Finals Time!

As some of you know, it's finals' time for us here in China. For the sophomore students, the final is a 5 minute interview in which I ask them some questions from the topics and lessons we have studied this semester. In fact, I have made this final especially easy for them by giving them a review sheet with all possible questions that I would ask during the final.

After tomorrow at 10:00 AM, I will be nearly half-way done with the sophomore finals, and I'm noticing a trend: the amount of compliments students give during their finals is a little comical. "Your scarf is so beautiful," (I have been wearing this scarf the whole semester.)"You look so lovely today in your red coat." Or, "I often want to talk to you, but I feel so nervous when I look at your eyes." Or, "I do hope you will teach us next semester." Or my favorite one in answer to the question, "Which lesson from this semester has helped your Oral English improve the most?" a response like, "Of course, all of the courses with our lovely foreign teacher."

Yeah, I'm on to the flattery. And although it might not help student's grade, (because of course I am objective at all times) it does help me quite a bit. For next semester, remind me to also schedule an oral mid-term; I could use a dose of this medicine more often.

Decision Time

It's getting to that time of year where I need to make a decision about next year. Do I sign up for another year of teaching in China? Or, do I jump back into American culture, settle in a city, and find a job (hopefully working with immigrants and ESL students). Since, I know that I'm not an island, and that my decision affects more than myself, and since I depend on you readers to exist and thrive over here, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Drop me an email or comment on this post.

More cheer

Cheese and sausage... I want to eat you everyday.


We played a game of apple scrabble.



The dads and babes.

Team-mate Charlie and baby Jonathan. The babies were instrumental in spreading the joy of Christmas!

Spreading Christmas Cheer

We felt like bums after eating so much, so we all went on a team-walk.


My team-mates and their little ones.

Christmas Photos

Are we lovely?


I think I'm a pretty good, little Auntie. Here's my team-mate's daughter, Devon, and me.

Christmas gifts from students

I have received a lot of interesting Christmas gifts this year from students. First, it seems that the classes feel “responsible” or maybe they just want to buy their foreign teacher a gift. This is very kind of them, but sometimes I don’t understand the mentality behind the exact gifts they give. For example, my team-mate, (who is a 30 some year old male) received a snowglobe that plays Fur Elise. And I received a huge, stuffed teddy bear, similar to something that a junior high girl would ask her boyfriend to win for her at the county fair. I felt kind of silly walking home with this giant bear after class. And of course, everyone wants to know how much I paid for it…and I tell them it’s a gift, keep my head down and hope to arrive home without any more questions. I didn’t really think I had a need for a giant stuffed bear in my life, but I was wrong. This same class also gave me a blue, psychedelic fragrance lamp; they spent way too much money on me, and I wonder if they had been prompted by their head teacher or the older students to make sure they made Christmas special for their foreign teacher.

Perhaps the most unlikely and unexplainable gift I have gotten is a pair of plastic, hollow boots…one is green and one is black. Inside the boots, the students have made a lot of paper cranes and little stars. Again, the boots are indescribable, (see picture below). Now, where to put the plastic boots…any thoughts?

Another class, took the more sentimental route. They bought a card, and wrote some very moving words on the card. I was touched. Then, they had a small, clear box with 3 clear glass vials inside. Each vial contains small, rolled up pieces of colored paper where all the students have written their wishes to me. A lot of the wishes are things like, “Wish you happy everyday.” But, a few of the wishes are more personal or written in Chinese. I actually haven’t finished reading all the wishes yet, but one touching wish reads “I hope I can become a teacher just like you.” These words truly warm my heart and encourage me.

Now, I must be off to write my final exam for the sophomore students. I think it works out well for them that I’m writing the exam while I have such warm, fuzzy feelings toward them.

Just Another day at the Office

As I post these pictures, I realize my "office" time looks quite different than most of yours. For the foreign teachers, we go the office to talk, or more specifically to let our students talk (in English) and encourage them to speak more. Yesterday, I took my camera and snapped a few shots.

Two Pictures just to keep you checking

This is a team-mate Charlie, and one of our colleagues' children. This 9 year old is a little naughty sometimes, but very lovely. He likes to dissect the cookies.


I'm in between a mother and daughter. Both of them are good friends of the foreign teachers and enjoy spending time with us. We are blessed to have good friends here.

Never to Accomplish while Living in China (List)

Some simple tasks that I will likely NEVER accomplish while living in China:
1. Enjoying the post office.
2. Having a clean bathroom.
3. Figuring out how to hang things on the wall that won't fall down when the season changes.
4. Fixing a bike that has been broken for over half a year.
5. Having a dress or any other clothing made.
6. Successively explaining to the boss not to cut the bread into tiny, chiclet sized pieces because we want to use it as "dipping bread."
7. Reading a Chinese novel.
8. Ordering things online from China's taobao (similar to ebay)
9. Using my Chinese bank account.
10. Changing MP3's to Cd format and playing them in the classroom.
11. Showing students clips from the TV in the classroom.
12. Recording things on TV.

English teachers across Asia....

English teachers across Asia, this post is for you. Before I run the risk of offending any of you, I should say that I'm just as guilty as the next Colombian outfitted foreign teacher to let my speech slip into the understandable at the cost of authenticity. However, recently I have noticed how often we as foreign teachers say the word "maybe" when talking with our students. Now, maybe I'm overly sensitive to the over-use of words. Or maybe it's just the foreigners way of softening the definitiveness of what we say. But just maybe, it is a trend of sloppiness that has started somewhere in the foreign teacher realm and has continued to spread across Asia, passing from one foreign teacher to the next, on to our Chinese colleagues, and finally taking root in the speech of our students, creating a language of indefinite maxims. So, if you are a foreign teacher reading this, maybe you have also noticed the tendency to cushion your conversations in "maybe's." Perhaps we can join together in cutting down on our use of "maybe's" for the sake of preserving an authentic language that most of us desire to teach our students.

A Sunday Evening

The night was inviting…not too cold, a little overcast, and not much breeze. It was just before dusk, 5:50. I headed for the river walk. The river walk, as relaxing as it sounds, is noisy and bright with neon rainbow lights flowing on the opposite side of the river bank. A few people were out that night, and although it’s quieter to walk along the lower level of the river, right on the bank, it’s also a little dangerous once night falls. So, I enjoyed the upper bank of the river walk and turned up the music. On the walk back, it started to spritz. I picked up my pace and made it to the apartment complex with no problem. The gatekeeper auntie was waiting there and offered for me come in and sit awhile. I accepted…feeling weak and eager to sit, I went into the living/bedroom wing of their house. Their house consists of two rooms of equal size. The other room is a kitchen with a little gas burning stove, a cabinet full of dishes, and a love seat. On the side of the kitchen and right outside the entrance is a built on lean-to that I speculate houses the squatty.

The Ai, (pronounced “I E” and meaning Aunt in Chinese) ushered me inside and offered me some wine. I told her no thanks and also explained that we weren’t allowed to drink. Inside the living room was another middle-aged man. He was warming his feet under a blanket and a space heater, or “magic box” as I like to call them. He was friendly and asked me some questions about how long I had been in China, etc. I told him and Ai about my day and shared a little bit about how I had gone to church that morning to worship. They talked about how Chinese people only worship Buddha. I pointed out all the Chinese people that I had seen at the church that morning. I asked them some more questions about how they worship Buddha. I explained how we worship the father; the man seemed to like my explanation. The Ai changed the subject and asked when I could come for lunch or dinner. She’s almost aggressive in her lunch invites, but I really appreciate the warmness and kindness she radiates.

On the Street Bird Meat

Living in China is pretty convenient. In America, you have to go hunting to get fresh fowl like this. Not in China, just a walk down the street and a small penny, and you too can have fresh bird for dinner!

Ponderings on Christmas Stuff

1. Is it sacra-religious to set out half a nativity scene?
2. Is it sacra-religious to set up half a nativity scene on top of my fridge?
3. Where are the shepherd, the angel, and the cow?
4. Do Christmas sprinkles keep for a year?
5. Is it possible to use a juice that has pomegranate, red grape, peach, and apple flavor to make apple cider? Should I use a peach nectar juice instead?
5. Why can I find all kinds of nuts here except pecans?
6. What can I do with the abundance of Christmas stockings?
7. Was the neighbor man outside joking when he asked to attend our Christmas party?
8. Why didn’t I think of inventing a Christmas tree made completely out of silver tinsel? Ingenious and beautiful!
9. If the candy-canes from a year ago are soft and liquidy, can I still give them away as presents?