Christmas Eve

The apples are out in full force again. Everywhere I go, apples, apples, apples. 

Since my activity with my students fizzled out due to software issues, I asked them about Christmas in China and showed them photos of winter in Iowa/Wisconsin. 

I asked them what gifts I should get the teachers. 

When it came to the Japanese teacher, my students blurted out that I should give him a Chinese flag. 

I blurted out that the suggestion was offensive. 

With so much hatred in my students, sometimes it's hard not to imagine them easily hating me. All the government has to do is encourage it, and they would. 

I think I'll get him a coffee cup or something. I can't imagine how hard it would be to be in a country that is told to actively hate you. 

As for my students, I will try harder to suggest they go to Japan and see what it's like for themselves.

End of the World

Tomorrow, my students tell me, is the end of the world, and Saturday is the day to eat dumplings to have long lives. 

They are still required to come to class tomorrow. 

On a side note, everything with the department has worked out for the best- I am teaching my students still and hurray I am teaching my students still and I will not have to leave and my contract will not be broken by either party hurray. 

Problems

I've been having a lot of problems with the program here recently. I've tried not to talk about them, because I don't want this blog to be a downer. My policy is to let the little things go. 

But now I'm seriously considering leaving if things do not change. 

The downsides of the situation are that I'm being asked to work time and a half but being paid for time, I feel like my TA is acting on her own and that I'm not getting any help from her, and the department, which promised to pay me monthly for the writing classes that I volunteered to teach, has yet to pay me for any of the extra classes I'm teaching. None of my original cries of help have been responded to, so I'm forced to write a letter which is angry but to the point. 

They forced me to do this last semester, last year. It was too much work, too much grading. I nearly broke. That was with the movie class, too. This upcoming semester I'll also be teaching the writing course. I can't do it. Not for this pay. It's not worth it. It's just not... doable. At least with extra pay it's a feeling of, "well, I'm getting paid for these extra courses". Next semester it would be, "I got paid for this course... last semester".

Many people tell me to just not care, or to do a crap job with the course. That's unacceptable to me. It's not my job I'm screwing over- it's the students. If I do a shitty job, the students get a shitty education. That's not why they came to college. That's not why I teach. I don't want to teach for the money, I want to teach for them. Yet I also don't want to be taken advantage of. 

The upside of this is that I have found I really do like China. It's not at all what I expected, it's rough, disorganized and occasionally so out there that everyone is taken aback. However, I respect China and I'd like to continue teaching here. There's so much left to see. 

It's not worth it to stay here. I guess, if anyone reads this from Beloit who wants to be a future teacher- prepare to fight if they try and take advantage of you. 

That's a terrible thing to type. I wish it did not feel true to me right now. 

Mawadge

My TA is getting married tomorrow. How strange. I feel like this happened last semester, too. 

Makes me wonder about my own wedding. 

...

...

I want sword fights.

Ants 3

Going to try to sleep in my bed tonight. Luckily sheets and sweeping is done tomorrow by the sneaky hotel ladies. 

Here. This is my school. Where I teach. You will love it. 

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/RUxiM4noGCg/

I hope you are familiar with the troupe of Gangnam style. Here is the original video from South Korea's PSY: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/58JzS3T2lXw/.

The students here are awesome. 'Nuff said. 

Ants part 3

My apartment, while now free of living ants (many dead ones), was still not safe to breathe in this morning, though I did a quick prep there. For those wondering, I spent the night in Callie's place. At noon it seems a little more tolerable, but I'm keeping the kitchen fan on and windows open for a full 24 hours until I'm done. Then I'm going to seal up the hole in the wall. 

Any ideas on how to make ant traps? I can't seem to find them. I will keep searching. And keep my windows open. 

In other news, there's a man on the street today who is selling drinks in bulk. I haven't seen him before, and he's not in a stall. I'm not sure where the drinks are from, either, but he's selling. In bulk. 

Most stores sell individual, and there is no bulk discount in China. 

As I'm talking about sudden stores, the traveling market is here again. But with blue covers. They go through five or six cities, selling dried goods. Fruit, nuts, whatever. They're rather tasty. 

Ants Part II

I found where the ants are coming from- a telephone socket that is falling out of the wall. I used 3/4 of a can to spray my bed, my bedroom, my living area and the floor of my kitchen. 

To limit the fumes, I used my bandanas. However, I still managed to inhale some sticky-sweet fume at the end- so I took a couple of minutes to calm down and have some fresh air. But for the next 6-8 hours, I'm planning to not be inside my room. My windows are open, I have a kitchen hood fan turned on, and I'm not going to be there. I've also sealed my electronic devices just in case. 

This is such an annoying thing. The ants didn't even seem to die- perhaps it will be something at first. If this doesn't work, though, I'll ask the women to fumigate my room. Though I don't know where I'd go in the meantime. 

Sad, sad days with the ants. 

Ants, Ants, Ants

Last night I opened up my covers to find at least 50 ants crawling around my pillow. 

Tiny, red, sugar ants. Couldn't find where they come from.

Slept on the sofa instead. 

Today will be mostly cleaning, spraying, and escaping my room and it's toxic fumes. Oh boy. 

Expats in Europe

On CNN I saw that there's an article about expats in Europe watching the election. 

As if the expats in Asia aren't. Or Africa. Or South America. Or those stationed at the South Pole/Antartica. 

I'm watching the election when I'm not in class, man. Don't give me this nonsense, CNN. Most of the expats are watching. If we can't, it's cause were working. But please don't forget about the rest of us. 

I ran straight home to see the results. They're still counting votes, of course. But I am terribly excited. 

Life in general now

I went to a café today to get internet, but their internet was out. I'm rather disappointed. But oh well.

 

This week my students asked to watch the presidential debate, so I showed them the most recent one. After watching the debate 8 times, I'm beginning to better understand when a candidate answers, argues, or says the same thing. Often the candidates had the same ideas, but they stressed and emphasized different parts to illuminate their difference. I am so glad to have the debates over with. However, my students liked them, and more people asked for copies of the debate than any other video so far in my classes.

 

For my writing class, I'm on the right track to teaching them outlines and essays- but I need to go farther now. I need to present them an outline and the five paragraph planning session. We've done outlines, essays, but now it's just putting them all together. 

 

If I haven't mentioned already, the western internet has been slow.

 

Also, if I haven't mentioned, I'm helping one of my students through the IELTS- she's panicking. I'd prefer, if she wants serious help, to meet once a day. But she's thinking less than that, so we'll see. It'll be a month or so. It feels like I'll I'm doing anymore is working, working, working- I don't have a single free day!

 

Civil Duties

So today I voted. I shan't tell you who I voted for. But my vote is in the mail, and it is to be in Iowa within a week. If I'm lucky. 

There's been a lot of frustrations. I'd like to talk about them. 

Some states allow you to vote by e-mail if you are out of the country. Iowa and TN are not part of that group. 

Ballots are sent to you as if they will arrive within 3-5 days. Chinese mail is even slower this year. My parents sent me a ballot express mail through UPS and it still arrived after 2 weeks. Some mail takes as long as a month. Callie's ballot hasn't arrived because the group sent it as if it would arrive in 3-5 days, so she had to e-mail them and get the forms. 

We could have gone to Beijing to get the national forms, but it we wouldn't have been voting in local elections. And it is also a trip to Beijing which is expensive and takes time, and I do not have time this semester. 

Because the mail takes so long, it takes us a while to get it and to send it. There's no way sending mail normally would allow us the time needed to vote- our votes would arrive far too late. The nearest UPS/FedEx/DHL place is Zhengzhou, and we don't have the time to go. So we're hoping that the EMS mail service will be fast enough to turn in our votes. But there is a very real chance my vote won't be counted, because I live too far away from the embassy and in a foreign country. 

Just because I live in a foreign country doesn't mean I've given up my right to vote. If anything, I want to vote. Some of the foreign policies by a couple of the candidates scare me. It's as if they have never been to another country, or certainly the country they're talking about. I absolutely want to vote for a policy that will aid not only me while I teach abroad, but have a realistic view of other countries. 

I want to have a say in my government. Especially given that my students cannot. They're so interested in the US election, and they've asked that I show them the presidential debates! So I'm going to show them the most recent one. 

But the lack of time allotted for ballots, the need to mail them in is very frustrating and tense- I'd gladly tell the world who I voted for if I could just get my ballot in on time and have it count. Of course, that also means that I trust the person who counts my ballot to be as understanding and unbiased as a machine (assuming also that the machines are unbiased and the companies who write the programing do so in an efficient and unerring manner). It's crazy, and yesterday the embassy wrote to the citizens on the mailing list saying regular mail would not be fast enough. If we wanted, we could drop our absentee ballot into the building in Beijing before Monday and they would send it for us, free of charge. That's only four days, three of which I'm working. It'd take at least two to travel to Beijing, and I can only hope they're open on both those days (not sure how often the embassy is open). It's also a lot more expensive to travel to Beijing than it is to Fedex something. Though Fedex is faster, EMS is the most reliable option. Even if it's probably going to take about a week to two weeks. 

Iowa is nice enough to allow mail that has been postmarked before the 3rd to arrive until the 13th. They probably won't make a difference by that point, but it is very reassuring to know I have a voice. Many states won't- if it isn't there by the 6th, no good. How scary. I'm so glad I'm not teaching in a more rural area, where the mail doesn't come and my mail would take forever to send. 

So I have voted. But there is a chance my vote won't count due to how slowly mail systems work in other countries. It is not an option to go to Beijing, it is not an option to go to Zhengzhou (I'd have to bring a student and they are not open when I could go), and there was little time to vote and send the vote back. All of this is frustrating. However, I am aware there is little I can do. 

In the next election, I hope Iowa allows for voters to register via e-mail, prove there is a connection, and let us scan our documents, signature, and vote that way. 

End result: I paid about $20 to try and vote, though it may not count. If you're reading this and part of the US, there's no reason you cannot vote. Your vote is free. Do it. 

Hospitals of Kaifeng (Just the City One)

Today.

 

Today was a momentous day.

 

Today. I went to a place.

 

A very unusual place.

 

A very foreign place.

 

I went to the hospital.

 

 

I'd been trying to avoid it as long as I could, mostly because of worries over needles and the idea that you go to a hospital if you can't recover. But let me start at the beginning.

 

On Thursday, I noticed my voice was weaker than usual.

 

On Friday, I realized I had both little voice and little energy- I typed my words to the students since they all had computer screens for audio-visual class and when I was not teaching, I was sleeping. My throat was sore, and my nose was dripping into the back of it.

 

The next morning I got up, talked to my family, and went back to bed. Saturday was spent in bed with a 103 fever. Sometimes I took Tylenol- the fever only went down to 101. My throat was now raw, and my ears and eyes hurt. I cancelled my Sunday classes with apologies.

 

On Sunday, I had no fever, except for the end of the day of something at 99, and my ears still hurt. My throat was even worse, and unfortunately, I had acquired a cough. I cancelled Monday's classes.

 

Today, I still had a raw throat and cough, though I feel loads better. But better to be safe than sorry, I think, because I don't want this developing into a problem later on.  Especially if it could develop into a two week problem.

 

So I called one of my students for three reasons. The first reason is he's a local. The second is he's taken another teacher to the hospital before. The third reason is his name.

 

His name is Rambo.

 

How could you not want Rambo to escort you to the hospital?

 

So Rambo and I agreed to meet at 12:30pm to go the hospital. I asked if I should go to a hospital or clinic, but he said hospital. I remember my first impression was that hospitals are for emergencies only, and then thinking myself out of that- maybe they are not just for emergencies in China. Rambo said it was okay. Who am I to doubt Rambo, the local?

 

I took my passport, my health certificate, $250 worth of RMB (No idea how much it would be), sucked it up to getting an IV, and wrote down my prescriptions in Chinese. 

 

We took a taxi to the city hospital. Outside there was a stand selling all sorts of food, but we went in and registered me. A brown book was my registration file. We went, talked to a lady in respiratory illness. I was wondering why we had come here- everything had started with my throat, after all, but there were no places for ear/nose/throat people.

 

Most of the doctors in the rooms were sleeping soundly- it was nap time. This is legit in China, though, so please don't think "Sleeping? On the job? How lazy!" The doctors started work again at 2:30. Just like I start teaching in the afternoon at 2:30. The doctor lady who saw me did so despite missing her nap time. Granted, the most she could do is fill out my book and then hand me stuff and tell me to go get my lungs tested.

 

So I did. The testing center opened at 2:30. On the way there, we went out back through the parking lot and ended up where the inpatients were. There were a couple of stores in the building- places to buy buckets, soap, and places to buy food. The Chinese medical system means you need someone to take care of you. Since most people live with their children, even in later life (for example, if my family were in China I would be living with my father's parents currently), either the parents take care of their offspring or the (adult) offspring takes care of them. Nurses, Rambo explained to me, just deliver medicine and things like that. Janitors clean up. Who feeds you and helps you to the restroom is family only.

 

There are good things and bad things about that, I think.

 

The testing center people were really nice, trying to communicate through Rambo. They had me breathe through an apparatus that was hooked to a computer and the program was originally English- I saw a couple of the prompt screens though the rest had been translated. (My nose was shut so I could only breathe through my mouth.) After I was finished with the tube thing, they popped an inhaler in my mouth and gave me a dose.

 

What.

 

I was taken a bit aback.

 

Inhaler? Where did that come from?

 

I now have a newfound appreciation for the people in the US who don't speak English and then go to hospitals. How would they know what is being said without a translator? How would they know what was going on?  Then I think of a mother going in for a sick baby. I would be so scared- what happens if something goes wrong? I'd be scared anyway, but if something went wrong I wouldn't be able to understand.

 

So I inhaled this drug after freaking out about it. When I was done we had to wait for 10 minutes, go back in, and have the drug again. The upside, there was no problem with my lungs. Still, the lady gave me three different sets of things for my cough (three different pills!), but I'm glad she looked at my meds. I'm also glad my meds don't have a lot they interact with (or what they do, I'm not currently affected by).

 

After four hours sitting in the hospital, I knew two things. 1) Many people who were there were not there for emergencies, but because they had started to be sick. I was the opposite- I was ending a sickness and didn't want it to develop further. 2) It was dirty. There was a hole in the ceiling of my respiratory testing facility's front desk, dirty walls, the usual Kaifeng dust (did I mention this is a dusty city, 'cause it is), grime, non-shiny surfaces. Despite my disbelief, I did see biohazardous waste bins. It was a relief, though I'm embarrassed that it was or that I thought the facilities wouldn't be safe. Sure, the facilities may not be the cleanest, but that would be almost impossible with the materials, number of people, and KAIFENG dust. Also, I'm not meaning that the hospital was covered in grime- I've slept in dirtier places. It reminded me of living in my old apartment, or maybe Bushnell back in Beloit- grime, dirt, but people would pick it up, it was pretty clean, and you lived there because it was the only place to live (seriously, where else were you going to live?).

 

I picked up my three medicines, was told about how to use each of them, and everything- the hospital exam, the medicines- cost me about $15.

 

When I submit them to my insurance here, they will be less than that.

 

I'm not sure why my throat wasn't talked about, but it's been feeling better today, and the reason I wanted to go to the hospital was for my lungs anyway, so I'm glad.

 

HURRAY I DID NOT HAVE TO HAVE AN IV!!! AVOIDING THAT FOREVER*~

 

 

Now I must think of a proper gift to give Rambo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Or until I need one. 

Meanwhile

Waiting for Ann, cleaning, trying to update blog, trying to enjoy this break, and suddenly there is a knock on my door. 

The front desk lady and her daughter stand there. 

They ask to see my doll. 

Really, they mean the two stuffed animals I've received from Ben/Ann and Candy. She wants to buy one for her daughter, I think, because she asked me if I bought it in Kaifeng. So they were here for no more than three minutes, and I made the cat move and speak terrible Chinese. 

The daughter seemed to enjoy it. 

I did. She's welcome to play with the cat-doll anytime. 

Updates

They will be slow- I'm going to attempt to do them tomorrow. 

I have had lots of pictures. Please look at these. 

The 100th anniversary of Henan University was today. I also met with Beloit teachers and the president of Beloit College. It was excellent. 

There will be more pictures and description. I'm worn out now. I pity the people who had to go to the last event- I'm not jetlagged and I'm tired!

Candy's School, Dinner, Internet

Today I woke up and there has been no internet all day. Way to start the week of your 100 year celebration, Henan University. I am currently somewhere else. 

Today Candy's school had 30 students. She is quite happy. I am happy for her. 

Last night I invited Candy, Candy's husband, and another Chinese teacher, Athena, to grilled/toasted cheese with the other teachers and the student Izinga. I made tomato soup (from a can), but there wasn't enough for generous portions. That's alright, though. Toasted cheese was kinda welcome. 

Then Candy's husband brought liquor and I got into a drinking contest with him. Then he drove home. 

I learned about that second part today. 

Nothing happened, but to me, once I have any alcohol my policy is to never drive. Even if it's been a couple hours, I wait until I've slept on it. It's rather unsettling to know he drove home instead of letting his wife drive. This is also partly why I didn't buy alcohol in the first place- I knew they'd be driving. 

Though I'm not sure if the drinking and driving is a China thing or a him thing yet. I have seen people act as DDs before, and I've seen drivers partake in drinking before. 

Hello, goodbye, and after a week of 24 hours of teaching

I do not envy elementary teachers. I cannot imagine how stressful it must be to come up with multiple lesson plans a day. If you want good lesson plans, you spend hours on material and planning. If you are a terrible teacher, you don't. Both types wing it half the time as well. 

I am glad to be a teacher. It gives me much more respect for my teachers beforehand. 

The Australian teachers are leaving. There have been a couple of them, Pina and Mario, to whom we have gotten attached. I will miss them both. They've been a lot of fun, and while we do our own things, having a bi-weekly dinner has been great. 

They've left us a few things- mostly very good memories. 

Next week is our hundred year celebration. Many new people flock around on campus. 

On the upside, the breadstore is open again, and I've seen a car covered in anime on campus. If that car can survive Kaifeng with all the Chinese flags (the breadstore added one) and riots in other cities, I think I will be quite safe. 

A Funny Story

Today one of my students saw me outside of class, and she said she'd gone to a meeting to join the party. "The Democratic Party," she told me. 

I paused, and asked her, "Are you sure you don't mean the Communist Party?" 

"No, the Democratic," she said again. I paused- I didn't know the Democratic Party was active, nor did I know if it was allowed to have meetings. Was she telling me this because she wanted me to know she was rioting?

"Is that the current party?" I asked her, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Ah. That's the Communist Party. You just told me you were a Nationalist." 

She paled and shook her head. "No no no no no!" she cried, laughing at her mistake. "Communist Party. I'm trying to join the Communist Party!!" 

She will never mix up those words again. Which is good, I think. 

I hope she makes it. It's a lot of prestige to be in the party, and they treat their members well. You have to work hard, but many students find it's worth it. So I hope she gets in. 

In the Communist Party, that is. :)

Good news/RR

Well, mostly. Today I bought a toaster oven. I am excited, though I have yet to plug it in, have it flip my breaker, and reset the breaker. 

What excitement I live in! 

I've felt much better today, but that could be because I've had four hours of sleep (mosquitoes are terrible) and thus I am in my happy-tired phase. It could be worse. I could have an angry-tired phase. 

My writing class today was excellent. They were responsive, they didn't challenge everything I said, (One class argued with me that a predicate is the verb of a sentence), and I was silly, so they were silly. In a good way. 

That's really what performing is. The audience will send back what you feed them. 

Today the gal teachers and I went downtown (there are no male teachers) and on the way there were so many Chinese flags. But the breadstore is back in business, the delicious one. I think I will patronize it. I will patronize the hell out of it, because it takes balls to be staring riots in the face and saying, "You know what? This is our business. We are Chinese workers, Chinese people, in a Chinese business, and we have a right to be here." I respect that. (If you look back to the breadstore post, the J bakery is the most delicious, the farthest walk, and was started/is run by a Japanese lady who moved to China). 

There are so many flags. So many. It reminds me of right after September 11th. Flags everywhere, on cars, in restaurants, outside, they make the street red and gold. They're pretty colors. The feelings behind them scare me. They honestly scare the shit out of me. It takes only one misstep by either side and suddenly these feelings are aimed at me. 

So today, while at the store, through either choice or sheer exhaustion I was super friendly. I smiled at everyone, I talked, I answered, I laughed- anything to get as many people as possible to realize I am a real person. I'm acting. I'm playing a caricature: The Friendly Foreigner. But I'd rather people know me as friendly and not as foe. 

I was not prepared for how easily that can turn on a person- a foreigner is a foe, and needs to be removed. They steal from us, they take our jobs, they're greedy and they don't understand our ways. These things are often said. Earlier this year a news anchor stated on the air that Westerners are only here to rape Chinese women. 

With that being said, most Chinese are friendly and curious towards me. They aren't rude. As long as they aren't in a mob, they're people, and I've talked to a couple of people who don't agree with the riots. Rioters are only a small number of the Chinese >1 Billion. (Most of the violent rioters are actually from smaller farms or towns according to my news sources, so they've never even met the people they're actively hating). They aren't the majority. They're just a loud minority. 

I want to make it clear: I'm not taking sides on the whole Islands thing. I don't know the history, I'm terribly fuzzy with politics and to make a stand without any research is rather foolish, I feel. The rioting has me worried because it is forcing out a minority group of China. The same way if DSM started rioting I would be worried (though I know how to drive away from hotbeds while in DSM). The anger and hatred is felt towards the Japanese and not their government (which has done shitty things, and is infamous for having terrible immigrant relations) is worrisome, and the anger is being taken out on either Japanese tourists, business owners, teachers or Chinese people who work for Japanese companies is really alarming. It's the rioting that I'm focusing on. 

I've been to Japan. I've been to China. I hate to see two countries that I have enjoyed so much come to so much impasse. 

I'm trying to remember, that the rioters aren't the majority of the Chinese, that the flags are just support the way the US citizens would support their government, and that this may calm down. I'm still paying attention, though.