For the Freshman Oral lesson last week, we talked about how to give directions and instructions. To begin the class, I always have the student with the most strokes in their last name tell me how to draw it USING ONLY ENGLISH. There is an order to every Chinese character and a name to every kind of stroke, so this way they are practicing phrases such as "first, then, next" and "up, down, beneath, beside". This is a whole class project and always quite a hoot.

After this, I then give them the opportunity to partner up and then describe to their partner about the drawing they see. The two pictures I gave are to the right (don't mock my artistry). Then they take turns describing it to the other (who cannot see it). When I had them draw the house and tree, I left out the little man 'cause I thought it would be too much. Anyway, see the album "Jacked Up Pics" for some funny stuff.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7171.

Sometimes as I walk the streets of Siping, I again realize how strange it is to be here in China. I went to the store today and bought my usual things: orange juice, mayonnaise, butter, potato chips, tuna and milk. As I checked out, they were having "freebies" - only if you scratched off the ticket that was a winner. I had three tries and won nothing. Yesterday, I actually won some laundry soap.

As I walked out of the store, I went to the "egg lady" - a woman the teammates so affectionately call - because she has good eggs for sale. I bought my usual 10 Yuan worth (about 25 eggs) which is equal to about $1.50. She is always so kind to me and laughs when I bring in my egg basket. I'm probably 4 times her size, so you can get this mental picture; and I actually have to duck to get inside her front door! (Yes, and I DO have an egg basket - a small, tightly-woven, egg basket - I'm such the nerd.) Anyway, today, she actually walked with me outside her apartment door (her store is inside her apartment) and wished me a "take care" in Chinese. Such a small gesture, but it communicates her true care for me. Quite funny.

On my way home, only about a 2-minute walk from the "egg lady", I realized how far away I was from everything that WAS me in America. Here I am, speaking Chinese and walking the streets of such a foreign city that, if you would have said three years ago I would been living in, I would have laughed in your face.

The icing on this evening was the meal that I shared with some students. This afternoon, I gave a lecture for the Economic Department; it was the same lecture I gave about 3 weeks ago entitled "The Price of Living in America". In it I shared what the different prices where of everyday goods like electronics, athletic wear, transportation, and entertainment. The meal I shared was with 5 newly-met students and 1 English major (a Sophomore of mine) who is friends with the other 5. It was very enjoyable to here about their lives and what brought them here.

And one last thing: one of the students said to me, "I would rather drink five bottles of beer than speak one sentence in English." I took this two ways: 1) he hated beer so much (more so than English), but he'd rather get drunk than speak English or 2) he loves beer and perhaps he needed five bottles of it before he would speak a sentence in English. Either way, I felt I was somehow dissed!

And this is my China. :-)

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7140.

One of the latest gadgets that my teammates are getting is Slingbox. Apparently, you can have someone buy one in the States (similar to Tivo) and hook it up to your TV. From the Slingbox, you connect it to DSL. This way you can control your TV via the Internet from anywhere - not only control it but view it. So the Wus and Jason both have "Slingbox parents" in the States. I think it is hilarious when Jason says he is watching reruns on TBS and that the Wus stayed up last night (like from 1 to 4 AM) to watch Michigan lose. Crazy kidz!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7127.

On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma official entered the Union as the 46th state of the United States of America, having beat out New Mexico (47th on 12/6/1912), Arizona (48th on 2/14/1912), Alaska (49th on 1/3/1959) & Hawaii (50th on 8/21/1959). The name Oklahoma actually comes from two Choctaw words: "okla" meaning "people" and "humma" meaning "red". Thus, Oklahoma officials means "land of the red people". (Being Choctaw, this naturally makes me feel quite proud.)

A common question I get coming from Oklahoma is if I live on a reservation. I tell people that technically all of Oklahoma is part of an Indian reservation. The picture below illustrate this. 

Oklahoma was also made popular by the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical of the same name. "Oklahoma!" featured a certain song which lyrics are as follows:

"Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain/And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet/When the wind comes right behind the rain./Oklahoma, Ev'ry night my honey lamb and I/Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk/Makin' lazy circles in the sky./ We know we belong to the land/And the land we belong to is grand!/And when we say, 'Yeeow! Ayipioeeay! Yeeow!' We're only saying 'You're doin' fine, Oklahoma.' Oklahoma. O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A. Oklahoma!"

Have being born in Oklahoma, I've spent most of my 34 years here (save my 5 years in Joplin, Missouri for college and 3 years in China) making me have lived in Oklahoma for almost 1/3 of its life. Pretty cool, eh? So Happy Birthday, Oklahoma! (生日快乐俄克拉何马!)

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7115.

Jennifer had a birthday two days ago. She now has 16 years experience at being 18. With the help of Rachel and Michelle's organizational abilities, the team had a small party for her in the evening. We had some amazing American-styled birthday cake with waaay good icing. Some of the team gave her gifts of Hello Kitty! mits, a giraffe purse and ear muffs. I, being the yutz that I am, got her nothing. (I'll make up for it this weekend.) Below is a video of Jennifer blowing out her candles and you can see some pics in the album entitled "Jennifer's B'day". 

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7047.

There was a foreign teacher at my school who was teaching English to Education majors. Due to certain conditions, this teacher decided to go back home despite not having finished teaching classes agreed upon. Because of this, the team has had to pick up classes, so Seth, Daren (via Jennifer), Kat, Sarah and I have one more classes to teach. Jennifer has been so gracious as to teach Daren's class of students (which happens to be Koreans) that totals a measly 6. I, however, am blessed with a class of 41 students...ALL girls.

You can sense my surprise as I walked into the room. My third question...after "Are you Education students?" and "Is this English class?"...was "Are there only girls in this class?" A resounding feminized "Yes" peeled throughout the room. Yikes! Now, our English classes to English majors are mostly girls, but there's always a few boys that I can be "chummy" with (what that means, I really don't know, I just thought I'd use the word "chummy"). But here and now, no boys.

In some ways I feel sorry for these students. The one foreign teacher they had left and, when I asked them what they had studied, they showed me a book that had several lessons. But the only lessons covered was to Lesson 2. Lesson 2...in like 8 weeks! I couldn't believe it. Plus, these girls are really sweet and they truly want to learn more English. I guess I should wear a big "S" on my chest for "Super" English Teacher or "Super" Sonny. In any event, I feel like I've come to their rescue. Up, up and away!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7034.

I have no idea why, but I've been feeling a little lonely, specifically a longing to see family, hang out with them, and simple just "be" with them. Not only have my thoughts turned to home recently, but I've been thinking a lot about Christmas. Even though I know it's like 55 days away or something, I still feel it's reality and pull though I'm thousands of miles away from America. So I got an early head start and decorated my MSN Space with a Christmas theme. Perhaps this is an "extension of self" that I feel somehow touches my family.

I'm sitting here listening to the music I've uploaded and feel mysteriously not myself. It's strange blogging this because I wonder who I'm really talking to. (Pause)

I believe that this year in China, Christmas will be different. I don't know what I mean by that, but I "feel" it. The spirit of Christmas transcends Santa Claus, red bows, green wreaths, decorations, and shopping. Indeed the spirit of Christmas is just that...a Spirit. It cannot be touched by the hand but only with the soul. It cannot be enjoyed by the mind as so much enjoyed by the heart. So with that, I say, "Merry Christmas"!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 7009.

My campus has an English language club that is very active among the English majors. They meet in front of the library at 6:30 AM every morning to practice. The leader is a talented young man with a good team behind him. He and his club decided to put on a Halloween Party (on Tuesday night) and invited all English majors to come.

Many of us on the team ran events and booths, like musical chairs, mummy wraps (where you use TP to wrap people up), ball toss, Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pumpkin and other things. I went as Zeus and just milled around, taking pictures and talking to students. It was great fun and the students really enjoyed it. You can see the photo album "Halloween Party" for pics.

However, before the party began Jude and Will came around to the team trick-or-treating. You can see the video below of the zombie that knocked at my door. Ooooohhhh!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 6948.