Cell Phone Drama

Didn't want to do this, but I've been pretty firm on the cell phone policy. I scared some students as I was walking, asked them to turn off their phone, nothing really big happened.

But then, 10 minutes before class ended, a student placed his cell on the table, poking it. He said he was checking the time, but I asked him to leave.

I feel badly, but on the other hand, I've been clear about the policy.

Ah well.

Lessons from Winter

It is starting to get warm. I no longer have to use my extra heater in order to be warm at night. And Sunday I had learned that I would no longer need layers in order to keep warm.

A couple of days ago the birds started singing; not the big ones that stay on campus, but the small songbirds. Yesterday I managed to see bugs, which has been a while. While I fear for mosquitos, I am excited for the warm weather.

The cold has taught me many things, and lack of insulation has also helped.

1) I have learned to layer. Layering is useful in so many ways. Three pairs of shirts is never too much.

2) If you are cold, it is totally acceptable to wear a coat while eating. In fact, since the restaurants are rarely heated (or barely heated), it's better that you keep the coat on. This also means that there needs to be a lot of washing of the coat, which is difficult.

3) I somehow made it this winter without gloves. Gloves would have been useful; there were days I'd go into a restaurant and couldn't feel my fingers. That was not useful for chopsticks.

4) Even though my feet would also get cold, two pairs of socks is never a good idea. I will have to purchase warmer socks. Two pairs of socks leaves blisters.

So I am excited for springtime.

(Also I am finding that my students are far too pleased with my brother's picture; they keep talking about how they will wait two years and then they will marry him).

The Scariest Teacher

Did I mention I have a laser pointer now? Because it is sooooo sweeeet. I am in love with it.

I have met with all of my new students, and discovered that my old conversation class has now been given to Ben. At first they offered us all a grad class to teach for extra pay- then realized that Ann had an extra slot, so assigned it to her for no pay. It's how it works here, I guess.

But my students, the ones I now share with Ben and Ann, had their first class with me. I am so excited! I gave them an introduction and explained, "I know I can be serious and silly. So I will explain to you- I am always serious during a quiz, and always serious during the rules. Otherwise, I am quite silly."

They are terrified of my "no cellphones" rule. If I see them with a cell phone, I give them a warning on their shoulder with my laser pointer, (it is from the states, which means there is a filter that keeps the laser from burning out eyes) which is probably upsetting when they get caught. After that, they must leave my class. I told them that they either will be on their cell phones or be in my class- they cannot do both. I also told them that having the book open during a quiz or notes, or talking to someone results in a zero on the quiz.

They told Ben and Ann I am very strict, and they're a little apprehensive.

I also have some students in my movie class, who were very surprised at how different I am between the classes. I think either they failed or they're taking this class as an elective, I can't be sure. Oh well. They might have a bit of whiplash from how different I am in the two classrooms. In listening, I figure if you're not listening, you're...wasting your own time. So long as you aren't bothering anyone else. But in survey class, you need to be taking notes and paying attention to dates- the more you have the information, the more likely you are to remember it.

I am the scariest teacher~!

Holiday

Today I woke up at convinced my bed's springs had finally torn through the mattress. This is the same bed that left my mother bruised. However, somehow in the night my sheets had twisted up, and I was sleeping on hard, twisted sheets.

I don't even know how I do it. I wish I could tell you.

I then had to find a restaurant via instructions from text at 1:00pm. I didn't make it in time (I went North instead of South), but I was 15 minutes late, and I got some good exploration of the city in. Then I met with Candy and we talked about things, and she asked me about, since it is Valentine's Day, whether or not I had a boyfriend and if I would then like a Chinese one.

I replied that I'm not looking for a Chinese boyfriend, and while I'm here I'm enjoying life as it is. Then we finished our lunch and went to the bus stop, where people were selling roses.

It is Valentine's day, and on top of all the couples, everything is crowded because school starts tomorrow.

The buses were horrible. I had to fight my way onto a bus (there were too many people on the first bus so I couldn't make it), and then I had to fight my way off the bus.

Then I bought roses for all the teachers and distributed them. After distribution, I hung out with Ann and her student, Ruth. Ruth is my student as of tomorrow.

We finished with dinner at the cafe, which had bad service tonight (all the couples were eating) and they tried to charge us for two pizzas they ran out of and napkins we never received.

Still not the worst Valentine's Day I've had.

Today I remembered why I bought a Mac

OK. Stay with me people, because this is less about brand names and more about... me. I promise.

Today started by realizing my alarm clock looses far too much power in the night, and it had turned off, causing me to wake not at 6, as I had hoped, but at 8. Which turned into 9 before I just gave in to getting out of bed.

I wrote my letter of intent to stay for another year, sent it off... and then I decided to play civ iv. For those who don't know, it's a game where you build a civilization and then try to make it be "the best". It's kind of like a computer version of risk. I like it very much.

It was ten am.

At 6pm, I broke for dinner. At midnight, resuming at 7:30, my game froze as I, in the 1920s, with my bomber planes and atomic bombs began obliterating my second enemy, as he was at war with my good friend George Washington.

So. For almost as long as I have been awake today, I have been playing computer games.

This... is a problem. It is why I didn't take my ps2 with me, or my psp. I will play hours out of video games... because I can.

No Chinese. No lesson planning. (A little, but nothing gained).

And as many of you know, Mac computers are not... gaming machines. Few games are released for our gaming pleasure. When I bought my computer before college, I was making a safe choice- no games. No video games. They would not tempt me.

But now. Now I have games again, and it's time for school and learning, and this... this is what I need to keep from happening. I am not allowed to play for so many hours straight again.

WHY ARE GAMES SO ADDICTING AGH THEY ARE LIKE CANDY AND I WAS VICTORIA, QUEEN OF THE BRITONS AND I TEACH HER AND I KILLED NAPOLEON I KILLED HIM AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT WAS ABOUT TO DIE AND

Anyway

Back to reality

It's been a good lesson for me, as has going to visit Ben with Ann- if I don't finish my work in the morning, I'll keep putting it off. So I need to stop putting things off and instead... do my work.

It's such common sense.

Also I fear Wednesday, I'm teaching for 8 hours each week. And that's when it starts. Whoot, I guess.

Hallo

Mostly, there have been classes. Not real classes, but preparing for classes. What a bore!

Last night I had an interesting dream. Two friends (friends in real life, too) and I were helping flood victims, and then we had to take the train back to DSM. I took a bus and then got on the train at a different station, while they took a train all the way. I arrived first; they arrived later and one of them was horribly drunk. I wonder what that means? 

In real life, I continue switching files slowly, but I also continue studying Chinese. I feel so accomplished; this week I have studied the Chinese and the Japanese, and I have gotten up earlier in the day (7 instead of 10). Everyone is back but Ben, and those who share classes spend a little more time together as they are working on planning. I am not someone who shares courses so I am stuck by myself. Still, I usually go bother people anyway. 

This week I received a surprise package. It was full of hope and dreams and... wait, no. It was full of parmesan cheese (some did not make it after 5 weeks, which seems to be the sending time during holiday seasons), chocolate, and a laser pointer. 

Laser pointer. 

I'm going to enjoy this semester.

Lantern Festival

Today was mostly hanging out in Ben's room. Ben has fast internet.

Really, we could have been planning classes, but we sat around his computer watching TV. It was fun. Ann made a tasty dinner, and then we had mochi-like things to eat, because everyone is supposed to eat them for lantern festival.

Oh, yes, today was Lantern Festival. Celebrations seem to consist of lantern balloons, fireworks, and these mochi things. The fireworks are fun- anywhere you look in this sky, there will be giant fireworks exploding. It's really very pretty, but being on campus means they aren't that loud. I'm not nearly as bothered as them as I could be. Probably because I'm used to living on a college campus!

Splurge Day

I gave in. Realizing I'd like to stay another year in China, today I bought a keyboard. It wasn't expensive by American standards, but it has 61 keys, and was the closest to feeling like a real piano that I possibly could. I spent about 45 minutes playing it after setting it up. I'm glad I bought it; somehow, the presence of a musical instrument reminds me that all is right with the world. 

I've continued singing while here, but it's hard without an instrument, and now I can continue learning songs vocally. I might try to learn a new song a week! Of course, when I get back to studying under a private tutor, there will be a lot of work to polish the songs. I can only do so much by myself. 

With that, there's also piano I could be teaching myself, but I know I like messing around a lot. And the keyboard doesn't have an adjustable stand or table- it's sitting on a coffee table, and I have to bend over in an awkward angle to play. Still, there will be a lot more music now, hopefully. And composition. 

What I have found is that I have finally have hit that low D I wanted to hit (below middle C), and my high range feels largely unaffected. However, when I set up the keyboard it was 10pm, and since Ann can hear me when I do any sort of serious practice or singing, I didn't really try to push myself either. 

I am excited. I am excited that I still feel active in music. Even if it doesn't seem very active, I'm still studying, and I still know my way around a keyboard. One day I will have a piano. Until then, the keyboard will have to do. 

Aside from the music, today I also had a small meeting with Ben and Ann. I'm not teaching their courses, and in fact they are teaching the same courses, but we will all teach the same students. So I have all of their students...plus my audio-visual class. (I will have taught the most students this year, with all the different classes!) We talked a little, and I got important dates like when a national test will be (which is useful in making sure my assignments are well before or after that). The best part was the spaghetti Ben cooked for us. So Ann and I did the dishes in order to repay him. 

Today was a busy day. I've been studying Chinese almost an hour or two every day, so I feel very accomplished. Even when I realize there's still much more I want/need to be doing. Ah well. 

Photos from trip

Hopefully these photos will show. 

Update

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but this past semester I've been worried that my computer is going to die. Now that I have a new one here in front of me, my old computer is behaving. There it is, then.

I'm transferring files (like photos, documents, and videos I've taken while in China) and so I've not been updating as frequently, sorry.

Ann came back two days ago at 11:15pm. Ben and I rode a taxi to greet her. It was exciting.