China Trip: Monday, 17 July 2006
7:00am
Every morning, we started with devotions. During our time here in China, we are studying the Book of Mark. Each day we cover 1 to 2 chapters, and we take turns leading the discussion.
7:30am
We have employed two cooks to do the cooking for us. This is our daily breakfast time. Quite rushed, as we prepare for classes to begin at 8:00am.
8:00am
The first class! There was a guy who introduced himself to me before the start of the class as “Zhou Jing Ge” or “Jim”. He’s quite the loud one. In his turn to introduce himself to the class, he was yelling “I have come to learn English and to lose face! I want to learn English because I want to become the best English speaker in Heyuan, in Guangdong and in all of China!!” he turned out to be one of the very helpful kids in class – but still mischievous nevertheless. Two of the guys: Felix (our teaching assistant) and “Richer” (one of the students in our class and who drives his jeep to the church) took me out for breakfast. We went to some hawker place, had soup and noodles with spare ribs. Cheap, but very tasty stuff. “The best food in China is in Guangdong”, according to them.
We changed our plans for the summer school. Because there were less students enrolled in this course (due to local schools giving compulsory tuition), each level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Special) had a single stream consisting of approximately 40 students, instead of the previously planned double stream (which was meant to cater for 60 students). So now the typical morning consists of a 2 hour session of class, a 30minute break and then a further 1 hour session.
Today’s class activity involved getting the students writing their names on a piece of paper and writing descriptions of themselves. These descriptions had to begin with each letter in their name. We were looking for adjectives, but some people had the funniest descriptions. A girl named Zeng Li Qin, wrote ZLQ on her paper, and described herself as “Zeitgeist”, “Lovely” and “Quickly”!! What’s a zeitgeist?!? Others started writing things they like: apple, orange, Italy, England, …! What a funny class!
Some anagrammatic names
Megan and Jenny, my two co-teachers, and our classroom
8:00pm
We walked to the river and watched what they said was the tallest water fountain in the Southern Hemisphere. Others said it was the tallest in SE Asia. Whichever it was, it was pretty tall.
10:00pm
For supper: durian! Hmm… I ate a piece, and it was rather “fibre-y”. In Malaysia they have a creamier texture, but this one was imported from Thailand. Regardless, I still don’t like them!
Every morning, we started with devotions. During our time here in China, we are studying the Book of Mark. Each day we cover 1 to 2 chapters, and we take turns leading the discussion.
7:30am
We have employed two cooks to do the cooking for us. This is our daily breakfast time. Quite rushed, as we prepare for classes to begin at 8:00am.
8:00am
The first class! There was a guy who introduced himself to me before the start of the class as “Zhou Jing Ge” or “Jim”. He’s quite the loud one. In his turn to introduce himself to the class, he was yelling “I have come to learn English and to lose face! I want to learn English because I want to become the best English speaker in Heyuan, in Guangdong and in all of China!!” he turned out to be one of the very helpful kids in class – but still mischievous nevertheless. Two of the guys: Felix (our teaching assistant) and “Richer” (one of the students in our class and who drives his jeep to the church) took me out for breakfast. We went to some hawker place, had soup and noodles with spare ribs. Cheap, but very tasty stuff. “The best food in China is in Guangdong”, according to them.
We changed our plans for the summer school. Because there were less students enrolled in this course (due to local schools giving compulsory tuition), each level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Special) had a single stream consisting of approximately 40 students, instead of the previously planned double stream (which was meant to cater for 60 students). So now the typical morning consists of a 2 hour session of class, a 30minute break and then a further 1 hour session.
Today’s class activity involved getting the students writing their names on a piece of paper and writing descriptions of themselves. These descriptions had to begin with each letter in their name. We were looking for adjectives, but some people had the funniest descriptions. A girl named Zeng Li Qin, wrote ZLQ on her paper, and described herself as “Zeitgeist”, “Lovely” and “Quickly”!! What’s a zeitgeist?!? Others started writing things they like: apple, orange, Italy, England, …! What a funny class!
Some anagrammatic names
Megan and Jenny, my two co-teachers, and our classroom8:00pm
We walked to the river and watched what they said was the tallest water fountain in the Southern Hemisphere. Others said it was the tallest in SE Asia. Whichever it was, it was pretty tall.
10:00pm
For supper: durian! Hmm… I ate a piece, and it was rather “fibre-y”. In Malaysia they have a creamier texture, but this one was imported from Thailand. Regardless, I still don’t like them!
posted by Sam Leong @ 12:00 am
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