Chinese Thanksgiving

There aren't many Americans in my neighborhood... only five of us at the school here in Bao'an. We decided to try a "Western"-style restaurant nearby called Milo Coffee. Don't be fooled by the name, it's a very classy joint. The customers seem to be of the higher class. So it was an enjoyable meal of fried eel with peppers and rice.
Along the way, Ed took far too many pictures of people all around us... including other people on the bus. One Chinese girl found this quite amusing and decided to take pictures of her own... of yours truly. Her friend tried to convince her not to, but I waved at her and said, "go ahead."
So we ended up with dinner and theater for Thanksgiving. Let's give thanks it's Friday and I get out at noon for a trip to Guangzhou.

More phone issues

So my phone died again. Four times I've had someone come in to fix the damn thing, and it's worked for a total of three days. If they give me any more excuses or try to come back another day, I'm going to shove the phone down their throat. I've had it. I already missed out on my family calling me for my birthday Sunday. And it's almost impossible to make plans when I can't call around and ask what's going on.

I'm now going on the theory that China doesn't understand telephones. Maybe if I tell the repairman that he's incompetent he'll feel embarassed enough to fix the thing.

Outrage

FIRE CONGRESS NOW! The U.S. Congress has gone too far with stupidity. Friday, they voted 217-215 to give each member of Congress $3,100/year on top of their already excessive pay. I think they should work for minimum wage. They make approx. $165,000/year each. Anyone else feel the rest of America is getting the short end of the stick?
Here's the kicker: They also voted to cut the budget of food stamps by $700 million.
So in their infinite wisdom, they give themselves more money while taking from the poorest. How about we take their entire salary away and start paying off the national debt? Better yet, let's just get rid of these idiots altogether. I think America could do just fine without a Congress. Make them get REAL jobs.

I hate the alphabet

The title says it all. I decided I needed to have an alphabet on the bulletin board in my EFL classroom. We have a shared copy on the server--I just had to print and laminate it. It was one letter per page. Unfortunately, the wall I put it up on is not long enough. I am one space short. Maybe I can do without teaching the kids the letter "Z". It's either that or I have to trim each letter down. Whatever I do, I still have to take it all down and re-post it. I give up for the day. I'll go back and do it tomorrow after I interview the new students to see who belongs in which class.

PHONE!

Wow, I actually have a working phone now. It was dead for the first 12 days here in China. They sent someone to fix it three times. Apparently it needed four times to actually get fixed. Of course, now I have to figure out what time I can call family and friends since I'm 13 hours ahead of everyone back home.

teaching delay

I was told last week that I'd begin teaching this Thursday. I've been preparing flashcards and lesson plans and such. Today, I was told it may be delayed a day or two. Apparently they had the good sense to test the students before they begin class to ensure that they are grouped properly by level rather than just age. At least it's a good reason for delay.
On another note, I've been going to Wal-Mart (aka commie-mart). I'm impressed... just wish it was this nice back home. They even have a catch your own live crab bin.
I've also discovered the DVD store. I purchased two fairly recent movies for 20RMB (about $2.50). I'll look into posting a review of The Devil's Rejects soon.