Finally, my full workload is in full effect. Today I had four classes of Oral English with all first year students. Fresh off their "military training,"--seemed more like walking around for hours at a time than anything else--my freshmen came to class eager to learn and eager to ask questions. Lots of questions. I started off my telling my students about my home town and Augustana. I got lots of laughs when I told them that the entire student body of Zhongnan is equivalent to the population of Batavia. Many of them could also not wrap their minds around the idea of a college only have 3,000 students. I also did what any good sports fan would do, I warned them all against people who root for the White Sox and Bears--I would hate to see such intelligent young people associate with those types of people. Well after telling my students all that I could possibly cram into thirty minutes about myself, I decided to open up the class for questions about myself or just about anything else.
Telling my students they could ask me just about anything, was like opening the floodgates. Once one brave student raised his hand, I was answering questions on just about anything. I did this during all four of my classes today, and in my two morning classes the first question I received was: Am I married? and do I have a girlfriend? The students certainly started my day off with a good laugh. I had some very persistent students that wanted me to get into issues that I felt were ones that needed to be handled carefully. For instance, I told my students of an upcoming trip I have planned to Nanjing--more on that later--and one of my students, tried to get me to say the Japanese soldiers during WWII were the cruelest of all soldiers. For those that do not know, during WWII the Japanese occupied most of China, and at that time Nanjing was the capital of China. There was a massive invasion and subsequent take over of the city during this time and Japanese soldiers killed over 300,000 men, women, and children. The Chinese and much of the rest of the world call this "The Rape of Nanjing." To this very day, the Japanese government has never fully admitted to what happened at Nanjing between 1937 and 1938. It still causes diplomatic flare ups in the Sino-Japanese relationship. Eventually, I told this young man that what happens in war is inexcusable regardless of whose army you are discussing. No army in the history of man has never committed some horrible act in the process of war. Through its very nature war is a horrific scene and an unforgivable event. I am not entirely sure he got the answer he was looking for, but he sure did get a rant on my feelings towards any war. I thought the questions dealing with Sino-Japanese relations were over after that, but I had another student bring up a more recent Sino-Japanese incident. Once again, I skated very carefully over this issue and kindly reminded my students that any type military force or other, was not the solution to territorial disputes in the East China Sea.
Needless to say, my freshmen students offered me an incredibly interesting first day with all of them. The rest of the week, I only have four classes, two on Tuesday, then one each Wednesday and Thursday. After that, it is National Week here in China. During my free time for National Week--classes at the college are cancelled--I will be traveling to Nanjing. It is about a three and a half hour long train ride from Wuhan. I leave Friday afternoon and will be there till the 6th of October. I am really excited to be venturing off on my first trip to another Chinese city. It will be very exciting to see what the rest of China is like. Slowly but surely I am hoping to see as much of this country as I possible can.
In other exciting news, I finally was able to find a gym and join it. I would like to remind my good friend Mr.Aj Deeter that it will take more than old man strength to be the pack leader when I come home. Also Cos, I found the Chinese version of Smirnoff Ice, and if it were legal to send booze through the mail, you and Bill both would be going down. Other than all of that, life is going on as normal as it possibly can be here in China. The weather has finally cooled down. No more 100 degree days before noon. It looks like that is all behind me now, at least until May rolls around--or until I am on a beach in Thailand, whichever comes first.
Until next time, everyone take care and enjoy the fall back home. It doesn't look like fall happens here. I don't think it will get cold enough sadly. Oh, one last thing....GO PACK GO!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
First Day of Class
Well, it is official, I have taught my first college course. Class started at 16:00 or 4PM for the all us that are not on a 24 hour clock. Before I even got to class, I was hot and sweaty and had a sweat mark on my shoulder from my bag, that was holding my laptop and teaching supplies. It was hot and humid today, I am talking Augustana College Graduation day, hot and humid-which is actually fairly normal for Wuhan-so needless to say after my twenty minute walk across campus, I was a little sweaty. Luckily, I am very paranoid about being late to anything and everything. This paranoia allowed some time for me to cool off and also find out that, my classroom was locked. Talk about a minor heart attack. Having the door to your class locked and you are suppose to start in ten minutes is a frightening feeling. Thankfully my co-teacher arrived after I called her in a state of panic and was able to get it open for me.
Once I finally got myself set up in the classroom, I plugged in my external hard-drive and was preparing to set up my power point presentation, for my students about my life back home. However, my external hard-drive, it turns out is not compatible with the Windows 2000 operating system. The presentation I had prepared to last the entire first period had to be scratched, because of technical difficulties. When the bell rang for class to start I only had 13 of 16 students in the room, and I began to get their English names, so I could replace their Chinese character names-which I could not read- on my attendance sheet. A few stragglers walk into class as I am discussing my first rule of class: arrive on time. That irony was not lost on me and I did have a nice little laugh to myself about it. As I was explaining the second of my class-limit cellphone use to zero, and if it rings you sing a song-several of my students were texting away. I had to make it very clear that I would not allow excessive cellphone usage, and if that occurred I would take their phone for the class period.
I finally get around to telling the students about myself and I tell them that my presentation would not work on the computer in class. One girl asks if I can use my laptop, and I set it up on my laptop and have my students gather around my laptop. Immediately the students are talking about all my pretty friends-primarily the photos I included of myself and different girls that I am friends with-and I tell them all that I will let my friends know how pretty they think they are. The picture of my dog Bailey was a big hit. But nothing got their attention as much as my pictures from the concerts I have been too. They all seemed very interested in going to concerts and also seemed very confused about the concept of tailgating up at Alpine Valley for DMB shows. They were also very impressed that I met a rock star-back in 2009 I met Jason Isbell of Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, I never said he was a rock star but they assumed he was. In one of my slides I had a picture of the always lovely Grace Potter, and tried to explain to my students that she is my celebrity crush. It failed miserably and that concept was completely lost on them.
After the slide show of photos from back home, I explained to my students that I would be preparing them over the next 17 weeks, for the Oral Interview of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). I told the class that we will be breaking the interview process down into three parts and work on each part for several weeks at a time before we put it all together and attempting the real thing. I had each student introduce themselves to me and the class, which was like pulling teeth to get a volunteer. Ultimately, I just went around and stood in front of each one of them and pretended I was hard of hearing until the entire class could hear them. Many of them did very well and I expect that some will do very good. Others have studied English for years only in written form and have limited to no experience in any type of oral classroom. Overall, I am really excited that I have started teaching and that I have this class every Tuesday, along with a listening class on Wednesdays. Until the freshman get done with military training this will be my only two classes and I am keeping my fingers crossed that these students will be well prepared for the IELTS and pass it.
Below is a picture of me on my first day of school
Once I finally got myself set up in the classroom, I plugged in my external hard-drive and was preparing to set up my power point presentation, for my students about my life back home. However, my external hard-drive, it turns out is not compatible with the Windows 2000 operating system. The presentation I had prepared to last the entire first period had to be scratched, because of technical difficulties. When the bell rang for class to start I only had 13 of 16 students in the room, and I began to get their English names, so I could replace their Chinese character names-which I could not read- on my attendance sheet. A few stragglers walk into class as I am discussing my first rule of class: arrive on time. That irony was not lost on me and I did have a nice little laugh to myself about it. As I was explaining the second of my class-limit cellphone use to zero, and if it rings you sing a song-several of my students were texting away. I had to make it very clear that I would not allow excessive cellphone usage, and if that occurred I would take their phone for the class period.
I finally get around to telling the students about myself and I tell them that my presentation would not work on the computer in class. One girl asks if I can use my laptop, and I set it up on my laptop and have my students gather around my laptop. Immediately the students are talking about all my pretty friends-primarily the photos I included of myself and different girls that I am friends with-and I tell them all that I will let my friends know how pretty they think they are. The picture of my dog Bailey was a big hit. But nothing got their attention as much as my pictures from the concerts I have been too. They all seemed very interested in going to concerts and also seemed very confused about the concept of tailgating up at Alpine Valley for DMB shows. They were also very impressed that I met a rock star-back in 2009 I met Jason Isbell of Jason Isbell and 400 Unit, I never said he was a rock star but they assumed he was. In one of my slides I had a picture of the always lovely Grace Potter, and tried to explain to my students that she is my celebrity crush. It failed miserably and that concept was completely lost on them.
After the slide show of photos from back home, I explained to my students that I would be preparing them over the next 17 weeks, for the Oral Interview of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). I told the class that we will be breaking the interview process down into three parts and work on each part for several weeks at a time before we put it all together and attempting the real thing. I had each student introduce themselves to me and the class, which was like pulling teeth to get a volunteer. Ultimately, I just went around and stood in front of each one of them and pretended I was hard of hearing until the entire class could hear them. Many of them did very well and I expect that some will do very good. Others have studied English for years only in written form and have limited to no experience in any type of oral classroom. Overall, I am really excited that I have started teaching and that I have this class every Tuesday, along with a listening class on Wednesdays. Until the freshman get done with military training this will be my only two classes and I am keeping my fingers crossed that these students will be well prepared for the IELTS and pass it.
Below is a picture of me on my first day of school
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Finally Starting
It has been a little over a week since my last update and lot has changed...sort of. I had a meeting last Friday with the head of the Foreign Languages Department, along with several other professors and our co-teachers. I was originally told that I would not start teaching till sometime in the end of September, as all of the freshman will still be in military training until then. However, I received an email the other day informing me that I will be teaching one class starting on Tuesday. This class is to help students prepare for the oral section of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). I am really excited to start teaching and really looking forward to having some work to do.
I have done a little more exploring of Wuhan, by just walking around and going for runs along South Lake. I also recently overcame my fears of ordering food without having the proper language skills to communicate with the vendor. For those of you who are wondering if I have eaten anything truly strange yet, I would have to say the weirdest thing I have eaten thus far is either chicken's feet, or coagulated blood. I know the blood sounds really gross, and after overcoming the look and texture, this jello-like substance wasn't half bad. I certainly would not want to have an entire meal based off of it, but a little side dish is okay.
Below, I have attached some pictures of my apartment, campus, and some of my surroundings. I will have an update on Tuesday to let everyone know how my first day of class went. I will try to upload more when this is moving a little faster, but it is really slow right now. Anyone that has access to Facebook can see the rest of my photos there. The photos below are: the view out of my bedroom balcony, my bedroom, living room, Wenbo--also referred to as the Clocktower Building--,and the last picture is the view from my living room balcony. Off to Wuhan Prison for the night--it certainly isn't RIBCO and their fifty-cent drafts on a Thursday, but it is still a good time.
I have done a little more exploring of Wuhan, by just walking around and going for runs along South Lake. I also recently overcame my fears of ordering food without having the proper language skills to communicate with the vendor. For those of you who are wondering if I have eaten anything truly strange yet, I would have to say the weirdest thing I have eaten thus far is either chicken's feet, or coagulated blood. I know the blood sounds really gross, and after overcoming the look and texture, this jello-like substance wasn't half bad. I certainly would not want to have an entire meal based off of it, but a little side dish is okay.
Below, I have attached some pictures of my apartment, campus, and some of my surroundings. I will have an update on Tuesday to let everyone know how my first day of class went. I will try to upload more when this is moving a little faster, but it is really slow right now. Anyone that has access to Facebook can see the rest of my photos there. The photos below are: the view out of my bedroom balcony, my bedroom, living room, Wenbo--also referred to as the Clocktower Building--,and the last picture is the view from my living room balcony. Off to Wuhan Prison for the night--it certainly isn't RIBCO and their fifty-cent drafts on a Thursday, but it is still a good time.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Week One
Exactly one week ago I arrived in Wuhan, China. After three flights that thankfully took off and landed without any issues, I was able to step onto solid ground, walk through immigration at the Wuhan Airport. Now for those of you unfamiliar with Wuhan, it is the fourth largest city in China, boasting a population of around 9 million. Now to put that into perspective for you, the largest city in the States is NYC, with a population of about 8.3 million, and the fourth largest city back home is Houston with a population of 2.2 million.
Now you would think in a city of 9 million, there would be some sort of massive airport, maybe not on par with Hong Kong International Airport, but maybe something similar to Midway. Well at least that was what I had envisioned before arriving in Wuhan. Needless to say I was shocked when I walked downstairs to the baggage claim and saw that there was only one luggage carousel. After working my way through crowds of people--a mix of westerners and Chinese--and realizing that my conception of personal space was becoming a nostalgic memory; I grabbed my luggage and proceeded to meet my contact Lily and head to the campus of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). Following another hour of sitting, we all made it to our apartments on campus.
Being on the sixth floor or a seven story building doesn't sound horrible, but when there is no elevator and you have over a 100lbs of stuff to carry up those stairs, it becomes a tiring and fast. My all white walls, Chinese television channels, wood bench and chair for my furniture in my living, were a little hard to adjust to at first. While I am still adjusting, I have managed to overcome my fear of buying food at the near by streets. The first night I went out for food on my was literally terrifying. And I don't use terrifying in an attempt to be funny, I really had no clue what I was doing, what I was saying and even worse, what was being said at me. I would like to say in little less than a week, I have mastered the art of ordering food without saying much more than hello, thank you, and goodbye--it is important to keep your manners up even in a foreign language.
On my third or fourth day here in Wuhan I found myself in prison. Not joking. I was at Wuhan Prison for about six hours that night. For everyone who is reading this and having some sort of heart attack after that last sentence, rest assure I am fine. Wuhan Prison is a bar. In fact, it is a bar that attracts a lot of foreigners who are over here teaching at various universities in the city. Amid the mix of Scottish, Irish, Australian, and American accents at the bar, there are a handful of Chinese as well who have become friends with some of the returning teachers, and I realize just how much this little enclave of people will be my go to people for the next year. It was a relief to see all of them enjoying the months and in some cases multiple years they have spent in Wuhan and it relaxed any remaining anxiety I had over whether or not I was going to enjoy myself here. Plus I realize, any place where a beer is less than a dollar and its pretty good cheap beer is a place I might have fun at.
Class starts on Monday for the students here at ZUEL and that means its time to start my job as well. I am really excited to start and really excited that within the first few days of class I can have a Dave Matthews Band unit. I am really only having this because I am missing the concert event of a lifetime--DMB at Wrigley for two nights in Sept, for those of you who haven't been paying attention--and it never hurts to pass along some American music to my new students.
Last but not least, I am doing well and enjoying my time here. I am loving it more and more everyday and I have not gotten sick--knock on wood. I miss you all very much and thank you to everyone who has been keeping in touch. It is great to hear from all of you and see some of you on Skype as well. For now goodbye, and I will write again soon. And since DMB at Wrigley field is fast approaching I leave you all with a video to watch if you so choose.
P.S. If any of you see a video of an American running in Wuhan that was filmed from the backseat of a driver's ed car...it was probably me running.
DMB-Two Step
Now you would think in a city of 9 million, there would be some sort of massive airport, maybe not on par with Hong Kong International Airport, but maybe something similar to Midway. Well at least that was what I had envisioned before arriving in Wuhan. Needless to say I was shocked when I walked downstairs to the baggage claim and saw that there was only one luggage carousel. After working my way through crowds of people--a mix of westerners and Chinese--and realizing that my conception of personal space was becoming a nostalgic memory; I grabbed my luggage and proceeded to meet my contact Lily and head to the campus of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (ZUEL). Following another hour of sitting, we all made it to our apartments on campus.
Being on the sixth floor or a seven story building doesn't sound horrible, but when there is no elevator and you have over a 100lbs of stuff to carry up those stairs, it becomes a tiring and fast. My all white walls, Chinese television channels, wood bench and chair for my furniture in my living, were a little hard to adjust to at first. While I am still adjusting, I have managed to overcome my fear of buying food at the near by streets. The first night I went out for food on my was literally terrifying. And I don't use terrifying in an attempt to be funny, I really had no clue what I was doing, what I was saying and even worse, what was being said at me. I would like to say in little less than a week, I have mastered the art of ordering food without saying much more than hello, thank you, and goodbye--it is important to keep your manners up even in a foreign language.
On my third or fourth day here in Wuhan I found myself in prison. Not joking. I was at Wuhan Prison for about six hours that night. For everyone who is reading this and having some sort of heart attack after that last sentence, rest assure I am fine. Wuhan Prison is a bar. In fact, it is a bar that attracts a lot of foreigners who are over here teaching at various universities in the city. Amid the mix of Scottish, Irish, Australian, and American accents at the bar, there are a handful of Chinese as well who have become friends with some of the returning teachers, and I realize just how much this little enclave of people will be my go to people for the next year. It was a relief to see all of them enjoying the months and in some cases multiple years they have spent in Wuhan and it relaxed any remaining anxiety I had over whether or not I was going to enjoy myself here. Plus I realize, any place where a beer is less than a dollar and its pretty good cheap beer is a place I might have fun at.
Class starts on Monday for the students here at ZUEL and that means its time to start my job as well. I am really excited to start and really excited that within the first few days of class I can have a Dave Matthews Band unit. I am really only having this because I am missing the concert event of a lifetime--DMB at Wrigley for two nights in Sept, for those of you who haven't been paying attention--and it never hurts to pass along some American music to my new students.
Last but not least, I am doing well and enjoying my time here. I am loving it more and more everyday and I have not gotten sick--knock on wood. I miss you all very much and thank you to everyone who has been keeping in touch. It is great to hear from all of you and see some of you on Skype as well. For now goodbye, and I will write again soon. And since DMB at Wrigley field is fast approaching I leave you all with a video to watch if you so choose.
P.S. If any of you see a video of an American running in Wuhan that was filmed from the backseat of a driver's ed car...it was probably me running.
DMB-Two Step
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