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Connecting Mandarin and English,
Chinese and
American,
people
with people
Day One in Nanchang A note about Chinese walkabouts:
(August 29, 2008) (return
to Homepage)
-----
As
new residents of Nanchang, as opposed tourists just passing through knowing
that soon we would be going home, we are recognizing more and more the things
that are clearly different from our Oregon home. One is the ability to use
our dear friend the Macintosh laptop with whom we are so familiar and comfortable.
Along the same lines, the differences in using the Internet for communicating.
As a consequence that may be several days before I get these entries online
and I may have to change tactics. There's nothing wrong with the technology;
it's just that it's what we used ten years ago and as American technicians
we've raised our expectations.
By the end of this day of random walks and
casual meetings we have received our teaching assignments. And a roster
of six of our 18 classes. It appears as if we will be teaching the some
of same classes and with about three preparations each. The number of students
on the six rosters range from 34 to 59 with names in Chinese character and
in some cases there are English names in English characters.
We ate leftovers from the lunch yesterday
and enjoying our apartment.
Actually there's nothing
unique about Chinese walkabouts unless you're American with a beard
and long hair. Gail seems to notice the stares more than I do, but
uses the eye contact as a reason to say hello. Not that Gail needs
an invitation to talk to someone. I think she's in Gail heaven,
just chatting with all these new faces who typically pass each other
in silence and don't understand most of what she's saying. Some
love the opportunity to practice their English and all walk again
giggling and for college boys that's a little unexpected.
Skype is up and running and our Skype name
is denvys. Three in the afternoon (Oregon time) is a great time if you want
to say hi. Five or six in the morning (Oregon time) also works well for
us.
We would love to hear from you; your comments, your questions and your suggestions.
For security purposes we ask that you send us an email at denvygail@saxowsky.com
and we will post the messages