This morning Chris took us to the Agriculture University to meet some teachers and the Dean, Martin. Chris picked us up at 9 AM it took a while to get to the university. At the school, Martin and two other teachers met with us. It was an informal meeting with an exchange of ideas. Martin asked some great questions about the school systems in the US and he also spent at least a year in Pittsburg. Martin is interested in getting volunteers into his university, maybe with Global Volunteers.
Chris teated us to lunch at a local restaurant. Chris was very good about answering regarding Chinese life. Most property in Kunming is quite expensive and not affordable for most. Property is really owned by the government and the people can easily have their land taken from them. Learning about China and its culture is just beginning for me but people here are glad to share, which is nice.
At school, we taught some new classes again. Students continue to be enthralled with our presence in the classroom. Some of the younger students seemed to have a better speaking ability than other older classes. For example, my last class was the youngest, yet they had good grasp of much of what I said. I played a Boggle Game with them and we ran out of time, but I think they enjoyed it.
Dec. 29 Wednesday
Today, instead of English classes, the teachers planned an afternoon at Green Lake Park. Two teachers, LInda and Silverness, came at noon to take us to lunch. We drove to the school first, then walked to a nearby neighborhood restaurant. This restaurant specializes in cross bridge noodles. At the restaurant, first they bring us a very hot broth, then they put in the raw meat, and finally the noodles. With this we eat some small servings of other foods. We finished and walked by to the school for short rest. At the school, we wait for a bit and then drive to Green Lake Park. At the Park, about 12 teachers walk with us through a nice amusement park. Along the way, we have continual conversation in English teaching them many good words. All these teachers are so eager to use English correctly and to learn more words. They were taking notes on all the words they didn't know. Also, they all get along so well, and have great humor. They want to know about the U.S. and about our lives. They carried along some fruit to for us to eat too. It was a wonderful afternoon. I should be tired just from talking so much. The only bad part about today is I forgot my camera.
Then they took us a very fancy restaurant for dinner. We sat in a private room, all at one big round table. and two teachers ordered food for everyone. We must have about 10 different foods, like eggplant, mushrooms, beef, chicken, raw quail eggs and many special foods. I think the conversation with the few people around me was like talking to old friends. I laughed so many times, and they really enjoyed treating us. I was worried that the teachers were having to pay for all this food, but they told me the school is paying for this, so that was good to know.
I hope I sleep tonight as the whole day is still "playing" in my head. It will be hard to leave these teachers.
Dec. 30 Thursday
Today, I had arranged to take one student for lunch. He had written me a wonderful letter regarding being the first foreign teacher he had ever experienced. I went to the Wi Fi place first at the mall and then decided to buy new shoes. I had tried the day before but was very unsuccessful. It seems that the stores only have one size or two sizes-7 and 8-but I don't understand this as everywhere I see some bigger Chinese people. I must have tried 7 different stores, and some even showed me their computer which listed nothing in size 11 or 10. So today, I decided to check at the Mall for shoes. I took only open toed sandals, and they might not be great if it snowing in Xi'an. Plus, I have had these sandals for several years and I think they might be wearing out. haha!
Today, I finally found a store that had my size, but not in the brand I wanted but I decided to buy them. I paid them and they had to give me change. Wow, was that an ordeal!! They ran around to about 8 different places trying to get change. Finally, after about 15 minutes, I had my change and Shoes! I hope they work out!
I walked back to the hotel, and walk to the school to meet the Yue, the student who I was taking to lunch, instead of taking the taxi. I knew the way, just didn't know who long it would take. I did fine until the end, when I made a wrong turn. I had to backtrack but ended up at school, with no time to spare. Yue, the student, invited two other friends to come also which was great. I told them to pick the place, which was a hard decision, but finally came up with a place and we were going to take the taxi. In the taxi, I realized that we were going back close to the hotel. The restaurant ended up being a place where I had eaten already several times. In the restaurant we had some good conversation and I showed them some of my photos. We walked back to the school as it was faster than waiting to flag down a taxi.
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