#56 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (GUILIN: "N.Z. Ultimate Challenge" Winners in Guilin)

Time has suddenly become less available for me at Taizhou Teachers College. Classes are in session, and the students are hesitant participants, as they begin to adjust to my classroom-personality. One glowing comment in one of their "Class- Journals" was telling: "...she didn't know, that a 62 year old could be funny." I have found here, as at Coral Gables Sr. H.S., that humor is good medicine for shyness.

My new students at Taizhou Teachers College, who are between the ages of 19 and 22 are very timid, possess childish innoscense, and each has fear of having to speak English, but their eager eyes and trained ears follow the teacher's every move. For many, I will have been the first Western Teacher they have had contact with. Many see me as having stepped out of their TV set, though a little big. :-)

The average class has 45 students, ninety percent ladies. Responses and interaction during instructions at first flowed like: "Molasses in Winter" (Thank you Mr. Lamb for that quote). But a little warmth and enthusiasm and encouragement has made the Molasses more fluid and responsive.

I have 8 individual classes, each consisting of two 45 minute peridos, and I see every class only one-time per week for those ninety minutes, a total of 16 hours of "teaching" per week. Some 350 individual students hope to practice a little of their acquired English with me. In that success, they find reason for their many years of diligent study. Up to now, they have learned English from a Chinese Teacher, who himself has had minimal, if no contact with a native English-speaker.

The preparations and corrections for so many students are making time more valuable then before, and my Travelblog-entries, for a while, might also flow like "Molasses in Winter". There are hundreds of travel photos I continue to store, and as time permits I will continue to share them here, and as always with some "optional" commentary.

(You'll enjoy the next photos of the new freshmen-class making their presence felt at Taizhou Teachers College, in Jiangsu Province in the P.R.China. All are participating in mandatory, initial military training, and they are exempt from attending classes their first 2 weeks. I'll also post photos of my college-classes soon.

BUT, I do believe this small anecdote is worth mentioning, and the photos will relate the fun of this past weekend in the South of China, in the city of Guilin:

......On very short notice,(( Thank You Arthur!!)) this past weekend, my good friend was able to connect me with plane tickets from Nanjing Airport to the very beautiful and very green city of Guilin. It is one of China's "gem-cities". ( I'll share the photos of the autumn-gold rice-terraces, outside of Guilin, also next. You'll react to a miracle of man and nature).

Two young ladies from Hastings, New Zealand had also arrived in Guilin. They were visiting under "not-so co-incidental circumstances". The timing was perfect to congratulate the two winners of a contest personally. Who would have thought, that this little travel-blog was a first great key to solving a puzzle: "" The Unltimate Challenge by the city of Hastings, New Zealand. ""

Students around the city of Hastings and Hawke's Bay, on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand were to identify individuals in two photos. The catch??

The two individuals in the pictures were from Guilin, China, a city of millions, not from Hastings, a city of some 70,000. Where to start??

Easy!!! or maybe not so easy!!!

From Hastings, N.Z. you go on the internet and simply visit the blog of Herr Schneider in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S.A. !!

He had written about the city of Guilin in one of the very early blogs, and was hoping for his dearest, departed mother "Emma" to have some fun from beyond. From beautiful Hastings, New Zealand, my mother "Emma" would surely make a connection, from the here-after, of course!!!

If it was her doing from above, she would always send me a sign, she once told me!!! This one was easy. One of the winners of the "Ultimate Challenge of Hanstings, N.Z." was also named "Emma", the other, her friend Caughlin.

When the two students contacted me first in Miami Beach, Fl. earlier this year, they told me about their international search for two Chinese girls in Guilin, and that solving the puzzle would offer them a visit to Hastings' sister city, Guilin, for 10 days.

I could offer them little help, only give them a certain Ms. Lee from Guilin as reference. I had met Ms. Lee the year before, when visiting her two English Schools, and had kept in touch via email.

I suggested Ms. Lee's email-address to Emma and Cauglin, and once they made contact, Ms. Lee slowly recognized the two Chinese girls from Guilin in the photos. Surprise, surprise !!

The Ultimate Challenge of Hastings was solved and won by Emma and Cauglin. The connection was: Hastings, N.Z. - Miami Beach, Fl. U.S.A - Guilin, P.R.C.

Living in China for the moment, made it possible, to congratulate these two crafty young winners personally, and "connect the dots" leading to their adventure. Was it all a co-incidence???

We only had a short time together, but it became a very special life's moment. No doubt, when I visit New Zealand next, we will all see each other again in the beautiful city of Hastings, N.Z., to reflect on some very wonderful moments we shared in the City of Guilin, China. It was all quite worth the effort :-)))
"Thank you, Mommy!!!! :-)

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