Today, March 15, is the official end of the heating season in China. Heat gets turned off after today across the country. Luckily, the weather has definitely gotten warmer the last few days, and if this continues, having no heat will not be an issue. If it does get cold, however, pile on the blankets and get the space heaters out...
I started back to school on Tuesday after being at an AP conference in Suzhou for 3 days (it's about a 2 hour flight from Xián and it is about a 60 minute taxi ride from Shanghai). Because of the location of the conference (a school in the southernmost part) and the long hours we were not able to get any sight-seeing in. They flew in all the instructors from the states - and one of them was the same one I had at a conference 3 years ago in Vancouver, Washington! But here's the real kicker - I was talking to a woman there and asked her where she came from. "Detroit." Really? Where'd you go to high school? "Groves." What are the chances? Where'd you go to college? "Michigan State." I don't think I've ever met anyone while in the States who went to my high school, and here I am in China and run across someone... She wasn't born until 1989, though, so her graduating class is nowhere near mine. Sounds like not a whole lot has changed, except there aren't as many students there as in 1973.
It has taken a while to get back into the school groove after the 3 weeks off for the lunar new year festival and then the AP conference. I asked the students if they enjoyed their vacation and the overwhelming consensus was "No." What'd you do over the holiday? "Study." And that's one of the reasons their test scores are so high. That's all they do. I wonder sometimes if they know how to have fun...
One of our Economics teachers had a bit of a meltdown this week. He only came in 1 day and called in sick the rest of the days. He was ready to quit and had booked a flight home. We took him out last night for a going-away party and in the process talked him into staying until the end of the school year. It would've really created a bind if he left - you can't find a teacher on such short notice to come over to China and teach for a couple months! He came here actually filling in for another teacher who had quit. His first day teaching here was Christmas day. Before getting this job, he didn't even have a passport and had never been out of the country. So the whole thing has been a huge shock to him. We told him the end of the school year would go by fast - I hope we weren't lying!
Our last day of school is July 4. Until then, we have 2 days off - creating 2 3-day weekends. One day off is April 6 (Tomb Sweeping Day) and the other is May 1 (Labor Day). The good news is there should be no more Saturday or Sunday teaching days for us! Of course, this is China, and that could change, but none are scheduled which is a good thing!
They have started up a free bicycle loan program this year in Xián. I went with a couple people yesterday to get registered for it. They have bike locations all around the city and you just go up and swipe a credit card to unlock the bike and take off! The registration process was insanely chaotic and inefficient, but now that we have that out of the way we've got a new way to get around. With the weather getting nicer, it should make it much more pleasant to get somewhere without having to ride on a super crowded bus or catch an elusive taxi. You do have to be alert, though, as the traffic signals here tend to just be suggestions for most drivers!
I see the States is back on daylight savings time. They don't do that in China, nor do they have time zones. The entire country is on one single time zone. It works out ok here in Xian because we're sort of in the middle of the country, but I would think in the far east or far west you would get some crazy sunrise and sunset times...
March Madness? We're going to have a pool in our staff room. No one knows anything about any of the teams this year - no college games are televised (you can catch some pro games or pro highlights on one of the chinese tv stations). Should be fun though!
Well that's it for now. I haven't been as diligent about making regular postings - time seems like it's flying by lately. I'll try to do better!
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