I know based on my last few post you’ve probably been thinking I’ve been only eating and playing. And while I have, no doubt, I’ve also been busy with writing and teaching. In fact I’ve got a few exciting things to tell you.
Writing
First, I wrote a guest blog over at mytefl.net! It was originally going to be a post for this website about how I learn Chinese culture through my English class. One of the admins (or is he an editor? I’m not sure) asked me to submit a guest post for their site and I realized this post I had already written would be perfect for them.
So go check it out! It’s actually been edited for a change, so there shouldn’t be half as many grammar mistakes as you find on my blog. (Yes, I’m aware. No, I don’t care.) Teach in China: How to Really Learn the Culture
Also, speaking of writing, I have officially finished the second draft of my book. You know, the one I wrote in a mere 20 days. It took me 6 weeks to edit it into something slightly readable. The first draft was also 500 pages. I managed to cut it down to 425 pages and then somehow added another 25 pages. God, I’m a chatty bastard.
I have a few first-readers reading it now to give me feedback and I’m eager to start draft three! (I’m forcing myself to take a two week break from working on my book and it’s killing me. I had arranged everything in my week around writing, and now that I don’t have that anchor I feel adrift with my new free time.)
And, I (kinda) ended up in a magazine. We had a beach picnic a few weeks ago in request of a magazine. They wanted to take pictures of a “foreigners” picnic. We hung out in the beach, played frisbee and ate good food. All while being photographed. Well, the article finally came out, though I haven’t actually gotten my hands on a copy yet. They really featured my Spanish friend Ivan with his Spanish Omelettes.
Teaching
The teaching side of things has been going well. Not one, but THREE classes chose me as their favorite teachers (out of all the teachers that teach them this year). It was a super nice honor, and totally unexpected.
The funniest thing was these classes contacted me monday and required me to give them a little write-up about myself for the higher-ups. It’s not just like, “we like you,” but an actual official thing. On Wednesday I was told unexpectedly I had a meeting. I assumed that the meeting was in response to this “award” and it would be a little award ceremony.
In fact, before the meeting I complained loudly to some co-workers about the annoying ceremony that was going into all this. “They totally chinese-fied a nice sentiment from my students,” I complained.
Then I got to the office and it turned out to be a normal meeting about final exams and stuff. They never even mentioned my accolades and I’m not even sure they knew about it. So here I was annoyed by the unwanted attention, and then annoyed by the total lack of attention. Ha!
That’s the big news these days but soon I’ll have even bigger news! I’ve done a few things that will come out next week or two weeks. So you have to wait to hear about them. So see? I’ve been a bit busy besides just hanging out and eating.
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