I realize it was only my third day of teaching. But today was pretty rough for me. I had my Business English class, which I hadn't met until today. Their English level is pretty low. There were 54 of them in my class in the morning and they acted like they were living in a zoo. I found myself getting very frustrated because they wouldn't pay attention and because it was so difficult to communicate with them. Then I went to the teacher's cafeteria for lunch and ended up with rice and peppers... I was pretty hungry the rest of the day.
After lunch I had "office hours" and then taught the exact same Business English class at 2:30. I had a pretty sad attitude. I didn't want to see them again so soon. My heel was also bleeding from my shoes and having to walk up and down 5 flights of stairs every second. I had to lift up my thoughts to the father a lot this afternoon. This time the class turned out really well. They were much more engaged and seemed more willing to learn.
I didn't have the honor of naming that class. That already had so-called English names. Here are a few more awesome names they had: Solo, Snowy, Wind, Orange, Apple, another Bird, Shmily, Cookie, Roll, Talent... and Soup!! So great!!
I also had the students describe themselves in small paragraphs. Here is a sample from one my students whom I will call "Jack:"
"Today is a cool day! I am interested in English very much. For the simple reason I'm interested in English is that I want to go to America. So I hoped to see our spoken English teacher as soon as possible. And today our spoken English class begins! My mood suddenly sees sunshine when I see our spoken English teacher. She's name is Laura from the state Kansas of America. And she looks very young, also beautiful beyond our imagination. Her hometown also looks very beautiful!"
That brightened my day!
My team and I waited around for our driver until 5 p.m. comparing stories like that. We were also freezing! Today was so windy and chilly. Yesterday it was 100 degrees and humid. Today it was about 60 degrees and breezy. I guess there is a typhoon hitting south of us. When our driver arrived, he took us back to the old campus where we had to engage in yet another English corner, which was unexpected. Agh, I'm so tired!
Tonight we wandered down some alleys and found some dinner and I finally got home again. Tomorrow we have to wake up early to get our resident cards and I get to teacher another class even though it is Saturday. Maybe everything will seem brighter after a good night's sleep!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Paparazzi
Here I am updating my blog once again. It was another crazy long day. I woke up at 6:30 and taught class at 8 a.m. The morning class was on the first floor of one of the buildings and the windows were wide open like usual. This morning there were people with pick axes and weed whackers working right outside the window, so I had to shout. I have helped most of my students find English names, but some already had some really awesome names: Lemon, T-Mac, Birds, Smile, Heaven, etc.
I had another new class this afternoon, so I got to meet students numbers 100-150. Tomorrow I have yet another class of 50 people to meet for the first time. The classes were pretty good. The students don't have very good English but they seem eager to learn and are respectful. When I was monitoring the room today as they worked on an assignment, I looked around the classroom at the brown streaked walls, concrete floors, the students bent over their papers, and the Chinese flag over the chalkboard. I felt very at peace and strangely like I was at home there.
After my afternoon class was finished at 4:30, several of my teammates and I trekked over to an open pavilion on campus to help conduct "English corner." It was an absolute mob scene. We could see literally hundreds of students standing expectantly for our arrival and they could see us coming. I felt like a celebrity. Actually more like an alien. The students immediately converged upon us. A group of 35 people circled around me peppering me with questions. My more exotic teammates, like the 6 foot tall guy was encircled by 50 eager male students. We stood in the hot sunshine without any air circulation answering questions and trying to conduct conversations. It was mostly a photo-taking opportunity for them. That lasted for 45 minutes.
We finally got back home and we went to a Muslim noodle shop out the back gate. The temperature outside was 90 and we were eating steaming noodles in a tiny steam-filled shop. There was a television and everyone in the shop was watching the live launching of some Chinese astronauts. The Chinese are rightfully very proud of their country.
Agh, I think that's all for today's update! Someday I'll try to steal some of my teammates' pictures to post. I will be teaching tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. Then perhaps I will have a minute to rest. Thank you for your thoughts! I'm working on being a good teacher and loving my students well. I think it will become easier and more natural as time progresses.
I had another new class this afternoon, so I got to meet students numbers 100-150. Tomorrow I have yet another class of 50 people to meet for the first time. The classes were pretty good. The students don't have very good English but they seem eager to learn and are respectful. When I was monitoring the room today as they worked on an assignment, I looked around the classroom at the brown streaked walls, concrete floors, the students bent over their papers, and the Chinese flag over the chalkboard. I felt very at peace and strangely like I was at home there.
After my afternoon class was finished at 4:30, several of my teammates and I trekked over to an open pavilion on campus to help conduct "English corner." It was an absolute mob scene. We could see literally hundreds of students standing expectantly for our arrival and they could see us coming. I felt like a celebrity. Actually more like an alien. The students immediately converged upon us. A group of 35 people circled around me peppering me with questions. My more exotic teammates, like the 6 foot tall guy was encircled by 50 eager male students. We stood in the hot sunshine without any air circulation answering questions and trying to conduct conversations. It was mostly a photo-taking opportunity for them. That lasted for 45 minutes.
We finally got back home and we went to a Muslim noodle shop out the back gate. The temperature outside was 90 and we were eating steaming noodles in a tiny steam-filled shop. There was a television and everyone in the shop was watching the live launching of some Chinese astronauts. The Chinese are rightfully very proud of their country.
Agh, I think that's all for today's update! Someday I'll try to steal some of my teammates' pictures to post. I will be teaching tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. Then perhaps I will have a minute to rest. Thank you for your thoughts! I'm working on being a good teacher and loving my students well. I think it will become easier and more natural as time progresses.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
My first day of school
I know I've been writing on this blog all the time-- I hope you don't mind! It's a really good way for me to process my thoughts. Today was the first day of teaching. Our driver picked us up outside our apartment at 7:30 a.m. and he took us to the new campus of 50,000 students. We were shown our office on the 5th floor which consists of 9 desks. We share the office with a Filipino and Japanese teacher.
My first class was at 10 a.m. and it lasted until noon! The classroom was packed with 50 students and I had to practically shout. The halls were so noisy as well as the wide open windows. The temperature was 100 today. I was so sweaty. That class of freshmen English was okay. We covered quite a bit of material and I was able to give them English names. I also discussed my family and showed them some pictures. They think my sister is beautiful and would love to meet her!
After that class, we ran over to the crowded teacher's cafeteria. There were only a few options on the menu. Today I ended up with ox tail and quail eggs! Oh, goodness, I hope the food improves. Last night we went to a banquet where the food was quite exotic, but very good.
We finished our meager meals and then went back to our "office," where we worked more on lesson plans. At 2:30 I went to my other freshmen English class. This class also had 50 people and they were much more energetic. I think I'll really like them. Some of them already had really random English names like Bird, T-Mac, Lemon, and Smile. Pretty humorous!
So now it is about 5:30 p.m. and we just returned from the new campus. We'll get some dinner and then our team will meet. After that I suppose it's time to go to bed again! It was such a long, but good day. It is hard to adjust to all the thousands of students staring at me or everyone taking pictures of me, even in class. That will be a new class rule-- no taking pictures of the teacher while she is wiping the sweat from her face, writing on the board, or looking out the window! The father sure gave me a lot of stamina today, especially since I only ate some quail eggs for lunch. He is so good!
My first class was at 10 a.m. and it lasted until noon! The classroom was packed with 50 students and I had to practically shout. The halls were so noisy as well as the wide open windows. The temperature was 100 today. I was so sweaty. That class of freshmen English was okay. We covered quite a bit of material and I was able to give them English names. I also discussed my family and showed them some pictures. They think my sister is beautiful and would love to meet her!
After that class, we ran over to the crowded teacher's cafeteria. There were only a few options on the menu. Today I ended up with ox tail and quail eggs! Oh, goodness, I hope the food improves. Last night we went to a banquet where the food was quite exotic, but very good.
We finished our meager meals and then went back to our "office," where we worked more on lesson plans. At 2:30 I went to my other freshmen English class. This class also had 50 people and they were much more energetic. I think I'll really like them. Some of them already had really random English names like Bird, T-Mac, Lemon, and Smile. Pretty humorous!
So now it is about 5:30 p.m. and we just returned from the new campus. We'll get some dinner and then our team will meet. After that I suppose it's time to go to bed again! It was such a long, but good day. It is hard to adjust to all the thousands of students staring at me or everyone taking pictures of me, even in class. That will be a new class rule-- no taking pictures of the teacher while she is wiping the sweat from her face, writing on the board, or looking out the window! The father sure gave me a lot of stamina today, especially since I only ate some quail eggs for lunch. He is so good!
Monday, September 22, 2008
The name bestower
My head is about to explode with all I've seen and I'll the information about my new life that I'm trying to absorb. Tomorrow I'll begin teaching on the new campus (I live on the old campus) and I'll be teaching several classes of Freshmen English and Business English. Because most of my approximately 200 students will not have English names, that means I have the honor of bestowing them! For some reason that seems like a very weighty honor.
Yesterday we had a full-fledged tour of the new campus of our university, a 15 minute drive from the old campus. The buildings were constructed in just 10 months and they are only 4 years old. We drove through China's largest university gate, where people in uniform saluted. It is a pretty campus, and very large. There is an artificial lake and a big park. The buildings are very futuristic-looking even though they don't have air conditioning or heat. That isn't too fun on a day like yesterday when the heat index was 107 and the humidity was about 90 percent. I'm glad to see that they sell popsicles in a little shop by our offices. You can do so many things like that on a Chinese campus-- eat popsicles, buy cell phones, or mail a package to Beijing.
Our foreign affairs officer then took us to the huge and very chaotic teacher's cafeteria to eat lunch. In the midst of the chaos I ended up with sweet potato chunks and a pile of pig's bladder on my tray. The pig's bladder remained on the tray...
Today is being spent lesson planning. A couple teammates and I will soon venture beyond the old campus gates in search of lunch. Tonight we will attend a banquet that the school is giving for us as the foreign teachers. We will get to meet some exciting people and eat some exciting, exotic foods, probably similar to yesterday's lunch.
So right now I'm doing okay. I'm a bit overwhelmed and tired at the moment. Everything is so exciting, but already frustrating (like waiting a total of 5 hours sitting on a peg stool to get a Chinese cell phone). Everything just takes a long time to get accomplished, which I will need to adapt to. Can you please lift us up as we begin teaching tomorrow? We want to be truly effective teachers and truly effective representatives for our father.
Yesterday we had a full-fledged tour of the new campus of our university, a 15 minute drive from the old campus. The buildings were constructed in just 10 months and they are only 4 years old. We drove through China's largest university gate, where people in uniform saluted. It is a pretty campus, and very large. There is an artificial lake and a big park. The buildings are very futuristic-looking even though they don't have air conditioning or heat. That isn't too fun on a day like yesterday when the heat index was 107 and the humidity was about 90 percent. I'm glad to see that they sell popsicles in a little shop by our offices. You can do so many things like that on a Chinese campus-- eat popsicles, buy cell phones, or mail a package to Beijing.
Our foreign affairs officer then took us to the huge and very chaotic teacher's cafeteria to eat lunch. In the midst of the chaos I ended up with sweet potato chunks and a pile of pig's bladder on my tray. The pig's bladder remained on the tray...
Today is being spent lesson planning. A couple teammates and I will soon venture beyond the old campus gates in search of lunch. Tonight we will attend a banquet that the school is giving for us as the foreign teachers. We will get to meet some exciting people and eat some exciting, exotic foods, probably similar to yesterday's lunch.
So right now I'm doing okay. I'm a bit overwhelmed and tired at the moment. Everything is so exciting, but already frustrating (like waiting a total of 5 hours sitting on a peg stool to get a Chinese cell phone). Everything just takes a long time to get accomplished, which I will need to adapt to. Can you please lift us up as we begin teaching tomorrow? We want to be truly effective teachers and truly effective representatives for our father.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Heroes City
Welcome to the "Heroes City!" We arrived early this Sunday morning to our city, the final destination on our journey. The train ride was pretty tiresome, but we have somewhat revived since we came here. A man from our school and a driver picked us up at the train station. The streets are so chaotic and packed full of people. The city is a bit better off than the central Chinese city I was in 2 years ago. And the heat and humidity is enough to take your breath away.
We ate breakfast next to a huge square at the center of the city which commemorates where the communist revolution began in 1927. It is very patriotic, with tons of red bunting and a huge yellow star overshadowing everything. Apparently we have arrived in the "Heroes City!" So for breakfast we ate rice noodles and hot dumplings while gazing at the square.
Then we arrived at our campus. All seven of us "foreign teachers" paraded onto campus, walking by tons of students playing basketball and chatting. I can't believe I'm supposedly a teacher! Right now I feel so small and unprepared and very out of place. Another teammate, Rachael, and I were shown up the stairs to the fifth floor to our apartment, which will be our home until next July. Our apartment is very large and Chinese-style. I was happy to see I have my own room.
After we arrived I took a shower in the bathroom. The bathroom is a toilet, sink, and shower all wrapped into one. There is one drain in the middle of the floor for all the water. Since there is no tub or shower curtain, water sprayed everywhere. Afterwards I squeegeed the whole bathroom.
There are a million other random observations I have made, but I don't want to overwhelm you, since right now I'm pretty overwhelmed myself. Later this afternoon we are going to the Wal-mart here, which is the world's largest and busiest. I can't imagine that at the moment. I'll let you know how it turns out! Thanks again for your thoughts thousands of miles away! I may be overwhelmed and way out of my comfort zone right now, but I feel very at peace and confident that I have been placed in this city at this school for a wonderful reason.
We ate breakfast next to a huge square at the center of the city which commemorates where the communist revolution began in 1927. It is very patriotic, with tons of red bunting and a huge yellow star overshadowing everything. Apparently we have arrived in the "Heroes City!" So for breakfast we ate rice noodles and hot dumplings while gazing at the square.
Then we arrived at our campus. All seven of us "foreign teachers" paraded onto campus, walking by tons of students playing basketball and chatting. I can't believe I'm supposedly a teacher! Right now I feel so small and unprepared and very out of place. Another teammate, Rachael, and I were shown up the stairs to the fifth floor to our apartment, which will be our home until next July. Our apartment is very large and Chinese-style. I was happy to see I have my own room.
After we arrived I took a shower in the bathroom. The bathroom is a toilet, sink, and shower all wrapped into one. There is one drain in the middle of the floor for all the water. Since there is no tub or shower curtain, water sprayed everywhere. Afterwards I squeegeed the whole bathroom.
There are a million other random observations I have made, but I don't want to overwhelm you, since right now I'm pretty overwhelmed myself. Later this afternoon we are going to the Wal-mart here, which is the world's largest and busiest. I can't imagine that at the moment. I'll let you know how it turns out! Thanks again for your thoughts thousands of miles away! I may be overwhelmed and way out of my comfort zone right now, but I feel very at peace and confident that I have been placed in this city at this school for a wonderful reason.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Beijing to Nanchang
Here I am sitting in a Starbucks in Beijing. We got here late Wednesday night and right now is Saturday afternoon. Our foreign affairs officer from our university has arrived and we'll be riding on the night train to Nanchang with him. So this is a very quick update!
Everything is okay so far. We had the longest journey ever to arrive here, but now I've recovered from not sleeping for nearly 48 hours. Beijing is pretty similar to when I was here a couple of years ago. Maybe there are just more cars. I guess Beijing adds 1,000 cars to its roads every day! So there are about 1 million more cars on the road since I was here last.
We visited another section of the Great Wall and traveled to Tiananmen Square. It is a bit different from 2 years ago, probably because of the Olympics. There is a lot more security everywhere. Speaking of the Olympics, we got to see the now-very famous Bird's Nest and Watercube!
Thanks so much for your thoughts! I know that helped in getting us here safely, because there were already some sort of iffy times. Once we arrive in Nanchang, I'll try to update this blog more. I'm very sad to report that I can't post any pictures at this time. My camera was totally destroyed by a faulty water bottle... Tomorrow (Sunday) we'll get to Nanchang and go to a banquet. Then we will probably start teaching all day on Monday. Agh! I'm not sure if I'm ready!!! But He is in control, as I've already seen in so many instances. Have a great weekend, my readers!
Everything is okay so far. We had the longest journey ever to arrive here, but now I've recovered from not sleeping for nearly 48 hours. Beijing is pretty similar to when I was here a couple of years ago. Maybe there are just more cars. I guess Beijing adds 1,000 cars to its roads every day! So there are about 1 million more cars on the road since I was here last.
We visited another section of the Great Wall and traveled to Tiananmen Square. It is a bit different from 2 years ago, probably because of the Olympics. There is a lot more security everywhere. Speaking of the Olympics, we got to see the now-very famous Bird's Nest and Watercube!
Thanks so much for your thoughts! I know that helped in getting us here safely, because there were already some sort of iffy times. Once we arrive in Nanchang, I'll try to update this blog more. I'm very sad to report that I can't post any pictures at this time. My camera was totally destroyed by a faulty water bottle... Tomorrow (Sunday) we'll get to Nanchang and go to a banquet. Then we will probably start teaching all day on Monday. Agh! I'm not sure if I'm ready!!! But He is in control, as I've already seen in so many instances. Have a great weekend, my readers!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Zai jian!
Well, folks, the time has finally come to ship off. After a lot of preparation and training we are leaving tomorrow for China! I'm not sure how I feel exactly. I'm not too nervous at the moment, but I have a feeling that will be different starting tomorrow.
We'll arrive in Beijing and then take the train to our city in the south on Sept. 20th. Then we start teaching on the 22nd! Can you lift us up, please, especially as we travel? I already know that you have been thinking of us so much, and I'm so grateful. Good-bye, I'll miss you! Have a great next several months living and growing and changing. I can't wait to see you again soon!
We'll arrive in Beijing and then take the train to our city in the south on Sept. 20th. Then we start teaching on the 22nd! Can you lift us up, please, especially as we travel? I already know that you have been thinking of us so much, and I'm so grateful. Good-bye, I'll miss you! Have a great next several months living and growing and changing. I can't wait to see you again soon!
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