Cocktail Party

Last night, we went to a cocktail party hosted by Jackie and some of her senior students. We had a blast despite the fact that there was a serious lack of cocktail! Thanks to Jackie though there were platters galore of finger food. There was singing, game playing and lots and lots of photos. Don and I have never been in such a photo op frenzy. Individually and together we are now a part of hundreds of cell phone pics. It was hilarious! At one point, Don and I were just standing and little groups of students would run in, pose themselves around us, get a couple of pics and then move off while the next group came in and did the same thing. Our cheeks were sore from all that smiling by the end of the evening but it was well worth it. For whatever reasons I think we made many students very happy to have their pics taken with the foreign teachers ... like when you can get a pic with a special animal at the zoo :)

Hullllo!

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't posted for such a long time. It's not that we have been lazy. Living here has its drawbacks unfortunately and one of them is the spottiness of access to certain Internet sites. We've found a workaround for now... ok, my tech Don has. Don't know how long it'll last but we'll take advantage while we can.

We've settled into life at Shantou Polytechnic. Our days have a rhythm now and we're very happy and comfortable here. Little by little, things are becoming more familiar. We're hitting some of the restaurants more regularly so they are starting to recognize us. Our food choices are improving as we translate the menus. Our apartment is starting to feel homey as we add the little things. And most importantly we're getting to know our students.

It had been hard learning their names since each of us has close to 400 students and we only see them for 2 hours once a week. Last week, we had the brilliant idea of taking photos of them and asking them to share a personal detail with us. Now we'll have something to look at that will give us a face and maybe something to remember them by. It's already been worth it as we've learned one or two more names. We think it makes a huge difference for them and for us when we can call them by name. Now if only we can convince them to look exactly as they did in our pics until we can remember their names.

We are also staying in touch with our friends back in Jinan. They've told us that our old campus has been quarantined for fear of spreading the H1N1 virus. Classes there are continuing but no student has been able to leave the campus for a week now and they haven't been told when it'll end. Some of the more serious cases are in isolation but thankfully it doesn't include any of our friends. The funny thing is that the teachers can come and go. Hard to imagine how they can just close the gates and prevent students from leaving. Thankfully they have the cafeteria and a little store on campus for their daily needs. Poor dears must be going stir crazy though.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is well.

J&D