Post #85 5 January 2016

Gentlefolk,

Our best wishes to you all for a happy and healthy 2016.

I can't believe we are already 5 days into the new year.

The photos below capture some of the events in the last days of 2015 and on New Year's Day.

Qingdao has experienced bad smog the last 2 weeks.  Unusual for our coastal city. Of course we do get days when the air quality is "Unhealthy" or sometimes even "Very unhealthy", but this time it was often "Hazardous".  Now we know what many inland regions often experience - not good.  One morning the smog was so thick that visibility was less than 100 metres; scary.

Exams

I've been busy with end-of-semester exams and marking.  Almost done - one more exam tomorrow morning and that will be it for this semester.

In the past when I've had more than one Western Culture class I have just held one exam, but this time the university's Teaching Office insisted that I have separate exams (and papers) for my two Western Culture classes.

I was aware that the two courses had different titles: Non Major 283 was "An Introduction to British and American Culture" and Double Major was "A Survey of the UK and the USA".  At the beginning of the semester I enquired as to the difference between the two courses?  The answer was that they use different text books.  All the textbooks I'd seen on Western Culture were outdated and poor quality so I prepared my own lectures, and of course I gave the same lectures to both classes.

The Teaching Office didn't have a problem with that approach, until exam time.  I argued having one exam for the two classes made sense, as they had in fact studied exactly the same material.  But no, that logic wasn't accepted. The bureaucrats put their foot down and insisted that I had to prepare two different papers (actually four, as there is a Paper A and a Paper B for each exam - Paper B is the back-up in case Paper A is "leaked" and they need a quick replacement).

The first Culture exam (for NM283) was held 7 - 9pm on Wednesday 30 December 2015; the second (for DM1401) was held 7 - 9pm on Sunday 3 January 2016.

Class NM283 (52 students) taking the Culture exam, 7 - 9pm on 30 December 2015.

I'll do a separate post on the contents of the Culture exam in the next few days.

New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

My second Oral English exam was held 7 - 9pm on Thursday 31 December - New Year's Eve.

On 31 December we invited the other teachers over at 10pm (after my Oral English exam), to see in the new year but only three could make it.  Vera put on some supper, we had a few drinks till midnight and then watched "The Big Lebowski" with Jeff Bridges and John Goodman.

What a crazy, crazy, crazy movie.  Wonderful acting, especially by John Goodman. It was 3am by the time we fell into bed.

Next morning my other Oral English class NM145 had their exam, 10am - 12 noon, New Year's Day is a public holiday in China.  I offered to hold the exam on another day, but the students decided to have it that morning.  They are all busy studying for exams and preferred to get this exam out of the way.

Can you imagine Australian students (and teachers) having an exam on a public holiday, let alone New Year's Day?  Wouldn't happen!

Actually, while 1 January is recognised as important, a much more significant holiday in China is the Lunar New Year (also called Spring Festival).  That will occur on Monday 8 February 2016.  It is THE big festival in China.  Traditionally, families celebrate together, often in their ancestral village. It is a week of eating, drinking and getting together with friends and family.

After my exam we had lunch at the Blue Horizon Hotel with some other teachers (see photos). Later, Vera and I visited a young couple, Daniel and Hayley Elsaesser, to see baby Oliver.

Saying goodbye to Tamara and Felix Baur  on 29 December 2015.  Tamara was teaching German but had to cut her contract short because of illness.  They are now back in Berlin.

On 30 December 2015 Professor Yan Zi Feng, Director of UPC's International Office, presented me with an "Outstanding Contribution Award", Apparently I am the first foreign teacher to get such an Award.  What an unexpected honour!

Buffet lunch on New Year's Day at the Blue Horizon Hotel. From left, seated: Steven (US); Michael (US); William (Aussie); Graham (Aussie); Gautier & Hao Yu (French); standing at back Vera (Aussie) and Thomas (German).  Thomas is a real linguist - he is fluent in Chinese and Arabic (as well as German and English of course).  

The Blue Horizon Coffee Shop was packed for New Year's Day lunch.  Luckily Vera had booked a table for us. It really shows how prosperous China has become when so many families can enjoy eating out at a big hotel. 

After lunch we visited Hayley (Zhao Hai Jie) and Daniel Elsaesser who had their baby Oliver a month ago.  Daniel is fluent in Chinese. He works for the Qingdao-German Eco Park, an industrial zone for German companies. 

Vera with little Oliver and Hayley.  

...

So that's how we welcomed the New Year 2016.

In ten days we will fly to Hong Kong.  A week with Andrew, Caz and Little Eddie, and then down to Australia.

We'll return at the end of February for the beginning of the next semester.

I hope to do a couple more blog posts before we "head south".

Again, our best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2016.

...

Alex & Vera Olah (aka The Intrepid Duo)
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Tuesday, 5 January 2016