Speech Contests, English Corners and Strangers

We have a lot of respect for the Chinese students we've come to know. They work so hard all the time, without their parents reminding them. It is quite admirable. At any given time of the day, we've met students on their way to the library to study. They aren't cramming for an exam the next day, they are just studying. If you ask them what their plans are for the weekend, they will often include studying in their answer.

Many of the students see English as a great asset for their future prospects and so take every opportunity to practice with us. This leads to interesting encounters for Don especially since he is more visibly the "foreigner". Students who might not be able to string together one sentence will still want to try to talk with him. The result is often a rather one-sided conversation. On break today, I had a Japanese major come up and start a conversation with me. Since we've been here, we've had a lot of practice keeping up small talk conversations.

Last Wednesday and again on Saturday, we judged speech contests. There are only two topics at the moment: environmental protection and volunteerism at the Olympics. I have a lot of respect for these students. Public speaking, at the best of times, is a daunting task. Making a 3 minute prepared speech in a second language is quite an achievement. Then they have to come up with an impromptu speech after being shown an image or quote. Lastly, they had to answer a question from one of us. First they had to understand us and then come up with a coherent answer.

There were 5 of us foreign judges: Rob, Don, me and 2 kids from Britain who are here for a couple of weeks to volunteer at the local schools. They have been very popular with the students because they are the same age as them. Everyone wants to chat with them.

After the contest on Saturday, the dean of the Foreign Language department took us all out for dinner to thank us for our participation. We spent a pleasant evening chatting and toasting (a very frequent occurrence during the dinner).

We also participated in our second English corner at this campus. No embarrassing singing this time though. We played "Simon Says" with them instead and had a lot of fun.

Besides these opportunities to practice English, a few of Don's students have taken to eating with us in the cafeteria. A few keeners even walk Don to the campus gates after class just to get a few extra minutes in. Since they really don't have many real opportunities to speak English, we're happy to chat with them. WE are getting lots of English practice :) Our English speaking abilities are improving every day!!

J

Stange New World

It has been just over 2 months since we've arrived in China. I was recently asked if we're adjusting. China, as it turns out, is not an easy place to adjust to. We're very glad we're here and there are many great things but the negatives are more evident here. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that we're suffering culture shock much more than we ever did in Mexico.

Some good things first:

1. We've met some amazing people here who have opened up their hearts to us. They have joined together to form our much needed support system here. They have helped us deal with our day-to-day challenges, from getting our cell phones to ordering food in the cafeteria.
   
2. We are both doing something we love and are good at. At the end of the day, we get to share our experiences and the other one actually gets it. An added bonus is this new teaching environment. We have both discovered that we enjoy academia.
   
3. We are living the moments. We are alive to all that is happening around us. We see all the details. For example, there are some beautiful flowers budding on the Scholar trees right now. As we walk by them, we consciously appreciate their fragrance. On Sunday, while riding the bus downtown, I noticed all these wedding parties and asked Jerry if Sunday is a usual day for weddings. He explained that weddings happen when there is a "good" day according to the lunar calendar and it could be any day of the week. At other times in my life, paying attention to what is really happening around me might not have been so easy. Because of the fact that everything is so different, we see and appreciate more.

Some challenging things:

1. Pollution. Jinan is a city that is growing at a rapid rate and so everything seems to be in a bit of a mess. You know you're in trouble when people comment that it's a nice day because we can see the blue sky. Often, the sky is overcast with a pale brown or gray haze. While I am not certain what is in the air, I can safely guess that it's not a good thing. Besides that, there are often dust storms here which leaves everything with a veil of dust. Housekeeping takes on new meaning here. There is also noise pollution. Besides the cars that all insist on honking as they drive by anyone, there are loud cell phone conversations everywhere. Sometimes, it sounds like a city of angry people.
   
2. Sensory overload. There is a lot of everything here: people, cars, bikes, buses, vendors, things. I love shopping. Sadly, I am not enjoying shopping here. Here is a typical shopping experience for me. It doesn't matter what I am shopping for, the minute I approach a counter or display, a clerk greets me and engages in a conversation. (Glen, I know now why you wore headphones in Japan.) After motioning to them with a negative gesture, I scurry away since I've learned that they are persistent. Browsing in peace has become a luxury.
3. Language Barrier. It can't be understated how difficult it is not to speak the language or read the writing. It affects every aspect of your life. Sure, we get by with the few words we now know and can point at most things but to really understand and appreciate things, we need to be able to speak and read. Imagine shopping for something but being unfamiliar with the packaging. When we first arrived, even buying sugar or salt required thought. We pass by many many places whose reason for being is often hidden behind the meaning of their signs. I am looking forward to being able to recognize more Chinese characters so that we can unlock those mysteries.

I am quite sure that as we spend more time here, we will adjust. And to gauge our rate of adjustment, I'll be referring to the different stages of culture shock. It is comforting to know though that, as was the case in Mexico, the world here opens up to us at the rate that we can learn the language. We can celebrate the little victories that come as we learn one word, one character.

J

Sports Meet

We had Thursday and Friday off last week while the freshmen and sophomores attended a sports meet. I'm not quite sure what the real purpose behind this event was but I know that it was a good team building exercise and personal development opportunity.

For two days, we watched as they showed us their courage and determination in the face of some difficult circumstances. We were amazed to find out that for many of them, it was the first time they had done that particular event. These kids had been chosen by their teachers to compete in particular events based on their stature or some other equally logical criteria. Who needs natural ability? To make matters worse, many of them were picking up a shot put or throwing a javelin the very first time that day, as they are competing. No practice. No training.

The student bravely went out there though and did their best. When they didn't do well, they were upset that they had let their classmates down. And while they competed, their classmates were right there, at their side, as they ran. They were on the sidelines at the events and cheering them on, shouting "Jiayou!" (Come on!). They were there at the finish line as their classmate collapsed into their arms. They were there to bring them their little paper cup of hot water. Yes, hot water. Don't know the logic but I think the last thing I'd want is something hot when it was warm and I'd just exerted myself. Oh, and they punched your leg for you to help you recover.

The foreign language department came in 6^th overall and the girls’ team came in 4^th.

Speaking of sports, unlike our previous television habits, we have barely turned on the tv here. This is mainly because there is no English programing. When we do turn the tv on, there are many soap operas (I even found one dubbed from an Indian drama), home shopping network like shows and sports (table tennis, badminton and soccer).

Snippets of Life

Donkey Meat

These were my words the other day when Rob asked “What are you eating?”. Ruth, one of the students we bbq with, bought us some donkey meat to try awhile back and I finally tried it. I must admit that I was hesitating because... well, it's not usually in my meat group. It came in a vacuum pack and had been stewed so was very tender. It actually didn't taste bad, sort of like Spam. Don thinks it tastes a bit like corned beef. Shake a bit of Tabasco on it, put in on some bread and you have a rather tasty snack.

La La La

Now that my singing voice has been unleashed, I’m preparing for my next performance. NOT! As many of you have advised, I won't be quitting my day job. I am however trying to learn Chinese by singing along with some popular songs. I advise my students all the time that this is a great method for them to study English so why not practice what I preach.

In order to pronounce the lyrics though, I have had to learn pinyin. It’s a method of writing Chinese with the Roman alphabet. I have to study pinyin though because the letters are not pronounced like they are in English, e. g. the “x” is pronounced like the “sh” in “sheet”. In addition to the pinyin, the lyrics sometimes have the Chinese characters and the English translation. The English is handy in case I want to understand what I’m trying to say.

The students have recommended a couple of artists for me. Carole has been kind enough to share her music with me. As we were standing there talking about one song, she asked if I had my cell phone and the next thing I know, she’s using Bluetooth to transfer the song to me. You gotta love technology! So now, I’ve “discovered” Wang Leehom, an American-born Chinese artist that has fused Western and Eastern styles of music. Imagine hip-hop and R&B sounds with Beijing Opera. I have the one song I'm concentrating on in the background right now and it's on repeat. I wonder how many times I can listen to it. Good thing Don has just left for his afternoon class.

Happy Birthday Alf

Last week, the school invited us to a birthday party for one of the other foreign teachers, Alf. He is a Danish teacher here sharing his expertise in the automotive department.

There was a 24 course banquet in his honour. We were sat at the table according to much ritual. The dean of the department sat Alf at a particular spot and then sat the rest of us at our places according to age, sex and I'm not sure what else. Dinner was followed by a birthday cake which we ate with our chopsticks. Now before you scoff, it was actually quite efficient. Oh by the way, everyone has been impressed by Don's prowess with the chopsticks. His skills have been honed at my parents' home. It was either that or starve.

Throughout the dinner, the dean generously demonstrated things like what to do with a package on the table at the start of the meal. It turned out to be a moist warm towel to clean our hands and face. Later he showed us how to eat certain dishes when it was not obvious (shavings of bitter melon on ice that we had to dip in one of two sauces, an orange sauce and a honey sauce & Peking Duck which we found out from our hosts that originated in Jinan… or at least in their opinion).

Here is proof of how fresh the ingredients were.

Rainy Day

It was raining when I went to work this morning. It was my first experience walking in the crowd of students while all of us were using umbrellas. What IS she talking about? Imagine that on a daily basis, when you walk to class, you walk in this large mass of people. Students come out from their residences in different directions and merge into one big mass heading towards the teaching buildings on the other side of the campus. There is only one way there and we all have to funnel through a short underground tunnel. If you're lucky, you walk with the flow. If you're not, you feel like a salmon swimming upstream.

Today, there was a rainbow of umbrellas. I would have loved to have taken a photo but I was quite frankly too afraid to stop. You see, if you stop, you might get trampled. As I walked closer to the mass, I was wondering how holding up umbrellas would affect my personal space. As you can imagine, personal space is at a premium here, along with privacy but that's another blog entry. I got my answer quickly as I walked along and felt my umbrella nudged from behind. So much for the extra couple of inches that I was hoping for.

J

Don's Haircuts

When we were in Canada and even in Mexico, it was easier to shave Don's hair ourselves. Since arriving in China, we just haven't seen a hair trimmer so he decided that he would try getting his haircut.

He has had two haircuts so far. The first one was out of desperation. One day, he just had to get his haircut and so we went to the closest one we know of, just opposite the campus gates. The loud dance music that we could hear as we walked by must mean that they are professionals, right? We walked in and thought we had stepped back in time to the days when Flock of Seagulls & Kajagoogoo were popular. All of the stylists were young men with hair styles that required more hair product than I own at the moment. They look like they had just stepped out of a convertible and it had not been traveling the speed limit. The "wings" were going in all directions. They were all dressed in black, which is normally a good sign, but were accessorized with safety pins (both in their clothes and in their ears). They nonetheless gave Don an okay haircut but it wasn't as short as he would have liked. It only cost 10 yuan (just over $1) so we didn't complain.

The other day, we went to the salon on campus. Ok, "salon" is being generous but there were a few barber chairs and two smiling older ladies in smocks who seemed to know what they were doing. With Jerry's help, we convinced the lady to cut Don's hair as short as he liked it. Of course, she couldn't believe that he liked it that short so she shaved a big chunk of his hair in the back to show me how short it was. I assured her that he wanted it that way but thought to myself that if he didn't, it was too late. They even rinsed his hair afterwards. It cost 3 yuan (43 cents) and there is no tipping here. It was supposed to have cost 4 yuan but when Jerry told me the price, I was all "but you told me it was 3 yuan!". He explained that he bought a card for that gave him a discount and 10 haircuts. I told him we needed to buy one of those discount cards too.

I wanted Jerry to write detailed instructions on the back of the card since we had such a hard time convincing them to get the cut Don wanted. The ladies assured us that they'd remember. How many white foreigners come in to get their head almost shaved? One!

J

Eating

BBQ

Friday nights have been BBQ night with Rob and company since we arrived. We have become so predictable that we hardly have to order. It's straightforward anyhow. Rob or whoever else is there will just list the type of meat we want. It is almost always beef, chicken, pork, mutton, and chicken wings. Usually, the last thing we have is a round piece of bread that's been grilled after brushing the outside with a spicy mixture.

We get our box of beer (that they go across the street to buy from the convenience store right after we get there). Sunrise (or another student) will take up the role of pouring once we've taken a few sips. Don and Rob have trained them not to fill the glass so full now so as not to waste the beer. We chat while we wait for the first course to arrive.

Shortly afterwards, one of the people who work there will bring a handful of skewers over and serve up what they think is an appropriate amount for us. Then we eat. They time it just right so that, at any given time, there are at most a couple of varieties of meat on the platter. We never have to wait long for meat to appear or for our glasses to be full. Ah, what a life!

Cafeteria

Don & I have been eating most of our meals there lately since we've learned a few more dishes and it's just so darn convenient.

For lunch, we're usually joined by a couple of Don's students and / or Jerry. For dinner, we'll wander over after the student rush and enjoy ordering our food using the tried and true method of "point and order something from the extensive menu and be pleasantly surprised when they put our food up on the counter because we had no idea what we had ordered". We figure that if we order the most expensive thing on the menu (just short of $1) at the most popular window, we can't go wrong. We haven't had a bad dish yet. We don't even have to do much grocery shopping now because we're eating at the school so much. I also figure that I can't do any better stir-frying at home so why not. There isn't much meat in the dish but we get enough Friday nights at BBQ.

The cafeteria, as you can see, is basic. The windows for the different types of foods are along two walls. This is a self-serve kinda place. The food you order is either in a plastic bag (take-out) or in a plastic bowl or plate. There are dispensers, like those you get straws from, where you get your bright green plastic chopsticks. Sometimes, you have to clean the table you sit down at. That's why, in China, you do not go anywhere without carrying a small pack of tissue paper. You take out your trusty pack so you can clean the table, put one down to place your chopsticks on and take another out for a serviette. When you're finished, you bring all the thing up to the front where there is a cleaning station. You throw your chopsticks in a big bin and then leave your dishes on a counter. A worker then cleans the food off into a garbage pail and stacks up the dishes for washing. An efficient way to feed a whole bunch of people fast.

Many of the students might benefit from an etiquette lesson though. Maybe it has something to do with being away from home at an early age but they are little piggies when they eat. The tables are often strewn with little pieces of food or other garbage. They might leave just one little plastic bag behind.

How we pay is worth a mention. Since there is no cash exchanged here, we had to get these debit cards. We fill them up with money when we need to. After we order, we put the card on top of the cash register. The smart little machine will show the current balance and then after they charge you, it'll show the new balance. It's a handy system since you don't have to carry cash to eat. The campus convenience store next door also uses this system so when we go over to get ice cream for dessert, we don't have to fish for money.

People are always very curious what we order so we get lots of stares. It's a bit uncomfortable but at least complete strangers haven't wanted to sit down and practice their English while we're eating. I think that it's more daunting when there's the two of us. Rob has mentioned that people used to do that with him last year.

That's it for now. J