"You Are EFF You!"

Last semester, one of my students learned that "Eff you!" was a bad word (probably from music or an older student). Despite my efforts to convince him that it's pronounced "funny," he continues to occasionally spit out the occasional "You are eff you" before class, and it's really hard not to laugh when he does it, because he says it with such enthusiasm, panache, and genuine happiness.

10% Annual Growth

There are thousands of articles online about the crazy pace of development in China, and I know everybody talks about the development of big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but things are changing pretty rapidly out here too.

In the past year and a half my school has:

• Put in a new track
• Started construction on one new teacher dorm
• Started construction on another random building...(this happened a few days ago, so I'm not sure what exactly it's supposed to be)
• Got rid of our two normal trash burning pit, and made a new bigger one. 
• Redone the front gate of the school (currently in progress)
• Changed some signage
• Re-landscaped the area near the teaching buildings 
• Put in a ton of ping-pong tables
• Probably done some other stuff that I can't think of right now (Ohhh! Speed bumps. They put those in! And putting smart boards in the honors classrooms)

The  elementary school has:

• Made a new library (with support from TFC fellows!)
• Built a new teachers' dorm (not quite open yet)
• Made a little playground for the kids
• Probably done a whole lot of other things that I just don't know about or can't remember...

In the past year in Songgui (my village):

• Opened a new supermarket. (We now have two! And the new one has Gatorade!)
• Tore down the building that housed the amazing Yogurt Lady.....twice. (Her original building got torn down to make something, and then the next place she moved to had the same thing happen to it. I have no idea what she's doing now.) 
• Crazy Hair Lady's building was torn down to make something. (She's now in a new building that got built next to the new supermarket, and still has a vendetta against my sideburns)
• Paved one of the more important roads in the village
• Opened a ton of little shops, at least one restaurant (right next to the school!), and built a whole mess of new houses. 

Nearby, the county seat recently got a train station (which makes travelling to Kunming a lot nicer, which in the past year just got a new airport, which makes travelling out of Kunming more of a pain). 

I didn't actually think about much of this until the past break, where I went back home. I don't think I saw a single crane the entire time I was in the U.S., and I don't know that I even saw any buildings under construction. In a single drive near Kunming, I counted over twenty cranes before I got bored. It's really going to be crazy to come back here in a couple of years, and see how much it's changed. 

Home

It's weird to realize that at some point in the past year and a half I started thinking of Songgui as home. Even though I spent four years at Georgetown, I never felt that it was a home for me in the same way that Songgui is. I'm not really sure what the difference is--maybe having a job?--but it definitely felt good to get back here, and I know I'm going to miss this place when I leave.

I don't actually have any pictures of around Songgui, which I need to change. It's just hard to remember to take pictures of the places that you see everyday. So, instead, here's a picture of Tian Minghao, one of my students from last year:

Things I was glad to come back to

1. Great friends.
2. A good bowl of rice noodles in broth. (The ideal bowl is served under a tent by the side of the road, and has a good splash of vinegar, some pickled peppers (seriously), 3 or so spoonfuls of crushed peanuts, and a little bit of crushed hot red pepper)
3. My students + teaching
4. My toilet (as long as you're not food poisoned / have giardia, squatting is better)
5. Being able to walk everywhere

Back to school! (and the blog)

I'm back in Songgui after an awesome trip back to the States to see my family. I'm still teaching the same students, and the weather no longer makes me cry in the morning.

It feels good to be back in a lot of ways. Being at home was restful and fun, but it's nice to have more purpose and structure to my days now, and it's great to see the people who I've gotten close to over here again. I brought back a ton of food from the states (an entire suitcase full) and I know it's going to make those times when I really miss home (and food) over here better. It's good to see my students again too! They've remembered a ton over break, and it's good to be back in the classroom.

Right now, school is busy. It's the beginning of the year, so there's a ton of different things that I need to be doing: revising my review plan, planning out the semester (we got a new textbook with different units and order than last year), and getting stuff to the people who manage me. I think this weekend is going to be crucial to getting on top of what I'm doing.

Grading

Grading can be a huge pain. No matter how fast you were, it just takes a lot of time to get through 110 things--whatever those things are. What amazes me though is how willing students are to help out with it. I have students do a lot of my grading for me, and it's awesome. What boggles my mind is I don't give them any sort of reward or anything, but they're so excited to do it. Students complaining because you ran out of things for them to grade for you can really turn a rough day around.

SNICKERMEAL

I'm back! This semester has been incredibly busy, but class is still going well.

One of the things that I've found hard about living out here is eating enough food, especially protein. You just don't tend to eat big hunks of meat as often as you might in the states. When I first came out here, I lost about thirty pounds within two months (I was a little chubby) just because of the change of diet. And, while being skinny is great, I still need more calories and protein if I want to be able to work out and actually have energy afterwards, and so I have invented SNICKERMEAL.

To create SNICKERMEAL, you will need:
A big bowl of oatmeal
A silly amount of peanut butter
One handful of almonds
Two bananas
One scoop of protein powder
A few tablespoons of sugar
A big chopped up snickers bar.*

Put all of those things together. Eat it. It's over 1000 calories of awesome.


*If you have access to both American and Chinese Snickers bar, you should use a Chinese one. They're not as tasty, so you should save the better flavored American snickers for eating on its own afterwards.