Photo Tuesday!

Dragon!

Stairs and building!

Birdies!

A brave and crazy man!

A rollercoaster Monday

New leaves!

Man was today a Monday! It started out rosy and happy, but at around ten o’clock this morning, it took a sharp downward turn. We were in the middle of a Skype conversation with the elder Têtus when our internet decided to die. We’ve been experiencing some issues lately with speed (that we now think was caused by defective hardware), but didn’t think we could be completely cut off from our only connection to the outside world. (Yes, I’m addicted to the internet, but you try to live in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and see if you could survive without the comforts that the “net” provides; it’s exactly that -- a safety net that keeps me sane.) Since Jean-Jacques’ attempts at fixing the problem failed, we decided to call my helper for assistance. At first he said that he probably wouldn’t be able to schedule the computer guy (who needed to visit the apartment to see the problem) until tomorrow. After a few calls (and an insistance on our part that we need the internet for our job search), we managed to get the school’s computer dude to visit a little while later. 


After blindly fiddling with Jean-Jacques’ computer for about five minutes, the computer guy finally accepted help from Jean-Jacques. (Not only was everything in English, but the man had probably never seen a Mac before, so it wasn’t surprising that he was lost. He messed with the computer’s background for a few minutes before Jean-Jacques navigated to the internet connection section of the laptop.)


To shorten this lengthy story, two guys from the Post Office (yes, the internet providers are controlled by the Post Office and therefore, the government) came to our apartment to look at the modem and replace it with a “temporary” one. They’ll be back in a few days with a new “official” one. 


So all of this excitement happened before I taught my first class. However, I would like to note that our experience with the downed-but-recently-fixed internet is typical here. We’re told that something absolutely cannot be done, but then, a little while later, the impossible becomes unceremoniously completed. At first it’s a little disconcerting, but with time, you learn to trust that everything will get done faster than you expect.

Spring!

Back to the story about my classes. This week I’m teaching about African Americans, the history of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, Ebonics, African American celebrities, and black music. Remember, I’m only spending about twenty-five minutes of class on the topic and during the rest of the time we watch a movie. Unfortunately, today I had the luxury of teaching my two classes before a large math test. Most of the students were either too exhausted to pay much attention to me or were quietly discussing math problems with their neighbor. 


Though it was frustrating to continually fight for attention (and feel like I was standing in front of fifty-five squirmy kindergarteners), I did the best I could to keep the masses interested. Since it’s the beginning of the week and I’m new to the content, I still have to work out some bugs and this often negatively impacts the quality of my instruction. In other words, I haven’t figured out my “groove” yet (that usually happens on the fourth or fifth run-though), but I have some good ideas that I’ll try tomorrow. I’m learning a lot about teaching this year. 


This evening Jean-Jacques and I had fun eating Pala while watching The Amazing Race. I processed a number of photos I took today after class and I’m about to get in bed early to read more of The Restaurant and the End of the Universe. Those of you who know Jean-Jacques well will wonder how his wife has lived twenty-seven years (and been married to said gentleman for eight years) without having read the entire Hitchhiker’s series; all I can say is that I’m currently righting this wrong and loving every word of the journey.


Hugs to all!

Katie and the art of relaxing

This is a wall hanging someone left behind in the apartment.

Yes, it has been quite a long time since I last wrote but because there wasn’t much to report, I didn’t think it was essential that I post an entry this weekend. Friday’s classes went well, only three students attended the movie lunch, our Saturday tutoring session was enjoyable, I lesson planned, corrected a student’s essay, and have taken many naps since Thursday. See, nothing terribly earth-shattering has occurred. 


I’m making considerable progress on the baby blanket that I’m knitting for our friends. I designed the project myself and the pattern is extremely easy, so I don’t have to concentrate on it much while I’m knitting. If an item needs to be quickly made, I’ve found that it will get finished faster if the stitch pattern is simple. 


Today I’ve been planning some upcoming fiber projects. I’ve outlined patterns for a couple of garments: a robe and a pair of shorts. I’m not sure my ideas will work, but I’m excited to try them even though I might have to rip everything out. That’s the useful thing about knitting -- if you make a mistake, you can easily correct it by frogging (or undoing) all the work.


Last night we watched Practical Magic. It was a terrible movie, but I enjoyed it because I had fun knitting and talking with Jean-Jacques. Plus, it was fun to see island scenery again. I’m not sure what we’re going to watch this evening; I’m sure it will be entertaining, though.

Real English

How could I possibly have forgotten all the joys of filling out job applications? The long hours of staring at a computer screen; the mind-numbing strain of carefully reading through multiple drafts of resumés and district applications to correct all the teeny mistakes; and the near-hysterical laughter caused by sarcastic jokes that Jean-Jacques and I make with one another to keep from ripping out our hair in frustration because we miss a few typos and we have to remake the entire PDF to include the corrected version. The process is often long and can be a bit painful, but we have fun and feel satisfied when we turn in a completed packet. Sure, it probably sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m really not; I’m simply being realistic. The process isn’t always fun, but it’s completely worth it in the end when work is secured. I’m crossing my fingers that we won’t continue our current trend of going through a job search every year like we have done for the past five years. (Although, I have to admit that I do get a sick pleasure out of turning in a completed application. It just feels like I’ve accomplished something orderly and I enjoy it.)


It was an entertaining Thursday. Lately, I’ve been explaining (rather passionately) in class that English is a living language and that it exists outside of books. To fully demonstrate my point, I hold up a newspaper that the students fill out for grammar practice; the assignment written on the paper is a typical fill-in-the-blank exercise. I say, “This isn’t real English. I, along with millions of other people, use real English every day. I need it to communicate with people.” The students get so fired up about my words that they usually all start clapping for me. I’m often surprised by their reaction, but it’s heartening because it helps me feel that my job here is worthwhile. Sometimes I feel like an accessory whose purpose is to improve the school’s reputation, not help students improve their English skills. However, today I realized that I am making a difference. I’m showing a few hundred Chinese students that the world goes far beyond Anqing’s doorstep and that English is more than a subject they will be tested on in a couple of years. Many of the students here don’t see how the topics they learn about in school connect to the real world, but I’ve been trying to change that these past couple of days. Judging by the students’ reactions, I think they’re grateful for my words.

Seventy-two steps to our apartment...

that I climb about three to five times a day. 

Thankfully, today’s classes went a bit more smoothly than the two from yesterday. Before we started watching Stardust, I carefully explained to the students that they probably would feel lost during the film, but that it was OK and I would pause the movie to help them understand the plot. This seemed to put them at ease and they seemed to enjoy class a lot more. Also, I think it helped that I mentioned that English is a real world language that real people use. In many ways this message was something new to them.

Here’s my favorite quote from the day:

When I asked a student how she was doing, she responded, “Wonderful! There’s a fire in me.” And she bounced into the classroom.

Not an onscreen kiss!

A rainy Monday

Sadly, today felt exactly like a Monday often does: a bit challenging. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’m instituting a new system for my lesson structure -- we’ll spend half the session learning about a specific topic (music, Asian Americans, art, restaurants, etc.) and we’ll spend the remaining class time watching and discussing a movie. At first the students were thrilled by the new format, but they became a little frustrated when they discovered the movie we’re going to watch for the next few weeks is Stardust. 


A few of the girls came up to me after class asking if I could switch the movie to Twilight (this is the fourth or fifth time I've been asked to change an activity). I simply said, “No.” 
They responded with, “Why?” 
To which I replied, “Because this is the movie we’re going to watch.”
They said, “There time for Twilight.”
I calmly informed them, “This is the movie we’re going to watch. There won’t be time for Twilight.”


When some students started grumbling about how they couldn’t comprehend the movie (with subtitles in English and me stopping the film every few minutes to explain the plot), I firmly stated, “You’ve been learning English for ten years. That’s a long time. You should be able to understand this movie. It’s kind of sad you don’t.” With this comment, many of the teens bowed their heads and became silent.


Yes, perhaps this was slightly impolite on my part. However, the students can be quite rude at times and sometimes the only way to clearly explain a point is to be blunt. Extremely blunt. They have horribly stressful lives without much fun, but they are also rather spoiled. If an answer isn’t handed to them on a silver platter, they get angry. That was what happened today and I think it was a valuable experience for them to feel a little lost. At one point I said, “Learning is a bit uncomfortable. If you’re comfortable, it means that you aren’t learning anything and growing.” 


On a slightly different topic, but still pertaining to the discussion of Stardust, during a kissing scene in the movie, most of the students looked away from the screen. It’s sort of strange to me that fifteen and sixteen year olds aren’t mature enough to watch a kissing scene in a teen movie. They must spend too much time studying or something.

A wedding, China-style

What a day and what experiences we’ve had! We were fortunate enough to be invited to a Chinese wedding. I will provide more details in a bit, but it was a fascinating look into Chinese culture and further proved to me how different our cultures can be at times. The West has definitely influenced the East and we saw numerous examples of it today. (In China, white is the color for death; in the past, brides used to wear red, not white, but that's not often the case nowadays. The bride today wore a western-style bridal gown.)


Our adventure started, like it often does, with a cab ride. Fortunately, we were able to catch a taxi and we showed the directions that our friend had texted us to the driver. When we arrived, we were a bit confused because our friends weren’t there yet and there were two wedding parties hosting events at the same establishment. One group had two people dressed up in Mickey Mouse costumes. After almost walking into the wrong wedding, a Chinese woman ran up to us and directed us to the correct one. We politely informed her that we were waiting for our friends, and found an out-of-the-way spot to stand until they arrived.


With our friends in tow, we greeted the bride and groom (who were standing outside of the restaurant). I had a red envelope filled with a hundred kuai that I gave to the bride (maybe I should have given it to the groom, but I didn’t know what was proper) with both hands (that’s the polite way to hand items to people in China). It was our unofficial ticket into the event. We took an elevator to the ninth floor. When we arrived, we signed a red guest book, walked down a beautifully covered (if a bit flimsy under our Western-sized bodies) yellow walkway to our seats. It took a while before the event started, so we talked with our friends for a bit. 


There was an official announcer who started off the ceremony by telling some jokes to get the crowd warmed-up. He even gave us a special greeting. (I’m telling you, the Chinese win the “best host ever” prize.) We didn’t know what he was saying and we were sitting down when he introduced us. By the time we figured out what was happening, the moment for us to stand up had passed.


After a few minutes, some loud music started (every ceremony in China has the amplification up to eleven and the treble pumped up at full volume). The groom started down the yellow walkway singing a karaoke song to his bride. The woman, who was was standing inside a pink tent, responded to her beloved in song. When the man arrived at the tent they did something meaningful that we couldn’t see (our view was blocked by a number of people observing the “ceremony”). Then the couple began walking back down the “aisle” (remember, this event is held in a large room in a restaurant) to a spot-lit stage where the professional host said some words about the couple. 


At one point, the host grabbed a bouquet and stood in front of the couple (like in western weddings) and had them repeat some silly vows (I promise to always wash your feet, always cook you dinner, etc.). Following this hilarious exchange, a young woman brought the rings and the couple placed them on one another’s fingers during a song and narration. They did some extremely deep bows at the audience, they emptied a bottle of wine into a special glass holder that looked a bit like a fancy silver hamster run, the couple downed a glass of wine while their right arms were entwined, they hugged (no kisses at this wedding!), and a number of people toasted. During most of the event, people in the audience were busy eating and talking in the dark. (Let me tell you that it’s dangerous to eat at a Chinese banquet if you can’t see what you’re ingesting. Jean-Jacques accidentally grabbed and munched down part of a turtle's head.)


In the middle of the wedding ceremony, a boy’s shirt caught on fire because his sleeve had come into contact with an open flame on the table. (Eating can be a dangerous business here.) Fortunately he was unhurt, but quite a bit of angry shouting transpired between the parents and waitstaff (the boy’s family was deriding the waitress). 


New items added tonight to the Exotic Eats List? Pig’s ear and sea cucumber. The former was surprisingly tasty, but I thoroughly disliked the latter because of my personal issues with food that has a squishy texture.


When we finished the meal, and toasting, we left the wedding. During the dinner (eventually the lights were turned on again), we were given party favors. We didn’t open them until we arrived home (it’s considered rude to open a gift in front of the giver) and discovered that the little boxes contained various types of little candies. 


I did feel bad for the bride and groom because they didn’t have the opportunity to eat much; instead, they went from table to table toasting their guests. (Again, I note the incredible hospitality that is part of the Chinese culture.) Not only did the couple have to stand outside in the rainy cold weather greeting guests for about a half and hour or forty-five minutes, but they also were so busy  talking with everyone that they didn’t have time for food. 


Sadly, the couple will be at work tomorrow and they won’t be taking a honeymoon.