Schedule

I know that I have a rather unpredicatable posting schedule but I post when the news happens. Not everyday does something "blog worthy" happen. For the most part, it is a typical get up in the morning, go to work, come home at night type thing. Due to the session, I don't really have much of a chance to leave the campus, so that means for the most part I am surrounded by Americans. Let me update you on my typical day.

7:15 - Wake up.
8:00 - 9:50 Class starts. I usually try to be there at least 20 minutes early. My class this session is very low in English speaking ability so it often involves a lot of repeating things and learning to talk very slowly.

10-12 - I use this time to catch up on other things that are happening or will happen throughout the day.

12-1245 Lunch. I sit with my class and get asked the same questions every day. (Do you have a girlfriend? Do you like Chinese food? Do you miss America? Have you ever been to *insert rural province here*? What do you think of China? Doyouhaveagirlfriend? DoyoulikeChinesefood? DoyoumissAmerica? Whatistheairspeedvelocityofanunladenswallow? Haveyoueverbeento*insertruralprovincehere*? WhatdoyouthinkofChina?Doyouhaveagirlfriend?DoyoulikeChinesefood?DoyoumissAmerica?Haveyoueverbeento*insertruralprovincehere*?WhatdoyouthinkofChina?)

As you can see, it all kind of runs together after a while. They will ask these same questions every day for the entire three weeks.

1-4. I use this time to prep for my next class and/or sneak in a nap.

4-5 - Physical exercise time. This is a challenge to plan for. Our director wants the students to have more exercise in the day so he wants us to incorporate a game time. This is pretty hard when you have 30 plus students all in their late twenties to mid forties, who are also business professionals. There are just some things you can't do. ("red rover, red rover, send the primary school headmaster for Chaoyang District right over!") So coming up with a new activity each day that not only suits the students, but the weather as well is a challenge to say the least. Speaking of the weather, we now put things in the refrigerator to keep them from freezing solid. I left a can of soda on my window sill last night and this morning it was rock hard. It turned out alright as now I am enjoying a nice Coke slushie.

5-5:50 - Club time. This is another class that the students go to where they learn more about western things, such as holidays, sports, etc. The lesson planning for this is pretty easy but sometimes it gets a little fun trying to fill an hour talking about Thanksgiving. Go ahead, write down everything you know and do for thanksgiving. See if it takes you more than ten minutes.

6-6:50 - Dinner. See "Lunch"

7-8 - Reading time in the classroom. The students head back to the classroom and fill their minds with new information from American magazines and English language newspapers. Then they write a summary of the article as well as any new words they have learned while doing so. And that's the way it works in theory... In reality, I spend most of my time reminding them to do this, because students seem to think this is "The Sun is Down So I Officially Don't Have to Do Any Work Now" Time. For others, it is "I Don't Understand Any of This So I'm Just Going to Sit Here and Pretend" They are firm believers in the philosophy of "Asking Questions Only Makes It Harder."
Still others follow the more leisurely way "I Bet I Can Sneak A Quick Cigarette and Cell Phone Call Since We're Not Really Doing Anything Now." Time.

8-Only God Knows When - Staff Meeting. Normally pretty quick unless somebody asks an inane question or brings up a controversy about the schedule or something else completely off focus. Somebody always does.

That's the end of my work day, so after that I find time to relax and catch up on things in America and there's always a conversation I look forward to that makes everything better at night. So if you're wondering why I don't post more often, it's because the schedule hasn't deviated from the above in a while. I post when I have news that I feel is worth sharing, hence the title "News From Dan". If I posted everyday, it would be the "Daily Grind From Dan" and who would want that?