YinJiaLin, Shandong
Monday, July 24, 2006
The village (nong cun) has been simultaneously a relief and a disappointment. Internet access, proper beds (well, proper Chinese beds, which means planks, a thin mattress pad, and bamboo), and showers anytime I want as long as I heat up the water with this little machine that sings to notify me that the hot water is ready. We also have a passive aggressive teammate with an inferiority complex about not having ever studied abroad.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
I'm a little surprised that when I first got here, I had exactly 3 numbers in the cell phone my uncle got me. My uncle, my friend Ed in Shanghai, and this random boy I met in Yangshuo who forced his number upon me. Now, after Red Guard training, I have 15 numbers. I never thought I'd be txtmsg'ing at 2 AM to other RCEF volunteers asking how they are. So how am I doing? Outside of the nightly meetings, which are really little more than public lashings, I think I'm doing okay. The kids seem to like me despite the language barrier and I thought things went smoothly outside of normal first day ripples like shyness and some lack of participation. It's strange to be held to a different set of standards than the ones I'm used to meeting. There's no A for Effort in China. We have a regular peanut gallery here that gathers every night. A peanut gallery that has had very little personal teaching experience of their own. Some of it is so ludicrous that I have to make an effort to not giggle in the middle.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
I'm surprised at how accustomed I've become to things. Bugs were dropping out of the air onto the table during dinner today, and I simply picked them out of my rice. I similarly flicked them off my notebook when they fell out of the sky while I was lesson planning. I'm generally tired and worn out, but steadily gaining an appreciation for how hard teachers have to work on a daily basis to lesson plan and teach.
Today's first aid class was a lesson for both of us. I taught them the Western way of dealing with cuts, burns, choking, and unconscious victims who have vomited. When first posing scenarios to them - I expected no one to know how to react. Instead, they all clamored to be called on. These were some of the answers I got.
In case of burns: Pour soy sauce on it. High quality expensive soy sauce. Then you put "medicine water" on it. When I asked what was in medicine water, they stared at me and said matter of factly - medicine. Like duh.
In case of unconscious victim with vomit: Press your thumb into the victim's philtrum. This is a pressure point that will help them regain consciousness. Place them on their back and pump their knees up towards their chest. This will help push blood flow back to their heart.
Most of the class nodded emphatically in agreement with all of these and I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell them they were wrong or say that the American way is the "right and only" way, because I didn't know that. I did feel instantly very un-Chinese and very American in a very intrusive sort of way.
Friday, July 28, 2006
The Wall of Fame was supposed to be a place for kids to compliment each other. Instead, it became a huge love letter to the teachers, thanking us (multiple times) for teaching. There's very much a teacher-worshipping culture here that's offset by a lack of teamwork among themselves. This came out especially during the relay races when they'd yell at other teams for cheating, at each other for being too slow, and at me if they felt I wasn't referee'ing enough. Some kids wouldn't even play, saying instead "Wo bu hui", which means literally "I can't" as in the way handicapped people can't do certain things, not "I don't know how to." The families themselves have been very nice and welcoming. Everytime D. and I go out for popsicles, someone invites us into their home for watermelon. I've eaten two whole watermelon in the past 2 days, leaving my stomach bloated. I don't think my ploy to lose weight here is working. Last night, we ran into one of our students on the street. We sat on stools with him, his mom, and a few neighbors, burning a type of brush that repels mosquitoes (and smells like pot) and chatting in the twilight. It was nice.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
The weekend. Glorious glorious weekend. 2 days too short. Monday starts the last week of teaching. We got more Jinan University students. One of them is pretty attractive, but I can't tell whether this is by U.S. standards or by "I've been too long in China" standards. Med school seems further and further away, as does my life in the States. The bathroom is still a source of nightly terror due to the gigantic spider that comes out at night.
I'm settling into the school and getting to know the kids more personally. Times like this make me really love teaching - when you can see the impact you have on the kids, when you see behavioral changes in unruly kids who then settle down because you're the one who's teaching, when the kids come to school on the weekends to hang out and play frisbee with the teachers and eat popsicles together. It's great.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
A few bombshells. 1) my roommate is moving out, giving me a grand total of 2 weeks to find a new roommate after I get back. 2) I'm teaching sex ed tomorrow. As the Health Ed teacher, I had to ask for male volunteers to teach the boys, and then instruct the volunteer on a few points I think are important to cover. Or, the points I imagine are important to cover since I don't really know what happens in a guys' sex ed class. The biggest challenge though, wasn't determination of content, but communication of that content to the volunteer teacher. I had to look up words like "erection", "testicle", and "pubic hair" in my Chinese-English dictionary ahead of time (and surprisingly, they're listed) and then stumble through the teacher discussion, mispronouncing most pertinent terms and having to resort to explanations or in worst case scenarios, charades, to convey my meaning. I keep telling myself I'm going to be a doctor and I shouldn't be embarassed by this, but I am. Horribly so.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
So I'm quickly running out of Care Bear band-aids. I hadn't planned on having to use so many for the kids and had only brought 10 for blisters, thinking I was really playing it safe considering that I only brought comfy shoes. Every day, someone falls on the playground, and as the medical student - people look to me to bandage the wounds. I've handled more cryingkids than ever, and kissed more boo-boo's than is hygienically healthy considering the infrequent washing and lack of toothbrushing that goes on here. The kids are pretty knowledgeable about their own hygiene and what they're supposed to be doing - but a disconnect lies between knowing and action. They simply don't have a habit of brushing their teeth, nor do their parents, so it's not reinforced in any way. The state of their teeth makes me shudder so I've taken to asking the kids every morning if they've brushed in an effort to pester them into doing it.
I'm glad to say the Sex Ed class was a huge success. The girls weren't shy at all, they asked questions, giggled, and were overall curious. You could tell it was something that'd been on their minds for a little while. Mental note: need to be more specific next time and draw clearer diagrams. i.e. Bleed from where? The vagina. I spent all morning drawing really bad renditions of uteruses. We even ventured into sex since someone asked why we need men to have babies. I'm pretty proud of the girls. They handled it really well. I even had the opportunity to visit the village clinic today - where I found out that shots and an IV are started for everything (including colds) and penicillin is entirely overprescribed. When I asked why they drip everything in through an IV, they said that it's faster-acting that way. I couldn't explain why the West uses oral meds as a first line of defense besides saying lamely that it's less invasive. Being here makes me appreciate things in America that I take for granted. Like the education system, the democratic system, and the sanitation system.
I'm currently wearing a wristband of death. I taught the kids how to make friendship bracelets yesterday and that's all they've been doing. I received a stone bracelet from the class punk Zhu Xi Ning as a sign of friendship, and a red yarn bracelet from Xue Yin - which she made slightly too short but was determined to tie on my wrist nonetheless. It's slowly cutting off the circulation in my wrist but I can't take it off. Literally. It won't come undone.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Next to last day. Feeling a bit conflicted. Am glad to be free of obligation and can travel on the road with no other duty but to please myself. Am glad to be able to have personal space and my own internet time. But sad to be leaving such a dynamic group of people and such a great set of kids. YinJiaLing is unique in the sense that lots of NGO's pass through the community school. Right now there's RCEF, Duke's DreamCorps, Jinan University's SVRS, and a Malaysian NGO. It's an interesting meeting of minds since there's no more than 3 reps per group. The community school is also a bastion of revolution. The head of the school is very pro-democracy and a few years ago, succeeded in getting democratic elections instated in the village. The school also provides law classes so the villagers know their rights and put on a mock court so if they're ever arrested - they'll know what all these people do. The head of the school was a music major in undergrad, but he changed to education afterwards because though he loves music - music won't save the country. Education can. Either he'll become a hero, or go down in flames - shot as a revolutionary. There's really only two options for people who burn with that kind of passion. Part of me wants to come back every year so I can see how the kids are growing, how they turn out, who they get married to.
Friday, August 4, 2006
*Looks like my train ride to Lanzhou will not work out after all. I'm slightly disappointed as I was looking forward to travelling by train.
*My clothes somehow smell worse after I washed them than before. Doesn't speak well for the water.
*I've run out of bug spray. Not that it matters as I've gotten used to picking bugs out of my food and beer.
*I love green bean popsicles.
*I've ordered a new laptop online. Thinkpad! Excited to get it. May make my Dell laptop a backup laptop or give it to my parents.
*Today's last day of class was exhausting. We put on a performance. Will miss the kids though. Especially Yang Guo Zhun, who D. and I call Student Council President, because that's who he would've been in the States if he wasn't living in a rural Chinese village.
The village (nong cun) has been simultaneously a relief and a disappointment. Internet access, proper beds (well, proper Chinese beds, which means planks, a thin mattress pad, and bamboo), and showers anytime I want as long as I heat up the water with this little machine that sings to notify me that the hot water is ready. We also have a passive aggressive teammate with an inferiority complex about not having ever studied abroad.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
I'm a little surprised that when I first got here, I had exactly 3 numbers in the cell phone my uncle got me. My uncle, my friend Ed in Shanghai, and this random boy I met in Yangshuo who forced his number upon me. Now, after Red Guard training, I have 15 numbers. I never thought I'd be txtmsg'ing at 2 AM to other RCEF volunteers asking how they are. So how am I doing? Outside of the nightly meetings, which are really little more than public lashings, I think I'm doing okay. The kids seem to like me despite the language barrier and I thought things went smoothly outside of normal first day ripples like shyness and some lack of participation. It's strange to be held to a different set of standards than the ones I'm used to meeting. There's no A for Effort in China. We have a regular peanut gallery here that gathers every night. A peanut gallery that has had very little personal teaching experience of their own. Some of it is so ludicrous that I have to make an effort to not giggle in the middle.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
I'm surprised at how accustomed I've become to things. Bugs were dropping out of the air onto the table during dinner today, and I simply picked them out of my rice. I similarly flicked them off my notebook when they fell out of the sky while I was lesson planning. I'm generally tired and worn out, but steadily gaining an appreciation for how hard teachers have to work on a daily basis to lesson plan and teach.
Today's first aid class was a lesson for both of us. I taught them the Western way of dealing with cuts, burns, choking, and unconscious victims who have vomited. When first posing scenarios to them - I expected no one to know how to react. Instead, they all clamored to be called on. These were some of the answers I got.
In case of burns: Pour soy sauce on it. High quality expensive soy sauce. Then you put "medicine water" on it. When I asked what was in medicine water, they stared at me and said matter of factly - medicine. Like duh.
In case of unconscious victim with vomit: Press your thumb into the victim's philtrum. This is a pressure point that will help them regain consciousness. Place them on their back and pump their knees up towards their chest. This will help push blood flow back to their heart.
Most of the class nodded emphatically in agreement with all of these and I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell them they were wrong or say that the American way is the "right and only" way, because I didn't know that. I did feel instantly very un-Chinese and very American in a very intrusive sort of way.
Friday, July 28, 2006
The Wall of Fame was supposed to be a place for kids to compliment each other. Instead, it became a huge love letter to the teachers, thanking us (multiple times) for teaching. There's very much a teacher-worshipping culture here that's offset by a lack of teamwork among themselves. This came out especially during the relay races when they'd yell at other teams for cheating, at each other for being too slow, and at me if they felt I wasn't referee'ing enough. Some kids wouldn't even play, saying instead "Wo bu hui", which means literally "I can't" as in the way handicapped people can't do certain things, not "I don't know how to." The families themselves have been very nice and welcoming. Everytime D. and I go out for popsicles, someone invites us into their home for watermelon. I've eaten two whole watermelon in the past 2 days, leaving my stomach bloated. I don't think my ploy to lose weight here is working. Last night, we ran into one of our students on the street. We sat on stools with him, his mom, and a few neighbors, burning a type of brush that repels mosquitoes (and smells like pot) and chatting in the twilight. It was nice.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
The weekend. Glorious glorious weekend. 2 days too short. Monday starts the last week of teaching. We got more Jinan University students. One of them is pretty attractive, but I can't tell whether this is by U.S. standards or by "I've been too long in China" standards. Med school seems further and further away, as does my life in the States. The bathroom is still a source of nightly terror due to the gigantic spider that comes out at night.
I'm settling into the school and getting to know the kids more personally. Times like this make me really love teaching - when you can see the impact you have on the kids, when you see behavioral changes in unruly kids who then settle down because you're the one who's teaching, when the kids come to school on the weekends to hang out and play frisbee with the teachers and eat popsicles together. It's great.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
A few bombshells. 1) my roommate is moving out, giving me a grand total of 2 weeks to find a new roommate after I get back. 2) I'm teaching sex ed tomorrow. As the Health Ed teacher, I had to ask for male volunteers to teach the boys, and then instruct the volunteer on a few points I think are important to cover. Or, the points I imagine are important to cover since I don't really know what happens in a guys' sex ed class. The biggest challenge though, wasn't determination of content, but communication of that content to the volunteer teacher. I had to look up words like "erection", "testicle", and "pubic hair" in my Chinese-English dictionary ahead of time (and surprisingly, they're listed) and then stumble through the teacher discussion, mispronouncing most pertinent terms and having to resort to explanations or in worst case scenarios, charades, to convey my meaning. I keep telling myself I'm going to be a doctor and I shouldn't be embarassed by this, but I am. Horribly so.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
So I'm quickly running out of Care Bear band-aids. I hadn't planned on having to use so many for the kids and had only brought 10 for blisters, thinking I was really playing it safe considering that I only brought comfy shoes. Every day, someone falls on the playground, and as the medical student - people look to me to bandage the wounds. I've handled more cryingkids than ever, and kissed more boo-boo's than is hygienically healthy considering the infrequent washing and lack of toothbrushing that goes on here. The kids are pretty knowledgeable about their own hygiene and what they're supposed to be doing - but a disconnect lies between knowing and action. They simply don't have a habit of brushing their teeth, nor do their parents, so it's not reinforced in any way. The state of their teeth makes me shudder so I've taken to asking the kids every morning if they've brushed in an effort to pester them into doing it.
I'm glad to say the Sex Ed class was a huge success. The girls weren't shy at all, they asked questions, giggled, and were overall curious. You could tell it was something that'd been on their minds for a little while. Mental note: need to be more specific next time and draw clearer diagrams. i.e. Bleed from where? The vagina. I spent all morning drawing really bad renditions of uteruses. We even ventured into sex since someone asked why we need men to have babies. I'm pretty proud of the girls. They handled it really well. I even had the opportunity to visit the village clinic today - where I found out that shots and an IV are started for everything (including colds) and penicillin is entirely overprescribed. When I asked why they drip everything in through an IV, they said that it's faster-acting that way. I couldn't explain why the West uses oral meds as a first line of defense besides saying lamely that it's less invasive. Being here makes me appreciate things in America that I take for granted. Like the education system, the democratic system, and the sanitation system.
I'm currently wearing a wristband of death. I taught the kids how to make friendship bracelets yesterday and that's all they've been doing. I received a stone bracelet from the class punk Zhu Xi Ning as a sign of friendship, and a red yarn bracelet from Xue Yin - which she made slightly too short but was determined to tie on my wrist nonetheless. It's slowly cutting off the circulation in my wrist but I can't take it off. Literally. It won't come undone.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
Next to last day. Feeling a bit conflicted. Am glad to be free of obligation and can travel on the road with no other duty but to please myself. Am glad to be able to have personal space and my own internet time. But sad to be leaving such a dynamic group of people and such a great set of kids. YinJiaLing is unique in the sense that lots of NGO's pass through the community school. Right now there's RCEF, Duke's DreamCorps, Jinan University's SVRS, and a Malaysian NGO. It's an interesting meeting of minds since there's no more than 3 reps per group. The community school is also a bastion of revolution. The head of the school is very pro-democracy and a few years ago, succeeded in getting democratic elections instated in the village. The school also provides law classes so the villagers know their rights and put on a mock court so if they're ever arrested - they'll know what all these people do. The head of the school was a music major in undergrad, but he changed to education afterwards because though he loves music - music won't save the country. Education can. Either he'll become a hero, or go down in flames - shot as a revolutionary. There's really only two options for people who burn with that kind of passion. Part of me wants to come back every year so I can see how the kids are growing, how they turn out, who they get married to.
Friday, August 4, 2006
*Looks like my train ride to Lanzhou will not work out after all. I'm slightly disappointed as I was looking forward to travelling by train.
*My clothes somehow smell worse after I washed them than before. Doesn't speak well for the water.
*I've run out of bug spray. Not that it matters as I've gotten used to picking bugs out of my food and beer.
*I love green bean popsicles.
*I've ordered a new laptop online. Thinkpad! Excited to get it. May make my Dell laptop a backup laptop or give it to my parents.
*Today's last day of class was exhausting. We put on a performance. Will miss the kids though. Especially Yang Guo Zhun, who D. and I call Student Council President, because that's who he would've been in the States if he wasn't living in a rural Chinese village.
posted by ink at
11:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home