Week Twelve Update

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I counted it up last week and I have officially reached the 12 week mark in my year abroad. We celebrated with a swig of 45 cent beer. Gosh, that has gone quickly (the time and the beer). I am nearly at the 6 week mark of living and teaching in China. The weeks are flying by so fast. I haven't updated my blog for a while, having been distracted with settling into a routine of some sort so I thought I might see if I can summarise what I have learnt, experienced and seen so far with a little urban myth debunking and random fact listing.

1. 'Chinese students are so well behaved' - FALSE
SOME Chinese students are well behaved and eager to learn. Others are not. Most are lazy and will do anything not to participate. They may claim not to know English but they know enough to understand what you are asking and answer with 'I don't know'. Other times they fall asleep in class or pretend that they are working when in fact they aren't. They also know how to swear in English and although I have only heard the 's' word once, used in context no less, other teachers from my internship have reported excessive swearing.....from 8 year olds! Will, who works in a town close to the Macau border, had one student write him a love letter of sorts 'I bash you until you mother don't know you'. He, as all good English teachers would, corrected the grammar and handed it back to the child. He teaches primary school level. Enough said.

At one stage last week I wrote up on the board 'In Australia, I am an English Literature teacher. I have been teaching for 5 years'. It was at that point that my 'naughty' classes fell into line. I also followed it up with a muttering of 'I teach in Australia. You ain't got nothing on Australian kids'. Not sure if they understood the words but they grasp the concept through the teacher voice I have mastered. My usual passive aggressiveness in the classroom does not work here but they do understand 'we either do this activity or write notes from the board'. Apparently it is an international teacher threat that crosses over borders, oceans and languages.

2. 'Chinese students are inquisitive' - TRUE
At the recent Welcome Ceremony for Foreign Teachers held on our behalf, Therese and I were put through a Q and A session by the students in attendance. After fielding questions about how to improve their spoken English for their exams (involving me trying to say the word 'copy' in Mandarin which some students had taught me earlier last week, and receiving a round of applause for my efforts), one of my senior students took to hogging the microphone and asked a series of random questions including 'Meg, have you ever hated someone?' After making sure that I understood what she was asking, I stumbled through an answer that ended with 'No, I have not'. Sometimes in teaching you have to lie. Especially when you are being video recorded AND the Principal is in attendance. The last question I fielded was from an older student who I had not come across 'I think I am very fat. Can you give me tips to become slim?' Can I give you tips??? Chinese people, especially our students are TINY. Can I give YOU tips? Should be the other way round, sister. Today I was told by a student that 'Australians are very rude but you are gentle, warm and beautiful'. Backhanded comment but I will accept the praise. She also said I have hairy arms. Complex duly accepted as well.

3. 'Chinese people who cannot speak English, cannot understand you' - FALSE
It is actually the Chinese schooling way that many of their people can in fact read English and understand spoken English, they just cannot speak it very well themselves. Well, that's their take on it. In truth, most of the Chinese people who claim that their English is not very good are being humble. Some of the best English speaking students and teachers I have spoken with will continue to swear black and blue that they are not 'very good' at all. Some teachers are just busting to talk with us but are ashamed about their speaking skills. We can speak 'at' them apparently and they can understand everything but it doesn't make for a very invigorating conversation.

4. 'Oh, you will learn so much Mandarin when you are living in China' - FALSE
Firstly, we live in a Cantonese speaking region. The students speak Cantonese but are taught lessons in Mandarin. Then this little white girl strolls in to teach English with an Australian accent when they are used to hearing American twang recordings. Secondly, if we speak Mandarin to someone, they speak back to us in English. We say 'ni hao', they say 'hello'. We say 'she she', they say 'you're welcome'. On other occasions they assume we speak Mandarin and then start rattling off something waiting expectantly for an answer to their question. We look blank faced and then have to explain we do not speak Chinese even though, clearly, we just did. Lose - lose situation. And last but not least, the language is ridiculously hard for this Australian bogan to get her tongue around. One word spoken in one tone can mean 'beer' and the other is 'leg'. We have had waitresses in giggles on a few occasions.

I have however, mastered the ability to point to my phrase book, use the few words I can pronounce clearly and am picking up in my charades skills. We were trying to go to Sanshui Plaza on Saturday from the bus station and couldn't work out which way it was. Cue me standing in the middle of a group of 20 taxi drivers pointing and trying to say 'shopping centre' in our phrasebook and miming the word 'big' to ensure we got to the right one. We had previously written down the word 'McDonalds' and showed someone and couldn't get any sort of recognition out of them. What?! It's the largest food chain IN THE WORLD. How can they not understand 'McDonalds', surely they must. But once we got to the plaza it dawned on us that they actually have Chinese characters as the name for the store underneath the golden arches. Oops.

5. 'You must travel with your passport at all times. If you do not have your passport because you are being registered with an authority, a photocopy of your passport will do' - FALSE
We found this out the hard way. On our first weekend to Guangzhou (a large city about and hour and a half away, approx 10 million people strong) Will, Therese and I ventured to the beautiful Shamian Island, a place that felt thousands of miles away from China. It was very European like, something out of a film. It was breathtaking and although I love China, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. Will had found a YHA and booked us in, only to have us turned away for not having original passports with us. It was pushing 11pm by this time so we tried our chances at the hotel around the corner. After first being told they didn't have any rooms, we were led upstairs to a delightful but expensive looking triple. At this stage it was either pay for it or spend a night in a pub (which in hindsight we could have done) so we decided to take it (in the end cost us the same amount as the YHA). Next came convincing the receptionist that we could book in using photocopies of our passport. I think repeating the word 'teacher' was the winner and we scored a room for the night. We didn't actually get back to it until 5am but thats another story. One of the first things that we spotted in there was the 'warm prompt' sign I have posted. It was funny at the time but now, getting to week 4 and still not having our passports returned by the school is a little uncomfortable. Fingers crossed for the next few days. ....

6. 'TTC will not send you anywhere rural' - FALSE
We have cows. I can see a paddock from my bedroom window. It is 1 hour to the nearest McDonalds / KFC / post office. Our town does not feature in the Lonely Planet or on Google Earth. This, my friends, is rural China at it's best.


7. 'The Chinese are rude and abrupt and they will take advantage of foreigners' - FALSE
Chinese people may sound rude but in fact, they aren't. On several occasions we have been plucked out of a situation by a stranger and sent in the right direction. There has only been one 'duping' incident where a cab driver wanted to charge us three times the amount to get to a destination that we had just come from. I kindly declined and found a nice cabbie willing to do the right thing. Everyone has been helpful, even when they seem to be frustratingly ignoring or declining our requests. It only takes a minute or two to realise that they are in fact aiding our wants and needs without making a scene about it and without demanding compensation.

We are now regulars at our local bus station and the ticket operators warmly greet us and save us from the embarrassment of trying to pronounce the destination by jumping in first. As I traveled by myself on Sunday, the operator showed great concern for 'my friend' ('Where is she?') before allowing me to continue with the transaction for one, instead of two tickets. After being mobbed by a group teenagers from a neighbouring school (and having copious amounts of photos taken with them) they steered me from the incorrect line to the correct one and informed the hostess where I was going. Weeks ago, a stranger came out of the crowd, grabbed my arm and directed us onto a bus. It did turn out to be the right one, but she did all of this without saying a word. We had no idea how she knew where we were going but it all worked out in the end.

8. 'You will be fine understanding signs as they are mostly written in pinyin' - FALSE
Pinyin Chinese uses Roman characters to write words. Chinese characters use, well, symbols for words. They are ridiculously hard to learn and make my eyes go funny. In Beijing, we were lucky, as most signs etc used pinyin and were reasonably recognisable. In rural China, pinyin is not used. Chinese characters are on buses, signs, timetables and restaurants. Restaurants also do not have the 'picture' menus we became so accustomed to in Beijing. Last Friday, Therese and I ventured into our little town in search of a restaurant. Using our phrase book we were able to order beef and broccoli, special fried rice, noodles and fried bread as well as beer. It was divine. So good in fact, two tables that arrived after us ordered exactly the same thing. Either my pointing has become refined OR they only really serve 4 items on their menu.

Chinese characters are impossible to read. I know the sign for 'people' looks like a upside down V, the sign for 'big' looks like a stick-man, the sign for 'China' looks like a flag as well as the signs for Guangzhou and Sanshui, our nearest towns. Basically, if a sign read 'There are people in the big city of Guangzhou in China' I could read it no problem. I watch the students write in Chinese and am amazed at how beautiful and precise it looks. My scrawl is nothing compared to the little artworks that they make everyday.


CHINESE PEOPLE LIKE......

- Michael Jackson
- Lady Gaga
- Basketball
- Nanna naps in the middle of the day
- Walking very slowly...everywhere (tis very frustrating when you are in a hurry)
- Therese's blue eyes
- Yelling 'hello' at us

To be fair, these are all very broad 'likes' and 'dislikes' I have come across in my time here. As one blog reader nicely (actually rudely) pointed out in a comment, Kobe Bryant has quite a following in China (see below) but not at my school. The students, in fact, make a point of telling you this the minute that you mention basketball. So to the readers who this blog is intended for (my friends, colleagues and family back home in Australia - yes, I realise other people can access this website -blah, blah, blah - but really the INTENTION is just to update and entertain my loved ones and prevent me from having to repeat myself a million times when I speak with them), here goes.....

CHINESE PEOPLE DISLIKE........

- Kobe Bryant.
- Lining up for anything
- Serving small portions of food
- America
- Ending conversations. Makes them very uncomfortable for some reason.


Quotes from letters from my students are as below. I asked them to write me a short note introducing themselves. I have included these to prove that, indeed the students are like any others. They may be teenagers, lazy and cheeky but you gotta love them!

- You are very slim. I wish I was as tall as you.
- Thank you for being my teacher and I love you.
- I don't like jung foot.
- You are beautiful and you face fill with smile.

I am absolutely loving it so far and hopefully, there will be many more adventures and laughs to come. Actually, come to think of it China does make me laugh out loud frequently. From the comments and questions from students to my own attempts at Mandarin and translations, without laughter I would go bonkers. Come this Friday I will have been teaching here a month. Considering my contract is only for 4 and a half months, this placement will fly by.

Missing everyone at home loads but loving the quick chats on Skype and Facebook that I have been having lately. Hate to admit it but I did miss OHS last week for a few days....there are no biscuits, cakes or chocolates in my staffroom here! I am running out of Vegemite (gasp!) and would give my right arm for a steak but I PROMISE that I am enjoying myself and having a grand ol' time. Love you all bundles xx

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