Monday, November 26, 2012

I am Thankful for Lamb and Hong Kong!!!!

  Hello Everyone.  I hope you are all recovering from the family get together and the tryptophan induced stupor from too much turkey.  The question I have is, "If everyone loves turkey so much how come we only cook it once or twice a year"?  Before you go off the deep end and tell me that you buy sliced Turkey at the market and eat Turkey sandwiches, you know what I mean.  How come families don't have the whole Turkey thing once a week?  My grandmother used to make a big pot roast meal once a week for my grandfather.  Of course it had roast beast, potatoes, carrots, salad and homemade apple pie.  What if she had replaced the roast beast with roast bird.  Anyway, I digress which leads me to the civilization question for the week.

CIVILIZATION QUESTION:  This question is in honor of my brother Paul.  He loves turkey on Thanksgiving. He loves the entire process of injecting his bird with some amazing spices and sauce and then deep frying it.  So the question this week is,  "Are you a civilized country if you don't have turkeys to eat?" Hmmmm!!!  This week he thinks that China is downright barbaric.  Not a turkey to be found anywhere.

TEACHING:  This week's teaching is going to focus on the issues that seem to be universal in all parts of the world when it comes to education.  I think I mentioned in previous blogs that Cecelia and I have been asked to train staff and to help implement a new English acquisition program.  Cecelia has been asked to be the curriculum coordinator for the Primary Department.  I on the other hand  have tried to stay on the outside and help a bit when needed, besides it is the English Department that is making the changes.  I have been team teaching with the English teacher and we have done a couple of units together.  For example, her students read I Robot  and in math we created robots and did enlargements by learning about scale.  She then decorated her class with them.  So anyway, recently the team that has been doing the curriculum change has come to me regarding the new SMART boards.  Nobody has used one so I said that I would help to show teachers what they can do with them.  If I haven't mentioned it before, if you have a slight knowledge regarding something, you become the instant expert.  The problem with this, is that even though I have used a SMART board and like them, these are in Chinese.  So, this last week I had to spend my spare time configuring the boards and Windows into English in order to do a demonstration.  This would have been an easy fix except for one thing, I don't read Chinese yet.  As you can imagine it took longer than it should have because I needed to have a Chinese teacher with me in order to configure the boards.  Of course it took longer than it should have.
  That accomplished, I have now been asked to write a foundation for behavior management.  This foundation is to be developed in order for the new curriculum to be built upon it.  The only problem with this is that the administration doesn't feel that a behavior plan is necessary to implement the curriculum.  This is where I mentioned earlier about the universal problems with education that exist world wide.  Now, be patient with me because I am going to jump up on my soapbox for a minute.  Some of you will agree with me and others may not, but it doesn't really matter.  I am going to tell you what I think anyway, that is the beauty of writing my blog.
  The question to start is, "Why do administrators in education think that curriculum can exist without a firm and fair foundation of behavior?"  The reason I ask is because the administration here thinks that the radical changes that need to be made in the English can be accomplished without it.  It is the same issue that we deal with at school in the States.  Every teacher in the world will tell you that if they are dealing with discipline on a constant basis in the classroom the curriculum is going down the tubes.  There are so many examples out there that demonstrate that the foundation for good education is firm and fair discipline.  Not only for students, but for staff as well.  The best schools in the world are built on the model of firm and fair discipline with strong curriculum developed on top of it.  Someone give me one good example of a school that has been built otherwise.  When are we going to get a clue in education that we do our students a disservice by not encouraging them to be competitive and disciplined.  The most successful people in the world have a personal discipline that is beyond most of our comprehension.  A great example is Warren Buffet.  Why does he still live in the house that he bought years ago and drive used cars?  Does anyone know the answer? I do, he was extremely disciplined with money.  Did I forget to mention that he is extremely rich.  I know that was a rhetorical statement.  Anyway, the point is, "Why do people feel like they always have to reinvent the wheel?".  The last time I checked the wheel was still a pretty good invention.  I know I am rambling, but I get tired of beating a dead horse.  So, in my small way this week I get to give my opinion to a school that is run like a business and not like a social experiment.  My recommendation to the administration and to the people working on the new curriculum project is that if they don't build a foundation of behavior and performance outcomes that nobody should continue working on the project.  The teachers here complain that they don't have motivated I.B. students.  The reason is because they don't give credit for in class work.  The kids get their grades based on the final at the end of the semester.  This is just like saying to all of us that work, "come to work everyday, but we are not going to pay you". I am all for intrinsic motivation, but that isn't the way the real world works.  You cannot build a school on a house of cards.
  I learned a long time ago from an old teacher friend of mine about classroom management.  Her management plan included a clear plan for both discipline and  for their daily work.  She used to say that she was a witch to her kids until Christmas.  Now don't misunderstand the description here.  She was still herself and loving to her kids, but up until Christmas she wouldn't let a single student get away with anything that deterred from the education in her classroom.  She disciplined the supposed good kids the same as she did the obnoxious kids.  Obviously she didn't have to do that very often, but it made a huge impact on the obnoxious kids to know that the same rules applied to everyone.  After Christmas the kids came back and understood the expectations.  Her class ran smoothly the rest of the year and they always did well on standardized tests.  She must have done something right, because the last time I checked before she retired she was named teacher of the year 8 times.  Now at this point you may be thinking that I am just making it up, but I can tell you first hand that she is a living individual because I was her student teacher.  Not only was I her student teacher, but she applied the same standards to me as her student.  I will never forget her telling me, "Rusty I don't think I am ever going to let you take over my class until you get more organized".  After her telling me that, the following week I had all of my units organized for the year and my lesson plans set for the next month for each subject.  She was surprised and impressed.  To finish the story, I did take over her class for six months and even got my first letter of recommendation from her.  It wouldn't have happened without her being firm and fair.  So to finish, please if you are one of my administrator friends don't take offense.  But, don't give me some acronym or some study in which the numbers have been manipulated.  I am a math teacher, I can manipulate any percentage to make it sound in my favor.  I will just remind you of people like Jaime Escolante and Clovis Unified School District.  This is my opinion and if you don't agree let it slide off of your back like a duck does with water and we will just agree to disagree.  So  Enough of That!!!!!

ADVENTURES:  Ok this was a rather interesting week.  I played in my first Chinese Golf Tournament.  I got second place and realized that the local golfers over here either cheat worse that back at home or just don't know any better.  I tend to think that they don't know any better.  When I took a drop from a lateral hazard, one of the caddies asked me what I was doing.  I told her I was taking my two club relief and dropping my ball.  She promptly said that I didn't have to do that.  She said nobody does that, they just put the ball down in the fairway.  I saw this first hand two holes later.  After finishing the golf tournament we had a dinner and the prize ceremony commenced.  I learned a couple of very important Chinese words at the banquet.  The words are Gam bei.  Gam Bei means Bottoms Up.  Bottoms Up is a very big deal at dinner in China.  So before the dinner even started the beer glasses were filled and once all the players were seated around the table the first shout of Gam bei was given.  This is even before you have eaten any food.  Also, if you win prizes, you must do Gam bei in front of the banquet hall.  I thought I was lucky until I had to do Gam Bei twice because I won two prizes.  The first prize I won was because I shot 78 and 8 is a lucky number in China.  I won three foot massages.  Cecelia was very excited about those.  The second prize I won was because I finished second place.  I won a years worth of driving range coupons.  I didn't need those since I already paid for a years worth of unlimited range use.  I gave those to my new friend Michael.  There were so many Gam bei toasts that evening I thought I was back at my friend Michael Jilke's frat house at USC on a Friday night.  Fortuneately I survived and thankfully had a late class on Friday morning.
  Thanksgiving came so fast and unexpectantly that when someone wished me a Happy Thanksgiving, I kind of stared at them with a blank face and took a minute to process what they said.  You see, we had to work on Thanksgiving.  On top of that, we are a day ahead of our friends in the United States so we didn't have anyone wishing us Happy Thanksgiving from home until Friday.  It was weird saying Happy Thanksgiving to Cecelia, Paul and the Girls and then doing the same the next day as well.  The other thing is that there are no turkeys near where we live.  The closest thing to turkey is Goose or Chicken.  It just isn't the same.  We also went out for Thanksgiving dinner.  This is strange in itself because Paul and I usually do a lot of cooking on the big day.  He has an elaborate process of injection and frying.  I tend to be a non traditionalist and cook Oyster Bisque or something like that.  So for Thanksgiving dinner we went to a place called The Greenery Cafe.  It is an international restaurant that serves Chinese and other food.  We decided that we didn't want Chinese food for Thanksgiving.  We eat it everyday and decided that we wanted something special.  The Greenery was an excellent choice for doing just that.  Between the five of us we had two amazing steaks, one rack of lamb, lamb curry and a leg of lamb that would have fed at least three of us at the table.  We also had french fries so that we had some potatoes and salads.  Topped off with wine and Mango juice it was Awesome with a capital A!!!!!!  It was so good that we are already making plans to get some lambs for the girls to raise when we get back home.  We may even have started a new family tradition.  The turkey may have lost the battle in our house.  Who says that you can't be thankful and get stuffed over mutton instead of turkey.  Didn't the pilgrims have sheep as well?  During dinner we talked about being thankful for all of our friends and family.  We were also thankful for having the opportunity to do what we are doing.  The Lord has truly blessed us with this experience.
Paul on the ferry to Hong Kong.
  On Saturday we got up early to go to Hong Kong.  We left at around half past 6 and headed up the street to catch the bus that goes to the transportation center.  No scooters for us because it was raining.  When you buy a ferry ticket to Hong Kong you get a free shuttle ride from where we live to the harbor.  The bus ride takes about 20 minutes and gets you to the ferry with about half hour to spare.  We decided to grab some coffee before we got on the boat.  We didn't realize that they were going to need to go out back and grind it first and then brew it.  It took us about 10 minutes to get a cup of coffee that ended up being too sweet and half full.  They obviously don't care that they are competing with Starbucks.  Anyway, after we got our coffee we headed for the border crossing.  One thing I am not sure that I have mentioned in previous blogs is that when you leave mainland China to go to either Macau or Hong Kong you have to fill out these forms and then present them with your passport.  The wierd thing to us, is that both Macau and Hong Kong are part of China now, and yet you still have to go through the immigration stuff.  It would be like having Baja become part of California, but they leave the border gates up.  So if there are not a lot of people in line this is a piece of cake, so when we headed up to show our passports we thought no problem there isn't anyone here.  We were thinking no problem we will breeze right through.  Oh, but not the Oetinger family.  We happened to get in the line with the border agent that kept looking at Taylor as if she was a miniature criminal.  He must of looked at her and then back at her passport four or five times before he finally put the stamp on it.  It must be because of her bad passport picture.  We told her she should have smiled when they took it.  Claire's isn't that much better.  The pictures are so bad that they should have the lines behind them like they do in the line up photos when someone gets put in jail.  This guy scrutinized the passports so long that we thought we were going to miss our ferry.  Paul had gotten in the other line and waited about 10 minutes for us.  He got through quickly because he kind of looks like a Chinese National anyway.  We finally made it to the ferry and got settled in our seats.  The great thing about the ferry is that it is very roomy and there are bathrooms and a snack bar.  It takes about two hours to get to Hong Kong and you can just relax and watch the scenery go by or take a nap.  I chose to do a little of both.  When we got to Hong Kong the entrance through that immigration crossing made the crossing on Mainland China look like a walk in the park.  It was much worse in Hong Kong and took us almost an hour to get through.
Hong Kong Skyline from Kowloon Ferry Dock
Heritage Plaza built 1881
  The time in immigration was definitely worth the wait.  In my life I would consider Hong Kong to be the second most beautiful city I have ever been in, next to Dubrovnic Croatia.  Hong Kong has this very cosmopolitan feel.  As you walk down the street you can meander into stores like Cartier, Tiffany, Versacci or Armani.  Paul and I considered getting tailored suits, but just couldn't find the material we liked.  Besides, just like my Rolex that I got a great deal, we figured we could get a better deal on suits in Guangzhou.  Heck we might even go back to the guy that I bought the Rolex from.  I think he had Armani suits in the back.  Remember the mall that I mentioned in one of the earlier blogs.  The one that I said was the largest and most impressive that I had ever seen, well it isn't anymore.  The mall that held the above mentioned stores had many more and was 10 blocks long and four stories high.  If I could use one word to describe this mall it would be SHINY.  The other great thing about this mall is that there are actually reasonably priced items to purchase as well.
On Canton Street
The biggest reason we went to Hong Kong was to buy some things that we couldn't find in our area.  Believe it or not electronics are of better quality and cheaper in Hong Kong than in Guangzhou.  I bought a printer and a one terrabite external hard drive for 1300 Hong Kong dollars, which is about $160 US dollars.  We bought a number of other items and then wandered around the Kowloon Ferry area.  One of the coolest parts of the Ferry area is the Heritage plaza.

The Heritage Plaza was built in 1881.  It has been converted into a shopping and eating area.  It houses a beautiful restaurant in the old carriage building as well as some fine clothing and watch shops in other parts of the plaza.  There are fountains and meandering stairs everywhere.  While we were visiting the plaza there were a number of wedding photo ops going on.  There was also a group of students that had just graduated from college.  There was even one modeling photo shoot going on during the hussle and bussle of the place.

Our own model at Heritage Plaza!!  Heather it is time to buy a bigger gun!!
We could be Super Models.  Well at least maniquins anyway!!
After wandering around the plaza a bit we headed for dinner.  We had to catch the ferry back to our home at 6 pm.  It was a short visit to Hong Kong, but we will definitely be back.  By the way, the border crossing back onto the mainland was rather uneventful.  I think Cecelia said it best, "Hong Kong is a nice taste of the west close to our home".  Don't get me wrong, we love where we live and are very thankful for the life we are living here in China, but it is nice to go to a place that feels a little like home.  When I talk about home I mean little things like people stopping at stop lights and walking with crosswalks.  Hong Kong just feels orderly, while where we are it tends to feel a bit chaotic.
 So to end this blog I wanted to take a moment to tell all of you how thankful we are for you.  I can't mention everyone personally, but I want to thank you for your emails and comments regarding the blog.  When we get notes from people back home or from some of our friends around the world it makes the world a bit smaller.  I think we would get homesick more often if we didn't hear from you, our friends and family.  I also want to express a grateful thank you to all of you that read my blog.  Since I began in August my blog has been read by more 2000 times.  I have never taken on a task like this in my life.  Let's just say that growing up blind in one eye, reading and writing were never really friendly or pleasurable.  I have found that writing the blog has been very enjoyable and holds a special place in my heart.  Just knowing that some of you are reading it motivates me to share more.  I also appreciate my English teacher friends for just putting up with my syntax errors.  As much fun as we are having we do miss all of you.  Last week was a perfect example of how much we miss you and feel missed as well.  When we facetimed Gabby at her party I don't think there was a dry eye on either side of the world.  We did have tears leaking into our lattes at Starbucks as well.  Yes, even I got choked up ladies.  Thanksgiving was definitely not the same without all of you around.  Finally, I want to thank the Lord for the many blessings he has bestowed about my life.  As I write this I will end the most adventurous year of my life so far.  I turn 50 on Wednesday and am amazed at what has transpired this year.  Anyway, I don't want to get into my birthday stuff just yet.  You can probably guess what the blog topic will be for next week.  Thanks again to all of you.  We love you and we will see you sooner than you think.  
We are thankful for all of you.  With love from Hong Kong

2 comments:

  1. Awesome blog post brother Rusty! You guys look great and it seems you're having the time of your lives! I missed you guys too on Thanksgiving, especially seeing Paul's smile when everyone bites into his fried Turkey, with a big Yummmmm! When they ask him, what did you marinate the bird with this year, Paul would say, "Not tellin'; it's a secret!" Anyway, I completely agree with your sentiments on behavior management and accountability in the classroom. You cannot have students learning if they are off task; simple as that. The basics of instructional delivery to a group of people, whether Chinese, American, or Dutch is the same. Clear expectations, guidelines, protocol, and consistency should be a given. If the teachers do not care about this; then for sure, the kids won't!! Enough of my own soapbox for now!!

    Blessings and Thank You,

    David Sachs

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  2. Dave,

    Thanks for the comments, they are greatly appreciated. We are having a pretty good time in China, but miss our friends during the holiday seasons. I hope you have a great Christmas and give the women in your life hugs from us. I think for Christmas, instead of lamb we are going to have water buffalo. It sticks with the recurring theme.

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