TEFL School Begins

The TEFL affiliate through which we will be certified is the DD Dragon school. They primarily teach private English lessons to children between 3 and 12 years. My legs don't really fit under the table, but the school is legit, and we are all making progress. We have all taught several full classes in a live setting. The requirement is 20 practical hours, and 10 hours of live teaching. We are more than half way through, and things are going well. Will upload some pictures soon.

Ben teaching one of his classes at the Hong Kou location.

Ben demonstrating the flying stuffed animal strategy for teaching ... as Seth, Melinda and Denisa observe intently to pick up the finer points of this method. :p

Metro, People's Square, Tea Scam

We were so excited to be venturing out for the first time, I forgot to put on shoes.

Waiting on the metro.

The Chinese Tea Scam

Our first stop of the metro, and we met these 4 Chinese students who were brilliant in execution of the famous Chinese tea fesitval scam. We all got taken for about 40-50 bucks. They basically tricked us into an environment where they started giving us stuff that we didn't think we had to pay for, but when they laid the bill on us, it was about 5x the amount it should have been.

It's the kind of thing where you wouldn't believe it could happen to you, but then it does, and you are at a complete loss for words... almost like a great magician. They were very very skillful.

I laugh Of, course, part of me is ticked off for being scammed. But I have to laugh when I see these pictures of these people, because they were so damn good!

And finally, many buildings are wrapped in this scaffolding, made out of bamboo... it's common to see 50+ floors of this stuff...

Jing 'an Temple - Seeing some sights...

In the midst of variety of 20-21st century high rises, this temple is quite an amazing sight. You can see a million more photos of this temple - just google "jing an temple" to see some amazing pics. Here are a few from our trip... we got to hear some chanting, pretty interesting.

Shanghai City Central Youth Hostel

In the north western part of the city, right next to a metro station, in the Putuo District... No. 300 Wuning Road, Putuo District, Shanghai, China http://www.chinayha.com/

The front lobby ...

Before our arrival, we'd heard that this hostel is one of the best in the world... from my experience (limited) I would have to say that is true. For about 70 kwai ($10usd) per night, we get to stay in one of the coolest cities on earth, with an amazing lounge area, free wireless internet, and an all u can eat buffet each morning. Quite accomodating. The only drawbacks are the limited space in each room. So far, we're dealing. They even have western style toilets... as opposed to the common Chinese "squat pots."

Took this picture with the camera in the corner of the room. Quite a tight spot for 4 people... though we only have 2 in there currently. We could upgrade to a larger room, but this works for now... need to stay on top of laundry in these tight quarters! (Which I'm doing currently, hanging out most items to dry, as there is one small dryer for 80 residents. :-0)

Arrived

Jenny from the DD Dragon training school picked up Denisa and I, and 2 other students from the airport, to take us back to our hostel. We first took a bus through the city to an interchange, where we couldn't get on the next bus because we had too many bags! So Jenny put our bags on this cart, and we walked for about 1/2 mile through the city to one of the apartments. It was tiring to say the least... I was carrying my backpack and laptop, in my travel clothes, after a 16 hour flight. Sweaty, messy, crazy, but we made it.

More Trip Pics

Here are some shots of the trip... we had the middle three seats...

Denisa wore shorts and a tank top on the flight. She found some creative ways of getting cozy... for part of the flight, I sat next to the grim reaper. :o

Delta 19, Atlanta to Shanghai

Boeing 777 - yup, it's big. We were able to change our seats around so we could sit together, and they even gave us a space in between for more room. Very cool. The back of each seat had a gps, among other things, so you could, at any time, see where you were in relation to the globe. I snapped some shots along the way. Notice the temperature mid-flight... -60F. Yikes!

Hello Shanghai!! 16 hour flight. 3 meals. Not too bad. Too excited to think about much of anything.

Atlanta Airport Muppets

After taking separate flights from Raleigh to Atlanta ... (slept the entire flight!) Denisa and I met at the Atlanta terminal in our gate - everything on schedule. We were tired but very excited to have made it happen.

My last Starbucks: Tea is the thing in China. They have some coffee shops, and even Starbucks, but nowhere near as accessible as in the States.

My last sip of tap water for a very long time... and the home brew of air-born hypervitamin potion... so far , I must say it's worked pretty well... we'll see!

I really got a laugh out of this guy. I imagined that he looked like he was using a computer mouse with his one hand to browse the screen in front of him... which revealed to him the life story of whomever walked in front of his nice glass enclosure there in the airport. As I stood in front of him, I felt somehow responsible for his expression! totally cracked me up! :D

12 years into 2 bags

OK, so the SUV sale took up a few hours of much needed packing time. While I was elated that the sale went through in record time, the reality of the pending flight schedule was looming ... the next 12 hours would be intense.

2 check-ons, 1 carry-on, and a laptop. When I reached this point, it was a huge relief.

The carry-on bags by far took the most time. In those bags, all the appropriate documents, gadgets, and things needed for survival in the first few days. Lots of planning goes into those bags. Once they were done, then the bigger check on bags. Still, filtering 12 years of US style living into 2 bags of clothing is a challenge. I was hoping to go with Denisa to their place at midnight, but that deadline came and went. It looked like it would be an all-nighter!

Sure enough, 4am rolled around, and I was ready to go, a slight drizzle outside, the condo completely cleaned out and prepared for the renter, and me, ready to get on the plane for some shut-eye!

The last glimpse of my home, farewell Quaker Landing!

Goodbye Rodeo - Thanks for the memories!

Well, I hadn't expected to sell the Isuzu Rodeo that has been good to me for some 8 years, but the last minute idea was presented, and I figured I'd give it a shot, with only about 30 hours until I was to board the plane to Shanghai!














So, at about midnight on Tuesday night, 8/26, I posted the ad, not really knowing what to expect. Well, by 9am the following morning, after finishing a paint job for a friend, I logged on to check my email, and noticed there were 25 + responses to my ad! So, the first one I called ended up being the buyer, and we did the deal at around noon after I had a chance to run a few final errands, and get the title from the bank. I have to say, craiglist is pretty incredible.

Not having the SUV in the parking lot for the year will eliminate a number pesky worries and provide some cash for me, and provide a good set of wheels for someone else! Thanks for the good idea Amy!

Raleigh Friends Potluck

A rare "third hour" on Sunday August 10th at Raleigh Friend's Meetinghouse to celebrate the upcoming trip. Here are some great pictures sent to me by Marsha Presnell-Jenette. Thanks to all who helped put this together, and all who helped us celebrate.

Anywhere with Friends

Sometimes words aren't enough (or photos, or videos, for that matter)... so I threw together a quick video to share some images and photos from the past couple years of my time with Raleigh Friends. There's already so much to say... I'll start with "thanks."

2010 Quaker Landing

12 years in this place! I can't quite believe it. 2 miles from downtown Raleigh, right on I-40. What a great place. I've been spoiled with it's conveniences and terrific proximity.

So the decision had to be made to sell, or rent. It turns out that I will rent it out as a single apartment for a year, and some of my stuff will be stored in the back room.

Sounds pretty simple, right? ha ha

Tia McCoun came down to help move some stuff to PA. Thanks T!

Then stuff got moved around just to clean the rugs.










Then stuff got put back into the corner bedroom...

and more, and more and more!!!

Then, we celebrated a little bit.

Now, I learn how to fix stuff that hasn't worked in a long time.

The carpenter bee holes...

The toilet intake hose

The bathtub faucet

The new door nob.

Anything else?