Beijing Cough

So after many futile attempts I have for some reason been allowed to access blogger today (I believe China censors it usually. I haven't been able to access wikipedia either since I got here.) Some news to report - I'm sick :-( Yesterday night I came down with a sore throat, cough, runny nose, headache and general soreness of the body. It sucked. And I won't like to you - being in Asia and getting the flu makes one think! But I seem to slowly be on the mend. I spent a lot of last night and today in bed and the sore throat is gone at least. The cough is pretty fearsome though - the others have recognized it as the "Beijing Cough", which they all got upon arrival as well. So now I'm trapped in my room unable to go out for food with others (because most Chinese meals involve communal eating from shared plates) spending most of my time in bed. Oh well, at least I'm getting better. Although not getting a ton of sleep. There's construction on the go here 24/7. They don't have any noise bylaws in Beijing. So the construction site nearby, whose main activity seems to be dropping steel pipes from various heights, does so right through the night. Occasionally, fireworks displays go off at 2am. Very odd.

So I'm having a few difficulties with my cooperating teacher. He's a nice man, but is very old school in terms of teaching. Complains about the "new math" (which is they way we're taught to teach at STU), dislikes the two short internships and so forth...he believes that because students did the work once but have forgotten it, they need to do it again the same way - this time they'll remember. Not because the way it was taught might not have been conducive to long-term remembering...*sigh*...oh well!

So, there you have just a quick update before I try and sleep again. Cheers!