Chinese New Year

First ... a look at our school's decoration! Yay Taiwanese moms! They are AWESOME.

Next, a look at our own decorations: "Linky the 100 Caterpillar and his Ocean Island Habitat". As ara says, this is one of those projects where the teacher clearly took a step back and let all the ideas coming from the students!

However absurd, the judges noted that they did put in a lot of hard work (a good five days of lessons!) and awarded Grade 2 an Honorable Mention! Woot, the only one in school.

First Place: Grade 1 - 100 ways to make 100 (pictures of them creating 100 in different ways)
Second Place: Kindergarten - 100 people (illustrations of people they know at home or school)
Third Place: 6th Grade: 100 origami cranes (Kate's class made 100 pieces of origami to hang from her door.


For our actual celebrations, the students got to do some cooking, my elves made egg rolls, and then after that they got some carmalized suckers that this guy who drew in liquid honey in about 10 seconds.

Last we had an assembly. All of our grades studied a different form of Chinese art to share. I ended up sharing my camera with 2 four year olds. The first one took this picture, the second is modeling in it.

 

 

Needless to say, it was difficult getting all the video I wanted during a 2 hour assembly with 2 four years olds on my lap. But here were the two favorite performances by far: (check back later for video, internet has been sketchy)

 

5th graders on Chinese Yoyos

 

 

 

 

 

Our ELL teacher Line singing Beijing Opera accompanied by the principals's secreatry Shirley with 4th and 5th grade girls. 

To Copy or Not to Copy

First, you will be happy to know that we finally have an English speaking doctor in Beilun!!! Of course no one wished for Line to be sick, but we were so excited to find out that after her hospital visit, she had been treated by a Taiwanese doctor who was fluent in English. Hallelujah! It's just a comforting to know.

Second, I finally have a phone again. I have the most awful luck with phones. I already lost one this year. Then I broke my second one. June lent me hers, but it could only text in Chinese. Erich lent me an old one, but it wouldn't accept the sim card. And finally Fan, a Cup of Joe barista, gave me her "old" phone, which is an HTC smart phone. AHHHHHH. But it works! So ladies an gentleman, I actually have a smart phone with a touch screen. Never thought I would see the day!

Third, our 100th day of school is tomorrow. For the occasion we are having a door decorating competition. I regret to inform you that I don't yet have a picture of the final product (coming soon) but I can assure that my kiddos have been working very hard on "Linky the 100 Caterapillar and his Ocean Island Habitat". Yeah. The door looks really well done, they divided up jobs, they worked carefully, there was no scribbling ... but Lara just had to laugh and say, "That's one of those projects where you know it was completely student directed. You had nothing to do with the planning of this." Of course she is absolutely right. My elves were obsessed with the links that my Aunt Denny gave me. We've been using them to count the days of school. So naturally we hung those links up in front the of the classroom door in the shape of a caterpillar, dubbed him "Linky"and drew him a habitat!

 

And finally ... to copy or not to copy? I have one student in my class who grew up in China, in a Chinese home. He is therefore, very Chinese. And stereotypically has been taught to copy everything and repeat by rote memorization. It has been so engrained in him that we can't get him to produce his own ideas and sentences. He has no remorse for cheating on tests, and frankly doesn't understand why he gets in trouble for hiding the book under the desk and taking peaks at it. Of cousre, with his limited English, it's hard to explain the value in being able to think for yourself.

 This became even more pronounced during my language lesson with my Chinese friend Shelley this week. I had her check over some of my own book work that I've been doing. The book is getting harder, and it's a lot more difficult for me to find my own mistakes.

- The sentence: "The old man is very healthy because he practiced shadow boxing for almost 15 years."
- The question: "Why was the old man healthy?"
- My answer: "He is healthy because he has practiced shadow boxing every day for a long time."
Shelley: "This one, you are right. But you should have copied the answer. "
Me: "Did I answer the question wrong?"
Shelley: "No."
Me: "Is my grammar correct?"
Shelley: "Yes."
Me: "Woooohooo! That's awesome!"
Shelley: "It is not the best answer. You should have written 'The old man is very healthy because he practiced shadow boxing for almost 15 years.' That is the most correct answer."
Me: "But Shelley, that's EXACTLY what the original sentence says."
Shelley: "Yes. It is most correct. I know, I know, you answered in your own words, and I can see that you understand, but it is much better to copy. On a test, your answer would only get 3 points out of 5."

It's just crazy the way the Chinese would approach a problem vs. how I approach a problem. We ended up not settling this dispute, as both of us thought we had given the best answer.


Also, one last little thing. This little guy, who hogs the covers, is coming home with me to the States. I can't wait to bring him to the Crab Fest!

Fiction vs. Nonfiction

This week at school there were the usual cute moments. The moments when a student insists to me that she has a box that has secret drool inside. And I have to laugh as she insists that it's true. I comtemplate correcting her and telling her how to say "drawer", but it's just too cute! I have a bunch of those stories, but I just have to tell you about this one.

This week, Pat and I made a monumental mistake. (Pat being my ELL support teacher). This is a mistake that I also made during my student teaching year, and one that Pat, a 30 year veteran, has never actually made.

We were playing a game with the kids, and I was the guinea pig to show how it worked. I sat on a desk and Pat held a name above my head so I couldn't see it, but all the students on the carpet could. I was Cinderella, and I had 20 questions to figure out who I was. "Am I an animal? Am I a girl? Do I live in a forest? Do I have any family ... etc." The students narrowed it down for me by answering yes or no. I nailed the jackpot when I asked "Do I live in a castle?" as some of the students were confused, because by the end of the story, Cinderella did live in a castle! So it was easy to figure out from there.

After the initial demonstration, and I had guessed my identity successfully, the students were ready to try a turn themselves. The first student sat on the desk, Pat held the name of a character over her head, the students naturally reacted with giggles, but managed to keep it to themselves ... and then came the first question. "Am I real?" .... The name that Pat was holding above her head was Santa Claus. About half the class laughed and said "Nooo!!!" and the rest were shocked and shouted back in astonishment, "Yesss!!!" Pat and I were so mortified by what we had done. But I guess not too mortified since I couldn't breathe from laughter for at least 30 seconds, and neither could she. We had ALMOST ruined Santa Claus! Luckily the students were too stunned by our reactions to continue the yes-no battle, and Pat and I ended up throwing out the question.

I can't believe this is the second time I have done this. I almost ruined the Tooth Fairy for my 29 kindergartners when I asked them to sort fictional from nonfictional characters. After a few heat arguements broke out, I had to run around the classroom taking all the Tooth Fairy pictures back.

Language Uh-Ohs.
- I tried to tell Fan (a Cup of Joe Barista) I would see her later. In doing this, I got to learn the important difference watch and see ... as I accidentally said, "Watch you later!" The look on her face made me come back to see what I had actually said, and then before leaving the cafe, I had to assure her that I would not be stalking her.
- This week, the heaters were broken in the library, and the only way for me to ask Shelley if they had been fixed was the simple sentence, "Is the library cold?" ... one wrong tone and it turns out I accidentally asked, "Is the library romantic?" This really shocked Shelley .. and now I feel bad for bringing this issue up as it turns out it's a very common topic right now.

Convenient Segway into romantic times ... Chinese New Year is coming, one of two weeks that all of China travels home to spend a weeks worth of meals with family. Turns out this is also the time when Chinese moms ask their offspring if they can be expecting wedding bells any time soon. Shelley is possibly feeling the pressure as this week is fast approaching. We learned there is actually so much pressure, that there is a special TaoBao search (TaoBao being wonderful Chinese Amazon/Ebay/Craigslist all in one) for fake boyfriends that will go home with you for the Chinese holiday to assure families that their sons and daughters are in a serious relationship and thinking seriously about the future.

Convenient Segway into TaoBao. No I have not been searching for fake Chinese boyfriends to placate my parents for the holidays into believing that I am fulfilling my daughterly duties. But my most recent TaoBao purchase has been the best things ever. My electric ducky hot water bottle. I plug it in for a few minutes, and it is hot for a few hours! So wonderful, I am FINALLY warm in my own classroom without wearing my overcoat.



And last ... convenient segway into my almost TaoBao purchase. I have once again broken a phone, and I have been looking on TaoBao for a cheap replacement. During this time without a phone, June, the acting manager of Cup of Joe, gave me her second phone to use temporarily. I could change the general langauge into English, but for some reason, I can only text in Chinese characters. Ever wanted to learn another language? Get a phone in the language. Nothing makes you learn faster!

Keeping it Classy, China.

In every culture, you are going to find those things that just really irk you. The other day at Cup of Joe, a Chinese man walked in and he pretty much embodied every pet peeve that I have about Chinese culture.

1. I'm sitting by the fireplace, reading my own book, minding my own business ... when this guy opens the door, strolls right up to the counter, and never looks back. That's right. It's 35-40 degrees outside and he LEFT THE DOOR OPEN! Really dude? Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

2. The guy orders his food, takes a step back, and starts waiting ... when his phone rings. In Mandarin, the way to answer a phone is to say, "wei". But most Chinese don't say, "wei". They say, "WWEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIII?!" Yup, they YELL it. Doesn't matter if they're at home, school, on the bus, in a public place .. All phone conversations are held at a yell.

3. After he hangs up the phone, he's still waiting for his order. Then he starts making obnoxious spitting sounds like he's about to hawk a lougie. Of course, inside Cup of Joe, there is no place to spit .. and so I am left to ponder what he did with all that phlegm.


Now, being a guest in this culture, I could spend my time fuming about how rude, inconsiderate, and disgusting some of these Chinese habits are. And I do know many foreigners that absolutely can't stand being in China. I could be like that, and just spend my entire time in China very angry. Or ... I could look past that.


1. As many of you know, the Chinese don't typically heat or air condition establishments. Cup of Joe is a rarity in that sense. It has to do with the belief of maintaining the same body temperature. If people are constantly going between 35 degrees and 70 degrees, they believe you will get sick. And it's just a pain to pile on layers, take them off, and put them all back on again. It's much simpler and healthier to simply dress for the weather, and stay like that all day, whether you're inside or out. And if the restaurant is the same temp inside as it is out, there is no reason to close the door. So in a way, I can understand this one.

3. The spitting. I'm not sure why the average Chinese person has absorbent amounts more phlegm than any other nationality, but I imagine that if I were Chinese, and I were dealing with that, that I would also have the desire to spit it out as opposed to swallowing it.

2. Now this one, I can't quite explain away. Maybe they believe that since the phone covers such a great distance, somehow they will have to yell in order to be heard by their friend in BeiJing. I don't quite understand the need to yell all phone conversations, but it does make it SUPER easy to eavesdrop, since I can always hear the person on the other line as they are always yelling back as well.


When I was describing this guy to my friends here, they found it uproariously funny. Because all who live here just understand that you have to laugh it off. And they in fact made a game of guessing what pet peeve of mine that he would do next. We can't change the annoying things they do. And even though we secretly hope that they will follow our example of courteously closing the door, silencing our phones in public places, or just refraining from exposing all our bodily fluids to the world ... They in fact stare at us just as much when we make the extra effort to throw our trash in the trash bin, as we stare at them for throwing it on the sidewalk.

Because of some of these cultural customs, the average Chinese person that you don't get to know seems totally heartless and inconsiderate. But if you do stop to get to know them, you will be pleasantly surprised by how considerate they can be. After the Christmas break, this was y first coffee back at Cup of Joe, made especially for me by Joy (her English name I think is the most appropriate).

And so this week as we started school, it came to no surprise that our Chinese staff was not concerned when the heaters didn't work. Now I don't prefer teaching while wearing earmuffs, nor with my toes numb all day, but we took it in stride. And I got to teach my 2nd graders some swing dance lessons, just to keep the bodies moving and stay warm :)

Home from *Home*!

After two very wonderful weeks at *home*, I have finally made it home. It took about 40 hours ... but I made it :)

Plane #1: Seattle - Seoul, Korea.
The only hiccup for this flight happened while I was getting checked out by TSA. I had four Costco size containers of baby formula, and packets of brownie mix that I had taken out of the box ... so maybe they looked suspiciously like chocolate cocaine, even though dad cut out the instructions from the box and put them in the Ziploc. So naturally, I got stopped by TSA for an organic sample of the products in my carry on. Confirmed. That is indeed 8 packets of Ghirardelli brownie mix! :)

Plane #2: Seoul, Korea - Shanghai.
So on this flight, there's a lot more Chinese. Oh how I miss Chinese culture :) I got on my computer to let my parents know that I had landed safely and I was just hanging out on my layover, when I saw these two pictures posted by Kate and Lara :






I automatically just start laughing and crying because I miss Jett so much, and I know that he missed us just as much. A Chinese guy gets up from his seat, walks over to me, leans up against me and peers for a good 10 seconds at my screen. No privacy! No personal space! Just cracked me up. Yup, I'm ALMOST back in China.

Taxi: Airport - Bus Station
It was snowing in Shanghai, which was just awesomely exciting to me! I got to the bus station and looked for a hotel as close as possible. Lara had a harrowing journey back to Beilun that day and I knew I would need to get to the bus station the moment it opened in the morning in order to get a ticket home, or at least plan my next move if there were no tickets.

So this is the situation I'm looking at:




I'm in Shanghai at the top of the map. Typically we take the bay bridge south to Ningbo or if we're lucky, a bus that goes all the way out to Beilun. I knew from talking to Lara that they had closed the bridge the day before, so you had to go west around the bay out to Hangzhou, and then east to Ningbo. All the buses as of 2 pm the day Lara went were cancelled due to snow. And Lara actually took a renegade pirate bus around the bay, which took 12 hours. I was mostly worried that because of all the cancellations, there wouldn't be any tickets the next morning when I wanted to buy one, but luckily it appeared most people just cancelled their plans and I got the earliest bus out.

Bus Station:
I was probably a little funny if you were around me during my first couple days back in Bellingham, just because I was super excited about mundane things like sitting on a toilet seat. Well ... here's the bathroom in the South Shanghai Bus Station. It's a trough that just flows through all the stalls. And I was actually lucky enough to have the pipe in mine that helps flushes everything down the rest of the trough.




Bus: Bus Station - Beilun!
I was lucky to sit next to a young gentleman who actually slowed down his Shenzhen accent so I could understand him ... and he actually tried to understand me, and asked me to repeat things, and helped me to speak with correct grammar. When we got to the bridge, it was temporarily closed due to fog and snow. When we started moving again, said young gentleman asked me about Hangzhou. I immediately started to panic, knowing what happened to Lara when her bus went around to Hangzhou. And he said, "No no no, we're going back." So then again, I overreacted and was like, "BACK TO SHANGHAI?!?!" and he said, "No no no, back to the highway. We're going through to Beilun." After we were back on the road, I was able to explain to him about Lara's trip and why I freaked out. He really cracked up and assured me that we were going to Beilun via the bridge.

And it's good to be a laowai (foreigner). One of the gals on he bus recognized me and asked if I live in Li Ren. Apparently she does too (shocker that I don't recognize every Chinese person who lives in my apartment complex), and she offered to share a taxi with me. Super sweet!

So really, except for the short bridge closure, I got home pretty much as fast as was possible for flying into Shanghai. Never again. Always flying out of Ningbo from now on!

Annie

One of the things that I love about an international community, and especially the one we have in Beilun, is how tight the foreigners are. We're a transient community, most people staying from 2 months to about 3 years. We automatically welcome new comers, and celebrate like crazy the good times we had when it's time to say goodbye.

This week I met Annie.

The basics:
Annie and her husband are about my parent's age. She was born in Korea, met her husband in Taiwan, and currently lives in Hong Kong. Because of this, she speaks 4 languages (Koeran, Cantonese, Mandarin, and now English).

Why she's here now:
Annie's husband has been commuting to Beilun from Hong Kong for FIVE years! He spends the work week here and goes home for the weekend. He has always stayed in a hotel. This week, they're actually considering getting a more permanent residence here, so for the first time they left the hotel and started to explore Beilun. To their surprise, they found this GREAT community that's been here the whole time, and they were welcomed with open arms. They've already joined different language classes, church groups, and spend the evenings with new friends at good ol' Joes. I love this community :)

After several chats, Annie finally confided in me the reason for the move. They lost their 18 year old son during a surgery about 7 months ago. They've spent a great deal of time in mourning. He was supposed to attend to Penn State this year. This is just heartbreaking to me. When it came time to try and find a new beginning and a new life without their son, they decided Beilun might be a good idea. Annie's husband advised that they should not mention their son to their new friends, in order for it to truly be a new life. But Annie feels, and I think rightfully so, that their son was a great part of their lives, and should still hold a place in their hearts, even in this completely new community who never knew her son.

I think that is one of the most common things I hear from people who have lost a loved one. They just want to be able to talk about them without getting a major pity parade from everyone.

How she learned English:
I asked her how she learned English, and it really had a great deal to do with their son. They enrolled their son in an international school when he was in 5th grade. Then he also went to school in the State's while Annie's husband completed his masters in Phoenix.

First Annie said she had received basic English classes as a girl in Korea. But just the basics. "She is a girl." And, "That is an apple." Well of course it is! Not exactly the necessary vocabulary when sitting at business dinners with her husband and Canadian customers. But she was too nervous to speak up and make mistakes. She listened, and slowly gathered basic vocabulary and grammar.

When her son started at the international schools (in this is really why I just LOVE this community) the wives all had a club to get together, since they were all lonely and all had very basic English. She described a massive game of charades just to have basic communication, but by taking the risks and practicing the language, they all improved.


Insights on details:
From Annie's time spent in the international communities and in Phoenix, she has come to the conclusion that Americans really pay attention to the details. As a society, we are quite independent and deal with many problems. In Asia, you usually specialize in dealing with one kind of problem. Because we're used to taking care of the details, when a complicated situation arises, we are prepared to deal with it.
Example 1: Start with your grocery list. America gave birth to suburbia, and idea that you actually have to plan ahead your meals, because the store is not the corner fresh food market on every block.
Example 2: When we travel, we plan things. She was shocked to learn that some people will plan even a whole year in advance! We do research on the hotels and what attractions we might find most interesting. We really plan our trips. She said all over the Asian world you just pay money and go on a tour, no planning at all.
Example 3: Banks in Asia ... you just bring your money, and the teller does everything for you. Sometimes I'm waiting an hour and a half while the teller does all of my paperwork for international transfers. Annie was shocked when she went to the bank in the States, and she had to have all of the paperwork prepared before she even spoke to a teller.
Example 4: Because she lived in Phoenix, she was really close to the Grand Canyon. She was really impressed with the National Park Rangers, that they were educated geologists, and put on great programs for the public. Apparently museums in Asia are just starting to catch on to the audio guide, but typically don't have people who walk you through and talk you through things.
Example 5: The different approaches to education goes without saying, but Annie was really impressed by a mock AIDS summit her son participated in for high school. The idea of analyzing all the players in a problem, their perspectives, their motives, and trying bring it all together into a diplomatic solution was mind boggling. She couldn't believe the learning style that her son was being taught, and in the same breathe, she couldn't believe that learning could be so interactive or interesting.

Anyways, I love how our conversation developed. I hope you enjoyed Annie's story. I thought her insights were worth sharing. I love this place. And I love meeting people.

Home Sick

Due to a slightly emotional week ... (nothing so stressful as to wear down my immune system or anything) on Thursday I woke up with the beginnings of a head cold, sore throat and fever. Chugging airbourne, I tried to make it through the school day, but by lunch I could tell that I actually had a fever. Many of my colleagues toughed out a similar illness, but I also didn't want to get my little ones sick when I was clearly in the early stages of contageous-ness. I arranged for cover and went home to rest.

Friday morning I had every intention of working all day. Friday is my easy day, and I knew that my coworkers were also feeling run down and under the weather. However, my head of department and ELL teacher conspired against me and sent me home. My ELL teacher, Pat, took my class for the whole day, and I think she really enjoyed them, she has taught all of them before.

When Lara got home, she brought all manner of get well soon cards that Pat had had the kids make. Also, Lara said my high schoolers were very concerned for me and insisted that she bring home this yummy rice-seaweed-fish concoction, that was sure to make my tummy feel better!

Keep in mind, some of these are the same card, they just had multiple flaps for me to open!