Not Much Happening (4-27)

Not much going on in the past two weeks.

Cherries are in the markets. Chinese cherries are small and a little tart but a little sweet. At 20 yuan ($3.30) a half kilo, they are not cheap, but they are delicious. When I met some students in the market one day, we saw what they called Japanese cherries (otherwise known as bing cherries). They were much more expensive: 80 yuan ($13) for a half kilo. I won’t be buying them.

Dale and I have been “asked” to do a teachers’ training for Wenjiang teachers. This is a project of the waiban (Foreign Affairs Office). We’re not sure why they are doing it instead of the foreign language department other than to show off its foreign teachers. It will be one week long and will be the first week of July. I insisted on this week because I finish with Peace Corps that Monday, so it will be my vacation time, and Dale has to do the Peace Corps summer project sometime around then. I also informed Mr. Huang that they have to pay me, since I will no longer be with Peace Corps.

Last Saturday we had a meeting with Mr. Huang and his good friend Luke, who is a high school teacher at an international school in Chengdu. The waiban had done a survey of some of the teachers who will participate so we can learn a little about their interests in training. Luke served as interpreter, explainer, and answerer of questions. It was good to have him there, as Mr. Huang doesn’t know a lot about the schools and teachers. Then we were taken to lunch at a good restaurant. As always, there were many dishes that were delicious. Mr. Huang likes it when I take photos of the food and told me/us to take photos as the dishes were brought out.

The weather was quite nice last Saturday; so I went to the park near Carrefour to walk and read. But when I got off the bus, I ended out heading for the massage place where I had a full body massage: 50 yuan ($8.25) for an hour. I did feel better afterwards. I guess my body knew what it needed.

When I was sitting on a bench near the teachers’ bus one afternoon, a teacher joined me and started chatting. She is 37 years old and teaches art history. She is married to a French man she met when traveling in France and has a 6-month-old daughter. When she learned that I have not been married, she said that is cool. She liked being single but wanted a baby very much; so she got married. In China, she could not be a teacher if she had a baby when unmarried.

One day I found myself telling a student to “Try your best.” This is what Chinese people say all the time. I guess I have arrived.

I find myself really glad to be here this semester. I taught this semester last year; so now I have the opportunity to do it better. Classes are going well, and I’m enjoying them. I'm enjoying having the same classes I had last term. And I enjoy the office hours discussion groups that have started this semester for the first time. The Monday group has from six to ten girls each week. So I added time on Thursday for other purposes, but the girls who come want to talk. About six girls come and that’s what we do. What’s really good is that they all talk and they are interested in listening to each other, not only to me. Sometimes all I do is facilitate, which is nice.