It has been awhile since last I wrote here so here is an update:
On Monday I had a lesson with my tutor Michael, yes this was a make-up because he was up north in Harbin looking at the ice sculptures and his train didn’t get him back until late on Sunday. When he was here on Monday he brought a drink for Nate and I to try, it was made of Russian bread in a liquid form and looked like ginger ale and tasted like soft pretzels, Nate loved it, me it was okay. I wouldn’t buy it for me, but then again I don’t think I’d throw it out either. After that Nate and I went walking to Vanguard to get some groceries and we stopped to get baked sweet potatoes from our favorite vendor. While we were there a young woman came up and told Nate that he was handsome. Nate was not impressed! I was reminded yet again that when my son does find girls attractive our house will probably be a busy one. The girl was making eyes at Nate and I thought he would be sick, the attention of girls is “getting old” according to my pre-teen son.
Tuesday was my last class with my Business English Negotiation students for this semester. I am sorry to see this group of students go, but I know that some of them will stay in touch and all of them will do well in English. My last class saw lots of missing students because other classes had there tests scheduled for our class time.
Wednesday was an epic day for me. I walked to the China Post and mailed a letter to my mom. It was my first experience doing any mailing from China to the US and I am looking forward to seeing how long it takes for my letter to get to her. I’ve been telling her about my Chinese lessons in how to write as well as speak and so some of my Chinese Characters are included in the letter. I also walked to our local copy shop to get ready to hand in my grades. Both Chuck and I are making copies of our grades so we can have them to show us how to go about setting up our classes for next semester. I only hope that I still have my Business English Negotiations classes. Also the spring on my kickstand on my bike came off today but I found the spring. It was all in one piece and it can be put back on, just don’t have the right tools and we will have to make a visit to the mechanics shop later this week.
Thursday and am I excited today I hand in my grades for the classes I taught this past semester, my goal of taking care of school related business before my vacation is soon to be realized. We ate at a restaurant near the old campus when we got back. It is a traditional Chinese place so we got LOTS of double takes as people walked into the diner to eat lunch. The food was good but just spicy enough for us to have to walk to the old campus and get ice cream to cool our mouths. That got more stares, was it that we are foreigners or was is that we were eating ice cream in January wearing winter gear, or perhaps both foreigners eating ice cream in January but at least we didn't have to worry about the ice cream melting on our hands...LOL I also wrote a story for Nate based on the location and feeling that he gave me. I had to write on boredom at an amusement park that wasn’t easy but the story brought a smile to Nate’s face.
Today Friday, not much happening today, I went for some pampering today since today was the first day of my vacation. I made the decision to sit down and write for at least 15 minutes everyday and I started right off doing that today. Writing can be about anything and even though I feel that my life is kind of routine I know that picking up and moving halfway around the world means your life is anything but routine. Everyday is something new or a new way to do the same old thing that you have done for years at home before you moved. Biggest thing that I have learned is that if you understand a few words in another language and then speak them, it is assumed that you can understand a flood of them and the flood will soon start! That is perhaps why I’ve been shy about trying my knowledge of new words to say something will mean people will say something else and that will lead to that dark and murky place of...
“I don’t understand you!”
On Monday I had a lesson with my tutor Michael, yes this was a make-up because he was up north in Harbin looking at the ice sculptures and his train didn’t get him back until late on Sunday. When he was here on Monday he brought a drink for Nate and I to try, it was made of Russian bread in a liquid form and looked like ginger ale and tasted like soft pretzels, Nate loved it, me it was okay. I wouldn’t buy it for me, but then again I don’t think I’d throw it out either. After that Nate and I went walking to Vanguard to get some groceries and we stopped to get baked sweet potatoes from our favorite vendor. While we were there a young woman came up and told Nate that he was handsome. Nate was not impressed! I was reminded yet again that when my son does find girls attractive our house will probably be a busy one. The girl was making eyes at Nate and I thought he would be sick, the attention of girls is “getting old” according to my pre-teen son.
Tuesday was my last class with my Business English Negotiation students for this semester. I am sorry to see this group of students go, but I know that some of them will stay in touch and all of them will do well in English. My last class saw lots of missing students because other classes had there tests scheduled for our class time.
Wednesday was an epic day for me. I walked to the China Post and mailed a letter to my mom. It was my first experience doing any mailing from China to the US and I am looking forward to seeing how long it takes for my letter to get to her. I’ve been telling her about my Chinese lessons in how to write as well as speak and so some of my Chinese Characters are included in the letter. I also walked to our local copy shop to get ready to hand in my grades. Both Chuck and I are making copies of our grades so we can have them to show us how to go about setting up our classes for next semester. I only hope that I still have my Business English Negotiations classes. Also the spring on my kickstand on my bike came off today but I found the spring. It was all in one piece and it can be put back on, just don’t have the right tools and we will have to make a visit to the mechanics shop later this week.
Thursday and am I excited today I hand in my grades for the classes I taught this past semester, my goal of taking care of school related business before my vacation is soon to be realized. We ate at a restaurant near the old campus when we got back. It is a traditional Chinese place so we got LOTS of double takes as people walked into the diner to eat lunch. The food was good but just spicy enough for us to have to walk to the old campus and get ice cream to cool our mouths. That got more stares, was it that we are foreigners or was is that we were eating ice cream in January wearing winter gear, or perhaps both foreigners eating ice cream in January but at least we didn't have to worry about the ice cream melting on our hands...LOL I also wrote a story for Nate based on the location and feeling that he gave me. I had to write on boredom at an amusement park that wasn’t easy but the story brought a smile to Nate’s face.
Today Friday, not much happening today, I went for some pampering today since today was the first day of my vacation. I made the decision to sit down and write for at least 15 minutes everyday and I started right off doing that today. Writing can be about anything and even though I feel that my life is kind of routine I know that picking up and moving halfway around the world means your life is anything but routine. Everyday is something new or a new way to do the same old thing that you have done for years at home before you moved. Biggest thing that I have learned is that if you understand a few words in another language and then speak them, it is assumed that you can understand a flood of them and the flood will soon start! That is perhaps why I’ve been shy about trying my knowledge of new words to say something will mean people will say something else and that will lead to that dark and murky place of...
“I don’t understand you!”