Mid-Autumn Festival

Well, it is a little embarrassing that we haven't updated our blog since September 9th.  It isn't that we haven't been doing anything.  It's more that we have been so involved in teaching classes that we have given that our full concentration rather than the blog.

We spent a beautiful Saturday indoors, yesterday, correcting 150+ writing papers about "Your Best Life Event"!  It has given us some insights into the lives of our students.  They have written about volunteering for several weeks at a rural primary school in China, about their conversion to Christianity, about being beaten by their father and how they both changed for the better, about meeting their girlfriend or boyfriend and about the importance of their family.

Generally the students are diligent about their studies and are very interested in American culture.  Many want to come to the US for further education.  They want to make sure they are prepared for that experience.  They want to know what topics or questions are considered rude and about  table manners!

It has been interesting trying to figure out the school calendar.  Is there one??  After the first week of classes there was a mid-autumn festival for three days.  That meant that we did not have class on a Thursday or Friday.  However, the Friday classes had to be made up on Sunday!  Then this week is a National Holiday so we have class on Monday and don't return to class until Tuesday of the following week.  Classes on Wednesday were the only ones that had to be made up Sunday.  We also found out recently that after this holiday, the classes in the afternoon start a half hour earlier!! We just hope we show up to the class at the correct day, correct time and correct place!!

 

 Teaching has been quite an adjustment for Nancy.  Having over 200+ students is a challenge for preparation and trying to get acquainted.   The classes are two hour blocks that meet once a week.  It has been hard to determine who is actually on the roster as many students are adding and dropping classes each week.  Stan has just had 3 writing classes so he has worked at developing lesson plans.  The freshmen return to class tomorrow so he will now have 3 oral classes added to his teaching schedule.  The freshman students have been in military training for 3 weeks.  They are marching, etc. from dawn until dusk!  We understand there is no real further military obligation other than the freshman training.  It is mainly to build leadership skills and character.  Some girls said they lost 12 pounds from all the exercise!

These are photos of the Freshmen students in the midst

 of their 3-week "military" training.  

The mid-autumn festival (September 19-21) celebrates the full moon and equinox and has only officially been a holiday since 2008.  It is a time for family to gather and eat "delicious food" and have Moon Cakes.  However, many of the SDU students live too far from their home town to really make the trip.  Lily, featured in our first blog post, went to her home which is about 2 hours away by train.  However, the trains are so crowded she expected to stand the entire time.

 

This young couple was preparing to launch a lantern into the sky during the festival.  We watched them write messages on it, ("I love you" in English), lite it and send it skyward.  

The Moon Cake packaging is quite elaborate.  We are sure

 the gift box is 10-20X the cost of the actual contents.

 

 This is one version of the traditional "Moon Cake."  It is a very dense pastry and has an estimated calorie count of 1000 for each cake.  They are a little like our traditional Fruit Cake - traditional but no one really likes them that well.  We thought they were OK but "nothing to write home about."

 

 

As we were walking around near our campus during the Mid-Autumn Festival, we saw this local vendor selling popcorn.  Stan couldn't pass up the opportunity and had to have his picture taken with his new friend. 

Prior to the festival we were invited to an official Chinese banquet to welcome foreign teachers on our campus.  It was hosted by the vice dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Literature.  Those attending included teachers from Korea, US, Japan, Russia, and France.  The table was at least 20 feet in diameter rotating with a lazy susan. The evening featured 37 food dishes.  One was a small full fish from the mouth of the Yellow River and was wrapped in a "tortilla".  We really liked a dish with green beans and walnuts and some dumplings.  There were many toasts and entertainment.  The vice dean insisted that the foreign teachers sing, dance, recite poetry: in other words we were the entertainment!  Stan sang "Grandma's Feather Bed" and I mouthed the words!

This was quite an unique event

During the festival holiday, we took a break from preparing lessons and went for a day's outing to the Red Leaf Valley, about twenty miles south of Jinan.  Other BYU teachers went with us and we stood up on a city bus for 1 1/2 hours to get to our destination.  The valley is known for its brilliant fall colors, but it was too early in the season.  At least we know how to get there now and it was very peaceful scene compared to the crowded city!

 

Red Leaf Valley is still Green Leaf Valley

As of Tuesday we head for the China Silk Road.  BYU has a Chinese tour agent and he arranges tours for BYU teachers during holidays.  We will be essentially flying 3,000 miles to northwestern Xinjiang Province, home of the Ughurs.  We fly back home from Xian where the Terra-Cotta Warriors were found.  Besides airplane flights, camel rides, and bus rides, we will be traveling on an overnight sleeper train.  This will likely be another unique China experience!  Look for further blog posts when we return.



 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR NANCY

Today I officially taught 2 oral sophomore English classes at Shandong University in Jinan, China.  I had to pinch myself to realize this was really happening after six months of anticipation. Since Stan didn't actually have a class until Thursday, he was willing to be my moral and technical support.  And I needed it!!  One class had a damaged projector connector so I had to use my jump drive and the school equipment rather than my laptop. Plus having an "experienced" educator in the room was my back-up!!

I was a little nervous until I walked into the class twenty minutes early and found almost the entire class waiting to begin the 8 am class!  We had been told that the Chinese students are dedicated to their school work  and obviously class management would not be an issue.  They all looked so young to me!  I  hoped I could meet their expectations to improve their English skills.  As I smiled and welcomed them I started to feel better about being in the classroom.

I had done a Power Point with 34 slides regarding class expectations, introduction of myself, some class talking activities, etc.  I was worried I would have too little planned to cover the two hour timeframe, but I ended up dropping two parts of the lesson.  That will be something to start with next week.

I also had Stan speak a little German to add some interest.  The students had the most puzzled looks on their faces.  We thought that perhaps someone might speak German since this is a foreign language campus, but no one admitted that they had that skill!  The whole point was that it took Stan two years of living in Austria to start dreaming in German.  That is when you really know the language.  These students don't have the opportunity to practice with native speakers very often so they have to take advantage of any chance to speak English so they can dream in English!

I had the students fill out a card about their goals for the class.  Many want to learn about American culture in connection with becoming more fluent speakers.  Some are more shy, but overall their English is quite good.  I did find out that many of the students had another BYU couple last year, so I may not be able to use some of the materials that we received at our August training.  However, I think that Stan and I can work together to be creative and reinforce some of the same ideas.

Stan and I both have junior writing classes on Thursday.  At least we have a few more days to prepare.  However, it seems that there always seems to be something to interfere....foreign teacher registration took 1/2 day on Saturday... we have to get a resident visa that we understand is a long process and an hour  of travel each way... tomorrow we have to open a bank account because the paperwork just got completed, etc.  China generally operates on a last minute notification so we just have to learn to be flexible.  Previous BYU teachers have said that the best part of the experience is the Chinese students and so far, I agree!

 

Just call me Professor Pace!!

 

 

Arrival in the People's Republic of China

Our flight on August 27th was a long one. (About 14 hours).   But, we were not alone.  All eleven Jinan teachers travelled from Seattle to Shanghai and on to Jinan together.  Six of us are assigned at SDU (old campus, central campus and the medical west campus) and we all live near our own campus which can be 45 minutes away.  Five are assigned to Shandong Normal University and they all live together at the Hanlin Hotel.



Libby and Wayne Clarke, Zina and David Cox, Sue and Steve Schauerhamer,
 Us, Pam Carter, Wendy and Jim Purnell
 

During our 2-week training at BYU, we had opportunity to associate with these good people who have become fast friends.

After retrieving our luggage, (Nancy’s largest bag was the LAST to come on the carousel), we readily identified Sunny, who was supposed to meet us.  She was very friendly and happy to see us and we were able to understand her English pretty well.   Our luggage didn’t fit into the trunk of the car so one of our bags became a passenger in the back seat.  It was very late by then and our trip to the apartment slow and methodical.  We were driving on back roads without street lights at about a 25 mph clip.

As we drove, I wondered where the city was.  It was also during this drive that we learned that our expectations for our experience in China had already changed.  Sunny kept talking about our apartment that was located close to campus and that she had to get her request in early since housing is limited.  We realized that everything that we had done communicating with the Kuzmich’s, the BYU couple we were replacing, was to be compromised.  We were assigned a different apartment.

 I felt sick as we pulled into our apartment at 2:00 a.m. after a very long flight and realized that nothing was going to be as anticipated.   It was hot, muggy and sweat was pouring off my face and dripping down my back as we climbed four flights of stairs in a poorly lit and very dingy apartment complex.  The sick feeling continued as we entered the very small 1-bedroom apartment which was pre-Mao vintage.  This was nothing like the pictures of an apartment that we had seen from the Kuzmich’s experience.  That’s when Nancy uttered the famous words I predicted she would say, “I want to go home.”  The thing about that was I was saying the same thing.  We were very disappointed.

 

Needless to say, things did get better and we have adapted to our circumstances and apartment.  We were able to retrieve some items from the BYU apartmen that is no longer occupied.  Now we are very close to campus and for that we are thankful.  It will be appreciated during Winter we are sure.

 

As you enter the apartment, this is the view.  The bedroom is directly back of the dining room table .  The kitchen is to the extreme right and the bathroom next to the front door.

The one advantage we have over all the other BYU apartments.  A 54 inch screen tv.  We only get one english tv channel but we can play movies and have them shown on the BIG SCREEN!  You can see the bedroom behind the television.

 The living area is divided in half by the wall.  There is a twin bed in our "study".  The enclosed porch is beyond the window area.

 The kitchen is in two sections.  This has the washer, microwave, refrigerator and 2 basin sink.  We do have a lot of hot water.  Beyond the sink is a 2 burner gas stove, small window counter, small cabinet and toaster oven that we brought from the other BYU apartment.  The washer takes about 2 hours for a cycle because of the low water pressure.  However, it does spin out a great deal of the water.

 

The bathroom is very sparse.  We use the hand held shower - low water pressure and stand over the drain to the left of the toilet.  There is a sink to left as you enter.  We have learned how to bathe in a liter of water.

This is truly a "Chinese laundry!!"  I have to stand on a stool to reach the clothes line! We have learned we need to space out our wash loads as with the humidity in the air plus the humidity from the wet wash, drying takes some time. 
 

Our Shandong University campus is called the "Old" campus and has this Gothic Design Catholic Church on it's premises.  As you would guess, you don't see many, if any, churches in China.  For us, this is a landmark that we can refer to when we are lost or trying to explain to someone where we live.  This is Hongjialou Catholic Church, Hongjialou Square, Jinan, China.

 

 

About 2 blocks from this landmark you will see our apartment building.

 

 

As far as we know, there are no other foreign teachers living in our building.  As far as we know, NO ONE speaks English in our building.  It is quiet and this is the first time in our married life that we have been privileged to live in a "gated" community.  The entrance is monitored by a guard most of the time.  It is not because of crime, but because everyone needs a job. 

 

 

 

About safety: we have felt very comfortable and safe here in Jinan.  Yes, we are a novelty and we get lots of looks, but everyone has been friendly and helpful.  We don't feel the slightest hesitation to be out at night.  Most of the busses stop running at 9 o'clock so you have to take that into consideration as you plan your evening activities or plan to take a taxi.  (We haven't done that yet).

 

Buses are our main mode of transportation next to our feet.  We do walk a lot, but we have begun to master the bus system and we were able to purchase bus passes at a local grocery store.  Riding the bus is cheap; about 12 cents a ride.  At that rate, who would want to walk?  We have successfully negotiated getting to church, seeing where the other BYU teachers live, getting to another campus, and going to a very fancy shopping mall!!  However, because we don't read Chinese characters we have to find out in advance the route each bus travels.  The bus does have roman numerals, however, and each stop has the bus number on the sign.

Last year one of the BYU couples met a young adult, Lily, on the bus.  She insisted someone give up their seat for them.  Lily became a good friend to them and they went many places together.  She is excited to meet all of our BYU group this year and be our "personal tour guide".  She graduated from Shandong University and works for a chemical company.  Most of her friends have jobs that require weekend work so she says she "plays by herself". 

 

             Nancy, Stan and Lily at the top of Buddha Mountain in Jinan

                                        The Sleeping Buddha

The Great Buddha
 

 

  For good luck, people write their names on red ribbons with gold lettering

 and hang them on trees.

 

The air quality was not the best, but we had a view of Jinan from the top of Buddha Mountain.

 

Our apartment is close to grocery shopping, (2 blocks to two major stores) which is convenient since you obviously have to carry everything that you purchase.  We do have a small shopping cart we can take from our apartment.  However, if both of us are going to the store, we usually can manage the groceries.  The refrigerator is very small so that is why you shop a few times a week. 

The one store, RT Mart, has most items we need, although in China, apparently expiration dates do not mean pull from the shelf!  The RT Mart has 3 floors and you take a cart up the escalator.  It is interesting trying to figure out some food items with Chinese characters and labels, but some of the labels are in English as well as the store directional signs.  Fortunately, the price is in roman numbers so we can calculate the cost.  Most produce is about 50 cents a pound.

There are clerks at every corner of the store willing to help you purchase something in their section.  However, even though they are all young adults, they don't speak english.  We have learned to translate some things in advance on Stan's ipod if we need assistance.  Plus we have some "cheat" sheet Mandarin cards that we carry with us.

We have had a some interesting experiences with communication.  We were trying to get some cardstock for our student information cards for the first day of class.  One of the BYU teachers told us where he had located the cardstock.  They had some, but it was very expensive compared to the price he paid.  The clerk spoke one or two words of english.  Stan left me while he called our friend on the cell to get more information.  Soon, I was surrounded by several young adults.  They had just graduated from the unversity.  One spoke English and he tried to tell me what we were buying and the price.  Then Stan showed up with the paper already purchased that he found at the store next door!  It was less expensive and even the clerk said it was a good deal.  We all had a good laugh and we had to take a photo. 

The young adult who helped is in the white shirt.  The employees are on the right.

Another day we were at the copy center at the corner by our apartment trying to get the student information cards printed.  The owner was not understanding our request so we called our Chinese co-teacher for help.  While our order was being printed, a law student from SDU came in and said she could help.  She was a former English teacher and had great English skills.  She insisted on giving us her phone number for future reference.

Another time we were trying to get a membership card for one of the grocery stores.  Our SDU representative, Sunny, had helped us the first time at RT Mart.  This time we decided to be brave and between sign language and a few Mandarin phrases, task accomplished.  We felt so encouraged we managed to also get a bus pass.  However, trying to get a cell phone required Lily's help!!

We have eaten out at some restaurants in this first week.  At first we went with Eva, a helper for one of the BYU couples, or with other BYU couples who had eaten at various locations with their campus representatives.  We have been warned to eat in the larger establishments as they have better sanitation methods.

We have even purchased produce from the vendors.  We just wash things well, use hot water and bleach and peel the fruits.  The roasted sweet potatoes look very tempting from the vendors.  Since they are cooked we may give them a try.

One time we went with one BYU couple to a hot pot restaurant at quite an upscale mall.  We decided we would try to order.  They even had an English menu, but mostly we pointed at what our neighbors were eating!!  The food was excellent....cabbage, shaved noodles, meat that we put in a broth... plus a fresh squeezed fruit drink.  You cook your own dinner in a pot heated on the table in front of you.  It was fun!

                                               Hot pot dinner

We have been to a few of the TOP tourist sites in Jinan in the first week.  Jinan is not really known for famous attractions, but the ones we have seen have been wonderful.  Jinan is the City of Springs and there are several in the area.  (We figured that should mean the water quality is good, but the pipe system can't be trusted so everyone drinks bottled water.)  They can't have a subway system because of the underground water.

                                                                                             

 

With Wayne and Libby Clarke at Baotu Springs 

DaMing Lake is about 20 minutes away on the bus - depending on traffic.  We saw many weddings, families and photo opportunities in the short time we visited.

 

DaMing Lake 

I was afraid I would not be able to jog much in China because of the air pollution and the crowds of people on the sidewalks.  Our apartment is within a block of the west gate of campus where the track is located.  By 6 am there are at least 400 people doing exercises....walking, running, playing a version of hackysack (spelling?), some form of Chinese exercise with slow motion hand and foot movements, basketball, badmitton, etc.  The first day I got "thumbs up" for my speed and a lady started running with me.  Most days she runs with me for some laps and about the only mandarin words I understand are slow down or too fast!  Also, another younger lady came up and started to speak English to me.  She is a living science teacher at SDU and runs most days.  Since we are walking so much, I decided I didn't have to run everyday - especially when I have 8am classes!

We meet for church at the Hanlin Hotel.  Those who teach at Shandong Normal University live there.  It is a nice place and so are their apartments.

 

Our potluck with the church group at the Hanlin Hotel 

 

 

Someone decided to bring chicken feet to our potluck.  The broth was great, but we chose not to eat the meat!  We are not ready for that yet.