Some photos from mary and my guilin/yangshou trip and some photos from a recent night out in Hong Kong, which left us like addicts, broke and craving more! [View Full Entry]

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Sports day..or...sports meeting...or...track and field day....whatever the day was really called...it was spectacular...in every sense of the word. The preparation, the excessive town dignitaries who attended, the amount of water bottles and water jugs purchased, the semi-permanent stage erected in the middle of the basketball courts, the newly distributed, perfectly matching uniforms given to all staff (teachers, administration, and cleaning staff), the 40 page agenda detailing all races, racers, and racing times, the hour long opening ceremonies, the two hour long rehearsal of the opening c [View Full Entry]

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Seriously....2 days...I think by know you all know the twists and turns of this story. Amanda thought she was gonna teach all week, Amanda finds out that the studnts will be taking tests all day on Thursday and Friday....actually Amanda is not 100%, but still plans a trip out of town for Thurs -Monday. Amanda turns off her cell phone, so no can tell her to wake up from her dream.... But it's wasn't a dream....Mary and I were at it again. This time we stayed local, taking a quick 14 hour overnight train ride northwest to a town, rather, a [View Full Entry]

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Because I didn't know what dim sum was until I arrived in China, I will explain. It is basically like tapas, if anyone knows of that, where many small dishes are at the table and everything is passed around and shared. It is a traditionally Chinese meal, especially in the Cantonese areas of china. Cantonese is a dialect of the Chinese language, that is spoken in the South, especially in Hong Kong. Cantonese and Mandrian have the same Chinese Characters, but completely different ways of pronounciation. I proudly cannot speak either, but make a pittiful attempt at Mandrian every so often. [View Full Entry]

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3 months...3 months and not more than 30 minutes spent in Hong Kong. I don't count a trip to a seven eleven or running to catch our plane in the Hong Kong airport to add up to my HK experience. 3 months I couldn't even tell anyone what it smelled like or what the peolpe looked like or how much I loved it. So much of my preparation in coming to China, contained Hong Kong. I know I said Hong Kong, more times than I ever said Shenzhen, in fact I might have had people believe I was actually going to [View Full Entry]

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I just don't think I can truly explain china. I just don't get it. First off, today I came to work and there was no power. Which seemed to be a suprise only to me! But anyway, I rush to get my monster lesson plan done for my 4th and 5th graders. Today is a busy day seeing as I have actually 3 classes, plus English Corner (which I don't even now what that really is). So I finally finish my nifty powerpoint which has pictures of monsters hanging out with me at the beach, dancing and at the great wall [View Full Entry]

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What do you do when you have 2 Tents and 11 people. 1 chinese driver and a 3 hour wait for all the americans to show up. A bunch of branches, a lighter and no newspaper or lighterfluid. A fallen tree a hundred meters away and a teetering fire. 6 eager paying patrons wanting to go to explore an island and a boat that is partially flooded. What do you do when the smog, the dirt, the teaching of english beceomes to much. You go camping....at least, I think that's what we did. It is one of those vacations were patience [View Full Entry]

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this is for my friends rachelle and richard who have recently became engaged...... because i can't raise a glass to toast, give them a hug of support, or show them my joy with my biggest smile......i can only write this.... You both are amazing..... you have ....... supported me when i ran around the city, helped my blow out my candles, showed us around london with the skills of a 5-star tour guide, chauffered me home when it was too cold out, sent me off to china with a bag of good luck, and so much more! i miss you both [View Full Entry]

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It was bound to happen. We learned about this in our training in Beijing. It is some stage in the acclimation process. I forget which one it is, which one accurately describes that you would rather be either laughing over sunday brunch, or shopping in a mall, vacuuming the family room floor, or anyplace, any place other than China. Maybe its the fact that I want to send a package home, but can't figure out where the post office is or how in the world to mail something. Or the food, which at one time was like an adventure feels like [View Full Entry]

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So we were still alive, and besides a nasty scab, that looked slightly like hitler's mustache on Mary's upper lip....we were recouperating nicely. We were officially staying at Cheer's bar....We could not walk in or out of our hotel with out someone calling our name or stopping us to ask how we were doing? It was like I have become a part of a the big family I had always dreamed about. Like any family, at times it was frustrating to have your waiter steal your paper before you even read it or to have to share your cookies with the [View Full Entry]

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