I'm really excited about the direction that our Sophomore Oral classes are taking. We have labeled the term "Intercultural Communication" and we're examining many different systems of thought and dynamics of culture. We are using much of the research from Geert Hofstede, a Dutchman, whose research is influential in this area. Check out his website at geert-hofstede.com. I'm enjoying teaching the lessons and I think the students do, too. It's important for them to understand their own culture and why they do what they do. Often my students cannot verbalize the "why" behind the "what" in their culture. I hope this semester helps them in this endeavor, as well as to gain the ability to think globally, which is not one of their strengths either.

It's not surprised that the United States has the highest score of individualism in the world. My culture is very self-focused and, at times, this is nauseating to me. But this fact explains so many reasons why America is the way she is when it comes to politics, economics, religions, and freedoms. I do like individualism as a concept and it has enabled me the freedom to travel and teach in China; however, I'm not as self-focused as the typical American. At least I don't think I am...

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Yesterday was  中秋节 (zhong qiu jie) in China. This means it's time to celebrate the "Mid-Autumn Festival". All of China celebrates this time of harvest and family. It's similar to the way that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. Sadly, the students didn't get out of having classes yesterday, but they're still joyful nonetheless. Here's a couple of links that explain this holiday: www.chinavoc.com/festivals/Midautumn and www.theholidayspot.com/mid_autumn.

This holiday is known for the moon cakes that are given in abundance to family, friends, co-workers, bosses, basically any and everyone gives and receives moon cakes. These treats are given this time of year because the festival coincides with the full moon. Below is a picture of a moon cake. Moon cakes come in tons of flavors: seeds, fruit, vegetable, and meat. I think of Forrest Gump's words every time I receive or eat one: "Life is like a bunch of chocolates [or in China, moon cakes], you'll never know what you're gonna get." Some are quite tasty, and some offend my senses.  Indeed.

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On my way back from class yesterday, one of the campus security guards decided to talk to me. We first talked last week as he crossed the road while I was going to class and asked me where I was from. I guess from this point on, I have become a very curious person indeed.

As we stopped and chatted, it was the standard (and thus familiar) question routine: How old are you? How long have you lived in China? What do you think about China? What was unusual about this conversation was his "tone", meaning he had a think Beijing "er" on a lot of his words. Because of this, while he was talking, spit was flying everywhere. Sadly, I was a victim of it as, at one pivotal point prior to my daring departure of the conversation, some spit landed on my bottom lip. (For those of you who know me, can you see my "internal facial" reaction to this?) Needless to say, I gave the signal that I was walking on home. (Do you think me rude?)

Later that evening, we had a surprise banquet (at least we were given about an 8 hour notice!). What was even more a surprise was that the President of our university came. We have had the VP on several occasions but never the President. I sat between Jason and Kat. There's was singing from the Russian teachers, tons of food, the standard well-wishes and speeches. See the album "Surprise Banquet" for a few pics.

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Jason and I signed up at a different gym last week. The one we previously went to closed down due to financial reasons. This latest gym is straight out of the film Rocky. Pretty gritty. But it's got lockers, a couple of pool tables, and pics of guys and girls in, well, next to nothing. But I can tell you they are indeed fit.

I've started having open houses for my Sophomores. They come over; I feed them and we practice our English. Sure, it's some of the same questions, "Do you miss your home?", "What is your favorite Chinese food?", and "What do you do in your spare time?", but I still enjoy their company. I go through this phase hoping to get into the real conversations about true life.

Jude and I begin Chinese classes tomorrow. Every time I saw him last week, he was counting the days until class. I think he'll be a good student. (He's 6.) I'm looking forward to this time.

We celebrated Mark's 60th birthday last week. The team pitched in and bought him a chair. It's just like the one the Wus have. Every time we're there together as a team, Mark sits in the same chair. Now he has one of his own.

I was at a restaurant and observed an odd Chinese event. An old man came to the door of the restaurant and held out his hands as if he wanted something...money. The owner gave him some. (I'd guess like 5 mao, which is like 7 cents). He argued with her that it wasn't enough but she "won". I wondered what circumstances in life got him to that point?

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In my opinion, the video below is pretty crazy and I really feel for the guy. I'm not sure why they did all that to him. And John Kerry obviously doesn't care about the guy's welfare as he keeps droning on. I'll bet there's a lawsuit involved. (Quick note: This video shows a college guy "questioning" John Kerry. In the process the college student gets "taken down"...and hard!)

Number of views as of this blog entry: 6619.

For the Sophomore Oral classes, we are developing lessons around intercultural communication. Today was the intro lessons to what it is, how we communicate, and ways we understand and learn about other cultures. During the lesson, I talked about symbols, sights, and sounds and how they shape and effect a given culture. Having just finished this section, I heard what sounded like tornado alarms. Having grown up in Oklahoma, I'm used to those sirens going off during bad weather; however, the sky was only a little cloudy outside. My students then explained that it was a reminder in Chinese culture concerning an event that happened on September 18, 1931.

In Mukden (modern day Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province) a bomb (of unknown origin) exploded which destroyed a section of Japanese railroad. At this time, Japan occupied a small section of southern Manchuria (i.e., the three northeastern provinces of China). Japan used this explosion as a pretense to occupy all of Manchuria to the point that they established a puppet government in Manchuria (search the leader "Pu Yi" or "The Last Emperor" for more). Japanese occupation of Manchuria (or Manchukuo) continued until 1945. During this time, many other political events occurred which has come to shape the China that is today. You can read more about this at the following links: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1499.html (for the US response) and http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0831483.html (for a brief intro to the incident).

In essence the sirens were a good illustration to demonstrate what we just talked about. I took a few minutes to ask them about this event and their feelings. They were surprisingly open with their emotions. This blog is neither the forum nor is deserving of their words that were spoken.

Number of views as of this entry: 6612.

Chinese Military Hacked into Pentagon (September 3, 2007, Financial Times) The Chinese military hacked into a Pentagon computer network in June in the most successful cyber attack on the US defence department, say American ­officials. The Pentagon acknowledged shutting down part of a computer system serving the office of Robert Gates, defence secretary, but declined to say who it believed was behind the attack. Current and former officials have told the Financial Times an internal investigation has revealed that the incursion came from the People’s Liberation Army. One senior US official said the Pentagon had pinpointed the exact origins of the attack. Another person familiar with the event said there was a “very high level of confidence...trending towards total certainty” that the PLA was responsible. The defence ministry in Beijing declined to comment on Monday. The Pentagon is still investigating how much data was downloaded, but one person with knowledge of the attack said most of the information was probably “unclassified”.

Illegal Mapping in China by Foreigners on Rise (September 3, 2007, Xinhua) The number of cases involving foreign institutions and individuals conducting illegal surveying and mapping in China has been on the rise in recent years, according to the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM). In the first six months of this year, local authorities have handled five cases. They are investigating five others in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Shanghai Municipality, and Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces. SBSM said most of these foreigners came into the country under the disguise of scientists, tourists, expedition leaders, and archaeologists. These foreign nationals carried out their illegal surveying and mapping with advanced techniques and equipment. They obtained much precise information and data regarding coordinates, topography and geography, all of which may threaten China's state security, according to the official. Currently, surveying and mapping authorities of different levels have stepped up their efforts to crack down on these kinds of illegal activities, in collaboration with state security and secrecy departments.

Chinese Dishes Get Official English Names Before Olympics (August 31, 2007, Xinhua) Foreigners will find it easier to order a meal in Beijing during the Olympics as most dishes and drinks will have proper English translations. Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list of translations for 2,753 dishes and drinks to solicit public opinions. The list, once finally fixed, will be used in restaurants across the country, to replace confusing, even ridiculous translations, according to the bureau. Bad translations of Chinese dishes are headaches for foreign epicures. There used to be translations like "Virgin Chicken" and "Burnt Lion's Head", which are actually dishes based on young chicken and pork ball resembling lion's head. These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits. A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the problem since March last year, backed by a committee of 20 language experts and catering service managers. The names of Chinese dishes have combined cultural and artistic elements in them, some with historical, geographical and political background, some with origins from Chinese fairy tales and folk tales. Often the dishes are named with stories understood only by people who know their culture well.

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If you didn't know, today was Teacher's Day. I saw several teachers who received bouquets (rumor has it, Seth was one of them), but I got jack squat. Not like I really wanted anything, but oh well.

Week two teaching has started smoothly with most scheduling bumps out of the way. Over the weekend, we had several changes but they're all ironed out. One amazing positive is that I don't have to teach any writing. Every term since coming to China, I've had to. But now I'm free - yeah!

Military training began for the Freshman. They all had their military fatigues on and were all over campus. Every year the military soldiers (who do the actual military drills with the students) stay in our building, so that means lock your doors. We've had experiences of drunken soldiers trying to come into our rooms. Last year I held a quite interesting conversation with one plastered young man. He kept saying "thank you" in Chinese and I kept telling him that his room was the floor below. Eventually, I had to walk him to his room where I unlocked the door for him because he was too inebriated to do it himself. Poor dude!

Last but no least, I received a call from one my teammates this morning who called to inform me that they had "locked" themselves IN their apartment. I was like, "What?!" Yes, you heard me right - locked in their apartment. I'm not going to tell you who it was, and they were a little embarrassed; it was simply an interesting situation. The key was in the door but when my teammate tried to open the door, somehow they locked the door, thereby causing the key to "lock" the door from the outside with the inability to "unlock" from within (though our apartment doors are able to lock and unlock from within - I just don't know how the key being stuck in the lock actually prevented the door from being opened). Strange.

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One thing that can be slightly "ambiguous" about teaching in China is class schedules. It can change quite a lot (rooms, subjects, times, students) before the dust actually settles. My current times could change but this is where they fall as of now: Monday ~ Freshman Oral @ 10 AM & Sophomore Oral @ 2 PM; Tuesday ~ Sophomore Oral @ 8 AM & 10 AM; Wednesday ~ Freshman Oral @ 8 AM & 10 AM; and Thursday ~ Sophomore Oral @ 10 AM. This is the first time I haven't had to teach writing, which I'm pretty stoked about. I have to give some thanks to Daren because he swapped two Sophomore Orals on Tuesday for my Sophomore Writing AND both Daren and Mark swapped me classrooms where I couldn't use PowerPoint (low technology classrooms) to ones where I could. Thanks guys! With Daren and my switching, we both have only two preps for the week (he has Sophomore Writing and Freshman Oral; I have Freshman Oral and Sophomore Oral). I've usually had three preps but now I have two. This is cool. I'm also really looking forward to having students that I haven't had for a term. This is even cooler.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 6507.

I FINALLY have my Internet hooked-up again! It's been off and on using Jason's wireless (he's two floors below me), so email and blog updates have been pretty much non-existent. But I should now be up to speed.

This past week found me teaching two Sophomore Oral classes and one Sophomore Writing. The Freshmen don't start until the second week of October (they have military training), so I'm chillin' with only these three classes. Two of the classes I've had before and look forward to a good time with them; the third class is new for me. The highlight of the week was the cheer that I received from my Writing class when I walked into the room. It's a good feeling when you are appreciated and *feel* like a celebrity.

Number of views as of this blog entry: 6485.