Current Update

Our bi-monthly update about what is going on in our lives our current students: click here (and look for other white boxes) August update (August 17, 2010) We have been in the US for about a month, but we have been "on the road" (mostly in South Carolina), and thus have not had consistent access to the Internet. We also sold the computers we used in China to check email! So, pardon us if we haven't answered your email (we probably haven't seen it yet), or if this page is out of date. I plan to buy a new laptop and I hope that I can devote more time to updating Krigline.com once we get settled in Ohio (in September). Andrew now has a "student driver" permit. Ohio law requires that he drive for at least 50 hours with one of us in the car with him, and we've already let him begin his driving lessons. We were in Ohio for a week or so before heading south. While there, we got him registered for high school (which is free in the USA), and he also attended a camp for "third culture kids" (i.e., young people like him who have grown up in another country). After a "boring" week in SC, listening to us talk about China, he flew up to the Washington DC area to be with his cousin (for some fun before starting his senior year). We'll all be together again in Ohio soon. Our time with friends and family in South Carolina has been sweet. We've seen a lot of folks that we haven't seen in many years, and I got to meet my new son-in-law (who seems like a nice addition to the family!). We've eaten a lot (the best place to get reacquainted is a restaurant!), and put a lot of miles on our car (which Mom and Dad have lent us for a year). We've also made some new friends as we've had the chance to talk about our work in China on several occasions. Americans seem to be very interested in what it is like to live and work in China, so we hope to get many more opportunities to share in the months to come. Well, I need to close and get back to my car, so I'll end here. Look for another update sometime next month! Back in the USA! Michael Krigline for the family July update (July 8, 2010) In a few hours, we say goodbye to Kunming for at least a year. The furniture has been sold, the apartment has been returned to our landlord, and a kind friend has let us store two cubic meters of things in a local warehouse. The future looks like this: during the 2010-2011 school year, Andrew will finish high school in Ohio (where we'll live with Michael's parents); after that, we are not sure where the road will lead. (You can see a few more details on our FAQ page.) Sometime (probably fall of 2011) we will visit Kunming to get our dog and to ship our things to the next location. If you want to see us during that short visit, then simply stay in touch! We'll keep you posted by email (which you can also find on our home page). Finally, since uploading a China-based website from abroad will probably be difficult, this page (and this site) may not change until the summer of 2011. So, if you want more current information, and whatever "new" things I add, then visit www.krigline.com (not ...com.cn). So, GOODBYE to Kunming and our friends here; we'll miss you! Michael for the family June update (June 5, 2010) (click on underlined terms to go to different pages)
*A number of action verbs come to mind as I write this update: traveling, teaching, scanning, sorting, deciding, parting, testing,* and looking. In April, all three of us traveled to a village where we got to deliver crates of water to an elementary school. In this photo, you see Andrew doing his part (the bus couldn't navigate on the narrow country lane, so we had to carry the crates a few hundred meters to the school). The drought in Yunnan has been the worst experienced in decades, so it was a privilege to play a tiny part in helping people through it. The trip was arranged by our university's Foreign Affairs Office (for all foreign staff and students), and it also included a visit to a provincial scenic spot called the Sand Forest. We also traveled to Beijing in May, to attend the wedding of a former student (from my years of teaching in Xi'an). Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad that we missed the beginning of the festivities, but it was still a great treat to participate. While in the capital, we also got to share a meal (and ride to the airport) with Lei (above), Michael's best friend from Xiamen University days (1985). To top it off, another former Xi'an student** (Rock, below with his girlfriend) took us to the Great Wall. It is always a delight to see former students, and it is humbling that these smart, gifted people still want to spend time with us, even after many years apart. The trip was great, and I even had the chance to act neighborly with some Iranian men on the morning we left; click here to read about that unusual story: "The Day a Wall Became a Bridge." (continued in the next column)	*"Traveling" is also related to why I also thought of many of the other verbs* (teaching, scanning, sorting, etc.)*. Early on July 9 we will travel* by air again, first stopping in Shanghai to visit the World Expo for two days** (just enough time to scan major pavilions, but it will be fun anyway); then we'll fly back to the US (for at least a year, and perhaps for several). Because of this impending departure, and in addition to my normal teaching duties, we've also started to teach our neighbor how to care for our dog--they have graciously asked to care for her while we are away. Vivian, Andrew and I are also spending much of our spare time scanning old documents, resources and photos. Paper is heavy, and so far we've reduced our load by about a suitcase! Meanwhile, we are sorting through ten years of accumulated boxes and bookshelves, deciding what we are keeping, and what we are parting with. This has led to the creation of two web pages, dedicated to selling second-hand items that we would rather not ship to our next home. (Click here to see the bargains available to Kunming locals.) *While Vivian and I were traveling* to Beijing, Andrew was being tested in Kunming** (he had to take the US College Entrance Exam; this photo shows him studying diligently in our home). The results came back last week, and he did exceptionally well! We're very proud of him, and know that these scores can lead to great university opportunities. This, of course, is the main reason for our return to the US. Andrew needs to finish high school in Ohio next year, and we will also use this year to evaluate and apply to universities and to look for scholarships. And speaking of testing, I give my last tests of the semester in about a week, which just shows how close we are to the end of our time here. *And this leads me to the final verb: looking. As we look* ahead to our departure, the sadness of leaving friends** (including past and present students) is mixed with looking forward to helping Andrew find and succeed in a great university, paving the way to a useful adult life. We are also excitedly looking forward to becoming grandparents in December, when our daughter is scheduled to become a mommy! We are glad that we'll be in the US for the big event, instead of being 12 time zones away. We are also looking forward to living with my parents in Ohio, and to reconnecting with old friends we haven't seen in far too long. Well, with all this traveling, teaching, scanning, sorting, deciding, parting, testing and looking forward going on, I doubt that I'll have the chance to add much to our website. I also fear that I won't be able to continue uploading to my ".cn" website from abroad (so check out www.krigline.com if this page looks really old!). And we also hope you will stay in touch with us in the year/years ahead, whether we are living nearby or half-a-world away. Sincerely, Michael Krigline for the family PS: See our FAQ section for an explanation of our future plans and for why we are leaving China in 2010. By the way, Vivian also has many photo pages posted on her scrapbook website. They are more elaborate than the simple photo pages on krigline.com, so they load slowly in China, but you might enjoy seeing her nice pictures. Click here to start your journey: www.scrapbookflair.com/China_Doll. You can also see some of Andrew's artwork at the Deviant Art website. Here is Gimli, next to the empty crate in our living room. In June, this will fill up with things being stored in Kunming while we are in the US for a year. After that, we'll come back to get Gimli and our things, and take them to wherever we have decided to move (which we will probably decide in the spring).
Check out our "items to sell" before we move to America in July (Click on an underlined word to go to that page) What is new? In June, I added final grades for my grads, some new wallpaper from Lugu Lake and Lijiang, and some photos to my relatively new article about our time in Beijing. In June and May, I added temporary pages featuring things that we want to sell before we leave in July--check them out if you live in Kunming! I also added photos and updated the text of Gimli's third page (plus doing a bit of work on pages one and two). In April, my computer crashed, so I had to recover my website from a backup (BUP) disk; that took much longer than expected because the BUP was incomplete. I've also had trouble uploading (which is normal here in China), so you may find dysfunctional links, missing buttons and other problems. Sorry for the inconvenience. In April I also added new class photos and more Free Wallpaper, and slightly edited the Georgia page. In March (in spite of a major computer crash), I added some Movie Study Guides and spent many hours fixing navigation problems (which seems to be a never-ending task). Some of the EFL movie study guides I've added or updated in recent months include: Finding Forrester, Ben Hur, Groundhog Day, Secondhand Lions, Steel Magnolias, Patch Adams, An American Tail and A Christmas Carol. Check out this "what is new" space whenever you visit, and click "refresh" if you have visited a page before (so you can see the latest changes). -------------------------------- Here is how to mail us: PLEASE write from a computer with anti-virus software!! And please do not send e-mail greeting cards or attachments without asking first. If you are new to our website, there's a list of popular features on the home page. Also look at our articles index, site map, and FAQ section (Frequently Asked Questions). There is also a log of old "current updates" on our US-based website (try the "Archive Index" below). Link to Archive: Index of Past Updates Thanks for stopping by. We would love to hear from you (see above!). Just remember that uploading our website from China (to both our US and China-based hosts) continues to be a problem at times (often resulting in incomplete pages). Furthermore, our e-mail sometimes doesn't go out or come in. (If you write and don't hear a response, try sending it again after a few days! If you live in China, the phone is more reliable than e-mail.) Thanks for your patience & understanding.