Classes Start (3-9)

Classes started Monday. I have two Oral English on Monday, one Oral English and one English Writing for interns on Thursday, and one English Writing for non-English majors on Friday. We have been told we’ll teach a class for teachers on Wednesday but don’t yet have information about that. I’m not thrilled about the Friday class, as it’s at 2:00. From past experience, I know it’s difficult to get out and teach for the first time at that hour even if I’ve been working at home.

Classes went well. Class size is about 36 for the Oral English classes. Students were well-behaved. Those that chatted a little did so quietly—a pleasant change from my last year in Thailand.

I did introductions and had the students ask me questions for half of the class, which they enjoyed. It was interesting to see what they asked. Some asked personal questions about my education, experience and travels. In each class, someone asked how I like China, how I like Chengdu, if I like Chinese food, how Chinese students compare to American students. Others asked if I will teach in an interesting way and what my plan for the class is.

For the intern class, only four students showed up. They said others are looking for jobs, since it’s their last term before graduation. When I showed the list to Peggie, she laughed, as did the teacher she showed it to. She said some students are still finishing their internships. There are potentially twenty students in the class. It is a class that was formed so students have a chance to get what they missed last term when they were on their internships. There won’t be a final exam; so I don’t expect much from the class. Since attendance will be erratic, each class needs to be independent and not carry over to the next class.

The Friday class turned out to be two classes combined; so there are 50 students. They seem to do this for writing, as Katy’s writing class is three classes combined for a total of a hundred students. I guess they think that writing doesn’t require speaking, so the classes can be larger.

English Corner started Monday evening. About a hundred students were there at the beginning. We were told to mingle and chat; so we did. It was way too noisy with that many students mostly chatting in Chinese with each other. Some latched onto each of us to chat in English. After a while, most students left and only those interested in chatting in English were left. We each had a small circle of students. It was difficult to keep thinking of questions to keep the conversation going for an hour and a half. Students didn’t initiate much. The time was too long. It was also tiring to stand for all that time.

Friday was International Women’s Day. At English Corner Monday, a girl had a bunch of paper roses she had made and said they were for teachers on International Women’s Day. Then she gave me one. Wednesday we were told about a party for our department teachers Friday afternoon, but, since I had the 2:00 class, I couldn’t go because the venue was a little far and there was no one to drive me after class. I was disappointed, since this was the first activity and it was at a park I hadn’t been to. Then Friday morning Peggie called and told me a teacher would drive me. The park was only twenty minutes from the school. It’s a lovely garden with rooms for mahjong and dining rooms. I missed the mahjong, but Katy and Meghan played. When I arrived, Peggie walked around the gardens with us. There are a lot of lovely trees. She said it is called Rose Garden because there are a lot of roses that will bloom in June. 

Dinner had about twenty dishes. Huang sat next to me and kindly told me what each was and which were spicy. We were all quite full after the meal.

Saturday I had to go to the PC office to pick up my meds. I took the student bus, which is free for teachers. Since there is no schedule, you just go to the bus stop and wait. My wait was only half an hour. On the bus, a student from another school sat next to me and decided to speak English, which she could barely do. She ended out using her translator to ask me questions. When we arrived at the bus station, we parted. But we met again near the bus station and she walked me in and made sure I found the bus Katy had told me to take to the office. That took an hour. So the whole trip—door to door—took 3.5 hours. I think I’ll go for “time is money” next time and take the public bus and a taxi.

Picking up the meds took five minutes. I had decided to take in a tourist/historical place while I was in the city. My destination for the afternoon was Du Fu’s Cottage. My map came in handy again, as I could point to the description in the side box and the taxi driver knew just where to take me. Perfect.

Du Fu was a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty who lived in a cottage and wrote poetry in Chengdu from 759-765. It is now a beautiful park around the Flower Bathing Brook. I love that name. 

The grounds have two pagodas in addition to the complex of buildings around Du Fu’s Cottage. There are many beautiful flowers, and the description says some are always blooming.

Now the flowering trees are in bloom as well as many other flowers. 

There are also a lot of bonsai around the buildings. My favorite was the two intertwining pines.

There were a lot of Chinese people enjoying the park. I saw two doing tai chi. 

Several groups were playing mahjong. Some had picnics; others were just sitting or walking around and taking photos.

The foundation/ruins of Du Fu’s original cottage were just excavated in 2001. One building has a calligraphy display. 

Another has photos of his original poems and a few original books. 

At the tea house, I bought some special jasmine tea—flowers to make the tea. The young women were thrilled to take care of me and worked to explain in English that the flowers can be used six times and will open more each time. Several others watched the transaction.

I took the public bus back, as the station is near the park. Since I was early enough and I was hungry (There wasn’t a café at the park.), I went to a noodle shop Kim and I had seen the week before. I was surprised to learn that they make the noodles right there after you order; so they are really fresh. The man rolled the dough, then stretched it, then rolled and stretched again. When he twirled it around, it separated into strands of noodles that were dropped into a pot to cook. They were delicious.

At the bus station, the line was much longer than the week before. When I got onto a bus, there were not seats; so I stood. After the bus started and went around a couple corners, which caused me to weave a little, two young men got up and had me sit with them. I was seated by the window, and they shared the rest of the seat meant for two. It was good to be seated, and I appreciated their offer. My adventure of the day continued when I got off the bus too early in Wenjiang. After walking for a few minutes, I realized that I wasn’t where I thought I was. It took half an hour to find an available taxi. The ride to the university was ten minutes; so I wasn’t very close. After leaving home at 8:00 and arriving back at 9:30, I was tired. But it was a good day.