Welcome to the first Saturday Spew & Shout Out. I’m not sure if it’s going to be weekly, fortnightly or monthly at this stage, probably a combination of all of the above. It’s going to be a Saturday blog post where I talk about things going on in my life in China, as well as sharing some posts from other bloggers I’ve read during the previous week, etc.
China & Personal Update.
At the beginning of every academic year, freshman college students in China have to do two weeks of compulsory military training. I’ve filmed a little bit for you on my little Canon Powershot 610. The quality isn’t that great, but it’ll give you a general idea. Watch it till the end and you’ll be able to see some Chinese female college students doing some martial art moves while shrieking, “Ha! Ha! Ha!”
It’s also coming up to China’s National Day celebration on October 1st. The Chinese flag has started to be hung by shop keepers and people around town. The bright red flag with its yellow stars is a vivid reminder that I’m actually living in a Communist country. I often forget.
Yesterday, was my birthday. In the morning’s English phonetics class, my lovely students went overboard and bought me lots and lots of chocolate. I’m not sure if it’s because they like me or because they want me to die a slow and painful death caused by diabetes. You can see the amount of Dove chocolate that they gave me in the photo at the top of this page. Each bar of chocolate weighs 43 grams.
I’ve started to see a surge in visitors and comments this week. I owe a big thanks to Mike CJ from Mike’s Life for all the great advice he’s given me in helping me grow my blog.
Vision Board Competition.
I want to remind you that I’m currently running a competition where you can send in photos of your vision board. To encourage you, I’m going to give you until to October 10th 2009 to create your vision board. Once it’s completed, send me a photo or two of it to alphakiwigordie (at) gmail (dot) com. The best vision board, judged by yours truly, will get a free one month 125×125 pixel ad on Lifestyle Design 4U. All the best!
Recommended Blog Posts.
I’ve read a ton of great blog posts this week. Some of them are:
1. 5 Important Tips For Your Business Card.
David Risley from DavidRisley.com gives us some awesome pointers on making a professional looking business card.
2. The Changing Nature of Friendship.
Mike from Mike’s Life shows how it’s possible to have real friends who you’ve only ever met on line.
3. Random Ways To Put More Movement Into Your Day.
Amber Zuckswert from EpicSelf.com shows us ten simple and practical ways how we can move a bit more doing everyday things helping us to look after our bodies.
4. The Slow Secret: How To Making Lasting Changes In Your Life.
Leo from ZenHabits.net shows the power of doing things slowly to help create new habits in our lives.
5. 5 Tips to Consider When Designing Your First Blog.
Blaine from BlaineBlogger.com gives five practical tips on how to create a good blog design from the start.
Feel free to ask me any questions you have about living in China in the comments section below.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
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G'day! I'm Gordie, founder and editor-in-chief of Lifestyle Design For You. I want to welcome you to the center of the universe when it comes to lifestyle design and personal development blogs. We're a team of ten writers providing you with articles to help nourish your mind and improve your life. Lifestyle design is about designing your life so you can do what you want when you want. 
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Gordie. I love chocolate but it doesn’t go to good with my healthy eating. I eat a bit of dark chocolate, but that’s about it. I hope to visit China someday – there’s that “someday” stuff again. Thanks for the links. I found a couple of sites in there I haven’t read before.
Hey Stephen,
China is a real experience. China has etched itself into my core and will always be a part of me where ever I am.
I know dark chocolate is healthier, but I’m a sucker for white chocolate.
I like the title Gordie.
Im going to read all those posts now and thanks for including one of mine, I appreciate it.
Don’t eat all that chocolate too fast
No worries, Blaine. Your post was really useful. Keep on blogging!
Haha, this was such a funny line, “Yesterday, was my birthday. In the morning’s English phonetics class, my lovely students went overboard and bought me lots and lots of chocolate. I’m not sure if it’s because they like me or because they want me to die a slow and painful death caused by diabetes.”
Wow, this post was cool. There must be a big culture difference over there. Looking forward to your other Saturday Spew and Shout Outs.
Thanks Tristan.
I hope to make it a regular post where I can share some more of my personal experiences. People can ask me questions about life in China if they want. too.
Wow, that military parade was very impressive and kind of creepy to watch. Also: Thanks for the useful links at the end of the post!
Cheers,
Shane
No worries, Shane. Thanks for commenting. Quite different university culture here. In the West the freshman like to party it up while here they’re doing military training.
Thanks for sharing that look into China. I enjoy seeing other lands and cultures. Nice blog post links as well.
Thanks Jimi, I’ll do more to try and share more about China in my Saturday posts.
Great news the blog is going well – and that you have a week’s supply of chocolate to celebrate with. It’s wonderful teaching english and getting to mix with the natives on a daily basis and find out what they’re really like.
I’d like to see a pic of you and your students. I have a great one of me and my best friends in Lao. I never realised how much of a freak I looked until I saw a photo of me literally towering over my doll-sized Lao friends. It’s a beautiful memory – even though I stuck out like a sore thumb they welcomed me into their lives.
Sure, I can put up some photos of my students in future on another Saturday Spew & Shout Out. Teaching Oral English at university in China is pretty good, but I’m feeling I have no way to move up in teaching in the EFL industry. That’s one of the reasons I’m moving across to blogging. I hope to retire from teaching for good in July next year.
Thanks for the double shout out Gordie! It’s great to read some personal stuff. I think when you live somewhere unusual, it’s easy to forget how interesting it is for the rest of us to get an insight into your life there.
I can see from the number of comments here that things are going well on your blog – that’s great news and a testament to your hard work.
My pleasure, Mike. You鈥檝e helped me a lot.
Hi Gordie
Just had to see what you were meaning about Chinese cigarettes…to find you talking about October 1st.
That is interesting because I am studying at Uni a History paper (x-credit with Asian Studies) Mao Zedong and Cultural Revolution and just today I was presented with another the speech made a few months before October 1st 1949!
and whilst I was looking for ‘where the speech was made’ I discovered that the CCP decided on what events they would host for October 1st…including a parade. So is the parade going ahead this year?
Hi Cathy,
In Beijing there is normally a huge parade including them showing off their growing military strength on October 1st. I’m not sure if there is any other kind of military parade in other cities, but there are different kinds of performances and celebrations all over China.
Thanks for popping by.
Are you almost finished with all that chocolate?
By the way, the video doesn’t work for me, is there a link on YouTube I can watch it at?
Chocolate finished today!
It’s a real problem in China as I’m unable to get onto YouTube. It is blocked here. I will try to register an upload on another site. Thanks for stopping by, Ken.
Gordie! Thanks so much for the fantastic link. Much appreciated and great blog you have here. Keep it up and stay in touch. Looking forward to connecting with another lifestyle design lover
Hi Amber,
I really enjoy your blog. I also like the soothing gradient of green you have on there. It makes your blog very memorable and soothing.