Final Reflections

It’s hard to believe that two years have already gone by, and that I am preparing to go home. These two years have been an unforgettable experience. My last blog will be a reflection on my time in Peace Corps China. I have split it into 3 sections: What I will miss; what I won’t miss; and what I learned. I hope this final post can give you a good idea of my overall experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in China and what I will take away from these two years of service. What I will miss: 1. My students 2. The food (spicy Sichuan food, baozi, jiaozi, food with lots of vegetables) 3. The flexibility (flexibility in my lesson plans and schedule) 4. Respect for teachers 5. Cheap beers that we could walk around with 6. Travelling with Peace Corps friends 7. Tea (sitting for hours drinking tea, chatting, and playing cards without worrying about anything) 8. The countryside outside my school (the farmers, dogs, chickens, pigs, cats, and ducks). 9. Friends (Peace Corps, Chinese, and other foreigners) 10. Fresh vegetables and fruits that are easily accessible 11. Good public transportation 12. Free lunch 13. Being given random advice (put more clothes on, drink hot water, take an umbrella). At first this really irritated me, but after a while I really felt the love and care behind those words. 14. Sense of community (shopping at the same stores, eating at the same restaurants, being cheered on when running through the countryside) 15. San bu (walking slowly through the countryside after meals or just to talk) 16. The feeling of safety (China is a very safe country, aside from theft which doesn’t bother me) 17. Having hot water readily available for drinking What I won’t miss: 1. Lack of organization 2. Spitting 3. Laughing 4. Pollution, and dirt 5. children relieving themselves wherever they please 6. Water and electricity randomly being turned off 7. Being stared at, laughed at, or not understood (when other people understand me just fine) 8. Winter 9. Personal questions and the obsession with marriage and having babies 10. Stomach problems 11. Internet censorship 12. Being illiterate (I can read more than when I first came—such as signs and menus, but it’s hard for someone who loves to read to not be able to do so) 13. Little pieces of bones in fish and chicken 14. The geese 15. Fighting to pay the bill 16. Guanxi (the art of forming relationships in China) What I learned:

Student Speech

This semester I have asked my students to write and give a speech—either persuasive or expository. One student wrote a speech on the topic “her favorite teacher.” Here is her speech:
“This is the voice of Sichuan Preschool Educator’s College.” I believe, you guessed the teacher who I will talk about. Yes, you are right. This familiar voice comes from Katie D’Souza, our foreign teacher. Katie is a volunteer teacher from America. In 2010, she was sent to Jiangyou, Sichuan. This is the second year she has been teaching at Sichuan Preschool Educator’s College. As I know, Katie likes sports and often does exercises, like playing Ping-Pong, basketball, and running. Because of this she is healthy and strong.
For her work, Katie is a great teacher. Her lesson plans are so meticulous and diversified that her lesson is funny and active. In her class, you will learn much Western culture and how to express your ideas in English. If you are active you can get a lot of chance to practice your English speaking. Katie will communicate with you face to face. After her class she and Mary, who is another volunteer teacher in our school, elaborately design weekly activities, including women’s club, English corner, singing club, and writing workshop. The purpose is to encourage and help the student who is interested in English to come by to chat or practice their English. In their effort, the school provides them a room which they use as an English Library. They accumulate and buy many English books, novels, magazines, children books, text books, and so on. There are more and more English books in the library.
In addition to these, for herself, Katie is very gentle, generous, and easy to get along with. Like all of the volunteers, she is selfless dedication, responsible, and hard working. Thus, her spirit will influence my teaching life in the future.
Thank you Katie, you are my first teacher who moved me. I give you my highest respects”

Teaching Plan for 4th Semester in China

The following is my teaching plan for my last semester. Thoughts?
Culture class:
Week 1: introduction
Week 2: food
Week 3: influential women in US and UK history
Week 4: festivals
Week 5: culture of dating, love
Week 6: engagements and wedding
Week 7: leisure activities
Week 8: education
Week 9: travel, places of interest
Week 10: government and politics
Week 11: religion
Week 12: etiquette and taboos
This class will finish earlier than my others because they will be graduating in May. They don’t have a grade.
2nd year Oral English classes
Week 2: writing a resume, interviewing for a job
Week 3: English Children’s games
Week 4: International Women’s Day
Week 5: how to give a persuasive and expository speech
Week 6 and 7: present speeches
Week 8: leisure activities
Week 9: etiquette and taboos
Week 10: government and politics
Week 11: education
Week 12: Chinese culture presentations in small groups
Week 13: English Children’s songs
Week 14: group thematic lesson practice
Week 15: group thematic lesson practice
Week 16: environment
Week 17: food and restaurants
Week 18: end of the year party
They will write a resume, give a speech, teach a thematic lesson, and give a presentation on a different culture in China.
1st year Oral English classes:
Week 2: resume writing
Week 3: interviewing for a job
Week 4: International women’s day lesson
Week 5 and 6: English Children’s games
Week 7: how to give persuasive and expository speeches
Week8-10: present speeches
Week 11: English children’s songs
Week 12-14: group thematic lesson practice
Week 15: leisure activities
Week 16: etiquette and taboos
Week 17: environment
Week 18: end of the year party
They will have to give a speech, give a thematic lesson, write a resume, and sit with me one-to-one to have an interview.

Teaching Reflection

The Peace Corps offers us the opportunity to apply for a TEFL certificate from the experience of our time teaching. In order to receive the certificate I should submit a detailed lesson plan and a reflection of my teaching. The following is my teaching reflection from my time in China:
“When I first joined Peace Corps China I had limited teaching experience, particularly related to teaching English as a foreign language. I had previously had some experience as an English tutor for Hispanic migrant workers in Florida, as well as my teaching internship in a middle school. These two experiences helped direct me in the beginning of my teaching in China, but did not prepare me for the challenges I faced as a teacher here.
Some of the challenges I faced were how to teach large classes, the maturity level and attention span of my students, multi-level classes, beginner level students, expectations of the students and of the school, and how to prepare my students for their future (i.e. what topics were necessary to teach my students and what English ability would are they expected to have when they graduate). These are just a few of the questions that were immediately brought to mind my first semester in China, and I am just now beginning to answer them.
My teaching experience here has been fulfilling in that it has given me a lot of insight into my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I have realized that one of the biggest challenges I face is with classroom management, discipline and consequences. I struggled to find the right punishment that didn’t cause my students to lose heart, but rather challenged them to better themselves. I found three solutions to my troubles.
The first is realizing what I can and cannot deal with in class. Every “issue” might not be possible to solve, but most could be if I am adamant about it. I realized that speaking a little Chinese didn’t bother me as long as they were speaking on point and were prepared to answer questions on the subject when asked. On the other hand, laughing at other students when they made a mistake is something that I cannot tolerate. I realized that if I tried to correct every little thing students try to do I would drive myself crazy, instead I should choose a few things that truly disrupt the flow of the class or present obstacles to my teaching and goals.
The second is consistency. If a student is not behaving appropriately in class I should reprimand him/her every time, not just once. Failing to do so, I realized, would result in my students behaving worse because they, maybe, wanted to see what they could get away with.
The third is knowing students’ names. This may seem a simple task, but with 500-700 students each year it presents a difficult feat. The solution was nametags. At the beginning of every class I would hand out the students’ nametags (this also provided a simple way to see if students were attending class regularly). During class I could call on students by name to answer questions—or if they were being disruptive to call their name to quiet down. After class I would pick the nametags back up. I also used this method as a way to assess participation in the class. When students answered, or attempted to answer, my questions I would mark their nametag with a star. At the end of the semester if a student didn’t have any stars I would lower their grade. Being able to call out the students for participation reasons, and for discipline reasons, was a key moment in my classroom management problems. After this, along with my first two rules, my classroom management problems disappeared.
Another lesson I learned during these two years teaching was on the structure of the class. When I first started teaching I thought that students would respond well to a class that had the same pattern every week. But I realized that this was only true to an extent, and was also a deterrent for some students. Some students found the pattern monotonous. Knowing what to expect before it happened made some students tune out during parts they found irrelevant, and tune back in for parts they thought were more useful or to their liking. Some students, however, appreciated knowing what we would be talking about and what things they could expect from class. I realized I could appease both students by giving students a clear syllabus and expectations in advance, but changing the structure of my lessons each week. The students that liked to feel prepared could do so by looking over the syllabus I taped on the classroom wall, and the students that liked each class to feel different appreciated that my lessons never followed the same pattern.
I also learned how to do without. The school that I have been teaching at for the past two years doesn’t have access to technology, getting copies made is a headache, and students have trouble to remember basic things such as bringing a pen and pencil to class. Though technology would enhance my lessons, not having it didn’t hinder it. I learned to make do without it by relying on visual aids that I could bring in, coming to class extra early to write on the board and making copies that I used in every class. I also made use of small groups.
Small groups became an easy way to have students practice, especially considering the large class sizes. My first year I would have the students form different groups every week as needed. I soon realized that this wasted a lot of time because some students would wander around for a while choosing their small group. The first semester of my second year I assigned students groups they would do activities with every week and would sit with every week. For some this was difficult. They didn’t feel comfortable trying out English with students they were not particularly close to. So, my last semester teaching I let the students choose their own groups. I informed them that several of their grades would be based on group performance, so they should choose wisely. So far this is the better choice. Students are willing to work more when they are in a comfortable environment, which they are in with their chosen groupmates. I have also heard more students attempting English than I heard last term.
Using small groups also made teaching multi-level classes and beginner level students easier. Students would be able to help each other and guide each other throughout the activities. In order to help those that struggled more in the language I wrote all directions clearly on the board (since students reading ability was better than their listening). If there were some words or directions that were complex I would ask a student that understood to help explain to those that didn’t. Having clear instructions, and being able to read new vocabulary words is important for those that are at a beginning level. I also used activities that could easily be more challenging for those that could handle it, and easier for those that couldn’t, for example, having more open-ended questions that allowed for deeper discussions and/or more simple discussions.
With regards to teaching I try to teach using different multiple intelligences. In the short time of class it is not always possible to reach every intelligence group, but throughout the term I try to provide students with chances to use different abilities so that all students have a chance to show their strengths. I have used games and activities that use artwork, singing, movement, outdoor activities, small group talking, large group talking, reading, writing, listening, debate, imagery, music, and more. I think this is crucial to teaching. If I spend every class lecturing, or every class doing role plays then not every student will benefit. By changing the activities I give every student the chance to connect with the language and the class.
I also try to teach relevant information. My first year I just taught what I thought was important to know about English. I didn’t consider that learning how to discuss a certain topic wouldn’t be helpful or interesting for my students. At the end of every term I asked my students to write an evaluation on the class and on my teaching. My first semester I asked very vague questions, trying to leave the door open to new ideas, but the answers I got pertained mostly to my physical appearance (“I like your smile.” “Maybe you can try a new hairstyle”). Obviously these aren’t helpful for improving my teaching. My second semester I chose more specific questions and my third semester I chose very specific questions that steered students to only respond in reference to classroom related things. All of these evaluations have helped me to improve my teaching, see my strengths and weaknesses, and to better meet the needs of my students.
In order to better meet my students’ needs I always tried to make time to have personal interviews with students. Talking to them one-to-one has helped me to understand their background, their needs as students, and their goals, plans and paths in the future. All of these are important for teaching. The majority of my students will be preschool and primary school teachers in the future, so knowing how to describe food in detail isn’t necessary, but knowing food in English is important. Once I realized my students’ goals, their future plans, and the expectations they had from the school and society (pass the CET-3, maybe the CET-4, and if I am really lucky the CET-6) I altered my lessons to meet them where they were.
Through this process I also began to understand my students’ maturity level. This is a difficult characteristic to describe. Some volunteers describe our students as immature, but this isn’t true. On the surface the students seem to act similar to middle and high school students in America, with the giggling, not bringing things to class, forgetting to do their homework, asking to use the bathroom, etc. Besides this the students have a great understanding of responsibility to each other, to their teachers, parents and society. They understand the expectations they have from others. So in this respect they are quite mature. But due to the fact that most students have only focused on studying for their entire lives and haven’t been given the chance to explore, they do lack in maturity for their age-mates in America. I realized that I couldn’t approach my class as I might if I were teaching in a college in America, but I also couldn’t treat them exactly the way I treated my middle school students in America (though they seemed to act the same way). I had to view them in a completely new way and not compare them at all. In this way, just seeing them for the way they were—mature in some ways, and immature in others—I was able to better meet their needs in the classroom.
During these two years I have learned a lot about myself as a teacher. I feel much more confidant stepping into a classroom than I did two years previously. I understand better the ways to approach classroom and lesson planning. I have learned more about what works and what doesn’t work, and that what works for one group of students doesn’t necessarily work for another group. Teaching is about being flexible and open to change. I think I am much more prepared to teach English as a foreign language than I was two years ago. “

Beginning My Last Semester

Right after my training, I hurried back to Jiangyou to begin classes. Actually classes had started the Wednesday before, but since we still had training, we started the following Monday. This semester beginning was a major headache. Some third year students had returned for further study after spending a semester practice teaching, and the school wanted them to have some foreign teachers. This meant a complete rearranging of our schedules. Despite the fact that school started ½ a week before our arrival—Mary’s and my teaching schedules were all out of whack. I was told I didn’t have any classes on Monday, so I took my time in the morning on that first Monday and went for a run. Towards the end of my run I get a text, then another, then a phone call “Where are you?! We are waiting for you in class!” I didn’t know what to think. All week I had similar situations—why aren’t you in class? We are waiting for you. I was simply following the schedule I was given, but there seemed some major miscommunication going on between departments (I teach in multiple departments). By the end of the week my schedule was resolved and my teaching schedule is as follows:
Monday 9-1045 (culture of America and England. 3rd year students)
Tuesday 9-1045 (oral English. 2nd year students)
Wednesday 9-1045 (oral English. 2nd year students)
11-1150 (oral English. 1st year students)
130-225 (oral English. 1st year students)
320-405 (oral English. 1st year students)
Thursday 9-1045 (oral English. 2nd year students)
11-1150, 130-215 (oral English. 2nd year students)
225-405 (oral English. 5th year students—students that come to the school after middle school and study for 5 years)
Friday 11-150, 130-215 (oral English. 2nd year students)
Another headache this term was the new English Library. I finally have a place for the books, for an office, and for student activities. I purchased books using money from a grant that I wrote for, and received books from Darien Book Aid—a book donation organization. It has been a long process but it is nearly done. I cannot express how much stress it caused me, though—having to wait, ordering books via a Chinese website with someone who didn’t know how to use it. But next week I will turn in my final report for the grant and, hopefully, be finished. Despite the stress it has all been worth it. The students have really taken to the library. We have a good group of students that come to volunteer to oversee the running of the library. Students come to watch movies on my old computer that I have donated (though I am not sure how much longer its lifespan is), and about 200 students and teachers borrowed books within the first month of it opening.
Besides the library, I have several new activities that Mary and I offer students on a weekly basis.
Monday 130-430 office hours (students can come to borrow books, ask me questions and get help for things)
430-530 culture club
Wednesday 5-6 English Corner
Thursday 630 Women’s club
Friday 430 game club (I used some of the grant money to purchase games, such as scrabble, twister, pictionary, guesstures, clue, monopoly, life, uno, cranium, etc.)
Saturday 10 writing workshop (practice and learn new writing skills)
This semester has been busy for the students—with tests, performances, practices, etc.—so attendance for activities is not as high as it was last term, but there are still students attending. As long as 1 student is in attendance, I will continue to have these activities every week.

Winter Vacation Year 2

Wow, it has been much too long since I have written a blog entry; my apologies to those that enjoy reading it. Last semester ended quickly, but well. Similarly to last year I had a Christmas party for teachers. A few teachers came, and two brought their child with them. It was really nice. The children added a nice element to the party. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant, sang Christmas carols, and decorated cookies.
For the New Year I had the pleasure of meeting Leo’s mom, sister, and his future brother-in-law when they came to visit him in Yibin. My students were kind enough to help me prepare some gifts for them—calligraphy for his mom, and a beautiful red paper cutting for his sister and fiancé (a common decoration for newly married couples). When my students were preparing the gifts, they kept asking me if I was nervous (I should make a note here that Chinese people usually only introduce their boyfriends and girlfriends to their parents when they plan to get married—and it is usually “hello Mom, this is my boyfriend. We are getting married.”), but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I was a little nervous. It was a nice time spent around Yibin—bamboo sea, a banquet hosted by his waiban, a lunch with his students, a hot pot dinner hosted by Leo, and hanging in and around the town.
Not long after Leo’s family left, his best friend from high school flies over. This time we spent little time in Yibin, though we did manage to go to a nearby hot spring (very nice in the damp, cold winters of Sichuan). The three of us travelled to places around Sichuan. I appreciated that Eric was willing to put up with me when he came to visit his boy Leo.
Naturally, when everyone was done visiting, Leo and I were pretty tired. We spent the week we had between visitors and our Peace Corps training just relaxing. The training finished up our winter vacation. It was a busy (and cold) winter as compared with last year, but meaningful.

Women's Club

Women’s Club
Women’s club (and men’s club) is an important secondary project that Peace Corps volunteers undertake around the world. Women’s issues (I will focus mainly on women’s groups since I have started one myself) are prevalent in all countries throughout the world, including developed nations like our own. The reason we put so much emphasis on these women’s groups in the developing countries where we work is simply because there is a lack of education and voice concerning these issues in these countries. The concept of the free, strong, and independent woman is hard to find. In many parts of the world women are confined to the house. Their duties are limited to housework, raising children, and pleasing their husbands. An understanding of health concerns, like STIs, menstruation, pregnancy, and healthy weight gain and loss, are not discussed openly. Pressures from society, family, and self are ever prevalent in these women’s’ lives without a means of escape. Thus, I have undertaken this secondary project during my service in China.
I have mentioned in a previous blog my reasons for starting the club, as well as topics that my students wish to cover. Since that initial blog and initial meeting, I have had 3 more meetings. The introductory meeting was followed by a meeting focused on the topic of fear. I realized that many of the issues the students mentioned in my initial inquiry came down to the problem of fear. Fear to speak up, lack of confidence, fears about the future, finding a boyfriend, etc. So what better place to start than at the bottom?
I decided to follow another volunteer’s practice and start every meeting with the high points of the week (this volunteer did highs and lows, but I have found that negativity and only looking at the bad plagues my students, so I only want them to focus on the positive in their lives. It may seem unrealistic, but I guarantee the negatives will always be there, so I don’t need to put any more attention to that). I gave each girl a paper and told them to write down their fears (either in Chinese or English. It didn’t matter because no one was going to look at it). When they finished they put it in their pockets.
Then I asked them some questions to make them think, but weren’t intended to be answered (what is fear? What does it mean to be afraid? Why do we have fear? What makes us afraid? How can fear damage our lives?).
Next I read from an article I found online: what is stopping you from getting what you want in life? Your friends? Your family? A sense that failure—or success—might change your life and maybe that will make you feel uncomfortable? A sense that the people around you might disapprove of you aiming for what you want, or succeeding or failing? Whatever the reason it comes down to fear.
We also talked about how to overcome fear. I wrote down 7 suggestions that I mashed together from various websites (1. Identify the fear; 2. Take small steps; 3. Lean on friends; 4. Be positive; 5. See failure or rejection in a new light; 6. Be in the now; 7. Find motivation). Then we looked at some motivational quotes (nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood; many of our fears are paper-tissue thin and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them; to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom; fear cannot take what we do not give it; the only thing we have to fear is fear itself; fear cuts deeper than swords; you block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith; if we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living; the greatest barrier too success is the fear of failure).
I asked the girls to make a poster to motivate themselves to overcome their fears. They were to write one motivational quote that I taught them, and words (in Chinese or English) that can motivate them to overcome their fears. When they had finished I asked them to follow me to the kitchen, take out the paper that they wrote their fears on and burn it. I explained that the smoke was carrying their fears away, and in the future when they find themselves becoming afraid, they should remember this moment and of their fears going away.
Afterwards we watched a scary movie for fun, and also because it was the week before Halloween.
Meeting 4: The topic of the fourth meeting was dreams. I am one of those persons who think that anyone can achieve their dreams if they work hard at it. Of course I am speaking of realistic dreams. Marrying a rich doctor might not be so realistic, but marrying a person who loves you for who you are is realistic. That being said I asked the girls to write down their dreams for the future. Then we had a discussion about what keeps us from our dreams? How can we achieve our dreams? I realized that the advice I had given them for overcoming our fears can also be applied to achieving our dreams, we just had to change the wording. Then I shared a poem by Langston Hughes with them
Dreams
BY
Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
And two quotes. ‘Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you will land amongst the starts.” And one by Walt Disney “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” To top off the evening I taught them PB&J sandwiches and watched an inspirational movie about realizing your dreams, called Soul Surfer. It recounts the true story of a young surfer, Bethany Hamilton. She had her arm bitten off by a shark, survived, and later courageously overcame her difficulties to achieve her dreams of becoming a professional surfer. Based on their faces and reactions, the girls were definitely inspired. I told them that if she can, they can, too.
Tonight I will have my 5th meeting. The topic is “how to get along with others.” For some this is an issue many Chinese face. In my opinion it is a result of the concept of “face” and being indirect with others. If we are incapable of directly talking to others about the things that annoy us, then we cannot move forward from this. I will begin the night with asking if they sometimes find it difficult to get along with others. When is it difficult to get along? Who is it easy to get along well with? Then I will give them some suggestions. With Mary’s help I came up with a list of suggestions on how to get along with others.
-be considerate
-walk a mile in their shoes
-be friendly (say hello, ask about their day). You don't need to talk long, keep it simple
-don't get angry. express your feelings and work together to find a solution
-respect peoples' difference
-be open minded, share ideas, don't be stubborn, your idea might not be the best idea
-find something you both have in common
-don't judge a book by its cover
-you won't be friends with everyone but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be polite and friendly
-everyone doesn’t have to do everything with you (find someone who wants to do that activity with you and don’t be angry at those that don’t)
-don’t laugh at people
-be open to change
-remember small things about them (name, hometown, etc). things to let them know you care

Some of these may seem obvious, but most of my students will never consider the above as a way of dealing, or managing their relationships with others. I will also have them try to look more closely at themselves and identify three behavior patterns that most impede their ability to get along well with others. What would they wish to do to change that behavior?

Lastly we will go over several different scenarios that deal with other people. I will ask them what they think are some solutions.

Scenarios: (based on Mary and my observations we came up with these scenarios)
• You want to study in your dormitory, but your roommates are playing games. What should you do?
• One of your classmates is very shy and doesn’t talk to the other students much. What should you do?
• You are at a party with your friends and there are some people you don’t know. What should you do?
• You go to eat in the dining room by yourself. You see some other students eating alone. What should you do?
• You are walking to class and you see a student you don’t know drop something. What should you do?
• You meet a student at Mary’s house that you never met before and you get along well. What’s the next step?
• You get good grades on your English writing, but one of your classmates always gets bad grades. What should you do?
• One of your roommates is always very messy but you like a clean room. How should you talk to her?
• You aren’t good friends with one of your roommates. How can you still get along?
• One of your roommates doesn’t have a lot of money. Everyone else wants to go out for a nice meal, but it is too expensive for this girl. What can you do?

To end the night we will watch the movie Stepmom which is a good example of people who overcome their grievances with each other and are able to get along.
If you have done a similar group or some life skills training I would welcome any advice.

Halloween 2011

This year’s Halloween party was pretty different compared to last year’s. During the week I invited students over to my house to watch scary movies, which was both fun, and funny. Some of them weren’t frightened at all, while others were cowering behind their friends. The weekend before Halloween I visited a fellow volunteer, Joel, in Deyang. It was my first visit to Joel’s, but it sure took a lot to get there. That city is only 1-1.5 hours away from my site, so I thought it would be pretty easy to get there. Well, after my Friday afternoon class I packed my bag and went downtown to catch a bus to find out I missed the last bus by 15 minutes! I decided I would go to the next city (Mianyang) and try and get a bus from Mianyang to Deyang, thinking there would be a lot since they were only 45 minutes between them, but no. So then I went to the train station because there are always trains between Jiangyou and Chengdu that stop off in Deyang. Well just my luck, there aren’t any! So I had to go all the way back to Jiangyou. I took one of the first buses back in the morning.
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Friday I had developed a small bump along my jawline. I thought it was a muscle spasm or insect bite. Saturday morning it was causing me extreme pain (especially to eat) and that side of my face was quite swollen. I decided to go ahead to Deyang anyways. The day was mostly okay, though I couldn’t really eat anything. It was nice to see some of my friends (you can check out the pictures I put on my windows site). That evening was the main party. We all dressed up. I was a panda, and Leo was a panda killer. It started out fun, until I developed a fever around 8:30 or 9 and went to sleep. The next morning I called the PC doctor who wanted me to come in, so Leo and I took the bus to Chengdu. Turns out I had a bacterial infection of my salivary gland. I wish that on no one! I had to take 2 different antibiotics for 10 days. I took 1 pill 2xs a day, and the second pill I took 3 pills 3xs a day. I also had to drink mass amounts of water or risk suffering heartburn that could kill a person! The medicine also left me extremely tired and dizzy, which was not great since at the end of the week there was a teachers’ sports meet that had me performing a dance, jump roping, sack race, relay race and tug-of-war. I will try to find pictures of the dance, since we did spend two weeks practicing for it.
Anyways, it also turns out that the medicine I was taking is also used to treat anthrax, which I found mildly amusing.
Halloween day, or rather night, Mary and I held a party for some students. It was nice, and I think they had a good time, despite my pain and lack of energy. We watched Thriller, read a children’s story about Halloween, had a mummy wrap, bobbed for apples, played pin the nose on the pumpkin, hit a pumpkin piñata (that I hastily constructed during the week before), carved bell peppers and watched a scary movie. I had forgotten my scary movies at Joel’s, but Leo had the original Halloween on his computer, which we watched. I didn’t require the students to dress up like I did last year, because it would have taken too much energy, but I think they definitely had fun and learned more about this holiday.
So, unfortunately Halloween wasn’t the most fun for me this year. I am crossing my fingers that I have no ailments during Thanksgiving (which happens to be my favorite holiday)

PPS and a Peace Corps Audit

A couple of weeks ago I went to Chengdu for a meeting about a group called PPS (professional peer support). We are a small group of volunteers that are seeking to make the job of teaching easier in China for volunteers. Some volunteers don’t have a strong background, or much experience teaching, especially English as a foreign language. And in reality, regardless of your teaching experience, the experience of teaching in China is far different than teaching in America or even in many other countries. So we work identifying ways to make it easier and better to teach in China.
We are working towards providing resources for volunteers, including games, activities, lesson plans, tests, syllabi, and full curriculums. These are provided by any volunteer, and the group works to standardize them, and putting them online for easy access. The second objective is developing a newsletter that has practical advice for volunteers. The third is to connect the volunteers and their Chinese colleagues; to provide an opportunity for dialogue about the different teaching methodologies, and to learn from each other. There are many things that we are working on and trying to get the kinks out. Our purpose of meeting in Chengdu was to gain staff support (check!), work out our objectives (check!) and make it sustainable (1/2 check). Individual members also have a few objectives of their own that they are working towards. Lindsay and Dina in Gansu are working on no technology activities. Hunter and Chelsea in Sichuan are working on a teacher training video. And my far reaching goal is to develop an oral English video curriculum. Each video would cover vocabulary and idioms for a particular topic with a short listening quiz at the end. I will enlist the help of my students in creating this video. Time will tell if this gets developed or not, now it is just a goal.
But while I was in Chengdu, I happened to have the chance to help audit Peace Corps China. The inspector general for the Peace Corps organization is in China for 4 weeks to audit PC China. One part is individual interviews with volunteers. The interview takes about 2 hours for each volunteer. Mine took 1.5 hours because my answers were very succinct. The purpose is to see the efficiency of the program and where staff and leaders can make changes. He will also visit some sites to see how they are operating and to see about the safety and living conditions of the volunteers. The Inspector General said that each PC country should be audited every 7 years, but due to the lack of budget, their office is getting to China after 11 years of being away. There is a lot of statistics and precise measurement done with this kind of auditing, and he said that around February the final report will be posted online (I am guessing the PC website) for anyone to see. It was an interesting interview and what’s more, he brought candy from America! So nice. I think he knows what we like, since he said he served from ‘96-‘98 in the Ivory Coast. Anyways, keep an eye out for the report, and I hope the report will be able educate that Congressman who is trying to get the PC China program shut down.
This is completely irrelevant to this post, but I didn’t want to start another post to describe last week. Last week we had no gas. Okay, what does this mean? It means: no cooking and no hot showers. One day I took a cold shower, but the weather is colder now so I thought I would never stop shivering after that. The cooking I didn’t mind as much, except that the vegetables in my fridge were going to waste. But the showering was the problem. It wasn’t just my apartment, it was the whole school. SO throughout the week we saw more and more pimpled faces, more and more smelly students. Thankfully the gas leak was fixed and we are back to having gas. But Mary and I were worried for a bit. Nobody had any idea when the gas was going to be fixed. Awful. Oh and thankfully, the gas came back on the day Mary and I were having Kerry and Eliam over for dinner (I made pizza and she made roasted veggies and a pear bread). Okay, that’s all. Really.

Starting a Women's Group

As I think I have mentioned previously, this semester is turning out to be much more interesting, exciting, and overall better than last year. I feel more comfortable, relaxed, and willing to try new things. This year I made three plans for secondary projects. One has started, the second is on its way, and the third, I hope, is around the corner but meeting some road blocks.
The one that has started is my women’s club. Many young female volunteers choose to start women’s clubs. In China, we have found that many of our young college students lack confidence in themselves, are confused about their future, want to learn and seek more independence from their parents, and most of all, want to learn about boys. Volunteers approach their women’s groups in many different ways. There is no right way to start a women’s group and no good number of women to join. One volunteer does activities with her group to foster confidence building, such as learning self-defense, how-to-volunteer, meditation, and more. A previous volunteer did small group discussions. I plan to combine the two ideas.
The last week in September I had an interest meeting, to explain my ideas for the group and to ask the girls to fill out an application. About 15-17 girls showed up for the meeting and about 12 applications were returned to me. In the application I asked the girls several questions, but I will just highlight two. 1. What are some issues facing women today? 2. What are some topics you would like to discuss?
Their answers:
1. Inequality between men and women; freedom (not depending on men; supporting themselves, independence); achieving the top position in the government, companies, and in the family; looks, beauty; political status; balance of family and career; pressures to have a boyfriend; job pressures
2. How to get along well with others; beauty; successful women; building confidence; how to have a happy life; boys, sex; the female body; health;
I had my first meeting a week ago. About 30 girls showed up! I was shocked. They all piled into my apartment. There weren’t enough chairs! So I put out a blanket and some of us sat on the floor. At the first meeting, we did 3 icebreaker activities
• Candy introductions (each color represents something they should talk about; i.e. white-hobbies, green-dream vacation, red-your best memory, etc.)
• Never have I ever (everyone has up 5 fingers. Each girl says something they have never done. If you have done this, you should put down one finger. The girl with the most fingers up (you can say she is the winner or some people say the loser because they haven’t done much. But I always choose to say winner since it is more positive).
• This reminds me of… (I had a bag of ordinary things and the girls took one out and said what it reminded her of)
Next I reintroduced the idea of the group, saying that we can make it what we want, and this is about them and not me, so I will choose topics and activities that interest them most. Then we made apple bread together and spent the rest of the evening chatting. I also asked the girls which day is best for them. ½ said Mondays and ½ said Thursdays. So from now on I will have 2 meetings a week, and occasionally the whole group will get together for activities on the weekend, such as shopping, hiking, travelling, etc.
This upcoming week the topic I chose is fear. I will wait to see how it goes before I write about it. But if you have any advice about a women’s group (activities, topics, games, etc.) please email and let me know. I would welcome any advice since this is my first time to do this.

My traumatic trip to the hospital

This semester has brought with it a few challenges. The first and most traumatic was the removal of one of my wisdom teeth. Before I joined Peace Corps I was required to have a dental screening. During that the dentist could not or could barely see my wisdom teeth on the X-ray. One year later, one of them is pushing up against the adjacent tooth causing a pocket of bacteria to form and terrible pain to follow. After an assessment at the dentist, in which they (without any oral numbing gel) cut open my gum and poured saline in to clean the bacteria out we took x-rays and it was decided that the tooth needed to be removed (and the sooner the better). Luckily, the first week of October there is a holiday in China, the perfect time to have the surgery. I had to cancel my Friday classes to come into Chengdu to go to the dental hospital. This was my first experience, ever, to have any surgery, let alone in a foreign, developing country…so I was nervous, to say the least. Then, everyone seemed uninformed about my condition. I sit down in the dental chair and the dentist starts pointing to the upper left corner of my mouth. I point to the lower left corner. He points to the upper left corner. Then the Peace Corps doctor (a Chinese doctor that works for Peace Corps) tells me that the dentist is saying the upper left should be removed. Now the upper left has breached the surface but it isn’t necessary to remove. I told her that the lower left is causing the problems. I understand enough of the dentist’s Chinese to know that he is saying the he can’t see anything. I then explain that the tooth is under my gum, thus you cannot see it. Then they say they need to have an x-ray. I said we already had x-rays (I assumed the PC doctor had a copy from the dentist, but no).
So I am waiting for the results of my x-rays and I hear the PC doctor talking about me on the phone. When she hangs up, she said she just called the dentist and confirmed what I had said about my tooth. The x-ray was further confirmation. The words the PC doctor say after that really hone in on the moment “it’s a lot more serious than I thought.”
You can start to imagine my feelings at this point. Utter terror. Nobody seemed to have a clue what was the matter with me, I am having surgery in a developing country where I can barely speak the language, and then…”you should sign this waiver (that’s all in Chinese and I cannot read) that says in case you have nerve damage or something like this, the hospital is not liable.” Well this waiver, that I indeed signed, had a lot more written on it than just nerve damage (by the way, I didn’t realize nerve damage was a potential hazard for wisdom tooth removal). So now all these horribly frightening scenarios are going through my mind.
Then, the chair they put me on has spots of blood, and the sink next to the chair is covered in blood from the previous patient. I am mortified by this. But my attention is quickly turned away by the arrival of a 12 year old giving me a shot. Okay she wasn’t actually 12 but she looked young to me, fresh out of medical school I assume or possibly even a student (since this school was affiliated with the medical university). Nobody bothers putting oral numbing cream in my mouth before jabbing this 3 inch long needle into my gum and cheek. But it seems she was new to this because after the 3rd jab the actual doctor comes and takes it out of her hand and shoves it down hard 2xs into my mouth. Ouch!

Start of New School Year

I have learned something about myself I think I would rather not have ever learned. It all started on a normal day. It was cloudy, warm, and peaceful—a perfect afternoon for a jog through the countryside, or so I thought. At first everything seemed normal, but they were there. Waiting. I didn’t think they would cause me any trouble; I could just run on by minding my own business, and they could keep on doing whatever it is they do. But they wouldn’t let me go. They stood in my path. A gang of them. Fierce, stubborn and angry. They blocked my path. There was nowhere else to go. There was only one way back to the school…and it was through them. I took all the courage and energy I could muster, found a small opening near them, and sprinted through with them honking and snapping their orange mouths after me. That’s right. This year I have discovered….I am afraid of geese. But these geese are relentless. They puff themselves up big, make a line almost impenetrable, and bore through into my soul. Twice they have tried to attack me, and never is there a friendly farmer around to protect me. It’s become my reality—how to avoid running into the geese. I feel like a wimpy kid trying to avoid the neighborhood bully on the playground. But I have decided to live with my embarrassment and fear rather than face my aggressors. I have since found a path to avoid them. At least the ducks are still afraid of me! (actually that is quite a funny story. I was running and ahead of me were some ducks in the bushes. When they heard me approach, they jumped a mile high and went sprinting as fast as their little webbed feet could carry them, peeing and pooping as they scurried away. My conclusions: 1. Ducks don’t run very fast; 2. I never thought I would ever scare the poop out of something. It is a strange feeling—sad, empowering, and funny all at the same time).
Other than the terrifying geese, my second year teaching in China has started out better than the first. I am already familiar with the school, some teachers, and my students from last year, so it was a matter of starting where I left off. Last year, I was stared at constantly and didn’t know anyone or where anything was. This year I have had students jumping out from corners screaming my name, giving me near heart failure, so that they can say “Hi! How was your summer?! I missed you!” Very sweet, but I wish they would find a calmer way to greet me.
This year is also different because Janice and Mark are gone, but replaced by Jiangyou’s 2nd Peace Corps volunteer. I mentioned her briefly in my last blog, but have since gotten to know her a bit better. She is very kind. I spent the first week showing her around, taking her to Wal-Mart, and filling her in on the things-to-know. It’s weird being in that position. I feel like I haven’t been here long enough to be the senior foreigner at the school, but I guess I am. Her personality is the opposite of mine, which complements things nicely. Whereas I am more quiet and shy around people when I first meet them, she is very outgoing and loud. She likes big crowds and thinks the more the merrier. I like small intimate crowds. She sends her students to me to for sports and I send my students to her to learn American cooking and to get more grammar help (I know some grammar very well, but in other areas I have learned I am very weak at explanations). So it works out really nicely. One thing I appreciate about Mary is her willingness to speak up about things. I tend to let things go too easily, but she will ask more questions and persist to get things done. I hope some of this trait can rub off on me by the end of the year.
Mary and I plan to work on 3 secondary projects together. The first is the English Resource Center. I have written to Darien Book Aid (a wonderful organization that sends books out to those that need it most. They send books to schools in the US, other US groups, and US groups working abroad) and this organization has already sent me a package of books weighing 20 pounds. I have also been working on a Peace Corps grant to get money to really jump start the Resource Center. So that plus the books Janice left and the ones my mom brought with her will make a decent size resource room. I am currently just waiting for the school to provide a space. Once I get the room, it should be a matter of days before it is up and running with students borrowing resources and coming for English help. Depending on the size of the room, Mary and I hope to have office hours there and possibly to host clubs there. But that is in the making, so stay tuned!
Next, Mary is helping me with English Corner. We had our first English Corner of the year last week, and the turnout was better than anything last year. I think Mary did a better job of advertising and encouraging her students to attend than the other foreign teachers did last year. At one point I think we had nearly 90 students show up. The ending number was around 70 students. It was crazy, but the students seemed to have enjoyed it. Since it was the first one, we just played some games and focused on the students having fun. Hopefully students will continue to join during the rest of the semester. I will have to rely on Mary’s strong vocal cords during future English Corners because my voice was strained. I had to drink a lot of tea afterwards to recover it. I should find my rape/storm whistle or whatever the purpose is of the whistle Peace Corps gave us.
The last thing Mary and I are working on together are the monthly teacher potluck dinners that I started last year. Mary immediately took to the idea of reaching out to the teachers, as well as the students. This year there are a lot more new teachers, many of whom are English teachers. Mary and I have been working hard to meet and introduce ourselves to them. Last weekend we had our first potluck at my house. There weren’t as many teachers as we had hoped, but there were 4 new people. A few couldn’t make it at the last minute but hope to join in next time. It was an interesting potluck, though. First, Mary was quite late because her stuffed peppers were taking longer to cook than she anticipated. So we were all chatting while we waited. There was one male teacher who came with two female teachers. He is an art teacher and new to the school. His contribution was beer and snacks, which I thought was humorous. Almost every time I invite a male colleague to a potluck, they bring beer. Anyways, the “interesting” part was when one teacher, who brought her 5 year old son along, let her son drink some beer. It took all my will-power not to say something. I told Mary later, and she said she might slyly bring it up in the future. Anyways, as you can imagine I was shocked. Everyone else just laughed at the concept of this 5 year old drinking beer, and the male teacher even toasted him! Later I asked Vivi if this was a common occurrence in China, and she assured me that it wasn’t but that she thought the beer didn’t have much alcohol in it and it was more like drinking juice. Since Vivi is my good friend I had no issues telling her my opinion about that statement. Anyways, regardless of this, the potluck went okay, and I hope that more teachers are able to participate in the future. The next one will be in October, and we are thinking of having a barbecue on the roof of our apartment building (should the weather be nice). Maybe with a Halloween theme?
Other than these secondary projects, I have a few which I plan to start on my own. The first is a women’s group. Many of the women in China (not only girls) haven’t much idea about women’s health or women’s issues. I hope to bring these up in an intimate women’s group. I have already had some success speaking with small groups of students about issues they face, as well as women’s concerns and women’s health topics. This Friday I will have an interest meeting, but I plan to have an application and only choose 15-20 girls. I want something small where the girls can get to know each other and feel comfortable discussing various issues and topics that they most want to discuss. The application will consist of 6 questions:
1. Why are you interested in joining a woman’s group?
2. What are some challenges facing women today?
3. How do you feel about being a woman?
4. Who do you think is the greatest woman (or women). Why?
5. What are some topics you would like to discuss in a women’s group? What are some activities you might want to do?
6. What is a good day and time for you to meet for a women’s group?
Based on their answers I will choose the girls. The ideas I hope to cover are health, stress relief and pressures facing women, international women’s issues, and more. And the activities I am thinking of doing are watching films and having discussions, reading articles and discussing, doing sports together, having a young man as a guest speaker or several young men, and more
The next idea for a secondary project is having a culture club. Many students are interested in the culture of western countries, but they have limited opportunities to study it. This club will be open to anyone who wants to come. I am waiting for Kerry to find me a room that I can use regularly, which also has technology (so that I can use PPT and videos). I will take into consideration topics that students want to talk about, but the topics I have considered thus far are: school, holidays, etiquette, dating, marriage, and more.
Other than that, many teachers and students have been interested in running with me in the afternoons, so I have been going to the track every afternoon that I have free time to run with those that want to run. Also I have been trying to be more active in doing activities and inviting students over. It is my goal to do something with all of my students, but we shall see. I have been having groups of students over to watch movies, which is the easiest and most relaxing thing to do. Also students have come over to play cards, cook, and show me things on the internet (mainly their pictures).
My first of the semesterweekend, Mary and I both had students come over to my house to eat. It was the Mid-Autumn Festival (which meant that I had tons and tons of delicious moon cakes from students and friends) and many students couldn’t go home. So we invited a small group of our students to share lunch with us. First we went shopping together downtown. Then her students cooked at her house, while my students cooked at mine. Then everyone met at my house to eat and play cards. It was really nice for the students to interact like that, since there isn’t much mixing of departments. Most of Mary’s students are in the preschool department, while most of mine are in the English department.
That weekend was also Teacher’s Day. Last year there was a performance. This year there was no performance, but the school gave all of the teachers cooking oil. Also some school leaders took Mary and me out for a banquet one weekday evening. That was interesting. It consisted of a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking, and a wee bit of throwing up. What?! Yeah, all Chinese banquets have drinking—that’s a given, but this year we took it up a notch. After most of the leaders were drunk, they decided to smoke. Last year I was saved by the fact that there was a baby in the room (Janice and Mark’s son), but this year with no baby, the smoking was brought back. Imagine a small room with no ventilation and 9 lit cigarettes. I thought I was going to be sick. They also insisted that I take one. Well I took it and let them light it and immediately proceeded to put it down. No one seemed to be offended that I didn’t smoke it. Some tried to push me to take another or to smoke it, but Mary helped to stand behind me that I didn’t want it. I help her that she doesn’t want to drink, and she helps me that I don’t want to smoke. Anyways, it was fine and like any other banquet, minus the smoking and minus our waiban throwing up in the corner and in the hall. Oh what a night! And Mary’s first banquet, at that.
I seem to have forgotten something. Oh yeah, my classes. My schedule this year is as follows:
Monday 905-1045 and culture club
Tuesday 905-1045 and 130-215
Wednesdays 905-1045, 1105-1150, 130-215, and 320-405. And English corner 530-630
Thursdays 905-1045, 1105-1150 and 130-215 and women’s club
Fridays 1105-1150 and 225-405
I am mostly teaching second year English majors this year, which gives me the opportunity for more interesting things in class since their level is a bit higher.
My syllabus:
Grade distribution:
30% notebook (new words/ phrases, listening practice, homework/class work)
35% Test 1
35% Test 2

Expectations:
1. Every week you need to bring a notebook and pen and write down the new words, homework, and activities.
2. You must participate and attend every class. If you miss class, you must do the homework and write the new words from the class you missed (ask your classmate)
3. You must participate in class and help your classmates


Weekly Schedule
Week1: syllabus/class information
Week2: Group assignments
Week3: structure of a conversation/ expressing opinions
Week4: conversation topic 1: hobbies
Week5: conversation topic 2: entertainment
Week6: conversation topic 3: health
Week7: conversation topic 4: dating
Week8: conversation topic 5: travel
Week9: conversation topic 6: stereotypes/gender roles
Week 10: conversation topic 7: dreams
Week 11: conversation topic 8: environment
Week 12 and 13: Test 1 (part 1: listening: week 12; part 2: speaking week 13)
Week14: telling a story
Week 15 and 16: Test 2
Week17 and 18: interviews; evaluations; review



Classes are good so far, but it is only the third week.
And last, but not least, (drumroll please) I have an impacted wisdom tooth! Yay! So next month I will take a trip into Chengdu to have it removed. I am super excited. If you didn’t know I have never had a wisdom tooth removed. I am quite a bit nervous, but, thankfully, Leo should be there that weekend to help take care of me. I have no idea what is in store for me. Any helpful advice?

Summer Part 4: Chengdu

Exhausted, slightly disoriented, we arrive in Chengdu just in time for me to check into the hotel room Peace Corps has saved for me, grab lunch, and get to a meeting. Post meeting, I discover that I have checked into the wrong hotel, and must take all my stuff to a completely different hotel. No worries. After a good night’s sleep, I, along with Wendy, another volunteer, give a talk to the newest Peace Corps China volunteers about a subgroup within Peace Corps China called PPS (professional peer support), which focuses on giving teaching assistance to volunteers (by way of lesson plan ideas, activity ideas, Power Points, assessment, and other items associated with teaching). It went fine. The best part of this was that I got to meet my site mate. This year another Peace Corps volunteer will join me in Jiangyou. I was curious to meet her and find out about her. We ended up having a quick lunch and we mainly discussed Jiangyou and the school, so I don’t know much about her yet. Here is what I do know. Her name is Mary. She is 50 years old, and was an English teacher in Korea for 8 years. She has her degrees in elementary education, early childhood education, and special education. She enjoys cooking and baking. She is from the Tampa area and is Catholic. So already we have a lot in common. She seemed nice and a bit spunky. She wants to help me with the English Resource Center I plan to develop further this year, and help me host potlucks and dinners that I did last year for the teachers that live on campus. So I am sure this year I will mention more about Mary in my blog, but for now that’s all I know.
Leo also joined me in Chengdu, and during this time he was able to attend a speech/gathering with Vice President Joe Biden. Did you know that Joe Biden went to China recently? Apparently Joe Biden is doing an Asian circuit. He was in Beijing meeting with Chinese officials and decided to stop off in Chengdu for a day or two before leaving for Mongolia. All of the new China 17 volunteers were able to attend, but only 3 volunteers from my group. Leo was one of the lucky 3 chosen. Leo said the speech was good, but almost entirely directed at the Chinese officials that were there. In case you aren’t aware, China isn’t very happy with America right now, mainly due to the debt crisis we are in. America being in economic crisis affects the rest of the world, especially China (who has the 2nd largest economy in the world right now). Anyways, Biden did say thanks for the volunteers and what we are doing over here, but it is too bad that he couldn’t spend more time with the volunteers. After the speech most of the volunteers were able to shake his hand, but that’s about it. Apparently security was really tight. Nobody knew where it was going to be located until right before, no one could bring their cell phones or cameras, and you weren’t allowed to leave the room once you’d entered. But Leo thought the Vice President did a nice job with his speech, which is good.
So now I am back in Jiangyou, and trying to catch up on work and readjust to life here. My first evening back was good because I got together immediately with my two friends Sharon and Vivi plus I was exhausted. But Monday and Tuesday were difficult. It was so quiet and lonely. I had to keep music or a TV show on to block out the silence. After 2 months of being with someone constantly it was weird to be by myself again. Now it is Thursday and I have been busy responding to emails, lesson planning, posting pictures, writing this blog, and other things, so I think I have adjusted myself to life here again. Once classes start I will be busy again and probably will miss these moments alone that I am having now, but that time will come. Classes begin on September 5th. I have no idea who or what I am teaching, but I have a general idea, and I think my lesson plans should fit in well with what and who I think I will be teaching, but I shall know soon enough.
Wow, over a year has passed. Looking back on it I feel I have done so much, grown so much, and seen so much. I am curious and excitedly awaiting to see what this second year will bring. I am sure some days will go slowly and seem monotonous, but most days will probably go by too quickly and will seem all new and fascinating. I am excited to meet my new students, see my old students and friends again, and to introduce Mary to this warm and inviting community. I am anticipating the secondary projects I plan to start this year (a Woman’s club, Culture Club, English Resource Center, and English Corner). I am hoping that I can improve as a teacher, learn and grow from the mistakes I made last year and will inevitably make this year. And I am interested to see where life takes me. What things will I experience? What will I see, taste, feel? What struggles will I face? What will the future hold? I guess we will all have to wait and see.

Summer part 3: language study

Immediately after summer project Leo and I hopped a train to Lijiang in Yunnan Province (just south of Sichuan). It is one of the most beautiful provinces in China—the sky always being blue, the air fresh and unpolluted, and the weather spring like almost all year.
Lijiang is located on a mountain at a higher altitude, I think 3000 meters or maybe 3000 feet. It was pretty high. The first couple of days I had a little trouble breathing, but by the third day it was easier. The weather was amazing, though. In Dazhou it was humid and in the 90s F then in Lijiang I needed a sweater in order to be comfortable.
Leo and I joined our good friends Katie and Richy (remember from our Vietnam trip in the winter?) and two other volunteers (Kate, who teaches in Guizhou Province, south of Sichuan, and Aftan, who teaches north of Sichuan in Gansu Province) for two weeks of Chinese language study. It was…a bit of an adventure, to say the least. Getting there was a nightmare. Leo and I took two 8 hour nightmarish bus rides. The first was from Yibin to Kunming (the capital of Yunnan). For some reason there were no trains going from Yibin to Kunming. The train was long, hot, cramped, and stifling. We were so relieved to arrive in Kunming. We spent one night of recovery in a hostel, and planned to take, what we thought, was a short bus ride to Lijiang. Well, no. It was another 8 hour bus ride, in a hot, cramped bus with a crazy driver that was speeding around the mountain passes. At first I thought we might die. Then I was too nauseous to even think. Why I didn’t bring the Dramamine my parents brought me from America, I have no idea, but I was quite sick after that bus ride. But, alas, we arrived. It was a cute little school on the edge of the old city (a nice touristy area of Lijiang with old stone-paved streets, shops, pedestrian walkways, and other touristy things of interest). Lijiang is a favorite place for Chinese people to vacation. Many of my Chinese friends that have been there say it’s the best place they have ever been, and those that haven’t gone dream of going. It is nice. There are many things to do, and see. There are fun mountains to climb. The Tiger Leaping Gorge is only a day trip away, too. Most foreigners would say that Dali (4 hours south) is much better. It is quieter, more relaxing, peaceful and easier to navigate. I much prefer Dali to Lijiang. Dali was Leo, Katie, Richy and my first stop during the winter vacation.
Anyways, so we were all in Lijiang to study. I said the school was cute. That’s about it. It was a brand new school and they had very little experience teaching foreigners, particularly foreigners in our situation. What situation might that be, Katie? Well, the fact that we have been in China for one year and have a fairly decent speaking vocabulary, and even better listening comprehension, but a limited knowledge of characters (i.e. reading and writing). Katie, Richy and Leo have a better character vocabulary, so they were put in one class together. Aftan, Kate, and I have nearly none, so we were put in class together. Kate, Aftan, and my teacher (Stephen) was willing to listen and adapt the teaching to meet our needs, however he just graduated from university and didn’t really know how to teach. Leo, Katie and Richy’s teacher was accustomed to teaching Chinese students Chinese and was less willing to adapt her lessons, but was quite knowledgeable about Chinese grammar, pronunciation, and everything Chinese (but she didn’t know any English and could only explain these concepts in Chinese). The other issue plaguing our language study was that the teachers didn’t know how to teach a multilevel class. Katie, Richy and Leo are all at completely different levels. Also I ended up joining their class the last 2 days because Kate and Aftan left early and it was a bit of a struggle to understand all the grammar points she was making. Both teachers were very nice and willing to help us, but not being used to our Chinese studying methods, found it a bit difficult teaching. But how do you teach people that can speak and listen at an intermediate level, but read and write at a beginner’s level? How do you teach a class with 2 intermediate-high level students and one advanced student? It is a conundrum, but a situation that all foreign English teachers face in China. Every English class in China is multileveled because it is easy enough to pass to the next level not having learned anything. Oh and this isn’t a problem, just funny. Katie, Richy and Leo’s teacher laughed nonstop. For some reason she thought everything was funny. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that laughs as much as this woman laughed.
Problem two facing us during language study was that the volunteer that planned everything for us (the pricing, the classes, etc.) had something come up and wasn’t able to come. Then when we arrived there was a big misunderstanding about the pricing. The one volunteer told us the price would be one thing, and the people at the school said another. The issue with the pricing is that Peace Corps will only reimburse us a certain amount of money for summer language study, so naturally we wanted the pricing to fall under that umbrella. Everything ended up okay in the end. We ended up paying more than the volunteer originally said we would, but less than too much.
It wasn’t all bad. We got to spend two weeks in a great city, and practice our Chinese. It also motivated us to study so that, hopefully, all of us return back to our sites and study up on our Chinese regularly. During the two weeks we spent nearly every afternoon in a restaurant drinking coffee and studying Chinese. It was quite perfect actually. We also had some fascinating adventures while we were there. One night we decided we wanted to eat western food. Katie remembered that there was a hostel with decent prices (called Mama Naxi—Naxi is a minority people in China that mostly live in Yunnan. The Naxi people are a matriarchal society, with the women running the businesses, calling the shots, and leading, while the men follow. Anyways the owner of the hostel is the sweetest old Naxi woman who calls herself Mama Naxi). So we meander our ways through the confusing old streets of Lijiang Old Town and find ourselves at the doorstep of Mama Naxi’s greeted by two little dogs. The food was amazing and cheap, but that wasn’t all. The night we decided to go to Mama Naxi’s for dinner also happened to be the night of her grandson’s 17th birthday, and guess what? We were on the guest list! She insisted that we stay and sing happy birthday to her grandson and join in the festivities, so we did. There was a big cake, and lots of fruit. I wonder if it is strange that her grandson celebrates his birthday with a bunch of random foreigners that he doesn’t know, but he was sweet. I think his grandmother particularly liked us (maybe because we could speak Chinese) because she kept taking pictures of us with her grandson.
Our favorite restaurant to go in Lijiang, which we visited at least 5 times, was a little Korean restaurant. Katie and Richy had lived in Korea for 1 year prior to joining Peace Corps and insisted Korean food was really good. Well they weren’t lying. It was better than good. There was one dish served in a hot pot with rice, vegetables, meat, one egg, and hot sauce. It is sizzling when it arrives, and you stir it so that the egg, and vegetables cook together by the heat of the rice and bowl. Then there is another dish which was a cold soup with barley noodles, cucumbers, a boiled egg, watermelon in a spicy vinegar broth. Maybe it sounds weird, but it was amazing. It is so fresh. Chinese food can be really oily, but the Korean food wasn’t oily at all. Another reason we frequented this restaurant was because there was the cutest little white dog that the owners kept. His name in Chinese is “xiao bai gou” or “little white dog.” He was so cute. The 2nd to last time we came to the restaurant, she offered to let Leo keep it. As tempting as that was, we had to say no.
My last food story for this trip. One afternoon Katie, Richy, Leo, and I are just wandering around the Old town, stopping here and there to check things out, then all of a sudden I see a sign! A sign?? A sign. What kind of sign? A sign for pizza. Yes, there, on the edge of Old town, there was a pizza restaurant. But that's not all. The pizza was cheap. The cheapest pizza price we’ve ever seen in China. So what else could we do, but stop and eat some pizza. It was mediocre at best, but amazing.
One morning Leo and I were taking a jog and we happened across this magnificent hidden lake. It was obvious that it was just for the local crowd because of its location. Later that day we returned with Katie and Richy. In the morning there was no one there. We thought it might be a great place to study and get fresh air, rather than another restaurant. However, when we get there it is packed with Chinese people (mostly men) swimming. It is the local swimming hole. If only we had known and brought our bathing suits. Well that isn’t going to stop Leo and Richy, who jump in and race each other to the other side. Meanwhile Katie and I set up a nice area for us to relax and study, with the few snacks we brought along from the bakery. It might have been a nice area for us to relax if it weren’t for the creeper that started walking back and forth behind us. At first we thought nothing of it, just some middle aged Chinese man walking around. But then we suddenly realize he is in his underwear, and they aren’t exactly hugging him where they should be hugging him. We keep a mind to just stare straight in front of us and not pay him any attention, since it is obvious that is what he was craving. That doesn’t seem to be working out for him, though, so he start stretching and waving his arms, and proceeds to sprawl out on a nearby bench to stretch. Out of the corner of my eye I see that he has taken his manhood out of his underwear and pointed it in our direction! I don’t make any moves that I have noticed (I am wearing sunglasses, so that is easy enough to manage), and notify Katie of what is happening to our right. Without looking around she picks up her phone and calls Richy and tells him that he and Leo need to return, which they quickly do. The fact that Katie took out her phone scared the creeper enough so that he was gone by the time the boys returned. Gross.
After language study ended, Leo, Katie, Richy and I stayed two extra nights in Lijiang while we waited for Richy’s sister and fiancé to arrive. Remember Mama Naxi? Well we ended up staying at her hostel. It was decent, but remember that I was saying that I was having stomach issues? Apparently when my stomach hurts during the night I have a tendency to talk in my sleep, or so my friends told me. One night Katie said she woke up because she heard a Chinese woman in our room, but when she looked around she didn’t see any Chinese woman. Instead she saw me, talking with perfect Chinese. She said I was saying “qing zuo” or “please sit.” I wonder how it is I can have good pronunciation in my sleep, but when awake, my Chinese pronunciation is terrible. Any guesses? There was also the funniest teenage Chinese boy working at the hostel that talked to us one night. We ended up giving him an English name (Lee Young—it resembled the sound of his Chinese name, which coincidentally enough was Lijiang. Anyways it turned out he was a Bai minority (fyi, there are 56 recorded minorities in China, and in actuality there are even more that the government doesn’t recognize) and in school his name is Lijiang. He doesn’t go by his given Bai name.). Anyways, this Lee Young wanted to know how to say love lines in English so that he could say them to foreign girls he sees. So Leo wrote down “You are more beautiful than a flower, and also the moon.” This was good enough for him. Then this Korean girl that we had gotten to know from the Korean café next door (another prime study spot), came into the hostel and was hanging out with us, and Lee Young proceeded to interrogate her on how to say hello and I love you in Korean. Funny, funny boy.
Leo and I left Lijiang a little earlier since I had to be back in Chengdu to give a talk to the new volunteers. Since it was such a long trip back, we stopped overnight in Dali. If only we could have stayed longer! But the next morning we left for Kunming and our 18 hour overnight hard seat train ride to Chengdu. That’s right. 18 hours, overnight, on a hard seat. It was uncomfortable. At most I slept 5 hours, but we made it. It wasn’t unbearable.

Summer part 2: summer project

Saying goodbye to my parents was difficult, but easier than the first time. I didn’t have time to dwell on their departure anyways because the next phase of my summer was upon me. Summer project. Summer project consists of volunteers teaching teachers in various rural locations in our provinces. Since I live and work in Sichuan province, my summer project was also in Sichuan. There were 4 cities in Sichuan for summer project, and Peace Corps staff split us into groups of 5-6 for each city to teach for 2 weeks. I, along with Leo, Joel, Tamarae, Aaron, and Warren, were chosen to go to Dazhou. Dazhou is a relatively small city (in terms of China) with a population of, maybe 600,000 people (we could never get a sure number). The city is in northeastern Sichuan, bordering the municipality of Chongqing.
Living: we all had our own rooms in the same hall of a school “hotel.” I put it in quotes because it was like a hotel, but just one separate floor of a dormitory. So it was a one hall hotel. It was really nice having our own rooms and a floor to ourselves, especially since we were spending a great amount of time each day lesson planning together. The only downside was that we were not allotted keys. Multiple times a day we had to knock on the first door in the hall (which was the apartment of this lady and her family). This lady would then go around and open our doors for us. At least four times a day this lady had to open the doors for us (after class, after lunch, after an activity, after dinner). But apparently the school thought this was a better system than having individual keys, and as long as she didn’t mind us knocking on her apartment door several times a day, it was fine with us.
Teaching: We each had our own class of about 50 primary and middle school English teachers in the Dazhou community. Most of the teachers were from the rural countryside (some never having left Sichuan province). Some of them were fresh from college, never having taught before, while others have been teaching longer than I have been alive. All of them were required to attend the two week training session by their schools. Some had no background in English and could barely say anything to me in English. Others had taught other subjects, but their school decided they would teach English the following year. Most of the young teachers were really energetic and interested in being there and getting information, while, and I don’t blame them, most of the older teachers stopped attending classes by the middle of the first week, or if they did come to class did not participate. It was frustrating at times dealing with teachers that didn’t want to be taught, but there wasn’t anything I could really do about it. All of us tried our best to make it interesting and worthwhile for them. We spent hours every day formulating our lessons, and preparing materials and PPTs. I tried not to get too frustrated with those uninterested because there were always a group that was really engaged and every day stayed after class to ask questions and copy our PPTs.
In the mornings we taught our own classes for 3 hours. The six of us volunteers decided that we would lesson plan together and have the same basic outline of the lesson, but that we could each decide on our activities and teaching style on our own. Joel, Leo, and I did extra lesson planning together and our lessons mirrored each other. At the end of the first week, Joel’s projector stopped working and he asked if his class could join with mine and we could team teach. It turns out that Joel and I have similar teaching methods and we taught really well together. Our students really liked the vibe of the class with us together, and after that we taught every lesson together.
In the afternoons we gave team lectures (so two of us would give a lecture together). The first 3 days I lectured with Warren on the American classroom. Then the last 2 days of the first week I lectured with Aaron and Tamarae on technology in the classroom. The second week I lectured the first 3 days with Leo on Chinglish and body gestures (Chinglish is the botched English that many of our students speak—common errors that they make as a result of direct translations; example: Happy Everyday, I very like you; I ever went there; etc.). The 2nd to last day we all lectured the same topic (creativity in the classroom) because the last day of lectures were cancelled.
What we were trying to accomplish through summer project was giving the teachers real things that they can take back with them to the classroom and use with their students. One issue that is facing China, and that China’s Ministry of Education hopes to change with the help of Peace Corps, is that Chinese students study English from primary school through high school and even into college, and most of them cannot speak English. How can that be? Well because they focus entirely on reading, writing and grammar. Most of their teachers don’t speak English to them, and some of them can’t even speak English themselves. As a result, students can’t understand spoken English very well and have difficulty in speaking English. If I write a word on the board my students all know it, but if I say it they are confused. I remember one time I said a word to a Chinese friend of mine, and she wasn’t sure what I was saying so she asked me to spell it. Once I had spelled it, she immediately knew the word. Her response was, “oh that’s how you say that word. I never knew.” Wow! So you see the dilemma? So during summer project we focused on giving these teachers useful speaking and listening activities that they might integrate into their classroom and give their students more practice with these two skills. I just hope they actually do.
Activities: No Chinese teacher trainee program is complete without activities. Every other day we had a different activity to take part in with the teacher trainees. The first was like a meet and greet. All of the teacher trainees, school staff, and volunteers got together for snacks and drinks and getting to know each other. Not one of the volunteers was able to eat anything. It was a drinking, toasting, and picture taking extravaganza. I can’t think of a hobby Chinese people love more than taking pictures. It started with my class calling me over to have a toast with them. Then my class pulled the other volunteers over. Then they wanted to have a class picture. Then everyone pulled out their cameras and cell phones and wanted individual pictures. By the end my cheeks hurt so much I could barely open my mouth. But that wasn’t the end. One goofy teacher from my class started this dancing activity (I think he might have been a bit drunk at this point), but anyways he had this really complicated dancing game that he got us all involved in. The meet and greet was fun, but extremely exhausting.
Activity two was an evening at a local water park followed by a hotpot dinner. Only a few teachers came since this activity cost money. It was really fun, though. Oh I forgot to mention earlier that the school officials gave us this senior student that worked in the foreign affairs office to help us during our two weeks with whatever we needed. She was sweet, and her English was good. She was really innocent and hadn’t done very much in her life, so the first thing we got her to do was go down these water slides. The water park isn’t anything like you would see in the States. Even the smallest water park in the States is at least twice the size as this one, but it was still fun. There were 3 water slides, and they could only operate two at a time since there were only 2 lifeguards working at the time. There was also this wave pool, and then the craziest thing of all. At one point while we are in the wave pool these 3 girls in a sexy outfit get on the stage at the back of the wave pool and start dancing. It was one of the most random things I have ever seen, but moderately entertaining.
When the water park closed around 7, we walked around the corner to this Communist Hot Pot Restaurant. Literally, the theme and name of the restaurant was communist hot pot. It was pretty good hot pot. None of the teachers joined us for hot pot, so Susie asked what kinds of foods we might want in the hot pot. One of the biggest issues I have with hot pot is that they always put weird foods inside, like blood, stomach, neck, river eels, etc. but this hot pot wasn’t bad since we chose mostly vegetables and meat that we are more accustomed to eating (i.e. the muscle portion of the animal).
Activity three was supposed to be a mountain climbing adventure on our one day off teaching, but most of us respectfully declined since we were spending all of our lunch break and evenings lesson planning. We were hoping to spend the day off catching up and getting ahead on our lesson and lecture plans so that we didn’t have to exhaust ourselves during the week.
Activity four was a Ping-Pong competition! Woah! All of us, but Aaron, got out on the first round. Everyone that participated got a prize, though. Those that were eliminated in the first round got umbrellas, and those eliminated in the 2nd round received nice mugs, and the winner got a knife set I think. Many teachers didn’t participate because it turns out that participating cost quite a bit of an entrance fee.
The fifth activity was a BBQ. BBQs in China aren’t like barbeques in the States. In China, you go to a restaurant and the food is cooked BBQ style and brought to you. It was nice, though. We ate a really good fish dish, and many teachers came and we all ate, drank, and took many more pictures together. The best part was that one teacher brought his daughter with him and she was one of the cutest babies any of us had ever seen. She kept blowing us kisses. Then we started a game with her in which we copied whatever she was doing (if she put her hand on her head, we put our hands on our heads), anyways she found this hilarious and kept playing the game over and over. She was too cute.

The last activity was a banquet. We all went to a nice buffet restaurant and ate and drank and took more pictures. Seeing the trend? It was a nice way to say goodbye to everyone, and a nice way to wrap up our two weeks in Dazhou. It would have been even nicer if I could have managed to eat more than I did. The entire 2nd week I was sick with some weird stomach issues. Never in my life have I had as many stomach ailments as I have had in China. Oh well, it was also fun for us because Leo decided to announce to everyone that it was Tamarae’s birthday (which it was a couple of days later), and the students surprised her with a cake, party hat, and a round of Happy Birthday. It was pretty funny.

Oh and we decided to add our own little activity into the mix for our own enjoyment…a water balloon fight. We had taken a trip to Wal-Mart to buy supplies for our lectures and lessons, and what did we find? Water balloons. Of course we had to buy them. So we had the best water balloon fight ever! Well maybe not ever, but it was quite fun. During our 2nd week teaching in Dazhou there was simultaneously a kids’ soccer camp. When the kids heard the shouting and laughter they ran down from their dorms, and stared at us. They didn’t join in the water balloon frenzy, but when our water balloon supply was exhausted we involved them in a game of keep away. I don’t know that they’d played that before, but they seemed to enjoy it. Us foreigners and Susie were on one team, and all the kids were on another. Unfortunately for them, our energies were depleted a lot faster than theirs, and we returned to our rooms while they still ran around.
Summer Project ended up being an okay time. We 6 got to know each other a bit better than we did before, had a good time in a new city, got to know some really nice Chinese people, and hopefully made some sort of difference. I doubt any of us will be back to Dazhou anytime soon, but one never knows. One teacher did ask if Leo and I would give a lecture at his school. I said maybe, so we shall see if an email comes our way during the semester.

Summer part 1: end of the semester, parents’ visit

It is surprising to think that I have already finished my first year teaching in China. Some days it seems I have just arrived, and that I still haven’t any clue about China. Other days I feel as if I have been here a while and I am quite familiar with Chinese customs. The end of the semester brought with it a few changes. We all had to say goodbye to Janice, Mark and Charlie as they were returning to life back in Canada. It was difficult to say goodbye to them since they were a big part in my feeling acclimated to life in Jiangyou, but they were just one chapter in the open book of my life. One chapter closed and another one yet to be started.
Unfortunately my parents never were able to meet the Bergens, since they left prior to my parents’ arrival. The day before my parents’ arrival I busied myself cleaning, buying extra pillows, extra towels, extra mugs, and other conveniences that I had neglected to buy during the course of the year. I was quite nervous about them coming. I was worried that they would find it boring and uncomfortable living in my apartment. The night they are expected to arrive I am sitting, anxiously awaiting the time I would have to leave with my school official to pick them up in the neighboring city, when I receive a call from an unfamiliar number. I answer it and hear the sound of my mother’s voice. I am quite taken aback by this, and then become concerned as I hear the worry in her voice. It seems that their flight from the States to Beijing was late in arriving, so they missed their connecting flight into Mianyang. They would have to stay the night in Beijing and take another flight the next morning. Naturally this really concerns me, since my parents aren’t familiar with the country or the language. Luckily, they are in Beijing where enough people speak English, but I am still worried about their safety, as well as getting ripped off.
However everything works out fine. They are able to arrive safely into my city the following morning, and get settled into my apartment. They tell me an interesting tale about how the toilet in the hotel didn’t work properly and how they had to navigate their way in the dark to get to their bedroom because there were no light switches. This actually wasn’t the case at all, but they were unfamiliar with the Chinese method of preserving electricity by placing your hotel room key in the wall in order to activate the electricity in the room. The toilet, however, sounded similar to the toilet in my apartment (the flushing button just needs to be held for a while).
During my parents stay in Jiangyou, my mom was brave enough to give a lecture on preschool education in America to nearly 100 students and teachers. Everyone thought she did a good job and she was able to answer all of the questions they normally ask me but am unable to answer (since I don’t have any background or experience in preschool education). My parents were also kind enough to go to our weekly English corner, which had closer to 40-50 students attend this time. My dad talked about life in India, as well as immigrating to the US and taking the TOEFL exam (something many Chinese students are interested in taking), and my mom talked briefly about multiculturalism in the US.
The most interesting time in Jiangyou was taking a day trip to a temple in Mianyang. It is a gorgeous temple by the roadside that I have passed several times. Every time I see it I have told myself I must visit it. It was nice to have the chance to visit it with my parents. While meandering through the temple one elderly Chinese man started talking to my dad. My mom and I were slightly ahead when I realized what was happening. My dad looked very confused and was trying to tell the man that he couldn’t speak Chinese. I walked over and asked the Chinese man what he wanted. He wanted to know where my father was from, as well as where we were from and what we were all doing in China, and whether or not we all liked China (the usual conversation with strangers in China). When I mentioned that my dad was from India he became very excited and said over and over “hao pengyou” or “good friends.” This surprised me a bit since I know that India and China have a bit of a rivalry, but it is nice to know that the average Chinese person likes their neighbors to the west.
So time in Jiangyou was filled with lectures, travels around the city (including Wal-Mart) and dinners with friends and students. Everyone, obviously, liked my parents and was happy that they had the chance to meet them. Hopefully now my parents have a better idea about my life in China, so that when I mention a certain person or place they can say “oh yeah! I remember that.”
After a stressful last day trying to get my students to sign their names to their role sheets so that I could turn my grades in, we were off on a train to Chengdu. Taking a train is the most convenient method of travel from my city to the provincial capital, but can sometimes be a hassle. Typically for such a short train ride, I don’t have any issues. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case when I was travelling with my parents. The train was really crowded and there were two really old people in the seats my mom and I were supposed to have. I just told my mom to sit somewhere else because they weren’t moving after I asked once. But at the next stop this man gets on that is supposed to be sitting in the seat my mom is currently occupying and he gets really angry and starts yelling at us. I tell the man that the old people in front of us are sitting in our seats and he can tell them to move first. He doesn’t want to hear us and just yells again. Well my mom and I don’t appreciate his attitude, which is obvious in any language, so we choose to ignore him. He eventually gives up and finds somewhere else to go.
Chengdu was a nice trip, minus the torrential downpour one night. I think the nicest area we went was Jinli Street. Jinli Street was an old street full of shops, knickknacks and other things of interest (so basically really touristy, but still nice). In Chengdu my parents also met many people. Our 2nd day in Chengdu I had to go to the Peace Corps Office to help the medical staff tape a skit teaching about STIs with a few other volunteers. I played the part of the doctor in the skit, fyi. It turns out the STI skit was nixed in the end, but that’s a story for another day. Anyways, while there my parents were able to meet some of the staff, and the other volunteers that were helping with the skit.
We also had a night out with my host parents. My sweet boyfriend Leo also joined us, which made everything easier since he can speak Chinese far better than I can. I was hoping with Leo’s help to bridge the gap between my parents and my host parents. It turns out my host dad just wanted to chat with Leo the whole night, whereas Leo just wanted to chat with my parents. In the end Leo succumbed to talking with my host dad, occasionally translating between my host dad and parents, while I translated back and forth between my parents and my host mom. It was nice, though. My parents were able to experience the famous Sichuan hotpot. My dad seemed to like it, since he really likes spicy food. We had a scare at one point when my dad ate something that might have had shrimp in it (which he is seriously allergic to), but nothing happened, so whew. The frustrating part of that evening, though I should have foreseen this, was that my host parents ended up treating us to dinner. My intention, and my parents’ intention, was to treat my host parents. This is one frustrating aspect of Chinese culture. Sometimes it can be impossible to treat Chinese people to anything. They always want to do the treating. I argued with them for a while, but then I gave in and let them pay. They insisted that because it was China that they should pay, and when they visit us in America that we can pay. We agreed, however it is hard to say if we will ever see them in America, though nothing is impossible.
Leo was frustrated that he didn’t get a chance to really get to know my parents, so the next day we all went together to the Panda Research Base. We got there a little later than we should have, because the lazy pandas were just sleeping. Basically fat pandas lie on their backs for 23 hours of the day, and maybe move around 1 hour (usually in the early morning). I might be exaggerating a little, but I don’t think so. One volunteer that lives near the panda base said that one time he went to see them and saw one panda poop lying down, and then didn’t move! He just sat in his own poop! I can’t figure out why these lazy animals are the face of China. I can’t understand either why we are bothering to keep them alive. I will probably get kicked out of China for saying all this against pandas, but come on, Darwin’s survival of the fittest. We are going against nature and natural selection here with these pandas. They are incapable of breeding on their own. Almost all pandas have to be artificially inseminated. I think that’s nature saying that they shouldn’t exist anymore. Am I right? Okay, enough about pandas, or at least the fat ones. Did you know that there is such a thing as red pandas?! They are much more interesting than the fat pandas. They move around, they climb trees, apparently they fight each other, and they have tails. Much more interesting. Actually I am not sure why they are called pandas, since they look more like raccoons than anything else. But there were more of them and they were a lot more active than the other pandas. They actually look somewhat like ewoks (remember from Star Wars?). Anyways, check out my pictures at windows live so you can see the red pandas. I also had a couple of pictures of fat baby pandas, which are actually cute.
The best part of my trip with my parents was Beijing. Blue skies, no stress, people that can actually speak Mandarin—it was great! In Beijing we were typical tourists, hitting all of the major tourist spots, Tiananmen, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and The Great Wall. My favorite part was The Great Wall. We took a tour group there, since it is pretty difficult to get there. It really blows your mind. The Wall goes on forever! The air is so fresh, and the views spectacular. The surprising part was the steepness of the Wall. You have to hold on tight! At one point I slipped and slid for a good 2 or 3 meters. Since we were with a tour we had about an hour to visit, but that was adequate. I wanted to see if I could reach this tower, so I ran off ahead, while my parents took it slowly and enjoyed the view and the experience of actually being on The Great Wall. I think one highlight for my dad was that there were 3 Indian men on the tour with us. They became fast friends and were joking and laughing about India, missing eating with your hands, struggling to use chopsticks, and the differences between China and India.
Now I am not one for shopping, but the shopping in Beijing was much better than any of the shops that I have seen elsewhere. Leo, who lived in Beijing for a year, suggested we try and visit Beijing’s famous hutongs (or alleyways). Beijing is full of old alleyways, many of them that are filled with interesting shops, restaurants, and cafes. We couldn’t find the ones that were the most famous, and no one seemed to be able to tell us how to get there. Frustrated and just about ready to give up going to these alleyways, a nice young man from America (but has been living in Beijing the past 3 years) saw us looking confused and came over to see if he could help us. He suggested a completely different alleyway but said it is easy to get to and that most people are familiar with the street and can point us in the right direction. We managed to get to it, and it was worth it. We just walked around and looked in the shops. My mom found a nice scarf, and my dad bought some stamps.
During my parents visit I realized that I find it very stressful to have other people rely on me for directions, communication, and decision making. The communication aspect of it is fine, but my directional skills are poor in any country and any language and I am also quite inept at making decisions. I much prefer to be the follower rather than a leader, but the world is made up of leaders and followers. If everyone was a leader, we would have even more wars than we already have, and if everyone was a follower than nothing would get accomplished, right?
If my parents were in China longer there were a couple of other places I would prefer to have taken them; places that are much more relaxing, a little less touristy and busy, but equally interesting to visit, but this possibly being their only opportunity in China, we had to see the typical sights (Chengdu and Beijing). If you want to hear more about the trip, feel free to ask my parents (especially my mom who kept a journal with her during the trip). Also check out the pictures (especially the ones of the Wall)