This is why you're not normally allowed to pick your name...

It's been a very quiet weekend, as weekends go. Friday I got my first look at Wenzhou Medical College - or as it says on the bus that takes us there, "Wenzhou Yixueyuan." It is a very nice campus in a very nice outlying-area the greater-Wenzhou area called Cha Shan, or "Tea Mountain." As you might have gathered for the name, the area abuts a nice-sized mountain. I'm not sure if there's any tea on it though. I wouldn't be surprised... the Chinese are not known for their creative naming. Unless, of course, we're talking about the English names they give themselves. More on that later.

After seeing the campus, which didn't take all that long, since it's rather small, we went to look at Aaron and my respective classrooms. My classes will be taking place in two buildings, both of which are computer-enabled with projectors. Apparently PowerPoint presentations are extremely popular in Chinese schools. And who can blame them?

We were also shown our lovely office, complete with large freestanding Air Conditioner. I don't think I can stress enough how important that detail is. Most days I'm miserably hot after only a few minutes outside, and even on those rare days when it's not that hot, it's still obscenely humid, meaning regardless, I'm sweaty, which is not my favorite state of being. There are three foreign teachers of English, all of which are American. The third guy's name is Warren, and he hails from Seattle, WA. He's somewhere in his thirties, and actually married to another faculty member named Xiaohou, both of whom transferred to WZMC from Wenzhou University just this year. Apparently the pay was better here. Incidentally, WZU is also in Cha Shan, literally just next door. No wonder it's called "University-town!"

I got my list of sophomore student, too. They are either given or choose for themselves English names, some of which are normal, some of which are absolutely hilarious. Some of the winners are:
Cherry, Cookie, Kiwi, Windy, V, Jungle, Diary, Peach, Feel, Yoyo, Rainbow, Tiki, Green, Fairy, Fish, Sunshine, Disney, and Cake.

Yes, we're still still talking about student's names... My personal favorites are Green and Fairy. I'm hoping they sit together so I can collectively refer to them as "Absinthe."

Currently, I'm working on writing my syllabus for the sophomore oral class I'll be starting on Friday. Fun times, I know!