Day 28

7.19.09

Today we had the option of either staying at the hotel and exploring the city, or going on a mini-tour to a cave & hiking up to a temple, and all around a mountain. Grandma chose the former, and I the latter. From what I was told, shopping was a blast! Everyone that went had a wonderful time exploring Yichang (the city we were in), and going in and out of the air conditioned shops! People came back with bags and bags of shopping, and Grandma and her friends seemed really happy to get out of the tourist-being-carted-around-on-a-bus routine. The mountain trip was spectacular, with breathtaking views of the start of the Three Gorges Dam. Afterwards, we had lunch, and were taken back on our 5 hour trip to Wuhan. Now we’re back in our nice room in our nice hotel (even though last night’s was very nice), enjoying the night and preparing for school to start up again tomorrow!

Day 27

7.18.09

Today we headed off at 8:30am for the Three Gorges Dam. I found out that Jerry (the head of TA’s helping at the hotel) is going to be singing “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” at the 2^nd Hootenanny this coming Thursday. The bus ride took 5 hours and the Dam was gorgeous!!! There were 3 different stops we made, the first to a spot far away and high up from the Dam, a very good view, and we also saw a model of the Three Gorges Dam there. Then we went to a closer view of it, and after that, to a modern-art park very close to the water- a lot of people stayed on the bus but as small as it was it was cute, and worth the 30 minutes of walking around. Very long day=very tired people. The hotel is wonderfully quiet, and Grandma and some of her friends are downstairs enjoying the fruits of their labor (it took Grandma 20 minutes to get the point across to the bartenders/hostesses what the group wanted for drinks. Go her!) A long day deserves much rest.

Day 26

7.17.09

Thought for the Day:

Thought is deeper than all speech. Feeling is deeper than all thought.

Idiom:

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.

Going Out to Dinner:

Arrange students into couples. Give them $20, and ‘Dragon Village” Menu. Have them look over the menu for 10-15 minutes, then set up a mock dining experience and act it out in front of the class. This went really well! The girls were very tricky, and gave the class a lot to laugh about.

Day 25

7.16.09

Today, David Nezzie, the American Indian, came into our room to speak to the morning/afternoon joint class. The kids seemed to like it a lot, they had really good questions! We both took lots of notes on the presentation, learning a lot more than I thought I ever could about Native American culture!

Also today, we changed rooms! Last night the noise coming from the 5 partying men next door, the young people across the hall, the drunks in the hall and the smell of cigarettes coming from next door was just too much. So, we moved. Now, in our new room, 432, has a view of the front of the HUST campus and Monkey Mountain. Hopefully we’ll sleep better tonight- the electricians even came and set our room up to not have a key in the slot for power, for AC and the refrigerator to run 24/7 if we so wish.. Tonight we had the talent show after a very chill day at school. It was amazing!!! D.T. and Raistlin were crowd favorites with their singing and violin playing. Both were fantastic, and blew everyone away. Most, if not all students from our class was there to support their friends, and the entire show was an amazing success. After, we got to go to our new room! The shower leaks and makes a lake whenever we turn it on, but other than that, it’s perfect!

Day 24

.15.09

Thought for the Day:

“There are two worlds; the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world we can feel with our hearts.”

Idiom:

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Tongue Twister:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Today the students gave their presentations on Chinese culture and history! Among the topics were many, many festivals. Here’s who did what:

Bert	Bamboo
Mark	Medical Science
Scott	Spring Festival
Joyce	Double 7th (Valentine’s) Festival
Selina	Chinese lute
Claudia	Kung Fu
Christina	Mid Autumn Festival
Elan	Hometown Culture
Christian	Mid Autumn Festival
Vincent	Chinese Cuisine
Eric	Spring Festival
RyAn	8 Chinese Festivals
Sun	Qingming Festival
Jason	Mid Autumn Festival
Jenni & Lisa	Traditional Wedding
D.T.	Double 7th (Valentine’s) Festival
Emily	Dragon Boat Festival
Jill	Cold Food Festival
Michael #1	Spring Festival
Even	Mid Autumn Festival
Paul	Mid Autumn Festival

The presentations went fantastically!

Day 23

7.14.09

Today, I went around to a lot of other people’s classrooms. I feel kind of bad for leaving Grandma, but at least she has Michelle. All 10 spots were filled up with people who wanted me to talk to their classes, and it was so much fun!!! At the end of the day we didn’t want to go out to dinner, so peanut butter and yoghurt it is!

Day 22

7.13.09

Thought for the Day:

It’s not about making it through the storm, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

Idiom:

Did you get up on the wrong side of bed?

Grocery Shopping:

Hand out grocery ads for Fry’s, Basha’s and Safeway. Have the students buy enough for breakfast, lunch and dinner-for $30. Took the rest of class- very fun