http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/babamcrib/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from babamcrib en-us Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:49:04 +0000 Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:49:04 +0000 I'm finishing up the semester. Yes that's right of the nine month contract two months are paid vacation I love Socialism with Chinese Charactaristics I had a good discussion in my class about China in 20 Years. I had them discuss good things that could happen bad things that could happen how to achieve the good things and how to avoid the bad things. Increasing Economic Growth good thing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-462179.html The weather here is reminiscent of a typical Seattle winter cold and wet alternating with periods of really cold and dry. Still the days are not as short as those of Washington State in this time of year.I spend my time teaching reading practicing Chinese writing wandering aimlessly eating food and socializing with foreign and local friends. There was a feast hosted by the Foreign Languag http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-460091.html The cold snap is over in Jiujiang for now. I've settled in to the rhythm of teaching. It can be frustrating at times but the key is to have patience and a good sense of humor. Its also a good idea to keep the students on their toes and have some selfdecripcating jokes on hand. These are useful for checking comprehension.Yesterday I took a trip with some friends si Zhonggouten he yide Meigour http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/blog-458704.html Well I have failed my mission. I had to buy winter clothes and a halloween costume so I spent a bit more in my second month than I did over the course of my first. 2890.1 yuan total. However this is partially offset by the 15 yuan I found on the groundJust came from a Thanksgiving feast at Jessie's. Lots of food and good fun explainging Thanksgiving to a Chinese friend and an Englishman. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-456295.html First snow came to Jiujiang on the fifteenth of November. We got roughly 5cm over the course of about 10 hours and then it switched to rain leaving an unpleasant remmnant. In other words much like most Seattle snow.Seems like it changes from Summer to Winter in Jiangxi Province no fall to mess around with. One week its muggy and hot seven days later longjohns are required. It might be a bit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-454944.html Last week I taught a class on jobs. I ellicted from my students descriptions of their dream jobs. They had to come up with particularls such as CEO Lawyer and general charactaristics of an ideal job. All four of my classes came up with similar lists they wanted jobs that were creative highpaying involved travel were helpful to the community exciting and allowed them to excercize auth http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-450358.html Chinese food is delicious.No I am not talking about the General Tso's Chicken prepared by Salvadorean immigrants at your local stripmall.I refer to the masterful culinary expertise of the local people in the Middle Country.My favorite meal is the eggpancake. A young man with a good sense of humor places batter on a perpetuallyhot circular pan. Next he expertyl cracks open an egg that be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/blog-448246.html I've been keeping track of every kuai I spend. After one month in China I have spent 2269.2. My most expensive day was the twentyfourth of September in which I spent 347.4 yuan . On that day I purchased a cell phone setting me back 299. My least expensive day has been the ninth of October 12 kuai all spent on street food.I have been compiling material for a blog on the food to be comp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/blog-447131.html As it turns out I have a significant amount of free time when my inclass teaching load is about twelve hours a week. Lesson planning isin't too tough and I think my students like me so far. I've been drilling into their heads every chance I get Seattle is the best city in America.Luckily I have found a wonderful Chinese teacher. His English name is Ross and he is from Inner Mongolia. He al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-444846.html I taught my first classes today. There was some confusion I only recieved my schedule yesterday but now everything is sorted out. Friday is my hard day with three groups of students to teach. Each group is stuck with my for about an hour and a half.My first class begins at 8 AM. There were 19 students all freshmen who are majoring in English Education. I introduced myself telling them my n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-443434.html Mike my coworker Laura and myself took a trip to the countryside on Thursday. Although I was advised not to travel on National Day the roads were not terribly busy. We got an early start and took a bus to Jingdezhen the porcelan capital of China. From there we hopped on another bus to Wuyan. At the Wuyan bus station we were swarmed by a group of taxi drivers. The most intense foreignmoney see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/Wuyuan/blog-441897.html On Wednessday Mike and I decided to visit famous Lu Shan Mt. Lu. We arrived at the long distance bus station at about 1030 bought a ticket for the 1130 bus and ate some ramen. Unfortunately the bus was half an hour late so we didin't get on Lu Shan until about 1 PM. Mike then found out good thing I had a Chinesespeaking guide that the last bus back to Jiujiang left at 430. So we had http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/blog-441703.html Good news I've been assigned my teaching schedule to begin on October 9th after the holidays. Furthermore in a fortuidous instance of Socialism with Chinese Charactaristics I will be paid tomorrow for all the sleeping I've been doing.A few days ago Ben and I did some pro bono work in the English class of his coteacher. We had about fifty minutes to prepare. We talked about the differences be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-440718.html First I'd like to give a quick shoutout to my buddy Travis. Thanks for the phone it's good for photos even without a simcard.I think I passed my medical inspection The Chinese nurse seemed to draw quite a bit of blood and the operator in the Xray room was smoking a cigarette but besides this everything went quite well.I got a tour of the campus from a student. There are many new buildings an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-439531.html Slept well got up early and was taken around campus by a student volunteer. Perhaps they have a sense of humor in selecting these facilitators because mine was about 4 feet 10 inches tall. At any rate she had me introduced to my boss and had me registered at the police station. Tomorrow I have my Chinese physical examination. When I got back to my place I met my neighboor who lives directly acr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-438758.html Well.A big jetlagged and tired so apologies for nonsensical ramblings.They rennovated the airport in the main city of the Renegade Province. Got some glam lost some charm but they still had free internetOnce in Guangzhou had to pass through a quarantine check. All went well.Of the foreigners walking around the airport I'd say fully half were South Asian maybe 15 African and the rest white fo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Jiangxi/jiujiang/blog-438444.html I've been back in America for a month. The first things I've noticed about my beloved homeland after almost a year's absenceEveryone is fat Middle aged people young folks old people babies.... ever our automobiles are much larger than the ones in New Zealand and wayyy bigger than the ones in India. Seriously America lay off the bacon. Just 'cause everyone else is getting chubby doesn't me http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-412697.html Today after crossing the street with the light I was handed a lollie by a city worker in a bright yellow rain jacket. Turns out the City of Wellington is rewarding mindful pedestrians with sugary sweets. This sums up New Zealand culture to me. At times it seems that they are trying to create a perfect society. Every third advertisement on the tellie is some governmentsponsored preaching http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-394181.html Most of the music that is on TV and radio stations is complete garbage. Now the enjoyment of music is a very subjective matter. That being said the majority of popular music in the West is materialistic repetitive and inspired in its production and distribution by the desire of base individuals to make money.In this environment I see the sharing of my music which is of course aestheticall http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-386692.html Well it's been awhile since my last update so y'all better enjoy.The main reason I haven't been updating my blog is that basically every day was fairly similar in a good way. Waiting around for my Working Holiday visa buskin' eatin' meeting new people going on random walks to nowhere in particular and enjoying live music. I've almost got my busking down to a science I know where and wh http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-373433.html