The sky is dripping

Sadly there isn’t much exciting news from today. We had a slightly challenging tutoring session (one student snapped at another one for “hogging” our attention) and Jean-Jacques and I are in the process of discussing our goals for the meetings. I remind you again that we’re dealing with a radically different educational system where the students want teachers to talk at them for hours on end, instilling them with wisdom. Well, as you can imagine, neither Jean-Jacques nor I teach in this style, so our world views can clash with those of some of our tutees. (They feel that there are only so many hours in a day and every second must be meaningfully used, not wasted by talking about how one person gets nervous about speaking in front of people.) I have empathy for the students, but I firmly believe that we need to continue running classes the way we have been because it’s a good exercise for the students. The majority of them enjoy our time together, but I think some of them are starting to be less thrilled by the meetings.

Other than that it’s been a relaxing day. It’s misting outside and I’m happy to be inside wearing my comfy pajama bottoms that I bought in Scotland. I read some of a murder mystery I started the other day, took a two hour nap, washed and hung up a load of laundry, and ate a new noodle dish for lunch. This evening we’re going to watch a movie, eat grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and probably play a board game on the iPad. It sounds like the perfect way to spend a drizzly Saturday evening. 

Friday night ramblings

Jean-Jacques' green bean mustache

Though difficult to believe, it’s Friday again. Strangely, this week was both short and long. I feel like it should be Friday, but the days seemed to pass quickly. 


My two periods this morning went fairly smoothly. As I’ve mentioned before, some of the students are a little less enthusiastic to attend my class, and have a difficult time being motivated to work on assignments I give. I’ll simply have to step up my discipline a bit. 


This year has definitely helped my classroom management skills. Not only do I have large classes, but many of them don’t speak English very well, are not used to focusing their entire attention on a teacher, keep breaking the same rules (are they testing me to see if I’ll respond differently the seven hundredth time I see a student using a cell phone?), and don’t receive a grade in my class. Plus, the course doesn’t directly help them prepare for the national college entrance examinations, which can be disastrous for me since I’m working in an extrinsically motivated education system. 


Our experience so far has shown us that the English taught here is very different from the English that Americans, English, Scottish, Welsh, South Africans, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, or Irish use. We’ve discovered that in China, English has become another subject that’s used to test the students’ abilities to answer multiple choice questions. It’s not a creative or fluid subject, with all the complexities that make sense to us. (Example: think of all the different ways you can respond to the greeting, “How are you?”. In Anqing, the only response is this: “I’m fine, sanks.”) English in China has almost been reduced to a mathematical problem that makes sense on paper (if you think about it creatively), but would never be used in a real world circumstance. (Who says that a dish is “mouth-watering and delicious” or “I’m going to relax myself this weekend”?)  For Chinese students, English has become robotic. Here’s a sentence, fill in the correct word from a multiple choice list. Conjugate the highlighted word to fit the sentence. 


Sorry for the detour into EssayTown, which is conveniently located in RantLand. I’ll return to my original story. My students need to be reminded of their responsibilities in my class and I will make it clear to them next week. Sometimes I feel bi-polar because one moment I’m stern Mrs. Têtu who-must-firmly-discipline-a-student and then in the next second I become enthusiastic Mrs. Têtu who-is-bouncing-around-the-room-while-explaining-the-meaning-of-“brag”. It seems to work, though. Maybe I am so unpredictable that I shock the students into paying attention.


I was surprised when sixteen students showed up to my Friday Movie Lunch. Normally I have around five to seven students, so I wasn’t expecting such an impressive turnout. We had fun watching the movie Cars and I only had to stop the movie a few times to explain the plot. 


After I returned home from the Movie Lunch, I crawled into bed and spent most of the afternoon there in a comfortable, but semi-comatose state (or semi-awake state, depending on your world view). Jean-Jacques cooked dinner while I kept him company, we watched the latest episode of The Amazing Race, and we’re in the middle of this week’s Castle. I say in the middle because we had to pause the show to use the bathroom in shifts (that's a plural, mind you). I think our lunch of spicy noodles wasn’t the kindest on our tummies. 


Until tomorrow...

Katie eats something scary

Much has occurred in my life since I last wrote. I’ve taught twelve classes, attended another banquet, and added an item to my Exotic Eats List. In other words, life is back to normal for us in China.


Yesterday (Wednesday) I received a call from a friend asking if we were busy that evening. I asked, “What for?” (Maybe this was rude, but I wanted to know what I was going to be asked to do before committing to do it.)
He replied, “To go to another banquet.”
I answered, “Oh.”
He said, “It’s the tea merchant who drove the van to pick you up when you first arrived. He’s been wanting to host a dinner for a while now, and I finally have time.”
Me, inwardly sighing, “Ok. I’ll check with Jean-Jacques.”


Do you think we refused the invitation? You guessed it, we found ourselves being whisked away to another evening of socializing. There was the usual amount of smoke haze and drunken toasting. In addition to the normal frustrations endured at all banquets, my head was also pounding and the vocal volume of our fellow diners increased in direct proportion to the amount of baijiu they drank, which, in turn, didn’t positively affect my headache. 

However, I couldn’t stay mad long because the Chinese are simply too generous and kind. 
That’s one thing I’ve learned while here -- the Chinese are the most gracious hosts I have ever met (and probably ever will meet). Sure, there’s a lot of spitting, noodle slurping, and shoving in China, but one quickly forgets all about it once you’re in the middle of experiencing Chinese hospitality. Our host last night picked us up at our school (and drove us back), drank tea (not baijiu) with us so we wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, kept filling up our tea cups with fresh water, made sure that we received the first helpings of dishes once they were placed on the table, invited us to his shop for some expensive tea after the meal, and gave us a bag of peanuts and about eight packets of dates to take home with us. Wow! 


The only thing we did in the way of a thank you was to take some pictures with the tea shop owner and his wife. We were told that they are planning to frame the photograph and hang it under a picture of Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin. I’m not sure we’re worthy to put in such a prominent place.


We did get a business card for the tea shop, so we can show a taxi driver the address and find our way back on our own. If anyone has some orders for Chinese tea, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to fill your request.


What exotic dish did I eat last night? Duck tongue. No, I am not exaggerating. I was happily eating some tasty noodles, when a man plopped half a duck bill on my plate. (He had just done the same thing to Jean-Jacques.) I’ll admit that I’ve gotten much more brave when it comes to eating bizarre food, but I almost couldn’t stomach the duck tongue. I had to pry it away from the bill (which still had some hairs in it, by-the-way) and hold the whole thing in my fingers while I took a bitty bite. Was it mouth-watering and delicious (to quote one of Jean-Jacques' students)? Not in the least. I only managed to swallow the one niblet I tried. And I tasted it all night long.

Thankfully, today was excellent. I had to remind many of the students of my expectations (some of them are starting to slack off and not complete the small amount of work that I assign during class; remember, I don’t give homework), but overall we had a good time together. I’ve learned how to provide an action-filled explanation of “deodorant”, I juggled for a bit to explain the word “juggler”, and I’ve been able to successfully make jokes they understand. 


I was a little worried about the class “that has devil eyes”, but they were perfect today. (Some of the trouble makers were busy collecting books for the poor... Yes, you read that correctly. It only happens in China, folks.) We had fun and laughed together, which is good because we all needed it. At the end of the session, I informed them that I was very proud of them and gave them a round of applause that they quickly joined. So it was a great day. 
(The only incident of the period occurred when I took away a kid’s physics homework, grabbed a desk and chair, put them outside of the room, and suggested that he study there. He pleaded for me to give him a second chance, which I did. He was an angel for the rest of time.) 


As I’ve said, it’s been an exciting few days. Hope all is well with everyone!

Jobs and such

It was a good, if energetic Monday. For some unknown reason, the students were a bit more enthusiastic than normal. One class was so chatty that I had to ask a student to leave. 


I never cease to be amazed by what topics cause the students to almost riot from excitement. This week’s topic? Jobs and job interview tips. We discuss what kinds of jobs the students would like to have, what types of questions interviewers might ask, if a job is good for happiness or money (or both), listen to CCR’s version of Proud Mary, do an activity where the students must come up with jobs that start with every letter of the alphabet (architect, banker, cook, etc.), and watch a short video about interview tips. 


Though it was a bit of a challenge to keep the students’ energy flowing in a positive direction, I was happy to discover that they enjoyed the week’s topic. Maybe they like the practicality of the lesson. I’m interested to see how the rest of the sessions play out. 

The truth about banquets

It was another relaxing weekend, until around 4:50 PM this afternoon, but I’ll explain that in a bit. On Saturday, we woke up at around 8:00 AM, got ready for the day, had a successful tutoring session, did the week’s shopping, cleaned the bathroom, and enjoyed some downtime. Today was essentially a repeat of yesterday, except I finally finished The Memoirs of Cleopatra, which was an interesting, if lengthy, novel. 


So what happened at 4:50 PM to change our day’s course? Jean-Jacques received a phone call from a Chinese friend who invited us to dinner at 6:00 PM. (Note to reader: As I am writing this, I realize that I am an ungrateful person who shouldn’t be complaining. In the future, when I smell like roses again, and I can breath without feeling like my lungs are charred, I will try to be a better person. I promise.)

Ah, The Chinese Banquet. It’s an experience that every westerner who visits China must have, though as you’re enduring the two-hour-plus cultural exchange, you wish you were comfortably back in the apartment eating a melted cheese sandwich. I dislike every banquet I attend, but after the event I’m satisfied, pleased, happy I went because I learn something new. No, I don’t always enjoy the exotic food, suffocating plumes of cigarette smoke, being paraded around like a stuffed poodle (I’ve gotta pay for my dinner somehow...), or the custom of competitive drinking, but the conversation that I can understand (and participate in) usually provides me with some fascinating new insight into Chinese culture, so the pain is worth it in the end. 

What did I learn tonight? Chinese executives consider drinking to be an important part of a business negotiation. If someone is sober, it can be difficult to trust him or her, so that’s why business is done over a meal with drinking. 


It’s late, sleep calls, and I need to find a new book to read. ¡Adiós!


P.S. The in-heat howling cats are starting to make me sad. I don't want to be sad. I want the kitties to be happy like Pickles and Ninja. Maybe the rain will quiet them for a little while.

Movies and more

What a blustery night! The wind is rattling our windows and I can hear a number of creaks and crashes outside. It’s perfect weather for sitting inside, watching a terrible movie, and drinking tea. I’m not quite sure where spring went...


I had a great end to my school week. I taught two classes and showed the end of Emperor’s New Groove and start of Cars to seven students during my “Movie Lunch Friday”. Hopefully, the activity will become more popular, but if not, I still think the small group benefited from the experience. They seemed to enjoy the movies and understand them quite well. I was impressed.


They wanted me to play High School Musical 3, but I didn’t. I explained that I had “lost” my copy of it. My own experience of watching movies to learn a language taught me that to remain interested in a plot, it’s important to have a balance of conversation and “seeable” action. The trouble with High School Musical is that many of the jokes aren’t transferable to Chinese culture and the actors speak too quickly for the students to follow the story. However, after watching The Emperor’s New Groove, the students could easily explain the plot because they were able to visually keep up with the action. Plus, the humor was universal.


I spent most of the afternoon fiddling with Photoshop Elements, reading the manual for my camera, and taking pictures of Jean-Jacques. We made a delicious veggie stir fry for dinner and watched another terrible movie. (We make an effort to see the worst movies ever created since it’s practically impossible to find worthwhile films these days.)


Last night, at 10:30 PM, as we were about to turn out the lights to sleep, a series of fireworks exploded on the street below our apartment. Our window was closed, but it was so loud that we had to cover our ears. We think that a neighbor’s son got married yesterday and that the fireworks were set off at two different times during the day for good luck (one time before he left for the wedding and one time after the ceremony). 


I heard a weird noise in an apartment on the third floor and was terrified by the experience. Check out Jean-Jacques’ blog for the full story.


During the warm-up for one class, a student had “finished” answering the questions long before any of his peers. I was a bit suspicious and said, “Wow. You wrote fast!” 
The male student, nodded, while looking down at his paper.


(During my time teaching in Anqing, I have learned that Chinese students are horrible at lying or acting slick when they know they’ve done something wrong. This kid’s behavior showed me that he was obviously hiding something. I ran with my hunch.)


Me: You obviously didn’t write this.
The student looked at me with wide eyes.
Me: You used someone else’s warm-up.
The student, looking down, nodded.
Me: I’m pretty smart, you see. I was once a student so I know what you do. 
The student started giggling with his friends. He was obviously embarrassed.
Me: Do you think I’m so stupid that I won’t know you cheated when everyone else isn’t close to finishing yet? Get writing.


The student didn’t respond. He was so riled up (and still giggling with his friends) that I had to remind him five minutes later that he needed to calm down or else I would ask him to leave the room. 


Ah, students. Oh how you entertain me! Thanks for making my life so enjoyable.


Here are Friday’s pictures. Jean-Jacques is a handsome model, isn’t he?

Have a happy weekend!

"That class has devil eyes!"

If I could magically erase the last period of today, I would be pleased. I’ve often had problems with the group of students I teach from 4:40-5:30PM on Thursdays (as I’ve mentioned in a number of previous blog posts), but their behavior was so awful today that I almost dismissed the lot of them and cancelled class. I think their negative attitude stems from too much stress, a lack of interest in my class, an overbearing head teacher, and many other factors. I am sympathetic to their plight, but I still have to teach the class. 


I practically had to physically remove two students from the classroom because they refused to follow directions. (I had to scoot one chair -- with a student in it -- out from behind a desk because the two boys weren’t moving and I needed to illustrate that I was serious when I told them to leave the room.) 


The situation will change soon. It must, or else I’ll be sent one of two places -- a mental institution, or a Chinese jail. I’m currently devising a strategy, so I’ll let you know when I put it into practice.


Other than that, it was a great day. Here’s a cute story to balance the negative one about “hell class”:


Me, to a female student: How was your vacation?
Student: Terrible!
Me: Oh, I’m sorry! Why was it terrible?
Student: Because I missed you! (She then was so embarrassed that she covered her mouth with her hand and started giggling.)


See, my Chinese students can be extremely sweet, too. Truthfully, most of them are wonderful, and it’s only about 5% of them that frustrate me. Isn’t it sad how easily the 5% overshadow the 95%?


Here are my photos from the day. Somehow “laundry” became the theme. I’m not sure how that happened...