An American Expat in China

There were a couple lockdowns this week that indirectly impacted me.   Any building can be placed in lockdown at any time if someone in the building tests positive.  Although I have been fortunate to not be directly impacted by any lockdowns this last week, they did indirectly impact my schedule.  On Wednesday, because of a lockdown in one of the apartment complexes that houses teachers, there were five teachers absent and I was called to sub at the last minute.  Today, because of a lockdown in one of my bandmate's building, we ended up canceling band practice.   Halloween celebrations have been underway all week despite the lockdowns.  My school had spirit this week. So throughout the week children and staff were dressed in a variety of festive attire and costumes. If I were allowed to I would include pictures of the adorable little kids in their costumes, but because of privacy concerns I cannot. Friday night I worked late, had dinner at a Frien...

This past week practically flew by.  On Monday I was brought to the Civic Center to take care of some important stuff relating to my visa, residency, and work permit.  I had to submit my passport which I will get back soon.  I voted by mail from China.  It cost me about $57 to mail it through a courier service.  I hope it gets there because the next US midterm election is a big one.  What I love about teaching here is that I am able to experiment with many of the ideas I have had over the last four years.  I have already talked at length about the negative aspects of teaching in the US.  Those issues are far worse in urban settings.  It was rare that I had enough consistent attendees, or students who cared enough, in class to even execute what I had planned.  I am now in the fortunate position to use much of the plans that I have accumulated over the last four years.  This means that I never need to come up with anything on the spot...

This weekend brings much needed rest.  The first week of working at Basis in Shenzhen has been very rewarding but exhausting.  This is the first time in four years that I actually feel like I am working.  For the last four years of working in Philadelphia I would prepare for a year of teaching only to execute less than a third of what I had planned.  This came down to the fact that the school(s) where I worked had such low standards that students were barely expected to show up.  When they did show up I was asked to lower my expectations to accommodate for their absence.   The culture of China stands in sharp contrast to the culture of the US.  There is a reason the US is falling behind in everything except prison population per capita.  We do not value education in the US.  I never had a student ASK for more challenging work until I moved here.  Students here compete to get into the top colleges so they can get good paying jobs....

 I am reaching the end of my first week in Shenzhen.  I was fortunate to arrive amidst a national holiday and thus had plenty of time to get my bearings and settle in.  Thursday was my second full day here. I got tested, bought some cleaning supplies, and visited my job in the early afternoon.  The school is pretty neat but I could imagine it will be much more interesting with students there tomorrow.  Later in the day I enjoyed a trip to the mall across from SeaWorld called "Gateway One".  I was there to get sunscreen, which was very expensive, but I needed to protect my skin from the intense sun here.  Once I had acquired the most expensive sunscreen on the planet I took some time to wander the mall.  They had some lovely statuary scattered throughout the building that I enjoyed.  From the roof I could see the SeaWorld Square and the mountains behind the building.  After my short tour of the mall I went a couple blocks down the street ...