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Journal 13 |
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At the Lake
front: Violet, Gloria, Kathryn
2nd row: me, girl, Eric, Mary, girl
back row: boy, Greg, Hunter, Michael, Tony (behind Kathryn- typical), Lindsay, girl
some people brought friends. i don't know their names. |
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July 29, Zunyi |
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Sorry, Geocities kicked me out yesterday and if I want to sign back in I have to restart the computer, so I went home and watched Tomb Raider II instead. Pretty bad. I liked the ending, though (in comparison to my expectations and the rest of the film). Not quite as happy as I had feared.
Today's my day off so I'm going to go hiking or something, though it's godawful hot, so I might not.
Mom and Dad are getting ready for their visit at the end of September. They plan to go to Hong Kong, Yunnan, Gansu, Xi'an, and Beijing. I will be along for the first half, but then I have to teach.
I think that's all the news. |
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July 28, Zunyi |
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So, Jenna and the Post Office. It took her a couple of weeks, numerous calls to our embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Chengdu, and calling the folks at the post office "damn liars," or so, but we are finally able to send packages by sea. Yay! She has a lot of stuff to send home after a year here and didn't want to pay the airmail prices, so she went to the post office and said that she wanted to send her package by sea. They told her "No." She said that she has friends who have sent packages by sea. They told her that her friends were lying and that the US government had issued a notice that "because of September 11th" they weren't allowed to ship packages to the US by sea. They told me the same thing about airmail to New York. Jenna then called the embassy in Beijing, was ridiculously impressed by the user-friendliness of it all, and was told that they would call the post office for her. They called her back the next day and said that the post office had said that she was trying to send a package "Express mail" by sea and that that wasn't possible, but of course she could send a package regular mail. Great. So Jenna went back to the post office to send her package by sea (to the tune of Ravel's Bolero) and was told that "because of September 11th" they weren't allowed to ship packages to the US by sea. Jenna asked the school to call the post office and straighten things out, forgetting that the school is staffed by Chinese people, mostly women. They called the post office and asked all nicely if perhaps the people down there knew why they didn't seem to be able to send packages to the US by boat, the foreigner is rather upset and her embassy had given her the impression that it was perhaps possible, and did they know anything about this? They didn't. Jenna was, of course, pissed off by this point, and understanding Chinese, as she does, was less than impressed by the level of effort put into convincing the post office that it would be in their best interest to find a way to send the package. Fortunately, Jenna can be quite persuasive. While the "yell at people" approach can be annoying, offensive, and often unnecessary, the "yell at people until they realize that it would be in their best interest to find a way to accomplish xyz" approach does have its merits. Jenna told the school how disappointed she was with the perceived lack of effort on their part and called the post office herself. The woman told her the same things she had told the school, but Jenna's responses were more of the "You are a goddamn liar and I will have my embassy call you first thing in the morning," variety. Eventually she had to have HM get back on the phone with the woman- accents here are rather thick, and finish the call. Then Jenna called the embassy. They told her to call our consulate in Chengdu, she left a message there, and they called her back in 10 minutes. The guy said that it was too late that evening, but he would call in the morning. Jenna warned him about lying on the part of the post office. --About two more days of calls-- Finally, the consulate worked out that there had been a strike last year either in China or America involving the cessation of shipment of packages from Guizhou to the US by sea. Everyone was sent a notice announcing this, but no one bothered to let Zunyi know that the strike had ended. |
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July 26, Zunyi |
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Tonight was dinner with that family. We had Beijing Roast Duck. If you get served Beijing Roast Duck, people either really like you or are really trying to impress you. I have three of the cousins in my class now: Adam, Jane, and Franky. We had dinner at Franky's today. They always bring over other random family members and this week Skywolf, my and Jenna's former student (he's taking the summer off), showed up. I think I'm running with the right crowd. Franky also has a large T.V., an air conditioner, and screens in the windows. The mom said that if I wanted to buy and air conditioner, she could help me find one. Unfortunately, I was looking at prices for the Trans-Siberian Railway this past week and I think I will try to avoid major purchases.
We discussed September 11th during the first half of class today. I think the US must have bombed Lindsay's house or something. Even when I was trying to talk about when a country should get involved with the welfare of other people in other countries and specifically saying not the US, she brought it back to us. They have less of a sense of obligation toward other people than many Americans -- and not just in matters of foreign affairs. Jenna and I have seen people blatantly ignore people who were clearly in need of help. Like when we were at a bar on Bastille Day and some drunk guys were bothering us and no one was bothering to tell them to stop bothering the foreigners. Even when I made it clear to the waiter that we expected him to step in. As we were leaving I asked Jenna to tell him that if that happened again, we would never come back. They weren't that bad, and neither Jenna nor I would ever sit for being really bothered, but we had kind of hoped that -- and maybe we're idealizing American/Western/Non-Chinese guys -- someone would have walked over to them and told them to stop bothering us. Heck, I would have done that if I had witnessed a similar situation. And with foreigners in such a small town. You don't want them to get a bad impression.
Anyway, I'm boring myself. And assuming everything goes smoothly today, congratulations to Martin on his wedding.
More on that Sept. 11th discussion later. |
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July 24, Zunyi |
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Intensive classes continue. Apparently my teaching is okay. HM asked me to talk to Angel, the new teacher who just arrived. He is teaching the same age-group that I am, and isn't quite as organized or something. HM kept going on about how I had a great class plan, and not just for one day, but a good overall plan. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic, since I usually just make a few notes the day before and type up something. I also think that all else being equal, a cute 24 year old female would have a better plan than a not-so-cute 35 year old male. That shouldn't read as conceited as it does. Just that there are inequalities based on looks and age, and 18 year olds are more likely to think that I'm the cool one.
Katie got a new kitten named Leo. There's a picture of him on my Yahoo photos page. Quite cute.
The cover of my "Pirates of the Caribbean" DVD says, "Like some kind of undead monsters." I love Chinglish, as it is affectionately called over here. Jenna and I have little collection on the wall, including a terrible textbook that talks about avoiding pointless, obvious phrases, such as, "I have a nose," and using phrases one would encounter in real life situations, such as, "I like scotch whisky." In the book for 8 year olds. Jobs like "girl."
My birthday is next week. Undoubtedly there will be something special at the school for dinner, and it's the last day of class for my teens, so we will watch a movie at my place. And they will give me presents if they know what's good for them. |
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July 20, Zunyi |
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Sorry to be so bad about updating recently. Intensive courses take up a lot of my time. Though they are more fun to teach than the regular ones. Books stifle my creativity.
The new teacher, Angel, arrived. They all say his name like the heaven guys, but he's Hispanic and from LA. I guess he figured it was just easier this way. He's really laid back, so hopefully fall will be quiet.
Last night was dinner with that family again. More pictures. I have got to start charging. And more than just a home-cooked meal.
A couple of days ago, my class to me out to a nearby lake for a picnic. They organized everything and hired a bus and had the restaurant there make dinner. See picture. I keep calling Greg Eric, b/c Eric is such a Ralph. It's ridiculous how many times I get his name wrong, so I just tell him that he reminds me of a friend of mine in England. He asked if the other Eric is Chinese. No, but it's not like I have any white guys here to choose from.
A student sent me the following e-mail last night. I'm just going to say [sic] now.
Dear Jenny:
I hope you never mind I call you like this. I feel it looks like friendship.
I love both Julia and Julie ,so , Julia is okay .
Till now , I have no suggestion about our class , I think it very lively. In the fact , I didn,t like English befour ,but when I join this class I find English can be interesting , so , thank you very much .
See you later . Julia
Very nice.
I've been teaching the kids to play poker and blackjack. |
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July 14, Zunyi |
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Happy Bastille Day everyone!
Be sure to check out yesterday's Style Invitational ( > Style > Style Invitational). It was suggested that perhaps my having a cool location helped my chances. It is so like Mom and Dad to try to cheapen my victories. They changed one of my answers, though. Instead of "big, fat, slobby girls," it should read, "fat girls." Much more elegant in its simplicity, no?
Anyway, I teach in a few minutes. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up and a reminder that it's still not too late to join my cult of personality. |
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