Skip to main content

Vacation already!!!


Well, here we are in the middle of another week. This week has been different though, we have been on vacation. This weekend was a chinese holiday and they not only got the day off, but also the whole next week. Now that is my kind of a holiday. Maybe America can take some pointers???!!! Seriously, we have the week off and have had a great time going around town and spending time with friends. Alot of what we do, along with teaching, is to build relationships. This time has allowed for some of that.
Last week went very well. The students were very receptive and seemed to understand most of what I discussed with them. I am learning how to say things many different ways. My vocabulary will either stretch or center around a few small ideas!!! This week I am trying to be diligent and get ahead, but so far I am not succeeding!! It is too easy to remind myself that I am on vacation! I will keep working at it.
Monday we spent our day at the fabric market and I picked out some material to have a winter coat made. I will pick it up next week and will post some pics then. I believe it will be very nice- cashmere and silk. I have never been pampered so!! Only in China!
Tuesday we spent the day shopping in a Swedish store named IKEA. It reminded me of a Sam's store without all the bulk buying. It was somewhat like a large warehouse with tons of things in it. From there we went to supper and then made our way to Pearl City. We spent quite a bit of time in a little pearl shop and dreamed of beautiful things. Some of the girls had pieces made, but I haven't decided on what I would like yet. Here is a set that Beth had made. Very lovely and fits her personality wonderfully!!
We left Pearl City rather late and were concerned about getting a bus back to Zhou Pu where we would catch a taxi to the campus. We waited for a little and watched tons of people try to climb into already full buses. We laughed until we cried and then realized that we were going to have to do the same. Finally the 581 came and we piled in with all the others and began what proved to be a most hilarious trip. I do not know the capacity level for the bus, but I do believe that we exceeded it by about 6 times. No joke, you couldn't move and if you did it was because the whole group was moving. It was as if we were one unit!! We would stop and maybe 3 would get off, but 10 would get on! I haven't laughted so hard in so long. All you could do was laugh when your neighbor was really close. Forget the 18 inches of personal space, we were down to maybe 2!!! This pic doesn't even do it justice; you would have to be here and experience it first hand!! We finally made it back to campus around 11:30pm.
Today has been spent just lounging around. I have accomplished a little reading, watched a movie, ate, and slept. It has been GREAT!! Tomorrow I have to get some work done. Well, it is late, so I will go for now! Thinking of you all!!

Comments

TigerFamily said…
Hi girl! So good to "hear" from you and see your pics! Sounds like your amazing opportunity is going very well. I have not made it to see your other pictures yet. You are in my prayers and I think of you often:) We need to get our blog up and running...I will let you know when. We are moving to Atlanta next week:) California has been wonderful but it is time to head "home". There is just nothing like the south! Love you and miss you. Martha
2:42 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear friends, Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I always have such grand ideas of doing great journaling here and I always fall quite a bit short of that...and today will be the same. I don't have a lot of time to write, but wanted to let you know that I have changed the place that I am posting pictures. I have been using Facebook and have found it easier to post pics there. So, my pics are now at www.facebook.com . You do have to sign in to this site, but after you do, you can search for my name and view my pics and other info about me. At some point I may even blog there, but for now I will continue to try to keep you a little updated here.
Post a Comment
Read more
Dear Friends and Family, I arrived back in Shanghai on Tuesday, August 28th. On Wednesday morning we were already up early to go to the supermarket to get groceries and to help the new ones get settled in. We have four new people joining us this year. Three of those are guys and yes, the other is a girl!! We have two new English teachers, one nursing teacher and one science teacher. The team is now about even in the ratio of girls to guys now!! The boys are happy! My first class day was Monday, September 3rd. I am teaching Maternity this semester and have the same students that I had the first semester. So, it is nice to not have to learn a whole new class of students. We have 118 sophomores and 114 freshmen in our program. My first week was pretty easy because we have not started check-off yet. Check-off is the time where we teach them skills and they have to demonstrate them back to us for a grade. We will have check-off for Maternity, Medical/Surgical Nursing, and Fundamentals of Nu...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Day!!!

My first day in the classroom was yesterday, Monday, 9/25. In the picture, you can see where I had a student write my name in chinese. They think it is so funny that we try to learn chinese, but they are so helpful in our learning. I taught two different classes of students for three periods (40 minutes) each. I taught class 1 from 0945-1145 and then taught class 2 from 1300-1520. By the end of the day I had used up all of my 30,000 words and was ready to just sit and listen for a while. I actually have three different classes of students and I taught class 3 today from 0945-1145 and then had office time until 1630. We officially have 118 freshman and they are divided into three different classes to make it a little easier to teach. For the next two weeks the freshman are in an orientation phase and we are given more time to teach. So, for these weeks I teach each class a total of 5 periods a week. That makes about 15 hours a week. My voice will need some encouragement. After the orien...
Post a Comment
Read more