As I was biking out the gate today, the guards at the front gate tried to stop me and the pointed out a sign that said (forgive me if I’m missing a bit, but I believe this was it):
出人下车
I’m pretty sure that means that I have to get off my bike to exit. However, I was already going at pretty good speed and I just said “Wo bu dong!” (I don’t understand) and then they laughed at me and let me through anyway. The guards at the back gate weren’t so forgiving though. They seemed to know that I knew, so I got off and walked my bike in.

However, it is terribly frustrating to live in a country where I’m practically illiterate. I’d really like to be able to learn more. The unfortunate part is that my lack of literacy is largely due to an excessive amount of slacking on my part. More of then than not, I just don’t feel up to it! It’s a ridiculous excuse, but it’s the one I give myself when I put my Chinese textbook back after 5 minutes of looking it over. I’ve really got to make myself work on Chinese this year.
I was looking at a blog of one of my friends from high school. She’s in Morocco now and she spent a year in Paris before. Some of the things she said were very true. Knowing other languages really opens doors in life. It gives you many opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise. I’d like to become at least conversational in Chinese and I’d like to study French again because I’ve forgotten nearly all of it. (My French prof at Hope was right when I quit- “Ce n’est pas une bonne idée”. I should have listened.)
Hopefully, when I’m back in the States, I can find somewhere to study, or at least practice one (or both) of those languages.

In other news, I’ve finally found a place with fun drinks that I like. Back home we have Bubble Tea (called Pearl Tea some places) and usually you can get black bubbles or colored ones. I, personally, think that the black ones taste horrid. Unfortunately, that was all they had here. Until a new shop came in over the summer. And at this shop, I can get this delicious grape juice (a great alternative to the usual tea mixed with milk). I’m really happy about it and Kate and I both really enjoy it.

Also, a bit of sadness over my former “roommate”.
I’m sure I had told several of you about a little gecko who had taken up residence here at the start of term. He’d always come out at night, but during the day he would find little hiding places. His favorite seemed to be in the crack of the door. This caused me to be incredibly cautious whenever closing or opening any door.
Unfortunately, Friday morning, I left the bathroom door open a tiny crack while I took my shower; I guess it just hadn’t latched right or something. Anyway, I got out of the shower and then the door swung in, then back out. My little gecko friend must have snuck in the crack when I wasn’t looking because then he fell- plop!- right onto the floor in a puddle of water. I quickly picked him up out of the water only to discover that his back legs had been irreparably smashed. Poor fellow.

I found an article recently on the New York Times website that I think is definitely worth reading. It’s all about China, industrialization, and the pollution that is occurring as a result.

Here in China, when the topic of pollution comes up, the most common response that I hear (I’m not sure what others hear elsewhere) is that China is a developing country and as countries like the United States and Great Britain developed, they too created serious environmental problems, but they didn’t do anything to remedy the situation until after they had modernized and developed. China is still in the process of developing now.

However, one thing that is very clear from statistics is that China seems to be creating a lot more pollution and at a much faster pace. I suppose that when G.Britain and the U.S. developed, there probably wasn’t anyone really measuring their factory emissions though. Earlier today, Kate pointed out that at that point in time, the scientific knowledge and techniques had not yet been created to control and reduce the amount of pollution. Yet, today we have that technology.

Well, I’ll share the link to the article and let you see for yourself. I’m not sure how long this link will be good, so I’m sorry if it’s gone in a week or so.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html

This afternoon, Kyle proposed. And, of course, I said yes.
He came to Yizhou to visit for the weekend and because we both have Friday off, we had time to wander around town today. We went to LiuSanJie Square to fly a red dragonfly kite (if you happen to ever look at my Flickr photos, you may know what kite I’m talking about; we flew it earlier this summer).
Well, Kyle was holding the kite and I was running with the string to try and get it up into the air. Apparently, when I wasn’t looking, Kyle had put the ring on a clip and then attached the clip to the string. That way, when the kite went up in the air, the clip and ring slid down to the end to me. We had a spot of trouble with the lack of wind, but it worked out quite well. I was very surprised.
Oh yes, and then he got down on one knee and proposed. After that, we sat in the shade and he pulled a bottle of real wine out of his bag and two glasses! (I’m not sure how I didn’t notice that he had all of that earlier) I guess those of you who aren’t in China don’t know about wine in China…. it’s just not the same as wine elsewhere in the world and quite frankly, I’m not fond of it. It’s gross. However, knowing how much I like wine, Kyle went and got some Australian wine in Nanning. Absolutely delicious!

(a bit about the ring… apparently this is my temporary ring. Turns out that it’s incredible difficult to get a ring past Chinese customs and I prefer a guaranteed conflict-free diamond and you just can’t get that in China. This ring is real gold, but I’m waiting until we get home for a real diamond that I can feel good about)

So that’s the story. It has been a wonderful day.
I guess if you want to know more details, feel free to email me about it. I just wanted to share the wonderful news with you all as soon as possible!

So it’s Teacher’s Day in China….
The day when teachers are traditionally showered with fruit and gifts. Rumor has it that some schools even give bonuses for this holiday!!
Last year, Kate and I had only taught one week’s worth of class in our first year, and we were surprised by students bringing us fruit, plants, and gifts.

This year, we were looking forward to it because now we actually know students so it wouldn’t be as awkward having them come up and visit and bring things.
Also, I’m teaching the same three classes of spoken English that I taught last term, and I really enjoy those students.
I was in Longzhou visiting Kyle and I didn’t get back until late this afternoon so I was worried that I had missed any fun that was going to happen on Teacher’s Day.
Turns out that I didn’t miss anything.

It’s now 8.30 pm and the only thing that we’ve gotten are some ‘Happy Teacher’s Day’ text messages.

Now, either our school has told the students that they’re not allowed to do anything for Teacher’s Day (strange, but I suppose it’s possible) or the students are making a statement about how they feel about us.

It’s not that I really particularly want the gifts or the fruit (although I do love fruit), it’s more the sentiment behind it all. I like feeling appreciated.
I have a really hard time in China when it comes to figuring out if someone really likes me or if they actually do enjoy my class or if they’re just being polite.

————————-
Ah, and of course, as I was typing this, as though they can see what I’m writing on my iBook (scary thought), one of my students called and said that some of them were coming over with a “surprise”.
They showed up bringing a wrapped box and they eagerly watched as I opened it to find…..
Two figurines- one of a boy and girl with a big LOVE heart between them. You can pull them apart, but if you do, there’s a little string attaching them together, so they pull right back to each other. One of the students told me that they are supposed to represent me and Kyle. This way I am supposed to always feel close to him.
The second is a little figure of a praying angel wearing white.

Oh, China.

Ni hao!

Well, I’m back in Yizhou for the start of my second year of teaching here.
Classes actually start officially today, but I don’t have anything until tomorrow. My schedule is a bit odd this term. I’m teaching 2nd year spoken English (same students I had last term, but a different book), 1st year spoken English (they start in 3 weeks), and 1st year British Literature (for the 3 +2 program, so they went 3 years at another school, but are going here for 2 more to get a bachelor’s degree, they start next week).

My schedule looks like this:
(Times are not exact!)
Monday: No class, English Library 11.40-12.40,
Tuesday: Class from 7.30-11.15, English Library 11.40-12.40, Class from 2.50-4.30 (all classes are Spoken English Grade 2, Classes 1-3)
Wednesday: Class from 9.30- 11.15 (Spoken English Grade 1, Class 5), English Library 11.40-12.40, Class from 2.50-4.30 (Brit Lit), English Corner 8-10
Thursday: Class from 7.30- 9.30 (Spoken English Grade 1, Class 5), English Library 11.40-12.40, Class 2.50-4.30 (Brit Lit)
Friday: No Class, English Library 11.40-12.40

….Perhaps film club will be added in there as well, if we decide to do it.

British Literature is going to be partly terrible, partly fun, I think. Just like my Spoken English class, I will have the students on Wednesday, then the same students on Thursday, so turn around to create a new lesson plan is pretty quick! Also, the text book is 2/3 in Chinese. The author bios and the lengthy explanations before the excerpts are all Chinese. Only the actual excerpts are in English. That should make things a bit rough, but I’ll make it work the best that I can.

My summer holiday was fantastic and I have loads of stories.
I will post a bit about each place I went to (there aren’t many, so don’t worry!). Keep an eye out for that!