School is COOL!!

The biggest news of the week is that it rained yesterday. I know you are saying why is this big news? Because Americans love to talk about the weather. It is our favorite subject. Think about it. Weather comes up in almost every conversation—with friends, family, even strangers. So why is rain so important? Because Xi’an has been living in a drought for about four months. It has snowed exactly three times and left only a skiff on the ground. Thus, all of the plant life in Xi’an is covered with a coat of brownish coal dust particles and other debris. I am living in a world of only one color—ugly! I know now what the “mist of darkness” looks like. The pollution has been worse than usual lately and visibility is extremely limited. I would not have believed that lack of sun and fresh air could be so debilitating. I have been wishing for rain for a week and finally it came yesterday! Hooray! I only hope that it keeps up for three or four days and is able to wash the world green again.

I was having my students write personal poems as a writing activity on the first day. These are my two writing classes so they are bright, capable, humble students who are good thinkers and writers already. One line of the poem says: Who wants to see . . . . In one of the classes, two of the young women wrote about a free and democratic China. Another wrote that China and America could be friends. The world is in a state of upheaval; times are a-changing. Who knows where it will strike next!

That was a bit philosophical on my part, but the words just came into my head so I wrote them down. Now for the events of the week. I finally got my complete schedule for the semester. It is good for me—with my slight leanings toward hyperactivity. I teach 16 hours but they are all spread out from Monday to Friday. I think it will be fine except for the 4:00 p.m. class on Tuesday. It is on the old campus where I live, but I don’t think the students will come that late in the day. I have not yet taught three of my Oral English classes because they are on Monday and Tuesday and classes here started on Wednesday. I did teach one Oral English class and was trying to pronounce their Chinese names. Apparently, I was not very understandable because after class one of the bolder students came up and told me it would be better if I called them by their English names. Then she apologized for being so bold. I agreed with her. However, I will practice them in secret and one day amaze them with my wonderful new skill.

Every teacher knows that the first day of class is scary; so many things can go wrong. Tuesday was no exception to this rule. I was prepared with my CD containing the four power points I was going to use. I was excited and ready to blow them away with my presentations. Then the bus dropped us off at the campus. It was downhill from there.

First of all, I had told the monitor the wrong place to meet me. He was waiting in the back of the library and the bus dropped us off in front. I use the term "library" loosely because there are no books in there; nevertheless, it is a very impressive-looking building. I called him and he told me where he was and that I was to look for four boys standing together. Since this is a humanities-type university, my classes usually consists of mostly young women and a few young men. The young men usually hang out together because . . . there is safety in numbers?

Luckily, we found each other and started walking to class. I introduced myself as Ms. Robinson and in a chorus they replied, “Nice to meet you.” Then we trudged on in silence. Jason is the name of my class monitor and he took me to the wrong room. He was so embarrassed, but I was fine with it. I am not perfect nor do I expect him to be. My writing classes are in computer rooms. This one was—shall we say—well-used. The computer was not up-to date. The CD drive had been torn out completely. I looked at the white board and some teacher or teachers had written on it with a black white board marker and erased, leaving smeared black streaks all over it. Plus, another someone had written on it with blue permanent magic marker. So I had a messy white board, a dried-up black white board marker, a computer without a CD drive and 30 sophomores looking up at me with great expectations from their American teacher. What to do?

Thank goodness for my BC training—Before Computers, that is. I asked my monitor to find me a new black white board marker. I wrote the syllabus on the board from memory and began speaking slowly. Fortunately the adrenaline was flowing and I was nervous since it was the first day, so it was an "okay" class.

I learned a valuable lesson: The Holy Ghost will help you if you are prepared—or at least partially prepared. I went home and put all of my presentations on a flash drive. I have not used flash drives in the past because they are VERY susceptible to viruses from the computers in the classrooms. Thus, I was prepared for the next day. Lo and behold, my class was in another room with a wonderful computer, a clean chalkboard, and another set of shining student faces with beautiful black eyes all looking at me expectantly. So I have one day in the dungeon computer room and three days in the elite computer room. What more can a teacher ask for? Life is good!

It was hard getting back to a routine of getting up early in the morning, but I will manage. Speaking of getting up early, I met a couple, Jim and Mary, from Michigan who just arrived on campus, maybe a week ago. He is a college professor in America and is here to teach an intense English course (don’t know what particular subject) on the new campus, so they will only stay for two months. One of the other teachers had a bagel-and-cream-cheese breakfast yesterday and this couple came. (Just a side note, bagels, cream cheese, donuts, and hot chocolate are hard to find in China and we had them all yesterday! Those little experiences get you through the rest of the week.)

I was talking to Mary a little and I could see myself six months ago. They are in total culture shock. They both looked so wasted. She said that they lie down for a twenty-minute nap and wake up five hours later. I remember what that was like. Then I realized how far I had come in the six months. The apartment has some problems with the drains and she was trying to stuff something down them to stop the water from coming up in their kitchen. Apparently every time the people above them let the water out of their kitchen sink, Jim and Mary get it on their kitchen floor. I told her to call the lady over the apartments because she does not need to live with that--even for two months. I told her about The Village Café where they can get American food. Hopefully, we can help them get adjusted. The BYU teachers had each other to rely on and we could go shopping together, get cell phones, meet at church, etc. They only have each other. What a revelation to me about how much I have grown since I came to China. The changes happened in such subtle ways that I have not always recognized the difference.

Here is a copy of my persona-poem and the template. Try it!

Ms. Karen . . .

Sincere, enthusiastic, quiet, faithful

Daughter of loving parents who have passed on

Who loves long walks, chocolate chip cookies, and her family

Who is afraid of new adventures, deep water, and heights

Who wants to see the Great Wall, her dog and cat,

and peace in the world

Resident of the campus at Xi’an International Studies University

. . . Robinson

TEMPLATE

________________(first name/s)

______________, ______________, ______________, ______________

______________ of ______________

Who loves ______________, ______________ and ______________

Who is afraid of ______________, ______________ and ______________

Who wants to see _____________, ______________ and ______________

Resident of ______________

. . . ______________. (last name)