Coming to Shanghai
sballa
May 08, 2008, 07:01 PM posted in General DiscussionJust got word that the family and I will be in Shanghai during the week of August 25-29. We will be attending an orientation for a group of professors who will be spending the 2008-2009 academic year teaching in China. No word yet on what city and university we will be assigned to for the year. Anyways, ChinesePod, BSR, etc., here we come!
Steve
sballa
May 08, 2008, 08:49 PMThanks! The only bummer is that our visit to ChinesePod will be at the beginning of our stay in China, so our language skills won't be nearly as developed as they hopefully will be after a year of living there. We don't want to disappoint all the great ChinesePod teachers! Steve
azerdocmom
May 09, 2008, 02:28 AMOh, how exciting for you and your family!!! I look forward to your updates on the Conversation boards...perhaps you and your family could start a family BLOG! A friend of mine look his whole family on a yearlong trip around the world and is keeping a travelblog for all to read. I am excited for your kids whose lives will be so enriched by living in China! Wow! 真好！真好！
sballa
May 09, 2008, 10:19 AMThanks azerdocmom! We actually have been blogging as a family for a couple of years now. Started when we did a cross-country drive (including a hike into your state's Grand Canyon...stayed in Supai). Anyways, the URL is http://an-american-family.blogspot.com/ Warning to all. There is lots of non-China related content up there, although as we get closer and closer to leaving, more and more of the content surrounds trip preparations. Steve
light487
May 09, 2008, 10:57 AMHey.. who knows.. you might be sent to live in Shanghai for the year! Then you can visit Praxis Languages' offices any time you want! :)
sballa
May 09, 2008, 12:00 PMIt's funny, because when the kids conceive of, say, Beijing, they think of the Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiantan, etc. When they think of Shanghai, it's all Ken, Jenny, and Dear Amber. So repeat visits would probably be called for!
sophie20461
May 12, 2008, 03:50 AMwelcome to china! your daughters are so cute! hehe
sballa
May 12, 2008, 12:23 PMThanks sophie20461! Hey, speaking of Shanghai, does anyone know anything about Shanghai Jiao Tong University? It's a school I'm researching as we get closer to figuring out which city and university we will be placed at. Steve
sophie20461
May 15, 2008, 06:29 AMwhoa!!! that very famous school in china. it is the dream of a lot of high school students but it is far away from me.haha. you are so talented. i'm not very familiar with it. you can see some information form this website http://www.sjtu.edu.cn/english/index/index.htm this is the officiale website of shanghai jiao tong university . it's english version.
sballa
May 15, 2008, 11:12 AMThanks again sophie20461. It looks like Shanghai Jiao Tong has a relatively new School of International and Public Affairs that would be a potentially neat place to spend a year. But it's so hard to tell from the web! Luckily, the US Embassy in Beijing knows a lot more and can do research "on the ground." Steve
urbandweller
May 08, 2008, 07:55 PMcongrats! I reccomend listening to all the Dear Amber episodes for some cultural insight...everything discussed on them is absolutely true!! All the cpod lessons are important but the ones about shopping. eating. and transportation are ecspecially useful. Good luck sballa!