Fun with YouTube

I've been playing around on YouTube lately, as it is full of useful teaching tools.

Among the things I've found are some clips of Wuhan and greater China that I think are enlightening. I'd like to share a few.

Sometimes, Chinese traffic doesn't make sense.


This is how I cross the street.


This is a guy in Wuxi trying to get to a McDonalds. Note the motorbikes.


This is the train station I left from to go to Beijing.


This is actually a spot at CCNU on my walk to class.

R&R in the PRC

I have returned from my sojourn to Beijing. That said, I’ll give you a brief background on why I went there in the first place. Last week was the National Day Holiday, for which most people get two or three days off. Though I didn’t teach class during the week, I technically got three days off, since Monday and Tuesday classes were taught the weekend before. You don’t really see make-up classes on weekends in the US, but it works for them. Anyway, National Day comes every year on October 1st, the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Basically, it’s Chinese 4th of July.

I had always intended on going somewhere for the week, and after some internal debate among the other Augustana teachers, who ultimately decided to explore Wuhan, I decided to buy a ticket to Beijing and meet up with a bunch of the other local foreigners. They were headed there for the Modern Sky Festival, which featured various hard rock/punk bands. I was out for some adventure and money-squandering, so I went to the ticket agency, where they eventually sold me a ticket.

I had thought that getting to the train station and boarding the right train would be complicated, and that everything after would be golden. On some level, I was correct. Getting there, finding my way on board, was a small victory. Then I remembered that the Chinese really have no concept of “personal space.” (It’s not uncommon to see arms around shoulders and hand-holding among friends, as well as people elbowing their way through crowds.) I paid for a hard sleeper, a bed in a compartment of six, but I really only paid for the privilege of sleeping in it. Passengers had no compunction about sitting down next to me, putting their feet up, etc. It’s just a different mindset. I got used to it, but the length of the ride was brutal. The linear distance between cities is roughly the same as Chicago to Philadelphia. Cori’s train took ten hours to get to Beijing. Mine took seventeen. She got in Wednesday at 7 AM, and I got in three hours later. They were only a couple of minutes from leaving when I showed up. It would’ve been a long ride back, but with a little patience from friends, we all made out just fine.


Highlights from the two or so days I spent there include two trips to the music festival, which was really cool, and a few notable Olympic landmarks. I couldn’t go without seeing the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, and judging from past conversations, I think everyone was expecting me to get there at some point. We got from place to place by taxi and subway. The subway was sort of confusing, so it was mostly taxi. The hotel was comfy, the food was good, and the city generally felt clean and modern. I spent about as much as I thought I would. Also, I finally broke down and went to McDonalds. Amazing how the Big Mac never changes.


I would’ve stayed longer, but there wasn’t much wiggle-room on tickets, since hundreds of millions of people travel during the holiday. Mercifully, the ride back took about twelve hours, but we were in seats this time, and it got a little cramped. Overall, it was an exhausting trip—the best kind, really—and it’s good to be back home in Wuhan. Even if I do have a full week of teaching ahead.

P.S.- I changed the blog settings to allow anyone to post comments.

I Should Mention That...

Chinese milk is a concern for many here, and the scope of the problem does appear to be widening, but I never really developed a taste for their dairy, so I am as yet unaffected.

I still have to boil water, though. Which is kind of a pain.

Updates Abound

Many people in the US have asked me since I arrived almost a month ago, “Are you having fun?” It’s a perfectly legitimate question, but I’ve had some difficulty coming up with an answer. If I had to give a definitive response, I’d say yes. Life would be pretty miserable if I weren’t having any fun at all, and one can find some kind of entertainment pretty much anywhere.

But living in a developing, non-Western country comes with its own set of challenges. You can certainly have a lot of fun in Wuhan, but it takes a little work. You can get to VOX, a bar with lots of live music, decent drinks, and a few other foreigners, but you have to know enough of the Chinese language and currency to be able to catch a cab. You can share a photographic slice of American life with your class, but you have to figure out which button will turn on the projector and which will lower the screen. You can share five Chinese dishes and beers among five people for around three dollars per person, but you have to make sure that none of those dishes will kill you before you even get the check. (By the way, if you’re in a restaurant and want the check, or really anything at all, you have to yell out the Chinese equivalent of “waitress!”)

A few words about the city. It’s huge—the population is about three times that of Chicago—and divided into three boroughs: Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankou. The name “Wu Han” is actually a blending of the three. I’ve been told that I live in the hottest place in the country during the summer, one of China’s “furnaces,” which explains why I’m always sweating outside. It’s not uncommon to see shirtless men on the street or in a shop. Fortunately, I hear the city does get pretty cold in the winter. Parts of it are beautiful, and parts of it smell of rancid tofu and other things. Parts of it are new, and parts are falling apart. It seems as though, for all the construction that goes on, everything that gets built immediately begins its slow descent into disrepair. On the plus side, the campus is nice.

As far as teaching goes, it’s been going pretty well. I believe the title of my class is simply “Oral English.” I teach in the English Department, which means only majors, so I can understand them. There’s nothing that I’m required to teach, and no book with which to teach it. I’m simply supposed to stand in front of a class for ninety minutes and speak, and hope that they’ll respond in kind. I’m responsible for all of the course topics and activities, and we mostly spend our time talking about our respective cultures. The differences make for good discussions.

On to the food. I’ve been eating mostly Chinese food, and yes, they do just call it food here. The level of spiciness varies depending on which province you’re in. Being in Hubei, the food has a little kick to it, but nothing unbearable. There are many familiar dishes here, things like fried rice and beef with vegetables and sweet ‘n sour chicken, but there are a few that I have yet to identify. Also, they use a vast array of spices. Luckily, my friend Cori, back for a second year in Wuhan, knows a lot of quality eateries. She also knows where to find meat on a stick. You can find weird versions of American things, such as Coca Cola, which they call, “ke kou ke le.” There's a meaning behind it, but I can only remember the transliteration. Since there’s no good way of brining proper names into Chinese, they sometimes use existing characters to approximate the sound, just as I've used Roman letters to approximate theirs.

Out to dinner in the Ximen (Westgate) area:

I get asked if there are other Americans, or at least other foreigners, here in Wuhan. As far as I know, the five Augustana grads are the only Americans teaching at CCNU. There are many other foreigners, but a lot of them don’t speak English. Needless to say, the other teachers and I spend a fair amount of time together. On weekends, we try to explore, as well as hang out at places like VOX, where you can meet people from all over, from Wisconsin to Nepal. Most are here as students or teachers.

VOX Bar, a dog watching pool, and foosball with Snow (a cheap beer):

That about wraps this one up. I'm going to go make a lesson plan. Later.

An Afternoon in the Life

Here are some pictures of campus and greater Wuhan. My trip takes you up the road, past the Math Building(?), up the street to the English Building (where I teach), through the halls, into a classroom, back out, through the North Gate of the school (where brass letters say "Huazhong Normal University"), down the street, up a pedestrian bridge, and finally to the grocery store, called "Heartmart" by the Americans, simply because of the logo you see in the penultimate picture. That entrance may look harmless, but the smell of rotten tofu is overpowering.

As always, if anyone has any questions about China, feel free to ask. More pictures to come.

Forgot I Still Have to Work

Did I tell you I started teaching? Well, I did. I don't really know how, but I can always figure it out. So far, it's been a lot of me talking, and I'm not sure exactly what about. Basically, whatever random fact about America pops into my head. Then, I ask them to tell me about China. After several seconds of silence, I move on to something else.

The students are certainly better at learning than I am at teaching. They're an eager bunch, if a little shy. I'm doing my best to look like I know what I'm doing. Listening to my own voice is all well and good, but I kind of know how to speak already. They...not so much. I'm working on getting them to talk about sports and culture and not politics, which I gather is strange, since most classes are lecture-based. I gotta go try and plan some sort of lesson for the morning class. I guess tomorrow I'll write the "after" entry.

I'll try to post more pictures of classroom and campus. Here are a couple taken from inside our office in the English Building.

Wai-Guo-Ren Apartments

I've been meaning to talk about the area of Wuhan (and the smaller segment, Wuchang), as well as the CCNU campus, but the internet's been down a few days. So here goes. I'll say that, now that I'm settled in and less dazed, I'm having a good time. Found a few restaurants and grocery stores already (with a little help from our friends). There seem to be two distinct classes of business in Wuhan: the more established stores occupying buildings and selling things at or above retail, and the back-alley shops and food stands, which offer a more competitive price. So far, I've spent a lot of time in the bigger grocery stores, where I can find what I need all in the same place. I found Dr. Pepper, which was cool. Buying anything takes some doin', since I don't really speak Chinese. Lots of gesturing.

They also have expensive American joints like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks, but the phrase "tall coffee" probably means nothing to them. I wish I had more pictures of the city to show, but I guess that'll have to wait a bit. It looks a lot like any big city, but without the white people. And when I say that there are no traffic laws, I mean that there are, but people mostly drive and park wherever they want. Drivers and pedestrians have this unspoken agreement to not collide with one another. It's quite an elaborate dance. Also, there's a lot of honking.

As for Central China Normal U. (HuaZhong ShiFan DaXue), the campus has some nice places to walk around. It's good and sprawling. I'll post pictures of it soon. For now, you'll have to be content with checking out the requested pics of the apartment, which has an actual name, but I don't know it offhand. Wai guo ren just means foreigner.

The Gate. Unlocked during the day.

The Hut of Shifu (master), the gatekeeper.

The courtyard area, where people decided to park.

The entrance, with signage.

Third floor; front door.

Bedroom.

Living room. Fridge, microwave, TV (with Chinese channels).

Kitchen.

Fridge. The juice is closer to tang. The milk is closer to cream.

The ridiculous, old-school alarm clock I was forced to buy because I couldn't find digital.

Picture of me posting pictures.