The Other Side of the (same?) World

Monday September 1, 2008   Tianjin, China   6:15 pm

It has been a while since I have written unfortunately; I should have written sooner.  Lets see if I can remember everything since my last post.  On Saturday August 23, I had a field hockey ticket for that morning.  Not having ever seen a field hockey match before, I was quite excited to watch and learn.  The stands were only maybe half full, an interesting twist since the tickets were ‘sold out’.  You may have read that this was the case in several events across the games, although of all the ones I attended, this was the only stadium that wasn’t full.  Several minutes after the match started, I noticed whole busloads of Chinese school children arriving, which makes one wonder if they were sent to ‘fill seats’.  It is not always the most fun to watch a game in which one doesn’t know the rules, so I went and sat next to some Westerners in front of me who turned out to be Germans living in Shanghai.  They were also field hockey players, which means I hit the jackpot as far as people to help explain what was going on.  Apparently Germany is one of the best field hockey countries in the world.  They were great guys and made the match much more entertaining getting to speak English with someone.  We watched two matches, China vs somebody and Great Britain vs Korea.  It turned out that they were both quite exciting matches.  The first one was very close and China ended up winning by scoring a goal on a short corner with less than 1 minute left to win.  The second one wasn’t very close, but Great Britain scored lots of beautiful goals.  After the match the Germans were very helpful (since they have lived in China for 5 years they spoke a good amount of Chinese) and invited me to eat lunch with them.  We went to this small rooftop restaurant in a hutong in the backpackers district.  He showed me a fantastic hostel that I will probably use when I go back to Beijing.  We had duck and lotus for lunch, among other more ‘normal’ things.  When I say we had duck I mean they brought out the entire duck on a plate, head and beak and all.  I wasn’t brave enough to eat the head or face, but the duck meat was quite good.  And I actually really liked the lotus, it is sweet and tastes almost lick a crunchy pineapple.  Then we went to get foot massages, which incidentally were much better than the ones in Thailand.  First they soak your feet in this tea with rose flowers in it.  I think we both dozed off a bit; it was very relaxing.  And it was perfect timing because they had a large flatscreen TV playing the synchronized swimming finals while we were sitting in lounge chairs getting our feet massaged.  I think it cost about 40 RMB, or $6 for an hour massage!  After that we stopped by a small Australian owned bar and chatted with some Aussies for a bit.  The German guy had tickets to the field hockey final that night, so he left early.  When I left a bit later, I found out he had already paid for my beer without even telling me.  What a nice guy!  I headed off to find some dinner, and by the time I finished eating I was tired and just headed home.

I slept late the next morning, then went to the ‘Silk Market’ which is not exactly as you might expect.  It was a 6 story building full of little booths selling everything you can imagine, but mostly clothes housewares.  Behind every booth lurked a very aggressive Chinese girl, who was probably around 17 years old, that were the salesmen for each booth.  They knew English and often a few other languages, and were amazingly skilled salesmen despite their assumed low education.  They would grab the arm of tourists to try to drag them into their booth; I almost punched a few of them after they grabbed me forcefully and were hesitant to let go.  In America I think something like that starts fights and gets people hurt.  I ran into a few guys from my hostel and we had lunch at a buffet that was only 78 RMB. ($11) The food was pretty good.  I managed to escape the Silk Market without purchasing anything, although I did stop to see the fake iPhones.  They were decent copies, but pretty easy to tell they were fake.  Another interesting note is astronomically inflated prices at the Silk Market.  A guy at the hostel told me that a girl first quoted him 1000 RMB for something, and he eventually bought it for 80 RMB.  (no that’s not a typo)  There it is all about bargaining, and these Chinese girls had mastered their art skillfully. 

Afterwards, I headed to Starbucks to relax a bit and with the intent of journaling, but ended up meeting a girl from Florida and we chatted for a while.  Then it was time for the Closing Ceremony to start, so we headed off in an attempt to find a place we could watch it in English.  However the place was so crowded that we couldn’t hear the commentators anyway, but at least we got to see most of it.  I thought it was quite spectacular, and I really enjoyed it.  One of the coolest things was as we were leaving to go home, we heard these loud booming noises, and when we looked up we could see the fireworks from the Bird’s Nest.  We were only about a mile away or so.  It was really neat to see them live, although it wasn’t a great view through the buildings, but we got to see some.  And here is where I also got my first experience with public urination in China.  There were several kids that had stopped to watch the fireworks as well, and one boy, who was maybe 5 or 6, just paused, dropped his pants and relieve himself on a tree right on the street!  He even proceeded to keep talking to his friends during the process, and when he was finished went right back to playing.  What I assumed to be their parents were right their watching them and made no indication that this was abnormal or unacceptable!  All I can do is just shake my head in wonder.

The next morning I packed my things and headed to the train station to go to Tianjin, armed with a piece of paper stating so in Chinese.  I was a little nervous about the purchasing a ticket process, but the paper worked flawlessly.  While waiting for the train, I met a guy who was maybe 18 who wanted to practice his English.  He said he had studied it for a long time, but this was the first time he had ever spoken it to a native speaker.  He helped me find the right track and got me off okay.  The people in Beijing were always quite helpful.

The train ride was pleasant and I got picked up and taken to the school to get my luggage that I had left there during the Olympics.  My school is on the sixth floor of an office building, and seemed to be nice, although at this point I only had a cursory glance as I grabbed my luggage and left.  The driver took me to my apartment.  I was actually pleasantly surprised here, as the apartmen was not only quite large, but was pretty good quality.  And it had a real toilet!!  The place was quite messy, but I have been cleaning it up.  I spent the rest of the day unpacking and getting settled in.  The next day was my first day of ‘work’ which just consisted of a few hours of orientation and asking tons of questions.  I met my boss who I like and got along with well.  I met a few of the other teachers, saw the classrooms and staff room.  All in all I was satisfied with the school.  I was a little nervous when I found out I had my first class on that Saturday.  The next few days I went to work for a few hours to plan for mylesson as well as get more acquainted with the school, its methods and teachers.  Each day I had a few observations of other classes of teachers, and slowly got the hang of how EF works.

(continued Sep 9 2008 6:50 pm in Beijing at ‘cottage and pizza café’)

Class Notes

I also began to learn my way around my street and figure out where the street food was and where to eat, which is most important of all!  My first class was on Saturday, and it was kids ages 6 to 8 level 1.  I had two classes at the same level, and the first one went quite well.  However the second one is full of mostly boys, all who are rowdy and talkative and don’t even know enough English to understand when I tell them to be quiet.  (I’m not sure if teaching has made me never want to have kids! Haha)  But I survived, and the next day I have a class of older kids (9-13) level two, and they were much more enjoyable.  They were much better behaved for one, but also they’re level of English was high enough so that I felt like I could actually teach them something.  Teaching little kids “Blue, Red, Tiger, Lion” etc is not my really my forte I don’t think.  I much prefer to teach them about the language, or nuances, or advanced vocab.  This is why I found my adult class later that week to be my favorite.  They are level 5, which means they know quite a bit, and of course they are behaved.  They are highly motivated to learn English for whatever individual reason, and they soak up pretty much anything you say because its in English.  I could talk about dust for and hour and they would all be on the edge of their chairs.  It is kinda nice haha.

In fact, in one of my level 4 teenagers classes, they asked where I was from.  I asked them if they knew of any States in America, expecting to hear New York or California.  I asked them what the most famous State was, and they answered, “Texas”!  Man was I excited haha.  Even better, in my first adult class, I introduced myself and they asked what city I was from.  So I told them Sugar Land, and knowing the meaning of sugar, they all got a kick out of that.  After telling them what State it was in, they began asking questions, even things like when Texas became a State!  So I definitely gave them a 10 minute quick summary of Texas history! And no spiel on Texas history would be complete without the story of the Alamo; naturally I taught them how to say “Remember the Alamo!”  (Yes I really did!!)  I got so excited I just kept talking.  They were all very interested and asking lots of questions, (including about my Aggie ring, one girl thought I was married) but eventually I had to cut it short to get to the material in the book.  But I told them we could spend a few minutes each class talking about Texas (since I love to talk about it) and they could ask me a question or two every week.  I also showed them my cowboy boots, which they really liked as well.  A friend back home said I should teach them how to Two Step, so maybe I’ll work on that.

(continued on September 11, 2008 at 1:06 pm in Tianjin, China)

Another interesting thing in class was when my level 4 teenager class, on the first day once I told them I was American, immediately began asking tons of questions about American politics, the war in Iraq, and the upcoming Presidential election.  They asked me who I thought was going to win, and even who I was going to vote for.  I couldn’t miss the irony in the fact that over here the ‘cautious’ and ‘very socially sensitive’ Chinese culture was asking me personal questions that would be considered somewhat forward to ask in our Western culture.  Also of interesting note, most foreigners I have spoken with seem to favor Obama.  Although this was sort of indirectly stated, because I did not get into in depth political discussions.  I am not sure if it is because of Obama’s personality or charisma or more because of his policies, but it is interesting nonetheless.  Hopefully I can find out more in depth in the coming weeks.

Another very odd question they kept asking me was how much money America was making on the war in Iraq.  At first I thought they were just confused with the language, but after attempts at explanation and their repeated inquiries, I realized this was not the case.  I tried to explain to them that America was spending billions of dollars on the war, not making money.  But then they asked if anyone was making money on the war, and who?  Were the oil companies making money?  And I agreed that yes the oil companies were, but not the American government.  And herein lies the confusion, as I soon found out in their next line of questioning.  The further suggested, “But aren’t the oil companies set up by the government to make money in Iraq for America?”  Once I realized their line of thinking I almost laughed, but it all made sense.  I had to explain to them that in American, the government and companies are separate, (at least they are supposed to be, the current ‘bailout’ of banks and mortgage companies is beginning to cross the line in my opinion) and the government does not own or set up companies.  I told them that this is a very important thing in America.  You see, they were viewing the rest of the world, namely America,  through Chinese eyes. (albeit 14 year old and only educated through 8^th grade or so)  In China many of the corporations are still state run, and so people may think of companies as being set up, owned and operated by the government, and (here is the key) make profit directly for the government.  So when they look at what America is doing in Iraq, to their minds, America went to invade, then set up oil companies to get all the oil money for the US government!  (now I know there are even some Americans who claim such things, but the American government does not ‘set up’ or own oil companies)  What a fascinating insight into the Chinese mind, and it makes a lot of the animosity towards America much more clear when you understand that is how they see us.  They don’t fully understand our democratic system (at least most of those who are not highly educated).  Hopefully while here I can do what I can to dispel these misinformed notions and promote some truth about America and its foundational doctrines. (or what used to be its foundational doctrines…)

The other day in one of my classes of teenagers I planned to have people come write answers on the board (not with their name attached or anything).  I had done this several times in Thailand and the students, even adults, usually enjoyed the opportunity to write on the board.  However I was met with an entirely different culture here in China.  I couldn’t get anyone to go write on the board.  As soon as I mentioned the idea I could see their faces twist up in agony at the mere thought of such a painful experience.  Through begging and prodding and many assurances that this wasn’t for a grade and it didn’t matter if it was right or wrong, I finally got a few of the more outgoing ones up there.  But even then, they would just stand at the board for minutes, not willing to write anything down for fear of it being wrong.  They were paralyzed by this overriding fear of being wrong.  Even the smart students were not immune.  Even in such a small task as writing on the board, I found this to be an interesting example of how the culture here is almost against individualism, and very much promotes going with the crowd and no one standing out.  I guess part of it may be that there is so much pressure to succeed in academics that no one can bear the thought of being wrong, especially of anyone else noticing that.  From conversations with my father about some of his coworkers from Eastern cultures, this appears to permeate adults as well.  And, in many cases, may be a principle cause in the lack of innovation and creativity in many industries over here.  They are extremely good at copying and reverse engineering, but they seem almost incapable of thinking outside the box, because it is not considered a desirable thing.  Perhaps with more exposure to the west these types of thought processes are slowly changing.

Oddities

Dogs simply relieve themselves everywhere, and it is a challenge when walking down the street to avoid stepping in something smelly from a dog.  There seems to be no desire to have clean streets or pick up after pets (although I’m not sure where else the dogs would go, as parks are few and far between, and grass is not plentiful) And this rule not only applies to canines, but apparently humans too!

I was warned about the baby nudity before I came, and now I have seen it first hand.  Apparently diapers have not yet made it to China, and if you are under the age of say 3 or 4 (although I have seen older)  the rule is that it is perfectly acceptable for you to relieve yourself right on the sidewalk. (both kinds, #1 and #2)  Parents not only watch, but encourage this and will hold up their children so as not to spill on their shoes.  Incredible I know.  I am sure that this a large contributor to the overwhelming and awful smells that often accompany a walk on the street.

A small but strange oddity in my apartment is that of the three elevators (one rarely works) one only services the odd floors and the other only services the even floors (plus the first floor).  So basically 12 floors share one elevator and the other 12 floors share another elevator.  I have yet to discover the logic behind that move.  Also on the topic of elevators, I have several times been in an elevator with a person smoking, which makes it difficult to avoid coughing on the loooong ride (slow elevators) up or down 18 floors.

The Chinese people for the most part have been very obliging and helpful.  I have had several people offer to have me contact them if I ever need any help or have any trouble with something.  People almost go out of their way to help foreigners, and I have really enjoyed the Chinese people I have met.  On the other hand, when it comes to waiting in line or using the roads, that is a whole different matter.  I have had little old ladies elbow their way past me in line.  And on the street it seems as though “Every man for himself” is the rule.  If two people are approaching a narrow part of the sidewalk from opposite directions, instead of one stopping to let the other by, they will both try to squeeze past each other at the same time.  On the subway I often see men sitting while lots of women standing, which just seems backwards to me.  Perhaps part of this is mere cultural difference, but it is still hard for me to understand the logic behind it.

Another fascinating ongoing project is reading all of the ‘Ch-English’ t-shirts that many Chinese (mostly young) wear.  Most of them are phrases or sentences that don’t make any sense to an English speaker such as “Hometown lots spacey”.  Some will not even make words at all but will just be scrambled up English letters.  I saw one girl wearing a shirt that said “Rebel Yell for hugs”. (see phot0) Now I know most of these people don’t speak a lick of English and have no clue what their shirt says or the fact that it says nothing.  But even if this girl did know some English, I think it is pretty much impossible that she knows what a “Rebel Yell” from the days of the Confederacy is.  Much less how it has absolutely nothing to do with a hug!  I think that is one of my favorites so far, but the search is ongoing for more humorous ‘Ch-English’.  It is strange how young people here go out of their way to buy shirts with ‘English’ on them, because to them it is ‘cool’ or fashionable because that is what they see Westerners on tv and in the movies (and in person, i.e. me) wearing.  At least that is my assumption of why they wear shirts with ‘English’ on them.  Talk about exporting culture. 

On the topic of dress, I have found that dress here is basically no different (other than the aforementioned oddities) than back home.  People here would be very hard to distinguish from those back home based solely on their clothes.  Business men wear suits just like ours.  Young people wear jeans just like ours (maybe different brand names with undoubtedly different price tags, but the clothing is the same).  I think already the world has pretty much shrunk to establishing a ‘global’ dress, which is basically what came out of the West.  Everywhere you go the dress is basically the same, despite brand names.  Only when you get way out into the countryside do you find people who still wear ‘local’ dress.  It is kind of sad in a way that some culture seems to be lost by everyone adopting Western style clothing.

The other day, prompted by other teachers, I went to TGI Fridays (yes they have one here).  I ordered ‘Fajita Nachos’ and they were heavenly.  Real guacamole, real pico de gallo!!! (not sure how to spell that)  Oh man I had been craving Tex-Mex and it was incredible!

So to close, (I know this is an insanely long post, but it incorporates almost 2 weeks worth of stuff) don’t think that I am not enjoying myself.  I know many of the comments above seem negative (or gross).  But to me they are merely interesting commentary on the differences (and similarities) in our cultures.  In truth, I am having a blast.  I realized the other day that I am literally living a dream.  I have long dreamt of living and working overseas, being immersed in a culture and learning the language.  Well I am doing just that!  So I am happy and enjoying life, learning something new everyday.  And everyday is an Adventure!

Sardines and Smells and Chinese Pride

Friday August 22, 2008  Beijing, China  7:49 pm

Sardines and Smells

World Record

Chinese Pride

Lets see, so Wednesday morning I needed to go to the US Embassy to get more pages in my passport.  I finally accomplished a long term goal of filling it up!  After three hours of wandering, I finally found the Embassy.  Attempting to take the public transport system in Beijing is not my favorite thing.  NO ONE speaks English, so I have to rely on showing the bus person the name of the stop in Chinese and let them tell me when to get off.  I never thought I was claustrophobic, but being packed in like sardines with hundreds of other Chinese people is beginning to make me a little masochistic haha.  And being cramped in and pushed and shoved and poked doesn’t only happen on the subway and buses, but in lines everywhere.  It is definitely true that the concept of personal space is foreign to the Chinese mind. I am craving the nice open spaces of Texas!  Then once I left the bus station I showed people on the street the address in Chinese and they just look at me like I just landed from the moon.  Even if they did understand, since they know zero English I’m not sure if they’re directions would be very helpful anyway.  I finally wandered around long enough until I found a Westerner who knew English, and they directed me to the British embassy, where someone finally could direct to the American Embassy, which was somewhat hidden.  The brand new one that a bunch of Aggies helped to build doesn’t open until next month.  It was good to hear American English again.  In all my travels it was my first time to visit a US Embassy.  I was actually pretty surprised because there were a lot of Chinese people working there, and seemingly pretty low key security.  I only saw one Marine.

 

Also, another note about being cramped in with hundreds of Chinese is the smells.  I have already discovered at least a dozen new smells that I did not know existed before.  And none of them were pleasant.  Many of the taxis have a strange odor, but I’m sure I will get used to it eventually.

 

I also had my first experience with the state run media today.  There is an English daily newspaper published here in Beijing (it costs 1.5 RMB or 22 cents), and there was an article in it today really thrashing the West’s reporting on the bad air quality of Beijing for the Olympics.  It was quite sarcastic suggesting that if the air was as bad as all the Westerners claimed it was, that athletes would be keeling over dead in the middle of their events.  He blatantly said that the experiments that Western journalists did on the air were useless because they already made up their minds about the results. 

 

Wednesday afternoon I was walking to a Starbucks to check email and journal when I was stopped by a strangely outgoing and friendly Chinese girl.  It turns out she was trying to sell me some of her artwork so she could pay for her school.  The are was actually quite stunning, and I felt only slightly bad for refusing.  I ended up falling asleep at Starbucks.  Then I headed off to meet up with my roommate (who I sold my extra track and field ticket to) to the Bird’s Nest for that nights track and field events.  The stadium truly is stunning.  It and the Water Cube are both so much more beautiful in person than on TV.  That night we saw heats of the Men’s 800m, the Women’s Hammer Throw final (where a massive Chinese woman won silver), the Women’s 400m hurdles heats, Men’s 110m hurdle semis, Men’s Pole Vault qualifying, and the Big Kahuna the Mens 200m Final.  The Pole Vault was certainly exciting to watch (aided greatly by the $6 binoculars I bought outside the stadium).  But Usain Bolt stole the show again by smashing the world record and winning by over half a second.  The Americans had a good showing with silver and bronze.  There were several Jamaicans sitting in front of us who went nuts when Bolt won.  It was surreal to be there and see a world record like that, then see the replay on TV the next day and be able to say “I was there!”. 

 

Thursday morning I slept in and went off in search of some Olympic souvenirs.  I found the official flagship store, and had and even crazier experience of being buffeted by waves of Chinese flowing in and out of this shop.  I did end up getting a few things, but I have never seen a more inefficient system for consumers.  Not only did you have to pick out your item, get a ticket from the employee, then go wait in line to pay, get another ticket, and return to get your item, but the cashiers had no concept of customer satisfaction.  I guess capitalism is still pretty new to them.  Despite lines of dozens of people long, the cashiers made no apparent effort to be speedy, and would turn to chat to each other while checking people out.  It was quite frustrating, as in similar situations in the States, people get things moving pretty quickly. It was like the opposite experience to the one I had in McDonalds that I mentioned in my last post.  I had similar frustrations with Chinese workers doing ticket and security checks at venues and subway stations.  They make no attempt to speed things up even when thousands of people are waiting in line, and take their merry time.  But I guess I shouldn’t complain as the venues have been safe.

 

Thursday night I met up with the Canadian family (who I happen to sit next to at the triathlon) whose son was competing in the modern pentathlon.  They got me a free ticket, and helped explain the sport to me as we watched the last two of five events, the equestrian and running.  They son Joshua Riker-Fox placed 24^th out of 36 I believe.  Still a good finish as it was his first Olympics.  It was moving to watch how exciting and nervous his parents were.

 

Today I just relaxed and wandered around town with some Brits from the hostel.  We walked through a small food market, where you can buy crickets, silk worms, and seahorses on a stick.  Yes, none of that was a typo.  I did not try any, as my previous cricket experience was less than satisfactory.  The Brits tried the crickets, (which were actually quite large, so they must be a different species or something than the ones I had) and they said that they weren’t too bad.  Also on the menu here is chicken and duck heart, as well as some other organ (our best guess was kidney or liver), all served on a stick.  It made me miss home food J. 

 

Another cultural note on the Chinese pride.  All of the talk in the Western press about how this Olympics is a huge boost for Chinese national pride is not overstated.  It is so true.  The Chinese are stoked that they are beating the US in gold medals.  (I know we are winning in overall medals, but here every tally is ranked by gold medals so that China is on top)  I even had one Chinese guy ask me with a smirk on his face if I knew how many gold medals the US had, just so he good quickly remind me of how many more China had.  On the more subtle side (or maybe not)… Nike put up large displays of mannequins wearing Chinese Olympic uniforms doing different sports in the one of the large, high end touristy malls here.  I walked by it three times before I noticed that there are three sets of track and field athletes with a Chinese mannequin positioned slightly ahead of a mannequin wearing a USA uniform.  I wonder if this was Nike’s idea or the Chinese government, but I found it quite noteworthy.  (see photo)

Star Studded Beijing Olympics Day 1

Wednesday August 20, 2008  Starbucks in Beijing, China    2:19 pm

Wow, so much to say.  So I have been in China almost 3 days now.  I arrived on Sunday late afternoon and was met at the airport by an English speaking lady from English First, the company I am working for.  She was quite helpful.  Because I had my large bicycle case with me, there wasn’t room for all of us in the car so we took a train to Tianjin.  We had a bit of difficulty finding taxis and then a train that wasn’t sold out.  While waiting for the train, Luna took me to have Beijing duck, which was quite good.  It is basically just sliced pieces of duck meat dipped in sauce and you put them in a rice tortilla, much like fajitas.  The ‘bullet’ train went over 200 mph! We got to Tianjin and on the way to drop me off at my hotel, we passed a man peeing on the street.  I guess Tianjin is more ‘real China’ than Beijing.  The next morning I went for a run to scope out the area as usual, and Tianjin seems to be a beautiful city.  People from the school picked me up again and we went to the police to register, as all foreigners must do within 24 hours of arriving in China, even tourists.  While we were waiting, a man saw me and turned to me to try to practice his English.  He was very kind, and it turns out his daughter who was with him is an English major.  He gave me his name and phone number and told me to call him if I needed help with anything.  I was certainly struck by the openness and friendliness of my first experience with local Chinese culture.

            Then I caught the train back to Beijing in the afternoon and caught a cab to my hostel.  The taxis here are really quite cheap here, although not as cheap as the 15 cent bus rides.  The hostel is not great.  The shower is pretty dirty, it doesn’t have a toilet, only a squatty potty, and the bed is basically just a metal slap with a blanket.  (A squatty potty for those who don’t know is pretty much like it sounds, not a toilet but just a hole in the ground where one must squat to do their business.  Also, not toilet paper.)  It is not any softer than sleeping on an tile floor with a blanket.  But I will survive.  The guys at the front desk are quite helpful.  My next trip was off to pick up my Olympic tickets, which proved to be quite simple.  I already sold my extra track and field ticket to my roommate at the hostel.  We walked around town a little bit and saw Tiananmen Square briefly, which was cool more for its history than its beauty.  Lou, an English girl who went with me, really wanted a ‘local’ meal, since this was her first night in Asia.  Having just come off from 6 weeks in Thailand, I was looking for anything but rice, but alas I went along with her.  There would be plenty of time for the proverbial McDonalds later.

            The next morning was yesterday, which was Tuesday.  It was a most storied and incredible day.  I got up early to go to the men’s triathlon event which it turns out was an over 2 hour bus ride from my hostel, but is still in Beijing.  Just to give you an idea how immense Beijing is in land mass, I heard later that the city of Beijing is roughly the size of Belgium!  And I thought Houston was large.  I set out to find the triathlon venue with only my ticket and some scribbled Chinese from the guy from my hotel.  I showed everyone on the bus and thought I was a goner until I miraculously found one Chinese person on the bus who spoke English (I was the only foreigner on the bus) who was also going to the triathlon.  He was very helpful.  Inside the even I sat next to some Canadians, who turned out their brother was competing for Canada in the modern pentathlon on Thursday.  His mom said she might be able to get me some tickets.  It was quite nice to speak normal English.  The race was close, and I thought the Americans had a good chance since two of them came off the bike in the lead pack.  But they couldn’t hang on in the run and in a thrilling sprint finish a German guy outran Simon Whitfield of Canada.  I followed the Canadians back to the city and went to the Olympic park to walk around the stadium.  I was really keen on finding tickets to the last night of gymnastics that night.  Despite all the news reports about police cracking down on scalping, there were hundreds of people selling tickets on the street right next to the sign announcing that it was prohibited.  It was literally a giant buffet line on the street of hundreds of local Chinese selling all sorts of tickets at ridiculous prices.  But after some haggling I finally got a gymnastics ticket for 1700 RMB, or about $210!  My quest was successful about 2 hours before the event started Considering the guy I had bought my other tickets from said he sold his gymnastics tickets for over $600, I was pretty pleased with my buy.  I met a German guy on the street who was also on a quest for gymnastics tickets, and he was eventually successful as well. .  I went in, grabbed some dinner and walked around a bit.  Both the ‘Bird’s Nest’ Stadium and the Water Cube were more incredible in person than on TV.  Truly beautiful venues. I was soo pumped as I walked in the stadium.  Since I hadn’t eaten anything all day, I quickly ran to McDonalds for dinner, as it is the only option for food inside the Olympic Complex.  Strangely enough, this turned out to be a great analogy for China.  There were about a dozen registers and hundreds of people pouring through the restaurant to get food.  I have never seen so many people at a McDonald’s in my life.  Behind the counter were scores of employees rushing around to efficiently bring dozens of meals per minute to hungry and pushy customers.  Here was a perfect example of how personal space as we know it does not exist in China.  I thought it was a great analogy of China using its biggest resource, people, in a workmanlike almost Communist style to efficiently feed the masses.  Maybe I am being over poetic about a simple trip to McDonalds, but I thought it was interesting. 

This night was some of the most exciting gymnastic event finals: Mens Parallel Bars, Womens Beam, and Mens High Bar.  I was particularly excited about seeing Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson on beam.  There were some empty seats so I went down closer to get a better view of the Beam.  On my way some other Aggies saw my A&M shirt and yelled out Gig’Em.  I think they were class of ’96 or something. I chatted with them for a bit, then went down and ended up with just about the best possible spot to watch the Beam.  I was right over the entrance where the athletes came in and out.  The first time Nastia came out with her dad I yelled her name and she turned to look up and me and gave a small smile and smirk.  Then after she won the silver I yelled out ‘Way to represent Texas’ and she turned to look up at me and gave me a smile and a wave.  Oh man was I excited! J  It was awesome to watch her and Shawn with the silver and gold.  Man what a great experience.  And American Jonathan Horton won silver on the High Bar.  But this is by no means the end of my Star Studded day.  I went with one of the Aggies I met out to where they film the ‘Today Show’ right outside the stadium.  If you can find on the NBC website or Youtube or somewhere the Today Show from August 19, I am in the background a few times, most prominently right behind Tiki Barber’s head.  Ya I know go figure, Tiki Barber, a running back who is the all time rushing and receiving yards leader for the New York Giants was an analyst for Track and Field and I got to see him from about 5 feet away.  I came all the way to the Olympics in Beijing to see an American football star.  Ironic.  Even better though, was the next segment of the Today Show where American swimming star and 11 time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin was doing a cooking segment.  After it finished not only did I get her autograph, but I got a picture with her!!!  She was really friendly, and I felt like I was dreaming.  Unbelievable.  I am hoping to meet the two American gymnasts at the Today Show tonight.  But again, don’t be fooled, there is more to this story.  After all this excitement I finally headed off to my soccer semifinal match that night, which turned out to be a soldout game between Brazil and Argentina!  Ronaldhino versus Messi.  Since I purchased the tickets over a week ago, I didn’t know who was going to be playing, but turns out I hit the jackpot.  And not only in who was playing in the game.  I didn’t arrive until halftime, but up until that point the score was 0-0.  Then less than 5 minutes after I arrived Argentina began their scoring spree and ended up with a dramatic 3-0 crushing of Brazil.  But here is the kicker.  As soon as I sat down in my seat, the guy next to me (who was Dutch) told me to look at the end of the row behind me.  And yes, even though I could scarcely believe it, there sat Kobe Bryant, basketball megastar from the Los Angeles Lakers!  I must have looked at least ten time before I could believe it.  It was really funny too, because the NBA is huge in China, and all these people kept walking by to take pictures of Kobe, not the soccer game.  He had a whole row of security guards along with almost 30 Chinese volunteers escort him out of the game.  But the climax is that as he was walking out right behind me, I stood up and said “Whats up Kobe?” and stuck out my hand, and he shook it!!!!  That means I got smiles, pictures, and shook hands with 3 Olympic gold medalists in a matter of 3 hours!!  It still sounds crazy when I think about it.  What a first day to the Beijing Olympics huh?  I guess everything from here on will seem really quiet.  Wow what a day!!

I had a real difficulty finding an empty taxi coming out of the soccer stadium. I began walking farther away and a Chinese guy offered to help and walked with me trying to flag down a cab.  He also helped me dodge the crazy cars and bikes while crossing the street.  The Chinese are very helpful and friendly.  Back at the hostel that night I met a British girl who speaks 4 languages already and is here to work on her Mandarin.  Pretty impressive at age 19. 

            Today I spent 3 hours taking buses the wrong way and asking dozens of people for directions who didn’t know English trying to find the American Embassy to get more pages added to my passport.  But in the end I made it.  Now I am at Starbucks to write down all my adventures.  Man I must still be jet lagged because I am exhausted even though I slept late this morning.  I have also developed a rather concerning sore throat, but I’m praying it will go away on its own soon. 

            On the Mandarin note, I have already learned 4 characters, and since during my day in Tianjin I saw 0 foreigners, I’m sure I will be quite immersed in the language.

 

 

Thai Aerobics and Jungle Spiders

Sunday July 13, 2008 Chiang Mai, Thailand 5:45 pm

Halftime

Testimony

Learning English?

Learning the Industry

Surviving a night with the Jungle Spiders

So today marks exactly 2 weeks that I have been in Chiang Mai.  We are halfway done with the course, and can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.  I feel as though I am slowly getting the hang of this teaching thing: teaching itself really I find quite natural, it’s just the planning that is annoying.  But it gets better and quicker every time.  My comfortableness in the classroom increases and my anxiety beforehand decreases every class.  On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the British Counsel School to observe some experienced teachers.  I was quite comforted because I felt that I could be as good a teacher as they were.  Also, I learned that jobs at British Counsel schools pay well and have decent benefits. 

         Along those lines I have had countless invaluable conversations with our tutors and other trainees here who have taught in various types of schools in several countries.  The information gleaned from these conversations will certainly prove useful in the event I end up teaching for more than one year.  For example, I have learned what schools/countries have the most enticing salaries, that private lessons are a great way to make lots of money per hour, that some schools offer ‘part time’ teaching contracts, which means a teacher can teach full working hours for a few months, then just take off a few months whenever they feel the urge to relax or travel.  (This is certainly the most appealing thing I have learned, and this was from an American guy who does this.  He only works between 6 and 8 months a year: a few on a few off!)  I can certainly see myself in that kind of a job!  This is just one of the unforeseen benefits of doing this CELTA course that I have found.

         One strange thing that has given me much laughter and thought is the wide mix of demographics of the trainees, and the varying types of spoken English that this represents.  I have learned dozens of knew words, in ENGLISH!  The Brits and Aussies and Irish and Kiwis all have very strange yet funny sayings.  I have attempted to catalogue the ones I can remember, but certainly have missed a few.  I learned that after a stonkingly good time, one might end up locked and knackered, and spent time on the dunny until half 4. Translation: After a fantastic good time, one might end up drunk and tired, and spend lots of time on the toilet until 4:30.  There have been tons of other words, and I will continue my attempt to learn the ‘new’ language of English.

 

Two nights ago, I had an adventure.  As I turned on my lamp in preparation for going to bed, I saw two HUGE spiders (and this is not an exaggeration, they were probably 6 inches in diameter) crawl out from between my suitcase and the wall.  They were the largest spiders I had ever seen!  I retreated awestruck for a moment, then quickly gathered my wits and my shoe and set about attacking the smaller one.  I quickly demolished him and deposited him in the ‘rubbish bin’ then chased the second larger one.  Unfortunately he retreated into a hole somewhere and I lost him.  The thought of turning off the lights and crawling into bed with a ginormous spider lurking around my room was not appealing.  So I elicited help in the Search for the Deadly Jungle Spider.  Ironically two girls came to offer assistance, no males.  But they proved to be more than adequate, as one of them brought in a giant bottle of bug spray and began aggressively spraying away to flush the big fella out.  Once she had a clear shot at him she proceeded to pound him violently to a pulp of dozens of spider pieces on my floor.  I just watched in awe!  It sure made for a good story among the other trainees.  I fell asleep with dreams of hundreds of spiders overtaking my bed, but survived the night with the Jungle Spiders unscathed.

 

So July 4^th was definitely nostalgic for me, mostly because I missed the fireworks, boats and BBQ back home.  I wracked my brain for something “American” to do to celebrate, but with our limited resources here, we just ended up going out for a few beers.  We happened upon an alley with a few bars, and no kidding, at the end of the alley was a small boxing ring with free Thai boxing shows going on all night.  Although this was incredibly tourist-ized (I think I just created that word, and am keeping it from the British) and fake, it was interesting.  A few guys would get up there and play fight for a while, then come around asking for tips.  It was funny too because these aren’t the type of guys you would typically find in a boxing ring, as they were barely 5 feet tall and probably 120 lbs at the most.  When they came by to ask us for tips, one little guy asked me if I would like to fight him.  I laughed, but I think he was serious.  I’m sure he relished the idea of kicking himself some tourist butt.  I considered the story/memory value of taking his offer, but declined because I couldn’t decide if he would play nice or extra mean because I was a foreigner.  I didn’t want to take that risk and end up in a Thai hospital.  But I did get a cool picture with him.

         Speaking of hospitals, two of the girls here have made trips to the local medical facilities here this weekend with stomach problems.  Apparently one was E coli poisoning and one Dyspepsia.  They were quite impressed with the Thai hospital, and I have heard form several people that the medical facilities here are not only cheap (as might be expected) but good quality.  Go figure.  Anyway, so far I have avoided any sickness other than some slight GI discomfort.  (everyone please knock on wood now)

         Last weekend, we went into town and Clarabelle and I went to the zoo.  It was actually quite fun, with an extensive animal selection.  We saw monkeys, dozens of birds - many up close, giraffes, ostriches, emus, lions, tapirs, capybara, tigers, leopards, a white tiger and white lion, and even koala bears.

         That night we miraculously all met up in town and went to eat some good western food.  I had a juicy bacon cheeseburger which was heavenly.  It was so good to not eat rice.  Then we went in to the famous Chiang Mai night market, which was huge.  We walked through it for over an hour and never go to the end.  It was pretty interesting, though it got repetitive.  I got some Thai silk boxers and a Thai soccer jersey.  A few of us got bored so we went in search for ice cream, which turned into ice cream bars from 7/11.  We ate the peacefully down by the river which was quite enjoyable.  When we tried to meet up to return home, 2 girls met at the wrong end of the street, and it was a miracle that we found them.

         On Sunday I walked to Hang Dong with Lizzie and Leila and just as we got about a mile out it started raining.  It was actually pretty fun, and some kind Western guy pulled over and offered us a ride in the back of his truck.  At the Hang Dong market, I found a miniature kolache drizzled in syrup, which would have been great if it had been warmed, but for $0.20, I guess you cant really complain.  In the market we found grilled frogs for sale on the street, not frog legs, but the entire frog just lying there covered in flies.  Next to the frogs were fried chicken feet.  I didn’t try any, but we did find a pizza place and ordered pizza for dinner and watched a movie.

 

 

Saturday July 19, 2008

Thai aerobics

Testimony

 

So the ‘new’ English words keep coming.  “Taking the piss” and “bits and bobs” are the current ones I just learned.  Even worse though, is having to explain what our biscuits are, and explaining cornbread and chicken fried steak and sweet tea!  Oh how these Westerners have missed out!  It’s sad.

         So a few days ago one of the tutors was making conversation and asked me point blank if I had a religion.  So I got to share my testimony with her and two other of the trainees!  That was really cool.  Most of them are atheist or agnostic, so it was really cool to get to share with them my beliefs.  Also, I had a long conversation with another one of the trainees here who is an atheist.  We started out discussing politics and economics, and ended up on religion, so I also got to share my testimony with her.  It was great because she shared what she believed and I shared what I believed and we discussed it civilly and openly.  I think she is searching, cuz she admitted that sometimes she feels a ‘leading’ from something outside of herself.  During another long conversation with another one of the trainees, I was able to share my testimony with her as well.  Praise God!  Pray that it will take root and God will touch their hearts.

         Last Sunday we walked to Hang Dong for another pizza dinner.  As we were walking, we came upon a large house with a dozen Thai women doing aerobics to a video in their front yard.  So naturally, we asked if we could join and they were quite friendly and invited us in.  So Lizzie, Leila and I danced and did a Thai aerobics routine for a few minutes, trying as best we could to follow all the moves.  We took pictures and video of course.  It was a great time and a good memory.  Thai people are so friendly.  On the way home we eventually found a taxi and as he didn’t know the place where we are staying, I sat in the front and gave him directions.  He was teaching me the Thai words for left – ‘sai’, right – ‘kwa’, and straight – ‘dong’.  It’s amazing how much you can communicate with someone even when you don’t speak a word of the same language.

         The rest of this week has been teaching and working.  I have enjoyed the teaching though, and I feel like I am improving. 

         This afternoon I am headed out with Pracha to preach to some of the jungle tribes in this area.  Apparently we are going to spend the night in a sleeping bag with a mosquito net, and return tomorrow afternoon.  I am excited and anxious. 

         One week left!

First Thoughts - English Accents, Mystery Meat, iPhones?

Friday June 27, 2008 8:45 am   Bangkok, Thailand

 

I got in late last night and took a taxi to the Alliance Guest House.  Only thing was, upon arrival I saw that my name was not on the list of reservations, and then I realized that I had mistakenly booked my reservation for JULY 26-29 instead of June.  Flashes of spending the night on the streets of Bangkok flashed through my head, but the Lord was watching over me and they had room for me to stay all 3 nights.  I have already met some very interesting people.  This morning at breakfast a guy walked in wearing a Texas A&M t-shirt!  You can imagine my excitement, but it turns out he was a guy from Indonesia who got it as a present.  He is trying to get a visa to go to help the refugees in Burma, and then at the other end of the table was a woman who was from Fredericksburg, TX and a t-sip.  She was married to an Aussie and had lost her Texas accent after 28 years of living in the land Down Under, which is why I didn’t immediately pick up that she was from Texas.  On the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok I was sitting next to a Thai girl who had an iPhone, which she claimed she bought in Thailand, but as Apple doesn’t sell them outside the US, it must be a black market one.  My first thought was that she was quite wealthy, seeing as she knew decent English, had an iPhone and was flying from Japan.   On my flight from Houston to Tokyo, I was sitting next to a Southern girl from Alabama and her Cuban mother.  Vivian goes to Auburn, and I hardly slept at all because we talked most of the flight.  She was actually quite interesting to talk to and I told her that it was the most intellectually stimulating conversation I have had with a female in a long time.  (Jace your luck finally rubbed off on me: she was cute too)  It turns out that her Father works in Beijing, so they are going to connect me with him.  Another great contact!  Dad I remember talking with you about how each person I come across would be someone brought into my life specifically for a reason, and even the first person I met on the plane turned out to be so!  I got a local SIM card at the airport for $6 with which I could call home and my missionary contacts.  It was a long journey but fun and safe. 

 

Sunday June 29, 2008   Bangkok, Thailand  (on flight to Chiang Mai)

 

Wow, so much to say.  I just finished running through the Bangkok airport trying to make my flight.  I met some Thai ladies in line who spoke great English and they were very helpful.  In fact one of them worked for a Waco based company, and another had a good friend in Austin.  Small world eh?  Never ceases to amaze me.

 

So Friday morning Kirk Person, who is a Wycliffe translator in Thailand, and whose wife Suzy went to the same church as my Uncle Ken, picked me up and showed me around the Wycliffe office.  I asked as many questions as I could think of and we discussed languages and what is like working for Wycliffe.   I really enjoyed him, and was fascinated with his knowledge of linguistics, and with stories of working with Wycliffe translating the Bible for a Thai jungle tribe called the Bisu.  He moved in among them, the first Westerner they had seen, and lived there for years.  He created a written language for them, then began translating the Bible into it.  They hope to finish in the next 5 years or so.  We went to have lunch for my first official Thai meal, which was great, and around a dollar US!  He also gave me maps of Bangkok and told me how to get around the town, and helped me reload my local SIM card, then I went off to explore Bangkok.  I started off heading to the large shopping center where I bought a shot glass with an elephant on it.  Then I went to the Grand Palace of the King and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  It was pretty cool, but nothing that spectacular.  Very ornate, almost to the point of appearing gaudy.  While I was trying to get a ticket for the ferry to take me upriver to the palace, I asked some Western looking people if I was in the right place.  Turns out they were very helpful and quite friendly.  The man was Irish and named Shields, and his Greek wife was named Lea.  We became fast friends, as foreigners in a strange land often do.  I found out she also had a good friend in Texas, and spent a few weeks in San Antonio and Austin.  Small world again eh?  She was a big fan of Texas, naturally, and commented more than once on the quality of Texas food.  It made me smile, and my stomach grimace. J   I ended up hanging out with them the whole day.  And took them to Siam Paragon, the large (7 story) shopping mall district.  The basement floor is a giant aquarium where you can scuba dive with sharks, which I would like to after my course when I am back in Bangkok.  The food court in the bottom is the most amazing food court I have ever seen.  It was elegant, and full of legit restaurants with nice and eclectic décor.  An amazing mixture of all types of Asian food, plus Italian food, the usual American standbys of BK, McDonald’s, KFC, and even Dairy Queen, and believe it or not, a Mexican food restaurant, that appeared to be decent.  I want to check it out when I get back to Bangkok.  Lea decided she wanted some Italian food, and we met the chef there, who recognized Shield’s accent because the chef was also from London.  His name was Colin, and he was quite a character.  An animated, natural storyteller and talkative fellow, he sat down and told us stories and answered our questions about Thailand for almost 2 hours.  He is from London, but had been here for 4 years as a head chef of the Tawana, a 4 star hotel/restaurant in Bangkok.  I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.  Eventually I had to leave to go over to the Person’s house for dinner.  This again I thoroughly enjoyed.  His family is awesome.  It was so soothing to hear his wife’s native Texan English, including the use of “ya’ll”.  They had 3 kids:  Andrew – 10, Emily – 7, and Austin – 3 or 4, who not only were extremely well behaved but were talkative and friendly and a joy to be around.  We ate local Thai food, which consisted of sticky rice eaten by hand with pieces of pork kebab, and some type of cole slaw-esqe salad.  It was quite good.  Then for dessert we had a variety of local Thai fruit, the names of which escape me at the moment.  One was about the size of a kiwi, but was red and had green ‘tentacles’ all over it.  I believe the kids called them ‘hairy eyeballs’.  They were juicy, but not my favorite.  The one I liked best was black and looked almost like a large walnut.  The inside was white and sweet and yummy.  The last one was green and quite awkward looking.  I believe the name included the word ‘apple’ in it somewhere.  It wasn’t my favorite.  After dinner we chatted for a bit about Wycliffe and languages and my upcoming year in China, then the kids gave me a concert of piano and singing.  We finished up by viewing the lights of Bangkok from the roof of their apartment building, then Kirk took me home.  An informative and pleasant evening.

 

Saturday morning I slept a little late, then took care of some email and talked to my parents using the WiFi in my room at the Alliance Guest House.  Because of this I got a somewhat late start, but I headed to the Weekend Market, which is supposedly one of the largest in Southeast Asia, which after wandering in if for several hours, I definitely believe.  It was an absolute smorgasbord of tastes, sounds, smells and sights.  Quite a sensory overload, and it would be impossible to relate everything I saw and smelled, but here is my feeble attempt to remember as much as possible.  On the way there I saw a man wearing a 2006 Oklahoma Sooners Big 12 Champions t-shirt.  Should I say it again?  (small world) This market definitely put Wal-Mart to shame, not only for cheaper prices, but it far exceeded even Wal-Mart’s seemingly limitless selection.  I saw everything from leather furniture to $5 and $15 fake and real name brand clothing such as Lacoste, Abercrombie, Polo, American Eagle etc., to crystal figurines to lamps and household items to cowboy boots (yes….see picture) to stall with internet access to exotic foods to t-shirts with vulgar English phrases on them to cheap electronics including somewhat nice cell phones for pennies to hardware like drills and saws to car parts to stereo equipment to candles and perfumes to even many species of adorable pets including puppies, guinea pigs, cats, birds, even odd ones like baby squirrels with a leash, and creepy ones including several breeds of tarantulas and snakes to hundreds of English books including textbooks that I recognized and had used! (see picture...Jace recognize the History book?).  I purchased a nice dress shirt for $12 (390 baht) and a Lacoste ‘polo’ (real or fake who knows) for $10.  I bought a Pepsi popsicle for about $0.10 (4 baht) and I had a rice and egg dish for lunch, which was quite tasty for about $0.85 (25 baht).  Not only were there numerous things to see, but I think my olfactory nerves were stimulated to their maximum capacity by all the new smells, pleasant and unpleasant.  As a likely tourist trap, there were a fair amount of foreigners, from the West, Middle East, India, and even Africa.  Needless to say, the market was quite an experience.  In fact, it was so large and crowded, that after about an hour of wandering aimlessly, literally following my nose, I wandered to how I would find my way back home.  Thank God just about the time I was tired of walking and wondering which way was the exit, I ran right into a metro station.  I went back to the Siam Paragon, the main shopping center and decided to see a movie, which I was surprised to find out were the same movies that were currently out in the States.  However, the theaters are priced differentially depending on where you sit, like a sporting event.  And, for like $15 (600 baht) one can get a theater with recliner Lazy Boy style chairs and food served.  (Somewhat similar to our Alamo Draft House)  Afterwards I went back to visit our British friend who was the chef at the Italian restaurant for dinner, and headed home.  And surprise to surprise, as I was walking home, I turned a corner and there was an elephant walking down the busy street, with someone riding his back and trying to sell me something to feed it.  (also see picture)  I couldn’t help but laugh at the pun, because it had the only authentic tail lights I have ever seen: red blinking lights attached to its tail.  Only in Thailand I guess.

 

Sunday June 29, 2008  9:53 pm  Chiang Mai, Thailand

English Accents

Mystery Meat

Today was quite an interesting and full day.  The Lord has been soo good.  I was running very late for my flight, and ran up to the gate right as they were closing.  Fortunately, I met 3 Thai ladies who were in line to check in with me (Air Asia unfortunately does not have online check in, note to self: make sure to always book airlines with online check in whenever possible.)  They were quite helpful in translating and being friendly, as well as waiting for me even though it was endangering their own chance of making the flight.  So despite checking my bags in merely 20 minutes before takeoff, miraculously my bags made it on the flight – God is good.  Upon landing, there was a taxi waiting for me and I got here and got checked in.  I felt like the information was somewhat lacking, as all they said was here is your room, enjoy your stay.  I did not meet the teachers until dinner this evening.   So I unpacked, then went for a run as it appeared I was one of the first students to arrive, at least there was no one else stirring.  Upon returning I met a few of the other students and we went for a walk into town.  Dinner was local Thai food, which to be honest, was not nearly as good as the meal I had with Kirk in Bangkok.  It was some kind of soup with at least half a dozen vegetables or pieces of something that I had never seen before and had no idea what they were.  The rest was rice and potatoes and meat in a spicy sauce.  The rice, sauce, and potatoes were good, but the meat well, there really is no other way to say it: it was bad.  I have no idea what animal it was from and I didn’t ask, but it was chewy and full of bones and fatty.  It made me realize how spoiled we are in Texas about the quality of our meat, and also made my stomach miss home.  I am hoping I will get used to it and not be craving a big juicy burger the whole time I am here or in China.

 

So the people are quite interesting.  So far by my count there are 4 Americans, 3 British, 1 Irish, 1 South African, 1 Kiwi, 1 Canadian, and 1 Taiwanese.  The instructors are 1 Aussie and 1 from New York.  I was struck by the very wide range of English accents; it kind of confused my mouth and brain sometimes.  Surprisingly, many of them have already been teaching in various countries (mostly Asian), and are getting this as a means to moving up or changing locales.  Two of the British girls are typical English beauties, with bright blue eyes and light skin.  The Kiwi is quite talkative and opinionated, and I can see myself getting annoyed with her after not a long while.  However, she is quite knowledgeable and friendly.  One American girl has already been teaching in China, so I have been learning a ton from her and I’m sure I will continue to do so.  All in all, as it stands now, I can see myself befriending Emma, Allie, Lizzy, and Kelly: the two British girls and two other American girls as well as the Irish guy Colin and one other American Aaron.  I am excited; it should be a good time.  Apparently it is not recommended to swim in the lake here due to the large and perhaps vicious catfish.

 

Notes on Thailand

I have seen a surprising number of iPhones, at least half a dozen in my 3 days here.  I asked one lady eventually, and they cost about the same as in the States, so it must be the relatively wealthy Thai.  Although there certainly isn’t poverty here like there is in Africa; I think starvation here is quite low.  The Thai people have been quite friendly ad helpful, although they generally seem somewhat reserved.  They do smile a lot in the ‘Land of Smiles’.

 

Monday June 30, 2008   Chiang Mai, Thailand   11 pm

Today was our first day of the CELTA course.  It was interesting, if only mildly intellectually stimulating.  Tomorrow I have to teach a 40 minute class.  It will be my first time in the classroom ever.  I am slightly nervous, but not too bad.  They gave us quite detailed suggestions so it seems pretty simple.  The food has been ok I guess, but I find myself constantly hungry and lightheaded.  I am sure I am losing a pound a day.  I am craving a big juicy burger already.  Or at least some decent meat.  It’s painful to even write those words, and it’s only been 2 days!