Kris Sonsin
sunketing
After years of aimlessly plugging away 9 to 5, and having people continuously ask me what I really want to do with my life (while offering some good and not so good suggestions), I've taken a bold step in this adventure called life, and I'm teaching English in China. I started out in Shenzhen, China and have moved on to Guangzhou. I also travel around Asia and enjoy sharing those stories as well.
This is not an undertaking for just anyone, as my friends assure me. I documented the ups and downs of my preparations and now my actual experiences in China. I've been here for three years and I'm working on another, but where I'm going after that... who knows?! LET THE ADVENTURE CONTINUE!
Come with me, if you will, on what I hope will be the experience of a lifetime. Share my joys and agonies; laugh with me and cry with me; I'm sure you'll laugh at me, too. Let's see how this shapes me and maybe it will even shape you, too.
Travel Blog Posts
May 12th 2012
I'm trying to get out and city the city more when I take the free teachers' bus every other weekend. A lot of times my friends and I end up in the same places; often we're buying things we need, but a lot of it is just habit, I think. This past weekend I had lunch with a friend who used to work at the university and then I took some time to check out Martyrs' Park. Located in the heart of the city, I walk by it often usually between stops at the DVD shop and the mall down the street. Since it's actually the name of the metro stop, I figured it must be an important park, and not just a neighborhood park. I spent a little under an hour wandering around in the ... read more
April 26th 2012
In class this week, we're talking about inspiration and dreams. For one activity, I asked my students to tell me about someone who inspires them and why. Me to male student: Who inspires you? Male student: You! Me: Really, wow! Why? Student: Because you have such beautiful eyes. Me: I'll be sure to thank my parents. What does that inspire you to do? Student: Well, my English is so poor... Me: uh-huh. Part of Dreams and Inspiration includes talking about how they would change the world and help people. One group wrote the following: 1. We'd make much money. 2. Marry a beautiful girl. 3. Then we'd make lots of children. 4. The children and the money will protect the environment. I pointed out that I couldn't and didn't want to marry a beautiful girl or ... read more
April 14th 2012
I still remember one rainy day in 2008 when Carrie asked me if I wanted to go get my feet washed. I'd been in China for less than a month and all I could think was, "My feet aren't that dirty." It turns out that "foot wash" really means foot massage. Massage is a normal thing in China and considered to be important in keeping healthy. When I first came to China I had never had a massage. In the US they cost so much that they're considered a luxury. Carrie and I had gone to a traditional foot washing place just down the street from our school. A typical foot wash starts with a foot soak (hence the "wash") while the customer sits on an ottoman and gets his or her neck, shoulders, head, arms, ... read more
April 13th 2012
Without fail, when asked what their favorite movie is, over half my students, both male and female, will tell me it's Titanic. I saw it back in 1997 when it was first released and I had been impressed; but I had never thought of it as being even close to warrenting the distinction of "favorite." For me, it's a bit sappy, cliche and over-dramatized. In China, it's a different story. I have students named Jack and students named Rose. When my students write stories, they use lines from the movie. One play last month even had only three characters: Jack, Rose, and Boat. People here are seriously in love with the movie. I don't fully understand it, but I've gathered that it's due to two reasons: 1. Distaster/end of the world movies are quite popular. (2012, ... read more
April 6th 2012
Our last stop was a short one. We'd spent too much time in the park. But my friend really wanted to see the Pearl River, so I took her to Haizhu Square. Strolling along the river is a wonderful thing, in both sunshine and rain. After the river we hopped over a street so I could show her the markets. Most of the markets in Haizhu are wholesale and it's not uncommon to see several in a row all selling the same thing. And when I say selling the same thing, I mean each shop only carries a few items and it carries a lot of them. As we walked along I pointed out the plastic bag shops, rubber band shops, plastic cup shops, Xmas tinsel shops, shops that have a variety of dried fruit and ... read more
April 6th 2012
After a quick lunch down the street from the museum, we walked down the road a bit to YueXiu Park. It's one of the biggest in the city and absolutley stunning. I love wandering in parks that are so big they need signs to the different parks within the park! It was starting to mist--it was sunny when we were inside the museum--so the rain gave everything a magical feel, like being in a dream. Enjoy the photos.... read more
April 6th 2012
After a few weeks in Yunnan, my friend returned to Guangzhou. Only here for a day before moving on to the Philippines (where she'll be working the next few months) I took her sight-seeing around the city. Our first stop was the Tomb of the Nanyue King. It's a 2000 year old tomb that was accidently found in the 1980's when digging for construction. I've visited it before, and it's by far my favorite tourist spot in the city. And as an added bonus for me, they've completely redone the museum in the past few years and the finished site is even better than before. It starts out with a walk through the actual ruins. You walk down a narrow staircase and there are four rooms. Detailed descriptions explain what and who was found in each ... read more
April 2nd 2012
For the Tomb Sweeping Festival we have four days off. Most schools and businesses only have two or three, but we get four. And by that, I mean we're off four days in a row but still work the preceeding Saturday, Sunday, and following Saturday, to make up the extra days. Since the holiday is only one day, and has to be on a certain day on the lunar calendar, this is how it's done in China, rather than observing it on a Monday and giving us a three-day weekend. This is one of the things about China that I will never get used to. Qing Ming Festival is the second most important family holiday in the country, after Spring Festival. If possible, people travel to their family's hometown to clean, sweep, and pull weeds at ... read more
March 30th 2012
Since my university is getting ready for the big inspection by Beijing Ministry of Education, they've made a number of changes around the school. Some of them have been purely cosmetic (like the trees) and others have been more substantial. One thing they did was create titles for all the foreign teachers. Chinese instructors already have titles, so this minimizes differences between our departments. I think the university's hope is that by giving us all titles it will show the inspectors that we're valued members of the faculty. In the US, there are three levels of professor but in China there are four. One of the women who works in the Foreign Affairs Office explained it to me like this: Assistant Professor Better than Assistant but not as good as Associate Associate Professor Professor I'm the ... read more
March 30th 2012
My favorite lesson of the term is the one I teach on plays. It's a two week lesson. The first week students write plays for another group of students. The second week, the students perform them and we have an awards ceremony. And if there's extra time, we talk about movie genres. Here are a few of the more memorable moments from the plays: During the awards ceremony after the plays, many students pulled out cameras. I leaned in next to the Best Actress and gave the Asian-universal "Yeah!" Peace sign. She proceeded to air kiss me loudly three times on the cheek. One play was really sad. It involved a man and a woman who were obviously a couple. The woman died. When the man had to say his lines about how he felt and ... read more
sunketing
| Joined | June 4th 2008 | Trips | 13 |
| Last Login | May 17th 2012 | Followers | 4 |
| Status | BLOGGER | Follows | 1 |
| Blogs | 432 | Guestbook | 227 |
| Photos | 3,859 | Forum Posts | 9 |
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My Travels
Map Legend: 7%, 20 of 263 Territories
Where I've Lived 
Where I want to go soon 
Where I've Been 
Trips
Zhuhai
August 23rd 2008 -» September 7th 2008
Yangshuo
October 1st 2008 -» October 12th 2008
India!
January 16th 2009 -» February 6th 2009
Dragon Boats and Tourists
May 28th 2009 -» May 30th 2009
Yunnan and Sichuan
June 16th 2009 -» July 17th 2009
Guangzhou and Zhaoqing and Dinghu Mtn
October 2nd 2009 -» October 6th 2009
Hong Kong tourist... again
December 13th 2009 -» December 13th 2009
Hangzhou
January 22nd 2010 -» January 28th 2010
Thailand and Cambodia
February 3rd 2010 -» February 23rd 2010
Shanghai and the World Expo
June 19th 2010 -» June 27th 2010
Beijing
August 15th 2010 -» August 22nd 2010
Guilin and Yangshuo
October 3rd 2010 -» October 6th 2010
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
January 11th 2011 -» February 17th 2011
August 23rd 2008 -» September 7th 2008
Yangshuo
October 1st 2008 -» October 12th 2008
India!
January 16th 2009 -» February 6th 2009
Dragon Boats and Tourists
May 28th 2009 -» May 30th 2009
Yunnan and Sichuan
June 16th 2009 -» July 17th 2009
Guangzhou and Zhaoqing and Dinghu Mtn
October 2nd 2009 -» October 6th 2009
Hong Kong tourist... again
December 13th 2009 -» December 13th 2009
Hangzhou
January 22nd 2010 -» January 28th 2010
Thailand and Cambodia
February 3rd 2010 -» February 23rd 2010
Shanghai and the World Expo
June 19th 2010 -» June 27th 2010
Beijing
August 15th 2010 -» August 22nd 2010
Guilin and Yangshuo
October 3rd 2010 -» October 6th 2010
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia
January 11th 2011 -» February 17th 2011
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