The first week of January

Here's a round of journal entries from the past week.


Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Edinburgh, Scotland is the answer to the infamous question, “Where should we (Jean-Jacques and I) go for the Spring Festival vacation?” Yes, that’s right. Edinburgh, Scotland. Certainly the question marks and puzzled looks will begin at this point, but rest assured that we have not made this decision without much contemplation, research, and soul searching.  
Every spare second of Monday and Tuesday (remember that Monday was a holiday without school) was spent on the time-staking process of eliminating possible destinations. 


We considered Chiang Mai, Thailand, but it was too difficult to find flights. Also, we wanted a bit of a change from our pace here. Plus, an English speaking country would be wonderful. 


At one point, we had narrowed our choices to Dublin, London, and Edinburgh. To help us made the final decision, we watched a episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and we were sold on Edinburgh. It just felt right. It’s not too big, is extremely romantic, has wonderful food, has many options of things to do, and is quite reasonably priced. Plus, we were able to find a five start hotel within our price range. I think it’s going to be a magnificent vacation and I can hardly wait for it! We’re leaving three weeks from today, so it’s going to be exciting.


In other news, the lesson has been going rather smoothly this past week. We’re learning about winter activities and the students seem to really enjoy the content. We watch some funny videos, learn some vocab words, look at pictures of winter around the world, we do a version of the word game where students try to make new words using the letters in “hot chocolate”, I tell some knock knock jokes, post a couple of riddles that I help the students understand, I explain some common mistakes that we see Chinese students make, and we play charades if there’s time. I’m happy that it’s going so smoothly.


I’ve officially decided that next week we’re going to have a “party” and watch High School Musical 2 to celebrate. Finals will be starting soon and the students are already nervous about things, so I’m going to give them a break.


Thursday, January 6, 2011
It’s 7:24 PM and Jean-Jacques and I are comfortably set up in bed, ready to fall asleep soon. Yes, it’s early, but we have had a long week filled with trip planning. Plus, it’s so cold here that the only place where you feel warm is in bed. We’re using three blankets at night and that keeps us comfortable.


As Thursdays go, it was a rather fantastic one. My morning class was terrific and so was my middle session of the afternoon. The section directly after lunch was also quite well behaved and we had a fun time together; the only unfortunate experience I had was with one of the worst group of kids I have here. I think they have a difficult time comprehending English, so it’s easy for them to get off task. 


I did have some heart-warming experiences today, too. During one class, when I mentioned that Jean-Jacques and I were going to Scotland, some of the students got sad and one of them asked, “Will you come back after the holiday?” I responded affirmatively and he seemed relieved. Some of the female students volunteered to clean my classroom. They picked up the trash off the ground and straightened the desks. It was fun to see them help out so much and it made me feel good about my role here in China. The girls are so excited about the movie tomorrow that they can hardly wait. I think that it’s going to be a highlight of their week.


We had a date and ate dinner at the Muslim noodle shop. I ordered what I thought was going to be a beef noodle soup, but got a different concoction instead. It was delicious!


Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sorry about not writing yesterday, but we ended up staying up late with our Irish friend last night (who needed some counseling), so I didn’t have time to write up a quick entry.


Events from yesterday: I taught two classes and they went smoothly. I was thrilled to be finished with the week’s topic; yes it was a fun subject, but by the fourteenth time through a lesson, any content becomes repetitive. 


Directly after class, I met Jean-Jacques at the travel agency so we could buy our plane tickets from Anqing to Shanghai for our trip to Scotland. Alice, the travel agent, was extremely kind and generous (I don’t think that she charged us a commission for the arrangements). We had to pay an exorbitant price for the airfare, because it’s so close to the Spring Festival, but it’s worth it to us and we’re thrilled for the vacation. 


After the appointment at the travel agency, I had approximately an hour before my “movie lunch” so we returned to the apartment. I relaxed a bit before heading out again.


Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties while trying to show the students the movie. Approximately eighteen of them showed up and I think that they were excited for the opportunity to see a cartoon movie. (I had originally planned to have The Emperor’s New Groove.) However, the words and pictures were out of synch and made it impossible to follow the plot. Panicking, I had to find something else for them to watch and I ended up choosing (partially because it was the only back-up movie I had) Prom Night in Mississippi. I think the students were interested in it, but it did have a picture of a lynching which was probably a bit much for them. Also, the southern accents made it practically impossible for them to comprehend the spoken English. In the future, I think I’m going to stick with cartoon movies since that was one of the best ways I learned Spanish.


This morning we met with the eight students we selected to tutor. It was a fun meeting and I think that the students are going to enjoy working with us. The group is composed of all girls and they are mostly in the “arts” track of school. Many of them have heart-wrenching stories and I’m extremely happy to be working with them. I think that I’m going to put a little more effort into preparing a bit more for the sessions, but it’s going to be an enjoyable group. Actually, I’m happy I’ve added the “movie lunches” and tutoring to my schedule because I feel great about giving more to the students than what I’m required to do. It feels good to do a little extra.


This evening we went out for hot pot with our Irish friend and some of her colleagues. I would have to say that hot pot is addicting and I think we’re going to have to make it in the States.


Sunday, January 9, 2011
Yowling cats are serenading me as I write this entry. I think that some of them must be in heat right now because for the past three nights we’ve been graced with the nocturnal sounds of singing felines, and it’s not the most pleasant of sounds.


A girl couldn’t have asked for a better birthday. I slept in, my sweetie braved the cold to purchase me a bacon and egg Taiwanese pancake for breakfast and fried rice for lunch, I Skyped with my grandparents, the Têtus all sent me sweet e-cards, and I had a relaxing day. I managed to block my sweater arms in a minimal amount of time and I started Jean-Jacques’ weasel hat. 


The only unfortunate portion of the day was from 6:15 PM to around 8:30 PM and that was due to the fact that we were invited out to a banquet. We discussed an exchange to an American school for the host's son, so hopefully that paid for our dinner, but we were asked to tutor the boy as well. Our school contact suggested that the boy attend our Saturday tutoring sessions, but we said no to that; we did offer the Friday movie lunch as a possible alternative, though. Hopefully that will pacify them.


That’s about all the news I have from today. As I mentioned, it was mostly a day of relaxing and regrouping. Amazingly enough, we’ve been rather busy this weekend, but it hasn’t felt like it. I feel rested for the new week and ready to tackle the final five days before our month-long vacation. I can hardly wait for the break and Scotland. Whoo hoo! 

Happy New Year!

Audience at No. 1 Middle School Arts Festival

Ah, the week from hell. Well, maybe I shouldn’t phrase it exactly like that because it truly wasn’t one of the worst group of five days I’ve experienced here. I’ve been getting tougher in the classroom lately and I think the total number of students that I’ve kicked out has reached three or four. It seems that many of the students aren’t learning from their mistakes and changing their behavior. 

Arts Festival Presenters

For example, on Friday, I kicked out a girl for listening to an mp3 player during class. She was using ear buds and was obviously listening to music. I asked her to give me the device (my intention was that I was going to return it to her at the end of class); she disobeyed a couple of times and said, “No.” I tried to be patient with the situation because I understand that Chinese students sometimes have problems with authority and that when caught, they are too scared to follow directions and think that ignoring the situation (or apologizing profusely) will remedy the issue. (I’d already fought with this particular student before about a cell phone that she hid in her sleeve and refused to give me.) After a few seconds of her saying "no" and me asking her to hand over the mp3 player, I asked her to leave the room. She also refused to obey this request until I scooted out her chair; she finally got the hint and scurried out the classroom. 

Principal giving a speech

Did I enjoy the confrontation? No, I most certainly did not. Again, I understand that it’s difficult for the students to deal with my expectations as an American teacher; however, I’m also in a bind because I have to instruct 50+ individuals who don’t speak my language very well. I try to be lenient, but I probably tend to be a bit more strict than some teachers here. I do let some things go and for the most part, the students are doing an excellent job of behaving in my class (though I’m certain it’s been a considerable adjustment for them). 


In other news, Jean-Jacques and I attended the No. 1 School's Arts Festival that was put on by the students in honor of the new year. I had “planned ahead”, charged a battery, and replaced it in my camera to be prepared to take photos during the performance. However, my STUPID BATTERY died and I was only about to snap a few pictures of the show. Oh well, at least Jean-Jacques had his camera and was able to capture some excellent footage of the performance. It truly was epic.

No. 1 Choir

One last exciting bit of news from Friday. I tried saying Happy New Year in Chinese in front of the whole school, but I don’t think I talked into the microphone well enough, so I didn’t get much of a response. However, when I said, “Happy New Year” in English, I got a resounding response of “Happy New Year” from the audience. Then Jean-Jacques took over the stage and wowed the audience with his singing.

More singing

I hate to admit this, but on December 31 Jean-Jacques and I were so exhausted that we went to sleep at around ten thirty, instead of staying up to “ring in the new year”. Yes, I know it wasn’t the most thrilling way to experience a New Year’s celebration in China, but Jean-Jacques had spent the entire day watching students perform in a freezing auditorium; I was only there half the time, but it was enough for me to feel wiped out. However, large quantities of fireworks were set off at midnight and 12:15 AM, so we were awake when the new year began.

A Chinese Christmas

Here are some of my journal entries to get you up-to-date with our activities during the past week:


Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Crazy day involving a student crying because she hates “comic” (or Mr. Bean), sweater blocking, a hotpot dinner (so far I haven’t barfed it up yet), an amazing gift from Amanda (a wooden comb set that cost 480 RMB), and helping Amanda come up with some ideas about how to write a college essay (she’s incredibly smart and will thrive in the US). 


Thursday, December 23, 2010
Jean-Jacques and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary today. I made Jean-Jacques a card on my computer (it was a collage of a bunch of pictures of us) and he made me an extremely sweet KeyNote presentation about all the reasons he loves me.

Classes went fairly smoothly. The students enjoyed Mr. Bean (of course, I’d be worried if they didn’t) and there was a considerable amount of desk slapping and raucous laughter.

We celebrated tonight by eating melted cheese sandwiches and watching three episodes of Dr. Who. The fifth season has been incredible; unfortunately, after the finale, I feel like I have more questions than answers. I guess I simply have to continue watching the series so I can get the answers I so desperately need to find.

Saturday, December 25, 2010
What an excellent Christmas. We awoke to a blanket of white and a few flurries dancing in the air. We spoke with some  NCUSCR program participants and Jean-Jacques’ family. We met some friends for lunch at the Korea BBQ restaurant where I attended the girls’ night out. The meal was extremely entertaining because we were able to play with our food without getting in trouble; in fact, we had to play with it.
 
After the lunch, Jean-Jacques and I returned to the apartment to play a round of Pictureka. My tummy was feeling a little putt-putt, but recovered quickly during a nap. When I awoke, we bundled up to make the trip to Pala, where we procured some chicken sandwiches, french fries, chicken nuggets, and milk tea. It was a teeny bit challenging to hail a taxi back home, but after a few minutes of waiting, we caught one. Once we arrived at the apartment, we ate dinner while watching the A Claymation Christmas Celebration. It was fabulous!

I also casted on a hat that I’m making out of the left-over yarn from my green sweater. I feel that I will never run out of the stuff; I’ve already made a sweater, a pair of mittens for Jean-Jacques, and I’m currently working on a hat. It’s certainly comfortable wool, so I’m happy I can make a number of projects from it.

Speaking of knitting, I realized that I’ve completed six fiberlicious projects during my stay in China thus far -- a sweater, a pair of socks, a crocheted purse, a crocheted iPad case, a pair of convertible mittens, and a scarf. Yes, I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time with needles in hand, but I have become a more competent knitter as a result. I am learning how garments are constructed and how I can create things by myself. It’s quite freeing, actually. Necessity is definitely the mother of invention since I’m restricted by yarn and pattern selection. As a result, I’m learning how to be a more independent knitter and I’m extremely grateful for the experience.

Sunday, December 26, 2010
And now the Christmas season is over. In many ways, it’s a freeing feeling because now we don’t have to focus on missing our families and the United States. Instead, we can place all our energy on enjoying our experience here in China and learning all we can during our stay. It’s hard to believe, but next month, we’ll be half way through our ten months; about a week after we return from the Spring Festival holiday, we’ll only have four months remaining. That seems like a considerable amount of time, but I imagine that it will pass extremely quickly.

Today was wonderful. Jean-Jacques and I didn’t really sleep in too late this morning (even though we stayed up late “opening” Christmas presents on Skype and chatting with family through the gmail phone program). Jean-Jacques was sweet and made the trek to procure pancakes. I briefly Skyped my  grandparents (and saw Harold, Jeff, Becky, and Ellie), but they seemed exhausted, so I didn’t keep them on terribly long. 


After eating, completing the finishing touches to the up-coming lesson, reading, and spending some time knitting, we left for the supermarket to purchase a fancy tea cup for me and a jade necklace for Jean-Jacques. They were our “Christmas” presents (even though they were a day late) and we had fun shopping for them. Strangely enough, many of the festive Christmas decorations were still up and holiday music was playing. You simply can’t escape Christmas.

This evening we watched the terrible, but hilarious 2 Fast 2 Furious and ate Beijing chicken with rice. 

I finished knitting a hat for myself from the green sweater yarn. At first I wasn’t thrilled by how it turned how, but it’s been growing on me and I think I’m becoming quite attached to it. I essentially made up the pattern myself and it turned out slightly differently than I had planned; however, I’m pleased by the results and it’s quite adorable, if a bit unconventional. I even added a tassel. 

That’s about all the news from my end at this point. I’m searching for books on Amazon because the Têtus generously gave me a gift certificate there and I’m excited about buying some Kindle books with the money. 

Busy bees

What an action-packed Monday! I feel as if we’ve experienced a few days’ worth of activities and it’s late afternoon. It’s been a whirlwind, but an educational one. 


Where should I begin relating the adventures? Probably at the beginning. 


This morning Jean-Jacques and I woke up at around six o’clock, quickly got ready for the day, and left the house about an hour later. On our way to the No. 2 Middle School, we picked up a delicious breakfast of a spicy flatbread that has sesame seeds and green onion sprinkled on top; the closest thing it resembles (though faintly) is focaccia. The dish is served with a stick that you use to skewer pieces so you can eat them. We grabbed a taxi out on the main road and arrived at the school with extra time, so we wandered around the campus a bit. We also spoke with Jean-Jacques’ principal and his helper. 

The flag ceremony was fascinating to watch; the Chinese have a special way of hoisting the flag and they throw it out away from the flag pole before it starts getting raised. (I don’t know if the US does this, but I haven’t seen it before.) Jean-Jacques’ speech had an excellent message -- don’t give up your culture in the pursuit of money -- but I'm not sure how many of the students understood his message because no one translated it into Chinese.  


After the speech, we were free to leave, so we did. We decided to walk back to No. 1 instead of taking a taxi because Jean-Jacques wanted to take a video of the trip and I wanted to snap some photos of food street. We both enjoyed the walk and were able to take some good video and photos respectively. 

Jean-Jaques and I had a brief amount of time between activities, so I processed my photos from the day, we listened to Christmas music, drank some tea, and regrouped. At around five to eleven, we left  the apartment for our next adventure. Our helper (and mutual contact) was a bit late to meet us, but once he arrived, we were whisked away by his friends. (A few days ago, our helper contacted us with a request that we visit a kindergarten to visit with the students, take some pictures of us interacting with the students -- it’s excellent advertising. At first we thought that we were going to be teaching classes, but far less than that was required of us as we quickly discovered. It was truly a firsthand lesson in guanxi, or the complex network of relationships and favors that exist in Chinese society.) 

We arrived at the first of two kindergartens, were ushered out of the car, and directed into the school where we were excitedly greeted by a crowd of little kids. The adults were anxious to show off the students’ learning, so the kids sang songs for us, introduced themselves, and said words in English. Many of the little ones were terrified of us, but were forced by the adults to interact with us; at one point, Jean-Jacques even made a little boy cry. We felt horrible about the whole situation. However, Jean-Jacques, being the wonderfully outgoing individual he is, made the best of an uncomfortable situation and tried speaking with many of the children. During the visit, many Chinese were taking pictures and video of us while we interacted with the children.

Then we were shown to another school, where we underwent a similar experience, although the kids were younger. After the tours, we were driven to a fancy restaurant where we met up with six other people for a banquet. We were introduced to some of the people, but not everyone. I have no idea why the other people were present, but I assume it was to schmooze. The hosts were extremely generous (they gave us presents, offered to arrange a trip for us during the Spring Festival vacation, and were extremely thankful that we had visited the kindergarten), but it was difficult to see the rich, party-connected side of China, when many of the poorer Chinese suffer because they don't have the correct contacts. It seems that much of the business that's done here is based on the relationships or connections you have with others. I think that sometimes it’s about who you know, not necessarily your qualifications and that can be frustrating. (However, when you think about it, the same is sometimes true in the States, but maybe it's not as prevalent or obvious.) 

Unfortunately, I was late for my first class today, but I recovered quickly and the lesson went fairly smoothly. How can it go poorly when all you’re doing is watching a Mr. Bean Christmas special and an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants? 

Comfy

Sorry for the long silence, but I’ve needed some time to relax and regroup. I haven’t been feeling 100% the past few days, but after some rest, I’m doing much better. In fact, I feel ready to tackle China again.


On Friday, I had two classes, ate some Taiwanese pancakes, I started knitting some convertible mittens for Jean-Jacques, we watched the Nutcracker (it was strangely more depressing than I remembered from my childhood), and I took an hour-and-a-half-long nap. Oh yeah, we also started watching the new season of Dr. Who.


On Saturday, we woke up at around eight o’clock, Jean-Jacques was brave and went to procure some groceries and Taiwanese pancakes; I had milk tea with a student (the same one who I had spoken with about applying to a Swedish university; yesterday's conversation was equally entertaining because she thought people in Colonial Williamsburg currently live the way the colonists did back in the seventeen hundreds), grabbed us lunch, worked on the lesson that we’ll teach two weeks from now, continued knitting Jean-Jacques' mittens (my goal has been to complete them by the weekend because he needs them for his commute to No. 2 Middle School). We took a walk by the Yangtze (it was extremely romantic and entertaining; we even saw a building on a stilt-like platform, with a door, but no way of getting up to the door), ate dinner at the Muslim noodle shop, and watched Romancing the Stone. 


Today we basically much did more of what we did yesterday. I called my grandparents, talked with my grandmother through the gmail phone calling program and Skyped with my grandfather. 


I’m practically finished with the mittens, so I’m happy. 


That’s truly all the news I have at this point. It’s nothing too thrilling because life has settled down considerably. Tomorrow should be interesting because Jean-Jacques is giving a speech at the No. 2 Middle School during the flag-raising ceremony (I want to witness the event because it should be educational) and we’re going to visit a kindergarten for an advertisement photo shoot; one of our helpers at the school asked us if we were willing to help out a friend of his and we agreed. We’re assisting the friend by visiting a kindergarten s/he runs, briefly speaking with the children, and then posing for pictures that will be used to promote the kindergarten. Westerners are good for business, even if they don’t actually frequent an establishment. 

Snowy paradise

Anqing was a regular winter wonderland today. The snow began midmorning and continued to fall throughout the day. Students were freezing, but excited to see the ground covered in white and many  threw snowballs during breaks. It was wonderful to observe them having fun.


Yesterday was difficult, but today was infinitely better. My classes went smoothly, I received numerous words of encouragement from supporters stateside, and I had some wonderful interactions with students. I learned a valuable lesson about teaching in China -- in the classroom I must act like a crazed circus clown on crack. I’m really not exaggerating very much. The students require copious quantities of energy to keep them entertained by and engaged in the lesson. It’s not an unattainable challenge to keep fifty plus kids interested in a topic for forty-five minutes, but it does require me perform like a rock star sixteen times per week (my Senior 2 class was cancelled). I enjoy the job and I’m certainly perfecting my pedagogical craft.

Here are some amazing stories from the day:


As we were singing “Jingle Bells” together, one student had an amazing ability to project his voice so that I could hear it above all the others. However, he didn’t fully comprehend the idea of rhythm (or was unable to use the skill) and constantly sang out of time. It took all of my self-control to keep myself from laughing.


In response to my comment, “Americans can learn much from the Chinese about not being wasteful,” one student said, “Don’t follow Chinese!”

An answer to my question -- “Does it snow very often in Anqing?” -- was “Only in the winter.” I responded, “I hope it only snows in the winter.” The student thought this was so hilarious that he almost fell out of his seat laughing.


One girl took video of the class because she wanted to write about it in her blog.


Another girl came up to me after class and said, “Great lesson, of course.”

I have learned that when addressing Chinese students, I need to be careful about how I phrase my questions. For example, during the first few run-throughs of the new lesson, I asked the students, “Raise your hand if you know one thing about Christmas.” In my mind, I thought that the question intimated knowledge of one (or more) facts about Christmas. I grew frustrated when the students didn’t raise their hands, so I repeated the query a few times, slowed down my speech, and eventually gave up attempting to coax an answer from the teens. However, a girl was finally brave enough to raise her hand and say, “I know more than one thing about Christmas.” Well, this explained the problem. When I rephrased the question to include “one or more facts about Christmas” I received the responses for which I had been searching. It was an important lesson for me to learn and I told the story to many of my classes today; they all thought it was a hilarious misunderstanding.


Today I also donned my photographer cap and took a number of pictures of the snowy scene at the No. 1 Middle School. Hope you enjoy the images!

December blues

Arg! Margot (our American boss) was one hundred percent correct when she explained that American teachers in the NCUSCR program often experience frustrations during December. I’ve become a statistic because I’m feeling these emotions at this point in our stay. I’m doing my best to focus on the positives and remain energetic in the classroom, but it’s been a bit of a struggle these past couple of weeks. I think it’s a mixture of student ambivalence, my homesickness (it's hard being away from the States during the holiday season), and everyone’s desperate need for a vacation. I’ll keep pushing through the difficult times and I’m sure I’ll grow from the experience; it’s not always fun now, but I’m sure it will be worthwhile in the end.

I started a new lesson yesterday. The strategy of making Monday the beginning of a fresh topic is working well. Jean-Jacques and I both had flop classes yesterday, so we were happy we could collaborate to make this week’s sessions better. 


Here’s a brief rundown of what we’re doing this week: I post a picture of a mini Christmas tree in snow (see the above picture) and play holiday music for the students as they file into the classroom. I then show them the warm-up question: Briefly describe what you already know about... 1) Hanukkah and 2) Christmas. (The warm-up causes quite a disruption in the room because none of the students have heard of Hanukkah, so they’re troubled they can’t answer the question. I have to assure them that it’s OK for them to write, “I don’t know anything about Hanukkah.”)


To teach them about Hanukkah, I post some vocabulary words (dreidel, menorah, and latkes) and explain how they are important to the holiday. I give a short lecture that contains basic information about the celebration and we watch a Sesame Street segment about the Hanukkah story; after the clip, I ask them some simple questions about the film.


We then start discussing Christmas. I run through more vocabulary words (Christmas tree, elf, stocking, Santa Claus, mistletoe, reindeer, and eggnog), explain how Americans celebrate the holiday, post pictures of houses covered in Christmas lights, show a clip of a light show at someone’s house that has been designed to flash in time with a special song, show a clip of Mr. Bean’s Christmas, run through six word scrambles that use the new vocabulary I introduced, sing “Jingle Bells” together using a YouTube karaoke version of the song, and answer some closure questions that are designed to review some key information we covered during the class. 


It seems like a fairly exciting lesson, but sadly, some of the students seem too sleepy to participate in the activities. Maybe it’s me who's dropping the ball, but I don’t think that’s the problem. Jean-Jacques and I both agree that the students are stressed, exhausted, and burned-out. They’ve simply had enough and need a break. 


Today I confiscated a video player that one student had been viewing during class. I practically made him cry when I asked him why he was watching a movie during class and not paying attention to me. At first, he refused to reply. However, after I questioned him four times, waited for his answer, wrote the word “Why” on the board, and waited again for his response, he finally said, “I was bored.” 


I replied, “That’s very rude and if I ever see this again, I will talk to your head teacher about it and that won’t be good.” 


The boy never apologized, but he was visibly uncomfortable with the confrontation, so hopefully he won’t repeat the offense. 


I think I have finally fixed my cabled sweater after numerous rows that I’ve had to frog. Yes, it’s been a headache, but I think I’ll be happy with the result. I’d better be, since it’s taken a long time to complete and it’s caused me to suffer though many hours of frustration while I corrected and re-corrected all the mistakes. 


P.S. It’s freezing right now! Literally. The forecast is predicting snow, so I won’t be surprised if we wake up to a little blanket of white outside tomorrow morning.