teaching assignment

To all of my teacher/ school friends: 

I want to wish you a great start to the new school year! I really miss the excitement and high energy everyone has now, including the students. Go Frank Church HS! YEA!!

my apt front door

Right now, I'm sitting in the hallway of the International Studies Department offices to get internet because the internet cafe is too expensive.  A cup of coffee or tea costs the same as a week of lunches, and I'm on a tight PC budget.  Everyday I ask about getting internet for my apartment, and each person tells me to talk to someone else.  Sigh...

the abandoned apartment building next to mine
that I discovered has people living in it

view of abandoned apt from window
by my front door

My current situation will go down as one of the funniest teaching things to happen to me, ever!  I now promise the BSD, really and truly, to be totally grateful for BIM, AVID, WICR, Look-to-Learning, my blue objectives markers, all of the in-service trainings, and whatever else you ask from teachers.  Yes, you heard that right.  The BSD is organized, and that sounds really good to me right now.  

I was told on Friday that I'm teaching a class, starting Monday, that has never been taught here before, and there's no book or curriculum, and sorry you don't have internet, and you are collaborating with someone who has never taught, and you've never taught this class, but we know you'll do a great job.  It took an hour of walking last night to see that it's really funny.

Yes, I am supposed to collaborate with another new foreign "teacher" to teach basically what sounds like a speech and debate class for sophomores.  We were asked to develop the curriculum and teaching materials with the expectation that we both teach the same lessons each week, and eventually they would like to develop a textbook for the course. 

I'm happy to do this and help the school.  My concern is that the other "teacher" is 22, has just graduated from college, has no teaching experience or training, and was told by her college in the US, Drake U, that she could just "wing-it" with the lessons in China.

Working with someone with no teaching experience might be challenging.  But, we'll see. She is here with 3 others who just graduated from Drake U, and they are totally lost and confused.  I can imagine what they are dealing with because I'm using the language and culture training I got from PC with every interaction, and I still make slow progress. 

I also have another teaching assignment doing teacher training at a tourism school, but no word on where, what, or how that will happen.

my apartment

my apartment building

I arrived in Chongqing on Monday after our swearing in ceremony.  I am now an official PC Volunteer!

The Sichuan International Studies University campus is beautiful and I'm very happy to be at a smaller school.

And, I'm trying to not let my apartment get me down because there are many things to appreciate here.  To make a very long, confusing, and troubling story very short and simple, I will just say that this is the apartment I have:   http://youtu.be/elDNrI1d2eg  I spent the first 3 days cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

Peace Corps told me to live here.  They told the university that PCVs can live anywhere because we are tough and hardy, and we don't expect much.  They explained that they do not want me living with the foreign teachers; they want me living with Chinese nationals, which is great and fine, except that this apartment building is nearly vacant.  The Chinese teachers live in new apartment buildings that I walk by to get to my apartment building.

one thing to love: my bed has lightning

things to hate: mold and cockroaches, lots of both 

Chinese teacher's apartments

Tomorrow I hope to learn my teaching schedule; classes start on Monday.  I'll be happy to focus on teaching!

I meet with the Dean today, then there's a big department meeting tomorrow.  Still waiting for Internet for my apartment.

last supper

Embarrassing moments happen, and I should have seen this one coming; there were warning signs.  Learning Chinese, as everyone told me before I left, is hard, and today I confirmed that conclusion during my final language test, a 30 minute conversation with an unbiased tester.  All week we’ve been preparing for this test by fielding rapid fire questions and doing role-playing with our language instructors, so my anxiety grew each day. 

drying a few hot peppers on the balcony

Another warning sign of my impending fall was a false sense that I was starting to understand more of what’s said around me.  At dinner last night when the conversation turned to what dishes I liked, I knew what to say right away because we had just practiced that conversation in language class.  I said a few that I know only because they are easy to say, not because I like them.  What my hosts were really asking is what I wanted for my last dinner with them tonight.

Everyone knows, including my hosts here, that me + hot spicy food = tears, sweat, and respiration problems.  Sichuan food is notoriously hot and spicy for a reason: lethal hot red peppers and Sichuan numbing peppers.  It’s a one-two punch, that’s in every dish, along with MSG.  One of the first things I learned to say in Chinese was, “not hot” when ordering food, which only means it’s not going to be as hot.

When I sat down with the tester, and she started asking me questions, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, or more accurately not hearing.  At one point, I actually thought, “What language is she speaking?”  And I knew I had to do something, but what?  We’ve all seen this happen, a nervous person just starts talking and talking, and that’s exactly what I did.  The more I talked, the more confused the tester looked, obviously wondering, “What language is she speaking?”  There were many low points, but the worse was when I asked her what job she had.  She works for the Peace Corps and I’ll see her tomorrow.

So, that didn't go well.  Fortunately, the PC gives us a language allowance to pay for tutoring.

Tomorrow, all trainees move to a hotel for a weekend of more training.  On Monday, with much pomp and circumstance, we have our swearing in ceremony, and then reality sets-in as we head off to our new teaching jobs.  And for me, a look at my apartment after full week worry and many, many conversations.  It's a story that needs pictures and a video.

What I wanted most of all this afternoon was my friends, Queen of Nails, and a G&T.

no guanxi and no worries

The Peace Corps sent us off last Monday with a train ticket and an 8 page “Site Visit Packet” that included a straight forward 16-item “Site Visit Task Checklist.”   The instructions cautioned us to build “guanxi,” a complicated, unspoken system of social networking to obtain favors, open doors, get things done, and move forward. 

Without gunaxi, a simple checklist is nearly impossible, as I found out this week.

     Me: “Do you know my teaching schedule?” (checklist item #12)

     School: “Oh, yes!”

     Me: “Can I have it?”

     School: “I will call someone.”

Did I get it? No. 

And so it went as I proceeded down the checklist.  Whatever I did get done, took a guanxi loan, and I'm now in guanxi debit.  For someone who lives with to-do lists and getting lots of things done fast, I’m used to making my world spin.  I’m not making anything spin yet, and that is a shock.  

My first impressions of Chongqing are all about shock.  At over 100 degrees with humidity and pollution, just breathing was a challenge.  Any movement, like eating, caused a total drenching sweat. 

Another shock was the killing of China’s most wanted criminal, a serial bank robber who has killed many people, as recently as last Friday.  Why the PC didn’t tell us about this in all of our safety and security session will remain a mystery.  This #1 bad guy was shot very close to the apartment building where I was staying, at the bank where I needed to open an account, checklist item #4.  Neither my host or counterpart teacher felt I should know about it, and didn’t tell me.

Maybe the biggest shock is the campus apartment confusion, and I’m still waiting to see how this one will end, checklist item #1: “conduct the initial Housing Assessment Checklist.” This story will come later. 

After day 1 frustrations, my wonderful host, an English teacher at the university, decided that we needed a no checklist day, and we went to a Buddhist Monastery, Huayan Temple.   It was a tranquil morning spent in calm and quiet, and I’m grateful she and her son took me there.  It was just what I needed.   The PC tells us that one of the most difficult things we will do is “become accustomed and comfortable in a Chinese home.”  So far, I think it’s one of the easiest things I’ve been expected to do. 

Now, I'll try to keep that calm and not worry about my apartment.

my host and her 13 yr old son

a monk walks by lotus ponds

fans do nothing when it's over 100

the original, ancient site

wash day

love this, a Winnie the pooh clock!

Pre Service Training

in my room this morning

This week, we each travel to our sites for a short visit.  I leave Monday morning on a 2 hour fast train to Chongqing and I'll return on Friday.  I'm a bit nervous, even though I know I shouldn't be.

We only have 2 weeks left of training; we are "Trainees," until the swearing in ceremony when we officially become "Volunteers." This preparation time is creatively known as Pre Service Training, "PST," and it is an intense cultural immersion with long hours in classes on language, culture, TEFL, health, safety, and security.  Then, we spend more hours with our host family.  We carry around our Calendar of Training Events, "COT," a 10 page document dense with acronyms, including, helpfully, an acronym key.  Every Friday, we submit our completed Trainee Assessment Plan, "TAP," a 11"x14" booklet that lists every training objective for each week.  We complete a self-assessment, and each trainer also completes their section evaluation us as well.

 me and Confucius before banquet

To say PST is intense, doesn't really capture the experience.  It's clear the Peace Corps wants the Trainees/Volunteers to be successful, and so the organization does everything imaginable to guarantee our success.  All through training, the PC expectations are clear, everything is precisely organized, nothing is left to chance, and all bases are covered.

And so, we had banquet practice.  "The banquet is a formal dinner, usually held at a restaurant, to express gratitude, farewell, or to welcome the guest of honor.  Most banquets volunteers go to have 8-10 guests." (page 1 of our 6 page banquet handout)  Apparently, we will attend many, many banquets, often on short notice, and often we'll be expected to make brief speeches and toasts.  The banquet has many rules about hierarchy, seating, conversation, toasts, and eating.

all meals at home and out are served "family style,"
the serving spoons are rare

better to not know what these are,
one is lung (whose?) in blood

practice toasts with tea and soda

Most of the banquet training packet covers alcohol, the drinking culture, and how to politely avoid it so that the banquet host doesn't "lose face" and we don't lose face.  The jr. high-like peer pressure is aimed at the men; it's easy for the women to decline drinking.

Given all of the different training I've had, I know I am very well prepared and supported for this site visit and my new job.

a swim

Mercifully, we were let out of class early yesterday, just as temperatures were hitting close to 100, I'm guessing.  I have been dreaming about swimming for a long time because I walk by our neighborhood pool on the way to and from school every day.  I grabbed my bathing suit before I left for the day, thinking that I'd stop on my way home.

Another PCV said that she swam at the college pool, so I went there instead, and caused a minor scene because I am American? because I wore a 2-piece suit? because I know how to swim? because I decided it was better to swim with a shirt on?

me, of course

them

I didn't last long, but it sure felt great.  It was difficult to swim around all of the kids and floats, so I just breaststroked back and forth in a small, corner area.  Some kids would yell, "Hello!" I'd answer in Chinese, and I'd smile, and maybe hand quirt water at them.  It's weird to be the focus of attention.  My empathy for what it's like to be a minority is growing each day.

the SNU pool, women model bathing suits (in background)

Suits for sale at the pool. (Oops, I took a video, sorry)

my assignment

The wait is over!

I'm going to Chongqing Municipality to teach at Sichuan International Studies University.  

It's a dream job in a huge city.

I'll spend next week there on a visit, staying with another host family, getting to know the school and the area.

Wenshu Monastery

On Saturday, our language instructors sent us out in pairs to find various long-distance bus or train stations in Chengdu.  My partner and I passed the Wenshu Monastery on the way to the north bound long-distance train station, so on the way back, we stopped for a quick visit.

This is a famous Buddhist temple in China, and one of the 4 major temples of Zen Buddhism. It was founded during the Sui Dynasty (605-617).  Monks live here, and they run The Kong Ling Buddhist Academy to train monks.

one of several courtyards with a temple

classroom

bell

door

door details

my search partner, he really know the language

details even on the roof

every temple has a different image

free incense to use for praying

monk

glad for this week to end

10 vaccines later

Why is that when my stomach is loopy, odd animal parts appear on the dinner table? It's been rabbit parts dinner for the last 2 nights.  The grandson, who sits next to me, gets to eat the head, and until he gets around to it, that head, with those big carrot eating front teeth, looks right at me.  When I feel better, I'll describe the head eating process, maybe.  

For some reason, despite my best efforts, it was my day to feel sick to my stomach all day.  Could it be the 3 immunizations I got the other day?  Could it be the water?  Could it be that it's really hard to keep hands clean because of a lack of soap and paper towel? Could it be the sharing of community germs at dinner when everyone's chopsticks go into the "serving" dishes?  Bleh.  It's not stress; this was worse than stomach stress.

Definitely, it was a stressful week.  Today, model school ended, and the kids had a great time playing verb bingo, and other American classroom games.  I'm glad for the experience because I have an idea about what I'm getting into teaching English as a foreign language, specifically speaking English.

A fun calligraphy and culture lesson

my chinese name in characters

Another stressor was our "placement interviews," a 10 minute conversation with one PC program director and the 4 province program managers, who together will determine our fate.  There are 80 university positions and 72 Volunteers.  They gave us the interview questions in advance, but it's still intimidating to sit down for a 5 on 1 interview.  For our group of experience teachers, they had a few more questions about specific teaching assignment preferences.  I'm trying not to infer too much from their questions or their body language. I don't know enough about the culture yet to do that.  We learn next Thursday where we are going and the job.  Then, the follow week, we go to the site for a 5 day visit and to meet school officials.

"bridge beers"

On the way home, we sometimes stop for a beer or ice cream from one of the tiny shops on a walking path.  There is a drainage canal with a bridge over it, so this spot's been named "bridge bar." Those shops have the cheapest beer, at $.50 for a 20 oz bottle.  Price matters; we're on a tight budget.

The locals strolling by usually stop to give us a good looking over.  Staring is culturally acceptable and expected, but it's still hard to get used to it.