qing cheng shan (green castle mountain)

so the first day that steve and strav got here, we woke up, grabbed a bus and took a two-hour ride to qing cheng shan. after a nice bus ride full of cards and reminiscing we arrived in the crisp, cleaner air of the mountain. we had an expensive lunch of unspicy sichuan food. i think they saw us as wimpy tourists and took it easy on us. way too easy. boring kung pao chicken, boring fish flavored eggplant, boring qing cheng greens. ah well, it set the guys up for a delicious initiation into chengdu cuisine, which they had yet to experience.

as we climbed we ran into porters which were carrying people up the mountain in sedan chairs. pretty ostentatious. at one of the temples which line the path to the top, i had a conversation with one of these porters. quickly we got on to politics, and soon he was talking about bu si. i couldn't figure it out until he yelled it 80 times in a row, at which time all three of us laowai realized he was talking about our illustrious president. he went on to talk about yi la ke, and how that was a big bad egg. very interesting.

we thought the steps would never stop. finally, we reached the top of the mountain, and in the clouds there was a giant pagoda with a huge golden cow inside. it was about 30 feet high, and 40 wide. i'm pretty sure the god of the 10 commandments would not be happy about it.

we climbed down, and had a nice bus ride back. we had a quick nap, and then went out to celebrate st. patty's day. huge deal in chengdu. big irish-chinese population. not really. but it would be cool if there was.

explanation

again, sorry for the break. steve, strav, and jesse visited last week, and i spent the days after cleaning up and recovering. this entry marks that i'm back to a hundred percent. we had a great time, and because of them, i got to see a bunch of the sites in chengdu that i haven't checked out before. so to come are a bunch of entries about the entertainment of these three intrepid travelers. check it.

a nice lunch

i sat down to lunch alone in the cafeteria. it was 12:10, 5 minutes before class got out, and the place was empty. when class got out however, a few people sat down. first was an art teacher i met a few weeks ago. he set his students' drawings on the table as he went to go get food. while he was gone, hiro came by and sat down, and then a student i met a few nights ago. i felt like the most popular girl at the dance.

so we sat and ate, and talked about march madness and sports terms in chinese. the yuen dong, the art teacher, asked me what i was doing after lunch in chinese. sadly, i didn't understand him the first time, even though that was the exact same question i was asked 30 times the day before in our weekly chinese class. luckily, i got him the second time.

i said resting, which was one of the responses from class, and he offered to show me his classes' paintings and drawings. we walked into the gym--first time i've been there--and looked at the easels and the drawings. pretty good, in my opinion. while we were checking out the art, his phone rang, and he motioned for me to follow him.

we went out to the street, where the vendors are. we stopped by the fish vendor, which is a guy standing next to a modified motorcycle with a pick-up truck for a back filled with a tarp, water, and fish. most of the fish were this boring bottom of the river black, but one was a bright orange koi. gorgeous. as dong pointed to the orange one for the fishman, i worried about the future of this delightful fish.

after dropping it on the ground only once, the fishman got the koi in a plastic grocery bag. dong paid him 20 kuai (2 and a half dollars), and we walk off toward the condo development north of my school. i've never been past the menacing guards, and boy was it nice. we walked through a nice little park, and to a condo, which dong yelled up at. a woman peeked out quickly, then disappeared.

a nice old lady answered the door, and we went into the largest house i've seen so far in china. to be honest, i've not been into too many houses. she took the fish from dong, and the went out into the backyard, with me following behind. outside there was a gorgeous patio and luckily, a nice koi pond. phew. the fish got dropped in, and li bobo--at least i think that was it--gave me a handful of fish food. so i fed the fish, and then we walked back to school.

on our way back we talked about cars, and i learned the word for gasoline, and i told my first wittisicsm in chinese. (it was about how these giant suvs often have tiny people inside them). eliciting laughter is always nice...but i guess i shouldn't be too happy about it.

what a great day!

the rocking of class 9B

ah the fickle crowd. at the beginning of class, i was handed a note, nay, a letter, by my rebellious student about how to make my classes better. turns out i didn't need it.

i rocked them hardcore...with a lesson plan i borrowed from patrick. it occurs to me that preparation is a huge part of teaching and preparation is not my strong suit. now the fact that it's taken me well into my 2nd year of teaching to realize this says something. luckily, it seems that at least one of patrick's strong suits is preparation, so for the rest of the semester, i'll be appropriating as much of his preparation as i can for myself.

i think 9B should be my litmus test. i think my other classes, while they might feel the same as 9B--that the lessons are boring, they don't like what we're doing, etc--they are too frightened or polite to say anything. 9B has no such compunctions. if they don't like it, they ignore me, or stand up in class and berate me.

just what i needed.

quote

before class.

boy 1: something indecipherable in chinese.
boy 2: he says you are fatter than before.
me: oh.

pretty straight forward. no offense meant, no negative connotation--i've just added some meat to the bones.

does make me want to start running again though.

the revolt of class 9B

this new semester has been going well. i'm energized, the students have been energized, i had a good lesson plan...and then 9B happened. with a vengeance.

they are my toughest class, and i have them monday mornings. i have two students i think who are on a listening comprehension of the rest of my 8th grade classes. the rest tune out immediately, chatting with each other, reading chinese books, and working on other homework. i try to get them chatting with each other to explain to me the traditions associated with chinese new year. in past classes, they have fallen right into it, excited to explain to the laowai about their culture.

here, they sit dejected in their seats. after five minutes of chatting in chinese, i ask for some answers. blank stares. one girl raises her hand and starts speaking to me in chinese. i ignore her, and sigh with relief when one of my two students prepared for my class puts his hand up. i call on him, and he tells me, with defiance, that this plan is boring.

not what i expected. luckily, the second half of my lesson plan is a survey trying to figure out what my students want to learn this coming semester. i explain this in simple terms to the class and to my defiant student who is still standing. i hand out the survey, emphasizing that this will make class less boring, and more about what they want to learn.

my defiant student finally sits down, luckily, they did not applaud him, and i tell him if he thinks this class is boring, i need his help to make it more exciting. his solution is that he acts as my interpreter, translating my english instructions into chinese. i explain to him he may be missing the point of having a foreign teacher.

the bell finally rings, and i collect the surveys. a collection of poignant insights to help the class be more enjoyable they are not.

what would you like to learn about american culture?
i don't want to learn. i love china.

i'm afraid what we have here is a classic case of miscommunication. i gotta figure out how to bridge this gap. i know they can do this, i just got to get to them somehow.

luckily, i'm optimistic.

chengdu rediscovered

it's good to be back in chengdu. cdfls (my school) has hired a new teacher to take rachel's place, brian, and the new blood has invigorated both patrick and i. tian fu square which has been closed for renovations since i've been here is now open as well. from a bird's-eye-view, the square is giant yin-yang symbol, with two fountains for the dots. patrick says that now the mao statue is much more imposing, and i agree.

but the new semester is going well. i'm rejuvenated, and so are my students. only 4 more months teaching.

we also ventured into the city to an ex-pat bar, something that i have been wary of doing. it was interesting to see how many foreigners there are. the next night, we met nadia and one of her friends at a turkish restaurant, and lo and behold, many of the faces from the ex-pat club were there. i just don't want to fall into a habit of hanging out exclusively with non-chinese. luckily, living an hour by bus away, that is not likely to happen.

but it's nice to be back in chengdu, even if i don't feel as strongly as zhang yimou.