newspaper + education

So this online newspaper I have seems like it's really coming together. I've come up with an advertisement and scheduled a first meeting for December 13th. I've made an announcement in all of my classes and it seems like a great deal of my students are really interested. The biggest challenge I see now is making sure that the content isn't vapid and trite articles about, 'How great my hometown is'. I'm not too worried about the sophomores and juniors. I'm really worried about the freshmen and non-English majors whose English is considerably worse but arguably exhibit much more confidence than the English majors.

I'm not sure why the freshmen and non-English majors have more confidence when speaking than my sophomore and junior students. The freshmen are the only ones who will come up to me in the hallway and ask me questions, even though they're just the dull milk-toast questions about whether I like China. I'm not even sure what happens that makes students shy about approaching a foreigner in the first place. I know when I had native Spanish speakers at F&M I wasn't necessarily afraid of approaching him or her. I never went up to one and initiated a conversation like some of the students here do, but I think it would just be strange to walk up to a professor and ask her if she likes American food.

In any event, I was never shy about approaching a professor. I think a lot of the apprehension here has to do with the level of the professor verses that of a student. The word for teacher, laoshi, literally means old master and the laoshi in China is certainly considered more knowledgable and therefore above a student. In the US, the tradition is for students to actively question as opposed to passively receive, which would explain the emphasis on participation and volunteering in American classrooms. I believe that is the biggest difference between American and Chinese classrooms. I've seen a couple classes here and for the most part, there is little teacher-student interaction. Most of the information is one way only. It's been difficult to get students to consistently participate, but the progress that I've seen so far, although not the level I'd like it yet, is quite surprising and commendable given the students' educational background up until now.

Perhaps it's unfair to compare the F&M liberal arts education to CWNU though. I think most unviersities in the United States are not like F&M, and are probably just as impersonal in terms of professor-student relationships as I think CWNU is. I don't have much experience with big schools, so I should say that these conclusions are somewhat unsubstantiated considering. Students here though have very little face time with professors, and interaction between students and professor is fairly limited. I do everything I can to make sure I am available to students at all times: I have office hours, give out my e-mail and phone number, hold review sessions, visit English corners etc... but I am the only English teacher that does this. Chinese professors, at least the ones I've met so far, don't hold office hours and never visit English corner. There is a bi-weekly showing of an English movie by Mr. Hao, but the word 'showing' is a misleading term. I thought originally that Mr. Hao would explain the context of the movie and give some background, but it turns out all he does is choose the movie and give it to a student to show. That's certainly a better situation than having no movie at all, but it lacks the personalism that I've experienced throughout my schooling. I've inquired about showing my own movies (which I now have quite a collection of) but students seem content with having Mr. Hao choose the films for them.

In any event, this newspaper shows some promise for bridging the professor-student gap even more, and making sure that students have another English outlet. More to follow...

The vet

So I went to the veterinarian yesterday with my cat to investigate the scabbiness and flaky skin problems it was having. When I got him out of the box, the vet instructed me to hold the cat's neck between my hands while he gave him an injection. While giving the injection into the back of his neck, the little cat squirmed away and I can only imagine what sort of pain he experienced wiggling with a needle in his spine.

The vet gave another injection to the cat and placed him back into the box. At this point the cat became limp and unable to walk. I asked if he was okay, and the vet responded that, no, in fact he wasn't ok. A few minutes later, and the kitten was completely comatose. There was no movement at all in his limbs. He wasn't even blinking. The vet then left the office and took me and the cat in his carry box (actually just a cardboard box from my parents with a soft sheet) to his other office (across the street) where he told me to sit and wait. The vet then left me and the cat and returned to the main office.

Ten minutes passed and nothing happened. The cat was just as limp as before. The vet returned and held up the cat at which point the cat's head snapped back. He put the cat back into his box and he lied there motionless again. At this point I began to look around this office and noticed an empty bottle of baijiu (rice alcohol) and a couple half-drunk beers on a table in the center of the room. The vet then gave the cat another injection with no reaction and then took a sip of beer. When I finally got a smell of his breath, I could tell he was drunk, and not just any drunk, this guy was clearly under the influence. I probably wouldn't have minded if it were my doctor. I think it would be humorous to see my doctor drunk and trying to assist patients, but here was this veterinarian trying (at this point) to rescue a cat that he had hurt with his negligence. This picture here is of the doctor's table where the bottle of baijiu, which is now in the trash, was previously lying on the ground.

The vet left again and returned with another injection. No reaction. He told me to wait again and I sat there while he left to his other office. He came back again with another injection. Nothing. At this point it went through my head exactly what I would do if the cat died there. Did I have any recourse? It turns out he is also a teacher at CWNU, but doubt there is anything I could do other than try my best to express my anger in Chinese.

Finally after an hour and a half of sitting and staring at the lifeless cat, he began to come to and began to move his legs. Eventually he was able to drunkenly move around with great difficulty. Only this morning was he able to walk in a straight path. I've asked about other vets in the Nanchong area.

Today I continued talking about debating in my advanced oral English class. I'm leading up to a big debate as a final exam in which six groups will individually debate the pros and cons of the Iraq war, gay marriage, and immigration reform. I'm slowly taking them through each part of a debate; the opening statement, cross-examination, rebuttal, and closing statement. Each week we talk about a new topic and practice another aspect of the debate structure.

Today's topic, perhaps partly for my own interest to see their ideas and to give them some more background into contemporary American politics, was the legalization of marijuana. Not one student of all 150 students I had today was pro-legalization. Everyone had these weird notions of what marijuana did and what the effects were. Some ideas were very extreme, that marijuana could cause the breakdown of society: smoking or touching marijuana would make the person violently and deliorously addicted, ultimately leading to disorder and chaos. Other students were tamer and only talked about the harmful effects of smoking on the lungs.

I asked where they got this information, and most of the students responded that it was from CCTV (the Chinese national television station). I wish I could see some of the commercials that talked about drug use. I can ony imagine that it was like those 1930 films about marijuana called 'Reefer Madness'. On the bus from Nanchong to Chengdu a propaganda short about birth control was intermittently shown during a movie on the bus's tv screens. The short began with a number of sperm swimming incessantly through a beige-ish background. The camera then focuses on a single sperm that begins to take on certain animal-like qualities. It stops swimming and looks around like a worm would coming out of a hole. At this point the image faded away and a message popped up in English and Chinese: 'Don't leave anything to chance'. I must have watched the little lonely sperm movie at least ten or eleven times by the time the two hour bus ride was over.

Only a few of them mentioned it was their parents who had told them marijuana was bad. I made sure to explain that what made a drug 'bad' was relative and explained that coffee, cigarrettes, and beer all are techincally drugs. After going deeper into the pros and cons and having the students practice cross-examinations, it seemed that the ideas of marijuana-induced destruction and chaos had faded away.

It's raining and my food is getting cold. Back home now...

MERRY THANKSGIVING DAY, Phil!

One of the text messages a student sent me on Thursday. It's interesting the way American holidays, regardless of their significance, are observed/celebrated here in China. Students have absolutely no idea what Thanksgiving actually is, but they sent me many messages and believe it is a time to celebrate. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two most widely observed American holidays here by far. Easter is probably third. I consistently have to explain that Thanksgiving is an American (cultural) holiday while Christmas and Easter are religious ones.

When I say that I don't celebrate Christmas, all of my students gasp in wonderment. An American who doesn't celebrate Christmas? Then I have to explain what Christianity is and why I'm not Christian and why I also don't celebrate Easter. I'm sure these holidays are relevant in China only because the Chinese understand that they are significant in the US. A lot of my students related Thanksgiving to the Chinese mid-Autumn moon festival; a time when you get together with friends and family, but they had no idea as to what Thanksgiving was really about; historically and culturally, at least.

On Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I went with some other foreigners to eat huoguo, Chinese hotpot; essentially a simmering bowl of hot oil in which you cook various dishes in before eating. I hear hot pot is more popular in Sichuan province than it is in some of the other areas, which may be because of the Sichuan propensity to spicy foods. It was as close to a Thanksgiving dinner as one could actually get in Nanchong.

In my writing class last week, I taught about how to write thesis statements. As an example, I had students come up with a list of facts about a topic, come up with a few thesis statements about the topic, and then underline the facts that support that statement. As a demonstration, the class made facts about the school dining hall which is apparently a den of rank and inedible filth that no one likes. Everyone was negative about the dining hall, and supplied facts like, "The food quality is poor", "The service is slow", and "The chopsticks smell bad". Then one of my students said that, "The peanuts taste good", and I thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I've started using it to describe other situations in the way that you might use the phrase, "Well at least you have your health". For example, my apartment is cold, the floor is dirty, and I need to take the trash out.. But at least the peanuts are good".

After waiting several weeks and many trips to the old campus, I've also finally got my saxophone from home. I'm not sure where it was during the week in which I know it arrived and the time I picked it up, but at least it is here and with me. I inquired at the music department about finding some other people, a bass player or a piano player, to help make a little jazz group. Chu Longfei, a very nice guy and a saxophone student at the school, said he knew some people and would ask around. It sounds promising.

Last Friday I went to Chengdu to buy a new camera and visit Pierce, another PCV who was in Chengdu for some health exams after being injured in an altercation coming out of a bar at his site in Lanzhou, Gansu province. It was good to see him and we and another PCV Matt went to a Western restaurant called "Pete's". Nothing like a break from Chinese cuisine. I got a Reuben sandwich and Key Lime pie. So good.

I took the bus down to Chengdu in the morning, but because the busses stop at around 6:30, I was forced to take the 9:30 train back which takes another hour. The train has assigned seats and when I went to my seat, I found it was taken by a Chinese construction worker talking with his friends. I found a seat nearby as to not disturb the man, but eventually someone told me I was in his seat and I had to move. I apprehensively went up to my real seat and showed the worker my ticket. He apologized and I sat there uncomfortably for a few minutes until I whipped out the pack of cards I had in my pocket and asked the workers if they wanted how to play "Dou Di Zhu" a game similar to "Asshole". It literally means "Kill the landlord" and everyone knows how to play it here. People usually play for money (about five kuai a hand), but I am reluctant to ever do that. Everyone crowded around to see the laowai playing cards. It was a great time. I asked them some questions and then took a nap. I woke up to find everyone else around me also passed out. It was the first time being on a Chinese train, but certainly not the last.

..aaaand we're back

So I've neglected to update not because I didn't have anything to post about, but because I haven't been able to log into blogspot for a long time now. Chinese internet is often unreliable and sometimes sites that are accessible one day, may not be the next. The free university internet in my house also went down a couple weeks ago and has only come back just now. Did I mention I have free high speed internet in my apartment? Another PCV coined the term Peace Corps: Cadillac program. True. It's definitely a different experience than being in Africa and several days away from a computer (no names).

Anyway, the Halloween party I had at my house was a success, and people ended up dancing and having a great time. I'll upload some pictures in a bit. Other news will also come soon.