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on Ripsnorter Chinalife (China), 30/Mar/2009 11:13, 34 days ago
Hi Folks - sorry for the hiatus, we've been getting to grips with our new surroundings and new jobs.What's been going on?? Well, quite a bit actually. I think the last time I blogged was when we'd first arrived in Xifeng (pronounced: gee-fung). We'd gotten a lift from Xian with Sabine's headmaster and he'd also bought us our first Chinese hotpot. This was followed by an official welcome banquet about 3 hours later! (hotpot again and more food than we could shake the proverbial at).We've come a ways since then. We've played ping-pong with the local lads (they're pretty good!); bargained at the local veg market; played badminton in our yard; explored the local market (which sells everything) and managed to pursuade Sabine's school to get us a brand new fridge-freezer. Things are starting to become more routine now including buying (healthy) local fast food, using the nearby laundry (all our clean clothes come back smelling of cigarrette smoke!) and of course work. We started work a few days after arriving. Sabine at No 4 middle school; me at the education& research bureau. Sabine has more of a routine as she visits work each day according to her timetable. Her work at present consists of demonstration lessons, advice sessions and lesson observations& feedback. It was a suprise at first: up tp 75 students per class, plaster coming off the walls and toilets where the stench of ammonia almost knocks you over. However, you soon become accustomed and I think the coolest thing is, the signal for the end of first lesson is an instrumental version of How Deep is Your Love.My work started with visits to a couple of fairly local middle schools (that's for 12 to 16 year olds) to assess the English teachers' training needs and see how Chinese schools operate (one school was quaint: the classrooms had a barn roofs and sparrows flying in and out). With the info gathered, I put together a 2-day training course for all of the twenty-odd teachers, a deputy head and a head. This included sessions on lesson observation, lesson planning and teaching with resources etc, etc. We just finished running this course yesterday - yes, we worked all weekend! Now I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off. Sabine can only have Monday as work at school beckons.Today we visited Xiao Chong Tong Shan which is essentially a series of tombs. Each seems to house a large Budda accompanied by a pit of sand where either fake money, special paper or incense sticks are burned in honour of the dead. The whole atmosphere was like a carnival with a Chinese theatre, a stage with dancing girls and rock music (The Scorpions) and market stalls everywhere. The whole area is surrounded by deep ravines, some filled with water - good photo opportunities. As it was a sunny day we decided to walk back to the town. It took an hour and a half through the dusty villages but we saw more interesting sights than on the bus on the outward journey.Well it's time to wash me smalls! so I'll bid you farewell for nowRegards Phil& Sabine