Fun Times Teaching Wow!

Dear 朋友们，

            Can you all believe that the year is almost over?  Only 6 weeks until I return to the country from whence I came.  For many of you reading this blog, I would assume that you have recently graduated and are getting excited for your upcoming year in China!  I’m excited for you, because your year in China is going to be an amazing opportunity to see this crazy country and learn even more than you ever could imagine.  To help you prepare, I would encourage you to skim through my other blog entries to learn more about living and teaching in China. 

            As a teacher in China, there can be a number of surprises, including the off-topic lessons you might run into.  I have compiled a variety of these off-topic lessons that should hopefully give you a laugh.

 

-White Wine vs. Grain Alcohol:  Now, I have warned about this confusion in the past.  However, let me repeat that China is NOT a wine culture.  Only the rich in China buy wine, and usually they are imports, because the Chinese wine is terrible.  I have walked through many a grocery store, and I have never seen a single white wine.  So when I was teaching my students the difference between 白酒（baijiu/white wine, aka a hard grain alcohol） and white wine, many of my students seemed surprised to find out that you could make wine out of green grapes and that this wine was called “white”. 

 

-Whizzing, Mayonnaise, and Nigga: Often times, the Chinese will pronounce words incorrectly.  I have found over the years that if you make the mispronunciation funny, the students will more likely remember it and fix it.  I personally like to add an over the top dramatization to really help it sink in, and here are some of the more common ones:

            -With/Whizz:  Are you with your friends, or are you whizzing on your friends?

            -Think/Sink:  Are you thinking, or are you sinking like a boat?

            -Thing/Sing: Do you have nothing, or no sing?

The most notable, however, include their usage of the infamous Chinese words “nigga” and “mayo”.  “那个” /nigga/ is the Chinese equivalent to “ummm”.  However, when you get the sentence “I have a black nigga….. notebook”, it can get awkward.  So, if your students are old enough, like mine, you might want to explain that it’s a racist term in English.  This actually worked rather successfully because every time someone says nigga now, the students all shout “SO RUDE!!!”, and I’ve effectively broken the habit.  “没有” /mayo/ is Chinese for “don’t have”, and to break them of this habit I always ask them if they want a sandwich.   This did not work at first however, because, as I quickly realized, my students knew neither what mayonnaise was nor what you would do with it.  Therefore, a fun 5 minute culture/food lesson emerged!

 

-Playboy:  In the business world, Chinese is infamous for having very loose, aka non-existent, respect for copyright laws.  Hence the many knock off brands like “Channel” and “Louise Vuitton”.  One of my personal favorites is the Playboy Bunny.  If you’re an innocent Chinese girl, what do you see?  A cute bunny with a bow tie!  HOW ADORABLE!!!  However, if you’re not Chinese, you see it and go NAKED WOMEN!  So, let’s just say in every class I’ve explained that their cute little water bottle may not be considered cute in other cultures.  I don’t feel too uncomfortable doing this, because I’ve built up a rapport with them.  Honestly, once you lay out on  a desk like a Playboy Bunny and say “Naked Women Magazine” and then ask them if they’ve been in one to get the bottle, they can’t help but laughing. 

 

            Well, I hope you are all enjoying the nice spring weather and are ready for the adventure, whatever it may be, in the upcoming months! 祝

 

                                                            好，

                                                                Mark

音乐会 : Jiujiang Music

 

Dear 朋友们，

                As someone who is very much into the current indie pop/rock music that is sweeping the Western world, the current Chinese music has all but excited my ears.  Popular music here is a concoction of Western Pop (J-Biebs, T-dawg Swifty Swifty, and Beyoncéééééé), K-Pop (Big Bang and Psy), and their own popstars who remind me of all the love ballads sung in the '90's.  All-in-all, not my scene per se...

                Also, for the previous five years, I have grown accustmed to live music, especially hipster indie music in Boulder and Flamenco in the streets of Seville along with their famous Territorios indiefestival.  So, I definitely missed not having that as a weekend option.  HOWEVER, my friend Sam found a place that did live music in Jiujiang, and it was not too shabby.  Apparently it has been on the floor above our frequented watering hole, and we just never new.  I guess we just didn't ask the right people.  Anyway, here's a little blip of the three bands we heard!

 

 

Also, my friend Alexandra filmed me durring calligraphy, and I was bored and made this very short video.  Teaching abroad can be pretty glamorous, but let me tell you, there is a LOT of downtime.   Thank goodness for the internet. 

 

 

                        好，

                              Mark

Calligraphy 书法

Dear 朋友们，

            I hope you are all doing well!  I’m at about the halfway mark for my second semester at 江西财经学院.  Classes have been pretty standard, and the city continues to be its normal self.  Some fun new things include a cool English Corner that just started in the city where I met some fun people who are excited to practice their English and build friendships with us, I am official going to Guatemala for a week with my church about 6 days after I get back, and I bought my plane ticket from Nanchang to Shanghai for my flight home that leaves June 30^th.  I am enjoying all the things I am learning here about China and Chinese culture, but I will admit that I’m really excited to go home soon!   I just have a few travel goals left; going to Longhu and Sanqing Shan (mountains). Speaking of goals, I have been fulfilling my goal of learning calligraphy!

            Since the beginning of the semester, my friends Ella, Nicole, Alexandra, and I have been attending classes with 雷老师 (Lei Laoshi Teacher Lei).  In each class, he instructs us on how to write basic strokes and then gives us a character to practice writing.  For example, first we learned 一and 丨and then we put those strokes together to learn 上 (up).  Currently, I have learned上，下，品，日，大，and九.  Interestingly, Chinese calligraphy also follows the Golden Ratio: 1/3 and 2/3 that can be found in Western art as well.  During the class, we also take breaks where he gives us tea, and has taught us how to pour it properly and the order in which we should serve it, most seniority to least.  I really enjoy his class, because he is not a very strict teacher, and believes that calligraphy should be fun and relaxing.  He really emphasizes the feelings behind calligraphy.  “Calligraphy is about feeling, not beauty.” –Lei Laoshi

            Lei Laoshi also emphasizes friendship, and enjoys his job because he makes a lot of friends.  One time, he canceled our class and took us to his friend’s tea house where we were able to learn a bit more about Chinese tea and the serving ceremony, see other calligraphers at work, see a live tea auction (some teas went for a few thousand RMB), and at the end we got a free 300RMB tea set! The whole experience was very enlightening and we got to practice our numbers.  祝

 

                        好，

                           Mark

Why a Business Student Came to China

Dear 朋友们,

I have been repeatedly asked over the year, “Why did you decide to go to China?”  Well, as a Spanish/Business major, I’ve learned over the years that in an ever more globalized world, learning, understanding, and embracing Eastern cultures is a huge asset to the largely Western friendly American Business culture.  American businesses have for years been mainly working with European businesses, and because of our close cultural ties with them, have easily dealt with their cultural differences.  However, after hearing accounts from multiple sources, it seems that Western businesses are neither as prepared nor as well equipped for dealing with Eastern cultures as they would like.  I hope that through this blog, sorry it’s lengthy, that you might understand why living in China will give you the skills you need to stand out from your competition and excel in the business world.

In college, we learn that China is one of the BRIC countries with a quickly growing economy and booming middleclass.  We learn how our economy is dependent on them, and we learn about their poor working conditions.  We learn a bit about cultural differences; different forms of communication, different business style, etc.  However, what we don’t do is learn how to live their culture and use this knowledge in order to be better businessmen/women and ambassadors for our country.  Major international companies know the importance of this skill, and are searching for those who go above and beyond general knowledge so they may form permanent personal and business bonds with Chinese companies.  How do we do this?  Well I think it’s pretty clear.  Just put on your big boy swimsuit and dive straight into the deep-end.  You need to live, learn, and love the culture.   Hopefully, I can give you a few solid examples of skills you cannot learn in the classroom and their applications to the business world.

             In the future you may be a guest and more likely will be a host to a Chinese colleague, and understanding the Chinese concept of being an honored guest and host is imperative to creating a strong bond with the Chinese.  This knowledge cannot be learned, it must be experienced.  Only after being so stuffed with food, alcohol, and attention just to appease your Chinese hosts that you might explode, only after you have mastered the correct order and ranking of everyone at the table in order to drink with them, and only after much practice trying to swallow the most disgusting white alcohol that you and your friends call “the devil’s tears” without wanting to vomit can you finally share and prepare your co-workers for the job of either host or guest to the Chinese.  Hospitality is obviously a must for any culture, but for the Chinese it is a specific dogma that is ingrained into them.  You must know exactly what you need to do in order to welcome the Chinese with open arms to the United States.

Learning even the minutest amounts of Chinese will really set you apart from the hundreds of other applicants vying for the job you want.  While many Chinese businesses hire workers who speak English, nothing shows the Chinese that you mean business like showing them your appreciation for their language and culture.  Now, my Chinese is pretty terrible, but just saying basic things such as “hello”, “goodbye”, and “thank you” will floor the Chinese.   This reaction is just from knowing basic Chinese.  Now, imagine you have lived in China and learned the language.  With that kind of knowledge you would form an instant bond with them.  Also, knowing the language helps you to read the Chinese better.  You will know that when they say “Yes, I know”, they mean “Yes, I see”.  Also, seeing the Chinese interact with each other in a natural setting gives you a solid foundation for knowing how to read and interpret a Chinese person’s reactions.  Businesses know that having people who lived in China, know China, and speak Chinese will have the skills their looking for in order to secure clientele and reduce cultural miscommunications.   

The two final aspects that you must experience are the business hierarchy and the Chinese concept “Saving Face”.  The hierarchal system in a Chinese business is as ridged as that of any monarchy.  Your place in the hierarchy determines your power, who you take orders from, and even who gets served tea first at a social gathering.  The first thing you must do when working is determine the hierarchal rank, and English job titles often do not reflect rank.  Once you know where the people you are working with lie, you can more easily understand what power they have, what decisions they can actually make, who they must talk to first to approve decisions, how long you must wait for responses, and where you lie within their system.  Workers are always trying to “Save Face” (being seen as respectable in the eyes of others) in order to make sure that it is clear that they know where they lie within the group and that they do not offend anyone to hurt their place or their chances of climbing the ladder.  What is confusing for many Americans is what acts can cause people to “Lose Face”.  The most innocent of acts in a Westerner’s eyes is not at all in the Chinese’s.  For example, not going drinking enough at a dinner (an insult of hospitality), going to visit your co-worker’s old school just to see it (conspiracy against job as teacher), or making an educated guess (being wrong), can all lead to losing face.  Dealing with these pressures and the pressures of your co-workers takes a lot of time and practice on a Western’s part.  Often as a teacher, we know nothing because we are the last in rank, and asking those above us often leads to an unclear answer.  This will happen just the same in the business world, but from your year in China you will know how to deal with this and understand why it happens while your inexperienced coworkers will become annoyed and confused.

I apologize for the lengthy blog, but I wanted just to express the importance of living abroad in China for any persons wishing to work for an international company.  The world is changing faster than our predecessors could have ever imagined, and it’s our jobs to make sure we stay ahead of the game. 祝

 

                    好，

                        Mark

P.S. - I’ve collected a few interesting business related articles over the months, and I thought this would be a good time to share them with you.

 

Leslie T. Chang: The Voices of China´s Workers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc2wVyl8RLI&feature=youtu.be

Chinese school offshores its graduates to U.S. Colleges

http://articles.philly.com/2012-12-18/news/35871202_1_chinese-students-public-school-universities-and-colleges

Dr. Navarre´s Notes for Chinese Learning

http://drnavarresnotes.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/income-tax-in-china/

An Afternoon Picnic

Dear 朋友们，

            As of recently, I started working for an acquaintance’s private school on the weekends teaching their self-made curriculum to 7 year-olds. 

Last Saturday though, the school decided to throw a picnic for the kids, and I was there to be a grocer and tell the kids how much things cost and then listen to them count.  Basically, I was paid a sweet sweet 400Y just to say the same sentence 50 times.  Rough, right?  The picnic itself was enjoyable and only two things of great note occurred. 

First, in true Chinese fashion, the woman who was in charge of the planning informed us we were going to Poyang Lake, the biggest lake in China, and have a picnic on the beach.  Contrary to what we were told, we really went to some remote park that was almost impossible to find where there was a small strip of land where we could eat.  All the parents decided to meet up at one place and the lead car would guide the cars to the park.  However, for the first 15 minutes the lead car changed about 5 or 6 times having most of the cars pull off the road 4 or 5 times with everyone yelling “But who knows where we’re going?!”  My Chinese isn’t very good, but it was clear what was going on.  Finally, the lead car got to the front and we got there fairly quickly. 

Second, everyone brought picnic food, and Kyle, the Canadian who runs the school, brought the LARGEST can of tuna I had ever seen in my life to make tuna sandwiches.  Except for the size, I thought nothing of it, opened the can, and started to drain the water.  This process turned out to be a BIG DEAL!  The kids had never seen canned tuna before and were bewildered as to what it could be, and watched in awe and confusion as I drained the water from the can.  Next, I had to mix in the mayonnaise and onions, which yet again was accompanied by questions by both the students and the parents about the white stuff in a bottle, aka mayonnaise.  Finally, with the kids so enthralled by this new exciting food, I had to make 20 or so tiny tuna sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce as garnish before I could actually eat one myself.  Their reaction was so cute, and I loved sharing a small piece of my typical cuisine with them.  As someone who has been living in China for a number of months, their reaction was no real surprise to me, but you as the reader might be thinking “WHAT?! It’s just tuna and mayonnaise.”  To that, I would like to remind the reader that Jiujiang is a small city of 500,000 people with about 10 or so English speaking foreigners (One who is black, and she gets the most hilarious questions about her skin.  i.e. “How long do you stay out in the sun?”).  So, this is not a city, with the exception of McDonalds and KFC, with foreign food.  Just like everything feels new when you move to a new place, this is all new for them.  The Chinese however, are much more animated and excited when they see something new than the average Westerner.  祝

 

                                                好，

                                                   Mark

Street Food啊！

Dear 朋友们，

            As I’ve told you, one of my goals this semester was to try more street food.  I have over the year tried various foods and candies, but have been opening up to new foods.  The number one rule for street food is NEVER eat food that is DEEP FRIED.  烧烤 (Shaokao) although loved by many Chinese people, our delicate foreign bodies were not built for such foods and the old reused oil used to cook it. I have met a few foreigners who can partake, but here in Jiujiang everyone has sever bowel problems the next day and one friend even got food poisoning.  So, the moral of the story is find foods with the least amount of oil possible.  Foods that are steamed or baked are obviously fine, and foods that are lightly fried like 饺子(Jiaozi), certain noodles, some tofu dishes, and many of their sandwiches should be fine.  However, if you’re just starting out, just to be safe, avoid oil until you think you’re ready.  Finally, DO NOT eat RAW fruits or vegetables, because they’re not washed and not ready for consumption.  The baked potatoes should be fine and also pineapples and watermelon because you only eat the meat.

 

            Last night, my friends and I decided to get some street food, and this is what I tried:

 

1) Chinese Burrito:  I honestly have no clue what this food is called, but it reminds me of a Chinese Burrito/Crepe thing.  The shell is cooked exactly like a crepe, and the cart can be identified by its large flat circular cooking surface.  Once the dough is ready, you can add whatever you want; meat, eggs, lettuce, spices, etc.  What I like the most is this crispy thing they add to the middle.  I have no clue what it’s made of or anything, but it looks like a deep fried stick of some sort of airy dough…although it could be a pork rind or something.  It’s a great mystery.  

 

2) Chinese Sandwich:  This is made with a pita like bread, lightly fried meat and vegetables, spices, and this brown sauce.  I don’t know what the brown sauce is, but it’s super delicious and is on a lot of their street food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) 饺子 Jiaozi:  These pork jiaozi were lightly fried and then covered with vinegar, pickled things, and pepper flakes.  They are the best jiaozi I’ve ever had outside of mine and Alexandras’, story to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Pineapple and Egg Pastry:  I got distracted and didn’t take a picture, but I had a quarter of a pineapple that was cut super fancy and then a sweet egg puff pastry thing that was really delicious. 

 

So there you have it, a brief introduction to street food in China.  I hope your mouth is watering! 祝

                                    好，

                                       Mark

 

P.S: My co-worker Alexandra, 海英Haiying, invited me to her house to make Jiaozi.  It was a lot of fun.  I finally got to meet her baby Mitang 米唐, her parents, her sister, and see her husband again.  Really teaching me to make jiaozi was teaching me how to fold them correctly, and then explaining how to boil Jiaozi.  Apparently, it is not just throw them in, turn on the stove and wait for them to float. Oh no. no. no.  You must first wait for the water to boil and then add the Jiaozi and some cold water.  Then, when the water boils you must add a second dose of cold water.  Then, you wait for that to boil again and add a third dose of cold water.  Finally, after that boils, you may serve the jiaozi with a mixture of cilantro (coriander), vinegar, soy sauces, and red pepper flakes.  It was worth the wait because this boiling process definitely makes a difference.

 

My first one is the middle one that looks "special"... However, I made the last one in the photo, and it's perfect!

New Semester, New Goals

Dear 朋友们，

            All great things must come to an end, and I am done my long trip around China.  However, as Semisonic once sang “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end”, and with the end of my travels starts a new chapter in my life here in China.  The new semester has started, and I have the pleasure of working with all of the same students as last semester.  I have a pretty grueling 12hour work week teaching oral skills and reading preparation for the IELTS exam.  I must say, life here in China is so rough.  (Just to clarify, this is all sarcasm)  To really get all I can out of this semester and dive even further into Chinese culture, I have set up a few very attainable goals:

 

1) Try more safe street food.  I’ve already started doing this while traveling, and basically as long as it’s not fried in oil, you should be safe.

 

2) Find a Chinese tutor. My friends Matt, Sam, and I are planning on finding a private tutor to help us learn more Chinese.  Alexandra, my Chinese co-worker, has worked in a bilingual school here in Jiujiang, and is confident that she can find us a good one ASAP.

 

3) Join a calligraphy class. Alexandra and I have already met with Lei Laoshi (Teacher Lei), and just have to find a perfect time for us and my friends Ella and Nicole to take his class.  We should be starting next week, and I’m quite excited!

 

4) Do more day trips. The Jiangxi province provides a number of wonderful day/weekend trips, and my friends and I all want to take advantage of the nice weather and explore these new places.

 

5) Find a job. I need to find a career job.

 

So, hopefully I will be able to fulfill these goals and tell you guys all about them, and inspire you to come to China and take charge of your experience and live life to the fullest here and leave with an adventure under your belt and a head full of knowledge.祝

 

                         好，

                              Mark

Marauding Mark: 阳朔 和 重庆 Yangshuo and Chongqing

The final episode!

 

Marauding Mark: 深圳，香港，和广州 Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou

 

Marauding Mark: 成都 Chengdu