Television

This is going to be a long night. Lots of our kids were up and walking around way after their bedtime, and were terribly late for the morning meet-up time. Some were even asleep at 8 am. To try and fix this, I get to be a night watchman for the 2^nd and 3^rd floors.

By the way, Chinese soap operas may be one of the only things that make me wish I spoke Chinese. They are all over Chinese television and are so ornate, cleanly done, and over the top that I can’t help but watch! Everyone is so beautiful, well dressed, and speaks wonderfully clearly.  I think that they re record some of the scenes so that you can only hear the voices and none of the background noises, but they shoot some scenes normally to make you feel more like it is real life. While I’ve never actually watched one, I think that soap operas could easily become my guilty pleasure: Indian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean – I find them fascinating! Making up my own ideas about what the storyline could be is fun, but I’m curious as to what all the gorgeous actors and actresses are laughing, plotting, and crying about.

Little piggy with a red bell!! He’s so little! The evil white cat woman just tied him to a water wheel (the true English name escapes me now) for torture :(

……

Some of the boys asked me to take them to buy snacks just now. They are learning to be more responsible, even to the point of making a public meeting place in the hallway for both boys and girls to talk and play cards. But they stay up really late, wake up late, and are pretty tired during the day, which is why I need to keep watch tonight.

I still don’t have my travel plans figured out, though. I need to figure something out, but that is hard without Internet. I hope that it is not this difficult to find a good connection in Japan. I’m doing a good job now, I guess, but I still have the Journal that isn’t finished. This needs to be taken care of soon. 

On the Mend

Feeling better now, but still feeling tight and tired from last night. The kids have been on their best behavior, but I feel like a villain. I helped Fred today and took care of him when he hurt his leg, but he is obviously very scared of me still. The others are doing great even with all the rain and bad weather. Jeff, the principal from Shanghai, won’t be coming until tomorrow, so Media is rescheduling everything. Now we have to figure out where to hold the final assembly and get everything ready for Sunday. This is much more stress than I was expecting this summer.

Bad News

I went to the dark place last night and my adrenaline hasn’t come back down completely. I hardly got any sleep last night and have been dry heaving a lot this morning. Hopefully school goes well and calms my nerves a little bit. If breakfast is nice, too, I should start to feel better.

Day Two in Hubei

(Okay, still no Internet, but I am going to steal some from someone’s room just to get a facebook message out or something. Maybe I can even post one or two of these entries since I already have them written. I was even going to get my tour and train tickets tonight, but we’ll see how that goes.)

Today was sixty times better than yesterday! I ate more food, I had less stress, people did what we had corrected, and the world was good. Okay, it was wicked hot and sticky here, and then it rained before our final assembly, but the rest was golden.

To top it off, Media just gave me a kiwi. She is so great!

The school day went so much smoother today, with only minor changes made, mostly in drama and English. We had some participation trouble with the older students, but we also had some star students today, too! The Yew Wah helpers were much more involved, spread out, and engaging today, which made life easier for our teachers. Now they just have to learn to speak up, but that is all about being shy, I think.

Also!!!  (I’m really excited about this à) I gave names today! Many of the students, even the fifth graders still didn’t have English names. At first they didn’t understand what we were asking, so in Chinese I asked if they had a name (“wo mei you” = no, I don’t have one) and if they wanted one (“wo yao! wo yao!” = I want one! I want one!). Marcus was trying to organize the boys in the class, so I took all the girls. I am proud to announce that there is now a group of girls in Macheng, China named Anna, Rose, Lynn, Jessica, Sophie, Michelle, Grace, Ashley, and Helen. My girl group! I tried to pick names that were easy for Chinese people to say and pronounce as well as being different (it would be silly and boring for them all to have “A” names or “-ly/-lie” names).

The evening was pretty quiet, but we had KFC for dinner (family bucket for the win!), then Media and I went shopping. I finally bought some Engrish shirts – beautiful specimens, if I say so myself – and Media got a lovely, blue dress. We spent quite a lot of time at the store, and I learned about Chinese changing room culture: you share them with everyone in the store, so while you are changing, it is yours, but when you are admiring yourself in the mirror, someone else can use it even though you stuff is still in there, so be careful! It is best to either be quick, admire the clothes on you (not in the mirror), or go shopping with a friend so that you may lay claim to a room.

Afterwards, we went to a shoe store to get Marcus’ tennis shoes glued. I’m flattered by the attention that we receive in stores, but it is very annoying not to be able to answer people’s questions; I always have to have a translator :S It is troublesome, but necessary, I guess.

Oh, I almost forgot! We had a killer game of dodge ball today with the Yew Wah students and Witt kids playing on same teams. Martin and Marcus were really speedy and quick, but Ben was sniper accurate. The Chinese students were jumping all around, catching balls and moving across the court. I even snagged some videos of the action!

Now we have to talk with some of the students who weren’t so active. I feel like I’m the mean one this week. If these guys didn’t hate me before, they will now. I guess this is what being a school principal or something is like: you want what is best for them, but have to be so strict that people forget that you care :S

Chinese Showers

Ladies and Gentlemen: Stand in awe of the Chinese shower room!! This may appear to be nothing but a half-built bathroom, but its ingenious design is not immediately perceived. Looking at this room with our understanding of bathrooms, the sink and toilet seem simple enough, but the showerhead and facet are completely exposed! Where is the curtain? Where is the door?! What is happening in this crazy world?!?

No need for alarm, folks! This is all part of the plan. You see, the bathroom will only feel smaller and more confining if we section it off with doors and curtains, so why not have a larger shower by getting rid of that all together? By making the entire bathroom your shower, not only can you clean yourself, but the other surfaces as well! Sure the toilet seat could get wet, but that is what the lid is for! Furthermore, by closing the lid, you have created a small table next to the showerhead to place your shampoos and other soaps.

Nifty, eh?

But don’t we all want to be eco-friendly as well? Using hot water in the shower feels oh-so-good, but too much of it can be oh-so-bad for the environment! The Chinese have found a way to gently remind bathers of this problem in the form of a fun and colorful bathroom sign. Isn’t it just the cutest? Also complete in your bathroom set (and just off shot) is an array of bathroom footwear. Post shower slipperiness is to be expected from this sort of set-up; having shoes to keep your feet dry is key to keeping your newly cleaned toes nice and dry.

While the prospect of having every surface of your bathroom wet and slippery after a shower may not be so appealing at first, there is a special kind of freedom in knowing that when you are ready to get all squeaky clean, all that you see - everything the light touches - is yours!

First Day

(No Internet, and I’ve tried every means! This is pretty sad since it is one of the only reasons that I brought my computer with me to China. Hopefully something better comes up).

The rest of the day went surprisingly smooth. Everyone found their niche by the third class, so afternoon classes went well. My teachers and students started to lose their energy, but their experience made things run better in most cases.

However, I have come to see that some people try to take ideas without their principles and apply them. This does not always work. There are some ways of doing things, which are great in their own right, but when executed incorrectly will fail. Doing something wrong is sometimes as bad as doing the wrong thing. So, when learning a method for disciplining children or getting the attention in a large group, it is important to know why such methods work in order to understand how to execute them. End of story there.

I had to meet with the local teachers this afternoon with Media. That turned into a sho~~~w, let me tell you. At first they didn’t come up to the room for the meeting because they had to wait for most of the students to be picked up by their parents, so Media and I sat nervously for some time. When they finally did come, it was the typical, “Oh, it was all very nice” and “We think you did very well.” Yeah. Okay. That’s kind of you to say.

And then one of the teachers became brave.

“Well, actually I noticed some things.”

That was it.

Suddenly, all the teachers were brave, and we had more than enough information to take back and tell our students about. They seemed a little defensive about all the critiques and corrections that we gave to them, but I tried to tell them that we were trying to make this camp the best for the children that we could. Also, it was their job to be here, so they had already promised to give us 100%, not slack off at all. I hope that I didn’t push any of them over the edge, but if I wake up with a snake in my luggage, I will know why.

Tonight, we have a meeting to talk about the ideas people have from Team Time and talk about their positive experiences or techniques. I will put the Yew Wah students in charge of Team Time for the last three days, so hopefully they will be able to get some good suggestions from tonight.

P.S. At the meeting, I put three watermelon seeds on my forehead to the question: Where will I live when I am older? A. America B. China C. Japan, and no one else had ever seen this done! Not even the Americans! I thought that this was a typical American thing!! Another part of my childhood turns out to be a lie.

A Little Sick

(Still no Internet, but I’m still alive, everyone! I’m just in Central China.)

We are halfway through the first day, and everyone is on lunch break now. We’ve had quite an adventure this morning, but I have higher hopes for the afternoon.

I’m feeling much better after yesterday, but still queasy, so breakfast and lunch were just to get my nutrients in, not much of a culinary event. We were lied to for our food, but I think that it was all taken care of. What everyone was waiting for was our arrival and first few classes at the school. There were a lot of students – nearly 200 – but our teachers were able to get them organized and situated. Because our first assembly ended so early, we had lots of time for them to get to know each other in team time. Media and I ran around checking on all the rooms and recording their progress. Some of the local teachers were puzzled as to why some of our teachers weren’t up to their standards, and it simple had to be said that the local teachers have had years of teaching experience and also speak Chinese, while our teachers and Yew Wah students have been teacher for a short time (for some, only a few hours), and they still had their sea legs. We could definitely see improvement as the period and classes passed.

We are offering crazy games, music, drama, English conversation, and sports (basketball, today). The students are given 2 hours off for lunch since many of them must travel home to eat, so that gives us a good siesta, too. I have to go track down some of the other teachers now, and make sure they are all set for the travel time after this camp. Here’s to a good ending to this day!

Birthday Wishes and Signs

(There is no Internet at the hotel room like I was promised. I’ll have to find another time to update this blog.)

Today is my little sister’s birthday! She can’t really celebrate it as early as I did because I beat her to it 12 hours fast. Happy Birthday from China, Anna!

Today was a bit of an early rise and I wasn’t feeling very good from the start. Maybe it was the nerves, but my throat was tight and I was feeling a little light headed. I had definitely gotten enough sleep, and all my bags were ready, so the new camp must have knotted my stomach so much that it affected my head. We all came for a 7:30 am meeting with the student helpers, many of whom I had seen before in the summer school program (and I was sure that they were thrilled to see us!). We tried to get as much info covered as we could, but we needed to catch our bullet train from Shanghai to Macheng, and left on a large bus for the train station.

I must report that I was rather unconscious for much of this 6-hour train ride: I was in various yoga positions (much of them involving my nose touching one or both of my knees at any give time) but I was pretty asleep as we rode past train city after train city. I did wake up long enough to have some instant ramen and a Chinese hot dog (it is better not to ask what it was made of/from) thanks to the hot water dispenser in the car. Only in the last hour did we reach the mountain area with rice fields and farms. That brought us to Macheng and the happy man with the sign.

Here is something about the Chinese language that intimidates me to no end: they don’t make signs, they make paragraphs. You can’t just have a sign that says “Welcome Yew Wah Teachers!” or “Macheng Welcomes the Yew Wah Teachers.” Goodness no, that would be too simple. Instead, they greeted us with the following sign  Now, according to my professional Chinese translating, this means “Macheng Youth Activity Center warmly welcomes the teachers and students from Shanghai Yew Wah Educational School.” I’m flattered, really, but I was also scared to be met by such a block of lettering! At least it was obviously directed to us and not some other group of “Shanghainese” students/teachers that had arrived on our same train. There has to be something to be said for specificity.

The rest of the day was spent moving into the hotel, meeting the local teachers, having dinner, and explaining the final information session. That is, if you were a student. If you were working behind the scenes, or just watching poor Media scamper between the groups of adults, you realized this was much more. We moved into the hotel, sure, but we had been lied to about the types and amounts of rooms available, so Media spent the first hour trying to reorganize students and maintain some kind of order on the two floors that we had taken over. We met with local teachers, yes, but Media had to translate in English and Chinese, explain all the aspects of the schedule (which has only been printed in English), and keep control of the students (let’s be fair here, they were being asked to sit quietly in a hot room with nothing to do for quite some time). There was dinner, but not with enough tables as we were originally promised – I’m told that happens a lot in China, oh well. And finally, there was an information session, but I felt very nauseous by that time and was not able to attend, so the other teachers had to fill in for me, giving the students their final round of rules and expectations.

Side note - Bless their hearts, Media and Sara brought up a piece of watermelon because earlier I had commented about how nice it would have been to have one. However, when I sat up in bed and saw the fruit, I couldn’t stomach the sight of it and had to sadly decline the dessert.

I’m quite nervous for some of our teachers who are not used to working on their own, but it is out of my hands now. Everyone, students included, will just have to learn on the fly and make the best of it tomorrow!