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 name, my place of birth, my major in university, and my reason for teaching English. They seemed very pleased when they heard that, for many years, it has been [View Full Entry]

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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 foreign-money seeking I've ever experienced- significantly greater than anything I ever experienced in India (except perhaps for my first day in Kolkata). Luckily we had a "local" guide. Mike [View Full Entry]

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On Wednessday Mike and I decided to visit famous Lu Shan ("Mt. Lu"). We arrived at the long distance bus station at about 10:30, bought a ticket for the 11:30 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 Chinese-speaking guide) that the last bus back to Jiujiang left at 4:30. So we had about three hours to explore. Lu Shan has been famous in China for thousands of years. It rises quite suddenly out of the [View Full Entry]

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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 co-teacher. We had about fifty minutes to prepare. We talked about the differences between the English and American education systems. Then we were told to assign the students English names. I had a good time naming the (mostly female) leaners after my friends and family, [View Full Entry]

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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 X-ray 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, and a new park area that is only one year old. Looks like I came here at a very good time! I've met many other Westerners [View Full Entry]

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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 acrosss the hall. He is also a foreign teacher on a nine-month contract (he teaches medicine). And wouldin't you know it, he hails from a land where the [View Full Entry]

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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 internet! Once 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 folk. There was an African guy in a shiny gold-colored kutra with matching pants and a shaved head. I was impressed. On the domestic flight to Nanchang they showed a cute little [View Full Entry]

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I've been back in America for a month. The first things I've noticed about my beloved homeland after almost a year's absence: -Everyone 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 mean it's not unhealthy. - Downtown Seattle has gotten a lot rougher.... maybe it's the economy, maybe I can spot opiate addicts much easier after spending time in the Orient. -Downtown Belli [View Full Entry]

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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 government-sponsored preaching about not leaving cooking unattended, not speeding on corners, being cautious at intersections, checking the batteries in smoke detectors and not drinking too much. All worthy ideas, but I'm sick [View Full Entry]

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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, aesthetically and morally infallible) with my fellow humans as a moral obligation. This is true in at least one other possible sense. Envision these two scenarios: 1)Clynn Oxfordshire went downtown with hi [View Full Entry]

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