tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48930377303318187862024-03-19T17:23:46.875+08:00What Could Be Fina Than Living In ChinaWHAT COULD BE FINA THAN LIVING IN CHINAWCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-19996557216061925862007-10-21T23:32:00.000+08:002007-10-21T23:34:55.110+08:00He's my knight in shining armor.Anderson Cooper is, get this, TOO BRAVE for his own good. Geeze, my boyfriend is the greatest!WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-77319292766166335012007-10-16T21:37:00.000+08:002007-10-16T22:56:27.750+08:00Not convenient. At all.ok, much to update from this summer, but I've been procrastinating because there's SO much to write about. Procrastinating for a few months now... so it's better just to jump in, fill you in on what's going on these days, and gradually I'll go back and fill in about this summer. So without further adieu:I'm teaching more than last term, 14 hours a week at SDU with 5 additional hours at Shandong WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-41396844315335657642007-09-29T16:51:00.000+08:002007-10-20T17:08:37.944+08:00NYT: China Pollution IINew York Times' 2nd part of the series can be found here."China has about 7 percent of the world’s water resources and roughly 20 percent of its population. It also has a severe regional water imbalance, with about four-fifths of the water supply in the south...'In Israel, people regard water as more important than life itself,' he said. 'In Shijiazhuang, it’s not that way. People are focused on WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-12941129583210704342007-09-14T01:49:00.000+08:002007-10-17T01:53:31.372+08:00Back to school, back to schoolIn my very 1st class of the semester, 1 of my students asked me, in front of everyone, what a crack whore was.Another student asked if I ever get lonely in China. I said yeah, a little, but I have lots of friends here, and I talk to my friends at home, so it's not too bad. Then he says, "The next time you feel lonely, can I buy you a drank?"WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-89452078947973730372007-08-26T16:32:00.000+08:002007-10-20T16:49:32.127+08:00NYT: China pollutionNew York Times is running a series on the pollution crisis in China. Check out Part I here."President Hu Jintao's most ambitious attempt to change the culture of fast-growth collapsed this year. The project, known as “Green G.D.P.,” was an effort to create an environmental yardstick for evaluating the performance of every official in China. It recalculated gross domestic product, or G.D.P., to WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-15535506749790611712007-07-28T00:00:00.000+08:002007-07-28T00:04:51.347+08:00temporaryHello to all of my beloved fans-This is a temporary message to say that I haven't forgotten WCBF. Between a dead computer and preparing to travel for a bit, it's been nearly impossible to update. Check back soon, ya'll, I've got lots of backdated words of wisdom which I'll be adding asap.WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-21062371157635167372007-07-19T02:51:00.000+08:002007-10-17T03:58:09.224+08:00The lord said to Noah, there's gonna be a floody floodyIt rained yesterday. I didn't take any pictures, as I was busy sprinting across campus in a white t-shirt to make it to an appointment that was canceled for obvious reasons, but I lifted some pix off the internets. Yesterday was the biggest rainstorm Jinan has seen. EVER. Or at least since 1912, when they began keeping track. Depends who you ask, but anywhere from 30-50 people died within Jinan, WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-18141598775960027902007-07-10T03:00:00.000+08:002007-10-17T03:17:41.111+08:00where the f am I living.Scandalous! A head party member in Jinan had his mistress's car blown up. Some graphic pictures online, like, her arm in the middle of the road and stuff. So I guess I won't be infiltrating the party that way...WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-14182090733615131352007-07-09T23:28:00.000+08:002007-10-16T23:52:01.725+08:00Still famous, more so than beforeYou may or may not remember that I was interviewed for a newspaper article this past spring. The article turned out pretty nicely, complete with a colored picture of yours truly. I don't have a scanner, so you'll have to use your imagination.Since then, news of my awesomeness has spread. I'm teaching an intensive English course for the next 2 weeks to students who will soon head off to UCLA for WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-5110093347261319382007-07-02T23:57:00.000+08:002007-10-17T00:59:52.785+08:00Very Chinese DinnerI turned my final grades in today. Yaaaaay! Happy summer! As I was leaving, one of the office workers ran up to me. "Amanda! Did you turn in your grades?""Yes, just now.""Did you collect your final pay?""Yup. Thanks!""So what will you do this summer?"She's young and pleasant and seemed friendly enough, but I was kind of taken aback, as this was more interaction than we'd had all semester. WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-40300000266477923232007-06-29T20:31:00.000+08:002007-10-17T00:13:32.719+08:00Chicken Soup for the Chinese Soul**Warning: Cheese and rambling ahead**I didn't really have anything to give my students a final exam on. We had done work throughout the semester, but most of the "English" lessons were really lessons on something else, improving our English as we went along. Instead I decided to have short 1-on-1 meetings with my students to discuss what they learned and enjoyed from the class. It would also be WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-83736923547686834812007-06-27T23:56:00.000+08:002007-07-18T01:22:46.492+08:00I love technologyI get a few podcasts for free, including Best Week Ever and NBC Nightly News. With my mind-numbingly slow (and free!) internet, it would seriously take 8 hours to download the half hour news program. More importantly, my slow internet was preventing me from keeping in touch with people at home as much as I wanted to, so it had to G-O go. (Old internet speed, download @ 8.98 kbps, upload @ 9.48 WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-48565469808279526282007-06-26T23:55:00.000+08:002007-07-17T00:17:36.524+08:00Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motionMy [Chinese!] friend Sean will be going back to the UK to study in the next few weeks. Technically, he was originally Josh and Brad's Chinese Friend, though. Each foreigner is entitled to his or her very own Chinese Friend. If a foreigner should claim someone as His or Her Chinese Friend, he or she has effectively called "dibs," and no other foreigner may claim said Chinese Friend as his or her WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-28915316710878942342007-06-25T03:09:00.000+08:002007-07-16T22:45:36.528+08:00Month 4My 4 month mark in China brought higher highs and lower lows than my 1st 2 months here. I found myself pleasantly surprised when things felt normal, though by normal I mean not Chinese, perhaps even Western-like. My Chinese is improving, though dreadfully slowly. I ended up being pretty dissatisfied with the class I was taking. It was taught like a typical Chinese class. Rather than being taught WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-91061960161088470932007-06-22T20:34:00.000+08:002007-07-09T13:04:21.831+08:00and now for something completely differentI know, I've written more than usual about teaching lately. There's not much else going on. I may teach an intensive English course in July with a Chinese woman, though they originally wanted 2 foreigners. Why do they have to settle for "just" me (hmmpf!)? Because in a week, I'll be the only foreign teacher at my university. Things have been pretty quiet here to say the least, and the smallest WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-41034673009060098732007-06-21T03:21:00.000+08:002007-07-09T12:51:56.300+08:00I have your mobile number?When I worked in America, I once asked someone for their cellphone number (it was relevant and sort of necessary). She responded, "Oh, haha, I don't get paid enough to give that out." As Americans, we relish our privacy. Maybe that's why reality voyeur television is so popular; getting to see people's private lives is so uncommon, we eat it up when it's offered. I see where she's coming from, I WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-13244868246227170332007-06-20T16:46:00.000+08:002007-07-08T23:52:13.179+08:00Doing Culture 2Last Friday's English class was possibly the best I've had yet, but I've started to question how things were going. I talked a LOT this semester about high/low context languages and high/low contact cultures. Was I moving forward enough while reinforcing information, or did my students feel like I was teaching them the same thing over and over again? Tonight would be my last class, as I'm giving WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-76460995810264069452007-06-19T03:56:00.000+08:002007-07-08T04:33:16.266+08:00Whoever is responsible should be canonized or venerated or beatified or somethingbecause on this day (s)he has created a miracle.LOOK WHAT I CAN ACCESS NOW!!!!!!!11!1Unless I try to view this page, this page, or this page. Natch.... though flickr is blocked, and blogger is still inaccessible (though obviously, not entirely).If I were in control of China's censorship, though, the first pages I would block would be those like this one, which are totally viewable. No? Isn't thatWCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-5220775299192566142007-06-18T03:11:00.000+08:002007-07-08T04:32:54.782+08:00the cheese stands aloneThe foreigners are dropping like flies here. Out of my posse from this spring, I'm quickly going to be the only one left. Last night we held another goodbye celebration by going out to my favorite restaurant in town, a Buddhist vegetarian place. Mostly Europeans and a couple Americans. We played a rousing game of zhege. Americans picked from page 1 of the menu, French got page 2, Spaniards page 3WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-70189272068219800072007-06-15T03:07:00.000+08:002007-07-03T02:11:56.148+08:00Open letter to the construction workers next doorDear Sirs:Let me start off by saying that you work really hard, probably harder than most people do here. And your living arrangements are less than ideal (buildings on the left), and I'm sure your life isn't easy. You've made a lot of progress on the building next to mine in the months I've been here!That being said, I have a few constructive criticisms. I understand that you prefer to leave theWCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-2235224180829181582007-06-14T20:32:00.000+08:002007-07-03T01:38:59.133+08:00next time we're using a textbookI know what would make my students happy, and I know how they want me to teach. I don't know much, but in my crash course as a teacher, I've learned that what I view as the best method of teaching English is pretty different than Chinese pedagogy.My engineering students are so boring, I want to pull my hair out. They're all very nice and make me feel very welcome, but they just all sit there, WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-23919185287743372202007-06-13T20:33:00.000+08:002007-07-01T15:53:19.045+08:00Doing CultureAt the beginning of the semester, when both I and my students were getting our bearings, shall we say, a fellow teacher lent me Doing Culture. The premise of the book is that we should attempt to "do" a new culture, rather than "understand" it on a more 2-dimensional level, and I found myself essentially using the book as an outline for my class. They all wanted me to teach them American culture,WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-11411667415207833922007-06-12T20:35:00.000+08:002007-06-30T02:16:37.302+08:00Welcome to our lovely schoolToday I met with a student who's here for the summer from my American university. I'd love to have been able to help him with his transition to China, but, oh yeah, he's lived in China for 5 years and is fluent in Mandarin. So when we met for lunch, I found myself asking him questions much more than the opposite. He's here to examine the enforcement of environmental policy in China, among other WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-15960974887649492112007-06-11T20:40:00.000+08:002007-06-28T12:02:15.511+08:00not cheese2 of my students were out of town for a few weeks, acting as tour guides of some sort for visitors from Mongolia. They were back in class on Friday, and I asked them to tell the class a little about their experience, the language barrier, and cultural differences. Not surprisingly, they focused on food. The Mongolians introduced new dishes to their hosts, and vice versa. My students found some ofWCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4893037730331818786.post-12737578953919082392007-06-08T00:24:00.000+08:002007-06-18T01:22:44.235+08:00Foreigners in China: Reinforcing stereotypes since 2007The semester is quickly drawing to a close. After this evening, I only have 2 weeks of teaching left, and though that means there'll be some financial cutbacks, I must say I'm eager for summer break. Semesters are long here, and it's pretty clear that attention spans are starting to dwindle. When taking attendance this evening, I was told by a student that 2 of his classmates were absent because WCBFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804171060719118127noreply@blogger.com0