Watiing (3-1)

This was a week of waiting—Chinese style. Fortunately, I have lots of experience waiting Thai style.

Three of the other new foreign teachers arrived Sunday. They are from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Two just graduated from university and one just graduated from secondary school. They are with Teach and Travel China. Tao and Yang picked them up at the train station and invited Katy and me to join them all for dinner. The new folks were quite tired, since they had been on the train from Beijing for thirty hours. Meghan will teach at the university and the Kim and Beth are assigned to a research center elsewhere.

When I arrived last Friday, I was been told that I would start teaching on Monday. The schedule is made by the Foreign Affairs Department; Yang is just the communicator. Sunday Yang reported that there was no schedule yet; maybe tomorrow—Monday. Monday she reported that the schedule would maybe be ready tomorrow—Tuesday. Tuesday it was maybe tomorrow—Wednesday. Wednesday it was maybe tomorrow—Thursday. Thursday we were told that there would be a meeting Friday. Then we were told there would not be a meeting. At 9:00 Thursday night, Yang called to let us know that there would, indeed be a meeting on Friday.

So Friday morning Meghan, Katy, and I went to the meeting. Katy had not been told about a meeting, only about lunch. Kim and Beth were also brought to the meeting. At the meeting we met Peggie, who will be our cooperating teacher and will be the person who answers all our questions and assists us as needed. We also met a few other English teachers and one who is retired but working as a consultant two days a week. Katy, Meghan, and I each had an individual meeting with a few important men in the department in which we were told a little about what we will teach. The schedules would be sent to us in the afternoon.

After our meetings, the president of the university and the head of the Foreign Affairs Office joined us. They welcomed us, and we each introduced ourselves briefly. We were each given a special USB embedded in a plastic card from which it flips out. The card has photos of the university on each side and a case to keep it in. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Then we all went to lunch. Lunch was at another very nice restaurant where we had two private rooms, since there were too many of us for one table. We foreign teachers were at the table with the president and the head of the waiban. We each had our own individual hot pot and a sauce dish. There were a number of sauces and herbs that we put in the sauce dish. 

The hot pot was boiling, as we added items to it from the selection of about twenty dishes that came around on the lazy Susan. These included very thinly sliced beef, some pork dishes, and lots of vegetables. There were also a few items that could be eaten without going into the hot pot. These included very thin sticks of cooked dried tofu, cooked noodles, a flat cracker-like item, and a filled pastry. At the end of the meal, small bowls were brought so we could eat the broth from the hot pot, which was very tasty after cooking vegetables in it for almost an hour. Everything was delicious. I think this could be my favorite style of meal here in China.

Mid-afternoon Peggie called us to her office to get our schedules. Katy and I will teach the English majors, while Meghan—and another teacher who may be coming from her organization—will teach non-English majors. Katy will teach mostly second-year students, which is what she wanted; I will oral English to teach first-year students and writing to second- and third-year students. We each have five two-hour classes. Monday evenings the three of us will go in pairs to English Corner, which seems to be informal speaking. Wednesday evenings we give lectures; Katy and I will alternate lecturing the English majors, and Meghan will lecture the non-English majors. Wednesday the three of us will teach a class that has not yet been scheduled for young teachers in other departments. Katy and I start classes on Monday; Meghan doesn’t have a schedule yet and doesn’t know when her classes will start.

After we were given our schedules, Hailie, Peggie’s student assistant, gave us a tour of the complex where the classrooms are. I will work in four of the buildings. Each room has rows of connected chairs—over a hundred in all. Each has a computer that projects onto a screen as well as a chalkboard with a shiny surface that is difficult to write on. Some have chalkboards that have two levels that can be rolled up and down. I hadn’t seen that before. Chalkboard are shiny and difficult to write on.

From Gao, the retired teacher, I learned that women retire at 55 and men at 60. She is 58 and taught for about 35 years. She also taught Chinese in the U.S. The president and another teacher also did that. A few of the teachers studied in the U.S.

Other waiting: I had also been told that the phone/Internet would be connected on Monday. When I asked on Tuesday, I was told that it couldn’t happen that day because Tao was in charge of arranging it and he was out of the city. Wednesday Yang told me I should stay at home because maybe the men would come in the afternoon; Tao texted that it would be connected in the afternoon. Thursday morning Yang called and said the man would be here in twenty minutes. He came and connected the Internet. So I was happy. In the afternoon, Yang called again and came with another man who set up wi-fi for all of us. The router is in my bedroom, but everyone can use it. Now everyone is happy to be connected again.

No phone line yet. A land line is a Peace Corp requirement, not something I will be using other than in case of emergency when the mobile doesn’t work.

Chengdu Normal University is rather new in this form. Last year it was renamed. This year it changed from a three-year college to a four-year university. Being a four-year university means that it accepts higher level students—those who score higher on the exams. Katy said she noticed a big increase in the English level of the first-year students this year from those of last year. She asked to teach the second-year students because she is more comfortable with them.

 This is a beautiful time to have arrived on campus, as many trees are full of spring flowers. I’ve enjoyed them a lot.

I learned my way around the campus this week. The Foreign Affairs Department and the building with our office are a fifteen-minute walk from the dorm. Classrooms are in a large complex of several buildings. The near end is about ten minutes from the dorm. Near the dorm there are two blocks of shops selling food and other items for students. By Wednesday all were open. Other classes started this week, and it is fun to see the students walking around between classes. The university has a pleasant atmosphere. I’m happy to be here and ready to start teaching.