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[MESL]

My students are enthusiastic and serious. Their English level is high. Their communication skills are excellent. They attend regularly. They pay attention to the lecture. They follow instructions. They study the textbook and bring it to the classroom. They do their homework and turn it in on time. They devour articles faster than I can copy them. They make good use of the resource room. They�re shy about volunteering, but don�t hesitate when called on. They behave - usually.

Versatile, modern technology in the classroom. An expanding resource room. Laptops for each teacher. Internet access in the office. Copier in the office.

Class size is limited to 25 students. The department has 2 majors, but the curriculum for both majors is the same for the first 2 years. Each major has a mentor. Each class has a monitor.

The chairman is knowledgeable in her field, has convictions about skills, standards, and curriculum, keeps her staff informed and equipped, treats everyone with respect, and is open to new ideas. She demands a lot of the students, and they deliver. Like a lot of other department chairmen, she has evaluation-itis and paperwork-itis. Evaluation is essential and paperwork is necessary, but you might have to tell her, �I�m here to teach English and explore Chinese culture.�

The chairman of the foreign language department is a savvy, well connected lady with several years of experience in the foreign affairs office. The foreign affairs director does not speak English. Our foreign affairs officer is still learning how to tie his shoes. The Chinese staff are great, as are the foreign staff. The monitors are very helpful. I don�t see the mentors much.

The hotel is downtown in the old campus. The office and classrooms are in the new campus. A trip between the two is 40 minutes, and that�s a best case scenario. One style of bus has fold down middle seats. The other style of bus has extremely tight leg space. Crammed or cramped, take your pick.

The hotel room is very nice, but ill lit and without Internet access and cooking facilities. Most people in the hotel are students. This results in a dormitory atmosphere with the all the partying and all the noise. Several residents, including ones on my floor, regularly open their doors and windows and treat the entire neighborhood to a free concert. On weekends, the concert sponsors on my floor get drunk and howl til dawn, reviling anyone, staff and resident alike, who ask for consideration. One of the concert sponsors on another floor plugs a microphone into his stereo and serenades the neighborhood. Either he gets drunk before his performances or he definitely needs to avoid a singing career. A couple of residents have children who use the hotel as their playground, running back and forth in the hallways, up and down the stairways, screaming and squealing at the top of their lungs for hours. If I don�t hear a door slam every 5 minutes, I hear one slam every 30 seconds. Alarms sound constantly. Each room has an alarm that warns guests they are using too much electricity. It�s pretty easy to set off one of these alarms. I�ve heard them go off in the middle of the night. So too much must not be very much.

Never mind that each floor has a staff phone, they shout to each other between floors. But why not, everybody else in this hotel shouts. And what DO the clerk-maids debate so loudly in the halls every day? I don�t speak Chinese yet, so I can only guess: �Let�s start on this side of the hall!� �No, let�s start on that side of the hall!� �Let�s take the trash out first!� �No, let�s change the linen first!� But seriously, if you need anything, they�re eager to help. The restaurant manager, waitresses, and cooks have gone to extraordinary lengths to accommodate my foreign taste buds.

The new campus has quiet, comfortable living quarters for teachers, but the area is remote and there is NOTHING out there. Pretty hard to explore culture (or do anything else) in the middle of nowhere.

Nanjing is one of only 4 cities in China with a subway. The train station is modern and easy to use. The subway and train station are only a few weeks old. One of the subway stops is the train station. I haven�t used the airport yet. Sun Yatsun�s home, a temple where Confucius once taught, and the Nanjing Massacre Museum are among the major tourist attractions. The city is on the verge of hosting the 10th annual all China games. Lots of western style restaurants and cafes. Wal Mart and Carrefour. The 3 major bookstores are on the same street, within walking distance of each other and within walking distance of the hotel. A large open market surrounds the Confucius Temple. The city�s major department stores are almost within walking distance of the hotel, and above one of the subways stops.

For foreign passport holders, there is an international church with a membership that resembles a United Nations assembly. All of the hotel residents are foreign students. Many foreigners come for seminars, and they stay in the hotel�s other wing.

Don�t let the name mislead you. Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, now going by the name Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, offers a degree in several subjects. The Department of Foreign Languages offers courses a major in English, offers courses in Japanese, Spanish, French, and German, and is considering a Japanese major.

[Midlothian Mapleheart]

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

[bdawg]

You can find some good digs in Nanjing. My place is great at 1000RMB/month...and one of my friends has a place on Guangzhou Lu...in the new apartment complex across from Nan Da...at 1500RMB/month...brand spankin' new (he's got bellboys' and TV's in the elevators).

[MESL]

Most of the apartments I've seen advertised in The Map and at Skyways Bakery at much more than that. But I'll definitely check into it. I'm sure the Foreign Affairs Director will go for it, since it's much cheaper than the hotel.