I feel I should explain my title up front in case I should offend some of you reading this whose loyalties lie more with something like a Hawk or a Wildcat, as opposed to a man who husks corn. I was walking back from getting a piece of fried chicken a couple nights ago, that being my backup plan in case the Tricycle Meat Salesman isn’t around (I have since become friendly with the owner of the fried chicken stall, he’s a nice guy, he even told me “you’re welcome” today after I bought something), when I saw a girl wearing a Nebraska t-shirt. Needless to say, I was surprised and forced myself to resist the urge of shouting “GO CORN HUSKERS!” to her on the street. She was probably more into academics anyway. Of course, then there is the whole, I don’t want to terrify the friendly denizens of Shijiazhuang and wind up getting brought in to the police station. You may have noticed that I have mentioned not wanting to get arrested a few times now. Deportation may sound glamorous, but I hear it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I certainly don’t want to see for myself. I’m thinking of keeping a tally: “Day Without Deportation.” Hopefully I could get it into the triple digits.
I have survived the week of teaching. I was more than glad when the weekend arrived. Luckily, I have classes 1 and 2 on Friday afternoons; they are the top students of the whole Junior 1 (the top 80 or so kids that have the best grades split between the 2 classes). Part of my lesson was to have them ask me questions to learn things about me they wanted to know, but these students asked me things more along the lines of “If there are a lot of cars in Chicago, how come there isn’t as much pollution in America?” and “How come English is the language everyone wants to learn (essentially why is English the lingua franca of the world)?” These two questions called for lengthy answers on my part, and I’m not sure if the students understood completely, but they seemed satisfied with the illusion of my competence. To the first question, I talked about how the industry of a given area impacts the amount of pollution; it can’t be strictly cars because then England during the Industrial Revolution would have been vastly different. With China so heavy in manufacturing, any pollution from those factories has a much greater impact than the cars in the city. To the second question, I again referenced British history, explaining how it was heavily reliant on trade and commerce. So, while the Empire stretched across the globe, it was the trade network that facilitated the spread of English as the language to learn. Then you had the rise of American industrialism and business which continued the dominance of English as the language of commerce. I then went on to explain how, because of China’s rapidly growing and powerful economy, more people are looking at Mandarin as the language of the future. Of course, I am in a unique position because I am a native English speaker. Someone from Germany might view things differently. Thankfully, the explanations seemed to satisfy the students for the time being. I dread to think what other brain busters they might conjure up.
Today, we were told to be careful being outside. From what I gathered, it was a national day of protest against the Japanese. It stemmed out of a kerfuffle over an island or islands between the two countries. The two countries don’t really get along, not since that little incident in Nanjing (Nanking for all of you history buffs). The Junior and Senior High students had school in order to keep them out of trouble. Initially we were told to work, but as it was not in our contract and we were told only yesterday, we demanded to be paid for the workday. I don’t think the school was thinking we would demand overtime, so we were given back our Sunday. While I understand the school’s position, I have to draw the line somewhere. I feel it could be a slippery slope if I start doing things for free.
I just finished washing a few clothing items by hand. Initially I went to the laundry rooms we’ve got, but since they consist of one washer each with some drying racks, they are easily occupied. Preferring not to put it off, I decided to try what the picture on the back of the detergent suggested and wash some clothes by hand. It was pretty easy, put water and detergent in a bucket, let clothes soak, agitate clothes after soaking, rinse, wring, hang to dry. Now I only did a few items that I need for the next couple of days, but it was fun. All I needed was a crick to draw the water from and some stones to lay the clothes on to dry. Naturally I would be whittling while the womenfolk did the warshing. So, it’s a bit different nowadays, I suppose.
My Saturday night this weekend consisted of imbibing in some Pabst Blue Ribbon while recording some audio exercises for the Chinese English teachers. The Pabst because I was intrigued to see if it tastes the same 6000 miles away. It was pretty bad, so the Chinese have it spot on. The audio because the Junior 1 English program switched to a new version of the book they were using, but the audio exercises have changed and they haven’t gotten the new tapes yet. So, being the nice guy I am, and looking to reciprocate the good will that’s been shown to me by the department, I agreed to help. It didn’t take more than 45 minutes, but I was quite self-conscious the whole time. All of a sudden I had to pay attention to how I was saying, not only the individual words, but whole sentences and paragraphs as well. It was tricky reproducing natural speech when having to read phrases that I wouldn’t use myself, though I don’t think the teachers will complain. They were thankful that I could do it for them.
One point that threw me: like the British, the Chinese will refer to Mathematics as “Maths.” If any of you have encountered a Chinese person saying the word, it sounds odd to American ears. First, because the “th” sound is tricky for them; second, because the “s” on the end is something we are not used to hearing, so we just chalk it up to a horrible pronunciation. I understand this isn’t the linguistic breakthrough of the century, but it made me realize that the differences between, say American and British English, are even more far-reaching than we think.
This is how the outside of our windows get cleaned. It looks like something out of an action movie, except for the buckets and squeegies.
One point that threw me: like the British, the Chinese will refer to Mathematics as “Maths.” If any of you have encountered a Chinese person saying the word, it sounds odd to American ears. First, because the “th” sound is tricky for them; second, because the “s” on the end is something we are not used to hearing, so we just chalk it up to a horrible pronunciation. I understand this isn’t the linguistic breakthrough of the century, but it made me realize that the differences between, say American and British English, are even more far-reaching than we think.
This is how the outside of our windows get cleaned. It looks like something out of an action movie, except for the buckets and squeegies.