Well folks, I've made it to Shaoyang, Hunan Province.
It was quite a journey to get here. I left my dad's house in Columbia at 4AM on December 8th South Carolina time and arrived in Shaoyang around 6pm on December 10th China time (Which is 13 hours ahead of South Carolina time). Fortunately I got to stay the night in a hotel in Changsha, the provincial capital. But regardless, I was exhausted by the time I got here. The worst thing I've experienced so far was being dropped off at the wrong place in Shaoyang. I got on the bus in Changsha, and when we got to Shaoyang, everyone got off the bus, so I did too. Unfortunately it wasn't where my ride was supposed to meet me, but I didn't know that. So after standing there for a little while bewildered and trying to figure out what to do, I finally went into a shop and convinced them to let me use the phone in my very broken Chinese. Luckily for yours truly, the bus station was just right around the corner, and the owners of the store have children at my school.
I spent the weekend getting aquainted with the school, the city, and my fellow Westerners. There aren't many of us here in the city, probably less than a dozen, but the ones I've met so far are good people and I think we will get along quite well. We went to a bar at the university the other night and I was able to get aquainted with them. Last night I was invited along with the others to a local friend's apartment (which is frankly nicer than any American apartment I've ever been in) and we watched TV and played games. All good fun.The weather was fairly mild, but it rained constantly for the first four days I was here. Now it's getting cold and it's expected to snow tomorrow. I have yet to see the sun.
Shaoyang is a city of around 7 million people, and for all its size is considered something of a backwater. The people here haven't seen many foreigners and so I am something of a local tourism boon. I've had to re-adopt my "New York stride" and just look straight ahead and ignore the stares. It's just one of those things you have to get used to, I suppose.
On my first full day in the city, I was asked to be a judge in a TV contest show best described as an "English bee" where kids of all ages show off their English skills. This is the initial stage, and the winners from each city and province will eventually go on to the nationals in Beijing. Most, (I would say the vast majority) were pretty horrendous. Many of the kids seem take their skits from their English books. Unfortunately most of them used the exact same skits. I can't tell you how many times I have heard "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" "Auld Lang Syne" "Ten Little Indians" alphabet songs, and Chinglish love songs over the last few days. But I just smiled and held up my little judge's paddle, red for fail and green for pass.
Not all were so terrible though. One group of children gave a totally adorable rendition of "The Three Little Pigs" complete with pig and wolf costumes. One boy gave an empassioned speech about environmental degredation and world hunger. Another girl told Aesop's fable "The Sun and the Wind." There was even a retelling of "Curious George."
But out of all the hundreds of acts I saw, one actually brought tears to my eyes. There was a little Chinese boy, who couldn't have been more than 12 or 13, and he recited Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech." Obviously it was nothing new to me, I've heard it a hundred times, but coming from this young Chinese boy in his halting English, it just touched me for some reason. It was just a reminder of how lucky we are to be Americans and how much the world can still look to our country for inspiration and freedom.
Another thing I have become thankful for is literacy. In the Anglosphere, I can write, speak, and read with ease; some might even say I have a little talent for it. But here, I am functionally illiterate. There are no street signs outside the major cities or away from major highways. I can't read the signs on shop windows and the only way I know places to shop or eat is because people are here to show me. Otherwise I would be totally helpless. That is a very humbling feeling. It reminds me of a time when I was a teenager a woman walked up to me in Winn Dixie and asked me to read the lables on some cans for her, because she couldn't read. I can only imagine what a humiliating experience that must have been for here. At least here, I have the excuse of being a foreigner.
Although I already knew it on an intuitive level, I am discovering in real life that the Chinese are just like any other people. Government, politics, and economics aside, they are regular folks. They get up and go to work, have children, have bills to pay, laugh and cry and have good and bad days just like the rest of us.
I have taught my first few classes already. It is quite an experience. I'm not really sure what my expectations are, but it's pretty clear I'm not going to be able to fulfill my gung ho idealism of teaching these kids to speak and read fluent English in six months. Even though they have been learning English in school since the third grade, most of these kids can barely say hello. Also, it seems I am not the "real" English teacher, but that my classes are basically like an elective class at an American school. The other Americans seem pretty resigned to being able to do the best they can, which I guess will have to be my fallback position. The children are friendly for the most part, and some do speak quite well and I am able to communicate with them. But with a class of 70 - 80 children and nothing but a blackboard and a microphone, there is only so much I can do. I am almost tempted to try to start a collection to try to buy some projectors and screens for the school. It would definitely make my job a lot easier. There's only so much I can do from my laptop.
I tried showing them pictures of South Carolina, to give them an idea of where I came from. The ones who were interested were wowed by the beauty of my home state, which made me feel good. They especially loved the pictures of Charleston and the beaches.
Well, that's all for now. Sorry if I rambled a bit, but I had a lot to write down and I wanted to do it while it was all still fresh in my mind. I miss all my friends and family back home terribly, especially Ethan, Erin, Nick, and Naylor. I love you all and I'm thinking of you often.
