When in Rome...

The Chinese National Anthem howled over the intercom system and as their flag was hoisted slowly into the sky, I suddenly I found myself in the middle of a paradigm shift.

I was shuffling across a breezeway headed towards Class 6, which is my 9:00 class of fifty-five high school kids, when blaring music stopped me dead in my tracks. I grinned to myself and looked out over the oval running track into a bright, crisp morning. With my back pack over one shoulder, a glass of hot tea in one hand and and my pointing stick (a small shaft of bamboo used to point out words on the board) in the other, I looked like any other teacher here on campus.

Except I'm white, speak English, and come from the worst of the West; the USA.

My breathing slowed and as I squinted into the sun I saw almost 1,000 students lined up as straight and tight as a military parade. I stood up straight and still and paid my respects.

When in Rome, er, China...

Back in 387AD, St. Augustine was in Milan and he noticed that the church didn't fast on Saturday like they did in Rome. He asked the bishop of Milan about it and he said, "When I am at Rome, I fast on Saturday and when I am at Milan, I do not." This custom became "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." and me and Jenny take this to heart here in the Middle Kingdom too.

I was remembering that morning I got caught by the National Anthem, and all of the ramifications of Doing as the Chinese Do, as I walked with Jenny into my school auditorium last Saturday night. We were there to enjoy an evening watching my students perform drama plays based on the theme of Chinese History. True to Chinese form, we knew nothing about the plays that the student's had been working on for weeks, until the day before and then it was only from an email from a student asking if we were attending the Student's Party tomorrow night?

I figured I could show up at their dorm building (it's right next to our teacher's apartment building) with a six pack of Coca-Cola and an English version of Kung Fu Panda and maybe learn a little about student life here in DanYang.

Turns out the student party is not one evening but two! evenings of drama routines put on by all 16 classes of my student's (with no teacher help of any kind) and the theme is Chinese History.

We said our one thousand hello's (we are the most popular teachers on campus, much to the chagrin of our Chinese counterparts) to the students and were happily escorted to our seats in the front row.

The school treats us like we are visiting dignitaries and we were surprised, but grateful, that they did not go so far as to ask us to judge the competition!

It did not take long to figure out a few things about my Chinese students; 1) organizing eight plays in one evening is time consuming and leads to mass chaos, 2) my kids have no rhythm at all, but they sure love to sing and dance, and 3) the only thing that matters when it comes to Chinese History is the Chinese Revolution of 1949 in all it's glory.

Play after play showed the dismal and repressed lives of everyday Chinese before the revolution and then the jubilation when Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC (People's Republic of China) and Chiang Kai-shek and his forces were forced out and fled to Taiwan. Communism prevailed in China!

Yes, here in the Middle Kingdom the Communists are the good guys.

Click on the pic to watch of video of the winning play. Be patient, it may take a few minutes to download.

So in a dramatic switch of perspective, for more than twenty years after the Chinese Revolution of 1949, there was almost no contact, limited trade, and no diplomatic ties between China and the USA at all. It was not until the 1970's that the US stopped recognizing the Republic of China, located on Taiwan, as China's true government and supported that government's holding the Chinese seat in the United Nations.

So we sat among a sea of friendly faces and watched history from another perspective - the Good Guy (Communism) wins and life here became happier and more fulfilling with more opportunities and a bright future, especially for the 800 million farmers and the students at our schools. It's ironic that Jenny and I would not be here at all if it wasn't for the last twenty of so years and this beautiful and complex country had not opened her doors, and her heart, to us.

So we clapped and yelled and were truly glad to be there.

I was asked to give a little speech after the shows were over and I walked up to the stage to a roaring applause. I joked that my students should be in the movies in Hollywood. I thanked them for their passion. I thanked them for letting us attend this wonderful event this evening. I even threw in a little Thank You Very Much in Chinese for a good laugh. They roared louder.

As I walked off the stage, in the back of my mind I was watching them line up on the field again, listening to their National Anthem playing lightly in the background and I felt more rumblings. More moving, more shifting.

I realize now after all my traveling and exploring other cultures that the rumbling and shifting is actually my mind opening, slowly, and letting in more light and joy. Not like tectonic plates shifting and throwing up mountains, more like water flowing around a rock. Quite. Warm. Friendly.

Being around kids, wherever you happen to be, can do that.

Zie Jian

Spring is coming...

I've been perusing through photoblogs recently and some of them, some of the more powerful blogs have pictures and no text, just the image. You use your imagination to enjoy it, or not enjoy it, as it is. Just like looking at abstract art, right?

Well, I personally hate abstract art, but I do appreciate seeing a picture and applying my own interpretation without all the noise and information that can come from the artist (in this case, me), from captions and dates, little descriptions, etc.

So, here are some pics showing how we see our home here in tiny, DanYang, China, right here, right now.

If you like the pics but want more information, just leave a comment and I will do what many other photoblogs are also doing, putting text and even music to pictures to enhance the effect on the viewer, that means you, and making it more visceral.

I'm starting with minimal, and will add more if our readers want more.

Enjoy.

Frustrating, but rewarding too...

OK, Tim, it’s Jennifer here (Tim requested that we tell you who is writing the blog entry because Sean and I are beginning to sound the same). We have been teaching for seven weeks now and the honeymoon is over for me.

Although we only have to plan one lesson for the whole week (and teach it eighteen times!), we are finding it hard to get these students to talk!

This is supposed to be Oral (Spoken) English class and yet I find myself talking to myself and looking out at a sea of oval, blank faces. The newness of us being Foreign Teachers is wearing off for our students and we are just another teacher for them now.

Students in China are accustomed to sitting in a chair for 16 hours a day and having teachers teach at them. They do not get to speak very much at all throughout the day.

So imagine it being your job to not only get them to speak, but to get them to speak in another language. Add that to the fact that they do not want to make a mistake because they will “lose face” in front of the other students and you have the recipe for a disaster; or at least a very, very long week of teaching...

True to my personality, I want to be the best teacher these children have ever had. So you can imagine my disappointment when I heard a student say to another student that my class was boring! My first instinct (in my head) was to be pissed and think “It is school, not fun time”. But after thinking about it, I headed straight to the computer to see what other Foreign Teachers are doing. To my surprise, my feelings and frustration are shared by many…especially those teaching in China.

After reading many stories from people teaching in China, I found that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. With my classes of 60+ students, I actually have it easier than some. I also have the luxury of teaching whatever I want to teach. I read what other teachers do in their classes and found some good ideas but not enough to hold me over for 44 more weeks!

Every teacher wrote about how difficult it was to get their students to talk. Some had even given up and were just bringing in movies to have the kids watch! Others found themselves having to put on a show each class and amuse the kids… like a clown, Sean may be good at this but I am taking this a bit more seriously...:)

Yes, I am a goofball and can be pretty funny at times, but it is hard to put on the same comedy routine eighteen times a week. It is tough to keep the material fresh and new, plus I need to keep in mind my audience. These kids are innocent so I must keep it not at a PG rating but more like a G rating.

And I have to think before every word I say to make sure that they will understand what I am saying. Sean and I have even found ourselves talking to each other in the same manner - slow, with perfect pro-nun-ci-a-tion. We have to remind each other that we are not in school! We are having to work on talking normal when we are together.

I have succumbed to the fact that I must go around and pick students to talk - they simply will not volunteer and they also have no understanding of raising their hand to speak. It surprises me that when I do pick them to speak, some of them just go on and on in English. It makes me wonder why someone with such great skills would not volunteer, but they do not. It is almost like they do not want to separate themselves from the class by speaking English well just like the person that does not want to talk because their skills are poor.

The Chinese are very tight as a group. No one wants to be different…whether being different means they are the best or the worst. It is better to stay right in the middle! This is so different than the West where everyone wants to be Number ONE. There is an old saying here that the tallest nail gets hit the hardest.

I am having a great time teaching though! I think that I am doing great for someone who has never taught a class nor ever thought about teaching. It is very rewarding to see the little light bulbs go off over their heads and they are such sweet kids. As I walk through the halls, the children’s faces light up when they see me. Who wouldn’t want that great feeling? It is also bringing Sean and me much closer. It is fun to talk about our classes and to plan together. I think that we make an excellent team.

I will write again soon. I have been ill with the same cold for weeks. It zapped the energy right out of me, but now I am back to normal. I think it was Sean mentioning that if I did not get better by a certain day; he was going to take me to the hospital. That really shook me up. I can not even imagine going to a hospital in China. I think that the air is very dirty here and there are germs that my body is just not used to handling. I am better now though!

Off to class. Zie Jian!