12/27/07
It's all been kind of surreal. I am not sure if it happened or what. It was a glimpse of what every Christmas in the past has been, but it's been so different. Is it maybe a good thing to have experienced it in a new light without the standard traditions and events that we sometimes misconstrue to "make" the holiday? That doesn't make missing those events and that time with the family any easier though.
It was quite different, but at the same time, some things were pleasantly similar…At seven o'clock on Christmas Eve I was sitting in a dimly lit room watching a candle lighting service (not at the service in a sanctuary, but similar). On Christmas morning I went upstairs and ate scrambled eggs, blueberry muffins, and two pieces of bacon (not eaten at my Grandmother's/my house, but very very similar). I then read the Christmas story and opened presents with "family" members (not real family members, but my sisters here in China). And after opening presents I spoke with my family in the states (Abby found baby J, for those of you familiar with my family's Christmas traditions. I let my dad take my place this year, a giant controversy in and of itself, but I got to pick the hiding place-the freezer, maybe a little insensitive, but so was the manger and they say it was a cold night, so I figure it's historically accurate. But Abby had given up searching, was eating pie in the kitchen, and randomly spotted the star on the fridge. It was the longest indoor search in family history.) After that conversation I went over to my friend's home, a British family-the husband teaches at my university, and celebrated Christmas in true British fashion. We went over about midday (a highly disputed word, but in British terms it strictly means noon) and we had a very large lunch, played games, sang carols, and just relaxed. It was a great day. A lot of the people I have become close with since I have arrived were there and the family's hospitality is unrivaled. There is no way you can't feel at home when you visit their home. It was great, I learned about many British Christmas traditions (tea rings and crackers, for example) and I wrestled a lot with their young children-who I also tried convincing at every possible opportunity that the U.S. was better than England, just to get a rise out of their mother who jokes about her fears that her children will be made fun of by the other kids when they return to England next year because they have spent too much time with Americans. Great food, great company, a great focus on the reason for the season, it was a very good day.
Things back home went well too. There was a family memory time for my Grandma that I was told went very well. That's all kind of surreal too. I know it is different back home and at times it has hit me, but I don't think there will be anyway to truly grasp that until I am home and she isn't there.
But that was my Christmas. Overall, it was as good as it could have been for being on the other side of the world and it being my first Christmas away from home. I am going to celebrate New Year's with some of the same friends, which I am excited about. And right now I am busy planning my trip to SE Asia. Rough outline is 20 days in Vietnam, 6 days in Cambodia, 10 days in Thailand, then on to Hong Kong for a conference and hopefully to see a friend from Seattle. I am done with classes, which is great. I have been reading a lot too. Working on one by N.T. Wright, it's good stuff.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
A few stories from the last couple weeks…
12/22/07
I have been giving exams this week to my non-majors students. I co-teach these students with other teachers (Chinese English Teachers). I didn't think I would have to give them an exam, but I found out a couple weeks ago I had to judge their speaking ability. Two teachers that I teach with suggested the best way to assess this would be to interview all of them, all 500 of them. I reluctantly agreed and have thus spent 20 hours the last week two weeks choosing from a list of about 10 questions and listening to responses in Chinese-English (I specify Chinese-English because it isn't normal English, it is draining to listen to and requires a lot of patience and head nodding. It breeds a whole new type of mental toughness, or insanity.). But I made it through. It really wasn't too bad. Well, maybe it was. Four hours straight no breaks of that, let's just say the other foreign teachers here have laughed and then said sorry when I told them about my classes these last two weeks.
I have gone to a couple Christmas parties in the last week. Chinese parties are different than American parties. For example to party I went to with the people I do the English Book Study with-It had an agenda. It had performances. It had speakers and songs. It had chairs and desks set up in a square that we had to sit in. It was not a party. I don't know why they choose to call it such, but I think a new word needs to be created for it. It's just not right. And almost everything was in Chinese so I needed it translated. Granted it wasn't bad and it really recognized the reason for Christmas, but it wasn't a party as you and I know a party. This fact resulted in us being really nervous about singing Feliz Navidad when it came time for our performance, but it went ok and the mood lightened slightly, but only slightly. It was a poor performance by myself and two other Americans, the energy just wasn't there.
It happened again…a cooking disaster. I had the best of intentions to make Christmas cookies. I bought or gathered everything I needed, and I even have an oven now (a cross between a toaster oven and a conventional oven) to use. One thing I had to borrow was flour. My friend gave me "flour," only after adding three cups I decided the consistency wasn't right and what she thought was flour was actually baking soda. Thus, it resulted in a major failed attempt to make cookies. I am just glad I didn't try and bake them or eat them. Either way, it was eerily similar to the Thanksgiving sweet potato incident.
I have received several AMAZING (in the wow, this is hilarious sense of the word) Christmas gifts from students. Here is a small list…
-A Yao Ming Piggy Bank with Yao throwing up the victory (peace) sign-this is my favorite
-Apples, apples, and more apples
-A book about Confucius in Chinese
-A music box with dancing birds that says "My Best Friend" on it
-Wine and Chocolate
-A notebook
-An ethnic minority decoration
-A tea cup
-Over 15 cheesy Santa cards
-Another bottle of wine
I received a Christmas box from my mom. It's amazing (in the true sense of the word). It has wrapped presents in it, which are now under the tree in my friends apartment I will celebrate Christmas at. It had English toffee and Christmas cookies (good things since mine didn't quite work). It had a small fiber optic Christmas tree-they were all the rage 4 or 5 years ago, I still like them. A couple ornaments and just a whole lot of love. It made my month. It will be tough to be away for Christmas, I am really thankful for this box and the wonderful family that sent it.
I have been giving exams this week to my non-majors students. I co-teach these students with other teachers (Chinese English Teachers). I didn't think I would have to give them an exam, but I found out a couple weeks ago I had to judge their speaking ability. Two teachers that I teach with suggested the best way to assess this would be to interview all of them, all 500 of them. I reluctantly agreed and have thus spent 20 hours the last week two weeks choosing from a list of about 10 questions and listening to responses in Chinese-English (I specify Chinese-English because it isn't normal English, it is draining to listen to and requires a lot of patience and head nodding. It breeds a whole new type of mental toughness, or insanity.). But I made it through. It really wasn't too bad. Well, maybe it was. Four hours straight no breaks of that, let's just say the other foreign teachers here have laughed and then said sorry when I told them about my classes these last two weeks.
I have gone to a couple Christmas parties in the last week. Chinese parties are different than American parties. For example to party I went to with the people I do the English Book Study with-It had an agenda. It had performances. It had speakers and songs. It had chairs and desks set up in a square that we had to sit in. It was not a party. I don't know why they choose to call it such, but I think a new word needs to be created for it. It's just not right. And almost everything was in Chinese so I needed it translated. Granted it wasn't bad and it really recognized the reason for Christmas, but it wasn't a party as you and I know a party. This fact resulted in us being really nervous about singing Feliz Navidad when it came time for our performance, but it went ok and the mood lightened slightly, but only slightly. It was a poor performance by myself and two other Americans, the energy just wasn't there.
It happened again…a cooking disaster. I had the best of intentions to make Christmas cookies. I bought or gathered everything I needed, and I even have an oven now (a cross between a toaster oven and a conventional oven) to use. One thing I had to borrow was flour. My friend gave me "flour," only after adding three cups I decided the consistency wasn't right and what she thought was flour was actually baking soda. Thus, it resulted in a major failed attempt to make cookies. I am just glad I didn't try and bake them or eat them. Either way, it was eerily similar to the Thanksgiving sweet potato incident.
I have received several AMAZING (in the wow, this is hilarious sense of the word) Christmas gifts from students. Here is a small list…
-A Yao Ming Piggy Bank with Yao throwing up the victory (peace) sign-this is my favorite
-Apples, apples, and more apples
-A book about Confucius in Chinese
-A music box with dancing birds that says "My Best Friend" on it
-Wine and Chocolate
-A notebook
-An ethnic minority decoration
-A tea cup
-Over 15 cheesy Santa cards
-Another bottle of wine
I received a Christmas box from my mom. It's amazing (in the true sense of the word). It has wrapped presents in it, which are now under the tree in my friends apartment I will celebrate Christmas at. It had English toffee and Christmas cookies (good things since mine didn't quite work). It had a small fiber optic Christmas tree-they were all the rage 4 or 5 years ago, I still like them. A couple ornaments and just a whole lot of love. It made my month. It will be tough to be away for Christmas, I am really thankful for this box and the wonderful family that sent it.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
I am a famous international artist...but seriously...
12/11/07
I spent last weekend as a famous international artist. Yeah, you read right. My American friend here in Guizhou who is a very talented artist was invited to go to an International Art Exhibit event in Hunan province (the province just east of Guizhou) and was all set to go, but at the last minute found out he had classes he was unable to change and he couldn't go to the conference. Problem was, he had already sent his paintings there. Enter…me. He asks my friend Adam and I on Sunday if we want to go to Hunan. Adam's got commitments, but it just so happens I have the weekend free, so I accepted. I left on Wednesday night and took an overnight train and arrived Thursday morning. No one was at the train station to pick me up, but we got it figured out and an hour later I was registering for the event (as my friend). Although I was supposed to register as my friend I had told the translator to call me Jake and thus she then found "my nametag" (which was in Chinese characters). Problem was, this was not my name tag because I didn't register as Jake, but I let it pass and the next day met the man whose identity I stole, he didn't mind, of course he didn't know all the details, but either way, it worked out. The weekend continued to go like this, several more small miscommunications which I found extremely amusing and occasionally stressful, but they always worked out.
On Friday, I even had the honor of sitting at the head table at lunch on Friday with government officials. Seeing as how I was just a poser, I really didn't want this "honor," but still being the lone white male, I received it. The chair of the weekend event introduced me to the officials. After being introduced a man from Malaysia who I had met earlier and told my story said, "wait, I thought you were from America." I confirmed to him I was and he said to me, "oh, she said you were from France." And that is what it was like all weekend. The people who spoke English knew I was just there because my artist friend could not come and I was to return his painting, but the Chinese people…(if they didn't speak English) they had no idea.
The translators were a lot of fun and my situation created some awkward moments for them, but all in all it went well and they helped me out a ton. I had been planning to take a train back Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning, but in order to get the painting I had to wait until Sunday and fly back that night. It was nice. They paid for everything and I completed my task…I got the painting back. They carted us to different tourist attractions and events, but it wasn't too crazy. I was left with a lot of free time and I was able to rest and read a great book. I was even on the front page of the local newspaper.
Yeah, really, not a bad weekend. Amazing hotels, great meals, and oh! The best part…I met a lot of cool people. They were all amazing artists. My favorite were the artists from Malaysia. They all spoke English and we talked for a while. It was great to learn more about Malaysia (a country I knew practically nothing about) and Malaysian people. They were very friendly and we had a lot of fun laughing together. Which was great because often when you meet people from China, they seem to be more serious or have a different sense of humor and there isn't much laughing. But I also met an artist/professor from Texas Tech, a French artist who has studied calligraphy for 20 years and used sarcasm amazingly well, a very kind Israeli/American woman who is currently living in Shanghai, and my translators-Cappuccino, Strawberry, and Sophia (students from a local college with great names).
But I made it back safely. Much to the relief of my friend's wife, a Chinese woman, who was concerned I would encounter the forest people of Hunan and things would get ugly, or maybe just concerned I don't know that much Chinese and I was traveling to another province. Either way, back teaching safe and sound.
I spent last weekend as a famous international artist. Yeah, you read right. My American friend here in Guizhou who is a very talented artist was invited to go to an International Art Exhibit event in Hunan province (the province just east of Guizhou) and was all set to go, but at the last minute found out he had classes he was unable to change and he couldn't go to the conference. Problem was, he had already sent his paintings there. Enter…me. He asks my friend Adam and I on Sunday if we want to go to Hunan. Adam's got commitments, but it just so happens I have the weekend free, so I accepted. I left on Wednesday night and took an overnight train and arrived Thursday morning. No one was at the train station to pick me up, but we got it figured out and an hour later I was registering for the event (as my friend). Although I was supposed to register as my friend I had told the translator to call me Jake and thus she then found "my nametag" (which was in Chinese characters). Problem was, this was not my name tag because I didn't register as Jake, but I let it pass and the next day met the man whose identity I stole, he didn't mind, of course he didn't know all the details, but either way, it worked out. The weekend continued to go like this, several more small miscommunications which I found extremely amusing and occasionally stressful, but they always worked out.
On Friday, I even had the honor of sitting at the head table at lunch on Friday with government officials. Seeing as how I was just a poser, I really didn't want this "honor," but still being the lone white male, I received it. The chair of the weekend event introduced me to the officials. After being introduced a man from Malaysia who I had met earlier and told my story said, "wait, I thought you were from America." I confirmed to him I was and he said to me, "oh, she said you were from France." And that is what it was like all weekend. The people who spoke English knew I was just there because my artist friend could not come and I was to return his painting, but the Chinese people…(if they didn't speak English) they had no idea.
The translators were a lot of fun and my situation created some awkward moments for them, but all in all it went well and they helped me out a ton. I had been planning to take a train back Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning, but in order to get the painting I had to wait until Sunday and fly back that night. It was nice. They paid for everything and I completed my task…I got the painting back. They carted us to different tourist attractions and events, but it wasn't too crazy. I was left with a lot of free time and I was able to rest and read a great book. I was even on the front page of the local newspaper.
Yeah, really, not a bad weekend. Amazing hotels, great meals, and oh! The best part…I met a lot of cool people. They were all amazing artists. My favorite were the artists from Malaysia. They all spoke English and we talked for a while. It was great to learn more about Malaysia (a country I knew practically nothing about) and Malaysian people. They were very friendly and we had a lot of fun laughing together. Which was great because often when you meet people from China, they seem to be more serious or have a different sense of humor and there isn't much laughing. But I also met an artist/professor from Texas Tech, a French artist who has studied calligraphy for 20 years and used sarcasm amazingly well, a very kind Israeli/American woman who is currently living in Shanghai, and my translators-Cappuccino, Strawberry, and Sophia (students from a local college with great names).
But I made it back safely. Much to the relief of my friend's wife, a Chinese woman, who was concerned I would encounter the forest people of Hunan and things would get ugly, or maybe just concerned I don't know that much Chinese and I was traveling to another province. Either way, back teaching safe and sound.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A great week
12/1/07
I was just reflecting on my week and I realized, wow, I have had a good week (a great thing since I started it pretty homesick and in a funk of culture shock). I want to share a few of the highlights, so here we go…
Today (Saturday)
-I played basketball for 3.5 hours today at the courts on campus. It started out pretty boring, but a few games/teams later it was some of the most intense basketball I have played my whole time here. The competition was very good and I ended up on a team of some very talented guys and we ran the table until we were too exhausted to play anymore. It must have been good basketball because there were over 100 people surrounding the court cheering for the underdogs and letting out ooo's and aaaah's at the good plays and oh's at the blocks (I had some good ones, it was fun). It was nice to express my competitiveness.
-I met many new people today. The names of three I will share with you well because you will see once you read them. I met a boy named Dragonshy, a girl named Ice Cream, and another girl named Moon. Not everyone learns English names are usually just names, not things we like, but it is more entertaining this way. But one really cool thing. I was talking with Moon and my friend Jerry and they asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I told them about the fellowship and Moon asked oh, what do you do there? So I told her about songs, sermons, and then communion. In sharing about communion I had to lay a lot of groundwork and the like and it was just a great opportunity to share my heart as well. I am thankful for random opportunities like this. She was very interested in all of it, you can continue to Think of her.
Friday
-I taught biology and chemistry to some children of some Dutch friends of mine. They are home schooled and learn about it in their text books, but their parents asked if I would come in to talk about things, answer questions, peak interest, etc., etc. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun. They are very bright kids (they all speak English, Dutch, and Chinese fluently). But it was nice to be teaching something other than English.
-I received a package from home. In the package was a DVD of my Grandmother's memorial celebration/service. I watched it with tear-filled eyes and a smile on my face. It was great. She was an amazing lady with an amazing heart and such a huge desire to serve. Everyone raved about her hospitality and how she just made you feel comfortable. I am so blessed to have had her as part of my life.
Thursday
-I had a Chinese lesson. I am learning slowly. I am still a little shy, but I do enjoy it.
-I spent most of the day with friends though. It was my good friend Kara's birthday. We went hiking in a forest by her school and had a picnic with my other friend Martin (it was nice to be somewhere without tons of people). And we had a big birthday dinner at this restaurant on the river. It had atmosphere, maybe the only restaurant I could say that about in Guiyang.
Wednesday
-Went to orphanage, got drooled on. Had a ton of fun. Loved on kids.
Tuesday
-Rested and read. Things have been busy, this was very much welcomed.
Monday
-Spent the entire day with two classes of adult students at their graduation party. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to deepen relationships. One student, Corey, and I hung out a lot and had a good time. He is staying in Guiyang (many of the students are going back to their hometowns), it will be a great to spend more time with him in the future.
Sunday
-Fellowship with friends, lunch with friends, dinner with friends. Enough said.
He really does provide for us when we need it. Never leaving, nor forsaking us.
I was just reflecting on my week and I realized, wow, I have had a good week (a great thing since I started it pretty homesick and in a funk of culture shock). I want to share a few of the highlights, so here we go…
Today (Saturday)
-I played basketball for 3.5 hours today at the courts on campus. It started out pretty boring, but a few games/teams later it was some of the most intense basketball I have played my whole time here. The competition was very good and I ended up on a team of some very talented guys and we ran the table until we were too exhausted to play anymore. It must have been good basketball because there were over 100 people surrounding the court cheering for the underdogs and letting out ooo's and aaaah's at the good plays and oh's at the blocks (I had some good ones, it was fun). It was nice to express my competitiveness.
-I met many new people today. The names of three I will share with you well because you will see once you read them. I met a boy named Dragonshy, a girl named Ice Cream, and another girl named Moon. Not everyone learns English names are usually just names, not things we like, but it is more entertaining this way. But one really cool thing. I was talking with Moon and my friend Jerry and they asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I told them about the fellowship and Moon asked oh, what do you do there? So I told her about songs, sermons, and then communion. In sharing about communion I had to lay a lot of groundwork and the like and it was just a great opportunity to share my heart as well. I am thankful for random opportunities like this. She was very interested in all of it, you can continue to Think of her.
Friday
-I taught biology and chemistry to some children of some Dutch friends of mine. They are home schooled and learn about it in their text books, but their parents asked if I would come in to talk about things, answer questions, peak interest, etc., etc. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun. They are very bright kids (they all speak English, Dutch, and Chinese fluently). But it was nice to be teaching something other than English.
-I received a package from home. In the package was a DVD of my Grandmother's memorial celebration/service. I watched it with tear-filled eyes and a smile on my face. It was great. She was an amazing lady with an amazing heart and such a huge desire to serve. Everyone raved about her hospitality and how she just made you feel comfortable. I am so blessed to have had her as part of my life.
Thursday
-I had a Chinese lesson. I am learning slowly. I am still a little shy, but I do enjoy it.
-I spent most of the day with friends though. It was my good friend Kara's birthday. We went hiking in a forest by her school and had a picnic with my other friend Martin (it was nice to be somewhere without tons of people). And we had a big birthday dinner at this restaurant on the river. It had atmosphere, maybe the only restaurant I could say that about in Guiyang.
Wednesday
-Went to orphanage, got drooled on. Had a ton of fun. Loved on kids.
Tuesday
-Rested and read. Things have been busy, this was very much welcomed.
Monday
-Spent the entire day with two classes of adult students at their graduation party. It was a lot of fun and a great chance to deepen relationships. One student, Corey, and I hung out a lot and had a good time. He is staying in Guiyang (many of the students are going back to their hometowns), it will be a great to spend more time with him in the future.
Sunday
-Fellowship with friends, lunch with friends, dinner with friends. Enough said.
He really does provide for us when we need it. Never leaving, nor forsaking us.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Elfing yourself
11/26/07
I am currently making lesson plans (I am going to teach my kids about the American Education system). But I am doing my best to procrastinate as well. When I came across the concept of elfing yourself in my good friend Paula's blog I couldn't help, but try it myself... me as an elf (http://elfyourself.com/?id=9608232642). It may not work totally right, but like I said I am lesson planning and I can't waste any more time if I am going to sleep tonight.
...let the Christmas season begin.
I am currently making lesson plans (I am going to teach my kids about the American Education system). But I am doing my best to procrastinate as well. When I came across the concept of elfing yourself in my good friend Paula's blog I couldn't help, but try it myself... me as an elf (http://elfyourself.com/?id=9608232642). It may not work totally right, but like I said I am lesson planning and I can't waste any more time if I am going to sleep tonight.
...let the Christmas season begin.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sorry It's been awhile...
11/23/07
It's late. I should be sleeping. But I just can't make crappy excuses any more. I need to update my blog. I don't know when the day came that I felt like it had been too long since I had written so I would need to write something epic to make up for it, but somewhere along the way that's how I started thinking. I mean, don't give me wrong I haven't cut off all outside contact with the world, I even put out my second "newsletter" (if you didn't get this let me know and I will send it your way), but I have not been posting on my blog. This is a big deal. It was something I wanted to be committed too. I mean, I don't really know if people read it, but even if one person does it's worth it, right? But I just got done reading a lot of my friend's blogs and was put to shame by some and their ability to post and tempted to justify my actions by others and their lack of posting. Either way, I made it hear. I have decided to shy away from something epic because let's be honest, I studied science and not English in college for a reason and I would have never posted again. Instead, I think I gave you this weak sauce monologue…man…maybe I will talk about Thanksgiving, will that make this better?
I was pretty jazzed about Thanksgiving. I mean, it's a day that centers around eating, and I love to eat. And being in China, I really love to eat American food. So, I was getting all geared up for Thanksgiving and I even signed up to bring some sweet potatoes. They have sweet potatoes here, so I thought I would make some candied yams that everyone would be really impressed with and it would be great. Wednesday night I abandoned the candied yam idea because the brown sugar here tastes like molasses and I am not a fan of that and I wasn't about to willingly put an inferior product out there. Instead I was going to go mashed sweet potatoes with some extra additions. Well, I'll tell you what, they actually have two kinds of sweet potatoes here, and I chose the wrong kind. They weren't really starchy enough and what was suppose to be like mashed potatoes looked more like applesauce. Long story short I ended up with a product that not only was inferior, but I refused to even have it put out there. Just plain awful. Ok, not awful, because if you put enough sugar, butter, and cinnamon in something it is bound to test at least ok. Let me describe it like this --it was one of those dishes when you are working through the food like you see it and your curiosity is peaked. It looks new, it looks mysterious. Before you serve yourself, you think this could be really good, but you also think, but it could be really bad so you take the "obligatory spoonful" because you just can't not try it and go sit down to have your dinner. You first eat your "big hitter" items and then it's time to see if the gamble pays off. You eat a bite (about half of what you scooped on your plate) of the mysterious dish to see if it will pan out and just as you feared, disappointment. I mean, you don't spit it out and it tastes alright and you might take another little bite to see if you can figure out what exactly is in it, but in the end you just sort of spread the rest of it out on your plate so it looks like you ate most of it and thus you don't insult the chef. Not to bad you lean over to the person next to you and warn them, but bad enough that when they take their bite they look at you and you just nod and say, "Yeah, I am not sure either." -- I wasn't going to put people through that disappointment, so I didn't serve it and I just received ridicule from some of my teammates here (well deserved and really the same thing I would do to them too if they had done it). So it was humbling, but don't worry, they still let me eat and eat I did. We had all the food essentials (except Sweet Potatoes that is) and everything else that goes along with Thanksgiving for that matter too (a list that includes: NFL football-recorded two weeks ago and mailed over, pickup football, a lot of desserts, a lot of fellowship, a late start to the meal because the turkey took too long, and just a day to give credit to the one who give abundantly). So that's my story. It's a long one, but I suppose I will use length over creative prowess to reestablish my presence in the blog world.
It's late. I should be sleeping. But I just can't make crappy excuses any more. I need to update my blog. I don't know when the day came that I felt like it had been too long since I had written so I would need to write something epic to make up for it, but somewhere along the way that's how I started thinking. I mean, don't give me wrong I haven't cut off all outside contact with the world, I even put out my second "newsletter" (if you didn't get this let me know and I will send it your way), but I have not been posting on my blog. This is a big deal. It was something I wanted to be committed too. I mean, I don't really know if people read it, but even if one person does it's worth it, right? But I just got done reading a lot of my friend's blogs and was put to shame by some and their ability to post and tempted to justify my actions by others and their lack of posting. Either way, I made it hear. I have decided to shy away from something epic because let's be honest, I studied science and not English in college for a reason and I would have never posted again. Instead, I think I gave you this weak sauce monologue…man…maybe I will talk about Thanksgiving, will that make this better?
I was pretty jazzed about Thanksgiving. I mean, it's a day that centers around eating, and I love to eat. And being in China, I really love to eat American food. So, I was getting all geared up for Thanksgiving and I even signed up to bring some sweet potatoes. They have sweet potatoes here, so I thought I would make some candied yams that everyone would be really impressed with and it would be great. Wednesday night I abandoned the candied yam idea because the brown sugar here tastes like molasses and I am not a fan of that and I wasn't about to willingly put an inferior product out there. Instead I was going to go mashed sweet potatoes with some extra additions. Well, I'll tell you what, they actually have two kinds of sweet potatoes here, and I chose the wrong kind. They weren't really starchy enough and what was suppose to be like mashed potatoes looked more like applesauce. Long story short I ended up with a product that not only was inferior, but I refused to even have it put out there. Just plain awful. Ok, not awful, because if you put enough sugar, butter, and cinnamon in something it is bound to test at least ok. Let me describe it like this --it was one of those dishes when you are working through the food like you see it and your curiosity is peaked. It looks new, it looks mysterious. Before you serve yourself, you think this could be really good, but you also think, but it could be really bad so you take the "obligatory spoonful" because you just can't not try it and go sit down to have your dinner. You first eat your "big hitter" items and then it's time to see if the gamble pays off. You eat a bite (about half of what you scooped on your plate) of the mysterious dish to see if it will pan out and just as you feared, disappointment. I mean, you don't spit it out and it tastes alright and you might take another little bite to see if you can figure out what exactly is in it, but in the end you just sort of spread the rest of it out on your plate so it looks like you ate most of it and thus you don't insult the chef. Not to bad you lean over to the person next to you and warn them, but bad enough that when they take their bite they look at you and you just nod and say, "Yeah, I am not sure either." -- I wasn't going to put people through that disappointment, so I didn't serve it and I just received ridicule from some of my teammates here (well deserved and really the same thing I would do to them too if they had done it). So it was humbling, but don't worry, they still let me eat and eat I did. We had all the food essentials (except Sweet Potatoes that is) and everything else that goes along with Thanksgiving for that matter too (a list that includes: NFL football-recorded two weeks ago and mailed over, pickup football, a lot of desserts, a lot of fellowship, a late start to the meal because the turkey took too long, and just a day to give credit to the one who give abundantly). So that's my story. It's a long one, but I suppose I will use length over creative prowess to reestablish my presence in the blog world.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Some fun and competition
If we're being completely honest…I have a favorite class. It puts the others to shame. They are active, they participate unceasingly, they are excited, they do their homework, they even practice oral English outside of class for fun. It's great. It makes Monday mornings tolerable. It makes every other class feel like its missing something. But I think my favorite part of this class is the fact they do class as a community. It's the adult English majors class, so they are all a little older and they have all taught before (most of them primary school). But they all aren't from Guiyang and so they hang out together, live near each other, and do a lot of things together. It was with the students from this class that I ate dinner with earlier this semester and that I had an "autumn outing" with. Well, today brought another unexpected adventure with my class.
I was editing a science journal article (a whole other story in and of itself) at a coffeehouse (actually teahouse-but not like traditional teahouse) and I get a call from another teacher that also teaches this class. "Jake, where are you? Are you coming? We are waiting for you. Come to the basketball court."…ok, I wasn't really surprised. One student mentioned it yesterday, but he said a different time and he failed to tell me I was the starting power forward. So I run and change and make it to the court. All of the girls are sitting in the stands cheering. All the guys are either playing or standing in the unofficial bench area. They put me in immediately. We were playing a team of older guys. I am not really sure where they came from, but they were patient guys. But it was definitely an experience…
(Here comes the part that if you aren't really interested in basketball it might not be as interesting and you should totally just scan it to hear about where I went to cut on a fast break, slipped, and subsequently lost a large amount of hair and skin from my leg…actually, that is about it)…back to the game. We are playing full court, not a great thing seeing as how I have exercised three times in the last two months (at least they were all in the last two weeks though). But they tell me I am playing forward and I go in. First trip down the court I get a feel for the game. The point guard (another teacher) passes to one of my students one dribble and up goes a shot. Not just any shot. A heinous shot. It was ridiculous/amazing all at the same time. I go down to play defense and …well, I just decided to camp out in the lane because our center was cherry picking at the other end and no one could play a lick of D. The other team manages to put up a much better shot than we did, but they missed and to my surprise my teammate gets the rebound and chucks it down the court to the cherry picker who proceeds to miss the layup…ouch. This whole chucking the ball thing happened many more times. Only it stopped working and the ball was either a) stolen by the other team or b) not caught by the cherry picker and thrown out of bounds. My reaction was the closest thing to getting angry that I have felt in a while. I, of course, didn't express this to my team/students, but if I was coaching any one who even looked up court to throw a grenade pass would have been on the bench. My offense contribution to the game took a while to develop, but my students…well they are gunners…all of them. They never saw a shot they didn't like. So I got my hustle points (put backs from all the bricks that were thrown up). I had my fair share of defensive rebounds too. And after a while I completely abandoned the whole outlet pass concept and just ran the break myself. But in a way, it was dangerous basketball. Bodies were flying everywhere; there was no finesse about it. I caught a knee in my quad that left me limping up and down the court for five minutes. The half court offense though…once I went in the post they were actually passing me the ball. I have always had a closest fascination about being a post player. I think it might have been from seeing underachieving post players during my childhood and high school experience and thinking if I was taller I could dominate down there. Well, this was my chance. So I went to town. I'm telling you Tim Duncan would have been proud. I was knocking down 10 foot bank shots like nobody's business. We ended up winning. It was a little anticlimactic as we had managed to gain the lead upon my arrival and keep it (and no one really seemed to care about the score except for me). Overall, it was a lot of fun. Another great experience with my class, they are really feeling comfortable with me now (on my way back to my apartment I talked with some students who had been previously petrified to speak with me, but now are more than comfortable). I got a chance to be competitive (even though I didn't really show it). And I had a lot of fun. Quite the combo. Now if I could only get my other classes on this bandwagon.
I was editing a science journal article (a whole other story in and of itself) at a coffeehouse (actually teahouse-but not like traditional teahouse) and I get a call from another teacher that also teaches this class. "Jake, where are you? Are you coming? We are waiting for you. Come to the basketball court."…ok, I wasn't really surprised. One student mentioned it yesterday, but he said a different time and he failed to tell me I was the starting power forward. So I run and change and make it to the court. All of the girls are sitting in the stands cheering. All the guys are either playing or standing in the unofficial bench area. They put me in immediately. We were playing a team of older guys. I am not really sure where they came from, but they were patient guys. But it was definitely an experience…
(Here comes the part that if you aren't really interested in basketball it might not be as interesting and you should totally just scan it to hear about where I went to cut on a fast break, slipped, and subsequently lost a large amount of hair and skin from my leg…actually, that is about it)…back to the game. We are playing full court, not a great thing seeing as how I have exercised three times in the last two months (at least they were all in the last two weeks though). But they tell me I am playing forward and I go in. First trip down the court I get a feel for the game. The point guard (another teacher) passes to one of my students one dribble and up goes a shot. Not just any shot. A heinous shot. It was ridiculous/amazing all at the same time. I go down to play defense and …well, I just decided to camp out in the lane because our center was cherry picking at the other end and no one could play a lick of D. The other team manages to put up a much better shot than we did, but they missed and to my surprise my teammate gets the rebound and chucks it down the court to the cherry picker who proceeds to miss the layup…ouch. This whole chucking the ball thing happened many more times. Only it stopped working and the ball was either a) stolen by the other team or b) not caught by the cherry picker and thrown out of bounds. My reaction was the closest thing to getting angry that I have felt in a while. I, of course, didn't express this to my team/students, but if I was coaching any one who even looked up court to throw a grenade pass would have been on the bench. My offense contribution to the game took a while to develop, but my students…well they are gunners…all of them. They never saw a shot they didn't like. So I got my hustle points (put backs from all the bricks that were thrown up). I had my fair share of defensive rebounds too. And after a while I completely abandoned the whole outlet pass concept and just ran the break myself. But in a way, it was dangerous basketball. Bodies were flying everywhere; there was no finesse about it. I caught a knee in my quad that left me limping up and down the court for five minutes. The half court offense though…once I went in the post they were actually passing me the ball. I have always had a closest fascination about being a post player. I think it might have been from seeing underachieving post players during my childhood and high school experience and thinking if I was taller I could dominate down there. Well, this was my chance. So I went to town. I'm telling you Tim Duncan would have been proud. I was knocking down 10 foot bank shots like nobody's business. We ended up winning. It was a little anticlimactic as we had managed to gain the lead upon my arrival and keep it (and no one really seemed to care about the score except for me). Overall, it was a lot of fun. Another great experience with my class, they are really feeling comfortable with me now (on my way back to my apartment I talked with some students who had been previously petrified to speak with me, but now are more than comfortable). I got a chance to be competitive (even though I didn't really show it). And I had a lot of fun. Quite the combo. Now if I could only get my other classes on this bandwagon.
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