Wander Life

In the news

I thought I'd write about something funny that happened in my class this morning: this camera crew came in right in the middle of it and just walked around filming me for about 10 minutes.  This happened when I was in Changchun, too - with no warning or anything.  Kinda funny.  But I guess news crews or whatever just hear that there's a foreigner around and want to document the moment.  The nice thing, though, is that the kids suddenly become really well behaved.  : )

A teacher's work is never done...literally.

Yeah...just kidding about this being my last week of teaching - I guess they want me to teach next week, after all.  Hmph.  I still might manage a quick trip to Everest and back, though.  It'll be cutting it close, but we'll see.  Anyway, that's the skinny 'round here.  This week of teaching went well, but it's kind of a funny thing to think it's your last week all week, and then as soon as you finish your last one and think you're done, you find out, no, you're not done.  That's D Middle School for ya, though.  : )  Who knows - next week, maybe I'll go to class and find out, just kidding, again - no class!  But hey, at least there's never a dull moment.

Anyway, besides the teaching, not too much is new.  I mean, of course, there are always lots of stories I could write about, but it's midnight now, so I don't think they'd be much good if I tried tonight.  I have them written in my journal, though, so don't worry, they're not lost forever. Unless my journal gets stolen...but I won't think about that.  : ) 

Oh, but tonight, we did have a nice ELI ladies' dinner to say goodbye to a Stacy and Heather, who are leaving tomorrow and Saturday (respectively).  One back to Canada and one to New Zealand.  They'll both be back next year, though.  Doug and Mike already left last week (also both returning), and Steph leaves Monday (not returning).  So, yeah, our numbers are quickly dwindling down.  Luckily for me, though, Rose isn't leaving.  : ) 

Anyway, the dinner was at a Nepali restaurant, and I had a great yak steak with fries and, oddly enough, noodles.  I also had this drink called a Lassi.  I guess it's European or something - kind of like a smoothie made out of yogurt.  I've had chocolate before (when I was told that it's like a milkshake...which it is NOT!), but tonight I had banana, and that was much better.

So, yeah, that's what's going on around here.  I've also been having some goofy things with my internet going on, so if there's another long delay from me, that's probably why.  I seem to receive them fine, but it's slower than usual and sometimes doesn't want to send out.  So...even if I can't write out too much, you can still all write me.  : )  And calls seem to work fine, too.  : )

Alright, I hope you all have a great day...as I'm sleeping.

Sidenote

Well, I took my new book out to the track and did my usual walking around, and it seems that my nightly routine is beginning to pay off in that the students are becoming less and less intimidated by me.  I began walking around and several students came up to me to ask me how to pronounce some English words they were studying.  They would ask me each time I came around, and finally, a group of the older girls asked me to sit down with them.  We then proceeded to have a 30-minute conversation (well, a conversation of sorts.  One girl was kind of the leader, and they would all talk with each other, and then she'd emerge from the group with a question).  It was the most I've talked with any students outside of the classroom, so it was really encouraging.  One thing I'm learning is that if you hope to form any sort of relationship with people, you have to make yourself available and be around them.  Walk around the track every night; go to the tea house several times a week; eat at the school restaurant often; whatever.  That's probably one of the advantages of not having a lot of other foreigners to hang out with, too - you remember to go be around the local people more.

Anyway, just thought I'd drop that side note since I had mentioned that I was going to the track.  It had a pretty good result.  : )

Health

I should mention that I'm in good health, once again....  But, perhaps, I also forgot to mention that I had been ill.  : )  Either way, I'm fine now.  It was just Thursday night and the first half of Friday during which time I felt as though an alien were trying to gnaw it's way through my stomach, while simultaneously, gouging my intestines with a razor blade.  But...all better now, so I guess it must have died or something....  : )  Rose was also sick, and we had eaten the same things the day before (from street vendors), so it wasn't too much of mystery, in my mind.  She, however, attributed it to the heat (as we had been walking around in Lhasa the day before), so who knows?  The heat didn't really seem like it was intense enough to bake my internal organs, but either way, I'm no longer writhing around in pain nor desiring to pass out, so that's all that matters to me.  : )

Ok, now I'm off to dinner.  I guess I'll take my new book, "Cry, the Beloved Country," since I finished "The Gift of Asher Lev" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" last week.  It's particularly fun to walk around the track, reading, because the students always run up to me to see what my book looks like this time.  Then we have our limited conversation of "Hello.  How are you?"  Then they run off.  But the next evening, they have to see if I'm reading the same thing.  And when it's a new one, oh boy!  : )

The Quiet American

I know I'm a silly foreigner.  I show up for class this afternoon, thinking it was just another Monday (being told no different), and surprise!  No class!  Silly foreigner, what were you thinking?  : )  Of course, I don't mind.  It's kind of fun to have these surprise holidays.  It's like finding money in a pocket - you didn't know it was there, but hey, you'll enjoy it just the same.  : ) 

So, with my unexpected afternoon off, I figured it'd take the opportunity to finally write an e-mail to y'all (since it has been a while).

Well, I was going to say that lots has been going on the past week, but that's not exactly accurate.  I have, in no way, been "busy" as we might think of it in the states.  I only teach a few hours a day, and I really have very few other engagements.  But that suites me quite well because it gives me plenty of time to spend with people, around the town, observing the culture and just to reflect and think.  It's nice not being too busy to just sit and have tea with someone if they invite you in or to just play with some kids who beckon you as you're walking down the road.  I'm certainly never bored - instead, the plan of the day is just to see "what comes up."  And that way, when something does come up, you rarely have to say, "I can't.  I have to go - I have other plans."  Instead, you can just say (or in my case, imply, since I can't actually usually say it in their language), "There's nothing I'd rather be doing than sitting outside my apartment, eating a sticky-rice ball with you," (which is what happened Saturday with the headmaster's wife - I was just sitting outside my apartment, reading, when she came out and gave me a couple of sticky-rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves and proceeded to show me how to unwrap it, dip it in sugar, which she also provided, and eat it.  It's some sort of traditional thing that you eat on certain holidays, and I guess Saturday was one of those holidays). 

And this whole thing of just having time to be with people and to participate in the culture actually relates to what I was going to write about last time: the Quiet American.  Being the only Anglo in town, I, of course, can't exactly go unnoticed around town.  Everyone knows of me, but, though I don't think I do anything particularly interesting, they still take great care to observe my every move.  And I can't help wondering what they must think of me.  Especially all the workers at the tea house.  I know they always see me coming due to the chorus of "Hello!"s that follow me where ever I go.  I park my bike in front of the door and quietly step inside.  The same workers are always there: two younger girls and two middle-aged ladies.  Sometimes the owner is there, too - he's the husband of one of the middle-aged ladies, I've gathered.  As soon as they see me, they go to get my thermos of sweet tea (since they know that's what I drink).  I sit down and smile shyly, and, as they pour me my drink, I say simply, "Toe chee enna" ("thanks").  They smile back and then wait to see if I want anything to eat.  If I do, I just say timidly, but with a knowing grin, "Uh...tuk bah...uh...sha pallep...nee," and they just reciprocate the grin and go off to get my noodle soup and two meat breads.  I think we all recognize how funny it is that I always get the exact same thing but always order it with a kind of hesitation, as though, this time, maybe, just maybe, I'll order something different.  All that we can do is laugh and smile about the whole situation.  Then, they usually watch TV as I eat and drink my sweet tea and read for about an hour.  Occasionally, I'll glance up at what they're watching or doing, but mostly, I just stick to my book.... 

What an image they must have of me, eh?  I mean, here's this foreigner who comes in three, four, sometimes five times a week, always shyly orders the same thing, says only, "Changarma," "Tuk bah," "Sha pallep, nee" and "To chee enna," and sits silently reading her book for about an hour....  Every so often, though, we do interact in other ways.   A couple of days ago, for example, I couldn't help but laugh at a scene in the show they were watching.  They were laughing, too, and when they heard me laugh, they looked over, and we just kind of laughed with each other.  Even though we can't talk, I really do enjoy spending time with them.  Smiles and laughs can say a lot, too, I guess.

So, anyway, now you know why I'm the "quiet American."  : ) As a counter point to this image, though, I thought I'd send along a picture of a poster that was in a little Chinese restaurant I visited last week.  Actually, a group of us were eating there, and none of us noticed the picture at first because the restaurants here always have random posters of Western things up on the walls.  But after a few minutes, it caught my eye, and I thought, "Is that Cameron Diaz?  What in the world is it an advertisement for?"  I posed this question to the rest of the group, but we couldn't figure it out for the life of us.  We're used to seeing Western movie stars in ads that appear only in Asia, but unless Asians have a particular interest in buying mechanical bulls, this one seems a bit odder than usual. 

Anyway, as you can see, not all Americans are quiet around here.  : )

Well, I better be off to dinner.  Then, I may or may not have class in the morning.  : )

Monks at the Jokhang Temple

Busy teaching...here's some pictures!

(click for larger version)

Tea, Squirt Guns & The Quiet American

Another Friday...another week: more teaching, more trips to the tea house, more reading and writing...yet, no two days are the same.  I still haven't figured out how that works.  : ) 

This was actually my first full, normal, no-unscheduled-holidays week.  It was tiring, but besides two exceptionally rowdy classes, I would have to say that it went pretty well.  I came up with my best lesson, yet, I think (I've done four different ones, so far: the first was kind of an introductory one like "What's my name?" "Where am I from?" "What's the weather?" "What day is today?" etc.; the next was "Boy or girl?" "Different or same?" "He or she?" with a song on CD that had those words in it; the third was "Body Parts and Problems."  ...All went pretty well, but most of the students are just too self-conscious about their English skills - or lack thereof - to even try saying anything.  So, with this fourth lesson, we did, "What is he/she/are they/are you/am I doing?" and I had 27 actions that I wrote on the board and then had them do the motions for - they loved that!  I would shout, "Driving a car!" and they'd zoom around the room pretending to drive.  I'd continue with, "Biking!" "Eating!" etc.  They especially loved "riding a motorcycle" and "skiing" - they were all about those sound effects.  : )  And they audibly shrieked with delight when I pulled out a little stuffed toy dog and tied a rope around it and walked around the room.  "What am I doing?" I'd say.  First, I had acted out walking...then I had pulled out the dog and pointed to it and said, "Dog."  They all started barking, but eventually repeated, "Dog."  After a bit, they got that I was "walking the dog."  They liked acting that one out, too...accompanied by barking sounds....  Then I'd act out something, and they could all shout out what it was (they're more confident if they can answer in a group, I've found).  Lastly, I had them get into pairs and gave each pair a picture of a person (or people) doing something, and they had to decide what they were doing and then come to the front of the class and hold up the picture and say, "He is..." or "She is..." or "They are...."  And if they started acting up at all, I could just have them all stand up and act out something - that got their attention pretty quickly.  : )

"But," you may ask, "where do tea, squirt guns and the quiet American come in?" 

Well, hoooold on just a second.  These stubby, little fingers can only type so fast.  : ) 

First of all: the squirt guns. 

Well, I mentioned that there were two exceptionally rowdy classes.  Mmm hmm...you guessed it - that's where the guns come in....

During one of my classes on Monday, I saw a boy squirting his fellow students with a little plastic squirt gun.  I walked over and had him give me the gun, which he was slow to do but finally relented.  I took the gun and pretended to throw it out the window and said, "Next time..." in my most threatening manner.  Then I put it up on my teaching podium.  Well...sometime during the class, he must have jumped up there and grabbed it because towards the end of the class, I saw him SQUIRTING PEOPLE...AGAIN!  "Less than brilliant move, my friend," I thought.  I walked over and held out my hand.  This time, he really didn't want to turn it over.  But I did the whole counting-to-three thing (it seemed like it would be one of those universal warnings), and when I got to two, he did, in fact, pull it out from underneath his desk and place it in my hand....

In retrospect, the only thing I would have done differently is looked before I threw it out the window...you know, just in case someone was below.  : )  Luckily, no one was, and the little gun sailed unimpeded to its fourth-story fall onto the cement below.  Now, I don't know if it's due to the whole "cultural differences thing" or just to the fact that their fun-loving, smiley foreign teacher could have behaved in such an uncharacteristic manner.  But...whatever it was, the look on their astonished faces was pretty priceless.  I laughed all the way home.  : )

However, the story doesn't end there.  Remember: these are junior highers.  So...the next day, I had the same class again.  And yes, for reasons beyond my comprehension, the same student decided to repeat the stellar move of bringing his gun (whether it was a different one or not, I couldn't tell...perhaps, it had miraculously survived the fall).  Not only that, but another student decided that it would be an equally good idea for him to bring his gun.  (Awww, the minds of 14-year old geniuses....) 

So, they, of course, once again, began using them in class....  Now, I don't really remember being that dumb in junior high...but I suppose I was.  We probably all were.  Maybe all junior highers think that their teachers (foreign or not) can't really see them.  Or maybe they just don't think.  Who knows....  Whatever the case, there they were, squirting away.  This time, I took them and put them in my jacket pocket, which I was wearing and which has zippers on the pockets.  No further incidents occurred during the remainder of the class, and when the bell rang and I was preparing to leave, the two students came up to me, expecting their guns back.  Yeah right!  Oh, funny, funny children.  If they only knew the entertainment they provided....  Their pleading, though slightly pathetic, fell on completely deaf ears, I'm afraid to say.  Sad for them, I know.  But as for me, hey!, I'm now the proud owner of two new squirt guns.  ...Just one of those little perks of teaching, I guess.  : )

And that only takes us up till Tuesday!  But now it's 11pm, and I hear "The Gift of Asher Lev" calling my name.  (Not literally, though...I haven't, yet, reached that point in my semi-isolated state.  Talking to myself is one thing, but when books start talking to you...well, that's a whole new level.  I'll let you know if I get there).  : )

The end of last week

Tuesday, I had my one scheduled class, but that evening I was informed that we would not have class Wednesday or Thursday (and Friday was already scheduled off).  I was given no reason for this early holiday nor was I expected to need one.  Of course, I didn't need one...but yesterday, I saw all the teachers filing into this smallish building and when I asked Ti about it, he said explained it as "party meetings."  So I think I'll just stay in the dark on that one.  : )  At the same time that I was told of the canceled classes, though, I was also told that I would be teaching a teachers class on Thursday afternoon.  Of course, Cecilia didn't know what time, so I said, "Ok, I'll just wait in my apartment Thursday afternoon, and you can come get me or call," to which Cecilia acted like, "Well, of course.  How else would we do it?"  Slowly but surely, I'm catching on.  

So, not having classes yesterday, I biked down the road to my tea house, had my tukbah and sha pallep lunch, drank my sweet tea and began reading my new book.  I finished "True at First Light" on Tuesday (311 pages in nine days...not bad, eh?), so after briefly debating which to read next, I opted for "The Hundred Secret Sense" by Amy Tan.  She's a Chinese/American author, so it seemed appropriate.  I was going to start the Asher Lev sequel, but I figured there's plenty of time, and since I was able to borrow this from someone in our organization, I decided to mix things up a little.

Today, I again biked down to my tea house, had my usual for lunch (I think they've grown to like me there - they always smile and bring my sweet tea before I even ask) and continued my reading.  I biked home to "wait in my apartment" this afternoon, but alas, the teachers' class was one of those "maybes" that never happened.  : )  So, instead, I've been writing this e-mail.  : )

So, anyway, that's the week thus far.  Tomorrow, again, I have no classes, so I'll probably bike down to the tea house.  : )  I like it better than Lhasa, in a way, because they know me there and, not that I mind everybody staring at me, but sometimes it's just nice to go where people let you be.  Yesterday, while I was there, a soldier came in, sat down and promptly began staring.  He evidently asked about me because all the people who work there glanced over in my direction.  Then, by their body language, it seemed as though they said something like, "Oh, her?  Don't worry about her.  She comes here all the time," because they all just smiled and then went about their business.  The soldier just shrugged and took no further interest....  Sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your face, ay?  : )