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Zhenjiang Slideshow
Travel Blogs from Zhenjiang, China
Sichuan Chicken & Mardi Gras
... I haven't done much research on the subject, it seems like the Dragon Boat Festival as a whole is dying out. It's nowhere near as big a deal here as all the travel books on China suggest. Mao's ripple effect is still spreading. ...
Coffee, Cheese, Turkish Food, and Coffee
... out for three hours or left from the Hongqiao station across town so that we had to go to Nanjing then double back to Zhenjiang. This method is better than waiting in the Shanghai train station for three hours, but it's more total travel time and ...
Class Outside
I had a nice day today. I taught at eight then met Charles outside my class building to walk over to the Z Building for his class. Charles needed me to film his morning lesson so that he could send a teaching sample to the university he's ...
Being Lunchless and Bloodlet
... couple of hours and got to know Mike. He's from east London, and he taught in Korea for two years before coming to China. He plans to teach in China for two semesters then move to Thailand to teach there. While we chatted, Charles told a story ...
Feliz Cinco de Mayo
... Cinco de Mayo dinner. I'm amused that all the way in China, we were able to celebrate an obscure Mexican holiday with "real" Mexican food. China has become pretty worldly in a very short period of time, and I want to give it proper ...
Last Lesson
Tonight, Sam and I had our last Chinese lesson of the semester. At the end of our lesson, Melody and Ludwig asked us if we wouldn't mind suspending our lessons during the final exam period and the Spring Festival holiday. We told them that we ...
"Tapas" Without Tapas & Paella Without Rice
... place a few months ago but had been forgetting to try it. It's one of only a handful of Western restaurants in Zhenjiang. Overall, our opinion upon leaving the restaurant was that the food was excellent but that the experience was possibly the ...
Japanese Dinner
Tonight we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the International Hotel with the four Japanese teachers who are at the university this semester. I think they all live on our floor. The only significant first I had was a taste of plum ...
An Uneventful but Busy Day
... that we'd just take the train to Nanjing instead of the bus. The upside of the bus is that it goes directly from Zhenjiang to the Nanjing airport. The train goes to the center of Nanjing, and the airport is 30 minutes away. But since ...
Keeping Busy with Nothing to Do
... up, and I doubled up with a woman who was going in the opposite direction, but not very far. Doubling up is common in China, and I'm glad for it. I shopped at Auchan, came back, had a cup of tea, finished Brave New World, then cooked dinner. I ...
How Badly Can They Want It?
... a new batch of requests to meet with students who want to practice their English. I've had many such requests since coming to China, and I usually turn them down because while all the people who have asked have been lovely, being such a helper is harder ...
Jade 29 Revolving Restaurant
... , Matt, Tiffany, Sam, and I went to Jade 29, which is a revolving restaurant at the top of the International Hotel here in Zhenjiang. Charles had been telling us about the place for several weeks and we'd all been dying to try it, so we made it our ...
Like a Carnival In Your Mouth
This evening at 7:00, Charles, Mike, and I attended English Corner. I sat with some of my Chinese friends and former students, and we had a fun chat for an hour. Halfway through the meeting, a student came around a did three card tricks for ...
Explorations in Frozen Foods
... , pulled off the offending meat, and sat down to eat feeling pretty lucky. I didn't expect to find frozen pizza in China. Unfortunately though, the pizza was so sweet and the dough was so spongy it tasted like pizza flavored cake (if you can ...
They Know What's Going On
... and pink and spiky on the outside. We also ordered a bottle of French Sauvignon Blanc. White wine isn't common in China, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that the restaurant serves both a Chinese label and a foreign label. Toward the ...
Allergies
... about ten days to get here. Weather.com is predicting a rain/snow mix for next Wednesday. I'm not sure if it snows in Zhenjiang every year or not. Some of my students have told me it does, and some have told me it doesn't. Regardless, ...
teaching
... trained to teach language arts.....oh well...my enthusiasm makes up for it! I'm really starting to appreciate my primitive experience here at Zhenjiang Vocational college. Out of all my 144 students, I think I only have 1 boy. I meet my final ...
Merry Christmas Eve
I went to three Christmas Eve parties in the space of about two and half hours tonight. The first one was a formal Chinese banquet given by the International Office. We made the usual greetings, ate the usual Chinese food, and engaged in the ...
Umbrella Case Study
... laid out their umbrellas not just to dry them off, but to show them off. Nearly all everyday, utilitarian objects in China are also decorative in some way (take the term "decorative" lightly, though), and umbrellas are no exception. Umbrellas ...
"It's made in Japan!"
At the end of my class tonight, I had trouble getting the projector to turn off and the motorized screen to roll up. I never know which button is the correct one to press because the labels are in Chinese, but I usually press all of them until the ...
China Royale
... dining area came to our table and toasted us. He talked to us for a while, asked what we were doing in Zhenjiang, then requested our presence in his dining room. He wanted us to toast his large party, which included several business owners ...
Application and Essay Submitted
The only significant thing I did today was finish my application, write my essay, and submit both to my chosen midwifery school in Maine. The essay was easy to write. The school provides guidelines, allows applicants to diverge if they wish, ...
Brand New Ancient Ruins
... to see if he wanted to check out the hostel at the Xijin Gu Du, which is an historic district here in Zhenjiang that features traditional Chinese architecture. The buildings are attached row houses made from gray brick with carved wooden doors. ...
256 Five-Minute Audio Files
I spent the afternoon dealing with the 256 five-minute audio recordings of my students' oral exams that have been sitting on my computer for a week. I was dreading dealing with them because I knew the process of getting them onto CD's to give to ...
Dave's Again
I don't have much to report tonight. We all had quiet days and went to Dave's again for dinner tonight. Matt had invited one of our good Chinese friends, Stanley, to Dave's tonight before we planned to go last night, on New Year's Eve, so we ...
29 Hours to Chengdu
... -office so that I can ship home the things I won't need in my last few weeks here. I've bought too much in China for everything to fit into my luggage. I'm planning to ship my winter clothes and shoes, books, and DVD's. To send all of it ...
Blogging from an Internet Cafe
... Chinese video website, was one of our remaining sources of entertainment. The website houses thousands of films from China, Japan, the US, England, France, and several other countries, but as of Sunday, it's no longer working. The ...
Freedom in a bicycle
My new best friend- I knew something has been missing from my life (besides joanna and georgia and pretzels and steamed kale and vita water and coffee with cream and sun and....) ...MY BIKE! Well things have just gotten a bit better around here. ...
Madeleine, Willa, & Caroline
About half the students at the university who are studying English have English names. Some have told me it's common for Chinese students studying English to pick names in middle school, and some have told me they don't pick names until high ...