Today Alex and I bought fresh carp from the supermarket and fried it for lunch.
Said like that, it sounds so easy.
The supermarket wasn't any more of a trial than usual, except that when we got to the checkout they said their card scanners weren't working, so Alex's card wouldn't work, so we had to do a mad scramble for cash - we barely had enough between us, because I never carry more than I think I'm going to need, and Alex uses his debit card. In case you're wondering how I figured all this out, Alex knows a lot more Chinese than I do.
Freshwater fish here is quite cheap, but sea fish are expensive, because we're so far inland. The freshwater fish are presented to you in tanks - you pick the fish you want, and the butcher scoops it up, knocks it senseless, scales and guts it for you.
Cooking the fish was another matter entirely. For some reason, I thought I knew how to fillet a fish. I don't know where I got this misguided notion from, because when I started, I realised I had no idea, and had never done this before. There was a lot of mess. Once we got around to eating it, we discovered there were also a lot of tiny bones, making the eating difficult.
However, eventually I had the beast in two halves, and then I pan fried it in butter with garlic. We had it on a bed of rice, with some sautéed onions and beans, and a green chilli omelette that Alex made. It was very tasty!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Merry Christmas!
It's a shame I don't have photos for this post. Next time.
The last few days have been full of stuff. Saturday was midwinter's day, and in China it's traditional to eat dumplings, and as you're eating them you remind yourself to put on an extra layer of clothing. That's advice I should have heeded earlier - I have a cold right now. The dumplings were very tasty, though.
On Sunday the school had Christmas celebrations, and instead of regular classes the kids just played games all day. Alex dressed up as Chevady, the school's mascot, and I dressed up as Santa Claus - so I spent the day saying "ho ho ho, merry Christmas", and giving out candy to the kids. After the kids had left, all the teachers (except Ariel, because she was sick, and wasn't there) piled into a couple of taxis - four people in the back seat of each - and made our way to Mary's house (one of the admin staff at the school). I played Chinese checkers, and then we had barbecued chicken for starters, and hot pot for the main meal. Delicious!
On Monday, Yoyo (one of Ariel's friends) came over to teach me Chinese, and Ivy joined in too, so we're going to do it on a regular basis. After that I went with Yoyo to her university, we met up with Cao Yan, and I got to see the inside of the girl's dormitories at the university. They're very Spartan - there are four people to a room, and each person has a bunk, and a desk underneath the bunk.
Then we went into the city centre to meet Ariel, which turned out to be no mean feat. Although the Chinese don't officially celebrate Christmas, the streets were packed with people. We did find her eventually, but they cancelled the buses in and out of the city centre because of all the people - so we had to walk to the edge of the old city before we could catch a bus. On the way, we bought sugarcane from a street vendor, and munched on that until we found a bus.
All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas Eve. Hope yours went as well!
The last few days have been full of stuff. Saturday was midwinter's day, and in China it's traditional to eat dumplings, and as you're eating them you remind yourself to put on an extra layer of clothing. That's advice I should have heeded earlier - I have a cold right now. The dumplings were very tasty, though.
On Sunday the school had Christmas celebrations, and instead of regular classes the kids just played games all day. Alex dressed up as Chevady, the school's mascot, and I dressed up as Santa Claus - so I spent the day saying "ho ho ho, merry Christmas", and giving out candy to the kids. After the kids had left, all the teachers (except Ariel, because she was sick, and wasn't there) piled into a couple of taxis - four people in the back seat of each - and made our way to Mary's house (one of the admin staff at the school). I played Chinese checkers, and then we had barbecued chicken for starters, and hot pot for the main meal. Delicious!
On Monday, Yoyo (one of Ariel's friends) came over to teach me Chinese, and Ivy joined in too, so we're going to do it on a regular basis. After that I went with Yoyo to her university, we met up with Cao Yan, and I got to see the inside of the girl's dormitories at the university. They're very Spartan - there are four people to a room, and each person has a bunk, and a desk underneath the bunk.
Then we went into the city centre to meet Ariel, which turned out to be no mean feat. Although the Chinese don't officially celebrate Christmas, the streets were packed with people. We did find her eventually, but they cancelled the buses in and out of the city centre because of all the people - so we had to walk to the edge of the old city before we could catch a bus. On the way, we bought sugarcane from a street vendor, and munched on that until we found a bus.
All in all, it was a pretty good Christmas Eve. Hope yours went as well!
Friday, December 21, 2007
More Chinese TV
Things I have learned watching Chinese TV:
Even in China, the Chinese movies (especially kung fu movies) have poorly synched sound, so nobodies lips' move in time to the speech.
Keanu Reeves' acting is improved a great deal when subbed by a Chinese guy.
At least one of the channels here is a 24-hour Chinese Idol show.
Another channel looks like a sports channel, but the only sport ever on is table tennis.
Even in China, the Chinese movies (especially kung fu movies) have poorly synched sound, so nobodies lips' move in time to the speech.
Keanu Reeves' acting is improved a great deal when subbed by a Chinese guy.
At least one of the channels here is a 24-hour Chinese Idol show.
Another channel looks like a sports channel, but the only sport ever on is table tennis.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Light and Sound
It can be very noisy here, 30 storeys above the city street. Right now, at about 1am, there is some sort of construction work going on. Half an hour ago there were fireworks going off - and that is one of the more heart-attack-inducing things that goes on regularly on the city streets; bundles of tiny firecrackers will be tied somewhere convenient on the pavement and set off. Very noisy, and very unfortunate if you're a foreigner not familiar with the practice who happens to be nearby when they're set off.
During the daylight hours today there was some sort of show going on down the street. I could hear the singing and the announcer from my apartment, as well as the occasional army drill-style shout. I could see them from here, too - some kind of song-and-dance on a stage that was a bit far away to make any useful details out.
About a week ago there was a procession a good deal closer to my apartment - just a block over, in fact. A marching band came up one of the streets, and I even took a couple of photos (if you peer closely you can see the guy with the bass drum):
I still don't have any trouble sleeping, though. In fact, I've been getting more sleep than is normal, since I don't have to get up very early.
During the daylight hours today there was some sort of show going on down the street. I could hear the singing and the announcer from my apartment, as well as the occasional army drill-style shout. I could see them from here, too - some kind of song-and-dance on a stage that was a bit far away to make any useful details out.
About a week ago there was a procession a good deal closer to my apartment - just a block over, in fact. A marching band came up one of the streets, and I even took a couple of photos (if you peer closely you can see the guy with the bass drum):
I still don't have any trouble sleeping, though. In fact, I've been getting more sleep than is normal, since I don't have to get up very early.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
A Brief History of the Way We View the Universe
And now for something completely unrelated to China. I've been watching the odd religious debate unfold over the internet now and then, and while I don't particularly feel like getting into one (they always develop the same way) I think that an understanding of scientific ideas about the universe and how they have interacted with Christian views over the centuries is something people should be aware of. It is unfortunate that I do not know how these same ideas have interacted with other religions; if someone else does, please enlighten me.
The earliest modern idea about the universe is the Ptolemiac geocentric view. This holds that the Earth is the centre of the universe, and everything, including the Sun, revolves around it in fixed spheres. This view was held from the 1st century right through to the 17th, with full support from the church - the final sphere was for the 'fixed stars', and beyond that was plenty of room for heaven and the domain of God.
Copernicus had a different view - the heliocentric view, that says the Sun is the centre of the universe, and the Earth is just another planet that revolves around it. He put forward this theory only on his deathbed, during the 16th century, out of fear of the church.
Copernicus was right to fear - when Galileo invented the telescope in the 17th century, he was able to confirm that Copernicus was right (or at least, more right than the current view). This got him in trouble with the Inquisition: he was forced to recant, and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.
It wasn't until Newton, also in the 17th century, published his law of gravity and demonstrated that it perfectly described the motions of the celestial bodies, that the heliocentric model was finally accepted. The church was no longer able to defend the Ptolemiac view.
After it was discovered that the stars were much further away than anyone had guessed before, scientists started coming up with other views of the universe. These went so far as to suggest that even the Sun is not the centre of the universe - that it is just one of many stars. This led to the steady state theory, which says that the universe is infinitely large, and has always existed, and thus there is no centre.
The steady state theory was popular with scientists for a long time, even after Hubble discovered that the universe was not constant - it was expanding. The steady state theory provides no place for God, because there is no 'outside' - there are stars in every direction. After Hubble's discovery, however, a new theory gained in popularity - the big bang. This theory is pretty well-known, I will not describe it.
The big bang theory got the attention of the church again. Finally, they had something that not only provided space for God and heaven (since the idea that the universe has a size also implies that there is something for it to exist in - not entirely correct, but close enough for religion), but provided a scientific theory that required a prime mover - something to start it all - in essence, a god.
This is still pretty much the state of affairs these days. The steady state theory is pretty much non-existent, as the weight of evidence has continued to mount against it, and the church likes that science cannot predict what happened before the big bang, since the big bang theories themselves say that the laws of science break down at the big bang. However, in the last couple of decades Steven Hawking managed to annoy the Pope quite a bit, since he proposed a new addition to the Big Bang theory.
It states that although time, like space, is finite - at some point it ends and the universe collapses - it is also without end, like a circle. If you go for long enough in one direction, you end up where you began; this theory states that if you wait for long enough, you will end up at the same point in time. Thus, when the universe collapses, it immediately expands again, and that pesky point in time where the laws of science break down no longer exists. This means the universe no longer requires a prime mover, and has, for all intents and purposes, existed forever.
It is a good argument to use when a Christian asks you: "who started the big bang?"
A better answer is: "the flying spaghetti monster."
The earliest modern idea about the universe is the Ptolemiac geocentric view. This holds that the Earth is the centre of the universe, and everything, including the Sun, revolves around it in fixed spheres. This view was held from the 1st century right through to the 17th, with full support from the church - the final sphere was for the 'fixed stars', and beyond that was plenty of room for heaven and the domain of God.
Copernicus had a different view - the heliocentric view, that says the Sun is the centre of the universe, and the Earth is just another planet that revolves around it. He put forward this theory only on his deathbed, during the 16th century, out of fear of the church.
Copernicus was right to fear - when Galileo invented the telescope in the 17th century, he was able to confirm that Copernicus was right (or at least, more right than the current view). This got him in trouble with the Inquisition: he was forced to recant, and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.
It wasn't until Newton, also in the 17th century, published his law of gravity and demonstrated that it perfectly described the motions of the celestial bodies, that the heliocentric model was finally accepted. The church was no longer able to defend the Ptolemiac view.
After it was discovered that the stars were much further away than anyone had guessed before, scientists started coming up with other views of the universe. These went so far as to suggest that even the Sun is not the centre of the universe - that it is just one of many stars. This led to the steady state theory, which says that the universe is infinitely large, and has always existed, and thus there is no centre.
The steady state theory was popular with scientists for a long time, even after Hubble discovered that the universe was not constant - it was expanding. The steady state theory provides no place for God, because there is no 'outside' - there are stars in every direction. After Hubble's discovery, however, a new theory gained in popularity - the big bang. This theory is pretty well-known, I will not describe it.
The big bang theory got the attention of the church again. Finally, they had something that not only provided space for God and heaven (since the idea that the universe has a size also implies that there is something for it to exist in - not entirely correct, but close enough for religion), but provided a scientific theory that required a prime mover - something to start it all - in essence, a god.
This is still pretty much the state of affairs these days. The steady state theory is pretty much non-existent, as the weight of evidence has continued to mount against it, and the church likes that science cannot predict what happened before the big bang, since the big bang theories themselves say that the laws of science break down at the big bang. However, in the last couple of decades Steven Hawking managed to annoy the Pope quite a bit, since he proposed a new addition to the Big Bang theory.
It states that although time, like space, is finite - at some point it ends and the universe collapses - it is also without end, like a circle. If you go for long enough in one direction, you end up where you began; this theory states that if you wait for long enough, you will end up at the same point in time. Thus, when the universe collapses, it immediately expands again, and that pesky point in time where the laws of science break down no longer exists. This means the universe no longer requires a prime mover, and has, for all intents and purposes, existed forever.
It is a good argument to use when a Christian asks you: "who started the big bang?"
A better answer is: "the flying spaghetti monster."
Monday, December 17, 2007
A Lazy Day and a Short Entry
Phew. I'm glad the weekend is over. Saturday and Sunday both go like this: wake up, have breakfast, teach, have lunch, teach, go home, have dinner, sleep. Today the only thing of consequence I'm doing is my laundry.
Milk tea is very common over here - tea made with milk instead of (not in addition to) hot water. You can buy it pre-made, just like iced tea. I haven't tried that yet, but I have tried making my funky herbal tea with soy milk instead of water, and it's delicious. Ah, I haven't shown you my funky herbal tea, yet, have I? It comes in little plastic bags full of leaves and fungus and flowers and dried fruit. Here it is, before I started making it with milk:
Milk tea is very common over here - tea made with milk instead of (not in addition to) hot water. You can buy it pre-made, just like iced tea. I haven't tried that yet, but I have tried making my funky herbal tea with soy milk instead of water, and it's delicious. Ah, I haven't shown you my funky herbal tea, yet, have I? It comes in little plastic bags full of leaves and fungus and flowers and dried fruit. Here it is, before I started making it with milk:
Sunday, December 16, 2007
More photos from da ci'en square
As promised, here are some more photos from da ci'en square! These are the best of the lot; there is more to the square than this. It's taken me so long to put these up because it's now the weekend, and I get very busy during the weekend. In other news, I now have a TV! I watched part of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix both dubbed and subtitled in Chinese; I watched part of an old Jet Li movie from when Hollywood didn't know about him; I watched the end of some sort of action movie that was actually in English, despite being a Chinese movie; and the last thing I watched was the best of the lot - it was a Korean movie, subtitled in Chinese, and although I didn't understand a word of it, it managed to be both hilarious in places, and very moving in others. I think that's quite impressive for a movie that you can't understand.
On to the photos! The first is a tiny garden with a sculpture in it. There were half a dozen of these, spaced quite widely in the large paved area in front of the pagoda.
This is a view over the water feature in the same area of the square. The garden statues are downhill from here. The building you can see has fast food outlets, some other shops I didn't identify, and a "Chinese painting, arts and crafts exhibition". The latter turned out to be a shop selling Chinese paintings and beautifully carved jade jewellery. Inside there was even a ship made out of jade.
This is the frieze over the water feature. This is not the same frieze as in my previous post; this one is much shorter. It's still very pretty, though.
These funny carved men are in the Western area of the square, far away from the previous photos. There were several of these sculptures, dotted about the park in that area at random intervals. I liked these guys the best.
This is a shot from a balcony, again on the West side of the square. From this balcony you get as good a view of the Big Goose Pagoda as you're likely to from outside the pagoda wall. The pagoda isn't that interesting from outside, though, so instead of a photo of the pagoda, you get a photo of the balcony itself, because I like it better.
I've saved the best for last! There are several of these sorts of statues too, around the outside wall of the pagoda. Most of them are of scholars and poets; this women was far more striking, though. There is a stone plaque in the ground beside her, and the English portion of it reads thus:
"Gongsun Flying Sword
The works represents the vigorous posture of Lady Gongsun, the folk sword dance master-hand of Tang dynasty, who was dancing with a sword."
On to the photos! The first is a tiny garden with a sculpture in it. There were half a dozen of these, spaced quite widely in the large paved area in front of the pagoda.
This is a view over the water feature in the same area of the square. The garden statues are downhill from here. The building you can see has fast food outlets, some other shops I didn't identify, and a "Chinese painting, arts and crafts exhibition". The latter turned out to be a shop selling Chinese paintings and beautifully carved jade jewellery. Inside there was even a ship made out of jade.
This is the frieze over the water feature. This is not the same frieze as in my previous post; this one is much shorter. It's still very pretty, though.
These funny carved men are in the Western area of the square, far away from the previous photos. There were several of these sculptures, dotted about the park in that area at random intervals. I liked these guys the best.
This is a shot from a balcony, again on the West side of the square. From this balcony you get as good a view of the Big Goose Pagoda as you're likely to from outside the pagoda wall. The pagoda isn't that interesting from outside, though, so instead of a photo of the pagoda, you get a photo of the balcony itself, because I like it better.
I've saved the best for last! There are several of these sorts of statues too, around the outside wall of the pagoda. Most of them are of scholars and poets; this women was far more striking, though. There is a stone plaque in the ground beside her, and the English portion of it reads thus:
"Gongsun Flying Sword
The works represents the vigorous posture of Lady Gongsun, the folk sword dance master-hand of Tang dynasty, who was dancing with a sword."
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Daci'en Square
Daci'en Square surrounds the Big Goose Pagoda in the South side of Xi'an. The Big Goose Pagoda is a famous landmark in Xi'an - the only two bigger tourist traps here are the Bell and Drum towers in the centre of the city, and the Terra Cotta Warriors.
To get there is easy - there's a bus that takes me straight there, and it leaves from almost outside my door. One of the teachers told me which bus to catch, and I didn't need to know any Chinese to know when I was there - I could see the pagoda from two bus stops away, despite the ever-present smog. Although the bus trip was simple, it was very long. I live in the North side of the city, and it took well over an hour to get there.
I didn't go in the pagoda, because they charge you for that. Daci'en Square, however, is free for anyone to wander around in, and there's a lot to see there. I'll get to the rest of it in a subsequent post, because I haven't dealt with all the photos yet. This time, you only get one photo - but it's a good one. It took me two hours to stitch together, from a 25-photo panorama (I had to put it together myself because Photoshop's panorama tools couldn't cope with it).
On the North face of the wall surrounding the Big Goose Pagoda, there's a huge sculpted frieze. It's 3 metres high and 106 metres long, and it illustrates the accomplishments of the dynasty of the time - its scientific and cultural advances, and its communication with other cultures. Here it is a small section of it; click to see the full image at deviantArt. Warning: the full file is 13000 pixels wide, and nearly 500KB.
To get there is easy - there's a bus that takes me straight there, and it leaves from almost outside my door. One of the teachers told me which bus to catch, and I didn't need to know any Chinese to know when I was there - I could see the pagoda from two bus stops away, despite the ever-present smog. Although the bus trip was simple, it was very long. I live in the North side of the city, and it took well over an hour to get there.
I didn't go in the pagoda, because they charge you for that. Daci'en Square, however, is free for anyone to wander around in, and there's a lot to see there. I'll get to the rest of it in a subsequent post, because I haven't dealt with all the photos yet. This time, you only get one photo - but it's a good one. It took me two hours to stitch together, from a 25-photo panorama (I had to put it together myself because Photoshop's panorama tools couldn't cope with it).
On the North face of the wall surrounding the Big Goose Pagoda, there's a huge sculpted frieze. It's 3 metres high and 106 metres long, and it illustrates the accomplishments of the dynasty of the time - its scientific and cultural advances, and its communication with other cultures. Here it is a small section of it; click to see the full image at deviantArt. Warning: the full file is 13000 pixels wide, and nearly 500KB.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Venturing Forth
Tomorrow I'm going to catch the bus to a place whose name I don't remember, and hope I don't get lost. I'll have the whole day to get back if I do, and one of the foreign teachers lent me a phone card so I can call if I really get stuck. It's a famous place in Xi'an, a square or plaza of some kind with a tower in it. Hopefully I'll be able to find a park or two along the way, too. I was talking with Leo, another foreign teacher, and he said that there are no academies to learn Chinese martial arts around here, but people practise in the parks early in the mornings. Naturally, there are no parks near where I live. I'll take my camera, so you can expect photos tomorrow!
Leo is leaving. He needs to go out of China in order to renew his visa, and I'm not sure if he's coming back to this school when he returns - he is coming back in to China, but maybe to teach at a different school. At any rate, I'm taking over his classes, so as of tomorrow I have a real schedule, not just random classes every now and then.
Ariel continues to be awesome. She helped me go shopping after work, and introduced me to all sorts of interesting Chinese foods. There is sachima, which is a strange pastry thing, that I had already been eating and quite liked: until today I didn't know what they were called in English, though. The packet I bought just happened to have English writing on it, though, so now I know! Also, all the varieties of instant noodles, an important staple for budget living, and the pre-prepared cold vegetable dishes of different sorts. Then there are the stuffed pastries, which are deilicious (I'm eating one right now), but the best discovery of the night was fruit and walnuts on a skewer, covered in hard toffee - exactly like candy apples, except without the apple. What makes it so incredibly tasty is that the fruit, whatever it was, was sour, and combined with the walnut and sweet covering it was more delicious even than human brain-meats.
Leo is leaving. He needs to go out of China in order to renew his visa, and I'm not sure if he's coming back to this school when he returns - he is coming back in to China, but maybe to teach at a different school. At any rate, I'm taking over his classes, so as of tomorrow I have a real schedule, not just random classes every now and then.
Ariel continues to be awesome. She helped me go shopping after work, and introduced me to all sorts of interesting Chinese foods. There is sachima, which is a strange pastry thing, that I had already been eating and quite liked: until today I didn't know what they were called in English, though. The packet I bought just happened to have English writing on it, though, so now I know! Also, all the varieties of instant noodles, an important staple for budget living, and the pre-prepared cold vegetable dishes of different sorts. Then there are the stuffed pastries, which are deilicious (I'm eating one right now), but the best discovery of the night was fruit and walnuts on a skewer, covered in hard toffee - exactly like candy apples, except without the apple. What makes it so incredibly tasty is that the fruit, whatever it was, was sour, and combined with the walnut and sweet covering it was more delicious even than human brain-meats.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Xi'an Nightlife
One of the Chinese teachers invited the foreign teachers out tonight, so tonight was one of the few times I've gone along to a nightclub - and it was a great night!
Ariel, the Chinese teacher, took me to central Xi'an, where we met two of her friends. We had dinner, then headed to the 1+1 club, where Alex and his girlfriend, and Ivy and her boyfriend eventually met us. We bought two dozen beers, and drank and danced until one.
At one point a beautiful Chinese woman dragged me off to her group of friends, but her friends were all guys, and although they were very friendly, I was getting a weird feeling about them, so I made my excuses shortly after and found Ariel and the others again, and just kept dancing! They liked my dancing, too! Seems those Latin dance lessons did something after all.
Afterwards, the other foreign teachers went home, and Ariel and her friends (Cao Yan and Yoyo) came back to my apartment. It sounds so much better when I say that after a night of dancing I brought three beautiful women home with me, but they all have boyfriends; they came back with me because they live in a dorm, and it isn't open at that time of night. I impressed them with photos of Australia, New Zealand, and my artwork, then we all talked until morning. I got their phone numbers, so as soon as I get a phone I can give them mine, too.
Now I get to sleep - I have no classes today.
Hooray for potential new friends!
Ariel, the Chinese teacher, took me to central Xi'an, where we met two of her friends. We had dinner, then headed to the 1+1 club, where Alex and his girlfriend, and Ivy and her boyfriend eventually met us. We bought two dozen beers, and drank and danced until one.
At one point a beautiful Chinese woman dragged me off to her group of friends, but her friends were all guys, and although they were very friendly, I was getting a weird feeling about them, so I made my excuses shortly after and found Ariel and the others again, and just kept dancing! They liked my dancing, too! Seems those Latin dance lessons did something after all.
Afterwards, the other foreign teachers went home, and Ariel and her friends (Cao Yan and Yoyo) came back to my apartment. It sounds so much better when I say that after a night of dancing I brought three beautiful women home with me, but they all have boyfriends; they came back with me because they live in a dorm, and it isn't open at that time of night. I impressed them with photos of Australia, New Zealand, and my artwork, then we all talked until morning. I got their phone numbers, so as soon as I get a phone I can give them mine, too.
Now I get to sleep - I have no classes today.
Hooray for potential new friends!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Power to the People
After all the trouble I went to in order to get power adapters for my laptop, it turns out to have been unnecessary. The power outlets in the apartment are very promiscuous - they have many holes, and can take many types of plug. It seems that if you're from Australia, New Zealand, America, or continental Europe, you'll be fine. If you're from New Zealand or Australia you won't even need a transformer, since the voltage here is in the 230 volt range; many power adaptors these days can take a range of voltages, though.
I went for a medical exam today - you have to get one within ten days of arriving in China. There were lots of tests - a blood test, something with electrodes (heart rate test, at least, maybe more?), blood pressure, ultrasound, and an x-ray. It's probably the most thorough check-up I've ever had.
Last time I gave you the view at night; here's the view from my apartment during the day:
It's pretty typical for it to be overcast. It's barely let up since I've been here - only a little rain one evening, but perpetual cloud cover. There's also a lot of smog, which you can't really tell apart from the cloud - but that's why you can't see very far in either picture. Here, during the day, is the tower that shoots lasers at night (along with several others):
I went for a medical exam today - you have to get one within ten days of arriving in China. There were lots of tests - a blood test, something with electrodes (heart rate test, at least, maybe more?), blood pressure, ultrasound, and an x-ray. It's probably the most thorough check-up I've ever had.
Last time I gave you the view at night; here's the view from my apartment during the day:
It's pretty typical for it to be overcast. It's barely let up since I've been here - only a little rain one evening, but perpetual cloud cover. There's also a lot of smog, which you can't really tell apart from the cloud - but that's why you can't see very far in either picture. Here, during the day, is the tower that shoots lasers at night (along with several others):
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Hi! I'm an introvert!
Tonight I had just one long class instead of two different ones. Normally the teachers swap around, so one teacher takes the first half, and another takes the second, but I took both halves this this time. For the second half, Tracy, who's one of the Chinese teachers, sat in on the lesson, and afterwards she said I was a good teacher! This makes me happy.
She went on to say that she didn't think I would be a good teacher, because I always have a serious expression and I don't talk much, but she said I did a good job; and that when she told the other (Chinese) teachers they were all surprised. She was also surprised when she asked how long I'd been teaching, and I told her this job was my first teaching job. So, all in all, tonight went well.
Enough about teaching! Here are some photos. The first is my apartment at night: I took the photo just because I thought it looked neat, so it doesn't show much of the apartment. The open door that close leads to the kitchen; the open door in the distance leads to my bedroom. The closed door leads to Alex's bedroom, but he only stay here on the weekends.
The second is a photo of the city at night, as seen from my bedroom window. In case you're wondering, yes, that is a GIANT DAMN LASER BEAM being shot DIRECTLY OVERHEAD.
...Maybe I'm being a little dramatic. The laser is on every night, it makes a sweep around the sky overhead.
She went on to say that she didn't think I would be a good teacher, because I always have a serious expression and I don't talk much, but she said I did a good job; and that when she told the other (Chinese) teachers they were all surprised. She was also surprised when she asked how long I'd been teaching, and I told her this job was my first teaching job. So, all in all, tonight went well.
Enough about teaching! Here are some photos. The first is my apartment at night: I took the photo just because I thought it looked neat, so it doesn't show much of the apartment. The open door that close leads to the kitchen; the open door in the distance leads to my bedroom. The closed door leads to Alex's bedroom, but he only stay here on the weekends.
The second is a photo of the city at night, as seen from my bedroom window. In case you're wondering, yes, that is a GIANT DAMN LASER BEAM being shot DIRECTLY OVERHEAD.
...Maybe I'm being a little dramatic. The laser is on every night, it makes a sweep around the sky overhead.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
You Say Tomayto, I Say Tomahto
First of all, I am getting your comments, but I can't stay online long enough for Blogger to let me respond to them. Rest assured that I do read and enjoy them!
I haven't talked about what I'm doing here yet, and this is a good time to do so. I just observed classes on Friday and most of Saturday, and I taught my first class on Saturday; however, on Sunday I taught five classes, and tonight I taught two.
The school I work at is a private English school. The classes are during the evenings and on weekends, so this is in addition to regular school classes for the children going there. There are three main groups of children: kinder, for the little ones, about 4-6 years; junior, for the ones that have progressed further, is from 6-9 years; and senior, which is from 9-12 years.
Juniors are probably the easiest to deal with overall. The children in the kinder classes can't do much damage, but they have no attention span either; turn your back and they're out of their seats. The children in senior classes can be absolutely wonderful - a senior class was my best yet - but when they're bad, they're impossible to deal with, and it only takes a couple of bad ones to make the whole class very taxing. Juniors can understand you better than the kinders, they can focus long enough to be able to teach, and even if you get bad ones they're not that hard to deal with.
Tonight didn't go so well - two kinder classes, the first time I've taught that age group. It didn't help that my mind went completely blank, and the Chinese teachers ended up having to take over and do most of the work for my classes. Those were also the only classes I've had the Chinese teachers stay in the room; it was a little disconcerting. Now I know how they must feel when I was observing classes.
I think, though, that with practise, I'll be okay at this. I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'll get there.
Now, about that American English! Not surprisingly, it's American English they teach here. I first realised it when reading the phonetic rendering of a word and at first thinking it was wrong; then realising it was right for American accents. The real surprise, though, was when I held up a flashcard in front of a junior class, and said "tomato" in my New Zealand accent. All the children looked at me like I was crazy! They then started shouting out "to-may-to" to me, and I realised they'd been taught American pronunciations. I corrected myself, but I'm sure it will come up again. I can't remember all the different American pronunciations.
This weird plum liquorice stuff is awesome.
Finally: they have very small oranges over here! Back in Australia, they'd be called mandarins, but that is a language here, not a fruit. Here is a photo of one next to my thumb:
I haven't talked about what I'm doing here yet, and this is a good time to do so. I just observed classes on Friday and most of Saturday, and I taught my first class on Saturday; however, on Sunday I taught five classes, and tonight I taught two.
The school I work at is a private English school. The classes are during the evenings and on weekends, so this is in addition to regular school classes for the children going there. There are three main groups of children: kinder, for the little ones, about 4-6 years; junior, for the ones that have progressed further, is from 6-9 years; and senior, which is from 9-12 years.
Juniors are probably the easiest to deal with overall. The children in the kinder classes can't do much damage, but they have no attention span either; turn your back and they're out of their seats. The children in senior classes can be absolutely wonderful - a senior class was my best yet - but when they're bad, they're impossible to deal with, and it only takes a couple of bad ones to make the whole class very taxing. Juniors can understand you better than the kinders, they can focus long enough to be able to teach, and even if you get bad ones they're not that hard to deal with.
Tonight didn't go so well - two kinder classes, the first time I've taught that age group. It didn't help that my mind went completely blank, and the Chinese teachers ended up having to take over and do most of the work for my classes. Those were also the only classes I've had the Chinese teachers stay in the room; it was a little disconcerting. Now I know how they must feel when I was observing classes.
I think, though, that with practise, I'll be okay at this. I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'll get there.
Now, about that American English! Not surprisingly, it's American English they teach here. I first realised it when reading the phonetic rendering of a word and at first thinking it was wrong; then realising it was right for American accents. The real surprise, though, was when I held up a flashcard in front of a junior class, and said "tomato" in my New Zealand accent. All the children looked at me like I was crazy! They then started shouting out "to-may-to" to me, and I realised they'd been taught American pronunciations. I corrected myself, but I'm sure it will come up again. I can't remember all the different American pronunciations.
This weird plum liquorice stuff is awesome.
Finally: they have very small oranges over here! Back in Australia, they'd be called mandarins, but that is a language here, not a fruit. Here is a photo of one next to my thumb:
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