Hit the Books

This week I had my first Chinese test.

Photos by Conor

I wanted to write this post two days ago when I actually had it, but I was too exhausted from staying up the night before, eating chocolate chips and avoiding actual studying. It was just like my old college days, but with less stamina!

Over many difficult hours of diligent chocolate consumption I was able to create the material for my 3 minute presentation, a comparative discussion regarding the weather of my current city and hometown, and my feelings on the issue of "weather".

How many pictures of me until you feel like you were actually there?

This test was for my weekly Chinese class, and I'm very glad we had it. I definitely don't work hard enough on my Chinese by myself, and I'm the type of student that needs tangible goals and challenges like tests to push myself to really hustle. I guess living in the country where knowing Chinese would make so much easier isn't... tangible... enough for me.

I fully understand that this is a small milestone, come on, it's not even an HSK test, but I'm thankful for any Chinese that I pick up that can actually stick FOR CRYING OUT LOUD PLEASE LET THIS STICK. We're taking a break from class for winter course and Spring Festival, so I'll be out of practice. Ask me about the weather in a month; we'll see if this testing thing works.

Chinese Christmas Spectacular

One of the questions I always get around last week is "What's Christmas in China like?" so today I'll recap the holidays here. First, there are no holidays.

You're very likely to see fancy, decorated apples for sale in December, because somehow Chinese people are under the impression that Westerners give each other apples for Christmas. Personally, I've never gotten an apple, and I STILL haven't gotten an apple (thanks a lot, students).

For the low price of 4 regular apples!

These overpriced apples reflect the big picture, that basically all that has made it over from the West is Christmas' commercialism. Malls play Christmas music that no one understands and stores sell decorations not many people want, but apart from that the average person has no interest or knowledge about this foreign celebration. It's strange to see decorations put up in such a setting, like I'm in a private joke everyone else is just humouring me with.

Decorations at a nightclub, DJ in the background

Although, sometimes their mysterious displays of our customs can be handy for expats. It's tough to get into the Christmas spirit here, but their Christmas efforts definitely help, like the buffet put on by a hotel here in Fuzhou. Since we work at a foreign school, they're nice enough to give us Christmas Day off, so on Christmas Day we all got dressed up in button-down shirts and ate until those buttons popped off. Turkey, gravy, bread, cheese, sushi, chocolate cake... we all got to eat something we'd been missing to make us feel at home, or perhaps miss home even more. In any case, all the white people saying "Merry Christmas!" to each other helped as well.

Decorations in the lobby. Photo by Andy

Stuffed to the smiles. Photo by Sean

These kind of activities are possible when living in a community of expats, and another one is the classic Secret Santa, which will help make any office feel like a Western office. There's nothing like trying to find that perfect gift for someone, going shopping to find weird Western things for them, then gathering 'round the tree in the library, feeling the excitement of tearing open a box to find exactly what you were hoping for, the one thing on your Christmas list: chocolate!

Let the rationing begin!

Excited like kids on Christmas morning

The final part of Christmas that affects me is also at school. Christmas-themed lessons are popular in schools to teach English topics, and my school is no exception. We had Christmas activity classes a couple weeks before the big day, spending the time making winter crafts and playing Christmasy games. Oh and of course Santa, played by a Chinese woman, came by with treats.

Exciting Christmas brainstorming session

I made a snowman!

So what did we learn? For some people living far away from their friends and family, the holidays can be a difficult time. You may miss home more, and you may even resent where you're at because of it. But it's like I found when I celebrated my first Thanksgiving in China, two years ago. There are plenty of people around, just like you, away from what and who they know and love, but together you can create something. It will be different; it might not match the holiday traditions you're used to, because come on, it's tough to find all the ingredients for Mom's recipe and you can't even make it as well as her anyway, but it will be a celebration with people looking out for each other. Besides, who you teach with becomes like your family, because remember this: you can't choose your family, and you can't pick the nutjobs that travel 6,000 miles to teach Chinese kids how to say 'instruments'.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Kindergarten Christmas

This week we brought Santa to Kindergarten.

At first, I was really nervous to show up at a strange school and teach lessons to 4 and 5 year olds who have most likely never had a foreign teacher or interacted with a foreigner, and probably have never seen a foreigner in real life before. But after doing this a few times, I've come to accept how crazy the situation is and embrace the freedom in being such an evanescent part of their lives.

I think they put the naughty kids up there. 

As part of my job, once a month I head to two nearby kindergartens to teach classes. Along with a bilingual teaching assistant, I present 20-minute vocabulary lessons to the kids that aren't crying. Thankfully, I've been teaching the same children for the three outings I've had so far, so they're getting used to me and the number of tears is decreasing.

You're OK you're ok youreokyoureokyoureok.....

Here's how it works: one Wednesday a month, I show up at school and am told what vocabulary I will be teaching. Last week it was body parts, and last month it was snail, crab, and butterfly. Since I have such tiny kids, there aren't a lot of activities I can do, so planning is simple. We take taxis over to the school, wait around in the playground until the kids are finished their water breaks or playtime or whatever is happening, and then we teach! Walk to the next kindergarten and repeat!

Waiting around that playground

It seems like these students are learning English the same way I'm learning Chinese: taking classes once a week, and then immediately forgetting the material afterwards. It's not the best system, but there's very little pressure on the teacher this way. Of course, they are tiny babies, so I'm not surprised they can't remember how to say 'snail' from a month ago, but what's my excuse? I should really get some Chinese review going.

Anyways, with Christmas around the corner, Santa came along to hand out candy. It was actually my branch manager in a costume! Do these kids know who Santa is? Hard to say! Were they willing to put up with another white guy to get candy? You betcha.

NOT happy with his candy trade offer.

Western Walmart

A couple days ago I led a field trip.

All the good kids get ice cream! And me!

Sure, I've been a participant in field trips before. Tons of them! But I've never led one before, until now. I took our giant class of FOUR advanced campers (and by that I mean students) to Walmart! I created a scavenger hunt for them, with questions to answer and new words to learn. It was a really fun morning, and I'm sure you remember how a good field trip is SO MUCH BETTER than another day at boring old school. I mean camp! It's not school... it's camp! Camp for learning English in a classroom.

One of the challenges was to find a piece of clothing that would look amazing on Andrew.

Checking out some English on a t-shirt.

I loved how relaxed a Chinese field trip can be. There were no permission slips or waivers, no strict schedules, and get this- the kids actually wanted to wear those giant orange shirts! We strolled over from the school, chatting, which simultaneously blew my mind that I can talk to Chinese 11 year olds in English so easily.  Since their level is so advanced for their age, it meant we could joke around and have fun while checking out everything in the store.

No matter what country you're in, Walmart will only open 2 checkout lanes.

A great class... now I just need to figure out something to do with them next week!

Thanks to Lily for the pictures.

It's Camp Again

This year I'll tell you about camp.

A lot of students, my teaching assistant Lee, and me.

This is my second bout of camp so far, but this time I can actually find enough time to tell you about it. For two months, July and January, myself and the other foreign teachers at my school have to work as much as actual teachers, and it always breaks me in half. There's more hours, more students, and more infectious diseases.

Now I call it "camp," but keep in mind that I'm in China, so "camp" is actually EXTRA, all-day English classes for young students during a rare break from their regular school. If you haven't heard it from me before- Chinese students are extremely diligent.

Back to work Paddy!

We're halfway through now, and this camp has been no exception to the aforementioned rules: class sizes have ranged from 25-30 students, and a couple staff members have already been in the hospital. It's a stressful time! But with this added stress comes a lot of enjoyment as well. Camp sessions tend to be less formal than our already informal regular classes, so we play a lot of games, and I get to have a lot of fun joking around with the kids in class. For example, it would be very inappropriate for me to sing while students are writing a test in class, but if they're only coloring during a camp session, it's fine for me to softly sing a song into their ear, making up lyrics as I go, about how Crime is the theme of the day. And yes, I made up that theme. We talked about theft and murder and then we made wanted posters.

Some very smart girls and me

Camp sessions also allows me to meet and teach many students that I don't have in regular classes, and I think it brings me closer to those I do have already.

So although camp can bring some good times, I definitely looking forward to what comes next: Spring Festival, going to Thailand, and getting back to our regular, lighter schedule.