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From Magic City Morning Star R.P. BenDedek
Chapter 19 Moving to Yancheng. Whilst both Bob and I had originally planned to stay in Suzhou, it transpired that neither of us did. I went through my little experience and then headed off to Yancheng Teachers College [5 hours by bus north of Shanghai]. Bob on the other hand to return to Australia to continue with his Doctoral Research.
Yancheng city itself is small, and there really isn't anything to see or do there. The Yellow Sea is not that far away, but because the silt deposits from the Yellow River are extending the coastline by several meters a year, the coastline is not what you would call a beach lovers tourist destination. There are some attractions which might offer you some hours of relaxation from the boredom of life, but the foreigner's daily life does not have there the same distractions which one might find in Suzhou and other places. I was so bored during my first semester, that I actually began attending the 'foreigner's dinners' that were organized every Saturday night. The teachers college had seven foreign teachers, and of course there were other colleges that employed foreigners as well. Additionally, there were foreign businessmen working in Yancheng. Thanks to a Mr. Tang, foreigners in Yancheng had for many years had the opportunity to get together on a weekly basis. Since most of my life in China had been lived with and among local Chinese, I initially had no interest in meeting with the foreigners. As I said however, I got so bored that I did start going to these dinners, and actually enjoyed myself - for a period of time at least. Eventually it all got just too much for me. I had quite forgotten what it was like having to listen to the western B.S. that regularly comes forth from the mouths of those whose lives lack the 'je ne sais crois' which makes people feel sufficiently happy and contented with their lives so as to be disinterested in pushing their beliefs down other people's throats.
One day Mr. Tang informed me that a friend of his owned a dance studio, and that some foreigners had in the past been known to join the Latin Dance Classes. He invited me to go for a 'look see' and meet the owner, Tao Hong. The rest, as they say, is history. I simply loved learning Latin Dance. There was never a dull moment. It was great fun. Of course, one person's definition of fun is not necessarily the same as another's. In my case, it included slipping on a bobby pin and breaking my left hand; twice inadvertently doing the splits accompanied by a loud gasp; and ripping the crotch out of my trousers whilst bending over. It also on so many occasions, included finding myself traveling in the opposite direction to the rest of the class. [I'm sure they count differently in Chinese]. And of course, there is nothing like having to follow directions given in a language with which you are not familiar. I was always one step behind the rest of class because I always needed to see what the others were doing, since I had no idea what instruction had just been given. The greatest pleasure of course, was making so many friends with whom I had only a limited ability to communicate.
Understanding what people are saying, is not the same as speaking the language yourself, and so it was that while I often understood what people said, I really had no idea how to reply. In Suzhou however, I made the acquaintance of a middle aged woman who loved to go bike riding with me. Her name was Chen Rongmei, and she couldn't speak English. Thanks to her, I finally found the opportunity to start regularly speaking Chinese. When your foreign [read Chinese] friends speak English, it unfortunately transpires that when you encounter difficulties speaking to them in their language, that the conversations reverts back to English. For that reason I had never previously been successful at progressing in Oral Chinese, because everyone with whom I practiced would invariably end up speaking with me in English. With Chen Rongmei in Suzhou, that was impossible, and so by the time I got to Yancheng, I had made a lot of progress in conversational Chinese. [But even Chen Rongmei was impressed with the progress I made during my time in Baotou in Inner Mongolia. In Baotou I was in constant communication with a friend who couldn't speak English, and my Chinese conversational skill improved out of sight. But I am getting ahead of myself.]
He spent most evenings after dance class at my home talking in English, and referring to Me as his 'Foreign Father'. Sophie he referred to as his 'Foreign Mother'. So who is Sophie? Sophie was a young lady who was born in Korea but raised in New Zealand, and even though Yancheng Teachers College had students studying Korean, Sophie was hired as an English Teacher. Sophie and I found ourselves together quite often, especially after I asked her to join me in the Latin Dance Classes. We three, Sophie, Junxiang and I spent a lot of time together. We had a hoot! Well at least I did! Junxiang was going through some personal problems about which I cannot speak, and Sophie was bored senseless with everything, including her life. While both Sophie and Junxiang looked to me as a 'father figure', and spent lots of time with me individually talking about their problems, gossiping tongues were having a field day.
One night Sophie was really angry that so many people thought she was my wife, that I finally had to tell her, that to them, it was obvious that she was my wife, because only a wife has the right to 'beat' a man - her husband. Every time I would say something to annoy Sophie, she would punch me in the arm, and every time she did that, people assumed that she must be my wife. It was hilarious. What was more hilarious, was that while people were gossiping about me and Junxiang, and me and Sophie, the really significant person in my life was flying beneath their radar. Such is life! My father used to say: 'People only ever believe what they want to believe and there is nothing you can do to convince them otherwise'. I have always found it helpful in life to let people believe what they will. The more you protest some false accusation, the more they insist that 'I think the man doth protest too much!' and so must be guilty. My mother used to say: 'Never argue with a fool!' And there are so many people in this world that I just won't argue with!
I must also say that Mr. Tang who helped me get my job at the college and who organized the foreign dinners and introduced me to the Dance Studio, was and still is a genuinely nice guy for whom I hold a lot of admiration. I would love to tell you more about him, but in fact he is a man of mystery. Retired, but retired from what, is anyone's guess. No one seems to know. The only thing known for sure is that he spent a lot of time abroad working for the government. mmm?
Teaching in Yancheng Teachers College.
Despite students complaints that this was not an important school - not a good school, I had never before taught in any school in which all of my classes were filled with such hardworking students. They were an absolute pleasure to teach. That is not to say that I did not have some problems. A foreign teacher always encounters some difficult students, but honestly, I never once found myself recoiling from going to class during the first semester. Second semester was a little different however, because they threw in two classes teaching 4th year students who were in their final semester, and had failed to find 'work experience' jobs. These particular kids were a total waste of time and energy.
It didn't take long to make them realize that if they did not have the thinking and speaking skills in place, then they certainly would not be able to write anything decent. So first semester was used to develop their skills. Second semester they got their wish for writing experience, and quickly regretted it. I made them hand in an assignment which I corrected and then handed back, with instructions to rewrite and resubmit it. That resubmitted work was again corrected and returned with a request to rewrite and resubmit. When that resubmitted assignment was again returned with instructions to rewrite and resubmit, there were complaints aplenty that if I had been correcting assignments properly, then there surely should have been no reason to correct them again.
Eventually, because Google had given me a free but unused googlesite, I began to correct common errors on that site, and we would, in a computer room, examine what I put there. This became a very good way of teaching. The site is no longer available in China, but it can still be viewed outside of China. In all, that year in Yancheng proved to be my most enjoyable as far as teaching English was concerned. My school provided accommodation was great, my classroom work load was light, but my salary was not so hot, and apart from the Latin Dancing, it was a boring place to live. As the year drew to a close therefore, I found myself wondering what to do. Junxiang was going off to college; Yang Bin was getting set to leave the dance studio [he was actually from Suzhou]; Sophie looked like going back to New Zealand, and I was otherwise completely bored living in Yancheng. Very shortly after I arrived at the school, I began to be pestered about whether I would sign for a second year at the college. I never knew what to say, because I couldn't imagine staying there two years. Even the interviewer on 'Jiao Liu' [December 2008] asked me if I would sign a new contract the following September. In March 2009, I finally advised the school administration that I would sign for a second year if they wanted me, but I received no advice on the matter. It transpired that four of us who had advised the school of our intention to remain, got so tired of waiting to be informed whether or not we would be offered a new contract, that we all made other arrangements.
When she finally advised me that I was hired, and sent me a contract, I advised the school that I was no longer available to work another contract. I provided the advice merely as a courtesy. I had assumed that they actually did not want to renew my contract. Well! Didn't everyone get a surprise! It appears that the administration's failure to advise us that they would renew our contract, was just part and parcel of Chinese cultural practice. Those with power do not let those without power know anything until the last minute. In this case, they lost 4 teachers that otherwise might have stayed.
As it was, I did not end up going home for a visit, and nor did I end up in Wuhan studying Chinese, instead I ended up in Inner Mongolia, working for the Boss from Hell! R.P. BenDedek Hardcover Publishing inquiries welcomed! R.P. BenDedek is the pseudonym of an Australian who has been teaching in China since 2003. In addition to contributing to Magic City Morning Star News as a columnist, he also is an assisting Editor for the Newspaper. Additionally, BenDedek is the author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' at www.kingscalendar.com © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |
