I got back from a short but exciting trip to Shanghai on Sunday evening, where I got to see my dear friend Lin in person for the first time ever and go on some adventures with her. We visited a cat cafe, the Shanghai University Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Century Park, and several restaurants that served delicious food, and I almost ( Read more... )

It's been nearly a year to the day since my last update, making this the longest hiatus I've ever taken from blogging. I could make excuses or promise that I'll never do this again, but since this is a hobby and not a profession, I don't feel beholden to anyone. I update when I feel like it, and if any of my friends look forward to my blog entries ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from Janu, a student in my summer class, who uttered it under self-explanatory circumstances right after a lecture about times when it would not be appropriate to call 911. When students are comfortable enough with a concept to make jokes about it, I know that they've internalized it ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from one of the students in my night class, who uttered it after drawing a line graph to demonstrate how much the popularity of his name had fallen off between 1975 and 2000. He may be part of a dying breed, but no one can ever accuse him of not doing his research ( Read more... )

I'm going to try to stay mostly positive in this entry, dear readers. Please bear with me ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from Yessyka, a student in my night class, who used it after I asked the class if they'd ever heard their cars make sounds similar to some I played from an audio CD. It was a very clever metaphor from an equally clever student ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from Esther, a Honduran student in one of my morning classes. She said it after placing two quarters on her table as I walked by and then noticing the quizzical expression on my face. A Mexican student immediately followed up on her comment, saying "I need to leave early so I can start building." Finally, in my ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from Josselyn, a precocious student in my Listening & Speaking class (and the one who let me borrow this book), who uttered it when one of her classmates suggested that English was the most commonly spoken language in the world. I knew for a fact that it was eclipsed by Chinese, but I suspected that it was the ( Read more... )

Hello again, dear readers! It's been just over a week since I went to the con, so I should probably compile my account of it before the events start to fade from memory. It may be a little verbose, but if you expected any less from me, you don't know me very well ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from Obamnis, one of my Level 1 students, when I asked the class what activities made them feel happy or relaxed. Just as I was imagining him staring intently at pictures of Santa Claus for hours on end, he repeated himself and I realized that he was referring not to human facial hair, but to feathered animals ( Read more... )