(T.D. Polo-Sanchez' letters to his brother in America -
pasteurized somewhat for Magic City Readers.)
Hello Illustrious brothers from the land of the Han
The students here are really obedient. The girls more so than the boys. With the girls a stare will get them to quit any misbehavior, with the boys a word or two. Once in a while when I write on the chalk board, a solitary burp will slice the air. It is their form of resistance.
The Chinese teachers are very strict. They yell to bring discipline to the class. The teacher is the DA and judge. When the students are late for class they stand at the door like Totem Poles and ask for permission to enter the class. I heard of a teacher who once made a student throw a brick from one end of the class to the other. I try and not be so strict. When I enter the class they act like children again after their Ritalin is removed. I have 20 classes of 60 students each.
The Chinese sense of privacy is different from ours. One example, a few days ago I bought some tea. On my way home I stopped by the school convenience store. I placed my tea on the counter and the clerk took it and started reading the label. He then asked if he could have some. I said yes, and he helped himself. It was my fault for allowing the tea to leave my person making it community property. The Chinese have a saying "No one in China is so imposed upon as the emperor" In other words, if its out in the open and not inside someone's home: it is fair game. The public works of Imperial China had two columns in its budget:
- 1) Repair and Maintenance
2) Missing Parts Replacement.
To be fair, most Chinese do not steal things, they just pick it up and look at it. I've had students track me down at school to return a crayon.
Update on the above "Hai'an Tea Party". After talking to some of my colleagues it turns ons that the clerk was quite rude. No one in China should ever touch someone's food; the emperor's bricks are fair game.
Haian is not really a city, but an unincorporated region. With a population of only 400,000, it is considered too small to become a Chinese city. So Haian is a blip on the map of China. If we were to bring here one of the smaller Oregon cities, they would be a blip on a blip.
Many businesses here are family run affairs. It is customary to have the family pet run around some restaurants greeting the guests. At some places the fish is cleaned right on the side walk so that the patron can see the quality and freshness of the food.
One teacher invited me over to his home for dinner. While he cooked, he told me that I could walk around and look at the rooms. This sounded strange and I politely declined the invitation citing that my favorite Chinese movie would be on. Here you get four choices of movies: kung-fu and the Chinese Revolution, or the Chinese Revolution and kung-fu.
T. D. Polo-Sanchez
Assembled in the United States from parts made in Mexico and exported to China, T.D. Polo-Sanchez (pseudonym) has taken a year of absence from his post at an American high school to teach Oral English in China.
He hopes that you enjoy his posts and remember that he writes with a deep love and affinity to the Chinese people. In this world while we laugh at others and at ourselves, we laugh together. T.D. Polo-Sanchez Email: eslinstructor33@yahoo.com
