u
l 04 20
07
What Teachers Make
Watch this…
and then go here and watch these…
The Impotence of Proofreading
Like, You Know?
u
n 29 20
07
Looking Back At My Life In ESL
So, today is officially the first day of the next ‘phase’ of my life. It’s hard to chunk stuff into nice little boxes, called “phases”, but as my memory tends to work best when I remember defining moments – lets call this one.
Yesterday ended my run as an ESL teacher; a roll I somehow managed to play for two and a half years without anyone being the wiser that I hadn’t a clue what it was to “be” a teacher.
I, as many, used ESL as a means to an end; as a way to experience living in another…
read more...p
r 04 20
07
I’m Not Kid Friendly
I often relay to people the story of my flight over to China back in January of 2005. I had travelled quite a bit at home and abroad, but had never set foot in the Middle Kingdom. My total combined knowledge of China at that point was a rough hash of info compiled from reading The Rape of Nanking
What I knew less about, however, was kids. More than the strange culture, weird food,…
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r 10 20
07
Finally made it to the Guardian, sort of…
I’ve generally been a fan of The Guardian since becoming acquainted to it via Brits I’ve met while abroad. Now, as a journalist cum blogger, I’ve fallen out of like with the modern manifestations of traditional media and have started to rely on less “corporately suave” mediums for my news. However, generally speaking, I still like what the publication has to say…
So it is with a bit of pride that I got the following e-mail:
Hi Ryan,
Just a quick note to let you know that the email interview you did for us at Expats
…
read more...o
v 07 20
06
Quid Pro Quo: So Cool For School
Possibly the coolest part about stretching my legs and leaving the safety of the True North Strong And Free is that I meet some amazing people. Actually, sometimes it's a bit overwhelming to be surrounded by such cool people and realize my biggest concerns are that people at work didn't notice I shaved my beard. Sigh.
Well, one such cool person is Gionata, or as the Dalian crew came to know him – John. John, you may remember, stayed with Maggie and I back in February. He stayed…
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n 08 20
06
On The Other Side Of The Tracks
This past week I’ve been doing this add-on job working at a rather wealthy school here in town. I got the lead from my friend Gabriel, and deciding I might need some extra cash for my trip home this summer, followed up on it.
For a 45 minute session it’s 150 RMB (about $21 CND), so not too bad in the money department. However, it’s at the complete opposite end of town.
To take a bus there it would be about three hours round trip crammed into a piece of overstuffed metal on wheels, and a taxi, though more comfortable,…
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n 16 20
05
Hello Teacher
Right, so I figured that today I’d just go in to the school, chill out, maybe sit in on one of Tom’s classes and get a feel for the whole thing… but a sickly Matthew last evening put a kink in that.
As there is only five foreign teachers at the Jinzhou school, and I’m the only one that wasn’t working today – when Matthew called in sick, it sort of fell on me to cover for him. I’m beginning to think that the Great Energy Source has it in for me and just likes to see what happens when…
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n 13 20
05
Orient-ation
It’s 7:30 a.m. and I’m just waiting for the water to warm up for my morning shower – sadly, though constantly reminding myself last night I forgot to turn on the water heater before bed.
I’m heading into my second day of orientation and yet another day of trying to track down access to my Canadian bank account. If I had had an inkling of knowledge that this would be so difficult (I think I’ve tried around 20 ATMs in Jinzhou and Dalian) I would have tried a lot harder to find an international ATM at one of the various…
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Jarrod Wakley: 
Yeeling: 
AJB: 
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