Blogs from Tangshan, Hebei, China, Asia

You can’t go to China without paying a visit to this place. Surely, there’s the Great Wall, but aren’t people a bit fed up with stories about it? Of course, your friends are going to ask you about the experience as soon as you come back, but how about also telling them a completely new story about the enormous mausoleum of the most powerful Chinese emperors? Forget about the Taj Mahal. The stories of people buried here are much more intriguing, and they aren’t lacking in romance either. So, let’s talk about the greatest ancient structure that isn’t the Great Wall. Here are some interesting facts about Qing Dong Ling. What made the Eastern Qing Tombs so impressive that they are a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site list? There are several good reasons that warranted ... read more

This was my first Christmas alone. Not totally alone, I had my co-workers and students, but obviously nothing is going to be my family. And without family, it isnt really Christmas... but anyways, on the 24th I recieved a box from Grandmaman and Grandpapa filled with cookies and pets-de-soeurs. That definitely made me feel a lot better and put me in a more Christmas spirit. Christmas here is a commercial holiday celebrated on the 24th of December. I'm not sure how it is throughout all of China, but here's what happened at good ol' Tangshan Yincai School. In the evening of the 24th, all the students' classes were cancelled and they had parties in their homerooms. The students were given apples and pears, which they wrapped and exchanged with their friends. During their parties, the students ... read more

Did you know that the Chinese invented fireworks ? This being said, you can imagine that a lot of fireworks are manufactured here (along with most other things), that the Chinese really like fireworks, and they are pretty easy to purchase. There are very impressive displays of fireworks during holidays and the New Year celebration, and I'm looking forward to being dazzled in October during Golden Week. Fireworks are also used a lot every day, in a surprising number of situations. In Chinese tradition, fireworks are set off to scare away bad spirits. When a new building is being constructed, fireworks are set off periodically throughout the process to keep away the bad spirits. Fireworks are also set off when the buildling is officially opened as one last precaution. Fireworks are used during weddings and family ... read more

These past two weeks I’ve been teaching demo lessons. The entire month of September is just demo lessons, which is both good and bad. The good part is, I’m finally teaching! I was getting pretty antsy to actually get into a classroom, and see what the students were really capable of. The bad part is that I can’t use the assigned curriculum yet (I was just told to make my class “fun”), and I’m trying to sell the students on English. My English class is an elective, as opposed to the required one for the school. All the students must take English, but it’s taught by a Chinese teacher, and mostly in Chinese. Each student is allowed to choose a certain number of electives, and an English class taught by a foreigner all in English is ... read more

Things are really starting to look up, now that I've had a week to adjust to everything. I really like the food here - I like that it's locally grown without pesticides, and it tastes good. The teachers are really nice and I'm starting to make some good friends in my department. The campus is really, really nice. The facilities here are amazing. There is an indoor, olympic-size swimming pool, a sports facility with basketball and pingpong tables, a meditation park, a track, a soccer field, and overall everything is really well maintained. Also, another foreign teacher was sent here today from Beijing, so I have some foreign-teacher company and we get TWO rides to Beijing each month. In honor of the new foreign teachers, we had a lovely dinner in the "private" area of the ... read more