I decided to title this post "students getting restless" because my SISU students are getting restless, and Kerry and I are also getting a bit restless as students of Chinese: both the language and the culture.
Regarding my students: Monday was the first day that I really had some serious complaints or questions come up. Before class, one student wanted to go over her response papers with me, which is fine, and she seemed happy with our discussion. Like many students, she really needs to work on her citation: they don't seem to know MLA citation very well here in China. Class was just okay--I gave some background on Fitzgerald, followed by a student presentation on "The Roaring Twenties and The Great Gatsby, and then we ended things with a brief discussion, mostly about Nick Carraway's role as a narrator. After class, another student (who was also partners with the first student) complained about her presentation grade a bit. (Her partner remained silent through much of this.) This student was very vocal, though, and referred to my response to her concern on WeChat as being "narrow," which didn't thrill me. She detained me for at least 15 minutes, which was mostly a vent on her part. However, I did try to convince her that I was trying to work with her, not against her, and that I did feel the grade I assigned was fair. What's nice is that she and her partner did ask me, "What can I do to improve?" So it wasn't just a bitch-fest, as is often the case with American students. Both she and I tried to approach the situation professionally, and I think we accomplished this. I had a better experience after class--I spoke with the student who is my class monitor. He wants to get into a prestigious graduate program in the UK, and he wants a letter of recommendation. So I told him that he has to improve his response paper grades a bit if I consent to do so. I agreed, and then I talked with him about how to do better on these papers. He gave me macadamia nuts as a gift--he told me he bought them as part of China's "Black Friday," which is 11.11 here. (We were wondering why our ePer Market order had sales in variables of "11" and such.) The ride home took 90 minutes, followed by a CROWDED bus ride in which I kept having to inch my way towards the door. Insanity! I did get to talk to Raymond coming and going to school, so that was nice. We usually talk politics and culture--it definitely passes time. I'm not sure how I'd survive 2.5 hours of bus rides otherwise.
Tuesday, Kerry and I went to the post office...after studying over our post office conversational scenario a bit. I think he mostly understood what I was saying, but we got a bit messed up with asking for "Express Mail." All in all, though, I think my postcards and letter are on their way! I feel so accomplished here whenever I can do the little things. On the way back, we saw a cute park: statute in the front, a gazebo with Chinese architecture, Chinese music playing, and people playing badminton. It represented more of the China I was hoping to see. Then Deborah came for our lesson. Kerry seemed to get pretty frustrated--I seem to have an easier time memorizing the words than he does. However, he's much better at pronunciation and he does a good jobs translating the sounds to pinyin. Deborah mentioned that her friend who wanted someone to read for her child really wants to pay whoever does the work, which is understandable, so we are probably not the best candidates to do so. I'm mildly disappointed, but I am not allowed to take the extra income--nor is Kerry, for that matter.
Wednesday, we began the day with more China insanity. A woman came to the door demanding money for an electric bill. Of course we couldn't understand here, so I quickly got on the phone with Carol, who talked to her and got her to leave. Apparently, SISU covers our electric here up to a point, so there was no reason for the woman to come by. Strange! Later in the morning, I went to a Brown Bag Lecture at SISU given by Dr. Steve Kulich. Mostly grad students were in attendance. I was a bit late because the taxi dropped me off behind the school, and then I had to find the building--I arrived at 11:45, but it was okay because he hadn't started yet. The lecture was on the 6th floor--and no elevators, of course. He provided an overview of research in intercultural communication. This isn't my field, but it was still interesting to me, and I even asked a question about gender studies and intercultural communication in China. I sense there's interest in gender studies here in China, but it's a field that's not developing here. I talked to Grace a bit: she wants me to be one of the subjects in her longitudinal research study on international faculty. I am excited about this and hope to talk to her more about it. She might even be able to use information off this blog! On the way home, I had taxi issues. (You might ask, why was I using taxis today? Well, I was trying to save a bit of time, and also my right foot is giving me serious problems.) Anyway, so the driver showed up in the wrong place, and I had to cancel the order...then I had to go to Chifeng station to under the second taxi. Once we found each other, we were fine--10 minutes to get home. At home, I spoke to Jeff, who told me about his interview, and to Taozhen, who went over my travel schedule with me over the phone. Burgers (that we made) for dinner. Readings of Gatsby. A quiet evening at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment