Three exciting things happened today: 1. We went to campus today, 2. I got my bathroom fixed, and 3. We found an awesome little restaraunt that we will be frequenting.
First, Zach and I got up and met Maggie somewhere around 8:45 am. We took the bus downtown where we stopped and waited forever to get my cell phone SIM card from China Mobile. Apparently numbers with lots of 6's and 8's and especially ending with them or even ending with two of them makes them really expensive. Unlike ending with 4, which are really cheap because 4 is considered an unlucky number because the chinese word for death and the number four sound very similar, it's just a matter of tone (sĭ vs. sì).
So the #10 bus with the green label takes us to campus after about an hour's bus ride. But you do get to see the outlying temples of Summer Resort on the way. Bus six takes you to the two remaining open temples.
Chengde Medical Campus is new and quite large, having been built in 2006. Once at campus, we met Laura, our other Waiban, who took us to another building to meet the other English teacher, who is Chinese. We got our schedules (incidentally in Chinese) and talked about what we would be teaching. Most of our students have been taking English for 10+ years, and they read and write it very well. Our job is to improve their listening comprehension and verbal skills. How I'm supposed to do that in classes of over 100 students I have yet to figure out.
Once we finished talking to the Chinese English teacher (who was, BTW, very animated), Maggie and Laura showed us some of the rooms we would be teaching in, which I must say, were a little worrisome. Mostly because they had trash all over them, and I'm so used to a clean atmosphere. I had a teacher tell me once that a messy stage makes for messy acting. I have a feeling that is what is going to happen here: messy room makes for messy teaching/learning. Zach and I got a bit of a shocker when we found out we would have some classes with 100+ students. For Oral English! How is that supposed to work? I guess I'll figure it out.
Laura asked me a few questions that I enjoyed answering. Some of the signs on the buildings had English on them as well as the Chinese character, and she asked me if the English was correct. I had to explain to her the difference between pre-medical and pre-clinical classes, and that the building labelled "Experiment Building" shoud actually be named "Laboratory Building."
The campus (new campus) has five major buildings that I could tell. There was the Admin builing, the Life Sciences, Lecture, and Experiment buildings, plus the library. Ther might have been one or two others, but I can't remember what they are. They have plans to put in a playground (? I guess no school is complete without a playground) and swimming ool, and new Teacher apartments are being constructed on a hill overlooking the campus. Too bad we were to early for those! The campus even hasa little village we would call "collegetown." The buildings are all grey and red with white and silver trimming, and there are a heck of a lot of stairs. And th classrooms seem a little old fashioned, despite being only two years old. I think it's due to the effect of wooden doors that have cracked and peeling paint (and sometimes holes), and no custodial staff. I'm used to fireproof doors, plastic desks, and constantly cleaning staff to make buildings look spick and span. Maybe I could give extra credit to people who clean up the room before class starts...? (j/k)
Anyhoo, the campus visit only lasted until 11:30, so Zach and I went back to our apartments. I took a nap, and right on time, the repair guy showed up. He replaced the showerhead so it no longer leaks, and he fixed the toilet and replaced the button on the flusher so it mercifully stopped running. Yay! Of course, no three hours after he left, Chris broke the string that turns on te light to my bathroom, so now I just have to leave the bathroom light on. Oh well, at least that is silent.
And the last exciting thing? The five of us stumbled upon a little restaraunt that has really good food and a waitress that speaks English and was exited to practice on us. w00t. We got to try a meat that was "like horse, but not a horse." We came to the conclusion it was donkey. That was he best dish we've had so far in China. Well, besides the spicy chicken and peanut dish.We also got "Pig's Fingers," which I think was pigs feet boiled with potatoes. Oh, and the donkey dish had AMAZING potatoes and it had almost a gravy, which I liberally applied. There was also this noodle and mushroom soup that wasn't too bad. That restaraunt is now my No. 1 favorite. It's located on the street that has some sort of road construction going on, and becomes a cluster F*** of cars during rush hour. Oh, and we got to eat in a private dining room with a Lazy Susan. It was a nice dining experience. We're still wondering what the green sacks that were hanging from the picture were. I guess we'll never know. I can't wait to eat at that restaraunt again.
Oh, and we went to McDonalds today, which is pretty much like McDonalds in the US. I guess I'll be eating there when I feel homesick. It's cheape than in the States, too. Zach and Chris bought some happy meal toys and plan on incorporating it into their lesson plan by having students pick random items (like the Darth Vader toy) and market and sell it to the class. I remember doing that in Mrs. Menne's speech class in the 11th grad, and I think I might steal the idea.
First, Zach and I got up and met Maggie somewhere around 8:45 am. We took the bus downtown where we stopped and waited forever to get my cell phone SIM card from China Mobile. Apparently numbers with lots of 6's and 8's and especially ending with them or even ending with two of them makes them really expensive. Unlike ending with 4, which are really cheap because 4 is considered an unlucky number because the chinese word for death and the number four sound very similar, it's just a matter of tone (sĭ vs. sì).
So the #10 bus with the green label takes us to campus after about an hour's bus ride. But you do get to see the outlying temples of Summer Resort on the way. Bus six takes you to the two remaining open temples.
Chengde Medical Campus is new and quite large, having been built in 2006. Once at campus, we met Laura, our other Waiban, who took us to another building to meet the other English teacher, who is Chinese. We got our schedules (incidentally in Chinese) and talked about what we would be teaching. Most of our students have been taking English for 10+ years, and they read and write it very well. Our job is to improve their listening comprehension and verbal skills. How I'm supposed to do that in classes of over 100 students I have yet to figure out.Once we finished talking to the Chinese English teacher (who was, BTW, very animated), Maggie and Laura showed us some of the rooms we would be teaching in, which I must say, were a little worrisome. Mostly because they had trash all over them, and I'm so used to a clean atmosphere. I had a teacher tell me once that a messy stage makes for messy acting. I have a feeling that is what is going to happen here: messy room makes for messy teaching/learning. Zach and I got a bit of a shocker when we found out we would have some classes with 100+ students. For Oral English! How is that supposed to work? I guess I'll figure it out.
Laura asked me a few questions that I enjoyed answering. Some of the signs on the buildings had English on them as well as the Chinese character, and she asked me if the English was correct. I had to explain to her the difference between pre-medical and pre-clinical classes, and that the building labelled "Experiment Building" shoud actually be named "Laboratory Building."
The campus (new campus) has five major buildings that I could tell. There was the Admin builing, the Life Sciences, Lecture, and Experiment buildings, plus the library. Ther might have been one or two others, but I can't remember what they are. They have plans to put in a playground (? I guess no school is complete without a playground) and swimming ool, and new Teacher apartments are being constructed on a hill overlooking the campus. Too bad we were to early for those! The campus even hasa little village we would call "collegetown." The buildings are all grey and red with white and silver trimming, and there are a heck of a lot of stairs. And th classrooms seem a little old fashioned, despite being only two years old. I think it's due to the effect of wooden doors that have cracked and peeling paint (and sometimes holes), and no custodial staff. I'm used to fireproof doors, plastic desks, and constantly cleaning staff to make buildings look spick and span. Maybe I could give extra credit to people who clean up the room before class starts...? (j/k)Anyhoo, the campus visit only lasted until 11:30, so Zach and I went back to our apartments. I took a nap, and right on time, the repair guy showed up. He replaced the showerhead so it no longer leaks, and he fixed the toilet and replaced the button on the flusher so it mercifully stopped running. Yay! Of course, no three hours after he left, Chris broke the string that turns on te light to my bathroom, so now I just have to leave the bathroom light on. Oh well, at least that is silent.
And the last exciting thing? The five of us stumbled upon a little restaraunt that has really good food and a waitress that speaks English and was exited to practice on us. w00t. We got to try a meat that was "like horse, but not a horse." We came to the conclusion it was donkey. That was he best dish we've had so far in China. Well, besides the spicy chicken and peanut dish.We also got "Pig's Fingers," which I think was pigs feet boiled with potatoes. Oh, and the donkey dish had AMAZING potatoes and it had almost a gravy, which I liberally applied. There was also this noodle and mushroom soup that wasn't too bad. That restaraunt is now my No. 1 favorite. It's located on the street that has some sort of road construction going on, and becomes a cluster F*** of cars during rush hour. Oh, and we got to eat in a private dining room with a Lazy Susan. It was a nice dining experience. We're still wondering what the green sacks that were hanging from the picture were. I guess we'll never know. I can't wait to eat at that restaraunt again.
Oh, and we went to McDonalds today, which is pretty much like McDonalds in the US. I guess I'll be eating there when I feel homesick. It's cheape than in the States, too. Zach and Chris bought some happy meal toys and plan on incorporating it into their lesson plan by having students pick random items (like the Darth Vader toy) and market and sell it to the class. I remember doing that in Mrs. Menne's speech class in the 11th grad, and I think I might steal the idea.
1 comment:
beg, borrow, and steal lesson plans--that's what teachers do! Glad to hear from you but updates are needed! :0)
Hugs,
Bre
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