I arrived at the airport around 2:00 in the afternoon following a 13 hour plane ride from Vancouver Airport to the Shanghai Airport hoping that I would be able to find the person that was promised as the way of getting to the hotel. I knew that other people from the AYC program were going to be on the same plane as myself but I did not meet any. I did have the pleasure of sitting next to another English Teacher who was with another program headed to Beijing to teach. With so much in common it is needless to say we passed the majority of the plane ride talking. So, I did not get the sleep that I should have on that flight. When we were landing all that I saw on the ground were squares of fields with plants that were, and remain, unknown to me as well as some building, quite a few having a bright blue roof. I did not see any people and it was a foggy, drizzle of a day.
Here are two of the pictures of the Thames Library that I was able to go to. It was pretty amazing and, wouldn't you know it, most all of the books were in Chinese, so I got a Chinese book with pictures!
Taking my first step in China, or the ramp from the plane, I took a deep breath and once again thought, 'what in the world am I getting myself into?' Loaded down with a book bag filled to the max and a messenger bag holding my candy stash I followed the crowd. Just like customs in any other airport you have to go to the 'border' where you: figure out the correct line, stand there for several long minutes, go up the the border officer, and then hope that they will let you enter their country. I passed without a problem, except for looking a little like a deer in the headlights when he told me to look at this camera and I was all 'what camera, where?' I am sure the picture looks strange.
Successfully crossing the Chinese border, I then moved onto the gathering of my luggage. This was the biggest hurdle due completely to the fear that my luggage was lost. I am pretty sure that my luggage was at the end farthest from the door. I waited for at least 15 minutes in which I 'spotted' my luggages about five times. Both pieces finally appeared and I stared it down as it slowly came my way making sure that no one picked it up. It was not getting away from me!!!
Luggage in hand I walked towards the exit. I was confronted with many people holding signs and a curving wrap-around walk-way. I found my sign, which was held by a young Chinese man and walked around the rest of the way to reconnect. On my way I came across a young Chinese woman holding another AYC sign who directed me to a group of foreigner. We all had our luggage, were tired, and wanted showers but everyone still wanted to meet everyone else. So, for the hour we waited until the bus was there to take us to the hotel we got acquainted. There is something about people who are willing to travel half way around the world and teach that makes them more outgoing and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice and friendly everyone was (not that I was expecting everyone to be mean or anything . . .).
When the buses arrived we all piled into it and headed towards the edge of the city where our hotel was located. I was given a welcome bag and room number, that I then took to the front desk to check into my room. I had to give the front desk workers my passport so they could take a copy of it to registers my location with the government . . . so they knew where to find me. I then headed to my room for a shower. Once feeling all fresh and clean again I went down stairs to the room they told us to go to for dinner. My first meal in China . . . was interesting. If you want to see it I posted it in the post titled 'First Blog from Within the Country,' and do not ask me what it is because I have no clue!!!
The following days consisted of lecture style, which was the majority, and one or two short teaching demos. I took classes on Chinese culture, teaching Oral English and the methods that were helpful to use. At first all these classes seriously stressed me out. It was pretty awful, and the entire time I was thinking, 'what am I doing,' 'I don't know how to teach this,' and 'if this doesn't make me go crazy I hope I become better person.' I was my mid-life crisis break down in the Neo-Sunshine hotel in Shanghai, China. Now that that is over I will have nothing to worry about when I hit my 40s and 50s, besides menopause . . .umm . . . back to China. My classes would last from 9:00am to 4:00 or 4:30 every day. The first two days were taught through Ameson and several distinguished Chinese professors while the last four days were taught by TEFL Certified teachers.
On Sunday we were required to give a 20 minute mock class in groups of three to our fellow AYCers, where in we were told to act the actual age of the students the mock lesson was geared towards. This got a little out of hand for some of the presenters gave lessons that were for first or second grade students, which 20-somethings aged individuals can have lot of fun with. Luckily my class was not to bad. I had two other partners in my group and we gave a lesson on ordering food from a restaurant. After the mock lessons we had lunch, then took a multiple and short essay test to complete our training and earn a TEFL certificate.
Here is my lunch. I really liked reading the names under the dishes because if I had to eat them because of their name it would not happen, but it was China so I ate the Black Fungus Fried Meat.
Throughout the week, since we were free in the evenings, many of the other AYCers went out to visit the great city of Shanghai and enjoy the cheap and sometimes free, due to our foreigner states, alcohol. I decided against the drinking for a trip to the city center, the opportunity to get a Chinese sim card, a visit to a near by Chinese Thames Town which housed a pretty sweet library and a chance to flash mob the Macarena in a square in the middle of Shanghai. If you do not know what a flash mob is you can check out this Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob) or watch this random YouTube.com flash mob video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLCZOG202k). Ours was video taped but it was not as smooth or random as the one that you will see in the YouTube.com video. The picture directly below is of all of us in our AYC shirts standing around before we started our dance. As you can see we all stuck out of the usual crowds with our AYC shirts and the majority of our groups lack of Asian features.
The next several pictures are of the center of Shanghai, The really tall purple looking tower is called the Pearl of Shanghai in English and is the thing to see, it is also in many pictures of Shanghai. It is the Willis/Sears Tower of Shanghai.
The next day after we took the exam people started to head to their schools. I was told through text that a English Teacher from my school would be arriving at the hotel to escort me back to Changzhou and my school. I was quite nervous for I really had no idea what to expect. I meet my escort in-between the lunch and the exam on Sunday. I was not sure how old she was or to what extend she would be responsible for me during my time at the school. I was able to ask her several questions but there were so many more that I knew would be answered in time. The most important question on my list though was when exactly would I start teaching the students. School started for the students on September 1st which was on Tuesday. I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would have at least one full day to prepare. When she told me that I would start on the 6th words could not fully express my happiness. After the exam I had to sit through a lecture on Chinese regulations, which was mainly telling me that I could not legally be a private tutor and get paid nor could I spread any ideas religious or political that would be against the Chinese governments wishes. Dinner followed then a quick trip to Thames Town, back to the hotel room and then sleep. I was scheduled to leave by high-speed train at 10:04 the next day for Changzhou, my home until next summer.
The floor of the library looks amazing!!!!
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