I just noticed after I posted that it shows I am posting at 10:30am on Friday but I'm not really. I guess because I am using a VPN (a service that makes my computer seem to be in San Francisco), so that I can access my blog and avoid all the restrictions placed on the Chinese internet, it is showing my post in PST. So in reality I am posting at 1:30am on Saturday! Just thought I'd let everyone know so the don't get confused as to why I'm saying things like I have to go to bed when it shows me posting at 10 in the morning. Just remember I am 15 hours ahead (it will be 16 once everyone turns the clock back an hour on November 4th).
Night All
Friday, September 28, 2012
Starting Classes
Hi Everyone!
Well I have been very busy. I had my first week of teaching! I didn't start until this week (even though school officially started at the beginning of September) because I have all freshmen and the freshmen go through a month of political training before they start their classes.
This training consists of the students doing drills, marching and shouting slogans all day long.
Sometimes you can't help but feel bad for them as they are on the field ALL day long no matter how hot it is. Notice all the water bottles at their feet and this day wasn't even that warm (well for Nanchang), only about 85, but of course with about 80% humidity! Remember Nanchang is one of the 4 famous furnaces of China. We are actually the #3 furnace so it gets really hot and humid! But the "training" is over and classes have started so I have been enjoying my first week of teaching.
3 of my classes are on the 5th floor (no elevator), so a nice little jaunt up the stairs where I am rewarded with a beautiful view! As you can see on the right is an arrow that shows my apartment so I either walk or ride my bike to school. I love it!
I have 5 classes (approximately 200 students!). I love my students and know I will have a lot of fun teaching them. Each class has it's own distinct personality and it has been a pleasure getting to know my students this week. I have a great schedule. I teach Tuesday's. Thursday's and Friday's from 8:00am to 9:50am and on Wednesday's from 10:10am to 12:00pm and 2:00pm to 3:50pm. I always have a 3 day weekend and if I want to leave right after class on Friday I could be on the train by noon and effectively have a 4 day weekend! Of course while I only have 10 class hours a week, I do spend a lot of time with my students out of class. Everyone lives on campus (including me) and so we run into each other all the time, which is great as it gives the students a chance to practice their English and me a chance to practice my Chinese. I like to play basketball with my students and will eventually have students come over to my apartment (in small groups of course because as nice and big as my apartment is it's not big enough for all 200 at once!) and we will watch movies and practice our English/Chinese. The students are so eager to learn and really appreciate us as teachers.
Since I am in the Business school (The School of Intercultural Studies or SICS), all of my students are either Finance majors or Accounting majors. It is interesting to note that the students do not get to pick their major. Their majors are chosen for them based on their test scores. Additionally, the university that they go to is also based upon test scores. JXNU is considered to be a good university and SICS is considered to be one of the best schools within the university, so I am lucky to have really great students.
Here is a picture of one of my classes. Not everyone is in class yet as it is not quite time to start (there is still 15 minutes before the start of class but most students come early). Each class has a little over 40 students and as you can see from the picture there are a lot more girls than boys. If you notice the boy in the yellow shirt in the front row to the left, his name is Phillip (well his English name is Phillip, which since it is an English class everyone was given an English name if they didn't already have one.). He is the class monitor and was quite a ham. When I was introducing myself to the class he asked me why I came to Nanchang instead of Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong (the three biggest tourist cities in China) and I told him, "Why would I go to those cities when we all know Nanchang is the best!" Of course the students loved that and everyone cheered.
I feel very lucky to be here and am having a blast. I am learning so much and my adventures never end. Although I just started teaching this week I am already on vacation! This coming week is National Day (like our 4th of July) and Mid-Autumn Festival so I have 10 days off. The university had a reception for the foreign teachers where they gave us moon cakes and took us out to dinner. I will have to share the pictures I took of all the wonderful dishes we had but that will have to wait until another time. I must go to bed as I need to be up early so I can get ready for my trip. Yes, I am going to go on a trip this break. I have been invited to Wuhan and am looking forward to my first trip out of the province. Wuhan is in the next province (state) over.
Finally, I want to share a picture of my residency permit.
I am officially a resident! Without this I would be considered an illegal alien, which is kind of funny to me since in California we have so many issues about illegal aliens. But fortunately I have my permit and I am good to go. We have to renew it once a year but the university takes care of that for us. This is a great university and they do a wonderful job taking care of the foreign teachers and so I feel lucky to be a part of such a wonderful community. I love my job and I really appreciate the great experiences I am lucky to be having.
So stay tuned for the next installment about all my wonderful adventures!
Until next time,
Zaijan!
Well I have been very busy. I had my first week of teaching! I didn't start until this week (even though school officially started at the beginning of September) because I have all freshmen and the freshmen go through a month of political training before they start their classes.
This training consists of the students doing drills, marching and shouting slogans all day long.
Sometimes you can't help but feel bad for them as they are on the field ALL day long no matter how hot it is. Notice all the water bottles at their feet and this day wasn't even that warm (well for Nanchang), only about 85, but of course with about 80% humidity! Remember Nanchang is one of the 4 famous furnaces of China. We are actually the #3 furnace so it gets really hot and humid! But the "training" is over and classes have started so I have been enjoying my first week of teaching.
3 of my classes are on the 5th floor (no elevator), so a nice little jaunt up the stairs where I am rewarded with a beautiful view! As you can see on the right is an arrow that shows my apartment so I either walk or ride my bike to school. I love it!
I have 5 classes (approximately 200 students!). I love my students and know I will have a lot of fun teaching them. Each class has it's own distinct personality and it has been a pleasure getting to know my students this week. I have a great schedule. I teach Tuesday's. Thursday's and Friday's from 8:00am to 9:50am and on Wednesday's from 10:10am to 12:00pm and 2:00pm to 3:50pm. I always have a 3 day weekend and if I want to leave right after class on Friday I could be on the train by noon and effectively have a 4 day weekend! Of course while I only have 10 class hours a week, I do spend a lot of time with my students out of class. Everyone lives on campus (including me) and so we run into each other all the time, which is great as it gives the students a chance to practice their English and me a chance to practice my Chinese. I like to play basketball with my students and will eventually have students come over to my apartment (in small groups of course because as nice and big as my apartment is it's not big enough for all 200 at once!) and we will watch movies and practice our English/Chinese. The students are so eager to learn and really appreciate us as teachers.
Since I am in the Business school (The School of Intercultural Studies or SICS), all of my students are either Finance majors or Accounting majors. It is interesting to note that the students do not get to pick their major. Their majors are chosen for them based on their test scores. Additionally, the university that they go to is also based upon test scores. JXNU is considered to be a good university and SICS is considered to be one of the best schools within the university, so I am lucky to have really great students.
Here is a picture of one of my classes. Not everyone is in class yet as it is not quite time to start (there is still 15 minutes before the start of class but most students come early). Each class has a little over 40 students and as you can see from the picture there are a lot more girls than boys. If you notice the boy in the yellow shirt in the front row to the left, his name is Phillip (well his English name is Phillip, which since it is an English class everyone was given an English name if they didn't already have one.). He is the class monitor and was quite a ham. When I was introducing myself to the class he asked me why I came to Nanchang instead of Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong (the three biggest tourist cities in China) and I told him, "Why would I go to those cities when we all know Nanchang is the best!" Of course the students loved that and everyone cheered.
I feel very lucky to be here and am having a blast. I am learning so much and my adventures never end. Although I just started teaching this week I am already on vacation! This coming week is National Day (like our 4th of July) and Mid-Autumn Festival so I have 10 days off. The university had a reception for the foreign teachers where they gave us moon cakes and took us out to dinner. I will have to share the pictures I took of all the wonderful dishes we had but that will have to wait until another time. I must go to bed as I need to be up early so I can get ready for my trip. Yes, I am going to go on a trip this break. I have been invited to Wuhan and am looking forward to my first trip out of the province. Wuhan is in the next province (state) over.
Finally, I want to share a picture of my residency permit.
I am officially a resident! Without this I would be considered an illegal alien, which is kind of funny to me since in California we have so many issues about illegal aliens. But fortunately I have my permit and I am good to go. We have to renew it once a year but the university takes care of that for us. This is a great university and they do a wonderful job taking care of the foreign teachers and so I feel lucky to be a part of such a wonderful community. I love my job and I really appreciate the great experiences I am lucky to be having.
So stay tuned for the next installment about all my wonderful adventures!
Until next time,
Zaijan!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Nanchang Food
Wei (hello)!
These first two pictures are of Niu Roe Mian (beef and noodles). Very delicious and very spicy. Nanchang is known for its spicy food. They make the noodles fresh all day long right in the canteen. We have 5 canteens on campus where we can eat for around 5 kuai per plate (which is about 80 cents!). The top picture also shows some bread. The expats call it pizza bread but it really has nothing to do with pizza other than it is really good. It is about 2 kuai and the water is 1 kuai so the whole meal is under $2.00. And yes, I do eat with chopsticks all the time. In fact, it is a good thing I knew how to eat with chopsticks before I got here as there are no forks and knifes in the canteens whatsoever. They do have spoons but only for the soup and then you still need your chopsticks!
This was a wonderful fish dish, but my friends and I had to go to a restaurant off campus for this meal. The fish was succulent and very delicious. However, I don't go out to restaurants very often and I only eat at the cafeteria occasionally as they serve a lot of carbs. As you can see from the first two pictures, it is heavy on the noodles and very light on the beef. My favorite thing is to go to the open markets and buy fresh ingredients then cook them up myself.
As I said, fresh sometimes means still alive. These are fish that are definitely still alive and kicking. The little tubes going into the bucket are pumping oxygen to the fish. The Chinese really value fresh. They were actually some really nice looking fish but a little to big for just me.
They have many kinds of fish here in Nanchang. The Gan River that runs through Nanchang is a tributary of the Yangtze (or Changjiang, one of the two main rivers of China, the other being the Yellow River or Huang He). In fact Jiangxi, the province I'm in, means West River. Jiang (river) Xi (west). We also have many lakes so we have lots of local fish to choose from. You can also get salmon and other fish from the sea as well. Of course if your not in the mood for fish, fresh meat is always good. Pork is a favorite but you can get all types of meat. Chicken, duck, beef, pork, lamb and sometimes mutton and dog.
There are stores with a more western style here in Nanchang. We actually have a WalMart and there is a store called Metro that caters to the western palate and you can buy things like beef patties from Australia or even Skippy peanut butter. But as long as you go early and not on a terribly hot day, the local open market is a great place to buy all your food needs from fish and meat to fruits and veggies and it is always fresh.
Like I said earlier, Nanchang is known for it's spicy food so you can get lots of wonderful peppers here. From the more mild (like the big green ones and the big red ones), to the really hot small red peppers that people buy and then put outside to dry in the sun. The long skinny green ones are pretty hot too so you have to be careful until you know how hot each type is.
These are some of the little red hot peppers drying on a mat right outside of my apartment building. You can find these everywhere and most dishes have a healthy dose of hot peppers in them. You usually have to ask for a dish to be non spicy. Good thing I like spicy!
They also have lots of wonderful veggies, tubers like potatoes, and other delicious food. But if for some reason after all the shopping you know you will be too tired to cook, you can always opt for the street food option and buy a little take out.
These are various dishes from small snails (lower left bowl) to chicken feet (lower middle bowl) to mushrooms (top two middle bowls). I will admit I wasn't brave enough to try the snails but I have had some great street food. Finally, when I am full on all the delicious street food, I might end with a delicious snack from my childhood (well ok I've only gotten them once because they have way too much sugar for me) that has also been a traditional Chinese treat for centuries.
Candied crabapples! These sure do bring back memories from when I was a child in Hong Kong. I used to love eating them as a child. But of course so much sugar is not on my menu anymore so I've only tried them once but boy did they bring back some wonderful memories!
Well, this is my first adventure into the land of culinary delights that China has to offer. This has been such a great adventure so far and it has just started! I look forward to many more and I look forward to sharing them all with you! So until next time....
Well, I finally got my teaching schedule and I start teaching on Tuesday. I have a great schedule. I only teach 10 hours (5 classes), Tuesday through Friday. So I always have a 3 day weekend!
I've been doing a lot of shopping. I love going to the open markets and buying fresh ingredients (some are so fresh they are still alive!), to bring home to cook. So, I thought I would share some of the culinary delights with you...
I've been doing a lot of shopping. I love going to the open markets and buying fresh ingredients (some are so fresh they are still alive!), to bring home to cook. So, I thought I would share some of the culinary delights with you...
These first two pictures are of Niu Roe Mian (beef and noodles). Very delicious and very spicy. Nanchang is known for its spicy food. They make the noodles fresh all day long right in the canteen. We have 5 canteens on campus where we can eat for around 5 kuai per plate (which is about 80 cents!). The top picture also shows some bread. The expats call it pizza bread but it really has nothing to do with pizza other than it is really good. It is about 2 kuai and the water is 1 kuai so the whole meal is under $2.00. And yes, I do eat with chopsticks all the time. In fact, it is a good thing I knew how to eat with chopsticks before I got here as there are no forks and knifes in the canteens whatsoever. They do have spoons but only for the soup and then you still need your chopsticks!
This was a wonderful fish dish, but my friends and I had to go to a restaurant off campus for this meal. The fish was succulent and very delicious. However, I don't go out to restaurants very often and I only eat at the cafeteria occasionally as they serve a lot of carbs. As you can see from the first two pictures, it is heavy on the noodles and very light on the beef. My favorite thing is to go to the open markets and buy fresh ingredients then cook them up myself.
As I said, fresh sometimes means still alive. These are fish that are definitely still alive and kicking. The little tubes going into the bucket are pumping oxygen to the fish. The Chinese really value fresh. They were actually some really nice looking fish but a little to big for just me.
They have many kinds of fish here in Nanchang. The Gan River that runs through Nanchang is a tributary of the Yangtze (or Changjiang, one of the two main rivers of China, the other being the Yellow River or Huang He). In fact Jiangxi, the province I'm in, means West River. Jiang (river) Xi (west). We also have many lakes so we have lots of local fish to choose from. You can also get salmon and other fish from the sea as well. Of course if your not in the mood for fish, fresh meat is always good. Pork is a favorite but you can get all types of meat. Chicken, duck, beef, pork, lamb and sometimes mutton and dog.
There are stores with a more western style here in Nanchang. We actually have a WalMart and there is a store called Metro that caters to the western palate and you can buy things like beef patties from Australia or even Skippy peanut butter. But as long as you go early and not on a terribly hot day, the local open market is a great place to buy all your food needs from fish and meat to fruits and veggies and it is always fresh.
Like I said earlier, Nanchang is known for it's spicy food so you can get lots of wonderful peppers here. From the more mild (like the big green ones and the big red ones), to the really hot small red peppers that people buy and then put outside to dry in the sun. The long skinny green ones are pretty hot too so you have to be careful until you know how hot each type is.
These are some of the little red hot peppers drying on a mat right outside of my apartment building. You can find these everywhere and most dishes have a healthy dose of hot peppers in them. You usually have to ask for a dish to be non spicy. Good thing I like spicy!
They also have lots of wonderful veggies, tubers like potatoes, and other delicious food. But if for some reason after all the shopping you know you will be too tired to cook, you can always opt for the street food option and buy a little take out.
These are various dishes from small snails (lower left bowl) to chicken feet (lower middle bowl) to mushrooms (top two middle bowls). I will admit I wasn't brave enough to try the snails but I have had some great street food. Finally, when I am full on all the delicious street food, I might end with a delicious snack from my childhood (well ok I've only gotten them once because they have way too much sugar for me) that has also been a traditional Chinese treat for centuries.
Well, this is my first adventure into the land of culinary delights that China has to offer. This has been such a great adventure so far and it has just started! I look forward to many more and I look forward to sharing them all with you! So until next time....
Bon Appétit!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
My Apartment
Hello Everyone! I hope this post finds everyone well. I have been pretty sick for about a week with a head cold, fevers and headaches. I guess it was the welcome to China illness as all 3 of us (the other 2 professors I came with) got sick, but hurray I'm finally starting to feel better!
Since I was so sick I didn't really leave my apartment for a few days and almost went stir crazy so I got the idea why not take pictures of my apartment! Thankfully my apartment is nice and big and I have plenty of room to move around. So here are a few of the pictures I took while "locked up" on the inside. : )
This is my bedroom. Spent a lot of time there this past week. Luckily the view outside the window is nice. I also have an air conditioner in the bedroom which in Nanchang (90 degrees with 80+ percent humidity) is very important!
This is my spare bedroom. I use it for storage and a workout room.
The bathroom is interesting, if you notice the shower is on the right wall. Yes, no dedicated shower but this is also the norm in many places in Europe so I don't really mind. The bathroom also has a couple of really intense heat lamps, which of course right now I don't use, but sure will be happy to have come winter time! Oh and it does have a sink you just can't see it as it's hidden by the front left wall.
My kitchen has all the regular things except a big oven. The little box under the orange pan is my "oven". It's more like a toaster oven but it works and I have a 2 burner stove so can cook most things. My microwave sits on my "big" refrigerator. Yes I said big. I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a dedicated freezer with my fridge. Many of the expats do not. The thing with the pink basket on it is my washing machine. No dryer but I have a pole to hang my clothes on.
This is my my living room. It's a nice size and as you can see I have a tv with over 20 channels in Chinese! Actually I enjoy watching the kid shows. I can actually pick out some of the words and most channels have subtitles (In Chinese for those who speak different dialects than Mandarin, like Cantonese, the written characters are all the same) and I like to pick out the characters I know. Behind the fan is a small kitchen table. Overall the apartment is really nice. Of course after having been stuck in it for most of a week I started to go a little stir crazy but now that I'm starting to feel better I've been going out, so being able to come home to a nice apartment is great.
Not sure what I'll blog about next. Guess you'll just have to come back and find out!
Zaijan (Goodbye) for now everyone!
Since I was so sick I didn't really leave my apartment for a few days and almost went stir crazy so I got the idea why not take pictures of my apartment! Thankfully my apartment is nice and big and I have plenty of room to move around. So here are a few of the pictures I took while "locked up" on the inside. : )
This is my bedroom. Spent a lot of time there this past week. Luckily the view outside the window is nice. I also have an air conditioner in the bedroom which in Nanchang (90 degrees with 80+ percent humidity) is very important!
This is my spare bedroom. I use it for storage and a workout room.
The bathroom is interesting, if you notice the shower is on the right wall. Yes, no dedicated shower but this is also the norm in many places in Europe so I don't really mind. The bathroom also has a couple of really intense heat lamps, which of course right now I don't use, but sure will be happy to have come winter time! Oh and it does have a sink you just can't see it as it's hidden by the front left wall.
My kitchen has all the regular things except a big oven. The little box under the orange pan is my "oven". It's more like a toaster oven but it works and I have a 2 burner stove so can cook most things. My microwave sits on my "big" refrigerator. Yes I said big. I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a dedicated freezer with my fridge. Many of the expats do not. The thing with the pink basket on it is my washing machine. No dryer but I have a pole to hang my clothes on.
This is my my living room. It's a nice size and as you can see I have a tv with over 20 channels in Chinese! Actually I enjoy watching the kid shows. I can actually pick out some of the words and most channels have subtitles (In Chinese for those who speak different dialects than Mandarin, like Cantonese, the written characters are all the same) and I like to pick out the characters I know. Behind the fan is a small kitchen table. Overall the apartment is really nice. Of course after having been stuck in it for most of a week I started to go a little stir crazy but now that I'm starting to feel better I've been going out, so being able to come home to a nice apartment is great.
Not sure what I'll blog about next. Guess you'll just have to come back and find out!
Zaijan (Goodbye) for now everyone!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
1st pictures of China
Hi All,
I have finally gotten online with my computer!!! Yeah, now I should be able to post regularly, I hope (this still is China after all and the internet goes down at times). I want to post a few pictures so you can see where I'm at, so here goes....
This is my first picture of China. I'm on the flight from Beijing to Nanchang (pronounced Nonchong).
This isn't my apartment building, it is the one behind me (I'm taking the picture from my office window), but they look exactly the same so count up 13 stories and that's where I'd be.
This is the view behind my apartment...
And this is the view from the front. Each morning I get to enjoy a fireworks show that is set off by the building in the upper left corner of this picture.
I have been "in country" a week and a day now and it has been one new experience after another. Stay tuned for the next post and I'll tell you all about my experiences trying to order food (all in Chinese of course!).
I have finally gotten online with my computer!!! Yeah, now I should be able to post regularly, I hope (this still is China after all and the internet goes down at times). I want to post a few pictures so you can see where I'm at, so here goes....
This is my first picture of China. I'm on the flight from Beijing to Nanchang (pronounced Nonchong).
This isn't my apartment building, it is the one behind me (I'm taking the picture from my office window), but they look exactly the same so count up 13 stories and that's where I'd be.
This is the view behind my apartment...
And this is the view from the front. Each morning I get to enjoy a fireworks show that is set off by the building in the upper left corner of this picture.
I have been "in country" a week and a day now and it has been one new experience after another. Stay tuned for the next post and I'll tell you all about my experiences trying to order food (all in Chinese of course!).
Monday, September 3, 2012
Wei (Hello)
Wei (Hello),
Sorry it has taken me so long to post but I don't have total internet access yet. I only have access to my Chinese computer, ,which is very, very restricted, so I had to send this to my daughter so she can post for me as I can only see my blog but not edit or add to it (so thank you Jessie!). I hope to have full internet access on my computer by next week, hopefully, and I will be able to post regularly.
As for my first week in China... It has been fantastic and overwhelming all at once. I admit, it has been difficult not being able to communicate with anyone but I am slowly learning Chinese. I am proud to say I can now order my own food! Wo yao niu roe mian (I want beef and noodles)! I was also able to tell my building superintendent that my shower head was broken (in Chinese) and she must have understood me because a few hours later she knocked on my door with a new one to install. Hurray for small triumphs!
I live on the 13th floor of an 18 story building (the tallest on campus) at Jiangxi Normal University (JXNU). We have about 40,000 students, most of whom live on campus and the campus is huge (although considered to be mid-sized by Chinese standards)! My view is great and each morning I get to enjoy a fireworks display. I have a beautiful canal that runs along my apartment building and there is a path along it that I enjoy walking on. I will post pictures once I have my computer up and running.
This is definitely an experience of a lifetime and I look forward to being able to post pictures and blog regularly about my Chinese adventures.
Stay tuned...
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