Sending gifts over oceans, especially from China, can be a challenge. Thankfully with the help of some talented little students and the Internet, stamps aren’t always needed.
You’ll have to excuse the modified lyrics, but just getting my students to sit still long enough to deliver this little message was tough enough, never mind what it would have taken to get them to sing the song properly.
In late August, 2006, Maggie and I pulled up stakes from Dalian and headed south to Suzhou, a tourist city criss-crossed with canals and dotted with gardens.
With our wedding only months away, this move represents the beginning of our lives together and this video shows the trip.
Ok, I know this is cheating a little bit. I got a bit carried away in my geekdom today and made a little video tour of Dalian with Google Earth (and a bit of video ripping software as I’ve not got the $400 to get the Pro version). Good news is you wont have to wait long or kill too much of time watching it. Weighing in at 3:41, it’s my shortest vBlog yet. Just long enough to get the soundtrack stuck in your head all day. Seriously.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Like in general, not just about this video. Life, gardens, Scotch tape… whatever.
The kids are back! Those adorable little munchkins from vBlog.03: Field Trip! are back, this time showing us all how to stay fit, be healthy, and shake our cans! This vBlog contains remarkably little drivel from yours truely, but instead lets the kids, and the music do the talking.
Watch the students of my primary school as they go through their daily regiment of exercise in the yard. Half aerobic work out and half dance routine it’s full-on funny.
So here it is, a bit of a wait for it, but vBlog numero three! For this entry I decided to turn my camera on those that know the most about life – kids, roughly five hundred of them to be non-exact. My primary school recently invited me to accompany them on a field trip to a park in downtown Dalian. For 50% of the journey I had no idea what we were going to be doing and the other bit was mostly just saying “Hello” to kids.
All in all it was a good time though, and it was nice hanging out with my students and not having to officially teach them anything.
It’s hard to accurately describe what it is to attend a “Chinese” wedding. Sitting on a surreal plane, precariously balanced between old school Chinese customs and nouveau bridal magazines. The bride goes through no less than three changes of dresses, your attending gift is a pack of smokes, and forget that ‘one plate of food’ deal – it just keeps coming.
Some will see the differences, some will see the similarities. Check it out for yourself, and post your comments.
Here it is, the first vBlog. Some friends and I headed out onto the mean streats of Dalian in hunt of some Chinese BBQ, better known as CHUAR!
As summer approaches, there’s nothing better than a few good pengyous, a couple of cheap pijius and a load of skewered random rou. Formica tables, dirty grills, and every part of an animal you can think of – what dining experience can top that?