More than 80,000 dead or missing in China quake (May 22, 2008, Reuters) More than 80,000 people are confirmed dead or missing from China's worst earthquake in decades, the government said on Thursday. Previously, authorities had said they expected the final death toll to exceed 50,000. State Council Information office figures showed that the number of dead now exceeded 51,000, an increase of 10,000 on the previous day's death toll. It said more than 29,000 were still missing. The State Council added that more than 288,000 people were injured by the 7.9 magnitude quake in southwest China on May 12.

Bush mourns earthquake victims (May 21, 2008, Xinhua) US President George W. Bush visited the Chinese embassy here Tuesday, mourning the victims of a devastating earthquake in Sichuan, China, and conveying his condolences to the Chinese people. "We extend our deepest sympathies, and pray for recovery and pray for the strength of those whose lives have been torn apart during this terrible tragedy," he told US and Chinese reporters. Bush and the first lady Laura Bush observed a moment of silence before a black banner which reads "Our deepest condolence goes to the victims of the May 12 earthquake." Both the president and his wife signed the book of condolence.

1st Chinese tour group to leave for U. S. in June (May 16, 2008, China Daily) The first United States-bound Chinese leisure tour group is set to depart on June 17, signaling a new era in Sino-U. S. relations, a senior official said.  Shao Qiwei, head of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), will escort the inaugural tour group to Washington DC. Their arrival will coincide with the fourth China-U. S. Strategic Economic Dialogue, which would be hosted by the city. The first phase will last six months, during which time only nine provinces and municipalities can organize U. S. -bound tour groups, Shao said. Group members must be residents with hukou (permanent residence registrations) in Beijing, Tianjin or Shanghai municipalities, or Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, he said.

Well, this morning I wrote "29天回国" on the message board outside my room. It means "29 days until I return home". I'm getting really excited now. Several things must be done before them, but in the mean time, I've got to prioritize. This week has been a whirlwind, but I haven't said what's really happening around here.

The Wus took their friend Sherry, a college bud, to Beijing, visiting local sites and stuff like that. The Wus left Wednesday and will return Sunday after they see Sherry off.

The college departments began their annual athletic competitions. This year it was the tug-o-war. Our department competed yesterday (featuring me, Daren, Mark, and Seth) along with 3 other male teachers and 3 female teachers (the school rules are 7 men and 3 women). However, we lost to the Biology department, which happened to be the same department we lost to two years ago. At that time, we didn't face them until the Semi-finals (we secured 3rd), but this year, we didn't even win 1 of the 3 pulls: we were 0-2. Suckage!

Samantha also celebrated her 1st birthday last Saturday. It was a beach theme. We had some strawberry smoothies that Rach made and they were good. There were games, prizes, and food (a perfect trifecta for Wu). Samantha had her first cake and cried as she ate it. It was funny.

Michelle had returned this week from her pilgrimage to see her brother get married. She had a great time and I think has finally readjusted back. She may not return to Siping next year as her desire is to go to Chinese northwest and work among the Uiyger.

I recently helped a Senior student complete her Thesis paper. It was a whopping 27 pages long and 11,500+ words. We still must do a three question Q & A, but that will be the final step. This activity has drained my time, but, when and if I do this again, I'll know more about what I should do.

One of my mini-dreams came true last week: I was able to finally spearhead a Spelling Bee. With the help of my fellow Freshman Oral teachers (Wu, Mark & Daren), we put together an awesomely preformed Spelling Bee on Saturday. (See the album "Spelling Bee" for pics.) Here's how we did it.

The First Round consisted of 20 words on a test given during class time. The definitions were by each blank (where the words spoken would be written). Every Freshman was given a chance in this Round. Since there are ten classes, the top three scores of each class were given a spot into the Second Round. (Wu's Education majors were an exception on being entered, but the "top three scores" rule still applied.) They were also given 2 weeks to prepare for the Second Round test and the actual Bee, which were the same day.

Those entering the Second Round were given a 300-word list called the AWL (Academic Word List). The AWL is the top 300 English words used within academic settings. The 33 students were made aware that prefixes and suffixes would also be added to the words on the list; therefore, we could make a slew of combinations.

The day of the Second Round test was Saturday morning. Again 20 words were given with definitions. The top fifteen advanced to the Third Round: the actual Bee. Each of the 15 received a certificate of achievement for this step. Lanyards were also dished out to track the contestant's activity and words given (and for a memento). Thus the Bee was ready to commence.

My job was the Reader of words; Wu was the "You are correct" guy; Daren was the bell ringer for when a spelling was wrong; and Mark was the PowerPoint guy as he would show the correct spelling of each word on PowerPoint to the audience. We began with the word "phenomenon" spelled correctly then we were off!

Round One found one incorrect spelling: "criteria". Round Two was a breeze as all 14 made it through. Round Three began the words with added prefixes and suffixes; here 3 went out with "uncooperative", "reedit", and "distressful". Round Four found 3 more going down with "inconsistently", "statuses", and "miniseries". Round Five left us with 7, and one went down with "metaphysical". Round Six knocked out two more with "citable" and "philosophically".

Thus Round Seven found 4 left. The stress level was thick in the room. Wu kept saying, "I can feel the tension." The words "surplus", "displayable", "reunification", and "feature" were given. Both "surplus" and "reunification" brought two of the spellers out leaving two young ladies. Round Eight commenced with the word "supplement" being spelled wrong by Contestant #5. Contestant #15 was given the word "uninspected", which was spelled flawlessly. Mary was, thus, the winner of the Spelling Bee.

We took pictures then presented her with 100 Yuan and a trophy. After the presentation, she said, "This certificate is mine and this trophy is mine, but this 100 Yuan is the for earthquake victims in Sichuan."

This act was indeed a highlight of my third teaching year.

Okay, so like a week ago I was ticked! On May 5th, the remaining tickets for the Olympics went on sale. Yes, I should have been grateful for the 8 tickets I previously secured (for a total of 4 events), but I wanted more! Call me greedy or merely PUMPED for the Olympics, but, in any event, there were problems with the Beijing Olympic website and I could not get in to order anything (which was all on a "first come, first serve" basis). Every time that I almost arrived at the payment screened, it timed out on me. Wu had the same problem. I was ticked like the whole day!

Anyway, on Wednesday I paid for four Field Hockey tickets and now I'm totally stoked that I have tickets in my hand. With like 80-some-odd days left, I am getting way excited. The tickets that were secured in the first lottery will be available to me at the local Bank of China in Siping in about three weeks; seating has already been assigned. Anyway, after the dust has settled from the past eight or so months of lotteries and ticket grabbing, here's what I have:

8/14 - Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling Finals (Medal Ceremony)

8/15 - Men's Boxing Preliminaries (Feather & Light Weight)

8/15 - Women's & Men's Judo Finals (Medal Ceremony)

8/17 - Men's Field Hockey Preliminaries

8/18 - Men's Baseball Preliminaries

8/18 - Men's Handball Preliminaries

8/19 - Triathlon Finals

8/22 - Athletics (Women's 4 x 100m Relay Final, Women's 5000m Final, Women's Long Jump Final, Men's Pole Vault Final, and Men's 4 x 100m Relay Final - among other non-Final events)

I left my good friend Sheila in great condition awaiting for her plane in Beijing. She flies out tomorrow. I just happened to be at Tian'anmen in Beijing when the earthquake in Sichuan hit. I am safe. I just want everyone to know that. I am a long ways away from the epicenter. See the map below. I also found a digital representation of all the aftershocks that have hit this province. Click here to see it.

3rd round of Olympics tickets on sale May 5 (April 23, 2008, Xinhua) Organizers of the Beijing Olympics announced on Wednesday that the third round of domestic ticket sales will start on May 5 and close on June 9. A total of 1.38 million tickets will be put on sale for 16 sports, including athletics, boxing, basketball, and soccer. Each individual buyer is allowed to purchase no more than six tickets - three tickets each for two sports sessions. Chinese residents also have the possibility of buying six more tickets. Ticket will be sold on a "first come, first served" basis at Bank of China outlets and on the official ticketing website. "There are roughly 100 days to go before the Games open. We don't have enough time for a lottery draw," said Zhu. He promised the meltdown of the booking system, which disrupted the earlier round of ticket sales would not happen again.

China train crash death toll rises to 71 (April 30, 2008, AP) The death toll from China's worst rail accident in a decade rose Wednesday to 71, with more than 400 injured passengers still hospitalized following the pre-dawn collision between two trains, state media said. Sixty of those injured in Monday's crash were in critical condition, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Xinhua said 385 passengers were being treated in hospitals near the crash site at Zibo city in eastern China's Shandong province. Another 18 were sent to hospitals in the provincial capital of Jinan and to Beijing. Officials have said speeding was to blame for the collision. Three railway officials already have been fired. The accident happened as a passenger train from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao was traveling at 81 miles per hour - well over the track section's speed limit of 50 mph, Xinhua reported, citing an investigative panel. The train jumped its tracks and collided with an oncoming passenger train on another track. Nine carriages from the first train tumbled into a dirt ditch. The second train stayed upright but was knocked askew on the tracks. Train service has already been restored after hundreds of workers repaired the track and used a huge crane to lift damaged carriages out of the way.

Beijing subway to clear mobile telecom blind spots (May 1, 2008, Xinhua) Beijing Subway plans to clear all blind spots for mobile telecommunication ahead of the Olympics in August.  Beijing Subway currently operate eight lines. The oldest two, lines one and two, have many blind spots for mobile phones and WiFi connections, the Beijing Daily reported on Thursday. Passengers on those lines often suffered from frequent dropped calls or poor signal reception. In the past seven months, Beijing Subway equipped lines one and two, which were built three decades ago, with 43 telecom control centers as well as 1,507 transmitters in stations and subway tunnels, the newspaper said. The telecom facilities under construction in the two subway lines will enable not only mobile phone use but also wireless Internet connection, the newspaper said. The technological upgrades included the smart entry program for all Beijing subway stations. Commuters are expected to use, no later than May, smart cards for their entries and exits from subway platforms.

Chinese students chalk up higher mean score in TOEFL (May 8, 2008, Xinhua) Chinese students are making "strong progress" in mastering the communicative English skills, as Educational Testing Service (ETS) reported that the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores for Chinese test takers increased to match the worldwide average in 2007, ETS officials said here Wednesday. Citing figures from ETS' TOEFL Test and Score Data Summary, which contains data on the performance of examinees who took the TOEFL Internet-based test in 2007, the officials said that the mean score for Chinese test takers was 78 in the year, a two-point increase over 2006, matching the worldwide average of 78. The TOEFL test is the most widely accepted English-language test in the world. More than 6,000 institutions in 110 countries accept TOEFL scores, including the world's top universities and institutions in the UK., Europe and all 4,300 colleges and universities in the United States, according to ETS.

Report: China's annual tourist arrivals to top 163 mln in three years (May 8, 2008, Xinhua) The annual inbound tourist arrival in China will surpass 163 million in the next three years, according to a report issued by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on Thursday. China's tourism industry recorded a staggering growth in the past two decades, and the industry is now worth more than 100 billion U.S. dollars a year and creates 90 million jobs nationwide, the PATA said in the report. Last year, 132 million overseas tourists visited the country.

Ok, yes, I know it's been like a week or so since I've blog, but this week has been nuts. For starters, my friend, Sheila, came to visit, so I've been playing host. That has drained some time. However, I also had to reschedule two Freshman Oral classes since I won't be in Siping next week since I'll see her off in Beijing on the Wednesday of that week. I got both of the classes rescheduled, but, later in the week, one had to be re-rescheduled because I had to sing on TV.

Now, here's the scoop. Sunday night we met as a team to practice a Chinese song. Here are the words:

世上只有妈妈好/有妈的孩子像个宝
投进了妈妈的怀抱/幸福享不了
世上只有妈妈好/有妈的孩子像个宝
投进了妈妈的怀抱/幸福享不了

This song was to be sung in honor of Mother's Day (click here to hear it). Not only were we to be prepared to sing it, but it would be on Siping TV. And we honestly didn't know what the words actually met!

Tuesday we were to go to the station, but the electricity went out, so it was a no go. However, the next morning, we had to change our classes (as some of us had to on Tuesday) to later in the week (which complicated my already cramped schedule as well). We arrived at the TV station and were ushered into the front row. All of the foreign teachers from our school were there: the Russian teacher, the two Korean teachers, the two Japanese teachers, and my team of Americans (12 in all, minus Michelle in America).

Taping began as we were there. And it was just a strange experience. We were only there to sing through the song twice, then said "Mama, I love you" in Chinese (妈妈我爱你) individually. Seth was then interviewed, which is a whole 'nother set of craziness (you need to talk to him about this experience!), then we left. It was like 30 minutes there - in and out. The taping should air this Sunday in time for Mother's Day.

Today, May 1st, is May Day in China. We have no classes today. It was no surprise that a mass exodus of students began as well. I had 3 missing on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, and 2 yesterday. In the past May Day was a one week holiday (and referred to as one of China's three "Golden Weeks"), but, due to changes within the government's holiday structure, the May Day time is only 2 actual days. Read about this story here.

In the spirit of May Day, I am relaxing. I'm creating a Mid-Term for Sophomore Oral and I have some "belated" homework to grade (that I really don't want to but I must). I also am anticipating a friend from America who is coming to visit. It's going to be great spending time with her and letting her meet the teamies.

In other news, Mark headed to Songyuan with some students, while the rest of us have stayed here. None of us feel like traveling, and several looked like zombies last tonight when we were playing SceneIt! Nonetheless, it'll be nice to sleep in and catch up on work (and sleep).

It was also a full house two days ago as old teamies (David, Jewelianne & family) joined us for a half of day, along with Jewelianne's mom, Rene, and Robb, our previous team leader (who's in Qufu, Shandong now). It was like the WHOLE team was here (save good ol' Ruth). We had a good time talking and eating (we threw down an extra-special "Sizzler" night as well). Dave was able to take a personal day from his Chinese studies (he's a full-time student in Chinese now up in Changchun) and Robb came to visit us during the May Day holiday.

Today also marks 100 days until the Olympics. The Net is a-flurry with information on this. Check out the China Daily or NBC's website.