We finally got tickets for a soft-sleeper to Shanghai that was leaving in two days (you can't really get tickets in advance in China if you are not already in the city so trains often fill up). We found a place to stay and spent that night and the next day exploring Nanning. We left for Shanghai early Thursday morning and reached Shanghai 34 hours later. Don't get me wrong, I like trains and all, but 34 hours is a long time to be on one. In Shanghai we had to get tickets again to Changzhou and since almost everything was sold out so we had to take a slow train that got us home 3 hours later.
The weather here is so cold and it was a shock coming from the warm, humid and sunny climates of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Yesterday morning it was sleeting and in the afternoon it turned to snow! We spent the day unpacking, relaxing and chatting with Teddy, Steve and Ken who stopped by to welcome us home. Later that night all of us (Daniel, Jordan, Sean, Ken, Qin Chen, Zhao Min, Zhen Zhen and Teddy) went out for hot pot (basically over-sized fondue) and then out for beers at the Euro Bar. It was really fun listening to what the others did on their vacations and hearing the stories and adventures from the other teachers' trips.
Today is Sunday and I have been on Skype a lot but am also trying to think about what I am going to do this week in class. All of us teachers got really lucky and have hardly any hours this semester. I am teaching a total of 4 classes which amounts to 8 hours a week. I have 3 sophomore classes of "An Introduction to English-Speaking Countries" which is basically a culture class and another class called "Coventry" which prepares a small group of students to study abroad in England the following year. Sean has 4 classes of freshmen oral English and will probably have many of the same students he had last semester. In the meantime, we're all trying to figure out what we will do with all of our new free time.
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