More Observations....

Any fears I had of being bored here are long gone. I don't stop! Maybe I'm just incapable of doing nothing. Between teaching, lesson planning, learning Chinese and travelling, I'd say I'm about as busy as I am at home. This weekend two teacher friends are visiting. I met Liz and Steve during CIEE's orientation in Shanghai.

So, because I've had no time to develop a proper blog post (though I get many ideas while walking to class!), I offer more random observations on life in China.

1. Say Good-bye to Anonymity

Being an ESL teacher here is perhaps the next best thing to actually being a Hollywood celebrity. There's an interesting divide between the campus and the general public. In public I get stared at A LOT. On campus, students may look at me, but I wouldn't call it a stare. They're much more used to seeing foreign teachers. In fact, if anything, I get complete adulation on campus. Students ask to have their picture taken with me. I get people talking to me as though I'm a celebrity..... "Oh, I saw you yesterday in the mess hall.... you were eating with the other foreign teachers!" I walked into one of my culture classes on my first day of teaching, and some of the girls started to sigh and giggle. I was tempted to turn around to see if Hugh Jackman had followed me in. And my students aren't exactly subtle. I've had both male and female students come up to me and tell me I'm beautiful - and that's the first thing out of their mouths. That's the introduction! Ken, one of the American teachers, has a hilarious story about one of his students being convinced he was David Beckham.

Nowhere does the celebrity status come out more than at English Corner on Thursday evenings. I've mentioned English Corner before. Basically, students gather around and listen/talk to the foreign English teachers. It's a good way for them to practice talking with native speakers. The only thing is that I've found that a few students tend to dominate the conversation, while everyone else just listens. I try to involve more students by asking the shy ones what they think about a particular topic. Some only listen because their English isn't great, but I think others are just shy and will hang back and let a few people control the discussion. I tend to get a lot of the same questions.... "What do you think of China?" "Do you like Chinese food?" "What is the weather like in Canada?" One of the funny things about English Corner is that they try to get as close to you as they can, which means that the circle of people closes in around you until you're forced to back up.... kind of like when you're trying to get away from a close talker. Last night I realized I ended the night 6 or 8 feet away from where I started.

Some students at English Corner

2. Basketball is incredibly popular....

..... and they certainly know/care more about the NBA than I do. I keep meaning to ask Teddy or Steve if that's a fairly recent thing - i.e., since Yao Ming. I see the guys shooting hoops on the campus basketball courts and wonder if they dream of being the next Yao Ming, like Canadian kids want to be the next Wayne Gretzky. Though they're 18 or 19, so perhaps a bit too late for that.

3. Back to the 1980s....

I'm old enough to remember the second half of the 1980s and I distinctly remember people wearing clothes that look a lot like what you see in Changzhou. The style here is very 1980s - now I don't feel so bad about taking older clothes (having heard that China is hard on clothes - very true, by the way). At least they're not that old. You see girls wearing leggings paired with bright/mismatched colours. I saw a female student yesterday wearing stirrup pants.... I remember loving my stirrup pants as a little girl! Looking at the guys I'm often reminded of an 80s music video or Theo from the Cosby Show. It's very common to see them with blazers on with the sleeves rolled up, a la every male pop artist from the 1980s.

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Given the tragedy that has happened at home, I'd like to end this blog entry with a comment about how happy I am to be here, living my "what ifs". The Cougar helicopter crash is a reminder of how fleeting life can be. I can't say I ever pictured myself lecturing in a Chinese classroom, yet here I am.... and I'm soaking in every moment of it, even the frustrating ones. It's all an adventure that will shape who I am. As I say in my blog intro, life is too short not to live the "What Ifs".

May the families and friends of those killed last week find comfort and peace in their loved ones' memories. I send my thoughts and my prayers home at this tragic, tragic time.