These are pictures of the celebration at our school - there was music, singing, dancing and speeches (none of which we understood)

All of the students are excited because there are no classes this Thursday and Friday in honor of National Day. National Day of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is celebrated every year on October 1 and is considered one of the most important public holidays (the other big holiday is Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year in January or Februray).

The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949 so this year the festivities will be especially grandiose as it will be the 60th anniversary. The busiest and most crazy part of the country will be in Beijing in Tienanmen Square as this is where the original ceremony took place in 1949. This year there will be parades, speeches, concerts, fireworks and many other government-sponsored activities and festivities. Beijing will be decked out in full patriotic display with portraits of many leaders shown around town.

I asked my students today what they were planning on doing for the holiday and most of them are going home to spend time with their families. Sean and I are excited because a recent graduate of the university invited us home with her to stay with her and her family for the holiday. Her home is in a more rural part of the province and it will be interesting to be able to stay with an actual Chinese family and hang out with a student for the weekend.

I don't think I will have access to the internet for the next couple of days so I'll see you again on Sunday or Monday!

Many new English teachers come to China with the hopes of learning some Mandarin and I am no different. One of the most common ways to learn the language here is to find students willing to help you learn Chinese. This has been an interesting process because of the cultural differences that have surfaced. Chinese students have been taught from a young age to respect and value their teachers and their English teachers are no exception. To them it is an honor to have the opportunity to help a foreign teacher and they don't even expect to receive payment. During my first week of classes I put my email on the board and asked students interested in tutoring me to send me an email. Here are some of the responses I received:

"A book that is like the river itself, both lovely and rebellious, and strong beneath the stillness of its surface." - New York Times Book Review

If you are looking for a good read and are the slightest bit interested in what it is like to teach English in China I would recommend the book, "River Town" by Peter Hessler. I would venture to guess that almost every Peace Corps volunteer and new English teacher in China reads this book because it is a well-written and honest description of what most Americans working in China experience on a day-to-day basis.

I am in the middle of the book right now and it has been fun to read another person's thoughts regarding similar emotions that I have felt and cultural differences that have caught my attention as well. Peter Hessler is 27 when he enters the Peace Corps and lives in China from 1996 until 1998. He is placed at a university in a city on the Yangtze River called Fuling. The book details some of his teaching experiences, culture shocks, the challenges of learning Chinese and what he learns about the Chinese people tied in with past history as well as current events and politics. He is especially good at sharing the complexity,
frustration and respect that is understanding China.

It has been interesting to read not only to join in on some of the same struggles and validate other concerns and questions that I have but also to note how China has changed in just 11 years. It is also interesting to see the differences in living in a more rural area (like Peter) compared to an urban area, like Changzhou where I live. Here is a note about the book that the author, himself, wrote:

"This isn't a book about China. It's about a certain small part of China at a certain brief period in time, and my hope has been to capture the richness of both the moment and the place. The place I know well - the murky Yangtze, the green well-worked mountains - but the moment is more difficult to define. Fuling was situated midriver both geographically and historically, and sometimes it was hard to see where things came from and where they were going. But the town and its people were always full of life and energy and hope, which in the end is my subject. Rather than an inquiry into a source or a destination, this is an account of what it was like to spend two years in the heart of the great river's current." - Peter Hessler, "River Town"

On Friday night, Sean, Jordan, Ken, Daniel and I went over to Mr. Wu's (Steve) house for dinner. Steve is Chinese but works in the foreign language department and teaches English. He has been really nice and helpful to all of us when we have problems or questions about adapting to life in China. He likes to spend a lot of time with the foreigners and his English is excellent. Steve is married to his wife, Spring and they have a son, Michael.

I didn't really know what to expect when we took the bus from school over to Steve's house as I had never been in a Chinese person's house before. The Wu family lives in an apartment complex about 15 minutes from school. Their apartment had a kitchen, bathroom, living room and two bedrooms and when we arrived Spring had all of the main dishes ready for us on the table.

Everything was delicious. There was beef and onions, water chestnuts, asparagus and pork, candied chicken, sweet peas, tofu and mushrooms and curried potatoes with chicken. After dinner we played a Chinese version of tic-tac-toe called something like "five in a row". It was trickier than it sounded and I lost to eleven-year-old Michael in a matter of minutes.

It is common for a Chinese couple to have only one child due to the "Family Planning Policy" that China began in 1979. In this policy parents with multiple births aren’t given the same benefits as parents of one child. Many times the parents have to pay money to the government in order to get permission to have another child or are fined if they have another child without permission.As a consequence of the One-Child policy the structure of the traditional Chinese family has changed dramatically and the attention has shifted from the respected elders of the family to revolving around one child often causing the child to become spoiled and overindulged. In addition, the child is often weighed down with huge pressures and expectations as he/she is the only heir of the family. This phenomenon is known in China as "Little Emperor Syndrome" and has been attributed most frequently to an increased spending power within the family unit due to the parents’ desire for their child to experience the benefits they were denied. Wikipedia describes it as a problem “so acute that it’s changing how society functions" and notes that the effect has produced consequences “the architects of China's one-child policy could never have foreseen." Another source referred to the syndrome as a “behavioral time-bomb" of the "Spoilt Brat Generation".
I don't know Michael very well but it was interesting to think about "Little Emperors" while spending time with him and his family. Some of the other teachers that had spent more time with him said that he frequently got his way or didn't have to do any chores and was doted on and praised excessively for relatively average achievements. It will be interesting to not only get to know Michael better in the future but also to see the future implications of a society growing up with families of only one child.

There are many living things that attempt to gain entry to my front door: spiders, mosquitoes, neighbors, moths, chickens, and above all, cats. All over campus, but in the neighborhood of townhouses of the teachers especially, reside many feral cats and kittens. They are skittish and wary of humans but are always hunting for food and trying to get into our apartment. After one vacation, Ken, another English teacher, found paw prints all over his desk and computer and discovered that the cats had become adept at opening sliding windows by dragging their claws along the screen.


I don't mind the cats and think the kittens are fun to watch although I feel guilty when they all sit on my front stoop and literally drool with hunger. Right now there are two bright orange ones and a little tiger. I would be thrilled if they hung around my apartment more but they seemed to have taken a special liking to Ken. The irony of this is that Ken is not a fan of feral cats in the least. Unfortunately, the cats' most favorite napping spot is on Ken's front apartment mat and invariably every morning when I open my curtains I see a pile of sleeping feral cats on his front porch.

I was nervous about the first week of class because I am the kind of person who is always nervous the first week of class whether I am the instructor or a student. In China, however, I was nervous for a few new reasons.

1) There is no textbook for my class. The foreign language department basically said something to the effect of "You're teaching sophomore oral English. Go." I don't know how to organize the class, what to include in the semester, what topics to cover, how to evaluate etc.

2) I don't know the level of English of my students or what they have covered in previous oral English courses (or if they have had previous oral English courses).

3) I don't know any Chinese.

4) I have been inundated with information during orientation about how it is sometimes next to impossible to get Chinese students to actually speak English due to their lack of confidence and a high embarrassment level.


Taking these worries into consideration, I did the only thing I felt comfortable doing: teaching the first day of English class like I would teach the first day of a beginning Spanish class. For the first hour of class I reviewed greetings and common introductory conversation topics and had students practice in pairs. They also practiced introducing each other to other groups in the class and to me. For the second hour of class I went over my rules and goals for the semester and talked about weekly journal assignments that I wanted them to write. I also had them fill out a short survey about themselves and what they wanted to learn about over the course of the semester as well as what they were nervous and excited about. The top themes selected included learning about U.S. culture and how to talk about traveling, food, holidays, family and university life.

For the last part of class I allowed each student to write down an anonymous question for me and I answered each one out loud. Here are only some of the questions I received:

"I want to know the experience in your college"
"I think Obama is handsome and cool. What's your opinion of him?"
"Can you talk something about your family?"
"Can you sing a song for us?"
"What do you think of China?"
"Why did you come to China?"
"What do you usually do in your leisure time?"
"What do you think about the death of MJ?"
"What's your lucky number?"
"Can you make a brief description about your hometown?"
"Have you marriaged? And how many children do you have?"
"Do you have a BF or talking about your love story"
"As the first impression, who do you like most in this class?"
"Do you have a Chinese boyfriend?"
"Which religion do you believe in and why?"
"Gay or straight?"
"America food or Chinese food. Which do you prefer?"
"Can you hold a party with us at the end of the term?"


The questions were fun (though sometimes surprising and awkward) to answer and it was interesting to see what was important for the students to know through the questions that they asked me. At the end of the class I passed around pictures of my family and of my hometown and while explaining each photo I had the complete attention of every student in the room - I don't think I have ever felt more important and listened-to as I did during that class.

People have told me that teaching in China is like being a rock star - you get special treatment everywhere you go. My first day was no exception but I hope that with each class, the students can see me as less and less like a foreigner and more and more like a friend.

One of the things that I wasn't expecting to have in China was a lot of free time. I can safely say that I have more free time now than I have had in years and it has been fun filling it with activities other than work. I spend a fair bit if time teaching and lesson planning but not at all like what I was doing in the states due to a few different reasons. I am only teaching one class - sophomore oral English. This means that I only have to make one lesson plan every week and simply repeat it seven different times. Here is my schedule:

Monday: 8:00-10:00, 2:00-4:00
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 8:00-10:00, 10:00-12:00
Thursday: Off (an additional class starts October 12 from 10:00-12:00)
Friday: 8:00-10:00, 10:00-12:00


That being said, I have a lot of free time. I have been reading, writing letters and post cards, exploring the city, cooking, blogging, traveling and most recently, working out. Sean and I have decided to try and get in shape and have been running every day on the university track. The other day Ken, another English teacher, told us about a fitness program that he was going to do called P90X. He said that he had all of the DVDs and equipment and that we could join him if we wanted. Sean and I decided to give it a try and after finding some of the equipment that we needed we were ready to begin.


P90X is a pretty unique program in that it is ridiculously difficult and grueling while at the same time hilariously cheesy (not a surprise considering the website is "www.beachbody.com"). The program requires about an hour and a half of a high-intensity workout 6 days a week for 90 days. The workout is different every day and includes activities such as yoga, kickboxing, sit-ups, plyometrics, chin-ups, weight and band training and "core synergistics". Although I was skeptical at first about the program's requirements of a water bottle and towel, each workout has had me dripping with sweat by the end.


Sean and I set up a mini-gym in one of the extra rooms in my apartment. It now has yoga mats, an Iron Gym, weights, bands and water bottles. A few times I have seen Chinese neighbors peeking out from their curtains across the walk and I am sure they are wondering what the crazy foreigners are up to now as they see us performing set after set of crazy movements like "block/hook/jab/lunge/punch," and "standing tree pose". It is hard to stay motivated and frequently I get irritated and annoyed by the example athletes on the DVD as they perform like body builders and Olympic gymnasts. In addition, the main coach, Tony, is a bit of a hillbilly turned muscle man. He is constantly reminding us to "bring it" and "do your best and forget the rest" while also adding in several plugs for his special post workout rehydrating drinks and vitamin supplements.

Since Sean and I don't have a lot of options to stay in shape we are not complaining and we maintain hope that Tony can transform our carbohydrate laden bodies into future models for beachbodies.com - I'll let you know how that turns out =).

One of the more frustrating challenges and adjustments upon arrival in China was not only the inability to access decent internet but also the discovery that much of the internet in China is blocked. I had heard a few things about blocked sites before coming but hadn't really given much thought to it until it began to affect me personally.


Although most people probably know this already, I was not aware that China has actually constructed two kinds of walls: the famous wall of stone and a surprisingly effective internet firewall. Here's how Wikipedia defines this concept: "A firewall is a part of a computer system or network that is designed to block unauthorized access while permitting authorized communications. It is a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all (in and out) computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria." For me, a person with little technological knowledge, the internet firewall provoked hours of anger and frustration due to the fact that among the sites blocked included such favorites as Blogger, Facebook, Email and YouTube.


Wikipedia notes that China put the internet firewall in place to prevent anti-government opinions and organization online. "The size of the Internet police is estimated at more than 30,000 . . . Critical comments appearing on internet forums and blogs are usually erased withing minutes." The Chinese firewall is thought to be more extensive and advanced than any other country in the world not only because it blocks website access but also because it keeps track of certain individuals. Amnesty International has said that China "has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world." That being said, I won't be posting any negative opinions on current controversial issues such as: Tibet, Tienanmen Square, Taiwan, the Falun Gong or religion.


To bypass the internet firewall I turned to my fellow (and much more technologically savvy) English teachers at the university. They all recommended buying a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service which basically "tunnels" through blocked access. I am using a VPN service called Witopia. Here's how Witopia describes a VPN: "A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is technology using hardware, software, or both to secure and privatize data across a network, usually the Internet, by building what techies call an “encrypted tunnel.” Data passes through this “tunnel,” protected from anyone who tries to intercept it. Even if the data is intercepted, it is hopelessly scrambled and useless to anyone without the key to decrypt it." Although this service costs about $60 a year, it is well worth unblocked internet access and the ability to communicate with friends and family back home via Facebook and Blogger.

Here are some ways to get a hold of me in China. I have tested the phone number combinations using Skype so I know that they work. We have been thinking a lot about friends and family back home and we would love to hear from you! It has been a lot of fun chatting via web-cam using Skype with my parents and a few of my friends who use Skype and have internet at home. It is always amazing to think about the fact that we are having a normal conversation half a world away and a half a day ahead.

If you don't have Skype yet I highly recommend getting it - it is a free program that can be downloaded on the internet which lets you talk internationally (with or without a web-cam) for free! Sometimes there are slow connections or glitches in communication but for the most part it has been a great alternative to pricey phone calls. To download Skype, simply visit www.skype.com follow the directions and then search for my username: sarahesanderson.

Hope to chat with you soon!



Address:

Sarah Sanderson
International Office
Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology
1801 Zhongwu Rd
Changzhou 213001
Jiangsu
P. R. CHINA

Phone:

Sarah's apartment land line: 00 86 519 86999561
Sarah and Sean cell: 00 86 519 13961156537

(you will probably have to dial a 1 first to call long distance unless you are using Skype)

Skype name: sarahesanderson

It is hard to believe that I left Michigan about a month ago and started orientation in Shanghai. The journey has been full of ups and downs but things have finally settled more or less into a routine.

The adventure began with a long trip from Grand Rapids to Shanghai. Sean and I had to be at the airport at 5:30 am in order to arrive in Chicago on time to make our 10:30 flight to China. Unfortunately our flight to Shanghai was delayed by 8 hours due to mechanical problems and we spent a tiring and frustrating day in Chicago only to board a plane for 14 cramped hours of mediocre movies and strange airplane Chinese food.

We were happy to arrive at the airport and were picked up by CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) who hosted us at a hotel in the faculty club at a university in Shanghai for our week-long orientation about teaching English, living abroad and working in China.

After a week packed with meeting new people (34 new participants in all), crash courses in Mandarin, sight-seeing, recovering from jet-lag, chopstick practice, trying different foods and lots of lessons and tips on teaching English, Sean, Jordan and I took a train one and a half hours north to Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology in Changzhou.

We spent the first week in our new home unpacking, settling in our new apartments, having meetings with Teddy (our liaison) and the foreign language department, meeting the other English teachers and exploring the campus as well as the city of Changzhou. I will be teaching 14 hours a week of oral English classes to sophomore English majors and Sean will be teaching 16 hours of oral English to freshmen.

Though we were supposed to start teaching the following week, classes were canceled due to an outbreak of H1N1 on campus. To take advantage of the free time, Sean, Daniel, Jordan, Ken and I took a trip north to Qingdao, a city on the coast and had a good time enjoying the beach, exploring the city, and tasting the mussels, kebabs and Tsingtao beer the city is famous for.

It is Saturday here and we are using our last weekend of vacation to plan some lessons, do laundry, catch up on emails and send some post cards. I am looking forward to keeping a blog while I am here - thanks for reading!