Are you horny?

Then China is the perfect place for you! I'm speaking of liking to toot your car's horn, of course. The horns can be very annoying at times, but a fellow teacher Zach has explained that he actually likes it now. He has purchased a little scooter and rides it around, and he says that most of the horns are to let you know that a car is near you and watch out! Because lane changes happen all over the place, it can be tough to keep track of where everyone is, and the horns let you know. It makes sense, and I haven't yet seen a traffic accident (although I'm sure I will).  There are some drivers, though, that simply toot their horns at everything (for instance, turning a corner) or when in a traffic jam where it does absolutely no good. That is annoying! You will not see any traffic cops in China - they simply don't exist.

So here is a copy of my teaching schedule for the 1st week. I've been told that it will likely change several times, but the classes I teach shouldn't change, only the times. I won't explain exactly what each class is as they are all slightly different, but basically I have 4 AP Calculus AB/BC classes and 1 Mechanics class (it is an English course emphasizing math and physics).

I hope you have the ability to zoom in on it as it looks pretty small here...
The classes are 40 minutes each - I teach 20 classes a week for a total of 800 minutes or 13.3 hours/week.
Contrast that with North Clackamas where you'd teach 3 90 minute classes a day or 1350 minutes a week or 22.5 hours/week. Hmmm...

That's why it's not working!

Here I was thinking that we were having a staff dinner tonight - and it's not until next Friday! So I went in to a noodle restaurant and ordered up some spicy noodles (actually I just pointed) and I had a nutritious bowl of noodles and some type of meat (probably don't want to know) and a beer for $2.50 (15 yuan). Not bad!!

Tomorrow, which is a Saturday, we have our first meeting with all of our Chinese colleagues. Then we are done until Monday. The Chinese will be coming in on Sunday as well. (I'm distracted right now by the sound of loud firecrackers. They are blown off when someone dies. I figure there are many people that die - but then there are a lot of people!).  We'll get our starting timetable tomorrow and then I can give you the lowdown on our teaching hours. I can tell you that any teachers reading this won't like it - the number of teaching hours per week is significantly lower here (even though we have to be at school for a long time). Each period is 40 minutes long and my typical math class meets 4 times a week...

I met a woman in the apartment elevator this morning who started talking to me in English (a first). She tutors 12 year old kids in English on Friday evenings once or twice a month and asked if I'd be willing to join. I said sure, sounds like fun! I think next Friday is the first one, but that might conflict with our staff dinner so we'll see...

Rain is forecast for this weekend. I wonder if that will help cool it down. I haven't seen any rain here in China yet other than when I first arrived in Shanghai.

My 1st purchase in China was...

Yeah, I have to admit it. And it tasted so good!

The basic currency in China can be referred to 3 different ways (why make anything easy?).  It can be called renminbi (RMB - the people's currency), the yuan, and kuai. For rough calculations, you can figure $1 is about 6 Yuan, or divide your Yuan by 6 to get dollars. The food here is pretty cheap, but other household items are probably fairly close to US on average. When you go into a regular store and the items are bar-coded, no bargaining goes on. But if you go to a stall,  or stand, things are much more informal and you can bicker down. They'll show you the price using a calculator so you can manage that way...

I met one of my Chinese math counterparts yesterday. He is 25 years old, been teaching at the school for 3 years, goes by the english name Sky, and speaks pretty darn good English! He's very enthusiastic and has a quick smile - I'm looking forward to working with him. He thinks the Chinese are very hard on their children and that they memorize and learn things quickly but have no deep understanding. Arguments I've heard before. He also loves NBA basketball and can probably name for you every team and roster since 2000. When I told him I lived just a few blocks from the Trailblazer's arena, he was in awe! He's visited the US and said the highlight of his life was Universal Studios - when he was there he just couldn't believe the creativity and originality that was displayed there. 

Today, still no school, so I walked around looking for someplace to get some decent bread (hard to find here). After about an hour and a half, I came upon this bakery that is run by a Japanese, and he sells French style loaves of bread (baguettes?). It cost 7 Yuan (just a little over a dollar) which seems pretty reasonable. I am now going to have some...  

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's...

pollution! At first I thought that maybe it was just foggy in the morning, but then I was told there is no fog in Xián. You don't really notice it much here, unless you look off to the distance. The city has mountains around much of it, but you can't see them with the pollution. There has been 2 days so far when I have been able to see the outline of the mountains far away. You'll see a few people wearing masks, but not many. They say in the winter that it is much worse (coal burning power plants for heat?) and you'll see more people wearing masks. In Wuxi the pollution was particularly bad - you could smell it in the air. It certainly is a good thing that all (or most all) scooters and motorcycles are electric...

Opened up a Chinese bank account today - it only took a 2 hour wait in line! And I can now get paid!

Let me explain a little about the school here. I was trying to think of a good way to describe it and then the words "charter school"  popped into my head. Our International School (which is really 100% Chinese) is like a school within the larger school. We are totally separate in terms of classes and teachers, but share many of the same facilities. Our staff is mostly Chinese teachers, but us foreigners are here to give the classes a Western flavor and help prepare them for their exams a little better. Most of the classes will have a Chinese and a foreign teacher, with the teaching load split about 50-50. The majority of the students take AP coursework, with some opting for the British A-level system (I haven't quite got a handle on that one yet). The students objective is to get admitted to a Western or British university - and I have been told that 100% of them do! Truly amazing! There are about 500 students in the International School (grades 10-12) and I'm going to say 1500 in the larger, general school for a total of around 2000.

I'll be meeting with a Chinese math teacher this afternoon to discuss their curriculum, and then we don't go back to school until  Saturday (yup, I said Saturday) for a few more meetings before school starts on Monday. We have Sunday off, but the Chinese teachers will be working the whole weekend. You'll find that the weekends here don't necessarily mean much to the Chinese, and the majority of them work 6 day weeks.
We still have absolutely no idea of our teaching schedule!

Our principal invited us newbies to his flat last night for dinner. His wife cooked up some pizza (the first I've had here!) and we ended with some real coffee (he had some Italian roast). A real treat! In the maze of buildings around here, it is not necessarily easy to find where someone lives! He flagged us down by yelling at us from his balcony...

Wuxi as in sushi

Let's see - today's the 26th and I left on the 15th so it's been 11 days. Wow - seems like it's been much more than that! Today was the first day that we were to return to school to prep, and our Chinese counterparts didn't show up so our leader said take yourselves home until further notice!  So Ryan and I, the other new cohort, stuck around and fine-tuned our computers (mine was a total mess so we just wiped it clean and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7). But we still haven't finalized what classes we'll be teaching or the class schedule yet. The veterans said don't be surprised if we don't know until Monday, the first day of school.Can you say flexible?
So Dipont, the company we work for, sent us to Wuxi for a 2 day conference with all their schools - there was a few hundred of us at least I'd say. Wuxi is just west of Shanghai - and it was hot and humid there. It was painful to see the presenters up there, who had to wear shirts and ties, with their shirts totally soaked through with sweat. A/C worked in some rooms, not in others. It ended with a banquet where the food kept coming non-stop. I couldn't tell you what any of it was, but for the most part it was pretty tasty. I can use chopsticks ok, but there are sometimes when I just say the hell with it and grab a fork and stab it. Our flight back got delayed (a common occurrence in China I'm told) - it's a 2 hour flight back - and we didn't get back to our apartments until after 4 am.
So today I'll introduce my partners in crime at Gaoxin High School No.1 in Xián:

Darryl - Principal, South Africa, AP Statistics
David - Scotland, AP Economics
Zach - Houston, AP English
Paul - Canada, AP Economics
Constantinos - Greece, AP Physics
Kyle - Arkansas, AP English
Chris - Ireland, AP Economics
Ryan - Toronto, AP Calculus
Nicole - Blue Mountains, Australia, AP Chemistry
Virginia - Phillipines, AP Chemistry
Saeed - Montreal via Iran, AP Physics, math
Chris - England, Physics and math

You'll notice that many of them say Economics - some of them teach other stuff too but I don't know what it is yet. Most of this school is centered on AP, but some of it is based on A-level British stuff (don't ask me).
We are still short a couple English teachers and a Geography teacher that they are working on filling at this moment. Anyone interested???

The principal shared with me last years math results - over 80% of the students in Calculus BC got 4 or 5 (mostly 5). Simply incredible!
I will go into details in further entries, but I want to keep these relatively short if possible to keep you from falling asleep!

It's Really Happening!

Sitting in my hotel room in Xi'an at the Long March International Hotel. I have found the internet service to be a bit spotty but now have a work-around to access Google and Gmail!

Spent yesterday looking at apartments and the 3rd one was the winner. I will post pictures of it once I move in (which should be tomorrow). The 1st one was a real dump, the second one better, third one hit the spot. They had more to look at but they were more expensive so I said don't bother. The apartment is basically right across the street from the school - maybe a 5 or 10 minute walk tops. It was occupied by a teacher from the school last year and he left behind many items so that I won't have to shop for them (silverware, dishes). It's on the 11th floor of the building but I forget what number the building is right now (there are several buildings in the complex - all 20 stories tall).

Met up with a Canadian teacher that I'll be working with - his name is Ryan and he taught in Switzerland last year. He's just a couple doors down in the hotel. He's not having so much luck finding an apartment and is out looking again today.

This morning we had to head down to the International Health Center in downtown Xián to get our second physical (apparently the one we did in the US doesn't count here). Our school contact, James is his English name, took us down there and handled the translations. We took the city bus and thankfully the one we took was not crowded - some of them you see the people are packed in like sardines! James is a funny guy - he has little patience for the bureaucracy and calls everyone "stupid". This afternoon it looks like not much to do so I'll probably walk around a bit (but not too far - don't want to get lost!).  Crossing the street here is totally insane - and the lanes on the road are mere suggestions for the cars. But no one thinks twice about it!
All of the scooters and motorcycles you see are all electric - good for pollution and noise! I definitely don't miss all those Harleys going down Burnside Street! Helmets and safety equipment are of course nonexistent.

My first Chinese meal I couldn't even tell you what everything was. It was good though! I know there were bean sprouts, mushrooms, dumplings and some spicy stuff with some kind of meat. Ryan is married to a chinese woman Molly and they picked it all out and were impressed with my chopstick skills (which are pretty bad!). They said the spicy dish was pretty hot but it didn't seem all that bad to me...

I've got to get something to eat!

Can you say aisle seat?

And now the other adventure begins...
Leaving in a couple hours for Xi'an via Shanghai via Los Angeles. I leave PDX at 5:45 pm and arrive in Xi'an at 1:40 pm Sunday afternoon. I lose 15 hours but also spend a good 8 hours in airport time. Kindle is all charged up, bags are packed, ready to go! I think my bags' weights are ok but they still feel awfully heavy. Judging against Alisha's usual baggage weight I'd say I'm borderline...
I'm reminded of my 25th birthday when I was seated in a room in Abu Dhabi (10 ft. x 10 ft.) with a guy and a big submachine gun watching over me. The sponsor to let me into the country hadn't shown up and they were going to fly me back to Paris. At that time I was asking myself what the hell I was doing!
This should be fun though (unlike working on an oil rig) and I'll try to share some of it with you!

WIKIWIL

What I Know Is What I Like...
In the case of blogs, what I know is next to nothing. So I'll just wing it...
Just returned from a 10 day journey in a Tri-Pacer single engine airplane with brother-in-law Mark out to OshKosh.
It was a fabulous trip, met quite a few mechanics, had great weather and learned a lot about air rallys. After several days in the cockpit together, Mark and I are now joined at the shoulder.
Next up - organizing for the China experience...