我的邻里混漂亮！

What a productive day! I start teaching this Friday, September 1st. And as excited as I am to finally start the semester and see how my students are like, I am really nervous! Even though my classes will only be 40 minutes long, compared to my training in Beijing where I taught 3 hour long classes, I will have to teach 17 classes a week, with 55 students in each class. So it will definitely offer different challenges this time around. Nonetheless, I'm excited to test the waters and see how the rest of my year here in China will be like.

Since the school is asking me and Kirk to turn in a curriculum for the quarter, we spent a good deal of tonight coming up with lesson plans for the 10th and 11th graders we will be teaching. Planning out the year definitely helps me feel more prepared and comfortable about teaching. The hardest part about teaching though, isn't actually the teaching part. Lesson planning can be such a pain in the butt! It's especially killer when you have no idea what level your students are. Not to mention how difficult it is to have every student practice English in a 40 minute, 55 student classroom setting. But we'll manage.

On a completely different note, the district I live in, Long Gang, is feeling more and more like home to me. While the restroom situation in my apartment still requires some getting used to, the environment in this district is wonderful. After going downtown, I've realized the perks of living uptown in the suburbs. For example, we have blue skies here. The air is not as polluted as the rest of Shenzhen, there isn't as much traffic, so that means there isn't as much honking, and the weather here is actually very nice. While it is really hot, there is actually a nice breeze once in a while. The district is also very clean.

Long Gang Skyline

One of the great things about living here is that it has a great nightlife. No, I don't mean going to bars or clubs. People here are mostly young couples with children, with some grandmas and pas. But people spend most of the evening outside walking, playing, singing, and even dancing! A couple of the American teachers and I went to a nearby park about 5 minutes away from my apartment. The park is magnificent! We would have never known this little hidden gem unless we actually walked in it. It is humungous! There is a huge lake (about only 2 feet deep I think), rolling hills, bright green grass, and beautiful pagoda buildings. Unfortunately, it was late at night, so the pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped for. But the pagoda buildings are lit up with neon lights at night.

Since Shenzhen is pretty hot at night, a lot of the locals spend their time sitting on the grass, walking along the trails, eating ice cream (seems like everyone has to have at least one cone a day!), and the best part, there are old folks who sit by the lake playing their string instruments. Some would get up and sing while others would sit and listen. And in other areas of the park, people bring a boom box and learn how to tango.



I am just so amazed by the active lives these people live. It's so simple, yet so lively. Not having good programming on tv is definitely a good thing here in China.