Sheep, Fish, Demons, and Doorbells

Sometimes I don’t know whether to be impressed with, or to laugh at the Chinese students’ choices for English names. Part of me is ashamed at the fact that Westerners come to Asian countries, and because we can’t pronounce people’s real names, they have to assume an alternate identity for easy identification, which is a name they often literally pick out of a book. That being said, I personally know that it would be much harder for me to memorize 55 Chinese names, and most of the time I would probably botch the pronunciation anyway.  Plus, their choices for names are definitely a source of amusement.

Here are a few of my favourite English names:

L. Bee

Sheep

Dota (stands for Defence of the Ancients, for anyone who is not familiar with the international video game sensation that is World of Warcraft)

Waka

Rey

Tom and Jerry (only funny because they sit beside each other and are best friends)

Huskar

Coco

Fish

Beata

Voctor

RainMaple

and my personal favourite, Demon (naturally, he’s a troublemaker!)

There’s another funny story that I wanted to share. I gave my HR class a quiz about different departments and positions in the hotel. The question was, “Name 4 entry-level positions in a hotel.” Some of the students often get confused about the terms “doorman”, “bellman,” “bellboy,” etc. I’ve tried to explain that they all mean the same thing, but naturally this could be a bit confusing. Anyways, three of the students, after lots of crossing out and scribbling and trying to figure out the right answer, wrote “doorbell” as one of the answers. So today I had to give a quick little lesson about how doorbells do not work in hotels!

Spring Has Arrived

The sun truly has such healing powers. Today was such a beautiful and amazing day here in Nanjing. I opened the doors to both patios, as well as all my windows, and basked in the fresh air and warmth. It was a lazy Sunday, and I played basketball with a bunch of boys. What a treat! Ok, so I actually just practiced my extremely rusty basketball shot for a while, and tried not to look too much like an idiot, and then watched while Brian and Ryan and a bunch of students played some pretty decent basketball. I think most of them were a bit surprised to see a girl out on the courts at all!

After my bout of “exercise” and sunshine, I was feeling very motivated to do some more work on lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations. Although it is somewhat mentally exhausting, and often quite frustrating in the classroom, I must say that I really do enjoy this whole teaching thing. Dion, who T.A.’s one of my classes, told me that she thinks I’m adapting quite well to the classroom, and am keeping a good pace with the students. She says I speak at a good pace and talk very clearly to communicate well with them.

This week I’m taking one of my HR classes into the computer lab to do a Hotel “scavenger hunt” on the Internet. Then, with the F&B class, I’m going to have them do skits where they act out a scene in a restaurant, with a table ordering food from a server, etc. So that should be fun! I really want to try to do a tour of one of the hotels in Nanjing. By the sounds of it a lot of the students haven’t spent a lot of time in hotels, and I think it would be an extremely valuable way for them to learn about all the aspects of running a hotel. (And maybe a little bit fun for me, too?)

This last week really did fly by. At this rate, I’m going to be done in no time. It’s great now that I’m in my routine, and keeping busy with teaching and making lesson plans. Of course there’s still some time to go out with friends and party a bit too! This week I’m going to try to play some badminton with some of the other teachers. I don’t know how well I’ll fare against them…I don’t even want to attempt to challenge them to a game of ping pong! Also I met some foreign teachers from another school that play soccer on Tuesday nights, and they invited me to come along. So hopefully this week will be an active one.

I haven’t really felt homesick yet, but I definitely miss Mike a lot. Skype is a saviour, that’s for sure. I’m also more than a little bit jealous that he’s in beautiful, warm South America. But really, I get the opportunity to work and travel at the same time, so I feel extremely lucky too. Before I know it we’ll both be back in BC and ready to start the next adventure together.

Here are some pictures of Friday night. We basically went bar hopping all over town, and ended the night at a bar called "Ellen's" where we smoked hookah (flavoured tobacco). Hope you also enjoy the action shots of me shooting some hoops!

Purple Mountain and St. Patrick's Day

This weekend was sunny and beautiful, and I had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring with my friends. Of course, I still made time for some St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.  Most of the American friends I’ve made here are from Eastern USA, and I guess St. Paddy’s Day is huge out there. On Friday night we went to a potluck and enjoyed some Irish food…soda bread, cabbage, potatoes, and of course the traditional lime green Jello shooters.

On Saturday I went shopping downtown with my Chinese friend Dion. We went into one insanely expensive mall that has every brand name imaginable. I felt extremely underdressed even going into the stores! Even in the less expensive departments stores, I was still quite surprised by the prices of clothing. This is just my perspective from talking to Dion, but it seems like Chinese people are quite concerned with their image, and with material possessions. She tells me that a lot of women will save their money to buy a brand name handbag that might cost their entire paycheque, because that is the most important thing to them. Finally we stumbled across H&M, which is much more in my price range, and I managed to buy a cheap green shirt.

In the cosmetics department of one store, I convinced Dion to tell the makeup artists to paint my eyes bright green, to match my lucky Shamrock earrings. They must have thought I was so weird! “Why is this crazy white girl dressed all in green with bright green eyes??”

On Sunday one student who speaks really good English took me to a national park area called Purple Mountain. We went to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum, where there are hundreds of steps up to the tomb of whom the Chinese consider the “Father of the Nation.” It was really quite beautiful, and was nice to see a different part of the city.

I am beginning to get into the routine of teaching. My students are very sweet and for the most part seem to want to learn. They also tell me that they enjoy my class. The language barrier is definitely there, and the cultural norms for classrooms are different. It is very hard to get students to volunteer, ask questions, or participate in discussions. They are just not used to speaking up in class. One class, however, I brought some Canadian flag pencils that I brought from home, to use as prizes, and was amazed at the response I got. Students were literally jumping out their chairs and yelling out the answers, just to get a dollar store prize. Now I wish I brought more “Canadiana” stuff!

It’s definitely beginning to feel a little like spring, so I’m not so frozen in my room anymore. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to open the windows and enjoy my fifth floor balcony with a view!

This was the smallest puppy I've ever seen! Looked like a little teddy bear.

                                          

Johnny feeding the pigeons.

The view from the top of the Mausoleum, looking at the hundreds of steps we just climbed.

                                            

This lady was playing the flute! My friend Johnny took me on a tour of Purple Mountain.

Here are a few pictures of the campus. This is my building. My apartment in the corner one on the fifth floor.

The kitchen and office.

My bedroom.

The view from my balcony.

                                             

Teaching HR to Chinese Students

Hmmm, I’m starting to get annoyed with the sound of my own voice. Is it normal for teachers to feel this way? I have come to the realization that teaching Human Resources to Chinese students is not very fun. To start, most of them have no idea even of the concept of HR, so it’s like I’m speaking Greek to them. Well, English, but it might as well be Greek. I guess I’m concerned with not trying to teach them everything I know, and hoping one day they might all be HR Managers. My issue is more do I want to stand up there and be the boring teacher, or do I want to try and make my class more fun and interactive, and hopefully teach them some English, and maybe a little something about different cultures? I’ll try to find a balance.

With my Food and Beverage Management course, it’s much more enjoyable, probably because learning about food is fun for everyone, and the skills and knowledge I’m teaching are much more practical and visual, and less theoretical. When I asked the F&B class what they expect to learn in the course, they all said things like “how to serve guests,” “learn about international foods,” “how to make drinks,” etc. However, when I asked the HR class what they expect to learn, they all said either “I want to improve my English,” or “I want to learn about Canada.” Hmmm, I see….

Also, I’m trying not to take this personally, but the attendance is atrocious. Of my class of 23, only 14 showed up this morning. To all my previous instructors at Selkirk and Royal Roads, I apologize on behalf of myself and any of my classmates, for ever missing class. (What, me? Skip class? Never….) I promised myself I wasn’t going to get too wrapped up in all this, and just focus on doing my job and hopefully teaching a few students something. It’s more challenging than I expected, as it’s just my nature to actually want to make a difference. But that being said, I will probably be more effective and more valuable as a teacher, if my classes are fun and interactive. So if anyone has any ideas for games, activities, anything that involve tourism or learning English, please share. 

Overall I think the students like me, so that is a bonus. They loved seeing photos of cities I've lived in and places I've worked. But their favourite photo by far was of my dog, Kobe. They laughed so hard at his photo, and at the name!

First Week in China

Well, I survived my first week here. I arrived last week, and was picked up at the airport and taken to my apartment here on campus. So far everything has basically been what I expected, and it is quite comfortable here. Except for one thing that I definitely underestimated: the cold. The temperature isn't too cold, around 5 degrees, but it is a very damp cold so feels much cooler than it is. Also, I was told that because Nanjing is considered part of Southern China (although it's right on the edge), they are not allowed central heating. Now that I've been here awhile, with my heater blasting day and night in my bedroom, it is not so bad. However, even in the classrooms and the cafeterias it is cold, and everyone seems to wear their winter jackets all the time.

There are two American teachers in my building around my age, and I get along well with them. Two nights now I have gone out with them to a local bar/restaurant called the Blue Marlin. There are many foreign teachers here teaching English, and they all seem to be quite connected and friendly, so that is a relief. One night we ventured into town to a bar called Don Quixote. I realized it was ladies night, and the sangria was free pouring all night. Let's just say it didn't take long for me to ask the Chinese singer who was playing guitar and singing Western cover songs, if I could sing a duet with him. We sang Sweet Home Alabama...trust me to create my own karaoke my first night out on the town!

Yesterday and today I taught my first two classes. So far I've met with the same group, the second year students. There are 23 of them. Although I was warned by many people that their English level is not very good, it is hard to imagine until you are actually standing at the front of the class, trying to communicate a point in VERY slow and clear English. It's hard to know if they understand you or not; either way, the response is 23 blank stares. Trying to involve the class is akin to pulling teeth. It's not that they don't want to participate, but it is very different than the teaching style they've been taught their whole lives from Chinese teachers. They are used to sitting and listening to a lecture for hours, whereas personally I can't stand the sound of my own voice to be able to talk that much.

The food here is decent. It's definitely different than our idea of Chinese food. Everything has lots of vegetables, rice, and little meat, so I find I although I eat a lot at each meal, I am hungry two hours after eating it! But the nice thing is the cafeterias are big, so there are lots of options. At least I won't starve!

Well, that is my update for now. I will write again soon, once I 've had a few more classes, and let everyone know how they are going! And I will try to take some photos of my room and the campus. Bye for now.