Taizhou Sept 23-28
23: My fantasy novel as broken the 30,000 word mark and I've outlined the rest of the chapters. I think I can have it done by the Chinese New Year. Monica and I puzzled over my washing machine, which has stopped draining properly which makes drying clothes a major pain in the tush. After she left a couple of my male students dropped by and invited me out to dinner. We went to a fast food chain called Crispy Chicken and still had better Chinese food than I've had in America. AFter that they taught me a Chinese card game and Chinese chess, the kind with the characters written on top of thick disc shaped pieces. It has knights, kings, and rooks, but no queen, and it has catapults and a pair of guards in the king's castle. There's also a river running through the middle of the board that some pieces cannot cross, but the pawns become more powerful once they cross it.
28; Despite a website messing up my reservations and leading me to cancel a trip (which pissed me off, but they refunded my money), I wandered around campus and followed some music to a mass karaoke performance where students and one department head sang, one at a time, to a couple hundred students. During each song the hostess in a lovely evening gown brought out flowers to the singers, except for the professor who got a teddy bear. I ended up sitting next to a cute, geeky girl who promised to help me along with my Chinese chess.
I've learned that the Chinese words for the days of the week translate as Day 1 (Monday) Day 2 (Tuesday) and so on until you get to Sunday, which is Day of Heaven.
Our textbook asked the students to argue, in English, about whether it is better to learn from books or from people. We spent most of the time on the students' opinions, and most of them said it was better to learn from people. Near the end, I asked them who wrote books. "People" So what's the difference? It stumped them, so I shared my experience as a writer, how my books were the best version of myself because I have time to craft what I say, and because my friends who read my books can tell me when I'm being foolish.
28; Despite a website messing up my reservations and leading me to cancel a trip (which pissed me off, but they refunded my money), I wandered around campus and followed some music to a mass karaoke performance where students and one department head sang, one at a time, to a couple hundred students. During each song the hostess in a lovely evening gown brought out flowers to the singers, except for the professor who got a teddy bear. I ended up sitting next to a cute, geeky girl who promised to help me along with my Chinese chess.
I've learned that the Chinese words for the days of the week translate as Day 1 (Monday) Day 2 (Tuesday) and so on until you get to Sunday, which is Day of Heaven.
Our textbook asked the students to argue, in English, about whether it is better to learn from books or from people. We spent most of the time on the students' opinions, and most of them said it was better to learn from people. Near the end, I asked them who wrote books. "People" So what's the difference? It stumped them, so I shared my experience as a writer, how my books were the best version of myself because I have time to craft what I say, and because my friends who read my books can tell me when I'm being foolish.