I don't want to chalk it up to being here too long, or teacher-itis as I've taken to calling it, but some of my lessons have been getting more and more... bizarre.
I got to teach body parts to my C5 class, and had them label up a body. Sure I could have drawn something on the board, but that's just... boring.
Stretching my C4 student's creativity while having them practice... well, I'm not really sure... I had them concoct fantastic machines complete with accurate directions written in English.
But what kind of teacher would I be if I didn't provide them with a solid example first?
(I apologize to all my elementary school teachers for my penmanship. I also apologize to my students.)
A good reviewing game to play whilst drilling the kiddies is the "Ladder Man Game", where two teams have to race their stick man up the ladder on the board by correctly answering questions (and resisting the temptation to speak Chinese, which will undoubtedly cause their stick man to take an unfortunate tumble off of the ladder).
It wasn't my idea to name one of the stick men Mr. W.C., but I was willing to roll with it.
Oh yeah, and he won.
As an early gift for the holiday season, I brought in a special time waster... did I say time waster? I meant treat, for my highest level class. Their English was so good, I figured I'd reward them.
By bringing in my Wii.
I did make sure they did all their trash talking in English though.
And that's only the stuff I've documented. - Shawn
This New Years, Corey and I headed to Beijing to meet up with a motley assortment of our friends who were all passing through China for a variety of reasons. It was great to see them all after such a long time, and it was great to be back in Beijing.
December 31, 2007
Our first day was spent rehashing our last Beijing trip, as we showed our friends around Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Ho Hai Hutongs.
Even though we'd done it all a few months earlier, it was nice to revisit. There were even a few changes - especially at The Forbidden City.
For instance:
The Forbidden City now seems to be sponsored by American Express.
And the very out of place Forbidden City Starbucks has been shut down and replaced with an inferior quality Chinese knockoff. (Probably for the best though... that Starbucks was a little much).
We also enjoyed a fine New Year's dinner of Peking Duck. There were no epic celebrations that evening though, since we had a big bad hike along the Great Wall planned for the following day.
So with bottles of water in hand, we watched the clock turn to midnight. (And Corey ceremoniously dropped a rubber ball she had in her pocket).
New Years Eve ended for us at approximately 12:05. Crazy, I know.
January 1, 2008
New Years day started bright and early as we began on a hike from the Jinshaling section of the Great Wall to the Simatai portion. (Elephant brained readers may recall that we did Simatai last time, although this was a different part of Simatai... the more you know...)
The Great Wall is really a thing of beauty that can never really be explained, or properly captured in pictures as far as I'm concerned. I've been blown away every time I've seen it, and covered with snow, and friends that I've known for years, the wall was all the better for it this time around.
We also celebrated EST New York New Years on the wall with a fine bottle of champagne. I can think of far worse ways to spend New Years.
January 2, 2008
Sore from the day before, and saying farewell to the majority of our friends who were in town, this day was taken a fair bit slower. We checked up on the construction of the Olympic Stadium (after being dropped off by our Taxis in the middle of the highway). Very nifty if I do say so myself...
The afternoon was spent hunting down Falafel (mmm... falafel), and then that evening, we checked out a performance of the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe. Pretty cool, but nothing I couldn't do myself really.
January 3, 2008
The last day in Beijing was an eventful one, as we made sure to knock a few more Beijing landmarks off the proverbial list. First up was Chairman Mao's mausoleum. I wish I would have been able to take pictures, because it was really one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. And I've seen jerkied rats on a stick. You head into his mausoleum (or should I say Mao-soleum) and there he is, lying in a glass case covered by a red sickle and hammer flag. Admission is free, as I'm sure he would have liked... but then there's the gift shop... which would probably made him tear out what little hair he had left. All the Mao kitsch you could probably want... mere feet away from his pickled body. Oh, China.
Afterwards we went to the Temple of Heaven which along with playing host to a lively and fun park, was quite the temple itself. Well worth a visit next time you're in the capital of the People's Republic.
Lunch followed, and it involved Donkey Dumplings and these caramelized potatoes that were almost too sweet. Almost.
We visisted the Lama temple (no Llamas unfortunately) which was cool, and then completed our visit with a bargaining bonanza at the Silk Markets (see a few posts down... I got to do it all!), and farewell Beijing burritos.
Then it was time to hop our night train and head back for Dalian.
