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Published: November 14th 2008
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Buddha Statute
Amazing Leshan LIFE IS A CARNIVAL!
6,000 children play outside my apartment window- even though I am on the 15th floor there is a constant buzzing of activity outside. There are two foreign language schools right next to my apartment that have k thur high school students - they are boarding schools where parents pick up kids on Friday afternoons and then drop them off on Sunday afternoons. You can imagine what the two lane road looks like during this time. My school, Chengdu Institute Sichuan International Studies University is a 10 minute bike ride. I teach 238 freshman Oral English every week. College students have classes 8 to 9 hours a day. They have no computers and the life for the freshman is very strict and controlling. They all live in dorms and have strict curfews. My school is only 6 years old and only has foreign teachers at the freshman level yet it is a foreign language school! Students study English, Japanese, German, Spanish. All of my students are in the Tourism Department of the school. I wish I can offer them Robert Thurman's great talk about how tourism in Tibet will be great for both Tibetans and Chinese. This
Wonderous Mountains
I stayed in the countryside here with a local family. I was so quiet and peaceful! talk is on I-Tunes podcast under spirituality and religion- it is in the Living Dialogue series.
I can talked about lots of things in my class as long as it does NOT have to do with religion, spirituality or Chinese politics or economics. Each class has a student that reports to authorities about what I talk about- this person is called the party representative and that is not "lets have a dance party" kind of party-- if you know what I mean.
I talked about how important it is to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. I did this as I went around the room and attempted to pronounce all of their Chinese names. They laughed, laughed and laughed!!! 90 percent of my students are woman since males usually go to the technical college up the street. Most students are shy, and lack confidence and for many of them I am the only foreigner they have ever talked with. I am very silly and playful with them.
I start every class by shaking everyone's hand and hear them talk English. This is a challenge since they have never done this and they are very shy. It is also challenging because
Nancy, Mark and Chuck
This town is where the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed bathrooms in China have no paper towels or toilet paper so oftentimes they have wet hands!!! Yet once you have taught in Waldorf schools you know how important such simple acts can be. I also have the students move their desk for every class so that we make a circle. Now they have all adopted English names such as Circle, Crystal, Green, Candy, January, Pear, Sunset, Happy, Mint, Money, Lemon, Lucky Star, Bitter, Shark, Second, Party, Cherry, Rain, Cucumber and one small male named Rambo- to name a few. My next big challenge was to address the question of what is LOVE? I introduce them to Erich Fromm-whose background is very similar to present day China- and spoke about The Art of Loving- his famous book that is a classic. I did this because I started getting phone messages about "bad boyfriends"! Most college students (if not all students) have never openly talked about such emotional issues in China. In fact, in Chengdu just 2 years ago, a college couple was expelled from school for kissing in public. This happened even after the woman got a Doctor to verify that she was still a virgin!!! I am always careful about
students!
Eating at the great international restaurant! what I talked about in public yet people are always eager to hear my opinion.
There are more people speaking or learning English in China than all of the people in the USA!!!!
I can get the same job as my friend Nancy-- who is a Chinese woman who speaks English --and make 30 times the salary that she would make!!!! Right now I get paid $600 a month which is 8 times the average salary of a Chinese worker.
Because I am a native speaker wherever I go I get lots of attention. Sometimes I feel like a joyful and happy "elephant man" as people stare at me endlessly.
This is a challenge for me because ever since I was a young boy I never liked attention and speaking to people- my stuttering issue as a young child made me mute! Nowadays, wherever I go, I am talking, laughing and interacting with people. Yet I am not learning the Chinese language very well! I know enough to get by yet I guess I am here first and foremost to teach English!
Chengdu is a huge city with some 13 million people. It is growing by leaps and
bounds. It takes two to three hours to shop for food at one of the big supermarkets. We have Walmart, of course, and then two big French supermarkets and then a German supermarket as well. I get around town by bus, bicycle and an electric bicycle which I enjoy riding. The bus is build to hold about 35 passengers yet sometimes there are over 120 people on one bus- it is like slam dancing with strangers, with 75 year old Chinese men and woman- there are so many people that you just bounce off of each other. Of course you have to have one hand protecting your wallet in your pocket at all times and one hand holds a pole. It is interesting bringing home groceries as yogurt is running down your leg trying to escape the crowd!!! About one mile from my apartment is a huge international community where I searched and searched for international food only to discover that it is an international community because of the MacDonalds at the corner! A MacDonalds that has internet bars at the tables!!!
I get to travel about every other weekend. A few weeks ago I visited Leshan with three
friends, Nancy, Sophia and Mark. I am planning to move to Leshan with my friend Nancy in a few months. Leshan is about two hours south of Chengdu. Leshan is a global tourist attraction because it has the world's largest Buddha carved into a mountain. The Buddha statute was build from 713 AD to 803 AD. Leshan is an amazing place and has lots of Buddhist activities. Close to Leshan is Mount Emei which is a famous Buddhist Mountain with many temples and rare flowers and animals. In Leshan we were all wined and dined for three days by College Officials as they offered us both jobs at their school, which is the Leshan Vocational and Technical College. I will start to teach there in February in the Nursing School. I will be the only foreign teacher at the school. There is another college in Leshan that has many foreign teachers so I will make some connections there when I move.
I have been here 8 weeks at my school and I have not been paid yet. They gave me a bank ATM card and two wrong passwords so far. Now I have to wait a week to change the
password on my card. It is amazing how such simple actions in USA can take two weeks to accomplish in China! Keep in touch and e-mail me at chuckbarbieri@sbcglobal.net. Also you can buy an Asia phone card and call me- just remember I am 12 hours ahead of you in time. I teach Monday- Thursday mornings. My phone number is 011 86 15928857200. Until next time.....
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Joyful Sichuan Ramblings
Chuck Barbieri
We miss you!!
Chuck--thanks so much for sending the link. It is great fun to read about your life there...but we miss you here!! Stay well and enjoy the adventure, Love Klara