[First published April 24, 2014] This blog-journal of my time in China will, I hope, be helpful and interesting for any people contemplating a similar adventure. It's also a place where I can share thoughts and anecdotes about life in Zibo -- but -- I do not plan to post much detail about the school where I work, the students, or my colleagues. The Golden Rule will be applied.
I also want to respect the privacy of the locals, who are yes, quaint and/or colorful and/or charming and/or adorable (in the case of the babies) or otherwise interesting, but they are not being quaint or colorful just for my benefit. So I'd love to post pictures of them, but there won't be many close-ups.
That said, every tale must have a bad guy, so I nominate my landlord to fill the post for this blog. Details to follow.
I do like sharing pictures of interesting or amusing Chinese packaging and unusual English syntax but this is not done in a spirit of making fun of the Chinese or being an English teacher ready to pounce with her red pen. I really find these things charming. Speaking of unusual signs, I doubt that anything is going to top the sign in the lobby of the hotel where I first stayed: "No Oneself Schlep Drink." Words to live by.
Experienced China hands would no doubt roll their eyes at some of my naive and/or ignorant observations; but this blog is not written for them and I do not foresee myself ever becoming an "expert" on this country.
Finally, I've lived most of my life in Canada and so I use Canadian spellings, but because I now work at the Sino-American Language and Cultural Center, not the Centre, I am trying to use American spellings in these posts.
I also want to respect the privacy of the locals, who are yes, quaint and/or colorful and/or charming and/or adorable (in the case of the babies) or otherwise interesting, but they are not being quaint or colorful just for my benefit. So I'd love to post pictures of them, but there won't be many close-ups.
That said, every tale must have a bad guy, so I nominate my landlord to fill the post for this blog. Details to follow.
I do like sharing pictures of interesting or amusing Chinese packaging and unusual English syntax but this is not done in a spirit of making fun of the Chinese or being an English teacher ready to pounce with her red pen. I really find these things charming. Speaking of unusual signs, I doubt that anything is going to top the sign in the lobby of the hotel where I first stayed: "No Oneself Schlep Drink." Words to live by.
Experienced China hands would no doubt roll their eyes at some of my naive and/or ignorant observations; but this blog is not written for them and I do not foresee myself ever becoming an "expert" on this country.
Finally, I've lived most of my life in Canada and so I use Canadian spellings, but because I now work at the Sino-American Language and Cultural Center, not the Centre, I am trying to use American spellings in these posts.
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