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It's springtime in Nanjing. I'm getting reacquainted with the sun after it has come out of hiding beneath a sheet of gray for months. The abundant plant life lining the streets is green once again, and I am no longer left to ponder wonder whether I have begun to be afflicted by seasonal affective disorder while bearing the brunt of a cold wind that penetrates how ever many layers I am wearing with impunity. Being from Colorado and going to college in Iowa, I felt less than threatened at the prospect of the winter in a place so famous for its hot and humid weather that it is known as one of the "four furnaces" of China. True enough, Nanjing lies on a low plain on the banks of the Yangtze, on about the same latitude as San Diego or El Paso back in the states, where the average winter high rarely dips below freezing. However, I can honestly that I have never felt colder in my life. Most of this effect owes to fact that outside and inside are not as clearly defined here as they are back in America. The "doors" of
most places are in fact thin pieces of glass that do not attach to each other, and leave an inch or more of space around the entire doorframe. What is more, these doors are usually not closed, and as a result it is often as cold inside a shop or restaurant as it is outside. It is the same situation at school, as being an older school, the Nanjing University Attached Middle School lacks a heating system. Basically, even though it isn't terribly cold by the standards I am used to, there is rarely much of an opportunity to warm up.
It didn't help that at that time the weather began to cool I was beginning to feel the effects of homesickness. As someone whose previous "abroad" experience consisted entirely of three days in Canada, I couldn't say that I was particularly surprised, but at the same time I began to get more anxious, as I had no plans to be back home until June. But with a six-week long break in between semesters, I made the decision in November to head back home for a month. Being at home proved quite disorientating, as I was of course no longer in China, but at the same time I could not get too comfortable with America, as it would soon be gone again. That said, being at home provided me with the opportunity to recharge my batteries I would not have been able to have otherwise. In so doing I was also fortunate enough to have avoided the worst winter weather to hit China in years, paralyzing travel for weeks during the already hectic Spring Festival. Though the furthest thing from a superstitious person, I considered this
something of an omen, a sign that I was in for a good semester upon my return.
Teaching
This new semester brought with it a great change in my teaching schedule, as Maggie and I switched our classes, each taking the other's half of the class, which is divided into our two classrooms. As I was unsurprisingly given almost all boys last semester, I found there to be considerably lower levels of testosterone in my classroom upon meeting my new classes. While I want to avoid sounding too sexist here, it does have to be mentioned that there is a genuine gender dichotomy when it comes to Chinese students. This is not to say by any means that the girls are perfect little angels, but it is to say that unlike their male counterparts, they are never openly defiant, and instead opt to be more subtle about their disruptiveness. Also, while this is not true in all cases, I have found being female to be positively correlated with English ability.
This change in the demographics of my students required I change my strategy, as I soon found that I could no longer offer advice on girls as a way to get students to pay attention in class. Instead, finding that the girls seem to have a better sense of humor, I frequently make use of jokes in class. Perhaps as a result of this, I feel as though it is easier to get along with my classes this semester. That has allowed me to be more comfortable in the classroom, and that has (I hope) allowed me to be a better teacher. It certainly has made teaching more enjoyable, and I think at least some of that has rubbed off on my students. There have some difficulties, of course, but these have been both mild and isolated, and all things accounted for, I have very little to complain about, especially for someone who only works three days a week.
Although I have no plans to make a career out of teaching, I have found it to be more rewarding than I had anticipated. There is nothing quite like having someone listen to you not only because they are interested, but because they realize its value. That my students (most of them, at least) value what I say makes me feel valuable like I haven't before.
Travel
In heading back to the states this winter, I made a three-day stop in Shanghai. This experience was eye-opening for more than the international megapolis I found myself in, but also that I had gone there by myself. Of course, now that sounds quite silly to point out, but I think that is exactly the point-that since I have done that on more than one occasion now, it no longer seems to be worth mentioning. While I used to be nervous even riding the bus around town, I now don't think twice about heading off to the train station, finding my train and heading off to someplace I have never been before, alone.
Since coming back in February, I have only ventured out of town once-to nearby Suzhou to see its famous gardens. I plan soon to head off to Yellow Mountain, home of the famous mist-enshrouded peaks that have inspired the pictures on boxes of tea for centuries. But perhaps more importantly, I am headed to Beijing tomorrow. Picture from the Great Wall coming soon…
Language
Prior to leaving, I was under the impression that this was one aspect of traveling abroad that would not be a particular concern for me. After all, I had heard English instruction was so widespread that China would soon have more English speakers than the US. Besides, I had already taken a year of Chinese, so…
When first arriving in the mainland, I could barely understand a single word anyone said to me. Also, being only familiar with the traditional characters of my first-year Chinese textbook, I struggled to understand the simplified Chinese script I found myself confronted with on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, English soon proved itself to be nearly useless, as of that vast reserve of English speakers China supposedly had, virtually none of them were those standing on the other side of the counter, asking me what I wanted to eat. I knew that something needed to be done or else I would never be able to effectively communicate.
Fortunately, as I have made clear again and again in these reports, spare time is not in short supply. Through a combination of three language partners/teachers, Chinesepod.com, and a lot of private time spent memorizing a seemingly unending supply of characters, I have improved my ability quite a lot. Of course, I am still not even in the vicinity of fluentness, but I am now able to understand the large majority of what is said to me, provided that the person is patient enough to slow down a little bit. I can converse with Wan Laoshi, the music teacher at school who helps me practice every Monday, for two hours without speaking English, and can at least get the gist of a magazine or a newspaper article. Feeling that I am making progress is quite motivating, but what is more so is being around linguistic prodigies like Maggie and Austin, who make me feel lazy for currently learning only one language.
Life (In General)
It has only been recently that I've felt as though I have begun understand what this year will mean to me once it is over and done. Yes, despite the twenty hours of work or less that I do each week, it is often quite challenging being here. Not being able to communicate perfectly with everyone is often isolating, and having nothing to do at all is at times worse than being burdened with a seemingly unconquerable amount of homework. That, I think, is the essence of the program. Having no one telling me what to do has made me have to rely on my own self-discipline, isolation forces me to have to be assertive in a way that I haven't been before, and boredom has necessitated cultivating initiative.
Things are much better here, and I don't think it is only because of the coming of spring.
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