One thing I really like about Dalian is that it hardly ever rains. Although the winters are harsh with a ferocious Siberian wind, the sky is blue every day and it stays dry. Today is a different tale and the rain is pissing down in buckets, turning the badly-drained streets into rivers and making the pavements into a slippery nightmare.
I don't know if it is Dalian's lack of experience with rain, or just Chinese people in general, but everything slides into instant chaos when the heavens open. The roads are clogged with traffic, everyone beeping their horns and generally contributing to a big heaving mess. The me-first attitude adopted whilst driving becomes even more clear, as accidents pile up due to people who refuse to check their mirrors before pulling out. In my office building, staff were waiting at the front entrance with stocks of plastic bags, handing them out to everyone who came in, to store their soggy umbrellas. More staff were working outside, dressed in layers of plastic, sweeping the torrents of water away from the entrance. I arrived for work at 8am, taking a taxi to make sure I got there on time. The place was deserted. I waited for half an hour standing outside the door doing nothing but drinking soy bean milk. Then enough was enough, and I headed to the sanity of Starbucks, where the wifi signal is strong and the chairs are comfy. Unfortunately, I have a student at 10am. And I have to explain an incomprehensible and fist-munchingly boring article to her. But my application to Belgium is almost ready to send, and there will be others to follow.
Sunday 19 April 2009
Wednesday 8 April 2009
Chinese National Stereotypes
This came from my adult class today, where we brainstormed national stereotypes:
French: romantic, lazy, drink red wine, don't like children.
Germans: Nazis, Hitler, drink very much beer, huge, attentive to detail.
Japanese: serious, polite, like children very much.
English: gentleman, polite, handsome, have different opinions to the Americans
American: open, loud, human rights, war, Obama.
Indian: yoga, mysterious, good with computers, clever.
Purely the opinions of my students with no input from the teacher whatsoever. Honest.
French: romantic, lazy, drink red wine, don't like children.
Germans: Nazis, Hitler, drink very much beer, huge, attentive to detail.
Japanese: serious, polite, like children very much.
English: gentleman, polite, handsome, have different opinions to the Americans
American: open, loud, human rights, war, Obama.
Indian: yoga, mysterious, good with computers, clever.
Purely the opinions of my students with no input from the teacher whatsoever. Honest.
Sunday 5 April 2009
Quest for Health, Wealth and Wisdom (and cheap education)
The philosopher Aristotle once said, "It is wise to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth and wisdom."
I have never been fond of lying in bed till noon, but the idea of gaining an entire working month of extra time each year sounded fantastic. My usual getting-up time ranges between 6.30 and 8am, but on Steve Pavlina's life improvement blog he discusses how you can train yourself to rise at 5am, every single morning, forever. Even 30 minutes earlier adds up to a full working month per year, but that extra 90 minutes per day adds up to three full working months, 120 hours per year. That's an awful lot of useful and potentially productive time. Like Steve, I find that my motivation levels rise higher when I am up early and they remain high the whole day. Being a fan of multi-tasking and methods to squeeze more out of each day, I've decided to try out Steve's suggestions. Today I managed to get up at 6.30. As it's my day off today and I had a late night yesterday, I think this is not bad. But from tomorrow on, the 5am regime will begin.
Steve's blog is at: www.stevepavlina.com and is totally worth checking out.
Today is Qing Ming Jie, or Tomb-sweeping Fesitival. On this day, Chinese people visit and take care of their deceased relatives' graves. They also burn paper money on street crossroads. The belief is that this sends the cash to the "other side" where it can be used by dead family members." In reality, many of my students told me that they live too far from the location of the graveyards and will just be using this day as a fine chance for a long relaxing weekend. The kind Chinese govt. gives everyone an extra Monday off work. I've planned a productive day, involving intensive university research and a few applications.
The choices (so far) are as follows:
MSc in International Management at Exeter or Roborough, MSc in Process and Project Management at Warwick, MA in Modern Chinese Studies at Oxford; and a variety of similar courses at universities in the Netherlands and Germany. Studying in the Netherlands is
my most recent idea, because the tuition fees are a fraction of those in the UK. Back home, I'd have to spend at least 5000 pounds for a year's tuition. Universities can charge whatever they like for postgrad education. However in the Netherlands, I found many equivalent masters courses, in English, for around 1500 euros. Also, as they are also EU, I can easily and freely find part-time work without the need for any visa documentation. Unlike Sweden's, which has already passed, the Netherlands' uni application deadline is still far off in May or June. Sweden offers undergrad and postgrad education entirely free of charge even to foreigners and even has a huge selection of subjects taught in English. But I guess it's pretty competitive, as for anything free, and they close the application window in January of the same year. Oxford is on my list just because it would be amazing to study there, if I could ever get accepted onto any programme. I picked Modern Chinese Studies because it seems like I might have a fighting chance of acceptance. Four years experience in the field plus language skills must mean something...
I already feel very motivated and productive by writing this blog post at 7.40 am, so now I'm going to continue my disciplined new lifestyle by NOT drinking coffee for breakfast. Even the civet variety... ;-)
I have never been fond of lying in bed till noon, but the idea of gaining an entire working month of extra time each year sounded fantastic. My usual getting-up time ranges between 6.30 and 8am, but on Steve Pavlina's life improvement blog he discusses how you can train yourself to rise at 5am, every single morning, forever. Even 30 minutes earlier adds up to a full working month per year, but that extra 90 minutes per day adds up to three full working months, 120 hours per year. That's an awful lot of useful and potentially productive time. Like Steve, I find that my motivation levels rise higher when I am up early and they remain high the whole day. Being a fan of multi-tasking and methods to squeeze more out of each day, I've decided to try out Steve's suggestions. Today I managed to get up at 6.30. As it's my day off today and I had a late night yesterday, I think this is not bad. But from tomorrow on, the 5am regime will begin.
Steve's blog is at: www.stevepavlina.com and is totally worth checking out.
Today is Qing Ming Jie, or Tomb-sweeping Fesitival. On this day, Chinese people visit and take care of their deceased relatives' graves. They also burn paper money on street crossroads. The belief is that this sends the cash to the "other side" where it can be used by dead family members." In reality, many of my students told me that they live too far from the location of the graveyards and will just be using this day as a fine chance for a long relaxing weekend. The kind Chinese govt. gives everyone an extra Monday off work. I've planned a productive day, involving intensive university research and a few applications.
The choices (so far) are as follows:
MSc in International Management at Exeter or Roborough, MSc in Process and Project Management at Warwick, MA in Modern Chinese Studies at Oxford; and a variety of similar courses at universities in the Netherlands and Germany. Studying in the Netherlands is
my most recent idea, because the tuition fees are a fraction of those in the UK. Back home, I'd have to spend at least 5000 pounds for a year's tuition. Universities can charge whatever they like for postgrad education. However in the Netherlands, I found many equivalent masters courses, in English, for around 1500 euros. Also, as they are also EU, I can easily and freely find part-time work without the need for any visa documentation. Unlike Sweden's, which has already passed, the Netherlands' uni application deadline is still far off in May or June. Sweden offers undergrad and postgrad education entirely free of charge even to foreigners and even has a huge selection of subjects taught in English. But I guess it's pretty competitive, as for anything free, and they close the application window in January of the same year. Oxford is on my list just because it would be amazing to study there, if I could ever get accepted onto any programme. I picked Modern Chinese Studies because it seems like I might have a fighting chance of acceptance. Four years experience in the field plus language skills must mean something...
I already feel very motivated and productive by writing this blog post at 7.40 am, so now I'm going to continue my disciplined new lifestyle by NOT drinking coffee for breakfast. Even the civet variety... ;-)
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