This morning as I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the usual carnage of fried mosquito appendages on the top of my mosquito net tent. No, this is not because they flew too close to the huge and obnoxious fluorescent lamps on my ceiling, it is because they were struck by a fabulous (and highly necessary) device called a mosquito racket.

Since our townhouses are next to a lake/pond on campus, there was some rain at the end of the summer and the weather is still warm and a little humid here, the mosquito population is far from suffering. Sean and I began to note the rising numbers buzzing around our heads at night with increasing alarm. First we broke down and bought mosquito nets. Then Ken, another teacher here, introduced us to a mosquito racket and let us borrow it for a week. We liked it so much that we went out and bought our own after that.


A mosquito racket is basically an electrically charged tennis racket used to swing at bugs and fry them upon contact with a bright flash of blue light and a satisfyingly loud 'crack' of electricity. Think of it as a hand-held bug-zapper. Though these fly-swatters-on-steroids may exist in the United States, I have never seen one before I came to China and have been a little fascinated (and addicted) to them.

Those who know me remember that I am a little freaked about by electricity, voltage of any sort, loud noises and fast-moving objects. That being said, Sean is the main captain of the mosquito racket and he always brings it when he comes over to keep the population of blood-sucking pests under control. The mosquitoes over here are a bit different than those in the U.S. I am convinced they fly faster and are larger than the ones I am used to. They seem to be quite resilient and sometimes it takes two or three shocks by the racket for full and complete annihilation. The bites of the mosquitoes here also seem to itch more and last longer than the mosquitoes back home.


Using a mosquito racket can lead to an obession, however, and Sean likes to use it every chance he gets especially on bigger insects like flies and spiders which creates a veritable pyrotechnic display of roasting. Ken says that last year he and Dave used to crack open some beers, ready the racket, open the door, and let the evening of free entertainment begin.

Before I go to bed, Sean does a sweep of my room and even if I am downstairs I can hear the distinctive 'snap' 'pop' 'pop' and I give a little shiver of delight as I know the enemy is losing in numbers. When I head to bed, I can still smell a hint of electric smoke - the telltales signs of the battle that waged only moments before. The last thing I see before I close my eyes are a few more fried remains on the top of my tent and I give a satisfying and sleepy sigh of relief.


Thanks to Catherine for her inspiration on how to name this post - I love your always witty and relevant one-liners as your titles!

The weather is still quite nice here and so the other day Sean and I decided to take a walk around campus and take some pictures of Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology. The campus is big and there are about 14,000 students who take classes here. Most of them live on campus in crowded dorms but some of them live at home in the city of Changzhou. Below is a map of campus - we live in the southeast corner in the little lines of houses.


Below is the view on the right crossing over the bridge heading from our houses to Market Street and the North Cafeteria.

This is the view on the left when crossing over the bridge. The huge building is the new library, not quite finished yet, but still the pride and joy of the university.

This is Market Street - one of the main social hubs because it includes restaurants, snack shops, ATMs, a hairdresser, small supermarkets, an internet cafe, copy/print places, a cell phone dealer (China Mobile) and an eyeglass places. Students can get pretty much all that they would need on Market Street.


While walking around campus it is common to see many bike corrals. Many students have pedal bikes or motorized bikes which they store in one of the many corrals.

Walking down Market Street we pass basketball courts on the right and head towards the North Cafeteria. This is where Sean and I eat most days. On the first floor you can get a tray of a variety of food and on the second floor you can get dishes from different restaurants. We have an English teacher group lunch on Wednesdays on the second floor of this cafeteria.

Heading towards the hotel on campus and one of the bigger entrances to the campus we see the new library which is pretty impressive looking.

The hotel on campus houses visitors to the university but also many of the foreign teachers. Daniel, Peter and Jordan live in the hotel. The accommodations are smaller than the townhouses but there are no mosquitoes and they have dryers for their clothes. Jordan actually lives near the top of the pen in the round part!

There are many dorms on campus and all of them are completely segregated. Boys are not even allowed to enter the girls' dorms and vice versa. The electricity is turned off at 11pm in all dorms and all students must by inside by that time as well. There is no drinkable water in the dorms and students actually have to buy it and cart it around in giant thermoses. You can always see clothes drying out on the balconies after they have been washed by hand.

Around campus there are also several little places to sit or walk with interesting pieces of architecture.

These are the pillars in front of the building where I teach and we are back to where we started. My townhouse is just straight ahead past the pillars. If you are interested in teaching here, check it out in the web here.

So far the Halloween lesson that Sean and I put together has been going great. First I talk about the date of Halloween and the popular colors. Then I show some pictures/clip art and talk about some of the common traditions and activities that Americans do like trick-or-treating, costumes, hayrides, scary movies, parties, pumpkin carving and haunted houses. We practice yelling "Boo!" and "Trick or Treat!" all while some Halloween music is playing in the background (they liked "Thriller" and "Monster Mash." I explain some of the more common figures seen around Halloween like witches, wizards, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, monsters and skeletons. All of the explanations are made easier by some of the movies that have become popular in China like "Twilight" and the Harry Potter movies.


Then we play games for the rest of the class period. We played Pictionary and it was really interesting to see how the students drew some of the words - sometimes I didn't even know what the pictures was but everyone in the class did. Apparently they have different ways of drawing witches, spiders, graveyards and monsters. It was hilarious. Then we did Halloween Mad Libs which was also a riot. After Mad Libs we played Halloween Taboo in groups which produced a lot of creative ways to describe words. The best part of the lesson by far was "carving pumpkins." Each group received an orange balloon and a black marker. The group had to create their own Jack-o-lantern and then explain it to the rest of the class. The students had so much fun it was almost hard to keep them under control. If I had time at the end of class we created a class story starting with the line, "It was a dark and stormy night..." Every student had to give me a word to put on the board and then we went around the room and added on to the story including one of the words from the board.



At the end of class, if they wanted a piece of candy, they had to say "trick or treat" to me before they left class. The lesson was a lot of fun and was certainly made more ridiculous by the fact that I wore my bat ears and glasses the whole time (insert a large number of camera phone pictures here). In addition, during the group activities I walked around and periodically shouted "boo!" and literally scared the beejeebies out of several students. 'Gotta love Halloween!

It seems like there is always something going on during the weekends here in Changzhou. But this weekend we didn't have any specific plans and ended up having a lot of fun anyways. After sleeping in late on Saturday Sean and I had lunch together in one of the little restaurants on campus. Then I went back home and cleaned my house from top to bottom. I swept, mopped, dusted, cleaned the walls, did dishes, did laundry and scrubbed the bathrooms (including the squatter). It felt good to have everything clean and organized - I think it looks better than when I first moved in! A new printer and flat screen TV were delivered as well and now I am just waiting for the desktop computer and DVD player.

Saturday night I taught my class with the engineers and then Sean and I skyped with my family. It was fun to see everyone together as my parents are in North Carolina visiting my brother, sister-in-law and my two nieces. On Sunday, Sean and I went downtown for lunch at McDonalds and then walked around and did some shopping and sight-seeing in the city. We went to a big store called Metro that carries a lot of imported food and other western items. It was fun seeing the Chinese version of a Sam's Club and our favorite purchases by far were Halloween costumes/supplies and tortilla chips and salsa. After Metro we visited the big market in the city which sells anything from Hello Kitty slippers to hairdryers to shoes and clothes. It is always a chaotic and mad scene with buyers and sellers haggling over prices. You can bargain at this enormous market and I was glad that I finally have the Chinese numbers down. After shopping, Sean and I enjoyed another delicious western meal at Pizza Hut where the workers were dressed in devils' horns, capes and orange aprons. Halloween is only mildly celebrated here but Sean and I try to hype up the American holiday every chance we can get.

We spent most of the evening working on our lesson plan for this week. We created a fun-filled two hours of Halloween games, culture and speaking activities (more to come). As I am writing this it is Monday afternoon and so far it has been a great day for two reasons: 1) the Halloween lesson was a blast and the students loved it 2) We received two packages and two letters today. A huge thank you to Sean's sisters, Wilmina and the Braaksmas. You guys made our day!

When I was home last summer I stayed with my parents and loved it. My parents are awesome and it was cool being at home not only because it was comfortable and peaceful but also because it was nice having them around and available to talk or hang out with. It was nice never coming home to an empty house and instead I usually was met with my dad watching television and eating popcorn with my dog, Uno when I came home in the later hours of the evening.

Tonight, though, I was reminded of my mom as I puttered around my house doing laundry, washing dishes and cleaning all while listening to my ipod. At first, this summer I made fun of my mom and her portable CD player (just recently changed over from cassettes) as she listened to books on CD from the library when she worked in the garden, did little jobs around the house or cooked in the kitchen. She also always listened to books on CD on the drive to and from work. However, I gave books on CD a try and soon I was hooked as well. Sometimes I even made excuses to go into town so I could just enjoy the story in my car.

In China, I have been using my ipod more and more for this purpose. Though I suppose I could attempt to download books and listen to them, I have become addicted to podcasts. I listen to them when I am doing boring stuff around the house, when I am riding the bus, when I am walking across campus and when I am running on the track. Podcasts are great! And it is fun to listen to a variety of them. Currently I am listening to Chinese pod and Spanish pod but also several podcasts from Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. I am really enjoying "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Culturetopia" but my absolute favorite so far is the program called "This American Life." If I have time I also listen to: "Talk of the Nation," "NPR Topics: Asia," "Foreign Dispatch," "Fresh Air," "It's All Politics," "Planet Money," "Story of the Day," "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" "Your Health," "The Onion Radio News," "PRI Selected Shorts," and "Stuff You Should Know."

It has been nice to try and keep up with news and current events and listen to English speakers when I don't have a television. Because I am using Witopia to get around the firewall, my browser thinks I am in the United States and because of this I can still use Pandora (internet radio) and watch American television shows online.

I also think I am turning into my mom because sometimes she makes a cup of coffee but then constantly re-heats it in the microwave over and over again. As I am sipping my mug of instant coffee warmed up three times over I realize that maybe turning into one's parents isn't so bad after all. I love you, Mom! =)

You know that old saying, "The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step" or something like that. I feel like that phrase represents the commitment of learning Chinese. You have to start out with the initial steps of vowels, consonant clusters and tones before you can even think about saying words correctly. Like anything else, starting to learn Chinese has been slow going and I have struggled with the frustration of not being able to say sounds correctly, being incompetent at making or recognizing tones and creating time to study Chinese or being diligent about practicing it.

My tutors are helping me with this process a lot and offer plenty of encouragement as well as patient repetition of sounds over and over again. Sometimes I record the session so I can go back and listen when I can't remember how to pronounce something. Incredibly, most of the students here know how to use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and when I have trouble saying a sound or word, they can describe it phonetically.

A common conversation during any session might go like this:
Tutor: "Try to say qǐng jìn"
Me: "qǐng jìn"
Tutor: No, that's not exactly the sounds I'm making. Try it again."
Me: "qǐng jìn"
Tutor: Not quite, but you're getting a little better (she is just being nice here)
Me: "I can't hear the difference. What I say sounds exactly like what you are saying in my head"
Tutor: "Hmm... maybe you need to practice some more."

One of the difficulties of learning Chinese is training your mouth and ear to discriminate the seemingly tiny differences between sounds and tones. For example, the consonants: j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch and sh all sound very similar (to me at least). In the same way, the words: shī, shí, shǐ and shì mean different things but sound quite the same to me. As you can imagine, adding speed, dialect differences/accents and background noise can lead to a complicated and chaotic language situation. I haven't started attempting to learn the characters yet but I am sure that is a whole new battle in itself.

Currently, I have four different students who are working with me: Tesa, Daisy, Isobel and Anna. They are all great students who can speak English very well. They are always punctual, patient and very sympathetic and understanding. Some of them even prepare little worksheets and study guides for me. Keep in mind that they do all of this for free simply because that is the way it is done here. I had more willing tutors than time to work with them not only because it is probably fun to hang out with the foreigner but also because teachers enjoy a higher level of respect and honor here. I am going to do something nice for my tutors at the end of the semester, but until then I try to talk with them in English a lot during each session. I also recommend music and let them borrow some English magazines and DVDs that I have.

Some of the resources I am using to study are flash cards, "The Beginner's Guide to Spoken Chinese," another book called "Reading and Writing Chinese - Simplified Character Version", some sound/vowel/consonant/tone charts, a website called Pinyin Practice (try it and see how you do!) and a really cool program called Chinese Pod (you can play the podcasts on your ipod and print out the pdf transcripts).


As I write this blog post I can hear Sean chanting "zh" "ch" "sh" with his tutor, Jefferson as they practice in my living room. Today started out as a rough day because I am fighting a cold and when I wanted to make pancakes for dinner, I discovered that the packaging was damaged and there were bugs in the mix. I ended up having toast and eggs with juice and coffee. As the day is winding down it is improving, however, and the smell of freshly-baked brownies drifts from the kitchen. Maybe I'll go make a cup of coffee, have a brownie and get back to the journey of learning Chinese.

My sophomore students have to write a one-page journal entry every week about any topic they want (as long as it is not copied off the internet). I have learned a lot about their daily life, their families, their home towns, their traditions and their common feelings, emotions and social pressures that they feel in their daily life in the university. There are so many entries that would be interesting to share so periodically I will try and give you a glimpse into the lives of my students. Here is part of an entry that one of my sophomore students wrote on some of the pressures they feel and the consequences of those pressures.

She starts out by saying that she watched the movie the "Dead Poets Society" and explains that one of the students with an overbearing father ends up killing himself in the movie. This is what she comments after that (I haven't changed any spelling/grammar):

"Nowadays, many children are under great pressure of their parents and families. What's worse, more and more children choose to kill themselves to get rid of this kind of pressure. For example, 4 students in Changzhou have died because of this last semester. I don't mean that parents should allow us to do all the things we want to do. However, study can't mean all things. At least, we have the right to some proper things except study. Parents often say that we are too young to live with ourselves. However, some parents put their dreams on their children and don't care what their children think. Some parents obstinately think that under their help, their children can have a perfect future. They don't care their children's thoughts too. As a result, many children choose death. I just hope that parents can pay more attention to children's opinions and give them more free time and space. Then children can live and study more happily."

Perhaps not every student feels pressure from their parents to this extent, but I would guess that for many that type of pressure exists. I often see entries like this one in which the student is stressed because they can't meet the expectations of their parents or because they are worried that they won't make enough money in the future to be able to support their parents. This adds a new and powerful motivator for success in school when compared with students in the U.S. I have always wanted to make my parents proud and meet their expectations, but it has never affected me like it seems to affect my Chinese university students.

Since last week I never found where I was supposed to teach the freshmen they changed the day of class to today, Tuesday. Though I had heard stories of what it is like to teach the new students, it was much different than actually experiencing it myself. For example, when I walked in to the class they were all already there, with their textbooks open and reading from them in whispers to themselves. They seemed scared and nervous not only because they were new to school but also because most of them had never had a foreign teacher before. Some of them had notes in their new English textbooks already along with answers to questions. When I walked in there were many "ahhs" and incomprehensible, excited chattering in Chinese as well as much picture taking by camera phones.

I had to start out class differently than with my sophomores as my new students did not have English names. I decided to give them names of my friends and family back home and currently I have names like: Dave, Deb, Susie, Ben, Allison, Sophia, Hannah, Kristin, Christy, Erica, Kendra, Wilmina, Tracey, Al, Misha, Linde, Katie, Carrie, Mary and so on . . . it is pretty funny =)

The class went great - they were very excited to be speaking English and hung on my every word although they were terrified of speaking out loud, alone in front of the class. When the camera phones became a distraction in class I explained the rule of no cell phones in class and then promised them 5 minutes of picture-taking at the end of the period. True to my word, 5 minutes before the bell rang I offered to take pictures with anyone who wanted to. There was an immediate line-up and I probably took a picture with about half of the students in the class while others stood by and snapped away on their camera phones. It is interesting how the students are shy in some things but not others. For example, to pose in the pictures the girls hugged me, put their arms around me while others just generally hung on me. I also noticed that while I passed my pictures around some students actually took pictures of my pictures.

It was a funny and entertaining first day and I think that they will be a good class.

Current time: 1:33 am (I can't sleep)
Number of mosquitoes on the outside of my net while I sit in bed: 9
Number of mosquitoes on the inside of my net: 0 (I hope)
Number of pirated chick flicks watched today: 1 (The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee)
Amount of ethnic food eaten: None (lunch-eggs, dinner-spaghetti)
Number of hours of English taught today: 2
Number of hours spent learning Chinese with tutor: 1
Weather: Sunny, breezy and warm. High about 65
Number of people who asked to take my picture even though they don't know me: 3
Number of pictures that I took today: About 15 during a walking tour of campus (my favorite one was of a container of chicken claws for sale)
Number of pod casts listened to while walking around campus: 4 (Talk of the Nation, Prairie Home Companion, This American Life, Culturetopia)
Amount of time spent working out: 0
Time spent on any of the following - laundry, dishes, school work, cleaning: 0
Money spent today: 0
Food that I wish I could be eating right now: fruit roll-ups and/or fruit snacks
Number of times that I almost got run over by mopeds or motorized bikes because I was listening to pod casts: About 4
Time spent looking in vain for matches to light my candle so I could listen to Norah Jones, write this blog and relax in candlelight in my mosquito net: 3 minutes
Time spent writing this post: 12 minutes

I started a second job a few weeks ago at a language training center in the city called "Super." We have plenty of free time here and I thought I'd try and earn some extra money. Steve, a Chinese teacher at the university, got me the job and so far I have been teaching three classes a week which amounts to six extra hours of pay. Super pays about 100 RMB an hour ($1 = 6.8 RMB). The drawbacks to teaching there is that it takes over a half an hour to get downtown and that there are constantly new students joining the class so it is hard to keep the level and material learned consistent.


The benefits are that the students are really nice and are motivated to learn English. Most of them come after work (I teach 6:30-8:30 pm) to learn. The class doesn't take much preparation as they give me a book to use and I just use the lesson plans that I use in my oral English classes at the university. Two of my classes are adults or recent graduates who want to improve their English and one class is 5 engineers whose company is paying for them to take the class. They are a lot of fun and now they pick me up at school and drop me off after class in the company car so I don't have to walk and take the bus.


Tonight I had class with the engineers (James, John, Gavin, Lexus and Jason) and they are an absolute riot. I waited outside the school gate and they picked me up at six. They always give me the passenger seat and the four other men cram into the back of the smaller Volkswagen. Usually there is a CD of some type of Chinese pop music playing and all the men sing along (singing is the norm here and karaoke is very popular). The night seems a bit surreal while we cruise along in a small, crowded car as 5 grown men belt out Chinese love songs with the windows down.


Some of the other teachers have worked at Super before and didn't really like it that much - they have nicknamed it "Terrible" which is hilarious. Unfortunately, I have to agree with them. The company is disorganized, last-minute and chaotic. I am constantly getting text messages or phone calls about new changes, adjustments or new/cancelled opportunities. Many times things are decided or handled without me ever knowing about it until after the fact. The employees there don't seem to know how to deal with conflict or confrontation and if I ever bring up questions or concerns I don't get a straight answer. We'll see how it goes. I like my students and just do my own thing unless the company has a problem with it. I don't plan on letting Super take over my life or interfere with my free time or social life but until then things are going just fine.

Every Thursday from roughly 7-9pm the foreign English teachers gather in front of one of the main buildings on campus (nicknamed Titanic) to chat and socialize with any interested students who want to practice their English, just listen to spoken English, get to know us or learn more about U.S. culture. Being more of an introverted and passive person by nature, English Corner is not my favorite thing. Sometimes I feel like a caged animal with crowds of people pressing in closer and closer to get a good view, take pictures of me with their camera phone or ask me questions that I have already been asked hundreds of times already (how long have you been here? what do you think of China? how long are you going to stay here? can you speak Chinese? etc.). There are always some awkward moments when we run out of things to talk about or when they compliment me excessively about any number of things. They also get really embarrassed when I don't understand their questions even though half the time it is just because I can't hear them.

Tonight was the third English Corner I have been to and things are getting easier. The challenge tonight was trying to remember everyone's name. In classes, when students are divided up and I have the name list in front of me the probability of finding the correct name is fairly high. But having all of the students mixed up in one place makes it almost impossible for me to remember anyone's name. I felt especially terrible tonight when one student came up to me and asked if I remembered who she was. I recognized her face but it took me two tries before I came up with the correct name of Shirley (I always mix her up with Joyce and Cookie because they are all short, adorable, wear glasses and sit in the front row - never mind that I also have three other Shirleys in various other classes!).


I tried to explain to Shirley that I have about 250 students who I only see once a week and that I really struggle remembering everyone's name. She replied with "It makes me feel very sad that you don't know who I am because I sit in the front row, talk with you at English Corner and say hi to you on campus." Yikes. I feel horrible. After hearing that I felt awful and vowed to take pictures of every student to try and learn their names and add these lists to my slowly growing lists of Chinese words that I need to study.

This morning I thought I was supposed to teach a new freshmen class so I got up early and headed over to building 49 room 301. Suspicions arose when the students told me that no, they weren't freshmen but that yes, this was an oral English class. What they failed to tell me was that they had already started the class a week before with a different teacher, Peter. During the first five minutes of class I saw Peter walking back and forth in the hallway and finally called to him to see what was going on. "I think you are teaching my class," he said. We pulled out our teaching schedules and saw that indeed we were both scheduled to teach in that room on that day at the same time. I apologized, we laughed and I took off for home with some extra free time. Unfortunately, there is probably a class of freshmen somewhere on campus waiting for their Oral English teacher to arrive. I am sure this will get sorted out in the way that most things seem to be dealt with here: lots of time, a lack of communication and ample confusion. We've generally just stopped asking why.

With the extra free time I decided to post pictures of where I live. It's a beautiful day out today - sunny and warm with highs in the 70s and I didn't mind walking outside snapping pictures of the neighborhood.


I live in a little block of concrete townhouses that is filled with other Chinese teachers and foreign teachers. Sean lives to my right, Jordan lives on my left and Ken lives behind me. Peter and Daniel live in the hotel which is near the entrance to the university. While they don't have as much space as the villas, the hotel apartments are much nicer, don't have the mosquito problem and they have dryers to dry their clothes.

Above is the entrance to my house and below is the view when you first walk in. It is basically a dining room but I do most of my hanging out, lesson planning, grading, chatting and surfing the internet in here because there is a lot of light and more potential for people watching.


This is my kitchen. It includes a hot plate, toaster oven and microwave. The main problem is that the counter is built for the height of a Chinese person and washing dishes or cooking means stooping down a lot which gets old quickly.


This is my laundry room. The machine is a bit of an enigma as it involves a lot of crazy steps and buttons to push all of which are in Chinese of course. The process of doing laundry and using the machine was explained to me by a Chinese man who probably doesn't even do his own laundry. What isn't pictured to the right is my very own squatter toilet. Needless to say, I don't use it much.


This is my living room. Currently there are student journals strewn about on the coffee table and I am told that a new TV and DVD player are on their way soon. We'll see about that. Teddy, my waiban, was saying the same thing back in September.


Now it's time to head upstairs.


This is my extra room which is connected to its own bathroom (not pictured) and the sun porch used to hang clothes to dry. I am using this room to do P90x right now which is why the floor is cleared of anything.


This is what the sun porch usually looks like. Oh for a dryer to make clothes nice and soft again.


This is my bedroom. My bed is draped in mosquito netting - one of the most satisfying ways I have ever spend $3.


Here is another view of my room with the wardrobe to the left and the bathroom to the right.


This is my bathroom - a western toilet and plenty of hot water!

For all those interested in the mechanics on squatter toilets, I'm planning on devoting an entire post to them. Fire up.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of my house - and I'll let you know if I ever find those freshmen =)

Since Sean isn't really jazzed about writing in a blog (and believe me, I've tried to get him to write a post) I've decided to update you all back home on how "Doyle" is handling the move to China.

"So far so good" seems to be the consensus. He likes and gets along with the other guys we teach with, handles the new food much better than I do and is handling the discipline of working out and the organization of teaching much better than I thought he would. The first month was tough for me because I was teaching full-time whereas Sean was only teaching two hours a week. This was because he is teaching the freshmen and they started much later than everyone else normally due to their required military training but this time due to H1N1. This is Sean's first week of full-time teaching and I think he is taking a nap on his couch as I write this.


His experience as a foreigner in China and as a foreign teacher is a bit different than mine. He attracts a lot of attention because he is hairy (currently on his face as well), tall and bigger than most Chinese men. He gets a lot of attention in the classroom as his classes are primarily female and all of the freshmen girls have crushes on him. It is especially cool that he gets to teach the freshmen because for most of them, his oral English class will be the first interaction they will have ever had with a foreigner in their entire lives. The first day of classes for him consisted of quiet, terrified awe and much picture taking. He also causes a stir on the basketball courts because he is taller and assumed to have the skills of an NBA player. All the students want to play ball with him - I have had students ask me if Sean will play with them.

Sometimes he likes to go off on his own and just walk around and explore the city. He always comes back with interesting stories, unusual trinkets and a box or two of imported food. He usually stops at McDonalds for a burger and fries to tide him over on his addiction of all-beef patties and some carbohydrates other than rice. This week he found an ultimate team that plays pick-up ultimate Frisbee on the weekends in Shanghai and is planning to play with them on Saturday (Shanghai is about an hour away by train).


Above all, it has been cool to see him transition into the role of being a teacher. He runs lesson plan ideas by me and goes over his students' work carefully. His big project this week was coming up with lists of new English names for the freshmen. He decided to make each class a separate category and these categories of names include: trendy 2009 names, Disney names, Hippie names, old people names and famous people names. Here are some of the questions that his students asked him on the first day:

"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Doyle, do you think that we are noisy?"
"How do you think about Chinese girl?"
"Are all foreign teachers as handsome as you are?"
"I'm a shy girl, can you communicate with us in life so that I can be brave?"
"I think you are a quiet man (a bit). Will you be active and humorous after class?"
"What can we talk about in English Corner [social English time after class]? Because I am a fresh. Please remember me, I am a girl willing to be a master of the world."