School started today along with a very nasty cold. Not the best way to start a new semester at a new school, sounding like a dieing car that cuts in and out but a start nonetheless.

I’m am so excited about my schedule, with it finalized, oh the weekends I’ve got planned. I met two classes today and did my best to scare them. I’m quite good at that to be honest. Poor kids thought they were signed up for the snoozing film class. Meeting Julie and speaking with Victoria more I realize its time for me to change. I need to stop complaining that English Teachers in China aren’t taken seriosuly and do something about it. The first step, expecting more from my students. As long as I have low expectations the system is going to have low expectations. Looking at Julie’s syllubus my class expectations are about 3rd grade and yet I’m surprised at the 3rd grade effort I’m receiving.

So this semester is different. The first of many rude awakenings received by my classes today was the films would be shown in English with English subtitles. Second only English was allowed in the classroom with strict observance. Oh and work would be expected throughout the semester. Other than that I think it met all their expectations. Now I’m in no way saying I’m a film teacher and for that the students should understand I’m barely scratching the surface here but it had better be a darn good scratch.

Looking through the film textbook I was appalled at the negative portrayal of American culture with the films selected. As with everything in English Teaching in China the course was left to my discretion so I took half from the book and choose three to replace the less palatable movies. Really ‘American Beauty’ for a mid-life crisis theme. Really! Really that’s the best choice?

I’m excited for the upcoming discussions. I stuck with the book’s suggestion of ‘Chicago’, I’ll admit more for the shock value of the first piece. I figured once we got all the skin out of the way they wouldn’t complain about the rest of the movie changes. Obviously the person who chose the films in the book has never taught Chinese students. I had girls covering their eyes in the kissing scene from ‘New In Town’. Yes I’m perfectly aware there is no kissing scene in ‘New in Town’. Really how in the world were they suppose to sit through more graphic love scenes? ‘Chicago’ will be head turning to say the least.

Well on a lighter note, the rest of my classes don’t start until week four! Gotta love Military Training. It is so nice not to be living on campus. I can sleep past 6:30 without getting woken up by freshman military drills. The first two weeks every freshman in China must participate in military training. I’m curious what exchange students do at this time?

The world will officially end in the next week or two. Consider yourself warned. I don’t want to be blamed for not mentioning this before hand. My week or rather the last two weeks have just gone too well or dare I say close to perfect. Nothing whatsoever can explain this phenomena other than emending destruction on a global if not universal level. So you have here by been warned please pass it on, kiss your loved ones, make amends with your maker and then wait patiently for your final moments.

I attended a faculty meeting Friday for the Foreign Teachers. As usual no official schedules were ready even though school started the following Monday. The other American and I asked if there was a possibility to receive a tentative schedule at least. Our liaison Mrs. Li was kind enough to track someone down who was able to throw together something that could be passed on to the inquiring teachers but only as a tentative mock-up. As soon as I saw my schedule I wished I hadn’t. It was just too perfect to behold as a ‘tentative schedule’. I didn’t want any changes. According to my schedule I only had 2 subjects and 7 sections! No that must certainly not be the final.

I waited impatiently for the next two days. This afternoon I got the email of the term.

_____  Monday ___  Tuesday     ___  Wednesday  ___   Thursday ____   Friday

1 & 2         Film             Listening               No Classes               Listening            No Classes

3 & 4        Film                Film                                                        Listening

Lunch

5&6                            Listening

I now hold the most coveted schedule of the department. Two days off with one allowing for an extended weekend to start at noon on Thursday! How awesome is that! The Film classes alone were excitement enough. Half my semester is planned for me. Well now I have no excuses Chinese Lessons Here I come.

Really I can’t figure out where my luck came from. The Film and Listening classes were the two I wanted badly but as the newbie though I had no chances of getting either. Scoring both was unimaginable.

The Chinese never cease to amaze me. For a country that supposedly lives on rice and rice alone the sight of a rice cooker baffles them. On two occasions have I come across their astonishment. The first was when I was tutoring children at my old apartment. When we were going over household vocabulary we took a tour around the kitchen. When I pointed to the rice cooker I asked them the name. They had no idea so I asked them what it did. Again no reply, when I finally told them the name and use they asked if I had brought it from America.

You know the thing that cooks rice

Incident two. Today on my lunch break I went to Yoga, pat on the back for moi, and then ran some errands. As if running errands on my lunch break isn’t strange enough around here I showed up with a rice cooker. Again after looking over the box they asked for an explanation. Umm a rice cooker…its a thing that cooks…rice? Work is in the middle of home and yoga so I didn’t have enough time to go to yoga, shopping, home and then back to work so I just brought my shopping to work to take home after. I just don’t understand how its not a given when I say RICE COOKER. Oh well, I guess I’d have nothing to blog about if life was the same as it was State side right?

My new Kitchen

 For all of you who remember the toaster oven incident please keep me in your prayers. This kitchen only has a gas stove. Umm I think investing in a hot plate might be in the best interest of my life. The rice cook was to decrease my chances of death by kitchen fire but there are still plenty of other hazards I’ve yet to explore in this kitchen.

 I promise to give an apartment tour in the next week.

Katie and Thomas have left. I really don’t know what else to say but that my whole world is crashing down around me.

Often when I talk to people from back home they say I’m brave for moving to China but here’s the secret. Its not bravery I’ve always had Katie, she’s my backbone and courage all wrapped up in a beautiful friend. Originally when I was debating whether or not to stay another year it was Katie’s encouragement that they would be staying that put my objections to rest. When their plans changed I don’t think I really took the time to reconsider my own decision. To be honest I didn’t contemplate a year in China without Katie and Thomas as it was just unimaginable.

Now that they have gone the reality has hit. When I move to the new school I’ll be 45min from Kelly and once again on my own. I’ll be at a new school and once again dealing with the unknown.

Yes its the same city and I’ve heard a lot from Katie and Thomas about Weifang University but that does not put to rest all my fears of a new year. I hope that someday, preferably soon I can look at this as a new opportunity to grow and learn but for now I’m still struggling to get over the initial fear.

Katie and Thomas have been and will continue to be great friends. They are the kind of people who make you better through their constant example and never ending encouragement. They are the kind of people you want on your wagon train!

Thank you, you two for always being there for me this year. Best wishes in all your future endeavours. And for the record Nan is still looking for two more English teachers, its not too late to come back in the fall.

Oh what ever, I’m frustrated, well no that is the understatement of the week.

I’M FUMING!!!

All I can say is this, substitute where you feel appropriate, I trust you get the gist.

I have no idea why I ever feared Middle Earth would take over the world. Yes their short program is wonderful. All flash and show but lets face it their long program stinks. Or to be honest, they have no long program. They are incapable of a long program. They can’t figure out what’s going on next week let alone next month. How hard is it to look at a calendar at the beginning of a school year  map out holidays, vacations, school events and in-services? Huh, obviously  not that hard as ever backwoods school in America has seemed to figure that one out. Heck, in Argentina as a foreign exchange student I had a better clue what was going on then I do here as a teacher!! I am tired just tired of being told of schedule changes the day before they are to happen. Why on earth did I turn in a teaching schedule at the beginning of the year. I was told last week my classes have been rescheduled or canceled for next week. The week I’m suppose to give finals! Umm am I suppose to just skip finals then? Well, umm, anyone, anyone?

ARRGGG, what is a holiday you have to make up on the weekend!! Do Saturday mornings mean nothing to these people! Obviously not.

Okay after I hit publish I’m sure I’ll reflect on this post and blush a little for the dramatic flippancy with which I wrote but I refuse to retract. GET IT TOGETHER PEOPLE – This is no way to live!

Again this is a misplaced entry I am trying to catch up on. It will be moved to the proper date in a few days. So. No worries I’ve not lost my job. I start work at the university the first week of September. This post was started in April. Don’t judge I’m trying to clear out my draft box.

I’ve begun the arduous task of job hunting. Why is it that the jobs that are a dime a dozen when you aren’t looking, start looking like the donor lists for organs once you do? Or maybe it’s just my picky nature. Now that I’ve been in China for a semester and a half I know what  I can expect in a job and refuse to take anything less. As a qualified TEFL teacher I want what’s due.

Katie and Thomas are contemplating another year which would be amazing. We would all like to try a new city but there is something to be said with sticking with the known and comfortable we’ve all heard the horror stories of teachers accepting jobs school unseen and pay dearly for it. We agreed our current jobs were a refreshing straight forward agreement with all ends met. I loved Nanjing and that was a possible on Katie’s list. As we all began our hunt there just didn’t seem to be anything that really caught our eye if we were going to have to move and readjust to a new area. There are teachers here going on their fifth year which says something for the city. Both Jimmy, the French teacher-going on 4 years and Daria, English teacher going on 5 years, advised you couldn’t do much better than Weifang. Relatively low cost of living coupled with decent salaries. Also according to Daria is continually improving. It many convinces of a larger city with the small town feel as it has boomed so quickly it’s yet to change to a metropolis feel. Unlike Qingdao it is fairly condensed allowing quick travel within the city. So in the end why not stick with what you know?

Reasonable requests on my part:
Free private accommodations on or near campus
Five days a week NO weekends
20 teaching hours max (the norm for teaching positions in China, not an unreasonable request)
Materials provided (not a norm but at least point me in the right direction please)
Roundtrip airfare reimbursement for a one year contract
Paid winter holiday
¥5000 min salary (that’s only $750) with a Tefl some jobs start at ¥8,000

The clincher was I wanted it in Weifang or Qingdao at least that was what put the cog in the wheel I think. Qingdao had plenty of jobs but the salaries were pitiful and I was not about to take a pay cut with a cost of living increase.
A strong reason for wanting to stay in the area also came when Kelly agreed to fulfill the year at Shandong Vocational College. With Katie and Thomas staying in town I was comfortable enough moving to Qingdao a quick train ride in but as I was the One who dragged Kelly to China I wasn’t about to just pickup and leave her.

I started signing up with all sorts of placement agencies and made it perfectly clear I was only looking within the Shandong province. But in true Chinese fashion they only focus on one attribute and ignore the rest. I started getting plenty of offers for the southwest of China but no way was I going inland, the smog here is bad enough and it’s the windy city. No thank you.
I finally scored an interview with a high school in Jinan but alas nothing came of it. I was hoping to take Brad’s job but that fell through as he has decided to stay another year. Amio mint be hiring but no news here for another month.
I’m a little paranoid and most definitely stressed. Everyone keeps reminding me there are plenty of positions something will open. But I’d prefer to have a job when I tell James at the end of the month that I will not be remaining for another year. Also I need someone to renew my visa before it expires in July.
Well here’s a lesson in patience I suppose. So everyone cross your fingers and keep me in your prayers.

The Shandong Vegetable Festival

The decorations around the exhibition halls were all out of vegetables.

So some signs are great because of the poor wording, this one well the water is less than a foot deep you figure it out.

 

Between the vegetable beds were long covered trellises.

As I walked from exhibit hall to exhibit hall I could only think of you Dad. You would have loved it. I’ve never seen such thriving plants. The trellises were spectacular. It was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Vegetable Version.

A piano made of egg shells.

  

Mr. Cheung, Mr. Kobayashi, Me, Kelly

The overhead decorations looked leathal.

 The overhead veggies were a little too large for my taste. Seriously some looked pretty ripe and a little to close to falling off the vine.  

Some of the art was large and intricate.

The mosaics were composed of corn kernels, beans, and chili peppers.

My zodiac - the Bunny

Another sculpture

These looked like sleeping bats to me. Not exactly something I was thrilled to walk beneath.

Never really considered corn kernels optimum mosaic material but I've been wrong before.

Nothing like a vegetable house, Hanzel and Gretal - healthy version.

The pumpkin patch was a collection of the largest pumpkins I've seen in real life.

Life is complete! I've found a tomato tree, I'll take two.

 There were a number of plants shaped into trees to optimize the fruit bearing surface area. I believe the tubs were filled with water rather than soil.  

Rotating Hydroponics, innovated.

There were a dozen different methods of planting being shown off.

More amazing murals of kernels and chili peppers

This is a model of the China Pavilion at the World Expo 2010.

So these two random strangers asked to take a picture with me so I insisted on a picture with them.

 Living in China you have to get use to being stared and pointed at, but being asked for a picture is not something I will ever get use to.

Kelly and James showing off their new purchases

At the Festival vendors were selling the spidery metal head scratchers all over. They were a huge hit. People were walking all over with them resting on their heads. Kelly and James couldn’t resist the urge.

The Festival was wonderful. It reminded me of home and the Central Valley.

As I’ve began the job search I asked James to write a letter of reference for me in Chinese that I could pass along with my resume when asked. As it was in Chinese I was curious as to what it said. I put it through a translator, then another translator finally deciding I would just have to wait until my Chinese is better. If you think you can do a better translation job please be my guest.

Chinese Version:

证 明

相关部门负责人：

您好！

Ms. Kayte Reagan(凯特·里根女士），是我院2009——2010学年聘请的美籍教师，主要教授英语口语工作，她在我院工作期间，认真备课，教学认真，除了完成学院规定的教学任务，还利用自己的个人时间帮学生辅导，深受学院师生的喜欢。

特此证明。

山东经贸职业学院外事办公室

孙嵬 科长

二〇一〇年四月二十一日

Google Translate:

Proof
Relevant department heads:
Hello!
          Ms. Kayte Reagan (President Reagan Kate) is a hospital 2009 – 2010 school year to hire an American teacher, mainly teaching English spoken work, she is in my hospital work, careful lesson preparation, teaching seriously, in addition to teaching required to complete college tasks, but also use their personal time to help students to counseling, college students and teachers well liked.
       I hereby certify that.

 Foreign Affairs Office of Shandong Economic and Trade Vocational College
                                    Sun Wei Chief
                                                April 21, 2010

World Lingo.com:

Card Bright
Related department people in charge:
You are good! 
         Ms. Kayte Reagan (Kate · Reagan Ms.), is my courtyard 2009–2010 school year invitation American nationality teacher, main professor English spoken language work, she in my courtyard work period, prepares a lesson earnestly, the teaching is earnest, except completes the teaching task which the institute stipulated, but also uses own individual time to help the student to counsel, deeply institute teacher’s and student’s like.
            Proved specially.

Shandong economics and trade professional institute foreign affairs office
                                    Section Chief Sun Wei                                     
                              A two 〇 〇 year on April 21

So after that all was typed and translated, humm which version do I prefer? Being a hospital or a courtyard?

I guess I’ll just have to learn Chinese faster.

Another term has started. The first year is suppose to be the hardest, or so they say. I sure hope so. Well one more semester to go and never again will I have my very first  year of teaching. I”m looking forward to being able to look back and say I did it. I have one year under my belt and a full foot in the water of teaching.

This semester I’ve lucked out with a decent schedule. Three morning classes and the rest right after lunch.

I must admit I did not think I would enjoy teaching as much as I do. I could never understand my parents enthusiasm but I’m beginning to understand a little. I’m still not ready to make this my career but I’m thoroughly enjoying my time as a teacher.

This semester I’m excited to use the pronunciation text I’ve brought back. I’ve learned the vital importance of textbooks in lesson planning. Oh how naive I was last year to think freedom from assigned curriculum was a good thing. Ha, well you live and learn I guess.

Cheers to the upcoming semester!

Nothing Screams Practical like TP and Laundry Detergent!

I’m becoming more and more like my mother everyday, which is a very good thing! One such thing is the belief that practicality really wins the heart!

Like all recognizable holidays in China the faculty is presented with a gift.  For Women’s Day each female member of the faculty received 2 bundles of Toilet Paper and 1 bag of Laundry Detergent. With two females in our apartment it looks like we are set for the semester!

One must really admire the Chinese sense of practicality, last semester I received such gifts as boxes of pears, milk and dates. And to be honest I was going to run to the store today to stock up on Toilet Paper as we were running low.

Another trait I learn from my mother, one can never have enough Toilet Paper in storage, that and femine products, which again knowing I was coming to a country with limitations, I’ve got that base WELL covered.