Qingdao, Shandong Province, PRC 山东青岛中国
Grainy photo. I know. As a part-time gig, I helped with a small local Chinese start-up school. They were all kind people and threw me a birthday dinner during my first summer there. I think this was taken by my assistant, Sofia 郭文杰. Many students didn't have an English name and it was my much-welcomed responsibility to give them one. The student on the far right was smart, but a total pain. I named him Eric, after Eric Cartman. I grew to like him a lot though. He was funny.
Aaah I love this photo. I called her "sweet little Kayla". I named her after a friend in Colorado, Kayla Reamey. Sweet Little Kayla was adorable, especially because she was the only girl among eight boys during summer camp.
The school mentioned above had a small Christmas party. To the left is Tim, named after my brother and to the right is Sweet Little Kayla.
This is Jake, named after Jake Bevans. He was one of the smartest kids (probably because he was 10 in a class of 8-year olds, but who cares) and was always smiling. I liked him.
I know it's a little blurry, but it's the best one I have. I feel obligated to introduce you to Parker, named after Parker Bowgren. This kid was the best. He was very intelligent and every time I asked him a question, he'd gently tap his pencil on his head, and look up out of the corner of his eye, then slowly answer the question (usually correctly).
Our Christmas song. It was an awful rendition of "Merry Christmas to You". They sounded terrible, like someone dragging a car door down the street. Just repulsive to the ear.
Just kidding. It was adorable.
And here I am the student. I'm with my Chinese teacher, Gao Yue 高月 (High Moon). She helped me from the beginning and was a wonderful teacher. Very strict and had a great sense of humor. She has since helped start a new language school in Harbin 哈尔滨.