• Canadian Winter Scenes

      I figure I'll start a proper thread with pics that I will take throughout the winter. We just had two days of non-stop snow and ice pellets. We had beautiful, sunny weather today. Even though it is -26C with the windchill, I decided to put on long john's and bundle up to take a walk. Enjoy, as I enjoyed taking them. I also got a tan from the sunshine. My door the day after the snowfall....

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    • Fred's Indonesian Photos

      You see a lot when you wander with your eyes open. It can also be a bit handy if you wander down back streets. This is just off a top priced street in the south side of Jakarta, not far from a few embassies. Now I know what happened to all those ex Soviet flying...

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    • Durianfan moves to northern China

      It is currently -26 C outside. If I decide to go out, it's about a 7-minute process to get all geared up. I have been here since August, and the temperature drop occurred in the middle of November - I think that's when the first snowfall happened. And it's not a proper snow - it's more like dust flakes falling from the sky. But it's so cold that the snow just stays and turns into this black-ish...

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    • New York with the Thai girlfriend for the 2011/2012 holiday season

      We will be leaving for New York for a couple of weeks to celebrate the 2011/2012 holiday season, shortly. I’ll try to post pictures (maybe a short Vimeo Video) of Time Square during 2012 New Years Eve Celebration (Lady Gaga is scheduled to be there and I expect a young crowd there: http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/new-years-eve/nye-schedule/index.aspx), but it will...

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    • Christmas avec robi - back in Paddyland

      Some Christmas pics... Dawn on Christmas day.... Climbing the Sugar Loaf later on Christmas day with my nephews...

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  • Durianfan moves to northern China

    It is currently -26 C outside. If I decide to go out, it's about a 7-minute process to get all geared up. I have been here since August, and the temperature drop occurred in the middle of November - I think that's when the first snowfall happened. And it's not a proper snow - it's more like dust flakes falling from the sky. But it's so cold that the snow just stays and turns into this black-ish color. Not attractive in the least. Anyway, I moved to northern China to work at an IB school here. The first term kicked my ass. The students are all great - nationalities from all over. Very small school - only 30 or so teachers and 150 students. My DP classes are no more than 3 and my MYP classes reach 9 at the maximum. Between teaching, prep, reading, and researching I'm working about 60 hours per week. There is no curriculum for Literature classes so I am writing all of it myself at the same time as I'm teaching it. The resources I have created (so far) fill up a 4 gig thumb drive. The IB system is not that hard to learn however it does take time - it's almost like learning another language. I'm not really teaching any differently; I'm just reworking my units into the IB language and curriculum. I now know why administrators from IB schools do not hire people who do not have IB experience. The induction period is a killer, and if you don't know what you're doing you can easily get overwhelmed. I have been here for 6 months and I am just now getting used to all the language and acronyms that come with teaching IB. Before going any further, here are some pics: My apartment building. Outside the complex. This is covered with snow now. Most of these pictures were taken the first few weeks I was here (when I had time).
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Durianfan moves to northern China started by Durianfan View original post