blog.marcwiesner.com

I think I’ve figured out what bothers me about most Europeans I meet traveling; they tend to put a fair amount of effort in trying to find or recreate the Europe they left behind. Despite being in a very foreign country they expect the same standards of clean, language, privacy, public behavior and what not that’s found in Europe. The shock of not finding this familiarity seems to be more than most Europeans can handle. Thus, the communities of people who have nothing more in common other than their place of birth arise out of a smoke of disappointment and dissatisfaction.

In the west we usually criticize such insular communities. Indian, Korean, Chinese communities, it’s thought, create a buffer which impedes integration. We think it bad when people live in these communities and become so insulated they can’t speak a national language but what contributions to Europeans bring to their communities? Are western restaurants as popular in Asia as Asian restaurants are in the west? Do we have many scientists and scholars who decide to move into China to help with academic research or philosophical inquiry?

People from English speaking countries traveling here in China seem to be particularly off. Not as a rule, just as a general observation, people from Australia, England, Canada, and the USA react remarkably poorly to such a foreign place where English ability are by no means an expected norm. I suspect the problem can be considered as stemming from a Continentinal Island mentality due to the fact that we aren’t really pushed to learn a foreign language since we don’t really have any neighbors who make it necessary. While the USA’s southern neighbor Mexico would seem to give us a good reason to learn Spanish it’s clear that this motivation is lost on most US citizens; a point which itself should speak to Mexico’s general status within America.

I’ve thrown photos from my trip through Guizhou province and Wuhan up on my Facebook. I’m going to be adding them into my photoblog an a daily or as available basis.

 teasers:

March 5th I took a late bus to Wuhan. It’s nice to have a home away from home. I’ve been working 免费 at the Wuhan Pathfinder International Youth Hostel I stayed at before; helping out whenever possible in whatever way I can. It’s nice to be able to help. A visa is in the works so I can stay longer and not have to worry about visa runs to Hongkong. I’ve been able to get a lot of practice with my hotel mandarin and learn more about the city as I give tours and advice to foreign travelers. One of the most useful things I’ve learned is that the taxi drivers know where to find everything.

Reactions from the Chinese guests to seing me behind the front desk are strange. Usually, they fall within the amused, endeared, and skeptical. I’ve actually had someone tell me it was imposable for me to be working here and ask in English what happens if a guest who doesn’t speak English comes in. She was fairly shocked when I replied in Mandarin, “not a problem, talk to them in Chinese.”

I’m hoping to stay here until the summer and spend the next few months improving my Mandarin while I help as much as I can. It’s nice to be able to hunker down in a place with so many good people and good food. I’m hoping to have photos up soon, but these days are very busy. People are flocking up from the south of China to see the Japanese Cherry blossoms (樱花) next to Wuhan’s famous East Lake (武汉东湖). Haven’t had time to see them myself yet, but the small garden next to the hostel is already impressive.

Well…I didn’t get a revised contract tomorrow. Didn’t sign anything. Got me worried. Then the teacher who’s managing my schedule told me that I’d be teaching four classes instead of three and working 24 hours, something the headmaster said was unreasonable and never practiced. Even more worried. The headmaster, who’s going to Canada in two days, is in the city and largely unavailable. Very worried. So I’m doing what I know I should do, taking my stuff to Nanchang city to meet him and if we don’t come to an agreement I’ll hit the road. I doubt he’ll have a contract or even a draft when we meet and I largly expect to piss off after about ten minutes. The situation isn’t helped by not having a kitchen to cook my own food and not being able to use the internet as I wish to manage my other business concerns. It gets frustrating when the computer they put in for me is the only one that cannot access foreign sites and google.com redirects to the Chinese baidu.com search engine.

The staff and students here are great, but if I can’t work with the boss I can’t work at the school. The boss apologized saying that he forgot foreigners put such an emphasis on time and punctuality. I wonder if he knows that packing up and leaving a place quickly when things don’t seem right is a backpacker’s habit?

On another note, I’m planning on putting pictures from my Guizhou adventure online in the next week or so, internet connection permitting.

Tomorrow I’m going to the campus I’ll be teaching at for the second time. A few days ago I got the grand tour and made some comments about the contract they offered me. Tomorrow I’m going to review and hopefully sign the revised contract I expect to be presented with. The apartment they’ve got me and another foreigner sharing is plenty big (astonishing would be a more accurate word to describe my first impression of it’s size compared to the size of most rooms and restaurants I’ve been in thus far) and the hours, pay, and class size seem very reasonable. Probably the biggest plus is that the staff I talked to were all very friendly. The largest draw back is that the campus manages to be quite removed from a major city center while not rural enough to be enjoyable for quaintness. I like to think of it as "save and secluded" though =P .

The timing of this post is really inspired by two things. First, I was searching through Google for other blogs from foreigners teaching in China. Networking and comparing situations and what not. Second and more impacting though is an article I came across tonight by Carola Von Hoffmannstahl-Solomonoff titled An American Teacher in China: The Unquiet Death of Darren Russell. Now I know this is going to drive my mother nuts to read, but I is something that I want to put out there. There are many horror storied about foreign teachers getting treated like dirt but this is the the most seedy I’ve come across. My heart truly goes out to Mrs. Russel (who runs http://whiterabbitsmom.org/). Any one who’s considering coming to China to teach should read this story as it so vividly underscores the importance of coming repaired and keeping escape plans ready in case the dream of teaching in a mysterious foreign land turns into such a nightmare. Know the city you’ll be in. Make friends outside the school who can help if you need it. When we can’t count on governments to keep us safe, we have to count on ourselves and each other.

Travel safe.

Written Jan 29:

I checked out of the place I was staying since arriving in Nanchang and checked myself into a nice, warmer place closer to downtown. Good to be able to shower without worrying about when the hot water will run out but I’ll miss the good food that I found so closely available.

Lunch was fun though. There are a few restaurants on the same block as this hotel. I picked one at random and two seconds after I was done ordering a couple children who saw me walk in were asking me if America had this or that animal, car, fruit, sport and so on while marveling at my sinister use of chopsticks.

Feb 1st I’ll leave for Guiyang and spend the Lunar New Year exploring waterfalls with friends. Looking forward to getting into a totally new place and trying some of the local specialties ^_^.

Written Mid-January:

Well…I needed a new jacket anyway. I don’t know how I got the idea in my head to collect locks from the cities I visit; I seem to be doing pretty well in under-dressing for the weather. Turns out Nanchang is colder than it seemed in the weather reports. I’ve bought a thick beanie and heavy jacket to protect myself from the cold. I should have worn my boots onto the plane; the cold bites through my canvas shoes. Vegan they may be but warm they aren’t.

After realizing a semester spent teaching here would pay about as much as a month painting in California I’m considering giving up the teaching stint to take up more lucrative; international business. Who ever needed a degree anyway?

For now, my kingdom for a hot bath.