Archives for July 2008
Say Frustrated in Chinese
The school is hurting for foreign teachers right now and is always asking me if I’m going to continue to work part time in the fall. Um… why would I want to teach more English in my free time? What they don’t understand is that I didn’t come to China to make lots of money. If money was the object, I could be making 2-3 times as much back home. I tell them I will consider it, but, unless I find myself completely bored out of my mind on the weekends, I wouldn’t count on it.
In fact, they always bring this up at the worst possible times, like shortly after they dumped more free talks on me. Let’s think about this for a moment. You give me more of the classes that I hate doing above all others, and then you want me to stick around for another semester? You’ve got the concept of bait and switch all wrong.
I’m a whiner when it comes to doing free talks, because I end up spending my days off preparing for them. I really want to study and practice Chinese, but it’s hard to do so when I’m engulfed so deep in English. The last thing I want to do after working in English all day is dive into another language. I just found a new lessons website, too, but when I try to look at it between classes, students want to talk English with me.
I did go down to China Mobile, though, to put more money on my phone. While my conversation with the receptionist was brief, I was totally prepared to do this in Chinese and didn’t even realize she knew English. Let’s watch:
“Ni hao.”
“Hello.”
“Wo yao songgei qian… nei ge… nei ge… wode shouji.”
“Okay. Your number.”
“Shenme?”
“The number.”
“Oh. Oh! English. Uh… here.”
At this rate, learning Chinese looks grim. Fortunately, things will be much different when I move back to the Star school. In fact, I asked about the possibility of taking Chinese classes through Star. While lessons aren’t available to foreign teachers, I was told I could sit in on the first grade classes. I will fit right in.
Bad Manners are Good Manners
Formal vs. informal is a common theme in our lesson plans. I know, this is something we don’t really think about as Americans, but there is definitely a difference between saying, “Would you be so kind as to lend me your eraser?” and, “Gimme, gimme, gimme!”
Yesterday, we were talking about formal and informal ways to invite people to do something. Since the lesson wasn’t very long, I brought up the similar subject of good and bad manners. What I was hoping to get out of this was an insight into how I could avoid unknowingly offending people in China. To my surprise, though, all of the bad manners they mentioned were things we consider bad manners, too. Spitting. Littering. Talking loudly on your cell phone. Eating with your mouth open. Cutting in line (or queue jumping if you’ve been learning British English).
Wait… uh… what?
These are things I see every day in China! Talking loudly is common. Spitting is common. Queue jumping is so common, you won’t get very far in life by sticking to the opposite. Are there really that many people with bad manners here? Don’t they realize they bother even each other? Are they too afraid to point it out? I’m just glad I’m not the only one who’s seeing it.
A “Whoa, Where Am I?” Moment
This morning, I went to a restaurant and ordered dofunao (tofu in a sweet syrup) all by myself. I grow up so fast.
While I ate, the thought crossed my mind, “What am I doing? I’m in China!” It’s not the first time I’ve had this revelation. It happens a lot, actually. The other teachers, who have been here much longer than me, still get this feeling from time to time, too.
It’s strange to think, not long ago, I was once living in Orem Utah, and now I’m on the other side of the world, eating dofunao in a hot, humid Chinese restaurant. Everything that took place prior to this is a dream. I keep telling my students about how I’ve been to China before, but even those stories come across as some ancient history. It really is like living a second life.
Vitamins and Miserables
Can you believe it’s already been a month since I left? Unfortunately, the one-month mark is usually when everything starts to irritate you. Bingo. When I was in Hefei with ILP, I found the first month to be fun, new, and exciting. The second and third months, however, were difficult; I was sick of everything and couldn’t wait to go home. But by the fourth month, I had settled into things and really liked where I was.
If history is any indication, I have a lot to look forward to come October. And it won’t be so hot by then, either. It’s really, really hot. I went to my Star apartment today to drop some things off, and I found my Flinstone vitamins in an awful state. Look what the humidity did to them! These used to be orange:
Yesterday was World English’s one-year anniversary. They had a dinner party and asked the foreign teachers to perform something. We played a couple improvisational games a la Whose Line is it Anyway. I have never seen so many blank faces in my life. The only people laughing were the foreigners up on stage. Well, at least we had fun.
On the flipside, Chinese people probably find my blank stares just as obnoxious. There are some days where I’m on fire, where everybody I talk to says exactly what I understand and know how to reply to. But then there are days where the only thing I can make any sense of is “Ni hao.”
Interestingly, Chinese people don’t always understand each other, either. While I was looking for a cell phone with one of the Chinese tutors, another customer came up next to us and started talking to the vendor. The tutor leaned over to me and said, “I don’t know what that guy is saying. He is from a different city.”
I knew there were many different dialects in Chinese, but I didn’t think it was so severe. Liyang is only an hour and a half from Changzhou, and yet people from Changzhou have a hard time following a conversation between two people from Liyang. That’s why many TV channels provide subtitles, so the people who can’t understand the dialect can still read what’s going on.
Tianmu Lake
My days off this week were Tuesday and Friday. Convenient. This kind of scheduling (as well as the random day-to-day nonsense) is why I don’t think I could work at a training school for a long period of time. Nonetheless, I’m glad I took the World English contract, because I have met a lot of cool people by working here. If I had spent the last three weeks at the Wujin Star school, I probably still wouldn’t have any friends in Changzhou.
Last Tuesday, two of our students asked Bart and me to go to Tianmu Lake with them. They put a lot of work into planning and preparing for this, even before we accepted the invitation, and when we finally agreed on when to go, all the other students congratulated me, “I hear you are going to Tianmu Lake. That is so cool!”
Tianmu Lake was my first vacation, and, despite being incredibly hot and humid, it was nice. It’s definitely not like going to Fish Lake or Yuba Lake. Tianmu Lake has three islands that you can take a boat to, and each island has several activities and things to see.
Unfortunately, when we first got there, this obnoxious man-child started tagging along with us, trying to befriend the Americans. He would not leave us alone. If we got too far ahead of him, he would ditch his family in a frantic run to catch back up with us.
He finally got the hint, though, when we didn’t accept his offer for beer and lunch. Skipping lunch was a small price to pay to get rid of him. I feel like, between his presence and the hot weather, our students got the impression we didn’t have a good time. But that’s not true.
It’s just hard to explain to someone who you don’t have a strong, common language with that you really are appreciative of them for taking you to the lake. All they see is a sweating, blubbering foreigner. It’s at times like this when I really hate being so far behind in my Chinese.
You Left-Handers are so Special
“Why do you write with your left hand?”
I get this question a lot, and I still can’t decide how I’m supposed to answer. Why do you write with your right hand? Why do you speak Chinese? I’ve known left-handedness was a rarity in China, but now that I’m working with adults, I get the full scoop. They all tell me being left-handed means you are clever (though who knows what they really mean when they say “clever”). I’ve met a few people, however, who eat with their left hand. They just don’t do anything else with it.
Not even wipe.
Well, that must be the case, since the garbage can in public restrooms is almost always on the right side of the squatter (for the uninformed, you don’t flush toilet paper). I suspect somebody is playing a joke on China and is going around, switching the garbage cans. And nobody bothers to right it. Or would that be left it…
Rags to Riches
Yeah, so, like, the other day was a bad day and all, topped off by the school changing my free days again after I had already made plans to go out with some of my students. I didn’t think the following day would go over well, either. I mean, I was out partying the night before, and the day sure started sour when I had the most aggravating time ever trying to teach a group of beginning adults how to play Bingo. Bingo, for heaven’s sake!
But then the next three classes were hilarious. You know you’re making progress when you can teach English and get the students to laugh at the same time. I had a one-on-one class where we were looking over a fictional monthly expenses chart. The chart said this guy spent $70 a month on toiletries, so my student suggested he must be wiping with dollar bills.
What really helped my mood was getting my passport back. Finally, I am a complete expatriate! The passport couldn’t have come at a better time, too. Last night, I was down to eight yuan. I had no money to do anything. So I walked all over town looking for an Internet bar, but by the time I found one, I couldn’t even afford to go in. I saw a sign for bowling, though, so I thought I would check it out. Unfortunately, the directions to get in were very confusing, and I ended up walking down some rather scary alleys. But I wasn’t worried. If anyone mugged me, they’d only get eight yuan out of the deal.
I did find the bowling alley, and as soon as I walked in, the owner tried to cajole me into buying a game. I said, “Wo meiyou qian, keshi wo yao kan.” (I don’t have any money, but I want to watch.) She nodded, and I watched a game of bowling, knowing that tomorrow (today) would be different, because I would (I do) finally have money.
Am I Chinese Yet?
Do you see that? Do you see it? That’s all the money I have left: less than 100 yuan. This issue with my passport is ridiculous. I’m sick of being poor, sick of not being able to afford a mobile phone or splurge on expensive yogurt that helps your digestive system.
Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhhhh!
I hate this period of transitioning. I just want to go straight to the part where I start thinking I’m Chinese already. I’ve had a stomachache for the past three days as my body tries to adjust to eating new food, and I find myself continually frustrated not being able to speak or understand very much Chinese.
We all have our “I hate China” moments. I usually get these in the morning when the hotel workers start slamming doors and yelling at 7:00. My interest in speaking Chinese runs on the same wavelength. There are times when I enjoy blubbering, “What’s that? Is that eggplant? I want that. What’s that? Does it have meat? What kind of meat? Pork? Yeah, I want that.” But sometimes I just want to point out my food and be on my way, and I don’t want to humor the vendor who, every other day, says nothing, but today, suddenly wants to know my life story.
Today is one of those days.
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