I had invited a few girls over for the afternoon hoping to get some tips on Chinese music. I want to start listening to Chinese music to increase my exposure to the rhythm and pronunciation. In exchange I gave a quick run through of English artists.

 It was starting to get late and I knew they would have to return to their classrooms for the nightly lock-in. I really don’t know what I was thinking when I asked if they wanted dinner. I guess I was eager for company. I didn’t promise anything fancy and boiled up spaghetti.

We had a delightful dinner, spaghetti, bread and butter, and a tomato and cucumber salad with ranch (Thanksgiving leftovers). It turned out to be a real hit and they all were thrilled to eat with forks.

It was nice to cook for a group. So maybe there is hope for me and cooking in the future. After dinner I wrote them all excuse notes and they stayed the evening chatting. I had a splendid evening. Maybe there are some perks to socializing.

Emily is on my left, Navy across from me and Hedy is on the front left.

Holidays abroad are always tricky. The Gang decided to get together Tuesday night for Thanksgiving dinner as Thursday was going to be a busy day for all of us. Katie and Thomas were kind enough to host and we all were eager to pitch in for a real feast. Dantzelle and I headed over early to help with the food and the guys did a last min Wal*Mart run for essentials.  

The table, the most important part of Thanksgiving!

Katie had done a beautiful job preparing . My heart melted when I walked into the apartment. She had Nat King Cole playing in the background, one of my Mom’s favorites, the table had been set and she had splurged on a center piece. It felt like home.

We all ate with forks excepting the Chinese guest, June who got chopsticks.

I promise to add more pictures when I get them from Katie. The meal was delicious. We had Idaho mashed potatoes, canned creamed corn from the States, Stoffers Stuffing, street sweet potatoes, green beans, delicious rolls, spicy roasted chicken (turkey is EXPENSIVE here) and Ocean-Spray Cranberry Sauce.

June was running late which allowed us to have a prayer which we were all grateful for. As we sat around the table we shared what we were thankful for. Current situations always play a strong role in what one is thankful for and being in China only makes this so much more true.

What I’m thankful for:

• I am thankful for my family, both at home who support me and love me unconditionally and the one acquired here in China.
• I am thankful for the opportunity I have to travel and experience first hand the many wonderful cultures and peoples on the earth.
• I am thankful I’m an American and that I will always have a country to come home to when I am tired of being abroad.
• I am thankful for the many freedoms I enjoy and the knowledge that all men are created equal.
• I am thankful for education and the freedom of information we enjoy in America.
• I am thankful for the Church and the comfort and security it brings when I am thousands of miles away from home. I am thankful for the instant family and protection it gives.
• I am thankful for a job that has given me the opportunity to come to China and learn to appreciate America and it’s freedoms in a way that NO other country could.
• And last but not lest, I am thankful for the opportunity to learn Mandarin. (whether or not I will actually be able to speak Mandarin is still to be determined but I’m grateful for the opportunity none the less)

Left-overs! Katie and June

No complaints here.

 

We all stuffed ourselves in true Thanksgiving fashion. It was wonderful.  I got a lot of leftovers, which is not a complaint! Dinner covered for the next few nights, yippee!So the after dinner we road home and yes mother the following is true, Dantzelle and I listened to Christmas music. I even sang along. All in all Tuesday was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

To be honest I woke up this morning and forgot that it was Thanksgiving. In class this morning a student asked when Thanksgiving was as she thought it was coming up. It took me a second to realize today was Thanksgiving. She kindly replied with a Happy Thanksgiving and then inquired about my plans for the day. I had already arranged to meet Bonnie for lunch but I no plans for the evening.

I had an enjoyable day between Bonnie and about a half a dozen students who stopped by in the evening for a chat. I ended with a Thanksgiving dinner for one. I decided to go out in true Thanksgiving, make a pig of oneself style. I ate through the rest of my left-overs in one go. I have to admit chopsticks are starting to become second nature.

Solo Thanksgiving Dinner!

Just like any other night excepting the food was so much better.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

 Will someone please enjoy a few Deviled Eggs for me, that was the only thing missing from our feast.

To all my family and friends, thank you for always being there for me. Your support and kindness is irreplaceable.

As I sit at the half way mark in the semester I am beginning to question my abilities. What did I sign up for? Why did I think that getting my TEFL certificate, was going to turn me into an English Teacher? Seriously how does a 120hour course turn a novice into a professional even if only marginal. People go to four years of school to be a teacher and here I am thinking I could do it after taking an online course with a weekend workshop.

I feel as if I am slapping all real teachers in the face with my certificate. I have no book and no experience to draw from. Oral English is the biggest joke. What is an Oral English class suppose to be? My idea was a class where you practiced conversations. Not reading and listening skills but on your feet conversations that will better prepare you for the real world. When traveling you will not be able to stop and write a dialogue. You will be forced to respond in a matter of seconds to the speaker at hand. Life is not a script, Oral English is to prepare a student for that fact but none of my students seem to feel that way.

They can all write dialogues great but heaven forbid they answer a question with a complete sentence. What am I suppose to do? I try to make class engaging but I don’t know how to get my students to talk. Discussion groups on guided topics turn into cellphone time or nap time. Reading lyrics to music doesn’t do any good. Chorally reading is the only way I can get at least half the class speaking in complete sentences but I guarantee they have no idea what they are saying they are just repeating words. Is that really helping?

My waiban has suggested debates but my students don’t seem to be at that level if they can’t respond on their feet. Maybe I’m just under estimating their abilities. Who knows.

DAD WHAT WAS I THINKING??

For Thomas’s  25 Birthday Katie planned a party at Pizza Hut. I met up with Katie at Zhong Bai and hour before to help her get a cake. I’m glad she ran into some students because if it had been left up to the two of us I don’t know if we would have been able to purchase it in time. But with their help we were able to order and get it made in 20min. I didn’t know they had to make it, I figured we could just buy a sheet cake.

We arrived at Pizza Hut before everyone else and Katie got everything arranged upstairs.

The candle Katie got was awesome.

The Chinese Birthday Candle! aka Flame thrower!

Anna is a new edition to the group she is a Brit studying at Weifang University until the English school she will teach at opens.

 

It was a great evening! The cake was absolutely delicious. I love the frosting here because it is heavily whipped and thick but it is not exceptionally sweet.

Left-over Birthday Cake

Even with six of us we couldn’t finish the massive cake. So rather than lug it all the way home Katie gave it to one of the many people in need near the Tai Hua, who has thrilled to accept it.

 

Birthday Boy with Hostess

 

They even had a photo op!

 

Wendy had a lunch at her house for three students who had helped her correct some tests she kindly invited me along to join them.

Peter, our fabulous cook.

Peter cooked the entire meal which was to die for. We ate in true Chinese fashion, family style with no plates. Everyone has their chopsticks and you just dig into the bowls. Peter loves to cook and with his skills I know why.

Chinese food is growing on me!

The conversation was a mixture of Chinese and English. Wendy encouraged the English conversation as all three students were second year English Majors.

As we were walking into their apartment complex the guard stopped us and asked who we were visiting. Wendy explained she lived there and we were all her guests. Wendy suspected I raised their curiosity as I was probably the first foreigner to come to the complex. On our way out the guard asked where I was from.

Lets just say I could get use to this all to easily!

I had two days off this week for the school track meet. I love the fact that the school only tells the teachers of these days off, two days before. Really vacation time just isn’t important to these people obviously. I called Bonnie and asked if she would like to meet for lunch Wednesday, she agreed and suggested inviting Brad and Kelly.

I meet up with them Wednesday for lunch and had a splendid time. I must admit our combined Chinese was horrible okay worse than horrible. Brad and Kelly have been here 8 months and still don’t speak it. So part of me really just wants to give up now. They’ve managed life in China just fine, I know that is not the road I want to take but giving up is just so easy. Anyway back to lunch. Bonnie fortunatly knew some food words and it all seemed to work out in the end, tons of great food arrived and we dug in.

After lunch Brad left to teach a class and the three of us girls went out to explore the city. There is tons to do in Weifang I discovered. They both had a list of places they want to go and things to see. So new goal, stop hiding out in my apartment and get out and see the city.

First new place of the list was the Pets market. Bonnie had been before and led the way, okay, I’m not an animal fan and I even got depressed.

A flea market Pet's Mart

Not your average pet selection.

 

 

 

 

 

Bonnie with the...um...oh yeah they are suppose to be rabbits.

The most horrifying of all the Squirrel.

 

 The condition of the Squirrels were the most horrifying of all. To ease my pain I just told myself the squirrels where on some type of speed to make them hyper for customers. Although in all honesty I just think they have gone clinically insane with their living conditions and have lost it! Can you blame them? Look at the size of those cages they are in. The only reason the chipmunks don’t revolt as bad as them is that their cages are even smaller and they can’t even jump!

 

Okay enough with the depressing Pet’s Ally, I’ve already decided to skip the Weifang zoo. Kelly says these conditions are just thrust upon the few exotic animals unlucky enough to land here. The bears sit in bathtub of water in a cement cell all day and the other cages show no more imagination. So skip the zoo what’s next on the list?

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking the river path and ended at a western style coffee shop in the bookstore. We chatted for another hour and came up with plan! So turns out there is a fair number of Westerners in Weifang we just don’t see each other much since we all inhabit various corners of the city. We’ve decided to form a club. We are going to set up a standing dinner date for the 1st Monday of every month. If we happen upon in Westerner we should invite them to join us. From there we can start planning trips around the city or the adjoining areas. We are hoping that pooling our resources and knowledge of our own areas we will all benefit from a more active lifestyle.

 

I know Dad hanging with Westerners is not going to improve my Chinese but at this point going stark crazy in my apartment doesn’t seem to be improving it either.

 

 

 

 

The students on the other hand do not get the same pleasure. They are confined to campus Monday – Friday and not just to campus during their free time. To prevent any possible breakouts, each evening from 7:00 – 9:20pm they are confined to their classroom. They can do what ever they like within the classroom they just have to remain there.

Then once they are released they have 20min to get back to their dorms for lock-up. And I thought a 12:00am apartment curfew was a pain, 9:40, really!?!

Any way to ease some pain I’ve brought my DVD player a few times and let them watch some films. Unfortunately the class across the hall who I also teach found out about movie nights so they want in to now. Not really quite sure off far my one DVD player can stretch. So I’ve come up with a new trick, a class will have to earn movie nights. Oh the power of being a teacher or I should say a foreign teacher with a much coveted DVD PLAYER!!! hahaha.  I think I will see an increase in lets see, homework, class participation oh and what else did I mention to them, ah that’s right practice! I have made the rule that if they are going to watch a movie it must be in English with English subtitles. No CHINESE is a rule I stick to in the classroom, during or after class time.

Bond...James Bond. Casino Royale movie night.

I have a standing lunch date with Wendy each day at 11:55, one of my highlights! I’m not just saying that because I know you read this Wendy, I truly love lunch together. I am learning so much about the culture! I really feel as if I don’t contribute anything to our friendship. Wendy just gives gives gives. You are AMAZING!

Well today I was late, I stayed after class a few mins to talk with a few students, my favorite class of course. Anyway Wendy was not at our usually waiting spot. I waited a few min and was afraid I had missed her. The Japanese teachers were passing on their way to lunch and I asked if I could join them.

Japanese Teachers

I had an absolutely delightful lunch! I have come to appreciate my classes after speaking with the Japanese teachers. My students all have prior English experience most having at least 6 years. The Japanese students on the other hand are in the first year of the language. Also I am beginning to like having large classes as there is more that I can do in groups.

Sitting with the two teachers was very informative. I asked tons of questions about Japan and fortunately for me they both speak English. The younger teacher was an exchange student to Florida in college and has very good English even if he insists he doesn’t. I learned the polite greeting to beginning and ending a meal.

I don’t know how to write Japanese characters but here is the pronunciation:

Before you start eating you say: i ta da ki ma su

Once finished you say: go chi sau sam ma de shi ta

I also learned unlike Chinese Pinyin there is no official Latin Alphabet translation for Japanese. Japanese characters are a lot simpler than Chinese as Japanese characters where taken from Chinese and then simplified.

 A wonderful lunch, the teachers here are all just so much fun to get to know. I look forward to getting to know the Japanese teachers better. They will both be here for the entire year as well.