Haircut Adventures

Well, from time to time one does need to get a hair cut. Now, Maureen decided that she also wanted to get a "style" change at the same time. The first task was to find the "look" that she wanted and get the look printed so that it could be shown to the hairdresser. This is critical when language is an issue. Once we got to the local hair salon, we had to choose who would take care of her hair. There were three different levels of hairdressers with different costs to match. The plan, stick in the middle.

Maureen was lucky as just as the young man who was given the task of doing the laowai lady's hair, another woman was placed in the chair next to her - a lady who knew how to speak decent English. Needless to say, the comfort level for Maureen went up as there was a bridge over the barrier of not being able to speak Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese).

The results were just what we had been hoping for when we left the apartment for the haircutting adventure. Maureen left the photo print with the hairdresser so that he can fine-tune the haircut in another month or two.

Culture and Communication ESL Style

Another visit to yesterday's activity. After our morning walk to the market and then through the park, the afternoon was time for me to give a lecture at the university. Each of the foreign teachers are required to give a lecture lasting about an hour and a half during the fall term.

My lecture was about body language or non-verbal language. Maureen's lecture, in December, will be about multi-cultural Canada. Both of our lectures are based on photos. I used photos from Changzhou. Obviously, Maureen will be using photos from Canada.

Of course, both of us like to have the students in the audience do talking as well. It prevents them from getting too sleepy while it saves our throats from getting too sore. Besides getting the students and teachers involved in the lecture answering questions, it allows us to make sure that what we say actually is understood, at least at a basic level. Of course, since all are just learning English, likely a lot of what one says is not understood. That is why we use photos in the presentations.

Autumn on City Streets

Another walk down city streets rewards us with pictures that tell stories. This "mom" is busy with cleaning some "greens" destined for the soup pot or a veggie dish in her restaurant. Just a block from He Hai University near our apartment, the street where I took this photo is filled with tiny shops and a fair number of little mom and pop restaurants, popular with the students.

We went for a walk in this direction for a few different reasons. The first reason was to repair my new jacket (sewing issue) and to strengthen the straps on our larger backpack which we use for groceries. Of course we returned to a craftsman who sets up his shop on a corner beside the farmer's market, the same man we visited a few times in 2006 and 2007. This is one of the interesting things about China. People setting up businesses on street corners - businesses without walls.

With that task done, we continued our walk to stroll around the Xin Bei Central Park, a pleasant way to spent an autumn morning. The trees are showing the colours of the season. At one point, the falling leaves gave us a shower as a gust of wind decided to pass through the branches of the trees as we passed them. We walked all around the park before returning to the farmer's market where we picked up some freshly made noodles. We then back headed back to the apartment for a lunch of Chinese dumplings.

Finding a New Home on the 'Net

Well, Wordpress™ is giving us headaches again in Changzhou. We aren't able to post anything at our blog site there at this time, so I am returning our posts to this old blog site of ours at Blogger™. On Monday evening we went back to the campus in order to watch the freshmen put on their annual performance for the upper year students. Since Maureen teaches two classes of freshmen, she had a number of her students taking part in the performances. Here Maureen waits with some of her students who were excited that she would actually want to watch their classmates perform. Somehow, they think teachers have more important things to do than to watch students have a "party."

This is one of Maureen's students in the final performance of the evening filled with dancing, skits, songs and comedy. We spent an enjoyable evening with the students. Maureen sat with her freshmen students while I was persuaded to join my second year students who were sitting closer to the action where I could take better photos. This is one of the keys to good student relationships - take an interest in their lives outside of the classroom and the level of respect goes up in the classroom.

Experiments with Camera Lens

I am trying out a different lens, the wide angle lens I got at the end of last summer. This picture looks good with no noticeable distortion. Why am I trying out my lenses? Well, I wanted to see if I would rather use the wide angle lens or the telephoto lens. As well, I wanted to try out the new mini tripod with the weight of the lenses on the camera. Success! The camera was stable, not the case with the thin mini tripods I got earlier. Good thing the last one rusted out in Mexico.

I've almost come to a standstill with the basement bathroom while waiting for electrical and plumbing. I will be able to put up a few panels of drywall where there won't be any interference for the work remaining. Every little bit counts. This evening we are watching Calgary and Chicago on TV - yes, we have television again. So far after one period, Calgary is down by three goals. It doesn't look good.

SoFoBoMo Project

Well, this is what the format for my photo book project will look like. I will begin working on this book when we get back from Tasha's. I have 31 days to do the complete book which must contain a minimum of 35 photos. I then must save the project as a PDF and upload it to the project site at SoFoBoMo. Of course I will also put it on the ISSUU site as well as it will then be officially published with copywrite safety built in.

Today Mom and I will be off for another golf game, likely our last game for a while as the weather turns terrible for the next week. I don't mind in the least as I will then find it easier to focus on the basement. Tomorrow I will finish framing in the walls (well, straightening out the wall is more what is really going on). Friday it is off to S'toon to buy materials and go the the CATS performance. Saturday I will either work on bathroom electrical or the flooring. The plumbing will have to wait for either Monday or Tuesday evening. Once that is done, it is wall finishing so that the plumbing fixtures can be hooked up to make the new bathroom useable. By the time this is all done, it will be golfing season for real. Woohoo!

Men's Night on the Golf Course

Mom is getting her haircut today (photo tomorrow - maybe) in Rosetown. She tells me it is going to be short - very short. Oh well, whatever makes her happy is fine by me. Today's photo was from last week when I joined the boys in trying to burn with magnifying glasses. No fires were started and we didn't have to call the fire department. It was a good way to occupy time while the boys had a few down moments when activity wasn't scheduled.

Today I go golfing with the men in hopes of winning a bit of money. Well, not really, but it would be nice. I am going with my regular crew for the most part. The basement is coming along well. When we go to the city on Friday, I will be buying the flooring, lighting and other things to help finish it off. I ordered the drywall and last bits of wood needed to finish building walls. With any luck, the bathroom will be done by mid-May. More news later ...