Marilyn is standing in front of the building where we each taught our first class this past week. Nanjing University has two campuses and this building is part of the new campus. We live on the old campus about 45 minutes distance by bus.
Another view of the new campus.
We have seen many street sweepers
as we have walked around.
"Helen" has been helpful in trying to teach us some Chinese and showing us around Nanjing.
There are many different ethnic groups in China.
The streets are lined with little shops selling most anything you can imagine. Also, there are many vendors who set up shop by spreading their wares for sale on the sidewalk. We ate at a shop similar to this one and had huge helpings of tasty noodles with beef broth and dumplings for about $3 each.
If you look closely you should see a number in red by the traffic light. At the busier intersections there is red timer showing the number of seconds until the light changes to green and then after the light turns green there is a green timer showing the number of seconds until the light turns red. Very helpful.
The two previous pictures show part of the inside of a building that houses some very upscale shops. The mall is seven stories. The second picture is a view from the top showing the floors below. We were told this is the nicest mall in Nanjing.
The real highlight of my week was teaching my first class of Introduction to American Law. In China students begin their study of law when they enter the university, unlike in America where students enter law school after completing an undergraduate degree. However, most law students continue on to graduate school after completing their initial studies. The Introduction to American Law class is for undergraduate law students and the American Business Law class that I will teach will be for graduate law students. The Chinese legal system is much closer to the German model than the American model. In fact, the Nanjing law school has a permanent relationship with a law school in Germany, and German faculty members instruct at the Nanjing law school. I thoroughly enjoyed talking about the origins of our American legal system, how fundamental the Constitution and rule of law are to how we do things, and much more. It remains to be seen if my students are as interested in the course as I am.
I (Marilyn) also enjoyed teaching my first class this week. My students were delightful! I only taught my one class of sophomore because students from my six freshman classes haven't shown up on campus yet. They are attending a mandatory military training to increase their patriotism and self-discipline. The sophomores know each other well because they have had almost all of their classes together last year. They are some of the brightest kids in China, so they catch on quickly. They are helpful, respectful, and anxious to learn. It will be interesting to see what the freshmen will be like because they will not know each other. In my classes the students do a lot of talking in English with each other and with me to improve their speaking and listening skills. Many of them would like to come to the US to study, so they are also very interested in American culture.
Your discovery of the city sounds enjoyable. The street vendor food sounds delicious:) The mall looks gorgeous with all of its lights. The classes you teach sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe street vendors sound very interesting. I'll bet the dumplings were delicious!
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