Hua Qiang Bei

In Chinese, 华强北. This past weekend Ben and I went shopping with some coworkers: Annie, Carol, and Melissa. Annie is the school librarian, and Carol and Melissa are English teachers. It was nice going shopping with Chinese women; they are familiar with good places to go, and as women they can give me advice about clothes. Secretly, I wanted them to help me find a Halloween costume. This year I'm going as a Chinese woman, but I wasn't going to tell them that. I ended up buying this pretty, dark purple dress. It's Chinese, but still fashionable. I have seen some strange patterns and designs for dresses here. I wanted to buy something Chinese that I would wear more than once. The Chinese teachers really liked shopping in the malls, while Ben and I were content to walk around the cheap market behind one of the malls. Some of the goods in this market were not knockoffs; they were clothes that fell off the back of a truck. Real Western name brands with Chinese prices! Fantastic. I bought a pair of Converse All Stars for less than $20. Converse is very popular here, so I may have a small collection before my teaching year is out. ^_^

深圳国际旅游文化节开幕式

This past Thursday I went to my first concert in China, the Shenzhen International Tourism Cultural Festival 2008 (深圳国际旅游文化节开幕式). It was at Window to the World, the Shenzhen version of EPCOT Center I wrote about before. It was weird being out on a school night, but it great to break routine. It was also fun just being around native English speakers. A small group of teachers from the CTLC program attended this concert. We were the only foreigners there, so we felt obligated to be loud and American, especially during the musical performances. One of the performances was a Russian dance troupe. I cheered even louder for them; we foreigners have to stick together. While we rocked out in our seats, the Chinese audience members just watched. One of the performances was a techno song, so some of us started dancing. Some Chinese people turned around to watch us! No one joined in on the musical fun, a shame. There was also a group of seven guys who breakdanced. We were cheering and reacting, unlike those around us. Another performance was a beat boxer, and he was really talented. I think the older Chinese generations in the audience didn't know what to make of this new-fangled youth music. From beat boxers to breakdancers, from traditional Russian dances to techno music, there was a huge variety of music. There were two opera singers as well. The man, , was really good; he sang one of Pavarotti's songs, which successfully I might add. His pronunciation was perfect, like his 'r's. And it would not have been a Chinese concert without a song from the Olympics. A group of kids, some in Chinese outfits, others in lederhossen, sang "You and Me."
A few days later, Ben got an email from one of his students, which said that he saw both of us on TV at the concert. I've been on Chinese television! Sweet!

Teacher Thoughts

I have regaled you all in some fun stories and events in my life in China. But I haven't written about my reaction to becoming a teacher. Over the past month and a half of teaching, one question kept popping up.
HOW DO I EARN THE RIGHT TO CALL MYSELF A TEACHER? Can I be a teacher just by having students? Or by conducting a class? Is a teacher defined by how much homework her students do? I teach 16 classes of fifty kids each. My focus is not homework, but spoken English. I want my students to feel comfortable talking in English.
I have thought about it a lot, and decided that the right is earned with time. It is not something you get all at once. On September 8, 2008 I started this earning process. I constantly learn from my students about how they learn and what they react to. Sometimes, I see their interest in the class, which makes it worth while. But there are some horrible times; one of my classes last week kept being disruptive. I was so upset and frustrated with them. My students are nervous about speaking English, but they want to speak it. Some come up to me between classes to chat with me.
The transition from student to teacher was not as difficult as I feared. I'm on the other side of the teacher's desk. It's cool. I don't feel like a ruler in class, more like a facilitator. I ask questions and make sure that the class stays in topic. If I gave out homework, I would feel more like the other teachers here. But I like this steady path to teaching. I teach a class and grade on performance and effort. Maybe in the future I will also grade homework, but that's one less thing to worry about now.

National Day

Here's a generalization of Chinese people I made to a friend here.
The dudes look like chicks.
The chicks look like dolls.
The kids look like vegetables, particularly radishes.
Let me explain: Many Chinese men get very feminine haircuts. Sometimes, I can't instantly figure out the gender of guys walking around. As for the women, I've seen a lot of them in little girl dresses; cute is in. Also, there is a hairstyle I have seen on some toddlers with three mini ponytails sticking out of their heads. It's better than the rattails I have seen here, but not by much.
A lot has happened during my National Day vacation, celebrating the foundation of the PRC. Lots of other foreign teachers went abroad (Vietnam, Philippines), but I decided to stay in Shenzhen. I needed to get used to the city, especially the bus routes. There are so many buses because the city is so big and still expanding. That doesn't mean I sat on my ass and watched tv. For instance, I explored the downtown area of Shenzhen, called Dongmen. A friend guided us to this secret door in a mall that led to a bootleg dvd store. We joked about being led into the Russian slave trade; it was that out of the way. The dvd quality and selection was excellent, better than Walmart! I bought all four seasons of 'Coupling' and five of 'NCIS.' They even had all of ‘Blackadder,’ which I didn’t buy.
On National Day, nine of us went to Macao, which is part of China and yet not part of China. That is a concept that I have yet to understand. I guess means I have not become Chinese yet.  Why do I need to go through Customs and Immigration within China? I'll run out of pages in my passport soon with all the stamps I get in one trip to Macao or Hong Kong. Anyway, the trip was amazing. We wandered around hotels exclusive and expensive enough for 5th Ave. and casinos fit for Vegas. I have never felt so poor in my entire life. It took me a trip across the world to visit my first casino and gamble. I lost. The good thing is I didn't even lose 1 USD. I also saw the last night of an international fireworks competition: Australia and China. (Australia's was better. China's was a slow-going story) The event was outside, and as part of the fun we all bought cotton candy. If you ever get the craving for cotton candy in humid China, think again. The water in the air actually dissolved the cotton candy! But it was still tasty.
The next day Ben and I went back to Shenzhen to be kidnapped by a Chinese coworker for the beach. She is the most cautious driver in all of China, and that scared me. I was expecting a fast-paced, aggressive style. She used her turn signals and kept at the speed limit. She only got her driver’s license three months ago! I did hear about the large number of new drivers in China, but this was my first shred of proof. The beach resembled ones back home, like the brownish water. But there was a lot of trash. It was nothing like needles, but the idea was still not good. If people want to keep their beaches, they should focus on cleaning them up. That night, Ben, our coworker, her husband, her friend, and I stayed up late playing cards and chatting. We talked about our dreams and the upcoming election. The three Chinese people were Obama supporters, support I welcomed. Basically, they liked him because of his appearance. Our coworker is a political science teacher, but we focused on American politics.
The rest of my vacation was slow. I hung out with the other teachers from my area of Nanshan, called Xili. Xili is the boonies, so we bond whenever we can. You know you’re deep in China when you walk passed a restaurant with a shaved, cut-in-half dog in the window display. Yum! Note: as of yet, I have not tasted dog. I’m not sure I want to.
That is a summary of the past week or so. I hope you all have enjoyed reading my mini-essay.