Under Construction

Some one pointed out that from my pictures Changzhou looks really new and clean, and while it definitely has those parts Changzhou is mostly a city under construction. There are buildings going up or coming down everywhere you look. The picture here is of some small building that about a week ago looked a lot different. Even the huge library I can see from my window had significant differences from week to week. I guess the one thing there not in short supply of here is manpower. Some one told me the 70% of all the cranes in the world are in China and based on what I've seen I can certainly believe it. There are also signs of a place that's still changing a lot. Teddy told me that part of the odd smell around here is caused by tire fires. Burning tires is maybe the worst thing you can do because they're just chocked full of chemicals. It brings to mind some image of the Simpsons and the perpetual tire fire in Springfield. Also apparently Lee who is a Australian guy who teaches English at some school across town got Tuberculosis. What ever kind he got isn't really all that transmittable apparently, and it's cleared up with antibiotics, but it's just not something people in America get.

I have my first two classes tomorrow, and I really hope they go well. I have a ton of activities planned out so I don't run out of things to do with them, but I just have this nightmare of them just all sitting their staring at me blankly as I try to get them to talk. None of the other English teachers have had any real problems, aside from the occasional student text messaging in class so I guess I shouldn't be too worried. On another slightly worrying note apparently the insurance CIEE purchases for us here is through AIG so I guess it's good the gov didn't let the go under.