Miss Desk

So I made it to Beijing despite the crazy bus driver’s best efforts to kill us all. I did get to see how the people of rural China deal with a car crash from my seat in the bus I could see the big crane lifting the car and aided by about sixty onlookers. No police tape, no concerns about safety and really no supervision. What will become of China when people learn how to sue?

So I got to Beijing and was promptly taken to my apartment. I live alone in a “nice” two-bedroom apartment south of Beijing in a little suburb called Yi Hai. The school that I work at is like a five-minute walk from my apartment and I get all my meals for free there. They are actually pretty good meals. The school is a HUGE private school with about 2,500 students. Many of the students live at the school and they all wear these great brown uniforms. I was hired to participate in a new program that gives the first grade students three classes with a foreign teacher each week. I have nine classes with about 30 students in each class. The students are, for the most part, well-behaved. They have a ton of energy, which, comes as no surprise because they are first graders. The other thing that makes teaching a bit difficult is something the Chinese call the “little emperor syndrome” which affects many of the little kids in China. Since China’s one child policy is still in place (although not as strictly enforced) it means that all the children in China are only children and not only are they only children, for this generation they are also only grandchildren which means they are used to being doted upon and cherished and well, spoiled so they get a little cranky when they have to share the attention of a teacher between 30 students. So far it is not too bad but every teacher that I have met in China says that this situation is a particularly difficult challenge, especially among the wealthier families. I teach 29 classes a week including two classes to the teachers.

On the first day of class they asked me to do a review of some of the vocabulary they learned last week. So I had the kids running around touching all their vocab words. Like the door, something blue something red, the blackboard etc. When I told them to touch a desk a bunch of them ran up and started touching me. I was really confused at first but it turns out that Jessica sounds very much like “desk” to a first grade Chinese student with a limited vocabulary. So now the students call me Miss Desk and I am sure they are very confused as to why my parents would name me desk. Mom, Dad and explanation? I will try to take some pictures this week but I don’t’ feel very touristy in Beijing.

In the meantime...here is a picture of one of Cui Guo Hua's nephews. I took it to show you all the famous Chinese split pants. This is the East's answer to diapers. Basically little kids wear pants that are split in the middle until they are potty trained. When they are little they just pee on the floor or on the sidewalk or wherever. They are potty trained a lot earlier here (I have been told) because they never learn to pee in their pants. The result, all the little kids saunter around with their bare bums sticking out and it makes me a little uncomfortable to hold the babies.