Fun with friends



Our internet has been working for an entire week with no disruptions.  We are very excited to be able to communicate with friends and family.  The SDU international office sent a repairman who determined that there is a faulty wire somewhere in the wall of our apartment.  He made a temporary "fix" and said if the one wire connection doesn't work, then try the other!!  The university said they will replace the wires in the wall this summer.

 

Our wireless router "fix" with two possible connectors!

 

We did have a chance this week to talk via Skype with a BYU couple who likely will replace us teaching on our campus this fall.  They are the Naegles from St. George, Utah.  He has a PHD, has taught in the church education system for his career and his wife has been a middle school English teacher.  They should be well prepared for this assignment.  They also knew Stan's cousin and his uncle.  Plus they served an LDS senior mission in Moscow, Russia.  During that time they became acquainted with young adult woman who was on a church mission in Moscow from our Hillsboro congregation.  We have known her family for many years.  Small world.

 





Readers of this blog probably think that all we do is go out to eat with friends.  Sometimes that is the case!  On our China tours we tend to get authentic food and most of us cook in our apartments during the week.  So sometimes it is wonderful to find a "Chinese" restaurant with western style food.  Wayne and Libby Clarke "found" this eating establishment, tried it out first and suggested we go as a group since we could point to pictures of the food!  They also discovered that even though the order is taken at the table, you must pay for your food in advance!!

 

 Nancy and Libby Clarke at the Jazz Beefsteak restaurant near the SDU west campus.  Nancy has her food, but the Clarke's order arrived after Nancy had finished eating.  We have noticed that Chinese restaurants have a harder time getting food prepared at the same time to serve to the entire table .

 

 

This was Stan's fillet with a lot of black pepper in the sauce!!  The steaks are very thin, but are served on a sizzling platter.

 

 The foreign teachers on all three campuses of SDU were invited to go out to dinner at a very nice "56" restaurant.  There were only 11 of us, but we all really liked the Chinese food.  The green pea pods were very fresh and a curry dish was served in a loaf of bread!!  At the top of the picture is Mary (from the SDU International Office who lives in our apartment complex), Lynn (a teacher on central campus), Wayne and Libby Clarke (BYU teachers on the west campus), Jason (teaches oral and writing classes on our campus) and Stan.

Lily and Zina Cox working on the newspaper at the Cox apartment

 

Friday night seven of us ate at the Central Campus Faculty restaurant where we can use our SDU meal credits.  We get credits for each day that we teach during the semester.  We like the food there as opposed to the student campus cafeteria.  We invited Lily to join us.  She wanted some help doing a newspaper in English to send to her BYU "parents", John and Rosylyn Kuzmich.  They were the BYU couple she met on the bus last spring and we took their teaching position at SDU "old" campus.  After dinner we went to the David and Zina Cox's apartment to help Lily, visit and do repairs!

Wayne Clarke fixing the ceiling light fixture at the Cox apartment.  He is standing on the coffee table!  David Cox is in the background  "supervising".

 

 

Stan relaxing at Cox's apartment

 

Our classes meet once a week for 110 minutes.  During the ten minute break we are both doing   "chats" with a couple of students to get to know them better.  It is not graded.  They can choose the topic and we have been surprised about them sharing personal feelings..  Nancy had one student say that she didn't want to return to school for the second semester and was feeling unhappy.  One night she decided to visit the China coast and took a train for six hours, arriving at midnight.  After seeing the calm water she returned back to Jinan.  Nancy encouraged her to talk with her parents about her feelings and to consider seeking some medical advice.  Another girl (age 20) had a student relationship from middle school with her teacher and they have communicated on occasion.  The teacher  (37 years old) was coming to Jinan to visit and wanted to see her because he really, really liked her!!  She was very concerned about the tone of this message since he is married and has a 5 year old.  She was very upset about him declaring his feelings in this way.  Nancy assured her that she had done nothing wrong.

 

Saturday, April 5, is a national holiday in China.  As a result there is no school on Monday, April 7 so we are going on another tour starting Friday.  It is a cruise on the Yangtze River.  We will see the Three Gorges Dam and also the largest municipality in the world, Chongqing (34 million!).

 

Update on Jinan BYU Teacher, Steve Schauerhammer.  In a previous blog post we mentioned the medical situation of our colleague.  He and his wife returned home to Utah for official diagnosis and treatment about three weeks ago.  After some medical tests that were repeated in the US, we now understand that he has Hodgkin Lymphoma.  He will have six months of chemotherapy, but is optimistic that he will have a favorable outcome. 



Spring has Sprung

All of these leaves and flowers have appeared in the last few days.  They say that there is no Spring in Jinan.  It's just Winter and then Summer.  Right now it is quite pleasant.  Even at 75 degrees, the Chinese are still wearing coats and sweaters.  We are definitely out of place.

We have been having internet problems during the last two weeks.  For this reason we have not posted for a while.  Hopefully those issues have been resolved so we can maintain contact with all you faithful readers.

We are now into the 5th week of semester two and back "into the swing of things."  Since we have the same students we did last semester, we don't have to become acquainted with a new group but instead, can continue continuing on.  We feel that we are getting closer to them.  More and more  are asking for time to talk with us about their lives.  Perhaps they see us as surrogate parents and that is totally ok.  We enjoy sharing our own life experiences and hope we can suggest some things that will help them in their personal journey.

This is June.  She is not one of our students but actually a fellow teacher.  She is an instructor at the law school and is the "go between" for communication with the parents of our tutoring girls, Sunny and Lisa.  June attended Harvard Law School on an exchange and is well on her way to a great career.  She wants to find someone special to marry because she is close to becoming one of those "leftover ladies."  She has volunteered that she has a boyfriend, but she needs counsel about dating. She has asked us for our opinion.  She is just a delightful person.  We are going to miss her.

This is one of the smaller vehicles on the road.  Our USA friend, Brian, just bought one similar to this so he can drive around Jinan with his wife, 4 year old son and new baby.  There is one seat in front and two people can sit in the back.  (No car seats are required in China!).

We saw a car like this that was black and had English words all over it...like SWAT....even police dial 911, etc.  We thought it was quite unusual.  When we went back to take a picture, it was gone.  However, another BYU teacher has also seen it in Jinan.

We received our first major essay from our second semester writing classes this week.   It was a compare and contrast paper looking at Life in High School vs. Life in the University.  We have learned many interesting things.  Many of our students have not lived at home for a very long time.  In order to have an academic advantage, their parents enrolled them in private boarding schools, some as early as 11 years old.  Those students already experienced dormitory life so that was no change.  For others, coming to the university was a shock and it was a difficult transition.  The focus in high school was passing the college entrance exam and it required them to study all the time.  Common hours were 7 am to 11 pm.  Teachers supervised their studies and extracurricular activities were nonexistent.  They were not allowed to have a boy friend or girlfriend for it would be a distraction.  They almost unanimously referred to their academic experience as "hell."  Their teachers reinforced that and used it to drive them to succeed, at least in taking the test.  University life, in contrast, was referred to as "paradise."  Less pressure, more freedom, more independence.

There are some interesting consequences because of this approach.  One, the students know how to study, or I should say, they know how to memorize volumes of information.  They know English grammar far better than we do.  They know a lot of "stuff,"   Two, creativity was something there was not time for so they have no experience in critical thinking, problem solving or working in groups.   They feel they have not had the chance to develop their talents or to even discover who they are.  They crave the spiritual, but they don't know where to find it.  Many want to travel to Tibet because they perceive it as a spiritual place.  Three, they are incredibly naïve about their own history and about the world.  It is getting better, but they have a long way to go.  Four, socially, they are close to their parents and a few others.  Their best friends are usually their roommates.  (there are 8 to 10 in a single dorm room)   They know nothing about dating and they don't know where to start.  They all want to find Mr. Right, but there are few boys in the School of Foreign Languages.  They are aware of a large number of Chinese that are referred to as "left over ladies", who have put off marriage for a career in this growing economic atmosphere.  Generally these are women in their 30's with no prospect of a husband who will want them, specifically because they may be more educated or have greater earning power than males).

All of this makes for some interesting essay reading.  Their openness is refreshing.  They just seem to be so young but our writing students are 21-22 years old.  They thought that Nancy and I were married too young, 26 and 22.  Most of them cannot conceive that they will marry before they are 30.  In China, young people cannot legally "tie the knot" until the boy is 22 and the girl is a least 20.  Most parents won't let them marry until the boy has a car and an apartment, which is a very tall order for most.  I have used the terms boy and girl for these students because that is how they see them selves.  I asked the girls in class if they were "girls" or "women" and the boys whether they were "boys" or "men."  When I used the terms "men" and "women" they just laughed.  They honestly feel they are still boys and girls.

We really enjoy getting to know these young people more personally.  Nancy had a writing passage that she will share with you.  I think you will enjoy what was said.

Difference between University Life and High School

(This female writer started her essay by saying that the "dream university to a high school student  is as desired as the sight of ripe fruits to an orchardist.  What's more?  Just like the orchardist has no idea about how these fruits taste like, nor does the student know what life will be like when attending university."  She writes about three main points:  state of mind, ability required and romantic relationships.)
"Speaking of romantic relationship, maybe it is the most prominent difference between university life and high school life.  It can never be enough to compare romantic relationship as forbidden fruit in high school.    Parents at home as well as teachers at school, they all serve as guards with watchful eyes to prevent you from getting a glimpse of it, not to mention have a mouthful of it.  In contrast to this, it is university where romantic love is nourished and many people meet their future husbands and wives.  To many students, romantic relationship is an essential part of university life, the absence of which would fade their life."

Outside of teaching and correcting papers, we have done a few other things.  We complained to the foreign office 5 times about our internet problems.  They said it was probably because we were trying to go to blocked sites.  We laughed about that.

We tried some new restaurants and spent time with our BYU colleagues.  We also started communication with the couple who has been assigned to our campus next year.  They are the Naegles from St. George, UT.  We are looking forward to sharing everything that we have learned in our short time in China.

I took this picture of our BYU group with some Chinese jaywalking across a major road on our way to a restaurant in the mall.  This a major phenomena in China, "every man for himself." (or woman)  Jaywalking is expected behavior. 

Our 9 year-old Chinese English students had birthdays this week.  Part of our lesson on Tuesday was decorating cupcakes and playing some games.  We are impressed with their progress and we seem to be understanding each other at least some of the time.  We do know this; food is an international language.  They loved the cupcakes.

Nancy is so excited when we go to the baking store to purchase the items that are not available at our local grocery outlet.  Even though it is a 45 minute bus ride one way, it is wonderful to have Kraft parmesan cheese, powdered sugar and baking cocoa!

 

 Part of our "birthday activities" was to do a silly skit.   Sunny (on the left) and Lisa enjoyed being in the car with driver, Stan.  The car never took off because someone had to go back and retrieve sunglasses, a hat, a jacket, etc.  When the passengers were ready, the driver had forgotten his keys! 

Nancy went to a cultural market to purchase beads and string for bracelets for our tutoring girls.  She wanted them to make them as part of our birthday party.  However, Nancy could not make the vendor understand that she just wanted the materials.  The vendor was very happy to make the bracelets so the girls got them as ready made gifts!

Farewell to our Friends



This has been an emotional week for our BYU family in Jinan.  Steve Schauerhammer, a teacher at Shandong Normal University, has been struggling with medical symptoms for several months and has had many diagnostic tests.  To this point each had indicated everything was normal except a higher white blood cell count.  He has been pursuing this more vigorously the last few weeks.   Wednesday he learned he had a serious medical issue and it was recommended that he return to the US for further diagnosis and treatment.  On Friday at noon we were informed that Steve and Sue would be boarding a plane on Saturday so we hastily organized a farewell dinner at Pizza Hut.  We all tried to remain positive, but we are  anxious about his health.  We will miss them very much!!

 

 The BYU teachers at Pizza Hut.   From the left:  Libby and Wayne Clark, Hansen, Kathy and Simon, at the "head" of the table (Kathy and her son are church members and Simon is her husband), Jim and Wendy Purnell, Sue and Steve are seated next to Nancy.  David and Zina Cox plus Pam Carter were also with us, but that part of the picture did not turn out!

 

As if we didn't have enough calories at Pizza Hut, we went to Purnell's apartment and had more food...cookies, candy and ice cream.  Steve and Sue were appreciative of our concern and friendship.

 

Friday was "Girls' Day" in China and Saturday was "Womens' Day".   In writing class on Friday the boys brought breakfast to the girls and Stan!  Another writing class went out to eat together on Friday night.  (We "ran into them" heading for the bus to go to Pizza Hut).  One of Stan's classes honored girls by having a gathering to make dumplings on Saturday mid morning and they invited us to join them.    Unfortunately, we misunderstood the timing of the event and the dumplings were all finished when we arrived!!  We still took photos and came home with dumplings for our lunch.  (They are not Stan's favorite, but if we fry them slightly he doesn't mind them on occasion.)

 

 One of the girl's grandmother was invited to attend the dumpling activity.  She is 86 years old and lives five hours from campus.  She was very excited to meet two foreigners.  She kept hugging us.  Of course she did not speak English.  We still communicated through our smiles.  We asked if she "supervised" the making of the dumplings, but the students said they didn't need her help.  She was there as support!

 

Melissa, in the center, explained the different fillings for the dumplings.  One was fennel, one was Chinese cabbage and ground pork and one was Chinese "cheese" and some meat - they couldn't tell us an equivalent name in English!

 

Stan's junior writing class posing with their teacher and grandma!  

 

Saturday evening one of the BYU teachers was able to purchase "group discount" tickets to the Jinan Acrobatic Show.  (Regular price was $30/person US and we got them for $7.   Plus we had front row seats!!) All the BYU teachers went including Lily.   Since we had the opportunity in November to go to the Beijing acrobats we had a point of comparison.  That performance was the one with the 8 motorcycles in a cage so it is hard to compete with such acts.  However, we were amazed at how skilled the Jinan performers were at their age.  We guess that most were teenagers and some were as young as 6 or 7.  There was some '"chinglish" projected on the screen that helped us understand what was happening.  Much of the show was based on scenes from the Beijing Opera.  The costumes and sets were very colorful.

Lily took this one.

 

David and Zina Cox with Lily before the performance started.  We were quite the attraction....all these Americans in a row!!

 

 Balancing with stacked chairs

 

 



"Back in the Saddle" again...

This may not be the best title for our return to the classroom this week, but we have been sharing all kinds of idioms with our oral students so we are stuck in that pattern!!

Most of our students admitted that they had not used spoken or written English during the winter break of two months, so we had some techniques to get their mouths moving in English!  A BYU teacher shared a chant at our Hong Kong Conference so we tried it out on the students.  They thought we were crazy, but they quickly enjoyed clapping the rhythm and trying to increase their speed with the words.

It's time to talk a little, talk a little
It's time to talk.
It's time to talk a little, talk a little
It's time to talk.
Say what's on your mind, say what's in your heart
Say a little, say a lot, say it now, let's talk!

We enjoy being back in the classroom, but find we get tired after 4 hours of talking and standing.  The students are back to square one, reluctant to speak, but we just call on them.  Since they are obedient they will share and then sometimes you can't get them to stop talking!

Most of our first semester students are in our classes with a few exceptions.  We have a few issues with technology...like a classroom that Nancy used a thumb drive in last semester did not have a working projector and Stan couldn't get any technology to work in one of his classrooms.  So, we became the "chalkboard professors"!  We have some people working on trying to resolve these issues for the future.  With oral English lessons you can often provide many speaking opportunities without computers, but in writing classes we try to show samples for the students to see on the power point.  Now we may be frequenting the copy center on the street corner as a substitute for computers!  We spent most of the week trying to finalize lesson plans so we can be a little ahead in planning this semester.

Friday night we had planned to celebrate a BYU teacher's birthday with a potluck and cake.  However, the Purnells, were delayed on their flight returning from the US that day so we postponed the event.   As a last minute substitute activity, Wayne and Libby Clarke, sent out a general email invitation for BYU teachers to join them for dinner at "The Irish Pub" near the SDU west campus.  Stan and I hopped on the bus and knew that a 45 minute-1 hour ride awaited us because of Friday night traffic.  At one of the bus stops two BYU couples got on the bus, including the Purnells, the couple that had just arrived from the airport 10 minutes earlier!  That foursome had not gotten the email about the dinner invitation and they were just heading out on their own to get some food.  We thought it was quite unusual that they would be on our same bus since it runs every 5 minutes and there are numerous other bus options.  As a result, 8 of us went to dinner at the "pub" and enjoyed some western food.

This week Brian, the American teacher who dressed as a tree for Halloween, joined us for dinner since his Chinese wife is still in Taiwan after the birth of their second son.  Their 4 year old has some symptoms of autism so they are trying to arrange help for him when the entire family returns to Jinan in a few weeks.  We are hoping to help them connect with a doctor that has befriended the BYU teachers in the past and has a child with Asperger's.

After Brian left we went to do dishes from the dinner.  Water started pouring out from under the cabinet!  The drain had separated from the sink.  Stan "fixed" it by stacking a box, book, pencil box and plastic fork on top of one another to hold the drain in place.  The housing office will not be happy to get another email from us after our refrigerator issues, etc. this year! 

Today after church we had a very nice potluck dinner.  Wendy Purnell, the wife of the couple that returned on the Friday flight, always makes too much food and today was no exception.  Plus we had our delayed birthday celebration and received all the items the Purnells brought back to us from the states.  We called it Christmas in February!  It was great having all of us back together after six weeks.

Wayne and Libby Clarke display some of their "requested" items:...hot tamales, jello packages, Costco chocolate chips, etc.  The Purnells had to pay $200 in weight overage fees when they took a domestic flight in China, mostly due to the 3 (5lb.) blocks of cheese they brought back!!

Hansen made this artwork for his church Primary teacher, Sue, who had the birthday this weekend.  He won an art award at his school.

In oral English we asked the students to share what they did during the semester break.  One on Stan's junior's had a very interesting, yet terrifying experience.  Jessica, (her English name), did not go home for the break.  Instead, she had done some research and found that she could volunteer at a school for disabled children in Vietnam.  She paid her way to Saigon and traveled there alone.  She had a wonderful time working with the children.  One day she was in a crowd and someone took her purse.  She lost all of her money and her passport.  When she reported what had happened to the authorities they either didn't understand her or didn't believe her.  They detained her and put her in a jail cell.  She was so frightened and distraught she began to cry.  Someone felt sorry for her so they found someone who could speak English.  With their assistance, she was able to explain herself and get help from the Chinese Consulate in Saigon.  She was issued temporary documents so she could get out of the country.  She was so happy to be back in China.

My thought was: "See, it's not a bad idea to learn to speak English well.  You never know when it will come in handy."