Two Weeks Down, ??? Left

So right now in class I am doing paraphrasing and trying to teach the kids the difference between doing research and just plan old cheating/copying. To make it more interesting, I am having them practice paraphrasing/summarizing bios on either Avril Lavigne, Yao Ming, George Bush (for the politics people), or the movie KungFu Panda (which they all seem to love). I told them if they focus in class and get a lot done, no homework for the long weekend. So far two of my four classes have done very well on it.

I also said that if they did well in class that in the last five minutes if they wanted I would show them a video of me sword fighting (since a lot of my students really perked up when I told them I did stage combat). Class A, which is the class I often have the most difficulty with actually said they would rather keep working than stop and watch a video. That surprised me. Class D said they wanted to watch the video and they gathered round and oooed and aaahed in all the right places. They asked me questions like "Are you really hitting him?" or "Are those knives real?" (which gave me the opportunity to teach them the names of the weapons...ha!) What really made me happy was when a boy in Class D came to talk to me after class. He asked if he put a new club together, would I be willing to teach the students stage combat. Of course I said yes. How exciting would that be? Teaching stage combat in China. Bringing the dorkiness of TMT to a far distant country.
Last night the foreign teachers were treated to dinner by the school. We went to a fancy spancy place with a GIGANTIC round table with a lazy susan in the middle that rotated by itself. Of course since the table was so huge, you had to wait a while for something to get back to where you were if you missed it on the first try. There was TONS of food. I ate tongue (beef, not duck again) without realizing it. It was good. I can't even remember what I ate, there was so much variety. There was sushi, fish soup, some sort of noodle and seafood thing on a shell, lamb in a pot, chicken, duck, peanuts, tongue, beans, seaweed, mushrooms, tons of prawns, fish, corn, eggs, and of course moon cakes (to celebrate the mid-autumn festival). And I am probably forgetting a lot. Everything I tried was delicious. I was glad to get the chance to talk more with Adam, Mimi and Lisa, who are the three foreign teachers that live off campus in an apartment in Puxi. They were all very nice and fun to talk to.

Tonight is the karaoke and dinner celebration. That should be fun. I am looking forward to it. Tomorrow I am going to a party at Lisa, Mimi, and Adam's apartment with the other foreign teachers. On the 20th I am going to a jazz festival with Lucy and the friends we went to the park with. Yay! Social!

I get a three day weekend because of the mid-autumn festival, so I think I am going to go on a mighty quest for a guitar. Someone suggested I go to the market under the science and technology museum. I think I'll check that out.

The Mid-Autumn festival is supposed to be a time when you get together with your family and friends, eat moon cakes and look at the beautiful moon.

For the first time since I got here, I am FREEZING. The air conditioner in the office is turned to "arctic" and I am wearing a sleeveless shirt and flip flops. YIKES.

Again, I apologize for the lack of pictures. I finished two squares since my last knitting post. Maybe I'll put those pictures up soon.

Much love!