Bath House or Restaurant?

Posted on 11 May 2010 by gypsy

A week into our first experience of China we began to get a better idea of our new home away from home.  As we wandered, always carrying a a camera of course, we continued to discover more and more of the outer appearances, the “face” of China that is projected, not so much for outsiders such as us, but for those who called the city and the country their home.

The building detail above was seen on a large building, perhaps three stories tall.  The building’s front doors was flanked by two large statues of elephants draped with ribbon as well as a few doormen in some sort of uniform.  Since the doors were open, we peeked inside and saw a large statue of Buddha with a shrine of offerings in front of it.  We ventured further in when we saw women wearing traditional Chinese dress standing by the opening to a dining area.  Walking into the dining area we both believed we were in an upscale restaurant.  This had to be where the rich and famous came when they wanted to impress when dining.

When I showed our hosts these photos as well as others of our walking journeys of discovery, they laughed.  Apparently this wasn’t an upscale restaurant, but a bath house, something we would have known had we been able to read Chinese.  Now, you have an idea of why I am working on learning more of the language “before” returning for a third year in Changzhou, China.  Now, if I want to find a restaurant, I will look for these Chinese characters 饭店 (fàndiàn).   Imagine my surprise when I did some more research and found out that there were many different expressions for restaurant.  Oh well, at least with this one expression, you can be sure you won’t starve in China.

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Preconceived Ideas

Posted on 10 May 2010 by gypsy

On the first full day in Changzhou, we decided to go walking around what would become our neighbourhood.  Below our apartment in Sunshine Gardens – 阳光花园 , at street level, shops line the roadways giving people a seemingly endless array of choices for shopping for goods and services.  Our first walk didn’t take us too far, as we were interested in everything we saw rather than covering a lot of distance.

A few blocks away from the apartment, we came upon an open door which led to what we assumed was a temple.  The photo taken above of that location shows an altar of sorts with incense and a statue of Buddha.  After taking the photo, we decided against entering the temple as we were unsure of what was appropriate.  Little did we know that this wasn’t a temple at all, but simply the entrance to a drapery shop.  Little shrines and Buddhas and other symbols of prosperity were soon found in many shops.  Needless to say we were surprised at the presence of what we took as religious symbols in a country we had been taught had done away with religion.  It seemed as though all of our preconceptions were being shattered in a hurry.  What we discovered was a place and a people that was less forbidding, a friendly place.

I will continue with presenting a few Chinese expressions that you will find useful if you ever travel to China, even if you have no intention of becoming an English teacher there.   Just a reminder, you can listen to the Chinese pronunciation of these expressions by clicking on the little icon of a “speaker” – that follows the expression or word. Don’t forget to hit the return icon to come back to this page once you’ve listened to the expression.

Again, I want to focus on some basic politeness.  For example if someone accidentally bumps into you, you would likely here them say Duì bùqǐ – 对不起 – “I’m sorry, pardon, excuse me.”. The appropriate response is to say Méi guānxi! –没关系 – “That’s all right, no problem!”

Please let me know if the audio part is working for you or if it more of a nuisance that it is a help.  Thanks.

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Recycling: Doing it Right in Changzhou

Posted on 8 May 2010 by gypsy

In a field just east of China Dinosaur Park in the Xinbei district of Changzhou, a mixture of modern and not so modern technology are at work together as a site is being cleared for a new development.  One of the more interesting contrasts to North American ways of doing things is made evident in this photo.  Everything that can possibly be salvaged from the demolition of a building is salvaged.  Used bricks, metal scraps, everything.  In the end, the remains are just broken bits of bricks that become part of the underlying foundation for a new building and the landscaping.

I wonder why we have so much trouble with this concept in North America?  We have so much fear of lawsuits that we dare not allow anyone on a demolition site for the purposes of salvage.  What if someone gets hurt?  The owner of the building or structure being demolished would be held liable for those injuries.  Fear of being sued forces us to put large barricades between people and the site.  The economy suffers, people suffer and the planet suffers.  Seeing what happens in China tells me that there is a better way of doing things.  In this instance, China is doing it right.

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Appearances are Important

Posted on 7 May 2010 by gypsy

Changzhou is not famous in the same sense that Suzhou, Hangzhou or Nanjing are in the province of Jiangsu, yet it is a city that is trying hard to become more beautiful, more friendly and more modern.  While we were in Changzhou for two years, we saw people working on repairing and cleaning up the myriad of canals that wind their way through this city.  As the canals got cleaned up, new apartment complexes would rise along its their banks promising a more comfortable life in the city, a life that still connects with the land and the water.  Yes, it is about appearances.  But, as we know, when one looks better on the outside, one begins to feel better about oneself.  That is even more so for a city than it is for a person.  People take more pride in place when that place is more attractive.

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Clothes Washing and Traditions

Posted on 6 May 2010 by gypsy

For all of its modern appearances, there are numerous opportunities to still find old traditions still in use in China.  For example, this woman is on her way to her clothes washing spot on the side of this small lake near the C.I.T. Xinbei campus.  She is carrying her little wooden stool that has served her well for many years and yet feels at home in using a modern plastic tub to make her work that much easier in comparison to the other ladies who must use the lake itself as a tub.

It is strange to see these ladies washing on the sides of the lake when they have to pass a number of laundry shops to get there.  Obviously there is an issue of economics It is obviously cheaper to do one’s own laundry than to send it out for others to do.  We were fortunate to have a modern washing machine in our apartment allowing us to do our own laundry.  But it isn’t all about money.  In the housing compound which included a number of beautiful homes worth millions of yuan, it is easy to see women out washing clothes the old-fashioned way in the courtyards in behind their mansions.  It has more to do with habits of a lifetime lived rather than taking advantage of the economic boom that is transforming China today.

Now, for another small Chinese lesson.  Besides learning how to say hello and how are you, it is important to learn basic forms of politeness.  Saying “please,” “thank you” and “you’re welcome” will go a long way in earning respect among the local people you meet and those with whom you will work.  “Please” was an expression I didn’t learn until quite late.  As a result, I guess I may have sounded a bit disrespectful to those with whom I came into contact.  I imagine that I sounded like the typical self-centered North American.  This time around, I intend to change that impression.  “Please” is qing – 请.  This might be misleading as there are many variations on the word please that have more to do with association to other words and context as well as intention.  But that said, saying please as a stand alone word or an introductory word is well worth the time and effort to learn it.  “Thank you” is more universal as Xièxie – 谢谢.  To say “You’re welcome” catches most Chinese by surprise whereas saying “Thank you” is not as surprising.  Whenever I said “You’re welcome” I could see that I had earned even more respect.  In Chinese, “You’re welcome” is Bú kèqi – 不客气 .  This version of “You’re welcome” is the informal version.  Just a reminder that you can click on the pinyin versions of the Chinese words to listen to the words.

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It Isn’t All Foreign

Posted on 27 April 2010 by gypsy

Wandering through the heart of any larger city in China offers a westerner quite a number of surprises.  We expect to see something less modern, less western because of our pre-conceived ideas about what China should be like.  When we come upon KFC or Macdonalds, we were totally surprised, surprised enough to take these photos to send home.  It seems that there are KFCs and Macdonalds all over the place – no different than back at home.  We noted Pizza Hut doing a thriving business as well.

Some FTs we got to know in Changzhou rarely ate anywhere else as they needed this visual connection back to their home country.  What they had thought was Chinese food back in America and Canada had little to no resemblance to what they got to experience once they landed in China.  The shock was so disappointing that they soon avoided eating normal Chinese food as much as possible.  Of course, that only served to isolate these FTs even more than the inability to speak any Chinese.

That said, here are a few bits of Chinese that are useful if only to let the local people know that you respect them and their language.  Avoiding learning even a few basic expressions does communicate a message to these local people of ethnocentrism, a condescending attitude on the FTs part that says “I am too superior to you to waste my time learning the language of an inferior people.”  You don’t want to go there.

Last day I introduced the expression for hello – Nĭ Hăo.  If you click on the Chinese word, you will be able to hear it spoken.  Of course, once you’ve listened to the expression as many times as you want, don’t forget to click back to this page.   To ask someone “How are you?”  all you do is add the expression “mǎ” – “Nĭ hăo mǎ?”  The usual response is: “Wǒ hĕn hăo, nĭ ne?” –  “I’m very fine, and you?”  Now, for a bit of extra – Chinese characters:  Nĭ hăo > 你 好; “Nĭ hăo mǎ? > 你 好 吗; Wǒ hĕn hăo, nĭ ne? > 我 很 好， 你 呢？

Enough for now.  I don’t know if this is useful for you.  What I do know is that it is useful for me as I prepare to return to China.

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On Being Understood in China

Posted on 25 April 2010 by gypsy

Not too far from the Xinbei campus of C.I.T. is a lake that was often used by bathers, clothes washing older ladies, and fishermen.  This is a scene from August, 2006.  When I left in 2008, the beach had been replaced with a new building that served as the sales office for urban development around the lake.  Fishing had been banned.  But, one could still find older ladies washing clothes on the southern shoreline.  China is changing fast.  I wonder what this scene will look like when I return in August of this year?

Well, getting back into learning Chinese is getting more interesting and I have narrowed down the sites I use from the list I gave out last post.  I am creating my own resource folder that contains sound files as well as the characters, pinyin version and English meanings of various expressions.  I am focusing on expressions rather than vocabulary as I found it to be more helpful in doing basic communication.  I am also including my audio version of these same expressions as a means of comparing what I say in contrast to a native speaker.  That allows me to improve my tonal pronunciation.  Change the tone of a word, and you change the meaning.  Change the context of the word and you change the meaning as well – this is why I am finding it important to learn expressions and small sentences that have words embedded in context.  Thankfully, there are some words that are universally understood in China regardless of pronunciation because of context.

For example, the word “Hello” is “Nĭ Hăo.” (knee how is a good approximation for pronunciation ) and it is almost impossible to mess it up.  I do hear native speakers pronounce it differently and that surprised me until I realised that there is a lot of variation from city to city and province to province.  If one speaks the official version in terms of pronunciation, most will understand.  But, never take it for granted that you are understood.  You may think you have said it perfectly but only to find people either looking confused or else laughing as they have heard something entirely different and it likely made little to no sense at all.

Learning a new language is fun as well as frustrating.  The reward comes in being able to accomplish being understood, even if only in a simple communication task.  Now, back to my studies.

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Filling in Time Usefully While Waiting

Posted on 24 April 2010 by gypsy

This is the view from just inside the east side entrance to Sunshine Gardens, the housing and apartment gated community in which we lived last time we taught at C.I.T. and where we will return in late August.  The apartment complex lines the northern side of the complex and is about four stories high.  C.I.T. maintains two apartments here for married couples who teach at the XinBei campus.  The rest of the FTs live on the main campus in apartments.  This is typical of most housing for FTs working for a university.

Now that I have the documents we need to get a number of passport photos for those documents.  While waiting for the paper work to clear, we are busy collecting things that we think we need.  Maureen has been using her contacts to gather a number of magazines for use in the classroom.  Since we both work with students from 19 to 25 years old, magazines such as People and Entertainer, and a collection of calendars.  Students love working with materials featuring people they are familiar with from their contact with media, and with pictures of our home country.  We build interactive lessons using these materials and try our best to “fit” into the themes and topics that arise from their texts for oral English.  We are also preparing a collection of photos (on full 8×10 paper) of family and places that we fill with our lives here in Canada.  All this is good stuff that helps students engage with their teacher.

While Maureen is busy gathering materials, I am busy trying to again learn some more Chinese (Mandarin Chinese).  Naturally, it is a good idea to get some of the basics in place before going as life somehow has a way of filling in the hours once one is in China.  Of course, it is a good idea to take advantage of the free Chinese lessons offered to FTs at C.I.T.

Since I am not as dedicated as I should be, I recommend taking as many of the free on-line lessons as can be managed.  Why free?   Well, it doesn’t feel as bad when I miss a lesson I have to pay for.  Since I have done some work in locating free on-line Chinese lessons, I can share that with you here.  I don’t make any recommendations as I have learned that different people need different things and different approaches for learning.  So, wander through these links and see what, if anything, works for you.  I will be coming here regularly with language topics while waiting for the next stage of paper trail to appear.  Now, the list:

http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese

http://www.freechineselessons.com/

http://www.chineselearner.com/

http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/

http://freelanguage.org/learn-mandarin-chinese

http://chinesepod.com/

http://www.transparent.com/learn-mandarin-chinese/

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

http://www.clearchinese.com/learn-chinese/

http://www.echineselearning.com/free-trial/index.html

http://www.mychineselessons.com/

http://www.euroasiasoftware.com/english/chinese/software/index.html

http://www.cathaycafe.com/

http://www.hellomandarin.net/

http://www.learn-chinese-songs.com/

http://www.chinese-course.com/

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Medical Health Form

Posted on 23 April 2010 by gypsy

This is a detail from the entrance to the XinBei (新北) campus of C.I.T. (常州工学院).  There are basically four buildings in which teaching is done on this campus as well as performance and music centre, library, dining hall and dormitory buildings.  The place is actually quite attractive with well kept grounds.  I took this photo in August 2006, before I had a tour of the campus on one of our first walks before classes had begun.  Both of us were curious about where we would be teaching.  We knew that most of our classes would be held in either buildings three or four because of our contact with a previous foreign teacher (FT) who had taught on this campus.

Now, in continuing with preparing for the journey to China, the need for a visa is paramount.  In the past few days, I have hunted for an on-line form for the medical requirements, the Physical Examination Record For Foreigner.  Here is the URL for the document, a PFD.  This copy was taken off the Chinese Embassy web site for the U.S.A. and came to me courtesy of another teacher in China.  For anyone interested, here is the URL for the Chinese Embassy in Canada.  There are consulate offices in a number of cities in either country.  Do the research to find out to which embassy you will need to send your documentation in order to get a visa.  In my case, I must use the consulate in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

According to the information I received from the FAO, it would be a good idea to bring test results and x-rays with us to China so that the process wouldn’t be repeated once we got there.  The first time to China, we got the medical but in the end, we still had to do all of the medical tests again once we got there.  It is just one of those things that happen.  Rather than let the duplication of the process get to you, just accept it as the way it is.   Once you arrive and go through the process, you will get a sharp image of just how different things can be between countries.  Again, accept and don’t judge.  Somehow the system works for the Chinese, a culture that has existed much longer than our culture.

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Avoiding the Middle Man and Recruiters

Posted on 22 April 2010 by gypsy

On the first full day in Changzhou, two of the workers in the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO) took us on a tour of the downtown area of the city so that we could open up a bank account as well as get the lay of the land, so to speak.  I was surprised to see a Christian church behind a park in the downtown area.  There went my first misconception.  That is one of the best things about teaching in China, getting to see that the world is more than what one originally thought.  We all have a tendency to think we know almost all that is worth knowing little realising that in reality, we have built a box in our heads that limits what one knows.  Probably this is a necessary tactic in a world that is so big with so much variety, so many competing truths and beliefs.  There’s nothing like experiencing another culture to cure ethnocentrism.

When you end up in communication with a school, you will invariably end up communicating with the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO), at least when dealing with colleges and universities.  The number of students from foreign countries as well as foreign teachers, determines the number of people working in the FAO.  At C.I.T. there was a team of six people that I got to know, each with their area of responsibility.  At C.I.T., each FAO staff member with the exception of one, was also an instructor at the university.  These people make for a good resource of information.  As I mentioned previously, don’t hesitate to ask questions.  It is better to ask too many questions, simple and complex questions than it is to assume anything.  You may end up asking the same question more than once trying to find a way to have the person you communicate with finally understand what you want to know.  Communication is not an easy task when one crosses cultures and language barriers.

I have just realised that I have been assuming something, that you are communicating directly with the school.  Many people coming to China to teach ESL contact a recruiter.  Many have no problems in taking this route.  However, I think it is best to talk directly with the school.  It is only in this way that you get a more complete picture of where you will be working, even in which city you will be working.  My advice, avoid the recruiter route if possible.

Another route to finding a job teaching in China is through the on-line portal provided by on-line TEFL, TESL programs.  I don’t know anything about these so I hesitate to offer an opinion.  However, I won’t hesitate to advise you to first decide where you would like to go for work in China, then search out the various universities and colleges there and send them e-mails to see if there a possibility of being employed.  I would suggest that you send your CV (resume) and a photo with the inquiry.  It’s always best to avoid the middle man and talk direct.

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