A Little Bit of Everything

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September 28th 2007

Published: September 29th 2007

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StreamofConsciousness

Thru Street on Campus

An empty street must mean one thing, its lunch time. During the hours of 12:00 to 2:00 pm, the campus turns into a ghost town. The students are either eating, sleeping, or studying.

So, I've come to the conclusion that mosquitoes have a natural affinity for my blood; these buggers have been relentless in their pursuit (in my opinion, the only good mosquito is a dead mosquito). There has been no other recourse but to resort to my mosquito bed net to avoid being assaulted by the buggers while I sleep. Moving onward...the past couple weeks have been quite busy for me, thus being the main reason for my blog neglection and my overwhelming sense of lethargy. Nevertheless, I have weathered the storm and finally, I have my own free time to indulge myself in the things that I wanted to do but haven't had the time to do so. With that being said, my aim for this blog entry is to cover the important events that have transpired over the past week or so.

In order to give you (the audience) a better perspective of my Oral English students, I thought it would be fitting to display a few student responses to the question: "What is your dream?". Since the foreign teachers here are relatively new teachers, we have been bouncing around ideas about how we have been conducting our classes. My

Real Chinese Food

Gong Bao Ji Ding, the real "kung pao chicken."

fellow teacher posed the aforementioned question to his students and received thoughtful, illuminating, and revealing responses. So I gave the question some thought and came to the conclusion that it would be a worthwhile question to pose onto my students. The idea behind the question is to better learn about the thought processes of my students as well as allow them the space to reveal their knowledge and creativity that might not necessarily be exhibited in a classroom setting. Although the responses ranged in content, I couldn't help but be moved by their honesty and poignancy. I noticed that many of the entries were rooted in idealism; the students' initial dreams were idealistic in nature. However, in a handful of the student's responses, it seems as though they realized the reality of their situations and questioned whether or not such idealistic dreams could ever be actualized, thus resorting to dreams that were more realistic and practical. But this is merely an observation, my opinion at best. I am a firm believer that my students have the capacity and the aptitude to achieve their dreams, even if they construe them to be lofty. But enough of my interpretations, I'll let the

Real Chinese Food Pt. 2

Dietary Habits

responses speak for themselves.

As the proverb goes "Dream is not in the sky. It is right here in your heart." Indeed, we all have a dream in our hearts. When I was just a small child, I dreamed of being a teacher. Because I always thought teacher was a great profession. They devoted their whole life to cultivating their students. They were always compared to candles, gardners and chalks to show their selfless dedication. "If I was to be a teacher, I would teach my students just as my teacher taught me before." But afterwards I gave up my dream. Because I found that I was not suitable for this job. I didn't have enough patience, which was an essential quality as a teacher. Besides, I thought I couldn't tolerate that kind of oblivious life. Now I dream of owning my own company in the future. Though I may confront a lot of difficulties and barriers. But this time I won't give it up. "Just do it!" After all, that's my dream. - Alicia

I have a dream. I always have a dream in heart from childhood until now. And as time went

Real Chinese Food Pt. 3

on, my dream changed several times and included more and more contents. In my childhood I lived in the country where many families didn't have enough money to support their children to go to the senior school, let alone college. So at that time I was eager to go out to college and lived in city. I grew up day by day and became a adolescent, however, my parents were becoming older and older. Their health conditions were not the same as that 10 years before, especially my mother. She always worried us and did too much for us children, but didn't care about herself. So when I was a senior school student, I wanted to be a doctor and served every patient. But now my becoming a doctor's dream can't realize forever. Because I am English major now. After three years, I want to hunt a good job. In fact, I'm looking foward to being a intepreter and serve more people. Life is like climbing a mountain. The higher you climb, the more difficult it becomes, but we have dreams which ar ebright lights to direct us to go foward. - Helen

I'm not an ambitious

The Gangs All Here

This is the whole group. The two female teachers on the end are Shuba and Katie (from left to right). They both teach at the adjacent college called Shengli College.

person, and I really seldom dream. Sometimes I do dream, but just dream a practical dream. I seldom think about my future and all I have done is to go step by step, to do things I want to do, and to be the person I think I should be. I love my life here in Dongying. I love the friends, teachers, buildings, trees and flowers, as well as all the strangers here. I am adapted to life here, and I really want to stay here for the rest of my life. My dreaming life style is one that can make me comfortable. Peaceful, happy, carefree, I just want to live that way. I don't need to much money, because it may be burden on me. I think enough is OK. What I want most is love, from my parents, my future husband, and my children. That's enough. Love can be everything in my opinion. It's fabulous to have dreams but to my regret I really seldom dream. Maybe I should try to dream a good dream tonight. - Cinderella

My dream changes over time. As a child, I dreamed of being a model because I was

Military Training

Military Training is mandatory for the incoming freshman. I'm not sure the guy in the picture is too happy that I took his picture.

taller than most children my age. Today that dream seems impossible because I grew up not that high. Then, after entering school, I became obsessed with chemistry and my dream at that time was to become a scientist. This again turns out impossible because I chose arts rather than science in my senior high under my pearents persuasion. For the time being, I just want to be an ordinary person and live an ordinary life. I want to have an ordinary job and earn a moderate salary to support my family. I hope after work I still have time to enjoy the beauty of nature and the happiness of family life. I expect to live my life to the fullest. You might say my ambition shades away by time. However, in my opinion, living an ordinary life is anything but unambitious. By "living an ordinary life" I'm not denying that we all should have our own pursuits. But I just don't want to overemphasize one aspect of life and thus ingoring the other in the process. Whats more, free from the pressure of too great ambition. It's easier for me to keep a peaceful life and bring out the best

Around Campus

of myself. - Wendy

This one is especially poignant. Notice the allusion to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech and the use of repetition to efficiently convey her point. Her use of imagery illumnates and irradiates her dream. I have a dream. Dream is to motivate, it urges people to continually make progress to reach their goals. Dream is paint, it makes life more colorful and beautiful. Dream starts from childhood and lasts to death. I had a dream that my world would always be summer, then I could wear my beautiful skirts through the year. I had a dream that every day would be Spring Festival, children wouldn't need to go to school and adults wouldn't need to work. Wherever you went, you could see happiness and festival. I had a dream that I could go to the best Middle School in our our hometown. Life is a brush, it brushes off the dream of yesterday and leaves a place for you to dream tomorrow. When I was a high school student, what accompanied with my dream were not only joy but pressure. I had a dream that my parents would never quarrel

I Turn My Camera On

I like how the dark tones accentuate the white piece of paper.

about trifles. I had a dream that I could be admitted to a good college and leave my hometown. In the university, I find my world shrink and my options narrow. I no longer have the dreams when I was a little girl.---travelling Greece to see Aegean Sea, going abroad, settling in Hong Kong... I just have a dream that I can teach English in a university in my hometown, which is also my parents' hope. In the past I even hated being a teacher, but now it seems attractive to me. I don't know whether its right or not to face reality at this age. Maybe dream is beautiful just because it hasn't come true. - Catherine

Upon waking up this morning, I couldn't help but succumb to the fact that I feel a little homesick. This is the first time during my stay here in PRC that I had a sense of longing to be back home, to be with my friends and family, and to be back in a familiar environment. I suppose this is what is known as a delayed effect, and that it was inevitable that I would eventually feel this way. However, I can't help but think that this feeling is fleeting and will pass with time. If I were to give to diagnose this feeling, and deconstruct it down to the reason as to why I feel this way, I would say that it is a combination of my current situation and dispositional emotions. It may be the slow-tempo rock music (Sigur Ros) that I am listening to, an overwhelming sense of introversion, and/or a general sense of isolation. Despite these circumstances, I can honestly say that these feeling are quite ephemeral, and are subsiding as I write this entry. This blog at times can be cathartic; it provides me with the space and medium to purge my emotions in hopes of relieving my personal tensions. What a great way to start the day!

Now onto the next topic of conversation.

As foreign teachers, we are obligated (contractually) to deliver two speeches a semester. This past Wednesday was my first opportunity to do so in front of college students and professors. Last week, I attended my fellow foreigner teacher's lecture to give me a better perspective as to what to expect. In short, roughly 40 or so students showed up, however, it seemed as though the material proved to be a little too difficult for the students. It's not that the students' were not interested in the topic of discussion, but more due to a language barrier where comprehension of certain terminology proved to be somewhat difficult. All in all, I thought he delivered a great speech/lecture and felt the pressure to do the same. So, my lecture was on the Social Exchange Theory entitled "Exploring Social Behavior Through A Series of Exchanges." I chose this topic because my liaison wanted me to give a speech that was culturally relevant and had useful applications to daily life; she wanted me to avoid choosing a topic that could be construed as superficial. Upon preparing the lecture, I had a premonition that this lecture may end up the same way that my fellow foreign teachers did. And low and behold, I was a victim of my own self-fulfilling prophecy. But these series of lectures are a learning experience more than anything, allowing us to practice our public speaking and our ability to speak intelligently on a given topic. I see this as a learning experience for my future lectures, setting a preliminary benchmark for myself and improving my weaknesses in subsequent lectures. So here is a barebones explanation of the material I covered in my lecture.

The Social Exchange Theory posits that all social action is rationally motivated, regardless of how irrational or non-rational is may appear to be. What does this mean? Well it means that this theory presupposes the idea that all action is fundamentally 'rational' in character; people calculate the likely costs and benefits of any action before making a choice on a course action. This theory borrows from microeconomic theory to describe the rationalization process of individuals behavior by examining what kind of values an actor places on tangible things such as food and money, as well as intangible things like love, friendship, and approval. Individuals are often seen as motivated by their wants and goals, which can be categorized into preferences. These individuals also act within specific constraints, and on the basis of information that they have obtained about the conditions under which they are acting. In the most simplest form, the relationship between preferences and constraints can be construed as the relationship of a means to an end. As it is not possible for an actor achieve all their wants in a given situation, they most make a suitable choice in the relation to their underlying goals and the means for attaining such said goals. So this theory demonstrates that individuals must anticipate the outcomes of alternative choices of action and formulate a calculation that best represents their choice that will allow for the most satisfaction and pleasure.

George Homans, a renowned social theorist, believes that individuals are naturally egocentric and self-serving as seen through the exchange theory. The basis of this theory is that everything an actor does is an exchange, because different parties always expect some kind of profit or reward from a relationship. Homans examines the exchange relationships with the following economic formula: Profit = Reward (benefits) - Cost. With this formulaic calculation, he asserts that everyone is always maximizing profits in society believing that every exchange brings about benefits. Using this formula, Homans argues, "if we define profit as reward less cost, and if cost is value forgone, I suggest that we have here evidence for the proposition that change is greatest when perceiving profits is least" (Homans). This example demonstrates that individuals are selfish and rational, because with every relationship, the element of profit and benefit can be achieved; and, by rationalizing it to always have a positive outcome, life can be depicted as constant exchanges that ultimately benefit the actor.

To illustrate the exchange theory, I have applied it to my own life. Upon applying to universities/colleges, there were many alternatives to choose from that would yield tangible and intangible profits for me. For the sake of the example, let's take two alternatives that I was deciding between when choosing which school would be best for me to attend. Let's take the University of Vermont and Skidmore College. Using the formula, I will define the cost, benefits, and the profits structure for each alternative. UVM would have had a cost of $30,000 or so a year, meanwhile, Skidmore College was $40,000, so there is quite a disparity between annual costs for attending each college. The benefits of me attending UVM were: a good education, far enough away from home but still in the Northeast, had my courses of study, the fitting social , and it was significantly cheaper. On the hand, the benefits of me attending Skidmore were: a better education, an ideal student population, had my courses of study and similar social environment. With the stated costs and benefits, I anticipated the outcome of alternatives. I rationalized that the alternative that would yield the most profit (satisfaction and pleasure) was to go to Skidmore College. Skidmore best represented my choice because of the perceived profit that was primarily based in the intangible values. The intangible values included a better education compared to all the other alternatives and a greater sense of satisfaction. Yes, the element of subjectivity is very evident in this example, but that is exactly the point. The point being that every actor has their own subjective values, especially when examining the benefits and profit.

The problem with this theory is that it has many weaknesses, and places a bleak outlook on individuals by constantly considering them as self-interested and self-serving beings. There are a handful of weaknesses of the exchange theory and I aim to point them out. Firstly, are we (humans) really that ‘calculating?’ Are we so overly mechanical? Secondly, the exchange theory neglects emotion as an explanation of human motivation. Sometimes people act, or react out of pure emotion, thus disproving to some extent that every person's decision process is rational. Thirdly, the theory neglects beliefs and ideology as an explanation of human motivation. Not everyone is motivated to maximize their own profits through an exchange, or a series of exchanges. How would the exchange theory explain altruistic acts? Lastly, it is hard to measure things that do not have a ‘monetary’ value...such as love or acceptance. So the theory is flawed in many respects, but I thought that it would be a interesting topic for the students. It is simply a theory in which sociologists, psychologists, economists and the like have used this to help explore the nature of individuals social behavior.

So next week is the National Holiday week where students and professors have a week off. Tomorrow Jake and I are going to embark on a 5 day voyage around Shendong province, going to Qingdao and Yantai. This will be the last post for a little while, but my next entry will have details, along with pictures, of our travels.