Christmas in China!

Snow in Langfang

Back in the USA
The fall semester is now officially over and I'm writing this blog from the USA.  Hooray!  I flew back into BWI at roughly 11:18 pm, on the 18th, whereby my family picked me up and I was home within the hour.  It’s great to be home for Christmas.  I will stay here in the good state of Maryland till the 15th of February.  So that means I get nearly two months of vacation, which is even more vacation time than I got last summer.

Travel wasn't too bad this time.  It took me a total of 22 hours total to get from my apartment in Langfang to my family’s home.  NCIAE was nice enough to lend me a driver who took me directly to the airport and I didn’t have to fight my way through the Beijing subway.  I got to the airport early enough but it didn’t do me any good.  Delta’s computer system was down at Peking International and each of the passengers had to be checked-in by hand with a pen and paper.  It was tedious.  Thankfully there was only one Delta flight leaving that day and they delayed the plane so that everyone could get on.  The delay set us back about two hours but they managed to get everyone on.  I don’t want to complain too much about Delta because the crew worked their hardest to get us all taken care of and the hustle was impressive.  They even gave us free food and drink while we all waited to be check-in.  

The flight from Beijing to Detroit lasted 12 hours and I spent most of the time catching up on the year’s big movies.  I found myself watching the Pacific Rim and thinking that Season 1 of The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers was so much better... Oh, Hollywood, what were you thinking?  I did really enjoy The World’s End with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.  I love their movies.  I finally arrived in Detroit and thankfully my connecting flight wasn’t for another two hours.  I grabbed myself something to eat, a brief nap, and then boarded the airbus.  I arrived in Baltimore and was greeted by family and fresh batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies!  It’s great to be home.

Christmas in China
This past month has been the busiest yet.  I was asked by the college to add two extra classes to my schedule.  They wanted me to teach academic writing to the Master’s program students.  This put my total teaching hours up to 22 per week, which is a lot.  Each teaching hour should have at least 2 hours of prep work and that means I was working nearly 66 hours per week.  This included final exams, grading papers, and even a special lecture given to nearly 500 students.  The lecture was a big hit.  The theme was about the nuances of different cultures and I told funny stories about my own personal experiences in China.  The final exam also went well.  I gave the classes an assignment to write, direct, and act in their own English drama.  The theme of each drama needed to come from our textbook but the dialogue was up to them.  They all did a really great job.  One of the dramas had six students acting out a relationship soap opera whereby a girl learned that her boyfriend was already married… how scandalous.  It ended well as the girl was rescued by a geeky classmate whom proved to her his love… so romantic.

The best part of this whole month has been the celebration of Christmas with my students.  Similar to last year, I got to share my culture with the students by turning one of our class meetings into a Christmas party.  I brought in decorations for the students to hang and they did a great job making the classroom look festive.  I also brought my guitar and I taught them some traditional Christmas carols.  We sang Jingle Bells, Rudolf the Red-Noised Reindeer and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.  We played musical chairs, had a gift exchange, as well as other fun games.  The students really loved this time to celebrate.  I lectured a little bit about Christmas traditions but mostly we just had fun.  Subsequently, many of the students have asked to spend more time with me outside of the classroom.  I’m happy to accept their invitations.  Thus our Christmas celebration would continue into dinners together.  Several of my students treated me to a nice traditional Chinese dinner at a local restaurant.  The restaurant is a small hole-in-the-wall but the food is great.  I wish I knew of this place earlier in the semester.  I have a feeling I will be visiting here more often.

Some of my guy students wanted to hang out with me so on the weekend they came over to my apartment and we played computer games together.  My friend, Gideon, helped me by two USB controllers for my laptop and I downloaded The King of Fighters from Steam.  All the guys were having a nostalgic flashback as we played.  They could remember playing earlier versions of the game as kids.  It was a lot of fun.  I also got to play Chinese Chess with Bill.  I didn’t do the best but I didn’t do poorly either.  I still lost.  On my last night in China I had a big group come over and we all watched Megamind on my flat screen TV.  It was great to just get some fun time with the students.  I gave all the girls some small Christmas gifts, bracelets, and the boys got survival bands.  They appreciated the gifts a lot.  It was a joyous time with some wonderful new friends.  I really do enjoy my new students.  I can’t wait to see them all again next term.  

Dinner with the NCIAE faculty

Starbucks Coffee with Sunny

Breakfast with Gideon