Catching up

This past week I taught a lesson about Hispanic and Asian Americans. We watched some Spanish-language music videos, learned a little Spanish (when my students see me around campus, they have been calling out “hola” lately and it makes me laugh because they are very excited about it), learned a little about the history of Asians in the US, and discussed famous Asian Americans. I was surprised by how well the students did with the lesson and how engaged they were with the content. One of the highlights for them seemed to be the section where we learned a few Spanish words and phrases. In China, the only language high school students study is English and they have no choice in the matter. Many of the students haven’t learned much about the Spanish-speaking world, or even heard the language much, so I think they enjoyed being exposed to something new.

To further enhance the new cultural experience, I showed them a music video from a Mexican brother-sister guitar duo named Rodrigo y Gabriela. Many of the students watched in complete silence (which is something rare here) and one of the classes even clapped when the song was over; I also noticed that many of the kids wrote down the name of the group so they could listen to the music later.

Believe it or not, we’ve got five weeks left in the PRC. It’s strange that our time here is winding down. I’ll be happy to eat pizza, cereal, and fresh fruits and veggies again, but I’m going to miss China. I’m not sure how to explain it. China can be dirty, disgusting, and the most frustrating place on Earth, and yet, somehow, it gets under your skin and endears itself to you. It’s so outrageous and completely different from anything I’ve experienced before that it forces you to love and be charmed by it. Yes, there have been many times that I’ve wanted to get on the next plane and leave because of frustrating cultural differences, but once you take a step back (and realize that there are multiple ways of looking at the universe), things get easier. My experiences here have taught me that our history and culture have shaped us in ways that we don’t fully understand until we are confronted by people and situations that cause us to challenge our ingrained assumptions. What might seem like a simple logical thing to me could appear completely insane to a Chinese person and vice versa.

Take the government, for example. Westerners often have a difficult time understand how the Chinese Communist government has been in power for so long, but now that I’ve lived here for a few months, I understand the situation a bit better. Historically, China has been ruled by dynasties and there hasn’t been the strong push for the individual freedoms that we have seen in the West. Many aspects of the culture (a strong desire for harmony for example) make it such that strong leaders are admired and even desired by the people, so, in many ways, the society is set up for a strong central government. Yes, this is a simplistic overview of the situation, but it does provide a good example of how people from different cultures view life and their roles in it.

Before I sign off, I do have a funny story from this weekend. Yesterday, Jean-Jacques and I stopped by a store that sells Western food items; we've been to this shop a couple of times, but we haven't established a deep connection with the owner. As we were paying for our goods, the proprietress decided to give us some smoked fish from her lunch. We tried to refuse, but she insisted and fed us with a toothpick. The food was good, but I did feel a little bad about taking about a quarter of her lunch -- she didn't seem to mind much, though.

A Chinese Cinco de Mayo!

It’s strange to think that it’s been so long since I last wrote. There hasn’t been too much happening daily to warrant constant reporting, so I’ll give a brief overview of this past week’s activities. To celebrate May Day, or Communist Day, we took our friends out for dinner and I gave them the baby blanket. We had fun conversing with them and learned some fascinating local news. In the past three to four weeks, five people have died of unnatural causes here in Anqing. One student from No. 1 Middle School probably committed suicide because he didn’t score well on a national science test, a man killed his girlfriend of eight years and himself in a near-by restaurant because she broke up with him and he couldn’t take the rejection, and two students drowned in the river when they went swimming.

The topic for this week’s lesson has been animals and biomes. The students seem to really enjoy the content and have a fun time learning about various animals, biomes, and seeing clips of Plant Earth and hilarious animal outtakes. (The British have a bizarre, but hilarious sense of humor. There is a show where people take clips of wild animals and add funny voice-overs; the students get a kick out of it, even though they don't fully understand what's being said.) One girl told me yesterday, “Your class is very popular. Your class and art are only places where we can relax.”

I think Jean-Jacques and I have finally figured out the best strategies for teaching here: be willing to accept a lot of classroom noise (students here talk, but it’s usually about the exciting content we’re covering in class), use humor to discipline (remember that, in some ways, the students are as mature as third graders), and keep the lesson moving quickly (attention spans can be short, so you have to be an energetic-circus-clown type of teacher). In class “quizzes” that encourage participation are great for getting students engaged and they love having the opportunity to shout out their answers to you. Also, don’t take things too seriously or you’ll just get frustrated.

It’s amazing to watch the kids’ reactions to the clips we see from Planet Earth. Nature and beauty is an important part of the Chinese soul; I think an appreciation for the natural is deeply entrenched in the culture as well. When the cherry blossoms were out, I saw countless people flipping out their cell phones to take pictures with and of the flowers. The same thing is happening with the roses in the courtyard here at No. 1. One day, I saw students take time to observe how the sunlight lit up leaves. So when we watch some highlights from the series Planet Earth, there are many sharp intakes of breath and choruses of, “Wow!” It’s heartening to see them enjoy nature so much.

It's a little strange for me that I've been out of the country for two major events in American history. Ten years ago, when 9/11 happened, I was in the middle of a study abroad in Chile. Almost a decade later, I was absent from home again when the news about Osama bin Laden's death started circulating the internet, radio, and TV. I've been asked by a couple of students what I think about the death and this has been my response, "I think it's good that he's gone. I wish he would have been willing to be taken alive for a trial, but he wasn't going to do that. I find it sad that so many people are celebrating his death, but I do think it's good he's gone. I think it's always sad when someone dies." The students contemplate this for a bit and sometimes nod.

On a slightly happier note, my explanation of the word “howl” by giving a howl myself causes many of the classes to erupt into clapping. I mean a full fifteen-seconds of awe-inspired gratification from the audience. It always makes me laugh.

Hope all is well for everyone! Until next time...

P.S. Here are some photos of the completed baby blanket.

A break in the frenzied storm of productivity

Don’t worry, we’re not dead, just busy. This week has been insane. We’ve been working on job applications, planning our summer trip, rescuing/watching kittens in a nearby yard, and teaching. Last weekend we made a spread sheet of web links to the employment information for all the school districts in Washington, since there isn’t a specific place where schools post job openings. In Oregon, the districts use a website called EdZapp, but there isn’t a standard system for Washington. So every few days we go through the list of two hundred and ninety-seven districts to see if any have posted jobs. Needless to say, it’s a time-consuming process. 


We’ve also been planning our post-China summer trip. Here’s the plan so far: we’ll leave Shanghai on June 19, fly to London and spend five days there; take a train from London to Nantes, spend two nights, pick up a car; drive to Vannes, spend two nights; drive to Quimper, stay three nights; drive to Normandy and enjoy three weeks in our rental; and end the trip by taking a couple of days to see Paris before flying back to Seattle. It’ll be a packed vacation and we’re really excited about it since there will be distinct portions of the trip and we’ll enjoy getting to know the northwestern part of France well.  It took a painfully long time to decide our itinerary, and there were many versions before our final draft, but we’re thrilled to be spending so much time in Brittany and Normandy. At first we were thinking about going to Provence, but if we stay in the northwest, there won’t be as many tourists as there are in the south of France, the weather will be cooler, and we won’t have to spend so much time on the road. Plus, we’ll have plenty to see to keep us busy.


A litter of kittens inhabits a yard of a nearby apartment complex that we can see from our window. There is a wall that keeps most of the kittens from exploring the outside world, but a few days ago one of the kitties escaped from the safety of the enclosure. We were worried about it, so I tried to rescue it two times before Jean-Jacques successfully returned the little feline to its home. (We can easily see the yard, but there are walls that prevent us from getting to it easily, so it takes about a five minute walk to get there.) However, not many hours passed before the little one escaped again. We’ve gave up worrying about it; the mama cat went to it frequently, so we knew it was getting food and would probably be OK until it grew a little more and could jump the wall back to home. And guess what? Today I saw it safely back with its brothers and sisters. 


I think we get a three-day weekend. No one from the school has officially said anything about it, but some students have assured me that we get Monday off to celebrate May 1, which is May Day or Communist Day. We don’t currently have any special plans, but something exciting might pop up.


Here are some photos I recently took of some roses at No. 1. Enjoy!

Yes, it"s a bit cliché, but I had fun working on the editing

Sleepless in Anqing

Between late-night calls to school districts with job postings, Jean-Jacques’ constant coughing, and good books, I’ve had a difficult time getting a full-night’s rest. As a result, I’ve spent most of the past couple of days in a semi-comatose state. However, today we decided to change our routine and we refused to allow ourselves the luxury of a nap. Instead, we watched Toy Story 3 (damn you Pixar! We swore we wouldn’t cry, but you successfully called forth the tears despite our protests...), planned lessons (we’re almost covered until the end of the year), played Scrabble on the iPad, and watched The Daily Show. In short, we had a splendid time today.


The weather is officially hot, but I know it will get worse soon. It was around seventy-five today. We kept our windows open and I wore shorts; I’m a little worried that we’re quickly heading back to the sweat-drenching heat that we experienced when we first arrived. Ugh! Thank goodness for air-conditioning, is all I can say. Without it, I’d be a melted puddle of Katie-water. 


Sorry there isn’t more news; we simply haven’t been getting into too much trouble lately or having any exciting adventures. We’ll try to drum up something entertaining for my next post!


Ah ha! I just remembered a story. When I was getting lunch today, the lady restauranteer pointed to my ring and asked if I was married (using mostly gestures, mind you). I responded yes, and made the sign for eight. I didn't know how to say years, and I didn't have my iPod translator with me, so I flagged down a student of mine to ask him how to say "eight years". This question must have been too much for him to handle, because he froze and couldn't respond to my question. After a few seconds of an awkward "deer-in-the-headlights" look, I decided to let him off the hook and told him to forget about my question. I then spotted a female student, flagged her down, and asked the question again. She was a little flummoxed, but quickly recovered and told me what to say. Our "Baozi Lady" ran up to speak with my student and the two of them conversed for a little while. The little group of restaurant people were very impressed that Jean-Jacques and I have been married for eight years and they made many thumbs-up signs. They also all laughed when I explained that we didn't have children. 

Back among the living...sort of

As you can probably imagine, much has happened since I last wrote. Jean-Jacques and I spent most of the early morning on Thursday taking turns in the bathroom because we had failed to sufficiently wash and cook our dinner the night before and we ended up suffering from food poisoning. We called in sick on Thursday and Friday, which made some teachers happy because they needed to cover some last-minute material during the extra time. Then on Friday, we stayed up late working on job applications. Saturday we recovered from our late night and today has been slow because both Jean-Jacques and I are fighting colds. Thankfully, I only have two periods tomorrow and then I get the rest of the week off because of midterms. It’s going to be another study day, so I think it will be good for both me and the students.


That’s the latest from us. Hope everyone is doing well! Hugs to all.

Reflections

It’s been a good couple of days. Classes have been easy because we spend the entire time watching things. I think the students have earned the break and they appreciate it. When I explain what we’re going to be doing for the day, many of the classes erupt into applause, smiles, and shouts of joy because they’re so thrilled. Though it might not seem a worthwhile exercise at first, the session really is educational because I’m exposing the students to western culture and the English language. Plus, the kids need to have more fun in their lives because they can barely control themselves when they are able to do something enjoyable. 


During the movie Stardust, some individuals will read the subtitles along with the actors; shout out exciting plot points like, “Unicorn!” when a white horse with a glued-on horn appears on the screen; hide their friends’ eyes when there’s a shot of a woman’s unclothed shoulders; and grab onto their neighbor when there’s a scary part in the action. It’s almost more entertaining for me to observe the students watching the movie than it is for me to see the actual film itself. 


Before we start Stardust, I have been insisting that the students give me ten seconds of silence. If anyone in the room speaks or whispers to a friend, the time starts again. Of all six or seven groups that I’ve tried this exercise with, only one has managed to reach the goal in the first attempt. This illustrates something important that I’ve recently understood: Chinese culture is very interactive and the students need constant stimulation. I think this observation helps explain the noise levels in my classes because the kids are constantly talking about some engaging photo I’ve posted on the board, the topic we’re covering, or they’re reading the words I’ve included in my KeyNote presentation. It certainly is different from our culture and I still haven’t completely become comfortable with it. 


Below is an amusing exchange from today that occurred after two girls had chatted amongst themselves for a few seconds before approaching me; they had obviously spent the time prepping a topic to discuss because I had heard them rehearsing phrases.


Student #1: Do you know cherry blossoms?
Me: Yes, I do.
Student #1: Do you like?
Me: Yes, I think they are very beautiful.
Student #1: They Japanese symbol.
Me: Yes, there are many cherry trees in Japan.
Student #1: Have you seen the trees on campus? I don't know how many are.
Me: Yes, I see them every day.
Student #1: Do you have any information about cherry blossoms to tell us?
Me, not quite sure how to answer this question: Um. I love to eat cherries because I think they’re tasty.
Student #1: Yes, they’re very delicious and healthy for us.
Me: Yes, they are.
The summer weather I was talking about in my last post has vanished. It’s been rainy and foggy the past couple of days, though I’m not complaining because I prefer cooler temperatures.


Here are the rest of the photos I promised:

Summertime?

It was a hot, summery Monday. Classes were good; the students have midterms next week, so I decided to give them a break this week. I’m showing the kiddos about twenty-five minutes of Stardust and we finish the session with a Mr. Bean episode, though I’m not sure this choice is good for their health. As I experienced the last time I played Mr. Bean, the humor in the episode is almost too much for these Chinese kids to handle. Two boys actually fell out of their seats and I was nervous that the zealous foot stamping would cause the ceiling to crash into the room below mine. It’s going to be an entertaining week, that’s for sure!


Blossoms are out and summer weather has arrived. Here are half of the photos I took today. (I’ll post the rest tomorrow or the next day.)