Hello South America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East!

Who knew my little blog was being read in so many incredibly interesting places? Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, Sweden, and Argentina! I don't even know anyone who lives in these countries and these are only my last 20 visitors. Crazy.

Eye Exercises

Back in December I started a series about school life in China. You may think that the series was canceled after the pilot episode, as I seem to have dropped the idea. This, however, is not the case. That time of year was busy with other activities to post about, as well as a major trip to plan. Now that that’s all over, I want to get back to the work on the posts that I had planned.

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Each country and culture has its own way for students to relax during the school day. During my time in Germany, I learned that students believe that it is beneficial to open the windows (no matter the weather) between classes to clear their heads. In the US, students take recess and “passing time” as down time between classes to relax and talk to their friends. Likewise, Chinese students have a 10 minute recess type break between each class, during which they enjoying playing basketball and jumping rope. These break periods are vital as the students remain in the same room throughout the day and it is the teachers who do the moving.

The Chinese, however, take de-stressing during the school to another level. Two times per day (or three times for the boarding students) the students do eye exercises. The exercises are lead by the recording of a women which comes over the loud speaker. She starts by instructing the students on what exercise they will begin with and then counts to eight eight times. I imagine she says something like, “Alright students, now we’re going to rub our eyes for the next five minutes. Don‘t roll your eyes at me! Here we go. Yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba. Er, er, san, si, …” She then goes onto the next exercise; there are four in all. The students don’t actually need to be reminded what exercise they should be doing, as they’ve done them in the exact same order multiple times a day for the past 6 years of their lives.

While a majority of the class is stroking their faces, one or two of the students are patrolling the classroom with a notebook, making note of the students who are not showing the exercises the seriousness they deserve. Yet another group of students comes around to each classroom to ensure the monitors are doing their job to report misbehaving students. Should the individual classroom monitor be caught not reprimanding their students properly, he or she would be severe punished. The Chinese are certainly not creating a society that encourages citizens to spy and tattle on their neighbors with this discipline method. How could you even think that?

Well, now that you’ve read my description of what eye exercises look like, why don’t you watch for yourself? If your eyes are feeling the strain of a hard day’s work, feel free to join in. Just follow the students and listen to the soothing music.

According to this article in the New York Times, it appears that the Chinese might be on to something with their multiple breaks and eye exercises. Who knows, maybe American students will spend time massaging their faces as well in a few years.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

This week I have been teaching the students about body parts. This consists of me singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” 72 times, leading 12 rousing games of Simon Says, and allowing the students to draw on the board. Like twelve year-olds in any other country, they find it exceedingly funny to draw a pig nose and vampire teeth on the stick figure on the board. Some of the bodies actually came out pretty well, so I thought I’d let you take a look at one.

Welcome to the middle school classroom in China! (Notice the claw-like fingernails and bearded stick-person who is also wearing a skirt. Perhaps it's a kilt.)

For You Viewing Pleasure

At long last, here are the links to the photo albums containing photos from my recent trip. There are 486 photos in all, so try not to wear yourself out looking at them all at once.

Hong Kong, China
Bangkok, Thailand
Auytthaya, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Mekong River Cruise, Laos
Luang Prabang, Laos
Vientiane, Laos
Si Phan Don, Laos
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Kompong Khleang, Cambodia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hanoi, Vietnam
Halong Bay, Vietnam

Happy Valentine's Day!

Careful When Using the Crosswalk

During the past several months Zhuzhou City has been on a campaign to curb (pun intended) jay walkers. There are elderly crossing-guards posted on every corner poised to give you a 20 RMB (about $3.00) ticket for crossing the street where you shouldn't. I've been complaining about how ridiculous I thought this was because the crusade is not coupled with the requirement that drivers in turn respect the crosswalk (or follow any traffic laws at all it seems). Today that fateful day arrived; the day I was proven correct. On my way to school today I heard the sound of screeching tires come to a stop and saw everyone on the bus stand up to look at a women on the ground in front of a taxi in the middle of a crosswalk. I'm glad to see these new laws are protecting the citizens of Zhuzhou. Oh, China!

Spring Festival Overview

Numbers:
# of days traveled: 31
# of countries: 6
# of currencies: 7
# of visas: 3
# of passport stamps: 14
# of extra pages added to my passport: 24
# of US Embassies visited: 1
# of cities: 13
# of times stranded in a city we did not intend on visiting: 2
# of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 6
# of long distance buses: 5
# of buses missed: 1
# of trains: 7
# of flights: 4
# of unplanned flights: 2
# of boats: 2
# of days spent on boats: 4
# of elephants ridden: 1
# of bikes rented: 2
# of times ripped off by taxi/ tuk-tuk drivers: 10+
# of hotels: 12
# of bungalows: 1
# of animals found it the bungalow: 3 + bugs
# of insects willfully consumed: 1
# of fruit shakes: 21
# of bug bites: 50+
# of sun burns: 2
# of temples visited: too many to count
# of mosques visited: 2
# of random run ins with friends: 2
# of miles biked in Siem Reap: 45
# of things lost: 4
# of things broken: 6
# of times we did laundry: 2
# of times we had no idea what was going on: incalculable
# of people put into their place after they tried to rip us off: many
# of times we wanted to burn the LP: millions
# of books read: 4
# of scarves and bags purchased: an embarrassing number
# of dollars saved with our super bargaining skills: countless
# of dollars spent nonetheless: too many
# of dollars spent on visas: $108
# of pictures taken: 2186
# of new friends: dozens


The Best:
Meal: Chiang Mai
Fruit Shake: Chiang Mai
Street Food: Bangkok
Bus: Vientiane to Pakse
Train: Vietnam to Hengyang
Hotel: Siem Reap
Temple: Angkor Wat
Buddha: Bangkok
Bathroom: Hanoi
Airport: Hong Kong
Public Transportation: Bangkok
English: Kuala Lumpur
People: Kuala Lumpur
Tour Guide: Chiang Mai
Foreign Friends: Halong Bay
Knock-off Goods: Kuala Lumpur
Mall: Kuala Lumpur
Market: Bangkok