Monday and Wednesday this past week there were no classes since we taught Mondays and Wednesdays classes on Saturday and Sunday. Of course this made little sense to me since we weren’t teaching the freshmen at this time, but that’s what it was and now those freshmen classes can just be a bit behind. During these days off I spent some time with some students. One student has become my stalker or something because she calls or texts me everyday and almost every time I leave my apartment I run into her—I don’t have this with any of my other students. Her English is pretty low and she is dedicated to trying to improve it which I admire. I visited her dorm to meet her roommates who spoke even less English, but this gave me an opportunity to practice my Chinese a bit. Before I left they wanted to take a picture with me and to get my autograph. Well, they didn’t say autograph but they wanted me to write my name in their books which seems very much like signing a yearbook to me.
The other students I met up with were some of my freshmen. I visited their dorm and one wanted to know how she might improve her reading ability in English. I suggested reading lower level English books, but they are limited to what they have available so I suggested that they accompany me back to my apartment to take a look at the English library. They were really just excited to see the foreign teacher’s apartment and ended up not taking any books. So we played some cards, they looked at just about everything in my home, they asked me to sing some Celine Dion (My Heart Will Go On), and they wrapped up the afternoon by checking their QQs on my computer since they do not have computers readily available to them. They also took some pictures of me, but this time I got a picture of them, too.
This week there was also a school performance to welcome the new students. I sat with Janice and Mark during the show and we commented on it throughout, which made it more interesting to see. As usual there was singing, dancing and interesting costumes. One notable performance was very Chinese we decided. First three students dressed as pandas rolled out across the dark stage, then when the lights came on many girls ran out with what seemed like pom-poms and they all danced (the pandas even had these little tails which was very funny). About half-way through the performance this one girl comes out in a salsa dancing outfit and dances to Shakira. When she finished the pandas and pom-pom girls came back out to finish the act with more tail shaking action. There were a few piano acts (some good), terrible break dancing, calligraphy, and a wedding show. What’s a wedding show? Basically some students in wedding dresses and tuxes came out with their hair and make-up all done up and modeled. Two of the girls in this show were my students and one of the guys was the boyfriend of another of my students so it was interesting to see. The show had a very Christmas show feel to it or so Janice and I felt due to the decorations, the piano acts, and the cold.
Oh the cold! Maybe Tuesday this week it started out a little cold and got progressively colder throughout the day and the week. I am now wearing my winter jacket, Vivi bought me a scarf to wear (as an early birthday present), and a student bought me some gloves. And oh what gloves they are! They are bright blue and pink with smiley faces on the fingers, and a giant stuffed Hello Kitty on the back of each hand which makes it impossible for me to stick my hands in my pockets. Since she got them for me I must wear them but that doesn’t I cannot lie when I say that I am awaiting her graduation so I no longer must wear them. Vivi’s scarf is more my style, but of course she knows me better than my students do. It is brown and red plaid. Oh and the funny thing is that I brought gloves and a scarf with me from the states; I was just waiting for it to get a bit colder before I took them out. Oh well. It is only in the low 50s or high 40s but it feels much colder because it is damp, there’s no sunshine, and there is little escaping it because none of the buildings are heated. I can heat my living room but not enough to take my coat off and I am still figuring out my bedroom. For now I just wear a lot of clothes to bed and wrap myself like a cocoon in my blanket. I am not the only one, though. It is nice to see the status of my fellow Peace Corps volunteers on Skype so I know I am not the only one dealing with cold. It is worse for my friends north of me in Gansu where it is started snowing this week. In Gansu the buildings have heat, but, according to a friend, they have yet to turn it on—I suppose to conserve electricity. My waiban said that this winter is supposed to be the coldest in a century. I really hope his sources are not good. I can only wait and see. I don’t know how the students deal with the cold—their dorms are without heat and usually their windows are open to dry their laundry.
Speaking of laundry, my washing machine has never worked, but I managed to inform Kerry and he was trying to get it fixed this week. It turns out that the machine cannot be fixed, so the school was trying to find one not in use in the school and couldn’t. What does this mean? The school has to get a new one! I cannot believe how lucky I am. I will have to wait another bit, but at least this guarantees me a working machine in the future and for the rest of my service. Very cool.
This weekend I am teaching again and not teaching Monday and Tuesday so the students cannot participate in the demonstrations that are on the weekends. Apparently the demonstrations have continued to grow against the Japanese because other volunteers are also teaching this weekend as a result of it. This only changes the Halloween party to Monday, otherwise I am getting used to teaching Saturdays and Sundays.
Lastly I had a strange cultural lesson this week. I was taking a walk with my stalker and she asked when I would eat dinner. I said I wasn’t sure and asked when she would have hers. She also said she wasn’t sure. So I said we could just eat together and maybe her roommates might want to come if they hadn’t eaten yet. Of course they wanted to eat outside the school gate which they could only do in my, a teachers, company since the schools is in lockdown with the demonstrations. I went with six of them to a restaurant (that later made us all sick but that’s not related to this tale). At the end they were waiting for me to pay. What?! I only brought enough to pay for maybe half with expectations to just pay for myself. I became so embarrassed that my face turned bright red (later I ran into Vivi and Allie—another teacher—and they laughed and asked if I drank alcohol during dinner). I tried to ask my stalker to pay half which she did (and later I paid her back) but to keep it between us (which she didn’t). I told her it wasn’t in my culture for this to happen and maybe I didn’t understand Chinese customs. Well others I talked with also didn’t think this was Chinese culture but that maybe the students assumed I would pay because I was a “rich” foreigner. There is a misunderstanding of what it means to be a volunteer in China. Students and teachers are always shocked when they hear that the school doesn’t pay me but isn’t that what a volunteer is, I ask. Oh well, just one of many weird moments I will undoubtedly have these next two years in China.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A week of huai le
So this past week had some interesting things occur—well, interesting to me. First it was a week of huai le (broken) like my water purifier and fire/CO2 detector (I’m more concerned with the latter). Sunday I was carelessly peeling an apple with a knife (because I either peel fruit and vegetables, boil them, or scrub them with soap—for an apple I think peeling is the best way to go). Well I sliced my finger and blood started going everywhere. I quickly ran to get my handy-dandy Peace Corps Medical kit and let it explode all over my bed in an effort to find something to constrict the blood flow. Two bandages and medical tape later I felt good about blood not being able to seep through. It actually was not a bad cut, but the next day I took the bandages off and it was still bleeding. I sent the medical office a casual email inquiring about stitches in the hopes that they wouldn’t get concerned and call me. Of course they are good doctors and nurses and so I received a call. It did not require stitches like I thought, but I have come to take a little extra care here since I do not want anything weird to happen to me in China. And I certainly never want to have to go to a hospital here if I can help it.
Then this week I have been sick with a head cold. I had some interesting cure suggestions from my students and fellow teachers, including drink something hot, wear more clothes and the general take care. I guess there isn’t as much advice for colds as, let’s say pregnancy. Janice told me all the interesting advice and care her students and fellow teachers took with regards to her pregnancy last year. One, her fridge was full of eggs. All of her students brought her eggs since, supposedly, she should eat a lot of eggs during her pregnancy. They also gave her lots of sugar. Whenever she went out her students would never let her carry anything and would say what she should and shouldn’t eat for the health of her baby. After she had her son they gave her different foods that she should eat after having a baby to bring good health and return of a good body. Very interesting. I am glad that I will not have to deal with that here. I don’t know what Janice did with all of those eggs!
So I am not sure how much of this has made it over to Western news sources, but there have been some extra bad feelings with regards to Japan over here. As you all know the relations between China and Japan are not good. Recently, though, there have been some territorial disputes between the two countries. In response to this there have been some student protests/demonstrations in Chengdu and Mianyang. Students have been in marching the streets and they destroyed a store that sold Japanese products smashed anything that is from a Japanese company (like Toyota, Nikon, etc.) and got into a few brawls with police leaving several injured. The demonstrations have been more pronounced in Chengdu than Mianyang, but my school was concerned the students might do something they shouldn’t, so they put it in lockdown. The students have not been allowed to leave the school all week. This past weekend we had classes so the students were forced to remain on campus. But every student I’ve talked with has no intention of demonstrating. Many are irritated by Japan, but they were not considering doing anything to anger the police. And one student I talked with was seeing it my way in that these students aren’t hurting Japan, but are hurting Chinese people by destroying their shops and belongings. The excitement of it has already died down, at least over here (not sure about Chengdu).
This week I was able to visit the primary school with Vivi and it was a whole different world than the preschool. It looked like my high school. There was no playground. It was five stories and enclosed. We watched one first grade class that took place in a lecture hall. The students were engaged during their math lesson but it was just so different than a western first grade class. Plus there were maybe 50 kids in the class. We did chat with some first grade students who were very energetic and quite willing to engage us in conversation. Vivi asked them what time the school day ended and they could not come to a consensus, though they’d been in school for about two months. Some said 4:30, another 4:40, and still a third said 5. It just made us laugh.
Another day I received a package from home which was really exciting! My parents sent me some books for students, hot chocolate and chili packets for the approaching cold weather, videos about preschool in the US for Vivi and a dog calendar for Kerry. Kerry loves dogs! When I gave him the calendar he was so excited and started showing everyone in the office the pictures. It was so funny.
Besides giving a gift and receiving some from my lovely parents, I received some meat this week. Yes, meat. One of my students went to Mianyang to visit her mother in the hospital and brought me back a bag of cooked meat that is apparently special for Mianyang. I also received some dried meat from Media after her trip to her family’s home in a different province when she went to honor her father in the one year anniversary of his passing.
One thing that was rather interesting when I met up with Media was something she told me about the teacher standards in China with regards to health. She was on her way to get some medical tests done in order to obtain her teaching certificate. What kinds of medical tests I wanted to know. Blood tests, chest x-rays, no facial or physical abnormalities, and no diseases. These are some of the guidelines for teaching in China.
Speaking of teaching in China, there is a student who has attached herself to me. Her name is Xu Fanya and she messages and calls me, I think, everyday. I see her almost every time that I step foot from my apartment. Her English is very poor I am afraid to say, but she is motivated to improve. She is also very sweet and I often go walking with her so she can practice her English with me. One evening as we were walking another student who I do not know says Hello Katie. I ask her if she wants to join us, which she does. This student’s name is Jane and her English is very good. More than this, she is actually an interesting person who pays attention to the news and is informed and curious (she asked me what the difference was between using no more vs. not more and I had no idea—any ideas back home?) I really enjoyed chatting with Jane and we have made plans to play badminton one day soon. Is it bad that I prefer to hang out with some students over others? I never turn down a student that wants to talk with me, but I enjoy my time with some more than others. I think that’s only human.
On a similar note about teaching I also had my second Chinese tutoring lesson. We covered more about food, but Eliam left some books and I copied all of the vocabulary I didn’t know so that I could study later. I mostly prefer to study vocabulary alone, but I seek Eliam’s assistance in pronunciation and correct sentence structure. Hopefully in the coming weeks we can speak more Chinese and practice my listening and speaking.
Later this week Janice and I had the first English Corner. Since it was the first one we led it instead of the student leaders. There were maybe 50 students that came, but we are expecting these numbers to multiply in the coming weeks. Since it was the first meeting and we were interested in getting students interested in returning we simply played some icebreaker games. First, as students were coming we played telephone, which was hilarious. I made the first sentence intentionally long (the red balloon floated over the purple elephant on the green grass). It ended completely wrong. Then we had the students introduce themselves. Later since there were more students we split into two groups and played again. This time I chose a student to make the sentence. The sentence, which was wrong at the end but not by too much, was ‘he’s just not that into you’ because the student had recently seen the movie. The next activity we paired the students and they had to talk about themselves until they found three things in common with each other (and they were not allowed to use obvious things like we are both from Sichuan—where 99% of the English students are from). The last activity was “I am going on a picnic” in which we were again in two groups and each person had to say what they were bringing to a picnic that started with the first letter of their name (i.e. my name is Katie and I am bringing a kite). The next student must say the name and item of the people before her. So the last person must say every persons name and item. This last one was a bit difficult for some and Janice and I could see some of the better English speakers (like Vienna and Jane) getting annoyed with some of the students whose English was not as proficient, which if they are to become teachers they need to learn how to deal with.
During English Corner there was a small earthquake (maybe 4. something), but I missed it! I mean that I didn’t feel the earth shake. I was too preoccupied with what I was instructing the students, but Jane had stopped me to say there was an earthquake. At first I didn’t believe her but then I saw students pouring out of their dorm, so I knew it was true. I wonder how often earthquakes occur in Sichuan. I just hope there is no repeat of the 2008 earthquake that happened in Sichuan. This reminds me of when I had dinner with a student of mine this week named Monica and she was talking about the year 2012. Many Chinese students believe that the world will end at that time because of this movie. Monica said she was 50/50 about it. I said I didn’t care.
Other than English Corner we have also set up an English library in my apartment. Janice and Mark had all of these books in their apartment from their organization and they were in desperate need of space. Their organization agreed that they could donate the books, but we found out that it is very inconvenient for students to borrow books from the library. The desire was for students to be able to read English books at their own pace and to be able to take them as they wanted, so that is where my apartment came in. My office space is now a makeshift library for students and teachers to come and borrow books. The library is divided into fiction, nonfiction, magazines, English help, teaching resources, music (for piano practice), and movies/games. As I am writing this three teachers and a student came by to have a look and they all left with at least one book. I have no limits on how many books the students/teachers can take, but I ask them to leave their name, number, book title and date they checked out the book. They can keep the book until the end of the semester and must return it then. The library will be open Fridays 1:30-4:30, but if there is another time the student/teacher wants to come by they can just call ahead to be sure that I am home. I think this will be a good thing.
And the last thing to occur was that Vivi had never seen American money until I showed her some. I happened to have a one, five, ten, twenty, quarter, and dime. Strangely enough I had no pennies. I let Vivi keep a dollar and a quarter, and I also showed her the other contents in my wallet—the most intriguing to her being my library card. It turns out that there are no public libraries in China. Vivi was shocked that we are able to borrow books for free in America. She was also surprised when I said that there were really no limits to how many or how long one could borrow a book. She said it makes her all the more interested in visiting America in the future. But I think that eventually China will adopt the public library concept. Maybe. All I know is that my life and childhood would have been drastically different without public libraries.
Then this week I have been sick with a head cold. I had some interesting cure suggestions from my students and fellow teachers, including drink something hot, wear more clothes and the general take care. I guess there isn’t as much advice for colds as, let’s say pregnancy. Janice told me all the interesting advice and care her students and fellow teachers took with regards to her pregnancy last year. One, her fridge was full of eggs. All of her students brought her eggs since, supposedly, she should eat a lot of eggs during her pregnancy. They also gave her lots of sugar. Whenever she went out her students would never let her carry anything and would say what she should and shouldn’t eat for the health of her baby. After she had her son they gave her different foods that she should eat after having a baby to bring good health and return of a good body. Very interesting. I am glad that I will not have to deal with that here. I don’t know what Janice did with all of those eggs!
So I am not sure how much of this has made it over to Western news sources, but there have been some extra bad feelings with regards to Japan over here. As you all know the relations between China and Japan are not good. Recently, though, there have been some territorial disputes between the two countries. In response to this there have been some student protests/demonstrations in Chengdu and Mianyang. Students have been in marching the streets and they destroyed a store that sold Japanese products smashed anything that is from a Japanese company (like Toyota, Nikon, etc.) and got into a few brawls with police leaving several injured. The demonstrations have been more pronounced in Chengdu than Mianyang, but my school was concerned the students might do something they shouldn’t, so they put it in lockdown. The students have not been allowed to leave the school all week. This past weekend we had classes so the students were forced to remain on campus. But every student I’ve talked with has no intention of demonstrating. Many are irritated by Japan, but they were not considering doing anything to anger the police. And one student I talked with was seeing it my way in that these students aren’t hurting Japan, but are hurting Chinese people by destroying their shops and belongings. The excitement of it has already died down, at least over here (not sure about Chengdu).
This week I was able to visit the primary school with Vivi and it was a whole different world than the preschool. It looked like my high school. There was no playground. It was five stories and enclosed. We watched one first grade class that took place in a lecture hall. The students were engaged during their math lesson but it was just so different than a western first grade class. Plus there were maybe 50 kids in the class. We did chat with some first grade students who were very energetic and quite willing to engage us in conversation. Vivi asked them what time the school day ended and they could not come to a consensus, though they’d been in school for about two months. Some said 4:30, another 4:40, and still a third said 5. It just made us laugh.
Another day I received a package from home which was really exciting! My parents sent me some books for students, hot chocolate and chili packets for the approaching cold weather, videos about preschool in the US for Vivi and a dog calendar for Kerry. Kerry loves dogs! When I gave him the calendar he was so excited and started showing everyone in the office the pictures. It was so funny.
Besides giving a gift and receiving some from my lovely parents, I received some meat this week. Yes, meat. One of my students went to Mianyang to visit her mother in the hospital and brought me back a bag of cooked meat that is apparently special for Mianyang. I also received some dried meat from Media after her trip to her family’s home in a different province when she went to honor her father in the one year anniversary of his passing.
One thing that was rather interesting when I met up with Media was something she told me about the teacher standards in China with regards to health. She was on her way to get some medical tests done in order to obtain her teaching certificate. What kinds of medical tests I wanted to know. Blood tests, chest x-rays, no facial or physical abnormalities, and no diseases. These are some of the guidelines for teaching in China.
Speaking of teaching in China, there is a student who has attached herself to me. Her name is Xu Fanya and she messages and calls me, I think, everyday. I see her almost every time that I step foot from my apartment. Her English is very poor I am afraid to say, but she is motivated to improve. She is also very sweet and I often go walking with her so she can practice her English with me. One evening as we were walking another student who I do not know says Hello Katie. I ask her if she wants to join us, which she does. This student’s name is Jane and her English is very good. More than this, she is actually an interesting person who pays attention to the news and is informed and curious (she asked me what the difference was between using no more vs. not more and I had no idea—any ideas back home?) I really enjoyed chatting with Jane and we have made plans to play badminton one day soon. Is it bad that I prefer to hang out with some students over others? I never turn down a student that wants to talk with me, but I enjoy my time with some more than others. I think that’s only human.
On a similar note about teaching I also had my second Chinese tutoring lesson. We covered more about food, but Eliam left some books and I copied all of the vocabulary I didn’t know so that I could study later. I mostly prefer to study vocabulary alone, but I seek Eliam’s assistance in pronunciation and correct sentence structure. Hopefully in the coming weeks we can speak more Chinese and practice my listening and speaking.
Later this week Janice and I had the first English Corner. Since it was the first one we led it instead of the student leaders. There were maybe 50 students that came, but we are expecting these numbers to multiply in the coming weeks. Since it was the first meeting and we were interested in getting students interested in returning we simply played some icebreaker games. First, as students were coming we played telephone, which was hilarious. I made the first sentence intentionally long (the red balloon floated over the purple elephant on the green grass). It ended completely wrong. Then we had the students introduce themselves. Later since there were more students we split into two groups and played again. This time I chose a student to make the sentence. The sentence, which was wrong at the end but not by too much, was ‘he’s just not that into you’ because the student had recently seen the movie. The next activity we paired the students and they had to talk about themselves until they found three things in common with each other (and they were not allowed to use obvious things like we are both from Sichuan—where 99% of the English students are from). The last activity was “I am going on a picnic” in which we were again in two groups and each person had to say what they were bringing to a picnic that started with the first letter of their name (i.e. my name is Katie and I am bringing a kite). The next student must say the name and item of the people before her. So the last person must say every persons name and item. This last one was a bit difficult for some and Janice and I could see some of the better English speakers (like Vienna and Jane) getting annoyed with some of the students whose English was not as proficient, which if they are to become teachers they need to learn how to deal with.
During English Corner there was a small earthquake (maybe 4. something), but I missed it! I mean that I didn’t feel the earth shake. I was too preoccupied with what I was instructing the students, but Jane had stopped me to say there was an earthquake. At first I didn’t believe her but then I saw students pouring out of their dorm, so I knew it was true. I wonder how often earthquakes occur in Sichuan. I just hope there is no repeat of the 2008 earthquake that happened in Sichuan. This reminds me of when I had dinner with a student of mine this week named Monica and she was talking about the year 2012. Many Chinese students believe that the world will end at that time because of this movie. Monica said she was 50/50 about it. I said I didn’t care.
Other than English Corner we have also set up an English library in my apartment. Janice and Mark had all of these books in their apartment from their organization and they were in desperate need of space. Their organization agreed that they could donate the books, but we found out that it is very inconvenient for students to borrow books from the library. The desire was for students to be able to read English books at their own pace and to be able to take them as they wanted, so that is where my apartment came in. My office space is now a makeshift library for students and teachers to come and borrow books. The library is divided into fiction, nonfiction, magazines, English help, teaching resources, music (for piano practice), and movies/games. As I am writing this three teachers and a student came by to have a look and they all left with at least one book. I have no limits on how many books the students/teachers can take, but I ask them to leave their name, number, book title and date they checked out the book. They can keep the book until the end of the semester and must return it then. The library will be open Fridays 1:30-4:30, but if there is another time the student/teacher wants to come by they can just call ahead to be sure that I am home. I think this will be a good thing.
And the last thing to occur was that Vivi had never seen American money until I showed her some. I happened to have a one, five, ten, twenty, quarter, and dime. Strangely enough I had no pennies. I let Vivi keep a dollar and a quarter, and I also showed her the other contents in my wallet—the most intriguing to her being my library card. It turns out that there are no public libraries in China. Vivi was shocked that we are able to borrow books for free in America. She was also surprised when I said that there were really no limits to how many or how long one could borrow a book. She said it makes her all the more interested in visiting America in the future. But I think that eventually China will adopt the public library concept. Maybe. All I know is that my life and childhood would have been drastically different without public libraries.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Military Training
YI ER SAN SI! (One two three four!) This is what I have heard all day every day since Saturday and will continue to hear until next Friday. I first hear it at around 6:45 in the morning along with a steady rhythm of marching feet making their way around campus until 9 at night when the students sing their patriotic military chants. This is compulsory Chinese military training. In China students are required to have two weeks of military training the first year of middle school, first year of high school, and first year of college. So currently at this college that I teach at every freshman is decked out from head-to-foot in camouflage and is taking directions from a handful of young male soldiers. But what is happening around me is probably not what comes to mind when you think military training. These students are not learning military tactics nor are they doing difficult military maneuvers, and actually these students are not even brandishing anything close to a weapon (though my friend Vivi said that when she did her military training in her undergrad they were allowed to fire ten shots from an automatic rifle—she says hers went everywhere other than the intended target). No, these students are practicing marching, saluting, turning, chanting, doing tasks in unison, taking commands, and squatting. The purpose is to teach the students discipline, hard work, teamwork, and obedience. Some students really enjoy this experience (usually they have a gentle soldier leading them), whereas others get on QQ in the evening and tell me how miserably tired they are and how much they do not like their leader. I am sure they will all gain something from this experience, though what I am not sure.
Due to the military training my days have almost limited free time since 12 of the 16 hours I teach in a week are freshmen classes and they are not in class during their training. Luckily, though, I have found work for me to do (mostly I am catching up on my laziness that I have had with studying Chinese during September, which was studying…nothing). I have also managed to plan my lessons for the rest of this semester which ends the first week in January. Ambitious? More like a preventative to boredom which is a slow killer amongst our species.
I have also managed to start pillaging my way through Janice’s book collection. My current repertoire of books to read consists of only Chinese fiction and nonfiction. I yearn to indulge myself in as much Chinese culture, history, and politics as I can in order to better serve and understand this world in which I now live. Currently on the reading agenda include two Pearl S. Buck books (but alas we do not have The Good Earth), one Anchee Min book (Katherine—what a coincidence that the book is about a foreign English teacher named Katherine, though this teacher is nothing like me), China Road (nonfiction about this guy’s travels throughout China), and an Amy Tan book (The Bonesetter’s Daughter—and if you have never read The Joy Luck Club, please do). I am hoping that these books can take me into November at least. All of those literature classes at FSU turned me into a speed-reader.
Although I wasn’t teaching very many classes my week did consist of some interesting events. On Monday I gave my students some discussion questions and they really got into it, which is really pleasing for a teacher. The question that they particularly liked was ‘describe the qualities that make a perfect husband/wife.’ In the afternoon I had my first tutoring session with Eliam. We basically decided on my goals for learning Chinese. She assessed my needs and my ability. We practiced my pronunciation and she gave me cards with fruits and vegetables on them to study (which I did. Go ahead and ask me any fruit or vegetable and I will probably know it). Afterwards she joined me to play basketball with two students. One of the students was the girl that I met on the train to Yibin. I taught them the games Horse and Around-the-World. It was fun.
On Tuesday I went for a walk with one of my students named Vienna. She bought me a present when she was on vacation during National Day in Yunnan Province and said that it is supposed to bing my love and a bopyfriend. Haha! I will post some pictures. She also got a similar one for Mark and Janice, but theirs is supposed to bring them a happy family life. While we were walking I received two calls. One was from a student and the other was from another volunteer. Vienna, whose English skills are one of the better in this college, could not stop laughing when I was on the phone with the student. Apparently my face showed much confusion and I was speaking quite deliberately and slowly, as opposed to when I was talking with the other volunteer and I spoke at a normal speed. She found it interesting, to say the least, how I spoke differently with students and with native speakers. During the walk she also told me about how this 50 something year old Russian man was talking with her in Yunnan. She thought it was nice and a good way for her to practice English. At the end of their conversation he asked for her number and she gave it to him. But then she said it became weird and he would message her all the time and say how beautiful he thought Chinese women are, etc. She was struggling to find the word to describe him and said “he’s a p…p,” and I offered “pervert?” And yes, this was the word she was looking for, and based on her description, I would have to agree, so I told her she should be careful and not to answer his messages any longer. What kind of 50 year old man asks a 20 year old for her number? Finally she asked me why I don’t go out with students very much. I realized she was right, so during November I am going to make more of an effort to hang out with students during free time.
On Tuesday afternoon I had my running club, but when I got out there I saw that Mark was trying to get a soccer game started but few students had come. Well not many students came to running club, so I rounded those students up and signaled to a few students on the track to join soccer. Mark had asked all of his classes during the day to play soccer and only a few showed. Later he asked his classes why they didn’t come and they said that they didn’t know how to play. Exasperated he told them that was the point in playing—so they could learn. The following week a few more showed up, but still very few. It takes time. They get really nervous for some reason to join in sports with us. Well when we were about to start our game we noticed we were one player short. I noticed a girl leaving the basketball court. I ran over and asked her in Chinese if she spoke English. She said yes in English. I then asked her if she wanted to play soccer. She became really flustered, so I asked her again in Chinese if she wanted to play soccer. She was trying to find the words in English to say that she couldn’t, but became rather distraught about the whole thing and walked away banging her fist against her head. I think this might be the last time I try to engage a student I don’t know in English. I think she was really embarrassed about her English skills, but she had to have noticed my Chinese skills were equally appalling. But in the end we managed a small game and Mark taught them how to kick better. Towards the end of the game, two students came by to give Mark and me a present from their vacation during National Day. Mine was a green bean cookie that was the most dry, oddly flavored cookie I have ever eaten in my life, but it was very sweet of the student to give me.
Wednesday afternoon Mark and I met Kerry and invited some students to play Frisbee. We started with passing it around and teaching them, including Kerry, the basics. Then I decided to teach them all ultimate. They all had a lot of fun with ultimate and I saw them getting more and more into it, and a little more aggressive and competitive (which is awesome, since this is rarely displayed amongst Chinese girls). Then I guess because some people were getting tired Kerry decided to teach us all a frisbee drill. Well, everyone was confused. His game/drill made no sense. I would explain it but I can’t because it didn’t make any sense. I think he might have lost a little face, but we all tried to do his game. We went back to ultimate a bit more, then tossed it around before everyone had to disperse. Kerry plans to teach the game to some teachers, and hopefully we can all play again.
In the evening Vivi invited me to help her judge some students her were interviewing for a temporary English teaching position at a local middle school. The permanent teacher became pregnant and I guess there are no substitute teachers. The interview consisted of the students giving a mini English lesson in front of us and their classmates. 10 students participated and Vivi and I judged. After they all went, with varying abilities in English and teaching, Vivi asked me to give them all some feedback on their teaching. I thought it would have been better one-on-one, but she asked and the students said it was okay in front of everyone. Then Vivi and I discussed who the best was, but we had already come to the same decision. We had both picked the same person, so there was no need for discussion. This student had both good English and teaching ability. And what is funny is that this student will make more money than I make in a month. I am not complaining because, as a volunteer I get as much as I need, it’s just funny.
On Thursday afternoon I went with Vivi to visit a preschool in town. We just observed the class, and I took some pictures which I posted online. There are not any big differences with their prek and ours, except class size and length of time they are there in the day.
On Friday evening I had dinner with Janice, Mark and some students that we asked to lead English Corner which is starting the following week. We just discussed when (Thursdays 530-630), who (any students), what (discussions and icebreaker activities), and how to get students to come (poster). Janice and I agreed to do the first English Corner and to lead all the opening icebreakers and the students would lead small group discussions.
On Saturday I went on a picnic with some teachers, but a Chinese picnic is not like a Western picnic. First we hiked two hours to a nearby mountain, and then the men got huge stones to cradle the pot and wood for the fire. Next some water was brought to a boil and Kerry made a soup on the mountain. It was a lot of fun; the soup was good, and the environment pleasant. Janice also taught the Chinese about roasting marshmallows, but I think the westerners were the only ones who enjoyed them. The men bet cards, and the children fought over candy, while Mark, Janice and I secretly threw our chicken feet snack in the woods (as Mark so nicely put that the woods hold all secrets). At one point Kerry mentioned to me that he was hung over. Well I had to explain that unless he went out drinking last night he was in fact not hung over, but that he could possibly be a bit tipsy from the one beer Mark gave him. He said, oh then I am not hung over. No Kerry, you were not hung over. The pictures online can better describe the festivities I think.
Other news, Peace Corps was mentioned on NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130550616). The BBC has an entire section of its website devoted to China which if you want to know anything about Modern China you should check it out (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2004/china/default.stm). It has anything you might ever want to know about China.
And most importantly, Peace Corps Niger has lost one of its volunteers. Please keep Stephanie Chance and her family in your thoughts during this difficult time. They are unsure of the exact cause of death but believe it to be natural. She was in her late twenties, and started her service the same time as me.
Due to the military training my days have almost limited free time since 12 of the 16 hours I teach in a week are freshmen classes and they are not in class during their training. Luckily, though, I have found work for me to do (mostly I am catching up on my laziness that I have had with studying Chinese during September, which was studying…nothing). I have also managed to plan my lessons for the rest of this semester which ends the first week in January. Ambitious? More like a preventative to boredom which is a slow killer amongst our species.
I have also managed to start pillaging my way through Janice’s book collection. My current repertoire of books to read consists of only Chinese fiction and nonfiction. I yearn to indulge myself in as much Chinese culture, history, and politics as I can in order to better serve and understand this world in which I now live. Currently on the reading agenda include two Pearl S. Buck books (but alas we do not have The Good Earth), one Anchee Min book (Katherine—what a coincidence that the book is about a foreign English teacher named Katherine, though this teacher is nothing like me), China Road (nonfiction about this guy’s travels throughout China), and an Amy Tan book (The Bonesetter’s Daughter—and if you have never read The Joy Luck Club, please do). I am hoping that these books can take me into November at least. All of those literature classes at FSU turned me into a speed-reader.
Although I wasn’t teaching very many classes my week did consist of some interesting events. On Monday I gave my students some discussion questions and they really got into it, which is really pleasing for a teacher. The question that they particularly liked was ‘describe the qualities that make a perfect husband/wife.’ In the afternoon I had my first tutoring session with Eliam. We basically decided on my goals for learning Chinese. She assessed my needs and my ability. We practiced my pronunciation and she gave me cards with fruits and vegetables on them to study (which I did. Go ahead and ask me any fruit or vegetable and I will probably know it). Afterwards she joined me to play basketball with two students. One of the students was the girl that I met on the train to Yibin. I taught them the games Horse and Around-the-World. It was fun.
On Tuesday I went for a walk with one of my students named Vienna. She bought me a present when she was on vacation during National Day in Yunnan Province and said that it is supposed to bing my love and a bopyfriend. Haha! I will post some pictures. She also got a similar one for Mark and Janice, but theirs is supposed to bring them a happy family life. While we were walking I received two calls. One was from a student and the other was from another volunteer. Vienna, whose English skills are one of the better in this college, could not stop laughing when I was on the phone with the student. Apparently my face showed much confusion and I was speaking quite deliberately and slowly, as opposed to when I was talking with the other volunteer and I spoke at a normal speed. She found it interesting, to say the least, how I spoke differently with students and with native speakers. During the walk she also told me about how this 50 something year old Russian man was talking with her in Yunnan. She thought it was nice and a good way for her to practice English. At the end of their conversation he asked for her number and she gave it to him. But then she said it became weird and he would message her all the time and say how beautiful he thought Chinese women are, etc. She was struggling to find the word to describe him and said “he’s a p…p,” and I offered “pervert?” And yes, this was the word she was looking for, and based on her description, I would have to agree, so I told her she should be careful and not to answer his messages any longer. What kind of 50 year old man asks a 20 year old for her number? Finally she asked me why I don’t go out with students very much. I realized she was right, so during November I am going to make more of an effort to hang out with students during free time.
On Tuesday afternoon I had my running club, but when I got out there I saw that Mark was trying to get a soccer game started but few students had come. Well not many students came to running club, so I rounded those students up and signaled to a few students on the track to join soccer. Mark had asked all of his classes during the day to play soccer and only a few showed. Later he asked his classes why they didn’t come and they said that they didn’t know how to play. Exasperated he told them that was the point in playing—so they could learn. The following week a few more showed up, but still very few. It takes time. They get really nervous for some reason to join in sports with us. Well when we were about to start our game we noticed we were one player short. I noticed a girl leaving the basketball court. I ran over and asked her in Chinese if she spoke English. She said yes in English. I then asked her if she wanted to play soccer. She became really flustered, so I asked her again in Chinese if she wanted to play soccer. She was trying to find the words in English to say that she couldn’t, but became rather distraught about the whole thing and walked away banging her fist against her head. I think this might be the last time I try to engage a student I don’t know in English. I think she was really embarrassed about her English skills, but she had to have noticed my Chinese skills were equally appalling. But in the end we managed a small game and Mark taught them how to kick better. Towards the end of the game, two students came by to give Mark and me a present from their vacation during National Day. Mine was a green bean cookie that was the most dry, oddly flavored cookie I have ever eaten in my life, but it was very sweet of the student to give me.
Wednesday afternoon Mark and I met Kerry and invited some students to play Frisbee. We started with passing it around and teaching them, including Kerry, the basics. Then I decided to teach them all ultimate. They all had a lot of fun with ultimate and I saw them getting more and more into it, and a little more aggressive and competitive (which is awesome, since this is rarely displayed amongst Chinese girls). Then I guess because some people were getting tired Kerry decided to teach us all a frisbee drill. Well, everyone was confused. His game/drill made no sense. I would explain it but I can’t because it didn’t make any sense. I think he might have lost a little face, but we all tried to do his game. We went back to ultimate a bit more, then tossed it around before everyone had to disperse. Kerry plans to teach the game to some teachers, and hopefully we can all play again.
In the evening Vivi invited me to help her judge some students her were interviewing for a temporary English teaching position at a local middle school. The permanent teacher became pregnant and I guess there are no substitute teachers. The interview consisted of the students giving a mini English lesson in front of us and their classmates. 10 students participated and Vivi and I judged. After they all went, with varying abilities in English and teaching, Vivi asked me to give them all some feedback on their teaching. I thought it would have been better one-on-one, but she asked and the students said it was okay in front of everyone. Then Vivi and I discussed who the best was, but we had already come to the same decision. We had both picked the same person, so there was no need for discussion. This student had both good English and teaching ability. And what is funny is that this student will make more money than I make in a month. I am not complaining because, as a volunteer I get as much as I need, it’s just funny.
On Thursday afternoon I went with Vivi to visit a preschool in town. We just observed the class, and I took some pictures which I posted online. There are not any big differences with their prek and ours, except class size and length of time they are there in the day.
On Friday evening I had dinner with Janice, Mark and some students that we asked to lead English Corner which is starting the following week. We just discussed when (Thursdays 530-630), who (any students), what (discussions and icebreaker activities), and how to get students to come (poster). Janice and I agreed to do the first English Corner and to lead all the opening icebreakers and the students would lead small group discussions.
On Saturday I went on a picnic with some teachers, but a Chinese picnic is not like a Western picnic. First we hiked two hours to a nearby mountain, and then the men got huge stones to cradle the pot and wood for the fire. Next some water was brought to a boil and Kerry made a soup on the mountain. It was a lot of fun; the soup was good, and the environment pleasant. Janice also taught the Chinese about roasting marshmallows, but I think the westerners were the only ones who enjoyed them. The men bet cards, and the children fought over candy, while Mark, Janice and I secretly threw our chicken feet snack in the woods (as Mark so nicely put that the woods hold all secrets). At one point Kerry mentioned to me that he was hung over. Well I had to explain that unless he went out drinking last night he was in fact not hung over, but that he could possibly be a bit tipsy from the one beer Mark gave him. He said, oh then I am not hung over. No Kerry, you were not hung over. The pictures online can better describe the festivities I think.
Other news, Peace Corps was mentioned on NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130550616). The BBC has an entire section of its website devoted to China which if you want to know anything about Modern China you should check it out (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2004/china/default.stm). It has anything you might ever want to know about China.
And most importantly, Peace Corps Niger has lost one of its volunteers. Please keep Stephanie Chance and her family in your thoughts during this difficult time. They are unsure of the exact cause of death but believe it to be natural. She was in her late twenties, and started her service the same time as me.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
National Holiday
October 1 is the National Holiday in China, which is the introduction of the Communist Party in China and the founding of The People’s Republic of China. In honor of this holiday all schools and government workers had a week off. The college cancelled classes Thursday afternoon and Friday so that students could have a head start on travelling because this holiday is one of the busiest for travelling. The train stations and bus stations were packed with people heading home or out to the country to relax or into the city for fun. The trains themselves were full with many people standing and squished on the seats. I waited until Saturday morning to travel and I took a train because it was cheaper and I thought more convenient. Luckily, though, my ticket included a seat. I was hoping to leave Friday but the tickets were sold when I went to buy them, but some students were sweet enough to buy them for me and I paid them back and taught them chess.
My train was for 756 Saturday morning and it arrived in Chengdu at 1136. I then had another train at 1236 and I arrived at my final destination at 8 Saturday night. For those who did not do the math while reading, that’s 12 hours! 12 long and uncomfortable hours on a train. From Jiangyou to Chengdu was an okay and fairly quick ride. One person talked to me for a short time. She asked if I was from a particular region in China and I said no, that I am American. She was surprised to hear that I was American and asked me if I spoke Chinese. I said I only spoke a little and that’s where the conversation stopped.
From Chengdu to Yibin, however, the story is a little different. I was smushed in the corner with a woman across from me that kept putting her putrid shoeless feet on my seat so that the rotting smell that erupted from between her toes wafted up to my nose throughout the majority of the trip. Besides that there was a young girl of maybe three sitting behind me that was attempting to spit on me for half the ride. I desperately looked in my Chinese-English dictionary for the word spit so that I could tell the mother of this child what an awful brat she was being, but alas it could not be found and I dealt.
I’ll admit, the train was not all wretched. During half the ride to Yibin there were two university students from Chengdu sitting next to me that practiced their English with me and taught me some Chinese characters. Then during the second half (after these girls had gotten off) I heard “hello Katie” and it was a student from my college! It was actually one of Vivi’s students. She had bought me a drink and then sat with me the rest of the trip. Her English was rather poor and she was really shy, but she was very sweet and tried hard to communicate. Another great thing was that she told the smelly feet lady to put her nasty odorous feet back into her shoes (well…I’m sure she didn’t say it like that). When I got off the train I called my friend Leo to say I had gotten off the train only to hear him say “I hope you meant to say bus.” But no I was not smart enough to take the bus this time, so neither of us knew where I was. Just then this lovely student walks by with her brother and asks if I found my friend (who I was still on the phone with). I ended up handing the student my phone and the two of them talked in Chinese a bit and the student helped get me into a taxi and to the place I needed to be.
Yibin was great—well worth the miserable train ride to get there. Along with me, also came Katie, Richy, and Amy from Chongqing on their 3.5 hour bus ride. We spent the time catching up, relaxing, and visiting Leo’s site along with his site mate Chris and their new Chinese friend/student Alex who spoke phenomenal English for someone whose major was not English. It was a time of laughter, good conversations, and interesting discussions (especially with this Chinese student who had all of these interesting ideas about what America and Americans are like. I blame media). We saw a mountain, ate famous Yibin food called ran mian, saw where the Yangtze River formed (although this became a source of controversy throughout our trip with Alex and Richy claiming it wasn’t true), inhaled polluted air, and enjoyed a banquet with Leo and Chris’ waiban (in which he held back trying to get us foreigners drunk. He had been lectured in previous years by our former medical officer on not getting us pcvs drunk). Overall it was a pleasant trip and we were all sorry to say goodbye. The way back I took a bus straight from Yibin to Mianyang and another bus to Jiangyou. It took 6 hours. 6 hours! That’s half as long, but the price was twice as much. I think I will just use my money wisely and take the bus from now on because that is a bit ridiculous. Oh and I heard that many of you happy readers were worried about my passport. I guess I was a little vague in my last post because Kerry had returned the passport to me before I left so I had my passport during my travels. No worries!
During the remainder of the holiday I scrubbed and scrubbed my apartment, made my bathroom nicer, and bought a comforter for my bed so my apartment is so much nicer than it was before. I will wait until next month to do more to it and then I might post new pictures of my progress. So until my next China adventure unfolds…
My train was for 756 Saturday morning and it arrived in Chengdu at 1136. I then had another train at 1236 and I arrived at my final destination at 8 Saturday night. For those who did not do the math while reading, that’s 12 hours! 12 long and uncomfortable hours on a train. From Jiangyou to Chengdu was an okay and fairly quick ride. One person talked to me for a short time. She asked if I was from a particular region in China and I said no, that I am American. She was surprised to hear that I was American and asked me if I spoke Chinese. I said I only spoke a little and that’s where the conversation stopped.
From Chengdu to Yibin, however, the story is a little different. I was smushed in the corner with a woman across from me that kept putting her putrid shoeless feet on my seat so that the rotting smell that erupted from between her toes wafted up to my nose throughout the majority of the trip. Besides that there was a young girl of maybe three sitting behind me that was attempting to spit on me for half the ride. I desperately looked in my Chinese-English dictionary for the word spit so that I could tell the mother of this child what an awful brat she was being, but alas it could not be found and I dealt.
I’ll admit, the train was not all wretched. During half the ride to Yibin there were two university students from Chengdu sitting next to me that practiced their English with me and taught me some Chinese characters. Then during the second half (after these girls had gotten off) I heard “hello Katie” and it was a student from my college! It was actually one of Vivi’s students. She had bought me a drink and then sat with me the rest of the trip. Her English was rather poor and she was really shy, but she was very sweet and tried hard to communicate. Another great thing was that she told the smelly feet lady to put her nasty odorous feet back into her shoes (well…I’m sure she didn’t say it like that). When I got off the train I called my friend Leo to say I had gotten off the train only to hear him say “I hope you meant to say bus.” But no I was not smart enough to take the bus this time, so neither of us knew where I was. Just then this lovely student walks by with her brother and asks if I found my friend (who I was still on the phone with). I ended up handing the student my phone and the two of them talked in Chinese a bit and the student helped get me into a taxi and to the place I needed to be.
Yibin was great—well worth the miserable train ride to get there. Along with me, also came Katie, Richy, and Amy from Chongqing on their 3.5 hour bus ride. We spent the time catching up, relaxing, and visiting Leo’s site along with his site mate Chris and their new Chinese friend/student Alex who spoke phenomenal English for someone whose major was not English. It was a time of laughter, good conversations, and interesting discussions (especially with this Chinese student who had all of these interesting ideas about what America and Americans are like. I blame media). We saw a mountain, ate famous Yibin food called ran mian, saw where the Yangtze River formed (although this became a source of controversy throughout our trip with Alex and Richy claiming it wasn’t true), inhaled polluted air, and enjoyed a banquet with Leo and Chris’ waiban (in which he held back trying to get us foreigners drunk. He had been lectured in previous years by our former medical officer on not getting us pcvs drunk). Overall it was a pleasant trip and we were all sorry to say goodbye. The way back I took a bus straight from Yibin to Mianyang and another bus to Jiangyou. It took 6 hours. 6 hours! That’s half as long, but the price was twice as much. I think I will just use my money wisely and take the bus from now on because that is a bit ridiculous. Oh and I heard that many of you happy readers were worried about my passport. I guess I was a little vague in my last post because Kerry had returned the passport to me before I left so I had my passport during my travels. No worries!
During the remainder of the holiday I scrubbed and scrubbed my apartment, made my bathroom nicer, and bought a comforter for my bed so my apartment is so much nicer than it was before. I will wait until next month to do more to it and then I might post new pictures of my progress. So until my next China adventure unfolds…
Friday, October 1, 2010
Week 5 in Jiangyou
Saturday night Sharon came over to talk about boys. It is so interesting how the emotional maturity level of Chinese differs from that of westerners. They are not immature by any means (actually in some regards they are more mature than Western youth), but because the Chinese spent so much of their youth behind books and so little time entering into social relationships (particularly with those of the opposite sex) they tend to act a lot younger than Westerners of the same age. So picture this 26 year old woman blushing uncontrollably while she tells me about this man that she has had a crush on for years and how I am the first person that she has ever told. Very interesting.
Sunday I taught all day or I was supposed to teach all day. After going to my third class that day where there were no students I got more than a little confused. I texted my waiban, who informed me he was in another city and had no idea why my students were missing from class, but he was nice enough to call the dean of the department that my students are in and discovered that Freshmen Preschool Education Classes 1-5 and 12 will not be in class on Sunday and Monday and Freshmen Preschool Education classes 6-11 will not be in class on Tuesday and Wednesday because they will be doing observations in a kinderschool during these days. Good to know, especially because all of the freshmen classes that I teach are in the Preschool Education department. Oh well. Sunday night I had a gander at one of the tv/movies websites that one of my students told me about and I watched Disney’s Peter Pan (oh reminiscences). It was quite pleasant, and, oh, the website also had the trailer for the new Harry Potter movie which comes out on my birthday! I am super excited even though I won’t be able to see it.
Monday I went with Kerry to Mianyang to get my visa sorted out. Well the officer working on it had never dealt with a volunteer visa before and didn’t know what to do. We ended up leaving (without my passport, which makes me a bit nervous) and this guy would discuss it with his superior. As long as everything works out, I really don’t care, but I cannot help feeling nervous at the fact that I don’t have a renewed visa yet (which expires September 30) and now I am without my passport. When we got back to the school Kerry and I had dinner, in which he ordered something that was like a spicy French fry (which was amazing!). Then Janice came over in the evening and brought me….cinnamon rolls! She is absolutely amazing. We are also scheming about a Halloween party to throw together. We are just not sure if it should be a teacher get-together or a student get-together.
Tuesday morning I went to go by my train tickets for my weekend trip during National Holiday this weekend. Sharon was nice enough to write everything out for me in Chinese, but when I got to the train station I discovered that all tickets were sold except for ones leaving Thursday morning when I have class or arriving at my destination very late which I didn’t want. Later two of Vivi’s students (Emma and Anna) bought me a ticket for a different day. These two girls are also in my running club and came over to my apartment after the club so I could pay them back and I taught them chess, which they found very interesting once they started picking up on the rules. Other things that happened today include a bird careening into the window of my classroom as I was teaching which scared the living daylights out of me. The bird was okay except for a few feathers it lost.
Tuesday evening was running club, but only two students showed up—faithful Anna and Emma, who didn’t even really want to run, only talk. After Janice left the girls came to my apartment so I could give them the money for the train ticket they bought for me earlier. They were so funny! They were in awe of being invited into my apartment since they said they’d never been in a teacher’s home before. When they sat down Emma pointed to my chess set and asked what it was, so I taught them chess. It was quite fun. They picked up on the rules fairly quickly, and when one made a mistake the other yelled at her in Chinese like best friends do. That evening I watched Whip It (Drew Barrymore’s roller derby movie) on a website a student suggested. Quite a relaxing close to the evening.
Wednesday I taught all day on a wonderfully sunny day with blue skies—such rare sight in Sichuan. I took a leisurely walk after lunch to soak in some vitamin D, and ran into a student of mine that told me I should take care to watch the sun. It will be a battle that I will fight all two years I am here—I know you care Chinese women, but I like the sun. I will not hide under an umbrella when the sun is out. I like being tan and not pale-skinned. I will not succumb to your ideas of feminine beauty. I may even venture forth to sit in the grass on a particularly sunny day and let the soft rays of the sun envelope me in its warmth and comfort of turning my skin brown. Okay I am done with my ranting about the sun, which has since disappeared today behind the typical dismal cloudiness which is Sichuan Province. Wednesday afternoon I went with Sharon and Janice to shop and pay my landline phone bill (which I cannot pay until next week). In the Mall-Mart (yes, Mall-Mart I did not misspell it) I found…canola oil! I was shocked. Canola oil in Jiangyou. It’s absurd. It came in only a large size, but I bought it and it will last me probably all two years that I am here since I will only use it for baking.
So in case you were interested, the following are a list of items that cannot be found in Jiangyou: (some of these items I can find at a bigger city like Mianyang or Chengdu, and some I cannot find anywhere in China, except maybe cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, which I labeled with an *)
• peanut butter comes and goes in Jiangyou, and many times when it is available it has chocolate swirls in it
• all-purpose flour* (there is flour in Mianyang and Chengdu, but not all-purpose)
• hand sanitizer
• fabric softener*
• potato masher (if I really want to, an IKEA opened in Chengdu where I can buy it)
• Spices (some avail. In Mianyang)
• Butter
• Cheese
• Hot chocolate sometimes (always in Mianyang)
• Ground beef (I think this could be all of China. There’s beef, of course, but not ground)
• Turkey
• Ground chicken
• Tampons (pretty sure all of China)
• Deodorant (Mianyang has a spray on type)
• Chocolate chip pieces for baking (*I think)
• Sprinkles*
• Applesauce*
• Different kinds of noodles, like macaroni
• Rolls*
• Bacon (Mianyang stocks this)
• Many kinds of bread
That is all I know of right now. Most of these don’t even matter to me, like when do I ever eat bacon in the States. It’s just interesting. Next time I will do a list of things found in China that are not found in the US.
Thursday I just had two morning classes since the afternoon classes were cancelled for the holiday. After my 11:00 class two of my students approached me and asked if they could ask me a question. I said of course, anything. They looked at each other and I thought, oh boy what are they going to ask me. Their question was: “If Mickey’s girlfriend is Minnie, who is Donald’s girlfriend?” It took every ounce of internal strength I had not to laugh, and I responded quite seriously “Daisy Duck.” Oh my students make me laugh. They often say things to me that really make me laugh, but most of them are errors in English and I soon forget them. in the afternoon I went shopping with Janice which was a bit of a mistake because it was the first day of the holiday, so the store was packed! I was looking for sugar and peanut butter. I got the sugar, but the peanut butter I got my first week in Jiangyou seems to no longer be for sale, instead I found a Chinese version called peanut sauce. I decided I would be brave; the worst that could happen is I throw it all back up. After shopping Janice loaded me up on some books from her library which should last me at least until the end of October since there were 6 of them, all about China which I am trying to learn more and more about. I find that the more I learn about China, the less I really actually do know of this mysterious country.
Friday…success! I succeeded in baking for the first time in my brand new toaster oven delicious chocolate peanut butter cookies! I of course tested the cookies out on myself before offering some to Janice and Mark and taking some to my friends in Yibin. Okay so they are not the greatest cookies, but they are cookies nonetheless and they are alright. I think they would have been a bit better if I had peanut butter with the chocolate swirls which is what I planned to buy instead of the mysterious Chinese peanut sauce. Next time.
Other things for Friday include me meeting Vivi’s husband! I ran into her on my way back from the market downtown, and she was waiting for him at the bus stop by the school. I had dinner with them and another teacher that evening to celebrate the National Day. There was a special on TV with live performances that depicted China. The special program took place in Shanghai and was put on for many dignitaries from around the world as a part of this year’s World Expo which has been in Shanghai and will finish sometime this month. The program was interesting and reminded me of programs that we have in the States during the New Year celebrations.
Hopefully my blogs do not bore you, but if you have any questions about me, China, Peace Corps China, or Peace Corps in general do not hesitate to shoot me an email (katied3461@hotmail.com)—that is what I am here for, to bridge the gaps between two cultures.
Sunday I taught all day or I was supposed to teach all day. After going to my third class that day where there were no students I got more than a little confused. I texted my waiban, who informed me he was in another city and had no idea why my students were missing from class, but he was nice enough to call the dean of the department that my students are in and discovered that Freshmen Preschool Education Classes 1-5 and 12 will not be in class on Sunday and Monday and Freshmen Preschool Education classes 6-11 will not be in class on Tuesday and Wednesday because they will be doing observations in a kinderschool during these days. Good to know, especially because all of the freshmen classes that I teach are in the Preschool Education department. Oh well. Sunday night I had a gander at one of the tv/movies websites that one of my students told me about and I watched Disney’s Peter Pan (oh reminiscences). It was quite pleasant, and, oh, the website also had the trailer for the new Harry Potter movie which comes out on my birthday! I am super excited even though I won’t be able to see it.
Monday I went with Kerry to Mianyang to get my visa sorted out. Well the officer working on it had never dealt with a volunteer visa before and didn’t know what to do. We ended up leaving (without my passport, which makes me a bit nervous) and this guy would discuss it with his superior. As long as everything works out, I really don’t care, but I cannot help feeling nervous at the fact that I don’t have a renewed visa yet (which expires September 30) and now I am without my passport. When we got back to the school Kerry and I had dinner, in which he ordered something that was like a spicy French fry (which was amazing!). Then Janice came over in the evening and brought me….cinnamon rolls! She is absolutely amazing. We are also scheming about a Halloween party to throw together. We are just not sure if it should be a teacher get-together or a student get-together.
Tuesday morning I went to go by my train tickets for my weekend trip during National Holiday this weekend. Sharon was nice enough to write everything out for me in Chinese, but when I got to the train station I discovered that all tickets were sold except for ones leaving Thursday morning when I have class or arriving at my destination very late which I didn’t want. Later two of Vivi’s students (Emma and Anna) bought me a ticket for a different day. These two girls are also in my running club and came over to my apartment after the club so I could pay them back and I taught them chess, which they found very interesting once they started picking up on the rules. Other things that happened today include a bird careening into the window of my classroom as I was teaching which scared the living daylights out of me. The bird was okay except for a few feathers it lost.
Tuesday evening was running club, but only two students showed up—faithful Anna and Emma, who didn’t even really want to run, only talk. After Janice left the girls came to my apartment so I could give them the money for the train ticket they bought for me earlier. They were so funny! They were in awe of being invited into my apartment since they said they’d never been in a teacher’s home before. When they sat down Emma pointed to my chess set and asked what it was, so I taught them chess. It was quite fun. They picked up on the rules fairly quickly, and when one made a mistake the other yelled at her in Chinese like best friends do. That evening I watched Whip It (Drew Barrymore’s roller derby movie) on a website a student suggested. Quite a relaxing close to the evening.
Wednesday I taught all day on a wonderfully sunny day with blue skies—such rare sight in Sichuan. I took a leisurely walk after lunch to soak in some vitamin D, and ran into a student of mine that told me I should take care to watch the sun. It will be a battle that I will fight all two years I am here—I know you care Chinese women, but I like the sun. I will not hide under an umbrella when the sun is out. I like being tan and not pale-skinned. I will not succumb to your ideas of feminine beauty. I may even venture forth to sit in the grass on a particularly sunny day and let the soft rays of the sun envelope me in its warmth and comfort of turning my skin brown. Okay I am done with my ranting about the sun, which has since disappeared today behind the typical dismal cloudiness which is Sichuan Province. Wednesday afternoon I went with Sharon and Janice to shop and pay my landline phone bill (which I cannot pay until next week). In the Mall-Mart (yes, Mall-Mart I did not misspell it) I found…canola oil! I was shocked. Canola oil in Jiangyou. It’s absurd. It came in only a large size, but I bought it and it will last me probably all two years that I am here since I will only use it for baking.
So in case you were interested, the following are a list of items that cannot be found in Jiangyou: (some of these items I can find at a bigger city like Mianyang or Chengdu, and some I cannot find anywhere in China, except maybe cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, which I labeled with an *)
• peanut butter comes and goes in Jiangyou, and many times when it is available it has chocolate swirls in it
• all-purpose flour* (there is flour in Mianyang and Chengdu, but not all-purpose)
• hand sanitizer
• fabric softener*
• potato masher (if I really want to, an IKEA opened in Chengdu where I can buy it)
• Spices (some avail. In Mianyang)
• Butter
• Cheese
• Hot chocolate sometimes (always in Mianyang)
• Ground beef (I think this could be all of China. There’s beef, of course, but not ground)
• Turkey
• Ground chicken
• Tampons (pretty sure all of China)
• Deodorant (Mianyang has a spray on type)
• Chocolate chip pieces for baking (*I think)
• Sprinkles*
• Applesauce*
• Different kinds of noodles, like macaroni
• Rolls*
• Bacon (Mianyang stocks this)
• Many kinds of bread
That is all I know of right now. Most of these don’t even matter to me, like when do I ever eat bacon in the States. It’s just interesting. Next time I will do a list of things found in China that are not found in the US.
Thursday I just had two morning classes since the afternoon classes were cancelled for the holiday. After my 11:00 class two of my students approached me and asked if they could ask me a question. I said of course, anything. They looked at each other and I thought, oh boy what are they going to ask me. Their question was: “If Mickey’s girlfriend is Minnie, who is Donald’s girlfriend?” It took every ounce of internal strength I had not to laugh, and I responded quite seriously “Daisy Duck.” Oh my students make me laugh. They often say things to me that really make me laugh, but most of them are errors in English and I soon forget them. in the afternoon I went shopping with Janice which was a bit of a mistake because it was the first day of the holiday, so the store was packed! I was looking for sugar and peanut butter. I got the sugar, but the peanut butter I got my first week in Jiangyou seems to no longer be for sale, instead I found a Chinese version called peanut sauce. I decided I would be brave; the worst that could happen is I throw it all back up. After shopping Janice loaded me up on some books from her library which should last me at least until the end of October since there were 6 of them, all about China which I am trying to learn more and more about. I find that the more I learn about China, the less I really actually do know of this mysterious country.
Friday…success! I succeeded in baking for the first time in my brand new toaster oven delicious chocolate peanut butter cookies! I of course tested the cookies out on myself before offering some to Janice and Mark and taking some to my friends in Yibin. Okay so they are not the greatest cookies, but they are cookies nonetheless and they are alright. I think they would have been a bit better if I had peanut butter with the chocolate swirls which is what I planned to buy instead of the mysterious Chinese peanut sauce. Next time.
Other things for Friday include me meeting Vivi’s husband! I ran into her on my way back from the market downtown, and she was waiting for him at the bus stop by the school. I had dinner with them and another teacher that evening to celebrate the National Day. There was a special on TV with live performances that depicted China. The special program took place in Shanghai and was put on for many dignitaries from around the world as a part of this year’s World Expo which has been in Shanghai and will finish sometime this month. The program was interesting and reminded me of programs that we have in the States during the New Year celebrations.
Hopefully my blogs do not bore you, but if you have any questions about me, China, Peace Corps China, or Peace Corps in general do not hesitate to shoot me an email (katied3461@hotmail.com)—that is what I am here for, to bridge the gaps between two cultures.
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