We have just returned from our week long vacation in Shanghai. Three years ago we had the opportunity to have a one day visit in Shanghai on Asian term. Unfortunately this was the day of the US Presidential election where Bush was reelected. Our advisor, Norm, had a radio tuned in all day on the bus and we arrived in Shanghai only to glance at the surroundings and return to the radio in hopes that Bush was not President again. You can imagine how upsetting it was to hear he'd won so the trip to this magnificent city was tainted. So [View Full Entry]

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Monday I started to feel a little sick. We all have some weird stomach thing so it makes it really hard to eat and leave the house. So we have been taking it easy. However Tuesday was the Holiday of the Mid-Autumn festival. This is the day where the moon is the most round and friends and families gather to look and the moon and think of one another. Sarah and I had been invited to celebrate with our friend Bai Hua, the grad student who stopped Sarah and we had dinner with him and his sister two weeks ago. So [View Full Entry]

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Alexes' birthday was the 22nd so we had a weekend long celebration for both of us. Friday we had two of laura's students come over and one of their mothers cooked jiao zi, dumplings, for us. It was a great home cooked meal. Then we went over to Hankou, across the river, and we went to the Blue sky bar, its a western bar. We ended up getting these little keg things and drank there all night. Our guard locks the gate at 11pm so we decided to stay out until it opened at 5am. We also found a 24 hour [View Full Entry]

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Saturday we took it easy and went to International House Coffee Language. It is a great place to relax, chat and grade papers. Afterward I graded more papers and many of my students talked in great detail of their vacations. Some of my favorite lines include: "The cool sea wind was bloing gently across my face, jsut like my mother was stroking me"-Sunny "we walked along the seashore barefooted feeling the soft sand tread by our feet and left a string of footprints" -JoJo "It was a fine day with the special breath of summer" -Stefanie After coffee and grading Sarah [View Full Entry]

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So I have been MIA for the last few days but I am back to recap. Wednesday I woke early and held office hours. My student Rita returned for her second week. She was really interested in School in America and leisure time. I tried my best to explain activities and clubs but she was confused how people can meet who share the same interests. I also attempted to explain sororities and fraternities which was a trick. She didnt get why they were called greek groups. Most of the time the questions my students ask me are very difficult to explain. [View Full Entry]

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So my first week has been off to a great start. Yesterday my class was very talkative and quick to participate. I taught a class explaining American college. Lots of my students want to learn about how students study, what the application process is, what is the difference in schools. So I explained all about liberal arts and what the admissions officers are looking for. We then had an exercise where the students split into groups and took the role of a different person on the admissions committee. The alumnus, admissions counselor, english teacher and recent graduate. They had a candid [View Full Entry]

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I am slacking on my journal writing, sorry. Saturday we all lounged around and watched some movies we have bought. I tried my hand at cooking at my place and we made dumplings for lunch. Sarah and I have agreed to tutor the daughter of the Vice President of the college. Her name is meng lin and she is 16. She attends the foreign language school in Wuhan and is in her third year. She has studied for a year in australia so she has a chinese/australian accent. She is very curious about American culture because it is her hope to [View Full Entry]

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I am currently listening to the drive, it streams live world wide so of course we listen. Just thought I would share that with you all. Yesterday Sarah and I walked around campus and the town and took photos of the area. Today I had another oral english class. When I walked in they all clapped and cheered. This job is such an ego boost :) they also told me I am lovely and they want to be my friend. The computer in my classroom was busted so they didnt get to see my pictures but I shared a lot about [View Full Entry]

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This morning I was happy to sleep in until 10 when I heard a rapid knocking on my door. I assumed it was Laura wanting to borrow something so I just called out 'hold on' while I threw on some lounging clothes and ran to the door. It turns out that it was one of my students wanting to talk with me for office hours. Whoops! I still dont know what day it is and I thought it was Thursday not realizing I had set my office hours each Wednesday here from 10-12. So I welcomed Rita in while I was [View Full Entry]

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I hope everyone had a great labor day!! Today, tuesday, I had my second class at 8am. I was later than I would have liked because I am not feeling great, I think muslim noodle place is bad tummy food, so I woke up later and took forever getting ready just cause I am not myself. My students in my writing class were much quieter than my first oral english class but their skill level seems to be better than the other class. Many of my students are 21 and 20 so they are a little older. Some cool names were [View Full Entry]

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