Thursday, March 26, 2009

Lonely singer/the news

Every Thursday night, I hear a student singing outside of our dorm. He belts out Chinese pop ballads, literally screaming until his voice cracks. Sometimes the voice fades away, only to get stronger again. Who is this boy? Why does he sing every Thursday??

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During the last two weeks, one of my English classes has been getting out of hand. The kids talked, they played PSPs in class (in class!) and generally didn't care about anything. I was surprised because this class was my close-knit group, with Andrew, Joyce, Jenny, Leo and others (Anny too, last semester). Sure, half the class had changed from last semester (seven new kids in a month!), but my core group was still there. What was going on?

Finally, this Tuesday, I had had enough. I took away all iPods and PSPs I saw in my class, promised to fail them if they played games in my class again, and switched all their seats. All the most problematic students I took aside privately to chat with. They listened. They nodded. They knew I was disappointed.

And it worked. Since then, they've been perfect again. We have fun, but it's not crazy. Maybe I was getting too friendly with the kids. Maybe seeing me yell was a bit of a surprise. Either way, I'm glad that teaching is good again for all of my classes.

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And, to finally end the suspense (of the not so suspenseful situation), Nicole and I are moving to Hong Kong next year!

Details will follow.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Another update...from conks

Big news on our front, along with our 4th year anniversary, and developments with implications for our jobs...

you'll just have to wait for now. But, if you want to know what cole and I have been up to the last couple of days, click on the link over to the right on our good friend conks' blog.

she has been much more diligent in keeping up to date.

I'll spill the beans soon, for all those people that don't already know (and no, there's no baby). I'll also get around to posting about our first and only Shanghai Sharks basketball outing.

Friday, March 13, 2009

My office cube.

Just some pictures of the cube.


He's actually a paperclip holder. Guess where the paper clips are...
The little guy holding his nose is Stynx, the pirate stinky tofu.

My laptop. Some pocky, coke zero, apples, Pokari sweat. Seems about right.

My schedule. I have a few classes crossed out because I was originally supposed to teach a 12th grade history, but was changed to a 9th grade history at the last second.

A few of the many decorative clips I have. Hey, whatever gets me by, right??...right?...



A few postcards from home. I find myself missing the Flatiron Building.

The first one says "Have a good cry before being all smiles."
Conks got these for me when I was in a phase.
Last week we had our 9-10th grade charity fair...complete with slave auction. For a good synopsis, check out conk's post. I know, I'm being lazy.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Hong Kong again

We left soggy Taipei a week early and returned to Hong Kong, this time to Kong Kong Island rather than Kowloon.

The first week we were there, before Taipei, it was all about seeing our families and visiting some of the tourist areas, like The Peak and the rather large Buddha.This time, cole and I were going to focus on our preferred vacation activity--walking.

We walked everywhere: up and down Hong Kong Island (inside the amazing park there), along the shore of the Outlying Islands, through a brief trip in Macau. Everyday was beautiful.