nathan davey

In the run up to all hallows eve, Siobhan, Stuart and I were busy trying to come up with decorations for the students’ parties and designing our own costumes.

On the 30th we went to the kindergarten Halloween party, and I finally got to meet all the little ones that Siobhan teaches.  Quite a few of Stuart’s primary school children were there too, so it was great to meet all the little devils I’ve heard so many stories about.

There are many days that I would like to swap my middle school & high school students to teach the littler ones; but each group of kids has their own unique set of challenges to be sure, and after a night of high pitched shrieking and waist level karate punches, leaving my ears and … well, other parts sore, I am fairly certain I made the right choice.

We started the night rather strangely, the three of us sitting down in the Halloween-decor saturated kinder-classroom and reviewing vocabulary with group after group of kids – showing them flashcard after flashcard and rewarding them with candy.

After that they had a little dance party …

during which I snuck up behind some kids and gave them a good scare.  While most of them shrieked and then laughed, one little girl just instantly broke into tears!  I felt pretty bad, but the parents were all just rolling with laughter.  Ahh, good impressions …

The night ended with all the dressed up teachers (the three of us foreigners and one of the natives) taking pictures with the students … and about fifty photos later we called it a night and headed back to our dorms.

The celebration of China’s 60th birthday was an interesting time here at the school.  My junior classes had a little party and they asked me to host.  I thought this seemed like a rather un-chinese idea, but as it turned out I was co-hosting with the dean of the junior grades.  There we had China and America hand-in-hand and suddenly nothing seemed more an appropriate way to welcome the sixth decade of their nation.

They asked me and the other foreign teachers to prepare something about our national days, how we celebrate and such.  Huh.  Most people drink quite a bit and watch a fireworks display – but since telling a group of 11-15 year-olds this probably wouldn’t go over too well, I told them it was a time of firework displays and reunions with friends and family.  I wikipedia’d the rest, and recounted something about our independence from England and ‘inalienable rights’.

As the night progressed, my co-host for the night turned over to me and asked me if I’d like to sing a song.  I vaguely recollected from the two-minute-before-the-event-started-and-first-time-meeting-to-discuss-the-night’s-schedule that she wanted me to join them in a song – “Heal the World” by, of course, Michael Jackson.  Quickly recovering from my momentary shock from her seemingly odd request, I said “Sure, but I think I might need some help!”  Ahh good times.  The students finally got their wish to hear me sing (sort of, I turned off my mic), as the music started and I joined my students.

A short play recounting the story behind the Mid-Autumn Festival – a love story about a girl named Chang’e who drinks too much of an elixir of immortality and rises to the moon, where her lover Houyi can only see her once a year.  Sweet.

After the kids sang one more song (and I joined in on that one just for kicks), a few more kids lip-sanc (what’s the past of lip-sync?), and then the whole group tried to teach us three foreign teachers how to say Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinese, each giving it a try in turn.  Good times.

Then we judged a poster contest, picking two winners, one that represented National Day, and one that represented the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(Not one that we chose as a winner, but real cute!)

National Day Winner

Mid-Autumn Festival Winner

Eek.  H1N1 hit one of my classes yesterday.

What did this mean?  I went to the class and found out it was canceled, all the student had gone home for the week and I had an extra afternoon off.

I am pretty sure I know which of the students was the vector – during a few lessons he looked like he had the flu, was continually sneezing and coughing, and not once did he cover his mouth in the process – bless his heart.  None of the kids here have the malnourished sickly look, so I think they’ll all pull through.

Ahh, life here is a little hectic right now.

I still can’t really believe I am a teacher.  Seriously.  Me?  It is strange because I am teaching a pretty wide range of students, ages 13-19 and of such varying skill levels even in the same grade that it is really hard.  The younger ones are actually pretty good, it is the oldest ones who are the most troublesome and don’t really have much interest.  Still, I know that the older ones are under a lot of pressure to pass exams, so it is hard to get too upset.

For my first lesson in each class I’ve had them get into groups and come up with any questions they can think of to ask me.  The most typical questions and answers are …

Q: “Do you like China?”

A: “I love China!  I am so excited to be here because I have studied China and Chinese culture for many years.”

… applause …

Q: “What is your favorite Chinese food?”

A: “Dumplings.”

Q: “What do you think of our school?”

A: “It is beautiful and all the students and teachers are very nice and friendly”

… applause …

Q: “Do you have a girlfriend / wife?”

A: “No. I am too busy for love.”

Q: “Do you like Michael Jackson?”

A: “Umm.  In America we thought MJ was a little strange.  He lived in a big house filled with child’s toys.  So we thought he was a bit odd.”

Q: “Do you speak Chinese?”

A: “我会说中问。我的专业是中问和电脑。” – - – “I speak Chinese, my major was Chinese and Computers.”

They all get really excited when I tell them I speak Chinese.  The younger ones break out into a deafening applause which just cracks me up.  They also get sad when class is over, and I must admit, I do as well since they are so excited and a joy to be around.

I have 18 different classes, totaling about 600 students.  Yeah, its nuts.  I teach ten days in a row with four days off.  Seven out of the ten days I start at 7:50am, so I am trying to get used to getting up at 6:30.  The last time I did this was in high school.  It is rough.  I just started day one of five days in a row of teaching at 7:50am.  So. Damn. Early.  I teach each class twice a week, so 36 total.  Thankfully I only have four different age groups, so that mean I just need to come up with eight lesson plans a week and they are only 45 minutes long so … well, it is harder than I thought.

Needless to say, after the long and tiring days, I’ve got a lot more respect for teachers.

Dressing conservatively for my new role.  Well, at least for the first week.

So the kids are a *bit* spoiled.  There were more Mercedes, BMW, VW, and other such fancy cars here on the the first day than I think I had ever seen anywhere.  On my first day, in my first class, I had one student from Korea, one from Japan, and one from New York.  Huh.  That was weird.  I guess his dad knows one of the principals at the school (they have three principals and a headmaster).  So the poor kid  just changed from an American school to a Chinese school, where he needs to get up at 6am, have classes from 7:50am – 9:30pm, and they do homework until midnight.  I told the other teachers I am going to make him my helper, and I think they are down with that.

At 9:30 on the first day of school, all the junior and senior students assembled on the soccer field to raise the flag and herald in the new school year.

It was interesting but also a bit odd for a westerner I think.  So many students and all of them seem so patriotic.  Perhaps just because patriotism is falling out of favor in the states, but they are all very happy when I tell them how excited I am to be in China.

The first few nights here consisted of many trips to the grocery store filling up on little necessities.  Stuart, Siobhan, and I looked rather like a bunch of freaks as the only white faces in a sea of Chinese people.  The people are mostly curious, but the stares do get a little tiring, though I am getting used to it and it is not too bad – a little “Ni Hao” usually puts a smile on their faces and they stop the blatant staring (no, not really – they just keep staring but with a wider grin on their faces).

The rooms dorms are pretty good, but and we have most everything promised to us.  No proper kitchen to speak of, but enough cooking gear and a little know-how will make it easy.

On my second night here, after cleaning all the surfaces of the furniture in my dorm, I made some new signs to cover the window to my dorm.

As I was putting up the sign, this not-so-little beast crawled into my room.

I smacked it with my sandal and freaked out a little.  The centipede (wú​gōng 蜈蚣)  looked like it was straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.  Shaking with disgust I walked into the hallway and saw my neighbor, the computer teacher named Xiao Shu.  After waving him into my room to see the monster that lay dying on the floor, he went back to his room, got an empty soda bottle, and scooped it up.  He explained that it was poisonous and that a student had been bitten by one earlier in the day.  The next day I went to our school liaison and promptly requested they put baseboards on our dorm doors.  I have no desire to wake up and have one hanging out beside me.

There are some beautiful hills behind the school, and what appears to be several temples on the top of them.  I can’t wait to climb up and see them, perhaps when our bikes have been fixed and the temperature drops a bit.

Welcome to our posh private school on the outskirts of Suzhou.

So much going on!  The place is nice, almost too nice.  I don’t think this is really what most of China is like, but …

The school looks pretty amazing.

Spacious grounds …

… canals …

… and a beautiful garden.

That is a pomegranate tree. Really.

Yes, it is gated all the way around the perimeter.

An aerial shot of the school grounds from Google Earth.