再见西安！

This will probably be my last post about my day-to-day activities here in Xian. I’ll more than likely make only one post about my short stay in Hong Kong and then wrap up with an overall reflection about study abroad and being in China. So, without further ado, my sometimes not-so-boring life :P 

老师，我们爱你！

Almost every Saturday morning since returning from the Silk Road trip, I’ve been able to volunteer teaching English. The school is rather far away— around 60 km according to Google Maps— but the nephew of the Literature professor, He Laoshi 何老师 who was looking for volunteers works there, so that’s the connection. Besides merely helping out the family, He Laoshi wanted to bring volunteers here because the school is located in a rather poor village. Most of the students’ parents all work in the same factory and receive relatively low wages as compensation for being provided housing. He also wanted to bring us because, according to him, this would be the first times many of these children would see a foreigner (aka white person) in person. How could you say no?

Throughout all of the trips, four of us went at least once: Andras, Cora, Karen, and I. Andras has teaching experience, so he went most often after I; Cora and Karen each came only once or twice. I genuinely liked the experience and would feel somewhat bad if I couldn’t effectively fill my time with the students because I decided to wing every class. Andras would’ve come more often, but he found some part time jobs teaching English, so his schedule became a lot busier. I think the girls didn’t get as much out of it and getting there and back was a bit of a hassle, even with He Laoshi bringing a taxi.

The drive is long (usually an hour and a half) and there isn’t much nice scenery to look at, though I rather enjoyed seeing rural China, all of the construction and, unfortunately, horrible living conditions; furthermore, once the taxi gets off the highway, the roads are in horrible condition and the vehicles often times are a little too close for comfort. Because we were volunteers, we weren’t getting paid obviously, but we also felt somewhat obligated to help pay the cab fare, which made the experience even less desirable. He Laoshi, however, only accepted our money twice. We were volunteering for him, so he gladly could pay the cab fare of around ￥120.

Google Maps from our university to the city of Xingping

We drove a bit further than the desination marker, but I'm not sure on which roads/ for how long

Back to the students. After our first few times, two changes occurred which made the experience even better— we taught two classes instead of one per visit and we taught the same classes each time. Not that I took advantage of this to actually learn any of the students’ names, which would have 1) been more considerate of me and 2) helped when I needed to tell some boys to quit horsing around a few times. If I remember correctly, my students ranged between seven and ten, with about an even number of boys and girls. Occasionally my second class, the younger students, would include some even younger students. One time I had two five-year-olds! 

Modeling after Andras, I tried to take the topic of the week (we were given copies of their workbooks) and have them answer a few questions using that vocabulary and then tried to come up with a game/ have me act or draw as a way to it more fun for the kids. This works fairly well except for the chapters on fruits and vegetables. I don’t know any fun games that use that vocabulary… However, this last visit (December 3), I was given “free reign” to go over anything. Well, this type of freedom is nice when you’re preparing, not so much once class has started. So I figured I’d teach them something relevant to the season and relatively easy for me to explain – Christmas. 

I knew it would be easier and safer to stick with secular Christmas, so I drew a picture of Santa Claus on the chalkboard and started from there. The children all knew what Christmas was, though a few of them said they don’t celebrate. They, once again, liked my drawings of Santa, the world (to show them where the North Pole is) and my Christmas tree; however, they had become very comfortable with me and a few of them had decided they didn’t need to pay much attention any more. I asked who celebrated Christmas, and maybe half of the children raised their hands. Then I went around to each student individually and asked them a little more about Christmas, about what they wanted as a gift or what they did to celebrate Christmas. When I did this exercise, every child except one apparently celebrates Christmas (or didn’t really understand what I was asking and gave answers anyway). At the end of class, as they were all rushing out, I asked if they wanted to take a picture with me, since this was my last class with them, and they all immediately rushed back into the classroom.

My older students who enjoyed my class perhaps too much :P

After a short walk and lunch with He Laoshi, I returned back to the school to teach my second hour of English. Upon my arrival, one of the full-time teachers apologetically came up to me and said, “Since this is your class, we want as many of the students to see you as possible. Unfortunately, their English levels aren’t going to be the same. Is that okay?” Luckily, I had had decided just to teach about Christmas again, and I figured it was new enough vocabulary that all of them would benefit, and as long as they could read English, they would be fine, since I often write my questions/ answers on the board to help them match what I say to what is written. The teacher also sits in on my class, since their English level is lower than the first, and translates into Chinese often to help them understand. The class was large, but they too seemed very excited about Christmas. I also had them differentiate between what good and bad children do; it was interesting what they came up with. Also, they were much more eager to tell me what bad children do. I suppose to easier to say what is wrong than what is good. Some of my favorites (good deeds) were: help blind people cross the street and obeying your mother and teacher.

Before class, however, they had written me some messages on the chalkboard. I guess they had looked to see what I was wearing that day, because they even included a tie in the picture they drew me. I unfortunately didn’t take pictures until after class, so I had to erase their drawing of me. Luckily I saved the corner where they wrote this adorable message:

They even provided the translation themselves -- how considerate

After class, I again asked to take a picture with them. Since I had help this time taking the picture (I didn’t need to set a timer and set the camera on a window sill) we took the picture outside. I convinced He Laoshi to come in (he’s the Chinese man to my right) since it was all because of him that I was able to come and help them out. I wished now I had gotten a picture with my “assistant” teacher during my second hour and the “director” of the program, He Laoshi’s nephew.

Outside the school in Xingping 兴平

I had written a thank you note from all four of us volunteers and included some money to try and compensate a little for cab fare. He Laoshi was wary to accept what I was giving him, but after I assured him it was a letter, he took it. Alas, he felt the money and quickly gave it back to me, refusing to accept it. I still felt like I needed to pay him back somehow, so I figured if he wouldn’t directly accept the money, I could give it as a donation to the school since the building itself is rather small and dirty and they can always utilize more resources. Especially since these students come mostly from poorer families, all the more helpful a small donation would be. So, I set out to write another letter, this one addressed to the students, and included my donation and the above picture, with my signature on the back.  

Here’s the letter I wrote (after I considered the suggestions of my roommate):
亲爱的学生们，

        圣诞快乐！既然圣诞节就快来了，我就要给你们礼物。这封信里有两个礼物。

        第一个是一张照片，即使照片里面没有所有的学生，我也要给你们。我也有这张照片，所以我不能忘了这个很棒的经历。

        第二个是一个小的善款。你们都是非常好的学生，我希望你们都继续学英语，可是现在你们的学校环境不太好。请把给你的善款用于学习，可以买资料或者美化一下学校什么的。

         下面是我的家庭地址和我的电邮地址。我想要跟你们保持联系！ 

         好好学习。加油！

English translation:

Dear Students,

            Merry Christmas! Since Christmas is coming soon, I want to give you all a present. This letter contains two presents.

            The first is a picture. Although the picture doesn’t have all of the students, I still want to give it to you. I also have this picture, so I will never be able to forget this awesome experience.

            The second is a small donation. You all are very good students, and I want you all to continue studying English; however, right now your school environment is not too good. Please use the donation towards studying; you can buy materials, decorate the school a bit, etc.

            Below are my home address and my email address. I really want to keep in touch! 

            Study well, you can do it! 

Since I was their English teacher, perhaps I should’ve written it in English, but being in China, I tried to find any excuse to practice Chinese.

人一己百

The second to last week of classes, we worked on our final calligraphy pieces. We were supposed to have practiced on our own throughout the semester; however, we always left our supplies in the classroom. Since we didn’t have class the week before (see previous post about our field trip) and were actually working on the characters would be writing for our “masterpieces,” we decided it would be a good idea to take the supplies home and actually practice. I, for a variety of reasons but none of them too good, didn’t. I walked into class not having actually written any of the characters I was going to attempt to write for my final. Luckily, our calligraphy teacher had done an excellent job throughout the semester teaching us not only proper stroke order and brush techniques, as writing with ink and a brush is obviously more artful and difficult than a pen, but also how to “get into the rhythm” of calligraphy. He, and Orion as translator/ instigator, often would compare them to the feelings from Tai Chi, as all of us were in both classes.

Our calligraphy class lasts for an hour and a half, so after about an hour of practicing, I bought the “fancy white paper” and wrote my first piece. (Right now it’s buried somewhere in a suitcase; after I return to America, I’ll take a picture.) It turned out well, except when I hit the last character. The last character in my 成语 chéng yǔ was my simplest: 山. However, my ink was a little less ample than when I wrote my other characters, and I, accidentally, created what our teacher refers to as “meat and bones.” Now, our professor actually finds this style highly aesthetically appealing. I agree that it gives the characters an amount of artistic imperfection that highlights the inexactness of the art of calligraphy—for as much as it is about proper order and form, there is also the artistic element and feeling that is more important (though the form is a necessary base). However, this character means “mountain,” and so I found it humorously ironic that it was the only character that “faded away” a bit. Mountains about supposed to be big, impressive, impossible to miss. I also was nervous about the signature, as it involves more than just my name, which is complicated enough, especially when written in traditional characters (from 郝捷飞 to郝捷飛 ). This end part is the worst written and least aesthetically appealing, though passable.  

Though a different style, these characters exemplify the "meat and bones" concept
Taken from the Hong Kong Museum of Art

[Future picture of my first calligraphy piece. The 成语will be a surprise until then.] 

I stayed into the next class period to write some more, as I was proud of but unsatisfied with my first one. His second class is also for foreign students, though they are from around the world and this is a required class for them. This requirement was clearly shown, as not only was their final piece an actual graded final (ours are merely souvenirs to bring back to America) but also many of the students did not pay attention at all.  

During this second class, I wrote two more pieces. When writing my second piece, in an effort to make sure I didn’t make my mountain start to disappear, I deliberately used a lot of ink in each character, to make them consistently fattened and present. However, the teacher criticized me for using two much ink. So, I wrote a third one, and tried to intentionally create the “meat and bones” effect. My first two characters came out very good and excellently displayed the concept. However, I had too much ink on my third character, and I had yet to fully master how to balance it, so it horribly stands out as different. Despite this, I am most proud of my third piece. I’ll have to decide once I land in America which one to frame and hang (or if I should just write again for a fourth time). 

The 成语I wrote as the title for this section, 人一己百 rén yī jǐ bǎi, has the meaning “what someone can do in one try may take me one hundred.” The point of this adage is that everyone learns and grasps concepts at different speeds, and we should not be discouraged if other people are understanding more quickly. Clearly, certain aspects of calligraphy we’ve learned well and other elements, such as intentionally creating the “meat and bones,” still require a lot more practice.  

终于毕业了
Last but not least, we all finally “graduated.” I’m not sure what more appropriate term to use, but our Resident Director referred to it as “graduating” 毕业, so I trust him on it. We had an interesting finals week because we all only had three classes. However, in each class we almost had two finals. In our Anthropology class, the class revolving around the Silk Road, past and present, though by far focused on the past, we had a final and our Capstone Project. We had made presentations and written a rough draft two weeks before the final, so luckily that forced us all to do most of the work then. The final was not bad at all and afterward I felt that I had learned a lot in the class about China and Central Asia.

My Capstone was about the Hui people of China. The Hui are an ethnic minority, though their status as an ethnicity is somewhat contested as their commonality seems limited exclusively to Islam. While other minorities have distinguishing ethnic, cultural, linguistic and sometimes religious features, the Hui more or less are the same as the Han in most of these regards. The Hui also claim to be descended from Arab and Persian Muslim traders who entered China starting in the 7^th century. It was interesting to not only learn more about this minority group, as we had a decent amount of interaction with them living in Xian and going on our Silk Road adventure, but also learn about some regional differences that even exist among ethnic minorities within China. My project may be selected to be featured on the Alliance website, so I’m going to bother going into it much further. If it does, I’ll provide a link to whatever they post.  

In my Literature class, we also had a written final and a paper. Researching for the paper proved a little difficult as we were limited to whatever we could find on the Internet because we didn’t have access to our campus’ library. And even if we did, we’re pretty sure almost all of the books would’ve been in Chinese, and I don’t think anyone in the class felt confident enough to try and tackle Chinese sources. Furthermore, since we were all researching different literary figures from China, we had some difficulty finding sources in English online. Despite these challenges, we all managed to write something; I tried to provide as thorough an analysis as possible on the role of the rural landscape throughout the history of Chinese literature. A very daring undertaking, I know. I made it doable by only focusing on the literature we read in class, partially because I was unable to find any articles that would’ve provided me extra information. I did focus a little more on the Modern writers Shen Congwen and Wang Zengqi, as they had a distinct focus on representing the pastoral landscape and its folk traditions.  

For our Chinese class, we didn’t have a paper. We had written a total of nine weekend compositions, all of mine between 300 – 500 characters, but if we had a Chinese paper, I don’t know how that would’ve gone. It would have been good practice though… Our “second final” was retaking the placement test (without the oral component) we had taken at the beginning of the year while still in Beijing. This did not affect our grades and at all and was purely for the Alliance staff to see what progress their students made and hopefully make their teaching more effective in subsequent semesters. Our class “found” them after we had finished our written final and I was very pleased with the score I earned on my second placement test, so I can say with confidence that they did something right. :P 

Our Chinese class after our midterm skit

(L-R) Karen, Jeffrey, Kate, Elias, Laura

Friday evening we had a final dinner and “graduation ceremony.” Besides giving various thanks to our teachers and staff members, our Resident Director also awarded prizes to the winners of the photo contest (Xian had two!) and the winner(s) of our language pledge. We also bought a cake to share with everyone as a special thanks to our Resident Director, who effectively played the role of boss, disciplinarian, knowledgeable teacher and big brother/ uncle throughout the semester. Best wishes to you, Joe, and hopefully your next batch of students can live up to your new standards of punctuality! We also received our T-shirts, which turned out really well. They even feature some calligraphy done by our professor.

Afterward, we naturally began taking some final, farewell pictures.

Our Chinese class with our teacher

Silly photo with our secondary Chinese teacher

Early the next morning, I left Xian for good and headed to the airport for my short stay in Hong Kong. I was planning on using the subway to the city center and then taking a bus that goes straight to the airport. The whole trip would be a little more of a hassle than having a taxi called for me, but significantly cheaper. However, I had forgot to factor in the exhaustion of lugging my luggage to the subway station and how exactly to maneuver stairs with such large, bulky items. Luckily two Chinese strangers saw me struggling and helped me on my way in and on my way out. Thank you both; I know my luggage was too heavy. After getting to the city center, I realized that I didn’t remember to check the actual name/ number of the bus I needed to take. I knew where it stopped (or at least I thought) and figured I could easily ask for the bus that goes to the airport. Well, I walked around the area, but I think I was too worried/ fatigued that I wasn’t really paying attention, and I’m pretty sure I walked past the bus stop.

Then a cab driver asked if I needed to go to the airport. I instinctively asked how much it was before I even answered his question, which I think threw him off a bit, because he paused a second before answering, “一百二” which is shorthand for ￥120. I remembered that was roughly what my classmates who had arranged for a taxi were paying, so I gladly accepted. I was getting a little panicked that I wouldn’t make it to the airport on time and I would miss my flight, which is much more complicated to remedy when my language skills are still limited, especially in a “crisis” situation and I don’t have a credit card on me to purchase replacement transportation. Luckily cabs go fast and there is an expressway directly to the airport, so I arrived right when I originally had wanted.  

Actually checking in had its own problems. First off, a flight to Hong Kong is in the international section, despite it having been returned to China already. That problem was easily solved as I was already in the correct terminal; I just needed to walk to a different counter. I had anticipated having to pay for my extra baggage, as I technically am only afforded a single bag, but not nearly as much as I did. According to the China Eastern Airlines protocol, a normal ticket gives me one 20kg checked bag. I tried bargaining with them, as I legitimately will be catching an international flight and should have a larger baggage allowance. Unfortunately, I’m not directly connecting to that flight. They did give me an extra 10kg free, but I was still 19kgs overweight. What was interesting is that they didn’t care how many bags I was checking, only that I had exceeded the 20kg limit. They also tried to tell me my carry on weighed too much, but at that point I gave up listening to them because I knew I could just put the backpack by my seat and it wouldn’t matter much. I’m going to have to repack my bags – which I am not looking forward to—to reduce the weight and hopefully have no fees on the way back home as I don’t even want to have to deal with that hassle again.