But safe from what? The city has been kind to me. The people in this city are incredibly nice. They definitely surpassed my expectations of how Chinese people would act towards Americans. Surprisingly, the Chinese people here are nicer, more kind, more patient, and more courteous than any Asian i've met in the U.S. For example, I went to a hot pot restaurant for dinner tonight. But with my broken Chinglish, ordering was a massacre. The waitress asked me a bunch of questions such as what type of broth I would like. I looked at her and answered 'yes.' At this point, if i were in America, the waitress would begin to roll her eyes and perhaps cuss at me in Chinese. But in Beijing, everybody is very kind and patient. They try hard to understand our broken Chinglish and often try their best to help us. it just breaks my heart that I can't tip these people because in China, gratuity is not expected--in fact, it is often not welcomed as it is a sign of back luck for businesses to take more than they charge. But as much as it breaks my heart, i'm still glad it doesnt do much damage to my wallet :D
While beijing has been kind to me, however, the program itself hasn't been the most ideal host to us. We we told the first day that we would begin our training program by teaching an actual classroom starting tomorrow. Aside from listing a few suggested activities, we were pretty much on our own. To plan a 3 hour lesson each day was excruciatingly overwhelming--especially because I had no idea what level my kids were or what age.
But I am happy to say that I survived my one week of swim-or-drown teaching. I have a week off to go to finally go to the training class before i have to resume teaching for one more week. The kids here are incredibly smart. I teach at Peking University, the Harvard of China, and so most of the kids either want to be here or their parents force them to sign up for these English classes. I am absolutely amazed by how much they know and how much they can say. Their advanced level makes it both easy to plan lessons as well as hard. I'm forced to balance the lessons between being entertaining and engaging and challenging and worthwhile.
I told the kids today that I might never see them again since I may not be assigned to them next week. And it was so touching to see them all bring cameras the next day to take pictures with us and one little girl even gave me a gift. Very sweet considering they sit in class for 6 hours a day with teachers who do not have any teaching experience or training.
me and robert and jack
me and jim and nick
me and simon and dragon (they get to pick their own english names)
me and watermelon and jubilation
me and jenny, shell, kathy, and shirly.
me, amanda (who ive been calling linda for the past week until she finally corrected me today)
The most exciting thing i've done in China, I must say, is eating all the weird shit they sell on the street--all of which are fried and served on a stick. I've had: an entire baby shark, starfish, scorpion, silkworm, goat testicle, fish stomach, an omelette with french fries inside, and chicken. I was most afraid of chicken because of the bird flu. But we were assured that there is no real risk unless i was working on a farm.
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