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Published: March 14th 2009
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Booty from the market
Lots of good purchases today...all for about $3 My first two weeks of teaching have been a blast. The first week was filled with meet n’ greets, which take little to no planning, so that week was a breeze. The questions they wanted to ask me were of the most hilarious nature—my favorites were of course, “Do you have a boyfriend and will you be taking a Chinese boyfriend?” They all want to know what Alaska is like but moreover they want to know how they measure up to American college students.
I’ve been invited to many of my student’s homes in various villages and provinces all over China. I’m invited shopping and out to meals, which I have yet to accept. I think I’ll wait for a few more weeks of classes to go by until I start doing extra-curricular activities with them. One of my students is entered in speech competition so we’re going to work closely trying to get her prepared. Every week my classes have more students because the word has spread that there’s a white teacher on campus—they’re intrigued to learn English from a real English speaker (other English teachers are Chinese teachers who have learned English, but it is the accent they
The "feast"
I'll need to adapt my cooking skills to China... want to adopt). Nearly every night around 10pm I get a phone call from another student asking when I have class next and if they can sit in on it. I always invite them—there’s no homework in these classes, so as far as I’m concerned the more the merrier.
My most difficult class to teach is European Culture/History, a topic that in middle school, high school, and college I didn’t pay much attention to. Now it’s come back to haunt me…Last week the topic was “The Bible and Christianity,” a daunting topic to cover in 2 hours. But we’re managing, I read the chapter in the book and make notes, then spend the next 4 hours on Google researching all the holes the book has left. Really, who summarizes the fall of Rome in one sentence?!
Went to the market this morning-that’s where you go to get vegetables and tofu! In total I spent probably somewhere around $3 and got a feast of vegetables! Some familiar to me and some only newly introduced. Got some spinach, green onions, garlic, ginger, potatoes, mushrooms (few varieties), yams, lotus root, red carrots, and tofu! In cooking dinner this evening I loaded the rice cooker up with my ‘forbidden rice’ (Google it, it’s legit. It’s purple and has a nutty smell after cooking), then chopped up my veggies, walked away for a bit to let the rice get going. Upon returning to my kitchen I was none too pleased to find my temperamental rice cooker spit purple droplets of rice water everywhere! After cleaning up, boiled my veggies, steamed my spinach, and combined everything on a plate for my feast. End result? Eh, I put some soy sauce, vinegar, and red stuff I purchased at the store (which is still causing my lips to burn), and it’s not an oily mess from the cafeteria…so I’ll consider it a success for tonight. But hope to improve my skills shortly.
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