First Model Guest in the Model Hotel in China
I first went to China in 1988 and went from place to place saying, “Hi, I’d like to teach English.” I found a job teaching English in a tourism school in Hangzhou. I was their first foreign teacher. In return for my teaching, I got free room and board, and occasional trips to scenic spots in Zhejiang Province.
Picture me, if you can, as the first model guest in the model hotel they are literally building around me on the small campus of the Zhejiang Tourism School. After putting up some knick-knacks and pictures I’ve bought along the way in China, it now has a cozy, homey feeling. It’s only a little larger than my Kfar Saba room waiting for me in Israel. Like that room, this room has just one window that looks out onto fields of growing vegetables. The school is in the “suburbs,” although picturing an American suburb can’t conjure up what this looks like at all.
This room has a nice carpet, wallpaper, and a color television that speaks only Chinese. The bathroom has a bathtub, but, alas, NO running hot water. My students have told me not to worry because they will bring me six large thermos bottles of hot water every night for bathing!
The toilet is western style, but has already overflowed a few times. I suspect that western toilets have made it to China, but not toilet technology. I’ve never seen a plumber in the U.S. use a pink ribbon to fix a toilet like the plumber did this afternoon. Need I add that there’s NO heat in the room? So glad I packed my down booties. Apparently, I’m the ONLY resident living in the hotel now. It basically hasn’t opened yet.
I’m teaching 16 hours a week, although I’ll also be invited to the English Corner evenings held by different classes. They wanted me to teach 40 hotel management students at one time, which is their normal situation. However, I pleaded the case for dividing the 40 into two groups of 20, which makes far more sense for teaching conversation. They agreed to do it. And there are another 25 students in the tour guide class.
Sleeping in isn’t an option here. In the middle of the school grounds, directly under my window, the students gather at an absurdly early time in the morning to do exercises in unison to music blaring through the loudest speakers I’ve ever heard. I dragged myself over to the window and watched their exercise routine from above. And then I went back to bed. Exercise is good, but I won’t be joining their morning routine.
I have had a nagging headache, which I suspect is from the heavy use of salt and MSG. Seems that Chinese believe food needs MSG in it to be tasty. In fact, someone told me the English translation of their word for MSG is “delicious.”
The cook is trying hard to please me. They asked me what I liked to eat, and I mentioned cheese. That was not a good choice. Turns out they don’t eat cheese or really any dairy foods. The cook went to a lot of trouble to get a piece of cheese for me that came from another part of China. It was truly terrible. I thanked the cook, but told him not to bother to get cheese anymore. In a small store near the school, I have discovered chocolate — which has the words “pit-filled chocolate” in English on the label. Like its name, it’s really pretty awful chocolate, but the tastiest food I’ve eaten so far. I’ve lost my appetite — which isn’t a totally bad thing if I lose weight. Thankfully, I brought a supply of vitamins.
I sometimes feel really cold indoors. In the classroom today, I even saw painful chilblains on some of the students’ hands! I wear my gloves in class, but my students don’t seem to ever wear gloves.
I got my shiny new red bike today and went for a ride with Pearl, a bright, perky 2nd year tour guide student. Her spoken English is better than most of the English teachers at the school. The roads near our school are pretty bumpy and filled with potholes. I have to pay careful attention. Some of the students were surprised that I can ride a bike. I think of all kids as learning to ride bikes as children, but apparently, some Chinese girls learn to ride bikes, but many never do.
Tags: China; Chinese culture, Teaching in China; Hangzhou, Travel
