Blogs from Wuhan, Hubei, China, Asia - page 7

Yay, I have my first subscriber! She just happens to be my mother! I subscribed to a couple of other Wuhan blogs. Perhaps they will return the favor. Early in the morning, I heard some stomping above me last night. I don't know how that's possible seeing that I am on the top floor of the foreign teacher's apartment, but it woke me up around 6 AM. I stayed in my bed and slept on-and-off until about 8:30 or so. I got dressed and cleaned up super-fast and got to the van to go to Metro, a store not unlike a Sam's Club or Costco in America. It's about an hour to Metro. I dished out some heavy cash and bought some vegetables, booze and a few items not often found in America. I was disappointed ... read more

Jet lag has been a complete bitch to overcome. The rule of thumb has been to calculate one day for each time zone crossed. I crossed 13 time zones. So, you can see my problem. Here are the symptoms associated with jet lag (bolding the ones I have felt or am feeling). Insomnia* Fatigue* Loss of appetite* Anxiety Constipation* Diarrhea Dizziness* Confusion Dehydration Headache Memory Loss Yup, and I am teaching 90 minute classes through all The ones without an asterisk are minor. But it does get worse. Last night, I started feeling dazed. I was nauseous and somewhat dizzy. Right then, at that point I remembered the sensation from a past incident. This could be bad. It was getting progressively worse over time, but not medical emergency worthy. I called D. West and let him ... read more

It's a little hard to believe that I've been in China for almost a month now. I'm starting to get into more of a routine at work and am becoming more comfortable here. This week I was a little homesick; it's hard being somewhere where nothing is familiar and you can't really communicate with other people. I'm missing the comforts of home; a comfortable bed, driving a car, hearing English, knowing what you're buying, etc. (Of course I'm missing family and friends too!) But I suppose all that is normal and is something I'll get used to. School has kept me pretty busy during the week, I'm usually there from about 715-5 everyday. I'm getting to know my students better now, I think I know about 80% of their names which is pretty good I think. ... read more

Woke up to meet D.West to go get my bank account and a cell phone at 7:30 AM. Of course, I was supposed to meet him at 8:30 AM. There, I met two new foreign teachers who just came in last night. They are the Couple (D. Boy and D. Girl), but will be teaching in separate classes. Good people and all. The bank account was a simple and uneventful process. D. West decided to take us shopping at a mall in Wuhan. I had to pick up some cooking utensils and cleaning products while the couple needed basically everything. I got headphones that fit my electronic language translator too. The Couple and I covered an enormous lunch that stuffed me to the point where I probably won't be eating again unless I am invited out ... read more

Well my first full week in Wuhan was fun and very tiring. School started Monday; I teach 2 Drama 10 classes, Marketing 11, and Planning 10. Marketing and Planning have been really easy so far because so much of the material was already planned for me and the teachers are really collaborative. Drama has been more challenging though; the first day I spent most of the first class wondering if anyone understand a word I was saying because all I got were blank faces when I tried to explain what we were going to do for the class. Turns out they understand about half of everything I say and I got told by some students that I talk too fast, so that's something to work on. This week all we did was play games in drama; ... read more