Xin Wen XiuaXao

I want to first apologize for how long it has been since I last posted. This can be attributed to two things. First, I am incredibly busy. Second, life here lacks a bit of the excitement that one would often associate with living in a foreign country. OK that second part is not true. At least once day I see something that is so Chinese, so unbelievably foreign that it makes me laugh, makes me think that I should post it, but unfortunately as I said I am busy.

Teaching is no longer as terrible as it was for the first few days. I am getting the hang of dealing with trouble makers and I am also learning how to streamline my lesson planning. I teach grades 2 and 3 (all of which are little monsters) and grades 6-9 which are quite an improvement. As today is Teacher's Day I want to discuss the school where I now work and reside.

My apartment is huge but quite dirty. It is on the ground floor of a 5 story dormitory for teachers. The kids also live on campus which means that the only time that I ever get any quiet time during the week is when I go to my apartment, close all my windows, and turn on some music. Literally everytime I leave my door a chorus of poorly pronounced "Hellos" greats me from the middle school dormitory. However, everyone else goes home on the weekends so it is not hard to get some peace and quiet after a long work week. I eat in the cafeteria, which will save me a ton of money in the long run, but may end up costing me my stomach. My favorite meal is breakfast but, as it is served at 6:15, it is also the meal I miss the most. The best time here at Xin Wen is on the weekends when Aimee and I eat with the maintnence staff, who live in hovel apartments just off campus. It is quiet and the food is delicious. Also, the maintnence staff has gotten used to our being there and so it is one of the few places where I don't feel like a foreigner.

The classrooms themselves are remarkably high tech, some with really nice projectors and some with 1980s big screen TVs that have extremely low resolution, and I do most of my lessons via powerpoint. I even got to show my older students my house on google earth. In between classes I feel like the Pied Piper leading a mass of children outside of their own classroom up to the door of my next class. Oh ya. The kids stay put... in theory. Each class has its own room where it stays all day. Each period the teachers have to move from class to class. Here I thought that after graduating college I would be able to stop living by the bell.

I have a shared office space with other 7-9 grade teachers on the 4th floor of the classroom building for those grades. Everyone is really nice in the office and a lot of the teachers sing while they do their work. This usually is very annoying for me. However here in China I really like it. The women to whom my back faces actually has quite a lovely voice. My desk backs up against my Chinese friend Monica's desk. It is a nice place to sit and talk with other teachers and some of the older students. It is also my refuge from the mass of bodies that tends to follow me from place to place.

I mentioned earlier that today is Teacher's Day. There is a gift of a red envelope waiting for me back at my apartment. The red envelope is the traditional way to gift money here in China, although I have no idea how much is in mine. As with almost everything in China, you also celebrate by drinking alcohol. The owner of the school was here with her family for lunch and, being that Aimee and I have "3D" faces, we were invited to join them. I was offered baijo (remeber white liquor) and beer, it would have been rude to have refused. Tonight we are going to KTV. yippee!

I have also joined the teacher's basketball team here. We are actually pretty good. The first game was against the Liuyang Hospital Staff. I scored 12 points and had 5 rebounds and 6 blocks. Oh ya and I hit the game winner. The funny part is that I didn't even know how much time was left. We had just taken a time out and I am sure there was a discussion about how the game was almost over and whatnot but of course it was in Chinese so.... So I took the shot and it went in. All of a sudden the students rushed the court and were jumping on me with my teammates... finally the respect I never got at Cardinal Newman. Even though there is a language barrier the team seems very excited to have me and I think that it will be a good diversion from classes and planning. Thanks to all for reading,
C. Johnson

P.S. Next post will feature taxis, and motorcycles, and a bar named PARTY. Talk to you soon.