Mostly About a Puppy

Today I taught a few classes at the vocational school. It's been a few weeks since I've been there, and it was nice to be back. The students there are recent school leavers, so they are well in to their teens, unlike the kids where I normally work. It's a very different teaching environment, and I like it just for the contrast.

In the first class I was asked about my hobbies. I mentioned dancing, which led to a request for a demonstration. I showed a little samba, but the Chinese teacher in the room (who already knows me) suggested that what they really wanted to see was capoeira, so I put on a little show, which went down well. After that, the scene was set for the next two classes, so I was careful to mention dancing, which led to a capoeira demonstration.

I also ended up giving out my phone number to a whole class. The classes were generally just question and answer sessions; they'd ask me questions, or I'd ask them if they'd run out of things to ask in English. One of the girls asked if she could have my phone number, and so to avoid problems I decided to just write my number on the board for everyone. Yes, I could have just said no, but that wouldn't have been as interesting, would it?

For lunch, Ariel took me to have some local food - specific to this area, not China as a whole. I forget the name of it now, but it's delicious. Bread is crumbled into a bowl, then a beef or mutton broth is poured over, with slices of meat and clear noodles. It also eaten with pickled garlic, which is so much tastier than it sounds.

Finally, we get to the important stuff: today, one of the Chinese teachers, Melinda, brought her puppy in to work, and it's the most adorable little thing! So here's a picture of it. The woman holding the puppy isn't Melinda, by the way; she was taking photos of her puppy too!