December 18, 2002

Hmm...no journal updates in over a month, so I guess it's about time I put two fingers to keyboard and start letting you know what has been happening with me since moving to Chengdu and starting my teaching job. It's been a little more than crazy at times with the move and everything associated with it, but now I finally feel as though I may be getting into a groove and start living a normal life. Well, as normal as it gets for a foreigner living in China! So here I go with it is sure to be an altogether incomplete run-down of what has been going on.

Obviously, I needed a place to live while in Chengdu, so after about a week of searching, I found an apartment that is pretty convenient in terms of distance to work. Only about 20 minutes away by bicycle, but I haven't used that mode of transportation yet as I am still trying to take it easy on my neck and shoulder. 7 minutes away by taxi sounds like a good deal to me! I'll see how I fare once I do start making the bike trek to and fro. Another plus with the apartment is its proximity to a large department/grocery store called Carrefour which is based out of Europe somewhere. It's a 5 minute walk away and if I have a hankerin' for some Western food, there's a KFC located on the first floor. Also, all around the apartment complex there are many restaurants and shops selling everything imaginable. The apartment itself may be a bit of overkill with 2 bedrooms and an office, but it's reasonably priced and borderline luxurious. Definitely a better bargain than my old pad in Beijing. The best part has got to be the office where I have a nice big desk for my computer, books, and other things. Oh, and I have 2 bathrooms. One has a Western style toilet and the other a Chinese one!! Wanna guess which one I find myself using ALL the time? Sorry, didn't want you to even think about such a topic! Finally, there's one more cool thing about this place and that's the rooftop space that I have access to! I am on the top floor and all tenants on the top floor have an area of the roof to do with as they please. As you may have guessed, I have done nothing with it, but have gone up there a few times to enjoy the view and think about what I could put up there. Will probably only manage buying a chair or two so I can enjoy the sun, if and when it ever decides to show itself again!

School can be pretty difficult at times because my schedule does not follow a set pattern day after day. Sometimes I start teaching a class at 8:30 in the morning, sometimes 9:00, sometimes nothing in the afternoon, and sometimes I teach a class until 5:30 PM. The other thing that makes it a little chaotic is the curriculum itself. One class may be oral English with the higher level Melbourne class, the next may be general English with a the lower level Perth class, and I may finish the day teaching the Melbourne class English writing. After a couple weeks it's then on to teach the mid-level Sydney class writing and oral English with more Perth general English. What's with these Australian city names for referring to the classes? Not my idea, and it struck me as a bit strange at first, but after a while it kinda sticks with you and you don't even think about it. Now, I actually like referring to them this way. Anyway, the students are generally pretty good, but as you move down the levels the attentiveness and dedication level as a whole starts to slip. Now there are always exceptions to this as every class has its hard-workers, but it is something you notice and have to deal with. Students will be students and anyone expecting a dream-like scenario will have to go to the San-San Middle school in Anhui province to teach!! Hahaha!! Can you tell how much I miss teaching those cute and well-mannered kids there? Here in Chengdu, it's a different school with different goals, and different aged students with different social backgrounds. Has the fulfillment of teaching been lost in Chengdu? Certainly not! I am still well aware that, despite my need to raise my voice every now and then, I am helping these students improve their English and for several, pass the IELTS exam for entrance into an Australian university. It really does make me feel good to do something more than plug cables into boxes configure PC hardware and manage a network. Here, I am directly helping others with their future lives, not helping the bottom line of some company. :)

More on Chengdu: I said it once before and I'll say it again. This local language is really difficult to get a handle on!! Sounds like they're speaking a mile a minute, chewing gum, and flossing their teeth at the same time!! Crazy! In reality, it does sound pretty good to the ear, but this is just the sound, I still can't make out but a small bit of it! Other things I have noticed has been the distance many people here keep from me. It's just so obvious that for many, the sight of a foreigner approaching them on the sidewalk or in a store is a new and maybe even scary one. Beijingers are more used to it and more apt to smile and even start a conversation with you. In Chengdu, once you do get past those awkward moments and you start dealing with people one on one, you do notice the same general kindness that I have seen elsewhere. The mood here is different than Beijing and the pace of things quite a bit slower. People seem more laid back here and as a result you don't have that excited or edgy feeling in the air. Another difference, which is kinda nuts for me noticing let alone mentioning on this page, is the use of money. China has paper money in denomination smaller than a dollar (Yuan) and in Beijing you often received these oddly-sized paper notes as change. In Chegdu it seems as though the coins are preferred more. Now, instead of a desk drawer full of ones, half-dollars, 20 cent, and even 10 cent bills, I have a drawer filling up with 1 dollar coins and other coins. I still get the lower valued bills here, just not as much. Finally, one more important thing to note about Chengdu is the weather. I may have mentioned in the previous journal entry that I didn't see much sun during my fact-finding trip here a month ago. Well, lets just say that I can count the days with sun on one hand with maybe a finger or two to spare! It's overcast so often and lately it seems the clouds have descended right down to street level! Gonna refer to this place as the Seattle of the East if it doesn't change soon. Actually, I bet the average number of sunny days is actually less. I just looked up some Chengdu weather facts and found the sunshine ration is a meager 28% and the average humidity 82%!!! Yipes!! Well, it doesn't bother me all that much, but for others I think an investment in one of those light therapy contraptions may be in order!

In the short term I will have no need for artificial light to raise my spirits because I will be going home to the States for Christmas!! Nothing better than Mom's cooking and the peaceful beauty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula!! So, I'm going to wrap this one up by wishing everyone visiting here a VERY MERRY X-MAS and a SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!