An American Teacher in Guiyang

Yesterday I got to Changi airport at 0600 for my 0730 flight. I didn't end up on a plane until 2300. Why did I spend the entire day at the airport? It's actually a funny story about a stupid person: me. My original flight plan was Singapore to Ho Chi Minh, then Ho Chi Minh to Seoul. I would get into Seoul in the early evening and have some time to explore the neighborhood before settling in. I failed to check the visa requirements for Vietnam, though. I couldn't get a boarding pass, and the minimum time to process a visa application was 24 hours, so I was stuck here. The easiest solution was to book a flight to a country that didn't require an advance visa to visit. Luckily, there was a direct flight to Korea from Singapore. The catch? It left at 2315 at night. It was cheaper than rescheduling both of my original flights and paying for a visa, so I did it. There are worse airports to be stuck in than Changi. It's beautiful, clean, and there are plenty of sho...

As I mentioned in the last post, the thing that stood out most to me about Hong Kong was its scale. It's quite something, and I hope that this small selection of the hundreds of photos I took while there can give you a sense of it. First up, the view from the roof of my hotel, the Burlington on Hennessy road. It's a mere 31 floors above the ground, but it does give a useful perspective on the rest of the city. Looking down at the street. This reminds me of the stock flyby camera pans you see in so many movies. Looking roughly northwest About due west of the hotel Looking southwest Looking down on the sports park that was near my hotel Hong Kong has a great deal of ultramodern architecture, and I could barely walk two blocks without wanting to stop and take a picture of another striking building. I've put a few of my favorites here. I like the perspective here. The building in the foreground contrasts nicely with the background gold and...

View from a window seat, at 35,000 feet I got into Hong Kong airport at 1015 yesterday, after a 90 minute flight on a Hong Kong Airlines Airbus 320. I'd recommend both the airline and the plane. Staff were courteous and efficient and I had plenty of leg room even in a coach seat. I could have done without the man loudly snoring two rows behind me for the entire flight, but you can't have everything. Shortly after clearing customs and getting a quick lunch, I took a taxi to the the main island. I'm staying at a hotel in Wan Chai, a popular shopping and nightlife area in Hong Kong proper. I could have taken the subway for quite a bit cheaper, but I wasn't in the mood to figure out an unfamiliar metro station. Here's a quick Hong Kong tip: there are three major taxi services: Red (Urban), Green (New Territories) and Blue (Lantau island). Each one only operates in their specific areas, and they only take cash. I am glad I took the taxi to Hong Kong proper, ...

It's winter vacation time here in China. I'll get about five weeks of vacation time, starting on Saturday. I'll be in Hong Kong from the 19th to the 25th of January, when I'll fly to Singapore. I'm staying in Singapore until the 30th, when I'll fly to Seoul. I'll fly back to Guiyang on the 6th of February, and spend the next two weeks here until school starts. I'll be coming back right in the middle of Spring Festival, which should be a lot of fun to see. Spring festival is THE holiday in China. Pretty much everyone gets the week off to celebrate the New Year with their families. Chinese expats come from all over the world to be with their families too. A staggering number of people use the planes, buses, and trains in the days before and after Spring Festival. It's not the best time to be traveling within China, unless you're comfortable with extremely crowded spaces and travel delays of all sorts. I have to come back early because I have...

I've been watching a bit of Chinese television lately to try to get better at my Chinese listening comprehension. I've been neglecting my language studies lately and I'm trying to do whatever I can to get some meaningful exposure to Chinese. It doesn't happen during the work day, because I'm speaking and hearing English the entire day. There's not much chance to practice when I go shopping or out to a restaurant, either. I can get by with the limited set of phrases I can speak and understand, but there's no real opportunities for the sustained speaking and listening I need in order to get more proficient. Watching television gives me a little more of that. It's not perfect but it is useful. You can do worse than watching children's shows and news programs in a language you're trying to learn. It's a simple way to get some high-context exposure to the language and build a bit of cultural literacy as well. All of these shows are subt...

I've read a few news articles recently about how many people are leaving the teaching profession in the United States. As someone who recently did just that, I have a lot to say about it. I love teaching. I  can't imagine doing anything else. I think it's the most important job in the world. I can't imagine going back to doing it in the United States. Why do passionate and dedicated teachers leave the profession? Teaching in the United States sucks, and it's not likely to get better any time soon. Why am I qualified to talk about this? I was an elementary school teacher for 12 years. I taught at the Kindergarten, 3rd grade, and 5th grade levels. I mentored new teachers and served on district curriculum adoption committees. I was a site representative for my teacher's union during and after contract negotiations. I've seen the ways the sausage is made up close from multiple perspectives. I worked in the Berkeley Unified School District, and my experie...