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Between travel, teaching, holidays and special visits the last several months went quicker than the first but I am sure the quickest months are yet to come. Lauren and I are now halfway through our experience in China-we just finished up classes in the middle of January-and I so happy teaching and living in China that I would like to stay for another year. Since life in China is so layered I have divided this report like the first: teaching and travel as well as general observations on life in China. For this report, there are two additional sections-- the traditional Chinese holiday, Xmas, and the Grinnell Delegation's visit to Nanjing
Teaching
I am thrilled to say that teaching, both at NanDaFuZhong during the week, and the British-American School on the weekends, remains the most interesting and enriching part of my time here in China. Over the past several months I have gotten closer to my students at both schools and this connection helped make classes smooth,. productive and enjoyable.
At NanDaFuZhong I was very pleased with the progress my students made, especially in the Junior levels. While my junior students made the most progress I am very happy to report that both Senior and Junior students are genuinely excited about learning English. One of my goals for next semester is to work on containing and directing this enthusiasm.
I was very surprised that I did not really have any problems when it came to discipline or any delinquents when it came to homework. I think my relative success in these two areas stem form establishing a routine early in the semester. When students came to class they knew that we were going to do a tongue twister, go through new vocabulary, practice the new words in two or three group activities and end with one or two activities. Moreover, I think it was very helpful to establish themes for each group. I based all of my lessons for Junior I around basic interactions, for my Junior II students the theme was "Expressing Yourself" and for Senior I and II the semester centered around "If." With these overarching themes and the structure of each individual class essentially set, writing lesson plan on a week-to-week basis became progressively easier.
Despite my positive feelings about the course of this semester there are several things I want to change next semester. I am hesitant to give tests but I need to devise a way that checks the retention of the students but does not sacrifice too much time, I only see each class once a week, or cause additional strain to already overburdened students. Also, I would like to work on receding from the center of the classroom, while still maintaining my authority, and giving more and more opportunities to students to interact with each other in English.
At my other school my classes are starting to have a real sense of togetherness. Through my extensive experiences as a student and my admittedly more limited experiences I think that this sense of togetherness is key to creating and good classroom atmosphere where people are not afraid to question, argue and bicker. At this point, my students in these classes are some of my closest Chinese friends. We usually eat lunch together on the weekends and I am going to visit some of them over my Winter Vacation.
Travel
For the most part, I have stayed put in Nanjing over the last several months. When the cold descends in China it is difficult to rouse yourself from out under the warm blankets in the morning, and the warmest you will fell all day, let alone go to another city. Nonetheless, I have been lucky enough to go on two great trips, one to Yunnan province in Southwestern China and the second to the more cosmopolitan and costly city of Shanghai.
Yunnan
Towards the end of November we journeyed to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, to attend a conference for young, foreign college graduates teaching English in China. With good weather, lots of western treats we cannot find here in Nanjing and David DeGeest and Sophie Nye, Kunming was not lacking any creature comforts. The conference itself was very helpful and I came away with a lot of ideas for lesson plans, classroom strategies and a better of sense of how well we have it here in Nanjing. Talking to other teachers throughout the weekend about their battles with Chinese bureaucracy, their huge classes, the uncooperative or uninterested administrators that they must deal with on a daily basis, I discovered that Lauren and I are the two luckiest people in China. We have small classes, great colleagues and a great support network here in China and back in the States. From Kunming we went on to travel to Lijiang.
Lijiang is a very peaceful old village with small buildings, walkable streets and lots of really delicious but very spicy food. From Lijiang we went hiking for two in what is known as Tiger Leaping Gorge. I have never been to the Grand Canyon but Lauren said that the two are comparable. Over the course of the two days hike, we easily covered more than 10 miles. We were high up in the mountains and looked down at the river cutting through the canyon. The views were spectacular but the climbing was challenging. We slept in the middle of the mountains and continued our hike the next day. Unfortunately, we hiked for much longer than we should have and instead of an easy day we soon became the chief protagonists and victims of the Yunaan Death March. However, even hiking for hours on end while not knowing where we were going could not spoil this trip. It was one of the highlights of my year. .
Shanghai
In December we went to Shanghai for two days to celebrate Lauren's birthday. It was a great trip because Sophie was with us, we celebrated Lauren's birthday, and we spent two nights at the nicest hotel in the city, for free! We have been spending a lot of time with Felix, the first person to win the scholarship from NDFZ. He graduated in '05 and one of his friends from the Sates travels a lot and gave him two free nights at the Grand Hyatt for his birthday. He took us along and we crammed four people in a decadent room on the 77th floor. It is probably the nicest hotel I will ever stay at.
During our two days in the city we pretty much say everything there was to see. We ate some nice meals, the pizza on Lauren's birthday from an actual Italian restaurant tasted exactly like it should have. We went to a couple of museums, walked along the Bund, did a little shopping and hopped all over the city.
Although I liked Shanghai I do not think I will return. It is a lot like America-everyone speaks English, everything is expensive and credit cards are accepted everywhere. With all these layers of society emerging in Shanghai, the expats, the wealthy Chinese, the migrants from other parts of the country the city would be the perfect place to set a riveting novel.
Christmas
Even after reading through the reports of several previous fellows I was not prepared for the remoteness or the ridiculousness of my first Christmas in China and my first Christmas away from my family. In China, Xmas, with all of its trappings, announces itself suddenly, and what is even more even more disconcerting, loudly. It isn't so much done as overdone.
In the States, custom and common sense dictate that the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. In China, Christmas seems to appear suddenly on a random day in December (Do you think Hu Jintao and the other national leaders sit around and fix the date when Christmas decorations are officially allowed?) One morning I woke up and the image of Santa had been plastered all over the city. Interestingly, there were hardly any reindeer and elves, only the big man himself, who, I soon learned, had to suffer the indignity of being referred to only as "The Christmas Man." In this atmosphere of general ignorance but extreme interest Lauren and I set out run through the basics. We devoted three classes in December to running through the basics-Santa, Mrs. Claus, Elves, Reindeer, Rudolph, Christmas letters, naughty and nice, leaving out cookies and in the Senior classes we even taught, poorly and without trying to get too religious, the story of the birth of Jesus.
On Christmas day itself I awoke to as white a Christmas as you can have in this part of China. The fog/smog was so heavy that from my 17th floor room I could not see the ground below or the building across the street-China could not bring snow but it sure brought one white cloud. Later in the day we had a Christmas party at NanDaFuZhong for all of our nearly 400 students. I got to play Santa Claus. Our school has the whole suit and even a white beard. I stuffed a pillow under the outfit, and made a grand entrance to the party and was soon mobbed by every student in the assembly hall when I handed out candy. I am not sure I have a future at playing Santa but I will say what I lacked in girth I more than made up for with jolliness and holiday cheer.
At the end of the party Lauren and I were deluged with gifts and cards. All in all it was a great way to spend Christmas. After most of the students had left and we were cleaning up I told some of my students that although I was feeling a little sad because I could not be with my family I was glad that I could spend Christmas with them because they do mean a lot to me. Corny? Perhaps, but also true
Grinnell Delegation
The second week of January brought number of administrators and professors to Nanjing in order to sign the five-year agreement between Grinnell and Nanjing University as well as celebrate 20 year of friendship. It was a great week to see old professors and get to know people at Grinnell that we had not had the chance to meet when we were at school. On a more superficial note, their visit was great because we didn't have to pay for anything all week.
The delegation itself included Doug Cutchins, Lynn Stafford, Professors David Harrison, Don Smith, Scot Cook, Todd Armstrong, Andrew Hsieh and President Osgood as well. All of the adults stayed quite busy and we mostly saw each other for lunch and dinner. On that Tuesday a number of the delegation came to school to observe our classes and on Thursday everyone, President Osgood included, came to school for a ceremony celebrating 20 years of Grinnell College Teaching Fellows at NanDaFuZhong. The students gave a number of performances and afterwards all of the kids had a chance to talk to all of the Grinnell visitors. All good clean fun and a nice precursor to that night.
The President on Nanjing University hosted a huge banquet at an incredibly ritzy hotel for about 45 people. I should have expected this but the emphasis of the evening was toward drinking and not so much food. I can safely say that I had never had that much bai jiu in one night. When you have to toast 45 people the evening can only be headed in one direction. After the banquet there was a private boat ride with more booze and then we went to a bar, where I was shocked to find that there was even more booze. I hadn't been that silly since, well….college.
It was fantastic to have a little slice of Grinnell but after everyone left I think Lauren and I were feeling a little down. Staying so busy here in Nanjing I had not really missed Grinnell but their visit made me pause and think how great Grinnell really is and when that was gone, I couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Peculiarities of Life in China
The Cold
Since the end of November the cold has dominated my life and it is a cruel and unrelenting master. My fingers and toes are always a little numb and I can often see my breath in the morning when I wake up in my room and in my classroom without heat or sunlight I can see when anyone on the room exhales. I love life in China but the past few months the best part of my day has been my hot shower in the morning and soaking my feet in basin filled with hot water before I go to bed.
Now, I will admit that, when it comes to temperature, it is much colder in Iowa and in the rest of the northern United States; however, it is also much warmer. In America you only have to deal with the cold while you are outside. Once you enter a building-a school, restaurant, office building-you will be greeted by the a blast of toasty warm air. Life south of the Yang-tze River does not have the same luxuries-almost none of the buildings are heated. We are lucky to have a heater in our rooms but that only makes you warm if you are standing directly under it. So, it is not so much that it is very cold but that you are always cold and never quite warm. I think I have found one of the most effective solutions I could; I spend a lot of time at the local KFC because the place is heated like the Inferno and you don't even have to buy anything from Colonel Sanders for the right to sit, read, study or sleep.
Paper
For all of its wealth, out-of-this-world GDP growth, and techno gizmos and gadgets, China is still very much a poor country. Of course, this means many things but of the consequences of this situation is that China is still very much a paper-based society. What is especially surprising is that multiple pieces of papers do the job that a half a sheet could easily accomplish. When I do my laundry I have to get at least eight little slips of paper and the laundry lady will not was my clothes unless I hand them over to her. If you want to buy any piece of technology-a computer, MP3 or a USB cord-you have to get about 10 little receipts and each one has to be stamped. No stamp, no technology.
I suppose the stamp is the natural complement to paper but the Chinese take things too far. A receipt, ticket or an official document without at least two stamps is like Monopoly money-it likes nice but it wouldn't get you the cheapest dumpling in Chengdu.
This fall I applied for a job to teach English in France next year. The application required a medical exam and when I was looking over the form after my check-up, I found that the doctor, who spoke good English, had answered yes to the question "Does the applicant have any infectious diseases that disqualify him from the position?" Obviously, this was a problem. I pointed out the mistake and soon the doctor scratched out "Yes" and filled in the "No" box. Then, of course, he showered the sheet with about seven red stamps because, when in doubt, the Chinese state of mind holds that the red stamp can solve any problem.
I myself have several stamps with my Chinese name on them-one for my books, one for letters and one to put on envelopes but I can't attempt to rival the Chinese bureaucrats who wield the stamp on a daily basis and make life difficult or manageable for over a billion people on a routine basis. They sanctify, codify and promulgate the contracts and the purchases of the country; they truly are the keepers of dreams and nightmares.
On the other hand, in America, if you have a driver's license, a credit card, a debit card and a pen you can do some real damage, and you could probably throw away the receipt.
Conclusion
If you have persevered this far I would just like to say thank you. I am still terrible at keeping in touch with people back in the States and these reports are the best ways to give everyone a small sense of my life here in China.
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