Blogs from Qingdao, Shandong, China, Asia - page 10

We logeerden in het Yinhai Garden Hotel (Yinhai huayuan dajiudian) Adres: Nanhai road 5, 266071 Qingdao Telefoon: 0532 - 8296 7555 en 0532 - 8296 7558 en 0532 - 8287 9708 (Men sprak er geen Engels) Ligging: Aan de zeedijk, vlakbij Beach No1 en bij de Badaguan wijk. Het was gemakkelijk te herkennen aan zijn felroze kleur. Prijs en wat inbegrepen: We kregen de kamer van 160Y voor 120Y. Het was een kleine 2-persoonskamer met kleine badkamer. individuele airco/verwarming, TV en telefoon, Internetaansluiting via de telefoon (tegen betaling), geen ontbijt. Persoonlijke beoordeling: Alles was een beetje afgeleefd en simpel, maar werkte. Een groot raam met ruim zicht op zee, langs de zuidkant. Men was er zeer vriendelijk. Voor deze prijs zou het moeilijk zijn om een kamer te vinden in deze verwesterde badstad, zeker eentje met ... read more

I know, I keep saying how big China is and it's boring but I have to say it again. Everything in China is BIG! Qindao is small by Chinese standards . . . about 6 million people. It will host the sailing regattas in the 2008 Olympics and you can tell they are working toward it. Everything is in various states of repair and rennovation. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. . . I felt like a very responsible person to be allowed to walk from my apartment to the canteen without an escort this morning. After webphoning with my Mom (Hi Mom!), I dressed in lots of layers and set out for my morning stroll down the hill to the campus. I was, maybe, two minutes late. But at 8.00 on the ... read more

This morning's lecture was about change management. This is a challenging topic for Western students and I wasn't sure how it would go here, so I was a tiny bit apprehensive. After another good Chinese breakfast including black rice soup (I know it doesn't sound great but it's not bad), we headed off for the 8.30 class. When I entered the room, both yesterday and today, the students applauded wildly. Quite a change from the Western culture. I feel sure they only do that for visitors, but it's still a great way to start. Of course I applauded them back. Not sure if that's a culturally acceptable thing to do but it felt right to me. My translator is a young teacher from the tourism school and she was quite nervous. I can imagine how ... read more

I think I probably learned as much, if not more, than my students today. I learned that there is no Western breakfast here and if you want to eat, you eat Chinese breakfast. For me today that included what looked like rolls of light-fried bread, fried egg, rice soup and what looked like a hash brown pancake. No coffee and no tea for breakfast. Only soup as a liquid. That was a little difficult for me, but not insurmountable. The cantine is huge with a stage at the front. There is a "restricted" teachers' area but at breakfast we ate in the student area. It's all open anyway . . . just a wider aisle separates the two areas. We walked to school this morning from my apartment. David (Chinese name Shu Fong) is my ... read more

These will just be pictures as I try to keep up. We are at a German-owned resort now and I may relax too much.... read more