Whew...its been a while. Our last assignment ended on Saturday, and we haven't taught since then - which sounds nice in theory, but I haven't been able to get on the internet at all because we keep moving around and going to hotels with shaky connections. We left Haining to go hang out in Hangzhou, which is a really nice city- the nicest city I've been in so far on this trip (definitely including Shanghai). There we got to meet up with a lot of the people who we had met previously and later parted with, so we got to share stories and information and whatnot.
One interesting tidbit I heard - right now, Zhejiang province is the hottest province in all of China. I guess the monsoons down south have been in the international news; unfortunately, we've basically missed it all (the rain always keeps the tempurature down. Someone in another city reported seeing a huge (several hundred, he guesstimated) military convoy roll through his town, presumably to go help deal with the flooding. I think someone else said their classes were cancelled for three days because of the storms. The weather here is ridiculous, and I still haven't seen the monsoon. In one thunderstorm last week I think about five lighning strikes within one or two seconds (or half a second) came within the space of about a minute - I've started to be afraid of thunderstorms again.
Anyway, the even better news is that Haining seems to be the hottest city in Zhejiang province. I was so glad because I thought the heat finally broke when we got to Hangzhou, but we got back here and it was just the same as it always was - which is somewhere about 40 degrees C, I think in the 100's F, though I'm just as happy not to know. Even the guys from Zhoushan (sp?), which was supposed to also be hot, were impressed by the heat here.
So, I'm back at Hongda, which was the first school we were teaching at, but I will be teaching at the high school, not the middle school. We actually have another two more days off before we start teaching, which will be nice. (We might even go back to Hangzhou?) The school is just as restrictive as they were last time, though, even with the new staff and everything. They insist my TA has to go with me everywhere, and of course I've already been through all of this, and I know what to do and everything, so she ends up always chasing me around, pleading "David, come back here." We shouldn't have problems though the way we did last time, for the simple reason that our team leader is way too passive (I don't know how he's going to make it through the year. Actually, I'm worried he might end up just doing anything anyone tells him to do, because he doesn't know how to say no.) Anyway, that leaves me to create the problems, and Betty, my TA, to try to follow after me. I'm not worried, they won't do anything to me, and Betty's just doing her job, they can't punish her if I refuse to follow her commands...
It's all in good fun though, in a couple more days she won't care.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
OK, I think I finally figured out where you are. And it sounds almost as hot as in Washington (40=104), tho Washington has AC.
So is Betty Chinese? Why does she need to follow you all the time? You must be about 6 inches taller (and rather more Caucasian) than anyone else in that town.
Glad to hear you are doing good in China.
I'm not at Aurora anymore... all the temps are done. Oh well.
I think I'm a full foot taller than Betty...apparently the school thinks I'm going to get lost or something, even though I can always take a taxi home, or even walk. But they're starting to let up now - last night she let me go off on my own.
From Grampa, No comments I am just a good listener. He hopes that your communications with the "foreigners" will be easier since you have ( I hope) students who know quite a bit of English. He is playing squash again with no Ill effects. [From Uncle S] He was having nose bleeds when Elaine and I visited him two weeks ago.
Your sister will be up here (Framingham) next week and we are going to have a Bar-B-Q at your Dad's. I don't know how long she will be here, probably just for the weekend, but it will be good to see her at least once. I am now able to get around fairly well, the aftereffects of the chemotherapy are slowly ameliorating. I am putting in a flower garden with a lot of roses and other "Phillidumdums". It feels good to finally be able to get out although I am not ready to do car shows with Axlerod yet.
Uncle DOCSRG
From Aunt EBG: It's great to be able to get news from you this way. What else have you learned about Chinese culture? Does anyone ask questions about America?
They America is very dangerous because all Americans own guns, and because of 9/11. I had to convince one student that China really is more dangerous than America, because of all the random chemicals and whatever else floating around.
Post a Comment