What is it like teaching? Great! The students have some unique names that they have chosen for themselves and come from all different cities. Monkey, Potato, Heaven, Bingo are in my class and one of the other instructor's has a Satan. Many just tried to find a name that contained the letters in their given first and last names, but others just decided to stand out or chose names of famous or influential people. They are all in their seats ready to go when the bell rings. You can't put a price on that. Whether they stop playing their computer games or close their social media sites is another story, but they are respectful.
Have you had a chance to see any of the local sites? We toured the location for the new campus. We also took a ferry ride and saw very traditional buildings, museums and a temple. It is hard to remember all the names, but I have pictures to document. Many high-rises surround the city, so it looks very much like NYC. We walked around the city and went in some very high end malls and shopping centers. We stopped to see the fishing areas too. The new hospital looks like an airport and is said to be the biggest hospital in China, once fully completed. Many of the sites that would be visited by tourists have not actually been turned into tourist attractions.
How is the weather? 95-100 with humidity and little breeze
How is the food? Very interesting. Pork is served as the main meat and everything I have had tastes delicious. The canteen, which is where the students and faculty eat might seem somewhat like a soup kitchen, but the food is traditional with a lot of rice and vegetables. They have a good selection of fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes, plums). McDonald's and KFC are very popular as well.
Have you lost weight? Maintained as far as clothing goes, but I "toasted" many nights the first week and overindulged the first weekend by visiting the local bars and night club.
What do your teaching classrooms you are teaching out of look like? They are square rooms, with white sound-proofed walls and large windows. Five classrooms are equipped with state of the art technology for projecting and recording class sessions. We can actually record the entire class and review what the students are doing around the entire room.
How many students are you each teaching per class? about 25 each. We also have two students each from the sophomore class to help with questions.
Are the students as grade conscious as our students her in the US are? The students vary. They are still very shy, but we each have our own style of getting them motivated. Not one of my students has asked how they are doing or showed very much concern otherwise.
PROFESSOR ALLISON EDGLEY (Communications)
