Half a Lifetime Ago

Last week, one of my Chinese friends, Jay, and I were talking about high school.  He was curious about what kind of things American students do in high school--Chinese students don't really have much chance for extracuricular activities.  I tried to explain marching band to him--I think he got the general idea, but it's like nothing they've ever seen here.

Then today, someone I went to high school with posted an old photo of all of us as seniors, in our band uniforms, back in 2001, and someone else pointed out that a video of our freshman show, Liturgical Dances, from 1998, was on youtube.  I wish the rest were, too, but anyhow, here's that one.  I had fun watching and reminiscing a bit.  Then, when I was writing the title for this post, it occured to me that I was fourteen when I marched in the show in the video.  Half my life ago.  It's weird; I'm just twenty-eight, but it seems like since my last birthday I've had a bit of a preoccupation with how old I am.  I guess it's just the realization that you're supposed to have so much fun and do so much while you're "young", and I see the end of my twenties coming fast.  Have I done enough?  Am I where I should be by this point?  Which direction should I go from here?  It's just a little sad sometimes that I don't fit in to "the young people" any more.

Pizza and Shopping with Friends

It was a dark and stormy night...well, not quite.  It was a drizzly, cold afternoon...no, it was still morning when the story begins...It was a drizzly, cold morning...that's a bit better...Anyhow, Micah had invited Kevin and me to meet up at Papa John's for lunch, and I called Tammy and invited her along. The plan was to leave at eleven to take the bus, but of course I was running late, and then we had a bit of a mix up when Micah was waiting for me at one gate and I was waiting for him at the other.  On a side note, he's already caught on to my tendency to run late; he says we're going on Katy-time. He's also realized he should tell me to be somewhere ten minutes before I'm really needed. I really have improved some, though--I have got myself in the habit of being to all my classes ten to fifteen minutes early.  But meeting friends at a specific time still eludes me.  Especially before noon.

Anyhow, we finally did get on a bus and we did finally arrive at Guanggu.  Across the roundabout from the mall is, well, another mall--this one has H&M and C&A (some of my favorite European clothing stores), as well as a Papa John's.  I had brilliantly forgotten my umbrella yet again, so I wore my scarf Muslim-style (it seems somehow derogatory to put it like that, but I'm not sure how else to describe it).  Micah tried to share his umbrella, but it wasn't a large one and it's difficult winding through a crowd, up and down two flights of stairs.  Fortunately it was only a steady drizzle at this point.

We found Tammy easily at the entrance to Papa John's, and Kevin came in just a few minutes later.  We ran into Matt and Autumn Moore, who just happened to be there that day, too.  The food was pretty good--they do have the garlic-butter sauce here, and we orderd a bunch of it to drown everything in.  Another nice thing about both Papa John's and Pizza Hut here is that it's a regular thing to order pizzas half and half; they even advertise doing it.  So, we got a large pizza half Chicken-bacon-ranch, half Supreme.  We got a small half Italian sausage, half vegeterian.  It was nice to try several different things; I wouldn't have ordered the Chicken-bacon-ranch just for myself, but it turned out to be really good, and I'll definitely order it in the future.  Tammy also pointed out some fine print in the menu which offered free refills on drinks, so we all got coke; we bugged the waitress for refills of the small glasses they tend to use here so many times she just brought the pitcher and left it on the table.

Kevin had to leave for a meeting right after we ate, but Micah, Tammy, and I stayed and shopped for a while.  Micah shopped seriously; Tammy and I are built very differently from Chinese women and thus can't really buy clothes, but we looked at shoes, scarves, hats, and bags, and partook in my favorite shopping activity when I can't fit into the clothes being offered--making fun of ridiculous things.  Chinese fashions being a bit different from American, there's always plenty of material.  Yellow snakeskin leggings?  Bright orange slacks for men?  Green, purple, and orange patterned sweater (for men!) that American men would only wear to one of those most-horrific-holiday-sweater parties (even though it wasn't holiday)?

Tammy had already bought a pair of shoes before we met up with her, and while we were in H&M I found a pair of yellow tennis shoes (men's, but they don't look masculine) on clearance for only 70 yuan (ten dollars ish), and a white toboggan for only 30 (five dollars ish).  Tammy's shoes were also mens; Chinese women tend to have smaller feet on average than Americans, so anyone who wears a nine or above in America often has a hard time finding women's shoes; fortunately, many of the men's shoes are pretty androgenous, so on occasion you find something wearable.



We then went up to C&A; they had tons of great scarves, but I have to limit myself--I already have more scarves than any one person really needs.  It's a bit of an addiction.  Micah tried on jackets, while Tammy and I drifted between giving him our opinion and being blinded by a display of women's sweaters and jackets in violent shades of construction-cone orange and not-quite-ripe lemon.  With a bit of purple mixed in.  As we wandered up by the register, we hit the jackpot--they've murdered cookie monster, big bird, and some orange muppet and made bags!

We headed home soon after; it was too rainy to stay outdoors, Micah announced he was shopped out, and I needed to get back to get everything ready for the evening's English party.

English Party 5

English party five was a continuation of class 1106.  Now, we're having these parties to get to know our students...I don't think we really meant we wanted to get to know them this well.  Crazy only beings to cover it.  With most groups, we talk about a wide variety of topics; this group had one thing on their minds: dating.  We especially got to hear Sarah's views, because, as we teased her good-naturedly, she never really stops talking.  To tell you the truth, all of the students in the group might not be crazy, but she, her best fried Delphine, and the lone boy in the group (who we found has been friend-zoned so badly that he may never climb out), Tom, definitely are. Oh, and Malak, too.  She left before the others as she had a date; from the way it sounds her boyfriend is a brave man; I wouldn't want to fight her.  

We followed the usual format of sitting in the living room, eating and chatting. Sarah expounded on her plans to get back together with her exboyfriend, the girls abused Tom, and had some choice words about somebody elses' ex.  We then tried to distract them with games; we played Uno and Spoons.  Unfortunately for Tom, he didn't get to play much; we were playing elimination on both--in Uno he won, so he was out quickly, and in Spoons, he lost quickly and was out.  So, he ended up being a go-fer, fetching snacks from the other room.  I was the ultimate loser of Uno; the last four or so of us played on forever; so long that everyone else got bored and wandered away.  Spoons, on the other hand, is my game; I won both games.  

Once they left, Micah and I looked at each other and just said, "Wow."   

From left to right: Sarah, Delphine, Blare, Candy, April, Jody, and Tom in the front.  

Cooking Night with Micah and Veronica

I love Chinese food, but I can't cook it (to tell the truth, I've never really tried, since eating out is quite cheap here).  So, when I cook, it's American or Italian food.  I'm still in the process of readjusting to cooking in China and taking stock of the available ingredients, but I already know several favorites that work just fine here.  However, I rarely want to bother with a big meal just for myself; I'll just eat peanut butter and crackers alone. So, Micah and I have cooked together twice now--the first time, we invited our friends, the Myers, to eat pasta and garlic bread with us; this time, we invited our waiban (the person from the foreign affairs office in charge of us foreign teachers--she's the one we call when things go wrong), Veronica.  

Not all Chinese people really like American food, but Veronica loves it.  It's fun to cook for someone for whom nearly anything you cook will be a novelty; there are several western restaurants here, but most are expensive and besides they are all either a pizza place or a steak place, which leaves plenty of things out.  I made meatloaf and glazed carrots, and Micah made broccoli with a lemon sauce and deviled eggs (he makes them differently from the usual recipe--I usually don't care for them, but these were really good).  We found some french bread at Carrefour the day before, and that turned out to be authentically good. 

Overall, it was one of the best meals I've had recently; I'm looking forward to the leftovers after I buy more ketchup for the meatloaf (it's good, but would be so much better with just a bit more...).  I really do enjoy entertaining in my home; good thing, as I'm doing a lot of it these days. 

Two More "Weddings"

Today, I did the week 13 lesson with my other two classes--including acting out the wedding.  Again, no one wanted to volunteer to be the bride or groom (although in my last class, all the girls were staring pointedly at one particular girl, and those close by were elbowing her--she must have a thing for some boy in the class), but I think it's all the funnier when it's random.

Here's some pictures from classes 1103 and 1104:

My Vacuum Cleaner

Alright, this may be a little bit weird, but I'm excited about it.  I bought a vacuum cleaner today!  With all of these English parties, my living room carpet was getting to be a mess, and a broom just wasn't cutting it.  So, I found a cheap little vacuum at Carrefour; isn't it cute?  It even rolls, has more than one attachment, and best of all, the cord retracts with the push of a button! :)  

The Week 13 Wedding

For weeks, we've been practicing writing different kinds of paragraphs in my writing class.  Which frankly, gets a bit boring now and then--so, I like to have an activity that gets students participating now and then.

This week's topic according to the syllabus (well, actually, not according to the syllabus--I swapped a couple of weeks around so that this lesson wouldn't fall the week of Halloween) is Comparison/Contrast.  Certainly a useful type of paragraph...

I decided that we would compare/contrast something fun.  How about American weddings vs. Chinese weddings? So, it's wedding week in writing!  The students are usually really curious about American culture and customs, and nothing gets them talking like romance--students here don't date in high school, so when they get to college the dating scene is new and bewildering.  I sent out a facebook message a few days ago asking if I could borrow anyone's wedding pictures for examples--thanks to everyone who responded!

I rushed through the boring part of the lesson from the textbook, and then showed a power point discussing various wedding customs (clothing, the ceremony, cake, bouquet/garter, throwing stuff as they leave, etc.) illustrated with scenes from the beautiful weddings of several friends.

Then came the really entertaining part--I made them act out a wedding ceremony in class.  I had printed up detailed scripts for them to look at (and keep, to use for their assigment later). I wrote all the parts on little slips of paper and had them draw--if anyone wanted to volunteer for the major parts they could (no one so far has volunteered), but I didn't want to waste ten minutes of class arguing over who had to do what.  By including the seating of the mothers and grandmothers, and a reading by the brother of the bride, I managed to come up with enough parts for everybody, with the guests being imaginary.

I took a lacy white scarf to stand for a veil, and candles and a lighter to act out a unity candle lighting (which of course, the center candle woudn't light--that's why I don't want that particular little part in my wedding if I ever get married; something always goes wrong.) I wished I had something to use as bouquets; I gave them balloons to hold but it didn't work very well, as they turned out to be water balloons and thus quite small.  Maybe I'll come up with something better before I teach the lesson again tomorrow.

I was the wedding director, of course.  I lined everyone up, and we went through the processional, and then the ceremony.  They all got the giggles during the "You may kiss the bride" part.  Of course the two students randomly picked didn't even consider it; in fact, I'm not sure they ever even let their eyes meet.

I think the students had fun; we'll see when I get their assignment back if they learned anything.  

English Party 4

And, yet another party--this one starts class 1106.  This group seemed quite friendly and familiar, probably mostly because it included Roger, who we have gotten to know quite while outside of class and consider a friend.  I think his familiarity with us led the other to feel less shy and more familiar as well.  Everyone gave Lance, the other boy, a hard time because they said he's always eating.  He did seem to be the one enjoying the snacks the most; whenever anyone else didn't want to finish something, they would hand it off to him.  It's rather useful sometimes to have a bottomless pit in a group of friends. :)

So far, we had played spoons and mafia with our students; I successfully avoided mafia this round--we'd just played it the night before, and I only have so much patience for mafia in one weekend.  So, this time, we taught them to play Uno.  It's pretty simple, and it's a game most Americans know how to play, so it seemed like a good thing to play.  Also, Lance knew how to play, and was able to speed things up by giving an explanation in Chinese.  We didn't bother keeping score, but rather played elimination--keep playing until only one person is left, who is the ultimate looser.  They also reminded me of the colors in Chinese--I can always remember red (hong), yellow (huang), and green (lü), but I always forget blue for some reason. (It's lan).  

The fourth group, from class 1106, from left to right: Alice, Nancy, Echo, Lance, Micah, Emily, Roger, Natalie, and Cassie.  

Also, here are videos from the night:
Spoons!
Getting intense!
Down to three...
The final showdown

English Party 3

With our third English party, we finished with class 1103.  This group included (left to right): Allen, Linda, April, Francs, Jessica, Ives, (Micah), and, in front, Aiden.  

This was another good group; we played several more rounds of mafia--I was on a streak of being the policeman.  Unfortunately, I was wearing my orange button-up shirt (those of you who've known me awhile probably remember it--it's been one of my favorite for years; I know I saw a picture of me wearing it back in 2006 the other day); the problem was that it is made of very rustly fabric.  Aiden, who was sitting with me on the couch, kept figuring out which part I was because he could here me move.  So, between games, I ducked into my dressing room (yes, I have a dressing room--I have an extra bedroom attached to my bedroom that I use as a huge walk-in closet.) and switched shirts so that I could be more stealthy.  A couple of games in a row, Aiden and I were policement together, and we made a great detective theme--once we ended the game quickly by guessing the two killers on our first two tries.

Then, of course, we finished with spoons, Jello, and all.  

I'm Awake

Sometimes I don't realize just how much time I spend alone.  It seems the interactions I do have with people are of the type that take a lot of social energy--teaching, trying to make myself understood in Chinese to shopkeepers and waitresses, lesson-planning and strategizing, trying to find the right words to talk with someone about the most important things, in occasional meetings with colleagues.  It seems like I'm tired after all these interactions, so I don't notice that really each is not too long.  

I've been in a bit of a weird mood these past few weeks; probably just the normal culture shock period kicking in, as it started just over a month in.  I was tired of Chinese food, tired of learning the language ( I don't think I learned a single word in the last three weeks), tired of answering the phone, tired of lesson planning, even tired of traveling, or planning to travel.  Just tired. So, as I usually do, I escaped into the world of stories; it all started with Star Trek on a rainy evening, then wandered into the Narnia series, then on into Harry Potter (still trying to dig my way out--I love it, but goodness, you get pulled into that world, and it's hard to get out again), then into a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon.  I did my work, but in any gaps of time, I didn't think; I tuned out.  I was just living for the next chance to tune out again.  

Anyhow, over the last few days I feel like I've woken up.  Suddenly learning Chinese seems like a worthwhile, nay, necessary pursuit--I'm really tired of the same three dishes I know how to read on the menu.  I've figured out two more just today.  I'm looking forward to next week's lesson; I've got several ideas I can't wait to try.  I want to spend time with people.  I want to get busy figuring out a trip to take during the winter holiday.  I want to let myself think again.  

Culture shock and adjustment is an odd thing.  

Halloween in Class

The twelth class just happened to fall the week of Halloween--and we ESL teachers rarely miss the chance to work in some American culture by enthusiastically celebrating a holiday.  And isn't the power point background I found online cute?

The lesson itself was pretty straight-forward; writing about cause and effect.  The normal power point, vocabulary, lecture, examples, etc.  However, I rushed through the lesson.  "Anybodygotanyquestions?No?Okay,nextthing..." On to the fun part!

First, because I am an English professor, I introduced them to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven".  I love it.  "While I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..."  I had to memorize the first stanza in the sixth grade, and I still remember bits of it.  However, the poem is extremely long, and the old-fashioned English way beyond their level.  So, while in general I don't find the Simpsons to be very academically helpful, they did the Raven in the first Treehouse of Horror episode years ago.  I think I remember watching it when I was in high school, even.  I hoped that by showing "The Raven" acted out as a story, at least my students would get the gist of it, even if they didn't get the full impact.  I did read the first stanza out loud to them, and even though they didn't know all the words, they could appreciate the alliteration and rhythm of the words.  Amazingly, however, I couldn't find the video on youtube; here's the link I used: The Simpsons' "The Raven."

When I lived in Jingzhou, I found an small but appropriate pumpking to carve, and took a jack-o-lantern to class.  Unfortunately, I didn't find one this year.  Still, I wore my fortune teller costume to class (although, still not locating anything to serve as a crystal ball, I mostly just looked unidentifiably weird). Although several of my students took pictures of me, somehow I never took one, so no pictures, sorry.

I showed a slide show of pictures; we talked about pumpkins and costumes; I tried to explain Trunk or Treat to them, but I don't think they quite got the point of that.  I also explained bobbing for apples, and at the end I played "Monster Mash" for them.

Finally, their journal for the week was a bit different: instead of something practicing the skills I'd just taught (like a responsible teacher would assign, and I normally do), I gave them this story starter, and told them to finish it:

One Halloween my friends and I were going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Down the street from us was an old deserted house that everyone thought was haunted. My mother said, "Don't you dare go near that house!" Naturally, her warning made us even more curious. We went to the house and rang the bell. There was no answer. We tried the door. It was unlocked, so we entered the house. The door slammed behind us and...

I found it online somewhere; I don't remember where now; so, no copyright infringement intended...I'm really looking forward to reading their stories; they seemed more excited about this journal assignment that usual, too.  At least they shouldn't all be the same thing!  

Finally, one of my example pictures: my Halloween costume from 2006, at a party at the Bible School in Florence: