Nesting for the coming winter

Today I entered my apartment around 10 am and there were workmen inside.  They're very friendly. Every now and again they show up and do something.  Who knows what.  It looked electrical.  I have acquired some furniture - desk, couch, shelving, drawers and an office chair.  It was quite an adventure getting it all.  First I went to the huge local furniture store which was selling luxury suites suitable for millionaires.  So I defaulted to IKEA, but how to get there.  Of course no-one has heard of it because the pronunciation is different in Chinese.  (Note, why can't the Chinese say IKEA?)  Got numerous directions involving complicated mandarin symbols.  Once I figured out the general area I got on a bus and hoped for the best.  After about 45 minutes I got off at the wrong stop and walked in the wrong direction.  Made my way to the Metro line and went one stop in the (hopefully) right direction.  No IKEA.  Last resort - talk to the driver of the small motorcycle taxi and try to explain where I want to go - "Big blue store - buy furniture - very close to here - can you take me?  How much?"  He took me straight there for $1.  Complimented me on my Chinese and taught me how to pronounce IKEA: "Eejiya".  So I had a Swedish lunch and selected my furniture.   Cost around $400.  They charge $6 for delivery.  Quite a deal considering I live in the 7th floor of a building that's identical to about 20 others nearby.
When I told the school about all of this I got good news and bad news.  The bad news was that they want me to pay three months rent up front.  The good news was that they will deduct the cost of the furniture from the rent.
Today the sun is out again.  It was still cold as I was walking to school.  As I walked by the local 'convenient store' I passed a young woman tending what looked like a lemonade stand.  She called me over.  It was warm milk for about 50 cents.  She even spoke some English - rare bonus around this neighbourhood.  I'll post photos later of my new digs.
I'm wading my way through "Gone with the Wind".  Never read it before.  Its very well written and paints a richly textured canvas of the deep South - a way of life at once compelling and shocking; now, quite literally, gone with the wind.  I don't really like any of the characters except Melanie, but they certainly are interesting.  The US has so completely failed to come to terms with its history in the present day that they can't see the confederate flag as representing anything beyond slavery.  When Sherman's army took Atlanta it was the end of an enormous part of American history.  Of course it was a flawed society.  Which society is not flawed in some way?  Lincoln himself certainly had buckets of blood on his hands.  Presently I'm investigating Chinese history.  Its not the job of the historian to shape the past and to obscure the dirty parts.  I just want to know what happened, because there is no hope of changing the past - however, we can learn from it if we look at it clearly.

World's Best ESL Students

World's best ESL students

 I am gradually discovering that Xi'an, for me, is all about people.  Lili, Grace and Michelle are part of my ladies English class.  They offered to take a trip to a park on my day off.
 1) It rained all day,
2) The traffic was terrible,
3) Communication was challenging
These facts didn't deter them in the slightest.  We had a delightful outing and ended up in a very nice restaurant belonging to Lucy, another student.

modelling school

By now I ought to be used to having extraordinary experiences here.  Catherine, the manager of the school where I teach, asked me how I am liking Xi'an.  The question has no simple answer; my emotions travel in many directions on a given day.  So many things happen with no warning and little explanation that I have been forced into a far greater openness to life and to destiny.
For example, yesterday Catherine suddenly took me to a modelling agency.  The students were all unimaginably tall, slender and beautiful.  They are learning to be models, flight attendance or airline security personnel.  In addition, it had been decided that some knowledge of English will help their careers which is why we were called in.  Its another world indeed!  I had no idea how much communication is contained in simple movements - how you stand, how you walk.  They seemed very delighted to meet me, which was gratifying though a little puzzling.

Shirley helps in translation

I am convinced that if Chinese women were to rule the world in future it would be a much better place.  Shirley, who is maybe 20 years old, has volunteered to translate vocabulary on the board for my ladies class.  They appreciate it so much.  I operate entirely without textbooks so that the classes can be prepared specifically for the students.  I could not do this without Shirley's able assistance.
      Last night as I was walking home I encountered some new students in the street.  One of them greeted me with 'Sawasdee kaa'.   He wasn't Thai, he had simply been there on a visit.  He was quite surprised when I informed him in Chinese that it is a greeting from a woman; since he is a boy he should say 'Sawasdee krab'.  They are very friendly, partly because they're curious about the world and I am the only non-Chinese person around.  From there I wandered into a small shop on the ground floor of one of our towering apartment blocks.  The sign was translated into English as 'convenient store'.   Very appropriate.  Although small, the convenient store appeared to have everything one could possibly need fro mops to noodles to red wine.  The shopkeeper greeted me warmly offering me a cigarette which he immediately lit for me.  It felt a bit strange strolling around a store smoking a cigarette.  Oh well, its his store. I bought some yogurt and promised to come back soon.  As I continued in the dark to my own building I passed the small police station, a small kiosk with red and blue lights.  The guards know me because I go to the little exercise park nearby every night.  Neon lights run up and down the sides of some of the buildings. Residents glide silently homewards along the narrow car-lined streets.  I wonder at the strangeness of it all and at how my life here becomes, little by little, not strange at all.

This too will change

 There's a poem from the Hobbit which starts off,
 "The road goes ever on, down from the door where it began.
    Now far ahead the road has gone and I must follow if I can."
For me it has always expressed a sweet kind of nostalgia - hope, persistence, curiosity - hallmarks of the adventurer.
Gradually, as so many times in China, a new life for me is struggling to be born.  Yesterday a coffee table and a kettle appeared in my room and also I now have internet. Tomorrow I will get heat, hot water and (if I'm lucky) a desk. I have a new neighbourhood.
I have become quite adept at moving around the city.  Instead of a long walk along crowded, dusty streets I take a taxi at the cost of less than half a cup of coffee.  All it takes is the ability to tell the driver where I want to go.  Alternatively I ride the buses, squeezing in among the teeming masses of humanity on the move. My current favorite coffee shop provides western food, great coffee, internet and English language books.  Its very comfortable, which is probably why international students often go there. So far I have met people from Spain, USA, UK and Somalia.  In the evening, the plaza bursts into life as hundreds of people come to dance.  They form several groups, all ages some in costume, all playing different music.  I wander among them admiring the gracefulness and the simple joy of movement.  My day is quite full, sufficient without luxury. I enjoy a warm and peaceful sleep.

 I have given considerable thought to my mission statement as a result of working on the speech - 'Why am I in Xi'an?'  In the '60s I loved to stand by the road, stick out my thumb and hitch a ride with whatever new experience the world had to offer.  50 years later I still appreciate an element of that; although I am more discriminating.  I put myself here deliberately and I choose carefully which rides to accept.  The criteria could be described as my mission in four parts.
1) I want to actually help people, not just play a role for money.
2) I thirst for new experiences.
3) I look for the joy of learning wherever it can be found.
4) I am the moth, drawn to the light yet trying to avoid being burned.
       When one lives alone in a far-off land emotions rise and fall like the tides.  The Chinese have an expression to 'chi ku' which means literally 'eat bitter'.  Any time life gives you hardship such as cold, hunger, pain, fatigue or loneliness you have to learn to eat bitter.  I believe it's one of the secrets of the historic success of the Han people.  Modern North Americans are soft in comparison.
         There is an advantage in being able to stop, to be patient, to fast for awhile.  I realize that I am OK even though things are not as I might have wished.  Even where there is discomfort, its really just a pattern of sensations that the mind labels as good or bad. Even where there is joy, and it arrives frequently, the reality is an eternal truth - this too will change.

6 days in Guangdong Province - school visits

Interesting talks with teachers

Burnaby School Board delegation

The last week in Guangdong has included visits to ten schools, 5 bureaus of Education, one university and the Director of Education for the Province.  It was a unique window into the heart of Chinese schools as they are in 2015 (at least in Guangdong Province) – huge, modern and impressive.  The schools we visited were in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai and Zhongshan.

Foshan - huge and modern

I’ll give some general impressions and then some specifics with reference to my photos.  There is a wide variety of types of school including public and private, International schools, language schools and experimental schools.  They are divided into primary, middle schools and High schools which are sometimes together in one complex.  School architecture varies wildly, much more than in the West, but the most dramatic difference is in numbers – anywhere from 2,000 to 8,000 students in a school.  Most schools include some percentage of boarders who occupy dormitories with perhaps six students to a room.       Classes average around 40 – 50 students; although

Vocational school in Zhuhai

one experimental private school had classes of 24.  Most classrooms seem designed for 48.  The desks are packed in, so there is very little possibility of varying the seating.  None of the school buildings we saw looked old; some were very modern.  In Zhongshan we went from a brand new school (right next to a Walmart) to one with a proud 90 year history.

The core of the teacher/student relationship

Principals were very welcoming and, of course, very proud of their schools.  Usually we were met by administrators accompanied by an English language teacher for translation. There was only one school where we were welcomed by students.  Some of the administrators seemed quite oblivious to the presence or absence of students.  Many of the students, on the other hand, looked at us with great curiosity.  If we showed any openness they were very friendly, happy and keen to pose for photos.  Chinese schools have tight security, but once you are in there are no restrictions regarding taking photos.

Plenty of 'state of the art' computers

Traditional school in Zhongshan

Our meeting with the director of Education for the Province clarified how Chinese education is organized.  Funding comes from the central government in Beijing with contributions at the Provincial and Municipal levels.  The numbers are so huge that is hard to imagine.  The Director used certain words many times that were translated as 'co-ordinating'. Everything has to be in line with the requirements from Beijing.  Within that context they allow an extraordinary amount of internationalism, particularly in high functioning schools.  The sheer size of the school budget facilitates the design of impressive buildings and the purchase of sophisticated equipment.

We have much to share with them about how to individualize learning and promote higher level thinking.  A teacher with a class of 50 cannot spend much time encouraging students to question everything.  Also, they do not have a tradition of recognizing and supporting students with special needs.  In other areas (vocational training is a clear example) we have much to learn from them.  Between East and West there are many barriers imposed by geography, by language and by history.  However, it was exciting to learn that in our concern for the development of the children, our enthusiasm for improving the profession of teaching and our frustration with budgetary restraints we all share the same world.