what I'm designed for. If I don't get another class I'll be expected to lend some assistance in teaching the Sophomore English Writing class, because I apparently did a pretty satisfactory job of writing corrections for the essays during the practice CET4.
...they had the real test this Saturday and it sounds like the students probably didn't do that well - or at least didn't feel good about how well they did.

After lunch today I went over to my apartment to look at their progress (I'm supposed to be able to return tomorrow) and I found the bathroom re-tiled, my sink and washing machine put back in it, and a NEW toilet (SWEET!).

Well, I better get out of my office before either this campus or the South campus closes.

Almost... almost... almost...

(for those who have seen "Family Guy" episode "North by North Quahog", guess the next segment in the title)


Why am I late this time you ask?

A matter of days prior to my family coming to visit me here in Wenzhou I was asked if I would kindly vacate my apartment for a week or two while some maintenance workers did some work on my bathroom floor in order to stop a water leak that was leaving water on the step outside my apartment door... a leak that seems most likely to be coming from somewhere in the wall near my kitchen or quite possibly from some source above my lodgings (though admittedly that is more opinion than fact).

Now a matter of days preceding my finals I have been asked by an entire crew of men to leave my home while they tear up my bathroom floor and plug up the leak. In the meantime I've been moved to a hotel room on the South Campus that regrettably has no computer, thus I have no software to upload the pictures that would substantiate my grievances.

...the good news is I finally finished grading the evening class I taught for the Foreign Language College this last semester, so 3 of my overall 15 credits worth of classes are accounted for.

...Now to observe the finals and collect the midterms of my other 6 classes.


Last night (Thursday) I spent at the apartment of my friends and colleagues, Julie Luo and her husband Mu. We steamed eggplant and dipped it in a sauce of garlic and ginger, made a soup with potatoes and pork, and ate raw cucumber and lettuce (first time in a while for me).
The food was great, and afterwards we used a microphone in the living room to sing songs - not officially karaoke, but fairly close.

Now I'm preparing an assignment for my students to make sure they keep practicing English over the break, and give me something to work with once they get back.


Sunday I'm going back to Julie's and we're going to make latkas for Hanukkah... now if only I had a menorah it would be complete. Maybe tomorrow I can go find one after I take care of some important business matters - like sleeping undisturbed and making some lessons more than a few days or weeks in advance.
...with luck maybe I'll get some time to do some martial arts and Chinese learning too.

The end (of the term) is near...

...yet not quite near enough it seems. Still classes and tests to be given.

My updates here have been... spotty, I know, I've been using the computer in my apartment less and less, and I keep trying to lighten up on myself and actually do some "relaxing" and "living", rather than working, so I haven't been writing either in the blog, or even my personal journal for the past week.

I met with my friend and colleague Mr. Mu the other day and he told me that some of his students from Harbin would be willing to escort me there at the end of finals one month from now. I've read that the place has a park for Tigers and several buildings of Russian-style architecture, so I'm looking forward to that.
The only dilemma I have is that Faye, one of my Oujiang colleague, expressed interest in going to Harbin, and it will difficult for her to go given that after finals she needs to do some intensive work to properly grade her students.


I've started taking actual Chinese classes at the International Cooperation College (Faye actually teaches one of the classes), so now I finally have some more structured language learning. The classes are only a few students (foreigners, although I'm the only American) and rely on a textbook, so it should be an interesting experience.


This last week I refrained from shaving (other than my neck) to see if a slight beard would improve my feeling in the cold climate. It didn't change much, so I shaved it off this evening.

In other news, the students in one of my classes made a plan to go up the mountain this weekend and they invited me, so that's where I was today - however they decided it was too far to schlep all the food and the grills for barbecuing, so we took vans up to the mountain and hiked just a couple hundred meters in.
I did my usual garbage collection when we finished, but the van drivers refused to bring it back (fair enough I suppose), so we had to leave it behind with an elderly couple that decided to look through the bags for empty bottles.

It's just amazing to me how much disregard there is for the environment. I mean do people just plan to visit these places one time and then never come back?
I think if I started an awareness campaign it would have a slogan like:

"You're here for one day, this (the garbage) is here everyday you don't take it away with you." OR maybe
"You're here to enjoy this day with your kids, this (again garbage) will be here to enjoy a day with your grandchildren's kids. Don't leave what you don't think they'll enjoy."
(...yeah, corny I know, but right now I think this place needs a little corny, if only to get people's attention).

Last thing I'll give is some pictures of the trip today. Sorry the first one is so small, it was far away. And yes, I am that big compared to my students.

Into the wilderness...

...with all of student civilization in tow.


I've said before that hiking for me is a time of quiet contemplation. A chance to reconnect with nature in the limited sense of breathing air that's in close proximity to trees, and not having vehicles, computers or any peculiar noise-making devices nearby. (Granted I did take my cell phone, but that was for the purpose of knowing the time, and it's always on vibrate).

The students I repeatedly go hiking with, however, have a very different feel for hiking and what it entails. When these guys and girls go hiking they do it with MP5s blaring music and constant singing or chattering all the way up. They even have moments when they turn around and shout randomly back down the valley - to tell you the truth it's actually quite annoying.
But I like them a lot, and this gets me out of my apartment, so I'm happy to do it, even if I don't always enjoy the manner of doing.

Today I went hiking, only for a little over an hour, then walked back down, picking up garbage on the way, then I returned some library books that Rose borrowed for me, and then returned to my apartment.

Later in the evening I received a call from some guy who I've only seen a couple times and then I received a call from Rose who said her roommates had gone into town to do shopping and had left her without a key back to their room. What's more, she asked if I was home, I admitted I was, and she said she was "outside my window" and saw that the light wasn't on... yeah...


As far as work, this week I'm going to give the students another lesson in advocating and making choices as a group. This week we'll do shopping and eating.
I'll also assign them to groups of 4-6 and they'll perform together in their final - which it turns out has to be before the new year.

And like that... they were gone

Well, the fam is gone, and I'm still left with my work - and now I have no approaching reunion to occupy my mind.
It was great having them here, and I feel more secure with myself as far as my work, I just wish... I don't know... that they were staying a little longer, that I had as much leisure to learn and enjoy myself as everyone thinks I should, that my Chinese were better, that I could go more places away from this campus... I could go on, but wishing won't make things happen.

So it's back to the ol' salt mines I guess.

Still the visit was what I needed to perk me up some. I may not sound so 'perky' but I'm more sure about what and how I'm teaching, and I was glad to bring (nearly) all of my friends together.

On the academic side of things my Friday classes were pretty lousy - I just didn't know what to give them and was in a mental rut, so I did a review of material from last week, gave them some topics in the news to advocate feelings for, and then gave them free time to do work from other classes.
...yeah, I wasn't feeling too pleased with myself after that - the students weren't upset, but that wasn't much consolation.

The Miners have landed...

At last the day has come. Dad, Mom and Tom are here and (as would be expected of any loving family) they're already making changes to my apartment.
Some of the changes are certainly necessary - for instance a new hot plate for cooking, some more dishtowels, a better inside-doormat, and a more "official" wastebasket - but it would be nice if we could just sit around for a while and relax.
(I guess it's in the genes - can't stay still for too long).

We just took it easy today, got Mom and Dad to their hotel room, had lunch with some of my friends, went shopping for some things and had dinner. They all seemed to enjoy my choice for dinner - it was lighter fare than most of the Chinese food they'd been having so far. It wasn't American food (I would never stoop so low when I have guests in China), but it was a little more "American" in that there was only one vegetable dish (corn, peas and carrot pieces), a scoop of white rice with sesame seeds, and a meat dish more akin to an American style of cooking.

Hopefully tomorrow when we have dinner in a Chinese restaurant again they'll be a little more grounded and able to handle the local food again.

In other news I'm looking to ways I can hold my classes on Thursday and how I can best present my present family (there's just something missing when you're not here Matt).

The balance...

...it might not be cosmic, but it seems to work nonetheless.

Quite suddenly the weather turned really COLD. Not quite freezing, but a long way off from the comfort zone.
When I first came here (almost 3 months ago!) I was given a blanket and a single bed sheet. At the time the temperature was still lingering around the summer levels and thus I converted the insides of my blanket into a mattress top to make my bed at least a little comfortable. This left me with a thin sheet for a blanket, which was all I required a couple months ago, but has since proven inadequate to stave off the frigid nighttime temperatures.
I recently asked my boss if the college can provide me with another blanket, which would serve a dual purpose by allowing me to sleep on the couch while Tom stays with me (yeah, Mom and Dad get the hotel, Tom hangs with his big bro).


I was given my blanket today, while at the same time I was given an extra 16 students in my first Friday morning class.
...I will say that once more for good measure: "an extra 16 STUDENTS!"
...It gets better...
The majority of these students do not have the room in their schedule to even attend my class, so they expect me to provide them with make-up work for review and allow them to take the final exam and call it good.

Allow me to make one thing clear, I am NOT accusing Shelley (轲素芬) of any kind of backstabbing maneuver (I've said it before, I'll say it again: She is AWESOME!), but I get the sense that there is some balance being preserved here - I make a demand, I get what I request, and in addition I get more work that doesn't conflict with my contract.

A quick review of my job requirements: my contract stipulates that I will teach no more than 16 credit hours per week, however there is no written clause that limits the size of my classes.


In other news, Dad, Mom and Tom supposedly arrived in Beijing last night, but at said time I was on the South Campus, judging a speech competition for my college and had turned off my cell phone.
One of the contestants was a student of my Friday class, and when it came time for her speech she went free-form and decided to turn some of her attention on me as I judged. She said a lot of nice things, and being that I am somewhat susceptible to flattery I tried to give my scorecard to someone else so I'd have zero chance of giving a biased assessment of her speech.
In the end I kept it and judged as best I could.
She ended up winning second place (along with around 3 or 4 other students).

At the end I was given an envelope which I didn't think to open until today. I expected a generic "thank you" letter... I was right about the generic "thank you" part, it came, however, in the form of a 100 元 bill.
...wasn't expecting that.


Hope Mom and Dad get a phone and call me soon. I don't see them until Tuesday, but I'd like to hear from them before then nonetheless.