Hello All ----
Well, another month has flown by. And, I must say this month has me feeling a lot better than last month. (Although, yes, I know feelings are often deceptive.) Wow! It is so hard to think of how to put everything that has happened in a month into one email! But, since you're not here with me, here goes:
I started teaching at the beginning of September. (I really love teaching!) I basically have three different groups of students that I teach oral English to twice a week. (The advanced group only gets to have class with me once a week though.) Overall, my students are pretty good. I am still trying to figure out what to teach them. The students here are used to learning English from a book that usually has mostly dialogues. I detest dialogues; it's way too boring! Thus, I'm really glad I'm not teaching the lower level classes because that's pretty much exclusively how they're learning English. I would be too bored! As far as teaching goes, China definitely welcomes foreigners in its classrooms to teach, but you must get used to vast differences in teaching norms between Western and Eastern cultures. To give you an example, I caused a big stir when I asked the students to move their desks and turn them so I could personally go to every student's desk and be at max five feet away from students . Please understand just how difficult that is when you have 60 or more students crammed into a small classroom. But, in any case, I fought hard to overcome what they've (the students) been used to when it comes to teaching so that they could learn better. The students were most appreciative despite being very weirded out because my methods from the get-go were very unorthodox.
This month has also seen some big changes for me and friends. First, five guys from America came to teach here at the university and a middle school. (They are friends of a friend.) That many foreigners --- especially foreign teachers --- caused quite a stir here in little Meizhou. Then, my best friend here (Luke) left for his university. Our Papa bonded us with sp super glue, so it was and still is difficult for both of us to be away from each other. And, just three days ago I found out that a friend here will be moving too. She's changing her home base and job. Both are big changes and it means she'll have moved twice in a month. So, as much as I like changes, I'm finding that I am much more of people person than I thought. Lately, in this respect, it has felt as if half of me is missing. Right now, I can only trust that all of these people coming and going is what our Papa wanted. (Even still, it's just down right hard sometimes when I really start missing them!)
I am still learning more of the truth here in Meizhou about nearly everything. Maybe I'm here in some part to gather info and pass it along to those that come behind me. I am definitely learning a lot. My classes are helping me learn some too. This week, for example, I learned about good Chinese eating customs. You'd laugh so much if you could really see what I mean. Just trust me when I say proper eating etiquette in China is way different from that of America (or the West). But, that's just another thing I truly love about living in China! I get to break all the Western rules for eating, and it's so fun! *** If you don't like weird foods, skip down to the next paragraph. **** You get to eat some really far out things like cat (which I had two weeks ago for the first time -- dog tastes much better), tripe (cow's stomach), Japanese tofu (tasted like really good fish!), and Chinese cucumbers (which look like cucumbers on steroids). The newest thing I want to try is chicken and scorpion soup (found out about it last night), but I'm also looking forward to eating baby spiders this winter and rat-on-a-stick down by the river. (There are really shops that sell these foods here in Meizhou!) I'm also looking forward to visiting Luke in Guangzhou because there is a restaurant that specializes in cooking food like ants, beetles, and other bugs. .... Ummm, yummy!
This month has also given me the opportunity to celebrate some new holidays. They also taught me about the culture of China more. So, this month I celebrated Teacher's Day and Mid-Autumn Day for the first time. Don't dis either holiday when you're here too! Teacher's Day is basically like the American Mother's Day only for teachers instead of moms (mums). For me, it was really cool because I'm a teacher. So, even though I'd only been teaching here for a week I got all these gifts and cards. It was really cool to know that I'm appreciated (more on that in the next paragraph). Then, this weekend was another big holiday -- Mid-Autumn Day. Mid-Autumn Day is really cool in part because you get to eat moon cakes. Everyone here looks forward to this day. It is basically like the American Thanksgiving Day only no American football. You spend time with your family and look at the moon. So, these two holidays teach foreigners that teachers and the moon or the lunar calendar (which the Chinese follow) are staples of the culture. Family is also really important here too!
Part of what I've learned about Chinese culture and much of why Teacher's Day was so cool has to do with the fact that Chinese people really don't trust foreigners. If they do, it took them a long time to really trust them. Yes, our Papa is big enough to give people instant trust and slash through cultural barriers, but bottom line what I said above is truth. Some days really get me discouraged because a double standard definitely lives on here. The Chinese people want you to teach, but they don't really trust you. The wear two faces so often, putting the good/nice one on when foreigners are around. For those of you that have been here in the summer, understand that the treatment you got lasts for the summer only. After that, it's back to life as normal. So, understand that if you come in the summer you need to enjoy being treated like a king (although please don't abuse or take advantage of that special status), but also know that it's abnormal behavior. Many, if not most, Chinese people don't like America and consequently they don't like Americans. I've had some people be extremely rude to me simply because I was an American. That is truly the common tendency. They (the Chinese) don't trust you; they stare at you; they always want to know where you are going or have been; and they all want to be your friend to use it to their advantage in the future. This sounds really negative (and maybe it is too negative) but it's the bottom line, and Chinese people won't usually tell you. The one good thing about all that is that it has really helped me to understand prejudice, discrimination, and racial/cultural hatred a lot better --- better than any class at a university could have taught me --- and, I think that is important to understand!
Here are my requests:
(1) Safe delivery of important mail from the US -- I have been expecting some mail from home and it has yet to arrive. It is super important to me.
(2) Protection and wisdom -- Currently have a LOT of Good Books that I got from the open ch. I need protection to keep them and wisdom to know who to give them to. His word needs to spread here, but I have to seek His wisdom on how to give them away.
(3) Wisdom and better teaching abilities -- I have a group of four girls that I'm teaching on Sunday afternoons. Ask Papa to give them understanding. They don't know a lot because they've never heard and/or been taught about the Good Book. That in general is a big request for all of China too! The people including my girls are so hungry to be taught and know more --- PTL!
(4) For my students -- I have all together 135 students. I want to be a wonderful teacher and teach them the most important things. There are some things they won't learn from a book. So, ask that I know what to teach them and that they understand. English is a second language to them, and especially last week, I've seen the language barrier be a big problem. Also, I gave my students a test last week. I got so furious when I saw students cheating! Dishonesty is a common cultural trait, so I have to wage the battle with that in mind too. Plus, embarrassing students (or anyone really) is a cultural no-no, so I don't quite know how to handle the cheating. But, I'll be giving more tests, so I'll have to face that problem again. Oh also, to my knowledge in my school there are less than 10 bros and sis although there is a lot of interest as of late. Ask for Papa to deliver a ripe harvest at my school!
Well, that's all for this month. Please let me hear from each of you soon. It really, REALLY means so much when I get emails from yall. For those that have my address here, please write. My mama is keeping a website about me up to date with pics and letters. Yall should check is out at: http://users.wfeca.net/sonjiaj/page2.html . Thanks for your support and pr.
Much love,
Amanda (Zhong Ai Xin)
