I invited class number 13, a group of about 40 Junior 2 students, to ask me any questions that were on their mind. Here’s what they came up with (my favorites are in bold):

1. Do you like gum?
2. Do you have other brother or sister?
3. Did you used to be afraid of the dark?
4. In American, what you teach about computers?
5. Do you like playing the piano?
6. Do you mary?
   
7. Why do you named Wang Lan?
8. I think China is very good. Do you think?
9. Do you like us?
10. Do you like ping pong?
11. How abou you?
12. What’s your favorite star?
13. What are your favorite countries?
14. I like read book. Do you like?
15. I would like improve spoken English. I dont know how to do?
16. Do you like some pop music?
17. What’s your favorite color?

And my favorite question from this class:

• What’s your country’s rules?

Here’s an update on my week, bullet-style.

• I’m finally online at home, surfing in style on my little wireless network. I’m more “wired” than I’ve ever been in the States!
• I got my first gift from the school … Moon Cake! It’s a usually-disgusting dessert that’s very popular as a gift in China. I actually got lucky … nobody told me about the gift or gave it to me, I simply saw them passing out boxes to different teachers in the apartment next to mine, so I went over and asked about it.
• Though I’ve known about them since the day they came out, I just discovered the beauty of podcasts … I can easily watch the daily news from America, listen to sermons from my favorite preachers, see hilarious home videos, watch the sports news, and get free Chinese language lessons. And when I hook my MacBook up to my television and speakers, it’s even better!
• I’ve been playing basketball after school with a group of male teachers. It’s like streetball … the kids crowd around the court and cheer incessantly as we all struggle to get the rock through the hole. And it’s weird … I’m just about the tallest on the court, and though my skills are mediocre at best at home, I’m actually one of the better players here in China. And the kids go nuts whenever I do anything.
• I have two 23-hour train rides booked for my weeklong trip to Shanghai next week. And I am so looking forward to it!
• I put a message board on my front door, and it’s amazing how many little notes and messages I’m getting from the kids at the school. Most of them are way too shy to talk to me directly, but they’ll write a quick message then run away as I approach in person. It’s especially fun to watch them through the little keyhole-viewer-thingy while they’re reading and writing.
• My sore throat is almost gone.
• iChat is also an amazing program … yesterday I was video chatting with the lovely and talented Kimberly while simultaneously having a group chat with my mom in Akron, my sister-in-law in Ashland, and my sister in Germany!
• I ate eel, frog (they call it “field chicken”), and a delicious dish of mushrooms and actual green beans for lunch the other day … it sure beats McDonalds.
• Two students came up to me after a class today and told me, flat-out, that my class was boring. It turned into a fruitful discussion … I got some good feedback from them, and they were able to see (after 40 minutes of talking) that it was boring mostly because nobody was participating. In response, I changed the plan for my next class … and it totally bombed.
• I got two new roommates.
• In order to get the week off next week, I have to teach this Saturday and next Sunday … 11 extra classes. That would never fly in the States.
• I need to go take a shower. Now.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I asked my Junior 2 and Junior 3 students to stand up and tell the class what their favorite English word was. Here are the highlights from my last four classes:

1. cinema, rethink, terrible, what, clever, China, confident, money, player kills, him, yellow, cry, study, negotiation, angel, far, together, free, dolphin
2. earthquake, loud, fantastic, Hawaii, popular, life, love, deity, Singapore, please, threaten, stardust, outgoing, successful, angel, truent, complete, speed, outstanding, UFO, circle, dangerous, sorry
3. terrible, computer, travel, oranges, seven, lemon, forever, true love, English book, memory, responsibility, watermelon, trip, cool, it, freedom, pig, persist
4. blue, fortunately, butterfly, play, pig, rust, otherwise, tea, vegetables, private, skateboard, Oxford University, Internet, sleep, lifestyle, junk food, tool, badminton

Friends of the same gender in China hold hands. Whether they’re two young girls or two old men, it’s just a completely acceptable PDA (Public Display of Affection, not Personal Desk Accessory).

And the more I see it, the more I like it … it’s a simple and tactile way to be someone’s friend. But it makes me wonder about American culture. We are so limited in our methods for showing genuine affection. Personally, I’m extremely uncomfortable with PDA … even prolonged hugs with my best friends make me antsy.

As I learned at my last foot massage, the Chinese way of saying “ticklish” is literally interpreted, “You’ll be scared of your wife.”

Yeah. What’s our problem, yo?

I’m sitting at my favorite restaurant eating potatoes and dumplings while I type up some emails. And someone’s messing with me … someone nearby keeps sending me random photos with his wireless Bluetooth cellphone.

I have no idea who it is … but it’s cracking me up. I love funny Chinese people!

This past weekend I took a train to YueYang, the second largest city in Hunan. It sits on the second largest lake in China. And I stayed next to the second largest public square in China (behind Beijing’s famous T-Square). And coincidentally, I currently have the second largest head in China.

The train ride there was horrendous. It left at 3am, and even though I had purchased the tickets days in advance, I still didn’t get a seat. So after staying up late. taking a 2am motorcycle to the train station, and sprinting down the platform to the last car (where there are sometimes open seats), I found myself sitting on a seat with a family of four for the trip into Changsha.

One half of one of my butt cheeks was happy … it was on a seat. I couldn’t sleep a wink and was continually kicked in the face by the sleeping boy next to me. On top of all that, I was fighting a pretty nasty cough and growing cold-like-symptoms. Teaching in America exposes you to everything and strengthens your immune system, so I really haven’t been sick in about four years. But the pollution, incessant talking in class, and exhausting nature of what I’m doing were starting to catch up to me.

At 6am, we arrived in Changsha and almost everyone got off. What a relief … I finally got my own seat and could stretch out and sleep a little. On the other hand, I was now terrified that I’d doze through my stop at YueYang, so I tried to sleep with one eye open. Sure enough, when I awoke from my first snooze, the couple sitting across from me told me that I had missed my stop. After an initial freak out, I asked 3 or 4 more passengers to confirm the information … and I found out that they were simply wrong. Whew!

So I arrived at about 8am. After a quick phone call, Steve, my cousin, picked me up from the station. Yep, you read that right … there are Webels in China, and we had a little reunion this weekend! I hadn’t yet met Erica or their two adorable children, so it was great to make the acquaintance of the whole Wang (that’s our Chinese family name) family!

Staying at their place was just like being back in America for the weekend. Spaghetti, grilled cheese, pot roast … it was delicious. We had a little “celebration” on Sunday, singing some songs and listening to a podcasted message from the states together … how encouraging that was! And it was wonderful to talk to them, learning about their life in China and getting tons of interesting and useful information about how to survive. It had been over a month since I’d conversed significantly with a native English speaker, so it was nice to just speak normally and be understood easily!

I had also planned to visit Amy, a WorldTeach volunteer in the city … but when I showed up at her apartment I was delighted to find that Mary Claire, Joe, and Emily, three other nearby volunteers, had also come by to hang out for the evening! We shared “war stories” about life and teaching in China for a while then took a long walk to a local park. Then on Sunday Amy and I met Jo, a Chinese university student who helped us during our orientation, for lunch before I hopped on the train back to Loudi.

The ride back was fantastic. I not only had a seat, but there was nobody across from my so I could put my feet up. I listened to an entire series of sermons from Four Corners on my iPod, played with a couple kids, and talked to 3 different English speakers during the trip (one from a town that I hope to visit sometime this winter).

All in all, it was a great weekend. Traveling in China is just plain fun. And it’s a good thing, because I just got my ticket for next weekend’s 23-hour train ride to Shanghai to visit Sarah!

After an entire month of waiting, the school has finally come and fixed the gas tank in my kitchen. I can finally cook!

Now I just have to get my Internet connection to work … I bought a modem today and have to haggle with the ISP tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll get ironed out this week … it’s all that’s left on my list, now that I’ve passed gas!

Women in China, much like women in California or Florida, believe that pale, fair skin is absolutely beautiful. Suntans and even freckles are signs of ugliness … so they always carry umbrellas everywhere they go to shade them from the sun.

There are no ballboys in table tennis.

I wanted to hear all of my Junior 2 and Junior 3 students speak this week in class … so I opened with a simple ice breaker.

One at a time, each student stood up and told the class his favorite English word. Many of the students said simple words (i.e. “good”, “basketball”, and “happy”) … but there were also quite a few choice morsels. Here are some highlights from the first few classes:

1. UFO, beef, FBI, rabbit, golden, tornado, money, Beijing Duck, electronic, December, balloon
2. foolish, geography, smell, no, chicken, boring, body odor, why, WC, pigs fly in the sky, wonderful, weekend, elephant, dolphin, dumpling
3. confident, flower, award, interview, orange, dollar, Superman, believe, free, fashion, travel, friendship, hip hop, yes
4. r&b, clove, millimeter, mother, opportunity, Mickey Mouse, detective, romantic, nature, hamburger, parrot, butterfly, Pacific, God, experience
5. freeze, healthy, dollar, beautiful girl, watching TV, computer, sleep, wolf, dragon, go shopping, popular, swing, Sunday, perfect, relax, strawberry, fantastic, magic, off, princess
6. English, Michael Jordan, Beckham, kill, history, money, no more, freedom, fantasy, crystal, healthy, guitar, magical, favorite, game over, tofu, terrific, future, holiday, slow
7. wonderful, moon, perfect, one, violet, rocket, delicious, vacation, fairy, knowledge, wife, province, comic, kiss, surprise, terrorist, bank, adjective, indigo, teacher, farmer

“If I could ever be on that Amazing Race TV show, I would totally want you as a partner.”

– Julie, CHCA teacher

Want a quick inspiration? Check out this video.

What’s green and sings?

I invited class number 20, a group of about 55 Junior 1 students, to ask me any questions that were on their mind. Here’s what they came up with (my favorites are in bold):

1. What’s your favorite actor?
2. How’s the Ohio State?
3. When is your birthday?
4. What do you think of my school?
5. How often do you go bathroom?
6. Do you have QQ?
7. Can you play skateboard?
8. Do you have a son?
9. What do you like animal?
10. What do you do on weekends?
11. What do you have pen pal friend?
12. I really nice to see you!
13. How often do you go to school?
14. What is your favorite fun, Teacher Lance?
15. Do you have big house?
16. How as the do you go to the China?
17. What do you like animal?
18. Do you have a girl friendly?
19. What’s your life?
20. What’s your favorite sprots?
21. Do you have QQ?
22. What can I do to improve my English?
23. What is kind of student do you like?

And my favorite question from this class:

• In America school, I think the students are very free. Yes or no?

Which are yours?