What's Up? (Videos and More)

So, as you might have noticed, I've been away from my keyboard lately --- I've been given an extra assignment by my boss which has kept me pretty busy these days.

She wants to demonstrate her "co-teaching" system to the Gansu Province Ministry of Education, so she's making me prepare a couple of special classes that she'll film and send to the Ministry. Basically, there's me and a Chinese teacher who teach a combined speaking/listening class. We take turns teaching, and we help each other out during the 2-hour class. I talk some, they talk some. It's a pretty neat system, and as far as I'm concerned, it's great!

Because this is China, they want to endlessly prepare and make everything as perfect and artificial and fake as it could possibly be. That way it'll look good. It doesn't matter if it's the real thing or not. If it looks good, it sells, you know? I'm fighting against that, and I made my boss a little unhappy with how I did things today.

We just had the first one today --- it went pretty well. She had a couple of suggestions, but I'm debating on whether I actually care or not about what she says.

My students love my class (80-90%, anyway), and my co-teachers love me, and that's enough for me to keep my job. My boss doesn't have to like me  hahahaha

I'll try to get a copy of one, and I'll make my own little video with splices of teaching in it. I hope you guys will enjoy that -- you'll get to see what I actually do for a living.

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Okay, now for a shock. I've started running, exercising, and "eating right" in a general effort to be healthy.
WHAT???? GREAT ODIN'S RAVEN, WHO HAVE YOU BECOME, AUSTIN GUIDRY???? 

I know.....it's a shock. I've been that person who always made fun of healthy people, but now I'm starting to possibly, maybe, sort of......be one.

I'm not gonna be vegetarian or vegan --- no freaking way, but I've had some recent health episodes that I don't want to talk about, and it's kind of scared me straight in the past couple of months, and I really just want to treat my body well. I'm only gonna have one life, so I should try to make it good and worth living.

...........Plus, it'd be nice if I could play Ultimate Frisbee or football (soccer) for more than 5 minutes without stopping for air.

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In my next post, there'll be a couple of videos, and I'll be talking about teaching and cultural differences! I've got a lot to talk about. I'll be traveling soon, and I've got some great news I'll be sharing sometime before my  birthday (January 31st).

Anyway, until next time!

Austin

The Teaching Begins

Well, I guess I'm a teacher now!

As I write this, I've just finished teaching my classes for this week at Lanzhou Jiaotong University. It's been interesting, encouraging, discouraging, awesome, extraordinarily dull, and amazingly crazy all at the same time.

There are a lot of emotions for me because I'm a first-time teacher. Dull from teaching the same lesson 8 times a week, awesome because of the students, discouraging from the limitations of the book/curriculum, interesting because of the questions I've been asked, and a lot more.

I've got big classes - all around 60-70 students each, so it's going to be hard to get all of them interested and engaged. I can already tell which classes are going to be the most outgoing, which students will be the most interested, and which students don't understand anything I say. I hope to work more with them soon.

I'm teaching non-English major freshmen students. A pretty shy group, all in all. I've taught the first week - I teach 4 hours a day, 4 days a week. One hour of required "office hours" a week, and that's about all. Since I don't teach English majors, I don't have to deal with English Corner! (at least at the moment)

It's been really fun to be at the front of the class and talking about where I am from. It's so easy in one respect - this is my language and I'm talking about my home and my culture, but on the other hand, these are freshmen, non-English major students. I have to talk slower and make sure most of them understand what I'm talking about.


It's also really fun to share funny stories about being a foreigner in China - it feels good to have the whole class laugh and whisper and stuff at my comments. That way, I know they're paying attention. If I say something funny, and there's crickets.....then there's a problem and I need to explain myself haha

I have had no discipline problems whatsoever - it's always quiet, maybe too quiet. The students are smart, but they're shy. That's going to be the biggest challenge: getting them to come out of their shells. That's the big thing about Gansu students...they're just too shy.

Chinese students in general are too shy. They have low self-esteem, and they think they are not smart enough to contribute to the class. But if I ask them questions, they can answer them almost every time. If I can just convince them that they're worth something and that they're smart, maybe we can really open up and have some fun. I've really tried to emphasize this, and I've seen a couple of encouraging smiles and a twinkle in some students' eyes, and that's great. Maybe it won't always be there, but I'm happy right now.

We've talked about movies, music, sports, the Diaoyu Islands, Apple, traveling, and a lot more. It looks like this will be a good year.

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much in the past week or two - I've been adjusting, preparing for my classes, losing my USB Drive (which gets videos from my laptop to the desktop computer with faster internet. Long story for not using the laptop), and my new addictions to "Inside the Actor's Studio" and "Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza."

Lanzhou Jiaotong University 兰州交通大学

So, today I will be writing about the university I'll be teaching at. It's called Lanzhou Jiaotong University, and I actually have a video talking about it!

This last trip I took to China in June, I was able to visit there a couple of times, so I've got some pictures and some video of it, so here it is!

Lanzhou Jiaotong ("Gee-Ow Tong") University is a former railway institute/college, as evidenced by the train heads located right here. They don't work, but they are sort of the symbol of the school. It is mostly known for its engineering and transportation majors/concentrations, but has a rapidly expanding foreign language department.

English, Japanese, Russian, French, Spanish, and more - I'm not exactly sure how many languages are there. At least the 4.

They actually have whole block of buildings dedicated to foreign teachers housing right here.

See that writing? That says:

"FOREIGN TEACHER'S HOUSING."

How segregated is that?! Haha

Yes, China usually puts all their foreign teachers together on campus. That's pretty much the way the universities do things. China hasn't quite gotten to the point where having foreigners in their countries is no big deal. It's still a big deal. Foreigners are often segregated and watched pretty regularly, but that's because there's not many of us and they're not quite sure how to deal with us yet. Give them some time - things will get better.

The school is located on the north side of the Yellow River in a district called Anning - unfortunately, it's not as close to the "downtown" area of Lanzhou...whatever that means in China. Everywhere is downtown. It's about 40-45 minutes from the areas that used to take me 10-15 minutes to get to. That's unfortunate, but I'm sure Anning will eventually become home.

Anyway, about the school - it's got a pretty good reputation in Lanzhou at least....people seem to be really impressed that I'll be working there, so I assume it's a strong school that has fine students.

I actually shared a cab with a guy who was a train driver/conductor or whatever you want to call it who actually graduated from Jiao Da (what people call it for short). Pretty cool!

As far as the campus itself goes, it's actually much bigger and the facilities themselves are much nicer than at Lanzhou University of Technology. Not that Lanzhou University of Technology is a crap school...it's just got character. LUT is an older school and doesn't have the funding that Jiao Da has. Plus it looks like Jiao Da has finished renovating recently. Things look newer, cleaner, and generally kept up better.

I'm pretty excited about my future with Lanzhou Jiaotong University - good times are ahead!

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I hope you liked this post! I'm going to be putting up another post about the process of becoming an English teacher in China. The idea really took hold when I read another "become a teacher in China" blog post, so maybe if I write my own post, someone will read it and be inspired. One can only hope, right?

Until next time!

Update: I'm Officially Going Back to Lanzhou!

Hey, everyone!

So.....things have rapidly changed in the past week or so! I have been offered a position at Lanzhou Jiaotong (pronounced "Gee - Ow - Tong") University, and I am going to take it! I signed the contract last night and sent it back to them!

I couldn't be happier about returning to Lanzhou! Although I will not be returned to Lanzhou University of Technology, a position at a reputable university in a city that I have already lived in and have connections in is a great thing for me!

Some of my friends will still be in Lanzhou for another year, so it will be great to be able to hang out with them again.

I miss the city - I really do, and I'm pumped to be able to get back to Lanzhou.

This opportunity will be a great chance for me to really get to know Lanzhou really well. It'll give me the opportunity to explore new places, revisit old haunts, and travel throughout the Northwest, which is my favorite region of the country thus far.

In regards to the Always English School in Zibo, Shandong, I really appreciate them being honest and open with me about everything, but this ultimately is a business and career decision. A year of experience as a university professor in China will look better on a resume than a year as an elementary school teacher in China.

It will give me more chances to hang out with people around my age, see them outside of class, and talk about deeper subjects of life than Hello Kitty or whatever it is that elementary school students talk about.

It'll also give me a chance to continue my language study in the same area that I learned it initially. That way, I don't have to worry about mixing up dialects and people communicate with each other in a way that I'm familiar with. As part of the deal, they offer free Chinese lessons!

I'll be getting paid more for working less hours as well as better benefits! It really seems like a win-win situation to me.

Although I am saying goodbye to Lanzhou University of Technology at the moment, I will still have the chance to see friends there and hang out in my down time.

I will meet new people at Jiaotong, of course, and I might see Lanzhou a lot differently as a teacher with responsibilities and a real job rather than as a student who didn't really have a care the world, but I am grateful for the opportunity to go back.




Please leave comments below - I want to hear from you guys about how you like/dislike the blog, how I can improve, and what you want to see from me!

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A Lack of Greenery (2)

If you missed it, Click here to read Part 1 of this series.


Because Chinese city-dwellers grow up and live their lives in these surroundings, they hold very different ideas about the environment. For example, because all cities have street sweepers who clean up the city litter, when people buy something in a shop, they unwrap it on their way out and toss the wrapping on the street without hesitation. When they are done smoking a cigarette or eating a banana, they toss the leftovers aside, no hesitation. Because someone will clean it up for them, they simply do not care. Let me be clear - this isn't everybody. But it's a sizable amount of people. 

The same, unfortunately, can be true in parks, tourist sites, and what would otherwise be very nice, clean, green environments. Generally speaking, parks and tourist sites are kept pretty clean, but litter can sometimes be seen. 

When you travel to lakes or see rivers or just look out the window of your train compartment, you will see many places on the edge of town where, just behind people’s houses, they will throw their trash on the ground. 

Outside of Shanghai

Outside of Guiyin

This trash builds and builds and isn’t destined for anywhere. It is their personal garbage dump. Also, on long train trips, people will eat a lot of instant noodles, and upon finishing them, will open the train window and throw out what they didn’t eat. However, a lot of China's poor people take advantage of their recycling policy and pick up the plastics to get some money back.

This is one of the most sad parts about being in China. From my experience, the average Chinese city-dweller has little awareness of being green and environmentally friendly because of the environment they grow up in. Many children in the cities would rather just sit and watch TV than go outside to see the green of a park or visit scenic places. When they get to these places, they say “Oh, that’s cool. Can we leave?” The lack of appreciation of natural beauty is a reality among more than a few Chinese young city people. The older generation, being more traditional and more likely to come from a rural village or suburb, know how to appreciate nature’s beauty and appreciate when people do not waste food, waste water, and litter the streets. 

The people who live in the rural areas also have a better appreciation of the environment, not because of environmental education classes, but because it is where they live. They treasure the environment they live in. 

It's Been A While!

4/15 Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I have been very sick, so I haven't been in much of a mood to write….or do anything, really. I've kind of withdrawn from 'normal' life during the week or so that I've been sick and now it's a little difficult to get back into the social life. But now the weather has been getting warmer, the trees have been getting greener, the flowers are getting flower-ier, and I'm really happy about it! Warmer weather has been a really great psychological boost - sometimes the simple things really make the day! Today's Friday - I don't like Fridays much. I've got my really difficult Listening class and that's no fun...sometimes I feel like I've been learning too much too fast, but whatever. I always get in a little bit of a funk on Friday afternoon, but usually I manage to bump into a friend, which makes the day better. Today I bumped into Alice, who I met on a bus from the West Campus a few weeks ago. We talked about a ton of stuff for a couple of hours by the little pond on the old campus - I really enjoyed it. :) One thing she asked me was about the differences between Chinese students and American students...I really think they are very much the same - worried about tests, homework, and in some cases, boyfriends and girlfriends. There are a lot of differences, of course - class sizes are bigger here, students take their parents' wishes a lot more seriously, and a lot of them seriously have the desire to learn a new language (English, of course).  I dunno what else to say….stuff's been pretty much the same - I'm very much looking forward to the May holiday - we've got about a week off - people keep telling me different amounts. I want to go to Hong Kong, but I don't think I'll have enough money - I'm seriously jealous of Derek - he's going to Singapore and Malaysia. 4/16 Went to the West Campus today and spent a lot of time with some friends and had two wonderful meals at some restaurants on campus - fabulous! Sichuan Fish dishes, a sort of omelette dish with onions and meat, fried potatoes with spices, some soups, and other stuff that I can't remember.  On a more sober note, there was a huge sandstorm this afternoon with some really, really strong winds. There was an accident by one of the buildings in which a student was hurt very badly. The way the buildings are built here are a little shabby sometimes - they are concrete blanketed with a thin layer of bricks. During the winds, some of the bricks blew off the buildings and fell onto a student after about a 5 story drop. He was hurt very badly, we could see the blood all over the ground where he fell and where it happened - it was too much blood. As he was on the ground, the head trauma caused him to have some seizures which we could see from where we were. I hope that you can keep that student in your thoughts and prayers, it was very bad. He was carried away on a stretcher and eventually an ambulance came. I wish that my first experience with a sandstorm hadn't involved someone getting hurt, although I didn't know them.

1st Day of Classes

Early March (2011)

Had my first classes today - just two, I guess they wanted me to take it easy my first week. I appreciate that, because those two classes wore out my brain - especially the second one. I had my Comprehensive Chinese class and my Chinese Culture class. Mrs. Zhu (pronounced "Jew") is my Comprehensive teacher and Mr. Li is my Chinese Culture teacher.  The comprehensive class went very well, I feel like I'm going to learn a whole lot from Mrs. Zhu - she is clearly an experienced teacher. The stuff we went over today was review from what I already knew, really - but she made me write all in 汉字 (means 'Chinese Characters')，which was challenging - I haven't done much writing with my Chinese characters. She also gave me a Tang Dynasty poem to memorize called 春晓, (pronounced Choon She-ow) Chun Xiao, which means "Spring Dawn" - I copied it down, but I don't want to put it up on here right now.

Mr. Li's class was far harder because my textbook is all in the Chinese 汉字 and I couldn't really figure out what we were supposed to do before the first class, so I didn't really prepare much. He came in right off the bat and started asking me questions in Chinese that I had no idea what they were, which was very embarrassing, of course. He asked me to talk about myself in Chinese, which was some more embarrassment, because I hadn't really prepared anything...after all that, he asked me to read the first section of the textbook - which I said I couldn't - not even close. So, he went character-by-character of the first little section in the textbook while he interpreted and asked me to repeat and tell the meaning of the sentence.

It was all about the different minority groups of China and how they used to fight amongst themselves, but now are all at peace. It was really draining. From what I could infer, he's expecting me to learn how to read all this stuff and have everything translated before class starts and be ready to talk about it. If this is really the case, I expect to be pretty much fluent in reading by the time I get back to the States, but holy crap - it's a lot of work! I just translated a couple of paragraphs and it took me just about an hour or so! Man, this is hard.....but the rewards will be worth it

Gotta get back to it now, I'll talk to you all later! Remember - my Skype name is acousticmusic10 - add me

News Update/Interesting Facts About China

      Okay, first things first. My Visa Application is in the mail and will be coming back to me in a couple of weeks! I needed to get together a lot of documents, and since I have been formally accepted to Lanzhou University of Technology already and have a contact there, there is no reason for me to be turned down (not likely, anyway).
       Also, I am being registered for classes this coming week. Here's what I will be taking

• Intermediate Level Chinese (A comprehensive reading/writing/speaking/listening course)
• Intermediate Chinese Speaking
• Intermediate Chinese Listening
• China's Culture
• China's National Situation
• My Senior Thesis, which I will be talking about soon.

       However, I may not be able to do the National Situation course, but we'll see. I have not bought my plane tickets yet because I have not scraped together the money yet; it's hard to find people who want to give with the economical situation, which I understand.
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        Normally, people would call these "Fun Facts", but I absolutely hate that phrase, so I'll just leave it at Interesting Facts. 

• Fortune cookies are not a traditional Chinese custom. They were invented in 1920 by a worker in the Key Heong Noodle Factory in San Francisco.

• The Chinese invented paper, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

• Giant Pandas (“bear cat”) date back two to three million years. The early Chinese emperors kept pandas to ward off evil spirits and natural disasters. Pandas also were considered symbols of might and bravery

• The Chinese were the first to invent the waterwheel to harness water in A.D. 31—1,200 years before the Europeans. China was also the first country in the world to use an iron plow. Europe didn’t begin using the iron plow until the seventeenth century.

• "Chinese" is spoken by 92% of China’s population. There are at least seven major families of the Chinese language, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Wu, Hakka, Gan, Xiang, and Min.

• The Chinese have made silk since at least 3,000 B.C. The Romans knew China as “Serica,” which means “Land of Silk.” The Chinese fiercely guarded the secrets of silk making, and anyone caught smuggling silkworm eggs or cocoons outside of China was put to death.

• In some parts of China, “pigtails” were associated with a girl’s marital status. A young girl would wear two pigtails, and when she married, she would wear just one. This may have contributed to the Western view that pigtails are associated with children and young girls.

• In Hong Kong , cars are driven to the left side of the road, following the British way, but the rest of China drives on the right side.

I didn't thoroughly check all of these like a historian normally would, but they sound believable enough ;) Anyway, that's that, hope everyone is doing well! Leave your thoughts/questions in the comments!