Score....

oops.... do people even still say that. Anyway, I felt like I scored
some good stuff today. First, it is Monday, and that means burgers at
the Blue Frog and buy one get one free. Plus, we were there for happy
hour and it was buy one get one free.... so I had 4 beers and a burger
for around $17.00 (no need to tip either--would never shell out the
full price of that meal though.... that's crazy). The beers were four
bottles of Sam Adams.... which is oh so tasty. Then I went to the best
video store of all and found the original Willy Wonka and the
Chocolate Factory and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. So excited about that.
I also got some documentaries about travel to make my students watch.
I had been searching for the Willy Wonka movie for about 5 years. They
also had Wayne's World 2, but I really want the first one. Maybe next
time.

Bad Students

are so much more fun than the good ones!!!!

Today 5/9 bad students showed up for the class, I was told that the
others had to attend a lecture. I am not sure if they were telling the
truth or what, but I don't care.

So I asked the bad students if they had any pets...

One student says "a dog" I asked what kind and she told me.
The next one says "a cat"
The next one says "a cat"
The next one says that she wants a monkey and I told her I used to
want one too, but now I think they are really clever and would cause a
lot of trouble.
The last one, a boy, says "a dinosaur" (and in Chinese he tells the
other students the chinese word that does in fact mean dinosaur).
So I ask questions about what the dinosaur eats and how big the
dinosaur is, and then I ask if he will eat it when it gets big and if
I can come and try the dinosaur when he cooks it up.
Then I asked the other students if they wanted to try dinosaur meat,
and many of them did not think it was a good idea.

I had the most fun in that class. The students are creative and
interesting and they do work hard in class, but as soon as class was
over they were making plans to go enjoy life. I want to know more
about these students and how they are different from the so-called
good students. I have heard about the bad students before, and I am
thinking I probably prefer them....

Nien Cheng Dies....

I recently (September) read her book "Life and Death in Shanghai" and
I found it to be one of the most amazing books I have read. It is the
story of her 6 year imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution. She
was innocent, and yet kept in solitary confinement for 6 years. That
she was able to survive the trauma of everything that happened to her
and not go insane astounded me. She truly is a survivor, and that she
had the stregnth and courage to survive as long as she did is truly
something. I am glad to know she continued to have a long life despite
everything that happened to her. She truly is one remarkable woman. If
you have not read her book, you should. It is truly inspiring.

Claude Levi-Strauss dies....

at 100. Seriously, I thought he was already dead. I had to read his
work in my anthropology theory class.... I just feel so surprised that
he was alive, and now gone all of a sudden. Odd that death makes you
realize the living.

Applying for a PhD

I never realized that applying for a PHD would be way more work than
any other kind of job. It is not something that can be done quickly,
but something that requires a great deal of careful thought and
effort. In the past my students have asked me about applying for
schools, and I do not think I really knew what to tell them because I
did not have to put much work into applying for my MA degrees.

Here is a list of the things that need to be done:

1. Decide which major you want to apply for.
2. Decide which schools to apply to and to do this you should consider
the requirements for admission as well as whether or not there is a
faculty member there that you would like to work with.
3. Take and get a satisfactory score on the GRE. Some people spend up
to 6 months to prepare for this exam.
4. Find 3-4 people to serve as reccommenders. It is important to think
carefully about the people you choose and what they can say about you,
and it is also important to consider how much weight that person's
recommendation would require.
5. Get your transcripts from previous universities sent to the
universities you are applying to.
6. Find a writing sample to submit or prepare a writing sample to submit.
7. Write a CV/Revise CV or Resume
8. Write your personal statements.
9. Contact someone from the department regarding your interest in the program.
10. Make sure all of these materials arrive at the school on time.

It is a lot of work to get all of these things together. I spend 2-3
hours everyday working on something related to this application. I am
ready to have it finished, but I do not want to do it too fast because
I really do want to get in a program. In total I am going to apply to
6 schools.

I suppose I wont find out anything for sure until May. It is a long
process and a long wait.

A Big, Big World....

Today, Meng told Hudson if he did well on his midterm exams that he
would take him somewhere he wanted to go.....

Hudson's first question was: "Can I go to another country?"
We told him that was not an option.... Then he starts to say he does
not want to go to the high plateau (Tibet) because he will get sick
and die in this sleep (due to the altitude--altitude sickness is a
common problem).....Then he says, how about Yangshuo.
We informed him he needed to choose a place near or in Shanghai....He
first mentioned a park, but we said it might not be a good idea if it
is too cold, then he said just to forget about it.

Then I asked him if he could go to another country, which one would he
want to go to? he said he always wanted to go to Brazil because he
thinks they have a cool flag.

Today in my class, we talked about travelling, and only a select few
students have ever left China and a good many of them have only been
to one or two travel places in China. I felt so surprised. And then
again, maybe not. Considering in high school there were many people
who had not been to other countries.

Then I think about Hudson, at 8 years old, his world is already so
big. I would think that most kids would request to go to the amuesment
park, regular park, book store, or toy store, or maybe out for ice
cream. At 8, Hudson has already been to Canada, China, United States,
Japan, Spain, and Thailand as well as Hong Kong and Macau. I was 20
years old before I went to Japan and South Korea, and before that I
had only been to Canada, but given the close proximity to where I am
from it hardly counts...even Meng did not consider it a country.... (I
just asked him what countries he had been to, and he named all of the
ones he'd been to except Canada). Sorry Canadians. It was funny today
because when I told my students I had been to Canada, they were really
excited like it was really a different country. Anyway, my point is
that Hudson's concept of what the world is much bigger than what mine
was at that age. It is a bit hard to wrap my head around that fact.

Visit from "old" friends

So this weekend, Julia and Marco came for a visit from Macau! It was
just really nice to see them. When I see them, I feel reminded just
how nice it is to have people who are truly special to me around. It
is nice that there are some friends who no matter how much distance
seperates you or how much time passes between each visit that it is
just possible to pick up where you leave off.

One thing about living overseas is that you find out who those people
are really fast. However, I recently realize that you cannot just
count on those lasting friendships to be your only relationships with
others. I realize now that some of those short friendships are also
just as important. Some people are friends for just a short time and
then they seem to disappear. I now begin to feel that it is also ok to
let some friendships go. People are in your life for a brief time and
they bring a great deal of happiness in the moment. But if time passes
and you see them again, the relationship is over. Not every
relationship needs to be of the lasting kind and you cannot always
predict who that person will be.

Now I feel thankful for the friends who come to my for a short time.
This year I am intending on working harder on making more friends and
having relationships with people even if I know that they will not
last. For a while, I thought that I did not want to make efforts to
meet new people, but now I feel it is time to make efforts on short
term friends as well. People need both kinds.

Halloween Party

So Friday was our 5th Annual Halloween Party, and it was our biggest
party yet. There were at least 7 kids that showed up, some of them
were classmates of Hudson's, some on them were neighbours, and there
was one kid he plays soccer with and one kid Hudson has known since he
was 3 and they were in the same class for 4 years. But the party was
only a little bit for the kids.

There were also at least 30 adults that were around as well. I think
everyone enjoyed themselves. I was busy preparing food and so thankful
that both Stephanie and Olivia came early to help out with it. We made
brownies, carrot cake, rice krispie treats, sugar cookies (in
advance), spring rolls, fried geaw, chicken strips, french fries, and
fried rice. I think ayi finally left around 10:00, and the last guest
did not leave until 1:00. It was really nice to enjoy time with people
I do not see often.

Unfortunately, I am so busy these days that I spent the first half of
the party in the kitchen cooking and preparing food and directing
kitchen helpers that I did not feel I got to sit down and relax until
what seemed half the guests had left. Next time, I am going to be sure
to do the shopping and some of the prep work ahead of time.

The most exciting part of the party for the kids was the trick or
treating. I bought a bunch of candies and divided the candy among the
adults. Then we all went outside and the kids did the trick or
treating. I think they ended up with nearly the same amount of candy
as what they would get in the USA. Their parents are sure to hate me.
I was actually expecting a few more kids than who showed up, and since
the candy was already bought, I thought it better to spread it around.

There was one kid at the party that I seriously wanted to send back
where he came from. He kept coming to me (and Meng, too) to say that
he was hot, he was bored, he did not have anything to do, he did not
want to play wii, that he was bored, that this party was boring. He
came to me no less than 5 times with some complaint. I decided that I
do not like that kid at all.

There was another kid at the party who brought a gun. Hudson claims he
saw something come out of the gun and was convinced it was real. I
took a quick look at the gun and could see the "made in China"
indentation on the plastic which convinced me it was fake goods, but
Hudson was adamant about it and he got quite angry. Wonder where he
learned all his gun safety tips?

Around 9:30, Hudson was nearly partied out, and we sent him to
Yingna's room for a little quiet time. He decided to come back out
after about 20 min. I think he was just worn out as he usually goes to
bed much earlier and he was super excited about the party, so he
probably did not sleep well the night before.

All in all, I think the party was a success.

SUFE students

Now I am also teaching a class at SUFE. I enjoy it because the class
is small, and the students are motivated because they want to go
overseas. They actually all almost always attend my class and they
participate as well. I feel lucky to teach them.

In class, I have taken to letting them take turns leading going over
the answers to the questions and giving them the option to call on me
when they want to confirm something or clear up something and I, of
course, interrupt when they have the right answer and should move on
or if they are going to far away from the correct answer.

I think this is a great way to do the class for two reasons. One
reason is it gives them more practice speaking oral English and allows
for active participation. I think the reading and writing classes are
often boring for students because they are just listening to the
teacher. They are good about preparing the homework at home, so we can
use class time productively to go over the answers. Second, I feel
this kind of talking helps prepare them for school overseas. There
will be alot of group work and group discussions, now I am teaching
them that it is important to listen to their classmates and how to
lead a group discussion. They seem to like it as well.

However, my only complaint is that the students are too good. They are
constantly doing their writing homework and I am having so much to
grade. They are even willing to write multiple drafts of assignments.
My students last year did not want anything to do with it. They are
also reading some short (Penguin Readers) I asked them to look at.

To reward the students hard work, they will come to my house tommorow
during class time to make sugar cookies for Halloween. I think it will
be fun to have them here. We might do a little class work as well
because I am asking them to bring their books, but then again, we
might play Wii.

We still have a little over one month to go for the class, and I think
they will still make even more progress. There is nothing more
exciting for me than seeing my students getting better in the class. I
really enjoy that.

An unexpected text message...

So yesterday, I got an text message from someone in the international
students office. I have no idea who that person is nor did I have any
idea why she asked me to call her. But there was the message, and I
just called this morning.

Over the phone, she said people in the geography department were
looking for foreigners to accompany them on a trip to Yunnan. It would
include the hotels, airfare, and a 600 RMB per day stipend. It was in
regards to planning and she asked if I was interested....

I said yes, and she asked me to give her my e-mail so she could send
me more information. She wanted to know if I had any questions. I said
I would let her know after I read the e-mail. The e-mail basically
repeated what she told me and asked me to send my resume. I sent it.

This evening, I had a reply that I was warmly welcomed to attend this trip.

Yeah!

They are going to contact me when then figure out when the trip will
take place as it is pending the approval of the local government.

The American part of me had questions like: Who are you? How did you
get my phone number? Why are you asking me? What kind of things will I
be doing? Will I be able to get time off work? Should I check with my
work first?

The me who lives in China figured there was not really any point in
asking too many questions because I probably would not get useful
answers anyway. I just go along.

And I am excited about going to Yunnan and possibly Myanmar as well!

Extensive Reading

Last week I picked up a book at the bookstore called "Educating the
Global Child". It is in Chinese, and I have decided that my Chinese
reading is my biggest weakness, so the best way to tackle that
weakness is to dive in. I chose the book because it relates to the
field I am interested in, so I think it will help me learn some useful
vocabulary that relates to my major field. Second, I always tell my
students they should read more, but I often have difficulty following
my own advice. As I am not taking Chinese classes anymore, I need to
be more proactive in my efforts for improvement. I have decided to try
to take my own medicine and see if it is useful or not.

One thing I feel is important is developing and using good reading
habits. I tell students that they should not worry about grammar and
vocabulary so much when they are reading, and that learning new
grammar and vocabulary is not going to help them improve their
reading. As I have now read 70 pages, there are a few things I notice
with this kind of reading.

First, it reinforces the vocabulary I already know. I am getting
faster and faster at putting some of the chunks together.

Second, it is really helpful to see the grammar patterns we learned in
class, but that I did not really understand at the time. Now I begin
to recognize some grammar patterns, but I am not completely sure what
they mean. However, if I were to study them now, I think I would be
able to begin using them myself. To me, this shows how important it is
to be exposed to a grammar pattern before it is actually taught. I
believe that reading extensively is so important for helping that.

Third, I am beginning to recognize the words that I do not know. I
think some words I have seen in the text more than 6 times, but I do
not know the meaning. I also have trouble to guess the meaning. I
think my vocabulary is not that good, but I am happy that sometimes I
will come across an entire page where I understand and can follow
everything. Although, I also read some pages where I only understand
very little. I think it is better to keep reading and not stop for any
reason. My purpose in reading now is not for comprehension but for
getting a better feel of the organization of the language. There are
2-3 grammar patters I commonly see examples of, and I remember
studying them in my class. I am going to keep paying attention to them
to see if I can figure out how the grammar is working.

Fourth, I am trying to build my reading speed. I want to try to read
faster, and I think it is useful to be able to do that. I am not sure
how fast I should be able to read in Chinese or how Chinese go about
counting how many words per min a person can read. I feel improving
this area is important for saving time and improving my comprehension.

Fifth, I wonder if non-fiction is easier to understand than fiction.
Trying to read and actually following through with it is doing wonders
in my own self-confidence for Chinese.

I am beginning to feel the advantages of doing more reading in my own
language study, and I am thinking how I will be able to encourage my
students to do that too. I look forward to returning to America to
teach because the environment for learning the language is so much
better.

The Bag Incident

A few weeks ago, Hudson came home with a wet bag. A kid had thrown up
on his bag on he bus, and somehow his bag was wet. All of the things
that remained in his bag were also wet. The bus teacher said that she
helped Hudson clean his bag, yet Hudson said she did not help and he
washed his bag himself.....

Today was the school picnic.... and some new parts of the story were revealed.

And now for a very different version of events. Apparently, the
vomiting part on the bag was correct.... However, when Hudson came
into the classroom, the kids made fun of him for having throw up on
his bag. Hudson got ANGRY, grabbed his bag and stormed off. He went to
the bathroom, filled the sink, and put his bag in there and washed it
as well as he could. Before putting the bag in the sink, however, he
did not bother to remove the things that were in the bag. They got
wet. Then he took his bag back to the classroom leaving drips of water
all the way and it continued to drip as he brought it back to his
desk. The teacher helped him to get his things out of his bag and dry
them, though he was mostly just concerned with his lunch. It was not
too wet. At some point, the school principal came by and told him that
he did not do such a good job taking care of this problem. Go figure.

Is Meng a Perfectionist?

So a few weeks ago, I got Meng the book called "Perfect" is was
written by the same guy who wrote "Happier". For the last few days,
Meng's nose has been in that book. Today, he says there is a part
about what they said about Chinese kids that is really good.... and he
proceeds to read that passage to me. Then, pausing thoughfully, he
says with a sort of enlightened voice..."Everything I have read in
this book so far seems to be about me, I think I am a perfectionist."
He seemed to have such pride in this discovery of himself.

I, of course, busted out laughing. I couldn't stop laughing. There
were tears in both eyes I was laughing so hard. When I could finally
stop laughing again, I told him I knew he was a perfectionist when we
were dating. I reminded him how he would stay in the computer lab
until 3am working on an assignment. I reminded him how he always
wanted to do all the work by himself and he would never get help from
others. I laughed some more.

So I am wondering, who else thinks Meng is a perfectionist?

This is a test....

So I am supposed to be able to e-mail my posts and they will publish
immediately.... Take that firewall!!!

From beyond the firewall....

So obviously the reason I have not been blogging is because my blog is still blocked. We all hoped that after National Day there would be an end to all this censorship business. I did just realize that as I can check facebook (I have some ways) that I could also probably post a blog and here I am.... so exciting.

These days I busy busy busy busy working. I am teaching for 10 hours at ECNU. All of them are oral English, which I actually am finding I enjoy teaching. In addition to that, I am teaching 6 hours at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and 2 hours at Shanghai International Studies University. Plus, I am still working for the BC. To be honest, I have no idea how I used to do most of that and take Chinese classes at the same time. I really do not know where I found the time. If I am not busy with work, then I am constantly thinking about applying for the PHD program.

I suppose I am doing all right. I have narrowed down the schools. I have identified 2 referees, (Still thinking who to ask for a third), and working on my personal statement and CV. It is load loads loads of work. Especially the personal statement. I am trying to make it really good, but it just seems so hard. No wonder I hate giving students suggestions on how to improve these kinds of essays. They really are difficult.

Halloween is coming and Julia and Marco will be here. I am looking forward to that.

I just can't get enough

of home decorating, house buying, house renting shows.... We do not get to see that kind of TV in China and I love it. I used to love to watch Trading Spaces, but now I really don't care what the show is so long as it is related to the home. I am so sick of renting and I would really like to have my own place again. I would like to be able to do some decorating or at least no longer feel like I am throwing away $1000 a month on rent (well, close to it anyway). I do not need or want a huge house (the idea of cleaning a little one sucks, so smaller is better).

Censorship and the PRC....

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, my blog is blocked in China.... and recently a host more more websites are also being blocked. There were a few days in late June that my gmail was inaccessible due to the PRC blaming google for the excess of pornographic content on the web that could be googled. Now I hear that facebook and twitter are both blocked. For a long time, It was impossible to access wikipedia. I also hear that danwei is blocked.

When I first came to China, people often asked me about the censorship in China, and I for the most part felt that it was not a big deal. That in some ways it was nice to live somewhere where the majority of news that is reported is good news and that people were not worried about something for no big reason. In the US, I do feel sometimes the media latches on to something and never lets it go... it gets old.

Essentially, I learned to avoid the 4 T's and everything would be ok. Now, I feel uncertain about the control of information. Life in China without my blog, without facebook, and without e-mail sounds like a horrible way to exist. I need this things to keep in touch with people I care about. I look at this word again... NEED.... Do I really need these things? I suppose I could go back to the snail mail method, but who wants to do that and it isnt like I know people's real addresses, so I do not think that would be overly successful.

I really hope these blockages are temporary. It is not the answer to the problems.

Well it has been 2 months since my last post....

And actually it wasn't my fault. Acutally, I have missed blogging and there have been many times when I wished I was able to do so. Currently, blogger is blocked in China. And it has been for the last 2 months. I am not sure why exactly, but it really sucks because I have a few blogger blogs I personally like to read and I have not been able to do that either. Anyway, now I hear facebook in blocked in China as well... it seems they do not want us to have any fun.

So what has happened in the last two months. Not all that much I suppose. I am becoming more and more sure that I want to go back for a PHD and that the best choice for a major is international and comparative education. I feel quite excited about the prospects of this field and I am very interested in it. Now it is a matter of jumping through the right hoops and figuring out what those hoops are. In other words, it is gonna take a lot of work to get my ducks in a row.

I guess the most exciting thing was having visitors. I realized that there are a lot of people I know and that I am always excited to have them come back into my life. Sometimes people surprise me when they come back in. In the last 3 months, I saw three different people from my Shanghai past. One was a co-worker who left last year and came back for a visit. She stayed with us for a week, and seeing her was pretty much like seeing her usually is. I missed her for the last year, so I really enjoyed her visit. Another was a person I had classes with last year, and I occassionally talked to her outside of break time but only after class. She was in Shanghai for a few days and asked me to get coffee. I was wildly surprised how enjoyable coffee was. I enjoyed talking to her and we had a nice conversation (though I nevr know if she felt the same way). And finally, a person from my more distant past in Shanghai came back to work there. I met her a couple of times and each was a bit uncomfortable. I suppose I felt the same way when I also first met her, but in my first year in Shanghai I did not know as many great people as I know now and I was much more lonely than I am today. Plus there were not things like facebook to let me waste my time on. Seeing her reminded me of my newbie self and how much I have changed in Shanghai during these past few years.

I feel lucky to have met wonderful friends like Sandra and Julia and Marco.... who sadly have also moved away from Shanghai. I am also pretty lucky to have Jack, Natalie, and Liz who will be sticking around for another year. In this next year, I want to spend more time with people and work on having more connections to different people. I have been so busy for the past two years that I have not done much in this part. Other than these people mentioned, I am also lucky to have the students and former students who keep in touch with me.

Just before coming back to Shanghai, I organized a girls night out with my girl friends... Liz, Natalie, Olivia, Sally, and Ava showed up, and I had a fab time. I realize that friendship takes work on two sides and for the most part I do very little to maintain most of the friendships I have, I suppose I should work harder on this part. But I also feel grateful for those people who are like me and do not let time and distance stand in the way for friendship. I think those relationships that pick up where they left off suit me very well. While I am in the States this year, I hope to see some people I have not seen in some time.

Other than this I really need to work on preparing for the GRE, I will take in on August 17th. That does not leave a lot of time, and I had better be a bit more serious in preparing for it. My math and Verbal both suck. I have no idea how Chinese students can get 1400 or more.... granted that means they only need 600 on the verbal, but hey, I am gonna have to work hard to get there too. When it will come to that question of preparing for the GRE, I will have an answer..... apply to schools that do not require it. UGH.

One Decision Made

I have decided to continue working at ECNU next year, and I suppose that will not come as a surprise to many people, but I think it is not a bad decision. I am going to be teaching English in the tourism department, and I am really excited about this change. Although I like the students in the English department, I have never really enjoyed the Thesis writing class I had to teach. Next semester, I am going to be teaching Oral English. How I wish I had really kept a blog my first semester so I could look back at my feelings of teaching Oral English. I suppose I used to truly hate it, but now that I am teaching it this semester, it is probably my favorite class to teach. I love how it does not involve hours of grading time outside of the class. I have generated some good teaching materials that I am going to work on improving over this next year and I am hoping I will be able to publish something. I will be teaching just Monday and Tuesday and although I will have to go to Minhang, it is just two days a week. Yeah!