expatezra

random moments in the life of ezra lee aka "exra" aka Mr. Lee aka "the tiger" ....enjoi.

[expatezra]

Long time no post

Currently I am in 威海 Weihai, China. The city is small by Chinese standards but it's big enough to me. The people here are friendly enough but not so outgoing or open to westerners. The weather is fair most days and the city does experience all four seasons. We're entering winter as I write.

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Currently in Weihai, China.

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Click here to support Teaching English in Poverty by Ezra Slayton

I want to go teach to some of the less fortunate in Asia. I need your support to get there. Learning English gives students greater chances to succeed. Once you see the kids catch on and grow you become so happy. I want to give myself the joy of seeing them learn and in turn share these experienc...

a teacher just trying to teach... lets give em a dollar

[wuluwu]

WHEN SOMEONE ASKS HOW MUCH LONGER I'LL BE IN CHINA

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College...

I would like to go back to the classroom... 

[emilyroseduea]

A little #motivation for your Saturday morning. #inspiration #positivity #newoutlook #nofilter (at Mojito House)

[nitramid]

[bestnamezrtaken]

3 people stealing the same bike [video]

smh…

Social experiment on the reactions people will have over three different people stealing a bike.

One white girl, a white guy and a black guy.

People gave the white guy a few glances and asked him what he was doing and he clearly made it known he was stealing the bike. - People did nothing.

The white girl got no reaction from most people walking past. When asked what she was doing, she clearly stated “I’m stealing this bike". - People offered to help her.

The black guy, dressed in a similar way to the white guy, gets stopped countless times, people take photos of him, a crowd emerges, everyone is yelling at him, trying to stop him by taking his equipment, the police get called instantly and everyone seems to be hilariously emotional that this guy is taking a bike.

Interesting.

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Sometimes...

Sometimes things happen for a reason. ...Sometimes.

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The other day my student/teacher Ms. Julia took me for a ride in her nice lil Lexus and even let me get behind the wheel for some mountain side driving. we stopped at a few spots along the road and took these pics. Julia has been such a great inspiration to me. Such a hard worker and a happy person! 

[expatezra]

4 Months In.... feeling a bit salty.

  Yeah, 4 months since i arrived here in Dalian. I've become a bit better at the whole teaching kids english bit, but to be honest I don't fully enjoy it most of the time because the kids can be such little shits. Today I have the feeling that I won't be staying in China any longer than I have to. I like the money I make and the lifestyle it affords but as it's been said money isn't everything, happiness is.

  I feel the main reason for my salty attitude is two parts, one, that i can't understand thier language, and two, a few of the chinese i work w/ are for lack of a better word... bitches, bitter ass bitches. I think they hate foriegners because we make 3x what they make but do the same or close to the same amount of work.(i'd prob be a lil salty too i suppose).

  I have been taking chinese classes for maybe 3 weeks now and will continue to take them as long as they continue to be free. I do believe that when i get the language learned it'll enrich my overall experience and improve the way i feel about being here. only time will tell. 

I need to appologize to my family for not making a true effort to call and talk over the phone. and sorry dad for spending your money w/o your consent. It's a good thing you did what you did because now that i have internet in my apt i've been spending near all my free time in here playing WoW just like i did back home. I can't use my chinese bank card to buy wow time so as you can prob imagine i wont be gaming for quite sometime. guess i can focus on more important things. Like my chinese and finding a girlfriend to keep me company and share experiences with. 

Yesterday I spent 2.5k yuan on a 6mo gym membership. and im meeting my friend anthony tonight to talk about a nutrition/workout plan. I hope i can  stick to it so i can get fit before i go have the gyno surgery next feb. 

For the future I'm thinking I want to try teaching in thailand for 6mo in 2014 then go back to America for a bit. 

Grandma asked a few questions about things in china but i lost access to facebook the other day and can't remember what those questions were. but i recall she mentioned food so, about the food. it's very unhealthy food but it is tasty. of course there are american food chains here like mc d's , subway , and kfc too. I like the food but i can't eat it anymore, it's making me fat. 

so to sum up. feeling lil salty about being here, prob my own fault tho. I miss home and family, i miss american people, i miss our food, i miss driving too haha. in a post on instagram i mentioned settling down here in china...i take it back. gotta work hard w/ the Usana biz so i can live in america me thinks. alright talk at you soon internet. 

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bongchui island maybe? don't remember the name but it was a good hike that day.

[inspiring-pictures]

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i can relate

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The Journey to China

well, first off getting here was no easy task. i barely had enough money to make the trip and afford my visa too. if not for my pops i'd arrived with no cash at all, so thanks for the bail out dad you always got my back. 

okay so leaving the house was very hard not to get emotional thinking about how much i'd miss the family. especially with zada and clints new born, liam, just arriving into the world. i really love my nephews and nieces so much. i can't wait to be with them again in the future. my dad who i love above all, my brothers and sisters, i miss you i love you i hold you in my thoughts. 

leaving for the Denver airport. big shout out to clint for the ride up to denver that night, you're a solid dude and i'm glad to have you in the family. 

I met up with my brother gideon at his apartment and he took me the rest of the way to DIA. we talked about our futures as we often do and girls too.

I got to DIA with plenty of time and no need to rush around. thanks gideon.

i flew from DIA to san fran and ended up with a 11hr lay over so i went to the nearest La quinta and was able to stay the night for free because i was a member of the rewards program and while i worked w/ ruta maya traveling around i was able to rack up a shit ton of points, awesome!

was about 11am when i took off for Beijing from San Fran... what a long flight... nothing interesting really to report about the 12 or so hour flight. just a lot of restlessness on my part and some pretty cool views along the way

alright, so landed in Beijing safe and sound but w/ very little time to get on my next flight to Dalian. long lines to get through immigration i'm thinking "shit shit shit" so i was running from point a to b and c and back to a and down around to f and then i finally found where i needed to go and what do ya know it's a diff terminal so i have to pay a cab driver 100yuan for a 10min cab ride.. >.< (normal cost around 10yuan) i got hustled but i was in no position to argue costs i needed to catch my flight. which i did by the grace of god i barely made it. i showed up to my gate drenched in sweat from lugging my bags on my back while running in a state of urgency. people staring as they often do, wondering with curiosity. but a quick 1hr flight from Beijing and i was in Dalian.

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UPDATE SOON...

I will update soon. there will be pics and a short story about my journey to china and another about my hike at Bangchui Beach/Island. stay tuned...

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All Over Dalian

I've been getting out and about but haven't been taking as many photos as i'd hope to. that'll change when the summer months roll in and warm things up here. it's still rather cold and windy most days. today it's been raining constantly. 

a few days ago i was out and took a few pics of the city to share here with you today. enjoi

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New Interactive White Boards

great new tool we've been given in our classrooms. students really enjoy playing with the new set up. i give it two or three weeks and the thrill will wear off ;)

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Speech Time

Next week I give my first batch of parent teacher meeting speeches in each class. The other teachers have told me its no big deal and I should not need to prepare for it... Fuck that advice. So I wrote my speech out and than made copies for all my Chinese teachers I work with so they'll translate my words better. If I follow the foot steps of the teachers here now I'll portray a lack of professionalism and it'll tell that I don't care about my students. Which is far from the truth. I want them to succeed and I want the parents to know I take this seriously. That is all for now...