Having said that, today was good! Most of the student's seem interested and a lot of fun....the yell, laugh, squeal, and talk a lot. They also seem quite outgoing and totally friendly, all of which makes for a really nice classroom "environment".
I do note that Terry (one of the boys) came in, put his head down and slept for about an hour. This always makes me wonder why they come to class, because wouldn't their bed be more comfortable? However, he looked a little rough, and I (being kind of a veteran of hangover's) think he might have enjoyed a few too many 83 cent beers last night. Anyway, I decided to let him sleep...and actually nice to see similarities between student's in various countries?!
It will also certainly take time to get used to speaking......very.......clearly.....and slowly.I am kind of an excitable guy and tend to rattle stuff off....and a couple of times today, the students asked me to slow down.....some.....more (and I thought I was talking as slow as was possible). I think this will be good training as it means you are always trying to think of the simplest, clearest way you can to explain something. One exercise that will remind me to speak clearly/slowly is that at the start of each class I have asked the students to teach me a word or phrase in Chinese....this is a sure-fire way to help me to remember how tough it is to understand Chinese and how SLOW and methodical the students have to go in order for me to hear/understand/speak the words!!! P.S. Zao Shuang Hao (zow hung chow) means good morning.
The actual classroom is something else, and I don't think we Canadians realize how good we have it!...rather than try to describe the facilities....it is easier just to show you some pictures (and remember pictures tend to make scenes look brighter, shinier and therefore newer).
In a previous post, I also spoke about Miranda's discovery of the Forest on the Sea park, and I thought I'd better go back and take some pictures...it really is just beautiful!!!!! Again, it is so far from what you "expect" to see in China. (Oh yes, before going to the park, I went for lunch at the Korean Lady place that the other teachers recommended). I had hot pot (and a beer). This is DEFINITELY a winner in my book....and I have a feeling I will become a regular there!
The only problem is that I am a little concerned about going out for lunch each day and "dropping" all that money...after all it was 11RMB for the meal in the picture below...which when converted to Canadian, works out to $1.58! At that rate I can only afford to go there.....ALL THE TIME!
Below are the pictures of the park....as well as some general pictures of the area around the college. Further, if you walk through the park, and cross the road, you are at the beach.....pretty quiet today!
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