After a spectacular and extended stay in Ko Samui, yesterday signalled the end of our eight day residency on the island.

The last few days of Ko Samui, since my last post were largely spent lazily on the beach, enjoying the peace and quiet that our next few weeks in Vietnam will not allow us.

Nonetheless, we did take a couple of days to make our way around the island and explore. I will do my best below to recap quickly what occurred on these adventures since I’m about to be kicked off the computer that I’m on at the moment.

First, as I pointed out in my previous post Maenam Beach where we have been staying is very isolated from any sort of crowds. The polar opposite of this for Samui standards would be Chaweng Beach, which sits boisterously on Samui’s eastern coast.

Chaweng is chock full of bars, restaurants, and small shops directly targeting the large number of tourists who stay in and around the beach area. This includes a decent amount of chains, which is an immediate sign of intense development and the presence of increased wealth anywhere in Asia.

Chaweng has its compulsory Starbucks and McDonalds of course, along with Subway and Burger King, restaurants of all kinds including Mexican and Lebanese, and a few bar areas that rival Bourbon Street.

The beach at Chaweng is also considerably more crowded, with a significant portion of the population being of the younger, backpacking demographic.

Yet all of the chain restaurants, cheap shop stalls shamelessly selling knock off DVD’s and beer t-shirts, and the cool themed bars and nightlubs overflowing with drunk Australians at night are all off the beach and inland a bit.

So as built up as the Chaweng area is, the dvelopment remains mostly isolated from the beachfront. Except for several jet skis parading around in the blue water the coastline remains relatively quiet and tasteful regardless of what edifices line the road a few minutes away.

Chaweng also provides a more lively atmosphere in regards to many other areas of Samui such as Maenam, Bo Phut, Lamai Beach, or Na Thon, which can be a welcomed change when you don’t see a whole lot of people for a few days straight.

No matter how built up the inner part of Chaweng town is, it still pales in comparison to heavily populated beach areas in the US like Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, or much of the Florida coastline which is inundated with high rises and a sometimes nauseating amount of beach goers.

We explored the streets around Chaweng last Tuesday when we rented a Suzuki Vitara from a travel agency near Maenam.

The Vitara we got was rust colored, worn, most likely older than all of us, and could barely make it over the steep hills that some of Samui’s roads run up. It was the little car that couldn’t, but we made it work by pushing the gas pedal completely to the floor.

I got a chance to drive for a few hours late in the day as we rotated shifts occasionally. Driving in Thailand is a bit more civilized than in China where not a single rule of the road is obeyed or understood properly. Yet, even in Samui, cab drivers pass at reckless speeds if cars in front of them aren’t up to speed–literally.

Every once in a while a speedy cab will put you in a precarious situation as it moves into your lane and goes screaming past within a few feet of hitting about five different cars including your own.

The number of motorbikes makes the roads infinitely more complex as they take up a decent amount of your own lane and sometimes refuse to move over when you want to pass. This is only compounded by driving on the left hand side of the road and using your left hand to switch gears.

In the end, we didn’t crash or die, and we made it around the entire island and some so the day was considered a great success.

Another interesting note about Thailand. Strangely, there is a large population of European tourists in Thailand, particularly from northern Europe. In Samui, it’s largely German, and in Phuket the  Swedish migrate in droves.

Despite the immense geographical distance, while Stockholm and Munich are blanketed in snow and cold, mass populations migrate to southern Thailand.

Because of this there are a large number of European owned and operated eateries in the region. As good as spicy Thai food is, which typically utilizes meat with some sort of curry or garlic pepper sauce served with a side of white rice, it can take a regrettable toll on your stomach if you eat too much.

We took full advantage of the alternative option of eating Italian food a few nights. This eased our aching stomachs and the pizza, pasta, and bruschetta never tasted better.

It certainly wasn’t Wooster Street, but by all means it was good enough. Most importantly however, it was a far cry from any subtle attempts by Chinese restaurants to imitate Italy’s cuisine.

I’ll hopefully be able to update one more time before I leave Phuket for Vietnam on February 1st.

Until then….

All the best,

Anthony

Crowded street in Chaweng off the beachfront

Big Buddha statue just north of Chaweng

Sorry about the few days off from posting. I had a bit of an unfortunate run of luck on the trip over from Phuket, where my wallet was either pick pocketed or misplaced. I’m not sure which one. Fortunately, that situation has been sorted out, and I can refocus on enjoying my travels and relaying them to you the best I can.

With a hectic two weeks in Vietnam rapidly approaching, and a similarly frenetic ten days in southern China before our return to frigid Tongliao, the five of us have happily begun our R and R portion of the trip here in Ko Samui, Thailand.

Ko Samui, locally known as just Samui, is Thailand’s third largest island. Despite it’s size and propensity to remind one of the Hawaiian Islands, Samui’s population is smallish at 50,000. The people of Samui are spread out significantly enough that the island still gives off the less populated vibe found regularly on some islands in the Caribbean.

Of course, as with any island that is a magnet for tourism, certain areas of the island are more developed such as the backpacking hot spot Chaweng Beach, while others such as Maenam remain far more isolated.

The best part of Ko Samui, is that it remains largely unspoiled. Certainly there’s a good chance that most of the island could succumb to the dangers of increased tourism within the next twenty years. As for now Samui is a 360 degree postcard–a tranquil paradise nestled in the Gulf of Thailand.

The interior of the island looks like it could be the primary filming ground for the TV show LOST. The beaches, are reminiscent of Hawaii, but far less crowded.

We have been fortunate enough to stay at Maenam Beach during our stay on Samui. Like I said earlier, Maenam is not very developed, a smattering of restaurants, shops, and bungalow hotels.

The beach at Maenam is a long, sweeping, inside out arc of sand, similar to a horseshoe. The whole beach must be close to three miles long and is framed by the clearest emerald water you can imagine.

The beach is lined with palm trees and the occasional beach bungalow hotel is tucked quietly behind them, careful to disrupt the serenity of the landscape.

The best part of Maenam Beach is the lack of crowds. The particular area that we go to has maybe 10 people including us in a stretch of 250 yards of beach. This is the general pattern as far as you can see along Maenam, and a far cry from the crowds that overwhelm the smaller strips of beach in Phuket.

The best part of my day yesterday was the long walk I took around 3 pm. I decided to walk to the far right end of the horseshoe. From our vantage point at the middle of Maenam Beach, it looked about one and a half miles away, and inexplicably less crowded than where we set up camp.

Along the walk I discovered an accurate cross section of the population of Samui, both local and foreign. It was an interesting blend of vacationers and local Thai’s going about their daily routines.

An Australian couple lounging under a lazy palm, speaking quickly in their peculiar accents. A woman wading in the water, her bare chest a dead giveaway of her European homeland. A hundred yards later, a man outside his bungalow taking full advantage of the hotel Wifi as he types furiously on his laptop. It’s odd that he vaguely notices the tropical paradise around him.

A hundred yards down, a local Thai is fishing in the shallows of the clear water, his son asleep on his lap. Two hundred yards further, the scene is much the same. An empty beach.

I kept walking and as I neared the bend of the beach where Maenam turns, I was quickly approached by a local Thai who was selling ice cream out of a red pouch. I must have been the first person he had seen in an hour. As it was extremely warm, I was sweating off every bit of sunscreen I had applied, and I’m naturally always hungry, I was a likely candidate to make a rare purchase and this particular vendor sensed my interest.

Nevertheless, I had no money on me. I told the vendor sorry and he retreated back into the shade and sat down. I watched him for a second before I continued walking slowly.

He was searching for an answer as to why he was selling ice cream on this particularly desolate stretch of beach. Not soon after, I passed a stray dog who looked up at me, hoping for some food. His beady eyes begged the same exact question.

When I finally arrived near the bend of the beach, I looked around. I was the only person for at least three hundred yards in either direction. That image alone stands as a testament to the inherent placidity of Ko Samui, a radically different picture than most places in mainland China.

After a few days spent on Samui, we all decided to stay two extra days here, rather than travel to another island. We will begin exploring other parts of the island outside of Maenam beginning tomorrow. And on Monday we will be renting a small jeep to to make the three hour trek around the island’s exterior.

Until tomorrow,

Anthony

Western part of Maenam Beach

Sunset on Ko Samui

Certain times, it’s best not to be in the record books at all.

Take Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds for example, who despite being a pretty good player, set the record for the single most strikeouts in one season with a whopping 204 k’s in 2008.

Although my travels yesterday by no means remotely qualify me for any Guiness record, it was still a remarkable feat.

Consider this: at 6:30 am I awoke in a guesthouse in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Two short hours later I was aboard a plane at the airport.

At 11:30 am that same plane touched down in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Despite our group’s efforts to do our best Usain Bolt impression and sprint through the crowded terminal and switch to an earlier plane, we came up a few minutes short.

Three meals, numerous card games, countless trips to the bathroom, and an infathomable number of pages read, at 8:30 pm, nine hours after landing in that same very hot and humid airport, we boarded another Air Asia jet.

At 9:00 pm, after a one hour time change, and one of the more turbulent air travel experiences I have had, that plane thankfully arrived unscathed in Phuket, Thailand.

One day, three SE Asian countries, and a whole lot of idle time spent examining the strangely homey, warehouse like feel of the Kuala Lumpur international airport.

Three countries in one day was not a goal to strive for necessarily, considering a direct flight was possible, but far too pricey. Yet it’s a pretty cool thing to say that I’ve done. I guess someday, well down the road, Mark Reynolds might feel the same way about his strikeout record.

Until tomorrow,

Anthony

Our last day in Cambodia, January 18th, was largely spent exploring the untouched corners of Siem Reap. We traveled south of  town via tuk-tuk through numerous winding dirt roads.

Eventually, we found ourselves at a river village,  and we chartered a cheap boat to take us downriver to the floating communities of Tonle Sap lake.

The village where we rented the boat sat precariously close to the edge of the dried riverbank, the homes and small shops seemingly tempting fate as rainy season slowly approaches.

Our driver, a nice Cambodian of about 25, sported a worn U.S. Army jacket and often stared aimlessly ahead into the depths of the muddied water. He navigated the narrow waterways with surprising ease,  fighting for space amongst fishing boats, and the occasional motor boat operated solely by a young Cambodian child.

An hour into the ride we arrived at the edge of Tonle Sap, and the enormity of the lake hit me. Tonle Sap stretches from near Siem Reap on one end to the capital Phnom Penh on the other.

This trip by speed boat takes hours, and to call this massive body water a lake seems to undermine its enormity. Standing near the banks you see endless water in three directions with strips of land only visible directly behind you.

Tonle Sap is a blessing for Cambodia, plain and simple. The lake is relatively large for a considerable portion of the year (the dry season). During the rainy season it swells further to cover a larger floodplain. This makes it a perfect area for fish to feed and it supplies over 3 million people with food to eat.

The floating villages on Tonle Sap are fully functioning communities, and over 80,000 people live in these settlements, which are dispersed equally all around the lake’s perimeter.

The village we passed by contained a police station, church, school, family owned restaurants, and many homes–all floating gently against the steady ripple of the lake’s current. Transportation is conducted entirely by boat, and trade and distance communication can be made upriver or at any port town on the lake’s expansive shoreline.

One last interesting note on Cambodia, before I sign off. Cambodians prefer using US money and any ATM in the country spits out fresh Jeffersons as if there was an American mint operating somewhere deep in the Cambodian jungle.

The Cambodian currency is the Riel, yet Cambodia’s economy is building itself off of the dollar. Singles are not as common in Cambodia so most of the small change is given back in Riel. It is an odd situation and one I do not completely understand.

As much as the Riel is still prevalent, used by locals more often, and is not devalued, any Cambodian would still gladly have the US dollar equivalent of anything they are owed.

Likewise, they will happily dish out Riel to any spendthrift foreigner who happens to have the misfortune of paying with big bills for something that costs very little.

Money is money, but in Cambodia, that money ought to be green and have an old white man’s face on it.

Until tomorrow,

Anthony

A house that is part of one of the floating villages of Tonle Sap.

As advertised, today’s itinerary was temple heavy. After a pre-4:45 am wake up call for the second straight day, we headed off to Angkor Wat for sunrise.

As cliche as it sounds, the scene there during the very early morning hours is breathtaking. At this time of year in particular, the sun rises directly over the back of the complex just after six a.m.

The Angkor complex sprawls across the outskirts of Siem Reap. Angkor Wat is only a small part of this complex, albeit the best known and most heavily visited section. Angkor Wat is also the primary Hindu temple at the sight, which served as the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. Angkor took over as the capital from Baphuon, which is very close in proximity and can be visited from Siem Reap as well, but is in greater disrepair.

In all, we visited five of the temple sites throughout the complex. Later in the day we headed off to the larger Angkor Thom complex, just to the North.

This includes several prominent fixtures as well, including Bayon, a temple known for the numerous faces carved into its rock design, and the Elephant Terrace. In contrast to Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom was constructed as a Buddhist section of the complex.

Later in the day we visited Ta Prohm, which is a smaller and more condensed temple situated in the middle of the forest. It is famous for the massive trees that have grown out of the temple and over its walls. This is the sight where parts of Tomb Raider were filmed and as you can imagine it is very scenic.

After a long day at the temples, under the relentless and unforgiving sun, we resigned to a 2 hour nap before heading out at night to the pub street of Siem Reap.

The pub street area strangely resembles parts of Southern Florida with its laid back, open air atmosphere. It is literally crawling with foreigners, mostly Australians, and was teeming with life, even on a Sunday night.

A strange dichotomy exists in the fact that the pub street looks like it would attract an older, wealthier crowd, as its buildings and bars seem highly sophisticated from the outside, yet the majority of the crowd are young backpackers, the inside of the bars have a distinctly college feel, and the drink menus are as inexpensive as it comes with .75 cent drafts and $5 dollar gin and tonic buckets all night.

We chose a bar appropriately called Angkor What?, and had a great time and met some pretty cool people from all over the world. This got me thinking again, however. I wondered if the locals really felt disengaged from their culture because of all the visitors, and if they regretted all the foreigners who flowed into Siem Reap everyday.

So I went straight to the source for an answer. Our tuk-tuk driver, aptly named “Mr. T”, is a comical, and well-spoken 27 year old Cambodian who loves quoting the likes of Old School and Anchorman.

Mr. T is also surprisingly well-traveled for a Cambodian and has his eyes fixed on securing his tour guide licenseship through the Cambodian government within the year. This costs an absurd $3,000 US dollars which is simply not pocket change for people in Cambodia.

He went out to the bars with us, and I asked him how he felt about all the tourists. He replied between sips of his Anchor draft, that most people in Siem Reap do not have disdain for tourists and welcome them openly. His comments are solidified by the fact that everyone I have encountered here is extremely friendly.

Yet, there is something in the back of my mind, that thinks that the children you find begging and trying to sell you knock off Lonely Planet guidebooks, bracelets, and cold waters for a dollar each near the temples don’t find the pub street, or the foreigners the least bit amusing.

Since there are so many of them at the complexes, the money gets spread so widely that they make only a few dollars on a good day. Also, during the summer rainy season, where there are far less tourists, their income is virtually nonexistent. For them, it is a strange conundrum. Without the tourists, occasionally making an impulse buy, they would be flung  further into impoverishment.

Yet, the tourists consistently fuel the widening of the gap between rich and poor in this area because most of the money is concentrated on certain tourist related activities, and not on helping those outside the city who live on very little. It’s a disheartening situation, and one I’ve been thinking about a lot since I arrived here.

That’s all for today. Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, but it’s our last full day in Cambodia before we ship out to Thailand.

All the best,

Anthony

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Scene at Ta Prohm, where parts of Tomb Raider were filmed

Stone faces at Bayon

Generally speaking, travel is meant to wear on your body. I can effectively say that after just three days my body is most certainly worn, but not even close to defeated.

Today began with a grueling 3:30 am wake up call so we could be at the airport on time for our 7 am flight from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Upon arrival we were shuttled to our guest house courtesy of several tuk-tuks (motorized scooter taxis). In Siem Reap, unlike most other places in Asia, tuk-tuks actually vastly outnumber regular automobile taxis.

The guesthouse we are staying in is The Happy Guesthouse, a quiet and exceptionally nice family run place with about 12 rooms. The rooms are $3 a night, which gives you a bit of perspective on how cheap SE Asia can be.

Siem Reap itself is a bit of an enigma. It is a city with a very rich past that has singlehandedly shaped Cambodia’s historical footprint, courtesy of the 8th century Angkor temple complex. Yet it is not allowed to remain ancient in certain regards, as Siem Reap is rapidly converging on a modern future of unprecedented expansion due to tourism.

The posh hotels and restaurants that are springing up along the main road from the town’s center to Angkor Wat is rather spectacular, but in a way sickening. These hotels, crawling with foreign tourists (of which I realize I am one), are the sole lifeblood of Siem Reap. Without it, the town would quickly plunge into the grave poverty that plagues a considerable portion of Cambodia.

Nevertheless, the vibe around Siem Reap is one of unexpected exhuberane combined with a very laid back tropical atmosphere. Locals are surprisingly friendly and seem in no way bitter of the droves of tourists that aimlessly wander the lively dirt streets in and around the town.

Tomorrow I, along with the other four other PC kids I am teaching with and currently traveling with, will be entering the sacred grounds of Angkor, which was the capital of the Khmer empire which ruled in the region from the 9th-13th century.

This being said, the buildings here are obviously very old, and most are in partial ruin. Nevertheless they are in surprisingly good condition all things considered. The temples are Cambodia’s pride, and they are represented well—-as the centerpiece of the nation’s flag.

This will require another very early wake up call, at about 4:45 am, so we can depart for the temples by 5, and be there for sunrise. With that, it is time for me to call it a night, two straight days of pre 5 am wake ups. Typically, I am not a morning person. Yet, as I said above, travel characteristically makes one weary, but with the world at your fingertips, the motivation to push on is right in front of you the whole time.

Until tomorrow,

Anthony

Front facade of Angkor Wat temple

Street in Siem Reap

Today was a picture perfect day in Kuala Lumpur. The day started off relatively uneventfully with some aimless wandering around the city during the morning hours. KL is a great city just to take a stroll through and to see the way countless different cultures can blend and fuse themselves in one region.

After a quick midday lunch it was off to the Batou Caves, which sit about 13 kilometers outside of the KL city center. The caves are both massive and natural and frame an odd landscape where the city creeps right up to its doorstep. When climbing the numerous, very steep steps to arrive at the cave entrance there was a large population of monkeys roaming around trying to entice tourists to give them any sort of food.

While there, we saw a monkey snatch a full bag of peanuts from a British guy’s hands, run away and proceed to open the bag and eat every solitary peanut in there. At points you actually feel some trepidation because the monkeys roam so freely that they run through your legs and will sit right next to you when you have no idea. Then again, the idea that you can interact with monkeys in the first place outside of a zoo quickly calms any fears one may have.

The caves themselves are a few massive chambers, which have to be at least a couple of hundred feet easily from the floor to the top of the cave.

After that, we made a trip to the Petronas Towers, the third tallest towers in the world behind Taipei 101 and the Burj in Dubai. Petronas is Malaysia’s leading petroleum company so its no surprise they have enough money to build an impressive and rather gaudy monstrosity that the towers are. We headed to the skybridge observation deck around dusk and stayed for some great views of the city.

Looking out across the landscape, Kuala Lumpur is actually surprisingly smaller than Shanghai or Tokyo (other cities I have seen from the birdseye view). There are far less skyscrapers, and much less urban density. Nevertheless, KL is a huge financial center in Asia, and there are endless commercial and investment bank offices in the city, including a huge Citibank tower.

The night was capped off with a great dinner at Chilis. Yes that Chilis. I know that’s rather lame considering this is a city with some awesome international food, but we were all craving western grub, so we acted purely on this impulse, and had a spectacular feast. Now I am back getting ready for a very early day in the morning.

I will be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap, Cambodia for three days to check out the temples of Angkor and the surrounding area. Regrettably, our flight to Siem Reap is at 7 am from the Kuala Lumpur Airport, which takes about an hour and a half to travel to. Therefore, we are getting up at 3:30 am to begin the expedition to the airport. Good luck to me.

Weather in Cambodia looks pretty good, daytime highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the lower 70’s at night with abundant sunshine. Might be squeezing in a quick round of cheap golf if i have some time. We’ll see.

Well that’s all for now. Time to get some rest so I’m not exhausted for Cambodia. Hope all is well with everyone back in the states.

-Anthony

Part of Kuala Lumpur's illuminated skyline

Entrance to Batu Caves

Due to some serious unforseen technological issues (ie broken camera, computer, and multiple losses of internet in my apartment), I had to take a few months off from updating posts. Forunately, I am back in business for the most part.

This is courtesy to wiping the hard drive clean of my computer clean, buying a new camera and it finally being delivered to the Pacific in late December, and the return of consistent internet.

I am now on the road for my Chinese New Year vacation. It began on January 9th and I will be traveling alongside five other PC students that I am teaching with up in Tongliao. Currently, we are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a quick stopover before moving on to other parts of southeast Asia.

We arrived in KL yesterday afternoon after flying Asia’s new discount air carrier Air Asia from Guilin, China. The flight was four hours, and surprisingly comfortable, especially considering most images of discount carriers conjures up images of Europe’s mildly terrifying Ryan Air.

The flight closely resembled a Jet Blue flight with extremely comfortable pseudo leather seats and the plane was half full which meant we all had our own row in the back of the plane. The trip into KL was death defying in its own right. The bus we were on nearly rolled over a few times, and at points seemed as if it was driving on only one wheel on its right side. Despite it’s top heaviness, we all thankfully made it safely into the city.

KL itself is an odd and eccentric mix of people that you really can’t put your finger on. There are huge populations of native Malays who are of Indian and Chinese descent. There is a massive international population as well so its extremely difficult to target someone as a native.  Thus, the city is inundated with a wide variety of cuisine which makes it pretty awesome. There are loads of Indian and Chinese restaurants, but you can pretty much find anything from Middle Eastern food to Vietnamese to Italian to a Spanish tapas bar here.

The city is very financially developed and is home to the third tallest building in the world, the Petronas twin towers, owned by Malaysian oil giant Petronas Corp.

The best part, however, has to be the weather. Coming from frigid northern China, a landscape that seemingly resembles the Arctic, 90 degrees during the day and 75 at night has been a welcome adjustment. I’m truly looking forward to a month and a half of soaring temperatures and sunshine.

I will have more to update on tomorrow. I’m aiming to post a little bit everyday for the next month and half so you can follow my trip along the way.

Hope everyone is doing well back stateside.

-Anthony

Sorry for the delay in writing—–it’s been a bit of a hectic week, even though I haven’t had to teach due to swine flu….an update on that tomorrow. So, on to my next post:

Yi Zhong. These were the first words I learned in Mandarin, because frankly they were the most critical to my early survival in China. Yi Zhong is loosely translated to Number 1, and Tongliao Yi Zhong (Tongliao No. 1 Middle School), is the school I am teaching at this year.  The reason this became so crucial to learn is because Yi Zhong was exactly what I needed to tell cab or bus drivers so I could be brought back to my apartment when I needed to. Without these two seemingly insignificant words, the first few weeks of Chinese immersion could have been extremely painful. 

The apartment where all the foreign teachers from PC live is at the North Campus (bei qu in Mandarin) of Tongliao No. 1 Middle School. At North Campus, there are 5,000 students, all of whom also live on campus. There is an elementary school, primary school, middle school, and a high school at North Campus. North Campus is about 10-15 minutes outside of the northern limits of the city by bus or taxi, and the area around it is pretty rural with a couple of random villages and two small university campuses within a 10 minute walk or so. The North Campus of Tongliao No. 1 is an actual campus and is roughly the size of upper campus at Providence College. 

I presently teach in the city however, at Tongliao No. 1 Middle School’s South Campus (nan qu). South Campus is directly downtown and is a High School of 5,000 kids some of whom live on campus while the rest live at home in the city. I teach Grade 2 at the South Campus High School, which is the equivalent of junior year at High School back in the US. 

My teaching schedule is surprisingly light this semester, and goes as follows. I teach all 22 of the Grade 2 classes, but they are split up so I only have half each week. Each class has between 50-70 students which can be a bit overwhelming at first. Nevertheless, the kids are very funny and most are extremely eager to learn English and all things American.

Each class at South Campus is 45 minutes long and the school day for the Chinese student is painfully long. They start their day at 7:30 a.m. and have class until 11:40 a.m. Then they have a lengthy break for lunch until 2:30 p.m. From there, classes run straight until 6:05 p.m. Dinner break is from 6:05 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the evening academic reprieve ends abruptly at 7:30.

This is when students are ushered back to school for a two and a half hour study session in their home classroom. The study session is time to work on homework and study for upcoming exams. The study period ends at 10 p.m. and at long last the day is over, just to be started again at 7:30 the next morning.

South Campus is very lively and I am quite grateful that I have been able to teach there. Whenever I arrive at campus students are always swarm you and want to talk to you. I’ve been filling in my free time when I’m not teaching playing basketball on campus. Every single male student is obsessed with the NBA and basketball in general. They play on the ten or so courts in front of the school every single free second they have—whether it be the ten minutes in between classes or during the lunch and dinner breaks.

South Campus is composed of one primary and colossal seven floor academic building that houses Grade 1 and most of Grade 2, and two smaller three floor side buildings that house the remainder of Grade 2 and all of Grade 3. On top of this, there is a dormitory building where the students from outside Tongliao live. The campus is gated in from city that seems to engulf all sides of the academic grounds.

So far, I have had conversations with many students about the Chinese education system, and the unanimous consensus is that it in plain English (or Chinese), it sucks. Students are overwhelmed with so much school, and for good reason. There is no way I could have handled that much school at that age….and in fact, the schedule is just as rigorous for middle schoolers. Their school day certainly puts into perspective my High School experience in which I didn’t enjoy academics a whole lot. Friends and sports were about all I was interested in at that time. School schedules in the US are definitely less demanding. Nonetheless, I’m not sure if I’ve formulated an opinion on which system is better yet. Maybe I’ll figure that out by the end of the year.

Alright so to break up the posts slightly I will end at that for now. I will have another short post on my actual classes in a few days. Also, I’m still working with Wordpress to figure out how to position the uploaded pictures, so bear with me for a few posts. 

So swine flu paranoia isn’t exempt from the desolate areas surrounding Tongliao. As I was informed a few shorts hours ago, several teachers and students at Tongliao No. 1 Middle School have reported higher than average fevers which has basically set off a small sort of panic amongst the school officials. Although it’s pretty unlikely that it’s actually H1N1, the school has essentially gone on lockdown and it was “recommended” to us this evening that we refrain from going into the city as much as possible. 

Which of course made me laugh, because I teach….in the city, smack dab in the center of town. Regardless, after eating lunch today and walking back to campus from a village about ten minutes to our immediate North, I was not let in through the gates immediately like normal. Instead I was given a thermometer to place nicely in my armpit for about three minutes. Thankfully, I was hitting 98.6, maybe a little less since I was wearing shorts and it was a bit chilly, and I was let in. 

Later on in the evening was when we got the warning from one of our bosses who then proceeded to call all of us five times while we were eating dinner until we heard the phone and picked up. He informed us that we were required to receive an “injection” at around 8 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Sounds pleasant, right?

I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I’m assuming, and cautiously optimistic that this injection he speaks of is simply the Swine Flu vaccine that the Chinese government has apparently come out with. Then again, this is China, so anything is possible.

The vaccine the Chinese government is giving out is supposed to be able to combat the new strains of H1N1 that have emerged this past year. Nevertheless, I’ve been reading up on a few articles and many experts of the national health scene seem to doubt some of these claims and believe that the vaccine can do no better than a regular flu shot, which is pretty much useless against swine influenza.

A lot of health professionals and academics see this latest push as an attempt to simply be the first nation to supply a vaccine to its population. Who knows. As for me, we’ll see how everything goes in the morning. I’ll have a report tomorrow at some point and add an additional post about life here in Tongliao.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday.

-Anthony