So I barely have time to eat. As some of you might know I've been trying to do research on cell phone usage among young, urban Chinese while here in Beijing and have been conducting interviews. On Monday night a new friend of mine posted a solicitation for participants on a bulletin board system on the Tsinghua campus. All of a sudden I'm the most popular man in Beijing. Everybody wants to come and be interviewed and I guess practice their English with a native speaker. I've even had participants ask if they could sit in on my classes...As a result I've been juggling phone calls, text messages, emails and walk ins for the past to days at a level that's just obscene. I'm using my pocket pc scheduler and I'm still having trouble keeping things straight. My day doesn't end until 9.30 this evening ...I might have time to eat.
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So something really bizarre happened a few nights ago. I needed to talk to someone because I forgot my key in the room and I went downstairs to talk to the desk staff who pretty much speak exclusively Chinese. I was trying to communicate when I vaguely remembered someone mentioning that one of the guys downstairs spoke some Spanish. So low and behold I tried and it worked.
Last night one of the other guys, a Brit named Michael, lost his bike key and was trying in vain to tell the staff what had happened. I wandered in and was able to impress upon them what had occurred by speaking Spanish. Halfway around the world I find the one guy who speaks Spanish. Go figure. I guess that's meeting halfway...
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I taught a lesson on Black English, or Ebonics, today. It's extremely amusing to see Chinese kids acting out skits talking about their "Bling Bling" and "pulling gats" on their "homeys" while trying to stay one step ahead of the "po-po". I'll give everyone the "411" on teaching when I get back stateside.
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I'm going to Datong this weekend. Apparently they've got some Buddhist caves out their filled with statues of Buddha carved into the walls, stalagtites, and ceiling. It's supposed to be incredibly impressive and all my students have heard of it. Also, I'm going to check out the Hanging Monastery which was built up the sides of a cliff. It ought to be really interesting. I'll tell you more once I've been.
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Finally, I'm sorry to everyone for not having the time to write. I feel really guilty but I figure that each of you would rather that I be productive in Beijing and use what little free time I have to enjoy the experience and get more from being in China rather than being chained to a keyboard banging out emails for everyone. Then again some of you ....
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So something really bizarre happened a few nights ago. I needed to talk to someone because I forgot my key in the room and I went downstairs to talk to the desk staff who pretty much speak exclusively Chinese. I was trying to communicate when I vaguely remembered someone mentioning that one of the guys downstairs spoke some Spanish. So low and behold I tried and it worked.
Last night one of the other guys, a Brit named Michael, lost his bike key and was trying in vain to tell the staff what had happened. I wandered in and was able to impress upon them what had occurred by speaking Spanish. Halfway around the world I find the one guy who speaks Spanish. Go figure. I guess that's meeting halfway...
_______
I taught a lesson on Black English, or Ebonics, today. It's extremely amusing to see Chinese kids acting out skits talking about their "Bling Bling" and "pulling gats" on their "homeys" while trying to stay one step ahead of the "po-po". I'll give everyone the "411" on teaching when I get back stateside.
_______
I'm going to Datong this weekend. Apparently they've got some Buddhist caves out their filled with statues of Buddha carved into the walls, stalagtites, and ceiling. It's supposed to be incredibly impressive and all my students have heard of it. Also, I'm going to check out the Hanging Monastery which was built up the sides of a cliff. It ought to be really interesting. I'll tell you more once I've been.
______
Finally, I'm sorry to everyone for not having the time to write. I feel really guilty but I figure that each of you would rather that I be productive in Beijing and use what little free time I have to enjoy the experience and get more from being in China rather than being chained to a keyboard banging out emails for everyone. Then again some of you ....
