An English Teacher in China: Back for the Third Time

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

I’m finally back in China for my third year teaching. I’m glad to be back, although, I’m already missing my family. I had a good summer in the states and I enjoyed my time traveling around Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I arrived back in China on August 26 after 28 hours of travel by plane and automobile. My flight was alright, but not the best. However, I did buy myself some noise cancelling earphones and I loved them! Normally I can’t sleep on a plane because of the noise of the engines but the headphones really worked and I was able to get some sleep. This year I finally decided to buy myself a good guitar, although, I was worried it wouldn’t safely make it to China. I almost thought I had lost my guitar when I first arrived at the language carousel in the Beijing airport and my guitar failed to arrive with me. I was almost in a panic. I rushed over to the baggage claim counter and told the clerk my issue. He directed me to a special kiosk where an airline attendant waited with my guitar in hand. I was so relieved to see my baby safe and sound.

Welcome Back Pizza Night

I've got lots of stories to share from the first week. Unfortunately, my internet is still down so I'm writing this blog from Starbucks in the Wanda. I've gotten to meet the two new foreign teachers: Tracy from Chicago and Janakie from New Zealand. I have been busy showing them how to survive in Langfang. I've also got to meet with quite a few of my old students. In fact, each night is usually taken up with meeting someone for dinner. Yesterday, Niu Sisi asked me if I would be willing to cook for her and her friends. (Niu Sisi is one of my freshmen from last year and she came to almost every English Club.) Of course I said yes and soon we invited the whole group to my apartment for a "Welcome Back" dinner. We had a wonderful pizza dinner. I had twelve students come help me prepare the mini-pizzas and salad. (I always put my guests to work in the kitchen.) We ended up watching Wreck-it-Ralph and enjoying ourselves till late in the evening. Many of the students had spent the whole day travelling and I could see that they were very tired. But, it didn't matter. They all put on their best dresses and came over for English club. Some even brought me special gifts from their hometown. I was happy to see them all again and I was honored that they wanted to spend their first night in Langfang with me.

The Ice Bucket Challenge

So you may be wondering what the pictures below are all about. Well, the story is that I was out with the other foreign teachers for an afternoon lunch when we saw a group of girls dressed in bunny outfits selling apartments. Janakie wanted a photo of the madness so we all went over. It turned out that a couple of the bunny girls were actually students of NCIAE and they asked me to come with them. Little did I know what these devious rabbits were planning! They brought me over to a little kiddie pool in the middle of the shopping mall where several buckets of ice water were waiting. I knew then what was going to occur. Janakie, whom has a wicked sense of humor, encouraged me to go through with it and I'm not one to turn down a challenge. The event was mainly a publicity stunt for the new apartments behind the mall but the company was donating $100 to ALS for everyone who underwent the icy shower. There was no backing out now so I went through with the ordeal. I climbed into the kiddy pool with eight inches of freezing water and prepared for my inevitable demise. I wanted to stand but the host told me I had to sit. So I sat in the freezing depths as my pants were soaked in the chilling bath. The two students/bunny-girls got the privilege of dumping the bucket and they poured it ever so slowly. I was preparing for a sudden rush but instead I received a chilling shower. It felt like ages before the girls had emptied their freezing payload. Perhaps it was only 30 seconds. But it felt like ages! The water also had plenty of time to sit and cool down so it was ice cold. Furthermore, the ice cubs keep bonking me in the head. As soon as I thought it was safe, another ice chunk would knock me on the cranium. Finally the ordeal was over and the crowd of onlookers cheered my success. There were about fifty some people gather around all with cameras out. The all laughed and I gave them a good splash when they refused to join me in my tub. It was good fun for everyone. The host then presented me with a gift of luxury towels, which I then used to dry off. I was freezing. I headed back to the apartments, cold and wet. Janakie affectionately named me Benjamin Bunny and claimed the shower as my christening into the bunny-girl/boy ranks.

The Semester’s Class Schedule

I have yet to get my class schedule and the semester has started. I've got five classes scheduled so far: two freshmen oral English classes and two junior level business English classes. The juniors are my students from last year. I will also teach one Master's level class.

Tune in next week for more stories from China!