Greetings From China

Greetings from China!
If you are reading this then you truly have a great interest in quality literature!! :)

Sadly, blogger is blocked by the Chinese firewall or something to that effect. So, I've created another blog for all of your viewing interests!

Please follow me as I attempt to live here in Wenzhou, China for the next 9 months or so. It's been a rough week and a half, I'll tell you, but the e-mails from family and friends has meant a lot! Don't be afraid to post a comment or two, but remember that I'm 15 hours ahead - 16 when Daylight Savings Time hits you guys. The Chinese don't believe in Day Light Savings or different time zones apparently. At 4 a.m. the sun rises and it's pitch black by 7 p.m.

Here's the link: http://travelingteacheradventures.tumblr.com/

I miss you all terribly - family, friends, fellow teachers and my students from NHS!
Keep in touch!!

Jaime

Blogger's Blocked!

Well...here in the other hemisphere, blogger is blocked. So, I've updated my blog via tumblr. If you are at all curious about what I'm doing, please check out my new page:

http://travelingteacheradventures.tumblr.com/

Cheers...I'll see you in a few months.
Jaime

The long haul...

Hello all,
Home again and I must say that this California weather is seriously lacking. The fabulous three weeks spent at Stanford have finished - it was a marathon to be sure, but I've taken away some great memories and lesson plans. The kids were fairly well behaved, although there were definitely some evenings when a couple of us chaperones stayed up until 1:30 - 2 a.m. "Go to bed...NOW!" seemed to be the most prominent mantra.

I was surprised to see just how many students increased their SAT scores; one in particular increased her score by 250 points. Another came into camp with a 2,050 and left with a score over 2200! For those of you who are not SAT savvy, that's pretty good!

I am now enjoying the last couple days at "home" - and will be visiting grandma and grandpa this week to drop off the Hannibal "man-cat." There are still so many things to do from the basic buying deoderant and tampons to shopping for walking shoes, suitcases, textbooks and immunizations. Oy-vey!

I hope I can see all of you before I go, but if not...please don't stay angry at me for a year!! :)

Oh...and...if you want a post-card, please send me your physical address. As soon as I get mine, I will post it so that all of you lovely pen-palls can send me mail! I LOVE MAIL!!!!!

Jaime
P.S. Good luck to Chrissy, Joe and Bridgett (Joe's Sister) for Sunday morning's half marathon)

Summer Fun at Stanford - Part deux!!

Here are some great photos taken at camp. Last Thursday we went to the Kimche factory - I didn't even know what it was....spiced radish in a hot sauce! Yum!!

Frist, the Napa cabbage is cut up, covered with salt to drain the liquid out and left to dry. Then it's cut up and put in a vat and combined with spices, green onions and a whole boatload of other good stuffs. 

Once mixed up, the kimche is scooped up into plastic containers, chilled in a huge freezer and then sold! After scooping up the kimche, it is absolutely imperitive that you horse around! :) Our middle schoolers had no problem with this!!

At the Kimche factory - it tastes like SPICY radish fabulousness!

What do you do with a plastic glove? Of course you put it on your head!

 Below: students doing a pre-assessment. Some students had very little English skills, so it was necessary to see where their reading and writing levels were.

Summer at Stanford

Hello all,
For the past two weeks I've been teaching English at an intensive summer camp for advanced students. Living in a frat house just a stroll away from the bookstore, we've had quite an interesting past 14 days. The kids don't sleep much - which means the camp counselors sleep even less. :)

I've tested out some fabulous teaching strategies that I think will work quite well while I'm in China. Overall, it's been an amazing experience, one that has taught me the value of patience. In case any of you were wondering...this is not something I possess naturally. I spend most of my day teaching 5-10th graders, after which I help out - overseeing student activities. It's glorified babysitting with a twist, as these kids study most afternoons and into the evenings. It's nice to be available for them each day - all day if they have questions. However, I've figured out that I need at least one hour for me, myself and I - sans interuption. It's difficult to get here.

Last week we went fountain hopping - apparently there are over 26 fountains on campus. Tradition holds that students "hop" from fountain to fountain and go swimming. It was crazy fun! I even climbed into a fountain myself as a student sprayed me with a constant stream of water.

The high schoolers have to take two SATs a week - (ouch) while the middle schoolers have been loaded with writing homework from yours truly. I love it!

This afternoon we've got an architect coming to speak with the students...about architecture stuffs I suppose. Yesterday the little ones, Christina and I went to a local Kimchi factory and watched how it was made - stinky but wicked cool! The high schoolers also got to go to Google!! So...yeah, the students are getting some great experience while at camp.

Anyhow, I'm having a lot of fun, am dog tired and am so excited to take this teaching and learning to China in three weeks!!

Ciao,

Jaime

Home Sweet Home...

Hello all,
I am back in sunny California - soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Here are some photos of home! :)

 Mom's chickens sure look happy...I tossed over some old pickles I made yesterday and they went nuts! You can tell who the favorite chickens are...they don't have any feathers.

 Mitzy nosing around the dirt for some bugs.

 
Rita, smelling the flowers. 

 The view from the backyard...it's not too shabby!

PIGS!! My students would be thrilled to see this!! And...yes, pigs DO fly!!

That's all for now folks.
Jaime

But...where is she going?!

The answer to that million dollar question: Wenzhou, China!! Yippie!!

I have recently signed a contract to teach English at the Wenzhou Medical College in Wenzhou, China. That's right folks, I'm China bound! In the words of both grandpa and mom, "the Chinese won't know what hit 'em!"

In doing a little bit of research, I have found some lovely facts here they are:

- Wenzhou population = 7.5 million people...I'll be safe dad!!

- Prominent treaty and trading post located right on the Yangze River and open to the East China Sea

- The city's history goes back until about 2,000 BCE (before current era...not before Christ) and was known for its pottery.

- It received its current name in 675 CE

- Alunite capital of the world - don't even try to ask me what this is!!

- In 1978 Wenzhou was the first city to set up "individual and private enterprises" according to wikipedia - it's the birthplace of Chinese capitalism... Oxymoron? Hmm, this should be interesting!

- Language: Wu Chinese, which means that they are difficult to understand in the rest of China. Think New Jersey accent in California...I think you get the picture.

- Sister City = Union County, New Jersey...see previous bullet point and I think you'll understand why.

- According to National Geographic, Wenzhou makes 70% of the worlds cigarette lighters. Yay for industry!!

(Image of university)

Here's a bit about the college - one of my colleagues at Newberg High School told me today that Wenzhou Medical College, see beautiful college images, is the Harvard of China - "Charvard" or "Harvina," just because we like to make up our own words in the Hamilton clan. 

 

Yippie, skippy I'm teaching at Harvard - China!! The school is known for its medical stuffs. I'll be teaching about 18 units worth of speaking and listening English in addition to some regular English classes. It should be wicked fun, and as 2012 is an election year, I should have a plethora of reading materials. :)

Well, that's all for now, I will post more soon.

Jaime

Boxes, boxes, boxes...coffee!

Hello all,
That's right - I'm packing up and leaving town. Most of the week has been dedicated to going through my incredibly small apartment - looking for trash! I love throwing shit away...literally - I just emptied the cat box, too. How accomplished I am!

Hannibal has been a great help, offering some well-needed distraction as I go about my days. Even now, as I try to get this post out, I am distracted by the sound of sand-paper on glass...he's licking my sliding-glass door. Someone wants to go outside and play!!

I packed up my bathroom - it seemed fitting to go first - and managed to put the whole room in one 8x10 box. Wow! I guess I don't really shower or use the bathroom that often! Is it so surprising, dad?  In keeping with the bathroom, I've picked up Jeanette Walls' fictional memoir about her grandmother - it's titled Half Broke Horses and I've been wanting to read it for some time now. The family in question lives in a mud dugout in New Mexico, which they trade in for a house built with scrap wood from other buildings and what not. I laughed out loud yesterday while reading on the porch - father and mother cannot fathom having a crapper in the house. Now, we cannot live without it - either argument seems backwards to me.

Laundry - you all know how I hate doing it. I got myself mentally prepared to not only throw a load in the washing machine, but to actually have the patience to wait it through, throw the damned soggy pile into the dryer, distract myself for another hour and hang up - or in my case shove the clean clothes in a bag to take to mom and dad's. In love with my sense of accomplishment, I began throwing odd scraps and bits of clothing into the wash. Usually by the time my clothes finish in the dryer I have usually found some scraps of paper and odd bits of torn nothings left behind. Oops - I forgot to pick my pockets again. Well...why should this time be any different? Of course - and totally by accident - I threw the cloth satchel containing a year's worth of cat-nip into the washer and subsequently the dryer. When I realized my mistake, I tossed the satchel, but not before encountering a crazed cat, hell-bent on destroying my hand with nails longer than my mothers. After discovering he did not like the taste of blood, he moved to the trash bag, where - stoned out of his mind - he proceeded to get at the cat-nip. Believing it most likely tasted like bacon, he ate a trash-bag and now sits, staring at me the next day with eyes like slits - screaming "I've got a raging headache, I cannot remember who I am, and it's all because of you! Why do I want raw beef right now?!" I don't think I'll ever be able to wash away all that cat-nip...I guess I'll just have to be "cat's best friend" for now.

More moving woes to come!
Oh...and, I'm running low on COFFEE...better get this crap packed soon!
Jaime

Wowzah!

Hello all, today I start the blogging craze again. Hopefully this one takes.