NPR article

This is darn good reading about a subject you don't hear much about, but could get interesting...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128852968

Summer heat

Winter in Beijing was brutally cold with the winds knocking every last bit of warmth out of you and now it seems like summer is competing to be equally nasty. The humidity is more then just oppressive, there is really no way to describe it, except to feel it yourself. Go into your bathroom and turn your shower on as hot as it will get and leave it that way until your bathroom gets completely fogged up, then leave it on a little more to really get the temperature up. Then walk in there completley clothed and stay in there for a while and you have a rough idea. Now imagine working and moving around and going places in that. That's Beijing.

new session

i do apologize for the delay in posts but I am experiencing my busiest time in the whole year. The July volunteer group is finishing up, the August team is coming in (all at one time, which means I'll be spending 11 hours at the airport today....fun) and the new year longs are coming in a couple of weeks. All this means extra supply preparation, housing logistics, lesson planning, training coordinating, my wife to kill and Guilder to frame for it...I'm swamped :(

morning

Today started off nice for the first time in a long time. I was actually able to sleep until my alarm went off and woke up and had no pressing concerns or situations. I opened my curtains and the sun was trying to shine through (first time in a week) and I felt rested and even semi-energetic. A little cartoon bird animated by Disney landed on my window sill and chirped a happy little song. I quickly threw a load of laundry in the machine and then came back to see what was new in the world. I have a Diction class for the students twice a day at 10:30 and 4:50 and so I took a look at the time and confirmed it was still a ways away. Read some blogs, caught up on Facebook and started talking to a friend in America. Things were going well....my phone was blissfully free of Imperial Summons from Danny or anything else work related and I was glad for the silence. I was sitting at my computer in my boxers and my Chicks Dig Scrawny Pale Guys shirt and doing as little as possible for once. My friend asked "so what are you doing today?"
"Well, I have to teach at..." I looked at the clock on my computer to see what time it was, surely only a few minutes had gone by and I still had serious time to get ready.
10:27
See, there plenty of time....wait, what?
10:27
*All hands! commence panic! This is not a drill! I repeat, full panic!" ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!
I quickly finished the conversation with a "right now!" leaving a few hastily written Internet acronyms and a very confused friend in my wake. Quicker than the speed of light, faster than Clark Kent could ever change to superman, in less time that it takes for spit to freeze in the Arctic, I had changed into nice pants, a button down shirt and slapped on a tie. Finding appropriate socks took valuable seconds so the decision was made to forge on without them, (one that was later much regretted after learning that running in leather dress shoes causes some nasty blisters.) I ran to the classroom just in time to see the previous class facilitator....still teaching.
He finished up within a minute or two and then came out of the class to find me in the hallway.
"Sorry for getting them out late, I had some material that needed to be covered today. Hope you weren't waiting long..."
"No, not at all. Carry on."

Slow News Day

or something to cause The People's Daily, an english language Chinese newspaper to post this story....

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7059578.html

the past few days have been the most stressful in my entire time in China. For a slew of reasons, I can't get into the reasons why, but basically my job right now feels like trying to solve a sudukou puzzle where all the numbers keep changing and the boxes keep moving.

We Celebrate Our Independence Not From England, But From Tyranny

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.

Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven - rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto --"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

New Summer Team

So summer is here and with that a whole new summer team full of starry eyed short term volunteers coming to stay for a month or two, eager to learn and excited to be a part of the team.....


That is until training starts. We have a lot to cover in a very short time to make them effective facilitators in the classroom, so training is from 8am to 8pm, six days a week. So far they all have really really great attitudes about it, but you can see the difference in them from the beginning of the training to the end. To put it in pictures...

This is them at the beginning of each fresh and new day in the wonderful, exciting, new and exotic surroundings.

Yay CHINA!!!!! Everything is so new and exciting!

This is how they look like at 8pm every evening as they trudge out of the classroom after 12 hours of training, team building exercises, spiritual development, conflict resolution, classroom management, etc.

Go ahead. Mention one more thing about being "flexible" with cultural differences. I dare you.