3 October 2015

Gentlefolk,

We are already in the 4th week of the new semester, and it's time I put pen to paper again.

This post is about my teaching schedule, and also features recent photos taken since the beginning of this semester.

Last week Vera & I did a short visit to Zoucheng, the home town of Mencius.  I'll do a separate post on that trip,

Teaching schedule

This semester I have 7 classes a week, as follows:

Mondays: 8 - 9.50am; International Trade classes 1403 + 1404; Oral English
Tuesdays: 2 - 3.50pm; English Major class 1502; Oral
Wednesdays:  7 - 8.50pm; Non Major class 283; Western Culture
Thursdays: 8 - 9.50am; EM1503; Oral.
                   7 - 8.50pm; NM284; Oral
Fridays: 7 - 8.50pm; NM145; Oral
Saturdays: 4.10 - 6pm; Double Major class 1401; Western Culture

The Wednesday night Culture class is being videoed for the University's new MOOC collection.

So, five Oral English classes and 2 Western Culture classes a week = 14 teaching hours. Pretty cruisy. But of course there is always lesson-preparation, which probably takes another 10 hours a week.

I have 3 night classes, 7 - 8.50pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  These are tough as the students are usually tired after a long day of lectures (I well remember fighting losing battles to stay awake during night lectures at the ANU back in the 1960s). I see the night lectures as a challenge - to keep the students interested and participating and awake!

Actually, for the first 3 weeks of this semester I had an additional 3 Oral classes a week, for a special training group from China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). That course has now finished.

Salary 

(Note: I use US$ in this blog, as the A$ has been so volatile)

The university has increased our salaries from this semester (first increase in at least 6 years).  We now get a base salary of $475 a month (up from $320) plus $9.50 for every teaching hour (up from $8).  So my 14 hours per week (56 hours per month) will pay me $532 per month, giving a total monthly salary of just over $1000.

I will have to pay some income tax, but should clear about $880 per month.

At the end of each academic year I also get an allowance of $1,250 towards overseas travel.

We certainly won't get rich on $220 per week, but our great little on-campus apartment is free, and my salary easily covers our day-to-day living costs (we have to dip into savings for our travel back to Australia twice a year).

Here are some recent photos:

In early September Qingdao hosted the Asian Rugby Sevens championship. Teams from Japan, Malaysia, UAE, etc; both men and women teams.  Never thought I'd see rugby played in China, but since Rugby 7s will be included in the Rio Olympics next year China has become interested.

Part of the (small) crowd watching the Rugby 7s championship,

I taught Oral English to the CNOOC trainees for three weeks in September. A fine group of young adults.  They had a busy schedule: 8 hours a day of English, Monday to Saturday for 12 weeks; I got involved at the end.  English names: Tony; Qi; Alex; Feddy; Mason; Charlie; Jeff; Lily; Jim; Danny; James; Neil; Mark; Will; Snake; Tom; Jerry; Kevin; Carl; Andy; William; Allen.

All foreign teachers are allocated a "Liaison Teacher" by the English Faculty to help us with any issues related to teaching.  My Liaison Teacher this semester is Zhang Qi (Carol).  She is super-helpful, friendly and efficient.  She married Dr Zhang Yong and we were invited to the wedding banquet at the Howard Johnson Hotel across from the North Gate of the campus, a grand affair.

I had the honour of proposing a toast to the newly-weds.

From left: Luan Zhu (a colleague of Carol's); newly-weds Zhang Yong and Zhang Qi; Vera and me.

All Freshmen students (over 4,000 in our university) do 17 days of military training when they first start College.  We attended the parade at the end of the training, always an impressive occasion held in front of the university's top leaders.

The Honour Guard got tangled up in the flag! But he didn't miss a beat.

Some of the students marching in the parade.

A close-up of some of the Freshmen students participating in the parade.

The girls looked good in their red berets.

These students demonstrated their unarmed-combat skills (here wielding knives).

Photo from our balcony, looking south-east across Tang Dao Wan Bay.  

Same photo as above, but using the zoom to highlight Ling Shan Dao Island in the distance.

This photo was taken three days ago.  It is full moon (a Super-moon this month) with very big ('king') tides.  This is low tide - most unusual to see to the water so low, and so much of the bottom of the Bay exposed.

This photo taken at same time as above - very low tide.  You could easily walk out to Cow Island in the middle of the bay.

Vera and I with Little Eddie in Hong Kong, early September 2015. He is 18 months old and very cute.

A Wallabies supporter!!  Hope we beat England tonight; fingers crossed.

Andrew stretching before going for a run - Little Eddie helping.

Caroline's furniture website is up-and-running (www.reddie.co) but only for deliveries in Hong Kong at this stage.  She is exhibiting some of her furniture in a special promotional area in Hong Kong.

More Reddie furniture on display.

Paul Milton with his three grand-kids, Eddie, Bea and Miles.  They were all in Bali in early September to celebrate Paul's 70th birthday.

...

That's all for this post.

As mentioned, I'll do a separate post describing our visit to Zoucheng last week.

Best wishes, keep well and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Saturday 3 October 2015