Frustrations and Fun (6-14)

Bureaucracy at its best has gotten to us this week. A teenage girl who was friendly with Katy last term has become crazy and pounds on her door and then demands to be fed once she is inside. Recently, when Katy didn’t answer, she pounded for half an hour and then pounded on Megan’s door. When Megan was nice and tried to help her, she walked in and started to pick up things and demanded to be fed. Eventually, Megan called Yang, who ran to the building and talked to the girl, who was now contrite and crying. She is banned from the building. (This is the short version.) As a result, our visitors now have to sign in and call us so we can go to meet them at the door. Yang’s first new policy was that the security guards would call her, she would call us to see if we know the person, and then she would call the security guards and tell them it is OK for the person to come in. It seems that reactions always go overboard. She doesn’t need to be involved and have to stop what she is doing to make the calls. We were happy when she agreed to allow the guest to call or text us.

We have had to let her know if we are staying elsewhere overnight, which is not a problem. Recently, we were told that we must now give two days notice so she can pass the information on to the people above her who now want to know what we’re doing. And the notification must be handwritten and signed. When I wrote a note informing them of Megan’s and my Saturday night plans, Yang called and I had to return to her office and write when we were leaving and returning. Saying we’ll be staying at the hotel was not enough notification that we will leave Saturday and return Sunday. And then she called Megan.  Megan was irritated that Yang had called her three times during her class only to learn when she returned the call that there was no emergency; Yang just wanted to tell her to be safe.

We have to submit our final exams to Peggie. In this process, I learned that my classes are informal classes, for which students receive less credit than formal classes. So I can do only oral exams for the oral English classes. However, Katy’s classes are formal classes; so she has to give an oral and a written exam for the oral English classes. And they have to be on an official document with a letterhead. And she has to have two written exams with answer keys for each class in case some students are absent and need to make it up later. The specifications for the written exams are very particular, and Katy had to rewrite hers four times.

Wednesday was the Dragon Boat Festival holiday; so it was an official day off. In Chinese style, Tuesday and Thursday classes were also cancelled to make a three-day holiday. It was originally supposed to be a five-day holiday—three days plus a weekend—but that was changed. So on Saturday we had Tuesday classes. Fortunately, I don’t have any that day; so it was a normal Saturday. Sunday we had Thursday classes. Monday was normal, but it really felt odd to have Monday classes following Thursday classes and before three days off. Friday there are also classes before the weekend. It’s really confusing. We don’t know what day it is these days.

A special sweet for the Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi, sticky rice with bean paste, sesame paste, or meat inside, all wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. It’s similar to such sweets in Thailand but with different contents inside. I had to buy a few. When I went to the market one day, women were preparing zongzi to sell.

Another special food is Hundred Year Old Eggs. Katy was given some goose and duck eggs by one of the teachers in her class. 

She opened the container and cracked three eggs open for us to see. They are like rubber. No one wanted to eat them, but it was fun to see them.

The high school students from the earthquake zone left on Monday. Sunday night there was a program for their leaving. I didn’t know about it until I went for a walk and saw many students walking and carrying their stools. Then I ran into a couple of my students who told me what was happening and invited me to join them. One girl said she didn’t want to go but attendance was mandatory. When I suggested that no one would miss her with so many people there, she said the class monitors would be checking. The program was at the stadium, and the field was packed solidly with students. When we got there, we had to look for the girls’ class, as students were seated with their class. The three of us shared their two stools briefly. Then a boy in front of us gave me a stool. When the light rain started again, one girl borrowed a hat for me because she thought my head should be covered and an umbrella obstructed people’s view. The program featured several modern dances about the earthquake. It was difficult to see the performances above people’s heads, since much of the dancing was low, not standing. The students gave the university a city flag and a large plaque. One group signed to a patriotic song, and the teachers read a poem and sang. It all took two hours, which, after some of the Thai programs I sat through, seemed reasonable. I was glad I went with the girls, as it was a good opportunity to hang out with them.

On Wednesday, Peggie invited us to play badminton with her and Ryan, as they had duty and were on campus during the holiday. Katy, Megan, and I joined them. We went to the Financial University campus to play. Katy and Megan had never played badminton, and I hadn’t played for about fifty years. Megan, however, is an avid tennis player and caught on quite quickly. It was good exercise and we had a great time. I learned that the new building beside the office building is a gymnasium that will have indoor tennis, basketball, and badminton.

Thursday Katy, Megan, Amanda, and I went to an art street in Chengdu so Katy and Megan could do some before-going-home shopping. Megan bought a lot of embroidered items—wine bottle covers, hot pads, small bags. It was fun to assist her shopping. Katy found a couple items for herself, which was nice. 

After shopping, we had lunch at a Western-style restaurant they had all been to. I had a burrito as something different. Not surprisingly, it was nothing like a Mexican restaurant burrito, but it was passable. Katy recommended the milkshakes, which were, indeed, delicious. 

After lunch, I went to the Peace Corps office to pick up my meds (calcium, vitamins). The ponds inside the university gate were full of huge lotuses. Beautiful!

I had my oral English classes do informal feedback about the class. Two classes rated it from 1 (very easy) to 10 (very difficult). In both classes, two-thirds of the students chose 4-6. And one-third chose 5. Each class had six or seven students who rated it below 4 and three or four who rated it above 6. This would not indicate that students think the class was too easy, which we have been told. Comments about what was helpful all mentioned that the speaking for a minute in front of the class was very helpful because they now feel more confident to speak English and to speak in front of the class. Comments about how the class can be improved mostly mentioned playing games. Showing videos was also mentioned. A few mentioned using the book more, and a few mentioned using it less, as the topics are not interesting. Some mentioned group work, which we have done a fair amount of. Role plays were also mentioned. All in all, I was pleased with their assessment of the level of difficulty and comments about how they feel that their oral English has improved.

The written English class evaluation was similar. Ten students chose 5, eight chose 6-7, and four chose 2-4. Comments about how the class can be improved included more types of articles/essays and more activities to make it more fun. Several mentioned that learning about pre-writing was helpful, that my corrections were helpful, and that correcting sentences was helpful.

There was a special art exhibition in the Arts Center. It had some really nice scroll paintings and some oil paintings. The latter were mostly of Tibetan people. I really liked some of the scrolls.

With the warmer weather and longer days, more people are out walking in the evening, especially after 7:00. People from the community outside the campus come to walk. It’s a nice place for walking with the trees and no—or very little—traffic.