Midterms Again

Midterms are an exciting time of the year over here. So exciting aparantly, that some parents will hover in the windows to the exam room and try and snap pictures of their kids struggling at English.



Extra pressure aside, this round of midterms means a lot of things: including the daunting realization that our stay in China is starting to wrap up. It's strange, because despite how long we've been here, it's pretty upsetting to think that we're going to be leaving soon.

Regardless, torturing little children with exams means that it's time again to turn the floor over to you, our Year of the Rats reading audience. This will possibly be the last time we'll be able to do something like this, since I have no idea how hectic things will get around finals time.

So post some questions for Corey or I. We'll do our best to respond right back, or even reply with an overly long post of its own.

See you in the comments section,
Shawn

End of the First Semester

Wow. Here we are at the end of our first semester. Six months into our China... I wanted to say trip there, but clearly this is a bit more than a trip.

The past six months have been some of the most interesting, fascinating, fun, dirty, head-scratching, hilarious, difficult, bizarre and all around adjective filled months of my life. And I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've got high hopes that the next six months should provide more of the same insanity and I'm looking forward to it.

The work I've been doing at school has been some of the most fun and fulfilling work I've done, and it's been great watching the kids (slightly) improve their English. I should reemphasize slightly. But still, I get how hard it is for kids this young to master a language so difficult to their own, so I appreciate even the subtle improvements.

The job hasn't been problem free, but for various reasons I won't go into detail about the down side at this moment. Suffice to say the good outweighs the bad, and I'm looking forward to the start of next semester come September 8th.

Until then, I have a few End of Semester blog things planned, the first of which is a repeat of the activating activity I had during the semester midterm postings. I'm opening up the comments section (not that they aren't always open, it's just that I so rarely get people writing in there) for any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, grammar corrections and job offers people would like to bestow on Corey and I. We promise to respond to them as soon as possible.

My next post will actually be something suggested last time I did this: Our First Semester Chinglish Awards. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're in for a treat.

I'm going to stop here by going back to the part where I talk about school, because I'm going to leave you with some pictures of Corey and I with our classes.

Catch you in the comments section,
Shawn

First Semester Midterms

This past weekend was midterms at Future 2, and I have to say, I really got a kick out of the whole thing. I felt like a real teacher laying down the law. Watching the kids sweat buckets due to nervousness was a welcome change from hyperactive class destruction as well. Although it did make it that much harder to give some of the little snots bad grades. So it goes.

The midterms also mean something else - my stay in China is a quarter over, and that's sort of crazy. In honor of this milestone of sorts, I want to try something new on this blog. If it works, I'd expect to do this at least three more times. If it doesn't... probably still three more times.

Instead of a long rambling post, I'm turning the floor over to you, our loyal blog reading fan base. I know you guys are out there, and I'm sure you all have questions. Post them under the comments section, and Corey or I will answer them. Nothing is sacred, so feel free to ask anything!

Also appreciated are comments, criticisms and suggestions about things to focus on in the blog. As much as this is a way for us to log our experiences in China, it's also a tool for keeping friends, family, and complete strangers abreast of everything going on here.

So please humor me, and post something!

- Shawn

(Oh, and I keep forgetting to point out a cool new widget we added to the blog, and since this is largely a post about nothing, now is as good a time as any. Scroll all the way to the bottom, and you'll see that there is a nifty map that logs all of our visitors from around the world. I think it's sort of neat actually. Anyways... get to the comments section already, what are you waiting for!)