The Sophomore oral lesson this week was over rites of passage. We talked about how different “firsts” in life are important to a given culture. For my 10 AM class yesterday, we were talking about how important a first haircut or a first lost tooth is. For some reason I shared with them the “belief” of the Tooth Fairy (Should this be capitalized? Strange.) and how this fable encourages children to pull out their teeth out quickly. I also said that it’s common for American parents to save a child’s tooth (or all his teeth) as a memento. When I asked my students if they had some of their teeth, they said no. I thought this was a little strange, but I went on with the lesson.

During the break, a student pulled me aside and asked me if I would like to know why their parents don’t have any of their teeth. I told her I wanted to know and she shared the following. When a child looses a bottom tooth, the parents make a “wish” by throwing the tooth over the roof of a house. This is for good luck as the belief is this act symbolizes their child’s bottom tooth will grow straight and up. Similarly, when a child looses a top tooth, the parents make a “wish” by burying the tooth under the house. This is for good luck as the belief is this act symbolizes their child’s top tooth will grow straight and down. Henceforth, none of my students have ever seen their childhood teeth. And I could swear my mom still has mine.

Number of view as of this blog entry: 4914.

I found the following news stories quite interesting.

The first is about a new category of twins. Visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17804318/wid/11915773?GT1=9145. I learned some new science facts.

The second is about a British man who just set the Guinness World Record for running around the entire world. Read the story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070326/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_runner_record.

The third story is about how China may be producing panda poop paper. See the story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-03-26-panda_N.htm.

The fourth is about an idiotic Oklahoman looking for a drug dealer but calls a cop: http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-03-13-drug-buy_N.htm.

And the last comes for the “China Daily”.

1/3 Chinese Youth Condone Pre-Marital Sex (March 16, 2007, China Daily)

One-third of urban Chinese youth believe extra-marital affairs and sex before marriage should be tolerated, while viewing pre-marital sex as "good" for married life, state press said. In a survey involving 1,040 men and women aged 23 to 26, 33 percent said they could tolerate extra-marital affairs, while 34.8 percent said pre-marital sex was good for married life, the China Youth Daily reported. The survey was conducted by the Beijing-based Parent's Reading magazine and survey Chinese youths in eight major cities. The poll was aimed at getting an insight into the culture of youths born during China's "one child" family planning policy, implemented in the early 1980s and which limits most urban families to one child.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4900.

The fourth week of classes has commenced and it’s getting busier. More students want to visit and more homework is pouring in. I have over eighty Junior writing students, so every week I have a few journals to grade. It’s not overwhelming, but it does take some time.

On the team front, we’re scattered to the four winds as we teach in three different buildings and six different floors. Often I may go an entire day and not see some of them at all. In other recent developments, Jonny and Rachel have been tapped as team leaders for next year. Originally, Jonny and I were in the running, but I gave our regional coordinator a SLEW of reasons why Jonny would be more suitable to the job. I guess I “pitched” him well. Robb is going home to Canada and the Norries will be in language school in Changchun, so that leaves at least two positions open for next year. Michelle originally came to fill Rachel’s position during her pregnancy. If Rachel returns to teaching next term, then maybe we will only add one person to our team.

Winter is beginning to die here, too. My MSN spaces temperature gauge says it’s been up into the 40’s. However, I did see my breath today, so it’s a little cold but not near what the lowest temps get. I’ve actually begun wearing short-sleeve polo shirts to class (yeah, the students trip out when they see me like that) because the rooms can get quite hot. Just last week I had a lady on the bus flip out when she noticed that I didn’t have a lair of anything on underneath my pants and, not to mention, I only had low crew-cut socks.

I also recently got in my email box information about purchasing tickets to go home. Last I knew the team and I would be going home around June 29^th, but that’s not been really confirmed yet. I have Master’s classes beginning July 2^nd in Illinois, so, if the June 29^th date holds, I’ll probably only have time to fly straight to Illinois and bypass any “family stops” in Oklahoma. That’ll be a bummer if that’s the case, but I really can’t help it.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4895.

Well, March Madness time has reduced the roster of collegiate teams to the Sweet Sixteen. As of this time, here’s the team rankings: 1^st – Sarah (73 pts.); 2^nd & 3^rd – Seth & Katherine (72 pts.); 4^th – Me (71 pts.); 5^th – Jason (70 pts.); 6^th – Michelle (68 pts.); 7^th – Jonny (66 pts.); 8^th – David (60 pts.); 9^th & 10^th – Jeweliann & Rachel (59 pts.); and 11^th – Robb (54 pts.). My picks of the Final Four (which is worth 8 points for each correct team) included UNLV and Texas A&M (I really thought the latter would make it). So far Kat, Jason & Robb are the only ones who have their Final Four picks still in the tourney.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4884.

This weekend some of us (Robb, Seth, Sarah, Michelle, Jason & I) took a small weekend trip to Tonghua. Tonghua is a small city that is in the southern portion of Jilin province. By night train it was around a 6 hour ride. Our organization has English teachers who are teaching at the college in the town. Michelle, Jason & I hung out with them a couple of days while the other three stayed only one. It was good just talking about nothing but really communicating everything. The team in Tonghua consists of four (two singles & a married couple) who live in a four-story building. They have one entry way that leads to all four apartments with each apartment being on top of the other. Their teaching building is right across the street from their apartments, so it’s just “a hop, skip and a jump” to where they need to be. Their teaching schedule also consists of only Freshmen and Sophomore oral classes. It was yesterday (Saturday) that Steve & Kevin, the male teachers in Tonghua, met up with some students earlier in the day, went bowling then shared a meal. They invited Jason and me with them while Michelle had a pow-wow with the girls, Robin & Melanie.

Below you will also see a few pics of a Mosque in Tonghua, the city skyline, a billboard sign that has a guy that I could swear is Jonny Wu, and a bewildering train sign. I know it’s common for signs with a big red line through it to indicate what you cannot/should not do/have on a train, but I’ve never seen a red circle with NO red line through it as if it’s saying what you can/should do/have on a train. Michelle and I tried to figure it out this cryptic signage and our guess was that it was saying that you can have hot (?) water bottles. Michelle initially guessed it was saying that you could have alcohol, but I thought maybe it was saying your bottle should have the ability to float in water. Anyway, can someone help me with the meaning?

However, the highlights of this small trip were: 1) Melanie made her no bake cookies (which I first had at the Thanksgiving gathering last year in Changchun) – they are the BOMB!; 2) I scored a 143-point bowling game – my highest score EVER (see the picture below – I’m the fourth bowler, the one at the bottom); 3) I watched “The Prestige” with Kev & Jason and I was enthralled (and luckily, I figured the movie out half way through – I love it when I can do that); 4) I met “Crazy Horse” (see the video below); 5) Melanie told me the name that Sebastian shouts near the end of “The Neverending Story” before The Nothing takes over everything…“Moon Child” (which she says you would know from the book) – this elusive fact has haunted me for years; and 6) I got to meet four very cool young men that are part of the campus activity in Tonghua.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4870.

First of all, after my last post I noticed that I got my first hit from Africa. (See my little “ClustrMaps” icon in the upper right corner of my blog.) I’m so stoked about it! I looked on a map and I think it’s from the country of Togo. Wow, a “Togoian” (?) has actually checked out my blog. Cool!

I also forget to mention that I had another first today: a student asked to pick me up. For some reason, one of my Freshmen was curious as to what I weighed AND if he could pick me up. Basically, I was two of him, but I let him have a try anyway. First of all, he put his arms around me (which his arms actually reached to my surprise), he then gave a tug from behind, and began to heave. He had me up in the air for about 2 seconds, but his finger lock didn’t hold. I swore he broke his hand or something by the small pop and by the lack of blood in his fingers (no lie!). Anyway, he succeeded (ever so minutely – or rather “secondly” J) in his task. If you know me well, you probably could see my reaction to the initial question as well as the follow-up 2 second air ride.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4845.

For Christmas last year, we had some friends of our organization in Hong Kong send us an extremely large Christmas package. It had stuffing, mixes, cakes, muffins, and other goodies; it was a surprise for sure. Anyway, last night some of the team baked up a storm with Mexican night. So we had hard and soft tacos, sour cream, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, beans & rice. It was absolutely scrumptious! We had a good time sharing and laughing…and sometimes I enjoy feeling like a little bit of America (or rather Mexico) makes its way into my Chinese lifestyle.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4843.

Yesterday Jonny sent the team our Round 2 pick placings. As of Round 2, 1^st – Jason (50 pts.), 2^nd – Sarah (49 pts.), 3^rd – Michelle (48 pts.), 4^th – Me (47 pts.) <yah, I moved up a step!>, 5^th & 6^th – Seth & Dave (44 pts.), 7^th & 8^th – Jeweliann & Rachel (43 pts), 9^th – Jonny (42 pts), 10^th – Kat (40 pts.) & 11^th – Robb (38 pts). Even though I know the Sweet 16 is in place, I don’t have the updated team scores yet. I’ll post them when they’re available.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4825.

Olympic Tickets to Go On Sale (March 9, 2007, Xinhua)

Tickets for the 2008 Olympics will go on sale next month, but the buyers of tickets for some hot events will have to be decided by random draw, organizers said. Chinese nationals and foreigners residing in China can now register to book tickets online after the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) launched the official ticketing website (www.tickets.beijing2008.cn) on Thursday. BOCOG released full details on ticket prices on the site and said ticket sales would be in three phases starting from April 2007. The most expensive tickets will be for the opening ceremony on the evening of August 8, which will cost 5,000 yuan (US$646). The cheapest tickets for that event will be 200 yuan (US$25.8). Ticket prices for the closing ceremony will range from 150 yuan (US$19.4) to 3,000 yuan (US$388). Tickets to competition events will cost from 30-1,000 yuan (US$3.88-129.3), with the men's basketball final the highest priced. BOCOG said last year that more than seven million tickets will be available for sale, with at least half to go to local fans and 58 percent of all the tickets would cost 100 yuan (US$12.75) or less, in line with efforts to make the Olympics affordable to average Chinese citizens.

I think I’ve caught the Olympic Spirit. After reading the story above, I went to the website and signed up for an account. In April the first tickets will be “applied” for and so begins the buying process. The website already gives dates and times of events held in Beijing. I’d love to see the weightlifting and Taekwondo events. There are restrictions for those who can buy Olympics tickets next month via online and I actually meet all the qualifications for the fact that I hold a valid working VISA from China. Rock on!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4797.

March Madness is here and Team Siping is on the edge! You may or may not know, but the team has the NCAA bracket and each of us have chosen the college teams we think will trudge through the gauntlet of that which is March Madness. So Jonny is the mastermind behind this (as well as the “scorekeeper”). For each correct team chosen in Round 1, you receive 1 point. For Round 2 correct teams, you receive 2 points. For the Sweet 16, Elite 8 & Final 4, you get 4 points, 6 points & 8 points respectively. For the championship you get 16 points. So, I just received the results of Round 1 and here they are: 1^st – Michelle (28 pts.), 2^nd – Sarah (27 pts.), 3^rd – Jason (26 pts.), 4^th & 5^th – Jeweliann & me (25 pts), 6^th – Seth (24 pts.), 7^th – Rachel (23 pts.), 8^th – David (22 pts.), 9^th, 10^th, & 11^th – Jonny, Kat & Robb (20 pts.). I’m sad that the ORU Golden Eagles failed because that would have bumped me into a tie with 3^rd. What happened to the passage, “We are made more than conquerors”? Raggady!

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4789.

Quick Note: Well, I received a Xanga update from Seth this morning, so I guess Xanga’s open for business in China again.

Last night I joined the “tres amigos” (as I call them) for dinner at the Jiping hotel (the only 4-star hotel/restaurant in Siping). This group is made up of three good friends: an ethnically Korean/Chinese young man who is an English major, a second Chinese young man who is a Russian major, and a young Chinese lady who is an English major. I’ve learned much about them and China from our conversations (both English & Chinese) ones. Some of the funny topics of conversation were: 1) relationships between boys and girls, 2) the “tall-ness” of the new British teacher and Michelle (our latest team member), 3) my popularity (as it seems one of the students thinks EVERYONE around campus knows me), 4) the correct pronunciation of “buds”, “butts”, and “buzz”, and 5) the price of software. What was most intriguing about this last topic was that I told them I bought the teacher/student edition of Office 2003 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel & Outlook only) for around $135 (with the ability to install the program on 3 computers). Of course they all gasped at the amount (that’s around 1080 RMB – maybe two months salary for a Chinese with middle income). After I informed them of this, the female student piped it, “I just paid 5 Yuan” (which is around $0.70).

It’s a crying shame, isn’t it?

Number of views as of this blog entry:4785.

Classes are in full swing and I’m finding my groove again. There was a minor change in my schedule as my Freshman Oral class on Monday @ 8 AM was moved to Thursday @ 10 AM. I forgot how much I enjoy teaching AND teaching English AS WELL AS teaching English to Chinese students.

After about two months of being in Thailand (and not having to think or speak in Chinese), I’ve come back to China ready to learn some more. I’ve been kind of amazed at how much Chinese I’ve retained as well as how much I’m learning new. Learning Chinese requires a lot of memorization: memorize the stroke order, memorize the tone, memorize the pinyin. Each character must be done this way. I know my mind is getting more and more used to hearing and thinking in Chinese as I’ve started to respond (quite quickly) to basic questions WITHOUT having to think of how to say it correctly (such as the tone). It’s kind of liberating. I’ve actually held conversations (minor at that) with street people in Siping. They obviously think I have this vast vocabulary, but it’s amazing how far you can get with a head nod as if you understand everything someone just said while guessing the context so you know how to respond.

Change of subject: So the latest team gig is “March Madness”. Jonny printed off the brackets, so many of us on the team have selected who we think will be in the Sweet Sixteen, then the Elite Eight, the Final Four, then in the Championship. Each of us have placed 10 Yuan (about $1.25) in a pot for the winner. There was much discussion over dinner tonight if the amount should be 5 or 10. And Seth has basically argued with Sarah for about four hours trying to convince her to fill out her bracket AND pay 10 Yuan to get it. She thinks it’s stupid. Well, we’re all entitled to our opinion. As for me, I picked Kansas vs. Texas A&M for the final with a respective score of 79 to 75. If you want to see the ESPN bracket, just follow this link http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney07/bracket.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4717.

The team met with some pretty close students last night. They all came over and we had just a simple gathering of food and fun. I brought my “Twister” game that I bought this summer while in Illinois, so we taught them how to play. I posted three videos on my YouTube, but I’ve only included the one here where Robb gets only the Bronze. I guess this placing explains his stupidtester.com score?

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4683.

Robb’s Xanga site had a beautiful graphic explaining how much “StoOpid”ness he had. So I followed the link and took the test. Here’s the nifty graphic that I got.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4660.

I just finished my first week of classes and it’s a good schedule. It’s definitely different as opposed to the previous terms because I only have one class before lunch. The other five classes I have are in the afternoon. It’s a little strange, but I love it.

So my last Freshman Oral class I taught was Thursday. Here are their team names: The Red Romantic Roses, The Blue Beautiful Beauties, The Green Galaxy Galas and The Yellow Young Years. Two comments on the team names: Blue – first of all the name is slightly repetitive with “beautiful beauties” (yes, indeed), but the team also has a male student (hmmm?); Green – technically, I don’t think “galaxy” is an adjective, but if you use it with “gala” then maybe it works. Nonetheless, the team names are permanent for the term.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4657.

So :) don’t :) ask :) me :) why :) there :) are :) all :) these :) “smiley”s :) because, :) you :) know, :) I :) always :) have :) to :) be :) the :) first :) in :) everything! :) To :) understand :) why :) I’m :) doing :) this, :) see :) Robb’s :) comment :) on :) Michelle’s :) new :) blog :) at :) http://www.xanga.com/chelle2china/574663264/and-so-it-begins.html.

:) Number :) of :) views :) as :) of :) this :) blog :) entry: :) 4636.

The snow we received on Sunday was intense. It created massive snow drifts. Mind you, it’s not like Colorado snow or anything, but for Siping it was heavy. It was so intense that from the last blog entry, it took Sarah, Seth and Robb’s combined powers of 5 ½ hours to get from the KFC on Sunday to our building. The taxis were charging high prices. They eventually got a taxi to bring them to the front gate of our school (which is not the normal spot) for 30 Yuan. Yeah, this is only about 4 bucks, but in a city where the taxis are 5 Yuan wherever you go, it was highway robbery.

So with school being the next day, it was a mess. China’s system of snow removal ain’t big trucks but raw man power. So everybody was in full force yesterday with shovels, brooms and picks in hand to clear the roads. So I’ve included some pics of how heavy the snow was. See the album "The Big Snow".

Being the first day of school, I had only two classes: Freshman Oral and Sophomore Oral. One of the things I do is to split the classes based upon colors. Each student draws a card out of the hat with the card being Red, Blue, Green or Yellow and having a number from 1 to 6. (I have about 24 students in each oral class.) After they know their “color group”, I then have them come up with a name that’s four words long. The first word is “The”; the second word is the color; the third word is an adjective that begins with the first letter of their team color; and the fourth word is a plural noun that begins with the first letter of their team color. I had some pretty creative names, so here’s the Freshman Oral class and Sophomore Oral class’ names respectively: The Red Romantic Rain, The Blue Beautiful Butterflies, The Green Great Girls, & The Yellow Youthful Years and The Red Ready Racers, The Blue Burnings Blooms, The Green Great Girls & The Yellow Yuppie Youth. The last one is REALLY funny considering where I am.

And one more random thing: Robb made some boxed lasagna-type food (I gave it to him for Christmas) and he was quite impressed with his accomplishment. So I took a couple of pictures to record the deed. And it was good as he shared some with me. He wanted to share it with the whole team, but he was afraid there’d be none left for him.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4617.

Robb just walked in and reported that Sarah is at the KFC and Seth went to get her. This is not surprising when you consider that we’ve got a “banging” lot of snow. It was snowing when I got up around 6 AM and it just stopped about an hour ago. This is the most snow I’ve seen in Siping. Not only has it been snowy, but the wind was insane. Our first day of class is tomorrow, so it’ll be waaay fun dredging through it all.

On the Oklahoma news front, I found the following story interesting: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17442676. You know, American Indian tribes are self-governing and self-contained national entities. Reading this article for some people screams racism, but for other I think they can see that it’s about protecting an identity (and even federal funds as well). As an American Indian, I can see both sides of this article. However, the “freedman” talked about aren’t really Cherokee and, for that reason alone, I think the tribe made a good decision for their people. And if the people vote that way in a democratic society, then so the people’s vote should stand.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 4542.