Updates

Today I informed my conversation class about what their final would be on. Whoot, I guess.

I also saw a schedule for next semester. I'm certainly mostly teaching in one college, and I keep my audio-visual class. However, I'm also teaching Ben and Ann's students, the sophomores. I'm teaching the same course I teach Minsheng, Introduction to English Speaking Countries.

This means, actually, that the class I accidentally taught at the beginning of the year, where I tried to teach them is- well, I actually do get to teach them this. Karma.

I think by this point I've kinda settled into China- granted, I've still got my AV teacher status, so all the technology is mine, mine mine! HAHAHAHA, wait. I mean, this means that while I am teaching classes, I'm certainly not working as hard as Adam or Will who have writing papers to teach. But mostly, I feel comfy here. Food poisoning and all.

Also got a trio of sweet speakers. They are brilliant. :) Many thanks to Amelia for them.

Snow

Yay! I have the internet again! This is mostly thanks to Adam, allowing me to use his computer/VPN while I looked up what might be wrong with mine. Turns out the settings changed but I was unaware, and so now I know. Yay!

These next few weeks I'm panicked about finals. I have six to write- 3 finals for 3 classes and 2 variations for each.

Other than that, today we had snow! The rain has been cold and awful, and the wind has been quite strong as well. During Survey class, snow started falling! We have about half an inch, and it's accumulating. Slush is on the ground, which makes it slippery. But I see there's nothing on the streets; no salt, no water. Nor is it really cold enough to turn the snow to ice. All it does is remind me that the cars are skating on slush. Scary when crossing the street!

Sunday Thanksgiving

Yesterday we had thanksgiving. It was pretty fun, having about 15 people show up. We had five nationalities; American, Chinese, Japanese, Australian and German. The turkey we cooked in a convention oven, and we had to use hot plates in order to boil anything. Despite these setbacks, we still managed to have a really decent thanksgiving. We had mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and broccoli (okay, a lot of broccoli), cookies, turkey (16lbs fed 15 of us really well), stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. It worked beautifully. I dunno, if there ever was an up day, Thanksgiving was it.

Most of the day I spent watching the turkey or helping peel things (apples, potatoes, carrots, anything because in China you never eat the skin for safety reasons). Everyone had their focus on a dish, but I’d say Adam was the Head chef and I might have been the Souse Chef (sp). It was a lot of fun, and cleanup didn’t take so long. So Thanksgiving, when finally celebrated, was a very, very, very good day.

Proxy Issues and Money Things

I’m still waiting for my proxy to work. Sorry about this sudden rash of updates; Skype is always a good way to talk to me. Or e-mail.

I have a strange nightly ritual which I which correlates to the bank account I have. Every night before I go to bed, I look at the exchange rate between the Yuan and the USD. Every night, I wait, wondering if things will get better or worse, thinking of when to best send my money if I can. I know I’ve still got time, but I like to see when sometimes I earn a little extra dollar since I’m paid in RMB. What I hope is that one day the extra money I’d earn transferring would be used to cover the cost of the fee.

Maybe I’m geeky, but everyone here is well aware that I can accurately give them the current exchange rate. Sadly, it’s always in the form of our monthly salary.

Food Poisoning

Well, it finally happened. Not at all surprised it did happen, and to be fair, I was expecting it sooner.

I have food poisoning. Ick. Most of my expelling food was done in the night, so I was able to sleep/meditate in between my digestive tract wanting nothing inside of it and taking measures to do so. So here I am, Monday morning, feeling much better (no pressure, but still, no appetite), and trying to figure out how much water my stomach will accept before it complains.

On the upside, I have no classes today.

On the downside, tomorrow would be a very important sort of presentation I'm giving. As long as I can force my way through that, I should be fine.

I'm not sure where I got it; another teacher started puking about that same time (20 minutes before my stomach started hurting), so it's possible I got it at the same time he did. But sadly, there's no way of knowing where it came from.

Here's the fun part; with everywhere I eat, I don't know where it came from, but no place would surprise me. There are no official restaurants the same way there are in the states, sometimes the kitchens are just as makeshift as the ones outside. So. It is a mystery.

Preparing for tutoring and presentations

I've offered to help out a school as a guest lecturer.

Oh boy.

Remember, I've got nothing but a B.A. going into China. If anything, I've learned to teach in a sink or swim environment. And that being said, I'm not teaching the more difficult classes (which would be writing). I'm teaching listening, where anything we do is listening. Or I'm teaching history, where I just assume nobody understands and send them the notes to study. Or conversation, which is so basic it hurts.

So, I'm going to do a lecture on Thanksgiving and related food words. I've been pulling pictures (and citing them, that hardly ever happens in China, and when I showed the woman who's helping me put this together, she was confused as to why I would have a works cited page). Essentially, I'll speak, attempt easy, simple English to 200-300 students and officials, play a game of "what is this?", and get photos taken with students. I already had my conversation class take photos of me.

So I'm preparing for that; my powerpoint needed revised.

Also I'm going to intensively practice English with someone else. One a day for 2 weeks, maybe.

Weather

So I think I should tell you about what the weather is like in Kaifeng.

It has started raining, and with the rain brings wet and cold. I found a leak in one of my windows, so now the rain drips through the window onto the windowsill. At least it's not over an electrical socket. All it does is prove that my suspicions that this room was poorly insulated were correct.

Most of the time, Kaifeng is hazy. Not always, but normally it's not so clear and there's fog. If you like seeing the stars, you'll be out of luck most nights. Especially a few weeks ago, when farmers burned their fields. Since cars have picked up in the last three years (more than the older teachers can remember), smog has also increased (and also helps explain why the traffic is so bad).

On other times, it rains. Apparently last year it didn't rain this much, but if you were coming to Kaifeng, it would be safe to bring an umbrella. Or don't, and buy one here. I have a broken umbrella that's still serving me well enough. It rarely storms; if anything, I remember now one night where the wind was strong but there was little storm. Most of the time when it rains, it's a steady fall of rain, probably enough to get you soaked in five minutes if you were walking.

When it rains, you feel colder. You suddenly are wet and cold, and you'll have to wear a few more layers between you and the cold if you can. Otherwise, the cold eats at you. And when you don't have central heating, that's a lot that it eats at you. These past few weeks were a lot of three layers of shirts and two layers of pants, something I rarely do at home! Almost all pajamas were the same- probably because I've realized the blankets provided do not trap heat well. When Mom and Dad sent extra sheets (so I can clean mine, as it takes two days for anything to dry properly), I just piled them on and now have insulation. Yay!

Sunny days do happen, and they're great when they happen. But it's hazy, so you may not see the sun clearly. But when it does, you'll remember how great it is and how it's nice to walk without having your feet in puddles (yes, puddles of many inches), mudpits (yes), and without being so cold. Sunny days are great.

For anyone coming here, my advice would be the same as what I did- wear clothes that you can layer. Because you will be layering.

When I know what winter is like I'll let you know; it's mostly like fall weather in the Midwest right now.

Concert and Heat

Last night I went to a concert hosted by a student. It was really good; like his senior show. Interestingly it was all pop music (though one Buble piece in which, and I quote, “The singer [sung] with the soul of a black man”. The quote is from the singer himself). Not just pop music, but also, it was done karaoke style, with no instruments behind you. Still, it was fun to hear him sing, and we got seats, being foreign people. I think the deal was he looked international, and we got a free concert. Yay!

There were people lined up in the aisles, and we were breaking all sorts of fire codes. I don’t know what else to say about that- people were standing on desks, packed in, just to see this kid.

We came back, and today I’m finishing typing up an explanation about the Republican Presidential Debate. I’m showing it to my audio-visual class. Not only does it improve listening and is an example of an interview, it also lets them know what my country is interested and thinking about when we decide to vote for whom. Also it lets them know about the wide variety of people who want to be president.

Also today I’m hearing drops of water in many places- I think they’re turning on the heat. Whoot. Whoot. Mostly I find leaving my heater on after I come home in my room keeps it warm enough for me to fall asleep in. Leaving it on for hours makes it toasty indeed!

Gulou weekend adventure

Weekends.

It’s very tempting on the weekends to stay inside and chill (and write lesson plans), but yesterday I went to Gulou, which is an area that is kind of the center of the city. It’s more for tourists (a student told me of a different area to visit) and is famous at night-time for the night market, which is a bunch of little stalls selling anything from giant fans to incense to toys to books to food.

But I went in the morning, mainly for one thing- there’s a giant supermarket there, and it sells cheese. Ann and I traveled to the cheese land, looking at many things like small ovens, electric blankets, shampoo that came with a complementary mug, giant teddy bears (it seems to be a popular item over here, bears the size of people). In the end, I got cheese and found some ham. The meat here often tastes the same as dog food in the states smells, but you know, it’s ham. It’s meat. I’ll deal with that, and if I really wanted meat, I’d head somewhere else.

Cooking for myself is not something I’d really thought about- I could, but I’d probably have to buy more than a microwave. Or maybe a tea kettle would be fun. These are all things that could happen, but I currently see no reason to have a tea kettle or to have a oven. But it’s nice to know I’m not limited here.

La la la teaching again

I recovered from the sick!

…Wait. Hanging around too much Chinese. I am no longer ill!

So today I taught class, and actually ate food. No. I did that. All by myself, I ate food. Like I am a grown adult ate my food.

Conversation class went like this: We made lists of things people liked and disliked, and I asked them why they liked or disliked something, and then for agreeing and disagreeing I had them take votes and explain their positions. We talked about the most important things in life, which was not “water”, “food”, “shelter” or “health”, but instead “family”. Then I made them play “heads up, 7-up”, while I wrote on the board the group homework skit I want them to do in three weeks. I think it will be fun. Maybe.

In visual class I showed the last episode of Oprah. It spoke to a lot of students and they seemed to really like it. That episode is good for feeling like you’re worth something, and that’s something we all want to feel. Besides, Oprah speaks clearly and slowly, so she’s wonderful to understand. Many students afterward told me they had wanted to cry with that show.

After that… huh…. Well, Since I had to cancel Tuesday’s class (Survey Class)(See: sickness) a lot of students also asked me when we’ll make up class. My response: We can make up a class?

The things I am learning. If I had kept the schedule, both classes would be even now. Drat.

The things I am learning.

Also today

Well, I think aside from the first week I was here, I'm starting to get a cold. It's been raining, my fingers feel a little pain in the joints (I sound so old), I was really, really tired this morning, and I've been tired ever since. I didn't walk to lunch but I did walk to the office to inquire about a package that should have come maybe a few days ago. It was there, in someone else's office, and Adam (who was also expecting a package) went with me to inquire. He got a letter and we were informed there were packages for us upstairs. But after that trekking, I felt weak. I shouldn't have been that weak, out of breath and just achy. So I think I must have some sort of cold. Hopefully it will clear up.

Oh yes today I got a package and inside it were sheets, conditioner, starburst, tampons, and other things mom had collected from inside my room. So this particular package was mostly just a shipping cost....

I have one more package coming, but that's useful and I'll update you about it more later. Until then I've asked them to stop sending packages, it's expensive. Whether they do it or not, I have no idea, but at least I know that I've made my request clear.

I have discovered that my space heater works, although there is little space it heats and a lot of space to fill. Sad. I see many long days away from my desk because theres no outlet that I can plug the heater into.

I also see it warming up the bedroom, because that place is so dank and daft it hurts at night. I often am tempted to just sleep on the sofa in my living room. Oh well.

Class Setups

I know I haven’t updated the blog that frequently. Sorry about that. At this point the days feel a bit repetitive.

My survey class normally goes like this: Write a power point of maybe 40-50 slides, show videos in-between the slides, there’s a break in the middle of two hours. Most of the class is spent speaking and lecturing, not interacting. Since the idea of the class is getting an idea and information, not learning a skill, there’s little practice or interaction.

The class starts with a “Hello”, and then a quiz, in which I tell them not to speak or have their books open or I’ll fail their quiz for that day. I’ve not caught anybody cheating yet, but I have a good feeling that’s in part because I need to read the questions out loud while presenting them on the screen.

Both classrooms have a projector, but my Friday class, I discovered, has a microphone that works, so I use the microphone to speak. The Friday projector has issues with the color yellow, so maps are hard to read and present. I go through my files and presentation, there’s a break, continue the presentation of a mix between power point, pictures, and video.

I chose power point not because I think it’s a good teaching tool, but because I think it’ll be a useful review tool. I get the points on the slides, I send them to the students to review because a lot of them struggle with understanding oral English. Apparently, with the microphone, it helps them understand what I’m saying- maybe it’s because they’re used to hearing English through a system and electronically, or maybe because it’s louder- I remember hearing something about microphones in elementary schools, and that it went really well then. So I have a combination of videos, power points, and a microphone in teaching.

In my audio visual class, there’s a lot more interaction. We have maybe 20 minutes of talking at the beginning, and then we watch the video. When we reach the part with the script, we’ll then listen, follow along with the script, then read through the script, ask me questions, and listen to the video again. I often can go through this 2 times, and there’s a little bit of time left over to show a fun video at the end. The video is fun, not quizzed, and usually visually interesting. I’m hoping it’s merely a fun way to listen to English. I know they all want subtitles, but I refuse; I want them to practice listening.

The setup of that class is nice; I have control of the master computer, and they only have displays that I can control. Isn’t that fun? I think that’s fun. I have another display screen to make sure that I see what they see. The only downside is that I feel that from behind my massive computer desk, I am far away. I enjoy being in front of the students, so I’ll often walk in front of the desk even if it doesn’t work out well.

My conversation class is little more than a blackboard, podium, and their desks. I finally managed to get them to sit in a circle, but each day is a little different. That’s probably the most fly by the seat of my pants class that I do teach.

They’re all very cute and lovely, though. I enjoy them very much, and they enjoy my trick-or-treating class excursions very much.

Exciting musical Thursday

Today I had audio-visual class, where I showed them The Daily Show. John Stewart talks quite fast, but the interview with Larry King Live had a lot of visual gags, too, so they weren’t left out in the cold.

Also, at noon two students of Adam and I took us to a restaurant downtown in Bookstore St. It was a nice restaurant, and then we walked down the street.

I remember shopping.

It didn’t help that today was payday.

Even so, I resisted my urges to by a giant teddy-bear pillow (Relakuman for anyone who knows him) and instead bought a small punching bag for less than $10 dollars. It’ll do me well, I hope, and it’s light enough to hang from my ceiling. I also located stores with weights for when I work myself up to them. Not going to lie, Want to work myself up to weights before I buy them. Otherwise I’d feel it was a waste.

Suddenly, without the internet I have acquired things I wanted. Oh boy. Oh boy.

Then we stopped for cheese and headed back to town. The girls came to visit so I took let them see pictures of when I was in Japan and some videos of home. They saw pictures of my younger cousin’s birthday cake and think she is very cute and very unafraid of anything.

Then tonight I decided to go with a couple of people to New Campus to hear them jam on some drums/guitars. We went to New Campus, met the German teacher Toby, had some new night market food (bread with some pork on it, I can’t find pork where I eat in stall food often, so I think I live in the more Muslim side of town), listened to guys jam on band equipment before heading back.

Fun times.

(Oh and this morning I forgot my flashdrive so I had to run back to my room to fetch it)