This week we pulled off a surprise we had been planning for a month. One student, Wendy, had spent the last semester in America. We were chatting on Facebook one day and she told me she had changed her plane ticket from Dec. 28th to Dec 11th. “Did you tell
Snow Day!!
We live in southern China which is about equal, weather-wise, to southern America. I would say we have a similar climate to North Carolina; insanely hot in the summer, and quite cold in the winter. But snow is unusual, especially as this winter temp’s have been in the upper 50’s,
Letters Across the Pacific
Last year, my friend Erick and I came up with an idea. Erick teaches writing (among other subjects) to 5th graders in Massachusetts, and I teach writing to college sophomores. Was there a way we could somehow bridge the Pacific and have the students interact with each other through writing?
Some Specific Differences of Chinese and American Education
As I’ve been learning, the Chinese and Western ways of learning are vastly different. For starters, they work much, much harder. (They laughed, actually laughed in disbelief, when I told them our school day is from about 8:00-2:30. They start earlier and often go until 9 p.m. and then stay
Out and About With My ipod
I have been the owner of a 4g ipod touch for several weeks now and I don’t know how I ever lived without it. I carry it around with me everywhere and is close to me even at night. (That’s because our alarm clock died and until we get a
Behind the Scenes of our Book Trailer
It’s only 3 weeks until the release of my new book, The Fuzzy Philosopher, and we are hard at work behind the scenes. These days you can’t release a new book without making a book trailer. A book trailer is like a movie preview, only for the book. Some are
We Wuz Robbed
I’ll tell you the end of the story first. Our camera was stolen, from our apartment, and the thief got away. Unfortunately we only have the one camera and therefore I couldn’t take pictures of the hilarious night that ensued. So you will have to do with pictures I found
Sunday is the New Thursday
Foreign teachers usually have a hard time with the Chinese yearly school calendar, and not without good reason. The schedule here is crazy, complex and changes every year so that even the students and Chinese teachers have different stories. Take, for example, today. It is Sunday, normally a day off.
It's as hot as….
This past week was hot. Damn hot. I would come home from teaching 4 hours of class with a shirt so wet with sweat it had salt stains all over it when it dried. And I wasn’t the only one who suffered, the poor students did too. In writing class
One Year Later
One year ago today I was getting off a plane in Shanghai to begin my Chinese adventure. One year ago I was waking up only an hour after I fell asleep, feverish and confused in my surroundings due to extreme jetlag. One year ago today I was walking into stores