A Few Tidbits

It seems that recently, I feel that nothing particularly exciting or distinctive has been going on...but I'm sure there are a few things I can mention, so I'll do so! The main factor in my recent business has been the addition of the new cross-cultural communication class for the Party representatives who will travel to Thailand to do some kind of business venture. I spend a lot of time preparing materials for the class, but once I get there and present them with the material, I'm not quite sure how to facilitate discussion since I really know very little about Thai culture that I can expand upon beyond what I give them on handouts. However, for the next class (which is the week after next...we are currently entering the Labor Holiday week and have no class), I will be teaching them some basic Thai phrases (which I will learn over the break).

My adult oral English class is going well. This week I showed up and no one was at class at 7 p.m. when we start--I was worried people weren't coming. But then the students arrived. In both classes, a little less than half the students came (I think because of the pending holiday), but it actually worked better (smaller numbers is always better!). In both classes we played the ball-toss word game. In this game, I start with a word, like "cat", and then I throw the ball to someone else. They have to say a word that starts with the last letter from my word, and it continues this way. For each word I wrote it on the board and underlined the last letter. It was a good exercise, and we filled the board and then read all the words. After this, we did a game with Tangrams where the students work in pairs. Each gets a set of seven Tangrams shapes. Then the partners sit back to back. The first partner makes a design and then instructs the other partner how to duplicate the design without looking. This worked well. They learned a lot of new words (all the words for the shapes as well as ways to describe the shapes' positions). In the second class we also did the ball-toss game (the second class is the lower-level class). After that we did a listening exercise where I describe (slowly) a picture that I have drawn in front of me. The students then have to try to draw the picture based on listening to my description. After, we compare our drawings. The really like this. Then I had them work in pairs and do the activity (first each drawing their own picture). This exercise works the same skills as the Tangrams game but is better for lower-level students. After we finished the drawing game, the students asked what the previous class had done. I told them about the Tangrams game, and they were quite intrigued. They said they wanted to try it even though it was more difficult. So we did. I drew all the shapes on the board with their names as well as ways to describe shape position (just like in the last class). The students really liked it but it was harder for them. We went so late that the guard came in and said that it was time to end class (we'd already gone an extra half hour!). So I said I could lock the door and turn off the lights. And he said this was fine. A little after that though the students said it was probably getting a bit late--it was almost 10 p.m.! So we decided that this session had been a good introduction to the Tangrams and that in the lower-level class we'll continue working with the Tangrams the next time. I really really like my adult oral English class. I mentioned to my mom the other day that every time before I go, I'm always so tired from my full day that I just don't know if I'll make it. But then I always get there and it's a blast and we always end up staying late after class. I think that the adult students different to me because they are motivated. They actually want to be there and want to participate. It is really different from my student classes. So I feel happy now that I offered to do this class.

In other news, I rearranged my apartment today so that I could plug in my TV in hopes to catch some basketball games. I think the change is good, TV use or not. It's always nice to switch things up a bit. I also went this evening and bought some new summer clothes to accommodate the crazy Chengdu heat that is already starting. The current plague of my wardrobe is the color turquoise...which I love dearly...but I've seemed to have randomly accumulated so much of the color that I seem to be wearing it everyday! So I forced myself today to not buy turquoise, even though it's such an oh-so-beautiful color. So I got a floral skirt (I wear the skirts to class....much more comfortable in the heat than pants), some olive green Capri khakis, a cute sporty shirt to go with the khaki Capri’s, and a blouse/dressier top to go with my skirts--not turquoise! I still need to get a few more things as well as shoes, but for the time being the shoes are a no-go...my feet are simply too large for Chinese women's shoes....so I need to make the trek to the big-foot shoe store that is reportedly near the North Train Station...so that is one of my goals for the Labor Day holiday. To date I've been wearing the too-small black flats that I bought at TJ Max before coming to China…but that cannot go on much longer…and to be honest, they aren’t that flattering. Talk about incompetent shoe shopping when competent shoe shopping was most needed! Wow...my entire pre-China departure clothing/shoe packing was quite flawed...but anyway!

Well, a couple final thoughts here before I sign off. I mentioned to my mom the other day about all the girls who walk around when the sun is out with umbrellas. To me it now just seems common place, but my mom was so surprised, so I’ll expand a bit here. Here in China, dark skin is seen as the color for peasants and workers who get dark working in the fields. So white skin is prized—there are even creams that whiten your skin at the supermarket. They’re actually so prevalent that I check carefully before buying lotion to make sure that it’s not skin-whitening lotion! So, in the summer, girls all try to protect their skin from the sun by using the umbrellas. I’ve explained to several of my students that in the U.S. it’s quite different, with everyone scampering around in the summer trying to get their best tan yet. Today I was walking through town, and I of course had my sunglasses on because the sun was oh-so bright, but I didn’t have my umbrella with me. One of my freshman students stopped me and suggested that maybe I should have brought my umbrella because my skin is going to “turn black.” I assured that that I was not the slightest bit worried about acquiring a tan. I assured him that I was aware that all the girls want the white skin, but I explained that my skin tans so easily that maintaining whiteness isn’t really a possibility. I also added that I prefer being tan even if white is in here. He thought this was fine and laughed. As it is, my skin is not the envy of most of my students. Many of my site mate’s students covet his quite flawless white skin. But since my skin is as dark as that of many of my students (and often flawed with pore-related imperfections), it isn’t something that they exclaim about...so tanning it up a bit and donning the “peasant look” won’t do too much more damage to my skin’s “reputation”…hehehe.

Well, I think that that is all that is truly new I can think of….so, I’ll try to add a bit more soon.

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