Blogs from Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, Asia - page 61

Can you guess which is my picture? Have I made it clear that I stand out here in good old china. ... read more

My last two days in and around Hong Kong were enjoyable. I had booked a15 hour to Macau and Shenzhen in mainland China since visas and transportation would all be arranged for me. And it would figure that this was the only dark and rainy day of my trip, making the high speed ferry a very rough ride. The first stop was Macau, the Portuguese settlement. Macau is mostly known for its gambling- there are lots of casinos and it’s a weekend gambling destination for businessmen. As a whole, Macau looks pretty run down which is something I was warned about before leaving for my trip. The highlight of Macau is the ruined façade of St. Paul’s cathedral, built in the 16th century. It was destroyed by a fire caused by a typhoon in 1835 and ... read more

What I saw today, even I had to take a moment to breathe, and then take it all in. Yesterday was the official "Teacher Appreciation Day" in China. Now, I think in america we have such a thing, but obviously that day did not sear anything into my memory, but I think today will be around for awhile for the simple reason that I, along with my fellow 7th grade teachers, stood in front of the entire student body of, ohh about 2,000, and received flowers....yada, yada, yada.....the most amazing thing...and some of my fellow teachers in america WILL not believe this, but the entire 2,000 + students stood on the football (soccer) field all by themselves and were QUIET!!! Yes, you didn't read that wrong. They all were in uniform lines, standing at attention, for ... read more

Let's just put it out there. Say it like it is. School started, sometime in the past few days....I'm actually not a hundred percent when, because I obviously can't understand a syllable that is spoken beyond "Hello", so that has presented somewhat of a repetative obstacle. I recieved my schedule on Sunday and was given the gift of 28 different classes. Yep! I basically teach every student from grade 4 to grade 8. Each grade has anywhere from 4-8 different sections. That's a whole lot of English loving to spread around. I only teach 3 classes aday (except friday), but that is plenty! And I only see each student once every two weeks. At the rate I am going, which is each class had around 45-50 students, at the end of next week, Iwill have had ... read more

When I asked my contact teacher, "What time I should be downstairs for class tomorrow?", her reply was simpily, "sometime after you eat breakfast." Well lady, I wanted to say....that could be anywhere from 6am to 1pm....could we be a bit more specific.....But for the sake of arguement or more confusing english-chinese conversation, I didn't press the issue. I figured I should downstairs around 8ish, which I found out was preciously after the flag raising ceremony (opps!). I spotted my contact teacher, which was a little feat, because, you guessed, it she is a small, petite, chinese looking women....one of about a hundrend or so at my school. But with eager anticipation for my first day (I mean struggled through at least 4 outfit changes for this important event) I found her and the first words ... read more