It never ceases to amaze me how the Chinese seem to lack a
basic understanding of life skills. I’m not even talking
about learning and teaching styles; it’s more like they are missing any sense
of “street smarts.” Sometimes this is mildly annoying, but more often than not
it is a source of amusement.
For example, I went with the English club on a trip to Yun
Long Lake (Cloud and Dragon Lake). It was a lovely spring day, and we had fun
lazily wandering around, playing on the playground (yes, these are college students we’re talking about),
and checking out some historical sites. But the highlight of the day definitely
had to be renting bamboo rafts on the lake. They are long rafts, and you use
two long bamboo poles to push yourself along the bottom of the lake (think
gondolas in Venice). I was on a raft with Dion and two other students, and the
two students took the poles first to give it a try. They had absolutely no idea
how to make the boat move. The one girl was using the pole at a paddle, but
paddling backwards. The other boy was pushing on the bottom, but of course
since he was doing it on one side we were just going in circles. Imagine me,
sitting there, trying to patiently explain to them what I consider very simple
concepts. It was definitely hilarious. Dion and I soon took over and things ran
much smoother.
Another time with the English club, they organized a day for
us to play volleyball and badminton, because they know I like sports. Of
course, I showed up wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and running shoes, ready to
play. All of them were wearing inappropriate footwear, sweaters, dresses, etc.
Then, when we started to “play” volleyball (really just standing in a circle and
attempting to pass the ball around), I was truly shocked at their complete and
utter lack of athletic abilities. This was especially true for the girls, who
possess no hand-eye coordination, and are so afraid of the ball that when the
volleyball comes toward them, they take a step back, so the ball bounces in
front of them, and then bounces right over top of them. Wow. This was not a
moment for my naturally competitive side to come out, that’s for sure!
Another example: I wanted to give one of Dion’s nieces a
piggy-back ride, so I knelt down and told her to hop on. She had no idea what
to do, so Dion lifted her on my back, where she then started freaking out and
saying she wanted down. I don’t think she’s ever had a piggy-back ride before! It was very cute.
Today in my Human Resources class, I wanted to give a little
bit of review before the midterm on Friday. I decided to divide the class into
teams and play a Jeopardy style game to test their knowledge. For prizes I gave
Canadian flag pins. I asked each team a new question, in order (ie. Team 1 went
first, then Team 2, etc.) and if they answered correctly they received one
point. However, the catch was that if they answered the question incorrectly,
the next team had a chance to “steal,” then the next team, and so on. If that
team stole, they received a bonus point, but it didn’t count as their actual
turn. Anyway, it seemed quite simple to me, but everyone in the class,
including my T.A., was convinced I was dumb and just randomly going out of
order and being unfair. At one point I yelled at my T.A., “No, you’re wrong,
and I’m right!” Oh man, sometimes it can be so frustrating. My T.A. is the one
that is supposed to be translating for me, and half the time I think he doesn’t
even understand! Anyway, after a long time they finally got the hang of it and
it was actually quite fun.
Here are some photos of my trip to Dion's hometown, our English club outings, and some photos from a BBQ we had on the Nanjing Wall.
I know it is a terrible stereotype, but so far every Chinese person I've met has been good at badminton. Also, please note Dion's outfit. Yes, she's wearing slippers.
Dion and I killing it on the boat. I of course immediately declared a race with the other boat, and we won!
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