7 June 2015

Gentlefolk,

A post of ‘odds and sods’ today.

New contract

Last week I signed a contract for the 2015-16 academic year (September 2015 – July 2016).  We thought we’d finish up this year under the “5 Year Rule”, but the University was able to arrange an extension and offered us an additional year. 

“Oh no”, we hear you groan, “not another year of Alex’s blog posts.”  Yes, I’m afraid so. Will it really end next year?  I think so.  I’ll turn 70 in August 2016, so that will be a good time to quit.

The new contract is the same as the previous one: $320 per month, plus $8 per teaching hour, plus $1,300 for airfares, plus free accommodation.  There is a rumour that we might get a pay increase in coming months, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, we’re here for the experience, and the money is a bonus.

We still enjoy the lifestyle: living in China is interesting and teaching is fun and relatively easy. We are looking forward to another year here, and the time will pass quickly.

Our colleagues Steven, Michael and Gautier have signed up again, but Paul (27) is returning to the US.  He’s been here 4 years, and it’s time for him to start planning for his future. We’ll miss him.

Accident

I was involved in an accident 2 weeks ago.

On Saturday morning I was riding my bike on one of the access roads into Tang Dao Wan Bay. I saw a man cross the street about 30 meters in front; suddenly his 3 or 4 year old son let go his mother’s hand and darted across to join his father - right into my path.  I braked and tried to swerve, but couldn’t avoid him and we both fell down. 

The boy’s parents rushed over, very concerned for him of course.  He was crying (from shock) while they checked his body to see if he was hurt.  Luckily he was not injured.

I suffered scraped knees and knuckles, but nothing too serious.  After making sure the boy was OK, I gingerly cycled home. 

I’ve been cycling here for 3 years and this was my first real, albeit minor, accident.  Accidents here can get complicated: for example, a month ago a Canadian woman attended an international conference in Beijing. On the weekend she visited the Great Wall, bumped into a 70-year-old lady who hit her head while falling, and died.  The police acknowledged it was an accident, but they confiscated the Canadian’s passport until she reached agreement with the lady’s family regarding compensation (it cost her $100,000). 

Laxmisha Rai, an Indian teacher at a nearby university told me that he was riding his bike one day when an old woman in front of him fell off her bike. He stopped to help her, and she accused him of causing her fall. He was sure that he had not touched her bike, so he left.  But the following day she turned up at the university and complained to the security staff.   Rai, was adamant that he had not caused the fall and refused to give her any money, but it caused a lot of ill-feeling as the university sided with the woman.  A nasty experience.

I was lucky nothing serious happened in my case. But I’ve decided not to ride along the bayside esplanade on weekends – the warmer weather is bringing out the crowds and it is not worth the risk of another accident. The esplanade is lovely, but in future I'll only ride there on week-days.

Gym

I mentioned that Vera & I had joined a local gym.  Basic equipment, but adequate for our needs.  We were going 3 or 4 times a week, and starting to feel fitter.  

Suddenly, 3 weeks ago, the power went off.  Management said it was a temporary problem (I suspect they hadn’t paid their electricity bill).

Yesterday we called and were told that the power will be off for another 3 weeks.  Exams are coming and then marking so I doubt we’ll get back to the gym this semester.  Most annoying.

Exams

For the last three weeks I’ve been pre-occupied with compiling the exam papers for English News and Western Culture.

We always have to prepare an A paper and a B paper for each exam – if there is a leak, the other paper can quickly be substituted.

It’s the first time I have had the English News class, so deciding on the format of the exam paper took some time.  In the end I decided on an exam which comprises seven one-page news articles. Students will have to do a Summary of each article (based on the 5W model we discussed in class), and also answer three or four questions on each article.

The exam is 2 hours, so students will have about 17 minutes per article.  A fairly tough assignment, given that English is not their first language.  But we discussed each of the seven articles during the semester, so they have a head-start (at least, those who were awake!).

For Western Culture this semester we studied the United Kingdom and Australia.  In the past I’d focussed on the USA, so this was new territory for me.  Even though I used the US format -  True/false; Multiple choice; Fill-in-the-blank; and 3 written essays - the questions were all new as they had to relate to the UK and Australia.

The News exam will be held on 7 – 9pm Monday 22 June.  That day is actually the Duan Wu (Dragon boat) national holiday.  I gave the students a number of options, but they picked that day.  They will be studying for final exams anyway, and are keen to get this exam over with early so they can concentrate on their other subjects.  

Can you imagine holding an exam on a public holiday in Australia? Couldn’t happen.

The Western Culture exam will be held 7 – 9pm on Sunday 28 June (yes, Sunday night).

My Graduate class will have their Oral English exam on Thursday 2 July, and that will be my last exam. The official end of this semester is 4 July. Many students will then do a “short semester” for 3 weeks, finishing on 25 July.  A ‘short semester’ was introduced about three years ago – apparently the authorities felt the summer break was too long - I don’t know if other Chinese universities follow the same system?

The University summer holidays will be 26 July to 5 September.

Upcoming travel

As usual, we’ll head “Down Under” for the holidays, to catch up with family and friends.

Plan to spend a week in Shanghai (haven’t been there for some years), then see Caroline & Andrew (& Little Eddie) in Hong Kong, before flying to Brisbane to see the Roberts family. 

We’ll drive to Canberra, but will only have 10 days in the National Capital before re-tracing our steps.  We’ll be back in Qingdao on 3 September for the start of the new semester.

We're looking forward to the break, although the temperatures in Canberra are a bit daunting!

...

Here are some recent photos:

Scraped knees and knuckles from the bike accident. I came off lightly. Surprising how long knees take to heal.

The impressive new 30 floor Engineering Building, next to our residential building. 

Another view of the new Engineering Building.

The underground car-park of the new Engineering Building is called an "Air Defense Basement". Our building's basement has the same designation.  There is no apparent aggressor, but good to be prepared ...

The view of Tang Dao Wan Bay from our apartment. Notice the shadow cast by the new Engineering Building next door. The big white building in the distance is the Wyndham Grand Hotel. The accident when I ran into the young boy took place near that hotel.

On 27 May we met Ewan Proctor, an impressive young man, at the Shangrila Hotel in Qingdao City.  Ewan is a good friend of Andrew's, from Canberra school days, and is now the Penfold Wines representative in China.  He was part of a 250-person delegation from South Australia to mark the 30th anniversary of the SA - Shandong Sister State relationship. In 1985 I was working in the Australian Embassy in Beijing, and remember the inaugural meeting (that's dating me, isn't it!).

The weather has been good the last few weeks, so I often ride with my colleague Paul Finkbeiner.  Paul will return to the US at the end of this semester. Vera and I have gotten to know him well - a lovely guy - we'll miss his company.

We had dinner in the Teacher's Dining Room with Fan Jian Yi (Tony). He majored in International Trade and will graduate this semester.  I taught his class Oral English 2 years ago and we kept in touch.  He has found a job with a large shipping company in Shanghai, and will start work in July.  Smart and personable, he'll do well.

...

Well, that's it for this post.

Until next time, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Sunday 7 June 2015