Usually

Yesterday, China smelled really lovely. In rained until lunch and the afternoon air was cool, clear and smelled of hot food. We had a good day. After lunch, Josh and I met Ryan, who took us to Shanda Uni Education leaning center. This was the nicest building I have been in so far. We walked through the offices past framed posters of Auckland, Sydney, Bristol, and Canada and waited in a comfortable conference room. This company helps students brush up on their English before heading out on an exchange. Eventually, the manager came in and interviewed us. He asked about our education and experience and why we had come to China to teach. He seemed very interested and asked us if we would also be willing to record audio tapes in the future. Defintely! So, we will wait to hear from him about other teaching jobs. He said he may want to send me to Shanghai for training in an upcoming weekend so that I could teach children on weekends. Josh is currently at his second job working for an Australian Camp teaching 8-12 yr olds. Last night, he came up with some neat ideas and songs--Simon Says, Head and Shoulders. He will teach there for two hours Saturday, and four hours Sunday.
Last night, after we got home, a few exciting things happened. I let the television re-tune itself and now we have CCTV9, the English news channel all about China. Sharon came over to tutor me. She was a little unsure of where to start since I don't speak any Chinese at all, so we practiced tone pronunciation over and over, and then went over some phrases. She is a Party member and had to spend the whole weekend giving presentations. Sharon has never been to an English speaking country, but her English is impeccable. She sounds like an American, right down to the occasional insertion of "like". I have not yet met an English speaking Chinese person who can properly say 'usually'. It comes out as 'urally'. Sharon says 'usually' like a pro. Very impressive.
When we were eating our steamed buns, watching CCTV9, I answered a knock at the door. It was an unknown undergraduate student. He held out a document and said "I am applying to graduate school and would like you to revise my this letter I have written. If you are too busy now, please tell me when I can come back." Wha..? So, naturally, I said "sure, leave it here with your phone number and I will call you when I am finished".
Josh said I should have turned him away, that I may have encouraged what could turn into a stream of undergrads coming to apartment 103 (not students of ours)for free proof-reading. Whoopsy. In college, I knew a woman who would revise all my Spanish essays so I wanted to keep up the good karma. After all, I was just sitting around watching a British man read Chinese headlines. Plus, its good practice for whats to come, I think. Many of his sentences really needed some help. He had picked some very odd word choices. I wish I had it in front of me to give you an example; he came back last night and picked it up. Off to finish FBIB, so I can finally start being productive.