about the books... HEY HANS I WENT TO UPS TO FIND OUT HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST ME TO SEND YOU A SMALL BOX FILLED WITH BOOKS FOR YOUR NEW STUDENTS, BUT I THINK THEY ARE TRYING TO RIP ME OFF... A SMALL BOX (8X8) WOULD COST ME LIKE $140. I'M SORRY SORRY I REALLY WANTED TO SEND YOU SOME BOOKS BUT THAT PRICE IS OUT OF MY BUDGET FOR NOW...I'M GOING TO TRY TO FIND ANOTHER WAY TO SEND YOU SOMETHING. MISS YOU LOTS. UR LOVELY STUDENT MARU
new things everyday Looks like you're having agreat adventure. Everyday you find something new. That's what I love about traveling. I miss you Schneider. Miami misses you.
reflections! Dear Hans, I eagerly read each of your well written and descriptive blogs. I am beginning to understand our conversations about China not being an ideal place for our squeamish western notions.
hey schneider!!! it looks like your having fun traveling china!!!! im glad to hear that your enjoying yourself and that all is well! take care we miss you
love your student, melissa e.
I love Chinese Opera. I saw that movie, Farewell my Concubine, and I thought "how pretty!" Just like that guys house! ^__^ I have plenty of books laying around, so expect a package soon! But all my posters and calendars are in Spanish, so...
oh god oh god schneider this place looks sooooo beautiful....
it's actually very interesting and different from what we're used to seeing, im enjoying your blogs quiet a bit, i must admit
and by the way
watch out in that little restaurant and eating that food
8-)
it might be...ehm
you know people's pets
haha
:-)
hope all remains well on the other side of the world
and if it makes you feel any better
today's cloudy here as well :-)
funny it's funny that you would post the time difference today, cause just yesterday i went and researched it online so that when i called you i wouldnt call you at 3 in the morning. hopefully i can call you soon :D. oh! i got a job at sears. and much to most people's surprise, i am tall enough to reach the counter!
love,
sandra
miss you hans,
I've enjoyed reading your journal; what a culture shock. I only wish I
had that same spirit of adventure. Reading your account of daily life is
so fascinating. It's better than Rick Steves' travel books. Keep writing!
Effie
Chinese wages The national minimum wage in China is, in theory, just over 480 RMB per month (about US$60). However, many people in factories and commercial premises HAVE to work 'overtime' in order to secure such a wage. They then have to accept a deduction from their salary, on the grounds that their employee provides them with food and board. That this is mandatory, given the twelve hour shifts and distance to their own homes doesn't matter! One of my best friends in Haimen is a young baker. He gets 400 RMB every month, a bed in the back room of the bakery and absolutely no life outside the shop. He last visited his home, about an hour away, at Spring Festival, and expects to possibly go back again briefly next Autumn. A crazy life, filled with totally different expectations.
I also recall that the average urban Chinese (so, about 40% of the population) earns 25 RMB ($3) a day. Not close to the UN's poverty line thing of a-dollar-a-day, but then life is also rather more expensive here, compared to other developing countries. In rural areas a daily living can range from absolute subsistence, a hand-to-mouth existence, up to around 15RMB.
In that relative sense, the Young Teachers don't do so badly, considering their position as young recent graduates. An important consideration is that after having served a three year 'probation', (usually with all the least welcome positions and responsibilities, unless they are being 'groomed' for future greatness) these Young Teachers are then fully qualified as a teacher, and can demand, in coastal China anyway, roughly 2,000 RMB per month. What happens beyond that depends upon their future 'ranking', resulting from things like appraisals and teaching competitions, such as the one you wrote about (Low scoring students get low-ranked teachers' classes, academically successful students get high-ranked teachers' classes. For life. Crazy). Its a hard life teaching in China, I'm afraid, hence the inception of Teachers' Day in the Eighties, to try to restore the respect teachers formerly commanded.
Hey Schneider Hey Hans,Javi here,i was looking at the pictures and wow.look at that class.Ha and you used to talk about how big our 6th period was huh?
i hope everything is great with you.i see your having fun according to the pictures.thats really cool.sometimes i'm looking at your bogs and my parents ask me who you are,all i can say is wow,and then i just start talking about how careing and smart you are and how there should relly be more people like you.
your the best schneider.never doubt that.i wish you luck on all your trips in the future and any other obstacle that you might encounter in the future.
nice to see your having fun hey schnider...it seems that ur stay at china is very splendid...wow it seems that is the place to go to see a whole diffrent culture than ours here in miami..hope to seeing sometime in gables schneider..well then i will comment later..bye...johana
just noticing and wanted to tell you I'm so glad I can see pictures of you smiling. It makes me happy. You look different, happier. When you smiled for photos the last few weeks of school it was a stressed, concerned, and strained smile. Like you were smiling but deep down you were worried. But in these recent ones you seem changed, and happier like your smiles are genuine. It puts me somewhat at ease to see you smile with all of yourself and that it's all happiness and satisfaction. I'm glad you have found the happiness you seek in China.
aww aww...those kids are so cute! AND they pay attention??? THats just not fair, ::pouts::. I'm volunteering at a summer camp at the museum of science and my kids aren't nearly as *ahem* respectful. Oh well, they're lucky they are so darned cute... :-)
you are not fat you are not fat, relax. :)
and may i add, that the goldfish going to "animal heaven" sounds really tragic. i had to do something with goldfish in bio last year and i got really sad everytime a fish died :( i saved one's life when my moronic teacher took him for dead and i noticed it was still moving. needless to say you were a more intelligent teacher ;)
I LOVE YOU!!
Hey! Hey Schneider! It's great to hear that you're doing so well and that you're having such a good time. I hope you continue to have a great summer. Miss you!
-Sarah
China Schneider, you seem to be enjoying it over there in China. Also I have never seen frogs waiting to be picked to eaten at the table or any other kind of that food.
geez.... those kids have the greatest smiles. but how can they be smiling so much when they are eating toads and snakes? just looking at it makes me gag. how the hell are you managing? haha
much love to you
yay they worked ok the pictures worked now.
comments:
1) they treat you like a damn celebrity over there! they must be amazed at the greatness and mystic nature of your head's gleam.
2) good luck getting used to that food.
3) i'll trade bedsheets with you! i think they're pretty awesome.
4) i love you
smorgasborg Hans,you are going to be impossible to cook for when you come home,I will have to make 40 dishes,do they have any thing that resembles SAUERBRATEN? Perhaps some sort of pickled beef dishserved with a sweet and sour bok choy.I envy you the unique dishes you are being served.Don't be a finicky eater try everything,you have been blessed with the opportunity of experience. Chef Wayne & Geri.P.S. I give Risa copies of your letters.
Looking forward to your travel reports It's always nice to get your travel updates. I think it's wonderful that you are doing this and widh you the best/ As always looking forward to your journal. All the best.
Mark
PS Richard sends his regards.
After 38 years as a Foreign Language Teacher and Foreign Language Dept. Chair at Coral Gables Sr. H.S., and A.J. Professor of German at the University of Miami, I have left Florida in June of 2006, where my home is in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. I have just signed another year's teaching-contract (my 8th year now) with Taizhou University in the city of Taizhou, located about 3hrs north of Shanghai, in Jiangsu Province, CHINA.
I thought it would be informative for others and rewarding for me personally, to log the progress of my efforts from beginning to end, as a Travel and Photo Jo... full info
Thomas Scianmarello
non-member comment
Schneider
Well, Schneider, it seems that you have lost weight since you left China, and I hope you keep enjoying China and what it has to offer