#61 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (1.College English Corner, 2.Xi'an City Center)

The colder weather is making the nights at Taizhou Teachers College certainly more challenging. In Miami Beach, I had forgotten what "chills" are all about, and here it has now become a daily reminder. Many years have passed since I have had to be-deck myself with so much clothing. What I have been able to loose in body-weight, has now been replaced by many additional-pounds of layered clothing.

There is no more doubt, that winter is just around the next corner. The foreign teachers' office and my apartment are cozy warm, but none of the classrooms have the luxury of heat. My students are huddled in their winter-clothing, searching for warmth, holding hands and hugging their classmates, the boys no exception. Despite taking class-notes in "Michael Jackson Gloves", where finger-tips are cut open, their efforts of writing on paper are still painfully inhibited by the cold.

Few of my Coral Gables students, or any student in America, would or could endure the daily routine of learning and working in facilities, which are so affected by the "extreme variations of seasonal temperatures", as in our Jiangsu Province of China.

Yet, from my 370 students and the college staff at Taizhou Teachers College I have never heard a complaint, and they accept these seasonal-temperature-extremes, inside and outside of the classroom, as a fact of life. The conversations with so many of them let me know, that these daily sacrifices only strengthen the character and endurance of their students or any individual.

So: Life on our small campus of 7,000 seems to be settling in for winter-hybernation, as my students frequently remind me, that December is still the "less" cold month in the city of Taizhou, as they rush from the frigid class-rooms to the dining hall to their unheated and chilly dorms.

The female students tell me, that they live in a room with some 10 other mates, where the living arrangements are similar to the male dorms. Of course it is quite impossible for me to visit the girls humble dwellings, but my male students have invited me into their building and shown me great hospitality and friendliness.

These few male students from the English Department live in groups of 5, in small-four-corner, concrete rooms, which double as individual, miniature study areas, located underneath each young man's bed. The study-desk helps support his simple sleeping accomodations above.

A thin mattress, supported by a wooden grill, makes for hard and spartan sleeping, and also seems designed for additional character building. A blue mosquito-net attached to each elevated bed offers "see-through" privacy, and further protection during the warmer months from pesty critters, disturbing their well-deserved 7 hour sleep.

None of the rooms contain Internet connections, and students depend on the Internet Cafes surrounding the campus for their "recreation" on a computer, but they are always expected in their dorms by 10:30 p.m. In the journals I often read about their video games and their explorations in cyber-space, where chatting seems to be preferred over face to face conversations, especially among the shy Chinese people.

Unlike my comfortable and toasty apartment, there is also "no" heating in their dorms. Students read and study at their desks wearing their outdoor winter clothing, until they rush into their elevated beds at lights out, 10:30 p.m. each night, when power to the dorms is cut.

They tell me, that their thin bed-cover keeps them sufficiently warm, and none complain about their discomfort; rather they often see it as part of the preparation for possible future adversity. They do tell me, that the wake-up call at 6:00 a.m. the next morning comes too quickly.

Showers are taken by walking from the dorms to a central facility, and each day I see a multitude of my students, holding little plastic baskets containing their toilettries, brave the cold outdoors, as they make their way to and from the shower-room building.

Open air activities are more restricted to the crisp, bright, and sunny hours of the school day. The winter-chill provides more frequent opportunities for the few brave couples to cuddle a little closer, though the occasional romantic stroll is now even more restricted by the chilly breezes.

My weekdays are pre-occupied with 4 morning classes each day, Monday through Thursday. Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m., and I usually eat in the company of my two other foreign collegues, Sue and Stephanie. Complements to the Chef for his daily tasty creations.

The food is excellent and the vegetables are always fresh, though at times I do have to "admire" some unusual chicken body parts, not seen on a western plate. Those I descreetly push to the side of the dish, and I try to give the claw only occasional, discerning glances.

By 1 p.m I have returned to English Office to prepare the next lessons, correct the work of my students, and conduct long interviews with eager English majors, searching for every opportunity to apply their knowledge on a native speaker. Their oral English appears much improved during these one-on-one conversations, and their ability often comes as a surprise, as it is greatly enhanced from their timidness in the class setting.

Each faculty at the college seems to be an independent Unit. Neither the students nor the teachers have an opportunity to associate much with each other's departments. There is little awareness of after-school-presentations by each; so the English majors don't know when there are musical performances; these in turn don't know when they might appreciate an art exhibition or a technology presentation. From my perspective, unique opportunities are missed to unify college life, that bring all the students on campus closer as a family, to support and appreciate each other's talents and success, and foster greater enthusiam and college pride.

Thankfully, a few students from other college faculties have introduced themselves to me, mostly as an avenue to practice their English. But knowing them, I now attend additional, wonderful, cultural activities on campus and in the city, and it has greatly added to the enjoyment of living in Taizhou.
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ONCE AGAIN, I'M SORRY, THAT I HAVE SO LITTLE TIME TO WRITE MORE FREQUENT JOURNALS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND CONCERN. IT WILL BE GOOD TO SEE MANY OF YOU ON MY VISIT TO THE U.S. AT THE END OF JANUARY 2007.
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IN THIS JOURNAL I HAVE INTRODUCED TWO SETS OF PHOTOS:

**THE FIRST SET OFFERS A VIEW INTO WHAT IS KNOWN ALL OVER CHINA AS THE "ENGLISH CORNER". MY ENGLISH CLASSES INVITED ME TO COMMENT ON THEIR DISCUSSION ON EUTHANASIA IN OUR COLLEGE'S ENGLISH CORNER.

**THE SECOND SET CONTINUES WITH THE NEXT DAY OF MY VISIT TO THE CITY OF XI'AN SOME WEEKS AGO. YOU WILL REMEMBER IT THROUGH THE JOURNAL ON THE TERRACOTTA WARRIORS.

I HOPE THE MANY PHOTOS WILL NOT TIRE YOU. FOR NOW, IT IS AS CLOSE AS I CAN BRING YOU TO VISIT HERE WITH ME, AND SHARE MY EXCITING EXPERIENCES IN CHINA. (SORRY ABOUT THE 3 PAGES OF PHOTOS, AND THERE ARE STILL MANY MORE TO SHARE SOON. TRY TO ENLARGE THEM DURING YOUR MORE LEISURE TIMES FOR THEIR GREATER DETAILS.)

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