Free Time

This is a backpost now, and it was somewhat unfinished, but I'll post it anyway:

Today has been my first day with some actual downtime. My apartment is finally arranged the way I want it, and I just have a few odds and ends to put away and decorate. But I'm taking this chunk of time to relax, soak my feet, and watch an episode of Avatar instead.

We still don't have internet, but even when we do, I'll still need to get a proxy so I can access blogspot and facebook to keep in touch. The five of us waiguoren went to an internet cafe yesterday, and I mainly used it to check up on io9 and webcomics; nothing really serious.

The five of us includes: Josh, Marlie, John-Michael, Ben, and I. JM and Ben are from Akron in Ohio, and the rest of us are from Beloit. Although Josh, Ben, and I are the only ones with any Chinese experience, the other two have quickly picked up laowai and wu ge waiguoren. [Honored outsiders, and 5 foreigners, respectively.]

I haven't gotten sick yet, and I'm hoping I won't. The food has been good, and extremely cheap. I've been reviewing my 7s in the multiplication tables as that's approximately the exchange rate. (More like 6.56 something, but 7 is easier.) Everything has been cheap. The bus costs one yuan, or kuai. So only about 18 cents or so. Or two baozi dumplings for one kuai. To refill my water costs 5. I've only bought essential things, like toothpaste (that I accidentally bought green tea flavored. I didn't pay attention to the cha character.) and water and cleaning supplies.

Right now I'm listening to the sounds of outside chanting. The sophomores are undergoing their two week military training that's compulsory for all freshmen. They would have done it last year, but because of the bird flu, it wasn't possible (we learned this from one of the foreign directors today; we thought they were all freshmen).

One hilarious thing that we've started between the five of us, courtesy of Josh, are calling all Chinese children “grinnies”, and all dogs and puppies “wuppers” or “wuppets”. Most of the dogs we've seen are of a fluffy white variety, so it seems appropriate.

Just like Japan, I'm feeling the lack of sweet foods here, and so now that I've discovered they sell skittles I've been buying them every other day so I can feed my sugar craving.

Classes will start on September 6th with my TA Jenny at the Nursing school, and September 16th with my other TA Puppy (that I mentioned before) at the new campus. I have a different class situation than everyone else here, so we'll see how that goes...

Twenty Four Days To Go...

So I'll be off to China soon to teach English for an academic year. I'd like to have a place to share thoughts in textual form and in vlog form. We'll see which of the two prevails! I will post as many photos and thoughts as possible here in the blog. I really want an account of my time there, since it marks the beginning of a new “era” for myself and my future. I've graduated, and it's a time of uncertainty, but I at least know what I'll be doing for the immediate year! (In general, that is, of course!)

I've been told I will have a significant amount of freedom in the curriculum and how and what I choose to teach. This is both nerve-wracking and exciting. If I think of amazing ideas, I will be able to implement them, but the flipside of that is not having those ideas in the first place and feeling lost. But at least I will have my teaching partner, Puppy!

Yes, I said Puppy. From what I read of the very helpful book, River Town (by Peter Hessler) and his experience in China teaching, the Chinese will choose rather... unique English names. Like Puppy. Or Chair. Or... really anything that “sounds” cool. It sounds odd now, I know, but think of it in reverse. When learning a new language, everything sounds intriguing and “cool”... but it could mean something as mundane as “paper”, or as unsuitable a name as Puppy is. Regardless, that's her name, and I'll try not to giggle when I meet her in person.

I should be receiving my visa soon. I'm getting the tiniest bit anxious about it, but Jackie said it should all be underway and we should all be receiving them soon. I don't remember how long it took for my Japanese visa when I applied two years ago (wow, that long ago already), but I believe the process began earlier so I had less to worry about with timing.

I also have this crazy notion that possibly I can make this a semi-fashion/work/travel blog. It's a lofty goal, but I have been reading a lot of fashion blogs lately and I think adding that element may not hurt things. At the very least, it'll guarantee a picture per entry!