Koreans, Waltzes, and War Crimes

Here's the thing. I've been quite busy this semester. The Korean students are a real trip. Their parents are high class guest workers (executives) with a Korean car company. They are totally unmotivated. To be fair their lives are quite hard. They've been uprooted from their home country, are taught in a language they are totally unfamiliar with (both Chinese and English), and live away from their family for 5 days a week. As a result of all these things and more the students are quite close to one another. I like the kids but they are just not as dedicated as most of my Chinese students.

Beyond the Chinese and Korean classes I am also teaching a modern western music course. I split time in the classroom with Bryne. I have only taught one class so far and it was fun. There are about 60 students in the class and they mostly see is as fun and why shouldn't they, this class is optional for them. I like it because they get freaked out when I play jazz.

I have also been doing extra work with other teachers from the English department. Our school is celebrating its 140th Anniversary and some part of the celebration involves the sister schools in Australia and Germany. And here is where it begins to get even more unclear; as part of the anniversary celebration LuHe is translating a book about educational systems written by some Australian something or other. Happy anniversary? Every Friday night for the last month I have been working with three other teachers to translate the English into Chinese. Now, my Chinese is somewhere between awful and terrible so I don't actually do any translating, I just try to explain the educational jargon and concepts in simplified English. I have been told that I will make a lot of money by doing this for the school but I'm just in it for the food. Every Friday we work from 4 to 6 and then go for a giant meal. We have had different regional cuisines every week. Kind of like a food tour of China. Last week we had a full Sichuan meal. It was the first time I gave in to the heat that is Sichuan cuisine. It was damn hot but actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Every dish we had was quite spicy. Even the Chinese teachers thought it was too much and ordered cooler dishes. After dinner we usually return to work on the book but this past Friday we went to the LuHe Teacher's Dance Party. It was awesome. When the three teachers and I walked up to the dance hall there was just one man sitting in the middle of the dance floor smoking a cigarette while Wagner played over the PA. It was like something from a Kubrick film. We danced salsa, waltz, I did the crocodile, tootsie-roll, and some of the Chinese teachers pop-and-locked. I had never wanted to return to work more. We worked on the book until 10:30 (as usual) which kills my Friday nights because the subway closes at 10:00.

Recent weekends have seen me heading into the city with single minded determination. The NCAA tournament is something that I can't miss. The first weekend of the tournament I headed into the city and stayed there until the games started at 1:00 a.m. For the second set of games on the first weekend I was at this Canadian sports bar whose patron's are mostly old expat men and Mongolian 'ladies of the night'. I outlasted all of them and watched 8 hours of uninterrupted hoops action while enjoying a full western breakfast (this Canadian sports bar is one of only 3 places that I know of that serves western style breakfast in Beijing).

This past Saturday I went to Tianjin with some friends. Tianjin was a Chinese concession during the first Opium War. It is a port city located about an hour and a half by train from Beijing. Tianjin is famous within China for its architecture. Around 1860, 8 united foreign powers (headed by England, France, and Germany) wanted a trade relationship with China and were denied by the Emperor. They got angry because they wanted silk and porcelain so they decided to trade opium for these products. Opium was outlawed in China. Tensions increased and the 8 nations invaded China. Tianjin was given to the allied nations and as a result many foreigners settled there and built homes and buildings in the styles of their native lands. It feels a bit like a trip to Epcot Center except Tianjin does not have fireworks every night. Tianjin also has the fourth largest tower in the world. We went up there and got a great view of the whole city. The weather was great so we just wandered the streets and ate some of Tianjin's famous baozi (meat dumpling). There was an interesting museum that we went to. It was said to be designed to resemble a swan taking flight from a lake. The museum detailed the atrocities committed by the 8 allied nations during the Opium War. Bryne made some startling realizations at that museum and for the rest of our time in Tianjin told everyone he was Canadian.

China is good. I'm good. I'm looking for a job in order to stay here for another year so if you have any suggestions send them my way. Pictures to come soon.