View from Zhangiao Pier of Naval Museum.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Some Pictures
Zhangio Pier near the campus where we live. Many tourists visit here.
View from Zhangiao Pier of Naval Museum.
View from Zhangiao Pier of Naval Museum.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Our first week of classes (and so much more)
Patricia and I gave the Sacrament meeting talks today, on an assigned topic. We typed out the talks so the interpreter would have a written copy. It turns out he prefers to listen and translate. He told me he could not see mine, although I had a second copy for him with large print. You can see that he would rather listen and give the "gist" of what he has heard.
At church there are 5 teachers (2 couples and a single sister) that travel from Wei Fang (a 2 hours train ride plus a 1 hour bus ride).
Patricia had YW with her one student. She is a delightful young lady, who with her family, live in China, because her father believes it is important that the children learn Chinese. They may move to the USA next year. It is a challenge to have all the different classes in this apartment (very large), especially when you run classes in English and Korean separately.
School went very well for the first week. Patricia did extremely well. I attended her classes, as there was not a conflict in times. She attended mine on Tuesday AM, Wednesday and Thursday PM. Next week we will have to go it alone. Saturday, we spent most of the day preparing and organizing lesson plans for the rest of the month, Patricia has five days of classes and I have 3 and four depending on the class.
We have found in our classes the students are very polite and willingly do what we ask them to do, like impromptu speeches. I have 78 students registered in one of my classes plus some keep showing up. A fourth year undergrad student asked if he could join the class too. (the class is meant for PhD students. Most of the classrooms are equipped with mics that the teacher carries around. Unfortunately for Pat, she showed up and the mic wasn’t working but the A/C was working hard (and loud) and she ended up speaking quite loudly. One of Pat’s 8:00 AM classes was sleepy on one of the mornings and she made them do a chant in hopes of waking them up – it seemed to work and the students also appeared to enjoy it.
Each student is required to take an English course while working on their under graduate degree, one while working on their masters degree and one while working on their PhD. One of the students has perfect English but she is still required to take the course.
In addition to our teaching assignments at the university, we (mostly Pat and the lady downstairs) are tutoring a few younger students from the age of 10 years old up to a 15 year old. This will be done in the evenings and one student is on Saturday.
It is mandatory for freshman students (male and female) to train in the army /navy for 3 weeks before school. They march a lot and we have watched them get better as they have practiced.
October 1 is the 60th anniversary of China in its present political form. Apparently there will be huge celebrations. We travel to Urumqi, capital of Zinjian Urhur Autonomous Region on Oct 2, then travel to a couple of places in between, and then on to Xi'an, where we will be for two days. I managed to find Xi'an on the map. Twenty eight people are scheduled to go. Some travel is on an overnight "soft sleeper train".
In the previous post I showed you a picture of the big green thermos that we use to haul water from the main level of the apartment building to our apartment on the second floor. Well it is no longer – it came crashing down (while full of HOT water) and shattered into what we think was about a million pieces. We keep finding little bits of it on the floor even though we have swept up many times since.
We found ourselves in a place called, “Computer City.” This is a place with about 150 shops all selling pretty much the same computer type equipment. The couple that lives downstairs bought an ink cartridge for their Epson printer and when they tried to put it in the printer, the computer screen told them they didn’t have an authorized Epson ink cartridge – they put it in anyway and seems to be working.
Here is an interesting fact – did you know that Qingdao has more shipping going in and out than any other city in China? When Burton takes the bus to his class in Laoshan he goes along the coast and sees a lot of freighters. It is also a pretty ride.
During the lunch hour some people will lay down on the cement sidewalks (or benches) and take a nap – even though there is grass right beside them.
There is a tiny grocery store that we shop at. It is about a 6-7 minute walk from the apartment. An older couple owns it. It is a “hole in the wall,” but they are very nice. They sell things like tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, mandarin oranges, and eggs. There is a tiny restaurant next door that has good food. There are about 4 tables inside and four tables out on the sidewalk. It isn’t always super clean. For example – if you drop some food on the table – you don’t eat it. We can both eat there for $3-4. Some of the dished they serve are shredded potatoes with a vinegar type sauce, an onion salad that we enjoy, a chicken and pineapple dish, and a tomato and egg soup (sort of like an omelette). We don’t really care for the shrimp because the eyes have not been removed.
One place that we do enjoy eating at is good old McDonalds. It tastes the same and is about half the price. :)
At church there are 5 teachers (2 couples and a single sister) that travel from Wei Fang (a 2 hours train ride plus a 1 hour bus ride).
Patricia had YW with her one student. She is a delightful young lady, who with her family, live in China, because her father believes it is important that the children learn Chinese. They may move to the USA next year. It is a challenge to have all the different classes in this apartment (very large), especially when you run classes in English and Korean separately.
School went very well for the first week. Patricia did extremely well. I attended her classes, as there was not a conflict in times. She attended mine on Tuesday AM, Wednesday and Thursday PM. Next week we will have to go it alone. Saturday, we spent most of the day preparing and organizing lesson plans for the rest of the month, Patricia has five days of classes and I have 3 and four depending on the class.
We have found in our classes the students are very polite and willingly do what we ask them to do, like impromptu speeches. I have 78 students registered in one of my classes plus some keep showing up. A fourth year undergrad student asked if he could join the class too. (the class is meant for PhD students. Most of the classrooms are equipped with mics that the teacher carries around. Unfortunately for Pat, she showed up and the mic wasn’t working but the A/C was working hard (and loud) and she ended up speaking quite loudly. One of Pat’s 8:00 AM classes was sleepy on one of the mornings and she made them do a chant in hopes of waking them up – it seemed to work and the students also appeared to enjoy it.
Each student is required to take an English course while working on their under graduate degree, one while working on their masters degree and one while working on their PhD. One of the students has perfect English but she is still required to take the course.
In addition to our teaching assignments at the university, we (mostly Pat and the lady downstairs) are tutoring a few younger students from the age of 10 years old up to a 15 year old. This will be done in the evenings and one student is on Saturday.
It is mandatory for freshman students (male and female) to train in the army /navy for 3 weeks before school. They march a lot and we have watched them get better as they have practiced.
October 1 is the 60th anniversary of China in its present political form. Apparently there will be huge celebrations. We travel to Urumqi, capital of Zinjian Urhur Autonomous Region on Oct 2, then travel to a couple of places in between, and then on to Xi'an, where we will be for two days. I managed to find Xi'an on the map. Twenty eight people are scheduled to go. Some travel is on an overnight "soft sleeper train".
In the previous post I showed you a picture of the big green thermos that we use to haul water from the main level of the apartment building to our apartment on the second floor. Well it is no longer – it came crashing down (while full of HOT water) and shattered into what we think was about a million pieces. We keep finding little bits of it on the floor even though we have swept up many times since.
We found ourselves in a place called, “Computer City.” This is a place with about 150 shops all selling pretty much the same computer type equipment. The couple that lives downstairs bought an ink cartridge for their Epson printer and when they tried to put it in the printer, the computer screen told them they didn’t have an authorized Epson ink cartridge – they put it in anyway and seems to be working.
Here is an interesting fact – did you know that Qingdao has more shipping going in and out than any other city in China? When Burton takes the bus to his class in Laoshan he goes along the coast and sees a lot of freighters. It is also a pretty ride.
During the lunch hour some people will lay down on the cement sidewalks (or benches) and take a nap – even though there is grass right beside them.
There is a tiny grocery store that we shop at. It is about a 6-7 minute walk from the apartment. An older couple owns it. It is a “hole in the wall,” but they are very nice. They sell things like tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, mandarin oranges, and eggs. There is a tiny restaurant next door that has good food. There are about 4 tables inside and four tables out on the sidewalk. It isn’t always super clean. For example – if you drop some food on the table – you don’t eat it. We can both eat there for $3-4. Some of the dished they serve are shredded potatoes with a vinegar type sauce, an onion salad that we enjoy, a chicken and pineapple dish, and a tomato and egg soup (sort of like an omelette). We don’t really care for the shrimp because the eyes have not been removed.
One place that we do enjoy eating at is good old McDonalds. It tastes the same and is about half the price. :)
Monday, September 7, 2009
In Hot Water
We continue to become familiar with our surroundings and navigating through the city. Here are a few more pictures of how our life has changed from our comfortable surroundings in Calgary. Below are two pictures:
-the first is of a thermos that is used to transport hot water from the hot water tank on the first floor
-the second is the hot water tank where we get the hot water to fill the thermos so we can wash the dishes in hot water.
Our drinking water is brought upstairs (we live on the 2nd floor) by the lady manager.
Some people from the university came to visit us at our apartment to drop off material that needs to be covered in class. The couple standing beside us (Blakes) live in the same building and are teaching here as well. We are told the three red balls in the background (top right hand corner) were used to send signals to the ships in the sea.
Traveling around we have noticed there are a lot of Buicks here and the only other GM product we have seen are a couple of Cadillacs. All of the taxis are Volkswagons. We passed a local beach and saw a ski boat and a few wave runners.
The campus we live on (and where Pat will teach at) is older and smaller. Pat has a short 5 minute walk but 6 flights of stairs to climb to get to her classes. We saw the newest campus yesterday and it was very nice. I (Burton) have classes there 2 days a week and will have to catch a bus at 7:00 AM to get there by 7:50 AM for my 8:00 AM class.
Oh, and I was able to find one of my favourite treats here...OREO cookies.....yum....
-the first is of a thermos that is used to transport hot water from the hot water tank on the first floor
-the second is the hot water tank where we get the hot water to fill the thermos so we can wash the dishes in hot water.
Our drinking water is brought upstairs (we live on the 2nd floor) by the lady manager.
Some people from the university came to visit us at our apartment to drop off material that needs to be covered in class. The couple standing beside us (Blakes) live in the same building and are teaching here as well. We are told the three red balls in the background (top right hand corner) were used to send signals to the ships in the sea.
Traveling around we have noticed there are a lot of Buicks here and the only other GM product we have seen are a couple of Cadillacs. All of the taxis are Volkswagons. We passed a local beach and saw a ski boat and a few wave runners.
The campus we live on (and where Pat will teach at) is older and smaller. Pat has a short 5 minute walk but 6 flights of stairs to climb to get to her classes. We saw the newest campus yesterday and it was very nice. I (Burton) have classes there 2 days a week and will have to catch a bus at 7:00 AM to get there by 7:50 AM for my 8:00 AM class.
Oh, and I was able to find one of my favourite treats here...OREO cookies.....yum....
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Teaching Assignments
September 1,
We went to the department store (Carrefour) today by ourselves on the bus both ways. We had more household items and food to get. Had chicken strips at KFC and they were good. Bot a Swiffer only to get home and find it was missing some pieces. It is a major job to take it back.
Our immediate teaching supervisors came to our apartment and we found out that classes at the PhD level do not start for another week (September 15). They presented us with student and teacher manuals for each of reading/writing and speaking/listening classes, both of which are to be covered. There is a lot to digest and hopefully use.
Patricia won the draw of campuses; she gets to stay here (the campus we live on) for all of her classes. The only downside for her is that her classes are all on the 6th floor and there is NOT an elevator.
Patricia will teach a 4 hour class on Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 8 - 12.
She will teach the same subject to each class and her students are environmental.
I get to teach at the other two schools/campuses.
Monday - a 4 hour class from 8 - 12 at Fushan Campus,
Tuesday - a 4 hour class from 8 - 12 at Laoshan Campus
Wednesday - a 2 hour class from 1:30 – 3:30 at Fushan Campus
Thursday – a 2 hour class from 1:30 – 3:30 at Laoshan Campus
One group are Chemistry and Environmental Engineering students and the other are Business Administration students.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)