Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I can't believe that it's already April. My time here is flying - and I think that says something about how I'm finding China. Summer will come too soon. I absolutely can understand how China wraps itself around the hearts of many foreigners.

I'm off to Suzhou this weekend. It is a holiday weekend here (Tomb Sweeping Day), so many people will be travelling. I'm again meeting up with Peter and Adrienne, also from CIEE. We travelled together to Nanjing last month, though I haven't gotten around to posting photos from that trip yet. Suzhou isn't far. It's still in Jiangsu province.

Before I go, I thought I'd present a round-up of several recent funny events/observations that show why life here is so unpredictable!

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I studied German for some time in school and through private lessons, but sadly - and much like French and Spanish - I've long forgotten most of it. (I'm a terrible language learner... but more on that another time.) That's too bad because I actually could have used it here.... yes, here in China. I've had several students attempt to speak to me in German. See, there are actually more German teachers here than English teachers. The university has a partnership with a school in Germany. So for a whole segment of the student population, being foreign is associated with speaking German, not English. I find it very cool - and indicative of our globalized world - that a Chinese student would turn to me in an elevator and ask me something in German.


Speaking of Elevators....

I met two Africans in the elevator in the hotel today. Foreigners are a rare sight here, so they were probably just as surprised to see me when the doors opened as I was to see them. They immediately said 'hello' and asked if I spoke English. They were walking in the same direction as me on campus and we had a good chat.... but did we ever get some stares! To see a white person here is one thing - but to see a white person walking with two black people is something else altogether. One man was from Zimbabwe and the other was from Cameroon. It turns out they're here for two weeks for a seminar. They told me I would like Africa. I don't know.... Africa has never been very high on my list of places to see, but coming here has whetted my appetite for more exotic travel. Maybe Russia and India first. Then we'll see about Africa.


Drama Club

Much is said about Chinese students' unwillingness to speak up in class for fear of making mistakes. It's important in China to not stand out in any way - good or bad. It's important to save face in front of classmates. Although many of my students are quite shy, I'm realizing that I do have a few characters in my classes. For instance, the other night in Oral English we were practicing telephone English. I took them through the standard business telephone/message role plays, but then I told them to mix it up. Get a little crazy! Leave a bizarre message! After they practiced for 10 minutes or so, I asked for volunteers to demonstrate. I was completely floored when two guys stood up (they were working in pairs) and proceeded to treat the class to a mini-drama. One of them set the stage: A man has been hit by a bus and is now dying. He calls his girlfriend to say good-bye. He only gets her answering machine. The other student then stood up.... I thought I was going to bust a gut laughing when his phone message included lines like "hello girl", "I'm going to Heaven now" and "I'm calling to tell you 3 words.... I love you". It sounded like dialogue right out of a cheesy boy band video! The rest of the class was cracking up too. He was so earnest in his acting that is was hard to keep a straight face. It was just awesome to watch. Fantastic! They got a big round of applause.


Honesty is the Best Policy

One of the most striking things about people here is how honest they are. I've been in numerous situations when it would have been easy to rip me off - the foreigner who can't speak Chinese. In a restaurant I accidentally dropped a 1 yuan coin into a menu. The waitress actually came back to my table with the coin. Where else would anyone do that? It's not much, but in a country where they don't even accept tips, it's something extra. I left it on the table when I was finished, but then scooted away quickly - just in case she came running after me with it.

Another example.... I often eat at a restaurant that we like to call the "Muslim Noodle Shop". Last week I tried a new dish and didn't know the price. Now - I at least know my numbers in Chinese, along with a few basic words and sentences. But the problem is that they have to be spoken to me in perfect putonghua (standard Mandarin) in order for me to understand. Many people in China speak two languages: Putonghua and the local dialect. I suspect that many of the people working in restaurants, shops, etc. here in Changzhou are speaking the Changzhou dialect. I asked whether the dish was qi (7) yuan - and he responded with something that made no sense to me. So I just guessed and gave him 9 RMB. As I obviously didn't understand, he could have just taken it. But he gave me back 1 RMB..... very honest.


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I'll finish this post with a comment about how bizarre I find the contrast between what I'm experiencing here and the way China is frequently portrayed in the media back home. It seems that in the lead-up to the G20 Summit, western media have been particularly obsessed with China's growing assertiveness. On the Economist website, 3 of the top 5 stories have to do with China: "Rejoice, Damn You" (about Tibet), "China Takes Centre Stage", and "How China Sees the World". You read these articles and it's hard not to feel like China is on its way to being the west's biggest nemesis, much as the Soviet Union was in the Cold War.

I find it hard to reconcile that portrait of China with the image of three girls hovering outside my class 5 minutes before the bell rings, asking permission to enter because they're "late". I guess this points to why it is so important to distinguish between policy and people. Yes, there is much to criticize here. I'm a huge fan of democracy, so I feel no particular kinship with the Chinese government. But the people are a different story altogether. I already know that I'll be very sad to leave here in July.

This is a land of contrasts indeed.