Tag Archives: Eric
Eight Immortals and Three Americans
Yesterday I went to Penglai with David and his friend Yoshy. We took a bus from Yantai to Penglai in the morning, and I bought the tickets because my Chinese rocks! (and by “rocks,” I mean “is barely functional”) We … Continue reading
The other side of lao wai
Last night, Zorro, David and I went to dinner at the Korean pizza place, and we saw other foreigners! It’s always really exciting to meet foreigners in Yantai, especially outside of Jackie’s or Cape Of Storms. I can go days … Continue reading
My Parents
I’ve already talked my sister into visting me in China in August. (This is a picture of her with her Chinese music ensemble at Wesleyan… guess which one is my sister!) Now I’m trying to convince my mom and my … Continue reading
You People
The other day I was crossing the street and I said “You people invented gunpowder and silk! Surely mastering a turn signal is nothing to that!” Usually shouting witticisms at my non-English speaking surroundings makes me feel better, but today … Continue reading
Travel In China
Tonight I had my adult students. Now, I don’t really like teaching adults because they have all the idiosyncrasies of my middle school students (refusal to speak above a whisper, inability to separate “L” and “R” but an insistence that … Continue reading
Helen of Yantai
I tutor a little girl called Helen, and by “tutor” I mean we play Barbies and lots of clapping games. She is bright, sweet, funny and the picture to the left shows her dressed up for her school concert and … Continue reading
Changing Jobs In China
Thursday Ji: Hey, there’s a college in Weihai that needs a teacher.Meg: I’m sorry, no. My contract is for Yantai and I don’t want to move.Ji: *long Chinese sob story regarding the horrific death of the previous teacher’s mother and … Continue reading
Cherry Stones
Yantai is famous for cherries, and I think I’ve received at least my body mass in bags full of cherries from students. At one point I had three bags in my fridge and another one on the kitchen table. They’re … Continue reading
Yes, I speak English.
My school often hires secretaries who don’t speak English. I understand that I’m in China and I understand that the vast majority of people I meet will not speak English. But it seems to me that speaking English would be … Continue reading
Pandora’s Box
Today when I was coming in to work, the postman stopped me in the hallway and shoved a box at me. (It had to be mine because it was addressed in English!) I just stood there for a moment, looking … Continue reading
