FINISHED!!! Still have to travel up to the Ding! ... and phone musings ...
YEAH!!! FINISHED GRADING but haven't heard from the young lady who puts my grades into the Intranet!!!
AND MY CELL PHONE KONKED OUT!!! Laughing! I forgot to put more money on my phone - more in a second ...
The young woman inputs my grades because I don't know enough Chinese yet to figure out which column to put the grades in, how to SAVE them, etc. I DO know the characters for PRINT!!! Laughing, I use Chinese computers every day almost so I have HAD to learn SOME characters, by default!
So I need to run up to the Ding (Jia Ding where the offices are and where I lived last year). I know where China Mobile is there and can easily put money on my phone there. We have free shuttle buses three times a day between the two campuses for SILC only Professors and administrators so that's not usually a problem!
Phone: Mobile phones are EXPENSIVE - same as in the U.S. - yes, one can even get I-phone knock offs, although only in Hong Kong is the true Iphone available (soon here too). There are no "plans" only you pay 10 yuan for the activation and SIM card (have to give them your passport number and photocopy!!! - yes, they can trace your phone calls and numbers, but we know that the NSA does that in the U.S. so we ALL expect that now!!). The SIM card has your phone number, you pick from a bunch of numbers ... Chinese will NOT pick the number 4 (the number 4 sounds too close to the character for DEATH and that's unlucky, so often there are no 4th floors! Like "13" in the U.S.!!).
Then you just put money on the phone! I use the phone regularly and this is only the second time I have put 100 yuan on it!!! VERY CHEAP!!! Yes, MUCH cheaper than in the U.S. A text costs about a jiao (that's a tenth of a yuan or about 1.4 cents), I believe. So the students are ALWAYS texting. In fact, this is the bane of all teachers!! U.S. AND CHINESE!! Purchasing a card to add extra money on the phone is as easy as in the U.S. Every corner "Mart" has them, in addition to people on the street!! I just don't know what I am buying AND they see a "whity" like me - the price JUMPS like crazy!! (Laughing out loud!)
OH - the STUDENTS DID VERY WELL - less than 5% Fs in each class. I am a terrible teacher many say - NOT ENOUGH "Fs" (I am sure the students don't mind!!!) Supposed to have around 15% - Ah well - FIRE ME! Laughing! What can I say?
I'll try harder next term!! Actually, we'll get to see if raising the final exam to 60% gives me more Fs. When running the numbers for the LAST TERM - it did not! Same basic grades, just a little lower. (For example, 74% instead of 76%.) Most of the grades were not much different when I ran the numbers.
AND MY CELL PHONE KONKED OUT!!! Laughing! I forgot to put more money on my phone - more in a second ...
The young woman inputs my grades because I don't know enough Chinese yet to figure out which column to put the grades in, how to SAVE them, etc. I DO know the characters for PRINT!!! Laughing, I use Chinese computers every day almost so I have HAD to learn SOME characters, by default!
So I need to run up to the Ding (Jia Ding where the offices are and where I lived last year). I know where China Mobile is there and can easily put money on my phone there. We have free shuttle buses three times a day between the two campuses for SILC only Professors and administrators so that's not usually a problem!
Phone: Mobile phones are EXPENSIVE - same as in the U.S. - yes, one can even get I-phone knock offs, although only in Hong Kong is the true Iphone available (soon here too). There are no "plans" only you pay 10 yuan for the activation and SIM card (have to give them your passport number and photocopy!!! - yes, they can trace your phone calls and numbers, but we know that the NSA does that in the U.S. so we ALL expect that now!!). The SIM card has your phone number, you pick from a bunch of numbers ... Chinese will NOT pick the number 4 (the number 4 sounds too close to the character for DEATH and that's unlucky, so often there are no 4th floors! Like "13" in the U.S.!!).
Then you just put money on the phone! I use the phone regularly and this is only the second time I have put 100 yuan on it!!! VERY CHEAP!!! Yes, MUCH cheaper than in the U.S. A text costs about a jiao (that's a tenth of a yuan or about 1.4 cents), I believe. So the students are ALWAYS texting. In fact, this is the bane of all teachers!! U.S. AND CHINESE!! Purchasing a card to add extra money on the phone is as easy as in the U.S. Every corner "Mart" has them, in addition to people on the street!! I just don't know what I am buying AND they see a "whity" like me - the price JUMPS like crazy!! (Laughing out loud!)
OH - the STUDENTS DID VERY WELL - less than 5% Fs in each class. I am a terrible teacher many say - NOT ENOUGH "Fs" (I am sure the students don't mind!!!) Supposed to have around 15% - Ah well - FIRE ME! Laughing! What can I say?
I'll try harder next term!! Actually, we'll get to see if raising the final exam to 60% gives me more Fs. When running the numbers for the LAST TERM - it did not! Same basic grades, just a little lower. (For example, 74% instead of 76%.) Most of the grades were not much different when I ran the numbers.
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