learning to love change michaelmcduffiejr.com

Happy Birthday China

If you didn’t know, today is the 60th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China. Tell all of your Chinese friends “Happy National Day.”

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

These are just a couple of pics from the beautiful neighborhood I live in. These pictures were taken yesterday. It was probably the most beautiful weather I have ever experience. Sunshine with a high of 68 degrees. (it wont be that way for long, the average temperature in October is about 40 degrees and in January the average temperature is -20 degrees.) But I will enjoy this weather while it lasts.

This is the street just around the corner from my apartment. Please take note at how blue the sky is. This is very unusual in China. I also didn’t notice this until I looked at this picture, my neighborhood is extremely colorful. I love it.

This picture is from a bit rainier day. But note that the sky is still blue when it rains. This picture was taken in in a park near my apartment.

Meet Team JiDa

These are my wonderful teammates for the 09-10 school year. These are the people that will be family to me here in Changchun. I am so glad that I get to serve with them this year .

A brief introduction: from left to right.

Don. Obviously the other man on the team besides myself. He and his wife Sue (who is standing beside him in the picture) are from Michigan and Don is starting his third year teaching at Jilin University. Don has never had another male on his team before so he was glad that I got placed on his team. Don teaches english to Chinese teachers at our school.

Sue. Last saturday Sue made banana pancakes and they made me happy. Therefore, Sue make me happy. For work, Sue has a special project of sorts. The Chinese Language school for our organization is located here in Changchun. There are about 10 ELIC families that are studying Chinese Language here. Sue has a one room school house and teaches about 15 American kids who’s parents are in language school. There are about 8 different grade levels that Sue teaches every day so I respect her lesson planning abilities greatly. Sue’s students love her dearly. She asked my to come and  play guitar for her school sometime this week. I don’t think my version of a certain Salt and Peppa’ song would be appropriate.

Barbara. (In the middle) is perhaps one of the wittiest people I have ever met, which is very much appreciated. The first time I met Barbara we were telling interesting things about ourselves and all she said was “I’m from San Diego, thats about the only interesting thing about me”. Come to find out Barbara has lived off and on in China since 1986, which is pretty incredible. I wont tell her that that was the year I was born. Barbara also teaches teachers at our university.

Melanie. She is starting her 5th year in China. This will be her first full year on the JiDa team as well. Melanie teaches all the Sophomore English majors on our campus. I will work most closely with Melanie this year. We will even share an office. Melanie has been incredibly helpful to me these past two months, helping me get acquainted with teaching, the city, our campus, Chinese language. She is wonderful. Also, Melanie’s Chinese is very good, which is incredibly helpful. Melanie is also the de facto party planning committee president (even though she doesn’t even like the show The Office. I forgive her.)

And of course there is my ugly mug to the far right. I will teach all the Freshman English majors.

This is my team. Now you know them.

God’s Favored Coffee

I would have guessed Starbucks. Who knew?

Michael McDuffie World Tour Begins Now

My world concert series started today. My teammate Melanie and I were strolling down one of the main roads near our apartments when we ran across a music store. Naturally, I wanted to look around. This store was probably (neigh, definitely) the swankiest music store I have ever been in. (They had my dream guitar in the store, American Deluxe Fender Telecaster, but that is beside the point. They also had $70,000 Steinway pianos. Way cool.)

I find my way to the acoustic guitar section and the salesman, Wan,  helps me get a guitar off the wall. I am sitting there playing/messing around/ making small talk with Wan. Wan asks me what music I like to listen to so I told him, “Oh, I like to listen to John Mayer and Dave Matthews” thinking that he may have heard of either of them. Wan had not heard of them. Wan then asks me if I have heard of Rhianna,(which I had) and if I like her music (which ashamedly I do) and if i knew the song “Take a Bow” (which very ashamedly I know every word to). So then began an impromptu concert of a big white dude playing Rhianna’s “Take a Bow” for about 10 chinese people, and my laughing teammate.

so sorry that I don’t have pictures to commemorate the monumental occasion.

Oh how I love China.

Home in Changchun

Yesterday was the day that I have been looking to for a long time. About 3 years ago I started to think about what living in China would look like. Today, I am learning first hand what life in China is like. There has been a lot of change in my life over the past 8 months. From Auburn to Crestview, Crestview to Beijing, Beijing to Changchun. Living in China I have to “expect the unexpected” but it is comforting to know that I wont be living out of a suitcase for the next phase of my life.

Dongxi (pronounced “dong-shee”) is the Mandarin word for stuff or junk.

I’m glad that today I finally get to unpack my dongxi.