I overheard a comment from a female student to a male student before class last week: “Hey, you finally changed clothes!” I didn’t want to laugh, but I was just totally cracking up inside. It was one of those “totally China” moments.
So what’s the deal? Put simply, Chinese people often wear the same outfit for several days in a row. At first I found it strange, but before long, I was adapting to this aspect of culture. Allow me …
I’ve really let putting pictures online slide. (Remember those Yunnan photos I’ve been meaning to get online for over a month now?) Well, I finally did a little catching up, and further integrated Racingmix‘s photos with Sinosplice’s. The mirroring continues.
Yunnan Photos are finally online — two pages of them. Story to follow.
ChinaTEFL Linhai Trip Photos from last weekend are also online now.
Check out the photo album page for updated Racingmix mirror links and some Japan picture …
Did you hear about this story? “Foreigners in China Stage Small Anti-War Protest” from washingtonpost.com. There are several things about this article I find interesting.
First, the protest consisted of “several dozen foreigners.” In a city of millions of people, only “several dozen foreigners” had the balls to protest a war that pretty much all of China disagrees with?? To be fair, it’s true that the foreigners won’t get in nearly as much trouble (if any) for protesting, whereas any …
I’m here in China to get really good at Mandarin Chinese. Fortunately, I also enjoy teaching English, since I’ve been doing it for going on three years now. I’m really interested in applied linguistics, so to me teaching is more than just a source of income. It’s research. (Warning to the short of attention span: the following long post is going to be solely about teaching English in China.)
At the end of each semester, I always evaluate how …
Wilson
In the past I have done a little introductory mug shot page for the English-teaching foreign teachers here at ZUCC. This semester Wilson did it. It’s hosted on his site, but since his site is blocked in China and mine isn’t, it’s also mirrored on my site. Check it out! I’m sure I’ll be mentioning these people on here in the future.
During his time here, Wilson has gotten really imaginative with his photography and web design. …
You gave your life to become the person you are right now.
Was it worth it? –Richard Bach
Few quotes get me thinking these days like this one did. It’s easy to blow it off without pondering it, but I found it a very worthwhile rumination.
I found the quote in a blog called imo. Interestingly, two of the four quotes on that page are also on my quotes page. (Not the one above, though.) Good quotes.
I …
Rensheng AB Ju
Yeah, I’m not even going to try to translate this one. Rensheng AB Ju is the name of a television show here in Zhejiang. On this show the beginning of a story is told by video to the audience, then stopped, and the watchers are given two choices: A and B. Which should the person take? The three guests (usually of minor fame) are then asked by the host which choice they think is best and why. …
我来中国以来一直很想知道在中国大学其中哪些大学最好。最近Chuck的blog有答案。是这样：
1. 清华大学（北京） 2. 北京大学（北京） 3. 浙江大学（杭州） 4. 复旦大学（上海） 5. 华中科技大学（武汉） 6. 南京大学（南京） 7. 武汉大学（武汉） 8. 吉林大学（长春） 9. 上海交通大学（上海） 10. 中山大学（广东）
哇，浙大是第三名！不错。以前我跟我的朋友雷雷讨论过这个问题：浙江大学好还是南京大学好？雷雷总是说在各个方面南京比杭州好，包括大学。我都不理他因为杭州没有他说的那么差劲。我才有办法向他证明在这个方面杭州好。
我觉得有意思的是中国北方人老以为北方比南方有文化。那么为什么在中国最优秀的大学其中北方只有三个呢？我不得不承认北京是有中国最好的两个大学，但我还 以为北方应该有更多的。对这个问题我特别有兴趣因为下个学期我想再当学生，很认真地学中文。到现在我在中国从来没有上过中文课。对我来说好象自学的进步是 有限的，我想再上学的时间到了。所以我要考虑去哪里上中文课比较好呢？我知道北京的大学最好，最有名，那边的普通话最标准。可是我真的不想住在北方，也不 想学北方的口音。还好南方有这么多好大学。…
head like an empty sterile room, somehow I made a mess
like watching newborn babies crack from work-related stress
-Alkaline Trio, “I lied my face off”
Well, it’s the beginning of the semester, a fresh start. New students, new teachers, new lesson plans… Somehow it all seems a little “messy” though. I wonder if it’s because of the constant rain. We actually had nice weather today, but that’s a rarity. The other day I accidentally said “rain forecast” instead …
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
All Posts