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What
we did on the weekend Dalian integrating technology blog at DAIS
integrating technology
grades K - 12 tofu
Shenzhen,
China. iPad
workshop at Shekou
International School stayed at Fraser
Place Apartments Shekou. Beijing visit to International School of Beijing (ISB)
A few weeks
past which is what happens when life is full to live and there is no time to
pause and reflect – maybe today I can get back on track…
February 22
- 24
Shenzhen for
a weekend a few weekends ago; other cities always look so great; Shenzhen is best. We had a two-bedroom,
three-bathroom apartment for two nights with a balcony opening from each
bedroom and the living room on the 15th floor with view of Hong Kong Harbour and Hong Kong.
In China it
is not being where you have gone to but getting there that is the amazing
experience. I am more surprised by the fact that we arrived at our destination
in one-piece than anything else. Our taxi driver from the Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (深圳宝安国际机场; formerly
named Shenzhen Huangtian Airport) not only
drove at the highest speed his wobbly rusty cab could go, weaving in and out of
traffic, beeping his horn the whole way – ‘out of my path got Westerners on
board’ but he blinked his high-beam lights all the way. We would get really close to someone’s bumper
and he would flash his high-beam on and off and beep then swerve around them. Luckily
for all of us it was only a 45 minute ride of terror. I suppose in my younger
years instead of going to a theme park and riding a terrifying ride I would
have just gone to China and grabbed a taxi for a death-defying thrill. We have
only had one close accident – well every time getting in to a car in China is
close to an accident – we had the bonnet or hood (depending which country you
associate the front of the car with) come up and break the window but that one
time the driver was actually going close to the speed limit and there was no
one in front of us to smash into. We had our bit of a scrape last July on the
interstate in Mississippi in the US of A when at 70 mph a truck sideswiped us sending us across a four lane busy highway see http://neuage.me/2013/02/01/a-piggly-wiggly-story/
but in China it is always like this driver is going to kill us. But as one
would have suspected by now – he didn’t.
Traveling
with Narda one realizes comfort is number one. Most
places we seem to change rooms. In Hoain, Viet Nam we
changed after one night, too close to the road, OK so the new apartment was a
good place for a week. In Hanoi a couple of months ago we lasted one hour
before Narda was at the front desk getting us a room
change - forget why now.
in Shekou, Shenzhen (In 1962
France launched a ship named Ancerville,
which was purchased by the People’s Republic of China in 1973 and renamed Minghua. 10 years later the ship was permanently
berthed at Shekou, Shenzhen, where she was
refurbished and rebranded – this time as the hotel and entertainment complex, “Shekou Sea World. The Minghua
was berthed at Sea World Plaza, the water which originally surrounded her has
been reclaimed to allow construction of a golf course. The land reclamation
continued southward, and today the coastline has been moved several hundred metres, leaving the Minghua
completely landlocked.)
We arrived
at the Frazier Centre at midnight and took a strong sleeping pill so nothing
would disturb us, went to bed and damn it was a Chinese bed - might as well as
sleep on the floor. Once; on a weekend
rafting trip, we took a pillow top mattress with us, rolled tightly and stored
in the bus cargo area. That was a
worthwhile decision as the typical Chinese bed was rock hard.
I was tired
enough to sleep on the floor if not the bed but Narda
was already half out the door saying we needed to get a different room. Not to
argue I opened the door and watched her rush off to the elevator.
Ten minutes
later she returned; bellboy in tow carrying a large pillow top mattress; we did
have a king size bed. Together they made up the bed which was a bit funny as Narda and I were feeling the effect of our sleeping pill,
and we no surely most have appeared rather drunk. Nevertheless we woke the next
morning, a good six hours later, with some I disturbed
sleep behind us. As usual, Narda was right getting us
more comfortable.
We got to
Campus Village a couple of years ago at two AM where we still live, though of
course we have moved apartments since then only to discover our bed was hard.
Fortunately Nard saw a pillow top mattress in a storage room the very next day
and soon the security guards were lugging it to our apartment. Since then we
have purchased another mattress to add to it sows have a pretty good bed by now.
Not that I Am suggesting a pattern here but that first week Narda
moved her classroom too; understandable as the room assigned her was not really
suitable. If only others would realize what I did years ago; she is often right
and the best judge of what we should have so do it right from the get go and
let the good times roll.
We had our
weekend workshop at Shekhou International School in
the Shekhou area of Shenzhen, a five minute walk from
the Frazier Apartments with now a rather soft bed.
We were at an
ipad work shop which is good in itself but we are a
PC school and I was told not only would our school never have macs installed
but that we would never have ipad support but here
there are four of us keeping up with integrating technology in education
despite administration. Because the most important basis to education is to
provide tools for 21st century learning and at the present time the ipad is the best resource available to students. Many of
our students use macs and iPads and instead of trying
to hide from this fact I want to have the knowledge to support their learning
which is why the other three teachers from our school were there.
Narda's fellow music teacher uses his ipad in
all his classes and so did our previous music teacher who left to teach at a
progressive international school in the Middle East. Narda
was reluctant to get an ipad but by the end of the
weekend she loves it and will be making good use of it. I personally do not
have a great desire for it as I make webpages, program with Flash and create
videos and newscast which I use my laptop for and will for some time. At the
moment I am writing this on my iPhone using Pages which Narda
downloaded yesterday onto her ipad which downloaded
to my phone as we share our apps account whilst flying.
Not sure why
they have statues coming out of buildings but in Shenzhen they do.
OK a couple
of weeks later and the iPad is
in the drawer. We have given up trying to get Ted Talks with the Internet speed
here; even leaving it on overnight does not produce results. But we will
re-visit it soon.
March 01 -
02 Beijing visit to International School of Beijing (ISB)
The International
School of Beijing (ISB) like
Shekou International School is a beautiful school. SIS
has three campuses and we were at the elementary one whereas ISB is one large
campus with 1700 or so students K – 12. I went to see the video/film program as
I am putting together one at our school. Not much to say except it would be a
great place to work. Beijing as always was quite polluted. I got the app for my
iPhone ‘China Air Quality’ which was probably a bad idea as I am a bit obsessed
with it keeping track of my local town of Dalian. Today Dalian is ‘slightly
polluted’ at 106 and at the moment Beijing is 398 (‘very unhealthy, protection
recommended). When I was there it was about 450 – choke choke,
and there was a time last month when it was off the chart at close to a
thousand. Shanghai, where we are spending next week is either 133 or 68. On this
app there are two readings for most cities. One is from the US Consulate – 133 for
Shanghai the other, 68, from the Chinese, so one can follow which ever. I tend
to believe the Yanks – not sure why.
Below is a typical Shenzhen sunset
with less pollution than Beijing.
ISB is outside of downtown but
the pollution is still evident. When I was there a soccer tournament was
underway and I couldn’t help wonder why people would pay so much money to have
their kids at a top school but where the air is so unhealthy and with them
running around gasping for air and kicking balls.
I collected information on their
film/video program but with them having about ten times the budget I have, even
with a recent healthy grant to get some equipment, I will not be competing well
in any film shows these next few years. They had a wall of trophies and plaques
for competitions they have won in the Asia arena.
And that is it. Two great schools
in two weeks and now when we go to Shanghai we will be at the EARCOS Conference
at Concordia
International School Shanghai.
Spent today planning trips for
school break mid-June – first days of August; New York, Atlanta, maybe a week
in Florida and three weeks in Australia. Just some more stuff to add to my travel pages; http://neuage.us/2013/
contact DALIAN CHINA ~ TOFU ~ PICTURE POEMS ~ Educational blogs updated August 15, 2013 Vietnam trekking.
Blog Index updated August 15, 2013 K - 12 technology (updated August 13, 2013). Travel Site (2013) updated August 14, 2013. Videos/Blogs on Youtube, Twitter, Wordpress, Photo albums. Updated 15 Second Street, Round Lake, New York and photos from parent's 1943 wedding as well as Leigh's page. Farmville page updated Thursday, March 17, 2011 5:58 PM neuage.org updated August 15, 2013 neuage.us updated August 15, 2013 Resume updated August 15, 2013
Blog updated / Integrating Technology Blog: terrell.neuage.us and/or neuage.me, neuage.info, neuage.mobi, livejournal, Serendipity, neuage.co, drupal-gardens
Today working on picture poem links starting around "better"). Picture poems are the digital format of work I did as a street artist in New Orleans in the 1970s, as well as New York City, Honolulu, San Francisco and Adelaide South Australia. Follow @neuage.
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