Shell in China

Well, we have been in ChengXian for just over a week now. In that time we have attended a banquet held in our honor, taught English lessons to students who have never spoken to an American before, had several adventures trying to buy specific things at the grocery store, visited TianShui and got caught in a rainstorm! What a week it was!

(The picture at the left is ChengXian in the evening. Thad took this from our apartment.)

First of all, the banquet. Last Sunday we were summoned to the front gate, which is always our meeting point when the college wants us to do something or go somewhere. We were told that we were going to a student performance, which was put on for National Teacher’s Day. Apparently we were the guests of honor, as we were the last to arrive, but were escorted to the front of the gym, where there was a front row table and reserved seats next to the college president. After the performance, we all went downtown for a banquet. The food was really good and luckily the drinking was held to a minimum. The other volunteers here also do not drink, so I really think that is going to make the alcohol situation a little easier to deal with. You see, in China, it is common at banquets for everyone, but especially the men, to be pressured into drinking a good deal of strong liquor as part of the dinner. Drinking together is seen as a way to solidify friendship, so we were worried how we were going to get away without being a part of that and still have good relationships with everyone. Since none of the Westerners drink though, I think it will be easier to just stick to tea, juices or other drinks.

Monday was the start of our classes. I teach five classes of Freshman Oral English, one each day of the week. These classes all have about forty-five students in them. The students have pretty good English in terms of reading and grammatical issues, but when it comes to functional English, like speaking, they are very low. They have never been taught be a foreign teacher before, so not only is my accent and way of talking different, but I think it is a bit intimidating to see me walk into the room. Each class last week started with me walking in and them standing and applauding. I guess that is a normal way of welcoming a teacher, but it was awfully strange to me! (I may have mentioned this before, but the students stay in the same classroom all day long and it is the teachers who come and go from the room. The kids kind of see the room as their second home. They keep stuff in their desks; they go back there in the evenings to study, etc.) Those classes all went well. They were mainly introductions of me, my family, America and then they practiced meeting and introducing people as well. The biggest change for them this week was that I made them put their desks into groups of four. All of the classrooms had the students in rows, which just isn’t going to be very functional for speaking to one another, so I had them regroup themselves. The directions took quite a bit of explaining because I think the group thing was a pretty new concept to them, but I think they liked the new perspective on the room. It would get old sitting in the same rows day after day.

I also teach a Western Methodologies class. This was supposed to be co-taught with a Chinese professor, but she decided she was too busy to do the planning together, so she took one section and I have the other. I have really enjoyed this class so far. These students are third-years, getting ready to do their student-teaching this winter. (Our college is a three-year institution, so they are just finishing their schooling.) This group of students is much more confident in their English and they are so close to becoming teachers that they are beginning to look at the classroom from the other side of the desks. We have talked a lot about being a good teacher and what experiences they have had with teachers in their past. I am planning to do a lot with multiple-intelligences and learning styles with them throughout the semester as well.

(The picture at the left is me and Sarah and Tomas headed into town. We took a back path that you can take and walk along the river. It was a nice change from the cars. We saw some BIG spides with massive webs...I wasn't a fan of those!)

Then, on Saturday we went to TianShui, which is the town where we normally get off the train. We went with Tomas and Rachel. We took a bus, which honked for two hours straight, into town. Honking is seen in a different light in China. When you drive, you honk to tell someone you are behind them, you are passing them, you have just passed them, you can see them, etc! The honking is pretty constant! In TianShui we just did some shopping, we didn’t really buy a whole lot, but we looked around and had a nice day. We came back on a mini-bus, which was quite a tight squeeze! It was five kuai cheaper than the big bus, but I think the big bus is worth the extra five!!

On Sunday, I was bummed that my attempt to Skype home was unsuccessful. There was something wrong with the headphones on my end. I could talk to my family for about two minutes and then it would cut out. I could still hear them on the other end, but they couldn’t hear me. I was pretty disappointed, but since they were up in the woods, there wasn’t even a computer that I could just chat with them on. So, Thad and I went into town and found a new set of headphones. We haven’t tried them out yet, but he thinks they will solve the problem. I really hope so! I enjoy getting to talk to people at home every few weeks!

(This is me sitting in front of the KFC in TianShui. I am squinting because it was really bright. We had lunch here on Saturday. Thad was thrilled with his MexicanTwister. Apparently it had salsa, which was good! I had nuggets, which were okay.)

When we went into town, we also went to the new grocery store that just opened on Friday! Woo-hoo! This is excitement in small-town China! Sadly, the new store is just about the same as the old one. Not a whole lot of new products to choose from. Thad did make friends with the aisle girls that work there. He made the mistake of saying “hello” to them, so them every time we passed them they said “hello” to him. It got a little old after awhile. Also, while I was standing in line to buy our stuff, I noticed one of the worker girls had her cell phone out taking a picture of me with it! This is actually pretty common, since TianShui has never had Americans living in it before. She was really embarrassed when you realized that I knew what she was doing! J hehe… We then went to the jiaozi joint in town for lunch—they have really yummy food. Then it was off to the market. Sarah pointed out a market to us on Friday night, but it is a bit hard to find, since it is off the main roadway in an alleyway type thing. It took Thad and I a couple goes up and down the street before we located it, but once we found it we did a bit of shopping. I bought some rugs and a throw for the back of the couch. We have a really nice apartment, but it is kind of sterile and I want it to feel more like home. That was my goal for the day, make it more like home, since we will be living here for the next two years. While at the market it started to rain, so by the time Thad and I made it home, we were drenched! It wasn’t necessarily cold, but we were wet through and through. I wish I had thought to take a picture of us looking like drowned rats before we changed into sweatpants!

(In the picture above, the building with all of the banners is the new supermarket in town! The guy with me is Tomas, a volunteer through Amity. The one below is of the living room with my new purchases in it. I know it doesn't look a lot different, but at least it feels a bit more like a home. I will have to continue working on this project!)

I have so many other odds and ends stories to tell. There were our attempts at cooking jiaozi at home, stories from class, freshman military training, and so on. I guess those will have to be fodder for the next blog, as this one seems to have run much longer than I intended.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. If you have any questions or comments about China, please let me know. I would love to write topic-specific blogs if there is a question or something that you are really curious about! The third goal of PC is to educate those back home about the cultures that we serve, so ask away! It is my job as a Peace Corps volunteer!! J

Kelsey says "No fair, I want to eat at KFC too...will you send me some food from there?"

Melyssa says "OK, my daughter is a dork..we just ate at KFC here 2 nights ago...does she think Chinese KFC is better? What do you eat at a jiaozi joint that is so yummy??"

Chinese KFC is definately not better! Tell Kels she is a dork!

We have jiaozi at the jiaoza joint. They translate that to "dumping" but they are not what we think of as English dumpings. They are little dough wrappers with filling in them. We usually get meat filling, but you can also get them with just veggies. Some places are better than others. It is always a bit of a gamble...you order, bite in and hope you like what you get! :)