Feb. 16, 2012
Hi Peter,
Changle School is HUGE. There are over 8,000 students and they live here, so it feels more like a small college. Today, the Head of School gave a speech and everyone had to turn out to listen and see the flag raised. It was kind of funny; I could tell what he was saying by how the Head moved his body. Like your principal, his speech was all about “Study hard, be a good citizen, decide who you want to be” and so on. Everyone stood in class lines so it sort of looked like a fire drill.
Last night I had to get an alarm clock so 2 girls from school went with me to a store that looked like a super Fred Meyer. Well, more like 10 Fred Meyers with food, jewelry, car parts, and clothes. Inside the food section, you have to give your vegetables, fruits and loose items to a helper so he or she can wrap and weigh them for you. There are lots of little jobs like that in China because there are so many people. Since Changle is a boarding school, there are several gates around campus and one or two guards at each gate. This is to keep students in and bad guys out. It really is only a one-person job, but because this is China, they have 2 people and both wear cool uniforms.
On campus there are some very interesting areas for the high school kids and teachers to work out. There is a little area full of adult sized playground equipment. It looks a little like the new structure at West Woodland only for adult bodies. Even in the 20-degree weather, you can see adults dancing and exercising outside. Last night I saw some people ballroom dancing in the street, just like in the Michael Palin video. No one asked me to dance since dancing is very serious business!
One thing that might surprise you in China is how tall the boys from Shandong Province are. I say the boys are tall because they are much bigger than the adults on campus. Many boys (16, 17,18) look to be at least 6’ tall. There are even a few girls taller than me. Eva, my Chinese program assistant and flat mate, believes the kids are so tall because they eat well and work out. They do eat well here and they eat a lot. I saw a kid eat about 8 large mutton buns in 2 minutes at lunch yesterday. He was obviously well practiced because he didn’t choke and I saw him later munching on an ice cream bar.
Speaking of buns, I meet the director of the kitchens today. I went into his office to thank him for his excellent food and he told me there are 150 people working in the kitchens. At first I thought this was a very large number, but then I remembered, there are almost 9,000 people here on campus being fed every day!
This morning, I walked to work and a little boy saw me and started to cry. He was not used to European faces and my appearance scared him. I walked a little closer and his mom talked to him, so he calmed down. I get looked at quite a bit, I guess there are not a lot of European or white North American visitors to Changle. Changle is a district of about 2 million, but the students tell me this is a “small town.” Weifang is the closest “bigger city” and I hope to go there Saturday to look at a kite museum.
So far, my days are REALLY long and I have homework to correct and lesson to plan in the evenings. I am also supporting program development efforts and have to do a lot of informal “meet and greet” PR stuff. Eva and Melissa, the other Seattle teacher, have a big break in the day when they take a nap. Apparently, many students take naps too. This may make it sound like the kids are slackers, but they actually have homework after school, which gets out at 5:00 or 6:00. Changle #2 Middle School is considered an excellent school and cutting edge for China. The kids have lots of art and PE and there are plenty of computers (for select programs – the ones that cost lots of extra $) There are many web sites you can’t get onto here but all the boys have found online games with guns, blood, and zombies and are constantly playing them during instruction time. All of the kids have cell phones that have a translation app. Since the school is so large, they also use the phones to locate each other.
One thing in China you may not like is crossing the road. Here cars have the right of way. On the roads there are trucks, bicycles, people, animals you name it! The cars don’t sow down and everyone use their horns. It is a little bit like Boston but with cow shit on the road. I was going to walk into town last night, but the drivers will even use a sidewalk if they are so inclined, so I got a taxi instead. Taxis are very cheap and the ride cost about .70. In Seattle, it would have been a $12.00 trip.
I have 4 male and 3 female students. This is a very small class and I’m not sure why. Some classes can be 40 or more students and others, like Decorative Arts, are quite a bit smaller. My students hope to come to the USA or UK to study (since they are English majors.) Once they get to US colleges, I’m not sure what they will study. A couple of kids live more than a day’s travel away but most live 4 or 5 hours from school.
I will write you again, soon. Is there anything your class would like to know about China? I hope to see where Confucius was born soon; it is just a few cities over.
I love you!!!
Mom
Saturday February 19, 2012
Dear Peter,
Since today is my day off, I woke up happy and anxious to go out and explore more of Shandong. As I got ready to meet up in a classroom with some of the kids and Melissa before we caught the bus for Weifang City, Director Wang called and asked everyone to meet with him in his office. Apparently, at some point during the copious toasting and while we were well lubricated during the banquet earlier this week, Melissa and I agreed to lead an informal Saturday night Conversational English group. Director Wang asked us to be back on campus by 7:00 and ready with a speech introducing ourselves and prepared with activities for 17 students. While I sensed something was not being said, I felt comfortable with the task of keeping 17 students engaged and conversing in English and an hour so after our chat, I happily went on with my day.
On the bus to Weifang City, we meet another ELL teacher, Jesus. Originally from Mexico City, Jesus moved to the US after high school to study languages at BYU. He told us he was currently teaching in a public high school in Changle and was on his way to Qingdao for a fun weekend. We had a nice chat and swapped stories about our respective students and schools. Before the folks at Changle started the exchange program with LWIT, there was a small core of native Chinese speakers and a fellow from Pakistan delivering English instruction. The Pakistani guy was a native English speaker with strong grammar instruction skills but he also had a reputation of being mean and the students were afraid to speak in class. The Chinese English teachers have almost impenetrable accents and struggle with inflection. It makes me wonder what non-native speaking American Mandarin teachers sound like to Chinese nationals.
During the drive to Weifang, the scenery was pretty unremarkable. There were plenty of frozen fields and acres of greenhouses with clusters of buildings dotted in-between. What was truly amazing, however, were the number of new buildings under construction. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of new buildings and building complexes going up everywhere along the highway. In the 15-mile stretch, there must have been 50 giant cranes erecting several dozen 20+-story structures and countless smaller buildings in various states of completion. In Weifang City proper, the amount of new construction was even greater. Occasionally near all the new constructions is heaps of rubble where older, smaller structures used to be. With so much new construction going on, it is not surprising many buildings are poorly made. We passed by one beautiful nearly brand new glass and steel complex that had two prominent and very decorative exterior escalators that had already falling apart and were inoperable. Even our apartment building, which is just a few years old, has loose steps, sketchy plumbing, and unfinished hallway walls. According to the students, Shandong Province is currently the fastest developing area in China. Contractors will constantly start new projects and leave others not quite finished in their rush to take on even more jobs.
When we got to Weifang City, we stopped to have lunch in a little restaurant where the food was served family style. A hot metal pot with simmering chicken in broth was put on a burner in the center of our table and we ordered various uncooked items to throw in the mixture to make a custom stew. Since it was about 30 degrees outside, the meal hit just the right note.
After eating, our group walked over a frozen river, past some carnival rides and on to the big city Cocopop mall. Along the way, we passed small outdoor vendors selling all sorts of street foods, candies, balloons, birds, and countless other things. Inside the mall, there were endless rows and hallways leading to little shops connected to a couple of huge department stores. One of the strangest shops was a fake Apple Store called Apple Prince. The store was loaded with all kinds of knockoff products with a little silver instead of white Apple logo. We passed by a few places selling eyeglasses without lenses; a local fashion fad and I bought a Mao hat for you. Over the course of the afternoon, I bought a few more things and discovered I was pretty good at the haggling game. One of my students told me she was convinced I am “part Chinese” because I got one flinty old merchant to reduce a 10RMB pair of earrings down to 3RMB. Everywhere we went in the mall there was awful pop music blaring from storefront speakers. Imagine a Chinese Justin Beiber whining at you everywhere you went.
While shopping, on the spur of the moment, I decided to get my hair cut and two students came with me to help with translation and directions. I picked a style, but the students and the barber decided it wouldn’t work because I was too old, so they came up with a design together. The salon was fairly swanky and the stylist spent almost an hour and a half cutting my hair. I ended up with an excellent haircut for under $6.
After all our shopping, we decided to hit McDonalds for a quick chicken burger before getting on the bus back to Changle. Except for the level of cleanliness, it was much like other McDonalds I have been in around the world. China is a wonderful country with warm people, but if you are a germ-a-phobe, this may not be the destination for you. From tabletops to toilets, every surface seems to be caked with something brown and greasy. Since it is winter in Changle, there is a layer of coal dust on top of the brown grease.
Once back in Changle, we had to run to make it on time to our Conversational English group. Our little group of 17, turned out to be 70+ students in auditorium style seating. Melissa, Director Wang, some other Director, the student body president and I sat if front of the group on a small stage with a giant projector screen behind us. When we planned the lesson on the way to Weifang, Melissa and I decided we would play some language Bingo games, do some phonemic exercises, and get kids set up and interacting in small groups with conversation cards but once at class, we were thrown for a loop and had to improvise. My ham skills came in handy and I decided to run up and down the aisles with a mike having kids repeat words, use words in a sentence, etc. etc. To fill time and to get people talking, I started interviewing people in their seats Oprah style. After several rounds of that and turn and talks, Melissa had everyone doing the hokey pokey, and we finished with a Q and A session about life in the USA. While things went OK, I felt somewhat ambushed and would have prepared differently had I know so many people would show up. I later found out that a couple of teachers had told their students they were required to attend our group and that bumped the numbers. Hopefully, we will have a smaller club meeting next week other wise it will be an additional 2+ hours a week planning and prepping those lessons.
I love you and miss you,
Mom
Dear Peter,
Today I left the apartment at 11:00 to met up with a couple of students who had not gone home for Family Weekend. We decided we would go into town and do some shopping at the super duper Fred Meyer type store called Jei Li Jai. I wanted to get some cleaning supplies for the apartment and stock up on food. Melissa and I eat at the student canteen during the week, but we need to find our own grub on the weekend. The noodle shops near school are cheap, fantastic and easy, but I don’t always feel like eating out. Besides, every time I go to a noodle shop, I seem to destroy another shirt with my sloppy chopstick skills.
After our 5minute taxi ride, which cost about $.70, we proceeded to the bank so I could exchange some dollars for Chinese RMB. Exchanging currency is a very complicated and lengthy process in Changle. First we had to get a ticket to stand in a line where the teller helped us determine if we needed a ticket to stand somewhere else. Since there were only 2 customers in the bank, staff was quick and this only took 25 minutes. After it was decided which line we needed to stand in, we waited in that line for five minutes until the teller had his fill of staring at us and he felt like turning on his flashing green open sign. Once it became known I was there to exchange currency, I was asked to fill out a form in quadruplicate, get another ticket for yet another teller line, and then give the form and my passport to a teller who made photo copies of my passport and the quadruplicate form. With my form and passport in hand, a teller then checked my name in a database, which took another 5 minutes. After taking another 10 minutes to send 2 telexes of the form (yes, there are still telex machines in the world) somewhere, the teller proceeded to call the bank manager in to look at my paperwork because he was concerned I did not sign my name in Russian. The manager explained to the teller that I was not Russian and I had just given him a US passport as identification. The teller took some convincing and by this time, every employee and customer in the bank wandered over to stare at me and share his or her opinion about my nationality. Things got a bit animated and according to my student translators, the group consensus seemed to be that since I am tall, red, and fat I surely had to be Russian. It seemed to be shared common knowledge that no sane American would ever come to a hick town like Changle. Da, maybe I am Russian since no sane American would ever spend an hour changing currency in Changle with a perfectly nice ATM machine that accepts Bank of America Cirrus cash cards less than 10 feet away.
Finally, once in the store we grabbed a couple of shopping carts and stood on a giant sloping conveyer belt that moved up to the sales floors. Our first stop was the second level to buy a thumb drive. Purchasing goods in China is very different than in the US. Each section of a large store has a cashier, so if you are in the electronics section, you pay for your goods in that department, get the receipt and then put the goods in your cart. After I selected a thumb drive from a glass case of full thumb drives, instead of handing me the selected item, to my surprise the clerk opened the package and walked off with the stick. When I asked my students to explain the clerk’s behavior, they told me she had gone to a nearby computer to make sure the drive functioned properly. Chinese shoppers can be tough consumers and there are no such things as a return policies. Customers will demand proof an appliance or piece of electronic equipment works before purchase and sales people act accordingly.
After dealing with the thumb drive, we went up to the third floor where the food and books were located. The kids where making a junk food run for their respective dorms and proceeded to fill one of the carts to the brim with all kinds of crackers, chips, cookies and ramen. Chinese packaging is bright and often littered with the faces of TV and pop stars. Everything from laxatives to chicken skin-flavored crackers has a photo of some soap opera star’s face on them. During the kids search for every kind of crap food known to man, I bought sesame toast, some sort of bumpy purple fruit, beef ramen, half a dozen yogurts, and several picture books with text in English and Chinese. I also bought a metal bowl for noodles that looks just like the dish we use at home for Newton’s water. Much of the food at this store is sold by bulk so after you fill a plastic bag with the desired amount of something, you hand it to an attendant who weighs it for you, seals it, and the slaps a price tag on the outside. This is another one of those little jobs we would do for ourselves at home but in China helps keep 1.3 billion people employed. By the time we left the store, we were loaded down with bags and very hungry so we stopped to eat at a noodle shop. We ordered lunch and the portions were enormous. Executing a bit more skill with my chopsticks, this time I managed to eat about half of my meal before once again coating my shirt with chili oil.
After getting home and having a quick rest, I headed out for the treat of the day, making dumplings and having dinner at Principal Mei Ling’s apartment. Changle #2 Middle School is so large it has a president and 4 principals. Mei Ling is about my age and her husband is a Music teacher at the school. She has a 15-year-old son who is a student at the school and their apartment is across the walkway from ours. Mei Ling’s brother, cousin and their spouses and children all came over to help make and eat dumplings. We must have made and consumed close to 300 pork and garlic gyoza by the end of the afternoon. At dinner, Melissa told Mei Ling it was my son’s birthday, so Mei Ling’s son pulled out his recorder and we all sang Happy Birthday to Wolfy. I was so glad to hang out with a family. I miss you guys terribly and since I eat most of my meals with 3,000 teenagers in a cafeteria, dinner at Mei Ling’s house was a lovely change of pace.
I have great affection for the people of Changle and I think my favorite thing about the folks here is their terrific sense of humor. These guys appreciate a good time and love a pun or smart-ass wisecrack. Today some fellow crossing the street at the same time as my group saw the fear and horror on my face as crazed drivers whizzed by in their cars inches away from my butt cheeks. Successfully crossing a street in China requires a stout heart, strong stomach, and much prayer. In an effort to put me more at ease with this mundane yet life threatening experience, the stranger did a silly death-defying Charlie Chaplin-esq march through the intense traffic with the obvious intent of cracking me up. While I gasped more than guffawed, once on the other side, he heartily shook my hand, started laughing, and offered me a smoke. I declined the cigarette but bowed and clapped my appreciation for his comedic courage. Everyone around here likes to laugh and the first thing my student’s do when they learn new vocabulary is try to figure out ways to use the word or phrase in a joke or mock insult. The kids have very warm relationships with each other and are always teasing in Chinese and English. Joking about finding Eva a husband is a favorite theme.
After dinner, it was off to English Conversation Class in the big hall and this time we only had 69 people show up. We were prepared and had a smaller room set up so we could have 20 people in at a time to play English Language English Bingo. Since I am the more experienced ELL teacher, Melissa played Bingo caller while I stayed with the larger group and did conversation practice. It was another evening of running up and down the aisles Oprah style having on the spot humorous dialogs with students, wisecracking, and ambushing reluctant “volunteers” to repeat absurd sentences into the portable microphone. The kids loved it and several of the Advanced English students came in to help. A few more weeks of this and I may have a future in stand-up comedy. Next week Melissa and I will be in Qingdao, so our students will be showing an English language film.
I am still trying to find birthday presents for you and Wolfy. My schedule is so packed with teaching, I haven’t had to time to find just the right things. One of my goals when I get to Qingdao is to find each of you the perfect souvenir.
Love,
Mom
March 1, 2012
Dear Peter,
This morning while I was delivering a lesson, I had to stop and really yell at the students because 3 were texting and one was watching a dirty movie while I was talking. Changle is progressive for a Chinese school, but not that progressive. The kids in my group have special access to Internet, phones and other media and sometimes they just can’t handle it. It is sort of like how some much younger American kids behave when they first get computers, they just don’t have any self-control. Not only is the texting and movie viewing just plain rude in both cultures, the students are so blatant. I think other student’s notice and resent how cavalier the ELL and Sino-American classes are about having a different set of rules than the rest of the school, I know you would. I never thought I would have to give a lecture to my Chinese students about privilege, equity and fairness but it seems I must most days. Now don’t get me wrong, I love these guys and American students are just as bad, but American kids usually start this sort of behavior much younger and by high school can manage it better or are at least more discrete. As a “punishment” I made them work with no screens and in silence on grammar for 3+ hours. What I forgot was grammar is much easier for these guys than what US students would consider fun stuff like beginning the outline of a movie script, which was the original lesson. Most of the email messages the kids were exchanging during the lesson where coming from the other English class so after my tantrum, I grabbed my kid’s phones and keyboards and I answered their incoming e-mails in English while they watched horrified. The student’s in the other room where shocked to get messages like, “Why are you on email during class?” and, “Send me money or I will tell the teacher.” I had an even better laugh when I went to that classroom after telling my group I was on a “latrine run” and sent messages back to the group I had just left– “Teacher Beth is in the bathroom but she knows you are on computers when she told you to stay off. She is going to call your mom.”
A few letters ago, I mentioned how many TV shows there are here about the Japanese Occupation and how all the Japanese characters are so super evil. Well, yesterday Winter told me in conversation that, “Chinese men all want Japanese wives. Everybody agrees Japanese wives do what you say and take care of you.” I asked him if Chinese men make good husbands, he replied, “Yes, the best. We are good fathers and keep our wives busy cleaning.” I don’t know how many Chinese men agree with Winter, but I do know he is a typical 18-year-old male who has a lot to learn about women. Maybe my friend Mayumi will help me “educate” the young fool. He was the kid watching the porn movie – a big-breasted Japanese anime girl with a very…unique… and… “active”.. teddy bear. When I walked over and said, “That is a dirty movie!” He actually told me with a straight face, “No it isn’t, it is just a cartoon.” The whole class laughed at how lame that comment was. It was so dumb-ass, I had to work hard to keep a mean face and tone. Some things are the same in China and the USA.
You will be surprised to know that yesterday I finally discovered a Chinese dish I won’t try. It was a stew with purple and gray chicken feet and cauliflower in a thick brown grease. I can handle the gray feet and grease, but as you know, I HATE cauliflower. So far, I have tried 3 kinds of insects, jellied pig ear, sheep skin, all sorts of mystery meat, and several new fruits and vegetables but by God, I draw the line at cauliflower.
I am really excited about going to Qingdao on Saturday and staying in a hotel. My apartment is fine, but I am looking forward to no kids for a few hours and no dust. I want to eat Korean food and look at the ocean. I also want to shop and haggle with some Chinese merchants. I like that game!
I love you and miss you,
Mom
March 4, 2012
Dear Peter,
Our trip to Qingdao was excellent and we enjoyed the city very much. I think Qingdao is sort of “China light.” Unlike Weifang or Beijing, you can almost breathe the air, all of the toilets we used were clean or clean enough, the people were very friendly and the ocean views beautiful.
To get to Qingdao, we took the fast train from Changle. We had second-class tickets and I was afraid it would be another scrum trying to get a seat, but we actually had assigned seats and the train was clean and comfortable. The tickets were the equivalent of $13, in the US it would have been closer to $60 or $70. From the window of the train, we could see all sorts of farms, greenhouses, canals, collectives and manufacturing centers. Every inch of land was purposed, there were no bits of wild or unused land. Business and homes in Shandong are fueled by coal and we passed a substantial mountain sized pile of it near Weifang. Melissa, who couldn’t see well from her seat, thought it was a natural sight actually asked someone the name of the mountain!
When we got off the train in Qingdao, we were met by the delightful Nancy. Nancy works for Jerry Chang, a friend of Mayumi and Benjamin Lee. I met Jerry right before I left for China. Jerry did graduate work at the UW and he owns a fish processing and sales company with an office and plant in Qingdao. Jerry graciously sent us Nancy to guide us around Qingdao for the weekend. Nancy is 24, small and charming, and she studied English at university. Unlike many Chinese with degrees in English, Nancy’s language skills are excellent and she is nearly accent-less.
Since we hadn’t eaten before our journey, we were ready for lunch so Nancy directed us to a terrific Szechuan restaurant. The place was very large, busy and quite beautiful inside. Chinese love to eat out and they don’t select restaurants for appearance or ambience, it is all about the food. The food at this place was the best I have had in China and we gorged ourselves on cooked spicy peanuts, beef and greens, chili chicken and washed it all down with Tsing Tao beer.
At Nancy’s suggestion, after our meal we went to the hotel to drop off our bags. The hotel was right on the water and very close to a Seaworld type amusement park. Since the winter weather is so cold, the exhibits where closed until spring and the hotel was pretty quiet. When we checked in, we were delighted by the… eclectic.. décor.The hotel was a hodge-podge of gorgeous wood floors and trims, colored glass panels, trapezoid mirrors, dated oil paintings, and an enormous floor to ceiling wrap around fish tank in the lobby area full of koi and sturgeon (!) It was a weird but super fun and campy combination of styles and we loved it. Once we found our rooms, we were amazed by the size of the beds. No fooling, my bed was bigger than a California king. From both of our rooms you could see the ocean and some of the nearby mountains. The greatest joy, however, were the showers. They were perfectly clean, didn’t smell like garlic (I will explain in a future letter) and had really strong water pressure. I think Nancy or someone else from the company must have negotiated a terrific rate for use because both rooms came to a total of $120 and that included breakfast. I swear my room was almost as large our first house on Plum Street.
After we stowed our gear, we headed to the beach in the German section of Qingdao. The Germans had a colony here and some of the buildings in Qingdao still reflect the Chinese-German style. When we got out of the taxi ready to explore, a guy in a Mickey Mouse costume and a guy dressed as Xiyang Yang, a cartoon goat, trotted up to us. The fellows apparently made their income by having their photos taken with tourists and since March is off-season, they were really hustling. Seeing the leo wai (foreigners) they must of figured “easy money” and latched on to us. In a happy mood from lunch, Melissa and I both decided to have some silly fun and pose for photos. I stood by the goat, who smelled worse than a real goat BTW, and while she was standing next to Mickey for the shot, the mouse began to feel Melissa up. He had his gloved four fingered hands all over her breasts before she pushed him off. When I gave the guys a yuan each, they expressed disgust at the paltry sum (the goat looked like he was going to head butt me) and they started to posture and began trying to intimidate us. Not an easy thing to do when you are dressed as a rodent and farm animal. Fed up and eager to move on, I barked out “bu yao” / don’t want (which sounds like boo-ya) and when that didn’t work, I pulled myself to full height, threw back my shoulders, got in the goat’s face (muzzle?) and growled, “F@#$ off Goat Boy!” This move by middle aged white lady was unexpected to say the least and not want to have their asses kicked by the leo wai with an AARP card, to work the two touts left to bother someone else. Poor young Nancy looked completely creeped out but Melissa kept her humor about the incident, although she did wonder aloud if she there was any way she could approach Disney or Mickey for compensation.
Invigorated by the experience, we walked briskly down a path to the seawall so we could touch the water on the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean. After trekking out on a rock promenade and having our picture taken many times along the way by delighted Chinese and Korean tourists, Nancy noticed and brought to our attention the scores of people dressed in wedding gear walking on the nearby sand. Apparently, the scenic beach is a favorite for wedding photos and the strand was dotted with very lovely and very cold brides, grooms in ill-fitting rented tuxes, and their photography crews. Wanting to check out each and every bride, we wandered all over the beach looking at the dresses, complimenting brides, shaking groom’s hands and generally having a great time. The contrast of the billowy white dresses, bared shoulders, and heavily coiffed hair with the other bundled up beachgoers in the 1-degree weather was pretty surreal.
Adjacent to the beach was an exceptionally nice neighborhood so we took a stroll and looked at the houses there. The area reminded me of San Francisco or Cambridge and it was obvious, from the cars parked in the streets and security systems on the gates, that the real estate there was ultra desirable. Driving through Qingdao to get to the beach, we passed by a Lamborghini dealer, a Cartier shop, and a huge Prada store. We even saw a Porsche SUV, which caught our eyes because it looked to be matte black, but when we got up close we discovered it was wrapped in some sort of special Mylar that made the surface look flat from one angle and holographic from another. Fascinated, we all started touching the car – we couldn’t help ourselves. I wonder how that looked on all the security cameras?
At this point, Melissa, who had been nursing a headache all day, was starting to really hurt. She decided some caffeine might help, so we hopped on a bus and headed to the nearest Starbucks. The bus was full but the other passengers where polite, in contrast to the aggressive linebackers with boney elbows in Weifang and Changle. The Starbucks we stopped in was like a nice Starbucks in the US or Europe with clean flush toilets and a very solicitous staff. I was a little shocked by the cost of beverages in RMB, which converted to nearly the same price in US dollars. Still, the place was packed with attractive Chuppies sipping Java and pecking at laptops.
Since we were in the area, Nancy called to see if the nearby Chang office was open and we wandered on over to check it out. There were 2 very nice ladies inside still working at 4:00 on a Saturday in the newly decorated space and we had fun chatting about fish and looking at the new company product catalogs. The office is very close to large city park on the water and we crossed a busy road to see more sights.
Unfortunately, by this point, Melissa’s headache had reached critical mass and we headed back to the hotel so she could try to sleep it off. Once Melissa was put to bed, I took a long walk on the beach and boardwalk near the hotel and on the way back, picked up some KFC to bring back to Melissa. On the way to my room, I passed by an open door shrouded in a thick cloud of cigarette smoke with the sounds of TV and loud chatting blasting out. It appeared to be 5 or 6 men in a suite room having a poker and beer party and they had turned the hotel hallway into a “front porch” of sorts. Whatever was going on inside looked like fun and I was tempted to try and angle for a closer look, but after the Mouse and Goat incident, I decided to keep on going to my room and make an early night of it.
When we woke up the next morning, Melissa was feeling a bit better and there was snow on the ground. When Nancy picked us up, we opted for an indoor activity and we went shopping. Nancy took us to a street full of indoor vendors where we could find anything and haggle over prices. While we were there, I bought some faux pear earrings and an authentic Chinese Rollex for Wolfy. The watch started at $110 and I argued the woman down to $30. No real deal, I am sure, but I think I actually did get the best price since Nancy was initially offered the watch for a starting price of $105. I really like haggling.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!
I love you and miss you,
Mom
March 8, 2012 – Woman’s Day
Dear Peter,
Today was a holiday of sorts in China – Woman’s Day! Although I’m still not sure what we were celebrating. Being moms? Being female professionals? Being modern women? No longer being second-class citizens in modern, forward thinking China? Whatever the history of the holiday, I was down with the opportunity to party.
Unaware of the scheduled merriment and going about my day, as usual, Eva was on top of things and sent me an email at 2:30 telling me there was a celebration going on in the auditorium for teachers and I was invited. Since the students were tired and sleepy anyways, I canceled an afternoon class so I could attend the party. I was naturally thinking the party would involve a quick speech or two, some cake, and then back to the classroom. Little did I know the extravaganza that lay ahead!
When I got to the auditorium, the speeches were just beginning. I have noticed in my short month here that once the speeches start, it can be at least an hour before any real action kicks in, so I settled back into my chair for the long haul. The audience was mainly female teachers and the school’s bigwigs including the 4 vice principals and their assorted assistants. All the other teachers wear a uniform when they lecture, a navy blue polyester suit jacket and trousers, skirts optional for the ladies. Today many of the female teachers also added jaunty red, white, and blue scarves to their ensemble. The group looked a little like convention of United Airlines flight attendants and everyone was all smiles and feeling quite jolly. Teachers at Changle #2 Middle School work very hard and it was great to see everyone in celebratory mode.
After a few quick speeches, the leader of the school, Principal Xu got up to speak. Principal Xu is a tall well-built man of about 55 with an attractive face and balding silver hair. He is also an exceptionally good speaker, and even though I only understand six or so words in Chinese, Principal Xu is so charismatic, when he speaks I feel like I understand him. Really, this guy is so charming, he could sell ice to the Inuit.
When the hour of speeches closed, the fun and games began. Apparently, there was a program for the afternoon and all of the teachers contributed. A couple of women came up and sang Karaoke, a group of younger female students came in and performed a dance for the crowd that was a cross between something traditional and a Glee production number. The Music teachers sang and a group of very talented people played traditional instruments. The most anticipated performers were a young music teacher with a killer voice who sang an inspiring folk song and a big roly-poly Art teacher who sounded just like an Italian tenor. He sang the International in Russian and another patriotic song. The musical portion ended with the Senior Female Teacher’s Choir. About 12 women took the stage and sang a lovely song about something, I don’t know what. The head teacher’s phone rang in the middle of a crescendo and that got a big laugh. Some things are universal.
All the while during the musical activities, the fellow sitting next to me, one of the vice-principals, kept nudging me to get up and play the piano. Western instrument, Western teacher – I understand his reasoning. Eventually, I was able to mime to him that I don’t play so he let up, however he later tried to volunteer me for a game of Charades in Chinese. I politely declined, but I finally hit the stage for a round of musical chairs. I can kick-ass at musical chairs in any language. It was fun and I came in second (some skinny-hipped science teacher won on a technicality) but I got a stuffed carnival dog anyways. All of the teachers were anxious to participate in the games, including pass the balloon with your bum and a Chinese version of Name That Tune. Feeling close to peers and sharing group experiences is very important in Chinese culture. No one, not even the worst Karaoke soprano, looked uncomfortable or hesitate to take the stage. Everyone was sharing something with his or her community, people they work with and care about, and I think that created a safe environment for my Chinese colleagues.
At the end, with the theme song to The Magnificent Seven playing in the background, all the female teachers lined on the stage to receive a special gift from Principal Xu; a bag of Amway cleaning products! Principal Xu singled me out to wish me, “A happy life forever” and I think I swooned a little. Just another surreal moment here on Planet China.
I will be home in 23 days. I love you and miss you!
Cheers,
Mom
March 14, 2012
Dear Peter,
I haven’t written in a few days so here are some “small moments” and observations I have collected over the past few weeks.
New Foods
Things I have eaten here in China – donkey meat, silk worms, sea slugs, several kinds of seaweed, pigs ear, sheep stomach membrane, some type of animal brain (maybe pig), dozens of mushroom species and enough mutton to fuel a small Australian town. Every meal served at the school cafeteria includes cucumbers because that is what is grown in the endless miles of greenhouses in this part of Shandong. The food around here is salty, not hot or sweet. Last night I dreamed of cheese. I miss cheese. I really, really miss cheese.
Blue Eyes
Blue Eyes and lighter brown hair = lots and lots of stares and gasps when I visit the local super Fred Meyer type mega store. No fooling, I have walked down the street and traffic has literally stopped while drivers screech to a halt to get a look at my eyes. Some very old people look completely befuddled and even a little suspicious when they see my “Russian” face. Changle is a bit of a hick town.
Traffic and Roads
Chinese traffic rules are either non-existent or incomprehensible. Whatever the case, the most dangerous thing I have done in the last 25 years is cross the street in Changle. In China, cars have the right of way and car horns are used for everything from warning pedestrians of impending doom to flirting with the cute driver in the lane next to you. The traffic lights are often parallel or diagonal to the intersection so determining when to proceed can be tricky, especially if a large truck or heavily loaded tractor is in front of you. At one intersection in Changle, there are 8 crossing points and getting to your destination involves navigating a spider’s web of green and red flashing lights, which I can never figure out. Last weekend, I saw a pedestrian walk into a car and after a small thump, the person and driver just kept moving.
Babies
Babies are kept bundled in so much quilted fabric here, they look like little balls. Much attention is paid to dressing babies in cute clothes and headgear. Little kids are king and queens. Even on the coldest days, babies wear splits – pants with cutouts at the crotch so they can do their business over a standing toilet (or anywhere else, really) This means using a shopping cart after a baby has been sitting in it can be nasty business. Usually, it is grandma or grandpa out with the baby, acting as primary caregiver. Babies can also be found on the handlebars of electric bikes or on their parent’s laps while they drive. There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a car seat or modern plastic molded kiddies’ bike seat here in Changle. The way kids are cosseted and adored around here, I’m sure someone is or will make a killing marketing Graco seats (which are, I believe, made in China and Thailand.) An Alley Cat type bike attachment might do well too.
Oil
Everything around here is cooked in oil. Every vegetable is cooked including lettuce, carrots, whatever. The veggies are always served in some sort of brown salty sauce with chunks of chopped garlic. The gas hob in our apartment can only accommodate round bottom wok pans, which need oil to work well. I tried to fry an egg last week but instead ended up with greasy scrambled blob and most of the egg was stuck to the wok. I thought all the delicious vegetables I am eating would make me healthier, but I think I may get zits from all this oil.
Chinese TV
When I was home on lunch break 3 TV channels were running The Annoying Orange show from YouTube. The Annoying Orange is twice as annoying in Chinese and hearing the Orange speak Mandarin was like a bad drug trip.
Weather
Since it is late winter, the weather here can go from low 30s to mid-50s in a few hours. It is usually pretty dry here but today we had a brief shower of acid rain. Talk about a bad hair day. On the upside, you can’t smell the sewer during an acid rain sprinkle.
Chinese Smart Asses
China has a lot to be proud of and the smart-asses in China are, I am sure, the best in the world. Really, the folks around here know how to joke around. I often wish I could speak Chinese just so I could wise crack with some of the old farts who hang around in front of my apartment block playing checkers. They are always teasing and cracking each other up.
Touching and PDAs
People here are comfortable with less personal space. Two friends of the same sex will often pet each other’s arms, put a hand on a back, or sling their arms around the other person while they chat. It is very common to see younger females on campus, 12 – 15 years old, holding hands as they walk from building to building. In class, John and Jerry often rumple each other’s hair when they are goofing around. What you do not see are young (or old) men and women holding hands or kissing. When I was in the Zibo train station, a younger couple smooched and a few older farmers gave them reproving looks. Since this is a boarding school, kids here are extra careful not to be caught messing about.
Foot Tubs
Every store around here sells little foot tubs for washing dirty feet. Apparently, it is super bad to go to bed in the dorms with dirty or smelly feet. Telling another student he or she has smelly feet is a common insult. With 8 kids in a room the size of your bedroom, the need for sweet feet is understandable. Today one boy teased / insulted another by accusing him of not wearing underwear to bed. Again, with 8 boys in one room, wearing drawers in the dorm room is a good idea. As you know, I love to go barefoot around the house. I think this creeped Eva out at first, but now she just turns her head when my feet are naked.
Male Soprano
A music teacher in the class underneath me is a male soprano and I can hear him singing Western opera arias every morning while I am opening up the classroom. He is pretty good and sounds like someone in a sci-fi movie. I love it.
OK, that is all I have this week so bye-bye for now.
Cheers,
Mom
March 17, 2012
Dear Peter,
Melissa and I were asked to give a workshop on how to instruct students in English pronunciation and intonation to the school’s 70+ English teachers today. As usual, I took the stage and hammed it up with the mike. The group was predominately female and only one person present had ever lived in an English speaking country. A few folks had traveled to the US or Australia on holiday. Overall, the teachers have solid grammar skills and, like the students in my ELL group, everyone focused very hard on repeating my sounds and instructions. They were enthusiastic and committed to their professional development. Using the North American model, I reserved the last few minutes of class for English related questions. I didn’t expect many inquiries but one woman in the crowd raised her hand and asked us to sing a song in English. After she asked us to sing, everyone started clapping and shouting requests. We settled on John Denver’s Country Roads and, feeling pumped, I sang all 3 verses – in key!
After such an exciting experience, I went home to wind down in front of the tube. I can’t get enough of Chinese TV. After I came home during lunch break earlier this week and saw the Annoying Orange from YouTube speaking in Mandarin (on 3 channels at the same time) I have spent the evenings surfing for even more trippy shows. While The Tony show is still my favorite (you remember, the one where the camera follows the golden retriever around as he eats, sleeps, barks and relieves himself.) I really enjoy the soaps and game shows too. On the Peking Opera channel, I recently saw a game show that featured 4 and 5 year olds in competition to become Peking Opera performers. The kids practiced the hundreds of years old stylized gestures and songs while wearing streetwalker makeup, Disney t-shirts, crowns, and tap shoes. The CCP meetings have been taking place in Beijing over the last few weeks and the news video clips are fascinating. Over 3,000 people are attending the congress in a building the size of an Everett Boeing hanger. The massive group is amazingly quiet and calm since there are no debates or filler busting allowed. The camera shots panning the vast sea of faces are breathtaking and remind the viewer just how enormous the job of governing 1.5 people must be.
Although you have talked to everyone in my class on Skype, I realize I haven’t told you a whole lot about what it is like for me to work with Chinese students. American and Chinese systems of education are so different, it is hard to describe how it influences what goes on in my class, but I will try. In the regular classrooms at Changle #2, it is the teachers that rotate with each course period, not the students. This means the kids stay together all day and form tight almost familial bonds with each other. The teacher will, more or less, stand in front of a large screen or chalkboard and lecture at the students while the students remain silent. Since Changle #2 is considered a progressive school, occasionally a student will ask a clarification question, but overall, students do not discuss things with their teachers in front of the large group. If they do discuss things with the teacher, they usually do it in the teacher’s office. The model here at Changle #2 is that students discuss and question material in the evenings with each other during student directed study groups. This is what makes Changle #2 a cut above other schools in the region. All of the teachers teach to the tests for their subjects. Everything around here is measured by high stakes standardized testing, even PE and Art. I have seen no evidence of project based or authentic learning tasks anywhere. The students are very diligent and work hard at acquiring wrote information, but the main vehicle for expression and application of knowledge seems to be regularly scheduled measurements put out by a centralized source. While this type of structure seems to work well for the mid-level learners and mastery of math is noticeably better than at home, I can see how things could be very confining for bright students and super frustrating for slower kids. It also means that to most Chinese students, “good” study habits involve lots of memorizing and very limited critical reflection.
In my class, to practice their language skills, the students are forced to participate in discussions and dialog. My group has been given access to the Internet, something that is not available to other students here, for research in English. The group has a different schedule than the rest of the school and we spend 6 / 7 hours together in a room located under a younger boys dorm. Because it is supposed to be an American style class, the students are exempt from wearing uniforms. The extra freedoms and privileges afforded my class are at times very difficult for the students to self-manage. At home, these students are indulged with whatever toys and extra goodies their parents can provide for them. Many kids at Changle #2 are comparatively wealthy and perhaps a little spoiled. Here at boarding school, teachers manage every single aspect of the students’ learning and private lives. The Chinese teachers in the other classes are expected to tell the students every minute of the day what to do, how to do it, whom to do it with as well as what the end product of any task or activity should look like. My students, ages 16 to 19, in many ways remind me of much younger US kids. For example, the students are consumed with playing games and using social media during class time. They think I don’t know or care about what is going on when they get off task because I don’t try managing them through constant reminders. Their exposure to information technology has previously been very closely monitored and the kids eat any tech stuff up like a starving man at a banquet. Since I won’t spend any extra energy babysitting their computer use, they can go a little nuts and it is impacting some of their scores. It also appears that a couple of my male students believe they can get away with being late to class because I don’t harp at or threaten them like a Chinese teacher would. I have only reprimanded them once or twice instead of blasting them every single time; they seem to be under the delusion that there is no penalty for being tardy because I am not nagging.
While all of the above sounds rather negative, it really isn’t. Our systems are just very different and these guys, overall, are adapting to our program’s North American style instruction faster than the speed of light. The students and I have a mutually warm relationship. My group is just beginning to realize that when they come to the US to study, they will have adjustment issues and likely fall from the status of top dog on campus to just another face in the crowd. That is a hard truth for anyone to face, but they seem to be coping with the idea rather well and I have confidence they will be fine at LWIT. I doubt the majority of North American high school students would have the physical stamina last a week in a Chinese classroom. The regular students begin class at 7:00, eat and take a break for lunch, take more classes until 5:00, eat again, and do homework in the classroom with their classmates until 10:00. Even in this test driven culture, my students are incredibly good to each other, lending any and every kind of support to their peers when they need it. In the US, achieving success in school is subtle and more brutally Darwinian. Here in Changle, if necessary, the kids will work to raise individuals in their group up for the sake of the team. In the US, if someone is awkward or doesn’t cut it intellectually, peers will walk away and marginalize him or her so they don’t interfere with individual progress.
I think for me the hardest thing to deal with is the student’s conditioning to be so dependent on the teacher for intellectual and behavioral direction. These 17, 18, and 19 year olds are used to being told what to do and when to do it every minute of the day. While things seem to work very well for the kids here, the lack of student and teacher verbal exchange and the almost exclusively teacher driven lesson format feels both alien and counterintuitive to me. It is also very uncomfortable when a legally adult student asks me for permission to leave the room to go to the toilet or I have to walk someone through every single step of an Internet search because he will spend all of his time playing Call Of Duty if I don’t. My students have no way of understanding that asking or expecting someone else to be responsible for micro-managing your thinking is about the most distasteful habit a student or scholar can have in US academic circles. Explaining to my students why they need to work on compelling themselves to be more creative now so they will be better prepared for their future in a North American college class is difficult. Without American students here to observe and interact with, they have no models for how the teacher student dynamic works in the USA. If someone could combine the discipline, task stamina and dedication to group success of a Chinese student with the creativity, self-reliance and resilience of an American kid, they would have a near perfect learning machine!
Bye for now,
Mom
April, 2012
Dear Class 1 and ELL Students,
It has been my privilege and a pleasure to work with all of you over the last 6 weeks. You have been warm, gracious, helpful and funny. All of you have made excellent, steady progress in your speaking and listening skills and all of you are ready to move forward in your study of English. With focus, practice, and immersion in an English speaking environment, you will be AMAZED at how all the “pieces” of the crazy English language puzzle will start to fit. Your futures are bright and as your teacher, I am very proud and happy for you.
Becoming an adult is exciting and rewarding, but it can also be difficult sometimes. It is especially challenging when you are living in a foreign environment away from your parents and friends. You will have many, many excellent days in Kirkland. You will enjoy the healthy environment, have adventures, and make lots of new friends. You will also have some moments when you are sad and miss all things Chinese. This is very normal and as it should be. We live in great times, people can use telephones and computers to speak with and see the people they love anywhere on the planet. If you need her, China is just a Skype call or email away!
I invite you to telephone or email me if you feel low or you want to spend some time with a family you know. There is always room at our table and in front of our TV for another child. You are my former student and now part of my “extended family” so you will never be completely alone in the Seattle area. Don’t forget, you have an open invitation to join Peter and me on a day trip around the Seattle area. I am including the list of places we can go. Don’t be shy, we love to go out and do things and it is just as easy to put 3 or 4 in a car as it is to put 1!
Cheers,
Teacher Beth
(206) xxx-xxxx terribethseattle@gmail.com
Bill Bauer (my husband) (206) xxx-xxxx
XXX XXXX XXX
Seattle, WA 98117
Sonqualimie Falls Seattle Art Museum
Pioneer Square International District
Pike Place Market Golden Gardens Beach
Pacific Place Mall Fremont Sunday Market
Woodland Park Zoo Seattle Center / Space Needle / Chihully Glass Exhibit
Fishermen’s Pier Feed the ducks near Seattle Pacific University
Discovery Park Take the Theo Chocolate Factory tour
Volunteer Park Visit the Fremont Troll
Go skiing with Bill and Peter Fly kites in Gasworks Park
Lighting a Fire, Not Filling a Pail 