A Breath of Fresh Air

I have been in China for more than two weeks now (that anniversary came and went on Thursday) and this Tuesday will mark the two week mark of me living in Cangqian just outside of the city of Hangzhou. Yes, I am technically outside of the city but there are still days when you cannot see the sun or the sky and that may not always have to do with cloud cover (let's be honest--we all know that it's pollution). So when I was given the chance to venture out of the city and into the local countryside yesterday, I jumped on the opportunity!

The few days of rain and haze were behind us and it was a beautiful sunny (and hot) day where the sky was almost blue and you could even see the mountains in the distance.

Adam and I hopped on a few buses and after not too long, we were on our way!

Yay for long, hot bus rides!!

The ride out of the city and into the local town was absolutely beautiful and the much needed natural therapy that I needed. Hangzhou is considered to be the "greenest" city in China and not because they are environmentally friendly (because, well, it's China) but because they have a lot of trees and plants all around the city. Of course, coming from Western New York where we have Letchworth State Park, Allegany State Park, and some of my favorite hiking trails of all time (Erie County Forest Preserve for the win!), to say that there are a lot of trees here in Hangzhou is like a bad joke that makes you want to cry. However, the further from the city you drove, the more trees you saw.

It was just so nice to see green. Good, deep, beautiful, wonderful GREEN. I found that I missed it. More than I thought I would. The way the sun shines through leaves on the tops of the trees, the green hue you see everywhere, the few patches of sunlight that reach the ground--I love it! While the trees we drove by were nothing like the forests in New York and other parts of America, I did find myself feeling like I was right back at home. At one point, I spotted a log cabin that made me feel like I was back camping at Allegany when I was a little girl. Needless to say, I got excited when I saw the familiar sight.

After about a 30 minute bus ride, we got off in the middle of a small town with winding streets, alleyways, and mountains and hills towering up above you just covered in rows and rows of tea.

Now for those of you who know me, I love tea. Despite my post on coffee and cafes here in China (found right here!), I love me some tea and never pass up the chance to drink it (some might call me a tea snob). So many shops that sell tea (like Teavana in the mall) like to tell you where your tea comes from and many times they tell the story of how your cup of tea has tea leaves in it that came from China, hand picked in tea fields growing up the side of mountains. I always find these stories interesting but I also always thought that they were probably a bit exaggerated to make their tea exotic and more desirable than the teabags you can get at the grocery store. Well I do like to be proven wrong sometimes.

This town was made up of a single road where cars, bikes, and buses zoomed by and surrounding the tea houses and restaurants were steep hills (I like to call them mountains even though it's probably not true) and you just saw rows and rows of tea going on for as far as you can see (for me that is not very far but you get the idea). It looked like a big green, cozy quilt just covering the hills.

See? Cozy quilt!!

It was one of the coolest things I have seen since I've gotten to China. Having been surrounded by tall buildings, honking cars, and nonstop construction, it was so surreal and cleansing to be surrounded by the natural beauty of China (not to mention my little tea snob heart was in its glory).

We walked past some women working in the field who waved at us and called out, "Ni hao!"

Everything was so relaxed and simpler. I've only been in China for two weeks but this was much needed. It is crazy to think that I've only been in China for 17 days now and I've been in Cangqian for only 12 days--so much has happened: I've done so much, met so many amazing people, eaten so much street food... oh yeah... and started teaching.

It feels like I've been here for months already... And I admit that I cannot wait to see what more China has in store for me...

Until Next Time,
Amanda

After the First Week

So after this morning, I have officially completed my first week as an English teach for Hangzhou Normal University. There were some ups, some downs, and a whole lot of me not knowing what the heck I was doing.

I teach two different classes--Oral English I for the freshmen (which will begin next week) where we focus on interview skills and Oral English for graduate students where they have not given me anything to go off of. All the school wanted was for us to get the students to talk and they don't really care how we go about doing that. They suggested working with music, TV shows, and movies and after a whole lot of semester outlines with completely different plans each time, I decided to focus on American history and culture through different films like The Outsiders, Forrest Gump, Remember the Titans, and National Treasure... but it was a long and painful process for me to get to that point.

For me, school started on Tuesday. I had two classes that morning from 8:05-11:20 in the morning. The night before, I was a bit nervous and that morning, I was terrified. I had been in China for almost 2 weeks at that point and found that I was enjoying myself more than I had even expected... but I guess that was because I had forgotten the main reason as to why I was here--to teach. Well it all came crashing down on me that morning and I thought of just packing my bags and heading back home to Tonawanda. Luckily, I had Adam there to remind me to breathe and said what I've heard so many times--I know more English than everyone in the classroom combined. Reassuring me that my students wouldn't be total brats and would actually like me (yes, because I am a goofy foreigner), I was able to walk into my class with a smile on my face (though I still had butterflies practicing the cha-cha in my tummy).

In each of my classes, I start with an introduction to the class. We go through the syllabus I came up with and then I show them a quick power point about me, showing them photos of my house (which they LOVE), my school, and also my time in China back in December. From there I pass out note cards and I have them fill it out with information such as their Chinese name, their English name, ID number, email, etc. After a few minutes, I have them stand up one at a time and introduce themselves to me and the rest of the class.

My first class at 8:05am was a bit rough. They weren't very talkative and didn't seem to comprehend what I was talking about most of the time.Of course, this class was a complete learning process for both them and me. I had to consciously slow down my talking (and you all know how fast I chat away), repeat myself whenever something was important, and I had to really encourage them to speak up. As we went around and introduced ourselves, I just had them stand up at their desks but because they were so quiet, I had to stand right in front of them so they were really only talking to me (and that was not what I had wanted).

My next class came directly after at 9:45. This one was a bit easier. They liked the idea of learning English through watching movies and acting out scenes. Of course, I realized after the fact that it is because they have all majored in something to do with broadcasting, animation, cinematography, etc. They had movie requests (Titanic, of course) and other ideas for the class. Again, when we went around to introduce each other, they stood up in their seats and, while their English was a bit better than the first class, they were still very quiet. The class had less people than my first class (about 25), so we had about 15 minutes to kill. I decided to introduce them to "Never Have I Ever." It took them a minute to get the idea of the game but then they went with it and I think they had a lot of fun!

Trust me when I say I was so relieved once that bell rang and my first day came to an end! I knew that, even though I still wasn't 100% sure what I was doing, I could get through this.

Foreign teachers, Amanda and Adam, in their fancy first day of school clothes!!

Day two was certainly entertaining. Aside from teaching two days at Cangqian campus where I live, I also have to teach at the old Xiasha campus. It is about an hour and a half bus ride through the city of Hangzhou to the school and I have a class that starts at 8:05 which means I have to catch the 6:20 bus which means I have to get up around 5:30... which means I am not a happy little Amanda on Wednesdays...

Luckily, I have been to Xiasha before when I visited Rachel and Olivia in December. I knew exactly where I had to go for class and had a (relatively) easy time finding where the bus picked us up and dropped us off. I figured that once I got to the campus, everything would be nice and easy--a basic repeat from the day before.

*cue ominous music*

Have I ever mentioned that I am technologically impaired? Well I am and my first day at Xiasha was a less than desirable moment to have my lack of technology skills rear its ugly head. Backstory: We have ID cards as teachers that fit into a machine that turns the computer and projector on, as well as lowering the screen thingy (that's the technical name). Well apparently, these magic cards don't work at the Xiasha campus and no one felt the need to tell me this. So for my first class at Xiasha, I had NOTHING to work with. I had no computer so I had no power point, no internet, nothing. I had to stand in front of the class and try to fill 80 minutes. Luckily, there was almost 45 students in that class so introductions took up tons of time.

All of this being said--I LOVE my Xiasha students. They are so much more talkative. They say hello and good morning to you as they enter the room. Before I even started class, they applauded for me. When we went around the room to do introductions, the first student ran to the podium at the front of the room and everyone else copied him which forced them to speak up for the class to hear them and it felt more like they were getting to know one another as opposed to just talking to me which is exactly what I had wanted.

Where that class was huge, the next class that directly followed was tiny!! It had a grand total of ten students. Yes, you read that right--10 STUDENTS. Where the previous class killed me with the technology, this class killed me with lack of syllabuses... I had run out in my last class!! I was able to figure out the computer with the help of some of the students and was able to go through my original lesson plan and still go through the syllabus with the students before emailing it to them. Their English was great and I even had three boys who had the courage to include declarations of love for me in their introductions. Of course, when everything was said and done and we had gone through all the introductions, we still had about a half hour to go... I guess that is one of the things that stinks about having a smaller class... I tried "Never Have I Ever" one more time and they just did not get it which is fine; at least it made me realize that I need to prepare a bit more for that class.

And today was my Friday. I had only one class to teach first thing in the morning and it might have been the greatest class on the planet. After a little hiccup in regards to the technology, I think I really felt myself getting into my own groove. I made sure to speak slowly as I went through the syllabus and power point presentation (which ended up taking up almost half the class) and then the introductions took up the rest of the class. I didn't have to fill the time at all with icebreakers or stupid time fillers. I also really felt like the students could understand what I was saying--they laughed when I said something funny, showed interest in my house and swimming pool, and were disappointed to hear that I don't really live in New York City. The students were great and seemed like they were excited to be there and be in the class. I have a good feeling about them.

As a reward for never bursting into tears this week, I let myself eat a few (yes, only a few) green tea Oreos, compliments of Mr. Adam Limpert who has learned of my deep and passionate love affair with them.

Never underestimate the love I have for these little beauties...

So that was my first week in a major nutshell. I am so relieved to have made it through relatively unharmed. Now I have four days to think about what I am actually going to be teaching these students and prepping for my freshmen classes to start up next week.

ALSO: I have a feeling you should buy shares in the green tea Oreo stock because I plan on eating my weight in them...

Until Next Time,
Amanda