Pu Dong

Shanghai is divided into two parts: Puxi and Pu dong. Pu xi, the old part of Shanghai, is anything west of the Huangpu river and Pudong, the newer part, is anything east of it. I live in the Xuhui district, which is in the South west part of Pu xi. All the shopping, eating and fun can all be done in Pu xi. Some people find Pu Dong boring but I honestly think the pace over there is a little nicer. Everything is newer and there is certainly not as many people crowing the streets. The financial district is nothing to write home about but Century park is beautiful and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum is a nice way to fill up an afternoon. However the biggest attraction for Pu dong is the Oriental Pearl Tower. Build in 1996 it rises about 1,535 and give you a nice view of downtown Shanghai. For only 100 yuan you can take an elevator to the top.



















I still amazes me how far Shanghai and China has progress according to Western standards. One fun fact that a lot of the Shanghaiese like to throw out is that the majority of the buildings and edifices are less than 20 years old. Shanghai's subway system is only 4 years old and it is more efficient and runs more lines than the Chicago L. It frightens me to think what Shanghai and China will look like in the future because if it only took Shanghai 20 years to reach this point what will it look like in another 20 years.

Beijing

I've finally have enough time to actually update everyone on my last trip. Beijing was worth the three days I spent there but any more time and I would have ended up annoyed with the place. Since it was my first time there I had to go to the standard tourist sights: Tiananmen, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. My buddy and I wanted to check out Mao but his mausoleum was closed for the weekend. Rumor has it that Mao’s body is not looking as fresh as it use to. Surprisingly all three places were not that exciting. Tiananmen is just a huge square with a lot of foreigners and peddlers, the Forbidden City has even more foreigners and peddlers, and the Great Wall is completely comprised of foreigners and peddlers. I’m glad I went to these places; it really is a must if you have never been, but I cannot see myself going back to these places anytime soon.































One difference I notice between Shanghai and Beijing is that the air pollution is actually worse in Beijing then it is in Shanghai. I don't know how this is because after a day of walking outside in Shanghai I feel like I've smoked a pack of cigarettes, however in Beijing it feels like a thick layer of death is constantly covering every part of your skin. Visibility poor at best and I don't think is going to get any better before the Olympic Games. Some people are even speculating that Beijing might lose the games if enough events are canceled and if they are it could spell disaster and humiliation for China.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/6934955.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7061253.stm

Another problem was the traffic. I’ve been stuck on the 94/Dan Ryan in Chicago during rush hour but nothing compares to the traffic congestion that is Beijing. We were coming back from the Great Wall at 3 in the afternoon and there was bumper to bumper traffic for mile. It took us 2 hours to get into the center of town. I don’t thing there’s anyway I’ll attempt to go the Olympic Games; I’d rather enjoy them from the luxury of my apartment.

Beyond the smog and the traffic I had a good time in Beijing. The food was amazing, the people were mostly friendly and it’s cheaper than in Shanghai. I really enjoyed going to all the places the locals went to instead of being trapped in some tourist joint. If you’re ever in Beijing just get on the Metro line 5 and get off at Huixinxiqiao, amazing food and night life with very few foreigners. My friend, on the other hand, kept on getting ripped off by the peddlers. At one point he ended up paying 120 yuan, $15, for a pair of AA batteries. I guess that’s what happens when you look like a stereotypical American, you end up being an ATM to these people.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dankhuon/Beijing

My mornings

Each morning I get woken up to the wonderful sounds of a Chinese man's voice shouting fitness instructions out to the local Chinese students, none of which are my students, at 6:30 in the morning. I have nothing against daily fitness, in fact I think America needs to institutionalize mandatory exercise because we're becoming one amazingly fat country, but if you're going to wake me up at the crack of dawn to do workouts i beg that you actually do something challenging. I stayed up once to see the kind of things these kids do and for the pictures its not much. From the little bits and pieces i can translate from the "Drill Sargent's" instructions the school is basically having the students raise their hands up and down. I don't want to sound judgmental but I think these are the same exercise used to teach kindergarten students how to raise their hands in class. Now IF i was in charge of national fitness in China these kids would be in ridiculous shape. I'd hire Barry Bonds as my nutrition expert, require Puma track suits as their official uniforms, and have Kanye's work out plan on constant repeat. Hmmmmmm I might be on to something here. . .

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.