"Time Goes By"

Wow, I can't believe that I have already been away from my country for a month. This is the longest that I have been away from American soil, I truly miss the grass, trees and air in Austin.

With a month having already passed, I am about to begin my classes. I will begin teaching next Monday, and the next class day will be Wednesday. My schedule for the most part is very nice, I only teach on Monday and Wednesday. However, these days will be fairly long, with my day beginning at 7 AM and not ending until about 6 PM.

What I have been told is that a bus will pick me up at 7 AM from the campus where I live, and it will take about an hour to get to the campus where I will be teaching. I meant to blog about this sooner -- I actually had one blog titled "patience," which I haven't posted yet -- but I didn't find out until the day I met my supervisor that I would be teaching at a different campus.

It turns out that there had been quite a bit of miscommunication between Cultural Embrace (my "agency") and the university's agency in China. I was informed at the beginning that I would teach at the other campus (one which is separate from where I live), but then Cultural Embrace told me that the university was, in fact, able to find me a position on the campus where I live. This ended up being the contract I signed, which was signed back in June. I find it interesting that the university failed to notice this -- they had two months to catch this mistake in the contract -- and told me that the first job offer was the actual offer; the one which would have me teach at another campus.

Now that I attempted to clear up the confusion, the campus where I will teach is about an hour away. So, I will be picked up at 7 AM, get to the campus at 8 AM and wait around until 10:15 AM for my first class. My next class is at 2:15, and finally, my last class on Monday is at 4 PM. I think the bus will pick me up around 5:45 PM.

Wednesday will be pretty much the same schedule, except that I will have about a 4 hour break in between my morning and afternoon classes. I think during this time I will try to study Chinese, mess around online, and/or try to play basketball with my students/other students.

It seems like a great setup, I only teach two days during the week, and the classes are going to be very flexible. I met with my other supervisor, Liu lao shi (liu "teacher"), who was a very nice man. He is equally impressive, having been a diplomat, businessman in San Francisco, and achieving other accolades. His English was great -- maybe even better than Lily's -- and his smile made me at ease; overall, he made a great impression on me.

He said that I can teach my classes any way I like, going as slow or fast as I want with the book. I am also free to use multi-media, such as videos and pictures, as well as other resources of which I can think. I'm really excited! I think I'm going to start out my class by introducing myself in both Chinese and English. I will tell them about my travels, where I come from, my hobbies, and other stuff. I thought I could also play them some music I like, show them pictures of English speaking countries (haha, especially New Zealand!), and do whatever I can to encourage them from the beginning to practice their English.

As it turns out, Liu lao shi informed me that they are quite proficient in reading and writing their English, but they have little to no practice in conversational English. Liu explained to me that the Chinese education system had always greatly emphasized reading and writing, and that the education system has recently revamped its priorities in teaching English. The system believes it is more important now to emphasize conversational English. However, according to Liu lao shi, this change has been a very slow process. Furthermore, the teaching method has not been so great, discouraging many Chinese students from wanting to learn English; as Liu lao shi put it, "it is not the students' fault, but more the system." There is something about that statement that ringed in me, I saw a lot of wisdom in Liu lao shi after that point.

In any case, Liu lao shi wants me to make the class lively, do whatever I can to make it enjoying and give the students a great time. As far as grading, I will be responsible, but I can give as much or as little of quizzes/exams that I want. Learning from Brian's burden, I don't think I will be giving out many exams. I have thought that I will test them daily (maybe before class) on their listening and oral skills, by having them recite several phrases, or maintain a simple conversation with me. I am not going to actually grade them at first; I think that, if I don't see any motivation in them in the beginning, I may begin to grade.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if I provide them with a pleasant atmosphere, allow them to enjoy the class, and remind them of the importance of English -- by showing them fun American movies and playing good English music -- that they will be motivated regardless of grades. That isn't to say they won't have any grades at all. In fact, they will have a final exam, which will be made up and administered by me. Liu lao shi suggested that I wait to create this exam, that I can discuss it with the class in the last few weeks of the semester.

Well, I am open to any input on how I should go about teaching this course. I just want to make this a great experience for my students. I think that they have been drilled so much in their Chinese schooling, I want to be the cool laid-backed American teacher that makes them fall in love with English. In much the same way, I want to have a similar relationship with them that I have with Lily's parents. Let me explain, I feel that Lily's parents are first nice and overwhelmingly helpful and concerned. As a result, it changes your attitude and makes you want to help at any moment, be considerate in any situation, and be the greatest person you can be. It's kind of like the idea that, if you give up your weapons, than maybe other countries will become less belligerent.

I know I'm delving too far and probably don't make sense at this point, but I want to give them so much freedom that my students will begin to enforce their own rules. Of course, if these "rules" are absurd, I'll step in and take the class in a different direction, but I want to trust them and believe that they are very capable of facilitating their own learning. It's a lofty, and probably idealistic goal, but I will quickly learn.

On to other topics, I finally had the chance to see my room for the year. It is truly nice! The university did an excellent job of setting up us foreign teachers. I will provide pictures soon, but for a description now:

My room has been the first room I have seen in China to have carpeting. I have a bed, a desk, a beside table with a lamp, and two large dressers. All of the furniture appears to be brand new. I also have A/C, and my own bathroom (which is very large!). Across from my bed, which is located in the center, is a wall made mostly of window; I have a view of the subway and underlying neighborhood.

Baba, along with Wu Xiao Fan (a friend of the family and a great guy), helped me to move in my bicycle, as well as my luggage. I haven't actually set up my room yet, because I came back home with mama and baba for the weekend. Like I said before, I want to make it a habit of spending the weekend with them; I love them a lot already.

I am very excited for mama and baba's new apartment, which will be ready in about 50 days (what baba and mama told me). Today, I went with them to a mall, where they picked out a very nice refrigerator and washer. A quick note; in China, when people get apartments, they almost always own the apartment, and when they purchase the apartment, it comes without appliances. You have to buy flooring, toilets and sinks, a kitchen counter, a stove, etc.

As I said, mama and baba got a refrigerator and washer. It touched me deeply that they wanted my opinion as to what I thought they should purchase. Baba said that, along with mama, my decision mattered. Imagine, a 22 year old, who has little experience, is asked to help make a decision in spending close to 7000 yuan (about $1000). Baba said that their new apartment will also be my apartment, and that, "ni bu gao xing, women bu gao xing" (translated: "you are not happy, we are not happy"). Wow...

Following this, I became a little concerned once, after my becoming excited over how beautiful one refrigerator was, mama and baba decided that they would want to buy it. I mean, it's a nice refrigerator, but I couldn't help but think I greatly influenced them.

Baba and mama quickly picked up on my concern, and I explained to them Lily's concern. I told them that Lily is very concerned about the expense of her schooling at UT (mind you, she's paying international tuition) and that we (Lily and me) don't want mama and baba to struggle financially; I actually didn't make such a complex statement in Chinese to them, but made it to that extent. Rest assured, mama and baba told me not to worry, that they are okay. They also said something which came across as, "we will help you financially too," but my understanding was poor; I sort of left it at that and didn't attempt to better understand it (to save baba and mama the frustration of finding words to explain it to me).

Although I want time to go by, so that I can once again be with my baby, once again be able to see my friends and family, I can't help but feel that I have already created a family here in China.

One song that I have come to greatly enjoy is a song by Zhou Hua Jian. The name of the song is "Time," and it is about time passing. It is a track on baba's CD of Zhou Hua Jian, and it really touched my ear like no other. The "timing" couldn't have been more appropiate, with Lily, me, mama and baba heading to Beijing the day before Lily's departure. Baba even picked up on this connection and asked (through Lily's translation) if that was why I had enjoyed the song so much. I later found out from Lily that the lyrics imply that, "time goes by, I don't want this to end."

In a way, it was fitting not only for the moment in which Lily was in China with me. It has also been fitting for the friends I have already made in China, the great food I have ate, and the many places I have seen. I don't want it to end, but then again, I didn't want my time with Lily to end either. I will be excited to head back to America one day soon, but I am also excited to make more friends, and make Tianjin more of a home.

"Time goes by..."
Here's a link to the song:
https://webspace.utexas.edu/msb64/02%20TIME.mp3?uniq=-cmxvsi

"Wo xiang liu xia lai..."

Love,
Mike