We have been approved!

April 22, 2009:

Late this morning our teacher-friend, JuJu, called to inform us that the school has, after much consideration, approved our "application" to attend the junior school field trip. David would be assigned to junior 2 class 13 and I would join junior 2 class 12. I'm not sure why David was assigned to one of my classes rather than one of his. We were glad to finally know for sure that we would be going on the overnight trip that leaves tomorrow morning at 7 am. Yesterday they had expressed a concern for our "safety" on the overnight trip....because we are foreigners, as they put it. I don't think that the school decided it was safe enough. I think they are still nervous about taking us places. I guess if a middle school child is killed on a school trip it wouldn't make international press like a volunteer foreign teacher in China would. We do make them a bit nervous now and again. I think that since our liaison called the city's "office of foreign experts" who said it was completely fine for us to join the trip, the school would lose face if they still didn't let us go. I can't say I'm looking forward to tomorrow, especially after hearing it might be up to 8 hours by bus to get there. The forecast also calls for rain. We are going to Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province. It is worthy of half a page in our China guidebook, which states "it is mythologized by dewy-eyed party cadres China-wide...Mao's legendary long march began here and...guaranteed Jinggang Shan's conversion from mountain range to revolutionary cradle, communist monument, and overrun tourist Mecca." [2008, Lonely Planet: China] Sounds great, doesn't it!

I ran into our liaison who asked if we had decided to go on the trip. When I told him yes, he sincerely reminded me to stay with the English teachers and to "take care with your shoes." I said I will.

David had a lunch date scheduled with one of his students. Sometimes those work out but sometimes we can't find the student in the crowds of students. Everybody at school eats lunch at the same time, so it is a mad house to say the least. He did find "the little man" as we call him because he is tiny but speaks with a raspy voice and likes to shake David's hand when he sees him, like he's an old man in an 11 year old body. "Little Man" actually doesn't speak much English at all. In fact, today one of the girls in his class asked him at lunch, "Do you speak English?" It was pretty funny. He is probably one of the worst at English, but he LOVES David. On the positive side, David really gets to practice Chinese when he eats lunch with him! A couple other students from the little man's class ate lunch with him today as well. One of them said, "today you teach our class." In fact, today is Wednesday and David teaches their class on Monday. He asked another student and got the same response. Of course, nobody had told us about a change in schedule, but as far as we could tell from the students, they had moved Monday's 6th period class to Wednesday 7th period. The Monday class had been skipped because of the motivational speaker. Wednesday 7th period is an activity period in which David usually teaches an English Corner. (I do not have an English corner because my students are "too busy"). David confirmed with an English teacher who didn't know (of course). She then asked a student who said yes. She relayed the students information back to David as if it were therefore definitely true. So, David intended to teach class and I still didn't know if I had class. . Then, right before this changed class should have begun, I ran into the head English teacher of Junior 1 (David's grade). He asked me,
"Where is Joe?"
I said, "David?"
And he fumbled, "Yes, does he have class?"
Sheesh...you tell me! YOU are the head of the English department?! I told him David was teaching class 10 and he told me David did not have class. I asked if he meant English corner or class. He answered yes (they think yes is a safe answer, even when it is not a yes/no question). A minute later, David walked down the hall to where we were struggling to hold a conversation. The teacher and David had the same conversation I had just had with him. David asked,
"Do you know if I teach?"
He responded, "No I don't know. Today is very busy."
Then, he walked away with a nervous laugh. David did not teach after all, but it was a battle to get that understood. This battle is all too common here.

I headed to our office (rarely used because it is inconveniently located in the primary school building). Lucky for me it was music hour! The primary students were spread across three rooms, none of which had a teacher nor was there a teacher in the hallway. They blew on their instruments with no purpose or printed music. It was a hall full of noise! One room had 2 kids, one playing (or holding) a guitar. The next room had 2 kids with a clarinet, 2 with a flute, one with a trombone, and one with an unknown instrument that looked like a small keyboard with an attached mouthpiece. The last room had about 15 violin players. This room was the most organized and productive. They sat in a half circle facing the chalkboard, where another primary student conducted. It was truly a sight. I have heard the band play on 2 occasions, one just about a month ago when the junior and senior students nearing big exams were lined up outside, then told to run around the school and into the street for "encouragement to do well on the examinations." (I will never understand some things). Anyway, the band is terrible. They sound as if they've never had a teacher, ever. And I've never seen a teacher during music hour, so I think that just might be the case. I chatted with some of the kids and finally learned the Chinese name for clarinet. I learned that they were 7 to 10 years old. One of them could play the trademark Beijing Olympic song by memory on his clarinet!

The very last room down the hall had a female teacher and 8 young girls, maybe around age 9. They stood around a table, each with their own Chinese tea set and tea tray. They were learning how to pour, make, serve, and drink Chinese tea! I peaked my head in the doorway and was immediately invited in and handed a cup of tea! After their excitement about the foreign teacher being in the room settled, I sat down and watched the class. The teacher counted to 8 over and over again while the girls smoothly moved to pour tea in rhythm. Everything took 8 seconds. Pouring the hot water into the teapot took 8 seconds and taking a sip took 8 seconds. It looked like it would be very beautiful if done elegantly and properly. I even learned how to hold a tiny Chinese teacup appropriately. This class reminded me of something you might do in Girl Scouts. I guess since these girls live at school, all of their skills and extra curricular activities should be taught at school. They were really cute, but a little clumsy. I was handed another cup of tea. The girl was thrilled that I drank from her cup! Once class was over they all poured their extra tea into a Tupperware glass, which they gave to a man (presumably their head teacher) who entered the room and promptly began giving orders to the girls. He wasn't mean, but he wasn't what you might look for in an elementary school teacher. They seemed to like him nevertheless. I loved my Chinese tea lesson and I think I should visit my office more often to see what other elementary Chinese skills I can learn!

Thanks for reading and wish us good luck for the next two days on our school trip!