A Comet Appears

Have you ever looked in the sky and seen something completely amazing and surprising? Previous to this year I would have answered that question with a timid "Maybe." Now, I can answer that question with firm "I certainly have! Not just one thing, but two!" 

It all started on November 16th. After dinner, Susi and I went for a walk with Cookie, my puppy. We soon realized that it was snowing. Naturally, I looked towards the sky and stuck my tongue out to catch snowflakes on my tongue. After a few seconds of this wonderful, yet childish pose, I realized that something was burning in the sky. I was sure that it was not a regular shooting star, because it was a foggy night, and we were in a very well lit area, so I would not have been able to see it. At first I thought it was a malfunctioning airplane. Then the flame suddenly changed from one flame, to several flames of several colors. The sky was illuminated with orange, green, and purple sparks. At this point Susi and I started screaming "WOAH WHAT IS GOING ON!!!" Then it occurred to me that it they might be fragments of the massive asteroid that had passed the earth during the previous week, so I started jumping, and screaming "IT'S THE ASTEROID, IT'S THE ASTEROID!!!" For some reason, no one around us was reacting at all. Susi and I probably looked rather foolish as we jumped around, pointing at the sky, and screaming in a language that no one understood, but we could not be stopped. I am still not sure exactly what it was, but it was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen.

I was completely astounded again, a few weeks later. Susi and I were going for another walk. About five minutes into the walk Susi pointed at the sky in astonishment. The moon was dark brown and looked absolutely amazing. Neither Nina, Susi, nor I had managed to learn that a there would be a lunar eclipse on that night. Susi and I ran up to Nina's room, rapped on her door, and said in incredibly excited voices "Put warm clothes on NOW and come outside! There is a lunar eclipse!" In no time at all Nina was fully dressed, with her camera, running up to the roof, which was unfortunately locked. We spent a long time just staring at the sky in awe.

Thanksgiving

Usually, when I find myself missing something about home, or confused by Chinese culture, I share these feelings with Susi and Nina. They are both from Germany, so their lives at home are fairly similar to mine. As a result, I have yet to really feel homesick. Thanksgiving was the first time that it actually occurred to me that I should be homesick. At this point I had spent well over a month in a different country, with only a few English speaking contacts. I was the sole American in my town during a major national Holiday. I didn't even speak to my parents on Thanksgiving because my dog had eaten my internet cable, so I was not able to use Skype. I thought about all of these things in a failed attempt to feel homesick. After mulling these thoughts over, the only thing that I truly felt myself missing was Mexican food. In one final attempt to feel homesick I planned to have some kind of poultry for dinner. That did not actually work out, because I forgot. I ended up having something that had some tofu in it. I have decided this should count as a proper thanksgiving meal, because some people eat tofurkey, which also contains tofu. Basically, this thanksgiving, I arrived at the conclusions that I am not patriotic in the least, and I am also not prone to homesickness.

The Strangest Night of my Life

December 2nd, 2011

This is the story of what was, without a doubt, the strangest night of my life. Two days before Susi's birthday her school informed her that it would be hosting a small birthday party for her with all of the headmasters and a few other people. The next day, her school informed her that the party had been moved to the school Cafeteria, and that each of the thirty English teachers, as well as each of the ten headmasters, and some other people would be in attendance. Susi was also informed that she would have to perform a song in English, do a traditional Chinese dance, and give a speech. Initially, the speech part didn't sound so bad. However, when Susi realized that the speech had to be in Chinese, a language that we are still struggling to pick up, she began to get nervous. Our Chinese teachers wrote the speech for her, but the concept of giving a five minute speech in which mispronunciations were likely to be very common, to fifty people, some of whom were important, was rather daunting. It was not until we arrived at the party that we were informed of the fact that a local news station would be covering this birthday party. 

Then, the festivities began. Susi performed her speech, which was met with a round of applause and only a few moments of stifled giggling. She also cut the cake in a very uncomfortable, ceremonial moment, and she received a few gifts. Then, the food came. Most of the food was excellent, but one particular item was rather frightening. In case you have ever found yourself wondering, chicken feet taste about as good as they sound. They are basically just skin and ligaments that are nearly impossible to eat. Chicken feet also have a very strange pickled flavor. The embarrassing part about eating a chicken foot is that I accidentally did it just as the television camera was pointed right at me. 

After the food, it was time to perform. Not just for us, but for everyone. Many of the teachers danced and sang songs. They even sang "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music, in a cute attempt to do something German for Susi and Nina. Susi, Nina, and I managed to avoid performing for a long time. However, our demise was inevitable. We were pulled to our feet and forced to perform a traditional Chinese dance that we had learned the day before in Chinese class. It was probably the most uncomfortable moment in my entire life, and to make it all better, it was captured on video and probably broadcast on a local TV station! I also juggled on this camera, and sang "Hey Jude" with Susi and Nina.

While this night was altogether strange and uncomfortable, it was also amazing. It really showed us that these schools truly appreciate the work that we are doing to help their students, and their town develop. It is one of the many things that have happened during my stay to make me glad that I decided to come to China, rather than Cambodia, or India. 

THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY! IT’S MY BIRTHDAY TOO! (

November 10th, 2011

At some point in my life I realized that I am an individual who is entirely capable of forgetting my own birthday. Last year my birthday consisted of my hall mates singing happy birthday to me, my roommate giving me a gift a week early, and lunch with my mom. Don’t get me wrong 4^th Bryan, Kathleen and Mom, it was an amazing day, but it was not exactly the blow out of the century. This year I probably would have entirely forgotten my birthday had it not been for the other volunteers. For days in advance they asked me things like, “Are you excited about your birthday?” At first my response was a very mild “Umm…Sure!” It wasn’t until my actual birthday that I realized that birthdays are truly great days! I played with my brand new puppy; I really enjoyed my classes; I danced (rather poorly) to the Beatles song “Birthday” while alone in my apartment; I received several gifts from the other volunteers, and we celebrated with dinner at the KTV restaurant. All in all it was a very good day, and far more memorable than most of my birthdays!

The Shortest Time Frame in Which Anyone Has Ever Adopted a Puppy

November 8th, 2011

Monday morning I was sitting in my apartment weighing the pros and cons of taking a nap when I heard a knock at my door. I wrongly assumed that it was Nina or Susi because they are the only people to regularly knock on my door. It was actually a woman who goes by Echo, although I do not know her Chinese name. Echo had one simple question: “Do you want a puppy?” I was taken off guard by the question, so I answered with a hesitant “Sure…” 

At the back of my mind I assumed that it would be at least a week before she would be able to find me a puppy, which would give me plenty of time to reconsider. I really need to stop assuming. The puppy was in Echo’s apartment, which just happens to be in my building. Within five minutes I was the owner of an adorable two month old puppy. 

You may be wondering why Echo had a puppy in her apartment. One of her students gave it to her earlier that morning because he had no other option. Many of the students (both at San Zhong and Yi Zhong) live at the school because their homes are in the country, and the commute to school would be far too long to make every day. This boy was one such student. Alternatively, the students who live in the city of Yumen are able to live at home with their families. The boy had given a puppy to his friend who lives in the city; however, the friend was not able to keep the puppy. This left the boy with two options, raise the puppy in his dorm, which is not allowed, or find another owner. I love that I am able to give this puppy a home, but I am really not looking forward to having to leave my puppy in China when I go home in eight months.

Hello my name is M-A-G-G-I-E and I am from America

November 2nd, 2011

This is how I started the first lesson for each of my 16 classes. I teach 16 different classes, each once a week for 40 minutes. For my first week I prepared only one lesson to teach in 16 different classes. I quickly learned that this strategy will not work. 

For a select few of my classes I prepared the perfect amount of information. There was ample time to explain everything well enough that they would understand it, but not so much time that I ran out of things to do. A few of my classes had really excellent students, so they were able to do and understand my lesson quickly. This is great for the students, but it left me with 10 extra minutes at the end of class where I had nothing to do but try to teach knock knock jokes. As it turns out, it is very difficult to explain painfully unfunny jokes to teenagers who don't have a great grasp on the English Language. On the complete other side of the spectrum, I have two classes in which I would be surprised if half of the students can list more than fifteen words in English. I think for those classes I am going to prepare entirely separate lessons because the level is so low. 

My worst classes by far are those in which the students are overly rambunctious. My problem is not with students talking in class. In fact, my favorite classes are the ones in which the students are energetic and talkative. I do have a problem with students goofing around, paying no attention and making the class impossible for me and the rest of the students. 

I literally cringed as I wrote that. When did I become a teacher? Five months ago I was just another student doodling in class, and making jokes at the teachers’ expense. The stranger thing is that I know in ten months I will be right back in the role of a student. In one of my classes I actually considered making two boys split up and sit at opposite sides of the room. This was a very brief consideration, because immediately after thinking it I mentally slapped myself for being "that teacher". I am not sure exactly what I am going to do in these classes, but I am going to have to do something that calms the classes down a little bit without completely going against everything that I have ever experienced as a student.

How Good is Your Chinese? Mine is Fairly Non-existent!

November 1st, 2011


I often hear the theory that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. While this theory sounds perfectly reasonable, I am starting to seriously doubt its validity. This part of China is unlike a lot of the rest of the world in that almost no one speaks any English. The English teachers usually have a decent command over the language. Surprisingly though, many of the English teachers cannot hold conversations longer than "How are you doing today?" "I'm fine thanks, and you?" I actually often find that the students have better English than the teachers. Other than students and teachers though, no one speaks any English at all. Don't get me wrong; I am not complaining about this. I just want to make the point that I really am almost totally immersed (with the exception of the other volunteers). I spend an average of four hours a day in my school office, which I share with 15 other teachers who are constantly babbling in Chinese. Despite this, I have barely managed to pick up any conversational Chinese. The one thing I am getting pretty good at is ordering food. Really, I can do that like a pro. I am also pretty efficient when it comes to counting. If you ever need someone to count in Chinese, I'm your girl. Granted, I have only been here for two weeks, and I cannot expect to pick up the entire Chinese language instinctively. My problem is that I think that I was really expecting discover that I have a super human ability to understand everything that I hear in any language. As it turns out, my mental capabilities fall short of super-human. Looks like I'll actually have to work to learn Chinese!

Updates

I am sorry that I have not updated my blog recently. I actually wrote quite a few blog posts and simply forgot to post them. I will post one every day for a little bit until I catch up. Some of them have dates included so that you won't be confused.