Surprise, I taught at a new school today.  I was teaching a class of 5 and 6 year old students.  They were very cute and it appeared to me that they knew more English than my high school students.  After my class ended I was ushered to the lobby area for my 10 minute break time (rest).  So I set in this overly crowded lobby and I noticed that everyone was huddled together and that their eyes were fixed on one thing.  There was this really nice flat screen TV propped up in the lobby and then it hit me that I recognized what was being played for everyone in the lobby.  I was also informed that I was sitting among the parents of several of the students.  The TV was feeding live footage from the classroom that I had just taught in and then it would turn over to the classroom that I was about to teach in.  The parents had just witnessed me teaching their children…talk about paternal pressure.  I started discussing this to one of the teachers who knew English and she said that it was normal and that the parents watch her teach as well.  I told her that it was very strange and she said, and I quote, “you can’t escape it.”  I chuckled and mumbled something like, “we are definitely in china, aren’t we?”   Everyone and everything is being monitored here and we can’t escape it.  One of my favorite lines to repeat to Tyler is; “TYLER, you are being watched more than you will ever know.”  In fact this paragraph has probably been read by more Chinese officials than my American friends and family.  

 

–If you work for the Chinese  government you can stop reading this post now…-Eric   

Jammed packed in an arena:  So on my day off a group of foreigners got together for Aaron C’s birthday and we went to this Kick Boxing event which was broadcasted on TV.  It was sweet, China vs. Vietnam.  We happened to sit in a sea of red this was the super fan section, they were loud.   Much like the WWF, the fighters came to the wring riding on the back of motorcycles and of course they were all accompanied by very pretty girls.  There were five fights in all and one of those fights was between two girls (girls should never play sports; they are so slow and awkward).  Anyway, in true commie fashion Ch*na won all the matches up until the last fight.  The last fight was this trained professional from Vietnam against this guy who won a chance to fight that night from doing something on a TV show.  Needless-to-say, the Chinaman received a Vietnamese school lesson.  The Chinese dude was kicked in more places than you know about but he kept lunging for more.  He would start swinging his punches from his side which would in-turn leave his face open for punishment.  No blood just allot of pain.  This was misfortunate because at the beginning of the night we looked over and saw a group of white coats (doctors and nurses).  Seeing them huddled together at ringside made us think that we were in for a bloody show but this was not the case. 

 

I cannot wait for next time because if I remember correctly, in November it is China vs. Iran.   

 

–Save-face and put your hands up… -Eric  

 

I jumped on the 208 today and I was discovered.  I stumbled on the bus with a small cake from the bakery near the bus stop in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.  The bus took off (in a jerking motion) as soon as I got on and this made me bump into a small creature standing in front of me.  I politely said sorry (in English of course) and then I proceeded to stand still for the rest of the bus ride but I realized that the small creature that I had collided with was a young girl.  This made her and her two friends start to giggle hysterically.  The three girls kept peering at me through the corner of their eyes and they would start giggling when they realized that I had caught them looking at me.  I noticed one time that they were looking at my hand and trying to read the letters and numbers on my hand (I frequently use my hand as a notepad) the writings on my hand had piqued their curiosity and they could not help but look at it and attempt to read it.  I noticed them before they knew that I had noticed them, so I discretely moved my hand in their direction so that they could see and read it better.  They quickly found out that they could see my hand better than they could before and so they gazed at me to see what was up and then they realized that I had caught them so they started to giggle one more time.  When young girls start giggling they start speaking quickly to each other (I used to think that Chinese was a quick language but I hadn’t heard anything up until today).  When the bus arrived at their departure they moved to get off and as they did they kept looking back at me with amazement and then right before they got off the bus the smallest and cutest girl looked at me with a large grin as she put her tiny hand in the air and waved goodbye as I smiled and waved back she started giggling and then she and her amigas were gone.  After they left I looked at them through the window and their eyes were still fixed on me as before and with little smiles and big giggles they started waving goodbye to their new best friend on the bus (me). 

 

These three girls taught me something about life today and I am grateful for their lesson. 

 

–Laugh, giggle, sing and play…-Eric     

From China:

 

East meets West — Tyler and I have been in China for almost ten days now.  We both have jobs as English teachers…though ironically our jobs are as different as east and west…  I am a supply-teacher.  Every morning around 7 o’clock I step on the 208 bus…this bus takes me about 30 minutes to my personal driver who then proceeds to take me in a van for another 30 minutes to the respected school of the day.  I have taught at two different schools to a wide variety of students.  I have High School, Jr. High and 1^st and 2^nd graders.  In America Jr. High students get a bad wrap but I could argue against that here in China.  The Jr. High students are actually my favorite so far.  Though the first and second graders come in a close second… Those little faces beaming back at you…they are so flipping adorable.  The little cute shy girls just have a way about capturing your heart…I don’t know why.  Despite being cute it is hard to teach them English because they have such a limited vocabulary…though their teachers usually help me out (yet the teacher’s vocabularies are limited as well)…  So if anybody has any suggestions or any simple, simple games that I can play with them, please share… I have the weekend to prepare for the next week of teaching…

 

Put your party hats on because tonight Tyler and I are going to spend the night with Aaron and JC… it’s going to be an American party…hip-hip-horray…  

 

THUNK:  Just sit and ponder at the fact that there are millions of people in a city that you have never even heard of…and as if it were routine the sun comes up and they conduct their lives as if it were normal then they wait for the next sun to come up so that they can do it all over again… just-like-you-and-I.  Humanity is a funny thing isn’t?

 

–“Hello East, My name is West”… -Eric