We are go.
Finally I have this blog up and running...and while I have spent already way too much time on it, I've just looked in horror at today's date - nearly a month has elapsed since I got here. Honestly I have little concept of what the date is. My schedule varies substantially every day (different lessons, different schools) so I haven't really established a consistent rhythm, and like the mission, the weeks just sort of blend together. Since we work weekends, often I have little concept of the day of the week - only that today is 'Liuxia day' or 'Wen Yuan day' (names of the schools)...
This weekend was very fun. On Friday I received a distress call from Elena (one of the teachers I came out with) - apparently her stay in Jiaxing hasn't lived up to expectations and has steadily gotten worse. She has already finshed a dozen novels and has few contacts, no American friends, and little to do. (The polar opposite experience of the other girl I came out with.) I insisted she come up at once. The next morning was great - she was so animated and excited to talk - as if she'd come off solitary confinement or something. I took her to the West Lake and cut her loose while I did a few afternoon classes. We bummed around the city for the rest of the afternoon. That night we met up with Michael and Amalie to check out this Chinese bar that allegedly served Mexican food. I had learned of it a week ago and was totally pumped to try it out - mexican food is the one thing I really miss here.
Tragedy. It was no mean taco. Apparently the waiter was telling me in chinese over and over again while I was ordering that "the pizza is really good here." -sigh- I guess I can't take a hint. And milkshakes in China are just as advertised - milk and fruit mixed together.
After hanging out there for a little while (and after a funny episode of seeing a chinese girl I knew [Jess] across the room - and debating with Michael and Amalie if it was her or another chinese girl - and learning that Jess had seen me but "I look like all foreigners" and so she wasn't sure either!), the four of us went to another part of town to hit up the dance club.
At the dance club, I ordered by usual Xue Bi (Sprite) and hit the dance floor. I tell you, theres something about being in China that gets me to break out of my shell - Amalie got me on the stage (in front of the DJ) to dance with a couple of chinese guys - and soon I was joined by this other American kid I met - the crowd loved it. Such random fun.
More observations
My students. The kids are great. In the beginning, kids were either subdued (out of respect? curiousity? fear of the crazy looking white guy?) or very excited ("wai guo ren! wai guo ren!" - foreigner! foreigner! they'd chant from the upper floors as I walked in the campus). Some kids wanted to interact with me but were hesitant (like the day it snowed, I joined in their snowball fight - and you could tell how they weren't sure if it was kosher to return my volleys) - others I kind of wished for less interaction (one of my kindergarteners kept throwing this hard plastic toy at my face). For fun, I often start the first class by practicing numbers - by guessing ages. Most of my classes guess high - around 25 - but one class had the majority vote at 39. Glad I look so middle-aged. Thanks, guys. :) Now one of the new funny things to say to me in English: "You have a long nose! Long nose! Long nose!" The kids think its a riot. Almost as funny as working in "WC!" as an answer to my questions in class ("WC" apparently means "water closet" - a British thing? - and the kids think its more crude than saying "toilet").
Some classes are so smooth - and others I'm struggling to keep it fun and interesting and educational (one class the kids were WIRED...I'm not sure if I made a mistake in injecting a little competitive game to practice English - when just for a laugh I pitted myself against the Chinese teacher aide, the kids went wild). What makes a good class? There are so many factors - some beyond my control - but I think I'm slowly figuring it out.
Watching Shaolin Soccer
Listening The Get Up Kids; chinese pop