Tuesday 5 May 2009

China Blog I've lost count already

Yes folks it may be the intense heat and humidity that has caused me to forget which number blog this is, or maybe some strange mosquito contraction whereby one loses short term memory and their care for numeric order. Yes its very hot and my body is completely covered with mosquito bites-I have a net over my window that is meant to keep them away but somehow they still creep in... maybe through cracks in the wall or through the plumbing system; clever buggers. I feel like Ripley from Aliens: Living in a different world and having to shut every possible entry to my flat and wait with mosquito spray in hand only to be outsmarted by these infesting pests as they find ways in beyond my comprehension. Its not too bad though, I've been visited by some pretty cool moths and spiders of many different colours and sizes, of which I have never seen before.

The China mayday holiday has just passed giving us a three day weekend, allowing a hard earned opportunity to visit family or friends, relax or play computer games for three days straight as many of my students claimed to have done. I initially wanted to visit my old friend Joe in Guangzhou, a fellow Haywards Heathian who had also made the cross continent jump to escape the woes of graduate life in a small Sussex town. My passport however is currently in Nanning (the capital city of Guangxi province) being scanned, stamped and god knows what else under the eyes of the Chinese immigration authorities. You can get to Guangzhou by train or bus, but your looking at a 10 hour plus journey in a cramped and sweaty atmosphere, so I thought it best to head to Guangzhou another time. I instead took the chance to return to Yangshuo (the town in which I lived in for two weeks when I first arrived) to see some fellow foreign friends and return to the culture of paying reasonable prices in restaurants, heavy drinking and archetypal camera-in-hand sight seeing. My girlfriend and I took the train from Liuzhou to Guilin, which theoretically should take about an hour to an hour and a half, as its only a distance of 100 miles or so, with no stops. This excitement of losing my Chinese train virginity was quickly marred by an unexpected four hour journey in which the train traveled at snail's pace, stopping every twenty minutes to allow an oncoming train to pass. This perhaps answers the musing of why buses are twice as expensive as trains in China! I guess on the positive side it gave me a chance to soak in some of the lovely Guangxi scenery on the way up. Immediately after arriving in Yangshuo and checking into a hotel, it was time to hit the bars and catch up with some of the people who I'd known upon my initial arrival in China. It was a great speaking English freely again, although there are some English speakers in Liuzhou you have dumb down or perhaps simplify your vocabulary pace of speech in order to convey your meaning. Its something I've gotten use to, being an English teacher, though it was nice to revel in British humour and idioms once again amid the haze of numerous folk sharing stories from across China and the globe. It didn't feel like I'd been away for long, though it had been about two months; perhaps a testament to the busy and fun filled nature of my time here. In my absence Yangshuo had acquired a McDonald's, a sign of esteem for any well doing settlement in China, and of course with it being a 24/7 restaurant in a town full of western tourists, proved itself a worthy investment. Pretty handy after a night on the town though, even if I can only eat fries and ice cream.

I thought I'd take the time to talk about some of the great phrases and idioms that the students have come up with in class so far. I often try to employ exercises in class which requires the students to speak and make use of their English knowledge in a casual environment. Some tasks include "what five things would you take if you were lost on a desert island and why?" and "describe your dream country" etc. These often go down well, with the students relishing the chance to be creative and sometimes humorous. There have been some classics on the way though, with one student stating he'd take a nuclear bomb to a desert island so he could destroy himself-all said with a broad smile and with tongue firmly in cheek as to quash any worries of parental concern. This was the same kid who in a lesson about traveling asked a fellow student "can I get from north Poland to south east Columbia by panda bear?" answered with a perfectly logical "no, you can't". Many of the students also seem to have a mysteriously wide array of closing sentences, such as "that is all", "I have nothing else to say" and "thats what I think, how about you?". Earlier today I employed the dream country lesson with one of my better classes, and the result being one girl saying "In my dream country there will be many eggs, that is all". Each class has there own buzzword as well, often sending them into fits of laughter. Although to me they have little sense or meaning, they are good for maintaining rapport with the classes and getting their attention. For example one class love to here and say the phrase "horse drawn cart", another is fond of "GBA (Game Boy Advance) and "dinosaur", "UFO" and "lovely pig", and one popular term used across the school is the word "yellow", used in contexts such as "yellow movie" "yellow man" and "yellow television". I later discovered that the reason for the subsequent hysteria was that "yellow" in China has something to do with some Japanese adult website. Fair enough. One infamous phrase that perhaps many fellow foreign teachers encounter is the "NO WHY!" reply. If you ask a student "why do you like football" the reply will sometimes be "no why", and if you wish to assert your wish for them to elaborate and ask "why no why?" the response will be "because no why!". This has become a personal favorite of mine, and I sometimes just look past the aim for them to speak more and allow it to create comic relief in the lessons which is enjoyed mutually by teacher and student alike.