Note to self: Monica and Amber are my PT Assistants who are both very fluent in Chinese and English, Shelly is another PT assistant who helps in coordinating the classes/times, she can speak some English but not as fluently...and she's a random hugger. haha She comes up behind you and hugs you...
Top: me, Monica, Shelly, and half of Amber Bottom: me and Amber Ahh, Easter is over! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I usually have about 5-6 classes on the weekends, this weekend I will say was a lot easier teaching wise, as I didn’t have to plan a bunch of different grade levels; however, it was a little stressful getting different supplies, organizing activities and games for the different levels to do; to make it more interesting so that new students will enroll in the school. Good thing I have help, the three assistants have been more than helpful! First of all, they can speak Chinese to the store owners to get the items we needed at a better price. Second of all, they called the parents asked them to bring their kids at certain times and to invite friends or ask their friends if they were interested in bringing them to the school for a free lesson and some fun. Who in China says no to a free English lesson and fun for their kids on a rainy weekend…no one! Approximately, 90 new students showed up for the weekends festivities. Usually I have about 10-12 kids in a class, one of them I had about 18, 3-4 year olds. That was a fun task trying to get them all to listen & do the activities…so funny, them in their bunny ears, jumping around the classroom. Here are a few photos from this weekend’s party…
Note to self: Monica and Amber are my PT Assistants who are both very fluent in Chinese and English, Shelly is another PT assistant who helps in coordinating the classes/times, she can speak some English but not as fluently...and she's a random hugger. haha She comes up behind you and hugs you...
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Noni and our dinner - Curry! Yesterday, I met a guy who is from Idaho named Greg (through my principle, Van) who has been in Wenzhou for about 4 years. He and some of his friend are going to the medical school here in Wenzhou. (Side note: going to school here is super cheap compared to school in the US or about everywhere else, hmmm….?) He assisted me in my demo classes for Easter weekend, which he was actually pretty helpful. Granted I did have a Chinese assistant but it was fun having another American around to talk with after…he gave me tips and insight into how things work, which was pretty helpful overall. I now have leverage if and when I need it, not that I wish to have leverage over anyone but I realized how much leverage I do have…muuuaahahahhahaaaa! (Oops, sorry…that was evilness just slipping out!) After, we walked to meet his girlfriend at her friend’s house, they are all going to the medical school…I now know 5 soon-to-be doctors in Wenzhou, no more crazy waiting rooms for me unless I need tests, as they’re all graduating soon. :) Kiddding...maybe?! We watched some Jerry Springer (wow, it’s been a while since I’ve watched that, and come to mind never actually watched a full episode), we listened to some music and just chatted about everything. The 4 girls are really funny. We talked a little bit about everything, like how skiing is a ‘white people’ sport (because Greg’s GF Sharon tried it and got a small tare in her MCL) and how we’d rather die if it was a tragic accident…fire, smoke, bungee jumping, sky diving, etc., we talked hair and extensions…so fun! :) I was also informed that the food of England is not actually fish and chips….drumroll please! The national listed food of England is Curry. Who the heck would have guessed that Curry was the National Food of England! Definitely not this extremely ‘white person’! So then we made some...yes we, I chopped!I helped…I did the peppers. Noni made us curry…I myself have never had curry and they thought this was very strange. But seriously, where in New Baltimore or surrounding areas would I have gotten an authentic and delish curry?! I don’t know either…I tried it, it was actually really good. It was homemade, warm and very flavorful. What more can you ask of food right! Seriously though, curry is tasty…I’m not sure why I never tried this before. I had the opportunity once, but apparently wasn’t feeling adventurous. So, note to self, checked off the list is ‘Eating Curry in China’…Check! For future reference, the expats are Noni, Mrin, Sharon and Yeta...I'm sure more to come...keep in tune for more adventures of my crazy self! :P I got home from work, plugged in my computer/internet, changed into my PJ's and just happened to glance up...look I have a new friend! He hasn't started talking to me about my car insurance yet, but he definitely scared me. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about living with these things...I guess we'll find out. As long as he's not attached to any of my bath towels after a shower or jumps out from my sock drawer, I think I'll be okay, but...then again, it just moved.....OMG!!!! It's moving now...Ugh, yep...not exactly okay with this arrangement. I mean, he didn't even ask first! Common dude, I would've give you a key...but NO, you just had to sneak in and scare me! Well, on the bright side...maybe he'll eat/kill all of those blood sucking b@$t@r[s that got me during my sleep. I know, I know...it's more scared of me than I am of it...tell someone else that story! You're not living with a flipping GECKO! Okay, maybe the people in the south are...I'll buckle down and try not to freak out or scream when I see it... :-/ I woke up only to find two giant, itchy, red lumps on my arm. In the US, I do get bit a lot by mosquitos, but not in March and the lumps are usually not this big! The mosquitos are normal size but do the ever pack a walloping punch. Man alive!!! They itch like crazy, they're hot and extremely red. This summer is going to be fun, I'm gonna be one walking white and red, itchy lump! Ugh. Monday started just like every other day, woke up, got ready, grabbed a cup of instant coffee. Normal right?! Yes, I’d say so. It was shopping and real coffee day with my new assistants. This began at about 1pm, we met up near a park and walked around then grabbed a late lunch and coffee, after which we went shopping. The needs were few but the items found were many! I really needed some kind of hair items to help control the crazy mass on top of my head! Growing out a pixie cut is always a pain in the butt…but the lovely humidity of the area seems to be making it extra fun. Also, possibly shoes, as they wanted to go to a nice bar and all my shoes were the athletic kind. After a nice lunch and relaxing coffee, we went to a back alley (honestly I had no idea where we were and could have possibly been sold on the black market!). This alley had a bunch of different shops selling everything from bags that looked like Prada but instead said Arpda, other things like nail polish were found (can I get a yea!), as well as some jewelry and a couple of cute headbands. We also browsed a few shops and bargained our prices down. One of the assistants wanted a new smaller cell phone but didn’t want to pay a lot; we went to many different stalls asking and bargaining prices until she heard a price she’d agree to. For all of us in the US, this is not the normal, unless at a flea market or possibly a used car lot. The shopping over and we all went our separate ways to eat dinner and change for the evening festivities. The night began at about 9:30, we went to a bar near the European City called The Pirate Ship, there was even a van parked outside with the bars logo and characters on it…one of them looked like Johnny Depp from the Pirates of the Caribbean…only in cartoon form. It was decorated like a pirate ship, even had the dice game that they play. The bar was semi empty as it was Monday night, the beer was very light and they ordered about 20 for 4 of us, but looking back now I know why. The beer didn’t contain but half of the normal alcohol content that it does in the states. After about an hour of being there the owner of the bar was informed that a foreigner was there, he came over to greet us and stated that the foreigners are entitled to a 90% off discount, I thought I heard them wrong. As it is the beers are already pretty cheap, 1 beer is about 10 yuan, which in USD is about $1.60, after the discount I’d pay .16c for 1 beer. The owner’s friend also joined us and decided it was KTV time, and also began to dance. KTV is like karaoke; people sing quite off key drink a lot and laugh at and with each other. I ended the night drinking only about 4 beers which is about 1.5 normal beers in a 4 hour period. Let’s just say, drunk in China does not get checked off the list. Haha! But for my counterparts, who haven’t destroyed their livers in college…they were a bit tipsy. That’s about it for now, check out the videos of the day. These photos are before the students arrive... Most of the kids are pretty funny and fun, there are only a few bad apples in the bunch...and the fun thing is, we're a private school, we don't have to allow the bad ones back...we can throw them back!!! :P Today, this one his English name is Mack, was really getting on my nerves, he was singing some song, not listening but when he was learning something he'd listen, if he already knew it or remembered it from a prior lesson he'd act out...like he kept falling out of his chair, it sounds funny but when you're trying to teach a group of students from 6-9 it's not exactly funny at the moment. Now of course it makes me laugh, but he also has a hitting problem...which is not so funny. He's a pain in the ass to deal with and its obvious to me that his mom let's him do whatever he wants. The principle talked to him after class the last time, because the parents are viewing the class as it's happening in the room next door, via video surveillance...and one of the other parents told the principle what a bad student he was that day and that during their break he hit some students and ME! After that, two things happened, I got the 3 Chinese-English speaking assistance, 1 assistant teacher on the way...and Mack was semi-pleasant last week. This week, he was back to being the same old Mack. So I told him today how bad he was, even with the assistant in the room, he said, 'okay, we'll ask him not to come back. Or maybe I'll give him a final warning and if he's bad like this again in class, we can just usher him out during break time and tell the parents politely to find another school.' I do feel bad, but the kid is a total train wreck, I should take my phone in class with me just to show you how bad some of the kids can be, they throw toys not only at the walls but also at each other! But on the bright side, I get some of the cutest little kids ever! They're willing to learn and ready for any question or sentence. Trying as hard as they can to pronounce it properly and saying it a few times aloud to their selves before saying it aloud, so as not to sound bad. One of my favorites, his name is Tom. He's in 1st grade; he's been learning English for 2 years. You can tell when he's thinking; he gets really quiet and sits in his chair, one hand under the other like he's coming up with how to generate electricity. Then the light bulb hits and he raises his hand...when he's picked, he stands up, says the sentence so close to perfect that it's sometimes hard to correct him...so instead I'll say something like, “It is or He is” and then he will say the sentence again the right way...SO CUTE! My students ages range from just under 3 to 14 years old, and every age in between. This weekend was a mush of all different ages. Saturday’s schedule: 9:30-11a Grade 1, lunch break, 2-3:30p Grade 3, 3:30-5p Kindergarten, dinner break, 6:30-8:30p Grade 2; Sunday’s schedule: 9:30-11a Grade 1, 11-11:30a Demo class for Kindergarten, lunch break, 1-2:30p Grade 1, 2:30-4p Kindergarten, 4-6p Grade 4, dinner break, 7-9p Grade 6 & 7; yes, I am tired. So, when I first started here I had 3 assistants to help me in getting the students information, phone, grade level etc. from the parents, reminding them to come/what time/what day…after 2 weeks, 2 quit. One of them went back to school, the other is well off and doesn’t need to work, she gets to go to makeup class for fun and eats bon-bons during the day. After a few incidents in my younger levels, kids hitting and screaming during the lessons with no way for me to tell them to stop as they A) don’t understand me and B) even if the did they really didn’t want to. I now have 3 assistant teachers, 1 assistant for setting up the class and now 1 other part-time English teacher coming in from England. It's good because they're doing the easy stuff, however I think it's taking me twice as long to do things...because I have to manage them, show them things...it's good and yet tiring. The principle has said that it’s for me to be able to do other things for the class set up, typing, grading their work and also being able to take a holiday. He’s said that this class has been a success so far and that the group who’s running this program really likes the material they’ve seen so far. Yea me!! They’re thinking of expanding the program to other cities around the Province. Which will take a few years since it’s still a new program. Today, I am going out with some of my assistants for coffee and shopping around the city. Maybe some more photos and video to come...No, I'm sure of it!
I’m headed north of Wenzhou to the town of Taizhou, it’s a smaller city than Wenzhou but still has the city life. With my principle Van, we start at the bus station, he’s headed home for the first time in about 2 weeks. His wife and 2 month old son live in Taizhou, while he works in Wenzhou.
The bus station – carry-on items include luggage of all kinds including the normal backpacks/suitcases as well as the occasional rabbit and chicken, which will also be stored under the bus in a special compartment…they’re cages are strapped down so that they don’t move around. But what a scary experience for the animals…poor rabbit and chicken! And after everything is strapped down we head out of the city. It should only be about a 2 hour drive from Wenzhou to Taizhou, but then we hit traffic and get diverted off of the highway onto side streets and into other towns…and the 2 hour drive turns into 4 hours. Of course, who drank the large coffee before she left…yep me! So I had to pee at the 2 hour mark, but alas, the bus didn’t have a bathroom…eyeyeyeee! But I digress, the scenery was beautiful. We passed a lot of smaller towns along the way, as well as some distressed houses that were pretty old and falling down, some temples on the side of the mountains, a chicken farm or two, overall a nice drive. Once we got into the smaller towns we were driving on rock roads, not pavement, it was a little bumpy. Then we arrived in a small town, not sure the name of it but it wasn’t very big and we were there for a while because of all the traffic being rerouted through. This town was very amusing to me. I found a small gang of City Dogs and their hangout spot, I tracked them for a while, they fought like any gang and they also crossed the street and argued over who was going to get the best scraps of meat. There was also a man riding a tricycle, and I know riding a bike in China is like eating rice…it’s everywhere, but this little old man was taking his time, not in a hurry at all and very focused on getting where he was going. I may start a new photo page with ‘Faces of China’ and he’s going to be my first face. Then there were the more disturbing and noteworthy trucks full of things…the truck that carries everything from the tricycle for a child, some cardboard boxes, a fan and a bunch of other things, then the food truck, which carried the soup of the day for the local street shop. They make the soup, put it into buckets and transport it to the local street food area, reheat the soup and sell it…however, if you look, it’s not covered…yum, yum. No wonder my stomachs messed up half of the time! Haha The city of Taizhou is quite nice, its scenery and landscaping is very different with that of Wenzhou. Wenzhou is crowded and we don’t have enough parks to walk around and just enjoy unless you drive for a while to get out of the city. Van and his family were very hospitable, they cooked many different foods for me to try, like jellyfish, a local fish from the lake, fried krill, some veggies, stomach of a pig with a sweeter sauce (not my favorite a little to squishy), and some coconut flavored beverage. I enjoyed feeding the white pigeons, people watching, going to the temple near the city center and walking around in general. The noise level was also very noticeably different, it was much quieter and I could hear the birds sing. Overall, the visit was nice. The last couple of mornings have been nice, I haven’t needed to go to work until the afternoon…so I’ve been exploring! In a world where the Chinese actually do ‘Chinese Fire Drills’, and a city dog watches traffic so it doesn’t get hit (it literally was playing Frogger with traffic or in his case Dogger…) I would say again, this is opposite world! :D These two things happened within about a half hour time frame. I was standing at a light, waiting to cross the street and I see two people that were stopped at a red light, quickly get out of their car, run around and they’d switched places…in my world we call that a Chinese Fire Drill, apparently here they just call it, ‘quick, switch spots’! I of course started to laugh, and couldn't stop! Because, well seriously! Do I have to explain! I'm in China and saw a CHINESE FIRE DRILL! How funny is that! I was getting stared at more than normal and to top it off I had my headphones in and I was a little sweaty from the jog I just did in the park…yep I was a real tourist attraction! Haha The city dog was after I acquired my Starbucks…yes I folded, and surprise Starbucks Columbus Cap. Sq. friends, it was right across from the Sheraton Wenzhou (btw-5 star!) - (fitting right!? I thought so!). I did not get my normal quad venti soy latte with 2 sfv though, as I had no idea how to say that in Chinese…but I digress. The city dog was just walking along the street, like any other person, I mean dog. It found a cross walk and with no help of people proceeded to stop and go as the traffic would allow…like I said, he played Dogger with the traffic! I’ve never seen anything quite like it before…a dog goes, stops in the middle, goes a little more, stops again and finishes crossing the street without a scratch. Now that’s a True City Dog! I’ve got to say there have been some funny things that you can believe because they’re so odd…stay tuned for more oddities of my new life in China! Well, today was a long day off...I intended to relax and enjoy, which technically I did enjoy...but my feet are a little sore. I think new shoes are in order. My friend Anna and I decided that it was nice enough that we should go do Jianxing Island (which is technical in Wenzhou), you take a ferry boat to the island and it has many different things to do. The day was lovely, we started out by getting lunch in her childhood neighborhood. Her classmate runs a restaurant that was good, despite the shady looking area, it was old Wenzhou. Old houses, old people, it looked like it was going to crumble down any moment. Her friend made us up a very delish meal, complete with snails, chicken feet, soup, clams, frog and veggies. The only thing that I didn't like and couldn't even swallow was the chicken feet...I can't even describe the texture well enough to do this dish justice. It was like rubber and bones all in this little tiny foot. Which to eat, you put the whole thing in your mouth and start to crunch, and you swallow everything, bones and all! I just couldn't do it! And I did try, but it made me gag. Anna laughed at me and gave me a napkin. Haha
We were stuffed, her friend just kept on bringing dishes after dishes of food...so after this meal, we decided it was a good time to walk it off. And did we ever! We walked all around her old hood, walked to the ferry to get to the island, walked all of the way around the island, we rented a paddle boat (and it was windy so the paddling was a little more difficult than usual), then we walked some more, to Woma Jin street (the shopping people only street, see photos from prior blog with lanterns), we walked around a market near Woma Jin (so busy!), then we walked back to her car, we basically walked all of Wenzhou! We ended the evening in a cute little coffee shop, where her aunt and her cousin joined us. I also met another English speaking Chinese young woman, she wants to be friends...look out for more fun and crazy adventures! :) |
Patricia CalvertAn American expat and the adventure in her new world. This expat tells you about her escapades, struggles, moments of laughter, as well as those "huh?!?" moments of her journey of teaching ESL in Wenzhou, China; a manufacturing district in Mainland China. Archives
March 2014
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