A Chill in the Air

---

On Monday, I was honored to be a judge at the Longgang District Police English Speech Contest. I was advised by the school that it was ok to be a judge since the Police called to them for approval. One MINOR detail, Mr Huang who we dealt with a lot at the start of the school year, approved me being a judge but forgot to tell anyone else so no one was in my classroom teaching while I was being a judge. This is when we just say Oh China.

The speech contest was interesting to listen to. It was to start at 2pm but started at 3pm then lasted until 5pm. There was one winner, two 2nd places,three 3rd places and 6 honorable mentions. There were 30 police men and women who competed in the competition. Some memorized their speeches and some read them straight from the paper with little to no emotion. The police department gets one text message a day in English so they can help prepare for the Universiade Games that are being hosted in Shenzhen August 2011. It is a huge university level competition similar to the Olympics, but we had never heard of it until moving to Shenzhen. The city is building like crazy and extending the metro lines all over to prepare for the games. The police are also working on their English to assist "Foreign Friends" The speech topics were decided by each competitor but most of the spoke on the Universiade Games which got pretty boring. Some other speeches were: I Have a Dream by MLK, Simple Communication, Learn to Say No(LOVED THIS) since it doesn't happen much in China, Over the See and the rest I can't remember.

Afterwards about 12 of us went to dinner on the budget of the department. It was a typical Chinese banquet with lots of food, toasting and men getting drunk on listen to this Hennessy Cognac. Usually they drink Baijou which is a white NASTY tasty alcohol only found in China. I had some Hennessy then switched to Pijiu (beer). I ate mushrooms, eggplant, soup, pepper steak dish(AWESOME) a flower seafood that was in a shell unsure what the English translation was but tasty, and steamed bread with corn inside of it. I also had a drink called Corn Juice, served warm, it was different but good also. Supporting my Father by consuming 2 different corn products at dinner. Then everyone was done and I was driven home by 8pm.

I was excited to take part in this all but kind of bummed when I heard a teacher in our program in Bao'an got paid 1,000 RMB and another teacher in Yantian got paid 1,500 RMB to be judges at their districts competition. I got 2 free dinners and 8 free passport pictures(needed for my Cambodia visa). I only needed one but they come on a sheet of 8 so I will have them for any other visa I may need over the next year or so.

This morning as I walked to the police department to get my passport pictures I noticed the Chill in the Air. It was actually a little chilly. When I arrived at school the internet said a High of 77 and Low of 65, BRRR for Shenzhen. It felt nice and refreshing. Everyone asked "arent' you cold" at school since I had on a skirt and a short sleeved blazer. I guess this is how cold it gets because everyone was bundled up in their jackets and pants today all around town.

Now I am all packed for our flight this evening (11:20pm) to Bangkok, Thailand. We are scheduled to arrive around 1am then take a taxi to the bus station then we take a bus to the Cambodia border that leaves at 4am. It will be a long night and keep your fingers crossed all goes well. Again we are traveling where our Chinese won't help us at all, but more English speakers in Thailand since it is a tourist place. Unsure, how Cambodia will be but we are said some English is spoken there. Thank God for Lonely Planet Phrasebooks to help with the language barrier.

---

Comments

[Mom]

chilly day
Glad to heat you enjoyed the Police judging...a little cooler for you and did the students just sit there and wait????Communication is not their strong point!!! Enjoy your trip to Thailand and Cambodia!!!!!

[Tiffany Journeys East]

Jealous!
I want to go back to Cambodia. FYI, in Siem Reap everyone speaks English. I've heard it's the same elsewhere in Cambodia. I had much more trouble finding English speakers in Bangkok, oddly enough.