We've got some fresh news straight out of the People's Republic! Our liaison at Yueyang Number One Middle School will teach Mandarin this coming school year in America! That's right folks, Rock's coming to America! So visit her, dammit!
Now, Rock's been jealous of our 'free and wonderful' lifestyle ever since Melissa and I got to China, so she somehow found a way to do what we are doing in China, except in reverse. She interviewed against two hundred fifty other teachers at Bizarro WorldTeach in Beijing and was selected as one of sixty teachers to teach in America. Just a few days ago, she found out that she will teach in three schools in Carrollton, Kentucky, and I've got to say that I'm a little disappointed about her placement, but don't tell her that! She's excited as ever to live in the countryside, and we're respecting that by putting as positive a spin as we can on Kentucky. We have sufficiently filled her head with visions of Kentucky Derby horses galloping across bluegrass fields and splashing through rivers of bourbon. That is what Kentucky is like, right?
Anyhoots, she arrives at the end of July, and we're already planning on taking a trip down to see how's she's doing (with our bottomless pockets? umm...). We think she'll be the first authentic Communist to grace that part of the country, so it'd be interesting to see how well she fits in. Aside from that, we're interested in how she does on her driver's test. I've read somewhere that she needs to get a Kentucky driver's license within thirty days, or not at all. So, to prepare for this, she's taking driving lessons here! She pays a single (large) fee for the entire year, and she can go to the driving school whenever she wants. The catch is that she must wait for the countless others in front of her to get their lessons before she can get her ten minute lesson. Sucks, huh? Well, she's got time, I guess.
On an unrelated note, this whole ban on Blogger is starting to chap me all over. I must deal with this forthwith! Perhaps a new weblog provider is in order? I'm starting to seriously think the answer is yes.
8 comments:
Congrats to Rock!
Does this block on Blogger mean you can't read any blogspot urls, too?
You could always try Wordpress.
Both Blogspot and Wordpress are blocked here. So, I guess you can tell Coco to stop blogging...
We have to access Blogspot & Wordpress blogs through a proxy service, which strips out all pictures and most of the pretty formatting (thus, all of the enjoyment from these sites).
This, of course, is on top of the ban on Youtube, which makes any Youtube video look like a blank spot. I think Typepad is also blocked, but I'm not too sure.
Tell your friend that Carrollton is a beautiful and friendly place. My husband and I own a small convenience store and laundromat in the middle of town and we would love to have her stop in. We will give her a big welcome! The store is Al's Mini Mart at 6th and Hawkins and we are open every day. My name is Milly and I am a retired educator. I would very much enjoy meeting Rock!
Wow, I certainly didn't expect Rock to be making any friends yet!
We'll pass the information on to Rock (Long Rurong), but would you mind it if we passed your email address along to her as well? She's very eager to learn about Carrollton, and I'm afraid that both Melissa and I are poor resources.
Hi, Milly! Thank you so much for posting! I've been trying to think of how to contact someone in Carrollton to get more information for Rock, and here you are! We are so grateful that you want to welcome her, she's a wonderful person who has done so much for us since we arrived in China. Carrollton sounds perfect for her, she loves nature and the countryside. I'm relieved she'll also be surrounded by such warm people like yourself.
Feel free to give her my email address (millyfern@aol.com). I am very curious about the schools she will be assigned to since we are a very small town with only one high school, one middle school and two elemetary schools. My daughter substitutes in all schools in Carroll County and Trimble County which is next to us and even smaller. We look forward to welcoming her and will help in any way we can!
I don't think I've ever set foot in Kentucky, though I lived in southern Indiana (Bloomington) for 3 years and used to travel to Tennessee (Memphis, mostly) often. However, if Kentucky is anything like southern Indiana, I'm sure she'll enjoy it. Beautiful country and nice people.
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