The English Corner

There is a small are outside the library in a garden area of campus called "The English Corner." Every night at 9 pm students meet in the corner and can speak only English... Last night, Ben suggested that that we join these students and make their night a little more interesting... This was a wonderful hit!! About 20 students showed up and we all talked for about an hour in little groups... Most of these students were English Majors some of which were my students but many of which were Ben's... However, about halfway through the session, a yound man walks up curiously and introduces himself as "Richard." At first Rich was indistinguishable from all the other students so I started asking him the usual questions like "what's your major?" and such... After a short while into the conversation I deduce that Rich is not a student after all but rather a new teacher on campus, who just stopped by because he heard us speaking English and was curious!!!
The student leader- "Rambo"- of the "English corner group" was very appreciative that the three of us foreign teachers decided to show up... He said that he had been alone the past two nights with nothing but his thoughts... after having such a good time meeting and talking with these new friends I don't think Rambo will have to worry about sitting alone anymore because we will be frequenting the English Corner

The Barber Shop Battle and Hair Clippers

The other morning after getting breakfast around 8 AM, two other foreign teachers (Both named Ben-- Big Ben (大本）and small Ben (小本）]and I were walking back to the foreign teachers residence when we were caught in the middle of a strange occurrence... As we were walking we began to hear some type of drilled shouting up ahead and as we drew closer we could see a group of young men (all with weird hair cuts) running around in circles and chanting ” 一二一二一二“ （ one two one two)... As can be expected, we were very surprised by this behavior so we sneaked in for a closer look; Big Ben pulled out his video camera to capture the scene... We soon realized that these guys were the worker from the hair salon that they were drilling in front of and that this was some odd morning exercise routine... After about two or three minutes of watching and filming. we hear a similar noise directly behind us... We spun around just in time to see a line of male hair dressers goose stepping out of their place of employment and shouting emphatically... We were caught in between and luckily Big Ben caught it all on tape!!! I will try to get the footage to share with all of you!!!

It was not long after this that I realized that I was going to be needing a haircut pretty soon... However, after bearing witness to this morning routine I was certain that I did not want to frequent one of these locals and let one of these loonies touch my precious head... Besides, I have made it 22 years without ever paying for a hair cut (Debra used to cut it, and I have been doing it myself through college) and I was not about to let my first barber shop experience be here, so I opted to buy some hair clippers,,, Fortunately, I found a set online from the Chinese version of eBay for around 10 USD including shipping!!!! They arrived within 3 days and now I have a fresh haircut!!! These clippers also work better than any that I had used stateside...

The First Class...

I had my first class today (Monday) at 8 AM... to be honest, I was a little nervous about standing in front of a classroom for an extended period of time for the first time... I got to class at about 7:45 and all of the students were already there... 

[Before I continue, an explanation of the Chinese college system needs to be given. In the US students pick their individual classes and semester by semester fulfill the requirements for graduation--- each individual course will have a different make-up of students. In China, each grade level is separated into 'classes' or fixed groups of students that will take every course together throughout their entire college career...]

So when I arrived at the classroom I was certainly the strangest face in the classroom and the ONLY one unfamiliar to them... Each class meets only once per week for two hours each meeting. (I teach 5 writing classes to 3rd years and 3 conversation classes to 1st years)

I did not want to start into hard material on the first day, so I thought that I would just do a small introduction about myself. I followed this by asking each student to:1, Tell me their Chinese and English Names, 2. something they thought made them unique  3. Why they chose to study English and 4. Each had to ask me a question about myself or anything really...

The English names were not as odd as I had been warned. In my first class the only two that are noteworthy are Cola and Flower (I am told that Flower changed her name from Smiley). The students had trouble coming up with something that made them unique; most just said their hobbies or stuff they like to do... One girl paused and asked if liking to eat made her special. I told her if enjoying food was special, then I was the most special person in the room! As for why students chose to study English all 45 students gave one of the following 4 answers 1. "I like it" 2. "It can get me a good job"  3. "My parents forced me to" OR 4. "because I don't like math."

The questions that were directed at me ranged from "What us your favorite color" to what do you think of the American economy" (i stayed away from that one, After all it is an English class..) to "How did you propose to your Fiance?" The whole process took up the better part of both 1 hour periods and left me with only about 20 minutes to explain the course... I made it through explaining weekly journal assignments before I ran out of time... I hope to manage my time a little better with my next class.

Pictures.... (of my room)

It has come to my attention that some the readers of this blog have requested to see more pictures. Those of you that are close to me I am sure know that I am never good at taking pictures when I go new places. I am trying to work on this a little more, and this is a start. I wanted to take some pictures of the campus today to share, but it is raining outside and they didn't turn out so great.... So here are a few pictures to satiate my ravenous readers:

Living room (prior to re-arrangement)

Bed (room)-- Actually Just a Box Spring

Closet One looking into the Living Room

Closet two (looking from living room into bedroom)

Main gait to campus reads "Henan Daxue" Literally Henan "big study" but actually means University 

These are just a few pictures... and just a friendly reminder to my readers: I will be here for a year, so I have to space the pictures out for several months... My blog posts will become less and less about daily experiences and become more about specific experiences or events... Please stay tuned... Its going to be a great year!!!

The Night Market

The Night Market Downtown (from second story KFC)

I am told that 开封(kaifeng) is famous for its night market. This collection of street vendors selling everything from watches to toys to underwear and FOOD stretches several blocks down 书店街 （bookstore street) and culminates in what you see here. During the day this is the intersection of two major streets in the city, but at night, vendors set up their stands and encroach several feet into the roadway (an entire lane actually). It is pretty wild. This phenomenon occurs every night from about 6 PM til 10 PM. Tonight was my first of what I hope to be countless trips to the night market...

"Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone"- N.D. Walsch

I found a random notebook at the campus store today with the title of this blog written on it... I thought it was really fitting to my experience here. Living abroad for a year away from all of my loved ones in a strange country is certainly out of my comfort zone, but so far I am loving every minute of it!!!

Today started out really great: Egg pita for breakfast followed by a couple hours of Frisbee... Lunch was also very enjoyable: McDonald's, that's right: McDonald's.... A short ride away from campus on the bus or 三轮车 (literally "three wheeled car"= a small rickshaw cab) is a Micky D's complete with Big Macs french fries and milkshakes. The menu also includes many types of chicken sandwiches because as Ben puts it "the Chinese like their fried chicken." (KFC is also very popular, actually the locals joke the KFC stands for Kaifeng Cai [菜 , cai= dish) I ordered the Big Mac meal with curly fries, yes curly fries, and everything was YUMMY!!! the cost of the meal was 20 RMB (about $3.30)

This afternoon Ben and I met with Leanna, my classmate from Akron who is studying at 河大 this year. She was tired, as her flight arrived late last night in Zhengzhou, but was eager to go around campus and find something to eat... I am happy that I at least know a few people here in China, and very glad that I chose to go on this adventure. However, classes start Monday and real life begins!!!

Chinese Health Checks

Today I received my first exposure to the Chinese medical system by way of our official Health Checks. All foreigners who will have an extended stay in China are required to take a physical exam to ensure that they are not bringing in any diseases to China or are susceptible to any disease. The whole process was very interesting...

this morning at 8 o'clock we all met at the office and climbed on the bus to Zhengzhou (the provincial capital- about 1 hour away). we arrived at the clinic around 9:15; it was already very crowded... We found out immediately that the pictures our leader brought of us were not the right size, so we had to go next door to a photo studio to get the appropriate size. This "photo-studio" was nothing more than a one bedroom studio apartment attached to a beer distributor. We literally had to squeeze between an unloading beer truck and stacks of beer crates to even make it into the cramped room. Inside the "studio" was two beds, a sheet with a stool in front of it, a lamp, a shade and a small Chinese woman with a digital camera... one by one we took our pictures...

Little did I know at this point that my day full of interesting and surprising things had just begun. The line for registration was long and the wait took about 30 minutes before we were even through to processing... after the all of us were signed in we proceeded into the 'clinic area' where all of the different types of exam stations were located. One by one we were checked off on all of the essentials: blood-pressure, weight/height, eye exam, chest X-ray, EKG, Blood/Urine test and finally a sonogram. This experience was interesting because I have never been through a screening process like this, much less one so in depth and within one facility and all in a language that I can scarcely say that I understand... 

The sketchiest part for sure was the urine test. After having blood drawn, each person was handed a small, numbered specimen cup and instructed to "fill it half way and place it inside the corresponding number outside the restroom." The rack outside the restroom was exactly that: a rack with numbers on it filled with OPEN half cups of urine. It would have been so easy to contaminate the other's samples. I wonder how it is even possible to get an accurate test... I think that this experience just goes to prove that things are just done differently in China... A notion that I am sure I will be becoming more and more familiar with in the coming months...