Today I woke up and got ready for my 8:00 freshman oral English class. I had a pretty good nights sleep, except for some mosquitoes. My roomate and I have been struggling with keeping them out of our apartment, and have been experiementing with various combinations of sprays, coils and sleeping completely under the covers.
I walked over to class with Alli across the basketball courts to the English building. Its hot and humid in Nanchang, even in the morning! My class is on the 4th floor of the building. I greeted the class as I walked in and explained to them that our final exam would actually be this next week instead of in 2 weeks like I had told them the last time we had class. I had just received word that our classes would be pushed up a week. I'm still not sure why, but at the beginning of the year we were told to be flexible. The kids didn't bat and eye at the news. They are used to things changing around them. China is changing so rapidly as a nation, and I think that sometimes China has succeeded for so long because their people are so flexible. Nanchang itself is changing quickly too.
Class went well and we practiced our speeches and reviewed for the final written exam. I noticed a student reading the school newspaper and she pointed out that Blue Sky had just recieved the rating as the number one private school in China. Sweet! I teach here! I wondered what kind of schedule changes were going down at number 49!
I taught two, two hour classes and then headed back to my apartment to take a rest, or as we say in America, "siesta". I got a chance to talk on the phone with my boyfriend for awhile and then with my mom and dad after that... It was great. I can't believe I'm coming home in about a month! I like it here, but I definitely miss home.
I had some penne pasta for lunch that I bought at the German import store called Metro. We can find some more familiar food there, and while it is more expensive than Chinese food, it is not too bad. My favorite things to buy there include whole wheat ceral and pasta sauce. You know, the necessities.
Friday is a day for Chinese lessons, which are usually held at the Old Campus office. However, the OC office was shut down because the whole building was being sealed for use the next day. The college entrance exam is going to be administered in the building and it is being cleaned and guarded so there is no cheating, etc. Emily is visiting her cousin, so it was just Alli and I for the Chinese lessons with Billy. Mr Li picked us up in the school van and took us to the New Campus office (about 10-15 minutes away). We met Billy (Billy is our FAO, or Foreign Affairs Officer) and began practicing the vocabulary for asking about the time and scheduling appointments. Billy always like to joke around, so we had some good laughs. He taught us how to say, "You look very ugly", and he also told us some stories of humorous English mistakes he has witnessed- like a sign that said, "THe toilet will provide you with free kidnappings" or ," Lushan Mountain attacks more than a million tourists each year."
After our lessons Alli and I stayed at the New Campus office and waited for the van to take us back to the Old Campus. Rachel introduced us to a group of about 8 students who had come to visit her and ask questions in the office. They were trying to reschedule their final exam because they were leaving the school to go do some recruiting of other students. I heard Rachel say, "You can take the exam if you get back before June 13th." The girls came over and started talking to Dan, because he could speak Chinese. This makes him really cool, all of the time. I feel jealous and wish that I knew more than I did. Dan went to intensive language school for 2 years though, and I'm not sure that is for me, just yet anyways. Alli and I began to "adjust" things on Steven and Emily's desks, (which we were sitting at for our lessons). The Japanese teacher Takao San was giving finals for his Japanese class, so there were people speaking Japanese and Chinese at the same time. I smiled.
We took the van back to the Old Campus and made some jokes about being ugly and about smelly feet in Chinese. Then we had dinner at the local team favorite, "Babylon." One of the joys of being in China is coming up with alternative names for restaurants. Dan, Rachel, Alli and I chose to have eggplant with meat, potato slivers, tofu wraps with meat and onions and a green pepper and egg dish. Yum! I really like Chinese food. I never liked eggplant or most of the food I eat here before, but I think its scrumptious now. Just not for every meal though. Dinner cost 8 yuan a person, which is equal to $1.
On the way back a group of kids yelled hello at us as we walked through the alley. Dan and Alli decided to get haircuts and Rachel and I came back. I grabbed a cup of tapioca mlik tea from my favorite stand first. It costs 1.5 yuan, or about 20 cents. I got my standard, original flavor, and the girls who worked there smiled at me. There she is, the foreigner, getting her milk tea again... didn't she get one yesterday? Yes, she did.
I came back to the apartment and received a text message from my student Robin. She had told me earlier that day that she wanted me to visit her dorm room and that she had a present for me. She came and met me at my apartment and walked me over to her dormitory. There are 8 girls in one dorm room. They had red Chinese lanterns and paper cranes hanging from the ceiling. Each girl had her own mosquito net and had posters decorating the area near their bed. I noticed a HUGE Allan Iverson poster and asked Robin whose it was. She smiled and said, "It's mine!" I just had to laugh.
She gave me a traditional red paper cutting that her mother had made. It was an intricate design with the character for "double happiness" and birds. Double happiness is a character which is often used at weddings and festivals. Robin also gave me some hand embroidered foot pads that she had made herself. They were really beautiful. She gave me some more milk tea. My classes know that I like it! This flavor was taro root, and it is a purple color. Yum! She had also bought me some food from her hometown province, but I had just eaten dinner so she said I could take it home with me instead of eating it right then.
Robin asked for a picture of me, and I had brought one in my purse. Students always ask for pictures and I had brought some small ones with me, as well as U.S. coins and stamps to use as gifts. We exchanged addresses and she wrote out her home address in character for me. She asked what I would do when I came back to America. She wondered if I would come back to the same school, or even China. I asked her about her family. She is the daugher of farmers who grow wheat and beans. She said that her parents work very hard and always tell her to work hard so she doesn't have to be a farmer. She explained to me that in China farmers work very hard because they do not have machines to do the work for them. She has a sister who is 28 who will have a baby soon. Her hometown is from further north, so she was struggling with the heat of Nanchang.
Her roomates smiled at me and we exchanged a few words. I stayed for 2 hours and then came back to my apartment. After an hour or so Rachel called and said that the computer monitor of their computer broke and so she needed to get the one from my apartment. My internet in my apartment doesn't work, and I always use the one upstairs anyways. Rachel's laptop broke earlier this year, and so this is probably the second set of data she has lost.
Its quiet in my apartment because Emily is gone. I am having friends over tomorrow morning early, so I should go to bed soon. I just hope there are no more mosquitos.
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