Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Coats
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Weekly Recap
It's Sunday night, so I figured I should update my blog! I had a pretty good week. It seemed like it lasted forever! I guess that's what happens after having a week off.
On Monday in kindergarten, we talked about clothes. I brought in some of my clothing to show them. We learned "coat" & "pants" & "shirt" & "shoes" & "slippers" & "scarf." They colored and some of them got to play dress up with my clothes. It was fun, they are always adorable!
We finished watching Groundhog Day in my A/V English class. Then we talked about the news. This week they will present 5-7 minute segments of the news. I think it will be really neat to see what they do. I assigned segments but they get to choose the topic. The focus has to be on the US. Otherwise, I told them to be creative. I'm excited to see how they turn out.
In Marketing we are working on branding. The class is 2 hours, so for the first hour I lecture on info from the book. I try and have something more fun and practical to do for the second hour of class. On Saturday last week (when we made up for National Day) we played brand bingo during the second half of class. They really enjoyed the game. This week we talked about the branding process. They came up with a brand and a logo. Some of the students were very creative and had great ideas. Others, the boys, were typical boys about it. But it was still entertaining. For the second hour, we talked about idioms. The idioms lesson was good, it should help them with sounding more fluent.
On Thursday I also had my writing classes. Last week we did descriptive writing. This week we worked on persuasive writing. In class we brainstormed on a topic that I had them write about for homework. The prompt was "Students in the USA should learn Chinese in elementary school." (In China they start learning English in 3rd grade.) I was surprised by the different reasons they came up with, both for and against learning Chinese. A lot of them thought that it was good so people can learn more about China's history and culture. Also, they said it would help for doing business internationally. The students that thought it was a bad idea said that either Chinese was too hard or that students wouldn't ever use Chinese in their real lives. I'm excited to read their papers and see what else they came up with.
My conversation class, Kouyu, focused on maps and directions this week. We watchedI showed them Google Earth which they really enjoyed. Then we talked about how maps are different in China vs. the US. One big difference is the way we say directions. In Chinese, you would say "east south" instead of "southeast." Also, we talked about how to give good directions using landmarks, time, distance, turns, etc. DK & I had bought maps a few weeks ago and we used those this week. We handed them out to the students and had them give us directions from one place to another. Then they did dialogues of helping a lost tourist. It went pretty well.
I was really pleased with my reading class this week. We are still working on Joyluck Club and it has been taking a while. We were finally able to have a discussion this week. Usually it takes most of class just summarizing what they have read. Our discussion was about fate and superstitions. It was a slow start, but I think this could be a good beginning. For the rest of class I had them work with their project groups. Their project for the book is to act out a scene from the book. They can either do it live as a skit for class or tape it. I also told them that they need to write a script. I'm excited to see what they come up with. I think it will be a good chance for them to be creative.
My adult class went well this weekend. They will all be taking a test later on their oral English. So we were preparing for possible questions. We talked about how to describe pictures, a frequent question on tests. I showed them pictures from my trips to London and Paris. Then I showed a picture of Grandpa Lyon and Margaret at a lake. They loved the picture! They said it was like a picture from Roman Holiday. After the pictures, we talked about idioms. I told them about English idioms and then had them tell me about some Chinese idioms. I love learning about their expressions and language!
After classes on Saturday, Danielle and I went out with some friends from our school. They are members of English Corner, the English club. We went to a pub near Nanjing University in Gulou. It was really fun, they are great people. Their English is phenomenal so it is easy to talk and have normal conversations with them.
Today has been really low key. We came back from downtown and have been working on class stuff for this week.
Hopefully I will update again soon, I will try not to wait so long between posts!
One of my students asked me to write a little article for the Foreign Language Newspaper at the school. She asked me to write about a place in China that was interesting for me. I wrote about Summer Palace in Beijing. I hope they like it. I'm not sure when the paper comes out, but I will be sure to get a copy!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
National Day Break
Yikes, it has been a while since I wrote anything. Sorry!
So, it is National Day right now. This is basically like Fourth of July, but the Chinese don't really have any traditions for it. Everyone just gets a week off of work and spends time with family. A lot of students went home for the week. So life in Pukou is pretty low key.
Bad news first, my cell phone was stolen on Sunday. Danielle and I were walking near Nanjing University and someone took it from the front pocket of my book bag. They also took my baby orange! There is a span of about 20 minutes when it happened, but these thieves work fast. Luckily, my students are awesome and I am all set again. I went to the store with one student and he helped me buy a new phone. I got a LG Android. It's pretty nice and it was about the same cost as my deductible on my old phone. Then, today, I went to the cell phone store and got a new SIM card. I was able to get my same number back. So that is great. I still lost all of the numbers on my old phone. But, luckily, DK has a lot of them. The others are mostly students so I can get them back easily. I'm pretty upset they stole my phone. I really liked that phone. And it had some great pictures on it that I hadn't uploaded to my computer yet. Oh well, I guess I have learned my lesson.
Considering that getting my phone stolen is the biggest tragedy of the trip so far, we are doing pretty well.
Yesterday, Tuesday, DK and I went to Purple Mountain. It was REALLY busy because of National Day, so we didn't stay for too long. But we climbed all 392 steps to the top where Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum is. The line was really long, so we decided to come back a different day. Now that we know how to get there, it is not a big deal to go. And, it was free to see on Tuesday, so we didn't waste any money.
Most of our break has been spent just relaxing. We are working on lesson plans so that we can be ahead of the game for the week. We have our Thursday classes on Saturday this week & our Friday classes on Sunday. So, we will be busy. Plus, Danielle has her Friday & Saturday classes on Thursday & Friday.
I am excited that I have started having my freshmen writing classes. I didn't have them the first two weeks of school because of military training. I really like the students in the two freshmen classes. I am the first foreign teacher some of them have ever had. They were all really excited to do introductions and get to know me and the other students. Because they are just out of high school, their English is very good. I have been quite pleased with how well they can speak.
This week in writing we are going to talk about the writing process and plagiarism. Plagiarism is not a big deal in China, so it is something totally new to them. But, as an American, it is something I don't put up with. It will be interesting to see how the lesson goes.
In my Marketing class we are going to play Brand Bingo this weekend. I have them make a Bingo sheet and then write down different brand names. Then I will show a logo on the projector and they get to cross off that brand. I thought it would be a fun game to help them get back into the school routine. And, it will be neat to see which brands they can recognize. I mixed between Chinese brands & international ones.
My reading class is still working on The Joy Luck Club. We watched a movie on Friday, it was the day before break and no one wanted to focus. So, I hope they are prepared to discuss on Sunday.
The weather in Nanjing is finally getting cooler. My A/C has been off for the last few weeks and I have had my windows open. It is nice outside, even a tad chilly at night. My back has not handled the changing weather very well. But I made a heating bag out of rice and that is helping.
I will probably write more tonight after dinner. I want to tell you all about my students. I have had some very interesting experiences with them. But now, I need to do some real work!
So, it is National Day right now. This is basically like Fourth of July, but the Chinese don't really have any traditions for it. Everyone just gets a week off of work and spends time with family. A lot of students went home for the week. So life in Pukou is pretty low key.
Bad news first, my cell phone was stolen on Sunday. Danielle and I were walking near Nanjing University and someone took it from the front pocket of my book bag. They also took my baby orange! There is a span of about 20 minutes when it happened, but these thieves work fast. Luckily, my students are awesome and I am all set again. I went to the store with one student and he helped me buy a new phone. I got a LG Android. It's pretty nice and it was about the same cost as my deductible on my old phone. Then, today, I went to the cell phone store and got a new SIM card. I was able to get my same number back. So that is great. I still lost all of the numbers on my old phone. But, luckily, DK has a lot of them. The others are mostly students so I can get them back easily. I'm pretty upset they stole my phone. I really liked that phone. And it had some great pictures on it that I hadn't uploaded to my computer yet. Oh well, I guess I have learned my lesson.
Considering that getting my phone stolen is the biggest tragedy of the trip so far, we are doing pretty well.
Yesterday, Tuesday, DK and I went to Purple Mountain. It was REALLY busy because of National Day, so we didn't stay for too long. But we climbed all 392 steps to the top where Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum is. The line was really long, so we decided to come back a different day. Now that we know how to get there, it is not a big deal to go. And, it was free to see on Tuesday, so we didn't waste any money.
Most of our break has been spent just relaxing. We are working on lesson plans so that we can be ahead of the game for the week. We have our Thursday classes on Saturday this week & our Friday classes on Sunday. So, we will be busy. Plus, Danielle has her Friday & Saturday classes on Thursday & Friday.
I am excited that I have started having my freshmen writing classes. I didn't have them the first two weeks of school because of military training. I really like the students in the two freshmen classes. I am the first foreign teacher some of them have ever had. They were all really excited to do introductions and get to know me and the other students. Because they are just out of high school, their English is very good. I have been quite pleased with how well they can speak.
This week in writing we are going to talk about the writing process and plagiarism. Plagiarism is not a big deal in China, so it is something totally new to them. But, as an American, it is something I don't put up with. It will be interesting to see how the lesson goes.
In my Marketing class we are going to play Brand Bingo this weekend. I have them make a Bingo sheet and then write down different brand names. Then I will show a logo on the projector and they get to cross off that brand. I thought it would be a fun game to help them get back into the school routine. And, it will be neat to see which brands they can recognize. I mixed between Chinese brands & international ones.
My reading class is still working on The Joy Luck Club. We watched a movie on Friday, it was the day before break and no one wanted to focus. So, I hope they are prepared to discuss on Sunday.
The weather in Nanjing is finally getting cooler. My A/C has been off for the last few weeks and I have had my windows open. It is nice outside, even a tad chilly at night. My back has not handled the changing weather very well. But I made a heating bag out of rice and that is helping.
I will probably write more tonight after dinner. I want to tell you all about my students. I have had some very interesting experiences with them. But now, I need to do some real work!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Weekend!
I am officially a Nanjing resident! I am so happy that everything is finished and it worked out well! It is such a weight off my shoulders to know that we are now official residents!
It is finally my weekend! My week was pretty good. My marketing classes went well, they seem to be understanding everything well. I am quite impressed, I doubt I could understand marketing in a second language. My two conversation classes went well this week. They were interesting. I loved my AV English class on Wednesday. The only difficult class was Reading on Friday. The class is ridiculously chaotic. We met as 1 big class two times and they don't seem to understand that now we are back to being two separate classes. Once we finally got that settled, we started to discuss the book. We are reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I think the book might be too advanced for the students, it was really difficult to make any progress in discussion. Hopefully next week goes better.
My adult class today was interesting. We did tongue twisters to work on pronunciation. Then we talked about manners some. My students all work for the same company and are preparing to take an oral exam for the Jiangsu province. I do think we are making some progress!
I have kindergarten again on Monday. I am really excited to see the kids again! My first class in kindergarten went well this week. We sang and danced and did our ABCs. I feel much more confident about that class and am excited to see them grow!
This week in most of my classes we talked about manners & etiquette. It was really interesting to hear what the Chinese students thought about American customs. They enjoyed learning about how we greet each other and our table manners. After we talked about American manners, I had them tell me about manners in China. I learned a lot of interesting things I did not know before.
Some of the things I learned:
Do not give the following as gifts: clocks, pears, shoes, bells
Don't borrow money on the first day of the Chinese New Year
Don't say thank you to friends or hug friends often
Don't say sorry in public
Don't ever stand your chopsticks up in your rice
Refuse any gifts 3 times, then take and thank them, DO NOT open in front of the giver
When "cheers"-ing with someone who is superior to you, clink your glass below theirs, say "gan bei" and drink all that is in your glass
Chinese say "have you eaten?" as a form of Hello, not as an invitation for lunch/dinner/etc
Don't name a baby after an older relative
Don't pat a baby on the head
I learned a lot more, but I don't have all of my notes with me. It was really interesting. A few things I had done or seen done and never understood why. Now it makes more sense!
Last time, Laura asked about pancakes. Since I eat a pancake for dinner almost every night, I should explain. In China, a pancake is not like an American pancake. It is more like an omelet or a crepe. It is made on a griddle, with an eggy batter. Then they add and egg an whatever you want. I usually get cilantro, green onions, peanuts, spice, and some tan stuff (not sure what it is). Then they put a sauce on it and fold it up. You can have them put hot dogs, fried egg, other meat, or anything you want on it. I love pancakes! They are pretty simple, but they are delicious!
Danielle and I are downtown in Gulou tonight. So we are going to out! I can't wait!
I hope everyone has a good Saturday at home!
It is finally my weekend! My week was pretty good. My marketing classes went well, they seem to be understanding everything well. I am quite impressed, I doubt I could understand marketing in a second language. My two conversation classes went well this week. They were interesting. I loved my AV English class on Wednesday. The only difficult class was Reading on Friday. The class is ridiculously chaotic. We met as 1 big class two times and they don't seem to understand that now we are back to being two separate classes. Once we finally got that settled, we started to discuss the book. We are reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I think the book might be too advanced for the students, it was really difficult to make any progress in discussion. Hopefully next week goes better.
My adult class today was interesting. We did tongue twisters to work on pronunciation. Then we talked about manners some. My students all work for the same company and are preparing to take an oral exam for the Jiangsu province. I do think we are making some progress!
I have kindergarten again on Monday. I am really excited to see the kids again! My first class in kindergarten went well this week. We sang and danced and did our ABCs. I feel much more confident about that class and am excited to see them grow!
This week in most of my classes we talked about manners & etiquette. It was really interesting to hear what the Chinese students thought about American customs. They enjoyed learning about how we greet each other and our table manners. After we talked about American manners, I had them tell me about manners in China. I learned a lot of interesting things I did not know before.
Some of the things I learned:
Do not give the following as gifts: clocks, pears, shoes, bells
Don't borrow money on the first day of the Chinese New Year
Don't say thank you to friends or hug friends often
Don't say sorry in public
Don't ever stand your chopsticks up in your rice
Refuse any gifts 3 times, then take and thank them, DO NOT open in front of the giver
When "cheers"-ing with someone who is superior to you, clink your glass below theirs, say "gan bei" and drink all that is in your glass
Chinese say "have you eaten?" as a form of Hello, not as an invitation for lunch/dinner/etc
Don't name a baby after an older relative
Don't pat a baby on the head
I learned a lot more, but I don't have all of my notes with me. It was really interesting. A few things I had done or seen done and never understood why. Now it makes more sense!
Last time, Laura asked about pancakes. Since I eat a pancake for dinner almost every night, I should explain. In China, a pancake is not like an American pancake. It is more like an omelet or a crepe. It is made on a griddle, with an eggy batter. Then they add and egg an whatever you want. I usually get cilantro, green onions, peanuts, spice, and some tan stuff (not sure what it is). Then they put a sauce on it and fold it up. You can have them put hot dogs, fried egg, other meat, or anything you want on it. I love pancakes! They are pretty simple, but they are delicious!
Danielle and I are downtown in Gulou tonight. So we are going to out! I can't wait!
I hope everyone has a good Saturday at home!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
One month in
Sorry it has been so long since I posted. Real life is much busier than I expected! I am really enjoying everything I have been doing. We are almost done with getting our Resident Permit and being real residents of Nanjing! When we had to turn in our paperwork on Friday (the last day) we stood in line for 3 hours! It was ridiculous! But, now it is almost over. We will have to celebrate once we get our permits!
I can't believe I have been in China for a month. It feels like I just got here, yet it also is starting to feel like my new hometown. We have gotten to know the area and have our regular places. We go to the Muslim place for lunch usually. Or sometimes we go to "Cold Noodle Lady" for lunch on hot days. For dinner we go to "Pancake Couple" several times a week. Pancake Couple is so nice, Pancake wife knows what we want in our pancakes and is really excited every time we come by.
We got paid this week. So we did a little shopping on Sunday while we were downtown! I am going to buy a router, then I will finally have wireless internet in my room! Then I'll be able to play Words With Friends again!! Next time we go shopping, I think I will buy a vacuum! Oddly, I am super excited about it!
This will be my first week with all real classes. We won't be doing introductions or getting to know you games this time. So I will see how everything really goes. I think we will be discussing etiquette & manners in classes this week. It will be exciting to see how they react to American and Western etiquette rules. After I tell them about how to behave in the west, I will have them talk to me about Chinese etiquette. It will be interesting.
Now I need to work on my lessons for the week. Hopefully I will be better about posting now that I am getting into the swing of things here.
I can't believe I have been in China for a month. It feels like I just got here, yet it also is starting to feel like my new hometown. We have gotten to know the area and have our regular places. We go to the Muslim place for lunch usually. Or sometimes we go to "Cold Noodle Lady" for lunch on hot days. For dinner we go to "Pancake Couple" several times a week. Pancake Couple is so nice, Pancake wife knows what we want in our pancakes and is really excited every time we come by.
We got paid this week. So we did a little shopping on Sunday while we were downtown! I am going to buy a router, then I will finally have wireless internet in my room! Then I'll be able to play Words With Friends again!! Next time we go shopping, I think I will buy a vacuum! Oddly, I am super excited about it!
This will be my first week with all real classes. We won't be doing introductions or getting to know you games this time. So I will see how everything really goes. I think we will be discussing etiquette & manners in classes this week. It will be exciting to see how they react to American and Western etiquette rules. After I tell them about how to behave in the west, I will have them talk to me about Chinese etiquette. It will be interesting.
Now I need to work on my lessons for the week. Hopefully I will be better about posting now that I am getting into the swing of things here.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
What a crazy week!
Wow, this week has been eventful! I started classes this week and am still settling into Nanjing. We opened bank accounts this week. I was really worried that it would be stressful, everyone says banks in China are the worst. But, it was actually really easy. We were taken to the VIP area (only time that will ever happen in a bank) and it was quite simple. Now we can get paid! I can't wait! We have also been dealing with getting our Resident Permits for Nanjing. The Health Certificate has been difficult, but will hopefully be done soon. I am really getting settled into my apartment. I am totally unpacked (this is amazingly fast for me) and have started to decorate. I'm also getting used to doing all of my wash by hand. It's kind of a pain, but I will get used to it.
I had 4 of my 6 classes this week. My two writing classes start the last week of September because they are for freshmen. The freshmen just moved in this weekend and then have two weeks of military training. I have one class of Spanish majors and all the rest are English majors. They speak English very well, I'm impressed. I had 80% girls in my classes, just a few boys. Everyone has been very friendly and nice. My students are really great with helping me understand everything. One of them helped me at the post office. I was so glad she was walking by at the right time!
All of my classes are 2 hours, once a week. They are kind of long, but I think that I will be able to fill the time. My easiest class will probably be A/V English with Spanish majors. I have about 40 students right now, but was only supposed to have 19. The course is mostly conversation and some movies, skits, etc. I think it will be a lot of fun! I'm also really excited for the Marketing classes. They are each about 50 students. During the first day, I asked the students what they wanted to learn. So I have a ton of ideas about what to teach and fun ways to get them involved. It is the first time this class is being taught in English, so I hope it goes well. My other class this week was Reading. The class is huge, 90 students, but I have a co-teacher. It was a bit chaotic on the first day, but I think that it will get better once we get into a rhythm. Luckily, a lot of my Marketing students are also in the Reading class. So I will have fewer names to remember and a better chance to get to know them.
Aside from classes and Nanjing assimilation, the week has been pretty boring. We went to Fuzi Miao (Confucius Temple) and did some shopping. You can read about the history of the temple here. We didn't go inside the temple. We just shopped at the little stalls and enjoyed the view of the lake. We made some friends there. There was a group of students who came over and wanted to take pictures with us. They were really sweet and made us feel like celebrities.
Back home, my Aunt Lisa had her baby this week. It's a girl! Her name is Mia Elizabeth and I can't wait to meet her. I'm sad I won't see her for almost a year, but I will hopefully get tons of pictures!
I'm excited for my four day weekend. I definitely could get used to this!
I had 4 of my 6 classes this week. My two writing classes start the last week of September because they are for freshmen. The freshmen just moved in this weekend and then have two weeks of military training. I have one class of Spanish majors and all the rest are English majors. They speak English very well, I'm impressed. I had 80% girls in my classes, just a few boys. Everyone has been very friendly and nice. My students are really great with helping me understand everything. One of them helped me at the post office. I was so glad she was walking by at the right time!
All of my classes are 2 hours, once a week. They are kind of long, but I think that I will be able to fill the time. My easiest class will probably be A/V English with Spanish majors. I have about 40 students right now, but was only supposed to have 19. The course is mostly conversation and some movies, skits, etc. I think it will be a lot of fun! I'm also really excited for the Marketing classes. They are each about 50 students. During the first day, I asked the students what they wanted to learn. So I have a ton of ideas about what to teach and fun ways to get them involved. It is the first time this class is being taught in English, so I hope it goes well. My other class this week was Reading. The class is huge, 90 students, but I have a co-teacher. It was a bit chaotic on the first day, but I think that it will get better once we get into a rhythm. Luckily, a lot of my Marketing students are also in the Reading class. So I will have fewer names to remember and a better chance to get to know them.
Aside from classes and Nanjing assimilation, the week has been pretty boring. We went to Fuzi Miao (Confucius Temple) and did some shopping. You can read about the history of the temple here. We didn't go inside the temple. We just shopped at the little stalls and enjoyed the view of the lake. We made some friends there. There was a group of students who came over and wanted to take pictures with us. They were really sweet and made us feel like celebrities.
Back home, my Aunt Lisa had her baby this week. It's a girl! Her name is Mia Elizabeth and I can't wait to meet her. I'm sad I won't see her for almost a year, but I will hopefully get tons of pictures!
I'm excited for my four day weekend. I definitely could get used to this!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Nanjing Life
We have been so busy now that we are settled into life in Nanjing! I am really loving my new city and am enjoying getting to know all about it!
Last time when DK was here, she made friends with Sherry, one of her supervisors. Sherry is the one who picked us up at the train station this year and has been such a great help. She, and everyone we have met, has been wonderful to us. I am completely in awe of how far the Chinese will go for someone they barely know. Everyone has been so nice and inviting to us.
I got my class schedule this week. I have 6 classes, 4 different subjects. I am teaching Audio-Visual Oral English to Spanish Majors, Reading on Western Culture, Writing, and Marketing for English Majors. I will be working 12 hours a week across 3 days. I am really excited for my schedule, I still get a good weekend but will be busy enough that I shouldn't get bored.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the English department, so I will learn more about my classes then. I have a co-teacher for the reading class. I met him on Tuesday. He has been here for 3 years and is really nice. He is from China, but grew up in Florida, so he speaks Chinese and his English is terrific. I think he will make the class more fun and easier for all of us.
This week, we have had a lot of time to explore Nanjing. I have ridden buses, taxis, and subways. Yes, the subways are just as crowded as on the internet videos. It is quite an experience. We also walk a lot. Luckily, this is good exercise to work off all of the great food I am eating. It feels like I have not had a single moment of hunger since we arrived. Between street food, little restaurants, and Sherry, we are very well fed. My favorite foods are baozi, pancakes, and hot pot. I definitely won't have to worry about starving while I am here.
In addition to all of the great food, we have gone shopping a lot. One of the best places we have been is Fashion Lady. It is an underground mall with hundreds of stores. Everything is really cheap and there is some super cute clothing. I bought an umbrella there and we all got our nails done. Gel nails were only 40 RMB. That is less than $7! Also, today I bought a wallet at Sanfu. Sanfu is a lot like Forever 21, but with more accessories and random add-ons. It was really neat and I am so glad to finally have a wallet.
Yesterday we met all of Sherry's family. We met both of her parents, her husband, and her daughter. Her family is wonderful! They fed us dinner last night and lunch today. It was so delicious. DK and I were both stuffed by the end of the meal. Sherry's daughter is named Sissi and she is 4 years old. She is absolutely adorable! She is learning English and sometimes she will say words to us in English. Her name means princess and she is definitely living up to it. We absolutely adore her!
After lunch with Sherry today, we went and got massages. They were so great. $10 for 45 minutes! I feel so much better after the massage. I definitely could get used to this! After massages, we went to Hunan Road and walked around. There were so many restaurants and food stands. It smelled amazing. We shopped a little bit and then got dinner. We had hot pot for dinner with Sherry. Hot pot is when you have a pot of soup and you add in any veggies/meat that you want. It all boils and mixes and then you eat it. Mine was delicious!
After dinner, we said goodbye to Sherry's family and headed home. Today was pretty exhausting. I am ready for a shower and then to pass out. I need to make sure I am rested for tomorrow's meeting!
Hopefully everyone has a good weekend! I miss you all very much!
Last time when DK was here, she made friends with Sherry, one of her supervisors. Sherry is the one who picked us up at the train station this year and has been such a great help. She, and everyone we have met, has been wonderful to us. I am completely in awe of how far the Chinese will go for someone they barely know. Everyone has been so nice and inviting to us.
I got my class schedule this week. I have 6 classes, 4 different subjects. I am teaching Audio-Visual Oral English to Spanish Majors, Reading on Western Culture, Writing, and Marketing for English Majors. I will be working 12 hours a week across 3 days. I am really excited for my schedule, I still get a good weekend but will be busy enough that I shouldn't get bored.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the English department, so I will learn more about my classes then. I have a co-teacher for the reading class. I met him on Tuesday. He has been here for 3 years and is really nice. He is from China, but grew up in Florida, so he speaks Chinese and his English is terrific. I think he will make the class more fun and easier for all of us.
This week, we have had a lot of time to explore Nanjing. I have ridden buses, taxis, and subways. Yes, the subways are just as crowded as on the internet videos. It is quite an experience. We also walk a lot. Luckily, this is good exercise to work off all of the great food I am eating. It feels like I have not had a single moment of hunger since we arrived. Between street food, little restaurants, and Sherry, we are very well fed. My favorite foods are baozi, pancakes, and hot pot. I definitely won't have to worry about starving while I am here.
In addition to all of the great food, we have gone shopping a lot. One of the best places we have been is Fashion Lady. It is an underground mall with hundreds of stores. Everything is really cheap and there is some super cute clothing. I bought an umbrella there and we all got our nails done. Gel nails were only 40 RMB. That is less than $7! Also, today I bought a wallet at Sanfu. Sanfu is a lot like Forever 21, but with more accessories and random add-ons. It was really neat and I am so glad to finally have a wallet.
Yesterday we met all of Sherry's family. We met both of her parents, her husband, and her daughter. Her family is wonderful! They fed us dinner last night and lunch today. It was so delicious. DK and I were both stuffed by the end of the meal. Sherry's daughter is named Sissi and she is 4 years old. She is absolutely adorable! She is learning English and sometimes she will say words to us in English. Her name means princess and she is definitely living up to it. We absolutely adore her!
After lunch with Sherry today, we went and got massages. They were so great. $10 for 45 minutes! I feel so much better after the massage. I definitely could get used to this! After massages, we went to Hunan Road and walked around. There were so many restaurants and food stands. It smelled amazing. We shopped a little bit and then got dinner. We had hot pot for dinner with Sherry. Hot pot is when you have a pot of soup and you add in any veggies/meat that you want. It all boils and mixes and then you eat it. Mine was delicious!
After dinner, we said goodbye to Sherry's family and headed home. Today was pretty exhausting. I am ready for a shower and then to pass out. I need to make sure I am rested for tomorrow's meeting!
Hopefully everyone has a good weekend! I miss you all very much!
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