15 Sophomores, a Foreign Teacher, and Some Sandwiches

Highlights:

• Me failing to check the schedule (thus expecting 8 students at 12:30 only to have 15 show up at 12)
• Karen making a mayonnaise + jelly sandwich even with me standing there telling her it would be disgusting
• Having a student ask me if the container of ranch dressing was ice cream
• Sending the students out to a picnic table (with blankets to drape over the dirty benches) and coming downstairs to find them all set up on the volleyball court.

On Childbirth and Ignorance

Even after almost two years, I am sometimes astounded at the apparent naivete of my students. Here's a recent example. A student wrote in her journal that her sister-in-law was due to give birth to a baby on April 30. She was a bit worried for her sister-in-law, because she had heard (just this year, from one of her Chinese English teachers) that childbirth is difficult and painful, and also because the sister-in-law is over 30. In China, this is considered borderline "too old," and some ladies over 30 will go to special high-risk doctors for their pregnancy.

Anyway, April 30 came and went, and no one called my student to tell her that the baby was born, so she was even more worried. She  suspected something must have gone wrong and no one was telling her.  So she texted her brother in a panic, wondering what was going on.  Her brother assured her that nothing was wrong, and that the baby would probably be born soon. Then my student searched on the Internet and learned (for the first time, apparently), that babies can be born a couple weeks before or after their due dates. They are not always born on the due date. And this is OK.

My question: China is one of the most study-crazy countries in the world. But can an educational system which turns out students so completely clueless about these and many other basic facts of life really be called successful?

Thoughts on Closing Qufu

Sometime in the last year, probably nine or ten months ago, a group of leaders sat in a meeting in Beijing and made the final decision close Qufu.

"Yes, we've been at Qufu for twenty-five years," I imagine them saying, "but what about the new vision?"

Ah, the vision.  

The organization made a definitive decision about two years ago to change momentum and start moving most teaching teams to urban locations.  My town?  Not so urban.  There are probably around 100,000 people but it feels small and it is small for China.  I've heard students call it "backward," which it's not, really, but it's certainly not "urban."

So there the leaders sat (in my imagination), butting their heads up against the vision for perhaps the hundredth time.  And they came to the conclusion that this campus and this city simply cannot fit into the new vision, no matter how much anyone wants them to.  I trust that these leaders know what they are doing, so I don't plan to debate whether they should have closed Qufu, but I wonder... If they were on the ground here, living this life and loving these people... could they have?  

I couldn't.  

This week I've enjoyed some especially warm times with people here.  Yesterday we had a potluck with some of the brothers and sisters from the student group.  We don't know them that well, but our time was filled with stories and laughter, and they were genuinely sad to hear that we are all four leaving in less than two months.  Tonight I had some senior students over for dinner, along with one of their mothers who is visiting from southern China.  I've been friends with these girls for almost two years; I love the long, relaxed conversations we have around the dinner table.  Another senior stopped by to tell me she's going home for good in a few days and she will miss me.  

I'm reminded of what a special place I've been privileged to live in these last two years.

It may have been organizational decisions that rolled down the line to close Qufu, but we are the ones snipping the heartstrings.  We four, with our collective seven years total in Qufu, are the ones with the bittersweet task of packing up twenty-five years of life on this campus.  We are the ones who will box up the English lending library and send it off to another school.  We are the ones who will walk out of our classrooms knowing that the quality of teaching from the foreign teaching staff will take a big hit with our organization's exit.  We are the ones who will pack up apartments that have been painstakingly furnished with years of trips to IKEA, suitcases from home, and packages from America.  We are the ones who will walk away from literally hundreds of students clamoring for our attention, our time, our help with oral English, and (of course) pictures with our foreign faces.  We are the ones who will walk away from promising opportunities to offer hope and real friendship to hurting and empty students.

In spite of my melodramatics, this change isn't a tragedy, and it isn't even necessarily bad -- it's just life.  I believe that God can take care of this campus without us.  We have been blessed to be here, but we are not irreplaceable, and I think there are many wonderful things to come for our students, our department, and our city.  As for me, I am not just walking away from precious people; I am going to another campus where my students, colleagues, and neighbors will be equally precious.  

But it's still sad.  There's no other word for it.

Fun Free Talk: Picnic

I've never gone on a picnic with my students, so I scheduled a picnic free talk yesterday.  It was the PERFECT day to be outside.  An early morning rain had evaporated into a bright and breezy afternoon and the grass fairly glowed in the sunshine.

The students came by after their classes to prepare sandwiches in my apartment, and then we slung a few big blankets over our shoulders and went off to find a nice place in the overgrown lawn behind the all-purpose building.  

We got our share of stares from the crowds of students passing by on the walkways threading through our picnic paradise, and my picnic group enjoyed being the object of such envy and fascination.  I think (but can't be sure) they liked the sandwiches, and they quite handily devoured the bananas and cookies I put out.  I had a great time and am hoping for an equally lovely day when the sophomores' turn rolls around on Saturday.

Making sandwiches.  I kept having to swoop in and avert peanut butter disasters.  They were trying to put it with things like ham, lettuce, and chicken salad.

Jody said she was taking a picture of Conrad so we all got out of the way.  But apparently not out-of-the-way enough, and now it looks like Conrad is repulsive and my legs have no owner.

Later that evening, I got an e-mail from the girl in stripes:

Thank you for your picnic. I enjoyed it a lot.

On the road back to our classroom, Catherine, Lily and I talked about it, and we all liked it very much, but we felt sorry that we didn’t take the chips you prepared for us. We Chinese often feel shy when we receive some presents from others. And I hope this didn’t make you feel sad or angry. I am sorry.

It's funny sometimes the things students worry about that I never even notice.  Should I tell them the chips had been laying around my apartment for a few days and I just threw them in at the last minute because they seemed so picnic-y?  And should I mention I was secretly hoping no one would touch them so I could try out the cheese dip my aunt just sent me?

I just sacrificed a whole bag of Lays to that cheese dip and it was delicious. 

What are China's Hot Topics?

Abortion.  Gun control.  Government over-spending.  Increasing political partisanship.  Gay marriage.  The role of the military.  Unemployment.

These are all hot topics... in America.  And there are many more, because hey -- we're Americans!  We like a bit of controversy, whether we admit it or not, and arguing about politics is part of our national character.

Have you ever wondered what the hot topics are in other countries?  In China, sometimes it's hard to know what topics people disagree about because dissension, discontent, and public discussion of sensitive issues are NOT encouraged here.  However, to my surprise, students are allowed to debate extremely sensitive topics in a big debate competition my teammate recently coached some of our students in in Beijing.

Reading the propositions gives you an idea of some of the big and little issues facing China these days.  You can read the short summary (with pictures) HERE on Mallary's blog.

Fun Free Talk: Date Night

I'm always looking for fun ways for students to practice English and learn about Western culture.  Recently I tried a new idea for free talks: Date Night.  The students signed up in pairs (no boys in the class, so we assigned four of the girls to be boys).  I had the "guys" come to my apartment first so I could give them some instructions on how to treat a lady right.  They also got a few daisies to give to their dates when they picked them up.

Then, armed with their flowers and their knowledge about opening doors and paying for dinner and such, the "guys" set off to pick up their dates, who were patiently waiting in their dorm rooms.  Then, since Qufu is lacking quiet, clean restaurants where couples could while away an evening, they all came back to my place.

Once everyone arrived, I gave them some time to brainstorm a new identity.  These girls know each other really well, but I wanted them to have the first date experience of getting to know someone new.  We ended up with a math professor, an exchange student in Paris, and more.  The daters:

I gave them some time just to talk to their date, and I was amused at how quickly they burned through new topics.  By the end of twenty minutes, many of them had already planned international vacations together, and at least one of the couples had discussed children.  I caught a minute of the dinnertime conversation in the video below.  The best part is the end, where Lily (unprompted by me) decides to get her date's phone number.

In Praise of Chinese Teachers

On Monday and Wednesday mornings, I study for a couple hours with a Chinese tutor who is a grad student in the Chinese department.  On Sunday afternoons, I have a guitar lesson with a guy who has his own shop close to the dorms.

I've been saving this post in my head for awhile so I can post pictures of my teachers, but since that hasn't happened yet, I'll just charge ahead and see about adding pictures later.  In the meantime, a mental picture:

My Chinese teacher has a slight build, a long black ponytail, and reading glasses.  She looks like she could be 14, but she is actually 24.  She is from the far west of China, almost on the Kazhak border, so she can tell me lots of interesting things about the Uighur minority people, Western China's famously good dried fruit, and the 3-day train ride it takes for her to get home.  Now she is hard at work on her master's thesis.  She used to talk too fast for me, but now I understand her.

My guitar teacher is a Qufu native and has the same family name as Confucius (Kong Zi), making him one of the many Qufu residents in the great philosopher's family line.  Like my Chinese teacher, he also has a slight build and, according to student reports, also used to have a long black ponytail.  (One could argue that he also looks like he could be a 14-year-old girl, because he's so young and small and his hair is so feminine.)  His hair has gotten progressively shorter since I met him a few months ago, but so far it hasn't gotten boy-short.  My students who know him think he is very handsome and cool.  Apparently he was in a band in Beijing for awhile before coming back to start his own guitar shop.  His mother sells sweet potatoes outside his store.  He doesn't speak English.

Over the last two years, I've had about half a dozen Chinese people teach or tutor me.  I've started to notice some things they have in common:  All have been about my age, all have scheduled lessons that are at least an hour and a half long, none seem to work from a detailed lesson plan, and all have mostly stuck to the program or book without introducing anything terribly exciting or earth-shattering.  And:

They they have all been unfailingly, uncritically, and untiringly patient.  Even when I'm watching the clock and feeling antsy, they never seem to be.  Some examples:  There are Chinese words I don't seem to remember no matter how many times I've been told, and my tutor doesn't seem any more frazzled on the 100th repetition than on the second.  When I did studied in Beijing over the winter holiday, that teacher would sit down with us at the table and not get up until the lesson finished four hours later.  Four hours!  (When I was a speech pathologist, I thought even hour-long individual sessions were a bit grueling.)

My guitar teacher once watched me do soundless strumming for like 30 minutes straight, and during that whole time I never even got it right.   He also has the additional joy of repeating or rephrasing half of what he says to me because I don't catch it the first time: 

Mr. Kong:  Something indistinguishable in Chinese.

Me:  "What?"

Mr. Kong (in Chinese):  "I said, class is over now."

Me:  "Oh." 

We probably have this dialogue at least every other week.

Another thing I like about my teachers:  They will tell me how it is.  American teachers can't go five minutes without saying "good job," but have a hard time saying "that's wrong."  Chinese teachers have no such qualms.  They will tell you directly, "Bu dui!" (not right!).  Direct quote from my guitar lesson: "That sounds bad right now."   I like the honest feedback and I like that they cut the fluff.  Then when I do get a "hen hao!" (very good!), it actually means something.

Even though I don't always think their methods are the most efficient, I have liked all my teachers and I owe them a ton of gratitude for being kind, patient, and honest in the week-in, week-out grind of a fairly tedious job.

Fun Free Talk: Dress-Up Dinner

Most of the foreign English teachers at my school offer periodic "free talks" where students can come to our apartments and practice their English.  Last year, I kept them pretty unstructured and ended up with lots of afternoons sitting around in a circle and me answering the same questions over and over: "Do you like Chinese food?"  "Can you use chopsticks?"  "How long will you stay in China?"

This year, tired of the same old free talks, I have offered "Fun Free Talks" instead.  These are activities that the students sign up for that usually have some fun culture activity along with a chance to speak English.

A couple weeks ago, I had a free talk for juniors called "Dress-up Dinner."  The girls were supposed to come in nice clothes, and then I provided cosmetics and hair supplies for them to get all gussied up.  When I first showed them all the stuff, they had no clue what to do with it.  Several of the girls had never worn make-up!  I am no expert (didn't even own mascara until I was 23 years old), but I got them started and they took it from there:

Meanwhile, the other half of the group helped me prepare meatballs, mashed potatoes, and apple pie for our fancy dinner:

Then we turned on some classical music, lit a bunch of candles, and we were ready:

A fun free talk indeed.