Hey all! Sorry for the long silence in between posts here I've been getting very busy with work and it's been difficult to find the time to settle down and write a good post. Where to start? My classes have continued to go very well I'm currently teaching 6 classes here at SISU with 200 students total. Surprisingly enough out of my 200 I only have 12 boys the remaining 188 are all girls. Luckily my students all seem very excited to learn and I haven't really had any issues with my kids. I’ve been teaching a whole bunch of topics most recently about American food and movies. My students loved Tommy Boy but said they didn’t want to try Chicago style pizza so clearly I still have a lot of work left to do. I spent last week explaining American Halloween to my students and on Thursday I actually threw a party for my students with my co-teacher Mikhala. (Mikhala and I actually teach the same students she teaches pronunciation and my focus is speaking). Our students bobbed for apples learned Halloween jokes watched Scooby-doo and ate a lot of candy. The class was a lot of fun but it definitely made me miss home.
On the Halloween theme I feel like I have to share the costume I went with last night.
That’s me with my friends Scott and Tim, I know I can’t do the Gene Simmons tongue thing but I still got some very surprised and scared looks from Chinese people all over Chongqing.
As I said last post I’ve started playing rugby here in CQ. We had our first tournament this month at home against teams from Chengdu and Kunming. I’ve only been playing rugby for a few weeks but I’m having a lot of fun learning the rules even though it is a very tough sport. We went 1-1 in the tournament but it was really the atmosphere of the tournament that impressed me. We spent an hour each game tackling each other and playing incredibly aggressively but as soon as the game was over all three teams could not have been friendlier. I actually met a player for Kunming who grew up in Hinsdale! Below are some of the photos from the game.
As I said last post I’ve started playing rugby here in CQ. We had our first tournament this month at home against teams from Chengdu and Kunming. I’ve only been playing rugby for a few weeks but I’m having a lot of fun learning the rules even though it is a very tough sport. We went 1-1 in the tournament but it was really the atmosphere of the tournament that impressed me. We spent an hour each game tackling each other and playing incredibly aggressively but as soon as the game was over all three teams could not have been friendlier. I actually met a player for Kunming who grew up in Hinsdale! Below are some of the photos from the game.
Let’s see what else have I been up to? Oh, so as I’ve mentioned SISU sits at the base of Mt. Gele national park. It’s also next to the Martyr’s cemetery which is the site of the massacre of 300 communists by the Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-Shek during the Chinese civil war. Kind of a grisly claim to fame but as a result the area around campus is beautifully preserved and there is a beautiful memorial just off campus. I decided to head over to the museum and memorial a few weeks ago and I was surprised and a little put off by what I found. The museum which is now the Mt. Gele Martyr’s museum was originally named the Museum of Nationalist Aggression and American Imperialism. Despite the fact that the massacre happened in 1949, 4 years after the Americans left, the museum repeatedly attempted to blame America for the events at Mt. Gele. Needless to say I was surprised by the rather aggressive tone of the museum. Still it provided an interesting insight.
On a happier note, my parents will be heading out here to visit in January for a few weeks! The three of us will visit Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, and Chengdu which will be incredible. The three of us are all incredibly lucky. Also I’ll be heading to Thailand in December for about 10 days so those of you who have been send me suggestions. Despite my earlier plans to the contrary I have decided to head home for about a month between January and February! Plan tickets were far cheaper than expected and I really do miss you all so I’ll be sure to update you on the dates when I book in the next few days. Besides all of this exciting news everything here is pretty calm were all settling into our routines of teaching. I’m off to Wulong next weekend so I’ll be sure to write again as soon as I can. As always I’m missing you all and so excited to see everyone in a few months when I get back. Please keep up the emails and texts they help a lot.
Best,
Adam
On a happier note, my parents will be heading out here to visit in January for a few weeks! The three of us will visit Beijing, Xian, Chongqing, and Chengdu which will be incredible. The three of us are all incredibly lucky. Also I’ll be heading to Thailand in December for about 10 days so those of you who have been send me suggestions. Despite my earlier plans to the contrary I have decided to head home for about a month between January and February! Plan tickets were far cheaper than expected and I really do miss you all so I’ll be sure to update you on the dates when I book in the next few days. Besides all of this exciting news everything here is pretty calm were all settling into our routines of teaching. I’m off to Wulong next weekend so I’ll be sure to write again as soon as I can. As always I’m missing you all and so excited to see everyone in a few months when I get back. Please keep up the emails and texts they help a lot.
Best,
Adam