Blog for Jordan

On May 29 2013, our good friend Jordan came to visit John and I in chongqing. Since that date, I've been very busy showing Jordan around town and traveling to breathtaking Yunan Provence in southwestern China. It is for this reason that the blog updates have been slow. Nevertheless, I will provide you with a very brief timeline of events for Jordan's trip here prior to unveiling the most important part- the pictures. Please enjoy! Special thanks to Jordan for the first few photos, as well as taking time out of his busy work schedule to make a friendly reunion possible. Cheers, mate!

May 29 - June 5
CHONGQING
-Teaching John's English class wiffleball
-climb the famed jianyun mountain in beibei
-Hot Pot with many of my students
-Ordering custom-made suits
-Visiting Chongqing's beautiful "Jin-do-Xia" canyon
-Tutoring session with Donla
-Buying a drink at the Shark bar, where two 12' great white sharks swim back and forth in a giant aquarium

June 5 - June 14
YUNAN
Shangri-la
-visiting a temple modeled after the Lhasa temple in Tibet
-trying a yak burger
-bike ride on the Tibetan plateau

Lijiang
-Leaping tiger gorge
-breathless hikes, mountains

Dali
-Sitting on Emma's stumps in old town
-swimming in the lake
-the last nights Italian feast

Meet my Second Chinese family

Since my return last February, the Li family has enrolled their son Pong Pong into a special English class for their son, Pong Pong, and they no longer require my tutor sessions. I cannot say that I’m surprised; Pong Pong’s English was at a dismally low level when I first met him, and I’m no expert English tutor.

Aida recently set me up with a much better match. For the last month or so I’ve been tutoring Donla, a young, energetic girl of age 7. Donla lived with her mother (also Mrs. Li) in Boston, while Mrs. Li was taking a year of associate professorship in the United States. Donla’s spoken English is perhaps better than my own! I was so impressed by her ability to articulate situations in English at such a young age: certainly the offspring of a professor. She is an expert artist, loves princesses, and has recently been enthralled with her collection of silkworms. I meet with her every Tuesday at 5:30p.m. I am paid 100RMB ($16) for each session. The sessions are supposed to last only an hour, but after games, dinner, and assigning homework, I’m not out of the small campus apartment until at least 7:45p.m.

A few tutor sessions ago, I reviewed Donla’s homework. I had posed several questions concerning a reading that I had assigned her, and she had answered them all perfectly.

“I’m so glad you love learning English Donla!” I proclaimed after hastily crossing stars on her answers.

“I don’t love learning English, I love YOU!” She said with great enthusiasm.

Even after one full year, I still get those constant reminders of why people love teaching.