Part Four - Ready Set Go!

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Beijing Part Four : READY - SET - GO


Hello again bloggers,

It’s been a month yesterday I have been in Beijing, One side of me says FUCK, I’ve done soo much here in Beijing that I wouldn’t have done in Melbourne in years, and the other half of me says, I don’t know anything about Beijing yet. There’s so much more to do here, like seriously! This place has culture surrounding everywhere which is truly amazing. There are a few things I have to share with you this week. These are based on work, colleagues, students, a STALKER and Beijing overall.

RUSH HOUR

Man, what a train ride I had last Friday night, around 6pm. I was coming from my residence into Beijing City to meet up with my friend LB for dinner. Honestly, Melbourne’s railway line is NOTHING, I mean empty next to Beijing! I was standing holding onto the hand rails when the train stopped to pick up more commuters - even though we were jam packed in the subway. The people literally pushed in and in and in. I was bursting laughing cause I saw this guy slammed onto the window, hehe, a Kodak moment! During that episode, the thought of Beijing 2008 came to mind… I would never want to imagine how it’s going to be then. Unimaginable. There’s usually about over 1000 people on these carriages (you can see an example of the carriage picture in galleries… Can’t imagine how the Olympics are going to be..????

Work & Colleagues

My job is going quite smoothly in terms of making myself and everyone happy.
MY STRICT CLASS RULES:
No one messes with me.
No one has their mobiles to text message anyone (they loose their phone till the end of class)
No one tries to be a smart arse, unless they know the answer.
We enjoy class time only if they speak in English - because I don’t speak Chinese YET!
No one sleeps in class, because they get asked to go home and sleep 
I’m at work to enjoy the day - not stress myself out. So we have fun and learn!

These are because, what I say to students in class is what is being done in class. By the way, I am one of the liked teachers on campus from the feedback the other teachers have said. The school gets feedback from students not me. This is bizarre. I don’t hand in reports, I don’t mark any papers, and I just literally go in and speak with students about life: let it be about Chinese Horoscopes and or about how they ask for information - who what when where how. Yes, this is China. The school screwed up my whole timetable and I’m teaching English Speaking to students in 1st year. The timetable got changed 5 times, and you never know which class to walk into tomorrow, because they decide to change it last minute - they just feel like it - amazingly annoying! It’s quite comfortable in terms of what I do. Preparation is limited and I literally have to go into class and chat to students and or play games. It’s a speaking class, so the conversations are endless. With me, I tend to not bore myself and or anyone else, so I choose to pick topics like - let’s play an activity about me being lost in Beijing and you tell me how I have to get home. This way I learn my way around the place and make them speak.  I know it’s cheeky. I told one of my students to find out about hotels in a region she’s from, and I need more information about a location I was interested. That was her homework. For me anyway.   

On the other hand, my colleague who is teaching organisations and management class for 2nd year students has copped it hardcore. I mean left right and centre. The guy has to do another 10 hours of his week for lesson plans and redoing the exam revision stuff and marking papers. We both get paid the same and he’s actually been told that he has set criteria they have to meet and the students have to have a 50% success rate. They are under the pump, and to be quite frank, I’m now glad that they stuffed my timetable. This way I can see everything from a birds eye view and still get paid the same yet have free time to have a holiday. Rent free accommodation is great, the airfare is a bonus.

Anyhow, getting back to classes. It’s all hilarious. The room is turning into a drama institute, my classes are! I’m getting them to do a lot of role plays and talking to them about something special they bring in, abit like show and tell. Easy. I’ve been taking pictures of my students, and they are great. I’m getting attached to them, they’re just nice!
The funny thing is, I was mentioning it to the guys today, I’ve never actually been so happy working. Maybe cause its comfortable, or maybe there’s no stress at all. You walk into the class and they obey everything you state. If they TRY and mess with you, you raise your tone, and tell them to stand up and speak; they get intimidated and stop the messing around. In essence, my classes usually focus on enjoying and having fun, but if there’s an important issue going on, no messing around. Because I do want them to learn something in the end, even if they say “You are very HUMOUR”. They must think I’m a comedian in class.

All work colleagues are great. There actually all a great bunch. I love hanging out with a few of them during the week and chatting to, the rest are more about the odd g’day.
There’s so many of us here, over 20, that you hardly see them cause everyone’s now doing their own thing, and I’m usually gallivanting the campus with other students. I’m really close to Natasha, Jenny, Grace and Maxine. Really nice girls and I think I mentioned them in previous blogs. Jenny’s from USA and Maxine is from Scotland. More like the big brother house at the moment. Like a TEACHERS APARTMENT complex with separate rooms with different groups at the moment.

On the Blog I have attached some photos, which I’m sure you have seen now… if not, check out NOW! Might give a glimpse into Beijing … more pix to come!!! The apartment, the students, the colleagues, the classrooms and more 😉 Oh by the way, everyone’s kept on asking me what my Chinese name is - I said my name is ALI - apparently it’s a girls name in China… so I decided I’m going to have a Chinese name - Xie Zi (means Scorpio) - its my star sign, so I couldn’t choose anything like Anthony!



Friends of Beijing
I’ve made some good friends in Beijing now. I’m pretty sure the networks of friends are going to be strong. Hopefully they grow into something more than just the odd hello are you? And never hear from them again. Only time will tell, cause as my friends in Australia would say, I like to have friends who are like me, deep and meaningful as well as enjoy each others company. So, I guess its best not to drop any names yet…


LOST in Beijing!

I must say, Beijing is great naturally and even better when you’re lost. The challenging thing about it is that when you don’t know the language and your phone battery dies out on you, and you don’t know where you are!!! I was excited by this adventure that happened to me yesterday. I didn’t know what to do, but I thought, I’m going to take a plunge and see what happens. So I walked around for about an hour and went back to the train station that I had got off at and just literally walked around, looked at shops and eventually found the bus stop which I was looking for… I don’t believe in tourist maps, so I NEVER carry one around - the last thing I want to do is look like a tourist, lol.


Rock Star vs Privacy

I would hate to be a rock star. I would hate to be popular open to the public. Why you say? You might think ‘go go you rock star’ but it’s not what it seems. It’s scary and an ego boost at the same time. For weeks, I’ve been getting messages from my students. That’s fine. 300 students have my number now. So you can imagine how entertained I am every day about people messaging me. Popularity is hard to deal with sometimes. Hahaha. Dinner and lunch invitations are normal. You pick and choose. Sometimes you cancel cause you need ‘me’ time. I have my great students and favourite students and the ones that are scared to talk to me - STILL. But they’ll write sms’s to me like its going out of fashion.

Well, I had a saga which has been going on for about 2 weeks. Some of may know, I had this particular student who was messaging me. No names mentioned, but she was messaging me every day, messages ranging from “what are you doing” at like 10:30pm, then it got to messages like “I been watching you jogging every morning”… then suddenly her name changed… I guess she was hiding her identity. I called her stalker. She knew me, but I didn’t know her, cause she stated that she wasn’t my student but would like to get to know me.. on a personal level. To my surprise, I just answered with “cool, I’m friends with everyone here”. Well, the day before was a turning point. I got a message explicitly stating “I just want to let you know, I really like you”… I ignored that message and any phone call that came through on that number. I would be getting messages like “good night”.
Last night was another new turning point. I got the “I love you” message. I again, ignored the message, and received 2 calls from it. Then luckily I had Natasha my colleague with me, who I said, if she calls again, can you answer the phone. She answered this call and the girl said “ I need to speak to ali, on a matter”… I again ignored it.

This morning she messaged me and said “I would like to treat you for lunch”. I thought I’m going to bight the bullet and face this person and deal with it. After getting advice from other peers, I messaged her and said, “I will be meeting you with friends, meet me at 1pm, at the corner of the street. So after convincing my beloved Jenny (Lucy Lu Look-alike) she came with me, to be the support in case the girl cried or anything. Just in case. Cause the last thing I want is to be listed as a ‘pedo’ in China and be published on the Melbourne newspapers. Hell no. Sought of treating on thin ice when it comes to these matters as a teacher.

Came to the crunch, went out for a smorgasbord of food, ate like animals, and after finishing off, said “cool chatting to you; will see you in my class”. Yes, it was one of my students, a student who like many others, I have been nice to. Though, some people have taken advantage of it. So, after leaving the meal and walking straight to my apartment. I said “jenny you’re a life saver”… seriously if she wasn’t there, I was shitting bricks. At the table I was talking, this girl was sitting beside me, STARING problems. I mean, if she got any closer we’d be kissing each other. Not my thing to be honest, not in a professional atmosphere. I was so uncomfortable!

I walked into my apartment, with a gasp of air. Then I got a phone call. It was her. I thought what now? I answered “hello”.
I shouldn’t have answered the call; she was telling me a spill about how a man and a women fall in love… and that she has never felt like this for anyone. WOW! Am I blown away! Although, I did make a final summary of the call and what will happen from now on. I stated that “I am your teacher. If I even thought of being with another student, I would be sent back home to Australia, if that’s what you want. If you want me to be a friend to you, I’m here. Anything more, I’m sorry”. ….. SILENCE…. Then I hear crying… I reply, “Have a good day and see you in class”. Shattered and ruthless.


Guys, don’t ever try this at home.

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