Author: cinglish

I love the picture of the new baby, but I miss seeing Audrey’s sweet face on the old design, if you want my vote.

After a really busy week, I have no teaching responsibilities today. Instead, I’m correcting and grading 42 resumes and cover letters. It’s probably a good thing I’m staying in–my right leg is swollen, burning, and hurting. And just when I bragged to John about how healthy I’ve been. I’m kinda concerned about it because I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

That aside, reading the resumes is quite entertaining. I’ll share a few quotes: “So give me a chance for an interview, and I will give you a surprise.” “Operate masterfully with WP…”; “My ability to write English is out of the question”; “make some flash animations adroitly.” I love seeing and hearing our language used from another point of view. When John retires and becomes a transit consultant, I’m going to become a consultant for correct usage of English for advertising in foreign countries.

Tonight (Friday) I’m taking Susan and Andrea to see the Bund all lit up. Tomorrow my dean invited me on a day trip to Suzhou. I asked if Susan and Andrea could come along, and she ordered a larger bus to accommodate two more people. She (Dean Li) has been very gracious and accommodating.

I’m on the home stretch, just hoping I can remain mobile for another week.

I haven’t blogged for a few days because I’ve been really busy. On Mondays and Tuesdays I have 3-hour classes in the afternoon. It’s tiring to be “on” for 3 hours at a time to teach/entertain 42 students.

Today was just an early 2-hour class, so I returned to the fabric market. I ordered all female family members a new skirt. Jill’s features a golden dragon, Laurie’s a phoenix, Kristy’s an ox (2009), and Chelsea has a large yin/yang design. I hope you all like them, because there are no returns. The (big) boys are getting no souvenirs, just so you know.

In class today when I attempted to show a Powerpoint presentation on job applications, all that appeared were pictures of my cute grandchildren. (I guess that’s courtesy of you, John.) I told the monitor that the file was there when I tested it on my laptop. She was coming to this campus anyway, so she was able to hook up our two computers and download the proper file to a tiny card that she took out of her cell phone!

I offered to take her to lunch in the dining room. She ordered so many dishes that we were full before they even stopped bringing them. I haven’t spent that much on food in the prior week. But I brought back doggy bags (I hope no pun intended), and I’ll be set for several days.

Speaking of expensive, I ordered a double Hagen Daaz ice cream cone and was charged 59 yuan ($10)! I couldn’t believe it–I had previously bought a pair of shoes that cost less.l

I had been staring at the eyes of the monitor, Alpha, on the bus ride home. There was a blue ring around the brown pupil. She later confided to me that she has more money than her classmates because she sells contact lenses. She orders them online, then sells them on campus to the students. She didn’t explain why Chinese would want blue lenses, but she apparently does a booming business. (That and she knows how to work a free lunch…)

I continue to be amused by the Tshirt slogans. My current favorites are:
NEW BOY and JUICY COUTURE.

I really do love this place. The people are great–both and Chinese and the foreign teachers. Who has more fun than I do?

Ah, Adam, so good to hear from you. I see you’re still campaigning to be my No. 1 son. Thanks for the tutorial.

Yesterday we were invited to the Dragon Boat races in a nearby river. The various colleges of the University competed against each other. We cheerleaders had the same orange golf shirts as our rowing team, the College of Finance. I wanted to change teams and cheer for the guys with the cool shirts with Chinese writing and the intimidating headbands. We came in 14 out of 24.

While standing at the railing, taking pictures, they set off a very long string of firecrackers, right in back of me. Pieces were landing in my hair. I couldn’t get out of the way–they had me cornered. Pretty exciting. Riley would have loved it.

Then we visited an old “water” town, with canals instead of roads. We were treated to a lunch with 24 dishes. I tasted everything but the jellyfish, including: toad, eel, dried fish with heads and skin still on (I didn’t eat the head), and snails. Everyone else washed it all down with Chinese beer.

There’s a famous bridge in this village called Freedom bridge. Vendors had bags of goldfish they would sell tourists so they could “free” them into the water. Another first for me was a shooting gallery consisting of balloons attached to an outside wall and some type of BB guns for people to try their luck. I didn’t see anyone win, so I don’t know what the prizes were.

On the bus ride home I saw a huge tree moving down the freeway in front of us. It was so big you couldn’t see the truck carrying it.

Several foreign teachers arrived this weekend. They’ve all been finishing up finals at home. It should be more fun now. My next-door neighbor is from Paris, and reminds me of Buzz Marden. There are two professors from Weber State. I’m going to ask the IT guy to look at my computer.

John, I tried to call you just now (8 p.m. Sunday). Skype kept saying it was connecting, but never did.

I’m off to class now.

I just returned from a performance of the BYU

International Folk Dancers, and I’m so glad I

went.  They were wonderful, but I kept trying to

imagine Steve B. in the group, and it wasn’t

working for me. The new Shanghai
Grand Theater is magnificent–seeing it was worth the price of admission.

Prior to that Doug, Susan, and I rode the new

high-speed MagLev train and spent time in the

museum, making notes and taking pictures for

our report to John.

At People’s Park we found a huge gathering of

people milling around hand-painted signs

that were hanging from trees, propped against

 bags, etc.  I looked for some students to ask

what was going on, but the crowd was solely

middle-aged people.  I finally found an American

photographer who explained that it was the

Saturday dating service.  Parents write des-

criptions of their children for display, and

interested parties (other parents) make notes

of phone numbers, etc.  The singles were no-

where in sight.
It was a gray, humid day until it rain in
the evening.

I’ve determined that my email has been blocked from here. Because Gmail allows free advertising, anytime something appears about freeing Tibet, etc., it gets blocked. Mike R., you wouldn’t have any pull in this area, would you?

Yesterday was my longest teaching day–3 hours

in the morning and 2 1/2 in the afternoon.  Even

though I have the same 42 students the whole

time, we meet in different classrooms each day.

The FengXian campus is huge–total enrollment

for the University (all campuses) is 40,000.

Each day when I get off the bus I have to find a

new building.  It’s a beautiful campus, and very

modern, with the exception of the bathrooms,

which are still “squatters.”

Today’s class began at 8:00, which meant I

boarded the bus at 6:45 a.m., before they even

start serving the rice gruel.  But I’ve found a

French bakery, so I pick up a croissant and a

banana  the night before, which beats the gruel, 

hands down.

I spent the afternoon with friends from home.

Susan and I have taught together for many years.

Her daughter, Andrea, is here teaching nursing

at another university.  The dad, Doug, is here

with them only until Sunday.  We went to Yuan

Garden, ate dumplings and shopped for souve-

nirs.  Ran into a group of BYU students on a

whirlwind 2-week tour studying business in

Asia.  Fun day.

OK, Adam, I’m writing to you again here because

I want the rest of the world to know that I can’t

access my emails.   (And, also, I don’t know how

to make this private.)   To answer your question,

yes, I’m using the webmail access at the righthand

side by the blog login.  It says “This link appears

to be broken.”  I get the same message when I try

the other address you suggested.

So I can communicate with you guys on the old

site or on this blog, if you’ll tell me how to keep

it private.

Thanks for Andrea’s address; you’re in strong

second place….

Mom

And to the rest of the world, I’ll resume my

generic blogging in the near future.  Right now

I’m off to spend the weekend with my friends

from home!

Adam, my link still seems to be broken.  You’re

losing a little ground as my favorite….

Mom

Adam, my link still seems to be broken. 

You’re losing a little ground as my favorite….

Mom

Adam, if you’re reading this, I can’t log on for

emails.  It says “Oops!  this link is broken.”  And

Crittendens are arriving in town tomorrow,

planning to communicate with me by email.

Can you help?  (And what about my pirated

DVD’s?  Ok to play them?)

Thanks, you’re my favorite son.

Mom

I awoke at 4:30 again, so I walked to McDonalds

for a pancake breakfast.  They’re open 24 hrs.

(We’ve taught the world so much!)  Then after

a short meeting at 8:30, I set off for People’s

Square.  There  I ran into some college

students on spring break, and they took me to

a traditional Chinese tea ceremony.  I told them

I don’t drink tea, so I got all the herbal and

flowery stuff.  The ceremony was fascinating,

but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures.  It’s not

done in English, so if I hadn’t had my college

buddies with me, I’d have got nothing out of it.

My next Chinese party (tea ceremony)will be for

grandchildren only….the parents don’t have the

proper attitude.

I’m practicing to be a tour guide for my friends

who are arriving on Friday, so I next went to the

Bund, which is under massive reconstruction.

They’re feverishly preparing for Expo 2010 next

May, which seems to be getting as much hype as

the Olympics.  They have retained their “Public

Manners Day”–the 25th of each month–when

they practice queing up, not spitting, etc.  Today

I even saw a transit worker direct people to wait

for Metro passengers to exit the trains before 

swarming on.  I know now where all the people

are.  Thirteen years ago there was one Metro 

line; now there are nine.  So all those people who

used to pack the buses are all underground.

 Val, I even found a Gelato stand.  I had a “Hazel-

nut Kissing” cone.  A perfect day!

New fact I learned:  America is referred to as

Mei Guo.  The translation is “beautiful country.”

Oh, and I found a 4-leaf clover today.  Quadruple

happiness…