tidbits

First, I was at the bus stop several days ago when I saw a man with a T-shirt that said "Oregon" on the back. I got really excited, until he turned around and I saw it said "Nike sports" on the front, but still, Oregon is Oregon, and I'm glad that at least some publicity for our state out here. Though speaking of the great NW, Portland is on the map for all college-age males it seems. Here is a typical conversation: college-age-male: "Where are you from?" me: "America." him: "Where in America?" me: "Bo-te-lan" him: "what?" me: "BO-TE-LAN" him: "Ah! bo-te-lan! I know--trail blazers!! very good. you know?" me: "yes, I know" him: "si-ka-ti pi-pi-ne" me: "oh yes" him: "ai-lan i-bar-sen. you know?" me: "yes, I know. he is in philadelphia." him: "where?" me: "fei-cheng" him: "oh, yes, very good."

Other than that, life has been low-key. I have a new class every Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I teach Up Close 1, the same course I taught in the summer, but this time I teach adults. Most of the people there are business men and women looking to improve their English and probably advance their careers, though I do have a few college students and a DJ. I like the class a lot. It's a bit more formal than teaching 11 year olds, but I don't have even close to half the number of discipline problems. I did have trouble trying to get a bunch of adults to work in small groups or in partners. I know I am the teacher, but I am at least 10 years younger than everyone else in the room, and it is a little awkward to have to assign adults into groups.

We also have a week-long vacation coming up, during which we are planning on traveling. The one problem is, this is also a vacation for pretty much everyone else in China, so traveling is difficult and expensive. Right now our top choices are Hainan, a large island off the coast of Southern China known for its white beaches. (THere are beaches in Qingdao, of course, but as someone pointed out, if Hainan is the Tahiti of China, then Qingdao is the Atlantic city). But as tickets there are expensive and it still might be typhoon season, we are also thinking of going to Kunming, which we have heard is amazing. If anyone has any suggestions, we'd be interested in hearing them.