Sunday, September 22, 2013
Why Chinese Kids are Smarter Than Us
It's funny how quickly people adjust to new surroundings. Now that I've been here for a little while, I've gotten used to the Shane teaching schedule. And having gotten used to it as a creature of habit, it really throws me for a loop when it changes. China is not America. When there is a holiday, it isn't really a vacation. The kids might have the day off but you can bet that they're going to have to make it up sooner or later. Who needs a two day weekend when you've already had one day off during the week? What, you think you can have days off from school for free? Absolutely not. And we generally work the most when the kids are out of school, so when the weekend moves around, so does our work schedule. That's right, not only do you not actually get holidays, but sorry Chinese children - in your free time you get to go to extra English school! No wonder sometimes they just seem burned out. At least Shane accommodates our western mindset that vacation means vacation, so our working schedule all evens out eventually. Still, the past week and this one as well have been so screwy and it's completely thrown me off. It's just tiring. The hardest part of this job Id say would be planning. You only work about 20 teaching hours but for each hour in the classroom you have to do AT LEAST an hour of preparation (or at least I do at this point). And then when days keep getting switched around and you don't have as much time to plan when you normally would or whatever...I really can't complain though. The kids are great, and honestly they're the ones who get screwed the most with this whole "holiday but not really" policy. Come on China, stop working so damn hard all the time!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!
After rearranging our teaching schedules slightly, we have today off in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. It seems to be a time when everybody hangs out with their family and eats these little pastries called mooncakes. A mooncake, I've found, is like a Wonderball. Remember those old commercials for them and the all too catchy jingle "Wonder wonder what's in a wonderball"? Well, just like the 90s candy, every mooncake is a surprise. Sometimes you luck out and get a delicious and surprisingly sweet one (oh my gosh China, you DO know what sugar is!) but more often than not you're likely to get some kind of mystery meat/vegetable concoction or a mouthful of confusingly spicy mush. But while everybody else will be stuffing their faces with mooncakes, I plan on attempting to navigate the Chinese railway to go visit some friends in Suzhou!
We (the other new teachers in Wuxi and I) met our friends in Suzhou during the week long TEFL training course in Beijing. How to describe that week? It was an exhausting schedule, we were in training from 9 in the morning until 5 at night every single day for 7 days. There was an attempt to see some sights in Beijing, but by the time we finished and got off the subway at the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square, they were closed. Yes, they close down around six when the army comes and marches around people know its time to leave.That was disappointing, but we did manage to make the most of the time there by going out to different bar and social areas almost every night. While I can't say that I learned anything of any value, I will say that it was a worthwhile experience because of the people that I got to meet. I now have very close friends who I know I can visit and stay with (and in fact will during the next holiday) in cities like Hefei, Yantei, and Suzhou. The training is a government mandated requirement for the work visa if you are under 25, so if anyone is thinking of teaching here of that age, it's something that you'll have to do. Shane English is really good though, because they paid for the course ($500 USD) the hotel (300 rmb a night) and the train rides there (total about 1000 rmb) whereas other programs did not.
It's good to be back though. This week, because of the holiday, had been a long one, but the next two will be short three and four day weeks before we get a
week off. The kids are starting to remember my name and I think (I hope!) enjoy the classes. Some are more of a challenge than others, but the TAs at my school are all incredibly kind and helpful and the older, more experienced teachers go out of their way to help as well. 
All in all, Dongting school has a great work environment. Everyone takes pride in their job, and you can tell that they enjoy what they do. And good news! The female teacher population will double as of next week! Haha a new girl from California is joining the staff, so I won't be the single female or single American voice in the office anymore! Woohoo!
That's probably enough of an update for now. I've gotten to know Wuxi slightly better, but man is this place big and there don't seem to be any real maps (in English) anywhere so exploring inevitably leads to getting lost. Fortunately, Chinese people are the nicest and there will always be someone wanting to practice their English to help me get back. I'll leave off with nice pictures from my 4 hour bike ride to Lake Tai adventure yesterday. Enjoy!
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| Mooncake! Wonder what's inside this one.... |
We (the other new teachers in Wuxi and I) met our friends in Suzhou during the week long TEFL training course in Beijing. How to describe that week? It was an exhausting schedule, we were in training from 9 in the morning until 5 at night every single day for 7 days. There was an attempt to see some sights in Beijing, but by the time we finished and got off the subway at the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square, they were closed. Yes, they close down around six when the army comes and marches around people know its time to leave.That was disappointing, but we did manage to make the most of the time there by going out to different bar and social areas almost every night. While I can't say that I learned anything of any value, I will say that it was a worthwhile experience because of the people that I got to meet. I now have very close friends who I know I can visit and stay with (and in fact will during the next holiday) in cities like Hefei, Yantei, and Suzhou. The training is a government mandated requirement for the work visa if you are under 25, so if anyone is thinking of teaching here of that age, it's something that you'll have to do. Shane English is really good though, because they paid for the course ($500 USD) the hotel (300 rmb a night) and the train rides there (total about 1000 rmb) whereas other programs did not.
It's good to be back though. This week, because of the holiday, had been a long one, but the next two will be short three and four day weeks before we get a
That's probably enough of an update for now. I've gotten to know Wuxi slightly better, but man is this place big and there don't seem to be any real maps (in English) anywhere so exploring inevitably leads to getting lost. Fortunately, Chinese people are the nicest and there will always be someone wanting to practice their English to help me get back. I'll leave off with nice pictures from my 4 hour bike ride to Lake Tai adventure yesterday. Enjoy!
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| Ancient Canal Street |
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