China Blog 2

My last piece was a brief overview of some of the stuff I've been up to in the past month and a half or so, yet I only wish I started writing earlier so that I could record each week as it had gone by and captured the feeling of the moment as it were. As this result this blog and the last, as well as ones forthcoming may not be in any specific chronological order, with little shards of thought resurfacing at sporadic intervals. But hey, its always good to mix things up.

I guess I'll start by describing my typical day here in Liuzhou. As there are only three foreign teachers in the school (myself and a Ghanaian couple, Cosmos and Freda), the teaching schedule is pretty heavy. I was told in previous years that the school has had five or six foreign teachers at one time, which would have certainly spread the workload out, but I'm enjoying being busy, the nature of the work constantly pushes your creativity. Luckily I don't have too many early starts, the only killer being getting up at 7am on Friday for a 7.40 lesson. I am usually awoken at a random time by the thudding of what can only be described as early nineties rave music regurgitated and spat out under the shine of glossily produced modern Chinese techno (anyone familiar with J-pop or Canto-pop may know what I mean). I am yet to find the source of this disturbance, but it's certainly strange seeing as I live in a rather residential area with only a few local stalls and shops nearby. This sound is soon eclipsed however by the school's PA system echoing out classical music while a prerecorded voice counts to ten over the top, almost in a military like fashion. I discovered that this occurs three or four times a day between classes, and the students are made to relax and massage their facial muscles to the rhythm in order to maintain their focus and attention in school.

My apartment is literally next door to the school which is pretty handy so I can usually get up not too long before my lessons start and stroll in under the aid of coffee and cake (yes they eat cake for breakfast!), enough to sustain a buzz which is often required for teaching. My lessons are forty minutes each which is a nice length of time, usually the first ten minutes is spent just chatting about a random topic just thrown up, then about twenty minutes "real" work, ending with a game to finish the lesson on a lighthearted note. As my Chinese is currently reasonably limited, I have to establish meaning via various gestures, drawing and other physical animations which the students often find amusing. I also take as much opportunity in the classes as I can to brush up on my Chinese, asking the students to translate English words and phrases for me which they seem more than happy to do; often staring wide-eyed in waiting for my attempts to speak their tongue. Their Chinglish is much better than my Engnese. After the day is done teaching I sometimes hang around the school for a bit, either soaking in the nice weather, grabbing some food at the cafeteria or finding some teachers or students to talk to. There's quite a few kids here who really have an impressive grasp of English, and aren't shy to speak it freely. Most people in China under the age of thirty have some knowledge of the language, with it being taught in schools in a similar way in which Spanish or French is taught in England. Unless they have aspirations to pursue their studies at a higher level, then most of what they learned in school is shelved or forgotten. However it seems now under that under the gigantic umbrella which is the ever progressive presence of China in the modern world, English is being attended to in a very assertive manner. The current generation of students are encouraged to speak and learn the language in their everyday lives, coupled with extra lessons, private tuition and increasing exposure to western media and ideology. With the rapid industrialization and modernity occurring in China now, these potentially bilingual kids will be thrown into an environment that will be very different to that of previous generations.

The other night I met Jimmy and girlfriend Alex (many English speaking Chinese people have anglicized names, ranging from "John" and "Robert" to "GoGo" and "Lovely") for dinner, and he introduced me to some of his old schools friends who were visited the city, some of whom had made it big in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. After a civilized introduction and relaxed meal the evening took an interesting turn with the introduction of Chinese liquor and champagne. Many people say that Asians have little alcohol tolerance, I've found both truths and falsities in that since I've been here, but these guys were hardcore. Drinking games are often played here, one favorite being "guess the number" where two people hold up a random number of fingers each, and the person to guess the total amount of fingers held up wins, with the loser doing a shot. Its very fast, very loud, and from a distance looks like an anarchic take on rock paper scissors. Despite frequent offers from my new acquaintances to join the chaos, I insisted I wasn't a liquor type of guy and chose to sit back and enjoy the festivities. After a couple of hours, the crowd slowly began to disband and Jimmy, Alex and I were left with the duty of carrying one very drunk business executive to his plush apartment in the city, where we were invited in by a very dismayed looking wife to drink tea whilst keeping the bloke occupied.

One thing thats astounded me here is the strong feeling of unity and brotherhood that these people have. From the people I've met so far, I've noticed a real sense of togetherness, of group significance. Jimmy told me that a frequent term of address to a friend is to call them brother or sister, which is meant as a true sign of respect and closeness. Also, whenever I've been out to dinner or out to a bar, theres a culture of the host or organizer paying for the whole group; I've often walked into a coffee house of bar to find pre-ordered food and drinks on the table. Whenever I've flashed my wallet and produced some money to pay what in England would be my fair share, I'm met with looks of genuine confusion and am told to put my money away. I have felt a little guilty in being catered for and spending next to nothing, but I guess thats the westerner in me; money doesn't talk it swears. I guess that now I am getting used to these customs of the people of the People's Republic of China, to which as a person I am becoming one of their peoples. I'd promised I'd take some friends out to pizza hut sometime anyway.