November 10

November is going by quickly and this week my students were very interested in the American Presidential election because this was also the transition of new leadership in China.  However, here there are no surprises so the close race and all the media coverage of the American election was interesting.  In class, students held their own debates, voted, and even did mock interviews with President Obama and Governor Romney.  I was very impressed at how well informed they were and how many students had watched the debates.  The biggest challenge was understanding political cartoons ... humor just doesn't translate very easily.

Student Monitors at the speech contest

Sunday morning I had a little more excitement than I was looking for when the shower drain didn't drain and I flooded the apartment.  I had just gotten out of the shower when my doorbell rang.  I thought it was the gal across the hall so I peeked out the door while I'm wrapped in a towel but instead of my friend at the door, it was two Chinese men trying to tell me that water was leaking into their apartment.  Since I really didn't know what to say I just invited them in to see what was happening and while I went and got dressed they were kind enough to clear out the drain and mop up all the water,  What kind neighbors!

I hope you enjoy these video clips from my classroom visits and pictures from an after school English class I helped with at a Muslim  School located in the city center.

 

Lights in the city after class waiting for the bus

What a heavy load

He really thought we were funny looking

Mailing Address
Karla Thompson
School of Foreign Studies
Xi'an Jiaotong University
No 28 Xianning West Road Xi'an
Shaanxi Province
P.R. China 710049