Hooray for the Holidays!

Hooray for China's National Holiday! This past week was rough. This week was monthly exam week, which means that all of the students (grade 4 - 12) took exams in every single subject. That means every single teacher, including yours truly, had to write and grade every exam for every class.

In China, the exams are taken much more seriously than in the US. Classroom participation and homework only account for 10% of the grade, and 90% is based on the students' performance on two monthly exams, a midterm and final. A student can receive a zero on his/her homework grade, but ace the class by performing well on the exams. As a result, you can only imagine the stress level at the school this week. Even the fourth graders have to take exams.

On top of the exams, the government made all teachers and students attend school this weekend to make up for our holiday next week. In China, it's common for many businesses to work overtime during the weekends before a major holiday. This means that I have been working all 7 days since last Sunday, and boy has it been brutal. The last two days have been pretty draining, and my brain is now as good as mush.

On the bright side, we took the 4th and 5th graders out yesterday and had a tug of war competition. Here are some pictures.

Here's Dione, Nancy and Sophie. They are my 5th grade geography students.

Here's Jonathon, another one of my 5th graders.

I don't know who the kid in the middle is, but to the left is Vincent and to the right is Chris. They are also 5th graders.

Let the tug of war begin! Pull!

Little Dione pulling with her mighty strength

Next came the 4th graders. Here's Jerry, one of my students in 4th grade Science.

Erica and Ellen smiling for the camera. Hi! My name is Michael Tiger, and I like Science!

Michael trying to act cool...haha
Pull Michael pull (poor kid)!

Come on Ellen! PULL!!!
Jerry and Powell hanging on for dear life.

Ariel watching from the sidelines.

Yay! We won!

Somehow the boys got themselves tangled up in the rope.

And then they fell down and started to cry.

All in all, it was a great day for the 4th and 5th graders at SHSID.

Happy One Month in China!

Caption: Don't be fooled by the campus' beauty. Aliens land here at night.

Caption: My new buddies

Caption: Hongkou Stadium, one of the many stadiums where the 2008 FIFA Women's World Cup was held. We went there to support the US team when it played against Nigeria.

Caption: I guess I missed the memo for laundry day.

Caption: Little Chinese girl outside the school gate. Isn't she adorable?

Caption: When the clock strikes 6:30 am, the students line up for their morning exercises.

Happy One Month in China! Time has flown by, and I have officially been living (and surviving) in Shanghai for a month. So much has changed already. In one month, I transformed from a nervous person living in a foreign city to one who is quite comfortable with her surroundings. Shanghai is a big city, but it’s very similar to New York. In some ways, the “Paris of the East” is better than, if not on par with New York – the subways are much cleaner, the Chinese food is tastier (as one would expect), and I have ample opportunity to practice my Chinese.

Obviously, I'm still adjusting to the new environment. I find certain things to be a bit strange in China – for one, many Chinese people do not believe in the concept of a line or queue. In the US, you wait in line for your turn. In China, it’s a free for all society where the battles of the strongest elbows conquer. If you want to buy a ticket for the metro, you stick your elbows out and shove your way to the teller. To get onto the metro, you stick your elbows out and force your way onto the train. Taxis, restaurants, the copy machine room – elbows out and shove, shove, shove. It’s not that the country does not have any manners. It’s just that the American concept of manners differs from the Chinese. Queues do not exist nor should they have any reason to. Word on the street is that we will have “Queuing Day” to help prepare the local Beijing people for the 2008 Summer Olympics (have fun implementing that).

Other interesting things – the campus, as I mentioned before, is very serene and beautiful during the day. However, when darkness falls, the campus morphs into a zoo/X-files scene. I’m not sure why, but the school installed these bright and eerie green lights that make the campus look like the perfect home for aliens. Ferrets hide in the bushes and startle us at night. Bats fly in and circle around while we’re doing an evening run on the track. There are 4 or 5 cats that hide in the bushes and hiss at us as we walk by. There’s also a stray dog named “Trotsky” that darts out of nowhere and chases the pedestrians around campus. Oh, and the cats chase Trotsky. It's quite comical.

Classes started in early September and have been going relatively well. I’m teaching every possible subject and grade there is – International Baccalaureate Economics (12th grade), 10th grade Economics, 6th grade ESL, 5th Grade Geography, and 4th Grade Science – you name it, I teach it. I have to refresh my memory with parts of the animal/plant cells and learn about David Ricardo’s Theory of Comparative Advantage (for those of you who don’t know, it’s one of the fundamental international trade theories). I love teaching the primary school children, I am challenged by the 12th graders, and I get headaches from the 10th graders.

So far so good. The school is keeping me busy, but I'm having a great time here. Next week will be a national holiday for China, and I will be traveling down south to Yangshuo. I can't wait to sit in the rice paddy fields and vegetate. No reading for 1 week!

Home Sweet Home!

I made it to Shanghai in one piece :)! Shanghai, the largest city of China, is home to over 13 million people, and here I am, ready to join them. Often referred to as the “Paris of the East” or the “New York of China”, it’s a bustling city with modern skyscrapers, but also deeply rooted in traditional Chinese values.

I’m definitely going through a little bit of culture shock. Even though I’ve only been here for less than 1 day, I’m already feeling the difference between adjusting to a new city as a tourist versus a new habitant. Everything is new, different and foreign. The basic tasks that we take for granted at home are suddenly huge challenges for us to overcome. I ventured outside of campus earlier this morning to purchase some basic supplies, and ended up spending two hours trying to decipher various cleaning products that were completely labeled in Chinese. Instead of Mr. Clean, it’s Mr. Muscle (and he has black hair). Instead of purchasing laundry detergent in containers, you purchase them in bags. Want mint flavored Colgate toothpaste? Try honey flavored instead. I have to be honest - it’s a bit overwhelming, and I feel more overwhemled than when I came to China in March. Hopefully, I'll eventually get used to my new environment.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the new abode. My new home is located in the Xuhui district, which is the southwestern part of Shanghai. The apartment is nice – we have Westernized bathroom amenities (phew), a semi-full sized bed, kitchen, and a TV with 3 English channels. I even have a balcony which overlooks the lake located outside the apartment building. I think I'm going to like it here.

Hello Shanghai!

Location: Newark Liberty International Airport

Going back to China! After months of planning, I am finally on my way to Shanghai. The bags are checked, and I am sitting outside the gate, waiting to board. These past 2 weeks have felt like a blur to me – I've had farewell party after farewell party, coupled with drinks at work, extended family dinners, core family dinners, and dinners with friends. In a way, I feel like I’m being a bit dramatic (after all, who throws 10 going away gatherings for a 10-month stint abroad?), but hey, a litle party here and there doesn’t hurt anyone. I certainly feel blessed and lucky to have so many loved ones. I’m going to miss everyone, and no, I’m not going to forget any of you. This is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done, and there may come a time when I’ll look back and ask you, “What in the world was I thinking?”