Changsha Huatian Hotel

... friends house for some dinner and LOTS of drinks as usual. I tried to say no but once again was forced to take at least two shots with everyone. The host was a writer and gave me and adam each a copy of his chinese book.. i dont think these will ever get read but we said thanks and took them anyway. After lunch we went home for a quick nap then woke up for dinner and more drinks at another friends house! Everyone ended up a little too drunk so we finally called it a night.

Last weekend was amazing. We have been in the groove of teaching for about 3 months and can see much progress in many of our students. Of course, there are the speed-bump classes that make us want to pull our hair out! Overall, it has been quite the positive experience. Our students 'Wow' us everyday. The first half of the semester we were teaching one class on weekends at our friend Elizabeth's private school for gifted youngsters (a.k.a. kids ...

... If you can't guess what that means then forget about it. So, i have taken some very beautiful head shots of the guys that did it. Roman and Pat are missing. Roman wasn't there until later and Pat was being difficult. Thanks for rounding up the other guys, Luke!!

Besides drinking and staying up all night, there is nothing much to report. See for yourself....

Changshan jälkeen otimme junan Zhuzhou:hun tapaamaan uutta tuttavaamme Erikaa. Asemalla meitä oli vastassa Erikan lisäksi myös pilvenpiirtäjät ja kirkkaat neonvalot. Yllätyimme ensi näkemästä, koska luulimme saapuvamme pienempään kaupunkiin. Zhuzhou ei ole lonelyplanetissa, joten jostain syystä oletimme kaupungin olevan pieni idyllinen maaseutukaupunki. Tai no jos ei ihan maaseutua niin pieni kaupunki ...

I just got back from a night in Changsha. I went with three students and the heads of the English Department for an English competition. I have been training the three students for about a month now and they had their competition today.

I was unable to stay in Changsha tonight, so I will not be able to see Willow's speech. I have a ...

I have finally returned from a well needed break. The last nine days, I have been in Changsha and Shanghai. I went to Changsha for two nights and then Shanghai for seven. It has been a good adventure.

I went to Changsha to celebrate National Day with all of my fellow teachers. It was a huge day for the PRC and Changsha was wild.

Besides partying with everyone, not much was done.

Here are the few pictures from the nights in Changsha.

This morning I woke up at 7am to try and watch my Gators play against Charleston Southern, but unfortunately for the first time my internet was down until 10am. I was only able to watch the last minute of the game. Also I had no running water until 12 b/c they are doing construction on the new gym and shut the ...

Last night was a great night, Michaela one of the world teach volunteers organized a potluck dinner and it was a huge hit. There were about 25 people that show up. I made penne pasta in vodka cream tomato sauce with pork meatballs. Everyone raved over how great my dish was but I'm not sure if ...

... for a meal with the other teachers which turned into a bit of an alcoholic fest as the people in Jianghua love toasting and drinking all-in-ones. Sam and me realised we were in trouble after continually downing cups of beer! I switched to Chinese tea after a while and i don't think anyone noticed.... Later we went to a kareoke bar (or KTV as its called in China) where everyone insisted we sang. Unfortunately the people around here are renowned for being excellent at singing so im not ...

... 3 weeks ago, and so have to go back to the dentist once a week. I am on the five-week treatment plan to get a filling. Why an hour-long process in the States should take five weeks in China I have no idea, but I am hopeful that one day I will once again have a fully functioning mouth. The sad thing is that I actually look forward to this weekly appointment, since it gives me an excuse to get out of my apartment and go somewhere a little warmer. I have been hanging out with some new ...