Twilight Zone: Hawaii

Well, it’s my first “lazy” day since I left home.  No, maybe since a week before I left home.  It’s also the week anniversary of my arriving at my school and new home away.  I thought I would take the small window of opportunity and mark the occasion by getting my sad butt online to write a new blog entry.  I keep thinking that I’ve fallen so far behind on blogging only to realize it’s been maybe two weeks, but every day here feels like so much longer with everything that’s been happening.

As you may have heard, I’ve gotten my certificate to teach TEFL in China and have arrived in Shenzhen.  Turns out, the training in this program is… um how you say… not the best.  I feel very unprepared still, but after this year I think I’ll be able to tackle anything.  The returners keep saying that the first couple weeks are the hardest, so hopefully that’s true.

I am at Meishan Primary School.  Yeah, you heard me, primary.  Which is good and bad in it’s way.  The kids are so. damn. cute. But they are so full of energy I’m amazed, and many of them are barely able to speak a few words of English.  Pretty much exactly what you would expect of a thousand 6-11 year olds.

The school is very nice as far as schools go, and from what I can tell I got a relatively sweet pad.  They set it up for me so it was ready to go when I got here.  I have a computer, T.V., bed with bedding, giant teddy bear, etc.  AND A LAVENDER COUCH.  That’s my favorite part.  I may continue to live here just for that.  The place is tiny compared to what I’m used to, essentially a studio apartment in a room with the area of my freshman dorm room.  There’s a small area for cooking (on a hot plate or microwave) and the bathroom… oh the bathroom.  It’s about 4x4ft, a squatty potty in the ground and a shower head over top.  It will take some getting used to, but so far I’m adapting all right.  I think the thing I miss most is having a sink disposal, since the pipes here leave some wanting.  I have one small tin sink in the bathroom area for the entire place.  There is also a washing machine outside for me, but I admit I’m having some trouble figuring out what the characters on it mean since there’s no English on anything, haha.  Hand washing isn’t that bad though, and it’s nicer on my clothes unless they’re filthy.

Everyone here has been SO NICE.  I have hospitality like you wouldn’t believe.  Aside from setting up my apartment, people at my school have walked me through the entire visa process (which I’m still in the middle of, more on that later), shown me around campus, taken me out to the beach and to dinner, given me sample lesson plans, set up my internet, etc.  I have a contact teacher (= senior faculty member to help me with living here) who has been so helpful and has introduced me to her friends and other teachers, taken meals with me, and gotten me set up work-wise.  My neighbors drop by often, often unannounced, to say hi and many have brought gifts or offered me food.  They are great to chat with, even though they speak about as much English as I speak Chinese.  We are both practicing and hopefully will be much better soon.

One family that lives next to me is especially great, they have two children who are a riot and the mother has cooked me dinner and offered to teach me how to cook Chinese food, since I have no fathom.  Seeing as most everything I eat here only exists in China and I have never seen it before in my life.  The daughter will be one of my students in fifth grade and the boy is at the middle school next door.  One of the best nights here so far, I helped the kids with their English homework and taught them how to moonwalk like Michael Jackson, whom everyone in this country is obsessed with.

Of course, it’s extremely stressful here too.  Everything is so different, from how you eat meals to how you address people, the language, the shopping system, the expectations, the attitudes.  It’s like entirely relearning what your idea of normalcy is.  So much so that I got excited when I identified a carrot in the soup yesterday, simply because I actually knew what it was.  It’s so difficult to explain, you really have to experience it to know it.  I’ve been calling it “Twilight Zone: Hawaii” because it looks like a tropical vacation, but it feels like you woke up in the twilight zone with no idea what was happening and no way to ask.  I think it will all change in a couple months when I’ve settled in a little bit, but it’s really just been unreal so far. 

I think the worst part has been all the surprise impromptu speeches.  My school has never had a foreign teacher before so I’m a novelty and therefore keep getting introduced in front of large audiences and being asked to speak.  It’s very awkward because I’m so off guard that I have nothing intelligent to say, and it ends up being “Nice to meet you, your school is so nice, the people here are so nice, I’ve very happy to be here and I can’t wait to teach because the students are very nice.”  Ugh. And I’m very concerned about disgracing myself, my family, my country, my ancestors, etc. because that’s entirely possible here haha.

I start teaching on Monday, and I’m pretty apprehensive.  I was excited, and then another new teacher came and told me her class was insanely rambunctious and excited, which equals impossible to control or get to do what you want.  Maybe luckily, my school is still figuring out the having a foreign teacher situation and I will have the actual class teachers there when I come in for my hour, so they will help control the class.  The downside is, they all have specific things they think I should teach so I’ve had to scrap my lesson plans several times now and start over.  The way that’s going, I’ll have to write a separate lesson plan for every class according to the teachers.  Which is not ideal, but at least they’re giving me guidance.  A lot of guidance.  Some of them are concerned because apparently I’m about the same age as all of their sons.  I will definitely have to prove myself.

Thank you everyone who’s been in contact, I know I’m pretty slow at replying to anything but I promise I’ll be better now that I have a residence and some regularity in my life.  Sounds like it’s mostly good on the homefronts.  I miss you all, and I miss home more and more.  I just can’t believe the life I’m having right now.  I hope that people can come visit me, because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to adequately explain it!

Until next time,

Jenn