New Movies

After lunch today I picked up a couple of new DVD's from our DVD shop. The movies at the shop are a bit more expensive and seem slightly more legitimate than those sold by the street vendors. The boxes have artwork that almost looks like a movie you might get in Wal-Mart or Best Buy until you pick it up for closer inspection.

Today I bought Kung Fu Panda (功夫熊猫) and the newest Indiana Jones movie for about $2 each.

The Kung Fu Panda box actually had relatively few grammatical mistakes, though it is apparently rated "R" for drug content and strong language.

The Indiana Jones box was much more amusing. The description of Indy's newest adventure on the back of the box is as follows...

After a lot of bewildered and pursued and killed after the Qianglintanyu, Indiana Ouyu Mingjiaomate Williams, a young man, like to wear a leather jacket, the standard form of motorized Afei small party. When he knew the identity of Indiana, on their own and ask him to Peru to the ancient cemetery of forest, looking for a name of "skull" Shen Qi, said it was left behind by aliens, have control of the power of mind. There is another talk for people is also thought to be the "skull," they are female agents to the Soviet Union Yiruinosi Pake led by an elite unit, Nvliu although Yi Ruina Jie, it is an extremely cold blooded people, hair-do know how she is meticulous, how stringent, or else how can the KGB when the leader of this add to the confusion of the battle, there are evil archaeologist Mike, and the Indiana Jiuai Maliangrui Winwood.... "skull" end up in the hands of who is likely the impact on the overall situation of the Cold War, but also including the fate of the two countries.

If anyone can decipher that, you'll have to let me know what it means.

Dragon Boat Festival and Guilin

This Sunday is Dragon Boat Festival according to the Chinese lunar calendar. The holiday always falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Though it will be a Sunday this year, we will also have Monday off from school.

Being given time off from classes and soon to leave China, Janet and I decided we must travel somewhere new and decided to take an overnight train to Guilin, about eight hours to our north. Guilin is famous throughout China for its karst topography where limestone peaks scenically rise up around the Li River. The scene is described by many classical Chinese poets and even pictured on the back of the 20 Yuan bill. I'm looking forward to leaving tonight!

As to Dragon Boat Festival, I had my students describe the holiday in class and it is a celebration of a famous Chinese poet named Qu Yuan. He served in an imperial court during the Warring States Period in China, nearly 2300 years ago. According to legend, the ruler at the time was treating the people poorly and many were dying from famine and war with neighboring kingdoms. Qu Yuan couldn't bear to see the people suffering and pleaded with the Emperor to make changes. When the Emperor ignored him, Qu Yuan jumped from a cliff into a river to kill himself.

The peasants, seeing Qu Yuan drowning in the river, rushed to their boats and tried to race out to save him. Along the way, they threw zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) into the river so that the fish might eat the dumplings and not the poet. Unfortunately, the people were too late to save Qu Yuan from drowning.

Today, Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan's death. Here in Zhanjiang there will be a large boat racing competition and the people will eat zongzi to celebrate the day. I'm hoping there will be a boat race in Guilin to watch, but if not, there should at least be plenty of rice dumplings to eat.

Plastic Bags

On Sunday, June 1, China began its new restrictions on plastic bags. Some of the flimsiest bags have been banned completely while other plastic bags will no longer be issued for free. Under the new restrictions, stores must charge at least the cost of the bag to the customer.

In a nation of over 1.3 billion people who use around 3 billion plastic bags each day, the plastic bag pollution (commonly referred to here as "white pollution") is really an issue. The government hopes the new restrictions will encourage people to reuse their bags and/or bring their own cloth bags to the stores with them.

On Sunday, I happened to go into our local Trust-Mart and noticed the new plastic bags now have a bar code printed on them and the cashiers ask if you want your groceries bagged and then scan your bags just like any other item you purchase. The bags cost three jiao (about 4 cents) each.

Having seen plenty of bags rolling down our street like tumbleweeds and visiting a few nearby villages where there is not trash pickup and large mounds of bags litter the outskirts of the village, I think the new bag restrictions are a good idea. I also like the idea of charging for the bags rather than banning them outright (a more capitalist solution rather than an authoritarian one). However, I think the small charge may not be significant enough to cause a real reduction in usage. In Ireland, they charge around 33 cents per bag and have seen the usage reduced by over 90%. While that is probably a bit too steep a price for here, I think one yuan (around 15 cents) per bag might be a good amount. Of course, I'm sure the government will have people keeping statistics and making tweaks to the amount as needed.

Many students seem to know that littering is bad but somehow the campus always seems to end up with trash all over the place. I for one will not miss the plastic bags floating around the school grounds in the breeze.

On Fruits

Rambutan

Sunday I had two new fruits to try. I started with the Rambutan, which I had seen in large quantities while in Thailand but did not try there. The name comes from the Malay word rambut, which means "hairs." It seems a fitting name as the outside of the fruit is covered with stringy hairs. It is a pretty strange looking fruit.

To open, I sliced in half the fruit in half with a knife and you can see the interior of the fruit from the picture in the top right. Each fruit has one large seed inside and you can squeeze the outside to "pop" it out. Don't eat the seed uncooked, it is mildly poisonous according to Wikipedia.

The flesh of the fruit is a milky, but largely transparent, white color and has a consistency that made me think of jello. The fruit itself had a fairly mild but sweet taste. An enjoyable tropical treat for a hot day (which we have had plenty of lately - the heat index is usually in the high 90s during the daytime).

Dragonfruit

Dragonfruit, known locally as 火龙果 (fire dragon fruit), is the fruit of a number of species of cacti and native to Mexico and Central and South America according to Wikipedia. The fruit has also developed a big following here in Asia and is grown in many countries as well as locally here in southern China.

The fruit has an interesting color, sort of a mixture of red and purple tones and a soft, fleshy skin. When cut open, the fruit flesh is white with numerous black seeds. Despite its unique colors and look, the fruit actually has a very mild and somewhat bland taste.

At many of the restaurants here you will often get a plate of mixed fruit delivered to the table for dessert and dragonfruit is usually among them.

Lychee vs. Litchi

Though not a new fruit to many people, I wanted to share something a Chinese friend recently told me about the spelling of the fruit. I've seen it spelled both ways and wondered why. Apparently it comes from the difference in the name of the fruit in Cantonese versus Mandarin. Lychee being the romanized spelling of the Cantonese name and Litchi, the Mandarin version. Either spelling seems to be acceptable in English.

Dollar Alert

I posted on the decline of the dollar abroad a little while back and wanted to follow up on that. Today the dollar passed a historic mark as it fell under 7 RMB to the dollar for the very first time. One dollar is now worth approximately 6.996 RMB and the Yuan is expected to continue to gain on the dollar.

I recall seeing in the papers a month or two ago the White House unveiling plans for the fiscal year 2009 budget. The budget called for 3.1 trillion dollars of spending but did not anticipate taking in that much money in revenue (though if you are I were to forcibly collect "revenue" from our neighbors, it would almost certainly be called by a different name...). This staggering amount does not include the emergency spending bills that will continue to be passed to fund the ongoing war in Iraq. I remember a story of President Kennedy who set his budget at $99 billion because he refused to be the first president to pass the $100 billion mark. In just over four decades, the budget has increased thirtyfold.

What does this have to do with my post on the dollar? Simple, there are only two ways for a government to spend more money than it has at a given time, inflation and debt. Currently, China has bought up a large amount of our debt, which gives them some influence over our economy and politics (if they threaten to stop buying debt, we would have to find someone else willing to do so to sustain our current spending levels) and also means my generation and the next will be paying this off in the future with increased taxes. Inflation, a hidden tax, is the government printing extra dollar bills to make up for the shortfall in the budget. These extra dollars decrease the value of existing dollars and prices rise (inflation) at home and the dollar gets weaker abroad.

The good news, I'm up to nearly $572 a month. Unfortunately, prices here are only in RMB and China is also having troubles of its own with inflation...

Censors Staying Busy

Janet and I were watching TV earlier tonight, which we rarely do, and were reminded that free speech is still a foreign concept here. We pick up two English language channels, both broadcasting from Hong Kong, where there are fewer restrictions on what may be said.

Watching the 7:30 news (who knows why 7:30 here?), we caught a segment of the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of San Francisco. One commenter mentioned the Olympics as a celebration of athleticism and that he was excited to see the torch. A second spectator said, "human rights" and our TV immediately cut to commercial. About ten seconds later, the commercial abruptly ended and we were back to watching the torch make its way through San Francisco.

We were both still laughing when just a moment later the news anchor introduced the next story as being about the Dalai Lama and we went to commercial again until we had been safely prevented from seeing the story. Maybe there was a reason I don't often watch TV...

The Flame Fiasco

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are supposed to be a coming out party for China and a great source of nationalism. With just a few months left until the games, things seem to be quickly falling apart. What was supposed to proudly launch China into the worldwide spotlight is now becoming a public relations nightmare.

In response to recent crackdowns in Tibet, the Olympic torch was met in London and Paris by large protests. Today, the torch is set to run through San Francisco and will certainly be met with another wave of protestors. Fearing the worst, the city has tried to keep the exact route a secret and made provisions to change mid-route if needed. What should be a celebration of athleticism and unity is now being shrouded in secrecy and marked by protest along with cheers.

Many years ago, I remember seeing the Olympic torch pass by on its way to Atlanta for the 1996 Olympic games. I don't recall to many details other than seeing a guy run by with torch in hand, but I don't remember there being a large security detail or anything but enthusiastic spectators.

In fairness, there were many cheering people greeting the torch in both London and Paris and there seemed to be a number of Chinese flags waving in the background from the pictures I've seen. However, the fact that others in the crowd are willing to be arrested to try and steal or extinguish the torch seems to highlight the fact that not all is well.

Our local source of news, the People's Daily, mentioned minor disruptions along the torch routes and blamed it on very " a small number of "Tibet independence" secessionists and a handful of so-called human rights-minded NGO activists (harsh words there)."

Tonight, for the first time since the Tibetan unrest, a student briefly mentioned the incidents. I've been thankful not to hear about it from them actually as I find the local propaganda somewhat infuriating. She mentioned that many people had been killed in Tibet and I played ignorant, stating simply, "that's terrible, why would people do something like that?" She asked me if I was familiar with the "Dalai Clique" and I said, "yes." "They want to separate from China," she explained. Again, a simple "why?" was my response. "I don't know," she said, confused. I then mentioned something about America wanting to separate from Great Britain many years ago and how people on both sides died during the struggle. After that, I figured it was time to change subjects.

Being here is tough in many ways, but one of the things that bothers me most is the blatant propaganda spewed out by the news and the fact that people seem to buy it. If you ask, people will tell you that they don't always believe the news they hear. In reality, it seems they accept a good bit of it. I always try to encourage my students to question the news and authority, a strange concept, no doubt. The newspapers here only show certain pictures and tell certain stories, but at the same time, the news at home often adds it own twists as well.

Long before the recent Tibetan unrest, Janet and I discussed how major news outlets at home (the Times, CNN, etc.) would often spin stories to make China look bad. Following the coverage of the riots in Tibet, it was discovered that some sources cropped pictures they published in order to perhaps generate more sympathy for the Tibetans, which seemed to be the slant of the stories. A Chinese website was created to protest the "western media bias" and seemed to have some merit to its points. The website seems to be currently blocked here, but you may be able to view it at - anti-cnn.com (if so, avoid the infuriating message board filled with angry Chinese and a few sycophant westerners). Here, the opposite occurs and some pictures and videos (You Tube) are blocked so that only stories that portray rioters in violent and negative terms are run.

To me, neither side seems to be completely right. I expect things may get a bit uglier before they get better. Come August, all eyes will be on Beijing as athletes and reporters descend on the city by the thousands. Those who want to get a message out, will certainly try to seize the opportunity. I personally think some of the talk that is floating around of boycotting the opening ceremony is dangerous and wrong. As I mentioned, the Olympics are a huge source of national pride and the government has done a good job of promoting this feeling and personalizing any questions aimed its way. Any slight will almost certainly be taken as a huge insult by the rank and file Chinese (the media and government will be sure to fuel the fire) and would be a diplomatic mistake. At the same time, the Chinese need to start trying to answer the "why" question and consider why people are protesting. It is erroneous and simple-minded to just blame "separatists" and not really consider why it is they want to separate if conditions are so good...

Let's hope that the Olympics can help to bring us all a bit closer together while also forcing participant countries to take a good, long look at the rights of their own citizens.

A Costly Mistake

Last night, the foreigners of Zhanjiang Finance and Trade Secondary School (Janet and myself) along with the foreigners and a pair of Chinese friends from the Zhanjiang Normal University went to a local hotel to celebrate and enjoy an Easter dinner.

At the onset of the meal, we put in food requests and left the handling of the orders up to our Chinese-speaking friends. Among the requests were shrimp, which are found in relative abundance in the waters near Zhanjiang and fairly inexpensive here.

Somehow the hotel staff decided that the large group of foreigners needed something more upscale than common shrimp and we were brought a beautiful lobster dish. From here, the details get a bit murky. I'm not entirely sure if our Chinese friends were not paying attention to the mistake in dishes that was delivered (there were a total of 10 to 12 or so dishes) or what exactly happened, but we began to eat.

After enjoying the meal, the bill was brought and we discovered that the lobster dish alone cost 1000 Yuan! I haven't order lobster in the U.S. lately, but I thought the prices ranged somewhere around $30-$40 perhaps? Our lobster cost an outrageous sum of just over $140 USD!!! That would be expensive for home, but almost unheard of here where most dishes would cost between 20-40 Yuan, even at nice restaurants.

Luckily, there was a total of thirteen of us splitting the tab, but we still ended up getting much more than we had bargained for!

The beautiful and newly infamous "Zhanjiang 1000 Yuan Lobster," served with accompanying bird sculpture made from carrots and pumpkin.

The Declining Dollar

It should come as no surprise when I say that the U.S. economy is a mess right now! Runaway government spending has led to inflation and low interest rates discouraged savings and helped lead to the current "sub prime mortgage" crisis. The low interest rates and weakening confidence in the economy have also devalued the price of the dollar abroad.

While this may be good for exporters and the domestic tourism industry, the flip-side of the coin is that imports and travel abroad are becoming more costly. Since one of our major imports happens to be oil, I'm sure you've noticed this at the gas pump.

For a long time, China pegged the price of its currency to the U.S. Dollar. This and an abundance of labor helped the Chinese economy become a major world manufacturer and exporter. Periodically, the peg was changed ever so slightly. Fairly recently, policy changed and the Yuan has been pegged to a "basket of currencies." The result is a more liberal currency that is allowed to make slight adjustments.

When I arrived near the end of June 2007, one U.S. Dollar bought about 7.62 Chinese Yuan. This morning, one U.S. Dollar would buy you 7.083 Yuan. Doesn't sound like a big change? Well, it's an appreciation of 7.05% of the Yuan to the Dollar. When you consider that most banks (brick and mortar) offer about 1.5-2.5% interest for savings accounts, it seems like a larger return.

Using July's rate, my monthly living stipend (paid in RMB) would be worth roughly $524.94. Now my monthly stipend is equivalent to about $564.73, an increase of nearly $40/month. My small living stipend is just a drop in the bucket compared to the large business transactions that occur for Chinese goods each day. When you go to Wal-Mart, what items didn't come from China? The Always Low Prices may soon be increasing...

100 RMB, now worth slightly more than a Hamilton and four Washingtons.

Unrest in the West

I just got back from another great birthday dinner. Kevin wanted to take Janet and me out to celebrate my recent birthday so we introduced him to the new chic restaurant in town, Steqking Kitchen Production. Kevin, who has an extensive network of Zhanjiang connections, has a former student (Rainbow) who works at the restaurant and her manager designated her to be our personal assistant for the evening.

Exciting things about the restaurant include their large array of sushi, good western dishes, both Italian and Caesar salad dressings and being perhaps the only location in town to sell shots and mixed drinks (most bars require you to buy a bottle). Aside from helping us with ordering, Rainbow, after finding out it was my birthday, tried to buy us a cake and arranged to have the restaurant's violinist (I did say new and chic) play a special rendition of Happy Birthday for me.

Arriving back home later in the evening, I checked the news online and saw that the current situation in the far west of China is deteriorating. I thought I would go ahead and post the link now while I can, as it will almost certainly be blocked from the internet here soon... Unrest in the West.

An Orc in New York and Chinese Food

You probably have heard the story of disgraced New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer. While not really pertaining to my stay in China, I couldn't help but post after seeing a picture of the Governor in the Times online.

The first thought that popped into my head was his uncanny resemblance to Gothmog, an orc leader in the Lord of the Rings movie Return of the King.

What do you think?














More related to issues of China, is this article asking, "Is Chinese food as American as apple pie?" The passage discusses uniquely American aspects of "Chinese" food such as General Tso's Chicken and suggests that Chinese may be our favorite ethnic comfort food. The article also reviews and asks follow up questions for the recently released Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which promises to be an interesting read about the history of Chinese food in America.

Arabian Nights comes to Zhanjiang

A few months back, at one of the earlier banquets I went to with the school, one of my Chinese colleagues offered two reasons as to the popularity of the Chinese banquet style. Her first, was that she felt that taking food together from the communal dishes in the center of the table was a more sociable way of eating than having individual plates. The second reason ties in with the first in that this style of eating allows everyone to sample a large number of different dishes as opposed to just a few things. According to her, the Chinese like to have many flavors at each meal.

Our local Pizza Hut has found that incorporating reason two into their menu is generally great for business. About every month, Pizza Hut releases a new "specialty pizza." They throw in just about every topping imaginable and then give it a special theme. Think of it as a supreme pizza on crack. Past pizzas have included the standard toppings alongside some unique additions including pieces of squid, raisins, carrots and more. This seems to have been a remarkable success for Pizza Hut. Almost every time Janet and I go, we are the only people in the restaurant who do not order that month's specialty pizza.

The newest themed dinner available at the Zhanjiang Pizza Hut is "Arabian Nights." Its mainstay, the Arabian Nights Pizza looks to include (I have not actually tried it, just judging from a distance) such diverse toppings as pepperonis, peppers, onions, meatballs, chickpeas and possibly others. Optional accompanying side dishes include Royal Lamb with Couscous, Lamb burger with hummus, Magic Apple Tea and my personal favorite, the Harem Sweetie dessert. This large array of flavors can be available to you for about 80RMB/person (minimum of 2 people), which is fairly expensive for a meal here.

The Arabian Nights Pizza, probably not coming to a Pizza Hut near you...

Quick Update

First, my textbooks are supposed to finally be in, so I'll be looking forward to picking those up from the office tomorrow. So far, we've been doing some geography work in my classes. Since we are supposed to be learning about Britain and America, I thought a fifty states coloring map would be a good place to start. It is quite interesting how entertained you can keep 15-17 year old students with a handful of markers. Quite different from back home where any high school class would probably mutiny at a coloring assignment. I think the course material is going to be difficult for the students, so I'm going to try the approach of using activities and games to teach it. I mentioned before the challenge of placing yourself in their shows for this - having learned a just a little bit of a foreign language and then having to learn their history and culture in that language.

After we finished with the maps, I did a class game of hangman to try and help the students become familiar with the state names. They enjoyed this, but I found them constantly trying to "cheat" by looking at their maps to match up what states it could possibly be based on the number of letters. I even tried explaining that it was just a game and not a test, but the fear of being wrong was too great (this is one of my complaints about the education system here and will be the subject of an upcoming post)... After the first class, I learned to take away the maps when playing. I also split the class into teams and hung a large map up at the front of the room. After calling out the name of a state, the students would race to show me the location. I'll have to remember for the future that competition in the classroom is a very effective tool!

In other news, Kevin and I briefly became the first foreigners to step foot inside our new Wal-Mart. It apparently will not be opening now until April 17 (disappointing) but we were nearby when a maintenance crew opened the front doors to do some work and we briefly stepped in for a sneak peek before being escorted out. Sometimes the language barrier is fun as we are probably able to get away with things that regular Zhanjiang residents could not.

To end with a note of humor, I found a website today called "Stuff White People Like." Being in America, you may have heard of it already, I know its been mentioned on NPR before (interestingly, there is also a posting on "White People Like Public Radio"). I thought most posts were pretty funny. Worth a visit when you want to kill a little time at the computer.

I'll be back with more soon...

Mangosteen

(Mangosteen Fruit)

This semester, one of my goals is to be a bit more adventurous in the produce section of our grocery store. Most fruits are available on a seasonal basis and there are always new, strange-looking ones every month or so. My first pick was a delicacy from Thailand (which I missed while there), the mangosteen.

Until just last year, fresh mangosteens were not available in the United States. Now you can find this exotic fruit at some upmarket grocers in big cities but be prepared to pay. A New York Times article from August of last year found the fruit selling for about $45 per pound or $10 per mangosteen. I was lucky enough to be able to pick them up for about $1 per mangosteen; still slightly expensive relative to most other fruits at the store here.

Once back home, it was time to try out my new luxury fruit. The mangosteen has a reddish-purple shell that cracks open to reveal the white fruit hidden inside. The fruit is found in little segments that reminded me of garlic cloves due to the similar shapes. There was a faint floral smell, almost like a very light rose. The creamy flesh reminded me of an overripe peach. And the taste test... the taste is a bit hard to describe, but was sweet and something like a combination of lychees, peaches, and nectar.

Small, but rich, the mangosteen packs a lot of taste. I'll be picking up a few more next time I'm at the store. I'm sure in the future the mangosteen will become more mainstream and the prices will drop a bit. For now, if you'd like to try one also, be sure to stop by the ATM on your way to the grocery store!

(White fruit inside the shell)

Flight Attendants Wanted

I traveled with Air Asia, a regional discount carrier, on my recent trip to Thailand and back. Accommodations were somewhat Spartan and luggage requirements a bit strict, but the prices were pretty good. Lacking any on board entertainment for the two and a half hour flight, I had plenty of time to look over the safety procedures in the seat-back pouch in front of me. Behind it, proved to be an even more interesting find.

It turns out that the airline was soon to be holding walk-in interview for flight attendants in Bangkok. A little brochure listed what they were looking for as well as time and location. I found the qualifications to be interesting...

• Female age between 20-30
• Thai nationality only
• University graduate. Fluent in both written and spoken English
• Fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese would be an advantage
  
• Minimum height (bare-feet) 160 cm
• Healthy with excellent eyesight (spectacle must wear contact lens only)
• Good appearance, poised, smart look and well groomed
• Service minded; cheerful and passionate
  

I guess it was no accident that the flight attendants all seemed friendly and attractive...

I'm sure the EEOC would have a great time with that if they could expand their jurisdiction.

A Happy Birthday

I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to call or write and wish me a Happy Birthday today.

This is my first birthday so far away from home. A special thanks also goes to Janet for helping to make it a great day.

For some reason, March 3 is not an official holiday in the People's Republic of China and thus I did find myself teaching two classes during the day. Luckily, they went pretty smoothly.

After class, Janet had some presents for me to open at home and then we went to Zhanjiang's one and only five-star hotel for a dinner buffet. We've been to the Crowne Plaza on two previous occasions, but the food this time was by far the best. Dining on upscale and authentic-tasting Western food really made the day!

Thanks again for all of the birthday wishes!

The National Bird's Nest

Following up on my recent post on the 2008 Olympics, I found a good article today discussing a different aspect. If there is one early highlight from the upcoming Beijing games, my vote goes to the architecture. The sporting events will not lack for grand venues.

The "Bird's Nest" seems a perfect fit for a China anxious to showcase itself as a rapidly modernizing nation to the rest of the world.

Follow the link below for the original article and pictures.
Secrets of the Bird's Nest

Second Semester, First Day

School has started once again.

This semester I'll still be teaching 12 hours (3 classes - twice a week) but with different subjects and some new students. This term I have two courses of "Survey of Britain and America" and one class of "Western Culture Audio/Visual." It should be more structured than the Oral and Listening English courses of last term that gave me a good deal of freedom inside the classroom.

China being as it is, I received my new schedule Sunday afternoon with classes starting the following morning... In a slightly more unexpected twist, textbooks for the courses won't be arriving until sometime next week! Not as big of a deal in a speaking class, but I'm not sure exactly what I should be teaching here. The topics seem broad enough to cover anything from humanities to simple geography.

In any event, having a number of new students, I'm just using the first week as a chance to try and familiarize myself with their English level. Hopefully, once the books arrive, I will have a better idea of what I should be preparing for them. One great thing is that all of my classes are small. I still have the college class of twenty-five from last semester, but added to them are two high school classes.; One with just twenty students and the second with about thirty. Overall, I'll have under 100 different students this term. Compared to the foreign teachers at Zhanjiang Normal University who usually average around 400 to 450 different students, this will be quite a luxury.

I think the new courses may be a bit of a challenge (imagine learning history, politics, etc. in a second language), but with a little experience now under my belt, I'm hoping I'll be able to meet it and be a more effective teacher this time around.

My New Schedule

• Monday: Survey of Britain and America, Class One - 8:00-9:40AM
• Survey of Britain and America, Class Two - 2:50-4:30PM
• Tuesday: Western Culture A/V - 9:50-11:30AM
• Wednesday: Survey of Britain and America, Class Two - 2:50-4:30PM
• Thursday: Western Culture A/V - 8:00-9:40AM
• Friday: Survey of Britain and America, Class One - 9:50-11:30AM
  

Wrath of a Nation

Recently, famed film director, Steven Spielberg, pulled out of his role as "artistic consultant" for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Spielberg citing China as not doing enough to help end the ongoing crisis in Sudan as his reason.

I have no doubt that Spielberg's next movie, if not outright banned from China will be met with protests at the minimum and poor box office results. With the high rate of pirated movies, perhaps it would ultimately not be that large of a loss.

Already, backlash against the move is appearing. A recent editorial in The People's Daily, China's official English language, party approved newspaper, starts out...

A Western film director is so "naive and simple-minded" that he has made an inopportune move on the issue of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games by linking it to Darfur issue in Sudan, and this perhaps exhibited the "unique" qualities of this Hollywood celebrity. Nevertheless, the "naivety or innocence" shown by a few Western media seems all the more ignorant and funny.
(Read the full article here).

While I'm certain that Mr. Spielberg and I would find ourselves at odds on a number of political issues, "naive" and "simple-minded" are two adjectives I would not use to describe him. That seems childish and conjures up memories of kids arguing at the school playground.

I have to admit to not knowing much about the disagreement and China's involvement in Sudan other than the fact that having a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council gives them veto power and they have close business ties to Sudan as an important source of oil.

I look forward to watching the upcoming games and expect there will be many interesting stories coming from both the athletic events and the political realm. I for one, would love to see the issue of free speech and internet censorship addressed!

Still Zhanjiang

Its a funny feeling be back here in Zhanjiang. I was away for just over a month and spent most of that time in Thailand. Though not very far away on a map, Thailand was quite a bit different than my impressions of China from the backwater town of Zhanjiang. It seems that so much has happened for me in the past four weeks but back here, things are more or less the same as when I left...

The campus has been empty, the students are not back yet and only a few other of the teachers live at the school. It has been very nice. I guess I had grown used to the constant noise of students in the courtyards below and blaring announcements coming from the school PA system followed by a random soundtrack of songs, but now that it is gone for a few days, you really notice a difference. One of my earliest thoughts in China was that they do not like silence. I came to this conclusion after every tourist site we visited early on had silly music pumped in from speakers, even out in the woods and on the sides of mountains. I think this doesn't always hold true, but here on campus, it sometimes seems like it. In the absence of steady background noise, I've even turned off the mp3 player on my computer as I've surfed the net and enjoyed the quiet.

The only occasional breaks in the silence have been from the explosive ordinance that passes for fireworks around here. It puts to shame the little things that we use for fireworks that our local and state governments are constantly trying to ban.

As for what's next - I guess five more months of teaching are all that is left. The time seems to have gone by quickly. Still not sure if classes officially start on Monday or not and I definitely don't have a schedule yet...

In the more immediate future, I plan to finally start churning out some Thailand blogs. Also, I did upload pictures from my trip onto Webshots (which is still blocked in mainland China), so if you haven't seen them yet, check them out.