moon cake

Today is one of the major Chinese holidays, Mid-Autumn Festival, an ancient lunar harvest celebration. The Chinese have many myths about the moon and they all converge with this festival.  The big, full moon reminds Chinese of their family, so it’s also called the moon festival, and for the past week I’ve seen moon cakes everywhere: in bakeries, advertisements, grocery stores, and shopping bags.  Tonight, families will look at the moon and eat moon cakes.

Moon cakes, small, filled pastries, represent the moon and are packaged individually or into gift boxes.  I was given 2 large gift boxes of them, one from my counterpart teacher, one form the department.  I asked my counterpart teacher if people really like to eat them, explaining the fruitcake’s place in our history.  His evasive answer involved children who like sweet things.  Hell, I like sweet things; one of my hardships with living in China is the lack of sugar.  Bring on the moon cakes!  I’m eating one now for breakfast.  The box descriptions really appeal to me:  “super for people who has exquisite taste and enjoy the finest things in life,” “super quality exquisite taste and intense pleasure.”  Who can resist?

these will be in the freezer for all visitors to try

Mid-Autum festival coincides with National Day, so this is a national 1 week vacation.  Everyone goes home.  PCVs are not supposed to travel during their first 3 months at site “to better integrate into our communities.”  Never mind that our university campuses are nearly deserted.  What we’ll be integrating with is Netflix, for those lucking enough to have working Internet.

Today, I’m stuffing myself with moon cakes and planning day trips.  

questions, part 2

How did my teacher training presentation on WICR go yesterday?  That is a great question, and I honestly can’t say for sure, which I find unnerving.  I’m a teacher, and it’s my job to be an expert at reading people.  In China, oooooh, it’s hard to understand the nonverbal communication. 

I didn’t do a lecture, and that’s probably what the 40 teachers in the international studies department expected.  Instead, I started with a jigsaw activity called “expert groups,” with a Forbes article, Creating Innovators: Why America's Education System is Obsolete, to demonstrate a student-centered WICR activity.

I showed a simple prezi that I made, explaining WICR and talking about some current trends in US education.  I followed that with giving them a handout, an activity: The Text Rendering Protocol, explaining that it can be used in any content area.  I thought I had done a professional, organized, and non-threatening presentation. 

Questions?

Blank stares.  

Hmmm, did I talk too fast?  Was it too much information?  Was it difficult to understand in a second language?  Was it not what a teacher-centered education system wanted to hear?  

Then, a few questions about using WICR in content areas, like political science, managing large class sizes, and applying it in university classrooms.

Afterward, a few teachers came up to me in the hallway with excited questions, so I found that encouraging, and the dean seemed truly grateful.  Given the sideways communication style of this culture, I may never know how it was actually received.

At the very least, they saw a very American teacher with a very American teaching style in action.  Maybe that is success enough.

? questions ?

My students don’t ask questions.  This is perplexing; aren't college students supposed to ask questions?  

I know that they might be shy with the new foreign teacher and they lack confidence with their English skills, both big obstacles.  I ask, “What questions do you have?”  Then, I wait, wait, wait.  It’s just weird to not get any response from students, like questions, challenges, suggestions, comments, or even random and miscellaneous comments, the hallmark of bored American high school students.  During class, my students are friendly, attentive, and engaged when I teach or give directions: they nod, smile, or take notes, and they fully participate in the speaking activities.  So, what is going on?

After a few weeks of encouraging students to ask questions (we only meet once a week), I asked my Chinese colleagues for insight and suggestions.  Here’s the shocker: Chinese students will not ask questions because they feel it shows disrespect to the teacher.  A question implies that the material was not taught well.  WHAT?   

It’s true that the Chinese education system is teacher-centered with a focus on drill and practice.  Part of my role here is to show my students Western ways of learning and teaching.  In the US, or Boise anyway, we teach with a student-centered style that includes lots of activity, collaboration, inquiry, and problem solving.  That’s how my lessons look here too.  I even give them the daily objectives!

I’ve been asked to give a 1-hour lecture about teaching reading and writing to the International Relations Department next Friday.  I decided to teach WICR (part of AVID), realizing that I can only give the professors a short, but manageable, overview.  (Thanks Stephanie for the help!)  Now, it occurs to me that what I’m really going to teach them is American style education, and I’m looking at my presentation with a different perspective. 

I’m suddenly thinking about American values, and Chinese values, and seeing those values in education.  It never occurred to me that how I teach shows what I value, as obvious as that sounds saying it right now.  I just never thought about it. 

Robert Kohls, who wrote TheValues Americans Live By almost 30 years ago, identifies 13 American values that seem, for the most part, still true.  His list incudes personal control, time, equality, individualism, self-help, competition, future orientation, action, informality, directness, efficiency, and materialism.  What I find fascinating is his table that pairs American values with counterpart values from a traditional culture, one like China, and the vast difference between them.  

SISU lower campus, where I live: 

The playground has areas for badminton, basketball, volleyball, and tennis.

this is call a "playground" in China

International Relations Department Building

French Building, really nice, quiet, wifi, but
I've been asked to leave here twice
because it's only for French students :(

I walk by this classroom building everyday

 Greek theme wall art

 a key is needed to park here

walkway to school gate, by playground

     

duck, cover... and log-in

Last Thursday, the Peace Corps held the evacuation drill for all PCV’s in Chongqing, a potentially useful thing to practice given the international instability right now.  In an emergency, all PCVs must gather at a designated evacuation point centrally located in each district.  Chongqing’s evacuation point is a 5-star, downtown hotel, relatively close to my university.  During non-rush hours, it takes a 10-minute bus ride, a 30-minute subway ride, and a 5-minute walk, all very straight forward.  But, because my last class ended at 4, I was thrown into the guts of rush hour, the trip took 2 hours, giving me plenty of time to wondered about the public transportation system during a real emergency, like an earthquake.  The earthquake a few weeks ago in southern China was felt in Chongqing.  I was sitting at my desk, and I thought, “Hmm, this is an earthquake.  I wonder what I'm supposed to do.”

...during an earthquake

The Peace Corps, being the full-on US government agency that it is, leaves nothing to chance, or to the follies of the enthusiastic, but inexperienced, volunteers.  Our summer training covered response/action plans for every possible disaster scenario, big or small, including earthquakes.  I attentively listened, I took a few notes, I read the exhaustive handbook(s).  Earthquake: “Stay inside, open the door, stay away from large falling objects,” and, I guess, hope for the best because the buildings are tough. We even the practiced running into an earthquake position.  Still, I wonder about it all working out. 

Not only do all PCVs need to submit a detailed, hand drawn map of their apartment’s location (what about GPS coordinates?), but there is also a PC “pillow law.”  Any night a PCV’s head is not on their pillow, we need to fill-out an online “leave log.”  It’s like having overbearing and intimidating PC parents: “Where will you be? Who are you with? What is the address and phone number? How will you get there? What is your route?  What time will you depart/arrive? What is the bus number?” On and on.  They want to know where we are at every minute.  Or, is it the Chinese government?  Both?  How do I feel about this?  Would they really come and get us in an emergency or political crisis?

China-Japan tension is boiling right now over the ownership of a few islands.  Many angry and violent protesters are gathering in cities all over China.  The Global Times, one Chinese English language newspaper, printed an op-ed with the title, “Backing off not an option for China:” 

“For China, triumphing will cement cohesion and public confidence in the country.  We cannot back off and we must win.” 

The US position: work it out.

PC China sent out a helpful reminder to stay away from these political protests.  Check.  The email concluded that PC China administration is going on a 2-day retreat, but not to worry because both the 24 hour medical phone and the 24 hour emergency phone will be active.  OK.

The PC email didn’t mention the current explosion of world tension between the US and Muslim countries.  China has a minority Muslim population, but I’m not seeing or feeling any tension where I'm living anyway.

On Friday night, I learned a big-city lesson when a pickpocket took my phone case out of my shoulder bag while I was in a crowded crosswalk.  In one of our safety briefings, we were directly warned about this common problem with many pictures and scenarios.  I felt it happening and turned but the human wave pushed passed.  Fortunately, he/she just got the case, not the phone, which was in my hand.  In the case was my collection of business cards from the many people I’ve met in the past few weeks, people whose names I need to remember.  Everyone gives business cards here.  Worse, on one card was the name and location of my school in Chinese, so I can just show to the cab driver to get back after 10:30 pm when the buses stop running.  At least my Chinese is good enough to get me home, thankfully.  Lesson learned. 

Ciqikou Old Town

Jason is a Chinese language inspiration.  He finished his Peace Corps service in June, spent a few months in the states, and is now a student at SISU (where I teach), studying Chinese.  

The 4 students/teachers from Drake, a girl from Ireland, Jason, and I spent the afternoon checking out Ciqikou Old Town, a 15 minute walk from campus.

"Situated on the bank of the Jia Ling River, not far from its confluence with the Yangtze is the ancient village of Ci Qi Kou, formally known as Long Yin.  It covers an area of some 1.2 square kilometers.  Chongqing itself has  undergone many changes over the centuries, changes that have not been reflected in Ci Qi Kou, now a protected cultural site.  The village conveys an impression of what Chongqing would have been like in the distant past.  The history of Ci Qi Kou can be traced back for more than 1700 years.  During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911) it was famous for its production of porcelain."

Jason's PC site was Chongqing, so he knows the area well.  

entrance to Ciqikou

really crowded, even by Chinese standards 

some food that looks good

spices

Jialing River and Chongqing smog

ancient way of carrying: bamboo and rope

ancient fishing style: bamboo and net on the Jialing River
(the river is usually not so muddy)

bangbang (sitck-stick men) porter: stick+ baskets= move concrete

river front property

everything stops during nap-time, including a truck full of peppers