For all of you that don't know, which I think is a lot of you... I've had to explain this many times so I'm just going to devote a short blog to it.
The Chinese government is huge on censorship. And yes the Chinese people actually call it the Great Firewall of China... well, in Chinese of course. In fact my colleague didn't even know the word for firewall in English. But that's off the point. The censorship here is extensive.
All social media from outside of China is banned. That means: no facebook, twitter, and youtube. This also includes blog sites and I'm pretty sure I was told gmail in general is blocked. Also normal media is clocked, a lot of news sources are blocked. I was told by a teacher at my school that am American once showed her the Onion but now even that's blocked over here.
Why? Because of China's communist roots I guess you could say but also because of revolution. What happened in Egypt - and the whole Muslim Spring in fact - is exactly what the Chinese government did not want happening to them. The censorship in China went back way before that ever happened, so some might say China predicted social media and revolution going hand in hand. Yes, this means the Chinese government is smarter than us - in some ways.
China's a big country with a lot of different levels of poverty and living standards. China also still uses something I would refer to as slave labor and doesn't give equal rights to its citizens. When people move from province to province in China they can lose their right to be a citizen. Yes - the East of China has refugees from the West of China, children who aren't allowed to go into public eduction. If China were to have a revolution it's something that the whole world should be afraid of. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a positive thing, but it would be felt everywhere. It would be felt a lot more than the crash of a few Mediterranean countries for sure.
So, why prevent the inevitable? (Because yes, I am an optimist and believe that a revolution in China is inevitable). Well you know, that's very Chinese. From living here I really believe that they think they can stop the country from having a revolution. Hey - maybe they can. They might be able to develop fast enough to be able to give increased rights to the oppressed people before they or the educated people in China are able to complain. But I think it'd dangerous. I probably shouldn't be saying this for my friends and family to read... But China's a ticking time-bomb, who knows when it'll blow.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Sunday, September 16, 2012
All or nothing
After spending some time here I've changed some of my original opinions. A lot of my original opinions relied on what I was told by others. Things I was told by the school, the teachers, the people from Ciee. But I've started to view things differently.
For one the attitude of the students. Before coming to China I grew up with the American stereotype of the Asia student. Children with Asian parents were always very smart, very diligent and hard working. They always listened to their parents and did what ever they were told. Many of them were played instruments and were good at them. They not only worked hard but were very respectful of their teachers. Sure, not all students were like this but a lot of Asian-Americans followed this stereotype. I always learned (as many other Americans do) that it had to do with the traditional Chinese culture. That education was revered in Chinese culture along with elders. Chinese youths were always to listen to their parents and teachers and had to make them proud. But in China it's nothing like that. Sure traditional Chinese values state that one should respect their parents and there's a lot of pressure on children (especially in those families with only one child) but here kids are just as disobedient and rude as they are in America - if not more.
The High School I've been placed in is the second best in the whole city (it was number one for a long time but then another High School got "foreign experts" and is now above ours). By the way, this is a city of about 3 million people that spans multiple districts. The High School is the sixth best in the province of He Bei - population 72 million. If you ask me, that's pretty good. But you know what? Most of the time I can't get the kids to shut up long enough to learn anything. Sure - they see their classes with foreign experts as not as important as their other classes and they just want to watch movies in my class so they're disappointed when I try to teach them. But still, when I talk to the other teachers they say this behavior is normal.
There's one thing I've figured out about the Chinese way that I was never taught. This is a society of all or nothing. It's seen a lot in the students. There are a few students who are very intelligent and they know it. These students work their asses off and do very well in school then they do very well on the 高考 (the standardized test at the end of their senior year of High School) then they go to a good college and then they get a good job... ect. This is how it's suposed to work. But for those students who don't believe in themselves. For those who have been told they're not that smart- they just give up. It's sad that after teaching for a few weeks I could figure this out. But I talked to the teachers and they reaffirmed what I felt. The bar is set so high in China a lot of students set themselves up to fail.
In my classes I know the kids who are the best at English. They sit their and answer all the questions, they try really hard and they make me happy to teach! But their are maybe 2 or 3 in each class. That means about 50 students out of the 1,000 students that I teach. You think being a teacher in America is hard? It'd challenge you to come here. And the smart kids - the kids who are interested - here are treated the same as they're treated in America - like reject freaks. I think it's worse here. By the time I got to High School I took classes with people who were intelligent and cared because we had a level system in my High School. They have a level system here too... but it's not the same. Students are split up into one of 10 classes. Each class has 50 students and one class room. The kids take all of their classes in the same class room with the same 50 (mostly more) kids. Except PE, music, lab sciences, and computer courses - those are in different rooms. So sure class 1 are the smartest kids in their grade but that doesn't mean they're at the same level in math or science or English as their fellow class mates... If you see where I'm going. I hace a few students in class 10 (the lowest class) who speak English better than kids in class 1. In fact my grade one class 3 class is terrible at English - the whole group. But grade 1 class 6 are pretty good. IT's hard to cater to students' needs when you're given 50 students of completely different levels.
The other issue is that I'm not a teacher I'm a commercial. This is the thing that has upset me the most since coming to China. I was talking with a Chinese man about it yesterday and he very much agreed with my feelings on the subject. The 高考 is what parents and teachers care about, getting a good score on the 高考. We complain about this in America to - that teachers teach to the test instead of teaching kids for the sake of learning. I think in many ways the students are brainwashed. There is no oral English on the 高考 thus my oral English class doesn't matter. In fact being able to speak English isn't something 99% of my students care about. Sure there are some who would like to, some who find English interesting. But educationally they don't care.
In my classes last week I stressed pronunciation with the students (well duh - it's an oral English class). I taught students that you had to put the stress on the right syllable in a word to have the word make sense and put stress on the right words in a sentence to make a sentence make sense. The saddest thing about this is that they'd never learned that in English class before. I had the students read lines to a song one by one (the song was Call Me Maybe) and most every students didn't look at the line till it was their turn, wouldn't even know it was their turn though we were going in order then squint at the board (their eyesight is all horrendous!) and mumble out the sentence word for word emphasizing random words. "so CALL me mayBE"became the refrain of the song.
I told the students over and over that if you speak like they were speaking no English speaker would ever understand them, but they didn't care. Like normal teenagers they cared more about not getting made fun of by their friends for trying so we spent a half an hour going through the lyrics to one song with the students rarely improving (even though - if you know the song - the lyrics are very repetitive). I stopped one of my classes and I told them that's just not how the exercise was going to work. I told them the challenge wasn't being able to read the words - I knew they could read the words. I said to them that I knew most of them had been learning English for a very long time. I then asked a student how old he was when he started learning English. I had to repeat the question three times, I said it in different ways and as slow as I could. He still didn't answer till another student translated the question into Chinese. Want to know the answer? Six... He was six years old when he started to learn English and yet he couldn't understand a simple question posed to him multiple times said at the speed of molasses. I even checked with the teachers in the school to make sure that I didn't have an accent that was difficult to understand and they assured me I didn't. It's just that speaking English doesn't matter to the kids.
I am in the school simply so the school can say that they have me. So they can keep their high rank. So they can ask for more money from their students. So they can get more students to go there. It's sad but it's true. Every time they take a picture of me I think to myself that it'll end up on some advertisement for the school. I know it's a cynical outlook, but the sad truth is that it's true.
As the friends I've met here in China have put it - they just exploit foreigners. And sure - some schools aren't like this school and some of the students really listen when I teach and there are rotten apples everywhere. But what it really comes down to is that all those traditional Chinese values have made schools in China into lucrative businesses. Every parent thinks that their kid deserves the best education, is the smartest kid, and just needs the right education to succeed. So the schools market the best education (on paper) that they can to stay competitive.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
For one the attitude of the students. Before coming to China I grew up with the American stereotype of the Asia student. Children with Asian parents were always very smart, very diligent and hard working. They always listened to their parents and did what ever they were told. Many of them were played instruments and were good at them. They not only worked hard but were very respectful of their teachers. Sure, not all students were like this but a lot of Asian-Americans followed this stereotype. I always learned (as many other Americans do) that it had to do with the traditional Chinese culture. That education was revered in Chinese culture along with elders. Chinese youths were always to listen to their parents and teachers and had to make them proud. But in China it's nothing like that. Sure traditional Chinese values state that one should respect their parents and there's a lot of pressure on children (especially in those families with only one child) but here kids are just as disobedient and rude as they are in America - if not more.
The High School I've been placed in is the second best in the whole city (it was number one for a long time but then another High School got "foreign experts" and is now above ours). By the way, this is a city of about 3 million people that spans multiple districts. The High School is the sixth best in the province of He Bei - population 72 million. If you ask me, that's pretty good. But you know what? Most of the time I can't get the kids to shut up long enough to learn anything. Sure - they see their classes with foreign experts as not as important as their other classes and they just want to watch movies in my class so they're disappointed when I try to teach them. But still, when I talk to the other teachers they say this behavior is normal.
There's one thing I've figured out about the Chinese way that I was never taught. This is a society of all or nothing. It's seen a lot in the students. There are a few students who are very intelligent and they know it. These students work their asses off and do very well in school then they do very well on the 高考 (the standardized test at the end of their senior year of High School) then they go to a good college and then they get a good job... ect. This is how it's suposed to work. But for those students who don't believe in themselves. For those who have been told they're not that smart- they just give up. It's sad that after teaching for a few weeks I could figure this out. But I talked to the teachers and they reaffirmed what I felt. The bar is set so high in China a lot of students set themselves up to fail.
In my classes I know the kids who are the best at English. They sit their and answer all the questions, they try really hard and they make me happy to teach! But their are maybe 2 or 3 in each class. That means about 50 students out of the 1,000 students that I teach. You think being a teacher in America is hard? It'd challenge you to come here. And the smart kids - the kids who are interested - here are treated the same as they're treated in America - like reject freaks. I think it's worse here. By the time I got to High School I took classes with people who were intelligent and cared because we had a level system in my High School. They have a level system here too... but it's not the same. Students are split up into one of 10 classes. Each class has 50 students and one class room. The kids take all of their classes in the same class room with the same 50 (mostly more) kids. Except PE, music, lab sciences, and computer courses - those are in different rooms. So sure class 1 are the smartest kids in their grade but that doesn't mean they're at the same level in math or science or English as their fellow class mates... If you see where I'm going. I hace a few students in class 10 (the lowest class) who speak English better than kids in class 1. In fact my grade one class 3 class is terrible at English - the whole group. But grade 1 class 6 are pretty good. IT's hard to cater to students' needs when you're given 50 students of completely different levels.
The other issue is that I'm not a teacher I'm a commercial. This is the thing that has upset me the most since coming to China. I was talking with a Chinese man about it yesterday and he very much agreed with my feelings on the subject. The 高考 is what parents and teachers care about, getting a good score on the 高考. We complain about this in America to - that teachers teach to the test instead of teaching kids for the sake of learning. I think in many ways the students are brainwashed. There is no oral English on the 高考 thus my oral English class doesn't matter. In fact being able to speak English isn't something 99% of my students care about. Sure there are some who would like to, some who find English interesting. But educationally they don't care.
In my classes last week I stressed pronunciation with the students (well duh - it's an oral English class). I taught students that you had to put the stress on the right syllable in a word to have the word make sense and put stress on the right words in a sentence to make a sentence make sense. The saddest thing about this is that they'd never learned that in English class before. I had the students read lines to a song one by one (the song was Call Me Maybe) and most every students didn't look at the line till it was their turn, wouldn't even know it was their turn though we were going in order then squint at the board (their eyesight is all horrendous!) and mumble out the sentence word for word emphasizing random words. "so CALL me mayBE"became the refrain of the song.
I told the students over and over that if you speak like they were speaking no English speaker would ever understand them, but they didn't care. Like normal teenagers they cared more about not getting made fun of by their friends for trying so we spent a half an hour going through the lyrics to one song with the students rarely improving (even though - if you know the song - the lyrics are very repetitive). I stopped one of my classes and I told them that's just not how the exercise was going to work. I told them the challenge wasn't being able to read the words - I knew they could read the words. I said to them that I knew most of them had been learning English for a very long time. I then asked a student how old he was when he started learning English. I had to repeat the question three times, I said it in different ways and as slow as I could. He still didn't answer till another student translated the question into Chinese. Want to know the answer? Six... He was six years old when he started to learn English and yet he couldn't understand a simple question posed to him multiple times said at the speed of molasses. I even checked with the teachers in the school to make sure that I didn't have an accent that was difficult to understand and they assured me I didn't. It's just that speaking English doesn't matter to the kids.
I am in the school simply so the school can say that they have me. So they can keep their high rank. So they can ask for more money from their students. So they can get more students to go there. It's sad but it's true. Every time they take a picture of me I think to myself that it'll end up on some advertisement for the school. I know it's a cynical outlook, but the sad truth is that it's true.
As the friends I've met here in China have put it - they just exploit foreigners. And sure - some schools aren't like this school and some of the students really listen when I teach and there are rotten apples everywhere. But what it really comes down to is that all those traditional Chinese values have made schools in China into lucrative businesses. Every parent thinks that their kid deserves the best education, is the smartest kid, and just needs the right education to succeed. So the schools market the best education (on paper) that they can to stay competitive.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Chinese people sound like pirates
I'm devoting this blog post to random things about China, the Chinese people, Chinese language and Chinese culture that I find amusing and/or odd and think you should know. A lot of these topics I'll write about later. But here it is in a nutshell!
The first is that Chinese people sound like pirates. Especially people in the north who have Beijing accents - aka the people near me! So... Chinese people add this character:儿 to the end of words that have a "final" (Chinese character pronunciation is made up of two parts the initial and the final) consonant sound that is... soft - I guess. So "wan" (to have fun) becomes "war" and "ben" (the measure word for book) becomes ber "na" (there) becomes "nar." All these "r" sounds = pirate speak! It also just makes people really hard to undertand! Especially because they speak so quickly - TOO quickly. I didn't know it was possible, but Chinese people speak faster than American teenage girls (I know, I just blew your mind).
Chinese people and English just don't mesh well. English is really hard for them to pronounce, hear, understand and the worst for them is our grammar. Sure - I've met tones of Chinese people who have great English and my Chinese is terrible. I'm not being mean to Chinese people, just pointing out a fact. I'm impressed they all learn it! (I'll write a post soon about some of my classes).
Chinese people are REALLY bad at translation English into Chinese. All those books about bad Chinese/ English translations are not exaggerating - the signs are that bad. A few of my favorites are:
"Oliver oil" instead of "olive oil"
"Beware of falling into lake" or "mind hitting your head" (I think these speak for themselves)
Instead of exit one will often see "Way out" which makes me feel like I'm in a horror movie
Instead of entrance "Way in" (not that bad in comparison to others"
Even "Toilet" is awful strange - though not the worst
My new favorite is "Do not throw your trash, show your civilized behavior" this is a mouthful
Also, there are a lot of no spitting signs... not a bad translations, just culturally strange
Yeah, in China spitting in public = very normal. Not like the random spit when no one's looking. I mean full on hocking up a loogie in the middle of a crowded street kind of spitting. I am seen as strange for blowing my nose... but the normal thing to do is snort and spit. I mean, not trying to be culturally insensitive or anything, but ew.
In China most toilets are squat toilets. I expected this. squat toilets are more common in most of the world - we're just those strange westerners who want to but their bare ass on something other people have possibly peed on. Just saying, squat toilets >>>. Though! Having squat toilets in my apartment (yes, I said toilets plural) not so nice! (I'll talk about my place in another blog entry).
People don't have that much clothing so they wear the same things over and over. Again, this is pretty normal in places that aren't the US. When I lived in France I saw this a lot. You'd wear the same pants and shirt and just change your scarf or jacket or something. But in China they wear the exact same outfit. I went on a weekend trip with the teachers from my school (I'll write about this too in the future) and it got easy to recognize teachers because they wore the same thing the whole trip! Three whole days of the same thing. Then yesterday I was in the school cafeteria for lunch and one of the teachers was still wearing the same dress! I don't like any of my clothing THAT much!
Macs are uncommon here. There's a mac "reseller" (aka mac case with a random machine inside) on every corner but they're stills strange for Chinese people to see. They have "iphones" and "ipads" here (again, they are very not real) but mac laptops... none! There's one teacher in the school, the computer teacher who has one. And his is at least four years old. They don't understand macs at all, they tried to treat mine like a PC a lot and got confused when it didn't work like that. Someone tried to give me their internet browser on a flashdrive and I had to explain that you need a different one for a mac. They just have a mental block when it comes to Macs. But they're also super impressed.
Everything in China takes a lot of time. Nothing's easy in China. You can't just tell someone your internet isn't working once - you have to tell them 10 times in different ways and not be mean about it and then eventually they'll ask you about it then that's the opening for them to help you. (My internet's been fine, I just meant it as an example).
Naps! Naps are normal here (be jealous). I have a two and a half hour break for lunch and nap time. The students go home, if they live close by.
If a student lives more than a half hour comute away then they board at the school. This is because The students' first class is at 7 at night and the students have to be at school till 8 or 10 at night. They even have class on Saturdays. So students who have to comute an hour in total don't do it. They only go home for Sunday!
Chinese people eat all the time. I don't think they ever stop. On the trip I took each person brought a grocery bag full of snacks and then would buy food at every place we stopped. But the snacks they eat are better for you than junk food. They eat a lot of vegetables, fruit, nuts, tofu, and jelly. I think they may be so skinny because their constantly digesting.
Chinese people really are as small as the stereotype. They are crazy short and just small. All the stuff in China is small for me. I hit my head a lot here. There's a Queen sized bed in the room they gave me and I think it might be so it's not to short for us Americans. The teachers are the same height as the students. Also - a lot of women who are rich and live in big cities are very skinny. I thought I was going to be seen as fat - but that's not the case. In China the women have stick like figures so when they are "fat" they look it. Even though the "fat" ones are smaller than Americans they all have chubby faces and guts. It's funny. Women here don't have breasts or butts at all. So Americans don't look fat in comparison - to them I just have a figure which they don't. But I don't know how well I'd fit into their ready-made clothing... Probably not well.
They build things FAST over here. One of my coworkers said it was because there are so many Chinese people. I guess that's true... But they're just more efficient than we are in the US. There are so many construction projects but still everything is fast. It's incredible.
I'm going to talk about children in China in another entry but a lot of Americans have huge misconceptions about the one child policy. I knew a lot about it before I got here. But the one child policy is really just for the Han people. So the Han people are the dominant ethnic group. The one child policy is to stop over crowding in China but was also created to make an incentive to marry out of the Han race. Don't get me wrong Hand nationalism is big over year. The chinese language written and spoken is only referred to as the Han language or script. When I say "Chinese"to them (in Chinese) they normally say Han back. But the government wants Hans to marry other ethnicities and have kids with them so Han blood mixes in with all of the Chinese people. Or, this is what I'd assume... It's not like the Chinese government can say stuff like that. So people do have more than one kid. But there are a lot of only children... way too many to be healthy.
From my point of view people do not dress conservatively here. The skirts the women wear are way shorter than ones you find in the US. (For Sluzers- they're like tick toc clothing that girls wear everyday!) But women do cover their chests - but I think that's just because women don't have cleavage over here, so there's nothing to show. Women often wear clothing that is light or lacy so is kind of see-through. Women wear short shirts that show their bellies when they raise their arms. And women wear tight clothing. I have to say, I don't like the "fashion" over here in China. I don't think you can even call it fashion!
Students in China are nothing like the stereotype of Chinese American students in America. They're not obedient, they rarely stop talking, they're late to class, and they outwardly have very little respect for their teachers. The students are interesting.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
The first is that Chinese people sound like pirates. Especially people in the north who have Beijing accents - aka the people near me! So... Chinese people add this character:儿 to the end of words that have a "final" (Chinese character pronunciation is made up of two parts the initial and the final) consonant sound that is... soft - I guess. So "wan" (to have fun) becomes "war" and "ben" (the measure word for book) becomes ber "na" (there) becomes "nar." All these "r" sounds = pirate speak! It also just makes people really hard to undertand! Especially because they speak so quickly - TOO quickly. I didn't know it was possible, but Chinese people speak faster than American teenage girls (I know, I just blew your mind).
Chinese people and English just don't mesh well. English is really hard for them to pronounce, hear, understand and the worst for them is our grammar. Sure - I've met tones of Chinese people who have great English and my Chinese is terrible. I'm not being mean to Chinese people, just pointing out a fact. I'm impressed they all learn it! (I'll write a post soon about some of my classes).
Chinese people are REALLY bad at translation English into Chinese. All those books about bad Chinese/ English translations are not exaggerating - the signs are that bad. A few of my favorites are:
"Oliver oil" instead of "olive oil"
"Beware of falling into lake" or "mind hitting your head" (I think these speak for themselves)
Instead of exit one will often see "Way out" which makes me feel like I'm in a horror movie
Instead of entrance "Way in" (not that bad in comparison to others"
Even "Toilet" is awful strange - though not the worst
My new favorite is "Do not throw your trash, show your civilized behavior" this is a mouthful
Also, there are a lot of no spitting signs... not a bad translations, just culturally strange
Yeah, in China spitting in public = very normal. Not like the random spit when no one's looking. I mean full on hocking up a loogie in the middle of a crowded street kind of spitting. I am seen as strange for blowing my nose... but the normal thing to do is snort and spit. I mean, not trying to be culturally insensitive or anything, but ew.
In China most toilets are squat toilets. I expected this. squat toilets are more common in most of the world - we're just those strange westerners who want to but their bare ass on something other people have possibly peed on. Just saying, squat toilets >>>. Though! Having squat toilets in my apartment (yes, I said toilets plural) not so nice! (I'll talk about my place in another blog entry).
People don't have that much clothing so they wear the same things over and over. Again, this is pretty normal in places that aren't the US. When I lived in France I saw this a lot. You'd wear the same pants and shirt and just change your scarf or jacket or something. But in China they wear the exact same outfit. I went on a weekend trip with the teachers from my school (I'll write about this too in the future) and it got easy to recognize teachers because they wore the same thing the whole trip! Three whole days of the same thing. Then yesterday I was in the school cafeteria for lunch and one of the teachers was still wearing the same dress! I don't like any of my clothing THAT much!
Macs are uncommon here. There's a mac "reseller" (aka mac case with a random machine inside) on every corner but they're stills strange for Chinese people to see. They have "iphones" and "ipads" here (again, they are very not real) but mac laptops... none! There's one teacher in the school, the computer teacher who has one. And his is at least four years old. They don't understand macs at all, they tried to treat mine like a PC a lot and got confused when it didn't work like that. Someone tried to give me their internet browser on a flashdrive and I had to explain that you need a different one for a mac. They just have a mental block when it comes to Macs. But they're also super impressed.
Everything in China takes a lot of time. Nothing's easy in China. You can't just tell someone your internet isn't working once - you have to tell them 10 times in different ways and not be mean about it and then eventually they'll ask you about it then that's the opening for them to help you. (My internet's been fine, I just meant it as an example).
Naps! Naps are normal here (be jealous). I have a two and a half hour break for lunch and nap time. The students go home, if they live close by.
If a student lives more than a half hour comute away then they board at the school. This is because The students' first class is at 7 at night and the students have to be at school till 8 or 10 at night. They even have class on Saturdays. So students who have to comute an hour in total don't do it. They only go home for Sunday!
Chinese people eat all the time. I don't think they ever stop. On the trip I took each person brought a grocery bag full of snacks and then would buy food at every place we stopped. But the snacks they eat are better for you than junk food. They eat a lot of vegetables, fruit, nuts, tofu, and jelly. I think they may be so skinny because their constantly digesting.
Chinese people really are as small as the stereotype. They are crazy short and just small. All the stuff in China is small for me. I hit my head a lot here. There's a Queen sized bed in the room they gave me and I think it might be so it's not to short for us Americans. The teachers are the same height as the students. Also - a lot of women who are rich and live in big cities are very skinny. I thought I was going to be seen as fat - but that's not the case. In China the women have stick like figures so when they are "fat" they look it. Even though the "fat" ones are smaller than Americans they all have chubby faces and guts. It's funny. Women here don't have breasts or butts at all. So Americans don't look fat in comparison - to them I just have a figure which they don't. But I don't know how well I'd fit into their ready-made clothing... Probably not well.
They build things FAST over here. One of my coworkers said it was because there are so many Chinese people. I guess that's true... But they're just more efficient than we are in the US. There are so many construction projects but still everything is fast. It's incredible.
I'm going to talk about children in China in another entry but a lot of Americans have huge misconceptions about the one child policy. I knew a lot about it before I got here. But the one child policy is really just for the Han people. So the Han people are the dominant ethnic group. The one child policy is to stop over crowding in China but was also created to make an incentive to marry out of the Han race. Don't get me wrong Hand nationalism is big over year. The chinese language written and spoken is only referred to as the Han language or script. When I say "Chinese"to them (in Chinese) they normally say Han back. But the government wants Hans to marry other ethnicities and have kids with them so Han blood mixes in with all of the Chinese people. Or, this is what I'd assume... It's not like the Chinese government can say stuff like that. So people do have more than one kid. But there are a lot of only children... way too many to be healthy.
From my point of view people do not dress conservatively here. The skirts the women wear are way shorter than ones you find in the US. (For Sluzers- they're like tick toc clothing that girls wear everyday!) But women do cover their chests - but I think that's just because women don't have cleavage over here, so there's nothing to show. Women often wear clothing that is light or lacy so is kind of see-through. Women wear short shirts that show their bellies when they raise their arms. And women wear tight clothing. I have to say, I don't like the "fashion" over here in China. I don't think you can even call it fashion!
Students in China are nothing like the stereotype of Chinese American students in America. They're not obedient, they rarely stop talking, they're late to class, and they outwardly have very little respect for their teachers. The students are interesting.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Money
Currently 1 USD is equal to 6.3429 RMB.
RMB stands for 人民币 in pinyin - Renminbi. This literally translates to "The people's currency." 人民 means the people's and 币 means currency. So the people's republic of China also uses the characters 人民 .
The money is also called 元 pronounced yuan (not yen!). They also say "kuai" I think it's this character: 块, but I'm not sure if that's the right pinyin/ character.
RMB comes in many shapes and sizes...
The common bills are: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 (there's also a strange on that's like 5 cents...)
For coins there's mostly just 1 rmb and then cent coins. I haven't paid much attention to the cent coins yet.
So, looking it up online...
1 RMB is about 16 cents
5 RMB is about 79 cents
10 RMB is $1.58
20 RMB $ 3.16
50 RMB $7.89
100 RMB $15.77
500 RMB 79
So in my head I think
1 RMB is like a quarter
5 RMB is a dollar
10 RMB is 2 dollars
20 RMB $5
50 RMB $10
100 RMB $20
And the usual amount I get out of an ATM is RMB 500 which is like $80
But now I'm starting to look at the money as a Chinese person would. And how much the money's worth - how much I can buy with it is much different.
Lunch is 5 RMB both in the Cafeteria on campus and buying street food. 3 to 5 RMB can get you a drink, bottled tea or coffee (cold). 1 yuan can get you bottled water (often not cold).
If they're asking you for more than (or close to) 100 yuan - you're paying too much. Most things here are really cheap. Haggling is a thing here, not in stores... But you can haggle with street venders for sure.
A lot of things still cost about the same as they would in the US. Electronics are expensive. My phone cost RMB 2,000 (a little of $300) but the service for my phone was really cheap - less than RMB 200.
The bus is 1 yuan in my city and a taxi is around 50 yuan. The trains and plans are expensive though. I looked at a plan ride to Hong Kong (grant it I looked at ticket for less than a month away) and the cost was RMB 2,000 each way. But I also saw some cheaper flights for about RMB 800. Then again I also looked up the rate for a ferry into Korea and it was less than $100 US (by a lot). So the prices seam all over the place to me.
American made goods are expensive here. In China (unlike in the US) they have a luxury tax on products that aren't made in China (aka American products). This tax makes them about the same price as they are in the US. Also, importing clothing into China is illegal. We were warned about this before we came here. We were told to not ship ourselves clothing because it's perfectly legal or the government to confiscate and even destroy them. Anyone wish America did stuff like this sometimes?! Maybe we wouldn't have so many people in the US hating China is we just had stricter import laws. Not trying to get political or anything but sometimes America just looks really dumb in comparison to China.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
RMB stands for 人民币 in pinyin - Renminbi. This literally translates to "The people's currency." 人民 means the people's and 币 means currency. So the people's republic of China also uses the characters 人民 .
The money is also called 元 pronounced yuan (not yen!). They also say "kuai" I think it's this character: 块, but I'm not sure if that's the right pinyin/ character.
RMB comes in many shapes and sizes...
The common bills are: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 (there's also a strange on that's like 5 cents...)
For coins there's mostly just 1 rmb and then cent coins. I haven't paid much attention to the cent coins yet.
So, looking it up online...
1 RMB is about 16 cents
5 RMB is about 79 cents
10 RMB is $1.58
20 RMB $ 3.16
50 RMB $7.89
100 RMB $15.77
500 RMB 79
So in my head I think
1 RMB is like a quarter
5 RMB is a dollar
10 RMB is 2 dollars
20 RMB $5
50 RMB $10
100 RMB $20
And the usual amount I get out of an ATM is RMB 500 which is like $80
But now I'm starting to look at the money as a Chinese person would. And how much the money's worth - how much I can buy with it is much different.
Lunch is 5 RMB both in the Cafeteria on campus and buying street food. 3 to 5 RMB can get you a drink, bottled tea or coffee (cold). 1 yuan can get you bottled water (often not cold).
If they're asking you for more than (or close to) 100 yuan - you're paying too much. Most things here are really cheap. Haggling is a thing here, not in stores... But you can haggle with street venders for sure.
A lot of things still cost about the same as they would in the US. Electronics are expensive. My phone cost RMB 2,000 (a little of $300) but the service for my phone was really cheap - less than RMB 200.
The bus is 1 yuan in my city and a taxi is around 50 yuan. The trains and plans are expensive though. I looked at a plan ride to Hong Kong (grant it I looked at ticket for less than a month away) and the cost was RMB 2,000 each way. But I also saw some cheaper flights for about RMB 800. Then again I also looked up the rate for a ferry into Korea and it was less than $100 US (by a lot). So the prices seam all over the place to me.
American made goods are expensive here. In China (unlike in the US) they have a luxury tax on products that aren't made in China (aka American products). This tax makes them about the same price as they are in the US. Also, importing clothing into China is illegal. We were warned about this before we came here. We were told to not ship ourselves clothing because it's perfectly legal or the government to confiscate and even destroy them. Anyone wish America did stuff like this sometimes?! Maybe we wouldn't have so many people in the US hating China is we just had stricter import laws. Not trying to get political or anything but sometimes America just looks really dumb in comparison to China.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
And then my student bought me a cellphone - literally
Well, okay I'm paying him back. And technically his mom bought it for me. Also, he's in grade three so he's not my student. BUT still, the people here will more than take off their shirt for you (I mean that's not hard, most of the guys walk around shirtless anyway).
The Chinese people are some of the nicest people in the world (I still think the people in Senegal are nicer) but the Chinese people have been way more helpful! They predict my needs and wants. They know what I want before I do - and ask me if I need something before I would feel comfortable asking.
I spent my first week in China in Shanghai with the Ciee program. For those of you who don't know I am in China through Ciee. Ciee is a study and work abroad program. My university (St. Lawrence) uses Ciee for their study abroad program to China. This is how I heard about them. When I didn't study abroad in China during College I knew I wanted to go there (here) after I finished. So I applied to Ciee and was accept. The program places native speakers (our group was mostly American with a few Brits) in teaching jobs in school in China. Ciee functions in countries other than China as well.
I spent a week in Shanghai at orientation with the other soon to be teachers. It was nice to have an orientation and not just be thrown into China because when I got to my school I was just thrown right in! During the orientation we were told how helpful the students would be, but I don't think I fully understood it. I feel that way about a lot of aspects of China. I knew what I was getting myself into but I didn't really at the same time. I think, sometimes, no matter how much you prepare you can't be ready to really be in a place. One of the experienced teacher told me that his students would even try to help him up the stairs (he's an older gentleman, but not old enough to need help walking!).
The second night I was in the High School I had dinner with the grade three students. There's a McDonalds near by and some of the boys ran there to get food. They got me a soda! Then another girl got me a dessert from a stall in the mall. Another student gave me some dates (fresh ones - I'd never tried them before). And one of the teachers got me dinner from the Canteen (it's free). Earlier that day when I sat in on some classes the students went down to the Canteen and bought me cold water (because they know Americans like cold drinks) and coffee (because they know Americans like coffee). Food in China is very inexpensive. Lunch in the Canteen costs less than a dollar and you get a lot of food - so much food that I can't finish it all. But it's still nice of them to spend their own money on me, but they like to!
So a few students made a plan to bring me to the mall to get me a cell phone (they're young so they understand the need for one). They made a plan without even consulting me, they just asked me after when I was free. All this babying is very against American culture - I mean we pride our selves on being self-relient and independent - but I have to say... I like it! I love that people care about me enough to want to make sure I'm happy. I also like that I don't have to feel like I'm burdoning people by asking them for their help - it's really nice.
On Sunday I met some students outside of the front gate of my school and we went to the mall. They knew that I was interested in getting an iphone so they brought me to one of the local mac "resellers" which means mac cases with god-knows-what machines inside. I tried to explain to them that I'd only buy an apple product online here, but I don't think they really understood it. So we went and saw a few phone stores. Boy are them overwhelming!! There are tones of brands here and types of phones. I got overwhelmed. A boy student met us there and he was very helpful. He took us around to a few stores and then pointed out one phone that he said was very good and that I really liked. I told them that the only things I needed in a phone were: able to text, able to get the internet, has maps, and has a translation ap. And this phone had all of those! As well as a really nice camera (much better than my camera) and is small and thin. So in short - I love it! Also! I can bring it home and us it in the US (or so they say...)
So here's the rub... They wouldn't accept my debit card... Then I tried to go to an ATM but the ATM wouldn't give me money either. I was considering buying online and getting it sent to school. When I told the students this they told me no - they said that I needed a phone as soon as possible. Which I have to admit... I was glad about. I know it's stupid, but in the modern day I feel naked without a cellphone. (The whole first week in China I didn't know what time it was). IknowIknow... first world problems! So my student called his mom and his mom said he could use her cellphone to buy me the phone and that I could just pay her back when I got paid. Wow! Of course I said no way, but the students didn't even listen to me. He used his id card to set up the phone (which was great because my passport's being used to get my residence card) also I think it costs more and you have to get a different plan if you're not a native. So he set up the whole thing, I just sat there. It was pretty awesome.
Then after they took me out to lunch. Yeah, life in China = awesome so far. People don't let me pay for stuff... They all feel bad because they know I haven't been paid yet and they know it's very expensive for me to take out money here, so they try to make things easier by paying for me. The school told me they'd try to pay me early so I'd have some money soon too (so I can pay back my student's mom!).
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
The Chinese people are some of the nicest people in the world (I still think the people in Senegal are nicer) but the Chinese people have been way more helpful! They predict my needs and wants. They know what I want before I do - and ask me if I need something before I would feel comfortable asking.
I spent my first week in China in Shanghai with the Ciee program. For those of you who don't know I am in China through Ciee. Ciee is a study and work abroad program. My university (St. Lawrence) uses Ciee for their study abroad program to China. This is how I heard about them. When I didn't study abroad in China during College I knew I wanted to go there (here) after I finished. So I applied to Ciee and was accept. The program places native speakers (our group was mostly American with a few Brits) in teaching jobs in school in China. Ciee functions in countries other than China as well.
I spent a week in Shanghai at orientation with the other soon to be teachers. It was nice to have an orientation and not just be thrown into China because when I got to my school I was just thrown right in! During the orientation we were told how helpful the students would be, but I don't think I fully understood it. I feel that way about a lot of aspects of China. I knew what I was getting myself into but I didn't really at the same time. I think, sometimes, no matter how much you prepare you can't be ready to really be in a place. One of the experienced teacher told me that his students would even try to help him up the stairs (he's an older gentleman, but not old enough to need help walking!).
The second night I was in the High School I had dinner with the grade three students. There's a McDonalds near by and some of the boys ran there to get food. They got me a soda! Then another girl got me a dessert from a stall in the mall. Another student gave me some dates (fresh ones - I'd never tried them before). And one of the teachers got me dinner from the Canteen (it's free). Earlier that day when I sat in on some classes the students went down to the Canteen and bought me cold water (because they know Americans like cold drinks) and coffee (because they know Americans like coffee). Food in China is very inexpensive. Lunch in the Canteen costs less than a dollar and you get a lot of food - so much food that I can't finish it all. But it's still nice of them to spend their own money on me, but they like to!
So a few students made a plan to bring me to the mall to get me a cell phone (they're young so they understand the need for one). They made a plan without even consulting me, they just asked me after when I was free. All this babying is very against American culture - I mean we pride our selves on being self-relient and independent - but I have to say... I like it! I love that people care about me enough to want to make sure I'm happy. I also like that I don't have to feel like I'm burdoning people by asking them for their help - it's really nice.
On Sunday I met some students outside of the front gate of my school and we went to the mall. They knew that I was interested in getting an iphone so they brought me to one of the local mac "resellers" which means mac cases with god-knows-what machines inside. I tried to explain to them that I'd only buy an apple product online here, but I don't think they really understood it. So we went and saw a few phone stores. Boy are them overwhelming!! There are tones of brands here and types of phones. I got overwhelmed. A boy student met us there and he was very helpful. He took us around to a few stores and then pointed out one phone that he said was very good and that I really liked. I told them that the only things I needed in a phone were: able to text, able to get the internet, has maps, and has a translation ap. And this phone had all of those! As well as a really nice camera (much better than my camera) and is small and thin. So in short - I love it! Also! I can bring it home and us it in the US (or so they say...)
So here's the rub... They wouldn't accept my debit card... Then I tried to go to an ATM but the ATM wouldn't give me money either. I was considering buying online and getting it sent to school. When I told the students this they told me no - they said that I needed a phone as soon as possible. Which I have to admit... I was glad about. I know it's stupid, but in the modern day I feel naked without a cellphone. (The whole first week in China I didn't know what time it was). IknowIknow... first world problems! So my student called his mom and his mom said he could use her cellphone to buy me the phone and that I could just pay her back when I got paid. Wow! Of course I said no way, but the students didn't even listen to me. He used his id card to set up the phone (which was great because my passport's being used to get my residence card) also I think it costs more and you have to get a different plan if you're not a native. So he set up the whole thing, I just sat there. It was pretty awesome.
Then after they took me out to lunch. Yeah, life in China = awesome so far. People don't let me pay for stuff... They all feel bad because they know I haven't been paid yet and they know it's very expensive for me to take out money here, so they try to make things easier by paying for me. The school told me they'd try to pay me early so I'd have some money soon too (so I can pay back my student's mom!).
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Do you have boyfriend?
Needless to say, this phrase has been the most common English phrase out of my students' mouths thus far. My students are as young as sixteen but to them it's completely appropriate to ask me if I have a boyfriend, ask me out on dates, and ask me if I find them attractive. I keep trying to explain to the students that "We just don't do that in America," but they don't get it.
My gut reaction to this questions when it was first asked was to lie, and tell them I did in fact have a boyfriend. But I don't know if that was the best choice... Because after saying that the next few questions are: "Is your boyfriend in China?" "Is your boyfriend Chinese" "Why?" "Can we see a picture? "What is his name" and so on. It's tiring. I probably just should have said I wouldn't tell them. Also after I say this at least one boy tells me that I "broke his heart." China's a strange place... One class, I showed them pictures from home after telling them I had a boyfriend... Boy was that ever the bad idea, I was asked if every boy in my pictures was my boyfriend.
The second night I was in Qinhuangdao I spent time with grade three students. There were a few girls who were talking to me and when one boy walked by they asked me if I thought he was attractive. I was flabbergasted. I tried to say that I'm too old to answer that question but they reminded me that I was "only four years older." Only?!? Four years is a lot older, especially when it means they are 18 and I am 22. But it's a different world over here. I guess I offended the boy by not answering. The next day I went out into Qinhuangdao with a few of the girls I'd met and a boy met up with us. This boy was deemed a "playboy" by the female students. Apparently he hadn't been in class the day before and was disappointed that he hadn't gotten to see me. During the day I was asked by one of the female students if I wanted them to leave me alone with him... The creepiest part of this question was that it was followed by a bad English translation, she asked me if I wanted to "play" with him. Oddly, I refused.
The students, teacher, and just random people on the street stop me to tell me I'm beautiful. It's really strange, but kind of nice - I guess. This country seems to revolve around attractiveness. I've already been told by the students who the most attractive male teacher is (teacher Zhang) - even the male students found this important for me to know. They also told me that they like me more than the past 外教s because I'm more attractive than them (lucky me?). The most attractive boy from every grade has already been introduced to me as well. I already spoke about how "fat" is just a descriptive word - well "pretty" and "handsom" are too! I mean - it's seen as a good thing to be the most attractive, but it's just another part of you.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
My gut reaction to this questions when it was first asked was to lie, and tell them I did in fact have a boyfriend. But I don't know if that was the best choice... Because after saying that the next few questions are: "Is your boyfriend in China?" "Is your boyfriend Chinese" "Why?" "Can we see a picture? "What is his name" and so on. It's tiring. I probably just should have said I wouldn't tell them. Also after I say this at least one boy tells me that I "broke his heart." China's a strange place... One class, I showed them pictures from home after telling them I had a boyfriend... Boy was that ever the bad idea, I was asked if every boy in my pictures was my boyfriend.
The second night I was in Qinhuangdao I spent time with grade three students. There were a few girls who were talking to me and when one boy walked by they asked me if I thought he was attractive. I was flabbergasted. I tried to say that I'm too old to answer that question but they reminded me that I was "only four years older." Only?!? Four years is a lot older, especially when it means they are 18 and I am 22. But it's a different world over here. I guess I offended the boy by not answering. The next day I went out into Qinhuangdao with a few of the girls I'd met and a boy met up with us. This boy was deemed a "playboy" by the female students. Apparently he hadn't been in class the day before and was disappointed that he hadn't gotten to see me. During the day I was asked by one of the female students if I wanted them to leave me alone with him... The creepiest part of this question was that it was followed by a bad English translation, she asked me if I wanted to "play" with him. Oddly, I refused.
The students, teacher, and just random people on the street stop me to tell me I'm beautiful. It's really strange, but kind of nice - I guess. This country seems to revolve around attractiveness. I've already been told by the students who the most attractive male teacher is (teacher Zhang) - even the male students found this important for me to know. They also told me that they like me more than the past 外教s because I'm more attractive than them (lucky me?). The most attractive boy from every grade has already been introduced to me as well. I already spoke about how "fat" is just a descriptive word - well "pretty" and "handsom" are too! I mean - it's seen as a good thing to be the most attractive, but it's just another part of you.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Monday, September 3, 2012
After work we work
After meeting one of my coworkers I asked her, "What do you like to do on the weekends?" She responded with, "I'm also new here." I took this to mean she didn't know what there was to do around here so I just asked if she liked to go out dancing, go to a bar, do KTV (karaoke), or go out to dinner with friends. To this she responded, "I'm new so I should work on my lesson plans." I said I understood this... "But later in the semester, when you're settled in and you don't have as much work, what do you like to do?" This was not a fruitful conversation, it was more like a "who's on first" conversation. Yesterday I met another 外教 (foreign teacher) she's the Russian teacher and she was so excited to see me - a foreign girl. She reaffirmed my fears - Qinhuangdao is pretty boring. Yeah sure, I'm in China! So everything's new and different, everything's an experience. But when it's nine at night and your options are walk around the dark streets as the stores are closing alone and sitting in your apartment alone... China's really not that interesting.
Qinhuangdao has some amazing sites, I mean the Great Wall of China is in this city. We have beaches so famous that the military comes here to vacations. I also read about a garden that's one of the oldest in all of China. The soccer games for the olympics were held here. I'm a few hours from Beijing. These things are pretty cool. But they all take time and navigation skills (that I don't currently have). At the end of the night you want to go to a bar and meet some people, but they just dont' do that here.
At least I met another person who's as bored as I am and we'll be able to go out and do things. But I still don't understand the Chinese mentality, it's all workworkwork. Most days I don't have class till after lunch but I'm still expected to get to my office at 9 in the morning to "prepare" till 11:30 which is lunch. Then I go to lunch and can go back to my room (for a nap). I have to stay in the building till the end of the day then I can go get dinner.
So if you've been thinking to yourself "She's been writing an awful lot of blog posts..." now you know why! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO ALLLL DAY. You think your job is bad? Yesterday my computer gave out, so I had NO WAY to even pretend I was working on lesson plans, yet at my desk I continued to have to sit. I even got a note on my desk today, reminding me that I'm suposed to be here. The note says this time is called 坐班. 坐 literally means sit and 班 means classroom, but you know the funny thing? I looked it up on google translate and the translation it gave was "imprisoned" I think that's more accurate.
I've heard that a lot of 外教s just sit around and play computer games...
So, yes. All of our stereotypes about Chinese people being amazing workers are true. The students sit in school from 7 till 10 and so do the teachers. They are constantly working. But for what? America might be a lazy country but we thrive on efficiency. We want to get our work done so we can live but in China, as far as I can see - their work is their life. It's a cultural difference and I don't mean to look down on it. It's impressive! Seeing all my colleagues sitting there for hours - working on lesson plans. But for what? Sometimes culture is difficult to understand from an outside point of view.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Qinhuangdao has some amazing sites, I mean the Great Wall of China is in this city. We have beaches so famous that the military comes here to vacations. I also read about a garden that's one of the oldest in all of China. The soccer games for the olympics were held here. I'm a few hours from Beijing. These things are pretty cool. But they all take time and navigation skills (that I don't currently have). At the end of the night you want to go to a bar and meet some people, but they just dont' do that here.
At least I met another person who's as bored as I am and we'll be able to go out and do things. But I still don't understand the Chinese mentality, it's all workworkwork. Most days I don't have class till after lunch but I'm still expected to get to my office at 9 in the morning to "prepare" till 11:30 which is lunch. Then I go to lunch and can go back to my room (for a nap). I have to stay in the building till the end of the day then I can go get dinner.
So if you've been thinking to yourself "She's been writing an awful lot of blog posts..." now you know why! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO ALLLL DAY. You think your job is bad? Yesterday my computer gave out, so I had NO WAY to even pretend I was working on lesson plans, yet at my desk I continued to have to sit. I even got a note on my desk today, reminding me that I'm suposed to be here. The note says this time is called 坐班. 坐 literally means sit and 班 means classroom, but you know the funny thing? I looked it up on google translate and the translation it gave was "imprisoned" I think that's more accurate.
I've heard that a lot of 外教s just sit around and play computer games...
So, yes. All of our stereotypes about Chinese people being amazing workers are true. The students sit in school from 7 till 10 and so do the teachers. They are constantly working. But for what? America might be a lazy country but we thrive on efficiency. We want to get our work done so we can live but in China, as far as I can see - their work is their life. It's a cultural difference and I don't mean to look down on it. It's impressive! Seeing all my colleagues sitting there for hours - working on lesson plans. But for what? Sometimes culture is difficult to understand from an outside point of view.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Don't ask and you shall recieve
The Chinese have their own way of doing everything. This sounds stupid to write down... But the truth is, in China there is a right and a wrong way to do everything. Boil it down to their high context culture or the intense formality and hierarchy but china should come with a "How to" manual.
In China you don't say something is wrong and you don't outright ask for things. What you were given was right, no matter what. I went to a restaurant with some friends the first night here. My Chinese was the best of the group's so I pointed out dishes that I understood (or understood for the most part). When I asked if they had an English menue the woman simply told me to point to pictures if I needed to. So we did (well I did) - I pointed at some pictures and some menue options. But what I got for food was nothing like what I ordered. I felt bad and apologized to the girls but then they pointed out that I had pointed t pictures, so it wasn't my bad Chinese that'd gotten us that food, it was the restaurant that had. They simply chose for us. they saw us struggling and thought they knew better. I looked at the recite next to the menue and in fact none of the things I had pointed to were on the recite (well except the wontons but they gave us meat instead of vegetables) and none of the dishes looked like the ones we pointed at.
Sarah, the teacher in my school i've talked about before she explained to me that to keep the system fair in their school the teachers rotate what grade they teach and all the teacher rotate offices. I thought this sounded smart. Grade three (the seniors) are the toughest to teach, they're in class the longest and there's a great stress put on them to study for the entrance exam (think bigger than the SATs, I'll explain these later). Yet, poor Sarah has been stuck teaching grade there for years now (I think she said this was her fifth year...) I said it was unfair and she just said that that's how it worked out. She is hands down the best English teacher in the school, so I understand the need for her to be teacher grade three and so does she. I am just amazed at how well she took it, it's jut how life works.
You also don't deserve anything in China. To deserve is a foreign idea. In China life is almost seen as arbitrary- what happens happens, what doesn't doen't - and that's just life! I know this isn't how they really view it, but it almost feels that way.
This is a good time to bring up the entrance exams. My understanding is still a little rough, but this is what I know for now. Exams are big in China, they've been used for thousands of years and for everything. The biggest exam the students take is taken after High School and dictates the rest of your life. Now I'm not being mellow dramatic with that statement, it's just true. What score you get dictates what schools you can apply to (I understand you get a choice of three or so) then those schools still have the choice to accept you or not. You apply with an intended major, but the majors here are really more like tracks. When in college you only take classes related to your major (there's no minor system over here) and you can't change it. You are accepted into a college with a certain major and can't change it. This sounds pretty rough to all us free-spirited Americans who changed our majors three or four times over four years (three for me) but what's even tougher is that you may be accepted into a school for a major that is not the one you chose. You could apply to study Chinese Literature and be stuck as an English major. Poof, your whole life written down for you without your consent. What's worse? If you don't get into the schools you apply to (or - god forbid - deny the school) you have to repeat your last year of High School so you can retake the exam. You can do this an infinite amount of times, I've actually been told by Americans living here that they've heard of students taking the exam five times. Five times! That more than doubles the length of High School! In America we can't get all of our students to finish but in China they get them to do it over and over again.
When you understand the exam and how important it is it makes sense that these students stay in school intill ten o'clock. Yes, students who get to school at 7 stay until 10 at night. They have their dinners on campus and after dinner classes very. On Saturday they were free to do homework but last night they had a big exam (that they didn't know about at dinner time). I have a lot of respect for the students here, it would be hard not to.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
In China you don't say something is wrong and you don't outright ask for things. What you were given was right, no matter what. I went to a restaurant with some friends the first night here. My Chinese was the best of the group's so I pointed out dishes that I understood (or understood for the most part). When I asked if they had an English menue the woman simply told me to point to pictures if I needed to. So we did (well I did) - I pointed at some pictures and some menue options. But what I got for food was nothing like what I ordered. I felt bad and apologized to the girls but then they pointed out that I had pointed t pictures, so it wasn't my bad Chinese that'd gotten us that food, it was the restaurant that had. They simply chose for us. they saw us struggling and thought they knew better. I looked at the recite next to the menue and in fact none of the things I had pointed to were on the recite (well except the wontons but they gave us meat instead of vegetables) and none of the dishes looked like the ones we pointed at.
Sarah, the teacher in my school i've talked about before she explained to me that to keep the system fair in their school the teachers rotate what grade they teach and all the teacher rotate offices. I thought this sounded smart. Grade three (the seniors) are the toughest to teach, they're in class the longest and there's a great stress put on them to study for the entrance exam (think bigger than the SATs, I'll explain these later). Yet, poor Sarah has been stuck teaching grade there for years now (I think she said this was her fifth year...) I said it was unfair and she just said that that's how it worked out. She is hands down the best English teacher in the school, so I understand the need for her to be teacher grade three and so does she. I am just amazed at how well she took it, it's jut how life works.
You also don't deserve anything in China. To deserve is a foreign idea. In China life is almost seen as arbitrary- what happens happens, what doesn't doen't - and that's just life! I know this isn't how they really view it, but it almost feels that way.
This is a good time to bring up the entrance exams. My understanding is still a little rough, but this is what I know for now. Exams are big in China, they've been used for thousands of years and for everything. The biggest exam the students take is taken after High School and dictates the rest of your life. Now I'm not being mellow dramatic with that statement, it's just true. What score you get dictates what schools you can apply to (I understand you get a choice of three or so) then those schools still have the choice to accept you or not. You apply with an intended major, but the majors here are really more like tracks. When in college you only take classes related to your major (there's no minor system over here) and you can't change it. You are accepted into a college with a certain major and can't change it. This sounds pretty rough to all us free-spirited Americans who changed our majors three or four times over four years (three for me) but what's even tougher is that you may be accepted into a school for a major that is not the one you chose. You could apply to study Chinese Literature and be stuck as an English major. Poof, your whole life written down for you without your consent. What's worse? If you don't get into the schools you apply to (or - god forbid - deny the school) you have to repeat your last year of High School so you can retake the exam. You can do this an infinite amount of times, I've actually been told by Americans living here that they've heard of students taking the exam five times. Five times! That more than doubles the length of High School! In America we can't get all of our students to finish but in China they get them to do it over and over again.
When you understand the exam and how important it is it makes sense that these students stay in school intill ten o'clock. Yes, students who get to school at 7 stay until 10 at night. They have their dinners on campus and after dinner classes very. On Saturday they were free to do homework but last night they had a big exam (that they didn't know about at dinner time). I have a lot of respect for the students here, it would be hard not to.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
干杯 (Cheers)
My first night here I was taken out to a big welcome dinner with
many teacher from my school and the principal. It was literally an experience
of a life time. I think all Americans should be placed at the table for a
family style dinner with a room full of Chinese people at some time in their
lives.
On Friday I was picked up at the airport by Sarah, an English
teacher from Qinhuangdao Foreign language High School (The high school I'm
working at). She's an older woman who's been teaching at the school for a long
time and her English is amazing. She came with a younger teacher, another knew
teacher at the school - like me. She's also an English teacher but she's
Chinese. Her English was not as good, it was very difficult for her to
understand me, which I felt bad about. The two of them picked me up in the
front of my building to go out to dinner. She said it would be the principal (who was very excited to meet me) and some other teachers. When I got there
most of the teachers were already there and also already drunk.
Drinking is BIG in China. The Russian 外教 (learning Russian used to be more common than English up here in
the North) said she'd never seen people drink as much as the
Chinese，that not even Russian compare.
When I sat down - right next to the principal of course - the
first question I was asked was "Beer, wine, or liquor," well it was
asked in a mixture of English and Chinese and with help from other people. So I
answered 啤酒
（beer) - as any
good Germany girl would. Before we even started eating the toasts had
started. "To the new teachers" - there was also a new 外教
(foreign teacher) from Japan - he's a very nice older man. He sat on the
other side of me. So the whole night was a competition of how much we could
drink. I have to say I didn't do that badly - till they tried to get me to
drink 白酒
(Chinese liquor). This stuff is terrible and they drink it straight!! Some
of the women mixed it with juice, but seriously - this is the most disgusting
stuff you'll ever taste ( and also gives a nasty hangover).
干杯 means "Cheers" in Chinese but
that's only the connotation, the literal translation is "finish your
drink." So the whole dinner was old men cheers-ing the new teachers and
the American, so they were just trying to get us drunk. I went to college, but
this was rough.
Also - in China - your glass can never be empty. It's seen as
respectful and an honor to fill someone's glass - especially someone that you
view as above you or the guest. That day I was the guest and so was the man to
my right and the principal was to my left.... So I was a target. People would
fill your glass with your bottle of beer, or thMy first night here I was taken
out to a big welcome dinner with many teacher from my school and the principal.
It was literally an experience of a life time. I think all Americans should be
placed at the table for a family style dinner with a room full of Chinese
people at some time in their lives.
On Friday I was picked up at the airport by Sarah, an English
teacher from Qinhuangdao Foreign language High School (The high school I'm
working at). She's an older woman who's been teaching at the school for a long
time and her English is amazing. She came with a younger teacher, another knew
teacher at the school - like me. She's also an English teacher but she's
Chinese. Her English was not as good, it was very difficult for her to
understand me, which I felt bad about. The two of them picked me up in the
front of my building to go out to dinner. She said it would be the principal (who
was very excited to meet me) and some other teachers. When I got there most of
the teachers were already there and also already drunk.
Drinking is BIG in China. I met a Russian woman today that works
at my school (learning Russian used to be more common than English up here in
the North) and she said she'd never seen people drink as much as the
Chinese.
When I sat down - right next to the principal of course - the
first question I was asked was "Beer, wine, or liquor," well it was
asked in a mixture of English and Chinese and with help from other people. So I
answered 啤酒
（beer) - as any
good Germany girl would. Before we even started eating the toasts had
started. "To the new teachers" - there was also a new 外教
(foreign teacher) from Japan - he's a very nice older man. He sat on the
other side of me. So the whole night was a competition of how much we could
drink. I have to say I didn't do that badly - till they tried to get me to
drink 白酒
(Chinese liquor). This stuff is terrible and they drink it straight!! Some
of the women mixed it with juice, but seriously - this is the most disgusting
stuff you'll ever taste ( and also gives a nasty hangover).
干杯 means "Cheers" in Chinese but
that's only the connotation, the literal translation is "finish your
drink." So the whole dinner was old men cheers-ing the new teachers and
the American, so they were just trying to get us drunk. I went to college, but
this was rough.
Also - in China - your glass can never be empty. It's seen as
respectful and an honor to fill someone's glass - especially someone that you
view as above you or the guest. That day I was the guest and so was the man to
my right and the principal was to my left.... So I was a target. People would
fill your glass with your bottle of beer, or theirs, or some random one lying
around. Or sometimes with 白酒 (I tried to keep some beer in my glass at
all time so they couldn't put 白酒 in).
The food was Family Style, like most Chinese dinners. I took a
picture of a table in China right before leaving and the table is so full most
people would think the dinner had just started! On average there are twenty
courses to a dinner. The plate is taken away before the food is all gone. It's
seen as gauche to not have enough food - so there is always excess. I
think this is silly and wasteful, but hey! it's their culture.
The food is similar to Chinese food found in the US. Every region
has it's own cuisine. In Qinhuangdao there's a lot of fish and seafood. I'm a
long time Vegetarian, but I chose to be a Pescitarian for this experience
- I've even ate some meat. I mean, when in Rome (oddly this is an American
expression that came up at dinner).
eirs, or some random one lying around. Or sometimes with 白酒 (I tried to
keep some beer in my glass at all time so they couldn't put 白酒 in).
The food was Family Style, like most Chinese dinners. I took a
picture of a table in China right before leaving and the table is so full most
people would think the dinner had just started! On average there are twenty
courses to a dinner. The plate is taken away before the food is all gone. It's
seen as gauche to not have enough food - so there is always excess. I
think this is silly and wasteful, but hey! it's their culture.
The food is similar to Chinese food found in the US. Every region
has it's own cuisine. In Qinhuangdao there's a lot of fish and seafood. I'm a
long time Vegetarian, but I chose to be a Pescitarian for this experience
- I've even ate some meat. I mean, when in Rome (oddly this is an expression that came up at dinner). The one really annoying thing about food in China is that they have like fifty names for dumplings. Each name refers to the tiniest of differences. I've gotten to the point where when a students asks if I've tried a certain type of food I just ask if it's a dumpling - because it probably is.
A few more things to note about Chinese restaurants. It's very common for you to get your own room. Your group group could be 10 people for 30 but you can still get a private room. In the hotel I stayed in in Shanghai there were numerous dinning areas of all different sizes with different sized tables for this reason. So my coworkers and I had our own room with just one table. Another thing to note is that it's still legal to smoke indoors here. But it's not terrible, it's nothing like the horror stories I've heard about bars in America back in the day. There's normally only one or two guys smoking a little. At dinner the one guy in our group who wanted to smoke went next door to the room where the soldiers were and smoked with them.
Another side note! The first week before classes start for High School and College age kids they have military training. This happens all over China. It's a way fo the students to bond - because they don't necessarily know each other. Some of the students at my school here board here, they're far from home. But there are also many schools in Qinhuangdao that the students could have come from.
I do know that by the end of dinner I just wanted to fall asleep. I was full, jet lagged, tired from traveling all day (and getting up early all week), and hot!
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Saturday, September 1, 2012
The Chinese Way
Apparently I'm the first English 外教 (foreign teacher) to speak Chinese, that made me feel relieved! I was told by one of the English teachers (she's the top of the department) that the principle is very excited that I speak Chinese because his English isn't very good (in China saying you're English isn't very good doesn't mean much, they all say that). He was glad we could get to know one another better and he hoped to become my 干爹 (god father). She said he liked the idea of having a cute young American at his school, which oddly in China isn't a creepy thing to say.
In China the people are direct. Not in every way, and especially not in the way that we American are. In China 胖 (fat) is just a way to describe someone, not an insult. Also fat here is a relative term - Chinese people are super skinny. The people are small in every way! In fact, yesterday I had to explain the words "dwarf" and "midget" to a class full of kids because they were in a reading and the students (and teacher) didn't understand what they meant. I wanted to point out that in the US some of the kids in that class would be considered midgets, but refrained.
There is a similar feeling to being skinny in China as there is in the US. Women are under immense pressure to be skinny. My coworker said that women are always on diets, trying to keep their weight down. I talked to an American who has lived in china for a few years and he said that online their are diagrams showing a woman's legs and dictating where they should and should not touch. As you can imagine woman aren't called fat as a descriptive word, just men. Because men being fat doesn't matter.
Attractiveness over here is difficult for me to understand. I'm not one of those Americans who doesn't find Asians attractive, but I definitely do not believe in the same "rules" of attractiveness that these people do.
Last night when I was hanging around in the Grade three building after dinner during their homework time (yes they have designated time to do homework) I was asked by a female student if one of the male students was attractive. Firstly I was shocked by the question, in America that would never be asked! Sexual harassment laws and all... So I said to her that I was too much older than them to answer that question. This offended the boy (who was apparently seen as a hotty... not by me...) and then the girl told me "only four years," like that was nothing.
When I told the students I was 22 they didn't believe me. My colleagues were all shocked at how young I was but the students thought I was closer to their age. I guess it was wishful thinking. They all want to make friends with me, spend time with and do things for me. The last is my favorite... Hey! It's fun having people do things for you just because they want to. Also, here it's normal.
When I first got out of the taxi at the school the teacher I was with said she'd find some boys to carry my suitcases up. I felt terrible and tried to tell her no, but no sooner had I gotten out of the car then there was a rush of boys fighting over who could help carry my suitcases. Now, this is due inpart to the fact that the week before classes begin the students go through military training and helping me with my bags was not military training, but hey - I'll take it!
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
In China the people are direct. Not in every way, and especially not in the way that we American are. In China 胖 (fat) is just a way to describe someone, not an insult. Also fat here is a relative term - Chinese people are super skinny. The people are small in every way! In fact, yesterday I had to explain the words "dwarf" and "midget" to a class full of kids because they were in a reading and the students (and teacher) didn't understand what they meant. I wanted to point out that in the US some of the kids in that class would be considered midgets, but refrained.
There is a similar feeling to being skinny in China as there is in the US. Women are under immense pressure to be skinny. My coworker said that women are always on diets, trying to keep their weight down. I talked to an American who has lived in china for a few years and he said that online their are diagrams showing a woman's legs and dictating where they should and should not touch. As you can imagine woman aren't called fat as a descriptive word, just men. Because men being fat doesn't matter.
Attractiveness over here is difficult for me to understand. I'm not one of those Americans who doesn't find Asians attractive, but I definitely do not believe in the same "rules" of attractiveness that these people do.
Last night when I was hanging around in the Grade three building after dinner during their homework time (yes they have designated time to do homework) I was asked by a female student if one of the male students was attractive. Firstly I was shocked by the question, in America that would never be asked! Sexual harassment laws and all... So I said to her that I was too much older than them to answer that question. This offended the boy (who was apparently seen as a hotty... not by me...) and then the girl told me "only four years," like that was nothing.
When I told the students I was 22 they didn't believe me. My colleagues were all shocked at how young I was but the students thought I was closer to their age. I guess it was wishful thinking. They all want to make friends with me, spend time with and do things for me. The last is my favorite... Hey! It's fun having people do things for you just because they want to. Also, here it's normal.
When I first got out of the taxi at the school the teacher I was with said she'd find some boys to carry my suitcases up. I felt terrible and tried to tell her no, but no sooner had I gotten out of the car then there was a rush of boys fighting over who could help carry my suitcases. Now, this is due inpart to the fact that the week before classes begin the students go through military training and helping me with my bags was not military training, but hey - I'll take it!
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
Lies I've been told in China
Yes, I studied Chinese before I got here but I also hadn't spoken it in a long time before I got here and I was also very bad at it. So I was extremely shocked to be told - multiple times by multiple people - that my Chinese was very good. When I told them "no it's not" I didn't mean it as an act of modesty, I just meant it! So when I was told by a Chinese national that my 普通话 (literal translation is common tongue, means Mandarin) was better than there's you can imagine my surprise. I thought the people in China were just ridiculously nice - which they are - but the crazy thing is that she meant it! Here in China there are more languages than one could imagine. Hundreds of languages in fact. Not to mention the various dialects and accents used in each region. Many Chinese people grow up learning their own local language before ever learning even a variety of Mandarin. She was telling me that my Mandarin is better than hers because that's the only version of Chinese I know. Actually a lot of people are intimidated by my Mandarin, though I never would have understood that if it weren't for this girl. It makes sense, pure Mandarin tied with education and money. People who speak it are well educated and well educated people have money.
So even though I have stared at many a Chinese person already with a wide mouthed gaze, not understanding half of what they're saying, they don't see me as stupid, they just recognize that I don't speak their local Chinese. Often they'll translate a word and I'll know a different word for it. Sometimes it's just the accent that throws me, or even just the speed or... the fact that I'm being spoken at in Chinese - that is also very intimidating.
Yesterday I spent time in the Grade three building (seniors) - the students were excited to help me in every way. Among themselves they planned a trip to bring me to the mall and get me a cell phone, which they informed me of shortly after. I told them that my prerequisites for a phone are that it must have both a navigation system and a translator ap. The kids (and teacher) laughed, telling me I didn't need either because "I spoke Chinese" but I told them I'd be much more reassured if I had them.
The other lie I've heard in China is that I'm "slim." In China the average woman weighs like one-hundred pounds, so yeah right! But again, they mean it. They're not comparing me to them, they're comparing me to white people. They know the stereotype that Americans are fat so they see me as skinny. I mean, I won't fight that. I'm glad I'm not being called fat like the men!
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
So even though I have stared at many a Chinese person already with a wide mouthed gaze, not understanding half of what they're saying, they don't see me as stupid, they just recognize that I don't speak their local Chinese. Often they'll translate a word and I'll know a different word for it. Sometimes it's just the accent that throws me, or even just the speed or... the fact that I'm being spoken at in Chinese - that is also very intimidating.
Yesterday I spent time in the Grade three building (seniors) - the students were excited to help me in every way. Among themselves they planned a trip to bring me to the mall and get me a cell phone, which they informed me of shortly after. I told them that my prerequisites for a phone are that it must have both a navigation system and a translator ap. The kids (and teacher) laughed, telling me I didn't need either because "I spoke Chinese" but I told them I'd be much more reassured if I had them.
The other lie I've heard in China is that I'm "slim." In China the average woman weighs like one-hundred pounds, so yeah right! But again, they mean it. They're not comparing me to them, they're comparing me to white people. They know the stereotype that Americans are fat so they see me as skinny. I mean, I won't fight that. I'm glad I'm not being called fat like the men!
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
So, I'm in China
I knew eventually I'd break down and start a blog... So here goes!
For all of you who actually know me you can skip this part, but to anyone else... This is who I am.
I'm an American living in China for the year. I was born in Massachusetts, raised in New Hampshire and went to school in New York. St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York - to be specific. While at St. Lawrence I got a taste for travel. Before coming to China I had been to four continents and spent time in seven countries. I'm sure you as a reader will not have the same reaction as my Chinese students did when I told them this. They began to applaud. Then again... That was a general reaction they had to me all day. But back to my introduction. At St. Lawrence I was a Global Studies major with a double minor in Asian and European studies. I took foreign language classes in French, German, and Chinese. (Another fact that made the students applaud.) While at St. Lawrence I studied abroad in France. The program I went through (named the Global Francophone Studies program at St. Lawrence) had us go to French Canada and Senegal as well. I was also fortunate to get a study grant to go to Germany and a Mellon grant to study in India - the country I wrote my Senior Thesis on. I applied and was accepted to study abroad in shanghai through Ciee but refused. Hearing stories about my friends' adventures in China made me want to go even more so I began applying for teaching jobs. I found the Ciee program and instantly loved it, it was my first choice and I was very excited when I was accepted.
Fast forward to China!
I arrived in China last Sunday, close to a week ago (though I can't imagine that it was that recent). I stayed in Shanghai at the Jiaotong university "hotel" with other Ciee members for a week (well, 5 days) and flew to Qinhuangdao yesterday. My time in Shanghai was both memorable and enjoyable. The people were kind, wonderful and like minded. The only thing that saddens me is that we didn't have more time together. In Shanghai we were able to do some sight seeing but mostly we attended lectures and classes about being a teacher, living in China and (most importantly) The Chinese Way.
Here my title is 外教 which simply means foreign teacher but the profession is also termed "Foreign expert" over here. I like that term. My friends from Ciee and I were joking about it. I said that I guess it's appropriate considering most of the people I know (95% or so) are foreigners (in the eyes of the Chinese people). Yet still - being deemed an "expert" wow!
I think a better term to use would be "Rock star." It's amazing. I've been abroad before and I've been the white person but I guess I was more far removed than I thought because I didn't predict the reaction people have had to me.
Yeah sure, I'm a blond American with white skin- thus I'm interesting. But I could not make you understand from reading this how amazing these people are to me or how interested they are in me.
I'm not just a white person they want to take a picture of anymore, to these students I'm much more. They want to do everything for me.
But I'm getting ahead of myself!!! This last day (or two) has not been all puppies and kittens. In fact it's been hard for me to talk to people since arriving in Qinhuangdao because I am afraid to tell them details, I'm worried if I tell people all the problems they will think I'm miserable - but miserable I am certainly not! Far from it. I am still jet lagged - a twelve hour difference is a big change! Not to mention I was booked solid last week with classes and lectures, which - though helpful - took up a lot of time. Friday I had to get up early and spend in transit and travel makes me tired! Qinhuangdao is hot -more so- it's humid! The humidity raps around the skyscrapers like a white down comforter, hanging in the sky like chalk dust. In Shanghai the warmth and humidity could be pleasant - walking outside felt like easing your way into a warm bath but here... Here the moisture in the air clings to you like dirt clings to sticky skin. With the constant haze, humidity, and warmth I want to curl up and nap all day - which I almost did!
Last night I was finally able to go to sleep early (after re scrubbing my apartment, including the walls...) The sleep was amazing (though I was very hot!! And my bed is not too comfortable... (one word: plastic). But I managed to sleep till six! At six I was able to get a shower (my water went from not working at all to just being hot water) kind of. I lazed around (I thing I haven't been able to do since getting to China) till about nine when I took a walk around the campus and went to my office to see my coworkers (in China you share an office, there are six people in mine). Two other new teachers (中国人，英文老师）then went to the mall with me to get some things (Tesco - yes they have them in China). That trip could become a novel so I won't say more than that I bought some food and things for my "apartment" (I will refer to my apartment as 房子, it feels more appropriate).
Well I guess this blog entry has no direction, point, or narrative... So maybe I should give up for the day and try to write again later.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
For all of you who actually know me you can skip this part, but to anyone else... This is who I am.
I'm an American living in China for the year. I was born in Massachusetts, raised in New Hampshire and went to school in New York. St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York - to be specific. While at St. Lawrence I got a taste for travel. Before coming to China I had been to four continents and spent time in seven countries. I'm sure you as a reader will not have the same reaction as my Chinese students did when I told them this. They began to applaud. Then again... That was a general reaction they had to me all day. But back to my introduction. At St. Lawrence I was a Global Studies major with a double minor in Asian and European studies. I took foreign language classes in French, German, and Chinese. (Another fact that made the students applaud.) While at St. Lawrence I studied abroad in France. The program I went through (named the Global Francophone Studies program at St. Lawrence) had us go to French Canada and Senegal as well. I was also fortunate to get a study grant to go to Germany and a Mellon grant to study in India - the country I wrote my Senior Thesis on. I applied and was accepted to study abroad in shanghai through Ciee but refused. Hearing stories about my friends' adventures in China made me want to go even more so I began applying for teaching jobs. I found the Ciee program and instantly loved it, it was my first choice and I was very excited when I was accepted.
Fast forward to China!
I arrived in China last Sunday, close to a week ago (though I can't imagine that it was that recent). I stayed in Shanghai at the Jiaotong university "hotel" with other Ciee members for a week (well, 5 days) and flew to Qinhuangdao yesterday. My time in Shanghai was both memorable and enjoyable. The people were kind, wonderful and like minded. The only thing that saddens me is that we didn't have more time together. In Shanghai we were able to do some sight seeing but mostly we attended lectures and classes about being a teacher, living in China and (most importantly) The Chinese Way.
Here my title is 外教 which simply means foreign teacher but the profession is also termed "Foreign expert" over here. I like that term. My friends from Ciee and I were joking about it. I said that I guess it's appropriate considering most of the people I know (95% or so) are foreigners (in the eyes of the Chinese people). Yet still - being deemed an "expert" wow!
I think a better term to use would be "Rock star." It's amazing. I've been abroad before and I've been the white person but I guess I was more far removed than I thought because I didn't predict the reaction people have had to me.
Yeah sure, I'm a blond American with white skin- thus I'm interesting. But I could not make you understand from reading this how amazing these people are to me or how interested they are in me.
I'm not just a white person they want to take a picture of anymore, to these students I'm much more. They want to do everything for me.
But I'm getting ahead of myself!!! This last day (or two) has not been all puppies and kittens. In fact it's been hard for me to talk to people since arriving in Qinhuangdao because I am afraid to tell them details, I'm worried if I tell people all the problems they will think I'm miserable - but miserable I am certainly not! Far from it. I am still jet lagged - a twelve hour difference is a big change! Not to mention I was booked solid last week with classes and lectures, which - though helpful - took up a lot of time. Friday I had to get up early and spend in transit and travel makes me tired! Qinhuangdao is hot -more so- it's humid! The humidity raps around the skyscrapers like a white down comforter, hanging in the sky like chalk dust. In Shanghai the warmth and humidity could be pleasant - walking outside felt like easing your way into a warm bath but here... Here the moisture in the air clings to you like dirt clings to sticky skin. With the constant haze, humidity, and warmth I want to curl up and nap all day - which I almost did!
Last night I was finally able to go to sleep early (after re scrubbing my apartment, including the walls...) The sleep was amazing (though I was very hot!! And my bed is not too comfortable... (one word: plastic). But I managed to sleep till six! At six I was able to get a shower (my water went from not working at all to just being hot water) kind of. I lazed around (I thing I haven't been able to do since getting to China) till about nine when I took a walk around the campus and went to my office to see my coworkers (in China you share an office, there are six people in mine). Two other new teachers (中国人，英文老师）then went to the mall with me to get some things (Tesco - yes they have them in China). That trip could become a novel so I won't say more than that I bought some food and things for my "apartment" (I will refer to my apartment as 房子, it feels more appropriate).
Well I guess this blog entry has no direction, point, or narrative... So maybe I should give up for the day and try to write again later.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
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