Name: MBE (jason)
After living in China for over 6 years, my life back stateside...
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(since 5.14.04)
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Stop number four on our journey from East to West in China takes us to Jiayuguan. Jiayuguan is famous for being the far-most point of the great wall of China. There is a giant fort here called Jiayuguan Fort. We are planning to see the Fort, The Overhanging Great Wall and the Great Wall Museum.
My students got back into the blogging habit today. The topic for this entry was food from their home counties and what they like to eat in China. I think that they all had some excellent insight, so I wanted to include all of their comments. Keep in mind that some of these students have only been speaking English for 4 weeks! (I have not made any changes to what they have written)
Our second stop on our journey to the west, is in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The capitol is named YINCHUAN. We will actually take an overnight train from Xian and arrive in Yinchuan in the early morning. We will then take a taxi or bus from the train station to the Western Xia Tombs (Chinese Pyramids). We plan to spend the day there and then catch the overnight train to the capitol of Gansu Province, Lanzhou. More on Lanzhou tomorrow!
As I mentioned some time ago, my wife and I will be taking a journey this summer that I feel will be a chance of a lifetime. We are planning to follow the Silk Road all the way from Xian to Kashgar. The plan it for us to take most of our 7 week summer holiday to do this. Most of the trip will be by rail, bus, car, bike, camel, horse, and maybe air (back home at the end). Our plan is as follows: [C-Trip & Travel China Guide]
XIAN
YINCHUAN
LANZHOU
JIAYUGUAN
DUNHUANG
TURPAN
URUMQI
KUERLE
KASHGAR
Over the next few days, I will outline what we plan to see in each city & why it is important. I hope to find a map to show the route we are planning to follow, and will include a list of books/websites that I am reading/using. If anyone reading this has done part or all of this journey I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment...
As time has been progressing, Motime has caught up and I am very pleased with all that they have done to stay updated. In the past 3 months there have been a lot of changes to their services. Now there is a 'profile' feature and more ways to contact the blog authors. Finally, the RSS/Atom feeds are my favorite new feature! 
As some of you may have noticed that my 'blogstreet' feed has been broken for about 3 months. I have been checking it out and they have said that most of the blogging hosts now add RSS feed to their service. I was not very happy because until recently Motime was not offering RSS or Atom feed support. Well, all is well now~! Motime now offers syndication with RSS 2.0 and Atom. My new RSS feed is here. It is also on the right-hand side bar. So please make the change or add me to your newsreader. I am currently using Sauce Reader from Synop. You can also use My Yahoo! and Bloglines (both online programs). Everytime I update this blog it will show up in your list of feeds as updated. It makes it easier than visiting the site everyday...
Today I was checking out some of the sites that I usually read but have not had time to this past 6 weeks. One page that I like to check out from time to time is ALERTBOX that has to do with 'Usable Information Technology.' In the latest column, it talks about Low-Literacy Users on the web. Mr. Nielsen touches on many issues with the reading and writing online for lower literacy level users, but I will not bring up all the points here. There were several items that he mentions that will also work for ESL students (considering that they are actually low-literacy until their English level is improved). Here are a list of things that we, as educators, should consider when blogging, maintaining a class website, or even, creating new activities for the students:
Avoid text that moves or changes, such as animations and fly-out menus. Static text is easier to read. This guideline also helps international users (who might need to look up words in a dictionary) and users with motor skills impairments (who have difficulty catching things that move).
Streamline the page design. Place important content in a single main column, so users don't have to scan the page and pick out design elements in a two-dimensional layout. This guideline also helps low-vision users and users of handheld devices (such as smartphones), which narrow the field of view.
Simplify navigation by placing the main choices in a linear menu. This helps users clearly understand the next place to go, without requiring them to scan the page for options.
Optimize search. Make your search tolerant of misspellings. Ideally, a user's first search hit should answer the query, and all hits should provide short, easy-to-read summaries.
The weather here in Suzhou is really getting on my last nerve. Last week it was about 70° and then by the weekend it was back in the lower 30s. Now, it is about 55°. It is forecast to dip back into the 30s again tomorrow. It is so hard on the body and mind to keep going back and forth. To add to the fact that our apartment does not have proper heat it makes it very difficult to stay at one temp. Anyway, enough about the weather.
Found this article via CNN International from Xinhua News Agency:
A bus full of insurance company workers ran off a mountain road in east China and plunged into a valley, killing 22 people and injuring 22, Xinhua news agency has reported.
The accident happened in Xingzi county in Jiangxi province on Monday as the workers were on their way to a mountain tourist spot to celebrate International Woman's Day, the agency said on Tuesday.
Traffic accidents in China, which has the world's highest annual road death toll, killed near 107,000 people last year.
Skyrocketing car demand, poor infrastructure and widespread disregard or ignorance of traffic rules are believed to be behind the country's road death toll.
Now, I have commented about driving, walking, riding, etc. in China before. I have seen things that would make most peoples' heads spin. After you have been here a while, it becomes 'normal' and that it what scares me more than anything. I am afraid that when I return to a western country, I will have to be very mindful of being back in a place with road rules that are actually followed...
...I have 6 new students so far this semester. There is a Japanese girl, three Korean boys, and twins from Finland (boy and girl). It really shakes things up in my classroom. I sent 5 students to the mainstream classes at the end of last semester. The three exsisting students were the weakest and now they are the strongest. It is really interesting the see how the roles change throughout the year. I am looking forward to some good blogging sessions starting tomorrow.
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