It's quite surprising how quickly the weather has gone from being hot and muggy to being quite brisk. In fact the day summer break ended was the last hot day we've had here in Chengdu. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence of geographical and meteorological phenomena or the cumulative sorrow of a billion Chinese children returning to school. Either way, I've had the opportunity to start wearing some of my light sweatshirts during my commute to work and on my days off.
Point of fact, Thursday was rather brisk and overcast, but Lee and I nevertheless decided to try and venture out to one of Chengdu's other parks in an attempt to continue exploring the city. After taking the metro up to Tianfu Square, we caught line 2 East and disembarked near a small park that was marked on our pullout maps from the Go Chengdoo Magazine. I'm not sure if this park will be preserved as it seemed to have been the dumping ground for all the land that had been moved from construction projects that were being erected on all sides of the metro station. Despite the fact we were still well inside the city limits, the area looked surprisingly empty and undeveloped. So we decided to get back on the train and continue a few stops further East, to an area that looked less as though we'd be mugged and our bodies buried beneath the foundations of a Chinese high-rise apartment complex.
It seems that the entire Eastern portion of the city is still under expansion and development. When we made our way out of the massive underground portion of the Eastern Railway Station we found ourselves in a more developed area of the city. Still many large construction project dotted the area and forced us to circumvent areas that would have otherwise provided a more direct route to the park we'd hoped to explore. After stopping for lunch at noodle house, we continued onto our destination. Unfortunately, we got about halfway there when the rain started and we decided to turn back. I did take a few pictures of this area of the city, which had one or two interesting sights. So for the most part the day was spent milling around, or millin' as Liz described the multitudes of people commuting across Chengdu during our cab ride to the trainign session at the downtown school last Friday. Perhaps you'd have to have been there, but it was rather funny at the time..." Look at these folks, they don't work, they aren't on their way anywhere, they're just millin' "
Point of fact, Thursday was rather brisk and overcast, but Lee and I nevertheless decided to try and venture out to one of Chengdu's other parks in an attempt to continue exploring the city. After taking the metro up to Tianfu Square, we caught line 2 East and disembarked near a small park that was marked on our pullout maps from the Go Chengdoo Magazine. I'm not sure if this park will be preserved as it seemed to have been the dumping ground for all the land that had been moved from construction projects that were being erected on all sides of the metro station. Despite the fact we were still well inside the city limits, the area looked surprisingly empty and undeveloped. So we decided to get back on the train and continue a few stops further East, to an area that looked less as though we'd be mugged and our bodies buried beneath the foundations of a Chinese high-rise apartment complex.
It seems that the entire Eastern portion of the city is still under expansion and development. When we made our way out of the massive underground portion of the Eastern Railway Station we found ourselves in a more developed area of the city. Still many large construction project dotted the area and forced us to circumvent areas that would have otherwise provided a more direct route to the park we'd hoped to explore. After stopping for lunch at noodle house, we continued onto our destination. Unfortunately, we got about halfway there when the rain started and we decided to turn back. I did take a few pictures of this area of the city, which had one or two interesting sights. So for the most part the day was spent milling around, or millin' as Liz described the multitudes of people commuting across Chengdu during our cab ride to the trainign session at the downtown school last Friday. Perhaps you'd have to have been there, but it was rather funny at the time..." Look at these folks, they don't work, they aren't on their way anywhere, they're just millin' "
After we returned to the apartment, Lee and one or two of the other teachers decided to go bowling at the Sichaun Gymnasium (which apparently has a bowling alley, who knew?) I decided to head over to the Bookworm to spend some time with Ella and Emma, a pair of lovely ladies whom Lee and I were introduced to by a P.A. at Lee's school. Ella had for a short time attempted to start a relationship with Lee, but was put off by his rather caviler attitude and they've since gone separate ways. We spent about three hours chatting and (at Ella's request) avoiding Lee, who had made his way to the Bookworm, post-game, with Andy and his girlfriend. It turns out that Emma is looking for work, so Lee and I recommended and assistant position at one of the EF Schools in Chengdu. I forwarded her the email address of one of the hiring coordinators, so I'll find out tonight (when we get together again) if she was able to make any progress.
As far as classes go, this week hasn't been too bad. I seem to be well-liked by the students and parents, although it seems I talk a bit too fast for some of the classes. I'll make a point of slowing down in upcoming lessons. The SS classes are hit and miss, either the kids are too numerous and rambunctious to pay attention and make the lessons worthwhile, or they are very attentive and enjoy the activities I organize for the class. The HF classes are still the easiest to plan and orchestrate, and the TB classes... Well apathetic is the best adjective that comes to mind. I don't know if they are uninterested in the lessons or just too afraid to speak for fear of being judged harshly by their peers. Either way, it's like pulling teeth to get them to speak, so I find myself talking more to make up for the silence. Incidentally, when we briefly spoke of Italy and Rome this week, they were blown away by the concept of Vatican City being it's own independent country inside the city of Rome, inside the country of Italy. But it gave me the opportunity to use some of the pictures we've taken during family trips to Europe during the course of the lesson.
After downloading some more reference material for my 3D programs, I've started to play around with rigging and animating my models in the Maya program. The dinosaur guy from Second Life recommended the Blender program for the process, but I'm already familiar with Maya's interface and really don't feel like learning a whole new interface, especially one that isn't typically used in the professional industry to the degree that Maya and Zbrush are. Anyways, it's another process of trial and error, but having a large collection of reference material is helpful for the self-teaching process, and i'm confident that I'm getting one step closer to producing quality mesh avatars
As far as classes go, this week hasn't been too bad. I seem to be well-liked by the students and parents, although it seems I talk a bit too fast for some of the classes. I'll make a point of slowing down in upcoming lessons. The SS classes are hit and miss, either the kids are too numerous and rambunctious to pay attention and make the lessons worthwhile, or they are very attentive and enjoy the activities I organize for the class. The HF classes are still the easiest to plan and orchestrate, and the TB classes... Well apathetic is the best adjective that comes to mind. I don't know if they are uninterested in the lessons or just too afraid to speak for fear of being judged harshly by their peers. Either way, it's like pulling teeth to get them to speak, so I find myself talking more to make up for the silence. Incidentally, when we briefly spoke of Italy and Rome this week, they were blown away by the concept of Vatican City being it's own independent country inside the city of Rome, inside the country of Italy. But it gave me the opportunity to use some of the pictures we've taken during family trips to Europe during the course of the lesson.
After downloading some more reference material for my 3D programs, I've started to play around with rigging and animating my models in the Maya program. The dinosaur guy from Second Life recommended the Blender program for the process, but I'm already familiar with Maya's interface and really don't feel like learning a whole new interface, especially one that isn't typically used in the professional industry to the degree that Maya and Zbrush are. Anyways, it's another process of trial and error, but having a large collection of reference material is helpful for the self-teaching process, and i'm confident that I'm getting one step closer to producing quality mesh avatars