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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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...
Maybe the spring weather is affecting my brain, but I had a spectacular day. I often enjoy Wednesdays because my schedule is “clustered” and all of my classes are back-to-back (with a lunch to separate the first half from the second). However, I’m most happy because I’m able to end the school day at 3:45 PM, instead of the normal time of 5:30 PM.
Perhaps successful classes are the cause of my contented state, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m not perpetually feeling frozen.
I do have a humorous story from the day that I’m sure you will all enjoy. As many of you may already know, I’m not a spelling wizard. Most of the time I write words correctly, but I often have difficulties figuring out the correct way to spell them. (I promise that all this background information will serve a purpose, just be patient.)
During the mad libs section of the lesson, I asked one class for an adjective so I could demonstrate how a mad lib works. One of the students proudly shouted out, “Neurotic”. (Until this point, I’d been given answers like “ugly”, “romantic”, “beautiful”, or words that are easily spelled.) I pondered the word for a moment, trying to figure out the spelling, and then bravely started writing. Quickly, I realized that I would need a bit of assistance because I wasn’t going to get it right on my first attempt. I then asked the students for help and they also had a difficult time. I think I eventually got it correct, but I honestly don’t remember.
Interestingly enough, the words for the rest of the mad lib activity were “ugly”, “sun”, “romantic”, etc. (Here's my personal analysis of the situation: the students felt so bad that I lost “face” during the lesson that they made an effort to ensure that it wouldn’t happen again. They like me and want me to succeed, not flounder in front of them. Although I felt a bit stupid for the goof-up, I was heartened by their response.)
It was another night of Muslim Noodle Shop food for dinner. The restaurant is excellent because it has pictures on the menu, all the dishes contain a number and variety of vegetables, and there are many choices from which we can select. This all adds up to a perfect place for us to frequent (and we do with our plastic carryout containers in hand).
Here are today’s pictures:
Hugs to all!
ZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZZ! It’s only nine o’clock this evening and I’m about to fall asleep as I’m typing this entry. I don’t know why I’m tired, but I did use up a considerable amount of energy trying to keep students interested in learning about Valentine’s Day.
Classes went smoothly and nothing terribly exciting occurred. We ate grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, I got dinner from Muslim Noodle Shop, and we watched the new episode of The Bachelor.
Since I’m trying to become a better photographer, I’m playing around with my camera and Photoshop Elements more. My goal is to take one to three “keepers” a day. Here are the two from today:
I’d better head to bed before I can’t....
