Sunday, July 11, 2010

China: Day 6: July 10, 2010


We began today with some confusion getting our classrooms set up at the school. We arranged furniture, tried to get the handle on where our teacher partner’s rooms were, and got somewhat of an idea as to how this will all fit together. It is starting to seem much more clear. Two more days and “It’s show time!” We had the chance to see a few students walking on this beautiful Treble Clef walkway on the campus. It is so peaceful and lovely!

Most of the group decided to catch an afternoon ferry traveling two hours and go over to Macau (an island near Hong Kong.) After the sweaty morning, this sounded like more than I wanted to do. After lunch, I settled in for a nice two hour Skype talk with my husband catching up on the adventures abroad and at home. Dick reported in about the funeral of our dear neighbor, Charles who died just before I left on the trip. We both will really miss him, and it was sad for me to not be able to attend the funeral. Being in china was a valid excuse though.

The remainder of the afternoon passed with doing some lesson planning, reading a little, and then heading off to explore the neighborhood. I thought I was going to check out Wal-mart, but went another route that lead me through some interesting streets and in and out of some shops. I bought some light dinner items at a small grocery store, and just enjoyed looking at all of the products available. One thing that I am still not getting used to is not being able to read the labels which means you have to look a the pictures.

This can lead to some misunderstandings (brings me very much back to my days working at the adult literacy program!) Yesterday day I thought I was getting an orange Popsicle. It turned out to be red bean. Tonight I bought what I thought was a Minute Maid Limeade. Nope, it was Minute Maid aloe vera juice. Neither is these were my favorites….being able to ready labels is VERY useful!

Then there was time blogging as well as we are expected to keep a reflection journal as part of the research of this trip. I am writing a ton!

Nice to get a chance to catch my breath a bit. 30+ days is not a sprint. It is more of a super marathon. I learned when I was on a Fulbright trip to Mexico for a month that you sometimes have to opt out of something that could be cool and sleep. Just for your sanity. So this was one of those days. Maybe even early to bed. Hmmmmm. Good idea.

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