Merry Christmas! Happy new Year! I have to say that my Christmas in China was somewhat of a disappointment. Being at a banquet with 100 other teachers in a new country all or most in their mid twenties meant that for most of them it was just an excuse to get drunk. That plus the fact that the food itself was unremarkable chinese food meant that the day itself was nothing particularly special. Seeing most of my fellow teacher perform for the talent show was funny but all in all it was not nearly as much fun as Christmas at homewas/is.
Now, while the Christmas celebration itself was not much there were a few very nice things about Christmas. Of course being able to talk to the family was very nice as was getting packages from home but once again comapred to being able to actually be with the family it was also a reminder of what was missing. My kids were the nicest aprt of Christmas that occured in country. Not all or even most but a few gave me cards and an even fewer number gave me actual gifts. I got a Santa doll, a hand painted flag of China, a sculpture/painting of wolves, a jade pendant for good luck and a hand knitted scarf. The scarf was knitted by the students mother and in the note the student apologized for the lack of skill in its creation though I personally think it is very well made. So not expecting any gifts it was a very nice suprise to recieve them from some of my students. I don't know if teachers in the states feel the same way or if after a while it just becomes same old same old for them but here and now for me at least it was a very welcome suprise.
Next up is new Years, all the classes had a little aprty in their room that reminded me of All Saints and for the day itself i will go to hong Kong assuming I am not sick because i feel myeslf getting sick I think so I have been lots of oranges(almost forgot my school gave me a box full of oranges, and a big box not a little one) Tongiht Im going to get Hot and sour soup ith noodles at the local noodle joint and hope like all get out that I am better in time.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Almost finished with teaching about Christmas. I have Christmas Day and New Years Day off but in between I have class but On January 12th is break so that is getting ever closer. it's weird becaus i realized a few days ago that for all my life I have been on break for at least a week or so by this time and I still have another couple weeks or so until i get off. But I do have a solid month which is nice. As far as Christmas go, the kids know about it and I see lots of Merry Christmas signs(all in english) on restaurants and the like. But the knowledge is very superficial. They know we have turkey because in America we always have turkey when we have a holiday. They know about Christmas hats and Christmas "socks" though they do not know what they are for. They of course all know presents and Santa but for most of them they call him Christmas old man which leads me to believe that they know him only by site, that is that they have seen pictures of him but that's it.
What else? Ah, my tutoring is going well, an hour and a half on Fridays and two on Sunday, both of the kids I tutor(a 12 year old boy and 10 year old girl) have smaller sisters and both mothers have started telling the smaller sisters to call me uncle, which they do in a very cute way. The girl is better then the boy and both the mothers like to "pop"(barge) in and talk during the tutoring which is fine but I get the feeling they want to practise their english too. Everyone here who speaks english has a tendency to mix up pronouns when talking about people(calling hes shes and vice versa) but otherwise they speak english fairly well. For my first client I never saw the father because he lived in a different city where he worked. My new girl client has a mother father grandmother and nanny along with the two kids in the house(not that big but nice) while the other has no grandmother but otherwise same setup except the mother also has another apartment in the city as well. Anyways, that is what is going on with me at the moment, not sure what I'll be up to this weekend but nothing fancy as I am trying to keep a low profile to save every RMB I can for the trip. Happy Holidays to all!
What else? Ah, my tutoring is going well, an hour and a half on Fridays and two on Sunday, both of the kids I tutor(a 12 year old boy and 10 year old girl) have smaller sisters and both mothers have started telling the smaller sisters to call me uncle, which they do in a very cute way. The girl is better then the boy and both the mothers like to "pop"(barge) in and talk during the tutoring which is fine but I get the feeling they want to practise their english too. Everyone here who speaks english has a tendency to mix up pronouns when talking about people(calling hes shes and vice versa) but otherwise they speak english fairly well. For my first client I never saw the father because he lived in a different city where he worked. My new girl client has a mother father grandmother and nanny along with the two kids in the house(not that big but nice) while the other has no grandmother but otherwise same setup except the mother also has another apartment in the city as well. Anyways, that is what is going on with me at the moment, not sure what I'll be up to this weekend but nothing fancy as I am trying to keep a low profile to save every RMB I can for the trip. Happy Holidays to all!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Shoes Pt 2
In my haste to tell about my economic face to face I almost forgot to talk about the actual exchange. I went into the shop on the third floor of the mall and it was quite small. After I sat down they asked me what brand I wanted and I told them Puma and they then took out a laminated paper with different pictures of the different types of Puma shoes. i pointed to the ones that I wanted and told them my shoe size. Now I had bought DVDs there before and that time they had a radio and told the person on the other line what DVDs they needed and they were brought to me. So this time i expected the same thing. Instead, a panel in the roof of the shop opened and like the hand of God a hand with the shoe box reached down and handed it to the person inside the shop. Never seen taht before so I am glad I did not forget to let people know.
In my haste to tell about my economic face to face I almost forgot to talk about the actual exchange. I went into the shop on the third floor of the mall and it was quite small. After I sat down they asked me what brand I wanted and I told them Puma and they then took out a laminated paper with different pictures of the different types of Puma shoes. i pointed to the ones that I wanted and told them my shoe size. Now I had bought DVDs there before and that time they had a radio and told the person on the other line what DVDs they needed and they were brought to me. So this time i expected the same thing. Instead, a panel in the roof of the shop opened and like the hand of God a hand with the shoe box reached down and handed it to the person inside the shop. Never seen taht before so I am glad I did not forget to let people know.
Ah the cruelties of imperfect information! Damn you imperfect information, and take price discrimination down there with you! FLASH, economics in action right here right now in Shenzhen. So I was out buying presents, which is more difficult than it sounds, trying to find things that are distinctly chinese and yet not the exact same stuff that I saw all the time in Chinatown, especially in Shenzhen, which is not noted for its tourist trade so there are not alot of stores catering to that sort of thing, not that most of the stuff in said stores would be anything but kitsch anyways. Anyways, back to the point at hand. While in beijing a friend had bought a t shirt for 50 kuai, about 6 bucks and was very happy about it until I showed him the same shirt that I had bought for 15 kuai. While he was upset I pointed out that since both he and the seller had reached a mutually beneficial arrangement, where they had eached exchanged an item for something they wanted more that it was an okay deal. According to utility maximization, perfect price discrimination works out well, where each customer pays exactly how much for the item that it is worth to them. So when it happened to him it was actually okay in the grand economic scheme of things.
Because of imperfect information, there exists price discrimination outside of a monopoly and inside of Shenzhen. The shoes that I bought in this example, while still cheaper than how much i would have paid for them in the USA were still much more expensive than they would have been had I known the other prices they were being sold for. Ah, economics, you are a cruel cruel mistress!!
Also on an unrelated note, I was asked why I had a new hotplate. The old hotplate did work, after a fashion. It would work well for about 10 to 15 minutes and then shut off for another 15 minutes until I could turn it on again. So I bought a new one, and the old one will go to a needy fellow teacher whose school only gave them a microwave so everyone ends up happy. Almost done teaching my week about being on a deserted island and I am going to put a full blog entry into the asnwers to questions I got about that but I did get to teach them the word cannibal so there is a preview.
Because of imperfect information, there exists price discrimination outside of a monopoly and inside of Shenzhen. The shoes that I bought in this example, while still cheaper than how much i would have paid for them in the USA were still much more expensive than they would have been had I known the other prices they were being sold for. Ah, economics, you are a cruel cruel mistress!!
Also on an unrelated note, I was asked why I had a new hotplate. The old hotplate did work, after a fashion. It would work well for about 10 to 15 minutes and then shut off for another 15 minutes until I could turn it on again. So I bought a new one, and the old one will go to a needy fellow teacher whose school only gave them a microwave so everyone ends up happy. Almost done teaching my week about being on a deserted island and I am going to put a full blog entry into the asnwers to questions I got about that but I did get to teach them the word cannibal so there is a preview.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The China Squat
Here in China, just as in India, the toilets are the literal inverse of those in the Unites States, ie where they go up and form a seat in the States here and in India they go down, basically a porcelain hole in the ground. Now just as then in India I didn't understand why if they have the ability to make a toilet that is a whole why they cannot make one that is a seat which is so much more comfortable. However, there is something here called the "China squat" which does shed some light on this. Here when people are waiting rather then standing around they squat, perfectly balanced with the feet flat on the ground. This is a very stable squat as compared to what I can do, but then I am very unflexable. So if you are able to do the China squat then it makes the bathrooms here very easy.
Ah, well cultural differences, is what some people say, but then any of those people are not a 20 something living in the other country. Maybe you know where I am going with this, so i will get to the point, bars and clubs. Now while taking no stnad myself there are some people who do go out on occasion to bars and clubs and imbibe drinks of a mind altering nature. Part of the way they alter the mind in that they dampen motor control and balance. Ah, yes, balance. I am very steady on my feet even in the worst of times but when needing to attend to nature while having been drinking it is a very difficult thing. Now luckily it has never come to a bad end and i will knock on wood that it won't but I would think that even to people to whom the china squat is second nature this might be an issue, especially considering the nature of barand club bathroom floors and what it means to solid footing.
I want to be able to do the china squat just on general principles and I have been trying but I need to do consistent yoga/stretching and my schedule is somwhat hectic so it is hard to find the time, but i still have hope. now I have to go buy a new hotplate.
Here in China, just as in India, the toilets are the literal inverse of those in the Unites States, ie where they go up and form a seat in the States here and in India they go down, basically a porcelain hole in the ground. Now just as then in India I didn't understand why if they have the ability to make a toilet that is a whole why they cannot make one that is a seat which is so much more comfortable. However, there is something here called the "China squat" which does shed some light on this. Here when people are waiting rather then standing around they squat, perfectly balanced with the feet flat on the ground. This is a very stable squat as compared to what I can do, but then I am very unflexable. So if you are able to do the China squat then it makes the bathrooms here very easy.
Ah, well cultural differences, is what some people say, but then any of those people are not a 20 something living in the other country. Maybe you know where I am going with this, so i will get to the point, bars and clubs. Now while taking no stnad myself there are some people who do go out on occasion to bars and clubs and imbibe drinks of a mind altering nature. Part of the way they alter the mind in that they dampen motor control and balance. Ah, yes, balance. I am very steady on my feet even in the worst of times but when needing to attend to nature while having been drinking it is a very difficult thing. Now luckily it has never come to a bad end and i will knock on wood that it won't but I would think that even to people to whom the china squat is second nature this might be an issue, especially considering the nature of barand club bathroom floors and what it means to solid footing.
I want to be able to do the china squat just on general principles and I have been trying but I need to do consistent yoga/stretching and my schedule is somwhat hectic so it is hard to find the time, but i still have hope. now I have to go buy a new hotplate.
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