Post by gretch on Nov 17, 2006 21:05:21 GMT 7
Wass up everyone! Been gone quite sometime from the saloon (this one anyway 
) so I thought I’d drop a line to tell you what I’ve been up to!
I got a sweet new job teaching biology and general science at a Sino-Canadian high school about an hour outside Suzhou. Apart from being in the boonies, and that even has it’s benefits, it’s a wonderful position overall: salary, benefits, students, courses, administration, colleagues....
Our students are mainly from Suzhou and Shanghai areas, with the remainder being Korean and Taiwanese. The kids are great, of course they come with the usual teenage hang-ups and ’tudes (but hell…I’m still trying to get rid of mine!!) ,but really nothing major. Besides, after teaching high school in a “troubled” and “challenging” school back in New Jersey, any teenager is an angel. Walking the hallways, the look and behavior of the students reminds me of a US/ western high school . Many of the kids have either lived in Canada and/ or the U. S. for a few years and have that western teen age attitude, not to mention the clothing…we have our own little group of homies fully equipped with ghetto jeans and bling! They’re some of my favorites actually. It’s refreshing being with kids again that actually assert and display some sort of individuality and free thought. The majority of the kids, however, have not been out of China and have the typical “save face and nothing but the face” behavior: extremely timid, shy, quiet, reserved with themselves, etc, etc. So it does make for an interesting contrast.
The students follow different programs, earning either a Canadian and Chinese high school diploma/ certificate or just a Chinese high school certificate. Many go onto colleges/ university in Canada. So, yeah, these kids families are loaded! The Canadian side of the school is ran strictly under British Columbia guidelines/ regulations-everything from curriculum to textbooks to classroom instruction. Apparently, the school is technically Canadian territory…so actually I’m working in Canada…EH!?!
Kinda like an embassy thing I guess…There’s a-boot about 12 teachers on the BC staff, they’re a really great crew…rowdy, beer drinkers who talk about nothing but hockey and suck on maple candy all day. 
The school is into its 4th year this year and has about 500 students in all. Facilities are great, separate labs for biology, chemistry, and physics, all with prep rooms. However, the supplies and materials in the labs is pretty sparse because they’ve not had one consistent science teacher to get them set up and stocked up. Besides, I don’t believe the put much emphasis on doing labs here (China generally), so it’s not a priority.
Even though I am out in the boonies, it does provides beautiful scenery and actual peace and quiet!!! I’m about 20 min tricycle taxi from the 2 nearest towns: both small, the biggest being ’bout 70K. I like to compare the place I’m staying to The Shining. Not that there’s axe wielding maniacs with writers block running around…hell…there’s nooobbbooddy around! My place is in a resort/hotel that’s owned by the same couple who owns the school. It’s new and guests are few and far between. There’s a few of the suite owners who live here, but there’s a poo load of rooms and only a handful of residents. So you have a big ass hotel (3 separate building in all), a big fancy lobby, 2 restaurants all set up and ready, a night club with guys in bow ties waiting at the door for ?, and it’s located on a big ass lake with a walkway and pavilions….but it’s empty! It’s eerie at times … To add to it, the school is built on the grounds of an old, closed down amusement park, so every morning I walk on a crumbled up go-kart track, past the old bumper car building and the huge mounds of rubble on my way to school …kinda weird!
The rest of the surroundings here are rice fields, fish and ag farms, really cool little villages that’ll send you back a couple hundred years, canals, lakes, more canals, goats, and did I mention canals!
And the best part….I’m only a short 1 hr bus ride to that wonderful little town of Suzhou and all it’s smiley happy people that I’ve come totolerate and not kill love and cherish!!! 
It’s a nice blend...I spend my week in the tranquil countryside and my weekends in a drunken stupor catching up with friends in Suzhou.
Enough for now, I'll try not to stay gone so long this time.....
So Cheers everyone, this one's on me!
until later
) so I thought I’d drop a line to tell you what I’ve been up to! I got a sweet new job teaching biology and general science at a Sino-Canadian high school about an hour outside Suzhou. Apart from being in the boonies, and that even has it’s benefits, it’s a wonderful position overall: salary, benefits, students, courses, administration, colleagues....
Our students are mainly from Suzhou and Shanghai areas, with the remainder being Korean and Taiwanese. The kids are great, of course they come with the usual teenage hang-ups and ’tudes (but hell…I’m still trying to get rid of mine!!) ,but really nothing major. Besides, after teaching high school in a “troubled” and “challenging” school back in New Jersey, any teenager is an angel. Walking the hallways, the look and behavior of the students reminds me of a US/ western high school . Many of the kids have either lived in Canada and/ or the U. S. for a few years and have that western teen age attitude, not to mention the clothing…we have our own little group of homies fully equipped with ghetto jeans and bling! They’re some of my favorites actually. It’s refreshing being with kids again that actually assert and display some sort of individuality and free thought. The majority of the kids, however, have not been out of China and have the typical “save face and nothing but the face” behavior: extremely timid, shy, quiet, reserved with themselves, etc, etc. So it does make for an interesting contrast. The students follow different programs, earning either a Canadian and Chinese high school diploma/ certificate or just a Chinese high school certificate. Many go onto colleges/ university in Canada. So, yeah, these kids families are loaded! The Canadian side of the school is ran strictly under British Columbia guidelines/ regulations-everything from curriculum to textbooks to classroom instruction. Apparently, the school is technically Canadian territory…so actually I’m working in Canada…EH!?!
Kinda like an embassy thing I guess…There’s 
The school is into its 4th year this year and has about 500 students in all. Facilities are great, separate labs for biology, chemistry, and physics, all with prep rooms. However, the supplies and materials in the labs is pretty sparse because they’ve not had one consistent science teacher to get them set up and stocked up. Besides, I don’t believe the put much emphasis on doing labs here (China generally), so it’s not a priority.
Even though I am out in the boonies, it does provides beautiful scenery and actual peace and quiet!!! I’m about 20 min tricycle taxi from the 2 nearest towns: both small, the biggest being ’bout 70K. I like to compare the place I’m staying to The Shining. Not that there’s axe wielding maniacs with writers block running around…hell…there’s nooobbbooddy around! My place is in a resort/hotel that’s owned by the same couple who owns the school. It’s new and guests are few and far between. There’s a few of the suite owners who live here, but there’s a poo load of rooms and only a handful of residents. So you have a big ass hotel (3 separate building in all), a big fancy lobby, 2 restaurants all set up and ready, a night club with guys in bow ties waiting at the door for ?, and it’s located on a big ass lake with a walkway and pavilions….but it’s empty! It’s eerie at times … To add to it, the school is built on the grounds of an old, closed down amusement park, so every morning I walk on a crumbled up go-kart track, past the old bumper car building and the huge mounds of rubble on my way to school …kinda weird!
The rest of the surroundings here are rice fields, fish and ag farms, really cool little villages that’ll send you back a couple hundred years, canals, lakes, more canals, goats, and did I mention canals! And the best part….I’m only a short 1 hr bus ride to that wonderful little town of Suzhou and all it’s smiley happy people that I’ve come to
It’s a nice blend...I spend my week in the tranquil countryside and my weekends Enough for now, I'll try not to stay gone so long this time.....
So Cheers everyone, this one's on me!
until later
We are all soo wonderful 
OntarioROCKS 
)