week 4

Sunday:

Today I taught my first Thursday classes for next week because Wednesday thru Friday are cancelled for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a dreadfully hot and humid day. The Chinese describe this kind of uncharacteristic heat out of season as “The Tiger in the Autumn.” Believe me, it fits. My first class that morning was acting out my own sentiments—they all had their heads down on the desks when I walked in. Despite that it was Sunday, excruciatingly humid, and sweat was cascading down my back and forehead I did my best to get the students energized for learning English. It was an informative lesson. I became aware that this freshmen classes’ English level was lower than I had originally assessed, but I took it slowly and we all got through the lesson on transportation. 45 minutes is a frustratingly short period of time to teach these students. I realized that the 45 minute freshmen classes will learn less than half of what my second year students will learn this semester and I find that really irritating, especially considering how much practice these students need. Nevertheless I will do my darndest to help these students improve.

My second class on Sunday was my small class. An activity that went exceptionally well was giving the students different pictures that I had of my family and friends. They then had to create a story about the picture explaining who the people were (describe them and give them names), what they were doing in the picture, where they are (including the time of year, is it a holiday or party), and the relationships of the people in the picture to one another. It was so funny for me to hear the students describe these pictures of my family and friends (like he is dating her), and the students did a great job with their oral English. I wanted the students to focus a lot on describing, as well as working on getting their pronouns correct (Chinese English speakers often mistake she/he and him/her—which is very confusing for native speakers to hear). This activity is going down in my great activities folder along with my guess the item activity during my packing lesson. The picture activity took a while, though, and I ended up scraping half my lesson—to be picked back up next time we meet after the holiday.

Sunday afternoon I looked at pictures of Vivi’s family and friends which was nice to get to know her more. And then I got my water distiller to work! It was so exciting! So now I have clean drinking water all the time that is free!

Monday:

Another terribly hot and humid day in Jiangyou. Got to the office and the power was out—which is not uncommon. Usually once a day the power goes out. But the bad thing about this was the elevator had stopped running with people in it and we were all sweating profusely in the office without the AC working. A positive thing in the morning was that Vivi gave me a mooncake in celebration for the Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Moon Festival) which is this Wednesday. Later on I tried it and it was good. Some people do not care for the mooncakes, but I rather like them. They are a dense cake filled with meat, fruit, or flowers usually. The sweeter ones tend to be better in my opinion.

My first class on Monday was a freshmen class that I hadn’t met yet. I walked in to oohs and ahhs and several students taking pictures of me with their cell phone cameras—foreign teachers are like movie stars over here. I am sure that for some of my students I am the first foreigner that they have ever met.

More than half of my students for my second freshmen class that day were missing. They were apparently dancing or something like that. It was difficult to say where they were because the student that told me where they were had very poor English.

For my sophomore class Media (another Chinese English teacher) observed me. She said that she was having trouble engaging her students and getting them to participate, so she wanted to see what I do in my classes. She took lots of notes—which made me a bit nervous, and then we debriefed afterwards. She may try some of my teaching methods in the future is what she said.

At 7 that night all of the students were having performances to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. I went to Vivi’s class celebration because I was performing with Vivi and Jaime (an art teacher at the school). They sang and then I said a part of a Chinese poem about the moon. The party was incredibly fun, exciting, and festive for the students. The students sang, did skits, danced, one girl did an amazing yoga demonstration (and then did a mini lesson for the audience—us), and one group of girls sang a song to a girl from their dorm who had just failed her computer exam. The song caused some tears to fall. Very sweet. Chinese people are very encouraging of others. When they forget their lines when singing the audience would always pitch in to help—no one laughs or ridicules. There were also two contests during the night. One involved popping balloons and answering questions and the other had baijiu (strong liquor) involved. Very interesting.

The start was also worth mentioning. The students had placed desks and chairs in the front for any teachers that came to watch, and they gave us all juice boxes and snacks. The students also had drinks and snacks. For all solo singers we would give them one snack to show our appreciation—I gave one girl a lollipop per Vivi’s suggestion.

The second notable thing was when Janice, Mark and Charlie came. They got a standing ovation. Everyone loves adorable Charlie. But poor Charlie (in this Tiger in the autumn) developed a heat rash, so I started fanning him with my paper until this sweet student brought me a real fan—so the rash soon disappeared. They didn’t stay long, though, for Charlie’s sake.

At the end of the celebration the students brought out 3 gigantic mooncakes and had me, Vivi, and Jamie do the honors of cutting it. Two boys stepped in to help me and Vivi finish cutting because of the thickness of the cake—much appreciated. And it was devoured in minutes by students. They made sure the teachers got some. It was delicious, too. Very sweet.

The students were cleaning up everything when we left and singing a bit since they had rented the sound equipment and were getting their full moneys worth.

Tuesday:

The morning brought a wretched storm. The humidity that built up for days released its fury in deafening claps of thunder and close range lightning bolts accompanied by furious winds and downpours. I didn’t want to leave my apartment. I eventually left for the office and was greeted with mooncakes galore from students and other teachers. While in the office I took out the Tallahassee Democrat to look for articles to read to my students, and two teachers came over curious. One article was about the Tallahassee Museum of Natural History and I mentioned that I used to volunteer there to teach the public about animals. One teacher said she loved animals and was actually a vegan (really rare in China) and a member of PETA. She asked me if I was also a vegetarian. I said no. She asked why I ate meat if I loved animals so much, so I explained to her about the circle of life theory. She told me that some students on campus had a Vegetarian Culture Organization which she sponsors. They were planning a vegan picnic on the 23rd. Later she told me about a good website for watching TV: www.suprememasterstv.com. Interesting. I immediately emailed another volunteer that I know that is a diehard vegan, so that she could visit my school and maybe be a guest speaker for the club.

Tuesday evening Janice and I went to running club, but it turned out that the track was closed for the holiday. So we went to buy some Chinese barbecue (which is nothing like our bbq). We got barbecue veggies and Mark made rice. Janice also paid and got us some bubble tea. We ate, played a few card games, then watched Balls of Fury. Janice and Mark have a nice collection of DVDs and a DVD player in their apartment. To top it all off Mark and I both enjoined a cold Heineken that he’d bought when they were in Chengdu earlier in the month. Interesting about watching Balls of Fury, if anyone hasn’t seen it there is Chinese in it and this one guy would always translate. The interesting thing was that we were watching and this little girl spoke Chinese and then the guy translated and we all looked at each other and then said “that’s not what she said.” Very interesting. She didn’t say anything bad, but it was interesting that the translation was incorrect. It makes me want to learn more Chinese, which is good since I have been unmotivated.

Wednesday:

Wednesday morning at 8 I went with Vivi and another teacher named Sharon to nearby mountain (Douchuan Mountain). It was great and relaxing. Unfortunately part of the mountain was under some construction so we didn’t see about half of it. There are pictures on the Windows Live account. Check it out! When we got back to Jiangyou we had dinner (I paid since Sharon bought the snacks). Then we went shopping at the market, which was packed and crazy. The mooncakes were now ½ off since Mid-Autumn Festival was that day, so everyone was loading up. I got some to try as well. It was a long but pleasant way to spend the first day of the holidays. It was also incredibly cool which was awesome!

Thursday:

Thursday was great. I spent the entire day inside reading, sleeping and relaxing. I can’t do that too often, but every now and then is okay. Thursday evening Media invited me over to her apartment for some Guizhou (another province where she is from) tea and to chat. It was nice and I got to know her a bit better.

Friday:

Friday morning I headed over to Mianyang on the bus. I spent the whole cold and rainy day there with Angel, Joel, and a returned Peace Corps volunteer turned contract teacher Tom. It was nice to get away for a bit, and I was able to pick up a new keyboard (since the one on my laptop is broken) and a small toaster oven! I am super excited to begin baking things. I am hoping to bake cookies, although all-purpose flour really does not exist in China. I picked up the oven, along with some cinnamon, curry powder, some soup packets, and a high-gluten flour (which I am going to test for cookies) at Super Wal-Mart in Mianyang. It was similar and yet different from the Wal-Marts back home. It was interesting. I got a steal on the oven, too along with a two year warranty. It was great having Tom around who could speak Chinese and enjoyed bargaining—something which I hate. Angel cooked us all a nice stir-fry and his sitemate (a China 15) named Jeff came over. It was nice, but I was looking forward to returning to Jiangyou the next day. It was nice that I didn’t have to teach on Saturday, so I could get some things done. Tomorrow, though, I teach and thus ends another week in Jiangyou.

*Oh and I beat the difficult level in Spider Solitaire this week—I am so proud of myself!

week 3 in Jiangyou

So this week started out fairly boring since I was told the freshmen would have orientation on Monday and Tuesday (which would mean me only teaching a double period on Monday and nothing on Tuesday). On Tuesday I had my first running club. I was really excited about the prospect of it. Only two students came out this time, though. One of Vivi’s male students said he was going to and then left before 5. Hopefully as the word gets out about it more students will come. Janice decided she wanted to join, and Eliam participated in the warm-up and cool-down. We only did about 2 miles, but it was probably all the girls could have handled, especially when one shows up in jeans and a cute shirt with converses. I asked the two girls what was the most they had ever run, and they said 2 laps (which is 800 meters or ½ a mile). I said what about during high school? But they said only two laps ever was the most they had run because during high school and junior school they focused only on studying. Crazy! Eliam also took pictures of us per the request of Kerry who wanted to put it on the school’s website.

I was hoping to go to dinner with some of the students after, but they had already eaten. Janice invited me to have their trial run of tacos which I considered, but don’t want to intrude too much on their lives. On the way home, though, I ran into Media who told me about the weird schedule we are about to embark on for the next month. I couldn’t quite understand, so hopefully Kerry or Vivi can explain it to me later, but from what I could gather is that one day of class is cancelled and will be made up this Sunday (hopefully not me because I am planning on going to Mianyang Sunday). Then next Wednesday thru Sunday is mid-Autumn festival and we will have a break. Then we come back and teach Monday thru Thursday and then we have a week off for National Holiday. When we return from National Holiday the freshmen have military training for two weeks. Wow! All I want to know is when I actually teach.

So Wednesday I was really excited to be teaching my first class of freshmen. It was my long day and I was excited to actually have something to do. I would be teaching almost the entire day from 9-4. So I got to my class right around 855 and there were no students present. I thought maybe students arrive a bit later to class in the morning. When 905 came, I began to panic thinking that I had the wrong classroom. I quickly texted Kerry and asked him if he knew what was going on. Then I started to call Vivi, but remembered that she had class in the morning and hung up. I then called Kerry and he answered and told me that all of the preschool education freshmen had a meeting in the auditorium and so none of the teachers were teaching today and sorry that he forgot to tell me. Well first a wave of relief washed over me knowing that I was not late to my class, but then the anger and frustration came moments later. I texted Janice to see if she was free (because I wanted to vent) but she never responded, which was good because I was able to take a few deep breaths, got my computer and went to the office. Just in case all of my classes today were not actually cancelled and there was more miscommunication, I went to my 10 classroom. There were some students inside, but just to take a rest not to be taught. There were no students at my 1105 class, but when I went to take a look at my 130 class there were 56 students sitting inside. I waited and then this Chinese man came and started talking to me in Chinese. Then he went into the classroom and talked with the students. I was wondering if he was their teacher, but then I distinctly heard him ask them what class it was and they answered English. Then I was thinking, this must be my class. So then the Chinese man came back out and started talking to me in Chinese again. I asked him if I was to teach these students and he said yes. Okay then. Luckily I had my notes with me and one small piece of chalk (as there was no chalk in the classroom). So I taught. I thought maybe the classes in the afternoon were not cancelled, but then my 320 class also had no students. I was very confused by the end of the day. I went by Janice and Mark’s and indulged in a little chat with other foreign teachers and borrowed two books from them for pleasure reading (Wild Swans which is about 3 generations of Chinese women and their struggles and The Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency of which I am sure many of you are familiar). I later asked my counterpart about the confusion and the only thing he could offer was that it would probably be normal tomorrow. I hope so. I would hate to accidentally miss one of my classes. I went to the track in the afternoon just to walk since I ran in the morning before school, but a student and teacher invited me to run with them, so I did. I really like both this teacher and student. Both are sweet, and the student communicates well in English.

Thursday I a class of freshmen in the morning, and it was rather interesting. When the bell rang for the start of class one student stood and said loudly “All stand” and all of the students stood and said ‘Good morning Teacher.” I was so taken back by this, but recovered enough to tell them they could sit back down. I really hope they don’t do that again. The class had mixed levels but were much lower than my second year students. After lunch Kerry told me that my afternoon classes would be cancelled because the students in that department had a speech contest in the afternoon. Just to be sure I went anyways but it was indeed missing students when I went by. So I went to the office and I just mentioned offhand to Vivi that I had heard that some teachers are teaching Sunday and I was wondering how they knew if they were. She said that it was on the bulletin board. Well the bulletin board is written in Chinese characters, so Vivi wrote the information down for me and I will be teaching Sunday, so no trip to Mianyang for me this weekend which I am disappointed about, but that’s life.

The one class I did attend in the afternoon was my favorite class because it is my small class. So do remember my question box that I keep in the class? It is a box that I keep available for the students to put questions in that they might be too nervous to ask in class. My Monday class put some good comments in like ‘you talk too fast; could I write bigger on the board’ things like that. Thursday my class had put some questions/comments in that were a bit different, they said:
• How will you spend the National Holiday?
• You looks thin. Do you like to teach us ? (Janice said that her students told her once that they were surprised she was thin because they thought all westerners were supposed to be fat)
• You have beautiful eyes and voice
• You looks like a Chinese!
So that was interesting and also made me laugh.

Thursday afternoon Vivi invited me to go with her to the Chinese speech contest for the students in our department (whatever department that may be). It was unlike any speech contest I have ever been to. The students recited famous speeches and most of their speeches were set to dramatic music. Vivi even said that this one student probably would have gotten a better score if she had added music to her speech. So it seemed that they were judging the students on their ability to speak standard Chinese and speak in an engaging and powerful manner. All students come from backgrounds with strong dialects, mostly Sichuan, and being able to speak Mandarin well is a valued trait. It was rather interesting. I understood very little, but I got to see some students that I know compete, which was nice.

Okay, so you are probably wondering why I am teaching Sunday, right? Next week is Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as the Moon Festival) and we have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off. So this Sunday we are making up Thursday’s classes and next Saturday we are making up Friday’s classes and next Sunday we are making up Wednesday’s classes. I know it really isn’t a holiday, is it? Then from the afternoon of August 30th to October 1-8 there are no classes for the National Holiday and we will be making up the Thursday and Friday classes the Saturday and Sunday following National Holiday on the 9th and 10th of October. A little confusing, but that’s China. All of the universities do this.

Currently this Friday I am sitting in the office and 9 of my students are talking to me on QQ and one of my students is talking to me in person. It is nice but a little overwhelming.

Friday evening I went with two teachers shopping. They bought me dinner which was this delicious street vendor bread and spicy vegetables. I bought some peanuts from the funniest street vendor for Saturday’s potluck. When we walked up he looked at me and yelled excitedly “Hello! How may I help you?” Vivi thinks he was really excited to meet a foreigner. His English was as many as a few phrases, but his enthusiasm was great. He wanted to overcharge me, but the two teachers I was with told him that I was a volunteer, so he gave me a good price on the condition that I return. I said okay, and probably will knowing that he will give me a fair price in the future.

Saturday I spent the entire morning cleaning in preparation for the potluck I was hosting for teachers that live on campus. What I was planning to make took longer than I had anticipated and caused too much smoke to cloud my apartment, so things changed a bit. I was making potato pancakes and filling them with ground pork. I made a few, which were delicious, before just putting the mashed potatoes and cooked meat into two separate bowls instead. Janice and Mark brought fruit salad, biscuits, and a small cake. The Chinese teachers brought some other delicious dishes, but I didn’t know their names. A total of 6 people came. I was hoping for a few more, but it was nice. Kerry called in the morning to say that the school needed him to go to Mianyang and that he couldn’t come, but that he wanted to host the next one. I hope it turns into a monthly gathering.

Busy weekend

Saturday I went shopping in the morning with Vivi again. I think it will likely be a regular thing, unless one of us is busy or out-of-town. This time, however, we stopped at her bank to see about something that I wasn’t quite sure about. It seems that in China employers will give employees a certain amount of money to help them save for a house. When Vivi explained it to me it seemed similar to how employers in the States will provide health insurance to their employees. Houses in China are so expensive to own. Of course the prices range from city to city, but in general the average person in China will not likely own a home due to the high cost.
After the bank we got some lunch. Vivi had wanted me to try this special food in Jiangyou called feipan. I said sure. Well it probably would have been fine except that she decided to look up the translation for what I was about to eat…pig’s large intestine. So obviously it weirded me out to be eating the large intestine of an animal, but I ate it anyways. It was a bit rubbery with an okay taste, but not a good aftertaste. Everything else we ate was fine. Next Vivi wanted to look at clothes. I think I have mentioned that the supermarkets in China are multi-leveled with usually the bottom level devoted to food, and the next levels with clothes, electronics, and house wares. We had a look around. She tried on some clothes, so I tried on something, too. I was more curious to see what my size was in China. The sales attendant guessed my size for the dress. It was cute, but way too short for my comfort level. Chinese women like to wear short skirts and dresses (almost like they are dressing themselves up how you might dress a doll). Anyways, they determined my size based on my height and not my waist which was interesting. So the dress was a little big in the waist area, but I suppose it fit my height. So I know enough Chinese to know when someone is talking about me, and also I have enough intuition to know in languages I don’t know. I found out later that the sales attendants were asking Vivi about me. Apparently they didn’t think I was American, but thought I came from this specific region in China where the women have bigger eyes, higher noses, and are a bit taller. I realized that I have the perfect look for a foreigner going into China. At first glance or with a quick look the Chinese do not think I am a foreigner because I have the dark hair, similar skin (minus the freckles) and similar body frame. But if they look again or go up to talk with me they can tell by my face that I am not Chinese and will not likely try talking to me in Chinese. Therefore, it is nice. I am not stared at going down the street like many of my fellow volunteers are, especially those that are really tall, blond haired, or African American. I am also not expected to know Chinese like the Asian American volunteers (which is difficult for those Asian Americans that are not of Chinese descent or do not speak Chinese at all).
Later in the afternoon I went to hang out with Janice and Mark. We just chatted and played Scrabble. They are such a nice couple. They always have lots of advice and information for me that is priceless. I should really take a notebook when I go over and take notes on what they have to say. They said that most of the information they give me was told to them from other volunteers in their organization, and I replied that we are all just keeping the cycle going because I will in turn tell the next Peace Corps Volunteer that comes to Jiangyou. Mark replied that we foreigners have to stick together. Though we laughed at this, it is very true in many ways. Well I left their house a bit loaded up. When they found out I didn’t have any glasses, they searched through boxes and found me some, then gave me some measuring spoons they weren’t using, and then gave me some banana bread Janice had baked. So nice.
Sunday morning I went to the hometown of Li Bai (the poet) with a new teacher in the school named Media. She had been in 2002 and wanted to see the difference since the earthquake. The touristy attraction of Li Bai’s hometown was destroyed by the earthquake, and they were in the process of rebuilding (making the ticket price half-price). It was a nice trip. There wasn’t much to see because they really had just started rebuilding, but I got to know this teacher a lot better and, boy, does she love to talk. I would put it at 90-10 talking time, which was fine with me. A lot of times I don’t know what to say. The only thing that made me laugh at first, and as the day progressed just started to annoy me was how she had to point out and describe EVERYTHING to me, and not just once. She would point to something and tell me what it was, like bamboo (several times). I had to watch myself to not give a sarcastic response when she would point to a picture of a cloud and tell me that it was a cloud. Really? A cloud? No kidding.
When we left the hometown, we went back to downtown Jiangyou and had some lunch. I think we were both famished because we devoured the lunch. And then she was so sweet; she paid for both of us. I did the Chinese thing and tried to fight her over the bill, but she persisted. I told her that I would pay for her next time. Then she got the receipt and won 5 yuan. At some restaurants you get the bill and it has a scratch off section on the bottom and you might be able to win some money back. I must really bring some luck to Jiangyou because Kerry won every time we were out to eat during my site visit and Media said that this was the first time she had ever won. When we finished eating we went for a walk in Li Bai park downtown (the one Eliam had taken me to during site visit). Normally I am the one with the worst sense of direction, but good thing I know a little bit more about Jiangyou than Media or we might still be wandering around downtown Jiangyou. She had us wandering around until I finally took over and got us to the park, and then again to the correct bus stop. What was really strange was that she wouldn’t ask for directions. We took an unofficial taxi to the hometown of Li Bai because Media didn’t know the bus route, and then on the way back we were walking to try and find one and she wouldn’t just ask. I finally told her she ought to ask, and I almost asked for her, although I wouldn’t have been able to understand a word they told me in response (I just know how to ask in Chinese. The answer is the difficult part). Anyways, so while we were wandering around we walked by this military camp and I was thinking “oh boy, where are you taking me? I don’t want to be detained or something or come across something they don’t want foreigners to see.” So I tried to look as Chinese as possible. Good thing I was wearing this shirt that everyone says is very Chinese looking. I also tried to make myself shorter. I bet I blended in well.
In the end I got back at about 4 in the afternoon, so a very long day. Next week the freshmen start, and I will be very busy! Wish me luck, but I guess I bring my own luck here in Jiangyou.

National Teacher Day

Another thing I forgot to mention in my last post was when I was walking with one of the Chinese teachers in the evening she started talking to me about Peace Corps volunteers. She said that she really liked Peace Corps teachers. She remembered one Peace Corps teacher that she had at Sichuan Normal University a few years back named James. She remembered how James taught them about poetry and writing, how he would sit on his desk, how he would walk around the room, and how he would always bring a briefcase to school with him like he was a businessman. She remembered his enthusiasm with teaching and how comfortable he felt in the classroom. He was middle-aged. She said that she finds herself mimicking his teaching methods—like walking around the classroom. I found this a good refresher into why I am here. This teacher made such an impact on his students during this service in the Peace Corps that they still remember this teacher and think his teaching style is worth replicating in their own teaching.
Thursday I taught (my favorite class. Shh! Well I can’t really say that anyways because I have not started teaching the freshmen yet). Anyways, it went really well. I took the advice from my Monday class and spoke slower, and put more on the board for clarity. It is just so much easier to teach a class of 20 versus 40+. Maybe over time the universities will come to realize that the students can learn more and better in a smaller classroom, especially for language classes. For a good part of the day I worked on organizing my pictures for China on my computer. It will take some time to do. At lunch Wan Laoshi asked me about caring for dogs, since he just adopted two. I explained to him about what dogs should and shouldn’t eat. We practiced for a little bit in the afternoon, and then I finally got to run! I hadn’t really run all week and I was aching to. Running, even more than my apartment, is my time to relax and get away. I can put myself in the moment and rhythm of my run and not hear or think about anything. It is blissful, and yesterday was gorgeous! The sky was a bright blue with no clouds in sight, the sun was shining brightly, and I could clearly make out the mountains in the distance (even the crevices in them).
In the evening of Thursday I decided to try my luck cooking again. I decided to boil some sweet corn, which was ever so sweet and delicious. I ate one and saved the others for another day. Then I cut up a sweet onion, eggplant, and tomatoes to fry up. The gas stove heats up so much faster than the electric stoves back home. I am not quite sure when I should add the different ingredients. Anyways, it smelt okay, tasted okay, but then five bites into the dish I threw it all back up. It was kind of disgusting. I have never given myself food poisoning before. I felt okay afterwards, but I decided not to try and eat anything else—just in case. Maybe I need some cooking lessons. I might ask my students or fellow teachers to teach me how to cook.

Friday. I knew Friday would be different when I woke up to the sound of my cell phone beeping me a message. It was from one of my students saying “Happy Teachers Day, Katie!” Since I had been sleeping I didn’t register this as from my student, and responded with “Thank you! Happy Teachers’ Day to you too.” Wishing her a Happy Teacher’s Day didn’t make any sense. That morning I could also hear the morning announcements blaring across the school grounds. I don’t know if it was extra loud this particular morning in celebration of Teachers’ Day or if I was just more awake to hear it, regardless I was awake and the sun was shining extra brightly for us teachers this morning. As I was walking to the office I noticed colorful flags stuck in the grounds and banners depicting school activities surrounding the garden area. The outdoor performance area was filled with student artwork, and there were many students bustling around. I was not sure if this also was for Teacher’s Day or if it was in preparation for the freshmen that would be arriving this weekend. Either way, it provided a festive environment. When I got to my office it was to gifts on my desk! Vivi’s sweet students had given me a cactus for my office with what looked like a Valentine’s Day card that read “Katie: You have been a qualified teachers and even better friend. Thank you for all that you have done! –Preschool English Education class two grade two.” There were also cards from both classes that I have. My Monday class gave me a card that also looked like a Valentine’s Day card that said: “Dear Katie: We are very glad to have you as our teacher. We are more thankful than we can express. May you all wishes come true. Happy Teacher’s Day. Sincerely, Class 4.” And my Thursday class had a card that didn’t look like a Valentine’s card and read: “Dear Katie, Today is Teachers’ Day. Wishing you a happy Teacher’s Day! Your students: Sophie, Cindy, Mickey, Faye, Ava, Peggy, Amanda, Sophia, Nancy, Demi, Money, Vienna, Vivian, Wendy, Sancy, Angela, Chanel, Eric, Joey, Singly, Ruby, Senlina.” I should also note that I wrote these verbatim. I also received a leather-bound notebook from I am not sure who. The inside cover had a note written in Chinese characters.
Sitting in the office, I could feel the excitement in the day. It is a wonderful day for teachers, filled with gifts, happiness, and excitement (especially for this afternoon’s performance). I had many students of Vivi’s wish me a Happy Teacher’s Day. One wanted to know why I wasn’t on QQ last night because she wanted to chat with me. I told her I would try to be on more often. Then Kerry came in and gave me my full teaching schedule, which is as follows: Monday 1105-1150 (grade 1 class 8), 130-215 (grade 1 class 1), 225-405 (grade 2 class 4); Tuesday 1105-1150 (grade 1 class 6), 130-215 (grade 1 class 5), 320-405 (grade 1 class 7); Wednesday 905-950 (grade 1 class 10), 1000-1045 (grade 1 class 2), 1105-1150 (grade 1 class 4), 130-215 (grade 1 class 3), 320-405 (grade 1, class 12); Thursday 1000-1045 (grade 1 class 9), 1105-1150 and 130-215 (grade 2 class 2), 320-405 (grade 1 class 11). And no classes on Fridays! I am not sure how I am going to manage to teach oral English for only 45 minutes once a week. I’m not sure what kind of improvements they expect from these students, but that is not enough class time for such a class. Oh well, I will just try my best.
After lunch, in which Wang Laoshi asked me to teach him English profanity (he already knew most of them, and I didn’t teach him the ones he was missing. I just said “oh, that’s it”), I went with the other female teachers in our performance to go downtown to get our make-up done. We went to this little beauty shop and the attendants did all of our makeup. Mine was done by the only guy in the shop, and well…you will just have to see the pictures when I put them up, but when I left I had the attention of everybody in Jiangyou with the crazy makeup and giant sequined flower pinned to my hair. When we got back we quickly dressed and went to the auditorium. I was told numerous times by many different people that I needed to make sure to pretend to sing during the performance. Maybe the fact that I don’t speak Chinese automatically makes me incompetent, I don’t know. It went well, though. I wasn’t nervous, thanks to whoever’s brilliant idea it was to have us prerecord our voices. Many people, including Mark and Janice (truthful individuals) said they couldn’t tell that we weren’t actually singing live. So yay for us! I watched the rest of the performances before scrubbing my skin raw of the makeup (the eyeliner still remaining after three washes). I saw that they were filming the program, so hopefully I can get it to you all somehow.
When the show was over and my face mostly clean, I went to give Mark and Janice the cactus that Vivi’s students had given to all of the teachers. Kerry gave me theirs to give to them because I guess he figures I see them more often. I was stopped at least three different times on the 500 meter walk from the office where the cactus was to their apartment to have people tell me that I did a wonderful job singing. I think they must have confused me with someone else. Visiting Mark and Janice was nice, although it was only for a moment because I had to meet Vivi to go downtown to the celebration dinner. All of the teachers in our department were going out for a celebratory dinner in honor of Teacher’s Day. It was great food and really nice to go out to a nicer restaurant. Charlie (Janice and Mark’s 2 month old) was the life of the party, and I must say he is a mighty cute baby. He slept for most of the dinner, but woke up at the end to the pleasure of all. Vivi, Janice, and I chose our seats carefully. Two of the tables were drinking walnut milk and the other table (with only men) were drinking beer and baijiu. Mark ended up at the baijiu table, but when we left he said he only had one glass of each. I usually do whatever the other women do because that will be what is acceptable, and from what I can tell from the two times I have gone out with the teachers is that the women do not drink alcohol at all, so while I in Jiangyou I will do the same. During dinner I was often referred to as a’jiao which was who the song was about that we sang. A’jiao means beautiful girl, but they were calling me that because it was the part of the song that I sang, and it was what they were trying to make me into (I was the a’jiao of the performance). Very funny.
When we got back to the school, Vivi, another teacher, and I walked around a bit. I went to the one teacher’s apartment and had a look at her wedding pictures. The Chinese take their wedding pictures before their actual ceremony in their wedding outfits. It is usually a big deal and the photos sometimes tell a story about the couple. Hers were really nice and in two bound books. I asked her where her husband was and she said he worked as a teacher in Mianyang. Vivi’s husband is working on his doctoral degree in Chongqing. I find it interesting that they can just live apart for such long periods of time. I mean, they work in completely different cities. Mianyang isn’t too far from Jiangyou, but you would have to take a long distance bus to get there. Interesting. I once asked Vivi if she missed her husband, and she said sometimes especially when there are problems around the house. Very interesting. But I guess it works for them. I know eventually they will want to live and work in the same city, but they are okay with not doing it for now.
That is all for now, and who knows what tomorrow will bring, so stay tuned!

This and That

One thing I forgot to mention about Tuesday which was quite humorous was that when I was talking with Suri (the Chinese student who stopped me while I was running) she asked me about my family. She became rather interested when I mentioned that I have two brothers, and then really excited when I mentioned that one of them was 24 (almost). She was rather saddened when I mentioned he had a girlfriend, so watch out Richard, these Chinese girls are coming for you!
Okay, so today we had some power outages in the morning, but they didn’t last long. I also successfully made some scrambled eggs for myself for breakfast (no spontaneous fires) and it was rather delicious, not as good as I could make in the States, but it would do.
While I was at the office I chatted with some students on QQ. One of the students said she would be taking an exam in December and was really worried about her English. Not sure how much I can help her in only a few months, but we can try. In the Chinese universities the students must take an exam in order to earn their degrees. The English exams are broken down into different levels, so she was most likely taking one of these level tests. They are rather difficult, and from what I have seen from the average student in Jiangyou versus students from schools in Chengdu, it will be a bit of a challenge for my students.
Around 10am Vivi asks me if I want to go to the library and get a library card. I said sure, wondering if there were even English books. Well oh were there English books. There was a great, albeit small, collection of novels in English. The novels ranged from classics, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain novels, Dracula, and The Awakening (many more, too) to easy reads like Agatha Christie, Stephen King, Lonely Planet Guides (minus the one for China which is banned), and almost all of the British versions of…Harry Potter. Oh yeah, I think I will never be bored on a weekend again. I am looking forward to getting my library card—which will take some time because I need some sort of identification number and a 1”x 1” photo of myself. Oh this is so exciting, though. I wonder if Janice and Mark know about this gem.
After lunch we recorded our voices again (and for the last time, I think). I was doing alright singing by myself in my apartment, but I get really nervous singing in front of others, and my voice definitely cracked a couple of times in the recording. However, two of the teachers told me that my voice was very sweet, kind of like I have a child’s voice. I’m not sure if this was a compliment or not, but I took it as such. Then they told me that I should do my hair up nice for Friday. They decided it would be best if I wore it down and they would ask the dance teacher to make me some flowers to put in my hair.
After lunch I observed Vivi’s preschool education class. It was almost all in Chinese, although she added some English words into the lesson to catch the students’ attention, as well as for extra practice since they are also required to learn English. She has 50 students in her class and her class is broken into three 45 minute sessions (very long). Vivi was also clever enough to get a hands-free microphone that she uses to teach in order to save her voice. She also has a very sweet, soft voice that is probably difficult to project in such a large class. I could tell that Vivi really enjoys teaching from her facial expressions and her interactions with the students. She is a traditional Chinese teacher in that she stands at the front of the class and delivers her lecture, although at one point the students did have a discussion and she walked around (just walked around, but didn’t interact. I could tell she felt a little unused to this, so I thought that maybe she got the walking around idea from my class). But it mostly ran from her lecture, the students taking notes, her asking questions, and students answering (either in unison, which always throws me off here, or with one student standing up to answer, which also throws me off. I always tell students that they can remain in their seats to answer a simple question, but this is how their classes have been run from a very young age). Her students were very engaged with her lesson. She would challenge them with some questions, told some funny stories (maybe, like I said it was in Chinese), and read a short passage from a story she got while we were at the library. One thing I found very interesting about her lesson was that she taught them almost everything she had asked me about during the week and last week in the office. She taught them the difference between pedagogue, pedagogy, and education. She taught them about the American Early Childhood Education format that we went over the other day. It was a little surprising to me. So maybe I am making a difference here.
During one of the breaks I talked with one of her students. One thing I asked him was if he had travelled to any other city outside of Sichuan. He hadn’t. I have noticed that with many Chinese people, and not just students. It seems that many are confined to their province for most, if not all, of their lives. Also, I am aware that Chinese schools do not teach too much about cultures and history of other countries, nor do their news stations cover a lot of world news. I found this sad, but what I found even sadder was my reflection on our own country. When I thought about it I realized that our education also lacks this. This egocentrism in our country can be found within the classroom, as well as in the media. Look at the newspapers and see how little is devoted to world news. When do our schools focus on Asian, African, or Latin American cultures, histories, or literatures? They don’t, unless it is an advanced class (like AP). Our schools are mainly concerned with American or European culture, history, and literature. Why do you think this is? Yes I am going to make you ponder a bit while reading my blog. Just think about it for a moment, and comment below if you think you have a good answer to this query.

After Vivi’s class we hurried home to change for our dress rehearsal. I donned my blue polyester dress and silver shoes and made my way to the auditorium. So it turned out we were not the only ones practicing, but that is was a full run of the entire program with all 10 acts going through. We are the fourth act. The acts were mainly singing and dancing. Some were teachers only, others were students only, and still others, like ours, incorporated both students and teachers. The act went fine, although we are now aware of a few minor adjustments we need to make before Friday. The recording earlier is the official one that I heard blare out over the audience of waiting performers (complete with cracking voices and all. I think my amazing dance moves distract from the horrendous noises coming from the loudspeaker, though). When we finished our act, some of us decided to hang out and watch all of the others. I really hope that someone video records this and I can get a copy because it is worth watching. Later Vivi and I had dinner outside of the school, this time with me paying. We ate a type of dumpling.
Next we went for a walk with another teacher. While walking we made our way over to the track and Vivi said something about the playground. I used this opportunity to explain that English speakers call it a track or a field, and not a playground (which is what children go to). This came as a surprise to Vivi. Every Chinese person I have met have called it the playground, and then seem confused if I refer to the track. This has bothered me for some time, and I finally got to correct it. Later I heard Vivi explaining this to another teacher, which is wonderful! Spread the word! I may leave an impact yet! Anyways, we walked until Vivi had to go watch her students. Students are required to study in the evenings and teachers take turns watching over them. I went with her to the library, and then met up with another teacher (whose name escapes me) who I walked and talked with some. I really enjoyed chatting with this teacher. Her English vocabulary was really good, although her fluency was not as good. But because her vocabulary was high we were able to talk about higher level things, such as teaching philosophies, literature and travel. It was an engaging discussion which I have not had with another Chinese teacher yet. And it turns out that she lives right below me!
So I might have some on-campus teachers over to my apartment some time to play cards, since that is really all I have to offer in terms of entertainment. I guess I could teach them charades. But that is all for today. Tomorrow I teach, and hopefully find out the rest of my teaching schedule since freshmen start on Monday.

Call Me Anytime

Tuesday morning I headed to the office to work. I didn’t get too much done, though (which is okay because I am actually ahead in lesson planning for right now). Vivi had a few questions she wanted to ask me concerning preschool education in the United States (how does it work, what ages does it include, etc.). I told her as much as I knew about preschool education which comes mainly from my mom (who taught in the preschool for many years). I eventually went to the Florida State University website (my alma mater) to look up information that it had related to Early Childhood Education. Vivi found all of this really useful, so I emailed her the link to the website, so she could peruse at her leisure. Vivi is hoping to get her doctoral degree in Early Childhood Education. Her husband is currently a doctoral student in some kind of education over in neighboring Chongqing Municipality (where we have many volunteers serving). Vivi also talked with me about films with the subject of teaching or teachers. She mentioned two that she really liked (Little Red Flowers (a Chinese movie, which I might go over to her house to see sometime), Les Choristes (a very famous French movie), and (I think it is called) The Front of the Class (an American film about Tourettes Syndrome). She asked me for some other movies about teaching, but of course I blanked on all the great ones like The Dead Poet’s Society, Freedom Writers, and Finding Forester (along with many other great and inspirational movies about teaching). We might have some movie nights when we watch these together, which would be awesome (bring on the popcorn!).
That same morning a couple of Vivi’s students chatted with me about preschool education (which is what Vivi teaches). Oh that reminds me that on my way to the office, I was stopped by a teacher I had never met before. She was also a teacher in the preschool education department and focused on the psychology behind preschool education (which is very important). Her English was a little poor, but she was extremely nice. Okay back to her students. They were very sweet. We also talked about Florida. I happened to have had a tourist magazine on my desk called Lake Country which was about the lake areas of Florida (yes a little random), so they perused it and asked me some questions here and there. In the end I gave them my phone number, like I end up giving to almost every student and teacher I speak with and told them they can talk with me whenever they would like.
At lunch it was just Wan Laoshi and I eating because Kerry went with Janice and Mark to take Charlie to get some vaccines in Chengdu (there are some western doctors in Chengdu. They said the one they were going to take Charlie to is from Michigan). Wan Laoshi asked me about a grammar point (which was difficult to answer without actually seeing the sentence itself, so I hope I answered correctly) and about the difference between elder and older. Apparently many Chinese teachers think elder is to be used when referring to someone close to you (like a brother) and older should be used when speaking about a more distant relation (like a cousin). Well I corrected this, however I could not give him a good definition of elder (for one, I rarely if ever use the word elder). This came up, by the way, when I mentioned that I had two older brothers. He wanted to know if they were my brothers with the same parent (i.e not my cousins). I said that Americans do not speak of cousins as our brothers and sisters, so if someone mentions his or her brother it would always be in reference to his or her brother with the same parent. See in China because of the one child policy the words brother, sister, aunt, and uncle no longer have the same meaning. Since children do not have brothers or sisters, they have begun to call their cousins ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ (which is extremely confusing for foreigners. I just assume none of the people mentioned are really brothers and sisters, but cousins or friends of the family). Also because parents do not have siblings there are no aunts and uncles, so cousins and friends of the family are referred to as aunt and uncle. Actually, it is common to show any older person respect and closeness by calling them Aunt or Uncle. I have actually been called Aunt before. Interesting, no? Also, China recently changed its one child policy so that if a husband and wife were both single children in their family they can have two children, but if either the husband or the wife had a sibling then they can only have one child. Was I able to make that clear? I hope so.
After lunch I met the other teachers in the performance to record our voices. What? Yes, record our voices. It is actually better this way. They have decided to record our voices ahead of time and at the actual performance on Friday afternoon to lip-sync to the recording. Well this turned out to be no easy feat (for me especially). First we were all too quiet, so we moved closer to the microphone the second time (they also informed me that I just needed to sing louder). Then, I was singing off key, but it really isn’t easy when I have some Chinese lady hitting me on the shoulder while I am supposed to be singing a solo in front of everyone and I could be the one to mess it up so that we have to start over again! It was a little stressful. I think I would have been okay, really, if this Chinese lady would have stopped hitting me. I couldn’t figure out why she was hitting me anyways. I think she was trying to give me the beat or something. I don’t know. We eventually left, and are going to try and record tomorrow.
I decided to take a walk to ease my stress that I felt during the recording session, so I took a different route through the farmers’ homes and fields. It was very relaxing. At one point I closed my eyes and could hear the slight rustle of the rice blowing in the wind all around me and feel the sun wrap its arms around my skin in glorious warmth. Very pleasant. Today the sky was actually a beautiful blue, and all of the Chinese women had their umbrellas out to protect them against tans (Chinese women like the white skin) and one old Chinese woman farmer asked me where my umbrella was and told me I should have an umbrella. I just smiled and said thank you, but the female teachers at the school are learning that the American women like the dark skin. I really just like the feel of the sun on my skin.
After my walk, which ended in me sweating actually because it was a rather warm day, I went to visit Eliam (Kerry’s wife) because it was her day off. We chatted a little and played Chinese checkers (she won, but it was very close). She had the door of her apartment open to let in some air, and some students walked by, doubled-back upon seeing me, and came inside. They were very sweet and talked with us for a while. Their English was rather poor, and so they asked if I could tutor them because they were taking some college level exams this year. I said of course they may call me or chat with me on QQ anytime. (QQ is like facebook). Before leaving I asked Eliam if she would be my Chinese tutor. She didn’t think that she would be good, but I assured her that I would like her to be my tutor because I can understand her Chinese very well. Hopefully it can work out because Eliam’s weekend is actually Monday and Tuesday (she works Saturdays and Sundays). I will have to see what my full teaching schedule is like (once the freshmen start next week) before I can be sure that she can be my tutor. I told her maybe 2 hours a week would be okay, and also if she could teach me some Sichuan dialect as well. Eliam is from Sichuan. Almost all of the teachers and students in the school (and certainly all of the fruit/veggie vendors, store and restaurant owners, and pretty much anyone else in Jiangyou) are from Sichuan and thus speak Sichuan dialect. It would be very useful to speak Sichuan dialect. It is not too different from standard Mandarin, but it can be difficult for some people not from Sichuan to understand. I feel like Sichuan dialect is mainly a mumbled version of Mandarin, with a few words that are completely different. Eliam also left me with a small mooncake (for the Moon Festival which is later this month) and I ate it later. Every mooncake is filled with something different (some are filled with a sweet bean paste and some are filled with meat). It is really hit or miss with the mooncakes. This one was pretty good. I have the feeling I will be eating a few more mooncakes by the end of this month. Oh, and the Moon Festival celebrates the moon. It is also a time for lovers to look at the moon together (I don’t know). Chinese culture is centered a lot around the moon, including their calendar (Lunar Calendar), so the moon is very important in China, although the Moon Festival is not a big holiday.
So, upon leaving Eliam’s I went to buy some more water (because I haven’t put together the water distiller, yet. I really should get on that so I can save some money and drink clean water because even the bottled waters still have some heavy metals in them, or so we’ve been told). Anyways, I was on my way home to change for my first running club meeting when I received a call asking me why I wasn’t at the rehearsal for our performance. I said I didn’t know we had rehearsal. Well anyways, so I rushed my way around the entire school very confused as to where everyone was. I went to the recording studio. No one was there. Then Vivi called and said they were in the Art Hall and she would be waiting for me outside. I took this to mean the Art Building, but when I went there, Vivi wasn’t there. So I went inside, and no one was in there. I asked a student what building I was in, and she said the Art Building. I was very confused, so I called Vivi back. Well it turns out when she says Art Hall she really means Auditorium. So I made it, albeit late. We had practice with the umbrella dancers again, and this time the department head was there to watch and see how we were doing. Vivi asked a student to cancel my running club, since we ended up being there until 6. I was a little sad about this. I was looking forward to running club today, but we can start next week. Oh and during the rehearsal they decided to add a little dance routine to my solo part. So now, while lip-syncing my prerecorded solo, I will be moving my arms around in a fluid, rhythmic motion. I really hope they get this whole thing on video so that I can post it to the blog! Also some students joined our little singing group, other than the three that were included from the beginning. They said that they would like to practice English with me. I told them that they could talk to me anytime. I said that maybe the group of them could have dinner with me sometime and we could talk in English. They liked this idea very much, and I am always looking for people to have dinner with. Oh and they ended up realizing that the mistake was theirs about my being late to practice. I am sure they must have mentioned it (just in Chinese only). So I made sure I was clear on practice times tomorrow. So we are recording again after lunch, and then we have a dress rehearsal at 4 (remember the blue dress and silver shoes I mentioned earlier?). The men are wearing white button-up shirts and black pants.
I decided to head over to track for a run, even though the students were not there (especially because I missed running yesterday when we went to hotpot after practice and my legs were itching to run). I ran about a mile before I was stopped by one girl named Suri. She ran one loop with me and almost died, even though I was barely running. So she asked me to stop, which I did and I walked with her and her friend a little. Then she asked if I wanted to eat dinner with them. I said sure. They wanted to eat in the students’ dining hall, so I ran ahead to grab my card for the student dining hall from my apartment (stopped momentarily by Hu Laoshi, which I didn’t mind because he is just so nice. He is in charge of the library at the school, and was on his way to take his maybe 5 year old son to play at the field. His English is really limited but he tries which means a lot. He told me his English name that he was given in high school was Murphy and I could call him that if I want). I said goodbye to him and met the girls at the dining hall, which was closing shortly. The friend didn’t eat, and Suri just ate some porridge. All that was given to me by the lunch ladies was rice, cooked lettuce and bell peppers, and some sliced potatoes. Suri suggested that I shouldn’t eat the potatoes because they didn’t look right. I took her advice on this, and ate only lettuce, bell peppers, and rice. So basically I am really hungry right now at 9pm that I am writing. Anyways, after dinner, they showed me their dorm room. It consists of 4 bunk beds (but where the bottom bunk should be is instead a desk). There is also a little bathroom (no shower. The shower is a communal one) with probably a squat toilet and a sink (I didn’t have a good look). Their laundry was hanging in this section. Next we went to go practice the piano, but Suri left soon after we got there (which I thought was a little strange). So her friend and I chatted, and she taught me a little on the piano, but she didn’t feel much like playing. The students all take music, pe, and dance (or so this is what she told me), which I thought interesting. At about 815 I told her that I should leave, but that she could call me anytime.
So today’s theme is…you can call me anytime.

Jiangyou Week 2

Sunday was one of the most boring days I have ever had. It was really rainy all day and not many people around campus were doing anything. I was one of them. I managed to do more cleaning in my apartment (including my baseboards which was in much needed of some scrubbing), wrote an email to my World Wise School teacher at Fairview Middle School in Tallahassee, wrote some emails, started putting together the list of Sichuan 16 volunteers (a little difficult since some have yet to email me their contact information), reorganized myself after one week of classes (throwing out a lot of the unnecessary bulk of paper the Peace Corps gave us), and attempted and failed to put together my water distiller (I have yet to give up for the chance to have free clean drinking water). After this myriad of activities I was at a loss as to what to do. So I attempted to try and win at the hardest level of Spider Solitaire (also failing) and tried to find television episodes that I could watch online. I could only manage to find short clips of two of my favorite shows (Dirty Jobs and Cash Cab). The only shows that I was able to watch full episodes of were CBS Evening News and 48 Hours Mystery. Which I did.
Oh the reason I am organizing contact information for the Sichuan 16 volunteers is because it is nice for everyone to have since we will all be working in the same province for the next two years, will be doing summer project together, and just in case something happens with their landlines and I (the deputy warden) or Angel (warden) need to contact the other volunteers in our province we have another means of doing so. Also I asked each of the volunteers to include their birthdays because it is nice to receive at least an email on one’s birthday. Or so I think it is.
So I decided that I am going to take Mark and Janice up on their offer to lend me some of the books from their small library in their apartment. I didn’t realize I would be so bored on Sunday, so hopefully having some books available to read will help alleviate this in case I am not doing anything with another teacher or students on a particular weekend, like this past Sunday.
Other than doing nothing on Sunday, I decided to try my hand at cooking in my apartment (since I now have a knife, spoon, and spatula for cooking, as well as a pot and pan). I bought some oil and rice down at the school gate, but decided to opt out of the rice and try something simple, like fanqie jidan (eggs and tomatoes). Well it turned out not to be simple at all because I couldn’t quite figure out how to work the gas stove. First I turned one burner on and flames came out, so I put my pan on, and then added a little oil. Next I put in my sliced tomatoes and giant flames shot out around the pan! When I mean giant, I mean a good 2 feet in the air! Thank heavens my face was no where near the pan or I might have burnt the freckles right off of my face. So I quickly turned off the stove and the flames went away. I decided to try again, but then the flames never came back on. I could hear the gas working, but no fire. I tried the other burner and the same thing. I tried a few times and finally the second burner turned on for me to cook the eggs. So the first meal I cooked in China was burnt tomatoes and eggs. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t good. Of course I ate it anyways.

I was happy when Monday morning rolled around because I knew that I would be busy for most of the day. I spent the morning in the office, explained the difference between complement and compliment to a teacher, and chatted with a student of mine on qq. QQ is most like facebook in the States. It is a social network that EVERYONE Chinese person is on. If you are cool in China then you have a QQ account. I wouldn’t be surprised if even Hu had a qq account—that is how popular it is. Well now I have one, so my students can chat with me whenever we are both online. It is good practice for them to chat in English and also in a low stress environment.
During lunch I had my table mate Wan Laoshi ask me questions about the Peace Corps. All of the teachers think it is so strange that the school doesn’t pay me to teach there. They are very impressed that I would come to China to teach in their school for free. He was asking me about how I signed up for Peace Corps, what the application is like, and other questions concerning it. It was a nice little chat.
At 225 my second week of teaching officially started. I was observed during my lesson by two Chinese teachers, which made me a little more nervous than usual. It went okay, though. I started the class by having them get into groups of five to share their family crests that they had made last week. I went around and listened to their discussions. Then I gave them a listening exercise in which I read a short article about Bicycling. I had four questions on the board that I went over beforehand. I read the passage three times. The first time I read it at a pace I would read in America, then I read it again much slower, and the last time I read it through quickly. They were able to answer all of the questions correctly. My hope is that by the end of the semester, or at least by the end of the year I will only have to read it through twice. Their test to receive a degree requires them to listen to a passage and to answer questions about it, so this is a nice little practice for them. After this I introduced the day’s topic of transportation. Each week I will cover a new topic that is under a larger theme. The first theme is travel with, I believe, four weeks devoted to it. First I covered some new vocabulary associated with travel. Then the students practiced using the new vocabulary by talking with the person next to them about when they used one method of transportation, where they were going, and why they were taking that type of transportation. Next I covered a grammar point which was the use of prepositions (mainly in terms of transportation, as in one gets in and out of a car/taxi. And one gets on and off a bus, train, or plane). Then the students turned to the person next to them and told them a short story using the prepositions (ex. Yesterday I got in my car and drove to school. Once at school, I got out of my car and went in my classroom). So they were extremely short stories, but I wanted them to practice using the prepositions a little. Then we took a 10 minute break, and afterwards I covered some idioms associated with travel (i.e. backseat driver, road rage, hit the road). For the remainder of class I had the students get into groups of 5 and create a commercial for any product but the rules were that everyone had to speak and they needed to use at least one idiom, one preposition, and one new vocabulary word. About half of the groups got to go before the Christmas bells rang for the end of class, and only about half of those half understood my directions in their entirety.
So what are the Christmas bells to which I refer? Well the college has bells that ring for the start and end of class, but they are not normal bells. They are a matchup of about 5 different Christmas songs. The first time I heard it I thought it was someone’s cell phone going off, but then I kept hearing it and realized it was a bell for the students and teachers. Then I thought I was crazy to think that the bell was a mixture of Christmas songs. But no, I ran this idea by Mark and Janice, who laughed and said oh yes, that is indeed what the bell is. So there we have it. I am lucky enough to hear Christmas music all day long and all year long. Yay me.
Okay, so back to my class. I have a question/comment box that I keep at the front of the class in case students want to say something but may be too embarrassed to say it in front of the class or in front of me. Well today I had three notes in it! I was so happy that they were using it. Two of the notes said that I was talking too fast (really really good to know) and one of them also said that I should be louder. So next time I know. I think that I am trying to pack too much into a lesson, and will have to see about cutting a part out. It all just seems so important to me! The problem, to me, is that 90 minutes once-a-week is not nearly enough time for an oral language class. We ought to be meeting 90 minutes three times a week in order for the students to really benefit. Oh well, nothing I can really do about that. The third note wanted me to teach more about my culture. I will try my best, however I am not teaching a culture class but an oral practice class.
So after class ended at 405 I had singing practice with the other teachers for Friday’s performance, and it got a little more intense than before. There are apparently going to be student umbrella dancers dancing along with our singing. Basically there are about 7 girls doing a dance using Chinese umbrellas. It will certainly be very nice. But then we had a routine to include with our singing. I start out standing behind one umbrella girl, along with 4 other singers. Two singers walk out from behind the dancers to sing their two lines. Then the next two come out to sing their lines. Then all of the singers come to the front at a part that we all sing together. Then my solo is up and the umbrella dancers scurry in front of me while I sing at the center. Then I return to the line while a boy moves in front for his two lines. Then we split men and women and we sing a few lines separately, then together. Next the men move around behind us, and we alternate singing men, half of the women, men, half of the women. Then we sing the last two lines together. At the conclusion of the song we form the shape of the crescent moon on stage with the umbrella dancers on either side of us. Are you confused? Try figuring this out when people are giving you directions in Chinese. I think it will be nice. I’m sure we will have at least one more practice this week before the performance. The whole ordeal was rather funny. There was a lot of Chinese yelling back and forth, a lot of pushing and pulling me around to where I needed to stand, and lots of confusion (and not only me).
Rehearsal ended at 6 and most of us went out to eat together at hotpot. It was actually really good. I was worried when they said hotpot because the last time hotpot and I were not friends. This one was all fish, not very spicy, and it tasted good. The men sat on one side of the table and drank beer, while the women sat on the other side and drank walnut milk. There was lots of toasting going around the table which was highly entertaining. So it turns out that most of the teachers are not English teachers, and thus cannot speak much English at all which was nice because I got to practice some of my Chinese that has lain dormant for about two weeks. At one point I stood up and gave a speech in Chinese. I said that I was happy in Jiangyou. I think that you all are good people. I think you are my friends. Hopefully that increased my guanxi with the other teachers. One teacher told me that he thought America was an excellent country, so I hope he was telling the truth. At the end of the dinner I was wondering about paying, but it turns out that each department gets a certain allotment of funds for things, which is what our meal came out of. I went back to the university with Vivi and another teacher in an unofficial taxi (which was just a lady with her car). This is really the best way to go once the bus stops running at about 730 or 8 in the evening. Taxis are usually only downtown, and these unofficial taxis usually just go back and forth from the university to anywhere else in the city. The restaurant we ate at was not in the downtown area, so we wouldn’t have seen an official taxi. When we got back to the university Vivi, the other teacher, and I decided to go for a walk. Well a walk was us walking maybe 5 minutes to the music building. Vivi was learning how to play the piano from another teacher and wanted to practice. There are individual rooms for practicing the piano at the music building, so that many people can play at one time. Vivi told me that it costs 40 yuan for the year for students to practice only once a week, whereas teachers can use the facilities as much as they want. I listened to her play and played a few small pieces of songs that I know from memory. It was a nice evening well spent with a few mosquito souvenirs to show for it.

Herbie is officially gone. Herbie was what I named that grasshopper-like insect that stayed in my apartment for one week. Name thanks to my friend Amy. Let me backtrack for a moment and we shall get back to Herbie.

Thursday I had my second class. It was a ridiculously small class. I was shocked to find only 19 faces staring up at me when I walked into the classroom. And they are a wonderful 19 bunch of girls. There are no boys in the class, and all of my students will become teachers in the primary school. Their English skills vary from better than most of their teachers to not understanding most of the words that I say. One girl, Sophie, is the one with English skills exceeding the skills of the English teachers I have met on campus, except maybe two teachers (one of who studied in Australia for two years). She is a pleasant girl who often acted as though she were the only one I was actually talking to in the class. She would nod her head in agreement, furrow her brow at confusing moments, and answer every question I posed aloud to the class. I could also tell that she had taken ownership of this class, and would make sure that everyone understood what was required of them. Very sweet, and very outgoing. I passed her on campus on Friday and she nearly shouted my name as to be heard.
I should explain the ownership of the class a little more, excuse my digression. In China, including in the universities, the same students sit for all the same classes throughout their education. So the same 40 students that I teach for Oral English Janice might also have for Culture, and Kerry might also have for grammar. The students also all have a head teacher that they must report to throughout the year. So if the student’s grades are slipping, if they must miss some school, if any other problems come up they must report these to their head teachers. The students also have a specific night study time in which they must report to a classroom to study for a few hours one evening. Their head teacher will also report, take roll, and stay with them during the study time should the students have any questions. The students will also live with the members of their class. The students all live about 8 to a dorm room with a communal bathroom, laundry facility in the dorm. The 8 students will also be their classmates. So the educational system in China has a lot of dependency, communal, shared life experiences. Students are rarely alone. I rarely see one student walking alone, rather they are always accompanied by a friend.
Back to the class. I taught the class with the same lesson plan I had for my Monday class. Since I will only be teaching Listening and Speaking, I will just use the same plans for all of my classes. Because the class was smaller, though, I found that the lesson went better than the class did on Monday. The class on Monday did not go poorly (except for one section when the students completely misunderstood my directions, but this was clarified and the students successfully did the activity), but having the smaller class made the lesson smoother, made me able to listen and talk with my students more, and made giving directions simpler.
The rest of the day on Thursday passed with me in the office, until a rather putrid, chemical smell started seeping into the office. After several minutes of smelling this, Kerry (who sits behind me) stated that it is best if we left because the smell was not good to inhale. I couldn’t agree more, and several other teachers got up to leave when we did. The building is still in the process of being finished (something that Kerry and I both agree should have been completed over the summer holiday before students and teachers returned). The building is often filled with workers doing woodwork, electrical work, and various other items needed for a building to operate effectively. It will likely be another month before it is completed. There are a couple of other buildings on campus that might be done in a month or two (so I am told). But I am happy to report that the office space now has internet access as of Wednesday. It is very convenient for the office to have internet. I mainly lesson plan during the day in the office, and sometimes have wanted the internet to look something up, and now I can say that I can. This really is posh corps. (Posh Corps is the nickname for Peace Corps China because it is not the walk a mile to the school house, wash your clothes outside, no internet access kind of Peace Corps that is found in other countries). However, Peace Corps China has difficulties that no other country faces, in terms of our responsibilities, expectations, work, and relationship with host country nationals. Every country in the Peace Corps has its own hardships, whether this is more physical or more mental.
Once again I am back from a side note. Also during the week I have had practice for next Friday’s performance for National Teachers Day. September 10 is National Teachers Day in China and our school is having a performance night. All of the departments are doing some sort of act for the event. The English department is singing a song which is about a moon. I agreed to participate to sing along with the other teachers. Well, sometimes I have trouble understanding Chinese people when they speak English to me (sometimes key points are left out or whatnot). So this occurred around Wednesday when a group of my female colleagues started talking to one another and then asked me if I could sing or something. I said yes I am excited to sing with you all. It turns out that they were asking me to sing a two line solo from the song. Oh boy. So now I am singing a solo. I practiced with another teacher, and first I was pronouncing the words incorrectly. I improved my pronunciation, and then I wasn’t in tune. They told me I should practice. Maybe I shouldn’t sing actually is what I am thinking. I mentioned this on Saturday to Vivi, and she responded that I should just try my best and also that a boy would be singing the lines with me. Okay, but I still think it is their loss to have me sing.
Fridays seem to be a bit more relaxing on campus. Most teachers were out of the office most of the day, and there was no singing practice in the afternoon. In the evening, Janice and Mark invited me to come over to their house. It was rather nice. We just talked about various things, mostly in relation to the university. They told me the first time they met me that they were really excited when they heard that another foreign teacher was coming to the school after being the only foreigners at the school (and likely the entire city) for a year and a half. They said it would be nice to speak to another native speaker of English every now and then. I didn’t quite realize what she meant until I came over on Friday. I was able to speak at a normal speed and to use phrases or slang without having to explain my meaning. So, we most likely will not spend a lot of time together, but the time we do spend will be nice I am sure. It is also nice to go over different aspects of the university with them that they now understand (sort of) and can help to navigate me through some parts (like turning in grades, explaining the make-up of the school, etc.) I can also bounce some ideas off of them, for example I mentioned to Janice about having a potluck with the other teachers that live on campus one evening and she thought it was also a great idea. So hopefully it will come through because I think it would be fun and a good chance to get to know the other teachers on campus.
Side note. The make-up of the school deserves some attention. The school is made up of two parts. One is the university and the other part is a high school. This made no sense to me for the longest time and is now becoming more clear since speaking to Janice and Mark and later to Vivi. The school has about 500 -600 high school students that go to school here. If they finish high school at the school then they will automatically be accepted into the university. That being said, the students that come from the high school usually have the lowest English ability (or so said by Janice and Mark who have taught both students). All of the other students that enter the university must take the college entrance exam which is extremely difficult in China. The high school students that study at this university do not have to take the exam, but are just let in, so there is no assessment of their abilities. The university is extremely small and this is a way for it to add more students. The school cannot take students from other provinces because of how small it is, only large schools like Sichuan University or Sichuan Normal University are able to take students from other provinces (the small schools may not). So all of the students from my university are from Sichuan only. But now it makes more sense why I was eating dinner with 16 year olds one day, or running into 14 year olds. Everything is clearing up. Just a note, I do not teach any of the high school students. I will only be teaching the university students during my two years here.
So that was Friday, Saturday morning I went with Vivi to go shopping downtown. It was quite productive. I was able to buy a ladle, vegetable knife, spatula, an extra towel and hand towel, and some groceries that included vegetables for cooking! So I am almost set to begin cooking. I still need to buy rice and oil which I can pick up at the stores near the school gate. I still have much to get, but I am in no rush to get them. It is a little bit of a hassle to buy things downtown, so I only get a little at a time. After we finished shopping and we were on the number 16 bus back towards the university I heard “Hi Katie” come from a seat on the bus. It was one of my students! At the next stop some students got on and said hello to Vivi. She said that you cannot go downtown without running into at least one of your students. I think this is kind of nice. It made me happy to see one of my students, although I must admit that I didn’t recognize her. I should hopefully get better about names and faces in the coming weeks. When we got off of the bus near the school one of Vivi’s students were there with I think her mom and they greeted us and then gave us both a small watermelon! We politely refused, and then took them. Very sweet. Later Vivi invited me to have lunch at her apartment. It was nice. I watched some of the news at her house and was surprised by what was going on (hurricane in North Carolina, earthquake in New Zealand, something about the leader of South Korea) and realized that I should read the news more (and did that later that evening). Her lunch was delicious with tofu, some vegetable that I wasn’t sure about, boiled tomatoes, and this egg fluff thing. Not sure. Then we went for a walk around campus and I showed her my apartment. I should say that my apartment is a lot nicer than hers which makes me feel a little bad. Her apartment is very small and she also said that when she first came to teach her that they handed her the key and there was nothing in her apartment (no fridge, no chairs. No washing machine. I think there was a bed). So everything she had to get. I feel much appreciation for the many things the school gave me in my apartment (including a washing machine (which will be fixed at some point, but no big deal-I’ve just been washing by hand which probably does a better cleaning job than the old washing machine anyways), a fridge, couch, coffee tables, desk, chairs). They treat their foreign teachers better than their own teachers in terms of apartment amenities.
This brings me back to Herbie. Herbie was sitting on the couch when we came in and Vivi was startled and asked why I hadn’t removed him. I said that I had tried but that he wouldn’t budge. She insisted I try, so I got the broom and tried to sweep him away, at which point he flew half-way across the room. Yes, I also didn’t know he could fly. She said if she were me that she would step on him. I told her that I cannot do that, but that he is really harmless and I will just ignore him. Later that evening Herbie crossed the line. He went into my room when I was going to go to sleep. Well I couldn’t have that. He was making all sorts of strange night noises that bugs make. I got up and he happened to be near the door to my balcony, and I was (with some difficulty) able to sweep him out of the door. So Herbie is gone. Not far, though, because this morning when I woke up he was still sitting where I left him on the balcony, like a poor, helpless, wet dog begging his owner to let him back in after having an accident in the house. Well too bad for you Herbie. Good riddance!
Once Vivi left, I just relaxed. For some reason I was completely exhausted and ended up falling asleep for a few hours in the late afternoon. It might have something to do with moving to a new place only a week ago. Just a guess.
Later I went to go by some water in the convenience store outside of the school gate and I was greeted with a terrible site. There was a dog lying dead in the road and another dog was smelling and pawing it. It was awful. And everyone kept walking by, and I kept thinking “How can they walk by?” But then I bought my water and walked by. There was nothing anyone could do. It was really sad. Luckily I never got close enough to it. I am sure that will not be the last dog I see in that condition. There are tons of dogs, mostly stray or farmers’ dogs running around the school gate. I suppose it is a matter of life here, but that didn’t make it any easier to see.
Now today is Sunday and I am behind on work because of my sleepy self on Saturday. I am off to do some cleaning, emailing for World Wise Schools (a program that connects classrooms in the States with volunteers), emailing my students the syllabus, and I am going to attempt to put together the water distiller the Peace Corps Medical Office gave to every volunteer (now that I was emailed the directions in English). I wish you all well and many happy wins for FSU!

settling in at Jiangyou

The last few days in Jiangyou are a bit of a blur but I know day 2 began with workers coming over to fix my hot water. So yay! I have hot water now. Next thing to be fixed will hopefully be the washing machine. Once the workers left Kerry took me to get a cell phone. I still am unclear a little about how it works which seemed to frustrate Kerry a bit. It is very different from cell phone services in the States. I paid an upfront cost of 410 yuan which from what Kerry was saying included the phone and 20 yuan each month for 18 months. If I go over this amount each month then I should go in and pay the extra. If I do not use up the 20 yuan each month it does not roll over into the next one. I will see what happens in a month and figure it out from there, but at least I can scratch it from my list of things to do. I also got a really cool screwdriver tool out of the deal by signing up. That may or may not come in handy, but I still thought it was cool.

Also Kerry informed me in the morning that the teaching schedule still has some problems, but that I will be teaching one class tomorrow from 225-405. It is a listening and speaking class of 2nd year students. He will let me know where the classroom is tomorrow morning. He will also let me know the rest of my teaching schedule then. From what I understand, though, this is my only class of 2nd year students. The rest of my students are 1st year students which means that I do not begin teaching them until September 13. All first year university students in China have mandatory military training in the beginning of their first semester. I shall see.

Well a little later this week I found out I will be teaching another class of 2nd year students listening and speaking. I am glad to be teaching a little bit and not have to wait for two weeks. I have been staying fairly busy actually considering I am not doing any teaching. I have been doing a lot of lesson planning. I have a general plan for the semester, and have been working on the details of the lesson plans the past two days and hope to have the entire semester’s lesson plans completed by the end of next week before I start teaching freshmen. The main reason that I have been doing so much lesson planning is because it gives me something to do in my office space. Each department in the university has a large room office space divided into little cubicles. It is a really nice way for me to get to know some other teachers. I have been making an effort to go there and do lesson planning, so that I can sometimes chat with another teacher. It seems to be working because occasionally someone comes over (sometimes to say hello and sometimes to ask me an English related question). The first English related question was easy; the teacher wanted me to explain the difference between pedagogue, pedagogy, and education. The second question, though, I failed as a native speaker of English. Well, kind of. Not many native speakers of English probably know the etymology of the word pedagogue. She wanted me to break down the word parts, their meaning and origin for peda. I told her I would look it up and get back to her, although if I were to wager a guess I would assume that peda is derived from Greek origins. So pause for a moment whilst I look up this word and the meaning of its parts. Okay, so its origins stem from Latin, Greek and Middle English, the latest coming from Greek. I think this means I win. What I win exactly I am not sure. Anyways, pedo comes from child and agogos from leader. I am sure all of you were just dying to know this.

Moving on, Monday’s class went well. I didn’t really teach them. It was more an introduction to the course, who I am, me assessing them, and what they could expect from this class this semester. There were 3 boys and 38 girls in the class. Remember that this is a school for future primary school teachers. Also, in general around China, girls are typically more likely to be English majors than boys are. So first I introduced myself and that I was a volunteer. Then I split them into 8 groups to discuss amongst each other why they were taking an English course, what was the purpose of studying English. Basically I wanted them to look at the big picture of why they were even taking an English course. Why did China see the need for students to study English? Then we discussed aloud. The students responses were:
1. because it is a popular language
2. some said they were interested in it
3. in order to get a job
4. some wanted to live in an English speaking country
5. to learn the culture of English speaking countries
6. to talk with foreigners
7. to watch foreign movies
8. because it is a useful language
9. because I am an English major (simply put)
10. it will make the future better for me
11. to improve myself
12. to be proud of myself
13. it is a challenge
14. to teach foreigners Chinese
Next I had them take a survey that I made up on to see what their strengths and weaknesses are in English, as well as their confidence level in using the language. The answers were pretty mixed, but much like I expected them to be. Students usually feel more comfortable using Chinese around their classmates and Chinese teachers than foreign teachers. Students find reading and writing English easier than listening, speaking, and grammar. This is natural for any second language. The order of Second Language Acquisition is Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking last. The order of first language acquisition is listening, speaking, reading, and writing last. Then they did a quick multiple intelligence survey so I could gauge where the majority of the students are in terms of learning styles.
Then they had a break and I talked with the teacher next door to me who was also having a break. Then we did a tea party activity in which they are supposed to find a new partner and discuss with each other a topic that I assigned. I only did 3 of the 5 topics. They were really confused about the activity at first and one girl (Monica) just blurted out "we do not understand." I appreciated this openness in Monica very much. Usually Chinese students are too shy to voice their confusion. So I changed the activity a little so that it was less confusing, and they did alright with it. I did the activity so that I could walk around and listen to the students’ abilities at speaking English (which were quite mixed). Then we went over what we are going to do during the semester and the class rules and my questions box (which they thought was really funny). The question box is just a box that I have available in case students have any questions but they do not want to ask in front of their classmates or do not want to acknowledge their confusion to me, then they can just drop their questions in the box and I will answer it later.
For the last bit of class they worked on a family crest activity which we will have to finish next week. This was just an introductory activity for me to get to know them and for them to practice speaking.
I am going to do the same thing for my Thursday class since it is the same subject. I am teaching from 1105-1150 and then we break for lunch and I resume teaching from 130-215.

Moving on, I met the Canadians on Tuesday. Kerry gave Janice (the lady Canadian) my cell number and she called me Tuesday morning to introduce herself and to see if I wanted to accompany her and her husband to downtown to go shopping. I wanted to get out of the house and meet them, so I said yes. I ended up buying a few things (a pot, a pan, peanut butter-which I lost my only spoon and so I have been using a chopstick to take my peanut butter out of the jar until I can get another spoon. Oh and there was no normal peanut butter at the store, so instead I have peanut butter with swirls of some sort of chocolate sauce. Also bread, some fruit for my counterpart, raid, and soap to clean my clothes by hand since my washing machine is still broken). The great thing about going was that I was able to see what was available, as well as how things operated. It was really helpful to go with them. It was also nice speaking to native speakers. They are a very nice couple with an adorable 6 week old son named Charlie. They have been in Jiangyou for 1.5 years and will likely stay only this year and then return to Canada. They have not decided for sure what they would like to do, it depends on Charlie. Later Janice texted me to invite me to dinner, but I already had plans to eat with Vivi one of my Chinese colleagues. I liked the Canadians, but I do not think I will spend too much time with them because of why I am here in the Peace Corps. The PC didn’t send me to China to meet Canadians. But Mark, the male Canadian, gave Kerry a Frisbee and Kerry and I talked about starting an Ultimate Frisbee team which I told Mark he should join.
So Monday I had dinner by myself outside of the school and not many people talked with me. The next day I had two dinner invites and several people talked with me. I have been trying to make the effort to stay out of my apartment all day (to walk around, eat in the teachers dining hall, stay in the office, etc.) and it seems to be paying off. I am going running with Vivi tomorrow evening, as well. I also went to Vivi’s apartment after dinner to watch some TV with her and another Chinese teacher came by so I was able to practice my Chinese since she was not an English teacher and couldn’t speak any English.
So another thing, I have signed up to participate in a performance of September 10 for National Teachers Day. All of the departments are doing some sort of performance and the English department is singing this beautiful Chinese song. I get to wear this blue dress, and I am not sure yet because I get confused here often in China, but I might be singing two lines on my own which is a little scary. I don’t even know the words yet because when we practiced today the song was only in Chinese characters. Kerry promised he would translate the song into pinyin for me, which would be good. Thursday afternoon we are practicing again, so we shall see. I seem to take more risks here in China, maybe because I still sometimes feel like I am living in a dream and this is not actually happening (which would be very sad if it did turn out that I was in a coma and in my comatose state I am writing in a blog).
Okay, so I have been getting into the good habit of running every afternoon around the track. I just take my ipod out with me and do some laps. It is really relaxing to just be in a rhythm for maybe 30 minutes in my day. Monday after running, I was leaving and three girls stop me to take a picture with me on their cell phones. I would think this strange except this is not the first time this has happened to me or another volunteer in China. Foreigners, especially those present in smaller towns, are like running into Brad Pitt at the supermarket (rare and exciting, and taking a picture seems only natural). I don’t know why some people get offended; I just think it’s funny. So on Tuesday I had been running for a while and three young girls decided to stop me and talk with me. They were 15, 14, and 10 and most likely the children of some of the teachers. They wanted to know if I played basketball. I told them I would. Well playing basketball to them meant trying to interfere in the boys’ game that was going on at the time. Well the men were nice enough to toss me the ball. I made 2 of the 3 shots I tried. Then I just sat down and chatted some with the girls. They spoke no English, so it was a good time for me to practice my Chinese on very patient girls. Wednesday they were at the track, but I was late because of singing practice with the English department. I hope they didn’t want to shoot hoops with me. Maybe they will be there again and we can try our hands at some basketball. I don’t think they would care if I was terrible. Oh and the day I went to have dinner with Vivi this little 4 year old boy ran up to me, said something in Chinese and then started holding my hand. Oh my heart! He was just so cute! He then ran off. Vivi said that what he said was hold my hand. He just wanted me to hold his hand for a little bit. It was just too cute. So if nothing else, at least the children seem to really like me.
So basically I will talk with anyone. On my first day I might have mentioned my dinner with the 16 year old girls. Okay, I should note that it is extremely difficult to tell ages here in China. The university students look like high school students, and some teachers look like university students. Also most university students act the same age as middle and high school students in the US and some of the women in their 20s act like high school and undergraduate students. It can be very confusing. I enjoy talking with anyone who will talk with me though. I was walking once and Hu Laoshi (this nice man from the library) stopped to talk with me for a little bit. He knew very little English, but we managed with a mixture of Chinese and English to have a good 5 minute conversation. What is really funny is when I meet someone for the first time, but they already seem to know everything about me, and yet I do not even know this person’s name. Oh and for the next two years it seems I will be known as Kitty. I guess I do not enunciate my name well enough. But anyways, when I say my name it is followed with some giggles and an occasional meow. I don’t even bother to correct them. When they say it, it sounds like Katie to me. I talk with teachers in the dining hall, walking around school after lunch or dinner, in the office, and next to my classroom. The teachers dining hall is interesting. There is a mad rush in at 1150 and most are done eating by 1215. crazy. The food is okay. It is Sichuan food, but not as good as in the restaurant because the cooks are making mass amounts of it. I still eat it. It’s not bad and even better than that is that it is free!
My office space (sorry to jump around) is a little blue cubicle space. Kerry is behind me and Vivi is next to me. I have all of my teaching resource books there, some magazines, stickers, pens and pencils, picture of my training site, a month header that says September (which I will change every month) and a bowl with snacks for me and my colleagues (mainly my colleagues since dry tofu is in there now, which is okay but not my first choice for snack). There is also supposed to be internet available which will be nice.
One night this week I had to go over to Kerry’s to register for my foreign teachers’ certificate. It was an interesting ordeal. He was having a little difficulty translating and obviously I couldn’t read the Chinese characters. So the first question had to do with my schooling. Well Kerry was asking me about high school, which I didn’t think was relevant, but of course I answered. Well high school in the US is different than high school in China so a lot of the questions don’t make sense (like, I did not have a major in high school. I also didn’t have a head teacher). So we sort of made up the parts in the high school section. Then there were questions pertaining to my talents, how I would describe my character, what are my hobbies. How this is relevant to me teaching in China I may never know. Afterwards, though, Kerry and Eliam helped me to sign up for a QQ account which is similar to facebook but for the Chinese. It is the best way for me to keep in contact with my students and for them to practice their English with me online. So everyone gets a number for signing on to QQ, and supposedly I have a good number is what they told me. There are a lot of 0s, 6s, and 9s. I haven’t downloaded the information onto my computer next, but I feel a little more Chinese just for having QQ.
So in the hotel in Chengdu I apparently left my retainer and mouth guard, so I was slightly panicky the first day. I couldn’t imagine not wearing my retainer and mouth guard for 2 years. My jaw would be in mass amounts of pain by the end of my service. But they were able to recover it! So my program manager will bring it to me during her site visit sometime in October, November, or December. I can wait a few months, just not two years. Also most things in my apartment are now fixed! Just the washing machine (which I have just washed clothes by hand, no big deal) and the TV which I don’t really want fixed because it will encourage bad habits of sitting in front of the TV. So once I get a knife, a new spoon, and some food I can begin to cook!
I would really like to have a potluck with the teachers that live on campus. I wonder if they could open the dining hall during dinner time for us to use. Maybe I will ask Kerry.
And last, but certainly not least, a giant spider came out at me while I was taking a shower on Monday. It was the size of my palm. I screamed, literally, jumped out of the shower and started spraying it with water. Well the water didn’t kill it, so I started releasing soap onto it. This didn’t kill it either, so I ran and got my bleach and started spraying bleach on it. This did it for the spider. So I brutally murdered a spider. I hope this was a lesson to his friends not to come.
But at least I am not having as difficult a time as my friends Katie and Richy. Their apartment has giant spiders, roaches, and bedbugs. I feel so bad for them. I went ahead and put down the Raid even though I haven’t seen a roach yet, just to be careful. Bedbugs, I already know I do not have (thank heavens). I can deal with a lot of things, but bugs are a lot to handle.
I will try to keep everyone posted and also post links to my fellow volunteers’ blogs, so you can read some more about China if you would like. In the meantime, though, my site training manager in Chengdu found a link to my news interview on Chinese television. So have a look! It is me with my friend Leo. He also was interviewed, although for some reason they cut him off. I have no idea why.
http://v.ku6.com/show/EGeHFKmNf4Quitac.html