K: I am Professor McGonagall

One of the benefits (or nuisances, depending on your point of view) of being a teacher is receiving year-end gifts. It's a benefit when the gift is useful or enjoyable and a nuisance when you have to figure out how in the world you are going to dispose of it without getting caught or hurting feelings. Honestly, most of the gifts we receive in China fall into the latter category. We are always touched by the thought and the generosity of our students, but there really is only so much that can be done with a dozen or so giant Zhongguo Jie (Chinese Knots symbolizing happiness and good fortune). 

Occasionally though, the planets are bound to align and then a gift is given that is neither beneficial nor a nuisance, but is just so unique that you can't help but be grateful for the entertainment. On the last day of class, from a sweet freshman student named Hope, I got this doll made from what I think is wrapping paper, tinsel, and nothing less than a yellow plastic Easter egg for the head with a woman's face drawn on it. I think she looks like Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter movies, and as a huge fan, I can only hope that Hope meant to tell me that I am her Professor McGonagall. 

K: In Loving Memory

My Uncle Victor, my mother's oldest brother, was killed a week ago while riding his motorcycle home from work. We don't grieve for him because he is better off by far, but with all the loved ones who remain and especially for Aunt Ruth, we mourn our loss.

To our family: We wish we could be in PA with you to celebrate Victor's life and to share your grief. Our thoughts are with you.

N: 4 years

On the 21st we celebrated our four year anniversary.  We rescheduled classes so that we would have the whole day off to do whatever.  We ran some errands, went shopping, ate wonderfully, enjoyed each other's company, and spent the whole day together. For dinner we went to a new little American pizza place.  We even got free dessert after we told him it was our anniversary.  Then we people watched.  Rain doesn't come often to Yinchuan, but for some reason, it had been raining for about a week straight.  Have you ever seen someone riding their bike and holding an umbrella?

N: The Flag Has No Meaning

I spent most of last Saturday on a bus going to and coming back from a city called Tongxin. One of my former students, Eric, asked if I would be interested in giving a special lecture to some high school students in his hometown to encourage them in their English learning. I went to Tongxin with Eric and two Indian students that are studying at our college.

The bus ride down was fun(ish). I talked with Eric about his hometown and also talked with the Indian students about some cultural differences I had seen. Eric is sometimes frustrating to talk to. I laugh when I think about it. Let me give you an example of a conversation we had:

Me: What do the five stars on the Chinese flag represent? Or the color red?             Do they have any meaning?
Eric: Uuuhhh……No. No meaning.
Me: Really??? Think about what you are saying. You are saying that the                   color of the flag and the stars on the flag have no meaning.
Eric: Yes. No meaning.
Me: *blank stare of disbelief. (Indians laugh.)

Being such an information junkie, answers like this do little for my cravings. In fact they usually make them worse. We had a similar conversation about the meaning of the name Tongxin, but after some introspection due to pressure applied by me, he gave me the meaning “One Heart” meaning everyone has a common belief/purpose. Of the approximately 220 thousand, the town is about 80% percent Hui. From the balcony of the mosque that we visited in the city, we could count four more mosques.

On the list of things to do while in Tongxin were visit the Grand Mosque and give a lecture to a group of highschoolers. The lecture went wonderfully and the students were quite active in their response. Even when I asked the question that silences every English class – Do you have any questions? – hands immediately went into the air. I mostly talked about who I am, the importance of English, and teaching in China as an American. It was fun for me, and seemed fun for them. After the lecture we went to the Grand Mosque and then ate some lunch at a friend’s home. Eric’s nephew tagged along with us for this part of the trip. After I tired of the adult conversation in the living room, I taught him how to play paper football. He needs to work on his field goals, but other than that, he was pretty good. He took the paper football home with him.

K and A decided to celebrate grieve my absence by eating pizza. But in all fairness to them, I did get a meatball sub out of the deal.

K: That's Finished

Several weeks ago we taught a unit on Nonverbal Communication (i.e. gestures, facial expressions, body language, and signs). It was a pretty entertaining unit to teach because though some gestures and body language are the same in China as they are in the US, some vary from country to country. For example, if you were to flash the peace sign at a friend you would be proclaiming victory rather than peace. And if you were to circle your finger around your ear to signify "crazy" you would in fact be declaring that you are thinking.

With this in mind, we began the lesson by having students brainstorm for as many gestures and meanings as they could think of and then we looked at the bright and beautiful pictures in the textbook to discover and discuss new gestures and their meanings. After that there was a conversation for listening and practice about a foreign student from India who moves his head from side to side when you speak with him meaning that he agrees with what you're saying. This was a coincidentally applicable conversation because at the Medical College we do actually have about 100 Indian students who are here to study Chinese Traditional Medicine. I and my students were agreed that we have never seen any one of them do this when we are speaking with them. So instead of practicing this faulty dialogue, I had the students choose a different gesture, either from our discussion or from the book, and make new dialogues about possible and actual meanings. (We were also practicing using possibility/probability adverbs and modals.)

One of the dialogues that came out of this assignment has forever changed the way that I and my teammates communicate and we think that it could catch on globally...

Bailey and Robert (all of our students choose English names for themselves on the first day of class for two reasons: one, it's English class, and two, we can't pronounce nor remember all of their Chinese names) made a conversation about an American foreign student who statically poses his hands in opposition to communicate that he is finished; it looked quite Zen to me. It took me a few seconds to figure out where they had come up with this cock-eyed information and then I couldn't help but laugh. In the book, the man gesturing "That's finished" is brushing his hands together in the classic gesture as we all know it, and though I'd planned the lesson and taught it three times at that point, I hadn't seen it until the boys unintentionally pointed out that there was no indication that his hands were moving at all.  Robert said: And then he holds one hand up this way and one hand down that way, you know, like this (showing the gesture). And Bailey said: He must mean to say that he's finished. I almost didn't have the heart to explain that the hands should move together as though brushing off dirt because the confidence with which they demonstrated the non-gesture was endearing.

So now we have adopted this reformed gesture and use it any chance we get. This morning, I gave the last of my final exams... That's finished.

K: Finals

It's that time of year. With just three weeks left in the semester, we're giving final exams this week, we'll wrap up the term with our students the next, and then we'll have a week to get grades calculated and turned in, prepare to be in the States for a couple of months, and... pack and move. Move? Uh-huh.

We've got an (overdue) newsletter in the works and it's proving quite difficult to write and organize as we try to do justice to the time we've spent here and look ahead to what's next. The fact of the matter is that our organization has relocated us to another college on the other side of the city for next year. The reasons make sense,  and there will be benefits to the change, but as the three of us intended to return together to continue the work we've been doing, the transition is not coming easily.

As I've been thinking about what I could write today, I can't get any farther than this thought: that we're nearing and are even on the final stretch. That thought weighs heavy, so I guess that's what I have to offer today.

P.S.  To quote A when she referred her readers to us, "You call it slacking...I call it teamwork." We had a great weekend. For that update, visit Wander Life.

Shellin' Beans on Grandma's Porch

K's folks recently dug up these pictures for a wedding shower given for Neil (K's younger brother) and his bride-to-be, Kelly.

From L to R: Aunt Gladys, Neil, K, and Grandma Weaver in 1987 on Grandma's porch shelling beans. The house in New Holland, PA where Grandma Weaver lived for more than sixty years, where she raised her family, and which became "home base" for her large extended family is no longer standing, but Grandma's still around. She'll be 100 this fall!