Octobering in the eleven

Even though we're easing into the winter, it seems like we've barely started with Fall.  The leaves outside are just yellowing this past week, and many are already blown away to who knows where by a couple days of westerly winds.  The ground isn't crunchy underfoot and my jacket was too much warmth this past afternoon.  It's a gentle way to go into winter, for sure.

There's ton of construction going on all over China. Apartments, primarily.

So!  I'm sure you're curious how I'm surviving and all that.  Things are going well and I've even been given another class to teach.  Next week I'll also be substituting for the upper-level math teacher as well, but she's prepared all the work already.. so it should just be.. handing out the work and silencing the students. "Question? Refer to your book, I'm sure it's there." I think that will be fun.

This is a self-assembled sauce for "hot-pot" extractions to be dipped in.

Here's the hot-pot (shabu shabu) with it's two differently flavored sides. So good!!

The new class I've been given is 6th grade math and it has gone fairly well this week.  The students are noisy and playful, but not disrespectfully so, and (so far) it's easy to bring them back to earth and on to the next problem sets.  Our curriculum is Saxon Math (I think they're doing level 87) which I like. It's boring, but also.. well, math. That class is only seven kids, three girls and four boys.

We've recently moved into the newly constructed upper floor of our school.

Ah, Math! I enjoyed every (pre-college) math teacher I ever had... they were all very good.  Starting with my Dad when I was home schooled, then freshman year in HS it was Mr. Schutt, sophomore year was Mrs. Stoa (Alg. 2) and Miss Turner (Honors Geometry), then Jr year I had pre-calc with Miss Poplin (who later became Mrs. Landers (marrying the Chemistry teacher, oooh!)), and finally Miss Mac who got me started in AP Calculus. I'm not a huge fan of memorizing equations, so Calculus 2 in community college was a quick downhill for me. Plus I was massively distracted in class (since it was my first year back in the US). Ah, good times.

All that said, I'm slow at math these days. I simply haven't needed to use use it until teaching this class.

Alvin (12th grade) and I in Shenyang, he had to go there to take the SAT.

Other things I've been up to.. I took a 14 hour train ride to Shenyang a couple weeks back and visited some old friends of my brother Peter (now they're friends of mine). Jonathan  and Monika were onboard the ship with Peter while he served from 2000 until 2002. I barely crossed paths with Jonathan when I joined, but met his younger brother, Mark (who now lives in France), many times.  Great family with a lot of creativity/out-of-the-box thinking. One of our activities was to go slack-lining and unicycling around the park with some of Jon and Moni's co-workers (who're also a neat bunch).  I admit to being slightly envious of their community there.

Candy balloon animals, along with interested onlookers.

Jonathan doing fairly well on the slack-line.

Jonathan and Monika with their (hopefully)soon-to-be-adopted foster child Jeremy.

While in Shenyang we made a trip to IKEA to pick up various domestic articles for my apartment/dorm room. One very mild preoccupation has been trying to figure out how to make the space.. "home" for now. One of my previous roommates, Erik Floyd, has a real knack for crafting lamps and artwork to make a space comfortable, and I've since been inspired by what he does.  My sister Ariana (Mullins) also has quite a talent for design and seeing her work has gotten me to say to my hospital-white, sparely furnished room, "No.. this will not do."  I might have gone too far, though, in putting up huge squares of brilliant red fabric on the walls. It's a process and I'm no interior designer (yet).

Candied fruit. Sold on the street near Shenyang's Forbidden Palace.

Sweet mother/grandmother and baby. (i'm getting bolder with taking stranger's photos)

Gloria and Manuel, resident Filipinos at my school. Gloria speaks my dialect. (Manuel is an amazing cook)

Some of the Filipino community in Shenyang. We were celebrating Manuel's 55th.

This kid is both a character and a talker. (and in my math and science class)

On my way back from Shenyang I was in a bunk above a couple elderly Koreo-Chinese ladies. I don't know much Korean, and even less Chinese, but I know they were mixing the two languages. It was pretty fascinating listening to them talk. At least for the first hour or two. Can't quite say the same for the latter hours. They had such a gossipy tone to their conversation.

Our kids at chapel.

It's me!

There's more to write, but more urgently is the "more to grade and prepare for tomorrow". I was uncharacteristically sharp with the 5/6th grade science class today when many of them didn't do their homework. (very very very easy homework). This is the same class which got an average of 15% on their last test.. hrm!! Something must change! One thing that will change on my side is planning for more focused classes and frequent comprehension checks. I feel sorry for the class genius who got 100% on the test and is still perpetually bored.  Any ideas on presenting about Atomic Theory?