Spring is in the air at our university which means it will soon be time to drag out the mosquito nets and umbrellas (to keep your skin from being dark). Sunny days are also popular for giving your comforter an air bath. All around campus you can see heavy blankets draped on bushes, trees, poles and balconies. Since Kate and Jess, Sean's sister and her girlfriend, are coming tomorrow and are staying with me, I decided to do some major spring cleaning which included washing lots of sheets and towels and spreading the comforters out on the bushes for a proper air bath. I also put some fun spring gel designs on my door. The random assortment of cute things at a Chinese Walmart is an endless supply of entertaining distractions.
Spring also meant that I talked about Easter in my culture and oral English classes. I tried to explain the religious and not-so-religious aspects of the holiday, but I am not sure how much actually got through. It can be a little challenging to explain the central holiday of Christianity when your students are still fuzzy on what it really means to be a Christian anyways. They definitely had fun talking about peeps, jellybeans and chocolate rabbits, however, and things got a bit chaotic when we decorated "eggs" (pastel balloons) and played competitive Taboo and Pictionary for candy using words about spring and Easter.
Spring is also the time when the foreign teachers have to give a speech on the topic of their choice. Ken spoke first tonight and his topic was "Christianity in America: Why people believe or do not." It was a good presentation that explained faith and reason and challenged the students to think about how they make decisions. The students had some really good questions after the presentation and I was impressed at the amount of interest they had in attending a speech outside of class. Ken gave the presentation to a completely packed house and many students had to be turned away or stand crowded in the back. This is just one more example of how foreigners can sometimes feel like a bit of a spectacle or a big deal (Peter, another teacher here, has a really good and recent post about this). When Sean and I poked our head in the room to look for a seat, we were greeted with excited shouts and cries and even some applause. It gets a little ridiculous.
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