I may have summer job of sorts coming my way when I'm done moving around and stressing about cleaning up (it's the cleaning and keys more than packing that worries me. I honestly don't need to pack all that much stuff and I didn't come with a lot to begin with). I'm hoping it comes through, it's the only real lead I have right now and the extra money would be nice. The flight's the biggest part, I know how to save when I get here. But then I'll probably go nuts with cheese and things that I haven't had in forever. I could use some brie, a burrito, bigger dessert options (instead of a handful of chocolate bars, dried fruits, cookies, and green and red bean ice creams), pasta, sourdough bread, and something that doesn't make me burn when I go to the bathroom the next morning. To be fair, the thinking here is that since it's so humid you should eat lots of spicy food to make yourself sweat and it does regularly clear out my sinuses. The cold noodles served with peanuts, cilantro, vinegar, chili paste, and pickled veggies are pretty good for humid days too. I had to get a macchiato milk tea afterwards and though the taste was fine and it cooled me off, the idea is still twisting my brain a little. Think of caramel, coffee, milk, and a milk tea aftertaste rolled into one cold drink. I don't know that I can speak to my Italian friends about this strange concoction. I'll miss the street life while I'm away for sure, but it'll be nice to walk down the street without a bunch of scooters rolling over the sidewalk and having to dodge them all the time. So here are some parting photos, along the wisdom I found in various signs in Shennong City when I finally walked all around the lake during the zhongkao.
Until the end of August anyway. Since last night was a horrible thunderstorm (I've never heard it so close before) and it's still pretty bad and grey outside, I'll just post a few of the pictures I took on a good day this past week. I'm nervous about getting everything cleaned up and doing everything I need to properly (leaving the keys, leaving a gift for my liaison, washing all bed sheets, taking out the trash, I cleaned and unplugged the fridge though they didn't say anything about doing that, I washed the dishes, I've been sweeping and mopping whenever possible...) and especially worried about how to get to the Changsha airport. I said no to the offer for a ride initially, and when my liaison asked again if I had a lot of things and needed a ride I told her I didn't have that much stuff so she said "You'll be fine on your own. You can get a bus from Zhuzhou to the airport but you'll have to leave early because it only leaves when it has enough people to make a trip. Otherwise, it will just wait there.". I paid for a 6AM train from Zhuzhou to Changsa and somehow too I'm supposed to leave the key with the other foreign teacher here so she can give it to my liaison who will hold onto it for the school. Either I hope she's up at 5 (but she's sick) or I give it to her the night before (she tends to go to bed early, so probably no later than 7pm) and lock myself in and not go anywhere. I still have to do laundry too. I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time even as a part of me asks if I've said my goodbyes and wrapped things up well enough for now. I traded QQ information with a few people and I'm probably going to post pictures of California for my kids while I'm there because they always ask for photos and things about America. I'm thinking of looking for small things I can use as prizes for class activities too. Students like postcards and I think they'd love anything Apple related like stickers they could put on their pencil cases or bags. I'll be in the right place for Apple things, I might go to visit the Apple campus and see what they've got. San Francisco stuff is probably popular too now that the students are studying America and Big Hero 6 related products are everywhere. Baymax has really made it big here. A student gifted me a pencil case with a mirror with Baymax wearing a Mickey Mouse hat and holding a balloon. He also gave me a Baymax cushion filled with water. The school stationary shop has rubber Baymax toys and the stationary shop next to the school has Baymax pens and pencils and cards. I think another good gift is music CDs, though those can be kind of pricey so I may want to keep that for a bigger prize. I'm still kind of in disbelief that I'm done and that I'm actually going to Kyoto. Once I get on that plane, I'm sure I'll relax. I signed up for a cooking class first thing in the morning on my first full day in Kyoto and it's very close to where I'm staying near the train station for the first two nights. I get to make and eat my lunch. It'll be great. I can't wait to explore each neighborhood and district. I'm trying to plan things a little so that I can take advantage of the different places I'm staying and what will be close to me. I'm sure it'll be fun, and so different from China from what I've heard. I read Pico Iyer's The Lady and the Monk since it's about Kyoto but there are certain things in his observations that feel familiar to me after being here for a year. It was really good, I've really come to like his thoughtful observation and his way of pointing out the fantasies that Asians have of Westerners and vice versa.
I may have summer job of sorts coming my way when I'm done moving around and stressing about cleaning up (it's the cleaning and keys more than packing that worries me. I honestly don't need to pack all that much stuff and I didn't come with a lot to begin with). I'm hoping it comes through, it's the only real lead I have right now and the extra money would be nice. The flight's the biggest part, I know how to save when I get here. But then I'll probably go nuts with cheese and things that I haven't had in forever. I could use some brie, a burrito, bigger dessert options (instead of a handful of chocolate bars, dried fruits, cookies, and green and red bean ice creams), pasta, sourdough bread, and something that doesn't make me burn when I go to the bathroom the next morning. To be fair, the thinking here is that since it's so humid you should eat lots of spicy food to make yourself sweat and it does regularly clear out my sinuses. The cold noodles served with peanuts, cilantro, vinegar, chili paste, and pickled veggies are pretty good for humid days too. I had to get a macchiato milk tea afterwards and though the taste was fine and it cooled me off, the idea is still twisting my brain a little. Think of caramel, coffee, milk, and a milk tea aftertaste rolled into one cold drink. I don't know that I can speak to my Italian friends about this strange concoction. I'll miss the street life while I'm away for sure, but it'll be nice to walk down the street without a bunch of scooters rolling over the sidewalk and having to dodge them all the time. So here are some parting photos, along the wisdom I found in various signs in Shennong City when I finally walked all around the lake during the zhongkao.
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Today I finally went to pick up my name seal. I was really excited (and still am since I spent years thinking about getting one) but a small comment and other things have dampened my feelings a little. When I went with my liaison, I knew that since she worked as an English teacher it wouldn't be fair to expect her to be highly knowledgeable about something like name seals. It's not her job and not what she trained for. After all, part of the pull in learning about another language and its culture(s) is studying a world different from your own. (It makes me think of reading Pico Iyer whenever he describes the dreams that Westerners bring to Asia and vice versa.) I just didn't realize how out of depth the adventure would be until she insisted that we not find something so expensive and "just get one for 10 kuai". I took her to the one shop where they didn't make and sell only name seals. I'm happy to have met someone who extended an invitation to learn about Chinese culture in his shop but after getting the reaction of one man who told me that it was poorly made (when I wanted something special) I was a little sad. On the other hand, it's mine and I can't say that it's not what I wanted: something unique from my time in Zhuzhou that has something of myself and something of China. My name in Chinese and an animal that represents both the year of my birth and my first Chinese new year here. Even if this isn't work done by the greatest carver in Zhuzhou, he is still a good painter and a kind man. His shop was the only place selling seals while kids painted inside and it was the only one where I was comfortable telling him I was American and trying to learn Chinese. I guess there's time until next year to save up for a really nice one from the man who does a very particular style (and it's pretty clear from the minute you see his shop and his work that it's a very special kind of art). I'll try not to focus too much on that one comment and focus instead on the ideas that drove me to wait until I came to Zhuzhou to buy a seal. The man who carved it wasn't there when I went to pick it up, but two people were there who offered me a seat and some tea. I said no, but I feel like I should go back and give him some fruit to share with his family and students as a way of recognizing the kind offer he made (that I plan to take him up on). It just seems like the most acceptable move. Food is one of the easier ways to build relationships here. It makes me think of the origins for the word "company" in English: the idea that the people you work with are close enough that you share bread with each other. Here, it's a lot of invitations to lunch or dinner. Anyway, here's the picture below. I think it's cool that he has these cards with his business information and space where he can stamp and show you the final end product of his work. Knowing it took him a whole week to do this keeps me from being too critical of his work and knowing that he wants to share what he knows does kind of make this seal the beginning of my relations with "shi fu" as I call him in my head. Besides, I wanted to fill this with meanings so I guess there's nothing more true of who I am right now than a roughly carved stone. There is much to learn still about China (like if you really can get bugs in your hair by walking through the rain without an umbrella) and as a foreigner my Chinese manners are pretty unnuanced and unrefined. I still remember watching Raz quietly moving around a table and toasting people who had organized an event, a gesture they appreciated that in my year here I hadn't really grasped. All I can really say when drinking is "Gan bei"/"Empty cup" with a ton of other people. What Raz must know and pick up on after living here for 13 years is something I plan to look out for when I run into him next year. Talking to him comes pretty easy after seeing how excited he gets when people ask him about what brought him to China and what he's seen. I wonder how many people actually do ask him. I honestly don't know many people who stay beyond 5 years.
So this week is the final one (sort of). The zhongkao (the first of the two big tests Chinese students and parents invest so much into, the high school entrance exam) is this week and the test itself takes two days. The school will also close for a day so they can completely examine the school for any devices or things that may be used for cheating. My liaison said we'd have Thursday and Friday to teach but my kids say "one day of classes" so I guess it's just Friday? To make up for the time lost when the school is hosting the exam, the kids had classes on Saturday and Sunday. I actually got a bus on Sunday morning from Changsha to catch my classes and chase down the last class that still had a sizeable numbers of students who had not finished the exam. Now I have maybe 10 stragglers from different classes: 1 here, 2 there, 3 in another class, 1 in class 3, and 5 in class 7...which is a pain because I can't put my notebooks away until I catch them all. My conscience won't allow me to rest if I just sit back and make no effort to find students during lunch or breaks. So while I rushed to catch my Sunday classes, there was no way I was going to make the Saturday classes. They didn't even tell me about the make up days until Thursday even though I told them I'd be leaving on Friday evening to get out to Changsha for the end of service conference. I thought about saying no to the Sunday classes so I could just go out all night without worrying but I got nervous about finishing things up so I agreed to do Sunday classes. The end of service conference is nice, a great way to wrap up, see where everyone is going, and prepare for going back home (they even talked about reverse culture shock and preparing for the various questions people are likely to ask about China and teaching there). We learned the results of the media submissions contest (videos, photos, pieces of writing and such that people worked on about their time here). It was a time to relax and see people, to reflect, and enjoy one last day together as a group. We all had individual "yearbook pages" with our photos for everyone to sign and send good wishes. We also all received gifts of simple mugs with the WorldTeach China logo on one side and our name and the name of our school on the other. It's pretty cool and an excellent complement to the Swiss mug I received as a gift in Italy last year. There are about 10 of us coming back to China, though only two of us (myself included) are staying with WorldTeach for a second year. It will be good to see my students again, though I realize too that a lot of people who know that I could earn more independent of the WorldTeach program and its requirements to complete teaching modules, monthly wellness forms, and to submit lesson plans are probably thinking it's crazy. I like hearing my students talk more each week and I guess that's its own reward. It's kind of hard to encapsulate that whole day right now. We had some show and tell sessions in which we talked about an object that was meaningful and related to our time in China. Here is mine: Back in December, I did a shopping related lesson and made fake money. I tried to ask the students what they needed in order to go shopping. Answers included "Trousers", "fruit", and "I need to buy a notebook" at which point I would draw various currency symbols or pull out my fake money to get someone to shout the magic word. I chose it because I felt it encapsulated pretty well that I enjoy my students, and that they seem to enjoy me and have a lot of fun. However, drawing pictures of your teacher in class when you're supposed to be listening to your classmates isn't quite what I wanted. So they don't do everything I want, as I want them to but the relationship is there. And I find it an intensely amusing picture too. My students loved the chance to talk about money, being asked how much you make is common to everyone here, and I have no doubt that my students think I'm pretty well off after looking at my computer ("Oooh i7!!") and seeing the cost of a children's picture book. I almost brought chopsticks for the novelty that is being asked if I like Chinese food even this many months into my time here.
We wrapped up with a final dinner at a nearby restaurant that we simply call "the Mao" because of all the images of the Chairman that are there as well as his most famous poem, "Changsha" being printed on the back wall. I'm not sure what it's actually called in Chinese. We ate well, the steamed eggs weren't such a big hit but I was surprised by how thick it was. I actually managed to eat it with my chopsticks after putting some into my bowl and it held together. It was a lot of our favorites, stir fried enoki mushrooms, cabbage and peppers, pork and peppers, eggplant with green beans and peppers, pickled turnip (with a few red peppers but it was more sweet than spicy and a good way to take a break between dishes), tofu with celery, peppers, green onions and other essentials, and a few deep fried taro balls. There were no peppers in the taro balls. The department of education was supposed to eat with us but something came up so it was just us. A lot of us still dressed on the nicer side anyway. I wound up breaking off the from the group after they left to go to a place called Mega (where I've never been) and walked back towards the hostel with the director and assistant field director and talked about the academic pressures I went through in middle and high school and what I saw at my school here. I also talked about the difficulties in talking about different strategies with teachers who really want to improve their skills (and their students' scores) and frequently hearing "and then they memorize it?" While I think rote memory has its value, you need to pair it with skills that require practicing a process. When I was taking AP classes, we had to know the information, we had to know the contexts and dates and things but we also spent time practicing on old test questions and going through how to form a thesis statement and pull together various documents into an essay. Here, the teachers say they try to guess this year's questions and make students memorize stuff about that question. Though I see why they might do that, I would also imagine that's rather unhelpful since no one should know what is on the test before it comes out so students need to know how to actually read and listen rather than recite. Or they'll just get lost in the mass of words in front of them. I talked about how a student at my high school (years before I started) had called someone in Taiwan about the AP US history test and took advantage of the time difference to learn about the essay questions. A teacher gasped, but then she told me that they try to call people in America who take the TOEFL the day before they have it in China and ask about the questions. I struggled to bite back my tongue and ask if that wasn't also cheating. It's so hard, I know that this is the norm in China and in my position I can push my students to think differently but I still struggle with the extreme to which people use rote memory here. And then I just feel Americans get so heated about the impact that putting so much pressure on young students has on them. I don't like it, it's not nice, and I sense that many people say "That's not fair" in China but I could also see the argument that these arguments against all that pushing is easier when you have a degree and money. It's not as if I haven't been to college and thought "Hey, the view is a bit different here than it was before" but my life experiences are also quite different. I may be familiar with academic pressure, but it was less a matter of getting into high school and college than it was whether you got into the very good college. Going to college for most wasn't a question. You were going to do it, and pretty much all teacher had Masters degrees so you can guess how that can contribute to silent expectations. No one says it's wrong or right, but you don't see what else is out there or the other paths people take either. It is nice to be somewhere where education is highly valued though. I just wish there was a way to better balance what China has to offer with what America has to offer. I've been frustrated too with the way other teachers have been walking all over me and my class to get stuff done. I realize they don't have any concept of what is it I'm doing for the most part, but it still hurts to have someone walk in and say "You're just testing right? My students want to talk about ____. Is that OK?" I said yes and became a shadow in my own classroom, thoroughly frustrated and uneasy as I realized that teacher taught the period before mine and should have just used her own class for her own needs, not mine. Teachers say my class is important, but "actions speak louder than words", as they teach their students. They can say important if they want, constantly asking me to have class at another time or to step aside for the singing contest or their own pet projects tells me something else. Aside from frustrations, I'm about to get my name seal tomorrow. It's finished, and I can't wait to see what it looks like. That and with the school closed, I can rest. Maybe I'll even go back to Changsha for a bit to make up for having to run out on Sunday morning to get my morning classes. But I also heard that we may have dinner "either on Tuesday or Thursday" which would obviously change things. They may tell me to come to dinner the day of so I hesitate to plan anything for my free days right now though I sorely want to take the time I have left with some of the other teachers and just enjoy myself. We shall see how things work out. Now that I have a better idea of how this whole teaching thing works too I'll feel much freer to wander out on the weekends and spend time in Changsha to see everyone. I tend to just sleep in in my apartment, take myself on a walk at least once a day, and worry about my lessons on Sunday night. I'll post a picture of my name seal tomorrow after I've had a good look at it. I'm really excited both to finally get something special from Zhuzhou and to see the name seal shifu again though my Chinese is so limited. My last post was a mere two days ago but since this weekend was the one where I resolved to get my name seal, I decided to record the experience while it's still fresh. This is actually my second attempt to post but due to internet issues and weird things with weebly, it got lost in the ether somewhere.
Anyway, I ventured out on Saturday after lunch to look around and wandered. I was kind of intimidated by the attention I got and since I had read a lot about name seals in English but didn't know much about what to say in Chinese. After a few walks around and a venture down DaPing Lu to find a bunch of tea shops, I finally decided to ask my liaison to come with me which I've avoided doing partly because she has a daughter in Changsha that she only sees on the weekends. To my surprise, she actually agreed to come the very next day when she was done teaching classes. I had just asked her if there was a good day to go together because I assumed she would be away, but I guess with the high school entrance exam coming up she had to teach classes on Sunday morning as well as Monday-Saturday. So we agreed to meet when she was done teaching. We left at about 11:30 together. Actually, I’ve never really asked her to come with me for much of anything. I tend to look up words on my own or move on my own. She goes shopping with the other foreign teacher a lot but since I’ve never been too into all the clothes (they’re fun to look at, but wearing and using them is something else for me). She said she was actually happy to help in this case since she spends so much time trying to think of what might interest us around here and my inviting her allowed her to see some of my interest. She also took on the job of liaison to improve her English so there’s that aspect as well. Here I am at the end of my first week of June and my first week of testing. Well, I lost out on my Monday classes because of the singing contest. Which was fun, but also puts me behind schedule. I was also told this past week that because they are hosting the zhongkao at my school that there may not be classes the week of the 15th and 16th so it's likely that I will spend this next week going to each class during lunch or during their self study time to make up for having lost two class periods. I also learned that though the school told me to turn my grades in by the 20th, that didn't actually mean I could leave, but no one was willing to say that to my face (I guess). The closest hint I got when I said I booked a flight on the 22nd was "Why are you leaving? Where are you going? When will you be back?". I guess they assumed we'd stick around for another week after turning in grades. I feel bad. Maybe I should have confirmed when I could leave instead of assuming that done testing=done teaching. It's just that last term the other teachers were all ready to take my class and use it for themselves, to the point where I had to tell them I wasn't done yet and needed my class. I assumed that things would be the same when I tested at the end of this term which is partly why I gave myself an extra week for everything, so I could actually say goodbye and wrap things up and then get on my flight with my grades turned in. The other teacher was surprised too and told our liaison that to be more clear with future teachers about these kinds of things and to say that they may still be needed after testing in June. Since she's still going to be here to travel in China, they asked her to stay the week after she turns in her grade and play a movie or play a game with a class. Nothing serious, they just need her to watch the students and fill time while the other teachers have a meeting. Which seems pretty annoying to me so I feel bad but clearly they have no use for me aside from warming a seat if I stay. I guess they changed some things too with foreign teachers so the liaison is having a little trouble getting stuff done. I feel bad for causing so much trouble. I made plans and can't be faulted I guess, but I still feel guilty. I haven't heard anything on jobs for the summer either. I actually found a position teaching English for a summer but you need the TEFL, which I don't have. I guess I could try the online route again but I feel better doing it through WorldTeach given that the concepts in other programs are more or less the same (keep lessons student centered, keep things engaging, create an objective, build students toward independent work etc) and here I have the hands on experience as well as all the modules I need to complete. And I've finally decided that this is the weekend when I will get my name seal. I've been rehearsing so that I can ask for what I want and I don't have much time left. This past week has been tough because there's only so much I can do, it's up to the students to push through the exams. In the meantime, I've just been filling in the excel sheet with student information that I created after the school gave us a class roster. I even plugged in all the formulas and everything so that there really is nothing I can do until the students are done testing and I have their scores to input. Then the column labeled "Grade" will change and I just need to copy the grades onto another document and send it in to the school. I'm not sending in my excel sheet this time since it caused trouble last time and they wanted to know how I did grades and told us (at the end of the term) that we should do our grades in the same way. Everytime I say I'm stressed, the other teachers tell me not to be. I don't think they realize how quickly things can pile up in my position and that I won't even be in China after June 22nd. That complicates things. I'll be in Kyoto taking cooking lessons, sleeping in temples and a ryokan, and trying to find a bathhouse because while traveling is fun, I'm looking for things at a slower pace than the speed it takes me to test 700+ adolescent students. Tea, temples, and baths sounds great after that. I'm also kind of interested in something else I read about Kyoto. Since Kyoto was pretty much Japan's capital up until the 19th century, it supposedly shows a lot of influence from those times when Japanese monks and scholars traveled to China to learn about religion, philosophy, and the writing system (and chopsticks if a show I watched is to be believed). So it's actually laid out like the Tang dynasty capital, Xi An which I meant to go to this year. I guess I get to compare architecture when I actually make my way out there. I realize it's been a while since I posted any pictures, so I'll include a few below to wrap things up. I actually need to find an object by the end of this week too that encapsulates my time in China. I can't decide if I want to bring one of my student's pictures of me (for all the times I really enjoyed working with them but wished they were doing the work they were supposed to) or a pair of chopsticks for the novelty of hearing students ask me if I like Chinese food. |
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