Name: MBE (jason)
After living in China for over 6 years, my life back stateside...
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(since 5.14.04)
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My heart is deeply saddened by the events of the past 48 hours in southern Asia. This really hits close to home as my wife and I were planning a trip to the southern Thailand coast over the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday. Our plans may be changing now. My heart goes out to everyone that has been touched by this horrific event.
This morning when I woke there was a steady stream of snow falling outside my window. This may be a normal event elsewhere, but in Suzhou it is rare. The fact that the snow is still falling and is starting to make everything very white is even more rare! The temp has been cold enough, but I guess that the conditions are finally right for the beautiful snow!
My friend from school told me of a great thing that is happening in our neighborhood. Very soon we will have our own 星巴克 or STARBUCKS! This is very normal for most places in the world, but not for Suzhou. Again, there is only one in the entire city now and it is downtown on the busiest street so it is ALWAYS busy! Now we will hopefully have a nice quiet place to go to drink coffee, I guess it is too much to ask for wifi?!
My wife introduced me to a new online community that is pretty cool. It is called Hi5 and it allows to you add friends and then look at your friend's friends to see if you might know one of them or to make new friends. If you are member and want to add me then click here. If you want to sign up (FREE) then also click here.
The last two days have been filled with lots of activities, eating, chatting with friends, etc. Sounds a lot like I was just at home for the holidays, wrong! I am referring to my 4th Christmas Holiday spent in China. I was going to add links to articles about Chinese Christmas and all, but I thought that just writing about what I have seen while living here would be more interesting.
During my first Christmas in Beijing (1999) I basically spent time with my closest friends and there was very little around in the way of decorations, lights, songs, etc. Most of the western hotels had a holiday buffet, but that was the extent of it. Very few shops or local restaurants even showed interest in celebrating this holiday. Now, fast forward to 2004. EVERY SINGLE shop and restaurant has people wearing Santa hats and Christmas songs blaring from the stereos. There are holiday sales and Christmas specials, even Christmas wrapping of gifts. When I walking into a shopping mall a few days ago I was greeted by a singing and dancing full-size Santa dummy! I have been delightfully surprised every year at how Christmas is catching on.
Now keep in mind that it is all the 'Christmas Stuff' that one would see on TV and in Hollywood's mind. There is not talk of wise men and mangers. They have lots of 'Merry X-mas' signs and the like. Many trees with holiday ornaments and lights, but no angels on the top. It is like they have taken all the Christmas ideas of decorating and none of the meaning of Christmas. I am certain that if I asked anyone on the street about where Christmas came from that 99.9% could not tell me.
But then again, I know what it means to me. I know that these songs, decorations, greetings, etc. help me cope with being away from home at this time. If that is all it does for me then I am happy, but I guess it takes all the meaning of it away from all the young people who may not know what it means.
Well, if we truly look at how Christmas is celebrated in most places in the world, is it really any different?
One of the many reasons that I started this blog was to help spread information about China. What better way to share information than with photos?! I have added a link to the sidebar that goes to my 'webshots' community photo home. I have added some new photos that I have been too lazy to add the past few months. There is a new album for Shanghai and I have added about 15 new photos from our trip to Sanya. If you have questions about the photos please send me an e-mail or Skype me or some other way of getting in touch with me and I will shed more light on anything that you might be wondering about! ;) I hope to be back in my "educational" writing mode soon, but for now, enjoy the photos!
My wife and I just walked in from a great 5 days in Sanya, China. I promise to write more tomorrow, but I have to get some shut eye to be rested for the rest of my holiday!
...@ 3.00pm today we will be finished with school for two weeks! I am so excited to have a little break. To make it more exciting it is my birthday. What a way to celebrate with a two week break! This will give me a good amount of time to explore and investigate podcasting and all that jazz. I am also thinking about switching over my blog to a new site with more capability. I will keep that all posted here as I make changes and decisions.
ESL teaching is like learning how to walk everyday. Once you are up and running it is time to move on. When I am able to have a conversation with my 5th grade students then it time for them to move on to a mainstream English class...
According to the AP, via USAToday, the FCC has approved putting Wifi on commercial jets. According to the report, Wifi could be on flights as early as 2006! Man, I can imagine having internet access while I am on that 21 hours of airtravel between China and Atlanta! It would ROCK! The report also said that the FCC is talking about doing away with the cell phone ban on planes but did not vote on that yet. Here is a segment of the story:
Airlines can provide their passengers access to high-speed wireless Internet while they fly, under a vote by federal regulators Wednesday.
"If there is a theme for this meeting, it is that we want (new technologies) on the land, in the air, and on the sea" Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell said Wednesday as the commission considered new rules for airlines.
"We are pushing the frontiers in order to bring the information age to all corners of the world," he said.
The FCC also talked about whether to end the ban on using cell phones on planes, but did not vote.
I am currently listening to 'Daily Source Code' podcast by Adam Curry (of MTV Fame). Earlier today I listened to 'G'Day World', an Australian podcast about many different subjects. They were both good and it was great to listening to podcasts from my iPod. (Don't know what I am talking about? Check out 'What is Podcasting') We are headed to Sanya, Hainan this Saturday and I plan to have several podcasts to listen to on the flight and while lounging by the pool! 
On another podcasting note, some folks from school are talking to me about starting one up for our students. I will keep you all posted. If anyone knows where I could store podcasts online for free or little cost please let me know!
Over the past several months I have had many requests for more information about CHINA and about living, working, touring in China. I have decided to compline a few of my favorite site for helping people interested in finding out more about China:
China Education and Research Network
China Culture
China Daily News
Xinhua News
C-Trip Online Travel Agent
Fly China
Shanghai Expat.com
Links to China
Welcome to China
China Search.com
Other China Blogs:
Mabel Speaks!
Mask of China, Dalian Edition
Shanghai Diaries
Big White Guy
Jamieson's Luck
Wangjianshuo.com
Sinosplice / China Blog List
Sinosplice
Li Liwei
Disoriented
Chabuduo
This list is no where near complete, and I am sure that I have left off someone or somewhere that I like to visit, however, this is a good start. If you have a 'China Link' please leave a comment and let me know so I can check it out and add it to my blogroll.
When I moved overseas I realized that people from outside of the US found my accent quite pleasing to the ear. During college (in South Georgia of all places) I attended Voice and Diction classes to help lose my accent and have a more standard one. When around my friends and family I still revert back to a much more southern draw, however, as a rule living away from home I try and speak clear, standard English. On several occasions I have been asked to do readings or talks in my 'native accent.' Most people from other countries find that my accent really is interesting and colorful.
Today, one of the ninth grade teachers asked me to visit their class to 'read in my native accent' from the book "JASMINE NIGHTS." The story takes place in the 1960's as the war in Vietnam is gearing up. It involves an African American boy from Georgia. There is a section in the book where a Thai boy asks the Georgia boy if Georgia was in Russia. So I did my reading and answered a few questions. Of the two classes I visited only one student knew where Georgia was even located within the USA. That student was from New York so I would have been a little upset if she hadn't known. Anyway, they asked some good questions and it was refreshing to talk about my home for a while!
For the second year in a row, Sanya held host to the Miss World contest on December 4th. According to the Xinhua News site it was watched by some 2.5 BILLION people! I mentioned earlier that my wife and I are headed to Sanya in 9 days and we are really excited. From the report, Sanya will host the event again next year:
Girls from 107 nations and regions participated in the pageant,held for the second consecutive year in Sanya. The pageant attracted roughly 2.5 billion viewers around the world, said JuliaMorley, president of the organization that sponsors the event. The 55th pageant will also be in the city next year, she said. The active support of the city government, the hospitality of the local people, the nice scenery and fine hotel facilities in Sanya are major factors behind the organization's decision, Morleysaid. Mayor Chen Chi of the city hoped Sanya's reputation as an idealplace for holiday makers could be made known to more people of theworld via hosting more international events such as Miss World beauty pageant.
Miss Peru, Maria Julia Mantilla-Garcia
My school currently offers Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) from the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). As a major component of that offering are focus areas. One of those focus areas is Homo Faber (Man as Maker/innovator). This week has been deemed the "HOMO FABER" week. I teach 6th graders and was placed in the 6th grade grouping. This year's focus for Homo Faber Week is on FOOD. All week they have done activities dealing with food as the central theme. Today I am supervising one group learning how to make Chinese Dumplings (Jiao Zi). This is interesting considering that when I visit my wife's parents it is a part of the routine to make dumplings. I think that after this the students will have a better understanding of how much goes into making food.
Today, my students blogged about what is funny to them; what makes them laugh. I did not expect them to mention me! I thought that they might talk about how a person being hit in the face with a cream pie, or a funny story that they hear from their family a lot, but not me. Of my 8 students, 3 of them said that I made them laugh. I am not sure if that means they like laughing at me or what 
Anyway, here are excepts from what they wrote:
...My teacher meeting make entire funny because Mr.jason think method give entire to funny...
... And...Mr.Jason make laugh of beginning. >0< Mr.Jason make so many laugh of beginning. vary funny, "muhaha muhaha!" (every day )...
... Third is ????????? I think Mr.Jason is make us funny. Because Sometimes Mr.Jason tell us funny story^^ but only monday to friday. Because I never go to school on saterday and sunday =_=...
If you want to see what else they wrote please visit my classroom page and click on the comments to each assignments.
I was totally taken back last week when I realized that this blog had been mentioned on a really great blog. Weblogg-ed is at the epicenter of the edublogging movement and MBE was mentioned as an Edublog to check out! On another note, the Incsub Association is hosting the 2004 Edublog Awards and my site is listed in the Best Newcomers category. With all this added pressure to continue to deliver thoughtful content I am just awed. Thank you to everyone who thinks that what I have to say is worthy of note!
To date, there are 4 blogs for students here at my school. This is up from 0 last school year! And at least once a week I am asked more questions about blogging. For some reason the teachers here see me as some 'blog' tech support. That is fine with me as long as they are blogging! Here is an except from one of the teachers that attended my blogging for beginners workshop a few weeks ago:
"... I think we should start a blog site for each class to communicate with parents for or by next year..."
THE POD HAS LANDED! My wife and I left at 8:30 this a.m. for a whirl-wind tour of Shanghai. On the list, a) pick up our tickets and hotel reservations for Christmas holidays, b) find the cheapest iPod dealer in town, c) visit the local 'goods' market for some clothes for winter. The tickets were in hand by 10:00, then we were off to the apple experience shop. Let me just stop here for a minute. By the fact that I am not Chinese I am usually expected to pay a lot more than the local person. My wife being Chinese makes it easier for her to bargin for the price that everyone agrees on. When she and I are seen together there is some confusion. We have developed a system to handle this situation. I tell her what I want and then just act like I don't know her. It usually does not work, but on the off chance that it does it can really pay off. Anyway, back to the apple shop. We walked in (not together as to avoid looking like we belong with each other) and I just started to browse. My wife went in for the kill. She has done her homework on all the different formats for the iPod, specs, you name it she knew it. She was even tell the salesman some information that I am not sure he knew. Well, she worked her magic and got close to the price we wanted to pay. In the meantime, I am still just looking. When she went to the counter and the price was agreed upon I walked over to her. The salesman looked at me and in perfect english says, "Can I help you find anything?" I replied, "No, I am with her." There was a moment where I thought the guy was going to take the iPod back. He was totally fooled that we were not together. He never would have budged on the price had he know that I was bankrolling it! (but it is actually my wife buying it for me) He was extremely rude the rest of the time. He filled out the invoice and then we had to walk across the shop to the cashier. My wife speaks a standard Mandarin, however, in Shanghai and other areas of China they have their own dialect. It is not just and accent, it is a totally different language. These two fellows started speaking in the local dialect to express their dislike of having been duked by the Waiguoren (Foreigner). hahaha, let's hear it for the little guy!
Anyway, for all the times I have been able to save a little bit of money, there are 25 times I have been ripped off, so don't feel bad. I learned that the merchants will NEVER sell for a price that they do not make money on.
it really is an amazing thing to see how the young mind works. I currently teach 8 second language learners of English. That number might seem small, but the purpose of the class that I teach is to raise their English ability for them to move on into a 'mainstream' English class. The less students I teach at once gives them that much more 'one-on-one' time with me. I only teach English and Social Studies to this group. They go to a different teacher for PE, Music, Art, Science, and Math. Having said that, I am an American from the deep south with a little bit of a southern accent (I said just a little
). They also have teachers from the Philippines, England, China, and two other parts of America. I even had trouble with everyones' accent when I first arrived. But somehow these students can still understand all that is being said! Anyway, yesterday I had given an assignment where the students were allowed to select a partner. I have a group of 5 girls and 3 boys. Well, the boys where no problem, they could just work as a group. The girls were a little more challenging. They all wanted to be with another girl from a different country so they could all be forced to speak English! How is that for motivation?! In the end I had them all work in one larger group to be fair. They all took turns reading in English and then helped each other with their pronounciation. I was in awe to say the least!
On a different note, I am trying to get some fellow teachers here on the podcasting bandwagon. I think that maybe next year we will be able to offer this as an option for some older students. We are hoping to have a podcast about a range of subjects. I will keep this site updated with any results that come from my 'meetings' with other teachers about this!
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