Hello from Meiguo

Well, my Cambodia/Laos trip was not meant to be. I am writing from my home in Brockport, NY.

The evening when we were supposed to leave I noticed a boil on my leg. I also felt flushed. After some quick webmd.com research, I found out that a boil with a fever can be quite dangerous and that I should seek immediate medical attention. I called my parents who contacted my doctor at home.

After several dozen phone calls to various people, I left for the hospital in Anshun. Sara and Laura Leigh (foreign teachers) came with me. We met Miss Zhang, Charlie and Jack (University faculty) at the hospital. I was examined by the doctor, I had my blood drawn and tested, and was prescribed some antibiotics.

In the meantime, the rest of the group started their journey towards Laos. I decided not to go on the trip, but to go back to America, for the holiday. It was an easy decision at the time. Boils usually don't, but can get into the blood stream and cause blood poisoning, which can be fatal. It would have been unwise to be traveling in unknown areas with the symptoms I had.

My parents helped me purchase tickets home. It was 27 hours of traveling: 20 hours on planes and four flights before I got home. I'm here until February 9th. Then I'll travel back to Beijing, where I'll stay for four days for the ULS Winter Conference.

The Spring semester will start March 5th. I'm thoroughly enjoying America, but am looking forward to going back. My life is in Anshun and I like it.

P.S. "Meiguo" is Mandarin for America

Chinglish

I thought I'd give you a taste of my students' English levels. This was written by a sophomore, and it is one of the more well written assignments that I received. The class watched "Ocean's Eleven" and had to answer the question: who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in the movie? This is exactly what she wrote, misspellings and all:

We all know that it's illegal to rob money. But in my opinion all eleven persons are good guys. They do have special skills, for example, the little Chinese can turn somersaults and very flexible. They work together, help each other, united, brave and kind.
But my favorite memmber is Danny. He is brave man. He was free from the prison. after robbing, he was sent to prison again but without a word. He also a brilliant guy, he draws on his girlfriend to rob the casino boss - he put a cellphone in her pocket secretly, but it's no a sin. Last but no the least he is a handsome man and has handsome does. He loves her girlfriend always. It is the true love.
I don't like Benedict - the boss of the casino. Yes, he does have lots of money, but he has poor happy. Because he loves money more than love itself. He is a successful man in business, but a failure in love affair. He is a bad guy, otherwise Ocean's eleven would not rob him casino.


Well, I leave for Laos in 24 hours. I'm scrambling to finish everything I need to before I leave - handing in my final grades, doing laundry, cleaning my fridge... I'll try to write from the road, but otherwise have a good six weeks! I'll be back in Anshun February 16!

Happy New Year's

Well, it's 2007 here (you still have two hours left if you live on the Eastern Seaboard). It's been quite a year. A year ago I had just graduated from college and went on a rather unsuccessful job search. I think it was unsuccessful largely because I had unrealistic expectations of how quickly I would find employment. But whatever the reason, the search lead me to ULS and China, which is a good thing!

The Chinese obviously celebrate Chinese New Year (lunar new year), but they also celebrate the calendar New Year. The lunar celebration is in February (around the 18th, I think) and is a much bigger deal. But this is also a holiday. There is no school Jan 1-3 and there were many firecrackers set off last night. One of my students told me that they set off firecrackers to scare away evil spirits for the next year.

This week is grading for me, and packing for my trip. I need to get my house ready for me to be away from it for six weeks. That's about it. I'm glad that I have this quiet week before my trip.

While traveling I will *try* to find internet cafes and update the blog. And when I get back I will definitely post photos!

Happy New Year!