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Published: October 23rd 2011
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…..Dr. Wei invites me to join her, her husband & some friends from the hospital in karaoke at a KTV on the west side of Yangzhou on Saturday night. Oh, & bring some friends. Not everyone likes karaoke though & there's not always a good selection of English songs, though they ALWAYS include “My heart must go on” & the Carpenters', “Yesterday once more”, which I am sure can be heard wafting over the river Styx en route to hell. Patrick & Chance are not keen & make their excuses after dinner. Sunny would like to go but has to go for a medical checkup in the morning as an employee of the Bank of China. At 6am. On a Sunday!.....
…..Kevin, Jenna & I get to the KTV & are greeted by a group of friendly but inebriated group of Chinese guys on the way in. Kevin looks a little worried. I just ask them, in Chinese to their considerable surprise, where the KTV entrance is. They are happy to lead us there. We try to let them go up in the lift while we wait but they insist we all cram in. There's that universal,
Creek at the School, Yangzhou
A resident bird near the teacher's dorms irritating, overly friendly, lean-on-your-shoulder, breathe-in-your-face cameraderie that alcohol leads people to believe is a ticket to an instant, unbreakable bond of friendship with a person met at random 30 seconds ago. We escape at the fourth floor....
…..Dr. Wei & company are already in good voice, at least those who can sing. We join in & everything is going well until my best friend from the lift, staggering around the maze of garishly illuminated corridors, finds room 552 & invites himself in. Chinese people are remarkably accommodating. Dr. Wei & company continue to sing as, with a bottle of wine in one hand & his other arm over my shoulder, he attempts to cement the increasingly fragile bond of friendship. Then he spots Jenna on the far side of the lounge.....
…..he makes a bee-line &, in an attempt to get our teetotal Canadian friend to join him in a toast, he opens one of the beers that Dr. Wei has kindly provided. In my effort to rescue Jenna from a vigorous but uncoordinated embrace I give a passing thought to the unusual bottle opener he used. I couldn't see it clearly in the darkened room. When we
Morning exercise, Library
on a very clear day for Yangzhou finally get rid of our unwanted guest I discover what the unusual bottle opener is. In the manner of one of our cave dwelling ancestors discovering things to use as tools, the bastard used the case of my reading glasses! Luckily the glasses are unscathed. Full marks for ingenuity, 0/10 for social skills.....
…..half a dozen or so visiting Australian students with two of their teachers break up the week. It feels strange to be able to have a normal conversation with a ten or eleven year old, without the language barrier. They appear to be having a good time at the school & with their host families. I get to take them to the class of Wang Quan Hui, a teacher I worked with in my first year here. I should ask which class her son is in, it may be one of mine, he must be around 14 now.....
…..a five minute job. Re-format the detention slip that Mike has drafted to fit four on a sheet, check his electronic translator's Chinese, double check with the Chinese English teachers & print a sample. OK, ten minutes. The woman who runs the print room spots the copy.
Chinese eye chart
Left, Right, Up, Down She starts revising it. Another woman comes from one of the administration offices & adds her 10 mao's worth. She speaks a little English. “Can't write this”. “Why not, it just says 'detention'; come to office at 5.30pm....”. “No,no, only police can do this.....” It seems the translation is more akin to 'incarceration in a hard labour camp' than a simple school detention. Two hours later the document has been re-translated, numerous times & finally printed out.....
…..Paul is introducing new teaching techniques via a book called, “Teach like a Champion”. It's actually a good compilation of useful techniques which we are starting to use or refine. Cold call, preventing students from avoiding the need to answer by picking them at random & not allowing them to sit down until they've given an answer, even if it's only to repeat a more competent kid's correct answer. We've started a regime of detentions in the hope that it will deter future disruptive behaviour. Some thick skulls require some effort to penetrate. Boys who have been yelled at or put in detention will usually greet you outside class within a day or so. Girls with attitude hold grudges & the steely
Grade 2 Class
Visiting Australian students at Wang Quan Hui's class gaze or loud sniff while vigorously turning away the head in response to a greeting could last for the rest of the year.....
…..considering the one child policy, usually with two parents & four grandparents not only lavishing all their attention but hanging all their expectations on the Little Emperor, (or Empress), it's amazing not that there are some obnoxious individuals who think they are the only important person in existence, rather that so many appear to be well balanced, well mannered & considerate.....
…..disaster! My electronic dictionary, possibly the most heavily utilised device I have, falls out of my pocket, only onto a soft chair but I don't notice & lean on it when I sit down. The screen now looks like an abstract ink drawing & I'll need to get another one, probably on the next trip to Shanghai.....
…..not a good time for electronic gadgets right now. Chance, a new teacher from the USA, points out that the Da Run Fa has universal remote controls, to replace the one I lost from the DVD player at the Summer Camp. Unfortunately no one seems to be able to program it to suit the player. Even
Visiting Australians
with Wang Quan Hui, class head teacher Shen Yue, visiting for her son's English lesson & who can actually read the Chinese instructions, can't get past the final step. Now I need to remember that the '0' key turns it off, the pause button gives me subtitles. Fast forward....I can't remember now but it does something.....
…..I think of my friend Martin, the astronomer, in Adelaide as they continue to work on the illuminated roof of the nearby new Canal Convention Centre. He has long campaigned against “light pollution”, the electricity wasted as some of the light intended for the streets escapes to dim the astronomer's view of the sky. I'm convinced this building will be visible from Mars with the naked eye. By a very rough calculation I estimate there must be between 3000 & 4000 individual lights on the roof. The trick is now to coordinate them to all change colour at the same time. I guess the sky here is not conducive to stargazing anyway.....
…..Halloween is approaching & the haunted house act is required again next week, along with Sports Day, English tests..... It's amazing where time goes.....
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