Teaching, Etc.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 11:25pm

1) Anyang (and I'm going to assume most places in China) is like New York City on crack. Everywhere is constantly swarming with people. And I mean that. Swarming. Think of the busiest supermarket you've ever seen and multiply it by at least 5. I know China has an obscene population, but it is hard to imagine accurately until you actually see it. The streets, the shops, the restaurants—everything is filled with people. Also, the standard of living is really low. I never quite realized that, either. In the school dormitories, there are 8 children to a small room (4 bunk beds). The bathroom is just a big room with two rows of holes in the ground. No walls. You have to keep the door to it closed, otherwise the waste sitting in the heat makes the entire floor unbearable. This is just one example... it's very standard.

2) My class is going well. I have 24 students, although that number is growing every day. Often students come in late because their parents had to take them by bike into the school from the surrounding villages. The classroom has nothing other than a blackboard and chalk, but I brought some things and am making do. I enjoy teaching a lot (surprise, surprise) and am quickly falling in love with almost all of my students. Even though there is such a variety in age, size, and ability, everyone in the class treats each other equally. The older 13-year-old boys do not get frustrated with the little 7-year-old girls at all. The little ones and big ones often play together, which I really like. It must come from living in such close quarters and spending so much time together. They don't really have any kind of social hierarchy within them as far as I can see. It's nice.

3) During breaks, people swarm my computer to play Snood. Take that, David and Upal. I told you it was a good game!

4) There is still rocky ground here and there with the headmaster and his wife. I can't stand them. Apparently the other teachers took Helen aside and told her that they are awful and she should just try to avoid them. It's nice that the teachers are looking out for us and recognize that the headmaster and his wife are nasty, but it also makes me even more upset. The nice ones in the school get trampled on, while the headmasters hoard the money. No one else in the school (teacher and student alike) that I know of has ever left the city (except a few to the capital of the province, Zhengzhou), and the headmaster's daughter studies in Russia. His other children play in the private office, not with the other children. I spend time there, too, and I get the feeling they think they are better than the other children.

5) We finally moved out of the hotel and into a wonderful hostel/apartment sort of thing. It is like a nice hostel that you can rent out for extended periods of time. AND it has air conditioning and a western style toilet. Not bad. It is less than 10 minutes away from the school, so we are no longer dependent on the headmaster to drive us places. We can go where we want when we want (before and after class, obviously) and we officially live in Anyang. It's a good feeling.

6) The school day here is from 8:30am--11:30am and 3:00pm--5:00pm. Everyone eats and "has a rest" in between. It's not a bad lifestyle. I think I'll like Spain, too!

7) Helen is quickly becoming a good friend. This weekend we will explore Anyang, next weekend we will take the overnight train with the others from Orbis to Xi'an to see the sights, and the weekend after that we decided we are going to head to Luoyang to see the sights there. Rob will probably crash with the other Orbisters there, but I think Helen and I are going to get a hotel. We'll meet up with the others at some point, no doubt, but I'm honestly more interested in spending time with her and seeing the sights. I like the others from Orbis a lot, but... yeah. I can learn a lot from spending time with Helen.

8) It's 12:15am and I still have things to do before waking at 7am. Glorious.

Cheers.
(Gan Bei.)