My morning before class started with sleeping through the alarm, and as always, rushing set off a series of other minor catastrophes. When I saw the No Left Turn – Train sign by Chapel Hill Road, I realized I’d have to teleport to make it on time, and my usual pre-class coffee was completely out of the [...]
As months go by, I’m getting more and more soured on the endless parking lots here, opening into shopping or office complexes and strip malls without sidewalks, a city designed for a life like that of the old Peking emperors, where our feet never touch the ground. My wanderlust is frustrated by roads that don’t [...]
Bosphorus Restaurant
329 North Harrison Ave
Cary, NC
I drive past Bosphorus restaurant every week on my way to teach at Chinese school, but it was our first time eating there. Inside, Bosphorus is decorated with posters of Turkish landscapes and artwork, painted pottery and blue-and-white glass evil eye medallions. (Being classicists, we joked about how to [...]
On Saturday, I gave my students at Chinese school a writing assignment. They were asked to imagine that ten years have passed and they’ve become hugely successful in their chosen field. They’re so successful, in fact, that they’ve been invited back to Chinese school to speak to the new students about the secrets of their [...]
What makes Nancy Drew: Lights, Camera, Curses! a girls’ game is the female protagonist. It’s not pink, it’s not cutesy, there are no magic animal friends, there is no shopping. Let me repeat that in case you were skimming. This game is not pink. I want to call up the developers at Her [...]
I don’t mean to sound like a bitter old schoolmarm, but when did it become the teacher’s job to stop lessons to provide supplies? I remember forgetting my pen or pencil and asking to borrow one in whispers, hoping my teacher wouldn’t catch me unprepared. So usually when my teenage students announce “I don’t have [...]
I planned to write a post about starting a job today, teaching SAT prep. Towards the end of the job interview, when we were talking about where to park and what time to arrive, the main teacher (I’m the assistant) happened to mention that it’s a Chinese Saturday school, hosted in the Sunday school rooms [...]
Model posing with Carol and Grace!
Sven shows us blue steel.
He has a lot of modeling experience.
A rare photo of everyone at work.
(Staged, of course)
I gave one of my classes a lesson on idioms, as part of my ongoing guest to eliminate certain abused phrases (like overuse of what a pity or using not at all as a response to thank you) from my students’ English. I gave them a handout with a list of idioms and some example [...]
In the office the other day…
Sven: I’m off to class to have mad fun with our apathetic teenagers!
Carol: Good job! Did you learn that word from David?
Sven: What?
Meg: He said “mad fun” not “ma fan“. (Chinese for problems or trouble)
Carol: Wow, your tones are almost as bad as Sven’s.
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