What does a newspaper columnist do when he has nothing to say? He writes musing...here are my musings.
This place is humid.
Students have to pay for hot water when they bathe.
Students (some teachers too) don’t bathe everyday.
Paper towels are not provided in any public lavatory used by the locals, EVER.
The same applies to toilet paper. Bring you own or suffer.
I do not trust people that do not keep up with current events.
It is ok for a student to sleep, read, play video games or listen to music in a Chinese
teacher’s class.
The Chinese dump raw sewage into any body of water.
Many students in the Lambton Program are DUMB.
Chinese teachers are afraid of western teachers.
Dogs and cats do not understand English.
Some people are afraid of black people.
People are the same everywhere.
Maintenance mops the bathrooms and surrounding hallways after every class break:
it is not really mopping, they simply spread ALL of the liquid on the floor around so it will dry quicker.
The hallways around the bathrooms smell like urine.
This place is hot.
People smile more if they don’t live in China.
Cute large breasted Chinese women do exist.
Most Chinese technology is acquired by ill-gotten means.
Why does the Chinese army use an abacus to target their nuclear missiles?
The Olympics mean A LOT to the Chinese.
The Olympics mean so much to the Chinese government, in Beijing it is now illegal to spit in pubic.
I am not an asshole. Everyone, repeat after me: Terry is not an asshole.
China is a very militaristic society.
Chinese bread products are very sweet.
Christal tries to belch like a man.#
At any time, day or night, three Chinese television channels are broadcasting a movie, play or documentary about one of their military victories.
It has been too long since...
Pizza Hut in China is not that bad, nor that good...just like in the States.
Fried fish bones are a traditional Chinese food.
Chinese people spit the bones from the food they are eating on the table next to their bowls.
You are always moist here.
They (the leaders) turn off the electricity to the dorms at 11:00 pm: Students pay for the electricity they use.
Using chopsticks at every meal sucks.
Whatever you do, do not have a local restaurant make you something that is not on the menu.
I have next week off and will do some sightseeing. Pictures in the next post.
30 September 2007
23 September 2007
UPDATE 09/23/07
Let’s see if I can put some new information in this update. As you can tell I can still space things out. In fact, that is one of my problems today. I have been spending a lot of time with Christal and a guy named Rodney. Neither one of them is stupid but I am the one that has to do the thinking. We have been dubbed the “gang of blondes” but it seems to be me that has to remember what we are doing, going or what we had planned to do. I have had a headache for the last three days.
Now that I am done with that, I will describe the other foreign teachers:
Trevor is about 6’5, in his late 50’s (if not older) and Brit that passes himself off as a Canadian. This is his second year here and he complains about everything. That is common amongst the teachers that have been here more than 1 year. One day I will ask one of them why they stay. Anyway, last year Trevor taught the students I am teaching this year...he is the one that taught them that learnt is acceptable. As I type this, I am realizing that describing them could be redundant.
There are a total of 7 westerners teaching here. The youngest is Rodney and the oldest is Mike; Rodney is from Hollywood, CA. and of Chinese descent, Mike is from Maine (ascent and all). The others are Christal, I have written about her, John who is from Australia, Mike from India and I can’t remember the others now. One thing is that if you are over 30 and here you are not right. Well excluding me, you ain’t right being here.
On to Nan Chang City.
Nan Chang is a large city. Some locals say it has 33 million people. I can believe it. This city’s pollution problem is not as bad as the other major cities but it can be very bad on some days. You are required to get a medical checkup to stay and teach in this country. They are concerned about sexually transmitted diseases; it seems that they think all westerners do is have sex and spread disease. Anyway, we started the 10-kilometer trip at 7:30 in the morning. When we arrived in the city there was a haze in the air. I thought it was similar to the marine layer the west coast experiences. It was not what I thought, it was pollution. The factories belch out smoke and the trucks are old and not regulated in anyway. Most of the cars are newer so I assume they have some type of pollution control but I am not sure. And, that is one of those questions you would not get a straight answer to. When we finished the exam and went outside people had surgical masks on their faces as they walked through the streets. I would like to wear one all of the time because these people do not cover their mouths when they cough, dis-fucking-gusting.
Back to the city. I have come familiar with the downtown area. We go down there at least twice a week. We go to Wal-Mart and an electronics mall. Wal-Mart is almost always packed. People are shoulder to shoulder, shoving, stopping the middle of the aisle or simply putting about. PJR, is that spelled correctly? However, the prices are cheaper than most other places. I say most because I bought a bike lock at the Mart only to find it for less at a small store near the school.
The electronics mall is huge, three floors and each floor is about two city blocks long. This mall has every type of device you can think of and they are CHEAP. I purchased a cell phone for 300 RMB, the exchange rate hovers around 7.43 RMB (after fees) per $1.00 US. Figure it out. If you want the latest in hand held technology email me and I will check out the price. Most convert to English, the only problem is you will need a converter for the electricity but a converter costs $10.00 US.
When I go into Nan Chang I am stared at constantly. Sometimes it is funny, others it is annoying. The service at most of the restaurants is annoying. You do not tip in this country. They should adopt the practice so service improves. When we go out with a local, the local is treated poorly.
Rodney and I were talking outside another teacher’s apartment when a local teacher approached us. He ignored Rodney and spoke with me, he did not look at Rodney until I spoke up and told him Rodney was an American, and then he spoke with him.
Teenagers and children look at me and say hello. When I answer the mostly giggle and scuttle away. If I am annoyed I will speak to them, they get a strange look on their face and scuttle quicker because they only know Hallo, I mean Hello.
The Chinese way is strange. They will never tell you the full story. You have to ask specific questions and think of what they could have left out of the answer then re-ask the question. They lie to you. While trying to get me to open an account at Bank of China so that my pay will be directly deposited in an account at their bank, one of the administrators told me, there was not a branch of the bank I am using in Nan Chang. On the way to the medical exam, I saw a branch and said to her, “I was told there was not a branch of this bank in this city.” She replied that there are 4 scattered around and bitched about the person that told me that information. I snapped and told her that she told me. LOL, my directness catches them off guard. She has been much nicer since then. The problem is that these people lie so much they forget their lies. Learning to adapt and understand will take me the entire first year I am here.
I am trying to find a teacher to teach me Mandarin. Problem is they are all afraid of westerners. One they are afraid their English skills are not good enough and they will be embarrassed. Secondly, last year the teachers were not going to get their last paycheck on time. Once you contract is up you have two weeks to get out of the country or move on to a new job. They were told, well can’t you wait around and grade some papers until we are ready to issue your checks. They have so many layers of bureaucracy that getting things done takes forever. Turns out the department keeps a slush fund to make sure westerners are paid on time. This also irritates the local teachers who can go months without being paid. I am going to have to have a student teach me the language.
I did not want to use a student, I feel/felt as if it could show favoritism. However, the students want to help us. Moreover, the school does not frown on it; in fact, it is ok to date one of your own students. I can’t figure this place out.
Back to the City. It is an interesting mix of the new and old. The old is fading but it exists in the back alleys and side streets. People go around on bikes pulling carts and clanging a bell to announce they are there to sell their wares, sharpen knives, do mending or perform other services. In one of the alley/side streets I found a tailor that makes custom pants for ten bucks and you choose the fabric,
The alley/side streets are about 16 feet wide, if that. The shops on these streets are about 12 by 30 and every fourth one is a restaurant. Sanitation is pathetic and I will not eat in one. I will eat from a street vendor that grills some type of meat on a stick right before your eyes before eat in one those places. I have yet to see a pigeon or a dog older than two in the city. That is what “don’t ask don’t tell” should be about.
For the first couple of weeks I was taking in the “big picture”. I am now seeing the homeless and poor problem. In the downtown area 5 beggars a block, that is an over-estimate, can besiege you but it is pervasive.
Starting this Friday, we have an entire week off for some kind of holiday. During that time, we will be taking a trip to the Venice of China. I should have some good things to say about the trip. And, maybe some pictures to upload.
Sorry if this sounded too crabby.
Keep in touch.
Miss the homeland.
Terry
Now that I am done with that, I will describe the other foreign teachers:
Trevor is about 6’5, in his late 50’s (if not older) and Brit that passes himself off as a Canadian. This is his second year here and he complains about everything. That is common amongst the teachers that have been here more than 1 year. One day I will ask one of them why they stay. Anyway, last year Trevor taught the students I am teaching this year...he is the one that taught them that learnt is acceptable. As I type this, I am realizing that describing them could be redundant.
There are a total of 7 westerners teaching here. The youngest is Rodney and the oldest is Mike; Rodney is from Hollywood, CA. and of Chinese descent, Mike is from Maine (ascent and all). The others are Christal, I have written about her, John who is from Australia, Mike from India and I can’t remember the others now. One thing is that if you are over 30 and here you are not right. Well excluding me, you ain’t right being here.
On to Nan Chang City.
Nan Chang is a large city. Some locals say it has 33 million people. I can believe it. This city’s pollution problem is not as bad as the other major cities but it can be very bad on some days. You are required to get a medical checkup to stay and teach in this country. They are concerned about sexually transmitted diseases; it seems that they think all westerners do is have sex and spread disease. Anyway, we started the 10-kilometer trip at 7:30 in the morning. When we arrived in the city there was a haze in the air. I thought it was similar to the marine layer the west coast experiences. It was not what I thought, it was pollution. The factories belch out smoke and the trucks are old and not regulated in anyway. Most of the cars are newer so I assume they have some type of pollution control but I am not sure. And, that is one of those questions you would not get a straight answer to. When we finished the exam and went outside people had surgical masks on their faces as they walked through the streets. I would like to wear one all of the time because these people do not cover their mouths when they cough, dis-fucking-gusting.
Back to the city. I have come familiar with the downtown area. We go down there at least twice a week. We go to Wal-Mart and an electronics mall. Wal-Mart is almost always packed. People are shoulder to shoulder, shoving, stopping the middle of the aisle or simply putting about. PJR, is that spelled correctly? However, the prices are cheaper than most other places. I say most because I bought a bike lock at the Mart only to find it for less at a small store near the school.
The electronics mall is huge, three floors and each floor is about two city blocks long. This mall has every type of device you can think of and they are CHEAP. I purchased a cell phone for 300 RMB, the exchange rate hovers around 7.43 RMB (after fees) per $1.00 US. Figure it out. If you want the latest in hand held technology email me and I will check out the price. Most convert to English, the only problem is you will need a converter for the electricity but a converter costs $10.00 US.
When I go into Nan Chang I am stared at constantly. Sometimes it is funny, others it is annoying. The service at most of the restaurants is annoying. You do not tip in this country. They should adopt the practice so service improves. When we go out with a local, the local is treated poorly.
Rodney and I were talking outside another teacher’s apartment when a local teacher approached us. He ignored Rodney and spoke with me, he did not look at Rodney until I spoke up and told him Rodney was an American, and then he spoke with him.
Teenagers and children look at me and say hello. When I answer the mostly giggle and scuttle away. If I am annoyed I will speak to them, they get a strange look on their face and scuttle quicker because they only know Hallo, I mean Hello.
The Chinese way is strange. They will never tell you the full story. You have to ask specific questions and think of what they could have left out of the answer then re-ask the question. They lie to you. While trying to get me to open an account at Bank of China so that my pay will be directly deposited in an account at their bank, one of the administrators told me, there was not a branch of the bank I am using in Nan Chang. On the way to the medical exam, I saw a branch and said to her, “I was told there was not a branch of this bank in this city.” She replied that there are 4 scattered around and bitched about the person that told me that information. I snapped and told her that she told me. LOL, my directness catches them off guard. She has been much nicer since then. The problem is that these people lie so much they forget their lies. Learning to adapt and understand will take me the entire first year I am here.
I am trying to find a teacher to teach me Mandarin. Problem is they are all afraid of westerners. One they are afraid their English skills are not good enough and they will be embarrassed. Secondly, last year the teachers were not going to get their last paycheck on time. Once you contract is up you have two weeks to get out of the country or move on to a new job. They were told, well can’t you wait around and grade some papers until we are ready to issue your checks. They have so many layers of bureaucracy that getting things done takes forever. Turns out the department keeps a slush fund to make sure westerners are paid on time. This also irritates the local teachers who can go months without being paid. I am going to have to have a student teach me the language.
I did not want to use a student, I feel/felt as if it could show favoritism. However, the students want to help us. Moreover, the school does not frown on it; in fact, it is ok to date one of your own students. I can’t figure this place out.
Back to the City. It is an interesting mix of the new and old. The old is fading but it exists in the back alleys and side streets. People go around on bikes pulling carts and clanging a bell to announce they are there to sell their wares, sharpen knives, do mending or perform other services. In one of the alley/side streets I found a tailor that makes custom pants for ten bucks and you choose the fabric,
The alley/side streets are about 16 feet wide, if that. The shops on these streets are about 12 by 30 and every fourth one is a restaurant. Sanitation is pathetic and I will not eat in one. I will eat from a street vendor that grills some type of meat on a stick right before your eyes before eat in one those places. I have yet to see a pigeon or a dog older than two in the city. That is what “don’t ask don’t tell” should be about.
For the first couple of weeks I was taking in the “big picture”. I am now seeing the homeless and poor problem. In the downtown area 5 beggars a block, that is an over-estimate, can besiege you but it is pervasive.
Starting this Friday, we have an entire week off for some kind of holiday. During that time, we will be taking a trip to the Venice of China. I should have some good things to say about the trip. And, maybe some pictures to upload.
Sorry if this sounded too crabby.
Keep in touch.
Miss the homeland.
Terry
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2007 OR IN LOCAL SPEAK 23-09-07
Forgive me because this update may be rather long, I have to get up to date and this is the one.
The campus of Ziangxi Science and Technology Normal University is bucolic compared to Nan Chang City. Once you step off the campus, it becomes semi-chaotic.
The campus is located 7 kilometers northwest of Nan Chang. It sits on about 200 acres of a rolling tree covered hill. Inside of the University gate, there is the administration building. They are rehabbing it and it will be done soon. It should look nice. Across the roadway from that building is a 4-acre pond. The pond is the color of the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day. Moreover, at times it smells like a sewage treatment plant. It is not unusual to have that odor wafting through the air at any time or any place you may be.
The first apartment I lived in is located close to the back campus boundary, amongst a grove of trees and away from the majority of the students. The unit it self is located on the top floor of a building of indeterminate age. Unlike the units occupied by locals the residences provided to western teachers have parquet floors, hot and cold running water and separate laundry facilities. They sound nice but the upkeep is close to nonexistent. For example, the seat on my toilet is upside down and maintenance never seems to get around to correcting the situation. When I pointed the problem out to a maintenance man, he looked at it, nodded, indicated how the problem would be fixed and left. He never came back.
Everyday I lived in that apartment I woke up with a stuffy nose. One evening another foreign teachers were over and pointed out that mold appeared to be growing along the baseboards. Up until that point I had always minimized the affect of mold spores in a residence, I will not do that anymore. Once I saw new apartments for westerners in another building I decided to move. I have never been one that felt guilty about what I had compared to others but the move into the new apartment brought on that emotion.
The new apartment has a large, even by western standards living room. There is a separate eating area and a small self-contained kitchen. The bedroom is large and the room that could be another bedroom, which is my office, is equally as large. In addition, I can no longer use the toilet and shower at the same time. Why do I feel guilty? Students helped me move in and I learned how the live.
There are about 13,000 students on this, the old campus. There are about 7 dorms averaging 9 floors each. That explains why some of them live 12 to room the size of my living room. They have no hot water or heat when it gets cold (take into consideration that the locals start to get cold and wear jackets when it gets to be 60 degrees) and the rooms has no adornments and the floors are concrete.
There is more to say but I don’t want to get too negative.
I am teaching in the business department. All of my classes are in one six story building. No elevators. I must go from a subterranean classroom to the 5th or 6th floor two times a week. One other day I am on the 5th floor all morning and the last day I start on the 6th floor and go to the basement.
I am teaching juniors and seniors. By the time they reach this level they have had 8 to 9 years of English education. They have been “taught’ English but have not come close to mastering it. One major reason is that they never use it outside of class. Another is that most of the western teachers come from different countries. During my first class a student used the word “learnt.” I corrected the student on the proper past tense of learn. She replied that their previous teacher had said it was correct. Over the weekend I met a man that is now teaching in Japan. I told him of that incident. Christophe is from Australia and is dedicated to teaching. He informed me (meaning I learnt something new) that in his country, Canada and the UK. Learnt is the proper past tense of learn and that those countries think Americans are “daft” with our past tense version. Some of you may not believe this but, the next class I told the students I was wrong about the past tense. I went on to explain that learnt was an example of how difficult English can be to learn and use. What is right in one country is wrong in others.
I don’t know if they understood. You never know if they understand because no matter how many times you tell them to speak up if they do not get it or disagree with you they will not.
Getting my students to be interactive is one of my most difficult tasks. Every class I write on the board that class participation is part of their grade and that if they consistently volunteer they will get extra points. And, I tell them that if they do not talk they will lose points. This is an example of how stoic they can be: I was setting my office hours and asked one class if they had classes Monday afternoon, no one said a word. I then said raise your hand if you have a class Monday afternoon, not one hand went up. I said ok and told them my Monday office hours. EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM HAS CLASSES MONDAY AFTERNOON. Fortunately, I already knew that and used their failure to respond as an example of what happens when they are not interactive.
The primary reason these students behave as they do is the teaching methods of the vast majority of the native teachers. They will stand in front of a class, it does not matter how small or large the class is, and drone on without hesitation for 40 minutes. They do not encourage the students to interact. The student is there to hear what the teacher has to say.
The Chinese teachers do not care what the students do in their class. I have seen students playing video games, texting or talking on their cell phones and, of course sleeping. I have confiscated three cell phones and one mp4 player to date. One of each from the same girl not 10 minutes apart.
One student is really good looking; she knows it and flaunts it. To add fuel to the fire she is intelligent. She is fully aware of her attributes. To bad for her, they have no affect on me, LOL. She waltzed into class 35 minutes late with an ‘I am sorry teacher”. I said my name is Mr. White and you can leave, 35 minutes late is unacceptable, leave. She missed my next three classes. When she came back she looked like a normal college student that woke up right before her 8:00 class and I was nice to her.
This has gone on way longer than I wanted. I had hoped to tell you about the other foreign teachers and a little bit about Nan Chang City. But that must wait.
Hope all is going well in the world I think I understand.
Wow, I am an idiot. 1256 words about a subject I already covered. No wonder I can’t catch up.
I will come back later today and write about Nan Chang City. Shit..............I am a natural.
The campus of Ziangxi Science and Technology Normal University is bucolic compared to Nan Chang City. Once you step off the campus, it becomes semi-chaotic.
The campus is located 7 kilometers northwest of Nan Chang. It sits on about 200 acres of a rolling tree covered hill. Inside of the University gate, there is the administration building. They are rehabbing it and it will be done soon. It should look nice. Across the roadway from that building is a 4-acre pond. The pond is the color of the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day. Moreover, at times it smells like a sewage treatment plant. It is not unusual to have that odor wafting through the air at any time or any place you may be.
The first apartment I lived in is located close to the back campus boundary, amongst a grove of trees and away from the majority of the students. The unit it self is located on the top floor of a building of indeterminate age. Unlike the units occupied by locals the residences provided to western teachers have parquet floors, hot and cold running water and separate laundry facilities. They sound nice but the upkeep is close to nonexistent. For example, the seat on my toilet is upside down and maintenance never seems to get around to correcting the situation. When I pointed the problem out to a maintenance man, he looked at it, nodded, indicated how the problem would be fixed and left. He never came back.
Everyday I lived in that apartment I woke up with a stuffy nose. One evening another foreign teachers were over and pointed out that mold appeared to be growing along the baseboards. Up until that point I had always minimized the affect of mold spores in a residence, I will not do that anymore. Once I saw new apartments for westerners in another building I decided to move. I have never been one that felt guilty about what I had compared to others but the move into the new apartment brought on that emotion.
The new apartment has a large, even by western standards living room. There is a separate eating area and a small self-contained kitchen. The bedroom is large and the room that could be another bedroom, which is my office, is equally as large. In addition, I can no longer use the toilet and shower at the same time. Why do I feel guilty? Students helped me move in and I learned how the live.
There are about 13,000 students on this, the old campus. There are about 7 dorms averaging 9 floors each. That explains why some of them live 12 to room the size of my living room. They have no hot water or heat when it gets cold (take into consideration that the locals start to get cold and wear jackets when it gets to be 60 degrees) and the rooms has no adornments and the floors are concrete.
There is more to say but I don’t want to get too negative.
I am teaching in the business department. All of my classes are in one six story building. No elevators. I must go from a subterranean classroom to the 5th or 6th floor two times a week. One other day I am on the 5th floor all morning and the last day I start on the 6th floor and go to the basement.
I am teaching juniors and seniors. By the time they reach this level they have had 8 to 9 years of English education. They have been “taught’ English but have not come close to mastering it. One major reason is that they never use it outside of class. Another is that most of the western teachers come from different countries. During my first class a student used the word “learnt.” I corrected the student on the proper past tense of learn. She replied that their previous teacher had said it was correct. Over the weekend I met a man that is now teaching in Japan. I told him of that incident. Christophe is from Australia and is dedicated to teaching. He informed me (meaning I learnt something new) that in his country, Canada and the UK. Learnt is the proper past tense of learn and that those countries think Americans are “daft” with our past tense version. Some of you may not believe this but, the next class I told the students I was wrong about the past tense. I went on to explain that learnt was an example of how difficult English can be to learn and use. What is right in one country is wrong in others.
I don’t know if they understood. You never know if they understand because no matter how many times you tell them to speak up if they do not get it or disagree with you they will not.
Getting my students to be interactive is one of my most difficult tasks. Every class I write on the board that class participation is part of their grade and that if they consistently volunteer they will get extra points. And, I tell them that if they do not talk they will lose points. This is an example of how stoic they can be: I was setting my office hours and asked one class if they had classes Monday afternoon, no one said a word. I then said raise your hand if you have a class Monday afternoon, not one hand went up. I said ok and told them my Monday office hours. EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM HAS CLASSES MONDAY AFTERNOON. Fortunately, I already knew that and used their failure to respond as an example of what happens when they are not interactive.
The primary reason these students behave as they do is the teaching methods of the vast majority of the native teachers. They will stand in front of a class, it does not matter how small or large the class is, and drone on without hesitation for 40 minutes. They do not encourage the students to interact. The student is there to hear what the teacher has to say.
The Chinese teachers do not care what the students do in their class. I have seen students playing video games, texting or talking on their cell phones and, of course sleeping. I have confiscated three cell phones and one mp4 player to date. One of each from the same girl not 10 minutes apart.
One student is really good looking; she knows it and flaunts it. To add fuel to the fire she is intelligent. She is fully aware of her attributes. To bad for her, they have no affect on me, LOL. She waltzed into class 35 minutes late with an ‘I am sorry teacher”. I said my name is Mr. White and you can leave, 35 minutes late is unacceptable, leave. She missed my next three classes. When she came back she looked like a normal college student that woke up right before her 8:00 class and I was nice to her.
This has gone on way longer than I wanted. I had hoped to tell you about the other foreign teachers and a little bit about Nan Chang City. But that must wait.
Hope all is going well in the world I think I understand.
Wow, I am an idiot. 1256 words about a subject I already covered. No wonder I can’t catch up.
I will come back later today and write about Nan Chang City. Shit..............I am a natural.
15 September 2007
Ten days at Jiangxi University
I have been at Jiangxi Science & Technology University for 10 days and I can sense my English skills going down hill. That is a joke between Christol and me. We are talking to so many people who speak Chinenglish that we are adopting some of there speech patterns. This must stop, I am sounding more blonde than ever.
I am teaching 16 hours per week that equals seven classes. The classes are Business Communication and Writing, Business Report (the students have to prepare an analysis of business} and Business Project (those students have to prepare a business plan). I have classes on the 6th, 5th and 1st (which is quasi-subterranean) floors. The buildings here on campus do not have elevators. Because of the heat and humidity (no air-conditioning in the school buildings), the hike from the 1st to the 6th floor is a bitch.
I am teaching juniors and seniors enrolled through the Lampton College Program. A college in Canada puts this program together. The students that are “accepted” to this program failed to qualify on the normal university track; and, what I was told, they come from fairly well off families. The kicker is that their parents do not want them at home, so they ship them off here. I have to be a disciplinarian and teacher; you can imagine that it is hard for me to fill that role. Being normal, yet immature, students they try to get away with anything they can. I have confiscated on cell phone that was ringing, told a student that was 35 minutes late to class to leave and lectured 75% of them that you are not prepared for class if you don’t brink pen and paper to class.
The female students appear to be smarter (or maybe just more interested) than the male students. The guys sit in the back and everyone avoids the front row. I have one particularly bad class. Three of the guys, after 20 minutes, had not started an in-class writing assignment. Took them out of the room to find out why, they had not brought pens to class. I counted to 10 then told them how wrong that was and that they have to get their shit together. The next day I found out that after two weeks the students evaluate you for the administration and that information is factored into your one-month probation review.
The campus is set on a hillside walking anywhere is up and down slopes; they are gentle but repetitive. This school lacks the facilities that are common on our college campuses such as, a gym, pool, tennis courts and student union. One thing that is in common is the food on campus.
Campus food service is the way American college food service was before it was out sourced, bad cafeteria food. There is very little beef, pork or poultry served. When “meat is served it is in tiny bite sized pieces and mixed with a wide variety of vegetables. All the food, except in one location, is kept under heat lamps in a warm water bath. It is not appealing to see. One location on campus has a service line where you pick your veggies and they cook them where you can see. We tend to eat there once a day. It is good to see that because sanitation is poor. There is not a health dept checking out how they store food pre and post cooking. I am starting to get tired because of the food. The first problem was the chopsticks, now it is from the food be unappetizing. I went out and bought eggs today so I can increase my protein intake.
The school does have a military presence. Every freshman must undergo two months of drilling. Watching them all that comes to mind is that they are dead meat in any type of war (cannon fodder.) Anyone that tells you there are only 1.3 billion Chinese people are crazy, I would bet the real number is closer to 2 billion. Explains why most of their military training is rudimentary. I guess they don’t need to know how to operate equipment if your sole purpose is to reinforce the idea that the leaders can just keep sending wave after wave of soldiers at your position.
LOL, I used the word “leaders”, that is the way everyone here describes people of authority.
There are two malls, really more than that but the others are indescribable, within walking distance. These malls carry the types of things you find in discount strip malls in large U.S. cities or Springfield, Illinois. Both have supermarkets on the upper floor and both keep their eggs out and un-refrigerated. They both have meat products, chicken feet, chicken carcasses, whole chicken and what appear to be the leftover trimmings from slaughterhouses in the U.S., the parts we don’t/won’t eat.
I am going to wrap this one up because it is longer than I thought it would be with these final comments. These people have a complete different way of thinking than most westerners. To them it is acceptable to pick your nose in public, spit on the floor of a building and spit out bones from you food on the table. Littering is rampant (you know that gets to me) they will drop whatever they have wherever they want (except in my classroom).
Next I will tell you about the Nan Chang City, PRC.
Even though it is strangely relaxing not understanding the language I miss English radio and television. Thank God, Buddha, Sol or whatever you believe in, for the internet and WXRT and WCKG. Seems the others don't work as well and aren't worth the aggravation to listen to.
Sheshe for reading.
Terry
I am teaching 16 hours per week that equals seven classes. The classes are Business Communication and Writing, Business Report (the students have to prepare an analysis of business} and Business Project (those students have to prepare a business plan). I have classes on the 6th, 5th and 1st (which is quasi-subterranean) floors. The buildings here on campus do not have elevators. Because of the heat and humidity (no air-conditioning in the school buildings), the hike from the 1st to the 6th floor is a bitch.
I am teaching juniors and seniors enrolled through the Lampton College Program. A college in Canada puts this program together. The students that are “accepted” to this program failed to qualify on the normal university track; and, what I was told, they come from fairly well off families. The kicker is that their parents do not want them at home, so they ship them off here. I have to be a disciplinarian and teacher; you can imagine that it is hard for me to fill that role. Being normal, yet immature, students they try to get away with anything they can. I have confiscated on cell phone that was ringing, told a student that was 35 minutes late to class to leave and lectured 75% of them that you are not prepared for class if you don’t brink pen and paper to class.
The female students appear to be smarter (or maybe just more interested) than the male students. The guys sit in the back and everyone avoids the front row. I have one particularly bad class. Three of the guys, after 20 minutes, had not started an in-class writing assignment. Took them out of the room to find out why, they had not brought pens to class. I counted to 10 then told them how wrong that was and that they have to get their shit together. The next day I found out that after two weeks the students evaluate you for the administration and that information is factored into your one-month probation review.
The campus is set on a hillside walking anywhere is up and down slopes; they are gentle but repetitive. This school lacks the facilities that are common on our college campuses such as, a gym, pool, tennis courts and student union. One thing that is in common is the food on campus.
Campus food service is the way American college food service was before it was out sourced, bad cafeteria food. There is very little beef, pork or poultry served. When “meat is served it is in tiny bite sized pieces and mixed with a wide variety of vegetables. All the food, except in one location, is kept under heat lamps in a warm water bath. It is not appealing to see. One location on campus has a service line where you pick your veggies and they cook them where you can see. We tend to eat there once a day. It is good to see that because sanitation is poor. There is not a health dept checking out how they store food pre and post cooking. I am starting to get tired because of the food. The first problem was the chopsticks, now it is from the food be unappetizing. I went out and bought eggs today so I can increase my protein intake.
The school does have a military presence. Every freshman must undergo two months of drilling. Watching them all that comes to mind is that they are dead meat in any type of war (cannon fodder.) Anyone that tells you there are only 1.3 billion Chinese people are crazy, I would bet the real number is closer to 2 billion. Explains why most of their military training is rudimentary. I guess they don’t need to know how to operate equipment if your sole purpose is to reinforce the idea that the leaders can just keep sending wave after wave of soldiers at your position.
LOL, I used the word “leaders”, that is the way everyone here describes people of authority.
There are two malls, really more than that but the others are indescribable, within walking distance. These malls carry the types of things you find in discount strip malls in large U.S. cities or Springfield, Illinois. Both have supermarkets on the upper floor and both keep their eggs out and un-refrigerated. They both have meat products, chicken feet, chicken carcasses, whole chicken and what appear to be the leftover trimmings from slaughterhouses in the U.S., the parts we don’t/won’t eat.
I am going to wrap this one up because it is longer than I thought it would be with these final comments. These people have a complete different way of thinking than most westerners. To them it is acceptable to pick your nose in public, spit on the floor of a building and spit out bones from you food on the table. Littering is rampant (you know that gets to me) they will drop whatever they have wherever they want (except in my classroom).
Next I will tell you about the Nan Chang City, PRC.
Even though it is strangely relaxing not understanding the language I miss English radio and television. Thank God, Buddha, Sol or whatever you believe in, for the internet and WXRT and WCKG. Seems the others don't work as well and aren't worth the aggravation to listen to.
Sheshe for reading.
Terry
11 September 2007
It begins
I arrived at O’Hare at 8:15 a.m. and went to United to check in for the flight. Everyone was going through the check in process rather quickly, and then it was my turn. My large bag weighed 103 lbs, $390.00 overweight. The ticket agent was nice, he told me he could sell me a box in which I was allowed put 35 lbs worth of stuff and take it with me for an additional $130.00. So, there I am unloading my bag and tossing suits, shirts and other personal items into a brown cardboard box. Once I was done with repacking, it was off to the gate.
At the gate, I learned that the flight was delayed. The ground crew had found a fuel leak in an engine, there was no estimated time of departure. At 10:15, no flight information was available, the gate attendants disappeared and I began to worry about my 3:00 connecting flight out of Vancouver to Beijing. As Rick was checking websites for other airlines, I used the courtesy phone to call reservations. To my surprise United came through and booked me on the 12:30 direct flight to Beijing, they even honored my Air Canada ticket. The Air Canada ticket was about one-half the price of a United ticket.
If I never come back to the States it is because I do not want to be in a long tube hurtling through the air at 550 mph for 13 hours. That flight was a flight from hell. One piece of advice, on a flight of that length do not use the lavatory after 9 hours in the air...nothing more to say about that except, that the smell prepares you for the smells of Nan Chang City, China.
The flight took us over, well damn near, the North Pole and Siberia and northern China. Looking out the window of the plane it was hard to comprehend the vast empty land. For hours, there was nothing on the ground to be seen, just mountains and valleys. Those regions are barren.
Once we landed, I had to get my bags, I grabbed a Porter and we went off to the baggage carousel to wait for my bags. We waited and waited and waited and waited. My bags are lost (United calls it misplaced). Before I left O’Hare I checked with several people to make sure my bags made it on my flight. United let me down there. The only good thing is that I did not have to pay Air China extra money for the extra/overweight bag because United now has to get them to me. As of this writing, Sunday the 9th of September, my bags and I are still not reunited.
By the way, the Porter wore a tag that said free. LOL he took me for $100.00 RMB (about $8.50 US)
A word of warning: beware of gaggles of Korean women at airport baggage carousels. They pushed and shoved the Porter and me out of the way to get at their baggage. It was like the videos you see of women trying to buy a wedding dress at some annual sale in NYC.
The United flight got me to Beijing City International Airport about 6 hours before my connecting flight to Hangzhou, after the bag fiasco I had about 4.5 hours to kill. What do you do when you are exhausted and have that much time to kill. I don’t remember anything except sitting and talking with an American named Blake for several hours in a cafe.
The Air China flight was uneventful. However, when I arrived there was no one at the airport to meet me. I started to worry and was preparing to check for hotel for the night when my “minder” arrived.
Hangzhou China is where I landed at about 10:30 on Monday the 3rd of September. It was raining on the drive into the city. The drive was in a vehicle they call a LeBoucher, a mini loaf of bread type van. It clanked, clanged, chugged and heaved its way to the city and my accommodations for the night; a dorm room at a university. It was here that I learned the true meaning of “squatter”; the standard Chinese commode is a porcelain hole in the floor. Moreover, though they use it, toilet paper is not available in public restrooms. Enough on that, except my apartment here in Nan Chang has American type facilities. Happy happy joy joy. Though, the shower is on the wall between the commode and sink so you shit where you shower.
I spent 1.5 days in Hangzhou. If the company I was working with was organized, I could have been in and out of there in 5 hours. I am learning that the Chinese way of doing things has to be a certain way and that is it.
I left Hangzhou on the 12:37 train to Nan Chang, 376 miles away. The train traveled at 120 mph, that was neat. I did not have a window seat so I did not get to see a lot of the countryside, what I did see was interesting. Rice paddies everywhere. I saw very little to no husbandry. There were lots of empty brick apartment buildings and factories. We traveled through a four-mile long tunnel, right through the middle of a mountain.
I arrived in Nan Chang City at about 4:30 and was met by Joanna (her Chinese name is Quan Hong) who unceremoniously dropped me off at my apartment and told me that there is a dining room over there somewhere. By that time I did not care, I just needed to rest; I really needed to sleep, that not easy to do because of my bed. The typical Chinese bed is less comfortable than sleeping on a box spring. The bed feels like a piece of plywood with ¼ inch of padding. I did sleep, not comfortably but it was sleep.
TBC
At the gate, I learned that the flight was delayed. The ground crew had found a fuel leak in an engine, there was no estimated time of departure. At 10:15, no flight information was available, the gate attendants disappeared and I began to worry about my 3:00 connecting flight out of Vancouver to Beijing. As Rick was checking websites for other airlines, I used the courtesy phone to call reservations. To my surprise United came through and booked me on the 12:30 direct flight to Beijing, they even honored my Air Canada ticket. The Air Canada ticket was about one-half the price of a United ticket.
If I never come back to the States it is because I do not want to be in a long tube hurtling through the air at 550 mph for 13 hours. That flight was a flight from hell. One piece of advice, on a flight of that length do not use the lavatory after 9 hours in the air...nothing more to say about that except, that the smell prepares you for the smells of Nan Chang City, China.
The flight took us over, well damn near, the North Pole and Siberia and northern China. Looking out the window of the plane it was hard to comprehend the vast empty land. For hours, there was nothing on the ground to be seen, just mountains and valleys. Those regions are barren.
Once we landed, I had to get my bags, I grabbed a Porter and we went off to the baggage carousel to wait for my bags. We waited and waited and waited and waited. My bags are lost (United calls it misplaced). Before I left O’Hare I checked with several people to make sure my bags made it on my flight. United let me down there. The only good thing is that I did not have to pay Air China extra money for the extra/overweight bag because United now has to get them to me. As of this writing, Sunday the 9th of September, my bags and I are still not reunited.
By the way, the Porter wore a tag that said free. LOL he took me for $100.00 RMB (about $8.50 US)
A word of warning: beware of gaggles of Korean women at airport baggage carousels. They pushed and shoved the Porter and me out of the way to get at their baggage. It was like the videos you see of women trying to buy a wedding dress at some annual sale in NYC.
The United flight got me to Beijing City International Airport about 6 hours before my connecting flight to Hangzhou, after the bag fiasco I had about 4.5 hours to kill. What do you do when you are exhausted and have that much time to kill. I don’t remember anything except sitting and talking with an American named Blake for several hours in a cafe.
The Air China flight was uneventful. However, when I arrived there was no one at the airport to meet me. I started to worry and was preparing to check for hotel for the night when my “minder” arrived.
Hangzhou China is where I landed at about 10:30 on Monday the 3rd of September. It was raining on the drive into the city. The drive was in a vehicle they call a LeBoucher, a mini loaf of bread type van. It clanked, clanged, chugged and heaved its way to the city and my accommodations for the night; a dorm room at a university. It was here that I learned the true meaning of “squatter”; the standard Chinese commode is a porcelain hole in the floor. Moreover, though they use it, toilet paper is not available in public restrooms. Enough on that, except my apartment here in Nan Chang has American type facilities. Happy happy joy joy. Though, the shower is on the wall between the commode and sink so you shit where you shower.
I spent 1.5 days in Hangzhou. If the company I was working with was organized, I could have been in and out of there in 5 hours. I am learning that the Chinese way of doing things has to be a certain way and that is it.
I left Hangzhou on the 12:37 train to Nan Chang, 376 miles away. The train traveled at 120 mph, that was neat. I did not have a window seat so I did not get to see a lot of the countryside, what I did see was interesting. Rice paddies everywhere. I saw very little to no husbandry. There were lots of empty brick apartment buildings and factories. We traveled through a four-mile long tunnel, right through the middle of a mountain.
I arrived in Nan Chang City at about 4:30 and was met by Joanna (her Chinese name is Quan Hong) who unceremoniously dropped me off at my apartment and told me that there is a dining room over there somewhere. By that time I did not care, I just needed to rest; I really needed to sleep, that not easy to do because of my bed. The typical Chinese bed is less comfortable than sleeping on a box spring. The bed feels like a piece of plywood with ¼ inch of padding. I did sleep, not comfortably but it was sleep.
TBC
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