Return of the Jedi

I know it's not exactly a quote but it just seemed so fitting. And yes I suppose if the title is implying that anybody would be the referred to Jedi than I suppose it would be myself. Although I'm no jedi, I have been working a little magic over on the far East side of the world. I recently discovered a way to blast straight through the great firewall of China and reestablish contact with the rest of the web savvy community. All thanks to a handy little download called a VPN (I have no idea what it stands for much less how it works) and a mere $60 later...abracadabra. I now have full access to blogspot, facebook, youtube, twitter, and even (drumroll please) hulu! It really is good news to have blog access as it was a frustrating thing to have subject to the whims of the Chinese government.

Internet news aside, I returned to China on August 28th. I journeyed over once again with my IECS cohorts, including two new additions to Team Baoding. Bethany and Kerry are the newbies who will be teaching at the Hebei College of Finance and Hebei University respectively. We are still unfortunately one short as Jon has encountered some Visa problems* and will not be able to return until September 12th (*An ultrasound from a Chinese physical discovered an anomoly on his kidney which Jon got checked out in the states, nothing serious, but unfortunately had to reapply for visas all over again). Summer life has altered to school life in a tornado like fashion here in Baoding as I stepped off a plane on Friday night and into the classroom a very jet-lagged Monday morning. Luckily, I happen to be teaching the same students this semester and it was great to see so many familiar faces. Unluckily, after some failed attemps at shmoozing with the officials, I happen to be teaching the same course, a riveting Business Writing, with no new material to draw from. It will definitely be a challenge to get my now senior students engaged into the classroom this semester.

Outside the classroom it has been great to see the familiar sights and pungent smells of the city. The week has been full of catching up over meals with friends, both Chinese and foreign. It has been great to experience China anew through the fresh eyes of the new teachers. I couldn't help but smile a bit as Kerry screamed after a live fish flew out of the hands of the waiter and proceeded to flop around the room. Another of my favorite new experiences was a high class Korean Barbecue restaurant that we enjoyed with our New Zealand friends Mike and Wen Jia. The meal was stylized in a cook-it-in-front-of-you type fashion and the meat was absolutely excellent. Almost like a Japanese steakhouse but in China at a Korean restaurant, not to be confusing or anything. After our first week of classes a big group of foreigners got together to have a welcome back meal. All told I think 18 people from countries all around the world showed up and sat at a large circle table to share a Chinese meal together. It was a special thing to be able to interact with so many people who share such different cultural backgrounds than my own.

Yesterday, in front of the Yesbuy (like a convenience store...but Chinese) I met a bright eyed youth, freshly completed with his military training, who introduced himself to me as "Rubbish" and then proceeded to ask for my phone number. How could I resist? I'm sure Rubbish and I will be getting lunch and perhaps sharing a game of ping-pong quite soon. And so it goes, life is not without obstacles here just as in the rest of the world. But as our fearless leader so fervently quoted "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." Nothing out of the ordinary about it, just business as usual here in Baoding.