Took a train all by myself and went to Jinhua to visit Sharon and David. I met them in 2006 when they taught down the street at another college. They also went home for a year and then came back. They currently teach at Zhejiang Normal University. If there is the word “Normal” in the schools name it means a teacher college. Knowing middle school teachers as well as I do – I am not sure I would make the connection between Normal and Teachers so easily but this is China – maybe things are different here. Jinhua lacks a lot of the cultural and historical things to see when compared to Hangzhou but the big advantage is that the school is willing to hire us “more mature” teachers. So if I ever get the urge to do this again or I can’t get a job at Frederica – I do have other options.
They found me a great really cheap hotel, (less than 20 bucks a night) really close to their apartment, CNN, BBC, fairly soft beds, good water pressure and a western toilet – what more could I ask for. The free breakfast was lacking (they had run out of almost everything when I arrived) but there was a fruit stand right down the street. We toured and walked around the few local parks and shopped at their Wal-Mart but mostly we ate Sharon’s delicious microwave chocolate cake and played a game called “Farkle”. If you haven’t played before it is addictive, easy and fun. All you need is 6 dice, paper and a little friendly competitiveness.
http://www.farklerules.com/the-rules-of-farkle/
