Posted on Monday, May 7, 2012

Hi, Everyone! Spring weather has finally arrived here. It's nice not needing to wear a jacket.

The semester is flying by fast. It has been a mostly relaxing semester, since I have only four classes. Some weeks get busy, for example when I have to grade homework for my writing classes. A couple of weeks ago I spent 20 hours grading 60 essays for my freshman students! That was a new experience for me. I'll have to do that at least two more times before the end of the semester, as well as grading the final examinations.

My other class is American Culture. Last week's lesson was on the Film Industry, among other things. I reserved about 20 minutes after my lecture to show a few short animated features from the Pixar studios. The students seemed to really enjoy those.

As you can see from the picture above, the Subway sandwich shop has finally opened in Weihai. It opened at the very end of April, in time for the May 1 Labor Day holiday. I have been there twice already! They've had all sorts of deals during their grand opening. The full prices are comparable to back home. But I'm sure I will be visiting there from time to time to get a good sandwich. Sliced lunch meats such as turkey and roast beef are impossible to get in the supermarkets. And good bread choices are very limited. So it's virtually impossible to make a great sandwich here (well, PB&J is always a possibility!). The Subway is 25 minutes away by taxi from where I live.

I hope you are doing well. Send me an email when you have time, and tell me how things are going.