Suzhou and School: September 2007 Archives
This place has some weird sort of mysticism about it. I love it. I took my bike out last Sunday and just rode around for about 5 hours. Getting lost, finding my way, getting lost again and then finding my way again. I stumbled upon some incredibly beautiful things. An example is these Twin Pagodas.
There is water running everywhere around here and the main river used for transport runs between these two pagodas. Just to the North of them is this beautiful bridge.
Suzhou is very modern in most places; in particular where I live. But every so often you find a glimpse of old China in some of the funniest places.
I've certainly caught the China bug. I have also seemed to have caught the China virus....hoping it is not another SARS outbreak... I certainly feel like I should be in quarantine right now! I am sure the combination of being around kids all day, traveling, and smog has rendered me quite feverish and sick. I think that is probably the main reason for the slight culture shock feelings that crept up again this morning. Like clockwork...the 2 week hump. I am just so sick and tired of not being able to communicate! But I finally talked the school into letting me sit in on the Chinese lessons for overseas students. They are only two weeks ahead of me now so I will have to be a diligent little student next week and get caught up. Tonight is Friday night and because I am sick I might not go out. I am heading to my first Chinese yoga class in a bit and then will see how I feel about dancing the night away after an attempt at sweating out the virus.
There is water running everywhere around here and the main river used for transport runs between these two pagodas. Just to the North of them is this beautiful bridge.
Suzhou is very modern in most places; in particular where I live. But every so often you find a glimpse of old China in some of the funniest places.
I've certainly caught the China bug. I have also seemed to have caught the China virus....hoping it is not another SARS outbreak... I certainly feel like I should be in quarantine right now! I am sure the combination of being around kids all day, traveling, and smog has rendered me quite feverish and sick. I think that is probably the main reason for the slight culture shock feelings that crept up again this morning. Like clockwork...the 2 week hump. I am just so sick and tired of not being able to communicate! But I finally talked the school into letting me sit in on the Chinese lessons for overseas students. They are only two weeks ahead of me now so I will have to be a diligent little student next week and get caught up. Tonight is Friday night and because I am sick I might not go out. I am heading to my first Chinese yoga class in a bit and then will see how I feel about dancing the night away after an attempt at sweating out the virus.
I was able to get a few pics late this week of my school and some of the students I get to teach.
The school has about 4000 students and over 400 support staff. Each class of approximately 30 students has over 6 teachers, all with specialties. From what I am gathering it is considered a very prestigious school and is extremely expensive. This is probably why the teachers here are paid about double that of every other school I applied to. Most of the foreign teachers here have a lot of experience (average 10 years) but I think I just got really lucky getting this job because of my science background. Chalk one point up for the first time I ever used my science degree.
One cool thing they do is morning exercises. Every day at 9:30am, all the students and staff (except the 7 of us lazy foreign teachers who have a get out of jail free card in China called white skin) run for about 1/2 hour. It is crazy to see them all lining up and the music is very marching band-esque. I also got a pic of some primary kids learning how to march outside of my bedroom. It is one of the units they learn in PE, which is another class they all have to do once a day...no wonder there are so few fat Chinese! The pictures are posted on the right.
This pic here is of my Canada 2 Class. They are in grade 11 and all aspire to go to Uni in Canada. I teach them math every day and went on a mild rant about profit and loss yesterday which ended up being really funny. I basically learn the stuff a few minutes before class and a few of them are ahead of me which has become an ongoing joke. They are a really fun age to teach. All of them are fun actually. I dont know how keen I would be to teach much younger than my youngest class (grade 7) but I do like watching the really young kids misbehave and generally have lots of fun in the halls. So maybe I would like that as well.
So my first week as a teacher is over. I like it a lot. I am already feeling a cool connection with many of the older students that I see daily, and I feel like I make a difference in their lives which is totally awesome. Now it is time to play! Off for a big walk into town and then will likely end up meeting with some other teachers at a foreigner bar which apparently has a lot of hot Aussies. I dont think I will be complaining.
The school has about 4000 students and over 400 support staff. Each class of approximately 30 students has over 6 teachers, all with specialties. From what I am gathering it is considered a very prestigious school and is extremely expensive. This is probably why the teachers here are paid about double that of every other school I applied to. Most of the foreign teachers here have a lot of experience (average 10 years) but I think I just got really lucky getting this job because of my science background. Chalk one point up for the first time I ever used my science degree.
One cool thing they do is morning exercises. Every day at 9:30am, all the students and staff (except the 7 of us lazy foreign teachers who have a get out of jail free card in China called white skin) run for about 1/2 hour. It is crazy to see them all lining up and the music is very marching band-esque. I also got a pic of some primary kids learning how to march outside of my bedroom. It is one of the units they learn in PE, which is another class they all have to do once a day...no wonder there are so few fat Chinese! The pictures are posted on the right.
This pic here is of my Canada 2 Class. They are in grade 11 and all aspire to go to Uni in Canada. I teach them math every day and went on a mild rant about profit and loss yesterday which ended up being really funny. I basically learn the stuff a few minutes before class and a few of them are ahead of me which has become an ongoing joke. They are a really fun age to teach. All of them are fun actually. I dont know how keen I would be to teach much younger than my youngest class (grade 7) but I do like watching the really young kids misbehave and generally have lots of fun in the halls. So maybe I would like that as well.
So my first week as a teacher is over. I like it a lot. I am already feeling a cool connection with many of the older students that I see daily, and I feel like I make a difference in their lives which is totally awesome. Now it is time to play! Off for a big walk into town and then will likely end up meeting with some other teachers at a foreigner bar which apparently has a lot of hot Aussies. I dont think I will be complaining.
Price of things Sept 2 2007
I met another math teacher in the cafeteria today. He is from here but speaks English VERY well and had just recently came back from Halifax! Anyways, he reminded me to tell you about money here. Basically an RBM is 7 times less than a Canadian dollar. So for example 700RBM is CN100. I have to say I may just become an even bigger Heineken fan while I am here. I saw Heiney for sale for 5RBM each at the grocery store! I could have 7 for the price of one in Canada! Also, as proof to myself that I have every reason to quit drinking coffee once and for all here (have had a headache for 3 days now but still no coffee!) an espresso is 15RBMs. Imagine if a coffee cost three times as much as a beer back home? I can just hear my dad now ....mmmmmm....beer.....all the more reason to drink it!
The theory is that the locals don't drink coffee anyways so it is 'special price' for the waiguo ren (foreigners).
I met another math teacher in the cafeteria today. He is from here but speaks English VERY well and had just recently came back from Halifax! Anyways, he reminded me to tell you about money here. Basically an RBM is 7 times less than a Canadian dollar. So for example 700RBM is CN100. I have to say I may just become an even bigger Heineken fan while I am here. I saw Heiney for sale for 5RBM each at the grocery store! I could have 7 for the price of one in Canada! Also, as proof to myself that I have every reason to quit drinking coffee once and for all here (have had a headache for 3 days now but still no coffee!) an espresso is 15RBMs. Imagine if a coffee cost three times as much as a beer back home? I can just hear my dad now ....mmmmmm....beer.....all the more reason to drink it!
The theory is that the locals don't drink coffee anyways so it is 'special price' for the waiguo ren (foreigners).
