Hi,
Most people in this part of China claim that there are only two seasons; summer and winter. I believe them. If you go back to last October I sent an email wondering where autumn went. We went from the 20's to snow in a very short time. Well, it is happening again. A week ago Tuesday was one of our colder days when you count wind chill. Today it reached 31oC. Spring lasted about 4 days!
I took my bike out today for the first time since October. I rode it to buy some food. It is very windy. I was ok going but I had to walk it most of the way back. My parcel carrier was full and it was heavy going into the wind. THat's ok. It felt good to get out on it again. I really enjoy riding around on it.
This term is turning out to be fun. I am enjoying more than I have the previous four terms that I taught in China. I was dreading the Oral English but now I look forward to going to class and I am usually surprised when the bell goes to tell us that it is over. They have canceled some of my classes but I wouldn't mind teaching some more of them. There is one class that will be bothersome. There are 37 in it which is large for Oral English and there are about 10 that wouldn't do their work in English during our first class. I will come up with some means to get them involved. Some students take this course only because they need to take some electives and they figure that they don't have to do much in Oral English. I will surprise them. If they don't want to cooperate then I will work them twice as hard as the other classes. One of the students from the class, Penny, is coming for supper tomorrow night. I met her last term when she wasn't my student. She will be writing her IELTS exam soon as needs to practice some speaking.
On Tuesday, Krista (Ling) is coming for lunch and we will make dumplings. I had some students here last year trying to show me how to make them. They don't make them from scratch. They buy the dough and then roll it out and cut it into the right sizes. They also buy the fillings and then put some inside and close it up. They are shaped much like turnovers. It was easy to tell which ones I had rolled! She said we should invite some others over; so between us we will ask another 3. I only have 5 chairs.
Well, it is nice to see the end of winter. It was unusually long here this year. Quite a difference from winter in Changzhou. But we are about 3 hours farther north so it might be like Halifax and Mirimachi.
Talk to you later.
Don
Friday, March 19, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mount Jiuhua (jiuhuashan) with Lydia (shen hui)
I went to Jiuhuashan on Friday with a friend. That's the first time that I have traveled with someone other than to their home. It was nice to have someone for company who can speak Chinese. We stayed overnight and came back on Saturday. She is fun to be with. It was her birthday last week so I told her I would treat her and she chose jiuhuashan. I had never been there so that was ok. It is a nice place. She has no one to talk English with and she is very anxious to practice. We had a good time. THe hotel was good. Nothing fancy but comfortable and free internet and good shower. My legs are a little stiff from climbing so many steps up the mountain. The weather was great. The scenery is beautiful but not as nice as huangshan, I am told. That will be my next trip.
I never got to go anywhere with Judy because I always thought that there was lots of time. Then, suddenly, she was going to Africa and the opportunity was gone. I learned my lesson. Never assume that you have lots of time to do the things that you want to do because maybe next week or next month she will be gone or I will be gone and then the opportunity is lost. So now if I have the chance to go somewhere with a friend I will go as soon as we can. When Lydia suggested jiuhuashan I said yes right away. I had the days free and I know that she wants to move to Shanghai in April maybe. So we won't have too many chances. I will visit her in Shanghai sometime. I want to go to the Shanghai Expo so I will stay at her place when I go. She is comical at times. She seems naive but she talks about many things that many girls would be uncomfortable with, I think. She laughs a lot and that makes me laugh and feel good. I don't laugh enough, I think.
I went to class today (3 periods) but the school canceled the class; only 10 students signed up. That is good for me. Now I have no classes on Mondays so I have a free day. I have 6 Oral English classes and the last I heard there was only one of them that was full. Maybe they will join some of the classes together. That would be nice!
The weather is starting to be springlike. It will soon be time to get my bicycle out. I can't wait! I love riding my bike. I feel free. I can go anywhere without being limited by bus routes or schedules. In the fall I rode to Caisiji. It took me about 30 minutes. It's a nice park to visit. Some day I will take a whole day, pack a picnic and go out into the country to explore. It would be great if I could find someone to go with but I will go on my own anyway.
I won't have much free time for awhile. I have more than twice the classes that I had last term so I am busy but I like it. I had too much free time last term and that is not good for me. I need to keep busy.
Don
I never got to go anywhere with Judy because I always thought that there was lots of time. Then, suddenly, she was going to Africa and the opportunity was gone. I learned my lesson. Never assume that you have lots of time to do the things that you want to do because maybe next week or next month she will be gone or I will be gone and then the opportunity is lost. So now if I have the chance to go somewhere with a friend I will go as soon as we can. When Lydia suggested jiuhuashan I said yes right away. I had the days free and I know that she wants to move to Shanghai in April maybe. So we won't have too many chances. I will visit her in Shanghai sometime. I want to go to the Shanghai Expo so I will stay at her place when I go. She is comical at times. She seems naive but she talks about many things that many girls would be uncomfortable with, I think. She laughs a lot and that makes me laugh and feel good. I don't laugh enough, I think.
I went to class today (3 periods) but the school canceled the class; only 10 students signed up. That is good for me. Now I have no classes on Mondays so I have a free day. I have 6 Oral English classes and the last I heard there was only one of them that was full. Maybe they will join some of the classes together. That would be nice!
The weather is starting to be springlike. It will soon be time to get my bicycle out. I can't wait! I love riding my bike. I feel free. I can go anywhere without being limited by bus routes or schedules. In the fall I rode to Caisiji. It took me about 30 minutes. It's a nice park to visit. Some day I will take a whole day, pack a picnic and go out into the country to explore. It would be great if I could find someone to go with but I will go on my own anyway.
I won't have much free time for awhile. I have more than twice the classes that I had last term so I am busy but I like it. I had too much free time last term and that is not good for me. I need to keep busy.
Don
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I'm better
Hi,
My four days of suffering from food poisoning finished on Saturday. Friday and Saturday (esp Sat.) were awful. I couldn't eat or even drink water without it coming up faster than it went down. I didn't get out of bed for two days unless I had to and then I had to hurry!! I hadn't eaten anything for two days and there was still stuff coming up. I thought it might have been my entire stomach. I was going to put a blanket in there and sleep on the floor at one point. Sunday I managed to eat a little and by Monday I was eating and feeling almost normal. I have been eating a lot ever since. I am still a little weak but I am almost 100% today (wednesday). Your first thought, I am sure, was that I ate street food or in one of the small Chinese restaurants but the only food I ate the day before I got sick was at Pizza Hut!! Go figure. I hadn't eaten breakfast and I went for a late lunch about 3:00 so I had a big meal. I have only been there 3 times because it is expensive. I could have had 6 meals in a Chinese restaurant for what I paid I felt like treating myself. I ended up paying even more in the long run.
Anyway it's all over.
Don
My four days of suffering from food poisoning finished on Saturday. Friday and Saturday (esp Sat.) were awful. I couldn't eat or even drink water without it coming up faster than it went down. I didn't get out of bed for two days unless I had to and then I had to hurry!! I hadn't eaten anything for two days and there was still stuff coming up. I thought it might have been my entire stomach. I was going to put a blanket in there and sleep on the floor at one point. Sunday I managed to eat a little and by Monday I was eating and feeling almost normal. I have been eating a lot ever since. I am still a little weak but I am almost 100% today (wednesday). Your first thought, I am sure, was that I ate street food or in one of the small Chinese restaurants but the only food I ate the day before I got sick was at Pizza Hut!! Go figure. I hadn't eaten breakfast and I went for a late lunch about 3:00 so I had a big meal. I have only been there 3 times because it is expensive. I could have had 6 meals in a Chinese restaurant for what I paid I felt like treating myself. I ended up paying even more in the long run.
Anyway it's all over.
Don
Monday, March 1, 2010
new teachers
Hi,
It looks we will have two new teacher, maybe. A young American guy moved into an apartment on the 2nd floor a week ago. I didn't know he was there. Someone broke into his place on Tuesday and took a lot of stuff. I met when I was going by his place. The police were there. I think he was ready to go back to USA. I don't know if he stayed.
Then today I met woman from England who moved into the apartment across from me. She maybe about 30. Seemed pleasant.
Classes start for me on Thursday. It looks like I will be busy; 16 periods a week. Last term I had 6. So I will have 4 Consumer Behaviour and the rest English. I could protest because they hired to teach Economics but they changed my load the first two terms so I won't complain this time.
So I will be busy. But I think a good thing too. Too much time is not very much fun either.
Don
It looks we will have two new teacher, maybe. A young American guy moved into an apartment on the 2nd floor a week ago. I didn't know he was there. Someone broke into his place on Tuesday and took a lot of stuff. I met when I was going by his place. The police were there. I think he was ready to go back to USA. I don't know if he stayed.
Then today I met woman from England who moved into the apartment across from me. She maybe about 30. Seemed pleasant.
Classes start for me on Thursday. It looks like I will be busy; 16 periods a week. Last term I had 6. So I will have 4 Consumer Behaviour and the rest English. I could protest because they hired to teach Economics but they changed my load the first two terms so I won't complain this time.
So I will be busy. But I think a good thing too. Too much time is not very much fun either.
Don
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)