Teaching in China and the trip to Carrefour

I had an epiphany today regarding my teaching. The first week was sometimes difficult and I felt frustrated because 1) the syllabus I prepared didn't match the days I was teaching, 2) the TAs wanted to change the chapters we covered, and 3) I didn't have the correct teaching aids to go with the textbooks. The teaching aids problem was solved right away. But, I was still frustrated by all the changes that were taking place. In my university classes, the syllabus is the syllabus and you can't change it. One TA wanted the course to go slower than I had planned, while another was happy to see us move quickly. Well, part of the reason we change the syllabus here is the language barrier. I lecture in English and the TAs then recover the same information in Chinese. The epiphany I had today was remembering that another China instructor, John Hough, had mentioned to me that in China (at least at this university) things change a lot, so I needed to be flexible. Now I'm feeling great about where the class is headed. I was even complimented today on how great an instructor I am from both of the TAs.

Monday is my longest day with four 95-minute classes taught. The schedule was altered just for today with the two afternoon classes changed to evening classes: one from 4:10-5:45pm, the other after the dinner break, from 6:30-8:05pm. I was surprised the students stuck with me through two evening lectures on "Operating and Financial Leverage" and "Working Capital and the Financing Decision." Some of you might be bored to tears with this stuff, but my banking friends would enjoy it.

I forgot to mention my trip to Carrefour, the French-owned store very similar to Wal-Mart. Carrefour has taken China by storm and the who's who of Shanghai shops in the several dozen stores around town. The ex-pats love it, too, because the store carries many items that are hard to find in the typical Chinese corner convenience and grocery stores, such as Pampers diapers. Carrefour sells local favorites also, such as duck neck sausages in a stay-fresh pouch. I thought they were little smoked sausages with a yellow duck picture on the front! I bought gloves and a stocking cap to use during the 30-40 weather we had over the weekend.

At the checkout line in Carrefour two men in black military-style uniforms complete with helmets and automatic weapons were escorting someone out of the store. At first I thought shoplifter? Alex, my host explained they were escorting the armored car driver with the cash. Maybe that's a new line of work for Thurston First Bank - anyone volunteer to carry the M-16?!