It seem I have nothing to write about anymore. Most of my post are social comments on people and their activities. I guess that's the sociology training. Lately, there has been very few thoughts worth writing about. Personally I am not an exciting individual. I can relate and do most of the things other people do. For me to talk about my life would be boring. On the other hand, I love to read about others. What excites them, angers them or pleases them is fascinating. However, I have come up with a few new ideas. I want to write them down so I can think about them and develop some conclusions. Honestly I want to write them down to force me to continue this journal.

Chinese are delusional about their place in the world. This has a lot to do with the educational system.

Expats need to spend more time observing the world around them and stop trying to do everything immediately. Take a cue from children, they are smarter then most people think. They are always watching others. They are always interested in "how". How did they do that? How can I do that?

I need to get out of China. This is probably a direct response to the first observation.

The weather here has been crazy. The temperature has ranged from 20-24 degrees during the day, to around 13 at night. So, while large regions of the country bake under a severe drought, we enjoy comfortable weather with sufficient rainfall. A week ago it rained more 150mm. 

Yesterday was Teacher's Day. I got e-cards, a bag of chestnuts, and many well wishes from students. It was a great day. Supposedly the school will give us a bonus, but I haven't heard anything official.

I don't really have much to write about. I can't seem to sleep right now, so I got up hoping that would wear me out again. I should probably try reading. There's nothing like a dry bit of writing to bore a person to sleep.

It's been a rough week. I have come to realize that most schools in China are the same. The problem you encounter in your first job will reappear in your second, third and fourth position. Schools are a business. There are very few institutions interested in the education of their students. Fill the seats with warm bodies and find a laowai with a neutral accent to stand in the front of the room.  Sorry, I'm babbling about something that will never change.

Classes started this week. When I arrived I had thought they would not start for two weeks. If the school had bothered to inform the teachers of the start date, I would have come earlier. We received our schedules with only a few days to prepare for class. Although this is par for the course, it never stops irritating me. Luckily, at this school teachers are not expected to teach "real" classes. We are only being asked to teach oral and movies. A few of the more talented (educated, experienced, put upon) have been asked to fill a void and teach a writing class. Somehow I have been lumped into this group. No problem. I have taught writing before and brought all my materials from last year.

Still the first week is always matter of not letting things get to you. There have been schedule changes constantly. Teachers complaining about things that cannot be changed or are culturally part of China. Students complaining about teachers. It seems the school has hired a number of non-native speakers and the students do not like their accents. I can't say I blame them. A lot of their learning is done by rote memorization and imitation. Non-native speakers interfere with their view of what a foreigner should sound and act like. Last year one of our group was a great teacher  whose L1 was not English. Nobody would ever be able to tell she was not from th UK. Unfortunately this year things are different.

I'm hoping next week the kinks have been worked out and life can return to the routine of teaching. Oh...I can't believe I just wish for life to become routine.

Tomorrow is my birthday.

This will be my last post for a while. I'll be traveling for the next 6 weeks. The vacation time you get working in China is incredible. While I'll have access to a computer off and on during my travels and my trip home, it's very unlikely I will post anything. I'll catch up when I get back in Aug.

Bye for now.

Got my tickets. They called at about 4pm.

Things are going quite well here all of the sudden. The students have agreed to go back to class. The school has agreed to hold all the remaining exams over the next three days and then let the students go home.  I got signed off, which means I completed my contract and can leave. They paid me my last pay check. Now all I need is my plane ticket, which the school is getting for me and I am out of here.

6 weeks of summer vacation!  Yeah!

It's been 7 days since the riot. The students are still not going to classes. Yesterday's big announcement seemed to have no effect on the students. Today they are still marching and shouting. However, it has been raining pretty steadily and that seems to have slowed them down a little.

I tried to have a discussion with the FAO leader, but that is like talking to a brick wall. There was almost nothing to be gained from him.

Yesterday's big announcement included:

• The president and vice-president have been fired.
  
  
• They are to make a public apology
  
  
• Students will be given a 2nd chance to take their exams
  
  
• Student leaders will be punished
  

In regards to the Pres., I don't really care for him. He's a "yes" man who got his job through favors and not ability. As for the VP, he's a racist fool who is only slightly less disliked by most people on this campus then his wife. Since the public apology will be in Chinese, I unfortunately will miss it. I'm pretty sure what ever is said I would not find satisfying anyway. Regarding the exams, that's a no-brainer. They can't fail 10,000 students. That would be an even bigger embarrassment to the school. And finally punishing students, everyone needs a scapegoat. Rumors is they will not be kicked out of school. However, I for one don't trust this school.

I managed to turn in my grades. I refused to fail anyone and thought that would be a problem but everything went smoothly.  The secretary of the department is another "yes" man who is easy to fluster. However, since nobody told him what to do, he simply accepted what was given to him.

That is the current situation at ShengDa. I'm not leaving for a few more days. I still have time to see how this pans out.

Here is another media report about the Student Uprising.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asiapacific/detail.asp?GRP=C&id=84415

Today is pretty much like yesterday. The are large groups of students around the admin building, students are not attending finals, and the riot police are still here. There are many police vans and cars parked just outside the gate. There is even a water cannon stationed in downtown LongHu. The students are still being good. There is a lot of shouting, but there has been no more destruction since the weekend.

The leaders of the college are scheduled to make an announcement tonight sometime after 6pm. This will either quiet the students and things will return to normal or really PO them and we will be in for another round of demonstrations. Currently the students far too committed to quit now. One student I talked to said, "We've been here for 5 days. At this point we have nothing more to lose."

There has been no word on what the teachers are suppose to do about finals. I went to pick mine up at the office and I had one. That would be one test out of 115 students. I got to see the other stacks that were there for the FTs. One teacher had 10-15, another had 5 and two teachers had 1-2.

On another note, the story has made it's way into the international press. AP has published a story and it has been picked up by a number of papers. The most notable is CNN. 
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/06/19/china.studentriot.ap/