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Sue Treadie - Susan Storr

Susan Storr At the end of 2004, after seven years of "semi-retirement" from full time teaching I was ready to "reinvent" myself. The question - what to do?

I have taught in various fields at Secondary Schools and at TAFE colleges over a period of around 25 years full-time and seven years part-time, and also created and managed a small merchandising business during my "semi-retirement". In addition, I am an avid traveller who has backpacked to various parts of the world over a period of about 30 years. TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) seemed a natural choice. Decision made.

Over the next 12 months I studied part-time and in December 2005 completed a Professional Certificate in TESOL from the Global TESOL College in Brisbane (now known as the Australasian Training Academy). After a whirlwind online application process I accepted a position teaching Oral English at a Normal College (teacher training institution) in Taizhou, Jiangsu province in the East of China for an initial period of one year, commencing February 2006.

In June 2008 I completed two and a half wonderful years in China. My time in China was amazing, full of life-changing experiences and I had many varied adventures both in the classroom and while exploring the great "Middle Kingdom" and beyond. These adventures continued throughout the northern summer and into the winter of 2008, when I embarked on a 5 and a half month trip encompassing Mongolia, Russia, the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, the UK and the USA on my way home to Australia. Many of these adventures are yet to come to light on this travel site (I have 118 blogs saved but only 48 published!), but they will get there eventually! It will just take a bit of time!

This blog was originally inspired by my colleague Mr Hans Schneider, who has an excellent blog on this site. I am keen to extend my knowledge and skills of technology while providing a regular (?) update on my old and new adventures for family, friends and other interested visitors to this site. In addition I use this blog as a tool to encourage my students to practice their English out of class and to learn more about their own country and beyond.

I am now back home in Australia and actively pursuing work in the area of language teaching in the domestic market. I am excited by the prospects awaiting me in my own hometown, although I miss China dreadfully and hope to return sometime in the future.

For those of you who are searching for more meaning and satisfaction in your life and feel that teaching languages overseas might fit the bill, I enthusiastically encourage you to take up the challenge as I did three years ago. You will never regret it. In fact you will probably say "Why didn't I do this years ago?"

Read on and enjoy!

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Joined on: June 25th 2006
Last Login: November 19th 2009

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Sue Treadie, order by Date newest first.

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All China Nash Hash 1
All China Nash Hash 1
Friday night "meet and greet" at the Hash Bar. My friend Maggie from Hong Kong and myself make acquaintance with Canadian hashers.
Well here I am finally with the beginning of my fantastic 5 or so month adventure back to Oz after leaving Taizhou on June 17. I have set myself a challenge to reduce my carbon foot print as much as possible by travelling mainly by train. Originally, I had allowed myself just one flight and that is for my final leg from San Diego to Brisbane. However, my plan to take a "cheap" passage with a container ship across the Atlantic from the UK to US/Canada is looking just a wee bit shaky, so we'll have to see! There are more [View Full Entry]

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1246 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 52 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 9th 2008 | 272 Views | [diary=319732]

Beijing 2
Mobbed in Erlian
Zaamin Uud 5

Earthquake Vigil
Earthquake Vigil
Time for reflection after the dreadful earthquake in Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.
Welcome from Cesky Budejovice, Czech Republic to Part 3 of my blog series on the wrap up of my final teaching semester at Taizhou Teachers College and Nanjing Normal University Taizhou College. May was a month of great contrasts and an enormous emotional roller coaster for the people of China. The horrific earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on May 12 absolutely paralyzed a nation. Everyone was glued to their TV and computer screens for weeks, watching shocking footage coming live and in gory replay from the epicentre in Wenchuan County. The country was in official mourning for 3 days [View Full Entry]

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513 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 73 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 23rd 2008 | 138 Views | [diary=319730]

Toadally Crazy!
Business English Earthquake English Corner
A song to uplift the spirit!

International Women's Day Celebration
International Women's Day Celebration
Following the initiative of some of our English Department colleagues, we were invited to attend an International Women's Day "run" through the streets of Taizhou. Here I am "captured in action" by a ... [more]
Hello from Riga, Latvia and welcome to the second installment of my four installment wrap up of my last semester in Taizhou. As always, it was a very busy one, with some very special events and always lots of variety! I will keep the text to a minimum and let the photos speak for themselves! I will be publishing fairly frequently from now on, otherwise my adventure will be over before you get to read about it! There are 17 blogs to date (I am currently about half way through my trip) , so you have been warned! To my wonderful [View Full Entry]

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148 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 130 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 8th 2008 | 118 Views | [diary=319729]

Spring has sprung on the campus grounds
Spring walks through Taizhou
Foreign Language Festival

05BE back to say goodbye
05BE back to say goodbye
Some of the lovely ladies from one of my very first classes returned for their graduation and a sad goodbye, not only to me, but to each other as they move on to the world of work.
Hello this time from Neu-Purkersdorf (near Vienna, Austria)! This is the fourth and final episode wrapping up my final semester at Taizhou Teachers College and Nanjing Normal University Taizhou College! Yes, I know, it's been a long time coming, but here it is with 100 photos to boot! My last couple of weeks were a whirlwind of farewells from graduation dinners for ex-students , special banquets from both my work teams, a few casual get togethers with friends and even a hen's party for our good friend Yama! It was such a fun time, but it made it all the more [View Full Entry]

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147 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 100 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 27th 2008 | 167 Views | [diary=319731]

A Special Night Out With The Boys
Business English Gents
05EE Grad Dinner 1

This is the first of 4 retrospective blogs highlighting my last semester (at least for now!) at Taizhou Teachers College. It features four of my prior students who caught wind of the fact that I was returning to Australia at the end of June and each of them made a special effort to catch up with me and were eager for me to see how they have fared since leaving Taizhou Teachers College to pursue other opportunities. The first is Cathy (Guo Min), who graduated from Taizhou Teachers College in 2007 as a primary school English teacher. She also teaches Chinese [View Full Entry]

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627 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 103 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 27th 2008 | 132 Views | [diary=274906]

Toddy
Kelly
Monique

Ice Lantern Festival 1
Ice Lantern Festival 1
Olympic Friendlies welcome visitors in Zhaolin Park
This is the second of two blogs featuring my visit to Haerbin/Harbin in Heilongjiang Province in the NE of China. As previously stated, the main attraction for me to venture into these frozen realms during the coldest Chinese winter in 50 years, was to experience the Haerbin/Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, a series of gala events involving ice and snow carving art. The Ice and Snow Festival came into being in January of 1985. Initially the main events were the Ice Lantern Festival in Zhaolin Park and surrounding streets (particularly Zhongyang Dajie and the waterfront parks) and [View Full Entry]

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1702 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 74 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 11th 2008 | 375 Views | [diary=263199]

Snow Sculpture Festival Sun Island 1
Snow Sculpture Festival, Sun Island  2
Snow and Ice World 1

Dove of Peace
Dove of Peace
Taking pride of place at the river end of historic Zhongyang Dajie was this giant ice sculpture, setting the main theme for this, the 24th Snow and Ice Festival.
Have you ever been somewhere sooooo cold that your eyelashes temporarily froze together? This was one of the more unusual experiences I had on a visit to Haerbin/Harbin in the North East of China this past January! Part of the joy of travelling is in setting personal challenges in order to stretch your boundaries of comfort. This is how, I, as a woman from the sub-tropics of Queensland, Australia, found myself travelling north from my temporary home in Taizhou, Jiangsu to the frozen north-east of Heilongjiang Province in what was later referred to as “the coldest winter in over 50 yea [View Full Entry]

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622 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 58 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 2nd 2008 | 317 Views | [diary=237318]

Flood Control Monument
Front view St Sophia
Golden Buddha

Freshmen Arrive
Freshmen Arrive
Lots of fanfare, including the inevitable inflatable archway, welcomes our new freshmen(1st years) who arrive on campus about 3 weeks after the continuing students.
Finally, I can publish this blog after it being "almost" completed since January. So, for those of you who have wondered what has become of me, here is a synopsis of the last semester in Taizhou Teachers College! From the arrival of our freshman last September, through our Autumn Sports Carnival in November and the many activities and cultural events since, I hope you will enjoy this overview of my everyday experiences in Taizhou Teachers College. There are a large number of photos, so apologies to those of you who have slow internet connections! In coming weeks I will take you [View Full Entry]

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176 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 99 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 5th 2008 | 282 Views | [diary=237276]

Welcome crew and a few ring-ins!
More welcome crew from the Foreign Language Department
Never miss an opportunity!

Sharing the Xmas Spirit
Sharing the Xmas Spirit
Catherine (Xie Lin Ping) & Maple (Shi Jing) of 071 “share" the Xmas Spirit. These are two of my tiniest students who good naturedly agreed to don the Mary Xmas dress for a cute photo opportunity!
Yes, it's been some months since I published a new blog, but this is proof I have not fallen off the edge of the earth! The approach of Xmas is always a good impetus to put pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to the keyboard! In the next week or so I will bring you up to speed with a synopsis of this past semester, my fourth at Taizhou Teachers College. That is if our appalling internet connections will allow! In the meantime, read and on and share in some of the fun of the past week or so [View Full Entry]

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717 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 43 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: December 27th 2007 | 174 Views | [diary=230216]

Jennifer leads Jingle Bells
071 Sleigh mob
Cool sheep

Amazing Opening
Amazing Opening
The Chinese never do things by half when it comes to entertainment!
For those of you who actually look at the date on my blogs, you can rest assured that you haven't missed a heap of blogs! I'm back from my summer adventures and into my third week of my fourth teaching semester here at Taizhou Teachers College. It really is hard to believe I've been here for such a length of time and despite having a wonderful summer, it's really good to be back. I am especially relishing my own bathroom and not living out of a backpack! It's also great to catch up with friends, colleagues and students who all seem [View Full Entry]

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598 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 26 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 10th 2007 | 128 Views | [diary=158008]

What a welcome
Chatting with a star
Student Hosts



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