China-continued… Day two (Thursday) is a long one—three classes starting at 8:00 and finishing at 3:20 with a 2-hour break in the middle of the day. Still very hot and humid and even the locals are commenting on the humidity in particular. I am in the break period in the foreigner’s office, which fortunately is air-conditioned, although it still feels very ‘moist’. Apparently, it will continue like this for another couple of weeks…. Yesterday was “interesting’ as I had more or less run out of cash and I had been trying various ATMs around the city to no avail: I used the ones from last time, which worked fine two years ago but for whatever reason, no luck, no cash. I thought I would try Western Union transfer to China, but no luck there either—at this ... read more

China! The mysterious Orient...actually mysterious is not really the right word--perhaps 'exciting, puzzling, frenetic, frustrating rewarding...' might start to describe a fascinating country and equally fascinating culture and people. I am in Jinhua for a four-month teaching gig at Jinhua Polytechnic University as part of an exchange program with Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC, Canada. The intent of the program is to deliver RRU's Hospitality program to Chinese student at JPU. The program is taught in English and the Canadian teachers work with Chinese translator's in the classroom to help facilitate the course. I teach Marketing and Sales: this is my second placement and I have just arrived and anticipate getting going in the classroom in a few days. I arrived in Shanghai from Vancouver where I stayed to 'acclimatize' and de-compress before heading to Jinhua--this ... read more