Teaching Kindergarten

滄海桑田

"Blue seas where once was mulberry fields; time brings great changes"

(The children above live in our residential complex [photo taken with iPhone.] They were tolerant enough to let me take a picture of them while perched rather ideally on a ladder one day.)

I must admit - I was a little worried about my job this year. I was so in love with my job last year that I couldn't see how I could enjoy any other job as much. Not surprisingly, I was right. I don't love my job as much this year. However, this doesn't mean I don't enjoy my work. It's just enjoyment for different reasons.

This year I'm using a ton more Chinese on the job (with both Chinese coworkers and my kids sometimes,) and learning a lot about Chinese culture and child-rearing. It ranges from the bizarre to the funny to the enviable. (See corresponding stories below.)

For an example of the bizarre, I have to share a story that begins with a small misfortune. A few of my students fell ill with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease earlier this year, so that entire class was closed for about a week. Other children also fell ill with colds and random illnesses at around the same time, so even before the class was officially shut down, there were less than a third of the children showing up for class. How did my Chinese co-teachers decided to handle matters? Certainly there was lots of washing of hands and disinfecting of toys. But one day they took a large sheet and used it to cover up a big mirror in the classroom. When I asked why, they told me it might be causing the illnesses. There may come a day when I understand the Chinese language well, but I just don't think I'll ever understand traditional Chinese medicine.

When the weather turned cold here, I discovered a rather humorous part about taking care of Chinese children. They're dressed up in more layers than Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story. It's really ridiculous - a child might be wearing four or five shirts/sweater/sweatshirts, and three pairs of pants! This means the getting them ready to sleep after lunch is a bit of a chore. Layer upon layer of clothing must be unbuttoned and peeled off. I can't tell you how much I wish one particular boy's parents would give him regular diapers to wear instead of pull-ups! Nap time preparation has become exponentially easier now that the weather is warm again.

Of course, I think Chinese culture has some enviable aspects regarding children. Here, everyone dotes on children. Really. Children are beloved and watched out for by everyone. If a child gets onto a bus with their parent, passengers will immediately stand up so that the little one can sit down. Parents don't find it at all weird or annoying if strangers stop to exchange some smiles and baby talk with their child.

In terms of my job though, mostly I just have fun. My children are so great! I'm really lucky. My school is a Chinese IB kindergarten, so (as you might guess,) it's for the elite of the city. We have lots of resources and a great staff. Horror stories I hear about foreign teachers being stuck in front of 30 children with no shared language and no help from other teachers have not been part of my experience. Plus, these kids are being prepared to test into the best elementary schools in the city, so they are quickly molded into some very well-behaved youngsters.

Urban Life, Part 2

This post is dedicated to Katelynn. Yes Katelynn, I have a maid, and she's marvelous. This does not mean I condone being negligent in one's chores. Unless of course you're planning on living in China forever. ;)



I would like to make an announcement: I speak Chinese. Now, everyone knows I've been studying Chinese for years now, but when asked if I spoke Chinese, I would always waffle around: "Well, kind of. A little. The basics. I can get around." And so on. This past weekend though, I decided I will stop hesitating and just say yes. Yes, I speak Chinese. Not fluently, but good enough that I don't worry that someone will respond in Chinese, and I'll be unable to respond, thereby horribly embarrassing myself. I feel pretty confident that I can handle a wide variety of basic situations now.

I'm also becoming versed in the various methods of greeting from around the world. Although, I'm not sure well-versed is the right word. "Prepared" maybe. When you say hello to someone, it might involve a wave and a greeting (Chinese and a variety of other,) a kiss on two cheeks (French, and a variety of others,) a kiss on one cheek (haven't pinned this one down yet,) a hug (Americans you know,) and of course the handshake (Americans you don't yet know, and other people of the non-kissing habit.) Of course, given the international nature of most people's social networks, people have adopted/lost cultural habits, so you just have to be prepared for anything.



Elsewise, Shanghai is still treating me well. There was an outdoor jazz festival a few weekends ago, and it was lovely. The weather was perfect, the bands were fun, and there was plenty of room to spread out a sheet and sprawl on the grass. I've included some photos that I took with my phone while we were there.

Urban Life, Part One

四海为家

-A Chinese proverb, "to feel at home anywhere within the four seas."

It's the oddest feeling, to be asked how long I've lived in Shanghai. Technically, about a month and a half. But when I say that, people comment on how new I am or how recently I have arrived. It doesn't feel at all like I'm new here though. I've been visiting regularly for so long that life here feels more normal than living in Quanzhou ever did. My days are full in the best possible way.

Weekdays I work from 8-4:30 with a 30 minute subway commute on either end (during which I sit and read a Chinese newspaper, attracting a fair amount of curious glances,) and after work I often attend dance classes at a local studio. On the weekends, I try to take advantage of the urban life.

I've always wanted to live in a big city, and Shanghai, with its approximately 13 million (and one!) inhabitants of the city proper, or about 20 million if you count the suburbs too, definitely fits the bill. There is so much to do and see! There are tons of great restaurants, art galleries, concerts, etc. It's really wonderful.

This week had an odd holiday in the middle of the week. It's hard to explain, but I have Wednesday-Friday off, and then work Saturday and Sunday to make up for it. It doesn't make much sense to a foreigner, but it's just the way holidays are scheduled here. Regardless, it's been a nice 3 day break. Yesterday, my flatmate and I went to Ikea to buy some things for our apartment. As we were thinking about decorating, we had the idea to make our own art to put on the walls.

So, we went to one of the art districts to check out some galleries and buy art supplies. Then we went home and had fun experimenting with acrylics outside on our balcony with its gorgeous view of downtown Shanghai - the picture at the beginning was taken from there. It was a pretty fantastic day.

Last Tour Around Quanzhou

Well, days before exam madness started and then I left for Shanghai, I went on a tour of some of the more famous attractions in Quanzhou with a friend. It's amazing how one can live in a city for so long without ever seeing its tourist spots.



The picture above is a small local temple on one of the back streets we took to reach one of the larger temples. It has a lot of character though. It's probably the most crazily decorated temple I've seen.


And this boy was sitting on his rocking chair watching us as we passed. He was pretty thrilled that we took his picture.


Above is one of the pagodas of the Kaiyuan temple, probably Quanzhou's most famous temple. It has two towers - the "twin pagodas." I don't think it's possible to capture both in one picture without a helicopter, but the other one looks the same. Promise.


Couldn't resist. Isn't he cute?


There are lots of buildings on the grounds of the Kaiyuan Temple. Somehow I didn't manage to get a good picture of the main building, but this is another worship hall (I think.)


One of the courtyards held broken statues. Somehow they all lost only their heads.


We also went to the Qingjing Mosque, which is my favorite spot in Quanzhou. It's a thousand years old, which in and of itself it really cool, but mosques are also pretty rare in China. This beautiful old mosque is a sign of Quanzhou's cosmopolitan past. In the late first millenium and beginning of the second, Quanzhou was a very busy international port, so it also had people from all over the world living and traveling through there. Among other things, it had a large Muslim population. Nowadays there is still a Muslim population, for whom a new mosque was built just last year (not picture, mea culpa.)


After 1,000 years, the roof and much of the inside architecture of the mosque has been lost. It's got a stark beauty to it though, like most ruins, I suppose.

Adventure

Well, anyone who knows me knows that I have no sense of direction whatsoever. This is no false modesty resulting from my time here in China, but just the truth. Over many years of getting lost, whether by foot or in the car, I’ve become very used to it, and I don’t really mind getting lost anymore, so long as I’m not in a rush. It helps to think of these times as adventures, I’ve found.

This week I tried going out to see a famous local temple. I remember it being very large and beautiful from my study abroad in Xiamen a few years ago. (We did a tour of southeastern China, and among the places we visited was Quanzhou and the Kaiyuan Temple. ) However, this time, I was by myself and a little vague on the directions, so instead of the temple, I ended up at a park downtown. The park was nice though, with lots of people of all ages hanging out, as is normal in Chinese parks. Chinese parks are much better utilized than American ones, in my opinion.

I dutifully took some pictures, unlike last time.

This picture would look better if it were bigger, but you can see folks outside enjoying the momentarily acceptable weather. It's been cloudy and rain here for weeks now. I would guess we haven't had more than about 5 hours of blue sky for at least three weeks. For example, the morning I set out for the temple, there was a blue sky for about an hour. Clouds quickly rolled in though, and by the time I reached the park, the sky was gray. At least it didn't rain until a few hours later.

The rain here has been unbelievable. One day it quite literally poured all day. Not surprisingly, there have been flooding in the region. All of southeast China is having this problem. The rain doesn't really make much of difference to me though. When it's not raining, it's so humid it might as well be. When it does rain, it's almost like the only change is that now the water in the air is visible.


Graffiti of this kind is rare in China, so I took a picture.



The sign says "area for makeshift tents," which is actually quite a good translation. I wasn't expecting that, haha.


The writing on the bus roughly translates to: “Uphold civilization, pay attention to protocol, comply with authority, establish harmony.” This kind of public service advertisement is quite common. Everywhere there are reminders to behave with civility, keep the city clean, drive carefully, etc. My favorites are the ones that instruct citizens that girls are just as good as boys (part of the campaign to reduce the still-present notion, especially in rural areas, that sons are preferable to daughters.)

I'll work on getting to that temple. Cross your fingers that the weather cooperates, and I find it alright!

Picture Failure

Ok, despite multiple requests for pictures from the Dragon Boat Festival, I have none to share. Partly my own fault, and partly because there wasn't anything to photograph.

Yes, that's right. There were no Dragon Boat races to photograph, or even Dragon Boats. Not that my friend and I could find anyway. No one we talked to (Chinese or otherwise,) knew of anything going on, despite it being a national holiday. We tried going to the largest park in the city, which also has the largest lake, but no luck. It was probably for the best anyway, as it rained all day. We went to a nearby museum instead, about the relations between Fujian province and Taiwan. It's a good museum, if you can appreciate it apart from its obvious propaganda function.

I have no excuse for not having pictures of the museum. I just forgot to charge my camera. Whoops!

I can offer you a picture of a zongzi though, a food traditionally eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi are bamboo leaves filled with sticky rice and other fillings. In Quanzhou, they're a bit fishy tasting, and not particularly to my liking, but in general they're quite good.


The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival involve a poet who was accused of treason, so he committed suicide by throwing himself into the river. The local people paddled Dragon Boats to save him/collect his body (stories vary,) and also threw in zongzi so that the fish would eat those instead of him.

I guess it's understandable that people don't get too worked up over the holiday. My mom tells me that Concord, NC has a Dragon Boat race in August, so maybe I can share some photos/actual Dragon Boat experiences then. I think this might be an example of situational irony.

One more reason to love it here!

I have another exciting announcement to make: not only do I have a job in Shanghai, but now I have TWO jobs in Shanghai! Earlier this week I was offered a freelancing position with Women of China, and English-language magazine about - you guess it! - women in China.




Now, this doesn't mean I will definitely write any articles for them. As a freelance reporter, I will propose my ideas every month, and if I'm lucky and the editorial staff likes them, I'll get to write an article. There are no guarantees, and the pay is paltry, but, oh man! what a great opportunity!

This is yet another positive aspect of living in China: the opportunities available. Whether you are a writer, teacher, advertising professional, or architect, there are jobs available, usually at a higher level than you could get at home. (I have friends in all of these professions.) Here it's possible to skip the entry level paying-one's-dues and skip right to the good stuff. Where else could I teach at a university or write for a national magazine?

If you're interested in the magazine, this is an electronic archive of past issues:

http://www.womenofchina.cn/emagazine/

Hopefully my writing will be in one of them someday!