A quick trip to western Hunan!

I’ve been sitting at my computer for about 30 minutes now, trying to think of a way to describe my trip to Fenghuang and Dehang. It’s hard because, more than likely, none of you have ever heard of these two cities. But that’s part of what made the trip so exciting. By visiting two minority villages in the Hunan province that I hoped were untouched by tourism, I hoped to get to know the real China. It turns out my wish was only partly granted. Fenghuang, which is said to be the second most beautiful city in all of China, was a bit more touristy than I would have wished, but still beautiful. Rather than describe everything I saw in Fenghuang, I’ll let you look at it.

A man fishing trash out of the river.

Over looking the old town from the Rainbow Bridge.

A Miao women sewing slippers.

Kelly and I post-rickshaw ride.

Fenghuang and the Tuo Jiang River.

Dehang, though not far in distance from Fenghuang, was all together different. The city was extremely small and is known more for the karst formations that surround the city than for it’s buildings or other structures. After finding a place to stay with the help of a pack of cigarettes, we were greeted by a local police officer wanting to register us for a “temporary residents permit.” We had previously told our driver that we had our passports, but this wasn’t exactly true. Most of us did, but not all of us. I’m sorry to say that I belonged to the group that did not have their actual passport in their possession. I had a copy of both my visa and passport, as I had heard that would be sufficient. In our case, however, it was not. Luckily I was able to sign-up for my permit without the officer noticing I didn’t have a passport. Another member of the group was less luckily and received quite a talking to from the officer. In the end, everything worked out and we were able to stay the night. The next day we took two amazing hikes. As most of you know, I typically do not hike. The Chinese as a people, however, also do not hike. So, this was most like a walk on stone sidewalks and a million stairs. Once again, describing what we saw would not do the area justice, so here are a few pictures.

A stream and bridge new our hotel.

Suzanne, Caroline, and Kelly just starting out on the first hike.

A man harvesting rice.

Kelly, Suzanne, a random Chinese man, and I pose on top of a mini-dam along the hike.

Me and the gem of the hike, a lovely waterfall.

I’ve posted a number of additional pictures on Facebook. If you’d like to check them out and are not a member of Facebook, simply follow these links: Fenghuang and Dehang.

I'm glad to have travled throughout the Hunan province. Next up, however, is the rest of China. October 1st is a national holiday and we have the entire week off of school to celebrate. We'll see where I end up and with who, but it will be a fun time regardless.

How many clueless Americans does it take to make a Chinese variety show hilarious? One. Me.

Little did I know that shortly after writing that last entry my Teacher’s Day would get even more exciting. After school, all the teachers got on a private bus and traveled to a local restaurant for a banquet. It is a Chinese custom to toast anyone and everyone at a Chinese banquet. In the past, Kelly and I remained on the receiving end of toasts do to a combination of nervousness and the language barrier. At this banquet, I felt like the time had come to make my first Chinese toast. So following a quick Chinese lesson, Kelly and I went over to toast the school “leaders” and wish them a Happy Teacher’s Day. I’m happy to report that they toast went well and other teachers even complimented us on our bravery.

Following dinner, we all went to the theater. Upon our arrival we were given show tickets that said “Merry Christmas.” We entered the theater and after other teachers were ushered off the VIP couch saved for Kelly and my use, we found jack-o-lantern candle holders on the table. Apparently the Zhuzhou Theater likes American holidays. There was some preshow music playing when we got there and since we were in a jolly mood, some of us started to dance. The next thing I know, the other teachers were encouraging me to get onto the stage to dance. I have no idea what we were thinking, but Kelly, Amy, I, and some other teachers got onto the theater’s stage and danced until the show started.

Later in the show, following a few gentlemen’s club like acts, the MC called for two volunteers to come onto the stage. As soon as I realized that he was looking for some volunteers I felt myself being pulled up to my feet by my liaison, Amy, and the next second I was on stage. At this point I had no idea what he was going to ask me to do. It turns out that I was supposed to reenact a famous scene in Chinese history. A actress came on stage to demonstrate what we were supposed to say and do. One of my teacher friends, Fiona, played the female role first and then I was up. I won’t describe what a fool I looked like, I’ll let you watch it for yourself. Apparently I was supposed to act strong and defiant, which is definitely what I was going for, though I think it just makes me look stupid. Oh well.

For my troubles, I got a huge, stuffed dog to take home with me. He's currently sitting in my office, guarding my computer when I'm away. Who know's what I'll do with him in the future.

I hope you enjoyed the video as much as my fellow teachers enjoyed the show as it was happening. Look out for a post about my trip to Fenghuang and Dehang in the next few days! :)

Ashley

Teacher's Day!

Today is a very important day in the life of every Chinese teacher: Teacher’s Day. Teacher’s Day is an ancient Chinese tradition that honors the work of teachers every September 10th. I guess the equivalent in America would be Teacher’s Appreciation Day, but in name only. This day was more like Christmas than a Teacher’s Appreciation Day in the US that most students are completely ignorant of. Every student that crossed my path in the hall changed their greeting from the everyday “Lǎoshī hǎo” (Hello teacher) to “Happy Teacher’s Day!” And at the beginning of each class, the students shouted "Happy Teacher's Day" at the top of their lungs. Just imgaine 65 little ones screaming like they just saw Justin Timberlake and you'll get the idea. It actually began to hurt my ears the fourth time around. When it comes to gifts, I really made out like bandit. I received over 15 cards, two carnations, some type of candied Chinese fruit on a stick, a bouquet of fake flowers, a key chain, a lollypop and a Chinese knot. I never expected this type of out pouring of affection. It really made me feel appreciated by the students! So, on May 6th, show all the US teachers you know a Chinese-style Teacher’s Day. They’ll never see it coming! :)

Jing Yan Middle School: Like nothing we've seen in America

As I mentioned before, even though I live on Er Zhong’s campus, I actually teach at Jing Yan Middle School, which is about a 30 minute bus ride from the apartment. Jing Yan really is a nice school, located near downtown Zhuzhou. It is made up of four separate buildings surrounding a track and a number of basketball courts. On the fourth floor of one of the buildings I share an office with Kelly and my liaison, Amy. I’m really surprised and pleased with the office. I imagined that I would have a little student desk in a broom closet somewhere, but where they placed us is far from that. We each have out own desks with internet access. Additionally, we have really nice cabinets in which to store student work or whatever. I teach 12 classes of Junior 1s, who are equivalent to American 7th graders. Each class has about 65 students in it, which means I teach over 780 students each week.

(My students are the ones without school uniforms in the picture.)

Before I came to China I shared my nervousness about teaching upwards of 65 students at a time with my friends and family and many people told me not to worry. They said that Chinese students are very well behaved and wouldn’t give me any problems. I would now like to set the record straight. I don’t care in what culture or country you are, if you put sixty-five 11-13 year olds in very tight quarters they will talk… a lot. I’ve been having some problems keeping the classes quiet. The "irritated look" coupled with "hands on hips" seems to be doing far better than “Silent Fox” and “Clap once if you can hear me.” Part of that is surely the fact that an annoyed look can really cross language barriers.

On that note, the students are having a very difficult time understanding what I’m saying. I speak incredibly slowly and act out almost every word possible, but we are still having problems. It’s understandable though. There’s no way that a 7th grade language class in America would be able to get anything done with a foreign teacher who doesn’t speak the native tongue of the students either. I think it would probably be rather funny for an English speaker to watch my class. I’m sure I look like a fool. For example, during the first class period we played a “game” in which each student was supposed to think of something they liked that started with the same letter as their English name. Easy enough, you would think. I broke this simple activity down into three steps: 1. Think of your English name. 2. Think of the first letter of your English name. 3. Think of something you like that starts with the same letter as your name. I then rephrased those steps about 6 times, saying the same thing in a different way each time. After giving the students a few minutes to think of their name and word, I had a few stand up and speak before the class. I wrote, “My name is _____. I like _____.” on the board to help them think of what to say. I hoped that at this point they would get it. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. About 90% of the kids said something like this: “My name is Cooper Victor and I like play computer game” or “My name is Eat and I like play basketball.” Clearly I have my work cut out for me. Even though their English skills are lacking, the students are all really cute and I’m happy to be working with them this year. Hopefully, I will be able to help them improve their oral English skills during my time here.

Well, that’s all for now folks. Until next time...

雅丽

A place to call home

Loyal readers,

I’m so sorry I was forced to leave you for so long without an update. I’m sure many of you assumed that I was just slacking, a sentiment not without reason, as I have a history of forgetting to update my blog for months at a time. This however, was not the case. Since I moved into my apartment 14 days ago, I have been without internet access. I’ve be going to a local internet café for my daily internet fix, but there’s something about filthy keyboards and nosey Chinese teenagers that just kills the blogging mood.

So much has happened to me over the past week. I moved into my first Chinese apartment, I met my liaison (a Chinese woman who will be guiding me through this year: part translator, part intermediary, and part local expert), I visited several surrounding cities, including the birth place of Chairman Mao, and started formal teaching. There is just too much information to put in one entry, as such an entry would be far too long for mere mortal readers. Though I know some of you have super human reading abilities, I have to think of my multi-level readership when I write these entries. So here’s the plan. This entry will be devoted to the city of Zhuzhou and my apartment. Sometime during the weekend I will write an entry about my school and my first week as a middle school English teacher. And in the not so distant future I will fill you in on my modest travels. So here it goes.

Zhuzhou is a bustling city of 3.5 million people located about an hour south of Hunan’s capital, Changsha. It is know for its industry, which means that the pollution level in this area is out of control by western standards. The best air quality day anywhere in China is far worse than the worst day in America, and Zhuzhou is among the worst in all of China on a regular basis. In fact, Zhuzhou ranks in the top 20 of the world’s most polluted cities. This means that while living in Zhuzhou one must completely change their stance on what exactly constitutes a “bad” air quality day. I, for example, now consider a day which I can see the sky a “good” day and days that the sky is completely blanketed with lovely gray smog “bad” days. I haven’t noticed many personal affects of the poor air and I hope things stay that way throughout the year.

My apartment is located on the campus of Zhuzhou Number Two Middle School (or Er Zhong). Er Zhong is the best senior middle school in Zhuzhou, so it is known by most all the locals. It borders Yandi Square, a large square devoted to the city’s patron god, Yandi.

One of the best things about the location of my apartment is that many bus lines run through Yandi Square, making travel within the city a breeze. The apartment complex I live in houses the families of teachers who work at Er Zhong and Jing Yan Middle School, where I work. Jing Yan and Er Zhong have some type of connection, which I have yet to completely figure out. At this point I’m thinking that Jing Yan is a feeder school for Er Zhong, but I could be completely wrong. In China, middle school is the school between primary school and university, thus it includes American middle and high school grade levels. Jing Yan has the equivalent to US grades 7-9 and Er Zhong only has grades 10-12, so together they make one middle school.

At any rate, my apartment is located on the 6th floor of my apartment building. The building does not have an elevator, which means I’m going to have killer legs by the end of the year. One of my site mates, Kelly, is on the second floor of my building, but I choose the top floor apartment for the forced exercise. There are days when I hate myself for that decision, but I can see the hard work paying off already. My apartment has a living room, dining room, kitchen, office, two bed rooms, a bathroom (with a western toilet) and a laundry/sunroom area. That description alone makes it sound fabulous, but you have to remember that I’m in China. My apartment is rather nice, by Chinese standards, but it isn’t what we would rave over in America. The windows are exceedingly drafty (as in doors have blown shut when the windows are closed), the kitchen sink is at mid-thigh level, the bathroom sink has a very good possibility of falling off the wall sometime this year, and there isn’t really what we would call a shower area. There is a showerhead on the wall of my bathroom and the whole bathroom serves as a shower.


And one of the more troubling aspects of my apartment is the lack of a mattress on my bed. There are simply 8 or 10 blankets stacked on top of one another. Granted, my friends who do have mattresses are hardly better off, I don’t even have one! The color of my bed and wardrobe almost make up for the lack of a mattress though.
Other than those few things, my apartment is just fine and compared to where other first year teachers are living, I have it very well. All things considered, I’m happy to call apartment 602 my home for the next year.

Along with all the interesting Chinese furniture, my apartment came stuffed full of items left by the previous inhabitants. I was hoping that the previous volunteer teacher who lived here would have left a few things for me. A hair dryer, a working electric blanket, and an iron would have been nice. While I didn’t find any of those things, I did find a piggy bank full of money, a large Mao calendar, a few racy magazine pictures, old underwear in a box, and pictures of what the apartment used to look like. Most of the things I’ve come across have been complete junk and so I’ve been doing the world a service by throwing them out. Other things have been very interesting/ pretty cool. I’ve yet to go through all the drawers and closets, but I’m excited to see what I might find next. There’s a large trunk on one of the upper shelves that is too heavy to lift down. I’ll keep you updated on what treasures might be there once I find someone to help get it down.

I think that will do for now. I hope you got your fill of pictures and stories from China through this post. Another will be coming the next several days detailing my first week as a teacher and my school home for the year.

Hope things are well in the states. Try and steer clear of all the hurricanes I’ve been reading about in the news.

Ashley