Well, it's been nearly a month since my last post (whoops!) and a lot has happened - the biggest being that Im in China!!!!! AAAHAHA! Ireland already feels like a lifetime away. China is so different from anywhere I've ever been, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. My Chinese is absolutely abysmal, limited to nothing but names and numbers, but after talking to some people who have been here for some years, it seems that one can get by here well enough with simply pointing and pantomiming. I do want to learn though, but it will require buckling down and signing up for classes probably. Who knows, it might even help me with my own teaching to be on the other side.
Shane English has been great to me so far. All of the other teachers have been incredibly kind and helpful, going out of their way to give me advice and make sure that I feel comfortable. There are four school locations, and mine is in Dongting. Dongting did not waste anytime with me, and Ive pretty much had a full schedule since I got here. The kids are quite adorable, but the little ones are fairly rambunctious. It'll be interesting to see how they react to me considering that the general dynamics of the place seem to be male foreign head teachers and female Chinese TAs in the classroom. Ben, my roommate for the moment and I got here two weeks earlier than originally supposed to, so we've had a hodgepodge of quick training before being thrown to the wolves if you will. I've got a full teaching weekend ahead, with four classes on Saturday and Sunday each. Lesson planning seems to take me about two hours per hour and a half class, so I've been rather busy. Next week, Im going to Beijing for a week long training which Im really looking forward to. Ben and I will be moving out of our shared apartment, which is kind of sad since we're both going to be getting places a lot less nice. But we can't stay in the one that we've been squatting in, so out we go!
As per Amy's suggestion, I'll try to keepthis post short and give just a brief overview of my first impressions of Wuxi: Blonde women don't exist here, and culturally staring at something so out of the ordinary as one is perfectly acceptable; Chinese parents love it when a foreigner talks to their kid; It's really flipping hot here; Public transport, food, and clothes are really cheap -Beers at the western bars are not; youll pay an arm and a leg for any beer with above a 3% alcohol content; things are surprisingly kept clean here, but there does appear to be a small population of stray animals wandering around; if give a meal with both chopsticks and a spoon, it is best to work together with the two for minimal mess making; you will make a mess eating just about everything, it's ok, there's no dignified way around it; food is delicious but definitely not healthy - people must eat about a liter of oil a day; No matter how forcefully you say "ting bu dong" (I don't understand) people will continue to speak Chinese at you; stereotypes come from truth and Chinese people are terrible drivers; it will be a miracle if I don't get hit by a car at some point. Really there's so much more I could say, but I think this list is long enough. Overall, I love it here! Everyday is an adventure and I am so happy that I decided to do this!
One last thing, now that I'm sort of settling in, posts should come a lot more regularly. Maybe.
