Flickr

Here’s my Flickr site. Now I can at least upload some pictures so people know what I’m talking about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13205544@N07/

Classes

The first week of classes is over, and if the other weeks are like this one, it shouldn’t be too bad. I just make a Powerpoint presentation, then talk to my students and have them ask me questions. And the way that my classes are set up is actually really convenient for me, because I teach the same class 15 times, so I get plenty of chances to perfect my lesson. By Friday, my lesson is spot-on. It kind of sucks for the students on Monday, but I’ve been including extra activities and things in my lesson plans, so just in case the presentation I prepared doesn’t last for the whole 40 minutes, I have other things I can do with my students to pass the time.

My first lesson revolved around me introducing myself with a few games that I would play with the class, like a true/false game where I would put statements up on the board, and they would guess whether or not they were true. For example: I jumped out of a plane (true) and I was attacked by an alligator (false). The one that was the biggest hit was when I showed them that my elbow bent the wrong way. It’s an odd feeling getting applause for something that I was born with. I also got more than a few screams when I showed the class.

Apart from classes, the days have been about the same. We go to new restaurants every night, some better than others, but all very good. One highlight of this weekend was biking up Purple Mountain, which is a mountain right in the middle of Nanjing. It was hard work, and I thought I was going to die halfway up it, but it was worth the effort for both the view and the ride down.

Training

The first week I spent in China felt like a vacation, and rightly so. I just spent my time exploring with the other teachers, trying out a new restaurant every night and going clubbing after that. But now that the orientation for the teachers has started, we’ve stopped going to clubs every night, although we’re still finding new restaurants. And since the training takes most of the day, my exploration of the city has dropped considerably. That’s what the weekend and my time off from classes is going to be for, I’m assuming, although I feel responsible enough towards my students to make good lessons, so I’ll probably spend a good amount of time planning exactly what I’m going to do in class. Luckily, I’m teaching one lesson a week, so my creativity can be focused on one thing rather than being spread out over fifteen different classes. And I seem to have actually realized that this is my job, because I’m putting a lot of effort, much more effort than I ever put into my work at school. Mirroring that, my Chinese study has been progressing well, which is giving me a lot more confidence. I was actually excited to study yesterday, which was an odd feeling, considering how much I usually enjoy studying.

More English teachers have arrived since I last wrote, and we’ve been exploring places in groups, like Fuzimao, an area of markets surrounding a temple devoted to Confucius. Markets in China are like the markets I saw in Mexico, except even crazier, with people yelling everywhere to get my attention, and about 5 bootleg DVD stores down each aisle. I’ve already picked up some more DVDs.

One day when I was walking back from breakfast at the dumpling place, I saw a bunch of people dressed in army uniforms in the middle of the schoolyard, apparently waiting for something to happen. By the time I got up to my apartment, they were all in formation and being yelled at by officers. Adam, Nick (another teacher), and I ran up to the roof with our cameras, and we started taking pictures of what turned out to be the students marching. Apparently, they do military marching as an orientation activity. They marched around the courtyard, and then each group would jog in formation to the middle and do kung fu moves together in front of one head officer. Then they marched some more and stood at attention while someone spoke to them over a loudspeaker. Coming from my American background, I would’ve hated doing something like that for an orientation activity, but Lee, the teacher who’s training us, told us that it was one of the students’ favorite activities. It made them feel much more patriotic, and patriotism is a very powerful emotion for the China, much more so than in America, even.

Wandering

The ordeal in MCO made me dread arriving in the Shanghai airport. I was expecting to be interrogated, maybe even searched, so I stepped off the plane a little more nervous than I would be arriving in any other country. The Shanghai airport does make a good first impression, at least in my mind. On either side of where my plane had stopped, the building extended upwards and in either direction for what seemed miles. It reminded me of the opening scene in Star Wars, when the Star Destroyer flies over the camera, and it seems like it’s going to go on forever. The airport was like a landed Star Destroyer; there were even some similarities in design. John and I walked along the outside for a while, following the crowd, until we arrived at the entrance to customs. But instead of being fully questioned, we were allowed to pass quickly. They just checked our visas and laughed at my ridiculous looking passport picture, then let us go claim our baggage. No need for a return ticket.

I spent my first night in China in a hotel room in Shanghai, about five minutes away from the airport. The hotel room was much better than I expected, and it included a sign in Chingrish, something that I’m sure I’ll see more of in the future. Miss Tao, our contact from the school, was the one who set us up in the hotel and showed us around a little bit before we all went back to the airport to pick up a third teacher who was arriving, Adam. He speaks significantly more Chinese than either John or I, which is good for us because we all travel around in a group, and he can order food or ask for directions, whereas all I can do is say hello and a few other basic phrases.

The next morning, we took a bus from Shanghai to Nanjing, in one of the scarier bus rides of my life. I’d been warned that people in China drive like maniacs, and they lived up to their reputation. At one point, the bus drove on the dotted lane line, all the while honking like crazy for the two cars in front of it to move out of the way. I spent most of the trip attempting to study Chinese, with some help from Adam on the pronunciation side. I also learned about one of the coolest things about Chinese writing: stroke order. When you write a character, there’s an order that you should write it in so that you have better chi. It usually means things like finishing the inside of a box before closing it around what’s inside or doing horizontal strokes before vertical strokes, but it can also lead to some headaches when there are really complicated characters to write, like student, which needs about 15 strokes to write. It starts to make sense, though, and when you follow the stroke order, you can write the characters more smoothly and quickly.

So far, my days here in Nanjing have been incredible. John, Adam, and I have been slowly exploring the city, and we’ve discovered a lot: a shop that sells dumplings for one yuan, which is about 12 or 13 cents; another shop that has the most incredible noodles I’ve ever tasted; what we called Bicycle City, a place our taxi driver took us when we asked where we could buy used bikes that had a main street full of bikes, as well as an area in the back that was just as full, thousands of bikes; Nanjing 1912, the newer area with restaurants that cater to Americans and six different clubs within walking distance, which we’ve gone to three out of the four nights we’ve been here; multiple shops that sell three yuan beers that are bigger than the beers I would pay a couple of bucks for in the States; a bootleg DVD store, and tons more things like that. I really do think the best part of the being here so far has been just wandering a direction and finding a restaurant that has better food than I could ever expect to find in a little hole in the wall, or seeing a guy who sells birds on a small side street.

In Transit

A quick note on this blog entry. I wrote it on my laptop as I was flying, but it took me a couple of days to get it posted. I haven’t gotten the internet in my room yet, so I have to use a public computer. When I get the internet, there will be more frequent posts.

MCO – 0630 EST

It’s recommended that you arrive at least two hours in advance for international flights, and after this morning, I understand why. While I was getting my tickets to Shanghai, I was informed that John and I needed to have a return ticket, even if we weren’t planning on going back on the day we had the return ticket for. One hour, five credit cards, and nearly 5000 dollars later, we had our fully refundable return tickets that will be refunded when we land in Shanghai. The advantage to the whole debacle was that we didn’t have to spend that much time waiting in the Orlando airport, but we still had enough time for me to get a passable breakfast and charge up my laptop. The days long voyage begins now…..

MCO to SFO – 1000 EST

Being able to write on the plane is just one of the many benefits of having a laptop. Instead of reading or playing my DS, I can be productive and do a step-by-step blog of the long traveling process from Orlando, Florida to Shanghai, China. Unfortunately, my laptop has limited batteries, so I have to make sure to conserve as much as possible. I’m pretty tired, so hopefully I can nap some, although with my above average height, it can be a tad difficult to get comfortable. Oh well, I always have Gravity’s Rainbow to read. I’ve been working on it for so long, and slowly but surely I’m chipping away at it. Only 600 pages or so to go! That may seem like a lot, but I still have the flight to Shanghai to read.

On another note, we were delayed an hour and a half at the gate because apparently the engine start light said that the engine was continuously lighting, so they had to check it out before we could go. It just means less time in SFO, because unless we get delayed again, I’m not going to miss me flight. I just want to have enough time to get some lunch before getting on the plane to Shanghai.

SFO – 1245 PST

A woman just came running down the escalator yelling for them to hold the plane to Taiwan as the flight was pulling away from gate. I’m sitting in a little cubby in the airport eating my sandwich and watching her react to missing such a huge flight. I paid 6 dollars for an hour of internet in the airport so that I could forward my contact information to my parents, as well as the phone number of the person from the school that’s coming to pick us up. It was worth it, if only to give my parents some peace of mind. They seemed pretty sad over me leaving, which is understandable, and anything I can do to make them feel better I’ll try to do. Hopefully they can get Skype working on their computer so we don’t have to worry about ridiculous phone rates.

SFO to PVG – 0700 Shanghai Time

Traveling with a friend makes sitting a boring airplane so much better. I always have someone to talk to, and we make bets with each other, or recommend radio stations to listen to, or make stupid deals with each other. It makes being squeezed into a middle seat much more bearable, even if I’m not really designed to handle these kinds of things.

When we lifted off from SFO, I was much more excited than I ever was from flying to school. That may seem like a pretty basic statement, and I guess it is, but what I’m trying to say is that I finally feel like I’m doing something important and exciting with my life. I’m doing something that none of my friends or relatives, except for John obviously, has really done.

0900 Shanghai Time

The Pacific seems endless, but my enthusiasm for China is unabated. I just woke up from a nap and dimmed the brightness of my laptop so that it’ll last longer. John and I are both writing while everyone else in the plane is sleeping or watching the Last Mimzy. In other words, everyone else on the plane is sleeping. I do see a few people reading Chinese newspapers, and it’s inspiring me to pull out my Chinese learning software and try to learn a few more characters. My goal by the end of this year is to be able to read one newspaper article in Chinese.

1220 Shanghai Time

Time has lost its meaning on this flight. It feels like it’s midnight for me, but it’s light outside, and it’s been light outside for the whole fight. I always thought that the flight from France was rough, but at least the day stays the same. We passed over the International Date Line about an hour ago, and now my body doesn’t know what time it is. The stewardesses bring us food, and we eat, but we don’t know what meal to expect. And now John and I have decided to stay awake so that we can get ourselves accustomed to the time change. Five hours to go, and I haven’t lost any excitement.

1350 Shanghai Time

A very Chinese thing: for a snack on the plane, we were given a box. Inside, an instant bowl of noodles, chopsticks, an almond cookie, and some napkins. The stewardesses came down the aisle with hot water and poured it into the noodles, which were then covered and left to sit for four minutes. Finally, everyone was able to enjoy noodles, softly slurping them while Premonition played silently on the movie screens. It’s still light out, but I’m going to sleep anyway.

1645 Shanghai Time

I woke up with a start, the 22 minute Final Fantasy female theme remix still playing on my iPod. John told me that every time I wake up, my eyes go really wide, like I’m surprised to be waking up in such a place. Less than an hour till we arrive, and I’m beginning to get genuinely excited.

1721 Shanghai Time

Touchdown. I’m now officially in China.

A Test

This is just a test to make sure that pictures work properly in this blog. Actual update is forthcoming.