Sunday, I pretty much stayed in and did prep all day. I had a lot of foot pain in my left foot (left side) from the museum trip, so I just decided to stay in and take things easy. I read poetry and planned things out. Not much else.
Monday was a better day, but it didn't get off to a strong start. I woke up at 6 am--Kerry made me oatmeal--to take the bus to campus so I could catch the shuttle to Songjiang. While the bus came quickly, the bus ride took FOREVER, and I ended up missing my 8:15 am shuttle by 6 minutes. I was crushed. So I went to the international office, where they were very kind to me: turned on the AC, gave me water, and just let me hang out. They showed me how to access the wi-fi; my e-mail still can't be accessed as of this writing, though. Around 10 am or so, I went to the cafeteria and had some pork and rice: quite good for only about 8 RMB (about $1.50). Then I had another Hong Kong Iced Tea at SISU Coffee. I had spilled some BBQ sauce on my white shirt in the cafetria and was wiping it down with some water. The older lady behind the counter noticed and hurriedly began to wet some tissues down, get soap on them, and hand them to me. She stood there, waiting over me, until the stain was out, and all I could say was "Xie xie!" (Thank you!).
So eventually the 11:30 bus arrives. A fellow from the US named Raymond chatted me up, and we talked all the way to the Songjiang Campus. He is a retired lawyer and is teaching eight--yes, eight--classes at SISU. "I don't really have much prep to do," he said. "And mostly I just give midterms and finals." He seemed very intelligent to me--his field is international law/affairs--but he also had a bit of that L.A. arrogance to him (that's where he's from). I liked him though. He even invited me to dinner--he mentioned that a bunch of guys get together to eat Italian, and he would invite me as well. I look forward to the invitation.
Raymond showed me where to get off the bus. Two students met me at the School of English Studies to take me to my graduate Short Novels class. One carried an umbrella (ostensibly, I suppose, to shield me from the sun), and she carried my briefcase. The other carried the bag that I had for Yanmei's friend, Shenghong. I reveled in the royal treatment. There are NO students at Century who would do this. :) Anyway, the girls and I are walking around, and one of them gets a message on WeChat that we're going to the wrong classroom. So I find out 10 minutes before my class starts where the class is actually being held: this is very typical of China--last minute changes! They took me to a huge lecture hall. I was expecting to see 20 students, but THERE WERE 87 STUDENTS IN THE ROOM. I know because I counted. I still introduced myself, walked around the room, and let them ask me some questions. The first student asked what Americans thought of Donald Trump; the second asked what I thought of feminism; and another asked me if I knew how to use chopsticks before I came here. Fun questions, but they broke the ice a bit. I talked about the class, and decided to forego my plan to have them sign up for presentations I figured this was pointless at the moment. I kept alluding to the fact that the class was so large, and at one point they began to laugh. "What is it?," I asked. "Professor, today we are just observing. We are not registered yet," one young woman with a British accent sitting in the front row explained. "Ohhhh....," I replied. They all laughed. I had no idea, obviously, and wished that someone had explained this to me. I went on to lecture a bit on the novel as a genre, and then collected brief "intros" from them about their name, why they are here, and questions they had. I'm not going to grade these--I'm not even going to look at them, honestly, until I know who is in the class.
After class, about 10 students surrounded me. "Please professor," one implored. "Would you open up more seats in your class?" "Do you all want to take my class?," I quiered. "Oh yes," they replied, and nodded their heads. "I'll see what I can do," I said. Later, I e-mailed Wang Xin asking if she could increase the enrollment to 30. I think this is fair considering that I have only 15 in the other class, and SISU has been very, very kind to me so far. On the way to the School of English Studies, I said Jin, one of the young women who led me around initially, "I hope they liked the class." "Yes! They think you are nice!" She replied. Later on I was inundated on WeChat with messages from students telling me how wonderful they think I am. "I think you are lovely," proclaimed one. "Today you just like a super star! Every student likes you. Hope you enjoy your life and work here," Jin wrote me later on WeChat. WOW.
In my office, I finally got to meet Shenghong, Yanmei's friend. He seems very nice--a bit blunt, though. He was telling me to show the students that I am harsh, and then they'd want to drop. He has a point, but I was on such a high from people telling me how wonderful I am. :) But he also seems very nice, even inviting me and Kerry to a barebeque.
Then I went to my honors American Literature class. I was a bit late because it took me awhile to find it. The students actually seemed to like talking in groups much more than I thought. Their in-class responses seemed a bit canned at times though, and they quoted from websites a bit too much. I tried to discourage that. They seem very nice and very bright though--looking forward to reading their response papers.
Then I took the bus back to the main campus; after that, I got a taxi home. The taxi was kind of a bad experience--the guy didn't seem to be able to read the address I gave him: this is a new one, because I haven't had this problem before. However, I said, "Shuidian Lu" (Shuidian Road), and he figured it out. So I'm alive.
Came home, ate a lot of leftover spaghetti and salad, and went to bed soon after. Mondays are long days.
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