Kerry Bryan is an English Teacher?

The Last Two Months In Pictures...well most of it

2009-11-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

My last post (two months ago...sorry for the delay) I told you I was traveling...so let me put a few pictures on here of that trip.The last three pictures were taken by my friend Lindsay Bryant and she also gave me permission to use them.

Me with the big picture of Chairman Mao at Tienanmen Square in Beijing.

Me sitting on some steps on The Great Wall. This is truly one of the greatest experiences of my life.

In one of the rooms sitting in front of an opening on The Great Wall.

We also went to Beijing to watch The China Open where I got to see my favorite tennis player, Rafael Nadal. We also so other tennis greats and I got a few autographs.

P.S. I was literally a good 6 inches from him at one point.

At The China Open I got to watch Serena Williams play. She really is as powerful as you see in T.V. And she also grunts really loud. And she is really tall. She won in straight sets.

After Beijing we took a train to Qingdao, where we took pictures of this thing. I'm not sure what this is but I think it's just a thing for people to take pictures of. Oh well. Qingdao is a city on the coast so it was cool to see the ocean in China. PS...we ate really good food here too.

Lindsay got a cool picture of me in the tunnel of the aquarium. I like this picture alot.

We took a picture with this seal. This was really cool because I got to pet the seal and as you can see Kat got kissed by it. Lindsay got kissed afterwards.

The group that went to Qingdao standing in front of the ocean outside the Polar World.

After we got back from our little trip we had to get ready for Culture Week. This year we did a three night program called The Global Squad of Superheroes aka G-SOS. In this program I was this tour guide named Jack from Europe who liked this girl (Rose) but was always to afraid to tell her. After something bad almost happens to Rose, Jack yells STOP!! and everything freezes. Jack realizes he has the power to stop time then moves Rose to safety. Throughout the program Jack uses this power. Here are a few pictures from Culture Week. The pictures you are about to see are from Rebecca Strayer and Aurora Aisenbrey. And yes...I got permission to use them...

Learning my lines...I also like this picture.

Jack and Rose were not in the first night so we did behind the scences stuff. Sound, Props, Lights...along with other people too.

Jack was too afraid to tell her he loved her so he stopped time and told her.

Some of the guys from our "study" were at the performance so we took a picture together.

During America Day I was Ron from Harry Potter.

Yes, Rose (Kat Thompson) is swinging fire and it's directed towards me. Her line here was "I'll kill you Jack, KILL YOU DEAD" or something like that.

Jack finally tells Rose he loves her.

Jack and Rose after the last nights performance.

The main characters.

Everyone involved.

So this past weekend was Thanksgiving weekend so we got to cancel our classes on Thursday, which was awesome cause I have three on Thursday. But Wednesday night the Peter Hall kitchen staff had a big Thanksgiving feast for us then on Thursday morning we had an American Football tournament that I was asked to get together for everyone. It was a lot of fun but my team finished second. But hopefully soon I'll get some pictures on here for you guys to see. Then we had a big Thanksgiving lunch at one of the restaurants here on campus.

But that has been my last two months and now the next thing coming up is Christmas so I am still trying to decide what to do. I would love to come home for a couple of week but it's to expensive so I will probably travel around Southeast Asia again because I can travel for a couple months for the price it would take to fly home. But anyways...that is a little bit of my life over the last two months.

Blessings and Love to all of you guys...

Traveling for the next week or so...

2009-09-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

So last Thursday Sias held it's annual Freshman Welcome/Candlelight Ceremony. This marks the end of freshman miliatary training and the beginning of classes for the freshman students. But classes don't start until the 9th. But during this ceremony I, along with many other foreign teachers, did a performance for the new freshman. I'm not much of a dancer to be honest with you...I just don't really enjoy it. But I think if I put a little time into it I could be a decent dancer. But we did a dance from High School Musical. Yes, you read that correctly...High School Musical. If you want to see the video then go see my friends blog at http://www.huxinchina.com/ and look under the entry titled High School Musical.

I still have two weeks until i actually begin classes because next week is Chinas National Holiday...kind of like our 4th of July. So during this holiday, I am flying to Beijing at 8:00 tuesday morning (7:00 pm in Texas) with my friend Joe and we are gonna spend a couple of days there going to The Great Wall and possibly bicycling around Beijing to places like Tiananmen Square and whatever else we feel like going to. Then a couple of days later a few other teachers are gonna be coming and we are going to the China Open. A few big names are going to be at this tennis tournament...such as Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova...so I am hoping to watch atleast two of these three play. Then on thursday (I think) we are taking a train to a city called Qingdao (Ching Dow). This place is halfway between Beijing and Shanghai and is on the coast. So going to a beach in China will be a first for me...hopefully the weather is great while we are there. Qingdao is also considered as Chinas Switzerland..so we were told we need to see the German spots of the city. Then we will stay there a few days then come back to Sias...

I also was giving my class schedule today...and boy am I happy about it. On mondays I have 3 classes (8-10 am, 10:10am-12pm, and 1:30-3:30 pm). On tuesdays I have no class (AWESOME!!!) On wednesdays I have three classes (10:10am-12pm, 1:30-3:20 pm and 3:30-5:20 pm) and on thursdays I have three classes (8-10 am, 1:30-3:20 pm and 3:30-5:20 pm)...so I teach only 18 hours through 3 fully days....I LOVE this schedule...

Anyways...I am gonna get off of here and get ready for my trip...

Blessings

2 Weeks Into Year 2...

2009-09-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

So it has been two weeks since I have landed in China. Things, for me, are going a little slow. I don't start teaching for another week or so. So a typical day for me looks something like this. Wake up sometimes from 10-11, eat lunch at 12, chill (maybe play tennis, download music,read a little, read sports news hang out with people), eat dinner at 6, then hang out more until bed time. On the weekend if the weather permits we play volleyball. We have been playing some really good volleyball over the past few weeks. I have been working on my hitting and its starting to improve.

The first week I didn't really do much. But my second was a little more busy. I was asked to get a 12 man roster for a Faculty Basketball tournament. This is a tournament when we the foreign staff play against the Chinese faculty. Last year the foreign faculty won both the Men and Women tournaments. I have also gotten a couple of massages. One massage was pretty rough...but sometimes I like it when they beat me up a little bit...and the other was a foot massage. I personally love the foot massage because they have this little cut and they spray some stuff in it and light it on fire and stick it to your feet. When it got to your feet it stick and the fire then goes out...and they just roll it around on your feet. Oh it feels so awesome. I was scared the first time because fire was involved. But it'll change your life..

Yesterday I woke up to a text that said to get three foreign teachers to play basketball that night. So I thought it was three on three so I asked the new teachers to play (who will also be in our tournament so they can get a feel of how the Chinese play). So I told the the new guys I would go with them but I wasnt going to play. So we get there and they told us it was five on five Sias Faculty (both foreign and Chinese) against some team. They asked me to play as well...I didnt have my ankle brace or good shoes on but I played anyways...I had 2 points (free throws) and our team won 84-83...its was pretty cool...

But today is Kinahs (a girl here) 15th birthday...so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kinah...

Blessings

I Made It Back...

2009-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sooo....As you probably already know I, Kerry Bryan, have made it back to Sias International University. I took about 48 hours total to get here and walk into the door of Peter Hall. But I just wanted to share a few things about my trip.

First:
As we (Me, Mom, Aunt Priscilla and Grandma) walked into the airport in Houston I see soccer players and didn't think anything of it. Then my aunt said she thought that was the Spanish National team but I didn't recognize any of the players...then I read their suits and it was the El Salvador National Team. So my first thought was HAHA...cause the day before Team USA had defeated El Salvador...but it was cool to see a National Soccer Team.

Second:
Dubai...I really want to visit Dubai...it looks amazing and the things I have read make me want to visit it even more. But...I had a nine hour layover in Dubai...so since it was so long I was allowed to go into a VIP lounge. I was supposed to only get four hours but the lady gave me five but...she let me stay as long as I wanted...it was awesome because there was free internet and all you could eat and drink....the food wasn't great but it was pretty good...

Third:
From Dubai to Beijing I flew over possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...The Himalayas. I had a window seat and I was curious where we were so I opened my shade. I could't believe it....About ten seconds later the captain of the plane came on the P.A. and told us where we were and how lucky our flight was because the weather was clear that day and it is really rare to have beautiful weather there. I was speechless...it took a while to fly over the entire mountain range but I kept the window shade up then entire time because I may never get a chance to see that again. I was a little sad cause I didn't have my camera on me to snap a few pictures so just look at pictures online...google it or something just to capture the beauty of The Himalayas.

But just wanted to let you know that I am back and thanks for all the pr@ ying...it's greatly appreciated and please continue to do that for me.

So I Made A List Of Firsts...

2009-08-15T20:39:00.001-07:00

I know its been since April since I have posted on here for you guys...BUT...China blocked my blog site. I know I have been home and I have seen a lot of you during my brief time in America, but many of you I will not get to see. I did decide to go back to China for another year. Sooo...I only have three more weeks until I catch a flight from Houston to Dubai to Beijing to Zhengzhou. It's a brutal flight but I saved money doing it that way. That flight to Dubai is extremely long....but the airline I am using (Emirates) makes it much better with the media and technology stuff they have. But back to my post...I was traveling in Thailand and I begun to make a list of all the firsts I did since flying last September until my first year of teaching in China ended. Some you might find really funny, some you might find disturbing...but I am gonna be blunt with some of the things just because I think it is funny....and it could possibly be a conversation starter between us sometime in the future**wink wink**

Travel Related:
1. Get or even touch a passport
2. Ask for support
3. Book a flight
4. Be in another country ( I have been to the Mexico/Texas border but didn't cross)
5. Exchange Money
6. Speak Chinese (When people jokingly speaking the Chinese Language...they are way off)
7. Speak to a Chinese person (I never did in America or at ETBU)
8. See something we learned in a World History Class (Terra Cotta Warriors)
9. Eat with Chinese people (Students are shocked when I could use chop sticks)
10. Spend a holiday away from home (Thanksgiving, Christmas New Year...)
11. Go to a foreign theatre (The ones I went to in Hong Kong and Malaysia have assigned seating)
12. Go to an internet cafe
13. Stay in a hostel
14. Eat out Christmas Day (McDonalds for Brunch and a Place called Pothouse for dinner)
15. Travel on Christmas
16. See a lady boy (Everywhere in Thailand)
17. Snorkel
18. Bring New Years in on a bus (we were on an overnight bus to get to a boat to get to an island in thailand)
19. Pay to urinate
20. Make an internation call (I called mom cause I needed help getting a flight from Malaysia to China)
21. See the desert
22. See nearly 20 hours of straight sunlight (My flight from Dubai to Houston)

Transportation:
1. Fly
2. Ride in a taxi
3. Ride on the opposite side of a car (Cars of opposite in Hong Kong)
4. Get motion sickness (Riding in a speed boat with 3-4 meter waves...not good)
5. Ride on a raft...a bamboo raft
6. Ride an elephant (but i think i may have done this when i was really little...not real sure)
7. Ride on a train (the train at the zoo is not a means of transportation)
8. Ride a subway
9. Kayak in an ocean
10. Ride a monorail
11. Rent a bicycle

Food/Drink:
1. Eat authentic Chinese food (it's so much better in China)
2. Eat Eggplant
3. Eat Jello (believe it or not)
4. Drink Milk Tea
5. Eat Tofu
6. Drink Hot Tea (Did not like it at first but it grew on me)
7. Drink hot water with meals
8. Eat spam sushi (thanks to my friend Joe)
9. Eat sushi and actually like it
10. Eat Thai Food...and it was delicious
11. Eat cow tongue
12. Eat rabbit
13. Eat pineapple...true story
14. Eat a banana pancake
15. Eat food from a street vendor (we just call it street food)
16. Eat an Kabob...and I have had them this summer twice
17. Eat squid
18. Eat malaysian food...not my favorite
19. Eat caviar
20. Eat brocoli (another weird true one)
21. Drink milk straight from a cow
22. Eat pizza with pineapples on it
23. Eat Mangos
24. Eat bamboo
25. Eat lotus

Work Related:
1. Teach English (English was always one my if not THE worst subject for me)
2. Give an exam ( I student taught PE so I didn't have to do exams)
3. Do a performance/dance (Scottish and Filipino)
4. Wear something a little bit uncomfortable (OK I wore a kilt)
5. Be on a winning team in a football tournament
6. Be on a winning team in a basketball tournament
7. Give the whole Christmas story (I did it nine times to each of my classes)

Miscellaneous:
1. Get an ultrasound (sad..but true....and No I was not pregnant)
2. Watch television or a sporting event online
3. Give my testimony/life story
4. Get tested for STD's
5. Play international rules basketball
6. Play (or attempt to play) a Chinese instrument
7. Bargain
8. Play telephone pictionary
9. Use a squatty potty ( I have an embarrassing story about this)
10. Get a massage (I can't wait until I get back to get more of them....soooooo cheap)
11. Voice Chat/Video Chat....I love skype...if you have skype I would love to exchange my name with you)
12. Buy and use a scarf
13. Decorate a christmas tree by myself
14. Play a Chinese song on the bass guitar
15. See restaurants named after illegal drugs (Names were LSD and Pothouse...Pothouse was really good..i had pothouse on Christmas Day in Shenzhen).....oh...they were side by side too
16. Read a book in less than 24 hours (For One More Day by Mitch Albom)
17. Read a book with more than 300 pages (Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy)
18. Rock Climb (probably the dumbest I could have ever done)
19. See wild crab
20. Get solicited for sex.....yeah....that was not awkward at all
21. See a topless tanner...that was not a boy
22. Pet a monkey
23. See coral (snorkeling is freakin awesome)
24. Get a manicure
25. Watch the presidential inauguration (I was in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia)
26. See a Camel
27. Run a 5K
28. Have my *COUGHpenisCOUGH* get rubbed....i was getting a massage with a friend and it came out of nowhere...i hopped up like she was hurting my leg cause it was really really awkward
29. Win an NCAA bracket challenge (I won 3 of them....GO TAR HEELS)
30. Pick the National Champion in an NCAA Bracket Challenge
31. Climb a water fountain....
32. Wear a Jacket in may

This is a list that I began keeping in January so I think I may have forgotten a lot of things from the first few months...

2009-04-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Meet Kyle...this kid is one of my favorite people in Peter Hall (the name of my building). His mother is a Chinese lady and I have played ping pong with her numerous times. It took me like 25 games to finally beat her and when I did it felt really good...not gonna lie. But Kyle has a name for me every time he see me "gege" (pronounced Gugu). That is Chinese for older brother. Kyles mother has taught him to call me and a few other guys big brother when he see us. It is one of the coolest things ever. Even he calls my friend Becky big brother somtimes...and thats just really funny.

This is a picture that was taken while I was in Thailand with my friend Steve Collins. We were snorkeling here on the island of Koh Tao and Steve has a camera that can go underwater so we were checking it out. I like this picture a lot

So as I said in my last post (over a month ago) I had signed up for a 5K. So here is a picture of me running this thing. The guy with me there is Alan. He is a student here who is a pretty cool kid. He ran the whole thing with me. I completed this thing without stopping and without walking...ok I had to walk two steps once at the halfway mark cause so many people in front of me decided to freeze for a few seconds. But I ran the whole thing in a little over 39 minutes. I was really proud of myself. 3.2 miles is a long way...or so I think.
So since my last post I have had a birthday. In this pic is Me, Amanda and Joel Porter, Lindsay Bryant and Joe Aranas. Becky, who cooked the food (Italian...oh soo good)took the picture for us. So we had a small get together for my birthday with a few of my friends.

I have been trying to get more involved with my students. So here my students wanted to go see a student of mine in the hospital then go skating. It was a lot of fun hanging out with these students. They all have a great personality and are a joy to be around. Oh and yes it was mid-late march here and I am wearing a jacket...in case you were wondering..i hate cold weather.

I have been playing lots of badminton over the past few weeks. So here students wanted to go paddle boating then go play badminton. It was a lot of fun. We went boating first then went to the park to just chill for a while. There is an arcade basketball game and for some reason I always draw a crowd when I play. The joys of being a foreigner.

This is part of the group that went boating. My shy class so hopefully this day will loosen up their shyness.

Soooooooo...in about 40 minutes I am gonna be heading to Shanghai....so hopefully I will post about the trip within the next week and not the next month. Take care guys...

5K and Butt Grabbing

2009-03-18T05:18:00.001-07:00

It's official...I have signed up for a 5K...am I stupid or what? I might be stupid but it is another things I can add to my list of firsts. (Yes, I am keeping a list of firsts that I have done since I have come to China.) But I mainly see this as another opportunity to connect with students and teachers here at SIAS. So how am I preparing for this? Well, some of us have bought a membership to the SIAS gym so I have been doing mostly endurance workouts and lots of lower body workouts. I have also been running from time to time to try and make the 5K a little easier. I will still be tough because I have never ran that far before nonstop. But I think I will be alright when it's all said and done.

So on friday afternoon one of my classes wanted to go Roller Skating. So I gladly said yes because this class is a lot of fun for me cause they like to joke around (a huge plus cause some students don't understand joking around). So I met one of the students, Jennifer, and we walked to the skating rink to meet the other class mates. What a great time it was. I had not skated since high school so when I first started a couple of my guy students tried to reteach me but all the did was pull me around but I quickly got the hang out of it. One bad part happened though, one of my girl students fell while skating and she hurt her leg and had to go to the hospital and was not in class this week. So lets hope she gets better very soon. But there was this boy and girl (not sure if they were dating or not) but they are students of mine from another class who just happened to be skating that day. So the girl was alone watching everyone skate so I rolled over to talk to her. So I tapped her on the opposite shoulder and she looked but realized noone was there and that I had done it. So she was holding onto the bar on the side of the skating rink then she leaned over touched my butt the squeezed it. WHAT THE CRAP??? She giggled about it...I said to her that I would see her later then slowed skated away. What was I supposed to do? It was really awkward oh well...its all good I guess...or is it?

But this past weekend I went to the birthplace of Kung Fu. This place is about two hours away from here in a town called DongFeng. The place in this city is called Shaolin Temple. It was a really unique trip cause we got to see some beautiful scenery and seem some really cool kung fu stuff. I saw a guy throw a needle through a piece of glass to pop a balloon and saw a guy to push ups AND a hand stand on TWO FINGERS...now that strength.

But it was a cool trip and the best part about it....it was F-R-E-E

But everything is going really well here with me but keeping pr@ying for me guys...

I love you guys and I miss you and I will see you sometime in June

Happy Birthday Mommy

2009-03-12T01:22:00.001-07:00

So today is the anniversary of my mothers birth. She is now 43 years old and has a twin sister..here is a picture of her...

Mom,

Just wanted to say that I love you and I miss you very much. I hope 43 is a great year for you so go out and treat yourself to some awesome fun because you deserve it. Remember, if you start to feel old, my students would say "HUH...YOUR MOTHER IS YOUNG!!!"

See there you have it...I told you you were still young ;)

Love you,

Kerry

ps..thanks for the package too...the granola bars and honey buns are freakin awesome

Sooo...Update from ME!

2009-03-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

So..things at Sias have been kind of hectic for many teachers here....but not me. If you are a fan of NCAA Basketball and March Madness in America..then let me tell you about CUBA. CUBA, said one letter at a time (C-U-B-A), is basically just like the NCAA Basketball tournament. So, Sias is hosting one of the regional tournaments. They had a new gymnasium built for this occasion and it actually looks pretty good. But they have asked us, the foreign teachers, to do a performance for the opening ceremony so some of the teachers helped out and did the performance. Me, I happily declined and I am really happy I did because some of the teachers were bitter and angry cause of the practice times and all the busy stuff that was crammed into the last week or so, along with teaching....so I am very happy I did not participate. But, along with bitterness, angryness, whatever you wanna call it, I do get angry but I try to stay away from getting angry cause I hate it...I hate the way people act when they are angry/bitter...so I avoid it as much as possible. But I have been playing games for the past 22...almost 23 years of my life...and game are extremely fun...I love games...but there is a line between fun and competitiveness. When competitiveness overpowers the fun..thats what I shut down from the game. Dont get me wrong, I wanna win, but I wanna have fun while trying to win. But all my life there is always someone/something who robs me, sometimes others, of that joy of having a good time. If you know me, then you know I love to smile, joke around and I enjoy making people laugh. So please...be considerate of others when you say things. In fact, when you are playing a meaningless game, dont get some serious. Anyways, sorry about that had to get that off my chest.
But, the past week I was invited to join a facebook group by a good buddy of mine, Andy Frazier. The group is reading three chapters of the GOOD BOOK ;) each day until we finish it. We are currently on the 28th chapter of the first book and I have read things I had never read before...strange things. Also, I have joined a study on the Song of Songs...so maybe I can actually make sense of the book...even thought most of it is talking about body parts and stuff like that. But I hope I will get a better understanding of what its about. But...I have finished two weeks of teaching so far...our lessons so far have been 1) Back from the holiday and 2) News and Issues....next week our lesson is I Love This Machine....and I have no idea what to teach...itll work out im sure...I just hope it doesnt suck.
But this weekend and next week I will hopefully get to watch some CUBA games during my free time and hang out with some students and get some reading done.

Just a little update on me....hope you enjoyed...

Happy Everyday (as my students say to me)

Love you guys

Welcome back Teacher

2009-02-23T03:09:00.000-08:00

Meet George...George is a guy who I met last semester and taught him to say Homie. George is my homie. He is a great guy and full of humor. One of my favorite students at Sias.

But...the Spring Semester has officially begun. After nine weeks of having absolutely no responsibility it felt good to actually have something to do. Don't get me wrong, I love to sleep in but usually there isn't much today when ya wake up. But I had three classes today that went pretty well. I have one class that I have a hard time trying to get them to speak. But, hopefully I will be able to get them to do it soon..that way it helps their grade. This week our topic is "Back from the holiday" so I will basically spend nine classes talking about my vacation and listening to their holiday stories. But I am doing two truths and a lie, and they have to be about the vacation. So far they seem to enjoy it and hopefully the students will continue to enjoy it. But...just wanted to share with you guys about the semester...I have high expectations this semester...but I have some tough decisions to make very soon...hopefully the Father will show me what doors to walk through concerning next year...Do I come back to China? Do I go to another country? Do I find a job in America?

I have set a few goals for this semester and I will share:
1. Get more involved with Purpose (Bee eye bee L E studies and what not)
2. Build better relationships with other teachers and workers in Peter Hall
3. Build more relationships with my students (It opens opportunities and good friendships)
4. Drop some pounds...started running and soon will get a gym membership here..got a couple workout buddies so it helps..

Anyways...I love you guys...I miss you...and will see ya sometime in June...

Part Three of Three: Malaysia and back to Sias

2009-02-07T04:55:00.000-08:00

So...welcome to part three of my vacation series...ok that sounds really lame...but I don't really care. Malaysia to me was the best part of the vacation but unfortunantly I only got to spend a week here. This country is just filled with beauty: mountains, waterfalls, oceans, islands and no telling what else. But, malay food was not very good to me...ah well...at least I tried it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the blog.

I left off on my last blog somewhere around Hat Yi (Southern Thailand). We (Steve, Racheal, Joel, Amanda and Myself) took a night train from Surathani, Thailand to Hat Yi, Thailand. Got to the train station in Hat Yi and found a bus from Hat Yi to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We (Joel, Amanda and myself) left Thailand on 9:30 am to take a nine or ten hour bus ride to the capital city of Malaysia. We arrived at the border around 10:30 or 11 am that day to get our passport stamped, I got my stamp to leave Thailand..then Amanda gets stamped..then Joel gets up there and the guy from Thailand is in a really bad mood and says to Joel "USA no good". Oh well...I guess he is entitled to his own opinion. Anyways..we get through and get stamped to enter Malaysia...we stop for a couple meals and for a couple restrooms stops and arrive in Kuala Lumpur around 7 or 8 pm. The ride to this city was awesome...in fact..if I get a chance to do that again I would do it in a heartbeat...Malaysia is so gorgeous.

We get off the bus...and we head to look for a hostel...we search but everything is too expensive or full...so we just end up staying in a nice hotel for a night. We decided to do a nice hotel and a cheap hostel the rest of the week. So we sleep...wake up check out a find a rice cheap hostel for 30 Ringit a night (little less that 10 US Dollars a night) then we go get lunch at Subway (oh sooooo good) then to AirAsia to get Joel and Amandas flight worked out. We finish that and then go on this free park with all sorts of stuff...all kinds of plants, geese, (they had a bird and butterfly park but they cost money). For dinner this night we had Pizza Hut...this was probably the worst Pizza Hut I have been to in Asia (only been to like three..but still)...this place had roaches crawling on the wall and floor but the food still was pretty good. But later on we went to sleep that night and woke up early to get in line to get tickets to go up the Petronas Twin Towers. Definatly a must if you go to Kuala Lumpur. We got tickets to go up at 10 am so we went to get some breakfast and chill at Burger King. Then up the Towers we went...it was really cool...got some cool pictures on facebook and myspace up here if you want to check em out. You get 10 minutes on the Skybridge which is plenty of time if you ask me. Then back down. Then the towers had a little exhibition play center were we played for a while...just like kids...its fun to be a kid right? I think so...then off to lunch and CHILIS....oh man I miss Chilis..it was so good. I had the Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers with bottomless chips and salsa for an appetizer...it was Hao Chur (thats how you say delicious or good food in Chinese). Then we went outside for a while to chill. Then there was an Aquarium next to the towers that we went too. I think it might be the largest aquarium in the world...but I am not one hundret percent on that. But that was cool, I got to pet a shark and hold a starfish and see huge shark and rays. Then for dinner tonight we went to eat some local Malay/Indian food....I tried Malay food and I just wasnt a big fan of it. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing...oh well...Then we were gonna try and get a massage but massage place was closed. So we went back to the hostel chilled/read then went to sleep. Wednesday morning we woke up and then went to the bus station. We were gonna try and get a bus to Port Dickson cause there was a beach there but all the trips were later in the day. We wanted to go early and stay the day then come back that night...but we decided not too. Instead we got a bus ticket to The Cameron Highlands for the next day instead. So...we were gonna try and go to these caves in Kuala Lumpur that afternoon from Central Market...but we ended up spending a lot of time in this Market. I got things for family members here and got a Malaysian flag. We then got a some good cheesecake and milkshakes a Secret Recipe and it was really good. We then went back to the hostel to take a shower...this shower at this hostel was amazing...just so ya know...then got ready to go to dinner. For dinner we went to Papa Johns....man I L-O-V-E Papa Johns Pizza...got full here then we looked at a couple stores before finding a Borders Bookstore with a Starbucks...man it was awesome...I love going to book stores...Not much of a reader but for some reason I love bookstores...odd? Anyways...we were here until it closed then went to the hostel to get ready for out small trip to Cameron Highlands. After getting things ready Joel and I went downstairs to watch the Presidential Inauguration. We woke up early to catch our bus to Cameron Highlands which took four hours to get too...bought a ticket to go back to Kuala Lumpur then found a room for the night. Then something extremely random happened...we met a couple who taught at Sias three years ago. They were really cool and we had lunch with them. They told us some cool places to do in a short time. Then we left the couple to go on a hike. Cameron Highlands is full of hiking trails and they are beautiful. We went down one to see a waterfall...it was really close so we kept walking. Then we left that trail and went to a trail with a big waterfall. This waterfall is really big...I really enjoyed seeing these trails with waterfalls...at the top of this waterfall there was a dry spot to kind of look and get close to the rushing water...it was really cool. But it was getting late so we went back to the guest house to get dinner then to kill a couple hours then sleep. We woke up the next morning kind of early cause we did a tour...got some breakfast then went on our tour. On this tour we went to a Rose Farm, Strawberry Farm, Tea Plantation (the best part), Butterfly/Insect Farm, Bee Farm, a small market (got to get some small oranges for free..only a few), then to a Chinese Buddhist Temple. I had no way to charge my camera in Malaysia so while I was taking pictures of roses my camera died on me...I was a little sad...cause I really wanted pictures of the Tea Plantation. We finish the tour around 2pm so we get a bite to eat back in town then get on a bus at 4:30 to go back to Kuala Lumpur...this trip took forever...this time took about 5 1/2 to 6 hours...oh well...we get back and eat some McDonalds for dinner...chilled for a while then slept. Woke up late Saturday morning..ate Subway then went to get my flight worked out. I had tried to book my flight online but my card kept being rejected so I thought that if i went to the AirAsia place I would be able to get my card to go through...NEGATIVE...I like flying AirAsia but its a pain booking flights. So I call home to try and get mom to get online but the internet at home was down...then Joel calls his mom to help me out but we werent able to get through...I tried having money drawn off my card but kept getting rejected. So finally..Joel and Amanda said they would pay for it with their card and I could pay for it when we first get paid...I agreed cause I was getting low on money. SOO we got that settle...that took up most of the day...we planned to go to the Bird Park...but it was took late and was about to close...instead we took a Monorail ride to The Twin Towers to hang out at the mall....we were metting Andy and Lacy for dinner at Chilis...we killed time by checking out different sports stores and things that were in the mall here...then dinner time came around and I told the guys we wanted to a table for five..Andy and Lacy got there and right behind them was Ole and Kat...so I changed the table seven. It was good to see all these good people...talked about the trip thus far...did I mention how I miss Chilis...cause I do...but after dinner we all went to see Bedtime Stories...new Adam Sandler Movie. It was a really good family movie. Adam Sandler is extremly funny and the place was laughing like crazy...then afterwards we all walked around and found a McDonalds get a latenight snack...said by the friends...then went back to the Hostel to pack things up cause we were flying out the next day...went to sleep...woke up...then checked out of the hostel...went to Subway for one last time...then off to get to the airport...We saved half of our subway sandwiches to eat before we boarded the plane...it was so good...we left Kuala Lumpur at 4:50 pm to fly back to China...

We land in Shenzhen, China about four hours later in hopes of finding a flight that night to go back to Zhengzhou (next big city to Sias). We met a girl, Serena, on the flight who is a teacher in Shenzhen and told us if we were unable to get a flight then we could stay at her Apartment. Soooo...we were unable to get a flight that night...Joel and Amanda call Serena to see if we can stay the night...she says yes...so we take a taxi to her place and stay the night. This night happended to be the night Chinese New Year started and while we were all talking in the living room....fireworks just starting blowing up everywhere....Shin Nian Kuai La (Happy New Year in Chinese)....it was pretty cool to be in China for this event...but I know Serena letting us stay at her place was a blessing but to this day I think that is one of my weirdest experiences...sleeping at a complete strangers place...oh well...it was pretty cool...and her futon was comfy...we then look online for flights but they are too expensive...we then look online for flight from Guangzhou (hour train ride from Shenzhen) and they have a flight for 590 Yuan...little less than a hundred bucks...so we take Serena to lunch thanking her for letting us stay...then to get a train ride to Guangzhou....the train at one time went 200 km/hour...which is fast...we arrive at the Guangzhou train station....and real closeby is a China Southern Airlines office...we go in to see if they have any cheap flights....and lucky us they still had the flight for 590 Yuan...we were excited cause we were gonna be sleeping the night in our own beds at Sias...so we pay for the flight...here I have no problem with my card...it accepts my card...then we took a bus ride to the airport...we eat at McDonalds on last time on our vacation. While eating we called Echo (front desk worker at Sias to get a taxi ride)....we wait for a little while...board the plane...and head to Zhengzhou. About two hours later we arrive in Zhengzhou....we get our bags...find our taxi and head back to Sias. Forty-five minutes later we are walking into our dorm at Sias...finally...we can sleep it...

I have now been back at Sias for about two weeks and I still have a little less that two weeks until classes start back up again...im looking forward to this semester. I am hoping this semester is much better than my last.

This vacation was a great experience to have....I may not get a chance to do something like this for a long time...so we made the most of it.

Bad thing about being back at Sias during the vacation is they only serve two meals a day. Brunch is at 10 am and dinner is at 5 pm. So I have to wake up every day to eat...or ill just be really hungry until dinner...but now restaurants are slowly opening back up...Chinese new year is about to be over in a couple of days so things should be back to normal real soon...

I hoped you enjoyed reading about my vacation adventures...

Part Two of Three: Thailand

2009-02-03T09:45:00.001-08:00

So...now, if you are reading this, you can read a little about my journey in Thailand. I was in Thailand for three weeks and really enjoyed it. The first picture is at Kanchaniburi (Where the Bridge Over The River Kwai is at) and the second picture is on Koh Tao (an island on the east side of Thailand). And the third one is in Bangkok. I put the last one up just for kicks...cause I get a kick out of it when I see it. Anyways...now onto the adventure...enjoy.

So..December 27, 2008 I hopped on a flight at 1:30 am (China Time...which is 11:30 pm Texas Time) and headed for Bangkok...roughly two hours later our flight landed in Bangkok...so we had a hostel booked but it was a pretty good trip from the airport...so we took at taxi...I think its weird that taxis (and fake taxis) are out into the wee hours of the morning. Oh well...it was good for us...The first hostel we stayed at was really really nice...I can not remember the name of it but I really enjoyed it. But we only had one night booked and after that night it was booked...piss...sooooo we headed to Khaosan Road cause there are plenty of places to stay in that area. Khaosan Road is a busy street in Bangkok...its kind of like a flea market...cause you can buy all sorts of junk...and by junk...I mean junk. I did get some Havaianas Flip Flops for 150 Baht (Roughly 5 bucks...34 baht is about 1 dollar) cause I really needed some flip flops...especially since we were gonna be on a Island later in the trip. We stayed in Bangkok for two nights before heading down into Kanchaniburi. Kanchaniburi was a nice little trip, even though there was a lady who was really annoying and complained the whole time...we were on vacation so there was no need in that junk. Anyways...back to the trip...Kanchaniburi is the home to the Bridge On The River Kwai. If you have never heard of this, I encourage you to read the history behind this bridge (or watch the movie). It has some crazy history behind it from World War II. Also, this town is home to Hellfire Pass, another thing from World War II that has crazy history behind it that I encourage you to read about. I had the priviledge of seeing both of these sights and it was really cool. Hellfire pass was cooler to me cause it had some of the original stuff. The bridge though...wasn't the original since it was blown up in WWII. Still..read the history kids. Also...on our trip in Kanchaniburi..I got to ride a bamboo raft (a little lame to me), see a few waterfalls, pet the cutest monkey ever (his name was Todo), and ride and feed an elephant. The after this tour we headed back to Bangkok for a couple more days. Here we just chilled this time...but...it was late one afternoon and I was looking for a good book to read cause I had just finished Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper (good book) and I went down a dark alley thinking it was shorter to the hostel...nope...but...what happens is a lady is yelling at me but I keep walking...she finally catches up with me about 5 minutes later. Here is a little bit of our conversation:
Lady: Hello
Me: Hi
Lady: Want to have sex with me?
Me: Nah, im good
Lady: Ill make ya happy.
Me: Thats ok
Lady: Why you no have sex with me?
Me: Im saving it for my wife
Lady: Whatever, people like sex for fun.
Me: I know, but I am waiting for my wife
Lady: Ok, well I charge 3000 for all night and 1500 short time

Ok thats enough...it got awkward after that point but I did ask why does does what she does and stuff...just small talk trying to lead to a men as tree opportunity...but it died and she went looking for another man....but it was my first time to get solicited for sex...yay go me...anyways...So new years eve we got on a bus around 9:30 pm to go towards Koh Tao....around 11:59 pm..the bus stops for a few seconds to give us a little time to celebrate new year...Soooo...if you are wondering how I brought 2009 in....I was on a bus going to an island..then i went back to sleep at 12:01 new years day....Woke up around 5ish to get off the bus cause we were on the coast. We then waited a couple hours to take a speed boat to Koh Tao....speed boat was a bad idea...I got motion sickness and it wasnt pretty....But...when we got to Koh Tao it was raining. We got a bite to eat first then I went with Joel and Amanda to find a room...we walked around for over an hour in the rain looking for a freakin room...finally found one for 200 baht a night...thankfully...

I was on Koh Tao (which means Turtle Island) for about 2 weeks before going back to mainland Thailand. Our second day, more friends (Steve and Rachael Collins) joined us for the F-U-N. One day I got bored and walked around the island trying to find where my friends (The Collins an d The Porters) were staying...I ended up taking the wrong road so I ended up having to rock climb at the end...and I messed my shoes up pretty bad to so I need to get some new shoes real soon. Sooo...i stayed in the 200 baht rooms for three nights then went across the island to be with the Collins and the Porters. The place they stayed was quite and really pretty. We had some really good snorkeling on this part of the island too. Some some beautiful fish and some cool coral. One day for lunch, Steve and I snorkeled to the next beach over to eat lunch..then snorkeled back...it was a little tiring coming back cause of the waves. But, we stayed at this place four or five nights the went to another place...here The Collins were gonna get their divers certificate which The Porters and myself just chilled...it was a good chill time. Snorkel a few times here but never saw anything good. We rented Kayaks one day to hopefully enjoy some good snorkeling but it was a bust...but we did see some really cool things at the end...kind of hard to explain while typing. I suffered a really bad cut on my left foot one afternoon. Steve and I were snorkeling and we just got back on the beach...the water was high so we werent able to see much of the beach...there was a stump under the water and I stepped on it...it cut me kinda deep...and I had to walk on my toes for a few days...it was painful...but its better now...still not completely healed but better. So...we left the island after two weeks of being on it to head back to the mainland. We too a short speed boat to Koh Samui then a ferry boat to Surathani. Chilled in Surathani for the afternoon until around 1:00 am and took a sleeper train to Hat Yi...the train was awful...not much room to put luggage so I had my bag on my really tiny bed with me...not comfortable and the train was old and the ride was really bumpy...i slept maybe an hour. But we arrived in Hat Yi around 6 or so that morning and then found a bus ride from Hat Yi to Kuala Lumpur...the capital city of Malaysia....which is the last part of my vacation...

Thailand overall was a great trip...some of the most beautiful creation is in Thailand. Also, Thai food is really really good. I had never had it before and in love with it from the first bite. I read 4 books in Thailand...which is really odd for me cause I hate to read...but 4 books in 3 weeks...I think thats really good....anyways...right now its 2:42 am (12:42 pm Texas Time)...and I just got tired...I took at long nap today...but...I hope you enjoyed reading about Thailand...

Part One of Three of Vacation: Hong Kong

2009-01-31T08:19:00.001-08:00

So...as I told you guys I would post things about the highlights of my vacation...so on December 20, 2008, I boarded a flight down to Shenzhen (South China) with Andy and Lacy Pfleger and Steve and Rachel Collins. Our flight boarded in the morning around 8:30 and soon left. About two hours later we landed in Shenzhen. Then, the Pflegers and myself got on a bus to cross the border into Hong Kong which the Collins stayed in Shenzhen because they had a flight that night to Bangkok. But we got into Hong Kong around 1ish that afternoon and found our hostel. Our hostel was a complete dump and I was eager to leave that place. Let me tell you a little bit about this place. The office was in a completely different part of this building. The whole ground level of this place was all restaurants and small stores run by Indian people and all other People from various parts of Asia. It was really weird walking into that place...anyways...it was a dump for lack of other words. The name of the place was Chungking Mansions...so if you are in Hong Kong and need a place to stay...avoid this place....now to tell you guys about things we did.

The first day we just basically walked around and chilled getting used to being away from Sias. We got to eat some western food which was great, cause in Xinzheng (where Sias is at) does not have western food. We went to see a movie that night, I think it was The Day The Earth Stood Still. I didn't really enjoy but it was something to do. This theatre was wierd..when you pay for your ticket you pick a seat you want and you are assigned that seat. It was wierd but I kind of like it. After the movie we went back towards our hostel to look across the bay. I took some pictures but they did not turn out so well. If I remember correctly, Andy took a couple of me that turned out pretty good. The next day (Sunday) Joel and Amanda Porter joined us. But before they arrived we got a quick snack at Starbucks and went to Chizzurch at the YMCA. We then went to eat lunch at Shakeys Pizza (so good). We then went around Hong Kong sightseeing and then went to dinner at a burger place called Shake Em Buns. The names of these burgers were a big sketchy (the name of my burger was Debbie Does Dallas...but it was so good). Then back to the hostel to catch up with The Porters then some good ol sleep.

While in Hong Kong we went to the Zoo, which is free, and got to see some of the most entertaining monkeys ever. Not really much else was going on there but we watched the monkeys for a while. Also, we went to Stanley Market. This is a small area to buy some things (mostly fake) and eat. There was a Starbucks and a McDonalds. This place was in a very beautiful area. We also saw a couple more movies. One was Four Christmasas which was alright I guess...some of the stuff was real funny and some was just not funny. The other was Madagascar 2, freakin hilarious...I laughted a lot during this movie.

So..if you have seen the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, then you saw Batman just from a tall building. That building is in Hong Kong and I thought this building, IFC Building, was beautiful. I took a few pictures of this building but I didn't get any at night. I was usually too far away at night or forgot my camera in my room. But I really wanted to go up this building but never did it...oh well...maybe ill go back one day and get the chance.

I was in Hong Kong for Christmas. This was a very weird feeling for me, I was sad for most of the day. I just wanted to be home with the family. Instead I woke up in a nice hotel (which Joel and Amanda got that night) and went to McDonalds for breakfast. It was really tough. After breakfast was when we went to see Madagascar 2. Afterwards we went to check out and leave Hong Kong back to Shenzhen.

We spent a little over a day in Shenzhen before we left for Bangkok. During our time there we saw some funny stuff...For example, two restaurants named LSD and Pothouse side by side. It was some pretty funny stuff. But our full day we just chilled. I went out to walk around and just chill around the city. Went to a place called Window of the World which is just replicas of all kind of historical stuff from the world. I also went by an amusement part called Happy Valley, but just to get KFC and TCBY. I also went to Walmart...yes I said Walmart. I had been needing a bad to put my stuff in to keep it out of my pockets so I got one a walmart.

But that is all my highlights from this part of my vacation....

Next stop...Thailand...

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-29T02:10:00.001-08:00

Right now I am currently in China during the middle of Spring Festival (or Chinese New Year). This holiday is the longest and most important event for the year. So, on January 26, 2009, this Chinese year 4707 began. But, since December 20th, I have been on vacation. One of the perks about working as a foreign teacher at Sias is the break. We are given Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. All this time together is roughly about eight weeks long.

So, what have I been doing with all this time. For those of you who do not know, I was traveling for a little over a month. For the first week of my break I went to Hong Kong. For three weeks after Hong Kong I was in Thailand. Then after Thailand I went do to Malaysia for a week. If you want to see pictures, they are all on Facebook and Myspace.

So for my next three posts, beginning tomorrow (or when I feel like it) I will blog about my adventures in these three different places.

Sawatdee Khrab (Hello in Thai)

2009-01-16T05:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys....

Hope you guys had a fantastic Christmas and New Years...Right now I am in Koh Tao, Thailand . Koh Tao is an island in Thailand and have been here for two weeks and am leaving soon(I hope). But I just wanted to say that I am still alive and have so many pictures. When I get back to China I will post them on Facebook and Myspace.

Love you guys,

Kerry

Kerry Bryan is fine?

2008-12-18T03:06:00.000-08:00

So meet the other classes I have....
1st photo is my Tuesday 8:00 class
2nd is my Wednesday 8:00 class
3rd is my Wednesday 1:30 class
4th is my Wednesday 3:30 class
5th is my Thursday 10:10 class
6th is my Thursday 1:30 class
____________________________________________________________________

So did the title of this post catch your eye? Hopefully so...I had my students do some informal evaluations of me this week and I asked five questions. So I did my best to find one great answer that caught my eye....Enjoy

Question 1:
What is the best thing about Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"I like listening to you and talking with you because you are smart, kind and fine."

Question 2:
What do you not like about Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"Speak English only" (I'm sorry student...the rules are speak English only...tough break)
Another good answer for this one is..."You can take us outside for class" (I am not allowed too...I would love to go outside for classes when it is sunny...sucks that I can't)

Question 3:
What are some things you have learned in Freshman Oral English?
Best Answer:
"I learn a lot. Maybe many. Just spilling out my brain. :) The way of speaking English, the food's difference Chinese and American and so on." (Yes...spilling the brain...I did not teach that...ps that is a word for word statement straight from the evaluation)

Question 4:
Do you think your English is better now?
Best Answer:
"Yes, of course. My ORAL English is more unadulterated than before" (I had to look up what unadulterated meant)

Question 5:
What can I (Kerry) do to make class better next year (term)?
Best Answer:
"Oh, Dear Kerry,
Don't worry about this. You did well, we all thank you for your effort and we all love you very much. As our first foreign teacher, you're great." (Only if my student could speak like this)

For question 5, many students wrote, ""You had better do____." Normally you had better teach us more slang and idioms. Or you had better learn more chinese for us. (I had better.....just funny to me)

Today one of my female students (One of my top 10 students for sure) stood up in front of class and have me a five minute speech on how the class has loved my class and how they are happy I taught them and put so much into teaching them....it really made me happy and made me all warm inside....it was good words to end my first semester of teaching on...

But......................................
I leave for Hong Kong in less than two days....and Bangkok in less than 9 days...gotta love adventure (I'm traveling the world TK)
____________________________________________________________________

Here are gifts from my classes:
1st photo is a gift from my Tuesday 8:00 class(Santa Hat with Tails)
2nd is gifts from my Wednesday 1:30 class (All kinds of Chinese food)
3rd is gifts from my Wednesday 3:30 class (Homemade card and food)
4th is gifts from Thursday 10:10 class (Giant Beijing Opera Mask and Handmade Paper Flowers)
5th is gifts from my Thursday 1:30 class (Beijing Opera Ashtray and Lighter, Candy and Stuff)

Meet my Monday Classes...

2008-12-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

I have nine different classes, and I only see each class once a week at two hour intervals. This is my eleventh week of teaching, so I decided that you needed to see my students. So, the three classes about are my Monday classes. The first one is my 8:00-9:50 class, the second is my 10:10-12:00 class, and the last one is my 1:30-3:30 class. All nine of my classes are completely different but each of them are very fun for the most part. My Monday 10:10 class seems to never understand me so I have a hard time getting across to them but they have come through by doing really well on both of the oral examinations. The scores they got blew me away, cause they never talk in class, they never ask questions and are scared to ask questions. Most classes do not ask questions. They will sit there confused and do something wrong before they ask a question. This is because in their other classes, the teachers lecture the entire two hours. There is very little student feedback. In our classes we want to have the students talking and mingling to improve their English. Oh well...hopefully next semester the students will be brave.
Last week we had final exams....wow...my classes did really good on the exam..yeah I had a few students who did not pass but that is normal. But all of my students passed the semester but some of them came very close to having to retake it.
So this week of teaching is a supplemental week. No set lesson to teach the students...but with in being Christmas, I am teaching the meaning of Christmas. I am comparing our Christmas Celebration to the Chinese Spring Festival (Chinese New Year which is on Jan. 26 in China). So please remember me you do that who closing your eyes thing and talking to the man upstairs. Lift me up so that I will be able to remember the important facts that need to be said and I teach a new concept to my students....cause it really is very interesting. Some students say this story is very cool so I hope it might lead to more discussion.

So...my classes have given me gifts for Christmas...which is sad cause I have nothing to give them in return..so in return they have asked me to sing them a song...so I did. I had to do something so I decided to sing Silent Night....they loved it. They will probably never say if I am a bad singer cause this whole country is so generous and accepting of everything. But here are some thing my class has given me. The first picture is a Beijing Opera Silverware set...with American Silverware and Chopsticks...they said they got me this because they know that I love to eat...they listen to every little detail about me. The second picture is a basketball, man scarf, fruit, jello and weird food. On the basketball is a picture of my favorite NBA team...the SAN ANTONIO SPURS....all my student know they I LOVE THE SPURS and that Tim Duncan is my favorite player...so they got me this basketball. Only if I have something in return to give them...but I have roughly 225 students so I would be broke after that...More posts of my students later this week.

Holla

Early Christmas

2008-12-10T02:52:00.001-08:00

"Shh, it's Kerry."

That is what my students said when I was a few steps away from entering my 8:00 class this morning. I should have noticed something was going on when two of my students were walking outside. I asked where they were going and they said, "We are going to get a camera." I wasn't worried about it because there was still ten minutes before class started. So I am getting my laptop set up for class, I am using a laptop this week because we are doing final exams and the exam is on my laptop, and one of my students said, "Kerry, our class got something for you." I thought they were doing some kind of joke to see what I would say. But no, they seriously got me a gift. I had no idea what it would be. So I get this bag and inside is a huge card and a Chinese flag. Wow, I was really excited. I asked this class how much a flag was and if the found a cheap one to please let me know. But they got it for me as a Christmas gift, along with a Pop-Up Christmas card that all my students signed that said:

Dear Kerry,
Thank you for teaching. We all love you very much. Best wishes for you. May you be happy and everything goes well!
From Accounting Three
December 2008

I have been wanting to get both an American Flag and a Chinese flag to hang up in my living room. When I go to Thailand, I would like to buy a Thailand flag as well. I probably wont hang it in my room but just to have it. Maybe that will be a collection. When I go to another country I would buy the flag for that country.

After this class, I took a good two and a half hour nap and woke up to catch the end of a really exciting Spurs and Mavericks game. When I woke up there was 1:47 left in regulation and my Spurs were up 2. But it went into overtime and then a second overtime. Then the Spurs pulled out a big win. I was glad that I was able to catch that.

Only 10 more days until Hong Kong, 17 until Bangkok.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-08T03:01:00.000-08:00

So, thanksgiving is over, and now it is time for Christmas. This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year, at least that is what a song says. I love the holidays, waking up at the crack of dawn with the family opening gifts, watching the lights on the tree blink (or chase or whatever your lights do). I am beginning to miss home, the family, the friends, the shopping, and most of all the food. But I will be going to Hong Kong for a few days to spent Christmas there then going to Bangkok on Dec 27th and will bring in 2009 in Thailand. I will be spending Christmas and New Years with some awesome people and I am really looking forward to it. I am getting messages from friends saying they wish I was home for the holidays and how they miss me and getting e-mails from Mom. But I am doing something with my life right now that I feel that I was supposed to do. I want to travel the world and this was a great starting point.

So during Thanksgiving lunch, they did a raffle for teachers to win a Christmas tree. I was one of the winners. So here is a picture by picture of my tree as it came together. Thanks to Ben and Christina for letting me borrow decorations and lights to put on my minature tree. As you can see, there are traditional American decorations but I decided that since my student gave me all the weird Chinese decorations, then why not put those on they tree. They way, when they visit again they will see that the decorations they gave to their foreign teacher(me) went to use. The students love the tree, I try to have it on before they come into my room, sometimes I forget so I turn it in when they come in. They like it alot, or so they say. I met with a student last week because I needed to get the right roster from him, but he told me the class had a vote to elect their favorite teacher. Well, I am very pleased to say that the class voted me as their favorite teacher. I asked him why, he said, "because when we come to class never know what to expect". He told me they love they I can make them laugh everytime. That is what I try to do cause in their other classes, the lessons are all teacher centered and that is extremely boring on a student. With two hour classes, students need to be provided with some sort of entertainment.

Cliques, or a social group, is something I really am not a fan of. I guess you can call me a floater cause I don't think I really am much of a one group kind of person. I mean, I do have a few people who are the guys/girls I love to hang out with but I love to hang out with different people from time to time. So I float from group to group, to try to take advantage of building relationships with those around me. But, here is my point. I have been told here that I fit it well and I provide so much to the group. Talking about the foreign faculty as a whole at Sias. Well, as of right now with the whole group, I feel like I provide nothing at all. I get the occasional text about volleyball and whatnot, but when it comes to exciting things, all I do is sit in my room or am with Andy and Lacy. Why would people tell me these things about being so great or whatever but they do not allow me to be much. Now I was invited by the different cliques here for their different trips over Thanksgiving and I was really excited to have been invited to those but I had to save money for Christmas and traveling so I did decline. But other things that happen, I feel like I invite myself. I have never really had to do that and it is kind of uncomfortable. One group here does a thing here once a week sometimes every other week and I usually get invited to that, but when I go to that the only thing they talk about are stories that took place last year. So I awkwardly sit there and listen to the stories that I have nothing to do with wishing I was able to provide some kind of input so I will give the occasional courtesy laugh. Sometimes the stories are really funny and I will laugh pretty hard about that. It just stinks that I was a late arrival to China cause trying to work yourself into a group that seems to already been sewn together is a very tough thing to do. I just want to provide something. Anyways...just something I have been dealing with for a few weeks now.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post...I know I am usually the happy person but sometimes a brothas gotta rant.

Holla

Thanksgiving Celebration

2008-11-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family back in the USofA. I hope you were able to enjoy some delicious food and enjoy the time with your family. Thanksgiving here was very eventful....so much fun. Starting at 9:30 am we had an American Football tournament (I say American Football cause that is what I have to tell my students). This tournament was called The Turkey Bowl. We had four teams in the tournament so we only played two games. Both games we played came down to the wire...seriously..to the end. Our first game was tight the entire game, we went into overtime to take the win on a last second touchdown pass from Steve to Joel as time expired. We won by one score and went on to play in the championship game. This game was not as close as the first game at first. We went into halftime of this game with a 4-2 touchdown lead. The second half, our opponents made a push for a comeback. They made their come back and took the lead at one point but with a little more than a minute remaining in the game the score was knotted up 6-6. We picked the defense apart to get into close range of winning the game. It was down to the final play of the game, time was all out. Once again Steve throws a bullet of a pass really low to Joel who is double covered. Joel goes to his knees and makes the catch. We win the game and The Turkey Bowl Championship. It was so much fun.

After The Turkey Bowl was Thanksgiving day lunch. Sias Cafe, a restaurant on campus here, prepared a delicious Thanksgiving feast for the foreign faculty. Yes a feast, they had provided s much food. Pasta, rice, potatoes (baked and mashed), gravy, pork, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, beef and most of all TURKEY. It was so delicous and I ate with some really awesome people. Andy and Lacy, Steve and Rachael and Joel and Amanda. Yes, three married couples...but they are a blast to hang out with. Took pictures with people, I tried to charge my camera while we were playing football but the charger only works when it wants to work. So yesterday it did not want to work, but I got about four pictures before the camera died so I will post them later today. Then I had to do the traditional Thanksgiving Nap....oh I slept for a few hours and woke up about thirty minutes before dinner. So I took a shower then went down and had some mexican food in our cafeteria. It too was really good, Thanksgiving Day was just a day of good food.

After dinner Andy came and found me to tell me something and was going to dinner so I told him I would go with him but I would not eat. He said he was gonna go to HotPot so I knew it would be a struggle to not eat there. I love the noodles at this place, they are some of the best noodles I have ever tasted. So I gave into my desires and ate some of the noodles, which let to eating some of the other food which led to me eating too much. Oh well...we finished eating there and came back.

Something that I had said at lunch reminded Racheal of a line from Napolean Dynamite. So she asked if we wanted to watch Napolean Dynamite. So we all said yes, so when we got back from HotPot the people from lunch went to Andy and Lacys room to watch Napolean Dynamite. The movie was funny and we had fun watching the movie. Then after the movie I went down stairs and talked to mom for a while on skype and Jenn got on for a little while. Then after talking on there for a long time I came up to my room and read sports stuff then went to bed.

That was my Thanksgiving day so hopefully yours was very eventful just as mine was...

Holla

Time with students usually means laughter

2008-11-25T06:52:00.000-08:00

I have only one class on Tuesday at 8:00...my favorite class by far. They are funny, they get my humor and everyone of the participate...well maybe one or two will slack off...but they are by far my best. After class this morning some students wanted to come visit. They made an appointment yesterday for today at 10:00. I enjoy meeting with big groups of students as opposed to just two or three. It is a lot more fun and it opens up more conversation. Yes in a large group there are still those who do not talk and just sit back and watch and occasionally laugh but the fact they are understanding what I say (or so I think) makes my day so much better. Today, I thought there would be a mixed gender group....boy was I wrong. Only girls today...nice of them to be exact. Well eight because one of them showed the others my room and then left. But eight girls and me...I would have thought it would be really odd to try and entertain these girls for however long they would stay. It was the opposite...it was very easy. I always get this question..."Teacher..do you have a gf?" So I tell them.."No..I do not have a girlfriend." Today I got this reply, "Teacher, we are all single."....How the crap do I reply to that??? Oh well...we moved. We talked about normal things...culture, food my family. My students love to talk about my neice. I also love to talk about her too. I have pictures that I show them and they love to look at them and laugh. I think it is my favorite topic with my students.

I had lunch with some students today...one student was mine and one was my friend Heathers. They took me to this noodle place. It was very good. I was impressed with the stuff we talked about. In fact...after we ate I wanted to buy a China flag to hang in my room...we found a flag but they were asking way too much for it...30 yuan for a flag that looked awful...the students tried to bargain for me but they would not go down...oh well..then we walked back to SIAS. On the way back one of the girls started singing Amazing Love....I was shocked. She then started talking about that song and how she had no idea what it meant. But the thing is...she downloaded it on her computer. (If you don't know the words to Amazing Love please look them up) But anyways...I told her about the meaning of the song and how we as believers view the song. She then told me they she, along with the other student does not believe in Jsus or Bdda h...but the fact that she began to sing that song opened up a door for me to kind of step into. So, her singing Amazing Love allowed me to do a little bit of menistree...

I just wanted to tell you that story because I thought it was really cool...anyways..I know I misspelled words in this thing....It was intentional...I will try and get some pictures of these students up asap

Not a bad weekend

2008-11-23T04:34:00.000-08:00

So...this weekend has been relaxing and all that good stuff. PS...I love three day weekends...one of the best things about working here at SIAS University. Friday I had to wake up early to go to the PSB but then we got back to eat lunch and shortly afterward I took a nap. 4 hours I slept...it was ridiculous...I missed some good volleyball because I slept so long..oh well. So I had dinner that night in Peter Hall (where I live) with some cool peeps. I ask everyone what they were doing that night and the girls were doing a ladies night while the guys were doing a guys night. I was looking forward to it. We met at 7:00 in the lobby to do whatever. We were gonna go watch a movie but instead we went to this little park down the street to try and drive some go carts. They were not open...but this little park had other things to do. They had these balloons on a wall and a little bb guns to shoot them with. It was really cheap and pretty entertaining. I tore them poor balloons up. Steve, a guy I was with, decided to shoot me while we were doing this. Right in the butt. Glad those things were not powerful. Then we went to these arcade type thing where they had bigger guys to shoot targets. Some targets were stationary and some were moving. It was too expensive...even for here. So Steve, who was working really hard to bargain, asked if we could take the bb guys in the woods and shoot each other. They guy could not speak English but he knew what we were talking about but would not allow us to do it. Steve kept asking him and the little kid who was there was laughing at us. So then we left the park and found this little arcade. Not much to do, or so we thought. We played a moto racing game, which by the way I suck at, so after that we left. Walking back I bought a beanie for 15 yuan. Oh, when they were telling me about the price I thought the lady was saying 50. I happily declined that. I was even doing numbers on my hand. 5-0? I kept asking and she was saying yes. But what she was really saying was 15...but if she was saying 15 why would you say yes to 5-0? Oh well...so I got a nice beanie for 15 yuan. Then we guys went up to see the new restaurant they build across from SIAS. It is really nice and fancy in there but the English is only in Chinese. So if I go I will have to go with a student to eat. We then left there and was gonna go play some pool. The place was way too smoky. It was worse than bars and pubs in the states...so we left. I called Andy to see if he wanted to join us...he wanted to go to an arcade. We are going there and it is the same exact arcade. We thought the place sucked the first time. We then sat down at a machine. We did not know the first time we came here that you had to turn the video game on yourself. It was awesome. Each machine had all these old school games we used to play as a kid. It was elementary school all over again. Such a good time enjoying the kid in us...We then left the arcade and went to a massage place. I wasnt gonna get one but I thought about it and decided I could do one. I got a back massage and man it felt so good. The girl did a good job on my back then she massaged my head and some of my face...man...it was wonderful. Oh girl did wonderful. Then we called it a night and came back to Peter Hall...oh course I took a 4 hour nap that day so I was up real late.

Saturday was a just chill day. I did all my laundry including all my dirty clothes, sweaters/hoodies and my bedding. I love when I get to sleep on a bed with clean sheets. Always a good feeling. Did not do to much after that. Went to dinner at Charlies with Shea, Matt, Gabe and Sarah Willson. Then came back and Sarah Suttles Joined us for either a game or movie. We decided to play Guesstures. It was pretty fun. After that I just chilled in my room and looked a flights to Hong Kong and Thailand to see what would be cheaper since I need to get my visa done. I think I am going to get my visa done in Thailand. I am really excited about it too.

Today...allergies/sinuses killed me today. I did not go to Power Hour this morning and I did not go to Kid Castle either. But I attempted to play volleyball with the others here. It went well until the sun went down. It was too dark. Went to dinner afterwards with Joe, Coral, Jared, Heather, Kim, Ole, Kat, Twomey, and Becky. I had never been to this place before but it was pretty good. I love tang cu li ji (sweet and shower pork), I only know the chinese name cause some of my students wrote it on my board in my living room. But we had that with our meal. So so good. Then I came back to lesson plan and that did not take long. But ESPN Australia was showing NBA Access with Ahmad Rashad so I worked on my lesson plan and watched some TV. Now I am finished with my lesson plan and all I have to do is do a chart with the V sound. This week we are teaching freshman about Dr. Visits. and I am gonna teach the V sound this week.

Anyways, gonna make my chart and chill for the rest of the night.

Holla

Beautiful Days and Visa Issues

2008-11-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

So...I was supposed to go to Hong Kong this past week to get my visa done for the rest of the year. I was ready to go (I think). I was dreading going to Hong Kong because that place is expensive, or so I've been told. I was probably gonna take a train there and possibly fly back or maybe a train both ways. That is why I did not wanna go...because it takes about 27 hours by train to get from Zhengzhou to Hong Kong. But on Thursday (last week) I got a message saying not to buy train tickets yet. Why? I went to talk to this lady who sent this message and she said it is possible that I would be able to get the visa I have now extended 30 more days....Wow, I thought that would be wonderful. So Friday (last week) I get a message from her. "We got approved for the extension."....I was extremely excited. Now I can take care of the visa for good over the winter holiday.

Last weekend I went to Zhengzhou to do some shopping. I needed to get a few things but ended up not getting so much. I got some candles (Vanilla), bathroom things and some apple juice. Man I love apple juice....its so delicursh (that's how most students here say delicious)...I still have a little bit left so I need to get some again soon. I wanted to get a beanie or two but I could not find one that I liked. Well I did find one that I like but it was too expensive. Also in Zhengzhou, we had lunch and this Brazilian BBQ restaurant. This place was soooooo gooooooood....They have buffet items you can get but they also have these waiters go table to table with slabs of meat on swords. When they stop at your table, you can get meat from them. You have tweezers type things to hold on to the meat as they cut it off the sword. There are so many different types of meats...chicken wings, pork, ribs, sirloin, and rib-eye...just to name a few....this place is ALL YOU CAN EAT.....man I tore up some Brazilian BBQ...

This past week of classes were really good. Our topic was Food, Recreation and Entertainment....For the food they would do a skit after we compared American Style and China Style Restaurants. The skits were usually really funny..sometimes not so funny. But many times, the group who would do the American style restaurant, they would order food such as a Hamburger or Steak...or some kind of food that I would love to eat soon...Oh well, I think I can wait until June 2009 for a juicy steak at home (hint hint mom) But when they would order their fake food my mouth would seriously salivate....its all good...

Kid Castle on Tuesday night was pretty good. I taught happy birthday AGAIN...I just taught happy birthday two weeks ago here at SIAS and I was tired of that song...seriously...So I had to teach happy birthday two more times...Oh well...the kids are funny and hopefully they enjoyed it....

This past week we had three really beautiful days in a row. It was awesome. Blue skies, mountains and most importantly...sun. Here are a few pictures...you might think this is lame but its rare to have one day like this here...In the second picture the sun is so bright I can not keep my eyes open...crazy...then the sun setting behind the mountains...

Last night I went with Andy, Lacy and George to eat some ghetto hot pot (sorry Andy and Lacy...I jacked your pictures)...Let me explain hot pot to ya...Hot Pot is a place where you have a pot in the middle of your table boiling. You can buy vegetables and stuff to put into the water to cook and you also get thin slices of raw meat that you put into the pot to let cook. It does not take it too long to cook. Last night we had tofu, sliced potatoes and potato noodles, regular noodles and various veggies. Last time I had this place we only had one flavor..just the regular. This time we had a divider in our bowl...one said was regular and one was spicy. I was very excited because I love me some spicy food. So there was this ball thing (the brown thing beside my mouth in that photo) that was in the spicy side...So I get my chopsticks and grab the ball...blow on it a little and shove it in my mouth. Wow...I was on fire...I don't think I have ever had anything so spicy in my life. It was almost unbearable to me. But I hate more spicy stuff even though I was tearing up after the first thing I ate. George, however, tore up the spicy, I threw in the white towel eventually but he is a soldier. He kept tearing but that spicy food. I had to stop cause I was in too much pain.

Today I had to go back to Zhengzhou to the PSB (Public Security Bureau..I think)...Like I said early my visa got extended another 30 days so I had to go to the PSB today and answer a few questions. It wasn't bad at all...but it was a little cold in there.

Anyways...that has been my past week...so hopefully you enjoyed it...maybe I will start posting more ofter

Holla

Kid Castle

2008-11-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

So I started a new job this Tuesday teaching English to children ages 5-12. The first day was a blast and went very smooth. When I teach the small child I am given flashcards to help the kids learn letters, numbers and pictures. When I teach the older kids I do not use flashcards. On Tuesday I taught the 5-7 year old children the numbers 15-19, meal names and a few other things. I taught the 8-10 year old kids a few fruits but how to initiate and end a conversation with a friend in English. For example:
Kid 1: Hello Kerry
Kid 2: Hey Korey
Kid 1: How are doing doing?
Kid 2: I'm fine. How are you?
Kid 1: I'm doing great. Thank you.
Kid 2: OK see you
Kid 1: See you later

On today (Friday) I taught the 5-7 year old kids the letters x, y and z and also box, yo-yo and zoo. For the 8-10 year old kids I was asked to tell the stories the whole time. Do not forget the classes are 40 minute long...well it is not that long but I had to tell different stories for 40 minutes. Kids can not sit still and listen for 40 minutes. So they talked and I did not let it bother me. I told the store of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, My trip from Texas to Sias, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. I have not heard to told those stories in years so I was trying to drag them out as long as possible. Oh well. So I told stories for about 35 minutes and after wards the guy who would help me/translate for me told me to play a game using the stories. Seriously? I had to make up a game on the spot for these kids to answer questions when only one or two might have listened to me...or maybe three. So a ball rolled and hit me in the foot so I picked it up to put it back...NO...I used the ball for my game...I had the kids sit in a circle and I would ask a question then I would toss the ball to one of the students and they would answer. So glad that ball rolled out. It was lame but it got the job done.

Tomorrow I am going shopping with many of the teachers here at Sias at Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou is maybe an hour away from Sias but I need to buy a few things. I want to buy a few beanies since I left mine in Center, Texas like an idiot. Oh well. Hopefully I can can find some nice/cool beanies tomorrow and also to eat some good food.

Anyways...it is 1:46 am here on Saturday morning so I am going to try and get some sleep...oh yeah...tonight is the last night if will be cold inside my room. Our heat gets turned on tomorrow so it should be a wonderful day. We are doing a progressive housewarming party tomorrow night and some people have volunteered to make food and host things in their room while some just go around and check things out and eat some food. I am one of the ones just chilling going to check things out. It should be fun....

Update...

2008-11-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

So mid-term examinations are over and now back to teaching regular class topics. This week will be really fun because our topic is Birthdays. The functions we are teaching this week are extending an invitation, accepting an invitation and gratuity. I observed Sarah Suttles (a Sophomore Oral English Teacher) my first week at Sias and the topic that week was Birthdays. So I am probably going to be using her lesson because I liked it very much and the students responded well to it. We'll I have not posted in a while so I will tell you a few things about my past week or so. Culture week was a blast and European Day (my main day) went much much much better than I thought it would go. I was figuring it would be lame and not much but it was the opposite of both of those. Only in China will one be able to see me, Kerry Bryan, in a freakin kilt. Even though it was really weird to be in a kilt the people seemed to love it and most of my students say my performance (yes I did a Scottish dance with a girl I work with) and they said they loved it. We also did games where the countries we represented (Scotland, Germany, Spain and Greece) would do an olympics type things and have students come and particpate. I am pretty sure, in fact I know, that my athelete was the best. Even if Josh, who represented Greece, could not say her name right she still performed at a high level. But overall, it was an amazing week. This past week I have been giving Oral English Exams. It was boring at times and entertaining at times. I really enjoyed hearing some of the unique answers I got to some of my questions and got really annoying at hearing "My English is very poor teacher I am sorry". Oh well, it is over now. I have roughly 225 students so hearing the same answer to some of the questions over and over got old very fast. Yesterday was an eventful day/night. Played volleyball that was a blast, by far the best volleyball I have seen in China. Then I went to dinner with Gabe and Sarah Willson (two girls I work with) and then went to a dvd store on campus. While at the store Gabe got a call from a student to come to this dance so I told her I would go but I didn't want to stay long cause I was invited by a few students but thought it would be very awkward with me and lots of students there. So she asked me to go and I went and the student who invited me say me and came and tried to teach me this line dance thing that was really not that much fun at all. But I tried to make the best of it. My students really enjoyed teaching me the dance but when 10 of your students are teaching you a dance it gets kind of annoying. Oh well, then we left the dance and came back and watched Get Smart. I thought the movie was very funny and I laughed a lot. As did the others I watched it with. But now I am about to go and play more volleyball in about 30 minutes and who knows what I will do tonight....

Holla...

Culture Week

2008-10-27T00:50:00.000-07:00

This week is Culture Week, where we put on performances (dances, singing and skits/plays) to fit the culture of another country. The country I am representing is Europe. European Day is on Thursday and I am going to play the part of a Scottish Man. Yes, that means I will be wearing a kilt and I will be doing a Scottish dance with Becca McBee. So if you are here...bring your camera. It will for sure be a sight for sore eyes. I am also doing a game to represent the land of kilts...Caber Tossing. It is a Scottish game where you pick up a long piece of wood (Tree Trunk, Telephone Pole) and you toss it in the air. You have to make the "caber" go forwards and flip in the air for it to be a good toss. It is interesting but thankfully we are not throwing trees or telephone poles but a long piece of pvc pipe (that I cracked the first time I "Caber Tossed" it). I am also helping with Asia Day. Asia day is Tuesday and I will be using thick pieces of bamboo (banging it on the group and clapping to together) in a dance called Singkil Dance. The Singkil Dance is a dance done in The Phillipines and is a very interesting dance. As the week goes on I will include pictures from the things that take place.
Holla...

A Visit To Your Foreign Teacher

2008-10-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

Our topic to teach this week is Visiting Your Foreign Teacher. So I have my students do a skit involving three questions. Question 1, What would you be interested in talking to your foreign teacher about? Question 2, What are things you should not talk about with your foreign teacher? Question 3, What is good etiquette when visiting your foreign teacher? For those of you that do not know, I am their foreign teacher. So I take answers from each group and write them on the board to help them with their skits, kind of like a guideline I guess. Question one you get the same answer every time, its always culture differences, food and sports/hobbies. One girl even said I would like to talk about your baby. I told all my classes I had a niece who is a few months old that is my brothers baby. She must have heard me wrong, I told her she was my brothers baby and she laughed. It was funny. For question 2, I usually get the same answers, such as Salary/Income, Secrets and Girlfriends/Boyfriends/Marriage. Question 3 I usually get a variety but some answers are the same. I usually get replys such as, call before you come and smile. One class said we should bring gifts, I laughed and joked with them how that was such a good answer. Then I told them you do not have to bring gifts when you come see me. One girl in that class has come to talk to me once last week and came again today. She took the gift thing seriously and brought me apples and these Chinese decorations. Her roommate, who is not a student of mine, came with her and she brought me some stuff to make hot tea with. It was very sweet of them.

Here is a picture of the things they brought me:

The stuff in the baggie is not drugs, its the stuff to make hot tea. I know it looks suspicious but it is safe. Hopefully it tastes good like it did at the Hot Tea place I went to at the Beijing Airport.

Anyways, I just wanted to share that little bit ya. Now I am gonna try and find something productive to do. HOLLA!!!

Second group of students

2008-10-15T03:59:00.001-07:00

Today has been a good as, the my other days here at Sias have been. I went to class this morning from 8:00-9:50 with my first group then I came back here to meet with some of my students at 10:00 this morning. Yesterday when I spoke with my students it was a little awkward and dead. Today, however, was the complete opposite. I came into this meeting with nine students thinking it was going to be awkward and tedious. The meeting was really good and very enjoyable for me, and I hope the students I met with felt the same. They all had questions for me about different things and I was never asked the same question twice. They asked me about the difference between the cultures of America and China, they asked me about food, they asked what would I like to know more about of the Chinese culture. I had a few students here that were not my students but where friends of my students. They also had questions for me so I answered them the best I could. Both times the meetings have started of with them saying it is very difficult for them to talk to a foreigner (me). Yes I am a foreigner and it is not a bad thing at all. But I talked with my students for about an hour and a half about whatever topics came up. We even talked about Christmas, I thought that was kind of cool but we did not go deep into that discussion. So they left, and I got on skype and I tried to talk to Jenn but we were having technical difficulties so we are going to try and talk later on. I had class at 1:30-3:20 and 3:30-5:30 then we had dinner and now I am here. So I am going to get out of here and go talk with some friends/co-workers.
Holla

First Students

2008-10-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

I had my first group of students come over to my room today. We talked about English we talked about Chinese, they taught me a few things but honestly I already forgot. She wants to learn better English so hopefully I will be able to provide a good base for them. I have a group coming over tomorrow at 10 so hopefully that was be fun as well. Sunday night I did my lesson planning and was gonna try and use what I had...nope...I woke up Monday with an E-mail from Tara, a lady I work with, it was the lesson she was using. So I looked at it, looked at the material and I loved it. So I used it and it worked really well. This week our topics are Describing a Location and Asking for Directions. They have to do all this in English so some students can be poor and some are pretty good. I am teaching my students this week a few things in slang and an idiom. Of course, that it was I do every week, but every English teacher does it. The students love them, especially the slang. It is always fun to hear your students say things you taught them. But anyway...today is Ole and Amys birthday, both are people I work with, so happy birthday to them. In the words of 50 Cent..."We gonna party like its ya burthday"...I wont sing the rest but happy birthday to them even though they probably do not read this thing. Oh well, I am out to find something to do....Holla

Soo

2008-10-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

Right now Zach is installing a driver that will hopefully allow me to have sound on my computer. I hope. If not...well I guess we will have to try something else. I stinks to have video and and all that jazz but not to be able to hear it. Today, a big group of us went to Zhongzhou to do some shopping, mostly for fabric. We went to a huge fabric market first because at the end of the month we have this week long event "Culture Week" where we do performances and all that jazz. So we had to get fabric to make out outfits. I am helping with Europe day by being Highlander and either Hanz or Franz. It should be an experience to say the least. It will be fun but that week will also be stressful on some. The fabric market was actually more fun than I thought it would be, yes I said fun. I enjoyed seeing the little kids running around playing with other and when they would see me they would just stare as if I were some sort of monster or something. Before we left, a small group of kids were in front of one of the fabric places and they were all staring, so I said Ni hao (pronounced knee how..its hello in Chinese). They just gave me a blank start so I would smile and nothing would happen, still they were giving me the monster stare. But one little girl would inch closer to me and she was really silly. She started talking Chinese to me but all I know is Hello and Thank You. So thankfully, a few minutes later our translators came from other fabric place and they would translate for me. It really is good to have a translator in situations like that cause the kids were really friendly. The little boy was really funny, I didn't have to say anything to him I would just look at him and he would laugh and hide. The translators told me that boy really likes me. I do what I can.

But if you have skype I would like to have your skype info so maybe one day we can have a chit chat one day. So if you read this, leave a comment with your skype info for me. HOLLERRRRRRRR

One week down..

2008-10-09T01:07:00.001-07:00

One week down and ten more to go until winter break. I am really glad that I only work four days a week and put in 18 hours of teaching. This weekend I am going to a fabric market to get some stuff to buy material to make costumes. In a few weeks, we have an event called Culture Week. During this time, people put on performances and all sorts of other things for a country. I am helping with Europe so, yours truly, get to wear a kilt. Yes, a kilt. It will be worth it though cause I am sure people will get a good kick out of it. So, this week I taught my students how to initiate a conversation in English. This morning, after one of the exercises, I had some of the students come up and begin a conversation. So I did a guy with a girl and after every question the girl would answer and he would say, "You are very beautiful" then he would continue on with his next question. The first couple times it kind of threw me off but I did not say anything cause I did not want to embarrass him. But it was really funny to me and lots of the students thought the same. But this week has been really good and it has flown by. But I am going to get out of here and go do something..or try.

The year has begun

2008-10-07T00:59:00.000-07:00

I began my teaching at an English teacher at Sias University. Two days have gone by with only more days to teach in this week. The students I have are good and most have laughed at my lame jokes. Oh well, I gotta do what I gotta do. Lets start with my first ever class. So noted two things about myself during our 10 minute break of this class and said I need to repeat more and more clear. I got a lot of blank stares from students and that was not good. Oh well, I tried to teach them what a skit was so the students could perform a skit in class about about the Classroom Expectations (rules), yeah...it didn't work out like I planned. So I tossed that part of the lesson plan. I realized that I was speaking to fast for the students so I had to change that part about me. My second class went well, students were starting to understand me a little bit into the class and they began to talk a little, and my third class on monday was about the same at the second class. But today, I only have one class on tuesdays (8:00 am), my students did a really good job. I had a group of students who could speak good English so it made it easier on me as the teacher. I still did not do the skit though. I did idioms in all my classes and my monday classes did not fully understand. But on tuesday, the class picked it up within about a minute and they loved it. I gave them an idiom, partnered the students up to talk about what they thought it might mean, and afterwards I explained what it meant. They loved it. They all laughed when the found out the meaning of the idioms I used. Anyways, I dont really have much to do so I am going to find something to do....maybe pingpong?

October Holiday

2008-10-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow I begin teaching Oral English. The past week has been October Holiday and the foreign teachers took a trip to Xi'an, home of the Terra Cotta Warriors ("the eighth wonder of the world"). This trip was a very exciting trip even thought we were pretty much rushed through everything we had planned because so much was planned within a couple of days. Oh well, I loved it and would like to go back one day.

So lets start with Thursday morning. I only got a few hours of sleep this night because I had to do some laundry. The dryer I used did not dry my clothes so I had to move to another dryer. I finally finished laundry around 2:30 and fell asleep around 3. So I wake up at 6 in the morning to shower, pack and get everything ready to meet in the lobby at 7. We load the bus at 7:30 and leave at 8. The trip was about 8 hours maybe a little more but it did not seem like it. The ride up there went really quick. When we get to Xi'an we picked up our tour girl and head to the hotel. We get a few hours to hang out at our hotel so a few of us went into town to check out one of the ancient capitals of China. So we get a taxi, this was my first ever taxi ride, and head to the city. We go to McDonald's, Starbucks and go on a tour to find Dairy Queen. We did not find DQ so we just went back to the hotel to get ready for a banquet that we had planned. The banquet was absolutely beautiful with delicious food and great entertainment. The food we had was Jiaozi which is Chinese Dumplings). They had about 15 different types of Jiaozi for us to try, some were really good and some were not so great. So the lady comes around to ask us what we want to drink, either Coke, Sprite or Beer. This lady had beer and asked if I wanted some, so I said no thank you. Her reply, "Yes you do" and continues to pour it in my glass. I thought that was pretty funny. But anyways, while we ate, a girl was playing a Chinese Instrument, not sure what it is called but it sounds really cool. We were provided with good entertainment after we finished eating. There were dances and musical performances for us to enjoy and enjoy we did. The most entertaining performance to me was the performance with the yo-yos. There were about 7 girls who had sticks with strings with huge yo-yos on them. They would spin the yo-yos on the string, throw them in the air and sometimes when they threw them they would do cartwheels and flips and all sorts of stuff while they waited for the yo-yo to come down. It was really excited to watch and I cannot tell you how many times I dropped my jaw from what I saw. But when the show ended we load our bus and head back to the hotel and are free for the night. So we went back to the city to get some Dairy Queen. and searching for Dairy Queen we finally find it. The doors are wide open so we all walk in the workers tell us they are closed. Our hearts were broken. So we go to other places. We find this place called Spinetti which is basically Coldstone. I did not eat there but some of us did, I went to starbucks to get a Mocha Frappachino. We make one more stop by McDonalds and some people order there and 8 of us went back about 10 minutes for the rest the group. We get taxis and the taxi we get in smells like vomit. We (Me, Sam and Jason) were worried we sat down in it but thankfully we did not. Oh well, so that was that day.

Friday, the day I waited for and the main reason I went on this trip. Woke up around 7ish took a shower, go some breakfast and loaded the bus. We head to see the terra cotta soldiers. So we are on the way and the driver misses the exit so we go to a museum where they make replica of the soldiers and where they also make chinese furniture. The furniture truly is an art and I think you would think so after seeing the things I saw at this place. But anyways, we hang out there and start messing around with the replicas and take pictures with them and enjoying ourselves until it gets boring. Then we head off to see the real warriors. I am stoked, it is something we used to read about in world history classes back in the day and I finally get to see something I had only read about. We get there and we part then we have to walk to the gate and the actualy soldiers are about good 15 minutes from the gate, maybe longer. We get inside to where the soldiers are and the tour guide wants us to watch a film first, but a few of us skipped out on the film to have more time to see all the stuff (we were only given an hour to check out everything so it kinda stunk). So we walk in and the place is crowed with people. But in China, it kind of ok to push around. Me being a bigger guy makes it a lot easier to get through places cause people just tend to get out of the way for some reason. So I get our group to the front and we start taking pictures and stuff and looking at all the warriors. It is a really cool experience to see all the things. We go through the first pit and checking out all the stuff then we head to the second pit and a guy selling small replicas of the soldiers (Small as in fit in the palm of your hand) but he is asking for 10 U.S. dollars but I told him I would pay 5 yuan but he wouldn't go lower than 10 yuan. So he got mad and finally left me on, thanks to Matt cause he can speak some Chinese so he helped me out with getting the guy to leave. So in pic 2 there are soldiers in clear boxes so I am not sure if these are orignal. Apparently there was a fire back in the day and only of of the soldiers was not damaged, the kneeling archer. So they must be important or something. We have about 5 or 10 minutes until we have to leave so we had to rush through the last building the had to bronze chariot and other things, but I'm glad that was last cause there really was not that much there. After the terra cotta soldiers we go to this museum where we were fed lunch, it was pretty good and we got to see a guy hand stretch noodles that you could buy. It was pretty cool to watch but then afterwards we went to a silk market and looked around and took some funny pictures. It really wasn't anything special but it was a good time killer. After this they took us to a museum but it wasnt anything special. A couple of us just walked around a chilled and enjoyed ourselves. Then afterwards we went to dinner at The Hot Pot. I thought it was actually pretty good. For those of you who have no idea what hot pot is, you have thin pieces of meat and a pot of boiling water and you cook your own meat. It's a pretty cool place and they also have veggies, tofu and sauces for you to try. Apparently there is a ghetto hot pot here that is much better so I will have to eat there one day. After this we were done for the day. We got taxis from the hotel and went to get to DQ before it closed and we did. I got an Oreo Blizzard and it was soooooo good. After this we go to the Muslim Market to shop and bargain. I talked earlier about a guy trying to sell me small terracotta warriors. Well I got them for 6 yuan at this place so that is less than 1 U.S. dollar. But, we go through the market and everything is closed so some people get some McDonald's and we go back to the hotel. 4 of us get into a taxi and are going back and I was wondering why the trip was taking longer than usual. The driver took us to the wrong university is Xi'an but we did not find out until we walk around that campus for about 15-20 minutes looking for our hotel. So people call us and Andy finds a student from the university we were dropped off at and he kindly walks us back to our hotel. We offered to pay him for helping us but he would not accept.

Saturday was not as fun filled at Friday was, but we made the best of it. We started off by going to The Big Wild Goose Pagota. We had a tour planned and going through all the stuff and we get to the door of the Pagota and just walk by. A lady who is one of the board of the directors for Sias said she wanted to go to the top so I told her I wanted to go to the top. So we both paid 2o yuan to go to the top. There was not much to do in there but to climb seven flights of stairs that got narrower and steeper as you guys higher (maybe thats because I was getting tired). But it was pretty cool to go up there and see the city from the top of this old building. So afterwards this stop we go to the City Wall of Xi'an, not to be mixed with the Great Wall of China. This was not really that fun because all we did was sit around and snap a couple pictures. Afterwards we had lunch and went back to the Muslim Market to do a little shopping before we left. This was really fun but also short but I got a nice North Face Jacket. The lady was asking 480 yuan but that was way too much to I offered 150 and I kept saying 150. I walked away a few times but she pulled me back so we made a deal at 200 yuan. About 30 US dollars for a North Face jacket is really good to me. So after that we went back to Dairy Queen for one last time in Xi'an. We were late getting back to the bus but the Blizzard was definatly worth it. Then we loaded the bus and made our way back to Sias.

Like I said, I begin teaching at 8:00 am tomorrow so I need to begin preparing my lesson for tomorrow. The first day wont be too bad so it is not going to stress me out so much. Anyways, I am about to go try and get a haircut tonight cause my hair is getting long.

This weekend...

2008-10-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about this weekend. At 7:30 in the morning we are going to be going to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Soldiers. This is one of those really cool events that rarely happens to someone. But this week has been really wonderful. I got to hang out with the group I am with and really get to know them and their past. It is always excited to me to hear how things have gone on in someones past and how got to where they are now. I am currently doing laundry up on the 6th floor, the roof of my building, and the dryers are really not cooperating with me very well. I plan to wake up at 6 ish in the morning to get ready to go to Xi'an so I hope the soon, 30 minutes tops, that my laundry drys really fast. If not, I guess I will just have to wait. It's all good though cause we are taking a bus and we will be shoulder to shoulder for eight hours so I am sure I will get plently of sleep on the way. Anyways, short post today, I just wanted to let ya know what is going on and hopefully next time I will be able to provide you with some interesting stuff about Xi'an

Can a brotha pick out his own toilet paper?

2008-09-29T05:15:00.000-07:00

So today has been pretty good. Woke up at 6:45, which is better than waking up at four, then went down stairs to check out the computer lab and then had breakfast. We starting with meetings at 9 this morning for the new guys who came with purpose and I really enjoyed it. I enjoy listening for those of you who do not know that. It is a quality I have began to learn to use more of here lately and in my own opinion it is a great quality to have. Anyways, we had lunch at this noodle place that is about a five minute walk off campus. This place is delicious and I will be going back in the near future. Anyways, I got my class schedule today and it's not too bad. I will be teaching Freshman Oral English to nine different classes. I have four accounting classes, three financial management classes and two management classes. We will not begin class until next Monday.

I just went to the little store on campus to get toilet paper and mouthwash. So I go to get the toilet paper first cause I know the ladies working there will hand you stuff to suggest you to buy it. So I get around the back corner and I am looking for the toilet that I was suggested to buy, not even close to the one I am looking for. So one of the ladies working comes back and gives me this toilet paper and points to the price, 9.9 yuan. In America that is a little over a dollar so it's really cheap. So not to be mean or disrespectful I go ahead and take the toilet paper. Anyways, if you ever come to China and need toilet paper, beware, the workers will find you.

I am getting excited about teaching and getting to meet my students. I am probably gonna find a tutor to help me learn Chinese cause I want to be able to talk and order my own food. But a couple of teachers, Gabe and Sarah, have invited me to come down to play games so I am out.

Orientation

2008-09-27T06:57:00.001-07:00

So today we began our official Foreign Teacher Orientation. Some of it is a little boring but most of it really is helpful. I just hope that I find some way to teach English because I have no idea what I am doing. We should be getting our text book really soon so that should help out tremendously. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will get to go observe a classroom and get ideas on how everything works. This weekend they are doing classes on Saturday and Sunday so we can get all next week off. Next week is the fall holiday for what I heard is for the end of the harvest. So classes will start a week from Monday for me and new freshman. I am beginning to know to teachers I am working with so that is helping me get around and getting things done. Florida State plays Colorado this weekend so I'm hoping the Seminoles can get a win cause our defense needs it after a really good game last week. Hopefully the quarterbacks will show up and play this week and if it needs to be done put Drew Weatherford back it. Weatherford could have done much better than the other two last week. Anyways, enough about my boys from Florida State and time for me to get off and get some sleep.

Am I pregnant?

2008-09-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you what just happened to me along with five other individuals. We are required by the University here to get a physical. It was not a big deal to me at all cause I did not have to pay for, but the weirdest thing took place. Everybody had to get an ultrasound. I have never heard of a guy having to get an ultrasound, EVER. Along with the ultrasound we had to get more blood drawn, and EKG, height, weight, blood pressure and a chest x-ray. During the chest x-ray, the lady would put our arms on our hips for us and shove us onto the x-ray machine. I felt like a criminal that had just been sent to life in prison here. The blood work stung a little but I'm still alive. Little doctor dude jabbed the needle up in my arm so I will probably have a bruise tomorrow. They did the blood work two by two with two separate doctors, and they lady beside me was crying her little eyes out because she did not want to do it. The doctors were laughing hardcore at this lady, I would have been pissed. So I get to my ultrasound. Awkward, to say the least. Lay back and pull your shirt up was not a problem. Then, SPLAT, the freezing gel was put on my stomach and rubbed around. It tickled for a little while until she started using her little hand held thing to go under my ribs and chest. I feel sorry for you women that have to do this stuff, but I'm also glad that I don't have to do it though. After our physicals we got McDonald's. Spicy chicken sandwich with fries and a drink. This, as well as the physical, was free of charge. The chicken on the sandwich was delicious and in my opinion it was much better than the spicy chicken sandwich in America.

Last night was our opening freshman candlelight ceremony. I enjoyed parts of it, especially the end because student groups put on dances and performances. It was really entertaining and pictures will be posted very soon. Tomorrow my training starts for teaching and next week is our trip to Xi'an, which I am soaked about. Anyways, I have a meeting to go to so I will post more later.

So, I just played ultimate frisbee for the first time since we had the intramural championship in college last November. My legs are killing me right now and am almost positive I will be sore all weekend. But it was a lot of fun and they guys I played with are fun to play with. I am a bit rusty though so hopefully when I get used to this air I will get my game back. I am hoping something fun goes on tonight cause there is nothing planned for us right now. Right now ESPN is showing the Colorado vs West Virginia game for the third time this week so I am hoping something new comes on afterwards. Anyways, I'm gonna go take a shower so I hope my shower provides hot water for me. If not, I might just put off a shower until later tonight.

Celebrity Status?

2008-09-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

So today, about an hour and a half ago, I had my first group of people stop to take pictures of me. Completely random but I enjoyed and made them smile. The foreigners (Americans) were walking around looking at more of the campus because we did not look to much yesterday and there were four girls just chillin with their phones and ipods/mp3 players while we talked about the campus and how it has grown over the past year. A few girls went to talk to the girls while I talked to Joe, a returning teacher from LA, about normal things and stuff. The four girls took pictures with the the girls from our group and us guys watched and smiled. Afterwards we start to head back toward the rooms and adminstration building, the girls stopped me and only me. I can not speak chinese yet, well I can say thank you (Pronounced shayshay), but they all had their cameras up so I just put two and two together and assumed they wanted to take a picture of me. All four girls took pictures so I made funny faces, smiled in a few, and I just had to do my pose (big smile with a thumbs up). They loved it. They laughed and giggled and they said thank you and call said "bye-bye) and faced each other like they were the luckiest girls in the world. Man it is great to have red hair.

Anyways, at 4:00 the leaders are going to take up downtown to go shopping and explore Chinese culture. I am really excited about it cause it is kind of cool here and I brought no winter clothes. I was gonna have mom send a package before it gets cold but looks like coldness came to early. Oh well, I will be fine. So I woke up this morning at 4:00am. (3:00 pm in Texas). It was the first time I made it to breakfast withone any alarm clock or human assistance in years. I thought breakfast was at 6:00 so I went to the cafeteria and noone was there so I just walked around campus for a little while. So in about an hour or two I will probably be really tired. Orientation for freshman begins tonight at 7:00 so I hope I am awake for it. I get to dress up in teaching attire for this occasion so no jeans or tennis shoes are allowed.

I am one of the lucky few on campus that gets ESPN. I am very thankful for that, but the only bad thing is that it is out of Austraila. So I get a lot of soccer (which is fine) and a lot of billiards and track and field. At night we can get baseball games sometimes so Joe and I watched some of the Dodgers and Giants game last night. But hey, I get ESPN and lots of other guys dont. PARTY IN MY ROOM. Nah....but seriously.

Jet lagging stinks...my writings from DFW to Sias University

2008-09-24T01:46:00.000-07:00

DFW:

Soooo is 6:36 p.m. on September 22, 2008 and what am I doing? I am eating at McDonalds at the DFW Airport. My trip, originally scheduled for 6:55 (15 minutes from now), was running about two hours late. I was scheduled for Frontier Airlines and they transferred me to United Airlines for no cost. Awesome, so I get my boarding pass and receipts and go through the security stuff, I am stopped. I did not know that liquid items (soap, body wash, etc) had to be 3 ounces or less. Freakin fabulous….so I had to go back to the desk and check in my bag. It could be worse I guess. Frontier allows the first checked bag free of charge, but United charges 15 dollars for the first game then 25 dollars for the second. I then get that taken care of and I am going back through security. Guess who get selected for a random search, yes, yours truly. I didn’t have a clue what was going on. But they guy searching me was cool about it and asking where I got some of the stuff in my laptop bag. It wasn’t too bad, I am just glad that they do random searches. But I am going to finish my dinner now and wait patiently for my flight which is now at 7:47 and is a direct flight to LA, which is good because my flight to LA with Frontier was going to have an hour and a half layover in Denver. So it’s all good I guess.

LA:

So it is 11:07 p.m. right now here at LAX, which means in Texas it is 1:07. I am not tired yet but I am sure when my plane leaves at 1:40 a.m LAX time I will be ready for some sleep. So the McDonalds I had at DFW may have been the best McDonalds I have ever tasted. I had a Big Mac Meal and I was really impressed. Anyways, I just went through security and lucky me, I did not have to do a search this time. Bummer. I absolutely loved my flight from DFW to LAX. Real smooth, really fast, friendly service, but most importantly a really really really sweet young lady that sat beside me. It is really weird because I saw her when I was eating my McDonalds and something told me there was something bothering her and I felt as if she just might be the person who will be seated next to me. I felt weird at first because I was thinking there was no one that what I was thinking while I was enjoying my delicious Big Mac was actually happened. She kind of opened up to me and I just listened. Her dreams and goals are absolutely amazing. I will never forget the stories she told me. TK, if you are reading this, when I landed at LAX I saw a free magazine with Joe Torre on the cover so I got you one. For those of you who don’t know, TK is a fan of the Dodgers so I gotta get a little something something for my dawg. So I have two hours until my flight starts boarding so I think here shortly I will go check out these stores and check out what they have to sell. I got a few pictures at LAX that I thought were cool little things. I should have picked up a word find or crossword puzzle book before I left. Oh well, I really am in deep though t right now about some of the things me and my seating buddy discussed and talked about. One thing she said was really funny that she kind of joked about doing, but I think if she did this then it would be absolutely amazing. But anyways, I want to you remember the Tiffany Limos.

Beijing:

So about 5:45 I landed in Beijing, the capital city of China. While waiting for our next flight me and Greg, a guy also here to teach as Sias University, were sitting in a Tea House at the Beijing Airport. We spent 480 RBM on Tea but it might be the best Hot Tea I have ever tasted, well by far than the Tea we had on the plane. But that equals out to be about 80.00 in America so we kind of were not paying attention to what we were getting ourselves into. Oh well, I enjoyed it and so did Greg so I guess it’s all good. The flight took forever. Kind of a weird route cause we fly up and went over Alaska and flew over Russia and finally coming to China. If you think about the fastest way between two points it is a straight line, but with the earth rotating on its axis, then the flight was a straight flight. Oh well, that was dumb information so I hope you understood that. But, at 12:00 here we are catching another flight from Beijing to Zhengzou which is about thirty minutes from Sias University. So for breakfast I had Chicken Wings, yes, Chicken Wings. These did not taste like American wings though, but they were still pretty good. The nationals here are very friendly. I dropped my computer bag and one of the workers at the Irish Pub, the place that I had the Wings, picked it up for me before I could bend over and get it myself. When we were leaving the Tea House, the workers picked our stuff up and handed it to us as we left. Out host/waitress at the Tea House taught us a few things to say in Chinese. I don’t want to mess things up so I will wait to write Chinese until I can speak it/spell it. This airport is astonishing and amazingly beautiful. I was told LAX is like a small town, but LAX has nothing on the airport in Beijing. Anyways, I am out for now.

Zhengzou to Sias Univeristy
So I am sitting in my apartment right now wanting to go to sleep really bad right now. Here it is almost time for dinner but in Texas it is 3:29 a.m. The flight from Beijing to here was really smooth, got some cool pictures of some clouds and the view from up there, in fact I got cool pictures from all the flights and they will all be added to facebook and myspace as soon as possible. Upon arriving at Sias, I have been meeting the staff I will be working with here and some of the students. Freshman orientation begins tomorrow and we have a trip to Xi’an next week I believe Xi’an is where the Terra Cotta Warriors are. If you don’t know what the Terra Cotta Warriors are then you need to read a world history book. Well it is time for me to finish setting up my room. A guy I will be working with just got my internet working so I thought I would post what I have been writing for the last oh 30+ hours.

It is official...

2008-09-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

So it is official...I am a teacher. Just not in the states...but in China. Yes, I said China. I am leaving tomorrow (Sept. 22) from DFW Airport at 6:55 pm and flying from there to LA with a layover in Denver. In fact, this is my first ever time on a plane. From LA I will catch a flight there and fly to Beijing. I will then catch another plane when I get to Beijing and fly to Zheng Zhou then take a bus or train from Zheng Zhou to XinZheng (Where my university will be). I will be gone for about nine months, so if you would like to come see me...I will welcome you with open arms. So my last night in Texas for a while, I have packed and watched the last game in Yankee Stadium. Talked to a couple of friends, sent lots of text messages, and just started this blog. But, I need to get some sleep because the next two days are gonna to be crazy, going to five major cities in both the US and China. When I get to Sias University I will post again and hopefully have everything...lets hope that my luggage doesn't go over the weight limit at the airports, and that my first experience on a plane is enjoyable.

Good night friends,

Kerry