"A Smile is the Same Around the World"

I remember some teacher telling me in elementary school that even if you don't speak the same language as someone, you can smile. And they will know what it means. I don't think that teacher ever lived in China...

I was teaching a class the other day and discussing the 2008 Olympics, which will be held in Beijing. My students were excited to tell me what they know.

Did you know that there are five Olympic mascots? Their names are BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing and NiNi. It's from the phrase Beijing HuanYing Ni, which means, "Welcome to Beijing".

Did you know that they have given cassette tapes to all the taxi drivers in Beijing to encourage them to learn English?

Did you know they are cracking down on spitting in public in Beijing? Spitting is very common here, and not considered taboo or dirty.

Did you know that every Tuesday is "Stand in Line Day" in Beijing? Standing in line isn't a Chinese concept. For months I never got anything done when I moved here. I would stand behind another customer at the counter and wait for my turn. That person would leave, and before I could move forward, someone from behind me would cut in front. It's not rude, because everyone does it. So I learned. You just push a little through, with your money in your hand, and "take" your turn. If you wait for your turn, it will never come.

Did you know that they are teaching Beijing residents to smile at strangers on the street? In China you only smile at people you know. In America, we generally have a cheery demeanor, and may even give a cursory "hello" to passers-by on our way somewhere.

I explained this last concept to my class, and demonstrated by walking down the aisle of the classroom, smiling. One student said "you're crazy"! And she meant it. A smile is *not* the same in all cultures. In America it means friendliness, or at least acknowledgment.

In China, it means mental illness.

The year is almost over

Well, it's almost the end of my time here in China. I've avoided writing about it. I don't want it to seem like I have disliked my time here, and want to go. Because I have enjoyed being here. Not every day was good, but I learned a lot about another culture, and about myself.

In six days I will be in Guiyang. I'll spend the night there so I can catch my 8:00am flight. From Guiyang I'll go to Beijing; Beijing to JFK; JFK to Rochester. It's about 22 hours of traveling. But I'll be home, for good, at 7pm on Thursday, June 28th.

Between now and then I have one more final to give, and about a million finals to grade. My apartment is pretty well packed. I've shipped a couple of boxes to myself in NY, so I don't have much to pack. I'm washing my clothes for the last time (yay!), and still have to do sheets and towels. I just defrosted my freezer. I need to clean out my fridge and my cabinets. I'm not ready to leave, but I will be next Wednesday.

It's sad to say goodbye to my students. I've become attached to many of them. They are sweet, and make me feel like a good teacher. It's a nice feeling.

I'll try to write at least once more before I go.

I can't believe it's almost over.

Chinglish

I thought I'd give you a taste of my students' English levels. This was written by a sophomore, and it is one of the more well written assignments that I received. The class watched "Ocean's Eleven" and had to answer the question: who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in the movie? This is exactly what she wrote, misspellings and all:

We all know that it's illegal to rob money. But in my opinion all eleven persons are good guys. They do have special skills, for example, the little Chinese can turn somersaults and very flexible. They work together, help each other, united, brave and kind.
But my favorite memmber is Danny. He is brave man. He was free from the prison. after robbing, he was sent to prison again but without a word. He also a brilliant guy, he draws on his girlfriend to rob the casino boss - he put a cellphone in her pocket secretly, but it's no a sin. Last but no the least he is a handsome man and has handsome does. He loves her girlfriend always. It is the true love.
I don't like Benedict - the boss of the casino. Yes, he does have lots of money, but he has poor happy. Because he loves money more than love itself. He is a successful man in business, but a failure in love affair. He is a bad guy, otherwise Ocean's eleven would not rob him casino.


Well, I leave for Laos in 24 hours. I'm scrambling to finish everything I need to before I leave - handing in my final grades, doing laundry, cleaning my fridge... I'll try to write from the road, but otherwise have a good six weeks! I'll be back in Anshun February 16!

It's c-c-c-c-cold!

So, I live in sunny Guizhou province. It's a beautiful, temperate, sub-tropical environment. Or not. It's really cold here. Right now it 37 degrees Fahrenheit. I know it's not as cold as Russia (27 degrees) or even Western NY (16 degrees), but it's still cold!

See, there's no central heating in China south of the Yangtze River - that's me! Most people use coal to warm stoves. But that's messy and a little dangerous. So I use electric heaters, which are dangerous in their own right. Running too many electrical appliances runs the risk of burning wires.

Burning wires vs. Burning coal and smoke - what a choice! I just keep an eye on things and don't run more than two heaters at a time. Also, I have smoke alarms.

The students don't even have heat in their dorms. They rely on body heat to keep themselves warm - ten students share a room.

There is no heat in the classroom buildings. Everyone wears their coats during class. In fact, it's rude and a little scandalous to take off your coat during class (as I discovered last week!).

I bought a heater Tuesday that blows hot air. It's mounted on my wall and keeps my living room pretty warm. Think of it as a huge blow-dryer, but quieter.

I close all the doors in my apartment, and just heat the living room. I have taped all the windows shut with packing tape. Believe it or not, it makes it warmer! I don't even go into the study anymore - I moved the computer to the living room. My bedroom is cold, but I move a heater into it when I go to bed at night, and I have an electric blanket. My kitchen is cold until I start cooking, then it heats up some. But my back hallway is freezing! It is all windows and when I do the dishes I can see my own breath! Brrrr!! Thankfully I have a heat lamp in my bathroom for when I take showers. It doesn't make it *warm* but it keeps it from being too cold.

I'm sure I'll survive the winter, but I was not in for this shock! I wear long underwear every day. And in one month I'm going on vacation to Cambodia and Laos. It should be warm there!!

Cooking

I've been meaning to post about learning to cook forever. So here it is!

During October holiday one of my students, Danielle, taught me to cook. She called around 10 and we went to the market to buy the needed food.

Here is a photo of buying eggs. It's so different than in the States, don't you think? Every week the price is different and you can buy as many as you want.

We (well, mostly Danielle) decided we would have four dishes: eggs & tomato, winter melon soup, thousand year old eggs, and potatoes.

The very first thing we did was to render pork fat to make lard. I never ever want to do that again. I admit lard makes food taste good. But I'm much, much happier using canola oil, and I'm sure my arteries are too!

For each dish I'll write the recipe and show a photo.

Eggs & Tomato
-put some lard in the pan on medium heat
-crack eggs into a bowl
-add some salt and scramble (with chopsticks)
-cook the eggs in the pan, take them out
-put sliced tomatoes, garlic shoots, a little water and some salt
-cook for a few minutes
-put the eggs back in


Winter Melon Soup
-put some lard in the pan on medium heat
-add 1/2" water, bring to a boil
-add winter melon and sliced ginger
-put some meat tenderizer on sliced pork
-add pork and salt, cook for five minutes
-add bean sprouts, chicken bullion and sliced tomatoes
-cook until melon is tender, add green onions


Thousand Year Old Eggs
(you must know that I really don't like these at all. They are eggs that are buried in cement for two weeks and then eaten. Ewwww)
-peel the eggs, chop
-mix cilantro, green onions and garlic
-put the eggs in the cilantro mixture

Potatoes
-put oil & lard in hot pan
-add sliced garlic, sliced green peppers
-sautee one minute
-add sliced (tenderized) pork, sautee one minute
-add shoestring potatoes, cook 4-5 minutes
-salt, cook until potatoes are tender

Part-ay

In the past week I've been to three parties (part-ays).

The first one was last Friday (September 22nd). It was at my apartment. I invited two of my classes and 11 people came (a pretty good number). The theme was Mexican Fiesta! We had chips & salsa, chili and chicken quesadillas. Yum! It was so fun to have people in my apartment. I really made some good friends!




The second party was Tuesday Sept 26. It was a mid-autumn festival party thrown by one of the sophomore classes. Mid-autumn festival goes by the lunar calendar. This year it is happening right around now. It celebrates the moon - so people eat things that are round - apples, pomolos, and moon cakes (which I don't like - yuck!). The party was in their classroom and mostly consisted of karaoke performances and sunflower seeds (a favorite snack of the Chinese).







The third party was held at the Gateway English Salon in Anshun. The English Salon is run by an American woman who lives in Anshun. It's a place for students to borrow English books and movies, and learn more about teaching English (since this is a teacher's college). The party was for all new freshman. Sara, Kris and I gave out invitations in our freshman classes and accompanied the students to the Salon. They got to eat American food (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and chocolate cupcakes) and learn about the Salon. It was a lot of fun!

But I'm all party-ed out! Thankfully this week is a vacation in China. It's "National Day" and there is no school this week! I'm going to stay here and recover from my first month of teaching! Sara and I may go to Guiyang to visit a student who will be staying with family there. But we're not sure yet. I have no plans, and that makes me so happy! :)

I'll write more later!

Dao Guiyang

"Dao Guiyang" is Chinese for "to Guiyang"! Sara, Kris and I are headed to Guiyang for the weekend. We'll meet the rest of our ULS team there. I think we'll also visit Walmart.

There was a huge thunderstorm last night. At 4 in the morning some lightening struck so close - the sound was deafening! The electricity was out and I was groggily trying to close all of my windows and unplug my computer in the dark. It took me a while to get back to sleep because there was so much thunder and lightening!

I changed my Thursday 4-6 class to Friday 8-10. It means that my Fridays aren't free anymore. But to me, there is little difference between no classes and an 8 o'clock class. I still have the majority of the day free.

I think (hope) that my second week of classes was more successful than my first. The only exception may be my literature class. The students still don't have the book, and it's practically impossible to teach literature without a book! We spent two hours making a timeline of the authors and periods of American and British literature. It's a boring thing to do, but even more boring when the terms "Renaissance", "Neo-Classicism" and "Critical Realism" enter the conversation. The students were totally unfamiliar with those words, and it's very difficult to explain them! Thankfully their book (when they get it) is mostly in Chinese. So hopefully they can read some of the words in their own language and have a better understanding than I can give them!

Well, I need to pack since we're leaving in thirty minutes!
:)