ARRG WORK

WOW I’ve been utterly atrocious the last few weeks updating. This is probably the direct result of Midterms. No I’m not taking them I get the give them, which isn’t as great as it sounds. Shanghai High School has to be one of the most test oriented schools I’ve ever witnesses. Every student’s grades are dictated by tests. At last weeks meeting, which I never pay attention in, the administrations was telling us that all test would be worth 70% of the final grade and homework should be worth no more than 10% if that. That includes everyone, high school students to students in the primary school. Can you imagine a 7 year old taking a midterm and final!!! It utterly preposterous. So what ends up happening is students don’t give a rat’s ass about general performance and only worry about how they do on their test. Most of my students are very smart but I’ve never met a bunch of lazier children in my life. I should not that the majority of my kids are rich foreign students who’s parents are working is Shanghai so the majority of them really don’t care. There was a brief moment today where I almost lost it because a Chinese teacher asked me to write list of students who don’t do their home. Granted I should not have gotten pissed off at her but I think it’s completely ludicrous for me to point the students out who do not turn in their homework when we don’t even make homework worth a significant percentage of their grades. Then there is what we call Optional classes, name for because the work for the class is optional. There classes are designed to give student breath in their learning but in an enjoyable setting. Students have a large selection of classes to choice from. Some of the classes include American movies, English Movies, English conversation, creative writing, and my Personal relationships class. If these classes sound like a joke its because they are. None of the student's optional grades get factored into their GPA. So if I wanted to give everyone a failing grade no one would really care because the grade does not affect their GPA so it’s like it never existed. Heck if I wanted to I could give my students the grade ‘banana’ and no one would notice the difference. *ARGGG* I think my frustration stems from my realization that I’m nothing more than an over glorified test-facilitator/babysitter.

School News

Part of my job is to edit the website news that is written in Chinese and translated into English. Most of the news I get is quite trivial and most schools would never consider putting it on their website, but here everything and anything can be turned into an exciting piece of tabloid. Here's one good example

We Can Know Ourselves More
Students of G7 were organized to watch a documentary about puberty. Considering about the special mental qualities of this age, they were divided into boys and girls. While watching the film, students sat in groups, concentrating their attention with curiosity. They even discussed when they saw something they were interested in.
Puberty is the period of time when sexual organs mature and additional sexual characteristics develop. Both sexes experience huge splendid changes not only physiologically but also mentally. Thus to make puberty education properly and to make students realize that the changes inside their body are normal is so important and helpful.

See anything can be made into news

News from the Mother country

Heres a bit of news i found on Cambodia. Its not everyday we make the top news on Google http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSBKK21344820071016

Its starting to feel like Fall

Korea pictures are up!! Unfortunately I wasn't as awesome as I should have been and i ended up forgetting two pairs of shorts, a polo, and four undershirts at my hostel back in Korea. . . I guess thats what happens when you decide to drink you weight in soju the night before you morning flight out then try to pack when you're drunk off you ass.

As for China things seem to be getting better. Its actually starting to feel like Autumn here. The temperature is dipping, days are getting shorter and the pollution is starting to die out a little, i can go running without feeling like I have smoked a pack of cigarettes. As you can see Shanghai does get blue sky.































However I still do miss Fall in Michigan, so if someone could please send me a pumpkin and some cider it would be much appreciated.

Korea Trip

I just got back from Korea and I have to say trying to put the trip into words doesn't Korea justice. The sights were amazing, the people enjoyable, and OMG . . . there was clean air. No smog, no acid rain just pure, unadulterated air the way it was meant to be. As you can tell after living in the chimney that is China I've come to miss the good air quality back in Michigan. I've only been here for about a month and I think the pollution has taken 3 years off my life. Also Koreans seem use to seeing foreigners because I traveled with my Big-ass, loud-mouth, white friend and no one really seems to shocked when they saw him. In China everyone flocks to him like he's bloody Jesus Christ.

But enough about my complaints with China. Korea has to be one of the most technologically advance countries I've visited, it makes us look like we're in the Stone Age. Everyone has some kind of device they are walking around with, the bathrooms all have flat-screen TVs, and even the bums are sporting tech gear. Probably the coolest thing the Koreans have is the portable satellite TV. They're about the size of a cell phone and you can get TV signals anywhere. So you can watch the news, a talk show, or a soccer game on the subway. One Korean told me the new thing is for people to do a lot of their money transactions using their cell phones. The idea kind of freaks me out a little but its kind of cool that you can pay all your bills on a phone.

My favorite place I visited was Mt. Seoraksan, one of the tallest mountains in Korea. The town that was located by the mountain came straight out of a novel. Everything there was so natural and undisturbed. We climbed up one of the peaks and the view was to die for. I honestly could have spent another week in Korea because its such a beautiful Country. Defiantly worth another visit.

Construction

This is the site I saw today going into work. Its a very common sight in Shanghai, the Chinese using bamboo scaffolds to hold up construction workers on sight. While an American worker would never go near them the Chinese see construction as one for the best ways to move up and with sky-rocketing growth China is experiencing expect more and more Chinese from the countryside to come into the city and work under these conditions. Here's an article to give you some perspective http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4994478.stm

One Month

It’s been one month since I’ve arrived and here are some of the things I’ve learned thus far and advice for anyone who wants to come and visit…
- Food is cheap here, eat as much as you can because you’ll burn off all the calories for the heat.

- The Chinese are good at deflecting yes and no questions so learn to read between the lines. If they say maybe then you’ll probably get what you want. If they say 'lets see what happens' then you don’t have a snowballs chance in hell. You’ll hear 'lets see what happens' a lot :-/

- If you’re ordering duck makes sure you know what the word for duck is or at least the characters because you might end up ordering something quite different. (In my defense the picture of the roast pigeon looks just like a roast duck)

- If you’re not paying an arm and leg for something its probably fake and of poor quality.

- Corrections you’re probably getting ripped off no matter how much you’re paying for something so just assume that everything and anything is fake.

- It’s amazing! A girl can walk into class dressing like a prude but is wearing sandals and everyone will treat her like she starred in a porno but when the Chinese version of Lindsey Lohan makes her entrance wearing nothing but shoes with a backing or back strap she’ll be totally ignored. Somethings I’ll never understand.

- China likes to blocks websites. If you come here for any extended time learn to use proxies.

- It rains a lot here, get an umbrella

- Try the street food it’s not bad.

- Learn to drink beer, regular coke, or hot tea because most restaurants do not have water, at least cheap water.

- If you’re a foreigner the Chinese like to stare at you. There’s nothing wrong with staring just stare back.

- While you’re gone your #5 ranked football team will precede to lose to an unknown school from the mountains. Learn how to deal with in a constructive fashion.

- And by ‘constructive fashion’ I mean not crying in the fetal position in front of your 7th grade history class.

- European soccer is huge over here. If you like it hooray, and if you don’t try picking up another hobby (sorry Zu).

- There are no movie theaters here just DVD shops that release the movie two weeks before it gets release in American theaters.

- Again that Lacoste polo that you got for $5 is probably a fake

- Most Chinese love to take with foreigners. Use this to your advantage and learn the language.

- Haggling is a way of life here. It can be a real hassle but sometimes you’ll find you actually like it. I did

- Squatting toilets are amusing for me but are not for women.

- China has some great cell phone plans. Verizon can kiss my ass

- On the other hand China’s banking system seems to be somewhat of an oxymoron

- When in China take the good, the bad and just live in the moment.