Just a quick wish of L'shanah Tovah to everyone out there. Tonight will be the beginning of year 5772 here in China. I think I will be the only person in Yizhou to be doing anything remotely related to Rosh Hashanah, but then again, I wasn't expecting a huge Jewish community when I came to this particular city. I think the closest Chabad or equivalent is either in Hong Kong or Guangzhou, but I wouldn't be willing to put any money on that. To the best of my knowledge, I may the only practitioner of Judaism that some of these people have met. That's a little intimidating to think about. For those of you who observe, I wish you a blessed and happy New Year, and may we all be inscribed for blessing in the book of life.
Now, moving away from Rosh Hashanah, I finally got a bicycle. Issue is, the bicycle seems to be following a bit of a trend that members of my immediate family have had with any form of transportation in the past, in that it doesn't seem to like me much. This may seem a bit anthropomorphic, but considering all the various issues members of my family have had with their chosen form of transportation this is another area where I wouldn't put any money. A better way to put it is members of my immediate family tend to have bad luck when it comes to transportation from time to time. I don't know how else to put it, rather than to say we've gotten more than our fair share of either lemons, missed flights, and issues on trains. I'll spare you all those horror stories for another day.
What in particular is wrong with my bicycle you may ask? Glad you did! The first issue was that the handlebars easily got out of alignment. They easily shifted, mostly to my right, making steering very difficult and even leading to a few minor spills. Don't worry though, nothing more than a scraped palm, and I've had much worse than that. The current issue is yesterday I was riding between East and West campus and one of the peddles went and just fell off. Fortunately, one of the other foreign teachers told me where there is a guy who does good repair work. Hopefully he can fix it. If he can't, I wonder if it's too late for a refund. Probably is...
Until later everyone! May you all have a happy, blessed, and productive 5772, and may your fast be an easy one.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Crazy, The Homeless, and the Robbed
For those of you who don't know, I have lived most of my life in urban or suburban environments. I was born and spent the first ten years of my life in the greater Boston area. When I was ten, my family moved to San Diego. Having been in cities as varied as Quito, Madrid, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Beijing, and Kolkata, it would not be a boast to say I am well aware of some of the dangers of being in an urban environment. That said, with the exception of Rome when I was around thirteen or so, I have never been robbed. Even when I was in Rome, it was my father who was the target of the pickpockets.
However, last week, I lost the claim that I have never been robbed. I lost nothing valuable, a half filled bottle of Sprite which cost less than 50 cents. The experience though is one that I don't think I'll soon forget. Actually as I look back on it, I find the whole thing slightly comical. I was walking back from lunch across the river with one of my fellow English teachers. This bridge, one of two primary bridges in the city is heavy with both pedestrian and automotive traffic. It is also one of the favored hangouts of a man with large bag, shabby clothes, and a look on his face that I (for the life of me) cannot decipher. On the particular day in question, my friend and I were walking back on one side of the bridge, and the man was sitting on the other. He got up, crossed through heavy traffic, and took the half filled sprite bottle from my hand with an unreadable look on his face. He then proceeded to cross heavy traffic again for his favored seat on the other side of the bridge.
I will consider myself lucky if that bottle of Sprite is the only thing that I get robbed of in the course of my lifetime. It was no great loss, and besides the initial shock of the experience, I can't say I'm really upset over it anymore. I am able to joke about it now, which I feel is a step in the right direction. Why he wanted my Sprite bottle and not my friends bottle of green tea (which was the same color and roughly same size), I'll never know. I guess it's just part of living in any city, or living anywhere really. I'm unharmed, and all things considered, this is far from the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
That's all for now, keep tuned to see just what I go through next. Until then
However, last week, I lost the claim that I have never been robbed. I lost nothing valuable, a half filled bottle of Sprite which cost less than 50 cents. The experience though is one that I don't think I'll soon forget. Actually as I look back on it, I find the whole thing slightly comical. I was walking back from lunch across the river with one of my fellow English teachers. This bridge, one of two primary bridges in the city is heavy with both pedestrian and automotive traffic. It is also one of the favored hangouts of a man with large bag, shabby clothes, and a look on his face that I (for the life of me) cannot decipher. On the particular day in question, my friend and I were walking back on one side of the bridge, and the man was sitting on the other. He got up, crossed through heavy traffic, and took the half filled sprite bottle from my hand with an unreadable look on his face. He then proceeded to cross heavy traffic again for his favored seat on the other side of the bridge.
I will consider myself lucky if that bottle of Sprite is the only thing that I get robbed of in the course of my lifetime. It was no great loss, and besides the initial shock of the experience, I can't say I'm really upset over it anymore. I am able to joke about it now, which I feel is a step in the right direction. Why he wanted my Sprite bottle and not my friends bottle of green tea (which was the same color and roughly same size), I'll never know. I guess it's just part of living in any city, or living anywhere really. I'm unharmed, and all things considered, this is far from the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
That's all for now, keep tuned to see just what I go through next. Until then
Monday, September 19, 2011
Military Training (or something very much like that)
It has been a relatively short time since my last post, but I figure that this small incidence deserves a proper notification of all its own. The first year students have since arrived on campus. Now, if the fist year students have arrived on campus, one may think that I would be running out the door on my way to class at any given moment. However, I do not start teaching until the seventh week of the calendar, which is just after the national holiday. There is a reason for the large time gap though.
Even seven floors up, I can here commands being shouted. The first year students apparently have something like military training they have to go through before they can take classes. These drills begin roughly at seven in the morning, which is great practice for waking me up in time for the early courses I will be teaching. What it isn't great for though is the fact that I've finally fully adjusted to the sleep schedule here. I know it is a minor inconvenience, and I should not be complaining. Still though, hearing small platoons of students shouting at the top of their collective lungs "一，二，三，四！” (1, 2, 3, 4) is far from a relaxing way to spend the morning.
I am learning how to tune it out, and I am making slow progress on my graduate school applications. Hopefully, I'll have a rough draft of my personal statement finished by later this week. Now to continue to listen to the shouts.
All the best.
Even seven floors up, I can here commands being shouted. The first year students apparently have something like military training they have to go through before they can take classes. These drills begin roughly at seven in the morning, which is great practice for waking me up in time for the early courses I will be teaching. What it isn't great for though is the fact that I've finally fully adjusted to the sleep schedule here. I know it is a minor inconvenience, and I should not be complaining. Still though, hearing small platoons of students shouting at the top of their collective lungs "一，二，三，四！” (1, 2, 3, 4) is far from a relaxing way to spend the morning.
I am learning how to tune it out, and I am making slow progress on my graduate school applications. Hopefully, I'll have a rough draft of my personal statement finished by later this week. Now to continue to listen to the shouts.
All the best.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Internet Blackouts and Graduate School Applications
Well I've learned some of the small difficulties of living in China. From time to time, I have found that my internet will not function. Most of the time, it will come back in a few hours, however there has been at least one day where I have not had internet access of any sort. I guess it's just the way that things work out from time to time. The times the internet has been out, I've used it to listen to books on tape, attempting to write creatively (with some minor success) as well as attempting the application to graduate school.
Here comes the confession. I desperately want to go to graduate school in the fall of 2012. I have begun to solicit my former professors for letters of recommendation, and thus far I've heard back from two of the three letters required for my first choice. I have only begun to work on the longer part of the application for graduate school. It has to be at least four pages long, and I've just finished the first page. I hope to have the longer part finished by the end of this coming week, and when I say done, I do mean written as well as edited. I know it's not likely, but one can but hope.
So here is hoping the internet doesn't go out during key parts of the application process. I just have to remember to back everything up again. Getting into good habits again, it will be a struggle.
Here comes the confession. I desperately want to go to graduate school in the fall of 2012. I have begun to solicit my former professors for letters of recommendation, and thus far I've heard back from two of the three letters required for my first choice. I have only begun to work on the longer part of the application for graduate school. It has to be at least four pages long, and I've just finished the first page. I hope to have the longer part finished by the end of this coming week, and when I say done, I do mean written as well as edited. I know it's not likely, but one can but hope.
So here is hoping the internet doesn't go out during key parts of the application process. I just have to remember to back everything up again. Getting into good habits again, it will be a struggle.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A Plan of Action
So the last three days have been incredibly busy for me here. On Monday, the mid-Autumn festival, I went to the small park across the street. After hiking up a rather large hill, I ended up at a shrine of Guan-yin (the Goddess of Mercy). When I came back down the mountain, tired and sweating like a stuck pig, I met the other two American teachers working here in Yizhou (宜洲). Though not the best of all possible meetings, it was nice to get to know them. For the mid-autumn festival itself, we (one of my fellow English teachers) went to the home of one of his (fellow Chinese teacher's) Chinese friends. After eating a delicious meal, we were supposed to watch a live singing competition for the rest of the night. However Guangxi TV zeroed in on us, and took us to a small town just outside of the city to have us observe and interact with the community there. I have never had so many camera flashes go off on me in my life, and my father is a photographer.
Yesterday, I was asked to speak for forty-five minutes to a group of English majors. It was my first time, besides acting, being in front of what I consider a large group (66 students). While I feel I could have prepared a little bit better for my presentation, I found one part of orientation to be completely accurate, it was very difficult to get these students to talk. Despite the fact that it was an English language class, I found myself slipping into Chinese from time to time, mostly to give place names or short descriptions. I now have at least some vision of what my own courses are going to be like, but I still have to prepare for those.
So what happened earlier today that made it so big? I got my schedule. That's right, I know when and where I will be teaching. I have courses all five days of the week, but with the exception of Monday, I have no afternoon classes. So I am thankful for that small thing. Issue is, just over half of the eight courses I am going to be teaching are the better part of a fifteen minute walk, and on Monday and Wednesday I have classes in one location followed by classes on a different campus of the same university. Talk about getting your exercise in. I will see either later today or tomorrow about the possibility of renting a bicycle. Hopefully, it will cut down some of my travel time.
Until later.
Yesterday, I was asked to speak for forty-five minutes to a group of English majors. It was my first time, besides acting, being in front of what I consider a large group (66 students). While I feel I could have prepared a little bit better for my presentation, I found one part of orientation to be completely accurate, it was very difficult to get these students to talk. Despite the fact that it was an English language class, I found myself slipping into Chinese from time to time, mostly to give place names or short descriptions. I now have at least some vision of what my own courses are going to be like, but I still have to prepare for those.
So what happened earlier today that made it so big? I got my schedule. That's right, I know when and where I will be teaching. I have courses all five days of the week, but with the exception of Monday, I have no afternoon classes. So I am thankful for that small thing. Issue is, just over half of the eight courses I am going to be teaching are the better part of a fifteen minute walk, and on Monday and Wednesday I have classes in one location followed by classes on a different campus of the same university. Talk about getting your exercise in. I will see either later today or tomorrow about the possibility of renting a bicycle. Hopefully, it will cut down some of my travel time.
Until later.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
From Nanning to Yizhou
Well here I am in Yizhou and I was wrong about the size of the population. The city, still small for Chinese standards, is over half a million people. It's approximately 600,000, maybe more. So while not Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, or any of the other mega cities, it is fairly large by American standards. In fact, Yizhou may be more densely populated than the city of Boston (not including it's urban area). However I would not put any money on a bet.
Before leaving Nanning, I had the chance to go to a night market, focused on selling street food. I got some good pictures, but didn't eat anything, mostly because I was still full from having eaten dinner at most an hour before we went to the market. The night before departure ended up with karaoke at Chinese Central Television CCTV, and I may have ended up singing one of the few songs I can sing in Chinese... I'm not proud of myself.
There are approximately 212 kilometers (what that translates to in miles I am not quite sure) between Yizhou and Nanning. As we got closer and closer to Yizhou, more and more the landscape began to resemble a type of valley. Suddenly, out of the lush ground came teeth of stone covered in small scrub. Yizhou is called by locals the small Guilin, which is famous for its sudden mountains. I am lucky to be in such a picturesque place.
So my apartment? It's on the seventh floor, and this building has no elevator. Say hello to awesome legs everyone! At least I hope to have awesome legs by the time I finish in China. As my classes won't start until a little later in this month, I am going to take time to walk around and get to know my new city. Hopefully, I will be settling in soon. Right now, I still have a few things to unpack.
All the best!
Before leaving Nanning, I had the chance to go to a night market, focused on selling street food. I got some good pictures, but didn't eat anything, mostly because I was still full from having eaten dinner at most an hour before we went to the market. The night before departure ended up with karaoke at Chinese Central Television CCTV, and I may have ended up singing one of the few songs I can sing in Chinese... I'm not proud of myself.
There are approximately 212 kilometers (what that translates to in miles I am not quite sure) between Yizhou and Nanning. As we got closer and closer to Yizhou, more and more the landscape began to resemble a type of valley. Suddenly, out of the lush ground came teeth of stone covered in small scrub. Yizhou is called by locals the small Guilin, which is famous for its sudden mountains. I am lucky to be in such a picturesque place.
So my apartment? It's on the seventh floor, and this building has no elevator. Say hello to awesome legs everyone! At least I hope to have awesome legs by the time I finish in China. As my classes won't start until a little later in this month, I am going to take time to walk around and get to know my new city. Hopefully, I will be settling in soon. Right now, I still have a few things to unpack.
All the best!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
On the Ground, but not Running
So I am on the ground here in China. My internal clock has yet to fully adjust (the joys of crossing about 15 timezones), and I have yet to arrive in the small city (small by Chinese standards = 100,000 to 250,000) where I will be teaching. It's a little bit odd being back in China after so long away. There are many things that are very much like I remember from my last time here. Of course, some things have changed. It will be interesting to try and relearn everything I have forgotten. I know Guangxi is not Yunnan, I just hope I find some of the same things in Guangxi which made me fall in love with Yunnan.
At the moment, I have to post and run. In about ten minutes, I have to make the trek over to my survival Chinese class. After that, my roommate and I will be presenting our lesson to our fellow program participants and fellow teachers. I just hope I don't mess things up too horribly, as I tend to be a fast speaker when nervous. When I next post, I hope I will have my own small apartment! Granted, it will only be mine for a year or so, but that will be more than enough.
All the best to everyone out there.
At the moment, I have to post and run. In about ten minutes, I have to make the trek over to my survival Chinese class. After that, my roommate and I will be presenting our lesson to our fellow program participants and fellow teachers. I just hope I don't mess things up too horribly, as I tend to be a fast speaker when nervous. When I next post, I hope I will have my own small apartment! Granted, it will only be mine for a year or so, but that will be more than enough.
All the best to everyone out there.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Flying Across an Ocean
Well here it is, day one. As of ten this evening, Pacific Daylight Time, I will be on a plane that will take me to China. I can't believe that I am about to cross an ocean, half a world essentially. There is a passage from Dao De Jing which is often translated to "A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step." Granted, most of my journeying will be on a plane and in busses, but I'm going to be walking in China sooner than I can imagine. It's a little surreal to think about.
Having wanted to teach in China for as long as I have, I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited right now. The thing is, I have about 8000 other emotions whirling through my head at the same time. Am I nervous? Extremely. Am I anxious to just get going? Like you wouldn't believe. Do I know what I am going to do when I get to China? Only vaguely. I will be teaching University level students American and British Literature and American Culture. Considering it's been around four years since I took a literature course, I can only hope I remember half of what I learned when I was in high school.
It's odd, knowing that I am sitting at the desk in the corner of my room for the last time in a year. I know that I will be coming back, the question is when. Even that I'm not certain of. I don't know when the school year ends exactly. All I do know is my contract with the University goes until late July of 2012. If I have to leave the day my contract expires, I will be back stateside in late July/early August of next year.
I am going to try to update the blog once weekly, on Friday. Depending on where I am, updates may be less or more frequent. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly. See 美国 (America for those of you who don't read Simplified Chinese) again in 2012. Until then, take care!
Having wanted to teach in China for as long as I have, I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited right now. The thing is, I have about 8000 other emotions whirling through my head at the same time. Am I nervous? Extremely. Am I anxious to just get going? Like you wouldn't believe. Do I know what I am going to do when I get to China? Only vaguely. I will be teaching University level students American and British Literature and American Culture. Considering it's been around four years since I took a literature course, I can only hope I remember half of what I learned when I was in high school.
It's odd, knowing that I am sitting at the desk in the corner of my room for the last time in a year. I know that I will be coming back, the question is when. Even that I'm not certain of. I don't know when the school year ends exactly. All I do know is my contract with the University goes until late July of 2012. If I have to leave the day my contract expires, I will be back stateside in late July/early August of next year.
I am going to try to update the blog once weekly, on Friday. Depending on where I am, updates may be less or more frequent. Here's hoping everything goes smoothly. See 美国 (America for those of you who don't read Simplified Chinese) again in 2012. Until then, take care!
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