One of the classes we taught for Sophomore Oral last week related to money. We focused on three currencies (the Euro, the US Dollar, and the Thai Baht) and talked about the symbols and meanings of the currencies in relation to the culture that it is from. We also taught some other global currency issues. This is a two-part lesson as part two is a game that I'd like to call "The UN Game".

If you've ever played "The Settlers of Catan", then you'll understand. Last year, I made a game where student groups (i.e., "countries") trade goods of Wheat, Oil and Gold worth 100, 300 and 500 Unis (the UN's currency that I made up) respectively. However, the game needed tweaking as the values were raised and lowered as needs arose and the game was poorly managed. And students were running all around the room! I tweaked much by creating several rules meant to control the game. The addition of Wood at 200 Unis and Stone at 400 Unis added a cool dimension. I then made the goal of the game to create a city in their country over a period of 7 years (i.e., rounds). Up until last year, I had never played Settlers, but, with the addition of increased Resources and city building, I knew it would be a sure win in the classroom.

What was most fun about this activity was to see their negotiations and trades. Culturally speaking, I learned much about their "Chinese" since of business and how relationships play a large part in society. In particular, I noticed how friendship was a large key that was indeed tested during the game. At one point, a student, who was not the team’s Negotiator, was sent to another “country” to request a certain good. They both happen to be the only two boys in the class, so I noticed how the sending group felt the “genderizing” of the Negotiator would make a difference. Anthony told me that the best line he heared in class was, “Get out of my country!” When I helped Wu play this game with the Education girls (42 students as opposed to the 24 in our normal classes), it was quite chaotic with screaming, running around the room, and general insaneness. I could have sworn that during the third year of negotiating, I was going to have to break up a group of chaotic Negotiators aiming for another’s country’s Resource. The game was absolute madness yet completely awesome to watch! I can’t wait until next year.

As a teacher in Siping, I have never taught class on Friday. Our school has afforded us this luxury and it is always well-received. China celebrated a holiday on Sunday which meant no classes yesterday. So Robb, Sarah, and I traveled to Shenyang (just south of Siping) for a day of fun. We had Starbucks, New York style pizza, Haagan-Daas, and McDonald's. We also went to shop at the Metro, which is a Sam's Club-type store from Germany. I can buy  El Paso flour tortillas and refried beans, Hormel ham, Land O' Lakes cheese, and corn flakes. I'm beginning to really enjoy Shenyang, especially with the fast trains to and from there. Shenyang also has a US consulate, so if I need anything US related I could get there quickly and easy.

Yesterday, the team celebrate Wu's birthday. Rach put together the theme of hot dogs, so we had chili (courtesy of me), onion strings (courtesy of Kat), potato salad (courtesy of Jennifer), hot dogs, drinks, chips and dip. Rach even put together a sampling of songs with the hot dog theme. There was even a little poster made which was absolutely hilarious - it had a dancing hot dog in a bun. Anywho, I got Wu an AWESOME gift from Thailand that totally went with the theme even though I had no idea 3 months ago. If you read this, you gotta ask him what I got him!

I guess the piracy of 1.4 Billion people+ in China has caused an illegal activity to become legal - not just legal but capitalized on. What am I talking about? Well, Google China has just released a slew (as in A LOT) of free music to download. I am talking not just domestic but foreign music from around the globe. And all of it is free! You read it right...free. Google China is hoping that revenue for this little project will be generated via ads that appear on the web pages where the music can be downloaded.

The down side? Well, you must have a Chinese IP address - that is you must logon to a computer within the Chinese mainland. I'm sure there's ways around this (and someone's probably working on that right now in Bangladesh) but for now, I'm downloading like a banshee! Click here to see the choices.

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