November 24, 2004
Here’s my update of the last couple of days…………Monday night (November 22) I taught my first class – 8 adults. They are just starting Level 4 which means they have had 3 levels and can read/write english but still have a long way to go. At least we can communicate somewhat but I have to talk slow. And I have to ask them to repeat things to me that they are trying to say in English because of their accents - sometimes I just don’t get it. That will be easier with time. Because it is impossible to read or pronounce Chinese names, everyone has an english name and if they don’t have one you have to give them one! One young man asked me what his name should be and I looked around the room and saw the name Jack on a picture. I asked him if that was good and he said ok. Turns out he is sitting right next to Daniel…………..get it? Jack Daniel!

I would love to have a class with 6 girls and 6 boys that needed names. I would name them Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross………..what do you think?
Some small students pick english words that are not really names. Hence I have a little one in my Starter class named Rabbit. And Kim has students named Star and Milk.
Yesterday, Tuesday, Grace (Wayne’s Indonesian daughter), took me via taxi to the government hospital for my medical. We left the apartment just after 9 am and were back at school just before 11 am. The taxi ride was about 20 minutes each way. In the rest of the time I had an ECG (to check heart), Ultra-Sound (Stomach), Full body X-Ray, Blood tests, Blood Pressure Test. And the results right away on the X-Ray and ECG. Can you believe it? How long/many days would all that take in Ontario? And when would you get the results? Amazing!
As I worked at the school in the afternoon on my next lesson for Wednesday night, they asked me to stay and do a Starter class from 7-8 pm. I said yes! They are the little ones 4-6 and I had to teach them articles of clothing – how hard could that be? We sang Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes to review body parts they had learned last week. Then onto the new words, some colouring and pasting clothing on a picture of a clothesline. The hour went fast! I was pooped when I got home. Kim was teaching until 9 pm and I didn’t want to wait for her, so I ventured home alone for the first time…………..crossing the streets from hell! I told her if I wasn’t there when she got home to put out an APB on me! It was fine……..the trick is to find a group of 2-3 people crossing and just blend in with them. My survival instincts have kicked in – I always go on the side farthest away from the traffic so if anyone gets hit it won’t be me!
The weather………..it went up to 17 C yesterday……whoooowhooo……..and we English people think it’s great. It’s so funny to watch the weather on TV. There is only one English Channel CCTV9 which has news, weather and documentaries. The weather guy looks like PeeWee Herman. Instead of cold fronts coming down from Manitoba or Northern Ontario, we had a cold front coming from Outer Mongolia which brought snow to the area north of Beijing and rain just above Hunan. We only got the fog with visibility of 500m. Hmmm……..I thought that was smog yesterday and I’m sure most of it was………if they had air quality readings here I would probably pack up and go home………best not to know. For the Chinese people, however, it is winter. They are used to the 30-40C temperatures in summer. Children are dressed in 3 layers of clothing and do not take off their jackets for class. They wear a t-shirt, a wool pullover and then a jacket. (The doctor at the hospital said to Grace in Chinese that I must be really healthly because I was only wearing a t-shirt and a cotton jacket.)
Today I am going to be a celebrity! As part of the job each teacher is asked to go out to do a demo to schools outside of Changsha……..the suburbs, I guess. Most of these children have never seen a white person before and they get excited and want your autograph. Kim says it’s hilarious. I will find out this afternoon. (See update below.) Apparently there will be lots and lots of kids so I have nixed the idea of taking stickers or pins……….my supply is limited and I want to save them for my students. I gave the adults a Canada pin the other night and told them they were special because they were my first class!
Thursday and Friday are my days off……….I need that time to rest up a little and get ready for 6 classes on Saturday and Sunday. The preparation is a little overwhelming right now but that should get easier. Teachers are expected to put in 40 hours a week in the school. When you only teach a couple of classes in the evening you go in at 1 pm and have the afternoon to prepare. We have a huge teacher’s lounge each with our own desk. There are shelves full of books and learning tools, photocopier, cutter, tape & cd players and a tv/dvd. We drink coffee constantly, chatter, laugh and share ideas. I really enjoy that part. The Chinese girls (staff) are very helpful also.
But tomorrow (Thursday…….getting back to my day off) they are taking myself and Jurgen (John) who is from Australia on a tour of the city. He has been here for 3 weeks. I think it’s a great idea, but hopefully it doesn’t take all day. Friday from noon-2 there are free Chinese lessons for teachers at the school. So, I will feel like I live at the school……..but I need to learn some basics i.e. numbers and prices so I can go shopping on my own and not get ripped off.
Kim took me to the department store on the way to school the other day. I thought it was going to be like Walmart but turns out it’s just like Costco! Beautiful and clean, lots of things in bulk and you even had to show your receipt on the way out. We didn’t have a lot of time but I bought a garbage can & small clothes hamper for my room, some kleenex, coffee and a banana. I will go back as soon as I get some more money (travel expenses re-imbursed). There are men’s sweaters there that should fit me. I need a warm cardigan/sweatshirt for the cool evenings. Otherwise, I may have to request a care package from home!
So that’s my busy week so far. More to come soon!

Visiting the Middle School:

I didn’t have a class to teach until 7 pm so I was asked along with Jurgen and Steve to go to a Middle School for a demo. Wayne had asked me on Monday and I was told everyone had to take turns doing this. He said it was like the demo I had helped him that afternoon. That was when prospective parents and kids came into the school. He did a little skit with them and then introduced me as a new teacher from Canada and the kids got to ask me questions for 5 minutes. That was ok. Well, it turns out 5 minutes before we left the school to go to the Middle School, Steve explained that when we go to the Middle School – they put us in front of a class of 50-60 kids and we teach them a 40 minute lesson. I had NOTHING prepared! I was devasted and furious at the same time. I always plan ahead and now I would have to wing it. I hated that! A driver picked us up in a brand new Volkswagon car and drove us for one hour way to a small city. He was a maniac driver! Outside of Changsha there is an expressway with very little traffic. I saw no signs posted for speed and he was doing 140 most of the time. I saw my first police vehicle – a small vehicle that looked like a Suzuki Sidekick with a police bar on top. We whizzed passed it! Steve said the police don’t care. I also like Steve’s version of why they bother to put lines and lane markers on the road. He said they saw that other countries did it so they thought they should too! But they mean nothing……………….
We arrived at the school and were treated like celebrities – ushered into a beautiful conference room for visitors. The rest of the school was dingy and dirty and smelly………… The kids stared like they had never seen a white person before and indeed most of them had not. They took me to my first classe which was in a raised arena type room with me at the bottom, a podium and a blackboard. (Kind of like you see in colleges and universities.) I just had to start talking so I introduced myself and went around the room shaking hands and making them say Hello, my name is……….nice to meet you. That lasted for about 3 minutes…………what to do next………I wrote the alphabet on the board and they said everything I wrote in unison. I told them the difference between vowels and consonants and adding “ing” onto words, dropping the vowel first………one thing led to another and I saved the last 10 minutes for open questions about myself and Canada. Whew! Onto the next class. I just did the same thing over again. It was a smaller class and they asked more questions. At the end of both classes I was bombarded with books and pens. Everyone wanted my autograph! It is not a good feeling to feel trapped and pushed and out of control. There was no way I could stop them and make them form a line. I was sooooo glad when it was over. I was not looking forward to the drive back….but I made if home safe and sound. We don’t do another one until January and hopefully I won’t get picked. Although I might enjoy it more if I am prepared and they get a new driver………