sunketing
Kris Sonsin Joined: June 4th 2008
Logged in: January 29th 2012
Logged in: January 29th 2012
TO SHENZHEN, AND THEN...
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 have 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
Jian Bing
Street food is one of those things that's unique to a region and often overlooked when describing a culture. Yet, it's an essential part of life for many. It's cheap, fast, made to order, and tasty. Even in movies, how often do you see New Yorkers stopping at the hot dog cart, or people in some Asian country slurping a bowl of noodles with chopsticks? China is no different. Tonight my friends and I went out for a sampling of some of the street foods right by our school. First up is my favorite, jian bing. We usually call it a wrap, but it's more like a Chinese crepe. At 4 kaui (70 cents) each, it's a bargain and I have it for lunch a few times a week. It's also possible to have extra eggs ... read more
Stirring the hot coco
Wait, it's 2012? According to my students (who've all watched the popular movie doomsday thriller "2012") we're all doing to die by the end of the year! Luckily I refuse to watch such silliness and don't believe them. We had a nice little, last minute gathering for the new year. We gathered at Jane and Leo's for a night of games, laughter, and silliness. Not a lot to tell, but I did get some great photos to show you how our night went. By 12:30 we'd all grabbed leftover goodies and headed home. Not everyone is a night owl like me!... read more
It's a mall... of tea
With all the time off we have (but are expected to be "around" in case there are any questions about our grades) a friend and I decided to take a trip into the city. We had a few places we wanted to stop, but at the top of my list was a tea wholesale market. In Guangzhou there are lots of little areas that specialize in selling one thing and lots of it. There's a market for leather goods, one for shoes, one for dried fish, and obviously one for tea. I'm sure there are others I haven't discovered yet. I was looking to buy a new tea set (yes, another one). I already have serveral, but each set is a different style made with different materials. I'm trying to purchase one of each kind while ... read more
Yum!
This year there were four Xmas parties to attend and I opted to attend three of them. Of course, starting off the festive season with baking was a requirement! A few of us gathered at Jane's apartment for an afternoon of mixing, rolling, cutting, and decorating. Since the red food coloring tends to turn pink, we opted to make our cookies green and blue and white, instead. After we got lazy with our decorating (you can only make so many cookies look nice before it gets tedious) our cookies turned into modern art you could eat. Thursday was my last day of exams and I decided staying home watching a holiday favorite, "Love Actually" was a better, more relaxing choice than heading out to hear the foreign teacher band play at the western restaurant. I knew ... read more
A Line at a Bakery
While we were inside celebrating the holiday, outside in the cold, life continued in China like any other night. Here are some photos I took while we walked through town to find a cab home.... read more
The Speech Team
I love receiving emails that begin, "Hi dear coach." That was the salutation in the email that contained these three photos. They were taken at the end of a very fun night at the end of a very fun term. Tonight was our last English Speech Team meeting. The team captains and I agreed to have it be half class and half party. I thought it might be nice to learn about a fun type of speech: the toast. I know that my students won't need to toast for any competitions next year, but it's still a valuable skill to learn. We talked about different types of toasts, when to give which kind, and what kinds of things are said in each situation. A common example was a party for one of the captains, ususally a ... read more
On Friday night the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra gave a concert. I didn't even know Guangzhou had its own symphony orchestra until the day before. (Shenzhen didn't, I don't think, but it did have a lot of orchestras pass through and give concerts.) A few of my friends were going, but at the last minute one no longer could and asked if I would like her ticket. I jumped at the chance. We met up a bit before five o'clock to take the teacher bus into the city. (Many of the Chinese teachers don't live on campus.) Everyday there are teacher buses into GZ, and they're faster than the normal bus and have nicer seats. We figured we'd get into the city around 6 and have plenty of time for dinner before the concert at 8pm. While ... read more
All of us
This year a few friends and I got together for a small Thanksgiving dinner. One friend hosted/organized it and another friend held it in his home. (His apartment has a larger living room.) We all prepared (or bought) foods that are traditionally served at an American Thanksgiving. I took homemade applesauce, Rachel brought squash and green bean casserole, Jane and Leo brought a pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream (she brought the filling from the US last summer), the organizer made stuffing from scratch, and our second host made mashed potatoes in a wok. We didn't have a turkey (or 'fire chicken' as they call it in Chinese) since they're hard to find and quite expensive, but the organizer's mother (who was visiting from the US) stopped in Hong Kong and got us a ham. We ... read more
This term I haven't been writing as much as in the past. In some ways I'm busier than before and in others I'm not. I think a part of it is that even though I'm busy, it's not always doing things that are interesting to read or write about. Every week is pretty much the same. Monday thru Thursday I teach. I'm coaching the speech team on Mondays now, but I talked about that in my last entry. I'm still taking Chinese lessons one night a week and not practicing enough. Weekends are spent resting, eating out, reading, spending time with friends, or watching movies. None of that is interesting to write about and I suspect no one wants to read about it. There's another reason I havne't been writing much this term. I think I've ... read more
The speech team and their esteemed coach
A few weeks ago, Jane sent out an email saying that the university's English speech team needed a coach. Since I did competitive speaking for three years in high school, public speaking was part of my degree program, and I gave my university's commencement speech, I thought this seemed like a perfect fit! I immediately volunteered for the position. I was later told that doing this would get me out of English corner, which I consider an added bonus. I met with the team and was delighted to discover that it consists of twenty or so of the brightest, most enthusiastic, and best speaking English majors in our university. The team leaders told me that they are trying to keep it a small group to make sure that only people who want to compete are coming ... read more
Where I've Lived 
Where I want to go soon 
Where I've Been 
