| 29 March 2010
You know how when it snows, big plows drive around and clear the main roads? Well when it snows here, a veritable army of men and women armed with shovels and brooms take to the streets. They spend the day systematically clearing the roads, including the 6 lanes across from my apartment. I can only imagine how they must feel when they finish, go home for dinner and see snow in the forecast for the next day. Sonofabitch! And to think that you could put thousands of Chinese workers out of a job with a plow and a bag of salt...
| 02 March 2010
Well I've started my classes, which range from 5 to 15 year olds. There's 2 types of teachers at Bai Da Wei - Branch and Kinder. The kinder teachers are sent out to kindergartens that have contracts with us - they work 5 hours a day, Monday to Friday. The branch teachers are the "core" of the business and teach evening classes, from 5 - 7, 3 days during the week and 9-5 on weekends. There were 2 branch positions available and they selected Sam and I - which is a good thing. We also found out that within the chinese employee circle, we're known as the "beautiful couple". Tell me how that's not supposed to go straight to my head?
| 26 February 2010
I gotta hand it to the team at Bai Da Wei (and yes, I get a chuckle out of the name too), is that they don't just throw you to the sharks the day you arrive. We've had training sessions all day, every day, to make sure we're up to par with their teaching practices and standards. So we don't actually start teaching until Monday. We've been too tired to do anything but sleep - we haven't even unpacked yet. And certainly haven't explored at all. So let's talk about the school.
| 24 February 2010
Well after 10 days of passport drama, way too much money spent on rebooking tickets, and completely throwing away the cost of two round trip tickets (thanks sky-tours!), missed and delayed flights, we've finally arrived in Changchun. I don't think my testicles have though, because they're nowhere to be found.
| 01 March 2010
All I wanted were some wings. Some enough-spice-to-warrant-my-eating-with-my-fingers-and-getting-sauce-embedded-in-my-cuticles, sloppy wings.
