I am finally getting around to updating this blog. I am watching the movie "Bucket List" while I do this, so it may take a while to complete.
I am settled at this school. I said this before, but it bears repeating, when things get comfortable, things go wrong.
A few weeks ago I came to the realization, for the second time, that foreign teachers care more about their student's education than do they. The hurts your motivation. I find it hard to concentrate only on the students that want to learn. I like to see the light come on for the recalcitrant ones.
I teach a part-time job at a local private college. Private colleges accept students that did not pass the test for a state university, and they cost a lot of money. So, I am teaching a bunch of rich kids that did not care enough to work hard to get into a state school. Tell them to speak only English in class and they can do it for 3 seconds (on a good day). They have been learning English for no less than 6 years and all they can do is read from a text. In an effort to show them how poor English speakers they are, I took them out on campus and had them describe what they saw. They were able to say I see green grass, I see a bench, the leaves are brown. They finally understood they need to work. That understanding lasted for 1 week.
My full-time job is at a state university. This school is probably a second tier school. We had a Scottish guy here that was asked to leave. I think he has a mental illness. He acted inappropriately with the students, and (wait for it) he physically attacked me.
This man is not right. I went to Ganzhou in early October, when I returned he called me and said he wanted me to share his apartment, I artfully dodged the issue while still declining. One week later he was telling his classes that he hates Americans. He verbally attacked and abused his students. He told one class that he would only talk to 5 specific students: He found out that several students (both male and female) complained to the school about his hugging. Returning to school one day I was scuttling down an auxiliary roadway and I called out to him. He made an obscene gesture to which I responded that was "rude" whereupon he charged me and attempted to intimidate me while poking his finger in my chest.
The point of that story is that I am teaching sophomores oral English; that is in addition to teaching 16 hours a week of intensive reading comprehension to seniors. I had my oral English students learn a song, the song is "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." They sang it last week and did quite well. The top two groups won a free dinner at a good restaurant.
cont. days later, January 2, 2009.
A big problem with a hangover in this city is that there is NO PLACE to get a cheeseburger. I want to go to Toons for greasy meat.
I give a final exam next week, after I am done grading them I will leave for the Chinese version of Hawaii. It is called Hainan and is an island on the southern coast of mainland China. Then I go to two other large cities.
I have been back to Shanghai this year and appreciate the civilization that can be found there. However, that civilization is based on conspicuous consumption. In Shanghai there are HUGE glittering shopping centers everywhere. It seems like they are sometimes only a kilometer apart. Shangqiu has no large shopping centers.
Shangqiu is in Henan Province. This province is culturally 20 years behind the large metropolitan areas of China. Women hold their babies over the curb to perform all bodily functions, grown men step to the side of the road to urinate, dishes are cleaned by dipping them in a bucket of water then dried, and people not covering their mouth when coughing is the norm.
I went shopping yesterday and three young boys, about 8 years old, saw me secure my bike. They then proceeded to follow me throughout the store, they appeared utterly fascinated by my presence. See, in rural China everyone looks the same anyone that looks different is an oddity. I explain to friends and students that the west is much different. Particularly in America, where almost everyone has come from a different country, so seeing people of different races is the rule and not the exception.
I am done writing for now. I will post a video that shows the street corner at the gate of my school. I hope it gives you an idea of common life here in Shangqiu and other smaller cities.
TTYL
Terry
The above is common in smaller areas. By smaller I mean Shangqiu is the size of a Rockford or Madison. Without the cultrual advantages of either.
