Chinese New Year (2011)

Chinese new year is a big deal here in China. Almost everyone will leave what they are doing for a 10 days vacation and go back to celebrate with their family. My school had a new year party during which everyone had to do a performance. Because I speak French, I was asked to sing a French song, which I did. I was quite nervous doing this in front of about 200 people but I think I did good enough given the circumstances. Here is my performance and other videos from the party.

I really enjoyed my time that day and I appreciate greatly the chance I had to work here in China. Leaving Canada to work abroad has been one of the best decisions I have taken in life as far as I can see. Living here is extremely less stressful than what I was used to back home and I have so much free time I can read, play and learn more than I ever could before.

The first 3 months have been great and I am looking forward to the remaining 9 and beyond.

At School

For those of you wondering what it's like to work in the teachers' lounge. I filmed while students were there, which is not difficult because we have students with us all the time.

Student: King.

King is a very funny guy. He told us his dream is to have a police car to chase other police cars. He doesn't talk much though (both in Chinese and English).




Student: Hannah.

Hannah is probably my favorite student at my school. She is very nice and always talks with a very energetic voice, which is a sharp contrast to her quiet appearance.




Students getting semi-private "classes".

Western New Year (2011)

Western new year:

I spent my night for new year at the foreigners' bar. We made/ate dumplings and drank a lot.

Another of my childhood dreams is coming true in May

This may sound absolutely silly but I have waited more than a decade for a single video game to come out. For people my age who started playing video games on computers when the medium was still fresh, Duke Nukem 3D is considered both a classic and the foundation of modern First Person Shooters (FPS). Back in the old days, games did not take themselves seriously and were very colorful. Nowadays, shooters come in shades of gray and brown - they call this realism. You can't tell your enemies from the background environment because everything is brown! The games are also taking themselves way too seriously and turn into multi-episode dramas (See Halo and/or Gears of War series) This is a steep contrast when you look at a game like Duke Nukem in which the protagonist had the following goals : Kick alien asses, save the babes and protect the Earth (a consequence of saving the babes).

About 13 years ago, a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D (titled Duke Nukem Forever) was announced. As a young teenager I could hardly wait for this sequel to come out and it has been the main subject of discussion for a while. Unfortunately, the game has been delayed, cancelled and revived so many times before in the past that the title itself became a running gag. After 12 years into production, 3D Realms (the producer) went out of business in 2010 and the Duke was confirmed dead, or so I thought. Gearbox, producer of Borderlands, revived Duke Nukem and is bringing the game to us in May 2011.

Do not watch this (new) trailer if you are at work or easily offended.




This an old trailer from 2001:




More updates about my life in China coming soon.