Sometimes you just need an America Day

I had an America Day today.  It was kind of accidental, I promise I didn't plan it to be a whole day affair.  The teachers at my school and I had planned to go and eat Chinese for lunch and introduce the newest teacher to the local clams that Qingdao is so famous for.  But when I woke up, there was a motion to go downtown to The Diner and eat lunch there, so I ended up eating a veggie omelette, hash browns, and mini-pancakes complete with a complementary coffee. 

Then I had a nice day outside drinking coffee and working on my Chinese homework.  I also put together my lesson plan for the week. 

I was originally going to meet Derek at The Diner for dinner, but ended up meeting him and some of the WECL teachers at Luigi's.  I was still full from lunch so basically had a bottle of beer and a chocolate sundae from McDonald's for dinner.  Hooray for America Day!  Oh, but there was also a sandstorm in the evening.  Thanks, China.

Project America

Since so many of my students asked me to tell them more about life in America and I decided that I shouldn't be the only one to show them, I decided to ask many of my friends to help me.  The first friend up is my dear Erica Shafer, just because she had the most number of pictures (51, holy crap!) and a pretty long bio about herself.  I'm excited to see what my students think of this little project.  This is going to be a mini-series in my classes that might last until the end of the term.  I typically only spend about 20 minutes on each activity or topic in each class, so this is why it is going to span several weeks. 

So, dear readers, if you would like to send me pictures of your life in America, feel free!  Just think that I am going to make a powerpoint out of it and some sort of commentary and biographical information is good too.  Remember to take pictures of the boring stuff too, especially food, living quarters, and your school and/or job!