Daily Discovery

May 30: Part of my new daily routine: a nice outdoor breakfast. The good part of living so close to the desert is that, while it gets warm quickly during the middle of the day, the nights are cool and the mornings are comfortable.

What makes it more comfortable? A beautiful place to rest, relax and enjoy the morning if I manage to get a breakfast from the cafeteria in the morning before all of the students rush there after their morning runs. What do you think? Want to join me?

May 28: Occupational college students throughout China have an impending test: a national English test, which for non-English majors is categorized into four levels: B, A, 4, 6 ... which B being the easiest and Level 6 being the most difficult.

My students are preparing to take the level B test and hopefully many of them will do well and pass - these tests are important for their resumes and qualifications as they look for internships and jobs in the future.

Therefore, the English Club asked me to give a little lecture on helping prepare the students for the test, particularly the listening section, so today we had that lecture - with about 100+ students showing up. It was a good experience for me, and I hope that they found the practice and strategies useful.

Check out a picture I found floating around after the event ....

May 26: My little side project for the weekend: making cheese.

Well, perhaps it is not real cheese, like a nice mozzarella, and definitely not a sharp cheddar, but it's kind of like a farmers cheese, or a paneer variety.

Either way, it's easy and quite delicious: start with fresh milk, use some acid to separate the curds and whey, then strain the curds out, squeeze and season lightly, and place on top of a little mini pizza. A satisfying dinner for sure!

May 24: It's the last day of Sports Day today - and my department, the economics department, was hosting a little fundraiser/game for the students during Sports Day. You could buy throws with a dart, which you threw at a spinning wheel with a variety of prizes.

You could win a ¥2 gift certificate to a food place across the street, a small plush toy, medium plush toy, or a large plush toy.

Of course, the department and students insisted that I play, which drew a way-too-large crowd to watch me. Luckily, I didn't disappoint ... my first throw earned me the most difficult prize: the large plush toy.

May 22: Today is the first of three days of "Sports Day" activities for the school here in Wuwei. I found out that Sports Day activities happen every year for the entire school, from elementary school through college.

What does this entail? Well, each department at the University fields teams for different events: dancing, jump roping, running, many relay events, tug of war ... and students compete and cheer on their classmates for a few days. It was a lot of fun and a great time to hang out with students outside of the classroom.

It all started with a parade today. So ... that means, of course, that I had to be part of the parade, walking with the department in which I teach my classes, waving a couple of flags (US and Chinese flags) to really prove I'm a foreigner. I've never had so many pictures taken of me before. I can't tell you how many times I had the close-up picture of my head sent to me from students all across campus ...

May 20: I went to a colleague's house today - in the afternoon we played a few board games with her husband and a few other teachers from school. The surprise? One of my favorite games that I learned about in college is one of my fellow teacher's favorite games, too. It was interesting to play the game in Chinese, though. At least it made it really easy for me to play without having to learn a game with new rules in Chinese. Then we had a bit of dinner before playing a few rounds of majiang to finish off the evening.

May 18: This afternoon I was invited to attend a lecture from a visiting professor from 复旦大学 (Fudan University - very famous and pretty well known in China), who was talking about how he implemented 'flipped-classroom' style teaching in his classroom and giving tips on how to make it work for those just starting.

I don't see this happening anytime soon here in Wuwei (given the lack of Wifi, workspace, and computers necessary for this) but it was an interesting lecture experience to contrast with my previous life at UW-Madison - and on a personal note, it was interesting for me to see how far I have come in my Chinese (listening ability at least) as I started learning Chinese just about a year and a half ago, and now I could understand a good portion of a lecture on flipped classrooms.

May 16: As I was walking to get myself a breakfast this morning, I noticed that all of the ping-pong tables on campus have an extra function: during the mandatory morning runs and campus cleanups for all of the students, the tables hold books, notebooks, and perhaps some homework for the students. I'm not sure exactly why I'm posting this today, besides the fact that I thought it was interesting - and perhaps useful for the students in saving a few minutes each morning for not having to return to their dorms before breakfast and class.

May 14: This afternoon we had a meeting with the school to discuss steps to move forward together and improve my work at site here in Wuwei. It had transformed itself into quite the formal meeting, with a fancy conference room and all of the technology brought out. I even got my own name tag and met the vice-president of the school.

May 12: I started my cooking club today - the first meeting with 7 students who wanted to join in. How does it work? Well, I'll teach them to make some of my favorite food, and they'll teach me how to make a few Chinese dishes, we'll chat for a while, play some games, drink some juice, and hang out for a good time together.

Today we made a pizza and spaghetti, while the students taught me how to make potato strips, fried eggs, eggs and tomatoes, and a cold cucumber dish. Doesn't it look delicious?

May 10: I found out from excited students - and some not-so-excited students - that the annual sports day (or, really, three days of sports, inter-department competitions, and all-around good time outside) was scheduled for May 22-24. Our department - the economics and management department - has students practicing every night to represent us, as I discovered when I ran into some of my students getting ready for tug-of-war.

May 8: The students here in Wuwei are truly too kind ... I was getting myself lunch today - 干锅土豆片 （rough translation: amazing potatoes) - when one of the students I've met gives me a call on the phone. Turns out she's sitting on the other side of the cafeteria and she came over to visit and chat for a few minutes ... halfway through the conversation she hurries away, saying she'll back in a minute, before returning with a bottle of water she bought for me because I must have been thirsty. I don't deserve a lot of this kindness from students, let alone students I don't even teach!

May 6: Walking outside today around campus made it clear that spring is finally here... it took awhile for the green to arrive (some of my fellow Volunteers in other provinces live in areas of eternal spring/summer like greenery, or atleast where the green foliage blooms a bit earlier), but the little lake on campus has been sprouting out new plants - I expect the lily pads to arrive shortly, too!

May 4: A beautiful picture today - my Dad and I took the chance to go to the market and buy a few snacks and treats for the next couple of days - some new treats for him, old standbys for me. This was a pack of small mango cookie cakes, which weren't as good as we (or my dad) expected them to be ...

May 2: Another great day here today in Wuwei - made even better by the arrival of a letter from my grandma! It might have taken a month to get here, but it still means a lot to hear from my Grandma. I'll be writing a letter back soon! Hi, Grandma! Thanks for reading my blog every day!