Letter: Yi ge ren

Dear friends and family,

The weather here in Dalian is cold, and these first few weeks of teaching have been exhausting. It's lucky that this country is famous for tea, for I could barely survive without a hot cup of "cha" in the evening (a cup with a lid, of course). I miss you all.

I'd like to tell you about China, but I haven't even scratched the surface yet. Walking between my apartment and the college, I see many things that I wouldn't see in Perth, but most of the differences are trivial: driving on the opposite side of the road, or street vendors peddling home-made snack food rather than chocolate bars in a vending machine. That everyone is Chinese is not a fact I notice, but the handful caucasians that I've seen on the street in the time I've been here have certainly stood out. I guess I must stand out too.

I haven't made any friends, but there's no need to post an ad in the personals yet (if that's possible here) because I have a couple of phone numbers from people who would be happy for an opportunity to practise their English. I just haven't felt sufficiently in control of my workload to start make social arrangements. In control or not, I will phone soon...I'm getting tired of eating dinner alone in the student cafeteria every day.

I'd also like to get to know the other teachers in my department better, but it's hard to pin them down for lunch. The teachers all seem quite friendly, and are generally willing to answer my questions about teaching. But what are the right questions to ask!

Preparing for classes takes me a lot of time. I think I'm more relaxed when I'm actually in the classroom. The top two comments from students have been: "We like your smile," and "You seem shy". Of course, there's also the occasional "I think you're very handsome"!

Thanks to everyone for their emails - I'm keen to hear what's going on in "sunny, perfect Perth" (disparaging quote from Sharon!). The subject line of this email, by the way, literally means "one person" or in some contexts "alone". Best wishes to one and all!

Love Todd