Roadblock

Niall's here! We went to the train station this afternoon to buy tickets to Xi'an, where Niall, Brian and I had planned to meet up with three other teachers during our break next week. The problem we ran into is everyone in China travels during that week. Saturday - no tickets available. Sunday - no tickets available. Monday - no tickets available. The best we could have done was standing room only for 12 hours overnight on Friday. So then we tried different destinations: Qingdao, Nanjing, Shanghai, Harbin. Not only were there no tickets to Xi'an, there were no tickets anywhere. Everyone around us was getting the same answer: "Mei you, mei you." Finally I looked at the agent and asked (in the best Chinese I could muster), "Women keyi qu nar?" (Where can we go?). She left the counter and, after consulting with others, came back and wrote down the characters for Nanchang, a small city that's probably about 24 hours away. So we left without tickets. We put off making travel arrangements despite being warned this would happen. Anyway, lesson learned. We'll look into other options tomorrow, possibly the bus; otherwise, we'll plan some day trips or an overnight trip closer to Beijing.

China Fun Fact: On certain days up to 25 percent of the pollution over Los Angeles comes from China.

Housekeeping

Not a very eventful weekend. Attendance at English Corner on Friday ballooned from four to 30, so we moved it outside because the classroom was too small. Since then I've mostly been cleaning and getting organized for this week, with a brief foray to the Silk Alley Market and Sanlitun, where we ended up at a bar frequented by rugby players and/or spectators. October break is coming up, however, so I need to make travel plans.

A small revision to the mailing address I sent out earlier, as I left out the postal code. It's 101149.

I've been posting photos on Facebook -- for those of you not on the site, click the following links to see pictures from the Shanghai seminar, campus tour, Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City and Beijing Opera.

China Fun Fact: There are more than 50,000 Chinese characters, of which 5,000-8,000 are in common use and 3,000 are used for everyday purposes.

Here, kitty kitty

One of my students was absent today, but we had two surprise guests -- tiny kittens who showed up early this morning. Needless to say, they were super cute. It was hard to focus with all their pitiful mewing.

Kittens and photos from the weekend can be viewed here.

Tonight Brian, Shirley and I had Korean BBQ -- baked spicy pork, baked beef and mutton -- which was out of this world. Dinner for three, including tea, drinks, a four-piece sushi appetizer and dessert, came to 144 RMB -- about $19.

China Fun Fact: China has more than US$1.3 trillion in its foreign exchange reserve, up 42% from last year.

Weekend update

Saturday morning we attended a “Service and Publicity Day for Foreigners” in Tongzhou, which is the district we live in. Similar events were held throughout Beijing Municipality, which has 16 districts and two counties. Tongzhou, an eastern suburb about 40 minutes from downtown, is 37 km wide, 48 km long and claims a combined permanent and migrant population of more than one million. For you Montreal/D.C. folk, it’s kind of like living in St. Laurent/Alexandria but with fewer immigrants/bureaucrats.

The Tongzhou event was outside a mall not far from the school, although it took us awhile to find it. There were 20 or 25 other foreigners there, seated in rows facing a stage, and everyone received two gift bags. The first contained a mug, pen, DVD and Tongzhou “Inverstment Guide (sic).” The second was a complete set for dog owners, including leash, muzzle and canine-themed playing cards. Now all I need is a dog.

The ceremony itself was short. Western teachers from a local music academy performed two songs, one in French and one in Chinese, followed by a Chinese student at the academy who sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” We exited with Michael Jackson (“Beat It”) playing in the background as local police registered volunteers for the Olympics.

It’s hard to overstate how important the Olympics are here. My students took a practice TOEFL on Friday, and the essay question was “What historical event in your country has had a major effect on your country? Give reasons and examples to support your response.” When I first saw the question I thought, “OK, there’s the Opium Wars, the Communist Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Nixon’s visit, Tiananmen Square, joining the WTO… The possibilities are endless.” Now, I don’t really expect my students to write about the Cultural Revolution or Tiananmen Square, but I thought at least Mao would get a mention. Instead, they both wrote about the Olympic Games. Preparing to host the Olympics has transformed China into a country that looks forward with optimism and hope, rather than staying mired in the past (although the past is still very much alive in many ways).

In the evening, Brian and I headed to Wangfujing – Beijing’s premier shopping street – for the China and Japan Cultural Festival. We had dinner in a basement food court, where the choice was overwhelming – Japanese, Cantonese, Korean. We darted from place to place asking ourselves “Should I eat here or here? Or here?” before finally settling on our meals. Of course, this means I’ll have to go back soon to try something else.

From there we went to Sanlitun, known as “Bar Street” to foreigners and quite popular among that crowd. It was strange but fun. We returned to Tongzhou in a cab and stumbled back onto campus around 2 a.m., trying not to wake the students as we passed through the dorm courtyard.

I had planned to explore Chaoyang yesterday, but I slept until 1:30 instead.

China Fun Fact: Tongzhou was founded more than 2,200 years ago and has had its current name since 1151 A.D.

Week 2: Done

So... Blogspot went back to not working again. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

More rain today. When the students do laundry, they dry their clothes on racks in the courtyard. One lonely t-shirt has been hanging outside for two days.

There were four students at the first English Corner today. We started by playing "Two Truths and a Lie," which they more or less understood. I asked them to write down topics they want to talk about, which were mostly music, movies, sports, the Olympics and "singing songs of Backstreet Boys." We got to talking about pets, so I showed them pictures of Tiki and video of Maura's dog Rocky (the one I took at Kate's the first day). They thought Tiki was cute (naturally) but old, while they said Rocky seemed naughty. They all want to visit America and were very curious about it, so I drew a terrible map. I pointed out L.A., D.C., New York, etc. but this one girl's dream vacation is to go to Long Island, because that's where her last English teacher was from.

China Fun Fact: More than half the population in China lives without sewage treatment, including 278 cities -- eight of which have more than 500,000 people.

Hmm...

Blogspot now appears to have been unblocked in China, so I visited my own blog today for the first time.

It rained today for the first time since I've been here, all morning. Fortunately I got to class right before it started to pour. My students asked me if I liked rain and how much it rains where I'm from, so I started talking about the desert, showed them pictures and played some monsoon videos I took last month.

Earlier this week, a first-year student asked me about English tutoring. I cleared it with the school, but since then another girl sought us out to ask the same question. My solution is to hold an "English Corner" on Fridays during lunch, so students can practice conversation. The academic dean said if I made up an advertisement she would post it around campus, so I'll give that to her tomorrow morning and we'll see who shows up.

Last night we had dinner at this bizarre Mao-themed restaurant. The place was plastered in red, Chinese flags sat on every table and everywhere you turned Mao stared back from the wall. The servers wore olive green uniforms complete with red armbands, and matching messenger bags with canteens hung on the walls. It was atmospheric, to say the least, but we made some poor food choices. Our ordering process in restaurants has basically been flip through the picture menu, guess what everything is and point. This has generally worked quite well, and we've had some great meals. In fact, it's hard to go wrong. So last night we decided to try lotus root and two meat dishes. The servers tried to steer us in another direction, but we stuck to our guns when we should have listened to them. The lotus root was gummy and extremely sweet, while the first meat dish turned out to be... our best guess was liver and stomach. The other meat dish, however, was pork -- sliced thin and crispy -- served with onions, and it tasted more like ham.

China Fun Fact: The Chinese flag has five yellow, five-pointed stars. The large one represents Communist Party leadership, while the four smaller stars represent the four classes: peasants, workers, petty bourgeoisie and the so-called patriotic capitalists.

Happy Teachers Day!

I didn't realize it was Teachers Day until one of my students brought me a flower this morning. She explained that it's a way to show appreciation for teachers, except they don't get the day off. This might also explain why we went to the opera last night.

This afternoon a student I hadn't met knocked on my door with some Teachers Day buns/pastries, nuts and dried fruit for us. He's not taking any English classes and wants a tutor on Friday afternoons, so I said I would look into it.

Classes are going well. We go straight through January, except for exams and a few long weekends, but then we get a four-week (paid) vacation from Jan. 26-Feb. 24.

Add to the list of blocked Web sites (not that this is surprising) Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Freedom Forum.

China Fun Fact: As a result of its "one child" policy, China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world.

I have to have a drink for releasing worrying and depressing

Tonight the school took all the teachers to the Beijing Opera downtown. There were two shorter acts and one longer one, complete with acrobatics, sword dancing and English subtitles like the one in the title above. Beijing opera sets are simple, but the costumes and makeup are much more elaborate.

As Brian and I exited the theater, however, there was a brief moment of uncertainty ("Quick, find someone from our group so we can follow them." "Do you recognize anyone from our group?" "Um..."). We were reasonably certain we boarded the right bus, and fortunately we were right.

China Fun Fact: By 2020 Beijing's subway system will overtake London's as the longest in the world, at 561 kilometers. Line 5, which runs north-south, will open later this month, and at least two more are scheduled to launch before the Olympics.

Out and about

As it was our first real day sightseeing, naturally we started with Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Not long after we exited the subway, a girl about our age fell in step with us and asked where we were from – she wanted to practice her English. She pointed out all the sights around the square and walked down the block with us.

Later, as we were standing around in the square, a young guy from D.C. came up and asked (a) did we speak English and (b) did we have a Beijing cell phone. His cell phone had died and he was trying to meet up with his friends in the largest public square in the world. Brian lent him his phone, and the conversation went something like this: “Where are you? What are you looking at? A big portrait of Mao? So am I. Meet me by the statue with the gold lettering. No, the other one.”

Brian – who’s 6’3’’ and blond – has been a big hit here. All day men and women were telling him how handsome he is. “I never thought I’d get tired of being complimented,” he said. Someone even asked to take a picture with him at the Forbidden City. People have trouble with his name, though. When we arrived at the airport in Beijing, our school coordinator met us with a sign reading “Jennifer and Brain,” and that’s pretty much how everyone has been pronouncing it.

Outside the Forbidden City, a woman showed us the baby in her arms and asked for money. I had 1 yuan in my pocket, so I pulled it out and gave it to her without slowing down. As we walked away, however, tiny footsteps came running up from behind. Soon a toddler was struggling to keep up with us, grabbing at our legs and repeating the only English words she knew, mostly "money." How do you turn out as an adult when those are your childhood memories?

It’s hard to tell who genuinely wants to practice English and who’s trying to bilk money from you. So many people came up to us today just wanting to talk. But the Forbidden City was also filled with “art students” who ask people to come look at their work, then pressure them into buying it. I had heard about the tea ceremony scam (people invite you to a tea ceremony, then present you with a huge bill) before I arrived, so I was hesitant when two girls we met in a park invited us to have a drink with them so they could practice English. First, you have to understand that people stare, wave at us from across the street and walk right up to start conversations, so it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that they actually wanted to chat. We had nowhere in particular to go – and we are English teachers, after all – so we agreed. Once we walked into a teahouse, however, I got nervous and made sure we discussed how much we’d be paying before any tea was served. The girls assured us it should be no more than 50 yuan (about US$6 or $7) per person and we proceeded to sample maybe six teas, all the while talking about school, celebrities and whether we wanted to go bar-hopping with them tonight. When the bill arrived, however, it totaled more than 1,300 yuan – 50 yuan per person per tea. The girls seemed surprised by this (which I didn’t totally buy, since they’re Beijing natives and should know better), but they said since it was their fault they would pay if we just chipped in a little more. Did they work for the teahouse? I don’t know. We ended up paying 100 yuan each, but decided that it wasn’t such an unreasonable price anyway. (For comparison, 100 yuan covers admission and an English audio guide at the Forbidden City).

After that we said goodbye to the girls and walked around looking for somewhere to eat dinner. We were about to enter the subway to go home when, in a city of 20 million people, we actually ran into someone we knew – Xavier from the Beijing WITT office, along with a co-worker we hadn’t met. Every day there’s a new surprise.

China Fun Fact: The emperor was the only non-castrated male allowed to enter the Forbidden City’s eastern and western palaces, thus ensuring that any pregnant concubines were carrying legitimate heirs.

And then there were three

I got a second student today! I'm so happy. The classroom dynamic changed the second she walked through the door. My first student seemed relieved to have another Chinese speaker/English learner in the room, and it allows me to plan activities using pairwork.

China Fun Fact: According to China Daily, twice as many children (1% nationally) are experiencing the early onset of puberty compared to 10 years ago -- due to a healthier diet and access to pornographic material that makes them "sexually precocious."

Hurry up and wait

We had our medical exams today. The school coordinator drove us an hour to the Beijing International Travel Health Center, where we stood in line at reception, stood in line to pay, stood in line for blood tests, stood in line to have our blood pressure taken, stood in line for chest X-rays and stood in line for EKGs. I have to say, though, they must process an impressive number of people each week.

I also went to the bank to change money. After getting my number I left for an hour, came back and only had to wait one more hour until it was finally my turn. Everything takes longer than I plan for, but as I get more experience things should go more smoothly.

China Fun Fact: The 2008 Summer Olympics has five official mascots representing the Olympic flame and four of China's most popular animals: Beibei (fish), Jingjing (panda), Huanhuan (the flame), Yingying (Tibetan antelope) and Nini (swallow). Together, the names mean "Welcome to Beijing" (Beijing huanying ni).

Week 1.5

I couldn’t move 7,000 miles away and not start a blog, so here it is:

Seminar. I arrived in Shanghai Monday night for a three-day training seminar that brought all the WITT teachers together. We come from all over the English-speaking world – the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, Ireland, South Africa. Lots of New Zealanders. Aside from our geographical diversity, however, it’s just a diverse group overall. I expected it to be mostly recent college graduates teaching for the first time, but in fact that describes only a handful of us (including one who had never before been outside the U.S., so props to him). Some are new teachers who have been working and traveling for most of their twenties, others are in their late twenties or early thirties and have been teaching in China for a few years. Many are mid-career professionals, both new and returning, who simply sold everything off, packed up and left. This made for an interesting dichotomy between the tech-dependent younger set ("You found an Internet connection? Where? I haven't been online for, like, four hours") and the older crowd ("Where is Excel on my computer?"). What we mostly have in common are poor Chinese language skills.

The seminar was intensely busy from 8:30 in the morning to 8 at night, with a few breaks throughout the day. Program staff provided lots of information, but the greatest benefit was getting to know other teachers, learning from those with experience and establishing a network of people throughout China whom we can now visit.

On Friday we traveled to our respective schools across the country. With me in Beijing are Brian, 24, from California, and Shirley, a “relief” teacher whose husband works at the WITT head office. They’re from Vancouver. Brian and I were supposed to have a third, but there was some reshuffling during the seminar and he ended up in Chengdu. So Shirley is with us for a few weeks until, presumably, a replacement arrives.

Teaching. The workload is light – 16 hours a week, not including prep time, grading and office hours. The way my schedule works out, I finish at 10:15 a.m. one morning and 9 a.m. another. Plus, I only have one student. She was on exchange in Colorado last year; this year she’s working on U.S. college applications and preparing for the SAT/TOEFL. Not exactly what I was expecting, but at least it’s something I’ve done myself and can help her with.

The school itself has about 4,000 students – 1,000 of whom live on campus – and is the largest school in Beijing. Brian, Shirley and I are the only foreign teachers, however, and do we ever stand out. I’ve seen very few other foreigners in the area. I did run into three Western high school students here on exchange – they’re from Australia, Austria and Montreal (!). As difficult as this transition is at age 23, I can’t imagine what it would be like for a 15-year-old.

Housing. I’m living on campus in the foreign teachers’ dorm, each room being equipped with TV and Internet. All the channels are in Chinese, but some programs have English subtitles and there are even Mandarin lessons aired specifically for Westerners. I have to admit I was hoping for CNN, but I can live without it. Websites blocked in China, at least as far as I can tell: LiveJournal (plus Blogspot, Typepad, Xanga, etc.), Wikipedia and my BBC News homepage. All my Gawker sites work, though, so I’m happy.

We each have private rooms and bathrooms, while kitchen and laundry facilities are shared. (Doing laundry for the first time should be interesting, as everything on the machine is in Chinese.)

Food. Most people know this can be a problem area for me, but I’ve done all right. All meals during the seminar were at the hotel in Shanghai. Breakfast items included noodles, corn on the cob, rice porridge, fried eggs, eggs hard-boiled in tea, fries, something like sausage or ham, and watermelon. Lunch was generally rice, tofu, scrambled egg, several meat dishes, prawns or crab, followed by soup and watermelon. Similarly, dinner included rice, meat, vegetables, soup and watermelon. You may sense a theme with the watermelon.

I was surprised by how many teachers, even experienced ones, still have an aversion to Chinese food. Food is so important to me that if I couldn’t eat the local cuisine somewhere, I couldn’t live there. A few teachers skipped meals in favor of the McDonalds down the street, or bought their own food at the supermarket. One returning teacher had difficulty because she’s a vegetarian, so there were limited foods she could eat at the hotel. Vegetarianism in China is difficult but doable, she said, while vegans would find it impossible. Overall, there have been plenty of new foods to try. So far I’ve sampled chicken feet, chicken heart and prawn-flavored potato chips.

Monday through Friday we get breakfast and lunch free in the school dining hall. I haven’t made it to breakfast yet, but lunch has been fantastic – steamed rice, lots of vegetables, more watermelon, all very healthy. We’re mostly on our own for dinner and on weekends, although it seems we can purchase dinner cheaply in the dining hall using our swipe cards. There are numerous restaurants in the area – Chinese, Korean, Brazilian BBQ, McDonalds – but that could get expensive quickly. So I’ve spent some time scoping out produce markets and supermarkets near and far.

Western food is expensive (especially cheese) but easily accessible. Globalization is amazing. When it comes to fast food, I thought China would only have the Big Three (McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut), but in the past few days I’ve seen Subway, TCBY, Haagen-Dazs and, even more random, Schlotzsky’s. There are many supermarket options as well. In addition to Wal-Mart downtown, there’s a Carrefour about 15 minutes from my school. However, my trip there this evening was mostly unsuccessful. Expiration dates – not so important in China. Years of Western grocery shopping have trained me to look for them, and while I don’t consider expiration dates hard and fast rules, some had long since passed. I picked up a jar of peanut butter dated 10/6/2006 before I found one from July 2007. Perhaps they’re manufacturing dates instead? Either way, I’d like to check out my options before I commit to buying food at one particular place. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to the supermarkets downtown that cater to expatriates (as in, they have entire aisles filled with biscuit tins). I may be wimping out a little bit, but until I become more comfortable and familiar with my surroundings I don’t really care.

My computer battery is fading fast, so I’ll wrap this up. Tomorrow we go for medical exams in order to process our visas. I’m told this may be an all-day affair due to the long wait times, so we’ll see how that goes.

China Fun Fact: Rather than trifling with different time zones, China -- which covers more than 9.3 million square km/3.6 million square miles -- just uses one.