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.

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.

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.

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.

Joyce and bread

Every time I look at Joyce, whether to call on her, check homework, or if I just happen to be facing that direction, there is a 70% chance that she either has a piece of bread in her mouth, or has her mouth open and is just about to bite into a piece of bread. Each time I catch her, I would frown and point at her and she would freeze. At that point, depending on my mood, I either nod or shake my head. Usually I shake my head and she puts the food back into her bag, but sometimes I let her eat and she happily chomps away during the lesson.


Bread also doesn't just mean bread, although sliced bread is included, it's also all different types of buns and sandwiches.


One time, her friend in my other class, Judy, wrote in her notebook (as a journal entry) that Joyce stayed over her house for a weekend. "Joyce eat all of the food in my kitchen," Judy wrote. "My mother was surprised. Joyce is a very hungry girl."


I asked Joyce about it recently, and Joyce nodded with an affirmative "Hai!" (yes in Cantonese).

"In morning, I can eat three bread and still be hungry!"

She patted her stomach. "I have very strong stomach."

Then, she offered me a croissant.

Introducing: Joyce

I haven't talked about Joyce that much yet, but from the very beginning, she has been...well ok, let's start from the beginning.

First class.
Me to class:"Tell me who you are, what are your hobbies, etc etc...."
Joyce: "I am Joyce, my hobby is kiss."
Me:"What?"
Joyce:"Kiss. Kiss." points to lips.
Me:"Um ok."

Next class.
Me to class:"So, ask me any questions you might have."
Joyce raises hand."How many muscle you have." She speaks slowly, usually with a slightly loopy smile, and emphasizes each word with a nod of her head.
Me: "Um..."

Another class.
Me to class: "Give me a verb, any verb."
Joyce shouts out: "Kiss, Kiss!"
Me: "Ok...give me any noun, any noun."
Joyce: "Teacher, teacher!"
Me: "Um."

But, after awhile, the "date teacher" and "phone number" requests went away (not to mention the 3-part love/drama/action story she and two of her friends [also my students in another English class] wrote about an unnamed teacher and a student), and now I hang out with her and the other students in that class before and in between classes. Every now and then, I even chat with Joyce in Cantonese, since she's from Hong Kong, but even in Cantonese, she speaks the same way, wide-eyed and like she might burst from smiling any second.

Besides Joyce, in that class there's Jenny, her silent and shy best friend, Andrew, who was Anny's boyfriend, and Leo who was another of Anny's friends.

All in all, that class is my closest-knit group. In this second semester though, half of the class has disappeared, some to higher level classes, and others to another country. But, at least I still have the English stylings of Joyce.

Use the word "peeked" in a sentence that shows you understand the meaning of the word. As recounted on cole's blog, Joyce's answer was "Bitch always peeked the person who dressing clothes."

I asked her in Cantonese why she used the word "Bitch" the next class, and she said she thought it was a normal word that she heard all of the time, like at the grocery store. Er, not exactly, I explained. Eventually, I figured out that the word she wanted was "pervert."

Today. Speech. What are some of the pros and cons about capital punishment?
As a pro, Joyce says, "A dog cannot teach to eat its own shit."
Me: "Um...."

Taipei

We wanted to like Taiwan, really we did. In fact, we planned to spend two weeks there, first in Taipei, and then traveling south to Tarako Gorge and then to the beaches at the coast. The weather though, had different ideas. Every single day we were there was cold and rainy....every single day. Not only that, Taipei is where Nicole developed her twenty day long migraine.

In the end, we gave up and went back to Hong Kong early.