8 DAYS AND COUNTING
First, to all our friends and family we say, "Thank you!"
You've supported this life adventure through positive reinforcement, humor, good meals and warm hearts.
Some of you have asked the same questions so we think it’s time to share, with one stroke of the keys, the answers for all to see.
Q: How did this venture come about?
A: First, a bit of background if you don’t mind: We’ve traveled to China before and loved the country, people and last but certainly not least, the food. First time for Cindy was back in the late 1980s with her mother Besse. Then both Cindy and Michael went for 6 weeks in September of 2001 and for one month in April of 2005.
On all three trips the one city visited each time was Hangzhou. In all three trips we were pure tourists, but in 2005, we visited because a warm friendship flourished between our 2001Hangzhou tour guide and ourselves. Her English name is Shirley, and her husband, William, and beautiful daughter, Elsie, made our last trip so special and still, we love the city itself.
Okay, let’s get to answering the damn question. Cindy has always wanted to live in another country and luckily Michael is always game to get on a plane. Since we needed to find a way to do this trip while making some money to support it we thought, heck, let’s teach. Although neither of us have teaching or English backgrounds (we both have a B.A. in Sociology) we took an ESL course, volunteered in adult ESL programs and started sending out emails.
Resumes with an introduction as to why we wanted to teach were sent to every Hangzhou University on the net. It’s a city of 6 + million and they have a few universities there, so, we sent out maybe 20 or so emails and finally chose Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.
Q: Who and what are you going to teach?
A: Oral English to university students.
Q: What’s the living situation going to be like?
A: The university provides couples with a two bedroom / one bathroom furnished apartment. We’ve been told that the kitchen has a refrigerator, microwave, hot plate and electric wok. One bedroom has a full size bed and an armoire. The second bedroom has a desk and computer with ADSL. The living room should have a couch, table, and chair, TV, DVD and purified water dispenser. There is a washing machine but no dryer. We’ll keep you informed as to what is really in the place and hopefully get some pictures up for you to see. By the way the apartment is on the fourth floor, and there is no elevator. FYI -- the tap water is not to be used for drinking hence the dispenser.
Q: Teaching hours are….?
A: Both of us will have our own classes. Each class is 45 minutes long and we teach 16 hours a week. This does not include our prep time. On Wednesdays there is also what they call English Corner. It’s basically any student shows up and we chat about anything. This lasts at least 1-½ hours.
Q: Are we going to have a western toilet as apposed to a hole in the floor?
A: Western!!!
Q: What’s the weather going to be like?
A: Summer = tropical (hot and very humid)
Fall = beautiful and similar to Minnesota’s fall season
Winter = bone chilling cold but not a lot of snow
Q: Where is this place called Hangzhou?
A: It’s a three-hour car ride / two-hour train ride south of Shanghai.
Well, that’s it for now folks. Got to get things done in order to get there. Come back to visit us. See you on the other side. (Idiom)
You've supported this life adventure through positive reinforcement, humor, good meals and warm hearts.
Some of you have asked the same questions so we think it’s time to share, with one stroke of the keys, the answers for all to see.
Q: How did this venture come about?
A: First, a bit of background if you don’t mind: We’ve traveled to China before and loved the country, people and last but certainly not least, the food. First time for Cindy was back in the late 1980s with her mother Besse. Then both Cindy and Michael went for 6 weeks in September of 2001 and for one month in April of 2005.
On all three trips the one city visited each time was Hangzhou. In all three trips we were pure tourists, but in 2005, we visited because a warm friendship flourished between our 2001Hangzhou tour guide and ourselves. Her English name is Shirley, and her husband, William, and beautiful daughter, Elsie, made our last trip so special and still, we love the city itself.
Okay, let’s get to answering the damn question. Cindy has always wanted to live in another country and luckily Michael is always game to get on a plane. Since we needed to find a way to do this trip while making some money to support it we thought, heck, let’s teach. Although neither of us have teaching or English backgrounds (we both have a B.A. in Sociology) we took an ESL course, volunteered in adult ESL programs and started sending out emails.
Resumes with an introduction as to why we wanted to teach were sent to every Hangzhou University on the net. It’s a city of 6 + million and they have a few universities there, so, we sent out maybe 20 or so emails and finally chose Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.
Q: Who and what are you going to teach?
A: Oral English to university students.
Q: What’s the living situation going to be like?
A: The university provides couples with a two bedroom / one bathroom furnished apartment. We’ve been told that the kitchen has a refrigerator, microwave, hot plate and electric wok. One bedroom has a full size bed and an armoire. The second bedroom has a desk and computer with ADSL. The living room should have a couch, table, and chair, TV, DVD and purified water dispenser. There is a washing machine but no dryer. We’ll keep you informed as to what is really in the place and hopefully get some pictures up for you to see. By the way the apartment is on the fourth floor, and there is no elevator. FYI -- the tap water is not to be used for drinking hence the dispenser.
Q: Teaching hours are….?
A: Both of us will have our own classes. Each class is 45 minutes long and we teach 16 hours a week. This does not include our prep time. On Wednesdays there is also what they call English Corner. It’s basically any student shows up and we chat about anything. This lasts at least 1-½ hours.
Q: Are we going to have a western toilet as apposed to a hole in the floor?
A: Western!!!
Q: What’s the weather going to be like?
A: Summer = tropical (hot and very humid)
Fall = beautiful and similar to Minnesota’s fall season
Winter = bone chilling cold but not a lot of snow
Q: Where is this place called Hangzhou?
A: It’s a three-hour car ride / two-hour train ride south of Shanghai.
Well, that’s it for now folks. Got to get things done in order to get there. Come back to visit us. See you on the other side. (Idiom)
posted by royben | 10:02 PM
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