Kaifeng Henan Hotel

... said things like, “多穿衣服 ” (wear more clothes, ie, it's getting cold) and “哎呀！” (Ai ya!) “天啊！” (good lord--lit., great sky!) .

My students oooooed and ahhhhhhhed when I walked into class. Personally, I felt foofy and silly in my pink frills, but they loved it. "You are so beautiful today ...

... see how I would hold up. My back felt terrible, kind of like it does after 40 hours on plane, and my legs wobbly. But the store was a good goal, and the food I got there sufficed. Teaching tonight felt like a relief--as if months had gone by and I'd been shut in a box, unable to see the world.

And then I received a few emails from students in classes I'd missed. I want them to make groups of eight and choose topics to debate ...

Yesterday I went to see if Mike had music I could put on my mp3 player so I could run to something new. [My external hard drive has gone crazy, and currently all of my writing from, oh, college and maybe high school, and all of my pictures, ever, are fried. (That's a goal for this week: fix hard drive...)]

Mike came to the door, bleary-eyed in droopy boxers, hair tussled and messy.
"Yeah?"
"Um, do you ...

... Mike. I winced, and immediately my thrusting slackened. The instructor came over to me.
“It’s ok, but your legs—you have to—here, feel the back of my leg.” The instructor put my hand on the back of his thigh, my hand pressing down his baggy jeans. I could then feel that his leg straightened completely out.
“Oh, I get it!” I told him, and I tried my ‘pop’ again.
“Yes, that’s it, keep going.”
Kaifeng, Henan, China m.van.etten

... I fit in at Lauren's funeral. It was too conservative, too much held back.

But here, in China, funerals seem to be completely different.

I have not studied the practice here academically. I have only walked into funerals a few times and taken part in the large crowd that gathers to watch. Sad? Yes, I'm sure it is for the friends and family. But funerals here are an event! Giant wreaths are set up where the person who has passed lived or worked. In ...

... shook his head.
"I'm sleepy." "I'm drowsy." "I'm tired." "I'm exhausted." "I'm pooped."

"Me too!" I said.

"Time for lunch!" Xiao Guo said. "You know, when you speak Chinese you sound like I sound in English." I kept my face still and tried not to think of all the characters I need to learn. "Read this passage and review in the afternoon. I'll text you around 3 and we'll do some more."

"Ok," I said. I was thinking, Sweet lord! I will hardly have any hours ...

... the cock's are never killed, but you are allowed to bet on the "winner"), a horse riding demonstration, a mock Gung Fu fight in which a team of outlaws liberates one of their members being held in captivity. There's also an "acrobatic" show complete with a boy ripping pieces of paper and putting out a cigarettes, with a bull-whip, while still in the trembling lips of another performer. If that wasn't ridiculous enough, a little girl then stands on her hands ...

... question, turn around to look at someone behind her, like I did not point at her, then put her head down and pretend to be studying as I walk towards her. I stood two feet from this student's desk and repeated the question with my face just inches from hers. Instead of raising her head from her desk she "slyly" looked at me. I could almost hear the silent prayer for me to move on. Usually, getting students to talk is worse than pulling teeth ...

Yesterday trip was to the secondary school, the trip for today was going primary school in the rural village. Wherever you go, your first place to find must be the toilet and this is one of the most impressible for me. Using what Jackie said, there were no flies in the toilet. The reason for it was the smell and that was strong enough to kill all flies. The class we were going to teach was the P1 students. It was challenging us ...

... favorite radio stations from home because between songs when the DJ is speaking I simply can't concentrate and my mind fully focuses on whatever mumbo jumbo they are talking about on the radio. It was the same for me when I arrived back in Australia eight years ago. After a long period travelling Asia no matter where I sat I would become totally absorbed in ALL the conversations ...