connie's space

 

            Last Saturday had my apartment filled with eager English Center volunteers.       What was the occasion?  It was time for us to record, catalog and fill the shelves of the English Center with the many books and games that so many of you have sent over the years.

            If you remember, I had been collecting books for an English Language Center in my former placement, Luzhou.  In 3 years, we had quite a nice display of English language materials in book cabinets I had purchased for the English office.  But we ran into a problem.

            The departmental staff wanted the books to be kept in the office, not shared with the students.  They were worried the books would be borrowed and not returned.  And so there they remained, under lock and key, with only the faculty using them as resource materials.

            While I was very happy the staff was making use of our small library, that was not the original purpose I had hoped for.  So upon my move to Longzhou, I went through all the donated books and pulled out the ones I felt would be appropriate for my new college’s English Center.  These went into boxes and were trucked, along with all my things, on the 4-day journey to Guangxi.

            In addition to books from Luzhou, other reading materials have also arrive in M-bags from the States. 

            Last week, the English Center students finally cleared away enough space for all your offerings.  It was time to get them into the student population for use.

            On Saturday, 15 volunteers and I spent 2 hours preparing 243 books and 42 DVDs for the Center.  Afterwards, we sat enjoying my homemade banana bread, fruit drinks and candies as my thank you for all their hard work.

            As each left my home, their arms loaded with books for the hike to the 6th floor Center, they thanked me again and again.  I think those of you who sent these donations would truly have been moved by everyone’s excitement and gratitude.

            I know I certainly was.

            Thus from a grateful American, I want to say from all of us, “Many, many thanks for all you’ve done to make our English Center a shining star on our campus.”

 

            Ping An (Peace) from China!

 

Connie Wieck

Guangxi Normal University for Nationalities

125 Dushan Road

Longzhou County, Chongzuo City

Guangxi Province, 532400

P.R. of CHINA

 

 

 

 

 

  Reunited With An Old Friend

         

            The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.

            Immediately after our Halloween festivities, I was visited by a very good friend from America, Becky John.

            Becky and I first met about 17 years ago when I was going off to China and she was working for the United Methodists in the New York offices.  Later, in 1999, Becky and I met up in Taiwan where I was teaching at the Wesley Girls’ High School and she was studying Chinese.  Our kindred spirits launched us on an immediate, long-lasting friendship.

            Although we lost track of one another, we never forgot about our fun times in Taiwan which just recently were relived.

            Yes, Becky managed to swing a vacation visit to China after years of being back in America, working for State Farm Insurance.  Her first order of business was to find me, which she did, and arrange a visit to our little town of Longzhou. 

            For 6 days, Becky and I enjoyed the high-life of remembering our youthful 20’s and 30’s as well as being ushered about to visit this area’s scenic spots.   We were able to enjoy the famous 2,500 year old cliff drawings by riverboat tour (courtesy of one of the tourism majors here at the college) and even the Detian Pubu (falls), the world’s second-largest transcontinental waterfalls.  (Niagara being the first).

            Becky, being the utterly delightful and friendly person that she is, also busied herself meeting the students both at our English Center and in the classroom.  Everyone was not only impressed by her Chinese but also by her warm personality.

            Having such a great guest at a new school has certainly stengthened my relationships among my colleagues and those in my community.   And it’s also been wonderful to share my new life with an old friend.

 

A Campus Highlight:  The Chinese Language Department’s Food Fair

 

            While Becky’s classroom and English Center visits were  a nice bonding experience for her, I’m going to have to say experiencing the campus Food Fair was probably what endeared the students to us the most.

            I wasn’t aware of this annual event until Becky landed on Thursday.  The students were already in an excited mode concerning what goodies they’d be cooking for Saturday night.

            “What’s happening Saturday night?” I asked.  “My friend Becky is coming.  We should know.”

            I was then inundated in news of the annual Food Fair, which was sponsored by the Chinese and Management Departments.  Classes and student groups organized a small booth and prepared all their own foods, cooked or not, which they sold to the student population for a small amount.  Those participating had already signed up and I was told there would be over 90 booths lining the student walkway on Saturday evening.

Teachers would be the judges to taste and decide what the winning foods would be. 

            Since there are no student cooking facilities on campus , participants had to be creative in borrowing equipment, such as gas burners and charcoal grills, or doing their own make-shift cooking areas for their booths. 

            I really had no idea what this all entailed until Becky and I finished our cliff-drawing riverboat tour and landed in the midst of the crowds on Saturday evening.

            It was incredible how the students had so carefully made their booths, with huge signs and colorful drawings inviting  hungry passers-by to try their wares. They shouted, grabbed, dragged, and shoved people in the direction of their enticing foods, hoping to make a 1 or 2 yuan sale (15 – 30 cents). 

            Becky and I managed to cruise the stalls first before returning to fill our empty stomachs with what the students had to offer.  We saw a lot of  local delicacies and then the normal Chinese fanfare.  Such offerings included stuffed with meat tofu squares, fried donut and sesame seed balls, lamb, pork, chicken feet and chicken wing kabobs, pig feet soup, grilled vegetables and corn-on-the-cob, fruit cups, jelly tea, thick rice-noodle wraps,

stir-fried sliced potatoes, french fries and the list goes on.

            Deciding whose to eat wasn’t quite as difficult as deciding whose not to eat. The students were over-enthusiastic in their drive to grab up the two foreigners and hustle them over to their booth.  On several occasions, we wound up with free servings even though we tried to pay.  Stuffing the Americans seemed to be the top priority on their “to do” list for the evening.

            Did we mind?

            Not in the least!

 

Still Keeping Busy

 

           Becky left last Tuesday, leaving the apartment quiet once again aside from Little Flower’s playful antics with her toys.   We certainly had a great time together and I look forward to having such a gracious guest again.

            But the week didn’t slow down with Becky’s departure.

            I still had visits to the English Center and then English Corner on Friday evening, from 8 to 10 p.m., where we all enjoyed outdoor free talk and games. 

            Saturday morning found me on the bus at 6:30 a.m., heading off to the capital city (Nanning) to meet up with our Amity teachers in this province for our regional meeting.

            Every semester, the Amity teachers in our respective areas get together for fellowship, sharing and a relaxing weekend together.  I spent only a day as I had to return for a student-planned evening activity that night but it was well worth it to catch up on all the latest from our new Amity folk.

            In our province, we have 3 new comers, two who came accompanied by their spouses.  Claire with her husband Martin from the UK, Ueli from Switzerland with his South American wife Johanna and Bob also from the UK.   Then we have Lena (Sweden) and myself (America), who are pretty well-established long-term teachers, which brings us to a total of 5 teachers, 2 spouses.

             Claire was unfortunately in Hospital (as the Brits say) and wasn’t able to join us.  Martin, her husband, stayed behind to take care of her. Her high blood pressure has been a serious factor here in China and we are all a bit worried about her at the moment.  Please keep her in your prayers.

 

Thanksgiving Day’s Coming!

           

            Now it’s back to classes on Monday, which ushers us all into my Thanksgiving Day Unit.  This week, we will concentrate on the history of the day and next week, we’ll be learning how to set tables and all the foods involved in the grand dinner.

            Too bad there are no turkeys in China but I have plenty of family photos to give them a “taste” of Thanksgiving Day in America.

 

            And on that last note, I wish you all Ping An (peace) for your upcoming week!

 

 

           

 

    

 

Getting to Know the Students

 

            As the students appeared at my doorway last week, I ushered them in to my spacious sitting room where  they plopped themselves down on the furnishings.  This was their first visit to a foreigner’s apartment and they were getting the full treatment.  Drinks, candy, cookies, and Connie’s family photo albums adorned the coffee tables.  Fun gadgets, such as a mini Etch-n-Sketch and battery-operated toys (Kung Fu Hamster, a favorite), were displayed for use.  Picture books of America and China were within easy reach. 

            The evening groups that came to my home in waves were quiet, overly polite and shy at first but within 30 minutes, the place was alive with laughter and chatter.  The fear of speaking in English began to melt away.  Little Flower added even more to our time together with her insistence on squeaking toys at everyone’s feet.  In Little Flower’s mind, playtime is always a must for every guest who wanders into her home.  Her basket of doggie toys attests to that.

 

Getting to Know My Colleagues

 

            Others who have been enjoying my hospitality efforts are my colleagues.

            I invited the Chinese English teachers here on our Longzhou campus (about 21)  to meet me last Friday afternoon after they finished classes.  Those who weren’t busy came, including our vice-dean (Ms. Liang), Kate (my co-teacher) and several others.  Two in our numbers were expectant mothers so much of the conversation was given to joking with them about their upcoming babies and the work that will involve.  A lot!

            In reciprocation of my invite, Grace (3 months pregnant) invited me to attend her 26^th birthday party last Monday night at her home.  Co-teacher Kate came to pick me up and together, we walked to the teachers’ apartment building behind my own where the younger staff are living.

             Grace and her husband had pulled out tables and stools to set up outside their  small 1-room apartment, furnished by the school.  Snacks of pumpkin seeds, shelled peanuts, peanut brittle, dried squid, cooked chicken wings, kabobs of tofu and mutton, candy, tangerines, bananas and juicy watermelon slices greeted us upon our arrival. 

            The stools began to fill as their friends gathered around to wish her a happy birthday.  Her husband presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a huge birthday cake.

After lighting the candles and making a wish, Grace served big pieces of cake which we certainly weren’t about to turn down.   Some even had second helpings.

           In the cool night air, we entertained one another with stories and teasing anecdotes about family members and friends.

             I just remember thinking how very welcomed I felt and how very grateful I am for being here.   

 

Meeting the Neighbors

 

            As for my new neighborhoods, it seems the children have taken a liking to me.  I have two sweet little girls (Huang Ya Wei, age 10, and Yao Xiao, age 6) who have come for afternoon Saturday and Sunday visits to play with my stash of kids’ toys, draw pictures and talk to the foreigner.  Both of these girls are from the poorer families on our campus.  Yao Xiao’s father, for example, is a watchman at our front gate.

            I am very impressed by their polite manners and their understanding of what it is to be a guest.  On their second visit, Huang Ya Wei brought a cooked squab from the nearby fast food joint (KMC, a Chinese knock-off of KFC) to share with all three of us.  I poured us drinks, pulled out a plate, cut up the chicken, brought out the chopsticks and we dug in with glee.

            The highlight of their afternoon was dressing them up in Halloween paraphernalia.  Masks, foil hair and witches hats were their attire.  Since this tradition is alien for most Chinese, I didn’t bother explaining. We just enjoyed the fun of dress-up and I left it at that.

           

The Classroom Teaching Situation

           

            As an Amity Foundation language teacher, a majority of my classes are to be English education majors.   Amity stresses that its foreign language experts concentrate on those who will be teachers, not working in other English related fields.   However, I find myself currently in the situation of teaching 6 classes of  Business English and Practical English majors (tourism – service industry) and only 2 classes of  English Education majors.  All of these are the 1^st year students (total 260), just beginning their college studies away from home. 

            While this is not the purpose of Amity, I’m sure that next semester, we can rearrange the schedule to fulfill the organization’s goals.

            In the meantime, I am very happy to do what I can for those struggling with their choice of major.  My classes are smaller than in Luzhou, giving me 30 – 35 in the room at a time.  This is certainly needed due to the low level of English I have been finding.         My education majors, who will one day be teachers, I am not worried about.  They have enough of a skill level to build upon.  But in my Business English and Practical English classes, a large number don’t even know simple English vocabulary, such as their colors, names of countries, common animals and even basic phrases.   The books we are using, O.K. starts for those with a foundation, are quite a challenge.  In many cases, the units are a bit useless because they center on these students being in America, which will most likely never happen.

            More appropriate dialogues and vocabulary would have them here in China, not abroad.

            Due to this problem, I have compiled my own textbook which has already been distributed to everyone.  A local photo copier and I bargained for a decent price and 300 books came off her copy machines in 4-days’ time.

            Although my own materials and lessons are a challenge, at least they are more useful for the students’ fields.  My units center on traditions and holidays, and are an integrated approach to learning with writing prompts, dialogues, vocabulary building, listening exercises (movies, songs)  and pronunciation practices.

            Coupling my textbook with the one they currently have will satisfy my needs and theirs, or so I hope.

            At present, we’re digging deep into the Halloween traditions of America.  This past week, we’ve done the history, vocabulary and pronunciation of new words. Next week, we’ll be diving into the fun activities of trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples and creating plus wearing costumes.

            Sound like fun?  You bet!

 

            After only 3 weeks in my new home, I am already feeling settled  and quite excited about future activities with students and new friends. Watch this space for more reports of our times together!

            From Connie and Little Flower, here’s sending you Ping An (peace) from Longzhou, small town along the Li River.      

 

                 Friday, October 9th, saw all of China back to normal. 

                The holidays were officially over.  Classrooms filled with students, the overburdened airports, train and bus stations cleared of vacationing millions, and stores cleared their shelves of mooncakes and 60th anniversary discounts.  TV stations  are no longer featuring flamboyant celebratory programs of dancers and singers, and the newspaper headlines are back to the usual mundane affairs of the country.

 

 

                But here in Longzhou, my new placement at Guangxi Normal University for Nationalities, we are still in the upheaval mode.

                Although I was told to return for October 9th classes, once I arrived  on the 5th, I learned that most likely we’d still be waiting to begin the new semester due to the opening of the new campus.   

              Just as a recap, there are 3 campuses to this school.   The oldest campus is in Longzhou (where I am).  The second campus is in central Chongzuo, the county capital city 1 1/2 hours away.  The 3rd and brand new campus, which is the one now opening to new students, is located in the outskirts of Chongzuo, in the middle of sugarcane fields and dirt roads.

               The Longzhou campus will eventually be closed in  2 or 3 years because it’s just too small to accommodate the growing number of students that have been enrolled.  In the meantime, different departments are moving to the new school.   The English Department, for now, is remaining in Longzhou thus all the English major students and faculty will be here.  A few other departments are here as well.  Of course, we stay but a vaste number of others are leaving.

 

              All freshmen students have been at this Longzhou campus, doing their mandatory military training, for a month while the brand new campus was being completed.  I had assumed the students would leave us before the National Day holidays to move into their new school dormitories 1 1/2 hours away but I guess the final touches on the buildings there hadn’t been made yet.  Thus everyone stayed put here in Longzhou, including the faculty who were moving as well, and waited for the big move ahead.

              And that move is taking place this weekend, with classes hopefully beginning on Monday. 

               We are having 3 days of thousands of students packing up their small belongings into huge plastic carrying bags with zippers or small suitcases, dragging their things to truck pick-up points and seeing them off to their new home in Chongzuo.

              The administrators have done an excellent job of organizing the student move.   The pick-up point is in the covered sports’ building where everyone receives a colored ribbon to tie on their things.  The colors are by departments.  Then their bags get a bag check sticker and the owners receive the receipt number so they can get the right luggage  back at the other campus. 

              All bags and suitcases are all lined up in neat, tidy rows for loading onto the truck.   The loading is done by workers who carefully pile the things into the truck, stacking them clear to the vehicle’s compartment roof to get as many as possible inside.

               There are 3 pick-ups a day:  one at 9 a.m., one at 12:00 and one at 3:30 p.m.  It’s just enough time for the truck to be unloaded at  one end and make the return journey to Longzhou for yet another shipment of thousands to be packed onto the truck yet again.

 

 

              As for faculty, many have waited until the last minute to leave.  Our campus is now filling with small moving trucks parked outside of apartment builings.  Neighbors stand outside, watching loads of boxes and furniture being hauled downstairs by movers who will begin placing them onto the vans.  Grandmothers with the grandbabies and grandchildren stand about, helping parents keep  toddlers from getting in the way of the bustling traffic of the movers. 

               In many ways, it’s a rather sad scene. Some of these elderly, who live with and are now following their children (faculty employees) to a new location, have been here for years.  This is their home. These are familiar surroundings.   They have their community here and their nearby shopping places.  The new Chongzuo campus is far from having a friendly neighborhood feel yet.  The landscaping is nowhere near finished, meaning no pretty parks, walkways and grassy sitting areas as we have here. Also, the school is  located in such a distant location,perhaps 20 minutes by bus from the city itself.   I wonder how these people will feel after years of Longzhou living. 

               It will be quite an adjustment and I’m sure it won’t come easy.

 

 

             For myself, the cooler temperatures here (in the 80s daytime, pleasant 70s at night) are proving quite a relief from the 90s and 100s that I experienced before in August.  All my lessons are in order for the first week of classes where I will be teaching English Education, Business English and Practical English majors.  Usually, Amity teachers only teach educataion majors.  Business English and Practical English will be a bit new for me.    I even had to ask what a Practical English major is.  I was told it’s a major that is for any English field (teaching, business or tourism) a student wants to go into.  So rather than concentrate only on being an English teacher (English Education major) or working in the business field (Business English major), Practical English majors have the foundations for both as well as other English  language-related jobs.

            Classes I learned will be much smaller than in Luzhou, where I had 50 – 60 crammed into the room.   Here there are between 35 – 40 students, which is quite a luxury for me.  That I certainly am looking forward to.

 

 

            As for Little Flower, she is still feeling unsettled and not exactly at ease in her new surroundings.  The apartment is  huge compared to Luzhou.  LF has been wandering about most of the day trying to find places to crash in that feel normal.  She’s flopped on the spare bed but that wasn’t right.  She’s moved from her bassinet to her carrier and back again numerous times.  That also doesn’t feel right.  She’s curled up on the two cushy couches in the living room.  Again, not to her liking.  She’s even tried hiding in the wardrobe among my clothes and positioning herself on top of a huge plastic bag of unshelved books I still have to put away.  All good efforst to feel at home but likewise, disappointing bedding places.         

            I always knew it  takes time for one to feel settled and comfortable in a new environment.  I just didn’t figure it would be that way for a dog.

 

           Perhaps yet another taking time to feel at home is Kitty, who was dropped off at Dr. Q’s veterinarian clinic last Sunday.  He was a bit confused as to why he was in such a strange place when I left him.  Dr. Q’s huge, fat and sassy cat came to take a look at the new arrival.  She was more interested in eatting  Kitty’s food I carefully set out for him  than she was in really caring that another feline might be sharing her space.

           A phonecall to Dr. Q’s clinic yesterday had me reassured that the kitten is finding his way around by himself.  He enjoys playing with the staff and chasing things around the many cubicles.  Dr. Q has given him full run of the clinic.  I’m sure within a short amount of time, he’ll be parading around as if it were his own.

 

          News ends here at present until next week’s accounts of students and school teaching life.  In the meantime, I  hope your weekend is a pleasant and happy one.  Ping an (Peace), everyone!