LONDON (Reuters) - Hedgehogs have finally humbled burger giant McDonald’s after years of campaigning, forcing the company to redesign its killer McFlurry ice-cream containers.

Up to now the opening in the container has been large enough for hedgehogs to get their heads into for a lick of the left-over dessert — a trap they have then been unable to withdraw from, so dying of starvation in untold numbers.

But from September 1, the wide-mouthed opening in the lid of the McFlurry containers will be reduced in size, making them too small for the sugar-loving animals to get their heads into.

“This is excellent, it is long overdue news,” said Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. “We have been in touch with McDonald’s about this problem for over five years and are delighted that they have at last solved the problem.”

McDonald’s said in a statement the design change had resulted from pressure from the society which prompted “significant research and design testing” to develop new packaging.

“The smaller aperture of the lid has been designed to prevent hedgehogs from entering the McFlurry container in the unfortunate incidence that a lid is littered and is then accessible to wildlife,” it added.

Ok … now that I’ve got such great suggestions for English names for my students, I need some suggestions for a Chinese name for myself! I was given a Chinese name by my language teacher in Changsha, but I’ve found that it is simply confusing people here because it sounds nothing like my English name.

Chinese names, like names in most other cultures, are vastly more important and meaningful than names in America. Each character, or word, has a specific meaning. Many are attached to cultural and historical significances, and many also signify the destiny or hopes for a person’s life. Women usually keep their family (maiden) name when they get married too … but I don’t have to worry about that.

Another interesting tidbit … the family name (last name) is always said first and the given name (first name) is said last. So, for example, Yao is actually the basketball star’s last name and Ming is his first name. Whoops … it looks like we’ve all been misunderstanding Ming Yao’s name incorrectly for a long time now!

So I looked through my Chinese dictionary this morning to try and find words that might be suitable. Here’s what I found (the numbers are actually “tones” … don’t worry about that now):

Family name - Webel
wai4 bu4 - outside
wei2 - small
wei1 - surround
wei4 - taste
wei3 ba - tail
wei2 bo2 - microwave

Given name - Lance
lan1 - orchid
lan1 - blue
lan1 se4 - blue
lan1 zi - basket

Like I said, the choices aren’t that good … but which do you think is the best combination?

I’ve been here in Loudi for one week. I still don’t have Internet. Or phone. Or gas (for the stove). Or a cell phone. Or a schedule, or textbooks. Or ELECTRICITY (it was out when I woke up this morning).

I also don’t have my residence permit, my Foreign Expert Visa. My liaison left for Changsha several days ago to get it, but I still haven’t heard back from her … and I don’t get it by tomorrow, I could be deported!

I’m starting to feel like Gilligan. If only the Professor was here …

In Loudi, the dogs drive motorcycles.

[via HP]

From what I know (which isn’t much), I think I’m going to start teaching sometime next week. It’ll probably be Junior 1 and 2 students (7th and 8th grade), so there’s a good chance that many of them will not yet have English names. And I’ll bet you know what that means … it’s student-naming time!

I’m not sure if I’ll do it Garden-of-Eden-style or more democratically … but either way, I need suggestions! They could be common names, celebrities, exotic names, people I know in America, adjectives, historical characters, common household objects … anything, really:

1. Shaquille
2. Broom
3. Speedy
4. Oprah
5. George
6. Frankfurt
7. Matilda
8. Echo
9. Shaniqua
10. Cable
11. Bob
12. Jose
13. Wicker
14. Sweet Action

Come on … what other suggestons do you have? Just leave comment with 5 or 10 (or 40!) names …

Hello y’all! I’ve been in Loudi for 3 days now. I still don’t have a phone, Internet connection, or cell phone, so I haven’t been able to conatact anyone, but I wanted to let you guys know that I’m indeed alive. I’m at an Internet bar a few blocks from my apartment … and there are 4 Chinese boys standing behind me watching everything that I do online. I love it.

The past couple of days have been absolutely surreal. I’ve tried to sit down and write about it several times, and each time I am simply overwhelmed at the amount of things to type about and ways to approach it all. So although the following narrative will leave a lot of details out, I’ll try to give some highlights from my arrival.

On Thursday morning all of the WorldTeach volunteers met at Changsha #1 Middle School to leave for their respective placements. My liaison, Helen, met me there … and the first words out of her mouth were “Hello, handsome boy!”. Although I was expecting a more formal introduction from the professional who is supposed to be my official connection and ambassador with my school, I wasn’t phased a bit. That’s just how things go here in good ‘ol China.

Helen and I then walked outside to find our ride. After some scoping, we found a small blue Peugeot … and the 3 other men that would be riding with us. My first thought was disbelief … there was no way that all of my luggage for the year would fit in that trunk … and I just had to laugh at the “planning” for this scenario. The driver (privately hired), my principal, and the elementary school principal had all come along for the event … but all three were strangely nonchalant and disinterested when I introduced myself. So we crammed into the car and headed to my hotel … and to my surprise, we fit all my luggage in the back!

When we headed off, the two men in the front seat immediately lit up, filling the car with smoke. And if you know me, you know how intolerant my body is to the stuff. I couldn’t help but hack and wheeze like crazy … but they didn’t get the hint. In fact, after about one hour of driving around Changsha, desperately lost (we were going the exact wrong direction), I could physically feel the cancer taking over my lungs.

My stomache eventually began to rumble … I had heard story upon story about how our host schools would fatten us up this week, taking us to lavish meals and requesting that we gorge ourselves on strange and exotic foods. So I was rarin’ to go … until I saw where the driver was stopping. It was a totally seedy neighborhood … and the restaurant that we walked into was a total hole-in-the-wall. It had one menu … written in pen on the back of a discarded beer box. Nevertheless, I was simply glad to get out of that car and breath some fresh air. Well, fresher, at least … this is China.

The food ended up being very good … salted minnows (eaten whole), spicy beef, and some other things that I can’t remember now. The conversation was a bit scarce … I think that the language barrier was so bothersome to the men that they had decided to simply not bother. Eventually we were back on the road for another round of chemotherapy-inducing travel!

When we arrived at Loudi, I was floored. It’s an industrial town … and the air is extremely thick with smog and smoke. After 27 years of caring very little about air quality, I instantly became an environmentalist. Global warming is going to kill us all … if the carcinogens don’t get us first!

But if all of this sounds like I’m complaining … I’m not! All of these things are actually quite funny, and characteristic of life as a waiguaren (foreigner). I love the adventure, and I’m relishing the new experiences and growth that I see in myself as a result!

The last three days in my new home city have been filled with a strange assortment of activities … trying to communicate in Chinese (usually unsuccessfully), buying groceries and things for my apartment, wandering the city, cleaning like my mom, watching movies, running, trying to order meals in local restaurants, being stared at by every single person on the street, riding sketchy motorcycles through crazy traffic, playing darts, exploring the school’s facilities … but I don’t have time to type out a narrative about all of them. Perhaps later, when I’m actually online in my apartment. For now, just know that I’m safe and sound, rapidly and slowly adjusting to life in this incredibly foreign place!

Mr. Wyche, the teacher who is teaching my Digital Media classes in Cincinnati this year, just send me this photo of the bulletin board outside his room. Apparantly he (or the kids) visited webeldotnet, printed out some photos and my address, and put the information up for all to see!

[The light at the end, by webel]

So we’ve been here over 2 weeks, and we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Training ends on Wednesday … and after a final banquet that evening, we’ll all pack our stuff up and move out of the hotel. On Thursday, a representative from my school will arrive in Changsha to take me to Loudi!

Once there, I’ll have a few days to move into my apartment, open a bank account, register for my Foreign Expert Visa, get a cell phone (probably), find my way around the town, and meet all the who’s-who of Loudi. I’ll probably get to visit my school and see what kind of facilities it has, and I’ll be able to ask my liaison (the person who’s paid to help me throughout the year) questions about the town and school. Then, next week, school starts!

I’ll be isolated, 2 hours from the nearest big city, so there will be many challenges. I still know very little of the language, so I’ll have to dive in headfirst to literally learn how to survive. I won’t have access to many conveniences and items that can be found in a bigger city like Changsha, and I’ll be probably teaching over 1,000 students every week in a totally strange and potentially intimidating environment. And the culture itself is quite unusual and, in many ways, unfriendly to foreigners. But I’ll talk about that last thing later.

Even so, I’m very excited … though it should be a little intimidating moving out on my own, into a town where I’ll likely be the only foreigner, I’m ready for it. Life should be a little slower, a little simpler. I’ll have my own space, so I won’t live out of a suitcase. And I’ll be able to concentrate on the language a little more, utilizing lessons and tutorials that I’ve been gathering for the past couple of months. I should also be able to communicate with home a lot easier (hopefully), and I’ll be able to make friends that will last all year in my hometown.

So yeah … here we go!

I have about 90 photos that I’ve taken, edited, and readied for online publishing, but the network connection here at the middle school where we’re training is terribly slow. Because each full-size photo takes about an hour to upload, I’ve simply avoided putting them online.

Today, however, I decided to simply upload smaller versions of the photos (then replace them later on with the full-size photos). So if you want to check out some pictures from China, here they are!

Chinese sounds like backwards English.

.tuo em giw ot gnitrats yllear s’tI

The hardest thing about China so far, as expected, has been my inability to communicate. Chinese is a very difficult language to learn … and although I’m now getting 3 hours of Mandarin class every day, I’ve had terribly little progress. Part of that is because I’m just having trouble learning in the style that they’re teaching, part of it is because we don’t have much time to practice, and most of it is because it’s just plain hard. In one sense, it’ll be nice to be done with training and have more time to focus on the language … and in another sense, it’ll be even harder to learn it while I’m alone in my city, Loudi. I guess I’ll just keep playing it by ear!

Our teaching practicum started Saturday … and boy was it interesting. My fellow volunteers and I have been divided into 13 teams of 3-4 people and have been assigned a group of 30-40 Chinese students. These students are taking a week of their summer break to come and learn English with us for about 3 hours every day … and in return, we get a lot of hands-on practice in lesson planning and implementation. It’s so helpful to see what works and what doesn’t, and it’s great to try things out with immediate feedback and teamwork from others. At this point, we’re all being humbled and scrambling to improve our lessons … but the kids are extremely forgiving and excited to be taught by waiguaren (foreigners).

Chinese education is vasty different than American education. It’s very teacher-centric, focusing on lecture-based classes and rote memorization and repetition … so bringing in multiple inteligences, learning styles, self-directed learning, and any other number of American educational strategies is completely foreign to them. It’s crazy … but I’m sure I’ll be writing a lot about this later on as the school year progresses.

The boat to China may be slow, but the occupants (ahem: me) can be even slower! This photo was taken outside Changsha #1 Middle School in Hunan, China, where we are having our WorldTeach training.

Things are progressing quite well out here in the good old People’s Republic of China (PRC). We’ve been here a little over a week, and I already feel like it’s … well, not quite home yet. But it’s getting more comfortable!

I’ve been able to find almost everything that I need out here, usually at very cheap prices. One American dollar is equal to about 8rmb/yuan/qui (lots of names for their money). To give you an idea … a typical 2 mile cab rides costs 5-8rmb, a meal costs 3-10rmb, a bottle of coke costs about 2-3rmb, and an ice cream costs 1-1.5rmb. So it’s quite easy to live on less than $5/day here.

In reality, though, I’m starting to forget about American dollars altogether and think in terms of Chinese denominations. I’ll be living on 2000rmb/month, or about $250/month … and that should be plenty (not including splurges here and there and some travel). As long as I can live without peanut butter, cheese, pizza, and tap water!

Even this early in the year, it’s a little crazy to think back on American consumerism and the “plenty” that we gorge ourselves with back there. How disgusting!

Sorry I haven’t been posting … the schedule has been remarkably packed with language lessons, teaching practicum, , and meals. I also have about 60 photos to upload, but the connection is so slow that it took an entire hour to upload one photo!

More will come later today …