An English Teacher in China: February 2014

Happy Spring Festival!
春节快乐! (Chūnjié kuàilè!)

The winter break is over and it is good to be back in China. The Spring Festival has ended and the Spring Term has begun. I missed the Spring Festival celebrations this year as I was flying back to Beijing on the last day. My flight went well, although, I wasn't sure I was going to make it. For those of you lovely readers in the Eastern USA can surely remember, we had a lot of ice and snow dumped on us a couple of weeks ago. The morning I was to travel down to the Baltimore airport was no morning to be traveling. There was ice all over the roadways. I was as equally uncertain about making it to the airport as I was uncertain about my plane's departure from said airport. But Delta didn't cancel my flight and I was forced to fly. Thankfully my Dad helped me get down to the airport safely. My flight was delayed by an hour, which was making me even more nervous. I had to make a connection in Detroit and I only had an hour layover to begin with. I ran from one gateway to the other and made it just as the last passengers were boarding. I made it! Next thing I knew I was in the air and headed back to China. Sadly, my luggage didn't make the same trip. However, Delta did put my luggage on the next plane to Beijing and hand delivered it to my apartment within two days.

My past week in China has seen me hitting the ground running, and rather unexpectedly I might add. After nearly 24 hours of travel by land and air I arrived in China to be greeted by my new boss, Professor Tian. Mr. Tian is the new guy responsible for my welfare while I'm at Hua Hang. He's a nice guy and a friend. He and a school appointed driver greeted me at the airport and then they drove me back to Langfang. Once in Langfang, they took me out to a dinner of dumplings. It was very good. However, I was so tired that I just wanted to go to my apartment and sleep.

The very next day I was contacted by my good friend, DC, whom invited me to join him for morning Tai Chi with our Tai Chi Master. It was cold that morning and I was ill-dressed for the harsh winter elements. But practicing Tai Chi helped warmed me up. Our Tai Chi Master noted how stiff I was and wondered if there was anything wrong. I explained that 24 hours of travel hasn't done any favor on my knees and back. After the lesson, our Master invited the group to his home for lunch. We had a very delicious meal of pork, greens, and other vegetables. It was good to catch up with everyone once again. It has been too long since I last practiced Tai Chi.

I spent the rest of that Sunday afternoon with DC, Tina, and Momo. They are doing quite well. They have moved from the farmhouse to an apartment owned by a friend. I was quite happy to hear this as their drafty old farmhouse was no place to spend a harsh winter. It is a temporary move, however, and they are still looking for another place. Momo is getting quite big and she is talking up a storm. Thankfully my Chinese is on a level that the two of us can have a rather funny conversation. However, I've got to keep practicing because she will be surpassing me in skill in no time flat!

Many of my friends have tried to give me a Chinese name and often these names would fail to stick. Nevertheless, there are two names that have stuck. My students call me 小白老师 (xiǎo bái lǎo shī), which means "Small White Teacher." The other name that stuck is what Momo calls me. Now to explain how this nickname came to be I first have to tell a little story. DC and Tina would refer to me when talking to Momo as 美国大叔叔 (měiguó dà shūshū). This means "The American Uncle." However, Momo, being only two-years-old, had a hard time saying all that. So she shortened it down to 美叔叔 (měi
shūshū), which means "Beautiful Uncle." It's a quite a cute nickname and now DC, Tina, and Momo all call me by this name. I can imagine Momo will still be calling me this one day even when she's going off to college! Ha ha

I had decided previously to come back to China a week early as to help with getting over jet-lag before classes begin. It was a good thing too. I ended up getting very sick with a nasty cold and I spent about three days in bed. Thankfully I got over the sickness by the following weekend and I was ready to get back to work.

My first meeting with students was actually at the Teachers College. My friend and former student, Daniel, invited me over to meet with his honors class. I spent a whole afternoon just talking with the students about anything and everything they wanted to talk about. I like open forum style meetings like this. Strangely enough, I hate making preparations and impromptu is more my style. The meeting went really well.

That following weekend I met with the teaching staff of Hua Hang to look at my classrooms. To my dread, I've been saddled with the AV classrooms. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, the AV classrooms are full of antiquated computer equipment that seem to work only when they feel like it... and these old computer system seldom seem to feel like working. The AV rooms are quite infamous and none of my Chinese colleagues want to teach in those rooms. Since I was stuck with them, I decided to make the best of it. So, I spent one whole Sunday afternoon playing IT technician and setting up a makeshift system using my laptop and the projection equipment. It took me all afternoon but I was pleasantly surprised to discover an alternative means of presentation rather than fighting with their systems. I just need to get to class 20 minutes early each day to make sure none of Hua Hang's IT staff have done anything to my systems.

Classes have begun now and already I've taught my first two new freshmen level classes. I'm excited to report that both classes went well. I'm off now to go teach one of my returning sophomore classes. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Bye bye! 再见 (Zàijiàn)