So, when I was in Zheng Zhou I wanted to buy a new pair of sunglasses and we found these aviators on in the open air "walking street" market. I tried on a whole bunch of pairs and the Chinese students I was with (and Sarah, who has been in China for a while) talked me into buying these white aviators. I usually like darker brown frames, but they said these 'popped' against my dark hair and earrings. I decided that hey, I was in China and China fashion is different and I'm a foreigner so basically anything I do goes or is written off as a silly foreigner fashion, so I bought them.
Turns out, this is the best purchase I've made, leading to endless hours of entertainment. This post is a result of these glasses.
We went to the resturant called Water Under the Bridge (I don't know if that's the Chinese name translated or if that's just what the American teachers call it) and we put these classes on the lazy susan in the middle with my camera facing opposite. Then we set the 10 second timer on the camera and started spinning and hunched down to see if we could time it right. This is Erin who was the first to get it lined up.
We decided these pictures would make great profile pictures.
This is my friend Jess who I drink coffee with in the mornings. She is a TA for a business management class and super smart. And super gangsta. She just bought an air soft gun to join the rest of us in our BB adventures.
Boo-ya.
This is Erin and Seth. Erin taught here a long time ago (before they required teachers had their degrees) and she and Seth were students two years ago for a semester. So they know all the cool things to do, like bumper cars in the park that would be totally illegal in the States, and where to buy things like air soft guns. They are also movie buffs, so we have watched a lot of movies in their room.
Nick is the other member of our group, and this is his first time to China. He and Seth have planned out a whole Zombie movie starring us, defending Peter Hall against a zombie invasion. Its pretty sweet. Hopefully we start filiming soon. I will be one of the few survivors.
This is David and Aaron. They are also new teachers this year, David is a TA for one the buiness classes with Matt and Aaron is teaching history (his MA beat out my BA in history for the job). We are working on swapping classes after the midterm so I can maybe teach a brief section on Mayflower history....!
And of course, Neil, who is in his element with all things Chinese. He helped me download Rosetta Stone on my computer so I can work on my Chinese too (which I haven't touched for a week. Maybe I should get on that...)
This is Jessica (not to be confused with Jess) who is now my Chinese culture partner. We are going to spend 12 hours a week together until the October Holiday and I am going to visit her family in her town which is 3 hours drive away. We've already spend quite a bit of time together so I'm excited that we were paired together. Next is Amanda, who I've also spent a lot of time with, she helped my buy my cell phone and get my internet banking set up (which is a process, like anything in China).
This is Winston and Michael. Winston has been hanging around a lot, he wants me to help out with the English choir that he is a part of, rehersals start next week. Michael is Nick's Chinese culture partner and Nick is working on talking him into matching Dragon playing double necked guitars while surfing tatoos. I don't think Michal will spring for it...
Last but not least is our friend Ole, (rhymes with holy moley not the spanish Ole!) (is is playing the guitar) who has been here for 4 years. He was friends with Seth and Erin when they were students and knows all the best card games and has a wii. Needless to say, he plays Guitar Hero on expert. It's sick to watch. I'm still on easy.
So, that's pretty much everyone. There are some returning teachers that we are also friends with (like Matt and Mel and Vernon and Ashleigh and Jon and Lee) but I don't have pictures with them yet and I thought this would be a good start.
