A Cute Little Sophomore

Yesterday one of my cute little sophomore girl students spit on the floor of the classroom (in the middle of class) and then wiped the spit away with her shoe. This is why we take off our shoes inside the house. That and the small children (and men) peeing on the sidewalk.

Tonight the same student was talking to me in the office. She is always very friendly and tonight was excited because her roommate had braided her hair and shown her how to wear makeup. She is from a small, poor village where her family grows peanuts. Her uncle was the first person from the village ever to go to university. She is currently the only person in her village that is going to university. “I am very lucky,” she said. Especially lucky since she has two younger siblings, one of whom is a boy. Many times poorer families will save their money to send the boy to university since they feel it is more important for boys to get an education. So yes, she is quite lucky.

Two Vaguely Related Things

By Ruth (but then, you would have guessed that very quickly...)

Part 1 – Playing Cards

I use playing cards in class to divide students into groups. It works really well because there are enough for all my students and groups of four usually work pretty well. Enough to make it a little interesting but still small enough that everybody needs to talk.

The first time I start passing out cards, they get excited. Fifteen times later, I don’t even have to explain what to do. Sometimes they groan if they are those students who don’t like a) standing up, b) talking to anyone besides their best friend, c) talking, and/or d) being in class. Mostly though, they enjoy the few moments of utter chaos as they yell at each other and wave their cards around and make their way to the other side of the room.

Since I use them in about every other class, the cards get pretty beat up. I collected the cards back the other day and noticed someone had drawn their own hearts on the ten of hearts. Sometimes they get lost, too. The other day a sophomore came up to me after class all embarrassed and said, “Last week I accidentally took the seven card because I put it in my pocket. Can I bring it back to you tomorrow?” Just before my class the next day, the girl knocked hesitantly on the classroom door. When I opened it she whispered, “I come to bring you the card.” Turning her body away so the other students couldn’t see she slipped the card into my hand then ducked away. It was funny. It really wasn’t a problem, but she was so embarrassed.

Part 2 – The Colored Number Phenomenon

This is related but you probably won’t be able to tell it at first.

I have this thing where I see numbers as colors. I didn’t consciously realize it until high school or college. Or rather, I should say, I didn’t realize that everyone else doesn’t see numbers as colors. This year I was delighted to discover this is actually a legitimate phenomenon called “synesthesia.” Wikipedia calls it “a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.” Makes sense, huh?

Thinking of numbers as being inherently colored is one of the more common forms. Some people also see numbers, days of the week, or months of the year as having certain personalities. I do that too, with numbers. One of the most interesting forms, in my opinion, is associating a certain taste with different sounds or words. I don’t do that, so I don’t really know how it works. There is no “standard” for color-number association, it varies by person, however it is consistent with a person over time. So here is what it looks like for me:

Number - Color - Personality

1 – White

2 – Light blue - youthful

3- Yellow – sweet and girly (and named Lillian…that I can’t explain)

4 – Purple – quiet and shy

5 – Green – friendly and outgoing

6 – Dark blue – motherly, caring

7 – Orange – vivacious, crazy, and a little annoying

8 – Maroon - responsible, organized

9 – Brown – kinda boring and not very easy to get along with

I’m not sure that one has a personality. It’s so good and quiet it just blends into the woodwork, if you know what I mean. Some of the personalities are more related to the colors, but some purely numerical. Who doesn’t like a good 5? Fits in anywhere, works well with others. 9, on the other hand, just has to make thing difficult. Some of the personalities are definitely related to the colored pencils I used to play with as a child. The light blue was short and therefore one of the younger ones that dark blue helped to take care of. Brown was practically unused and didn’t fit in very well. The purple pencil was about eight years old and probably the one I identified with most. I did have real toys, I really did, but I think my colored pencils had more personalities than my dolls ever did.

Ok, now that I’ve thoroughly lost you, let’s bring this back around to the beginning in a nice segue.

Part 3: The Segue

So the other day in class I had passed out the cards and students were looking for their other group members. I came upon a student with a three of hearts and said, “Ok, well you have a yellow so let’s look for the others.” Then I laughed at myself because while I confuse them in my head sometimes, I rarely confuse colors and numbers out loud unless I have recently been explaining this phenomenon to someone. It didn’t really matter though. It went right over the student’s head into the box of “things my foreign teacher says that I don’t understand.” It’s a big box.

And there you go. It is sort of related. At least in my head, it was related. But then, so are colors and numbers and personalities and a lot of things that make no sense to other people. So probably it's not related at all. Just an attempt to make the things in my head seem connected to the outside world. I wonder what ever happened to that colored pencil family?

Heavy metal mourning

By Kevin

As we walked to dinner last night, we were surprised to see a small tent set up outside the adjacent apartment buildings, with a pair of white-clad people mulling around outside. For a moment I thought they were nurses. Perhaps they were having a blood drive? I wondered.

"It's a funeral," a student explained.

"I've never seen a Chinese funeral before," I said, as we continued to dinner, hiding my curiosity. Somehow during my first two years in Tonghua, I managed to never see a funeral, just the numerous graves on the side of the hill outside campus. I imagine that maybe it was simply too cold. So they were held indoors. On the way back, we made sure to make a detour closer to the tent, so we could get a glimpse inside.

Inside there appeared to be an altar at one end, where a photograph of the dead man was displayed. Next to the photo, there were joss sticks of burning incense and what looked like a pile of fruit. Offerings for the departed. Alongside the tent, which looks a bit like a 15-by-15-foot, 3-sided enclosure they might use for a booth at a fair in America, were a trio of multi-colored Pinwheel-like Chinese wreaths. Inside, a pair of mourners sat on the ground, wearing baggy white clothes and turban-like hats, crying. I couldn't tell if they were relatives or professional mourners. In China there is a tradition of hiring professional mourners for funerals.

I asked about the white clothing and discovered that mourners typically wear white because the body turns pale after death.

"What will happen?" I asked.

"There will be a singer. They will sing Shaanxi Opera all night," a student explained. "Starting at midnight."

"What's it like? Is it like Beijing Opera?" Wes asked.

"It's loud like heavy metal music."

I waited expectedly last night with my earplugs ready to muffle the sound, but was surprised that they didn't start singing.

Today, however, when I came back from office hour, loud grating music was blaring and a woman alternated between singing and wailing into a microphone (yes, this is all amplified for all to hear). I saw her playing a keyboard, and other musicians played a Chinese horn and the violin-like 2-stringed Er-hu. I gathered that perhaps this is the actual funeral. Maybe yesterday was just the first day of mourning. By this time, than a dozen mourners were gathered in the outside tent, even though the temperature had dropped into the 40s. About half of them wore white clothing. Some were inside, sitting. Several men were outside, burning paper money over a fire in a bucket, lighting loud popping fireworks. Other things seemed to burn in the flame-filled bucket, which was filled nearly to the top. Probably things like paper houses, paper cars, paper TVs and other things they think the departed might need to have a comfortable afterlife. These things show their respect for their elders and keep the relative happy so he won't have to pester them on earth.

Other customs I've heard about include keeping a light shining for the dead person "to light the way" and bowl of half-cooked rice near the body. The word for "half-cooked rice" apparently is pronounced the same as "live," echoing the family's wish for life. But I couldn't tell if they were doing these things or not. In any case, it seemed, from an outsider's perspective, to have little in common with American funerals. I'm gonna have to find out more.

Boom, boom, boom

By Kevin

BOOM. The explosion shook the windows of the office where Wes and I were meeting with students for office and library hours.

We weren't sure what the source was. My mind raced past the usual suspects -- this sounded bigger than the normal bottle rockets or strings of firecrackers -- and went immediately to the brick quarries they apparently have up in the hills not far from campus. Then it went to recent coal mine explosions (a recent one in the other Shanxi killed 74 people) "Dynamite?" I asked. "Maybe."

Then there was another. BOOOM. Another. BOOOM. Another BOOOOM.

We excused ourselves from the conversations we were having with undeterred students to discover a huge display of colorful aerial fireworks going off just West of campus. "Whoa. What's that all about?" Wes asked.

"Is today a festival? Some holiday?" I asked a student.

"No. Nothing special," she said, not even bothering to stand up and get a glance. She'd seen PLENTY of fireworks in her day. With grad school classes in Thailand each winter, I've somehow managed to NEVER be in China during Spring Festival, but those who have describe it as being almost like a warzone, with nearly constant shellings of fireworks throughout the day making your ears ring. This was just a tiny tiny sliver of what it's like then.

"It's better than 4th of July," I said.

Wes agreed.

"Yeah. I guess that says something when just any day in China can have a bigger fireworks display than on 4th of July in America."

A good 20 minutes later, as the explosions continued, I asked another student, who had since arrived, about the display, which students pretty much ignored.

"Maybe it's a wedding," she said. "Some rich people, when they get married, they do this."

I tried to calculate how many tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars this display would have cost in the US. "They must be very rich."

I wonder if they're trying to frighten off the same ghosts they try to stave off when they open a new building.

To market, to market

by Ruth

Christina and I have gotten into the habit of going to the supermarket together, which is nice because otherwise we need the mutual prodding and positive peer-pressure. Otherwise we’d probably keep putting it off until we were subsisting on crackers for all our meals. Also, we can keep each other company on the bus, share a cart, remind each other of what to buy, and share a taxi on the way home. Together we decide which bag of flour or bottle of oil looks most like what we want (by looking at the pictures, since we can’t read the words).

Last night we went to the supermarket, which was a bad idea because it was Friday night. It was so crowded! Fortunately, running into other people with your grocery cart isn’t too bad so long as you don’t hit them too hard.

We jostled our way through the crowd all the way to the back of the store, the meat and produce area. The produce area is always the most crowded, even though the supermarket doesn’t usually have the best fruits and veggies. However, it appeared that sugar cane had recently gone on sale because we saw a bunch of people trying to fight their way through the crowd holding up long black stalks of sugar cane that were probably six or seven feet long. It would have made a great picture – a dozen black stalks of sugar cane sticking out above the mass of people.

I decided to forego on eggs (even though they are one of my main staple foods) because the line was too long. To buy eggs, you have to fill a bag from a stack of cartons, have the bag weighed, go over to the pay counter to pay and get a receipt, then come back and claim your bag of eggs. I didn’t really want to go through all that, so we took a detour around to the meat section, running over a couple of potholes on the way. Apparently the back aisle is not very important because the floor was kinda torn up.

The meat counter has everything from huge slabs of beef, to ground meat (beef? Pork?), to boneless skinless chicken breasts, to whole chickens (head included, of course). Behind the counter a worker was swinging a cleaver into a three foot hunk of compacted meat parts. Meat pieces were flying while people around the counter picked up pieces of meat with their bare hands to examine it. Fortunately, we didn’t have to touch the meat (always better, in my opinion). We just point out what we want and how much, and the meat lady bags some up for us.

Then we had to retrace our steps back through the store to the checkouts, stopping on the way to examine Pringles and Oreos, two nice things we can get here.. When we paid, I realized all my coins are still Thai baht, which don’t do much good here. When we got a taxi, I almost told the driver to go to “Yangda, zong bu,” even though I haven’t lived at that school for two years. Shopping is hard on the brain.

Classroom Anecdotes

By Ruth

(Thanks to those of you who have left comments! I like seeing who is reading our blog.)

I went to class this morning but when I got to room 108, where my class was scheduled to be, the room was full of other students. I thought, “Oh no. I’ll never find them now.” The schedule seems to change a lot at the last minute and into the first few days of class, so several of my teammates have gone to class this week and their students haven’t been there because the students had a different schedule. I wasn’t sure whether my students thought class was at a different time or whether they were just in a different classroom.

So I spent about ten minutes wandering around the different floors looking in classrooms (at least these were students I taught last semester, so I know what they look like!). Coming back down the stairs, I saw several of my students in the hallway. On their schedule we were supposed to be meeting in a second floor computer classroom, which was locked. I don’t think that was right either, because they wouldn’t give us a computer room for Oral English. Fortunately, there was an empty classroom across the hall, and we were able to get settled in just before the bell rang. Now I just need to remember to find out about a permanent room.

It has been fun to see my students again. They are so cute, with their jagged hair done up in scrunchies or big, colorful barrettes. It’s also fun to have students who like me. I was noticing today that 16 of the 35 students were wearing glasses. Probably about twice that many are supposed to wear glasses, but a lot of students don’t like to wear glasses because it doesn’t look cool. I saw one student reach over and borrow her seatmate’s glasses to read the board.

In two of my classes I have students named Anna and Anne who sit next to each other and can’t distinguish the difference between the two names. I never know which one will respond, and sometimes I get confused about which one is which. It caused a problem last semester when Anne and Anna did their final exam together. After finishing, they came back a few minutes later and Anna said, “Um, we think that we were a little confused, so when you asked Anne a question, I answered instead.” I think I’ve gotten them straightened out now, but they still sometimes answer to the wrong name.

Your Turn

Keeping a blog has been a great way to let people know what we have been doing, and we both enjoy writing when we have the time. We know that a number of people do read the blog, but sometimes we forget.
So we would love for you to leave us a comment to let us know you are reading. It's really easy and you don't have to sign up for anything - just click on the "comment" at the bottom of this post and just say hi or leave a little note (with your name!). It would be encouraging to know there are really are people out there reading our ramblings!
We appreciate you guys!

Ruth and Kevin

The Next Two Days

by Ruth

On Monday we finally found out when the semester will start – next Monday. I’m glad we got that cleared up. We also found out a general idea of what we will be teaching this semester – freshmen and sophomore oral, and sophomore culture class. Before we can actually start planning, however, we need to know a few things like (1) will we be teaching just the freshmen here or also the ones on the other campus, (2) will all the sophomores have the culture class or just the ones who don’t get it junior year, (3) when will all these classes be so we can divide them up, (4) will there be a textbook for the culture class and/or what exactly do they want us to teach (in the past, it sounds like it was more of a Western countries geography class). So far we have found out none of those things.

On Tuesday Christina went over to the office to try to get the actual schedule. After wandering through the empty halls, she found out the office won’t be open until Saturday. The teachers will all have a meeting on Saturday to talk about classes, the students will register on Sunday, and then classes will begin on Monday. I am truly amazed. How do they manage to work everything out in the two days before the semester begins? Our waiban (the school official who helps us out) said, “This is Chinese culture.” Somewhat, but we know a lot of other Chinese universities that aren’t this last minute.

So tomorrow we will go over to get the schedule, come back and figure out when all the classes are and divide them among the four of us. Then we can go back and tell them who is teaching what and start planning for Monday. Anyway, we have a really good excuse for not planning ahead.

Conference

by Ruth

Conference is over and after a few days at the beach and then 21 hours of travel, we’re back in Weinan! I usually find conference to be a good time overall, even though every year is particularly difficult in different ways. I appreciate having time in Thailand to step away from the situation and reflect and process and get a bigger picture.

I find the China session particularly interesting because we get to hear about larger trends being observed in China, such as continual urbanization, the growth of an urban middle class who is interested in deeper things – and more open about their interest, significant unemployment, and so on. Even though we live in China, sometimes we don’t hear about what is going on in a bigger level. When we meet together, we also get to hear about what is happening in other cities, new programs, and exciting opportunities.

People from each of the countries also have a time to report on their own challenges and opportunities so we can think about them together. Almost all the countries are suffering from a lack of teachers. Some countries are seeing a lot more openings than in the past but don’t have enough people to fill the needs.

We also had time to meet as a team, to reflect on last semester and plan for the spring. We couldn’t plan much about teaching since we didn’t know what we would be teaching or when the term started (we just learned it will start next week), but we talked about our other ideas for the term. We talked about working together more, what students we want to spend more time with, and came up with all kinds of ideas for really beneficial things to do this term.

All these ideas make me excited but also nervous. Last semester was so busy and stressful by the end and now we are planning even more things for this semester. How does this fit with our definite need to slow down and rest as well?

Kevin and I went to a marriage workshop and one thing the leader was talking about was dealing with stress ('cause -who knew- I guess that affects marriage). We looked at a list of about 15 physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of overstress and at least 12 of them described me really well. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was still disconcerting. I always think I shouldn’t be as stressed (as if that will help), and a different person would be able to handle things much better. Unfortunately, I have to realize how much stress is negatively impacting my health and relationships and therefore my overall effectiveness. Which brings back the old question of how to balance all the great ideas with my increasingly obvious personal limitations.

Thailand has been a good time for Kevin and I to spend time together too. It’s nice to get outside of everyday life and talk about things beside schedules and what to eat for dinner. It’s been good to play games and have meals with other friends too. The person leading the marriage workshop said that certain research shows the difference between a “good marriage” and a “great marriage” is that the couple has fun together. Kevin and I both tend to be too serious about life, so it’s been good to be around others who are naturals at having fun.

But now, even though I was sad to pull back out the down coat, I am ready to be back. I recently realized that we live out of suitcases for a fourth of every year and that makes me really appreciate my own bed, my own shower, and my own schedule. I am ready for a few settled months.

The Hospital Waiting Room

by Ruth

I've been to the hospital three times in the past week, but mostly just in the waiting room.
At the beginning of the week, I went with a friend who was having outpatient surgery done. She saw me on facebook the night before and asked if I wanted to come. She said she wouldn't mind going by herself and I was like, "You're having surgery! Of course you don't want to go by yourself!" So I went and sat in various waiting rooms for about 5 hours.
While we were waiting together in the hospital lobby, a middle-aged western woman came in and talked to a nurse. "I need to see a doctor about a bite on my leg," the woman said. The nurse said something we couldn't hear and then the woman said, "Well, I don't think the gynecologist would know what to do about the bite." The nurse hesitated then said, "So you don't want a pap smear?" She led the woman away...in the direction of the gynecology unit, and my friend and I fell over each other laughing. Oh, the miscommunications!

The second time at the hospital was much shorter. Our teammate Christina was having her wisdom teeth out. When she told me about it, she was also planning on going alone. "I figured they could call a songtao for me" (the red taxi trucks). What is it with these people? I said, "You can't go by yourself!" Several other friends went at the beginning and Kevin and I came over later. I figured it might take hours but by the time we got there, they were already finished! Christina was sitting in the waiting room with swollen cheeks and a pained look. We made fun of her, caused her to laugh, and tried to get her to take pain medicine she couldn't swallow...because that's the kind of good friends we are. Kevin and I brought her flowers though, which we pointed out to her after apologizing for all the rest of the torture we were causing. I don't think she minded too much that we were making fun of her, I think it was more the problem that she couldn't talk back.

Today I went to the hospital for the third time. Kevin and I had dentist appointments. It was the fastest dentist appointment ever! Fifteen minutes and I was back in the waiting room. $50 later, we were both paid for and out the door. And no cavities. Which discourages me again from actually taking up flossing, since my teeth have always done okay without it. There's no dentists reading this blog, are there?

That should be all for the hospital visits this trip. It's not a bad hospital (they already do all their medical records on computer, kind of like America is hoping to do one of these days). Still, it smells all antiseptically weird and the colors are horrible. So hopefully no one else I know is planning a surgery in the next few weeks.