Catching up....

No posts since May 28. Not a good record! However I think it's because we've been too busy the last two months. If our first semester in China was learning the ropes of living in a strange land, our second semester was building relationships with real friends. This term we've been going out with many teacher friends - to dinner, or out for drinks. We discovered a community where we could discuss our China experiences, and because they were here too, we could quickly relate about the ups and downs about every day life in this amazing but frustrating nation.

So what's been happening since June? Not too much.

-C and I have been getting up at 5am at least two days a week to go for a 3.5 mile walk around our local area. We provide oodles of free entertainment to those enterprising Chinese souls that are up at that hour. Despite not enjoying the stares, it has contributed to a shrinking waistline.

-I discovered numerous students in my writing class cheating. I was reading their essays when I realized they were using expressions like "hone your craft" that couldn't possibly be written by a native Chinese person. A quick google search revealed the essays they'd copied. This experience was a tremendous letdown for me. I had come to rate my writing class very highly until blatant plagiarism struck. It reminded me how rampant cheating is in Chinese society. If a student performs poorly or fails a class, there is always a way to remediate the situation in Chinese culture. Money, relationships, and gifts grease the wheels of academic success in this country. One of our friends, who was also teaching a Writing class had this experience. After class, a girl approached him and noted that her essay grades had been low. She wanted to know if there was anyway she could get better marks in the future. Our friend indicated that writing better essays would be a good start. The student then said..."Is there anything else I can do?". Although sexual favors seem unlikely in this case, the student may have been thinking about money or gifts. The implication was clear.

-We and our close friends had a barbecue on the roof of our buildings. It was a delightful evening, grilling marinated chicken and sipping some beer on a beautiful summer evening. We had a lovely view of the campus from up there. You certainly feel above it all. The grill we used wasn't particularly spectacular and it took a good hour to light the charcoal, but it seemed nothing could affect the enjoyment of the evening.