Sunday, September 9, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Day

I'm sitting here typing with a mouthful of Ferrero Rocher, a gift from one of my charming students. Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and I am officially a huge fan. I've received candy and flowers galore; I'm literally feeling like this may be my new favorite holiday.

Aside from this delightful day, teaching English to Primary-aged Chinese students has not been all Ferrero Rochers and roses. Classrooms are hot - sometimes equipped with a fan, sometimes not. Even when they are, they mostly just blow my papers all over the floor. Two major factors contribute to the temperature in these tiny rooms. One is the lack of A/C, while the other is the sheer size of the classes. I don't have a single class with less than 50 students. Some even top 60. This brings me to the noise factor. All of the classrooms are equipped with a microphone. They may or may not be working at any given time, which means I get to scream English to a minimum of 50 students. I don't know how my voice has hung in there for so long, but I'm realllly hoping it continues to stay strong for me.

There's absolutely no way I'm going to be able to learn the names of all of the students in my English classes (aside from the most memorable ones, such as UFO and Semen - maybe Simon, but he pronounced it "Semen"). I teach all of the students in the Primary school, grades 1-6. Yes, I teach all of the students in this school. The schedule is biweekly. My first week (last week), I taught grades 1, 2, and 3. This week I'm teaching grades 4, 5, and 6. I teach fifteen 40-minute classes per week, more than double what the other teachers in the English department are teaching (but I believe I also make about double their salary).

On day one, I came home, sat down, and realized I like most everything about life in Shenzhen - minus the teaching. On day seven, I'm feeling mostly the same (but this may be because neither of my mics were functioning this morning). Some of my classes are very eager to learn and willing to participate, while others are loud and belligerent - this is true at all grade levels. It's not even about the students. I could deal with naughty kids if the classes were just half the size. But, when you have several naughty kids in an enormous class it's nearly impossible to keep them all in line while ensuring that a few of the students are getting something out of the PowerPoint you spent two hours putting together. All I can say is it's going to be quite an adjustment.

***

In the last few weeks, my right eye has developed a twitch. I'm not sure when it started - I think it may have been right after I bricked my iPhone, my desktop PC internet stopped working, and my less-than-a-year-old MacBook Pro died. It may have also been after watching hours on end of CCTV, the only English TV channel that I receive and a mouthpiece of the Chinese government. Regardless of when it started, it hasn't stopped yet - I'm starting to give up hope that it ever will.

The good news is my technological problems have been remedied. Just a few days after purchasing a new cell phone for the equivalent of ~$15, Dave was able to fix my iPhone and I was finally able to call AT&T and unlock it (unbelievable hassle). The MacBook Pro was a different story. After waiting for over a week for my contact teacher to take me to the nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (located a single metro stop away from me), I finally just did it myself (the process, luckily, required little to no Chinese). A few days later, I received a call from this service provider, informing me that my "memory is broken". They would fix it (as it was still covered under my warrantee), and they would call me in 3-5 days for me to come pick it up. On Saturday, I finally had my laptop back in my arms AND there was a little translation error; the hard drive was completely fine. I suppose I'll never know what was really wrong with my laptop, but I'm still going to be purchasing a portable hard drive just to be safe (lesson learned). The internet issue was resolved after about a week of waiting. I kept being told that Mr. Chen (the computer genius) was busy, only to find out that he had been pretty busy that week because he was, oh, you know, getting married. So, I finally got a new router! My desktop has internet once more, and my wifi is ridiculously fast. Too bad Mr. Chen is now married; I was so I happy I could have kissed him right on the mouth. 

So CCTV isn't the only venue where I'm finding Chinese propaganda; it's in the textbooks, too. I was instructed that I should use the textbooks as a guide in planning my lessons, so I began looking through them to see what vocabulary words the students would be familiar with. Imagine my surprise as I looked through the vocabulary words for family: grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, me. No "brother." No "sister." I guess they start indoctrinating them on the "One Child Policy" pretty early on.

One other fun China-ism: living in the present. I'm a flexible girl. I adapt fairly easily to new situations. If you don't, China might not be the place for you. An example of this "now-ism" as it's commonly called by expats: Friday evening, I'm planning an upcoming trip with a few friends at a local bar a few stops away on my metro line. At 5:30pm, I receive a call from Spring, one of the English teachers I work with. She wants to know if I'm at my dormitory; I am not. She then informs me that we have a banquet at 6pm. I inform her that I will maybe be a little late.

Best discovery in China to date?  This website - www.nogogo.cn - is an online grocery store with free delivery in my district, Futian! They have tons of Western products, and I only spent ~$50. I was able to find things I thought I'd have to go without in China, such as organic skim milk and organic eggs. They also offer a small selection of organic produce. Their bakery is phenomenal; I got a whole loaf of freshly baked white bread for only 15 kuai! They even bake New York bagels (haven't tried them yet, but I'm planning on it soon). The delivery itself was a bit of a hassle, but overall, so worth it!

Reviews: 

Wurzener's Vanilli Bears 
When cereal is marked down from 48 kuai to 9.5 kuai, it is usually for a reason (and not just because it expires soon). What I had hoped would be a German delight akin to apple strudel has actually turned out to taste strangely similar to the cardboard box the cereal is sold in. The only redeeming quality is the adorable bear shape. Sadly, Wurzener puts the "nil" in "Vanilli." Really regretting buying three boxes just because they were on sale. (1 of 4 stars)

Nabisco Oreos - Birthday Cake Flavor
I don't eat Oreos. I never really had them as a child, and I don't particularly like the fake chocolate taste of the Oreo cookie. This is without even delving into the dangers of processed foods. Maybe it's homesickness or the fact that there are almost no Western foods in the common grocery store, but for whatever reason, I eat Oreos in China. And one Oreo stands above the rest: the Birthday Cake Oreo. Sandwiched between two lackluster chocolate cookies is a birthday cake flavored icing peppered with colored sprinkles. They still aren't healthy, but they're certainly delicious.  (3 of 4 stars)

1 comment:

  1. I'm so jealous that you are there and I am not. I LOVED teaching English in Taiwan, although my classes were much smaller. I miss your stinking guts, but I LOVE the updates. Keep them coming.

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