Wo shi laoshi

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On the last Wednesday of orientation our teaching posts were displayed in the foyer of the hotel. In the scramble to find where we were being placed for the next 5 months confusion and assumptions reigned.

I was being sent to an Experimental School in Guangdong. The placement post stated that I was being placed with another intern from the 'month' internship group that we had minor interactions with. Some interns got quite about of information about their placement such as living conditions, timetables etc. As we were the first interns to be sent to the school we basically got a printout from the schools website. This was fine with me as expecting the unexpected was so much better than assuming something and being disappointed. There were about 8 of us being sent to the same area of the province allowing us to potentially meet on weekends or be quite close to each other. We had to become 'instant' friends as we knew we would be spending a heap of time together.

As I said before, I knew that I was being placed with someone from the 'other' group but I really didn't make an effort to find out who. I figured I would get plenty of time to get to know them over the next 20 weeks. At the orientation 'end of course' open bar, Miranda and I were approached by two girls from the other group. The shouted conversation over ridiculously loud techno music and after quite a few beers went like this:

Girl 1: Do you know Ashleigh Ryan?
Me: Huh? No. But I know a Meg Ryan.
Girl 1: Yeah, that's it. Who is she?
Me: That's me! How many people have you asked looking for me?
Girl 1: Just you.
Me: That's majorly freaky. You going to Sanshui with me?
Girl 1: Yeah I am.
Me: Do you like to drink? You know, have a beer or two?
Girl 1: Yep.
Me: Good. Instant friends.
End of conversation.

I found out later that her name was Therese and she was from Sweden. We assumed that Alex from England would be somewhere nearby us as well as he was being placed at Zhonshan University. The school, from what we gathered, was somewhere in the capital of Guangzhou where we were being flown to on the Saturday. Needless to say, we were wrong. I haven't seen Alex for weeks! The school may be 'attached' to the university but in no way, shape or form is that a physical attachment. We are sure Alex ended up about 3 hours away from us. Assumption number one: failed.

As we got off the plane, we were told to say our goodbyes before moving through the gates as there were school officials waiting to pick us up. There was a hurried swapping of phone numbers and hugs just as we moved through into absolute chaos. Therese and I were plucked from the crowd by Miss Li and Edwina, two English teachers at the school. They seemed lovely and informed us that teaching English at their school was hard as the students were all 'little emperors' who had rich parents and did not see the point in learning English. The school was getting quite worried about this as the college entrance examination had just introduced a speaking component. We were there to 'arouse' the students interest in English and improve their pronunciation. Easy enough job really.....

As we were driving along, being battered left, right and centre with questions and information, the view from the school minibus started to change dramatically. It went from massive skyscrapers to farmland and we realised that we had been on the road for more than an hour. The teachers had said that they liked the school as it was 'quiet' and 'isolated'. Grand! They were sending me to China's version of Finley. I know I said I wanted to go rural when I was teaching in England but not here in China. I wasn't silly and had enough understanding that rural towns would be a massive challenge. An hour and 45 minutes after leaving the airport we pulled up to a massive school on a large deal of land. The buildings, and there were many of them, were 7 stories high and quite modern looking. The security gate was manned by 3 or more guards and the entire school surrounded by sky high walls. We were escorted to our apartment about 50 metres from the schools entrance and on the third floor (why can't I ever get something that is on the first floor? My suitcases were massively heavy. Yes, suitcases. I had to buy an extra large carry on case in Beijing before leaving to fit all my newly acquired things in them - oops!). We opened the door of the apartment to see....

No TV. A brand new fridge, microwave and washing machine. Leather couches. What we thought was a reverse cycle air conditioner (but no, only blows cold air - it was about 3 degrees when we arrived!). Two bathrooms - one 'western', one 'squat'. Two fair sized rooms and one small balcony. Not bad. It was about on par with my apartment in Merewether in my last year in Newcastle but slightly smaller and less kitchen facilities. We had dinner with Miss Li that night and were pleased that it was vegetarian. We also discovered very quickly that this province were carb loaders to the max. Rice, noodles, fried bread, steamed bread, fried buns, sweet buns, golden bread......won't take me long to put on all the weight I lost from my long battle with Travellers Tummy. We also discovered at a teachers dinner during the first week that 'dog' was commonly eaten here. You can imagine the internal dialogue that was running through my head as I processed this information AFTER we had eaten. Luckily, it was quickly explained that the majority of teachers were from other provinces and frowned upon eating dog so they did not eat it at functions. Thank god for that! Apparently, it is a common practice that pet dogs are stolen to be eaten and served to guests in our town. Figures why I haven't seen many dogs around. Thats right TTC, send me to a place that serves my favourite animal for dinner. Well done.

We recieved our timetable at about 10pm Sunday night and I was scheduled to teach first thing in the morning. Hate to brag to all my fellow teachers etc but I have10 senior classes a week. I am required to teach each class once a week for 45 minutes....adding up to just 8 hrs. BUT I have to be in the office every day from 8am until 5pm. Students here are boarders so they have a pretty manic schedule. Breakfast is at 6.30am and the first class of the day starts at 7.15am. They have classes until 11.40am then a long lunch break until 2pm. Mostly they go back to their dorms and have a rest before starting afternoon classes. Afternoon sessions go until 5.05pm then dinner break until 7.30pm. Night session goes until 9.30pm - 10pm depending on their electives. Then it is off to bed to do it all over again. My senior students do this 7 days a week for one week and 5 days a week for the next. They travel home on their 'off' weekend if they live close enough nearby. If not, they stay on campus for the weekend and some take extra classes (because clearly, they have not had enought). Of course the teachers have to supervise all these goings on so they get minimal time off to. We thought this regime was ridculously strict until we found out from other interns that they have primary students from 5 year olds boarding at their school who basically do the same schedule. The students are so tired all the time. It is not uncommon to have 3 or 4 students fall asleep in class during a session. I feel horrible at times for waking them up but, I guess even though I am here for more novelty and interest reasons, I am still here to do a job. I feel sorry for the poor little buggers.

The first week flew by. Our classes, ranging from 40 - 50 students, were excited that we were here but still very lazy at times. Their written English is very good but their spoken English is quite poor, especially their pronounciation. We attended two Welcome Dinners with the executive of the school, watched our new co - workers get blind doing 'gumbay' and struggled through eating several spicy dishes, something we would have to get used to as spices are commonly used in our province. We also discovered a bus to nearby Sanshui that the school ran each Thursday so we could shop and get our weekly Maccas fix. All other meals were to be had at the massive dining hall at the school and basically consisted of rice, vegies and some type of meat, usually offal. Much to our delight the dining hall provides us with spoons except the one day we got there too late and had to struggle with the leftover stainless steel chopsticks. Definately slippery little suckers. Punctuality sure does pay off in this place.

I hardly got a minute to myself during the first week. If we thought we were celebrities in Beijing then we were bigger than Michael Jackson here (Chinese students LOVE MJ with a passion). Few students had actually seen a white person in the flesh and even fewer had even spoken to one. We are constantly referred to as 'foreigners' here but it does not have the negative connotation it has back home. Students, and teachers, were keen to talk to us and it was uncommon for us to not be answering calls of 'hello' and 'how are you' from them all. On the Thursday of the first week I felt exhausted. I had taught 3 lessons, spent 2 lessons helping Chinese English teachers with pronunciation, every break between periods (there are 7 a day) speaking with students who came to visit me at my desk, was escorted to every meal and classroom by various children as well as back to the apartment. At the one stage I was able to draw breath at dinner when I found a quiet place to sit in the dining hall....only to be bombarded by 5 female students who wanted to share a conversation and 'friendship' with me. Of course I was happy to do so but speaking slowly and trying to interpret questions and answers from non - English speakers is terribly taxing on the brain. We were definately 'point and giggle' and 'yell something in English and run away' targets but I also started to form 'friendships' with some of the students. Chinese children have a great sense of humour and I often find myself laughing through the conversations we are 'trying' to have.

Our first week was definately a whirlwind of excitement. Starting at a new school in Australia is hard enough, let alone one in China. I survived though. It is amazing what a smile, a giggle and a mispronounced Chinese word will get you in this country. 1 week down, 19 to go!

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