Quiet (5-17)

The past two weeks have been very quiet. The freshmen went to military training (which they call “training”) for twelve days. That meant that I didn’t have half of my classes for two weeks. Without them, there were a lot fewer students going to classes, which seemed strange. I missed the masses walking to class at 8:40 and 2:00 classes. Training is mandatory. One of my sophomores sent a note letting me know that she would be absent for two weeks because she missed training last year due to a problem with her wrist and was deployed to go this year. All the students described it as tiring—get up very early, run a lot, and stand a lot. And they weren’t allowed to take their cell phones.

Last week there was a volleyball competition between teachers in different departments. Megan played. I took photos, since I’m really bad at sports with balls. They appreciated my taking photos. One man saw me and came to chat using a teacher as a translator. He wanted to know if my university in America had such competitions. Then he suggested that I share the photos with my university. I explained that I take photos so I can share them with my friends in America. He was happy about that.

Wednesday Peggie told me that we had to write a syllabus for each class we teach, and I teach three. First she said they wanted it done by Friday; that became Monday quickly when I said it wouldn’t happen by Friday. And it was Monday for all teachers after they had a meeting. This was a new requirement for all teachers. She said the Chinese teachers had to write four syllabuses, as they had to write one for theory and one for practice for each class; whereas, we only had to do one syllabus for both. She translated part of one of hers so Katy and I would know what to do. She hopes she doesn’t have to translate ours into Chinese for the files; an English syllabus should be OK for the foreign, English-speaking and teaching teachers. That project took a number of hours. It is good that I have lots of experience writing things for the records.

Last week I was also given the textbook for the Oral English for business English majors class, the one that changed from writing class last month. I had been told when it was changed that, if there was a book, it would be given to me. No book was forthcoming; so I was teaching the same things I did with the freshmen classes. When Peggie asked what I was doing and I told her, she said she’d get the book for me. It focuses on English for purchasing and shipping products. I had to write the syllabus for that class for the whole term based on that book even though I’ll use it for only six weeks. It did get me familiar with the contents of the book, which are not topics I know about. Fortunately, the students know the topics in Chinese; I just have to teach them the English for what they know—and learn it myself.

Last Friday evening I went for a walk with a student. I enjoyed chatting with her. First, we stopped at Peggie’s office to give her some sports shoes she was borrowing from a student. While there, I remembered to ask how to get to the Green Belt area that I’d heard and read about. She and the other teacher, Ryan, decided to take me there on Saturday. They were on duty for the weekend. Since no teachers live on campus, they have to stay one weekend a month and one night a week in case there is a problem for which students need a teacher, a responsible adult.

Saturday afternoon Megan and I joined Peggie and Ryan for our outing. We took a bus to the Green Belt, which took an hour. I had no idea Wenjiang was so large. After getting off the bus, we rented bicycles for our tour. Bicycle riding is what people do there. Fortunately, I was able to borrow Katy’s helmet to meet the PC requirement that we wear one when riding. 

First, they rented tandem bicycles with awnings for protection from the sun. It was too unwieldy to operate easily. Megan had a hard time steering and I couldn’t see anything from behind her; so it wasn’t comfortable, fun or safe. So we returned the tandems and got single bicycles, which were much better. Since it was Saturday, many people were at the Green Belt; so riding was often a challenge. On the way back, we went on a path that few people were using. It was nice to ride and enjoy the trees quietly. Along the paths, there are many entrepreneurs selling food. 

We stopped for a snack on the way back. Ryan bought some fruit that I’d seen at the market, but, since I didn’t know what it is, I hadn’t purchased any. It was delicious. He and Peggie didn’t know the English name. Later I figured that it might be loquat, since a student had written about picking them from the tree at her home and they are in season now. I checked it out on the Internet, and I was right. Although Khun Yindee told me on Facebook that she has a loquat tree in her yard, I hadn’t seen them in Thailand. But the ones Saturday were so delicious that I bought more at the market.

Katy was ill for a week; so I ended out doing the lecture for her, but she’ll do the next two. I have gotten to hate the thought of lectures, since they take so long (15 hours for the last two on Nebraska and Chinese Influences in the U.S.) to prepare and it’s only a one-time performance. I told Peggie how I/we feel and suggested that in the future they have two lectures a month instead of four. She talked to the dean who said we should choose easier topics. Most of the topics are not difficult. It just takes a lot of time to gather enough information and photos for a 45-minute presentation and to prepare the Power Point so students will be at least a little interested and will be able to understand what we are talking about. Such a lack of understanding of what is involved is frustrating.

Katy’s birthday was Thursday. I cooked dinner for our group of foreign teachers and bought a cake. When I ordered the cake, I did it by pointing at pictures and choosing a size from models in the window. Since Katy’s favorite color is green, I thought it would be nice to have a cake with green frosting, but the ones in the size I wanted were not green. So I used my phone dictionary and pointed to the cake to indicate that I wanted it to be green, not purple. However, since this is China, and I don’t speak the language, what I think I asked for and what I get don’t always match. When I opened the box, I saw the purple cake (It has to look like the picture.) with a thin chocolate sign that said “Green: Happy Birthday!” Katy will remember this one. Ironically, purple is Megan’s favorite color; so it looked like the cake was meant for her. On the positive side, I knew that the woman I ordered from wanted to ask me what time I wanted to pick up the cake and was able to say “What time?” in Chinese so she could ask me and I could answer. 

The dinner was a big success; everyone loved my food. Megan commented that it was what she had thought Chinese food would be, not the greasy/oily food that is common here.

I am seeing Diao Min only once a week now. Twice a week was good to get me started, but it’s too often now. It takes me more than a week to memorize and remember the small amount of vocabulary I’m trying to learn. But it is nice when I remember and can do something like the interaction at the cake shop.