thoughts three weeks before the end
i was surprised again last night. a few of my students are fairly candid with me now, i think. i had this idea that people here, especially young people, would have no idea what i was talking about if i ever mentioned "the incident at tienanmen square." i still think that'd be true of a good number of my students, but margaret totally knew what i was talking about. she remembers when it happened. and seemed to know a similiar version of the facts that we generally accept back home. wow. i didn't expect her to say that. her perspective on SO many things has been surprising and really interesting. i don't think i'll go into any more detail than that on here:)
the more i watch and think about the movies "better luck tomorrow" and "spanglish," the more i think they really do have some interesting things in common, but not what i originally assumed. the more i think about "better luck tomorrow," the more i like it. i still think it's a bit disturbing, but i think i get it a little more now.
i can't believe i told all 250 of my students that they each need to turn in three movie reviews to me by next friday, half the reviews encompassing the two movies we watched whichever given night, each review at least two pages long. that's a minimum of six pages from each of my 250 students, each one of which i'm going to read and mark. aiya!
i spent about an hour tonight watching daniel practice the piano. it's fun to watch. he's really good.
i have this urge to bring freaky friday home with me. it's such a fun movie to watch:) but... would i really watch it enough to warrent keeping it instead of sharing with the students? what about spanglish? i partially want to keep it just for the HIDEOUS english subtitles, but again, would i watch it a lot? and i feel bad keeping a few of the movies they students especially liked (freaky friday). but... heck, i paid for them.
two more weeks of class. glorious. that means i need to get hopping on planning the end-of-year party, though. it'll have to be next weekend, since nathaniel (who, along with daniel, teaches the same students as me) will be in beijing, getting ready to fly out the following weekend. it really is starting to look like the week after classes, the last week in june, daniel and i will be the only two foreign teachers left here. which won't be the first time, of course, since we were the only two here during spring festival, but still. this'll be a different emptiness. daniel's dad and a couple other relatives are flying in july 1, which means i'll have five days during which to entertain myself before paul gets here. i could stay here and distract my students from their insanely stressful study for finals. and, you know, read and pack and do restful things:) or, and this is what i'll probably do for at least part of the time, i could go to xi'an by myself and hang out for a few days.
when should i take things down off my walls? when should i clean off my desk? when should i start mailing things home? when should i start giving things away?
the more i watch and think about the movies "better luck tomorrow" and "spanglish," the more i think they really do have some interesting things in common, but not what i originally assumed. the more i think about "better luck tomorrow," the more i like it. i still think it's a bit disturbing, but i think i get it a little more now.
i can't believe i told all 250 of my students that they each need to turn in three movie reviews to me by next friday, half the reviews encompassing the two movies we watched whichever given night, each review at least two pages long. that's a minimum of six pages from each of my 250 students, each one of which i'm going to read and mark. aiya!
i spent about an hour tonight watching daniel practice the piano. it's fun to watch. he's really good.
i have this urge to bring freaky friday home with me. it's such a fun movie to watch:) but... would i really watch it enough to warrent keeping it instead of sharing with the students? what about spanglish? i partially want to keep it just for the HIDEOUS english subtitles, but again, would i watch it a lot? and i feel bad keeping a few of the movies they students especially liked (freaky friday). but... heck, i paid for them.
two more weeks of class. glorious. that means i need to get hopping on planning the end-of-year party, though. it'll have to be next weekend, since nathaniel (who, along with daniel, teaches the same students as me) will be in beijing, getting ready to fly out the following weekend. it really is starting to look like the week after classes, the last week in june, daniel and i will be the only two foreign teachers left here. which won't be the first time, of course, since we were the only two here during spring festival, but still. this'll be a different emptiness. daniel's dad and a couple other relatives are flying in july 1, which means i'll have five days during which to entertain myself before paul gets here. i could stay here and distract my students from their insanely stressful study for finals. and, you know, read and pack and do restful things:) or, and this is what i'll probably do for at least part of the time, i could go to xi'an by myself and hang out for a few days.
when should i take things down off my walls? when should i clean off my desk? when should i start mailing things home? when should i start giving things away?