Well, i've been in this lovely country for over 3 months now, so nautrally to celebrate my quarter year anniversairy in China, it's a blog update! <insert cheers, applause, flowers thrown, and confetti released> So, RANDOM CHINA THOUGHTS.... 1) Students like to change their names. All. the. time. So you think it's hard to memorize 150 student names? WELL, let me tell you! It's worst to remember 150 student names if the students continually change them throughout the year! "Ryan can you give me that answer please?" "I'm not Ryan anymore teacher. I changed my name to Conann. [View Full Entry]

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What teaching in China is like... 1) Kids name themselves funny names. Since they're all Chinese, they give themselves English names, here are a list of names of students who are either in my class or my friends' classes. (All boys.) - Kazzer, Near, East, Eleven, Nine, Cloud, Determination, Victory, Glory, Dicky, Wudy, Zero, Sven (Small asian kid), Rainforest, Ever, Neo, Icerain, Milk, Bacon (because his chinese name is Pei Jun, and he thought it sounded close to Bacon.), Vicent (he meant it to be Vincent, but he spelled it wrong, and so kept his wrongly spelt name, thereby confusing all [View Full Entry]

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China thoughts... So here I am in Dalian, China, starting my first year of teaching! Whoo! First impressions: Dalian is extremely beautiful! Not like I expected! When I think of mainland China, I’m not going to lie, I’ve always imagined it to be a bit of a human wasteland. I imagined sand everywhere, no greenery and all, packed with people, shacks/apartments, and very very dirty. Well, wheen we drove in, we were all pleasantly surprised to find, TREES! GRASS! FLOWERS! BUSHES! UNOCCUPIED LAND! And man, Dalian does a great job with the upkeep, because all the bushes and [View Full Entry]

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Exactly what the name says. A count of my Europe showers. Why? Cuz i can. London: No 8. Hostel: dirty, smelly, dark, gross. Did not even try to set foot into the shower. DAY COUNT: 1 SHOWER COUNT: 0 Athens: Private shower, puny. Shower curtain was too short, rendering the floor constantly wet and gross. DAY COUNT: 3 SHOWER COUNT: 2 Santorini: Private shower, small and shower curtain kept sticking to the body! ew... DAY COUNT: 6 SHOWER COUNT: 5 Mykonos: First hostel - cold water instead of warm. Showering technique: fill up a cup at the sink next to t [View Full Entry]

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It's been a whole month since I left London Heathrow airport back for Canada, and I can honestly say that I miss Europe so much. and am more than ready to go back again next year! Here are some final thoughts that i jotted down a month ago on the plane back to Toronto.... -------------------------------------------------- As i sit on the plane, I think about all the new things I've done this trip, all the new things i saw, and the new people i met. Not only that though, i saw friends who i had not seen in quite a long while, [View Full Entry]

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...I have since been firmly told by Emmet that they do not actually say that sentence in my title. My whole image of the Irish shattered slightly. So, getting into the arrival section of the Dublin airport after an exhausting 24 hours, I see right away a familiar face! Happily I run and give a big hug of relief to Emmet and Kat. FINALLY i had arrived. At 8AM, i pass out @ Emmet's house. In the guest room, i share a extremely comfortable double bed with Michelle. I'm out till 12 noon. Much needed rest. Emmet, Kat, and Mary (Emmet's [View Full Entry]

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May 16/09 Off to Dublin we go! BUUUUT, no. that WAS the plan, but that part of the trip doesn't exactly happen for me quite yet. After saying our goodbyes to Alan and Steph, Michelle and I head to Gatwick airport. We already had our online check-in done, but we go to the check-in desk anyway to give in Michelle's bag. We go towards the desk, and the official there waves away our papers, saying that we don't need to show him it. Michelle explains that she has checked luggage, and so he takes it and stamps her paper. I, on [View Full Entry]

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May 13/09 Nothing super interesting today. Woke up, bought Chinese chips (yes, Greek Lay's Chinese flavoured chips. tastes like ginger.), beached it, and said our goodbyes and we were off to London. I definitely do miss Greece a lot! The nice weather, the culture of just easy-going socializing, and just pure relaxation! Leaving the Greek sun, we fly into London, which of course, is cold, rainy and cloudy. Michelle, still in Greece mode, runs to the nearest washroom to change out of her board shorts. And our coats are then pulled out of backpacks, and quickly put on. Our hostel, [View Full Entry]

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As i am now comfortably back at home in the M. Dot, the rest of this blog is basically for my own memory's sake, haha, cuz chances are I'll be talking to most of you about my trip in person! May 11/09 I wake up freezing cold, woken up by 2 fighting cats. I have never heard cats yeowl (made-up word) like that. Only in Greece. With a wakeup call from the bball player, we head to our complimentary breakfast (egg, toast, croissant). After which i head to town in search of a bank. I get my refuel in money (YAY!) [View Full Entry]

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May 9/09 We leave Santorini after dropping off our ATV's (Sad days...) today. Our hostel owner drives us to the ferries (the island is so small, so pick up and dropoff services are offerred by ALL hostels! soooo convenient!), and i am happy to announce that WE DID NOT MISS IT! yay! We pay a very sketchy 56 cents "port tax", which is collected by 3 casually dressed guys sitting on a bench (SKETCHY), then go onto our "Flying Cat" ferry to Myonos. After a nauseating 2 hour journey, we were there! I automatically see the difference between Santorini and Mykonos. [View Full Entry]

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