My
first semester is officially over. Final exams for foreign teachers were in the
last two weeks. Because oral exams take too much time for one class, we did
half of the students each week. Katy’s written exams for her oral English
classes are in the next two weeks, which are the official exam weeks. My work
is finished except a brief report about the final exams—how many students
received each grade and students’ strengths and weaknesses on the final exams.
Having
completed the semester, I’m finding that I’m glad I’ll be staying another year.
I feel like I’ll know much more about teaching here and will be a stronger
teacher. One of the business English students told me that they had a meeting
at which they talked about their teachers and students agreed that I am strict
but think I am a good teacher.
After
his exam, one boy took the opportunity to tell me how much he had learned from
my class and thanked me. That was especially nice since he was not a student
I’d had any special interactions with and he is a good student who had good
skills to begin with. Another example of how you never know how you are
affecting students and of teaching something you don’t know you are teaching. One
of the girls started to leave and then returned to whisper “I love you” into my
ear, which was very sweet.
Last
week Paris, Ricci, and Cancer took Katy and me out for dinner since Katy is
leaving. It was nice of them to include me. Paris had researched what kinds of
food Americans eat and informed us that we eat a lot of meat, bread, and
sweets. She had also researched to find a hot pot restaurant that has a
not-spicy option. Diao Min said that all hot pot restaurants have that, but I
guess Paris had never needed a not-spicy option before and wasn’t aware of
that. Anyway, it was sweet of her to go to so much work to prepare for a nice
dinner for us.
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The large hot pot with spicy broth had a smaller one without
chili in the middle. They ordered a lot of meat, including shrimp and
artificial crab for me, vegetables, and tofu. One special dish was pig’s brain.
Katy had a very small sample and said it was OK. The girls enjoyed it. Everything
was delicious. They ordered too much food, but it couldn’t be returned; so we
had to eat it. We were there for an hour and a half. The nice thing about hot
pot is that you can take what you want from the pot and don’t have to have
everything.
In the
conversation, I learned that both Paris and Ricci want to be teachers even
though they are business English majors. They wanted to change their major but
were told they can’t. When they finish their three years here (next year), they
will go to another university for two years to get their bachelor’s degree in
education.
Before
eating, we all made toasts. They started by each toasting Katy and me. Then we
toasted them. It was sweet. The whole evening was very pleasant.
Katy
and I also had dinner with Diao Min after my final lesson for the semester on
Thursday. We went to one of her favorite restaurants and had their special
fried sweet-sour eggplant, tofu, and a chicken and corn dish. Now I know where
that restaurant is and how to order the eggplant. I can probably manage to
order the chicken and corn, too.
The
other event last week was our party with the teachers’ classes. The original
plan was for it to be in a large lecture hall and the teachers would provide
food. But the day before the party, the Foreign Affairs Office decided to
organize it (which was our original suggestion). The room was changed to a
banquet hall, and they provided lots of fruit and some individually wrapped
cakes. The dean and the university president came and spoke. Then certificates
were given to the teachers who completed the course. Of course, many photos
were taken.
Each of us was given a nice gift by the class. Mine is a pair of
pandas painted on leaves. They are quite lovely. Megan was given a tea set. And
Katy received a double-sided embroidery. Meghan’s teachers couldn’t agree on
what to give her; so she’s waiting for her gift. (They later gave her a hair comb, since she has long hair and had
suggested that as a gift.) My teachers stayed and chatted
for a long time. Katy waited for me, and when we left, we were given all of the
left-over fruit and cakes. There was so much that we gave some to Megan and
Meghan.
Weather
has been odd—very changeable. One day each week it was 37o (98o
F). Two weeks ago that day was followed by thunderstorms for much of the night.
I’ve not heard so much thunder at one time (at least not that I remember).
Several girls told me how scared they were and that they and a friend had
shared a bed for comfort during the storm. Last week the hot day was followed
by a drop in temperature and rain. Both were followed by several cooler days
before it got hot again.
They
have been doing construction in our building, something to do with the electric
line. What it means is that they have been drilling holes in the concrete
walls. It’s very irritatingly noisy. Sometimes it has gone on for hours—sometimes
from 8:00 to 6:30 or so. There’s also a lot of hammering. We had two new holes
drilled in our walls; there’s another hole that Katy said appeared in February.
We’re still waiting to see what they are for. The drilling and hammering have
mostly stopped now, which is a good thing. The first day there was no hammering
seemed eerily quiet. But is nice not to have the constant noise.
Summer
solstice has come and gone. It gets dark at 8:30. I don’t know when it first
gets light in the morning.
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