I had lotus and rice for dinner tonight. This was not an adequate meal by any means, but that's Chinese cafeterias. It's damned cheap, too. That having been said, I miss cheeseburgers. The best that I can do here is KFC, but it just doesn't feel quite right. If I only ate at t he cafeteria, there is no doubt in my mind that I would end up completely malnourished, so I'm supplementing with fruit and such. There's actually a really great local citrus fruit that tastes like a smaller, sweeter grapefruit, and I've been enjoying too many of them.
For the past few days teaching has been delightfully spontaneous. It all started yesterday, when I was just getting out of the shower. I had a meeting with Margo at 8:30, and didn't have to teach until ten, or so I thought. As I contemplated putting pants on (something that is debated fairly frequently, actually) I heard I knock at my door. It being around time for the meeting, I thought it was Miles. It was actually the teacher I was teaching for that day, a young woman who goes by the name Lobster. I don't get it either. It's possible she's a B52's fan. Anyway, I answer the door in a towel, and there was a solid second of awkward that resulted. I swear you could feel it through walls. As soon as I had a full grasp on what was going on I told her to wait there, and that I was going to go put some pants on. She happily agreed as I was closing the door. Once I had dressed myself she explained that she screwed up, and that I had to teach RIGHT NOW. We collectively hauled ass to the classroom, and everything went off without a hitch. After class, she offered to let me use her car any time I wanted, which spurred a lively discussion of traffic laws and why I'm terrified of ever having to drive here.
Today was something else, too. I arrived on time, and proceeded to make the terrible instant coffee I drink here. After I finished adding hot water, my plan for the day changed entirely. I was supposed to lead a 'warm up' for a unit, which is a bunch of questions and discussion to get people thinking about the next unit. I had questions, and I had discussion points, and the teacher I was subbing for had a completely different idea. She provided me with a powerpoint, and told me to teach from that because “the students will understand more”. She did not give me time to review it, and I taught by the seat of my pants, completely uncertain of what was lurking on the next slide. And you know what? I hid that fact very well, engaging the students in discussions I didn't know they were capable of, and generally teaching better than I ever have. I might try not prepping again sometime and see what happens, maybe I teach better on my toes. One of the girls in the first class asked me if I was French, which is a new one. Oh, and a fat kid envisioned a bold future without walking. I wanted to laugh so badly, so I think I'll do that now.
I think my behavior is very alarming to traditional Chinese values, judging by the looks I get when I do certain things. For one, I went out and bought beer to put in the beer fridge that was inexplicably provided for me. As I was checking out at the supermarket, several old ladies gave me the stink eye, as though I was injecting heroin into toddlers. I just shrugged. I went running outside of the school compound for the first time last night, and boy howdy does doing that without a shirt on get you some reactions. I nearly caused two traffic accidents, although this being China, that could have just been regular driving. Folks looked on with a combination of disapproval and amusement, and for a while, some guy on a moped tried to get me to race him. I declined.
Tomorrow's my first International class, and I'll be leading my students on a discussion of capitalism (paging Bill Jones). If this goes well, I'm going to have a lot of fun with that class. If it's disappointing, well, that'll just fit with the general pattern of things here. I'm off to go cause more traffic problems.
-Cooper
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