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Published: August 30th 2006
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House warming party
Mainly EF colleagues - in my living room. Hello!
Since I last wrote I've had my last class with the kids. Summer school finished off with a show on Saturday, now almost two weeks ago. Every class did one performance, my kids being reporters - reporting from countries all over the world about the weather and conditions in the country. Winning second prize for best performance! Afterwards some of the parents came up to me, thanking for teaching their kid and taking our picture 😊 Real nice, and kinda sad to leave them after four weeks together. Haha, didn’t think I’d ever say that after I had had my first day of class… Will see some of the kids again this coming Saturday, when we’re throwing a get-back-together party at the school. And some will continue to study even during the fall semester. So I don’t have to cry my eyes out just yet 😉
From now on and during the fall semester I’ll only be meeting the same group of students once or twice per week - hence, no intense courses like the past summer course. A few new teachers have arrived recently; from England and South Africa and during last week I joined parts of
their training - in grammar teaching, lesson planning, etc, which felt useful. And even if summer class is over I’ve been working quite a lot, mainly doing OPT’s (Oral Placement Tests) to check potential students spoken ability. But also doing the “Life Club” but changing the topic of Swedish culture to a discussion about the future (last week), and tomorrow I’ll be doing another one on dancing styles from all over the world.
By the way, thanks Johan, for wonderful reading about us Swedes and our extraordinary country! Will definitely sneak some (yummy) Swedish facts in next time around I’ll get a chance to talk about Sweden 😊 The Chinese culture is of course different from the Swedish one in many ways but so far there’s nothing that really bothers me. However, there are things I’ll definitely not copy; such as the burping ritual after and during meals (sorry Nan) as well as eating with open mouth, loudly chewing away.
Since I last wrote I’ve had Jennie, Nelly and two friends of Jennie's over at my place for dinner and then going salsa dancing at a small, cozy bar! Jennie and I have also been to her gym;
George reporting from Stockholm
The show that wrapped up the summer course. biking, running the treadmill, swimming. They do all kinds of dance and gym classes at this place; so we’ll try to go there together when we have the same day off. There’s also a nice swimming pool just outside my apartment, open pretty much all day, which I go to once in a while.
The weekend before the past one, I had my house warming party, with a lot of people coming - mainly from work. I had aimed at making a Smörgåsbord (Swedish table) and included potato salad, meatballs, cocktail sausages, small sandwiches, pasta salad, egg and caviar as well as crackers with crème cheese and salmon. Especially the potato salad and the meatballs were loved! Turned out to be a real nice evening, at my place and then later at Cave Bar. Waking up the next day though, my usually white marble floor had changed color drastically and my tiny kitchen was hardly entering able. But luckily I had the day off and devoted it to cleaning... hey! But with good music and slow motion movements it wasn’t too bad. 😊 And, met up with Jennie in the evening for dinner and then a movie which was
After the show
EF teachers and staff at the "new school", where I work. nice!
Last Sunday morning I had my first adult class. It went really well, and felt good! It’s a group of ten Chinese, between 16 and 35 years old. It’s the lowest level taught by foreign teachers and I’ll be teaching them every Sunday for the next 12 weeks. Apart from adult classes the management at EF wants me to teach the “small stars” which is kids between 4 and 6 - because I’m so “lovely and patient” - hehe. Well, time will tell! 😊 Will start my training on Friday and my first small star class will probably be in a week or two.
Usually I’ll have Mondays and Tuesdays off from work; which was the case this week. Monday day Jennie and I visited her grandma, and had lunch at her place. In the evening Veronica and I went to Rose and Miles’ house for Philippine dinner - then off out to a club; Babyface. Tuesday this week I spent with Maggie, her mom and baby. We went for lunch and then I stayed at Maggie’s place for a few hours. I’ve started practicing basic Chinese vocabulary and the four tones of Mandarin. Maggie helped me
My class after the show
The kids on stage receiving prize for best performance. To the left, my boss Ken. to record the right pronunciation to my mp3-player - so now I can practice Chinese wherever I go 😊
Someone asked in an earlier comment about the time difference here. Guangzhou is 6 hours ahead of Sweden, or +7 GMT time. My schedule is usually Wednesday thru Friday 11-12.30, 14.30-18, 19-21. Saturday and Sundays I’m working 9-18.
I’ll try to write soon again! Lots of hugs and kisses!
Missing you a lot!!!
/Emma
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Frida
non-member comment
Hej på dig!! Kul med så mycket som händer... allt låter så himla spännande! Själv har man snart varit tillbaka i skolan en vecka, känns väl sådär kul. Jag tror jag hade behövt några veckors ledighet till egentligen! Snart dags för föreläsning, men du får ha det så jättebra!! Kramar från Frida