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."

"Don't Lose Your Sense of Wonder..." and Upcoming Projects

Well, I have run out of things to do today, so I guess I will put up a blog post! It's funny, blogging was so important a few days ago, and I have totally neglected documenting this "just arrived and still adjusting" time.

I spent yesterday and today at Lanzhou University of Technology, my old school, to see old friends and help one of them do a crazy difficult and heavily technical translation for a recruiting presentation. It was so difficult and seemed impossible at times, but together, we did it! I feel pretty accomplished because I was able to translate pretty well in my own right except for some really, really technical things (like different kinds of engineering projects and statistics kind of technical).

Basically, that made me realize that I DON'T want to be written translator. Ever. That's just too tedious, and because of the nature of written vs. spoken language (not just Chinese, any language), it's much harder and it takes the human element out of the equation. No fun.

Besides that, I hung out, had a few meals with, and joked around with my friends who are still left at L.U.T. - they kind of became my family during that time there, and it brings back memories of great times to see them.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about me waxing nostalgic - you came here to read about me and Lanzhou (or just Lanzhou.). 

I met a couple of American teachers who live next door to me at Lanzhou Jiaotong University, and they are really cool - they're in their early 40s and the wife has spent some time in Kunming and Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. They can't speak much Chinese, so I gave them some advice and said I would help them out anytime they needed. I like them a lot, and I hope we can hang out more.

Campus is still kind of crazy with all the new students - I see people giving tours to groups of 30-50 people at a time and people are clogging the shops to stock their rooms with snacks, water containers, etc.

Living in China is a constant exercise of your patience, your sense of adventure, and your capacity to deal with unfamiliarity. Pretty much how you do everything in China is different from how it's done in America. The public transportation system is the best way to get around, which is new to most Americans, water must be boiled before drinking, walking is just part of life, not an exercise regime, people drink tea instead of coffee and soda, eat rice, noodles and dumplings instead of pot roast, steak, hot dogs, and burgers, and live in apartments instead of suburban houses. It's a whole different way of life.

My dad told me,

"Hey, while you're over there, don't lose your sense of wonder and appreciation at where you are. You have a really unique opportunity, and you need to not lose sight of where you are and where you come from."

That's been rolling around in my head a lot these past few days, and while the wonder is still fresh in my head being sort of "fresh off the plane" for this time, it's my third time to come to China and to Lanzhou. It's more or less daily life, and it's hard to shake your head out of the daily routine and remember where you are. Most days last year, I totally forgot I was living in China - it was just life. Anyway, I'll try to stay conscious of that.

Anyway, I will make a video about all of that soon - I've been a bit busy and distracted to film much stuff. I've got about 2 minutes of raw footage I could spin into a video, but I want to wait until I've got enough for a good video. I want to make good stuff, you know?

I met an American couple online who are in Lanzhou now who said they saw my videos and read my blog about Lanzhou, and they said it gave them a lot of really good information, so I'm very happy about that, and the American couple who live next door to me said they read my blog and watched my videos as well, so it appears that what I'm doing is at least reaching a few people.

I know  that Lanzhou seems like a relatively unimportant place in a world with cities like New York City, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, London, Sydney, and Chicago, but that doesn't mean that it's not a place worth visiting. It's a whole different kind of city, with great people, great food, unique culture, and a long history.

I will be putting together a series of pages/posts about a "Guide to Lanzhou" project, and I'm hoping to get some feedback from my readers and the people I know here as to what they want to see in it. In the future, I'm kind of hoping that my blog will become a significant stopping place for people who want to visit northwest China, and hopefully Lanzhou in particular. It's got it's faults, sure, but I like it just the way it is.

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

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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Always in Zibo? (Lots of Photos!!)

Well, it's been a long time since I posted anything! Well, it seems like anyway.

So, as most of you know, I've sort of been MIA on Twitter and Facebook. I've been on Facebook some, but I haven't posted a lot of stuff except Harry Potter memes haha.

So.....down to business.

I've been talking for a few weeks with a number of schools in China, but things have not really gone in the direction that I anticipated.

I have been largely ignored by universities (my first choice of where to teach), which is understandable, because I do not have the qualifications for teaching in universities in China.

I was told that a TESOL certificate (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language certificate) was just a bonus for teaching in China, even at the university level, but it seems that that is not the case.

I do not have the certificate (but I'm working on it!) and I have no teaching experiences, so I've been largely ignored except for the "we'll call you" sort of thing.

However, strangely enough, I seem to have (sort of) unintentionally gotten quite a few elementary schools (or "primary schools," if you're not American) interested in me. I posted my resume and a few things about myself on sort of a Monster.com/Craigslist website for ESL teachers in China, and have gotten hits from a number of different schools, and the one that I've settled on is called "Always English School" in Shandong Province. All I have to do is send an email (to be done ASAP), and I'll have the job, visa permitting, of course. Probably by the time you read this, I'll have already sent it.

Here's Shandong on the map:

It's about midway up the east coast, and the city that I'll be living in, Zibo, is about 3 hours south of Beijing by train.

Weather-wise, it's gonna be freaking cold in the winter, nice in the spring, fairly hot in the summer, and nice in the fall. So, that's cool - four seasons!

Here in Texas, we have summer and a 2 month winter haha

Anyway, about the school - it's called Always English School, or Always Education and Exchange Center. It's part of a sort of chain of English schools that were founded by some Australians.

As you can see from the picture, it's mostly kids, but apparently they have a few adults there too, in "VIP" classes.

This is an English-specific school - English is all that is taught here.

Since English is all that is taught there, classes are mostly on the weekends and there are a few scattered throughout the week.

So, basically, for me, weekends will be really long and difficult, but the rest of the week will be pretty much cake.

I'm just gonna use these two pictures from the school and give you the website if you're really curious.

Click here to go to their website.

I'm gonna get some really good benefits from working there, which I am really excited about and are on-par with the benefits/salary of a university. Free housing, paid vacations, etc.

It seems like a great place to work, and I've had the opportunity to talk with a foreign teacher as well as their general go-to lady who've both told me about working there and what to expect as far as what's difficult and what's awesome about it.

I do have a number of concerns, but they have been voiced in the previous blog post, and will probably be voiced again, just in case you don't feel like going back and reading the previous one.

 For now, I'm just gonna talk about what you guys should expect to be hearing about if I do, in fact, take the job, which I'm only a couple of days away from deciding.

Zibo itself is in the Northeast of China, close to a city called Jinan, the "City of Springs," because of its numerous springs and rivers that surround and run through the city. Coincidently, my favorite blogger, Poise On Arrows, actually just finished a year of studying Chinese in Jinan.....weird, huh?

Zibo is also blessed with a decent amount of water, which is a far cry from the deserts of Gansu, where I spent my time last year.

 It's a city of a little more than 5 million people, so it's a decently-sized city by Chinese standards, although some may still call it "small."

It seems like a great place - it's growing and expanding rapidly, and it's known for safety and being a "harmonious" place, even being named in 2009 as one of the "Most Harmonious Cities Which Enjoy Sustainable Growth In China," which sounds pretty official, I guess hahaha

In my opinion, it's kind of a strange place to take a shot like this.....the front half of the photo is pretty much bare.......

A cool thing about Zibo is that it's close to Mount Tai (pronounced "tie").

Mount Tai is one of China's "Five Sacred Mountains" and is arguably the most important of the five.

The Five Sacred Mountains originated from the body parts of Pangu, the creator of the world, with Mt. Tai being formed from his head.

Because Mt. Tai is located the furthest east, it is associated with the rising sun and the idea of rebirth and renewal, and is therefore considered the most sacred.

 Zibo is a modern city, but it still has its share of traditional streets such as this one.

I can't wait to go exploring in this place!

If I decide to take this job, it'll be for a one-year contract, so I'll have plenty of time!

Shandong is also home to the Karst Caves, which are a set of 300-something caves that are all connected.

Cool, maybe I'll have a chance to go!

One last thing about Zibo, and this might be the coolest for all of you non-Americans.....Zibo is the home of the oldest form of soccer (football) known to man.

Its earliest mention in literature comes from the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) and has been seen in many painted and drawings such as this one from the 12th century AD.

How crazy is that??? I had no idea about that until about 30 minutes ago when I started looking up some more stuff about Zibo.

I was told that soccer (football) was first created in England, but I never thought about a parallel game being created somewhere else. Let me be clear that cuju is NOT soccer (football), but there are some similarities.

So, there you have it! There's a little information about where I'll be heading for my next adventure!

Who knows, I might actually come back to the States in a year as some kind of badass super soccer player........haha who knows?

Anything could happen!

Here is a sort of video time capsule that I've made for myself. I don't know if you'll find it interesting, but here it is!

Important Updates From "Let China Sleep"

So, there's a few new things going on.....

I kept telling myself that I was going to get myself out there and look for a job as a teacher in China, but a couple of weeks ago or so ago, I finally got off my butt and actually started looking, and I've got a couple of good prospects.

I've talked at length with the principals and recruiters for two special and reputable English language schools for children. Umm....yeah, children's schools. It'll be interesting to see if I actually end up going there. There's a few things I'm thinking about.

1.) I have no experience teaching children

2.) There are some skills dealing with children that I may not have.

3.) I don't have a teaching certificate of any kind (I'm working on getting it, though.)         <-------------------

4.) The schools that have seriously talked to me are in cities where I know NOBODY.

5.) Do I really want to take a chance when there are young minds that I could make or break their love of learning English?

Okay, yeah, those are serious questions that I need to deal with and talk with the right people about. My sister thinks I could never do it and shouldn't try it, but I think I could.

1.) I remember meeting so many children in China and loved talking to them - they are so bright and happy, and my family would never have believed the way I acted around them. (I'm well known for disliking infants and children)

What happened with the kids on the train back from Yinchuan is a great example, but there are many more. That is a great memory that I won't forget any time soon.

2.) Just because I don't have any experience doesn't mean I can't do it. I'm getting my TESOL right now, so I'll at least have the theory to guide me.

3.) If I was in China and was having a new experience, which this would definitely be, I would try my damndest to not let those kids down, because it's about them, not me. My needs and wants are secondary to theirs.

4.) These schools that I'm talking to are in "urgent need" of English teachers. From the language they've been using, it seems like I would be the only foreigner applying for the job when there's 2 or 3  or more vacancies available. They're not in highly-traveled or highly-talked about parts of China.

5.) Nothing worthwhile was ever accomplished without taking a little risk.

There's a lot of things going on in my head right now concerning all of this. If you guys have any thoughts or comments, I'd love to hear them! Just don't troll me, please.