It finally comes down to the last week of teaching. Sigh.

Some things you will learn as an SoS-er (based on my experiences this week):

1. Eating from four different birthday cakes in the arc of two days is perfectly fine. In fact, I’d highly recommend it.

2. Speaking of cake – at Chinese birthday parties, you don’t just eat it. You smear it everywhere. On your face. On everyone else’s face. And you will have a blast.

3. “Oh my Lady GaGa!” sounds much cooler (and more dramatic) than “Oh my goodness!”

4. Birthday lunches with teachers and students can be both emotionally and mentally draining, and may or may not involve tears.

5. Your students are incredibly gifted at arts and crafts (I’ve never seen so many paper hearts in my life).

6. When practicing calligraphy, you will experience the following: frustration, momentary satisfaction, dismay, elation, and an immense feeling of calm. All at the same time.

7. Your students trust you unconditionally. They will pour their hearts out to you, and sometimes, you won’t know what to say. You will feel grateful for every thought they share, and you will want to help them in any way possible.

8. The number eight is lucky in China, so you will become more conscious of incorporating it into all situations (such as writing a blog post list).

9. It will be hard for you to imagine a life without AJB, the stairs to the teaching building, the unmistakable smell of China, and your students.

10. This experience has, without a doubt, changed your life.

Every morning this week after I walked into class, Ken greeted me by telling me how many more gold medals China has in the Olympics than the US does. However, he had to change his tune today, and somewhat regretfully informed me that China and America have the same amount of golds. I haven’t been able to really keep up with the Olympics here (a combination of not being able to figure out our Chinese remote and not being able to stay awake past 11:30 on weekdays…) but I always enjoy his updates. I also like that some of my students are excited enough about the Olympics to talk about them with me using some pretty enthusiastic English, which I find fantastic.

Anyway, even if I don’t exactly know what is going on in the 2012 London Olympics, it’s okay, because I am in change of the 2012 PIJ Olympics along with Nick and Miryam! When Cameron told me I was one of the organizers for our summer Olympics, I was so excited. Earlier this week, the Olympic committee sat down and decided the events for this summer’s Olympics. I now present to you the line up for this summer:

– tug of war
– basketball
– ping pong
– Strong Man (including planks, push ups, limbo, 100 m race, and wall sits)
– badminton
– relay race (containing a hot dog eating contest, ball on spoon race, sack race, and water pitcher relay)

I’m most excited for the relay race, because it includes 12 people from each level and I think it will be extremely fun to watch. I got the idea for the water pitcher relay from the summer camp I worked at last year, and I wasn’t sure how popular the idea was going to be with our Chinese students. Luckily, after I explained it today, the kids seemed really pumped to try it out. The concept for the water pitcher relay race is fairly simple. The teams sit on the ground in lines, with a large basin of water at the front of each line and an empty bucket at the end of each line. The first person in the line needs to fill up a pitcher with water and (carefully) pass it overhead to the person behind her/him. The last person in line dumps the water into the bucket at the end of the line, and the first team to fill up their bucket wins. I’m expecting this to be ridiculous when the kids try it out later.

Dragons, Lions, and Unicorns better watch out, because the Phoenixes are getting ready to bring their A games to next Wednesday’s Olympics. Go big or go home. If you’re not first, you’re last. (That one’s for you, Dad.)

– Kelsey

On monday we learned about Linsanity and stereotypes. As part of our lesson, we had asked the students to try to classify us according to the stereotypes we had told them occur at Princeton. This resulted in me being labeled as feminist, Nick as “weird” and Reuben as a preppy nerd. After this activity, I told my precept to take 5 minutes to come up with a skit and interpret Reuben, Nick, Christian, Eliot and me in two situations: inside the classroom and outside the classroom. The most interesting part was seeing what they caught on from our daily interactions with them.

I apparently, rush to the board and jump up and down when writing things down. I also say “graaaaammarrrrr! I loveee grammarrrr!” and do a little dance when introducing it. Nick has hair in front of his face and crazy eyebrows. He also talks about his twin brother Josh a lot and takes his t-i-m-e to pass out papers back. Reuben, the lefty, walks in tip toes with a little swing in his shoulders and says “okay” several times. “Okay guys, okay, okay, okay.” He also writes on the board with his left hand in what appeared to be illegible handwriting from Mellisa’s impersonation.

Eliot, after a stellar impersonation from Rita, appears aloof and uninterested, constantly swatting at imaginary mosquitoes. He’s almost too cool for school according to them. “Eliot! Want to get lunch with me?” “Hmm? I don’t eat…” Christian, the hair flipper, constantly checking his perfect hair in front of whatever surface available while at the same time appears to be very interested in what his students have to say. Multitasking at its finest indeed…

It’s funny to see how these kids pay more attention to us than we even realize. How they probably imitate us when they are with their friends- their impersonations were spot on so I’m assuming that some practice outside of class takes place. That’s all for now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to contain myself next time and stop dancing when it’s time to give them extra grammar…after all, “I loveeeee grammmarrrr!”

Just before writing this blog, I filled up five large basins with water and left them in the guys’ apartment bathrooms. They are not to put out fires. They are not to wash the floors (though we would likely benefit from that; we are not what one would call a domestic bunch). In reality, I was preparing our washing water for the next two days. Tomorrow morning, the water will be shut off for a 48-hour period. During this period, things will likely smell, featuring wafts of bathroom, sweat, and chalk.

Yes, we’re all very excited.

The fact that the water is being shut off isn’t really that surprising. Last year, the power was shut off at different points during rolling blackouts that were meant to facilitate power conservation. I suspect something similar is at work, though I am a bit perplexed as to how the rather Biblical amount of water that was gushing beyond the banks of the Jishou river a little over a week ago has receded, leaving a rather lazy, low stream of murkiness brushing over exposed rocks in the riverbed. China works in mysterious ways, I suppose.

Similarly, earlier today, I was a bit confused as to why six-year-olds are allowed to spray paint doors. It seems like tempting fate, especially when the six-year-old in question was holding a can gold, shiny spray paint, and the metal grate that she was supposed to be working on was surrounded by white walls. When I discovered her at work outside the teachers’ lounge (this happened this afternoon, during a lull in speech club when even the cicadas seemed to have dropped off), there wasn’t an adult in sight. I thought I was hallucinating, but then the fumes of paint brought me back. Perhaps my confusion stemmed from the fact that at her age, I would be having a field day with that can, likely attempting some unrecognizable pictures of animals trotting along the school wall.

Teaching is learning.

I’ve certainly heard that teaching is one of the best ways to learn. Until now, however, I had never had a true appreciation for that idea. But it has proven to be so true in many different ways. Most conspicuously, I’m learning a bunch about the English language. Even as a grammar enthusiast, I am still put to the test everyday when I try, for example, to explain the difference between “a few” and “few,” all while staying within a limited vocabulary. Furthermore, (cue the clichés), I’m learning about myself. Apparently, spending mornings in the classroom five days a week can whip you into shape pretty quickly. In those moments standing before a group of expectant faces, it happens. You witness your own limitations suddenly crystallizing right before you, acknowledge them as constructs and realize the importance of what lies beyond them, and then push right through.

But being here has still more lessons to offer. After giving our first “Lions” test during a Friday lecture, we had a very relaxed precept. So I showed the class pictures from my photo library and they were really thrilled about that. But it seemed that the photos and my stories left a very “deep impression” – as they would say – that I still haven’t decided how I feel about. They kept repeating that I live a very ‘colorful’ life. Listening to their reactions and considering their perspectives always reminds me how colorful it really is. The world – and I mean that quite literally – is at our fingertips. It’s all waiting for us. Nothing is off limits. And in some ways, that is radically untrue for many of them. The colorful life that I showed them that day is possibly just an abstract idea for them, at least for the time being. What do they think of that? Do they think about it? Who deals the cards? And the children in the orphanage that we visit during Service Club, who dealt their cards? What is their experience? I’m not sure if I’ll ever know, though I’m interminably curious about the experiences of others.

On the bright side of this, however, I have gotten a great opportunity to get to know some of my students. Reading and writing in their journals has been absolutely amazing, because the girls are all so honest and thoughtful. Some choose to share more than others. Corresponding with every student is unique, and I have found that I have an incredible amount in common with some of them. And never would I have expected my students to want to share things with me that they do not want to share with anyone else. What have we done to deserve their trust? Whatever that may have been, I feel lucky and responsible to honor that trust.

~Jessica

One thing I’ve realized from being in China is that you can’t say no. When a student brings you a snack to class, you don’t refuse it no matter how weird looking it may be. When you go to what we call “the dirty black spoon” (aka Asian Jack Black) for dinner, you will eat the combination of vegetables that the owner makes and you will like them. You want to mix eggplant and tofu together in the same dish? Well tough luck, those don’t go together, according to her. You have to get two dishes – one with eggplant and the other with tofu and whatever vegetables she decides go with it – and you will like them.

This morning I finally got to explore the mysterious park that Nick and Jessica have been raving about since they discovered it earlier this month (this month is almost over…whatttttt?). It was a whole new side of Jishou that I had not yet seen. It was only 11 AM but the park was bustling with dozens of old people playing Mahjong and other card games, fortune tellers (I think that’s what they were), and old women square dancing. As everybody knows, Chinese old people and Chinese babies are two of my favorite people to interact with in China, so this was the perfect setting.

Our interaction with the old people began in the square, bustling with loud music that the women square danced to, government propaganda in the background, and conversation. The old people were just as intrigued by us as we were by them. Before we knew it we were encirlced by a group of old people talking to us and taking pictures with us. I have never seen 70 year olds with this much energy. They jumped, yelled, laughed, and posed for pictures with us – always throwing up the peace sign on both hands, of course. Then we joined in on the square dancing as some of the old men took out their phones to record the Americans trying to square dance. As much as an outsider as I looked, I felt so welcomed at the same time.

As Sofia and I were leaving an old man pulled us over and told us to follow him downstairs to watch the drummers. “We already watched them,” Sofia said to him, explaining that we had gone earlier. Yet he insisted that we follow him, so we did (you will do it and you will like it). Before we knew it we were both up on the drums learning some rhythms and trying to mimic the drummers’ rhythms and dance moves. I think we also put on a pretty good show for the crowd. In the end, we couldn’t have been happier to have listened to him. We did it, and we liked it.

Somehow this is our last full weekend in Jishou (we’ll be traveling outside of the city the next two weekends). As such, it was necessary to do some exploring. This morning a few of the other teachers and I began the day at a bakery, where I had an iced cappuccino (!) and a sticky bun that had red beans where there would normally be raisins.

Next we explored a public park, where we watched old men and women dance and play mahjong. In an attempt to fit in more with the locals, I felt compelled to roll up my shirt. Surprising how much that actually cools you off. The highlight of the park for me was renting a pedal-boat. As safe and benign as a pedal-boat may seem, something about doing it here made it feel a bit more like a bold move. As we cast off from the dock, the “marina” owner began motioning to us wildly with her arms. We were headed directly for a dam and a short waterfall. Thanks to the superb navigating skills of Alyssa and Christian, the voyage was successful.

This past week was also really awesome as far as connecting with the students. On Tuesday, five students invited me to play badminton with them after chill club. Quite conveniently badminton is one of the few (if not the only) sports I can play. Though my relationships with the students are all very informal, and we always joke around, the dynamic here felt different. The vibe was less teacher-student and more like a group of friends than I had yet experienced. It was great.

One more thing to mention. Every week Arianna, Nick, and myself (the “dragon” teachers) correspond with our students in journals. I know I speak for the three of us when I say that lately, the content of some of the journals has blown us away. I’m amazed both by what some students are willing to share with us and how expressive they can be with English.

Looking forward to another great two weeks.

Saturday:

Another week packed with prom, Thanksgiving, The Wizard of Oz, clubs, a great English corner (a crowd of 2011 students came back to say hello) and all kinds of culinary discoveries. Recovering from a hectic Friday (Dehang class field trip, imagine coralling 130 plus students to hike to either a mountain or waterfall, then back again. No small feat). Woke up feeling almost rested for the first time in 2 weeks, and then went to an ex-student’s home to visit— with the stipulation that every person had to cook a dish. Vegetables were washed in a courtyard that housed chickens and geese. The kitchen was a single hotplate. Pushing more boundaries. We shopped and I threw together a mixture of flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and cheap beer that was then semi-sucessfuly fried in a wok with apple slices. This concoction found its way onto some “waffles” found at the supermarket (we opted for the non-cheese flavor) …I could’ve done worse. Cameron’s tofu was ok.
The students spent most of the time arguing and playing guitar/singing, but we also caught a glimpse of the Olympics on CCTV over watermelon and stinky tofu (no thank you. no, really). I imagined everyone at home sitting on their couches in the land of normal flavored potato chips and felt far, far away. Yet I also felt like we were in the right spot.
Things have been pretty solid as we pass the halfway point of our trip. Good stuff.

It’s been a few weeks here in Jishou, and today was the first day I actually explored this city. Alyssa, Miriam, Sofia and I rushed this morning to meet Jessica, Reuben, and Nick at a bakery. After enjoying some delicious iced mocha cappuccino, we set for the park. Little did we know we would find a crowd of old people, girls playing drums, and paddle boats! Reuben, Alyssa, Jessica and I rented a boat that, according to Reuben, was made out of two ducks. Nothing beats a Saturday morning like riding two ducks down a green river with an animal’s rotting corpse floating nearby. Very good times.

But wait, there’s more. The boat ride ends, and we find ourselves in the middle of the park taking pictures with the elderly and dancing with them. After that little adventure, we walked and walked through a different part of the city. All in all, it was a very relaxing afternoon.

I can’t publish this post until I talk about the students. There is one student in particular who I connected with this week. He allowed me to step into his mind and see through his eyes. We treated each other like brothers. We shared a feeling of unspoken gratitude one day. I’ll spare the details here, but what I can say is that every day something in me changes. I don’t like change, but even that itself is changing.

-Christian