Intro I am now halfway done with my year! I finished the first semester yesterday, so I'm just going to write about some nonlinear thoughts after living and teaching in China for 4.5 months.
General Life I feel like the perspective of China in media and culture is always essentially bipolar. Either people think it's some backwater riddled with poverty or it's the most advanced place on Earth and every city has insane futuristic architecture and experiences everywhere. Maybe I'm just a cynic or a realist, but neither seemed true before I lived here and neither seems true after I live here. Part of this is because I live in a second tier city in the north (not a touristy space and not a southern city that is full of wealth) so all the Instagram "this is the future" stuff doesn't exist here. Part of this is because while I find WeChat helpful for having payments, social media, and registration programs all in one app, it's really not that different from ApplePay and instagram. Simultaneously, the high speed trains are infinitely better than the complete lack of infrastructure in the US, and the access to electric vehicles and public transit far outstrips that of Nashville. I feel like I'm neither a "glass half full" nor "glass half empty" person, but rather a "there's water in the glass and there's also air in the glass" person, so living here (AND WORKING) here means I'm like "okay, there's people who go to work and then home where they cook dinner or order food. They play soccer with their kids and they drive their cars or bike or walk." So in that sense, living here is the same as living literally anywhere.
That said, I do enjoy it (just as I've enjoyed every place I've lived). The pollution isn't great, but the subways are convenient and I have the time in my day to walk around (even if sometimes I have to wear a mask to help with the air quality.) The students I teach are exactly the same as every 12-13 year old in America. The adults I am friends with are kind and helpful. Basically, I just live normally which is exactly what I wanted when I moved here. Except normally also means with an EXTREMELY low cost of living which is awesome.
Teaching I love teaching, but I DO NOT want to do this forever. For those who teach, imagine every class you've ever taught, add 25 kids to the room, don't give any grades except one exam that barely counts, you can barely communicate with the student's homeroom teachers (if you have met them at all,) and imagine the students are in school or extra lessons a minimum of 10 hours most days. Now imagine you teach 1000 of them a week so you don't know all their names. It can be difficult at times. But also so rewarding. Those whose names I do know, it's because they asked every single day until I remembered. I get called "coyote" everywhere I go (because I taught them Quiet Coyote but they don't get the quiet part). I am handed little snack and drawings as gifts all the time. It's awesome.
It is also an interesting way to learn language and culture. I knew the slang "91" before any of the adults around me. (It's new slang for penis.) And I shocked my students by knowing it was bad before I knew what it meant. (Yes Nicky -- when you, a student who cracks jokes constantly and never participates otherwise, write that on the board and all the kids laugh I can tell it's inappropriate.) I have new strong opinions on Kpop idols and have watched Zootopia 2 twice. I see the ways that government relationships and political opinions trickle down to young teens in real time. And how diversified those opinions can be (often based upon what those kids want to do or what their parents do.) I get to read the children's monthly English newspaper assignment when they bring me the articles they found interesting and see how the humor those of us on my side of the internet found in the Lourve heist was NOT conveyed to the children of China who were horrified at the theft from a museum. (I did advise them not to steal from museums though don't worry). Most importantly I am just as lost when they ask me about video games as I am when I watch my middle school boy cousins play them.
I am a professional rage-baiter. (I am not supposed to speak any Chinese with my kids.) So, when they say something in Chinese, I don't respond. Then they'll ask 你听懂中文吗？(do you speak Chinese?) I respond "No." Which confuses them, because I clearly understood their question but answered in the negative. It is the biggest benefit of teaching. As a lawyer I won't be allowed to constantly prank and confuse my clients :/
The whole world is grappling with postCovid education, and China is no different. Student behaviors have changed, mental health crises have risen, questions about fairness, testing, and AI are universal. While my opinion is kids need more time outside and less testing, I also think grades need to have more importance. Also I am anti-AI entirely in the education process since the whole point of education is to develop a child's brain, and AI quite literally changes and prevents that development. There are aspects of Chinese school that I think are great and others less so. The kids have no technology in class, just paper and black and red ink. (Good). The kids get tested way too much. (Bad). The kids have short classes 40min with long breaks 10min. (Good). The kids have too many classes in a day. (Bad.) Competition runs rampant (bad and true everywhere.) There are no guidance counselors. (concerning.) There are incredible, smart, and compassionate teachers (amazing).
Wow, some children just have that anxiety and it runs deep. (Panicking over an exam they could do in their sleep.) Others have never heard of anxiety and could not care less about prepping for an exam they will literally fail.
Chinese Tutoring I love my Chinese tutor. She is awesome and kind, and half our lessons end up just gabbing opinions on the topic at hand. (This is what I want anyway since communication is what I want to practice.) She has two daughters and invited me to a family gathering during the holidays because I was going to be alone. We have similar opinions on education, environmentalism, relationships, and more. I also get to learn Chinese in that formal manner, through colloquial speech (particularly when out shopping or riding in taxis), and through needing to have translations for my English lessons in case my super struggling students need a little extra help.
Travel Over the next month, I may be in and out with the blog. I have a 6 week break and am going to be all over the place so I'll update when I can, but I'll probably post on instagram more often. I'm going to Guilin for the nature, Xi'an, Shanghai, and Beijing with my family, Singapore to see Prescott, and then we are going to Cambodia for history and beach so I should have a lovely vacation!
Complaints -For a pretty centralized system of government, and the constant 10 year plans, the lack of forward planning is crazy to me. We can just be told on a Tuesday that we won't have classes Thursday and Friday. We can be told on a Thursday that we have to teach that same Saturday. The National holidays are set a year in advance, but the negotiations between school principals about when exams are means they didn't know the exact school holiday schedule until a week before I was finished teaching. (This is less a China issue and more of a Sara's too anal issue.) -13 year olds being the same everywhere means some of them are evil. -Everyone in America is asleep when I'm awake. -Law schools are annoyingly slow with applications
Joys -Everyone here has been kind and eager to reach out a helping hand -13 year olds being the same everywhere means some of them are pure joy -I get to see the beauty of globalization even when I've studied and am aware of the dangers -I get to learn so much, this year and going forward
Love from China :)