Update: It's been awhile.

I have transferred back to using my other blog and I am actually writing again. It's been awhile since I have been on here. Anyways, the link to my other blog is: Grace for a Wayward Heart.

Lessons Learned: Growing as a Teacher

It is currently my last week of teaching at Jiangxi Blue Sky University here in Nanchang; however, that doesn't really put it into perspective until you realize that tomorrow is my last day. I have come a far way from where I started at last fall, and I am thankful for that. I have to admit, though, that I feel I could make a lot more improvement as a teacher had I another year to make progress. It is hard to picture myself not being here with my students teaching and working on preparing better lessons, assessments, and rubrics.

Unique Opportunities Afforded Teaching English in China:
The opportunity afforded me here in China has been unique for several reasons I believe: First, I have been allowed to experience the ups and downs of teaching in an environment that forced me to deal with my successes and failures. Second, I was allowed to experiment in making and developing lesson plans that constantly challenged me to incorporate different learning styles as well as adjust to my students' needs. Third, I feel that I learned a great deal more about developing assessemnts and rubrics considering my knowledge was rather limited considering I have only taken 1 heavy duty education course before coming. Fourth, I have now taught in an environment in which addressing my students needs was difficult due to language and cultural barriers, but was stretched and learned alternative solutions in soliciting feedback and learning what worked better for them (when I could).

Finals Week: Expecting the Unexpected in China
Our finals week was both planned and unplanned this semester. It was planned in the sense that we had a syllabus and new tentatively when our school planned to hold finals for their students. The part that we forgot about - again - was that we live and work in China and "tentative" really doesn't mean anything. So as we progressed through May most of us anticipated being finished with classes and finals at the beginning of June, but that was not to be...Sitting together in Joelle's room about 2 weeks ago during our HOPE (a time that we spend the whole morning lifting up thoughts and reading the Word) our FAO Billy called and told us to begin giving finals the following week. Honestly, I was rather frustrated and had some choice thoughts in my head which I wanted to communicate with the administration at my school. That, and tell them how completely shortsighted their planning was...

I am glad to say that I never expressed those thoughts, except with my friends and fellow teacher here. Yet, it was a huge blow for many of us since we had built in time with which to say goodbye to our students and make some kind of transition. If you teach overseas, however, I am sure you will learn time and time again that flexibility is the key. Being able to roll-with-the-punches is paramount to being able to live and make difficult transistions as well as overcoming the barrage of challenges to everyday living that now have language and cultural meanings embedded into them that you can't even begin to understand. Nonetheless, we had a job to do regardless of how valid we perceived our grievances to be, and there are just some battles you aren't going to win - this was one of them.

So last week we overhauled our lesson plans and made adjustments to our finals that would fairly guage and acccess our students' progress. Or at least I thought so in the planning stage... I don't know about those of you that teach, but there is a seemingly large gap between theory and practice once application begins in the classroom. How does one account for all the vairous factors that affect implimentation? I have noticed lately that I constantly want to kick myself for not modeling my expectations better, especially when I see it reproduced by my students. I don't know about you, but I had a scary thought: "What does that mean for people parenting kids?" (I don't want to know right now...) At any rate, the point here is that it becomes only all to clear for a teacher in my position to see where bad modeling and poor directions are reflected in informal and formal assessments.

What Would Mr. Aaron Do?

So the other day I was talking to my student Echo who is one of my brighter and more diligent students, and actually seems interested in learning English (that actually doesn't happen too much). Anyways, she came up to me and asked me if I remembered helping her prepare for a presentation on the labor market and I said I did. From there, she went on to tell me that after she finished her presentation for Mr. Ern (who is one of the Filipino teachers here at Blue Sky) the other day he asked her what she would think if China lost the capability to fund their economy and stores and hospitals started closing down because of lack of funds, and everyone lost their job.

She told me frankly that she was shocked and didn't know what to say. So she thought "What would Mr. Aaron do or say?" So she said told me that she remembered how I say "So sad" (I admit that this is nearly Chinglish, but it makes my students laugh so I am okay with it), and decided that is what I would say in that situation. So she told Mr. Ern "It must be so sad...." I have no clue what Mr. Ern said, but if I was there I would have been laughing outloud. I half wonder if she said, "I think this is what Mr. Aaron would say."

So there you have it. I have successfully indoctrinated the students to mentally ask themselves, "What would Mr. Aaron do?" My job is done here...

饺子 (Jiaozi): Making Dumplings

So I had students over the other day for their English Project who decided that they were going to make jiaozi (饺子) for me. I was, of course, a big fan of this since I don't cook and I love eating homemade food.

So my students Sarah and Atomic - I know it's an amazing name - came over around 3pm in the afternoon and we made our way over to the vegetable market. The vegetable market is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment and is an outdoor market where vendors can sell their goods. We spent about 40 minutes bargaining with the vendors, looking for the best carrots, pork (yep, they have meat too), cabbage, dough, and other goods before heading out and making our way back to my apartment.

Upon getting back to the apartment, it took us about 1 hour of prep work to get all the ingredients ready for making jiozi (dumplings). Once finished, we put all the ingredients (carrots, pork, cabbage(?), peanuts, etc..) into a bowl together to create the filling that goes inside dumplings. I can tell you that crushing peanuts with a small glass cup is not ideal, and that you should switch to using a sharp knife when possible. My student Atomic - who is from Xinjiang - was in charge of the whole dumpling making process, which was kind of interesting since her English is at a rather low level. On the other hand, my hopes in doing this project was that they might be encouraged to speak more English.


At any rate, once you have your dumpling filling you are pretty much ready to go. All you need now is the small round discs of dough that you can buy pre-made; which we did. I couldn't imagine trying to make those things by hand - it would take you forever! First, you take a round piece of dough and gently wipe water around the edges (so as to make it easier to push together once you've finished). Second, take a pair of chopsticks and and grab some vegetable/meat filling and fill your piece of dough so that there is just enough room to seal it. Third, pinch the two center pieces of your dough together so as to create a crescent-like shape. Fourth, once you have pinched the center pieces together, move to the ends - individually - and work your way back to the center so that the filling is securely sealed inside your dough. No step 5, you're done!


Okay, now that I feel like a dork for explaining that, I should mention that going through the process is entirely worth it since jiaozi tastes really good. There are actually many different kinds of jiaozi, but I am not going to get into that now...

The girls actually made so many dumplings that there were well over 100 pieces of jiaozi. I couldn't have possible eaten that much, so the good Father saw it in his interest to send up Joelle, Val, Tanya, Merilee and others to help eat the dumplings with us. My roommate Jonathan and his student Jerry also made it back in time to help us eat some of them too. Come to think of it, despite there being around 10 of us eating those things, we never managed to eat of all of them...

And, I couldn't help but finish this blog off with with a picture that my student Sarah wanted to take of me and one of the 3 amigos. We are just holding the cutting board and pointing at it....it's pretty awesome...

Going to the Hospital - China Style

Life In Nanchang: Why Visiting the Doctor in China Just Isn't the Same...

So you might wonder what you are looking at off to the right, huh? Well, that is a x-ray of my chest after I spent 4 hours at the hospital the other week. It seems in the last couple of weeks my body has decided to feign breaking down and/or giving up on me - or at least not work properly.

I started doing push-ups after a very long break from working out about a month ago. After a week of doing these push-ups I noticed an increase in chest pain as well as a 'popping' sound. I thought I would just ignore it and that after awhile it would go away; however, as time passed the pain increased and so did the 'popping'.

So I decided that I needed to go see a doctor in the hopes of getting an x-ray. The only problem in China - most of the time - is that you want to see a doctor, you have to go see the doctor. The other difficulty about going to the hospital is that they are crowded - since they both act as clinics and full-fledged hospitals - and lines really don't apply to China. I was blessed enough to have Mr. Li (our school driver) and Amy (one of our Foreign Affair assistant) help me with filling out all the information, paying for all the medical fees, and going to the all the right places.

Inside a Chinese Hospital

The bottom floor of a Chinese hospital kind of looks like chaos. People are moving in all directions and there voices are fighting to make it over each other. Surrounding the outskirts of the main entryway are tons of booths where patients are making payments and discussing/arguing about prices (I can only guess). Once you manage to file your name with the clerks on the 1st floor you will get a card which with to give to nurses so that they can swipe it on their computers so as to ascertain your identity. However, to do so, you must proceed to the 2nd floor where you sit and stand with everybody else at your appropriate station.

After waiting awhile you will be permitted to go beyond a couple booths guarded by Chinese nurses. I should note that the one of the nurses guarding the entrance to the doctors in our department was pretty hardcore and didn't stand for any non-sense. Mr. Li tried persuading her to let us in earlier, but his attempts were to no avail. Once past the nurses you will enter a room with a Chinese doctor who is seated at a desk, a computer, and about 10 people fighting for their attention.

Yes, it's kind of like a competition. It's kind of an awkward situation to be in. Several things start to race through your head: #1: I don't speak the language good enough to be involved in this kind of competition. #2: My ailment doesn't really appear to be that bad compared to the other people in this room. #3: Why is the room so small? #4. How does the doctor keep their sanity fighting off patients all day?

Those were my first thoughts after about 3 minutes in the room. When I entered the room, I counted 14 people including myself in a 10 x 10 room. After about 30 minutes of waiting and competing with other patients - by that I mean Mr. Li - we were directed to go to another room to get our x-ray. Mr. Li was pretty much my go-to-man all the whole 4 hours I was there. For hours he competed constantly with other Chinese to get me through my EKG and Chest X-ray. Mr. Li is an awesome guy (picture on your left).

Well after about 3 hours of running around, we finally made it back to our starting point, and were once again engaged in battling for position with the doctor. The added twist to this scenario was that SOS - one of my health care providers - wanted to talk to the doctor over the phone - my cell phone that is. So I call SOS - anxiously worrying that somehow we are going to be called any minute since there is really no way to tell. So I finally get the receptionist who connects me with her Chinese doctor in Beijing after about 5 minutes. Now I am just waiting for the Nanchang doctor...

So there we were, the three of us - me, the receptionist, and the Chinese doctor (who also speaks English) - chilling on the phone, waiting for our turn with the doctor in Nanchang, who is fighting-off 10 other patients simultaneously. At this point, I am quite uncomfortable so I tell Amy to to tell Mr. Li that we should have some added leverage in this competition since we now have a doctor on the phone from Beijing who has been waiting for 5 minutes. That apparently bought us the leverage we needed and I was finally able to hand over my phone and have the doctors from Nanchang and Beijing talk to each other about my medical condition. I mean, besides the fact that I couldn't understand a single thing that was being said, I felt pretty successful.

Plus, the good news was the my EKG and Chest X-Ray said that I hadn't broken my sternum. What better news could you want? And it only cost my $15 dollars. Yay!

So if you go to a Chinese hospital, be in for a surprise!

Teaching in Nanchang

So I was looking through my photos over the last month it would seem that I have a good assortment of random pictures of us just going through our everyday routines. And when I say routines, it would seem that for me that doesn't include pictures of me teaching, but rather hanging-out in the office, riding the bus, or posing for a random short in front of the building we teach in... At any rate, I hope you enjoy!

(Outside the J3 building we teach in)

(Sitting in the school bus on a ride home - I look really old)

(Group shot by Jodi - you can her blog out at 10 Months)

(Shannon & I: So sometimes I'm gangsta)

Lost in Translation: Where Did March Go?

Well, I feel like it has been such a long time since I have be able to sit down and write what has been going on in my life. This last month might have been one of the most intense months of my life since coming to China - to say the least. I feel like so much that could have been said or shared about this last month - in some ways - has been lost, and unfortunately might be something that I will never be able to truly articulate. Nonetheless, I would still like to pretend like I can fill you in on the ups and downs of living in the 'Chang.
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Big Decisions:

This last month felt like one of the longest months of my life. To start off with, March 15th was the date by which we had to make a decision as to whether or not we would stay with our organization. Honestly, I had thought that this decision would have come in a timely manner and with much more certainty as to what I should do. I was a silly person. January passed by, February went by with a flash, and all of a sudden it was March. I had thought that thinking about it and/or worrying about the decision would have only made things worse, but I failed to take into account that not engaging the subject at all might leave me with the inability to ask the appropriate questions and truly access my situation.

With a week left to go I began calling friends and trying to think the decision over; however, pulling a classic 'Aaron move' I decided to make a head strong decision without thinking through all the questions I might need to truly take into account for jumping with both feet in. Perhaps, it is due to my somewhat serious nature and willingness to jump into situations that I don't entirely know everything about. I guess it is good to be reminded that we all can use some accountability, and perhaps I need it more than I would like to admit at times.

At any rate, I have made the decision to go home after I finish up the school year here at Blue Sky University. I feel it is the right decision as of right now, but I cannot lie that I am torn for my love of teaching and living in China. I face a world of uncertainties in returning home that I don't have to always face here. I have been blessed to be given a reprieve from the challenges and traps that we all face when dealing with American culture. Yet, I know I have grown and been challenged in ways that I will not truly know the extent of until I return home, and interact with all of you I know. Plus, I know that our Father will challenge and continue to grow me back home.
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Spiritual Challenges: The 'Haze'

My second challenge - but greatest challenge - was finding myself again and focusing back in on what the Father might have me hear about what was going on in my life. I feel like halfway through the month of March I realized that I was out-of-touch with things, and everything just felt a little off. It's like when you keep on hearing yourself say things to questions about your 'Walk' with the Father, but neither hear from yourself any improvement and/or concern. After a couple weeks of this, '"red flags" started to go off for me - even I was a little encumbered and slow to react. It seems that my 'Walk' has been something of an all out fight, which I apparently wasn't fighting for. It's embarrassing to admit, but it's the truth.

I feel like I was taken without a clue having not had the spiritual armor and/or protection that we all talk about having and vigilantly guarding. Interestingly enough, I should mention that at this point I had begun memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18. Go figure, huh? Even now - just writing this out - I am realizing how much making forward progress is something that I have been fighting for, and not taking this knowledge seriously has seriously inhibited my ability to make progress with victory.

While coming out of the 'Haze' has been slow, I have been refocusing slowly but surely on His strength. I have realized how desperately I need to hear and read the Word everyday that I might be able to function effectively. I am hoping that this realization will continue to manifest itself in my life that I can see its fruits not only here and now, but when I come home.
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Teaching English: The Ups and Downs

So at the beginning of this semester I gave my students two oral projects: (1) Culture Project; (2) English Project. My hope in giving my students these two projects was multifaceted. First off, having students - especially Chinese students - do homework (I have found) is semi-unproductive and ineffective, especially when your main goal is to improve their oral English. Of course, one has to take into account that I teach at a private university, which is like the equivalent to teaching at a community college with equal or less motivation of some American students. Second, students simply don't turn it in and/or listen to instructions no matter how many different ways you explain it. Plus, there is the factor of time that it involves, but let us not go there. Thirdly, and a much more practical reason, I found that having students write and/or do homework was not accomplishing my real objective of them speaking in English.

So I made it easier on myself. I cut my student's homework assignments by over half - lessening their overall impact on my students grades - and gave them oral projects instead. The Culture Project requires my students to prepare cultural presentations (on Chinese culture) in pairs and present at the beginning of class every week. This effectively allowed students to have more speaking time and practice listening to their peers. Unfortunately, I didn't take into account - enough - the need for accountability and interaction from the audience in listening to a presentation by doing simple things such as: taking effective notes, asking questions, etc... On the other hand, when I wrote my rubric and grading structure, my hope was simply for them to get up and speak. So I guess I am kind of in a win - lose situation.

The English Project is slightly different. I gave my students this project due to their complaints that they couldn't find any "foreigners" to talk to. Perhaps, being slightly generous and seeing the benefits of spending more time and getting know my students better I offered myself to be their guinea pig. I told them that they had - between February and May - to do several random activities which required them to practice their English, including spending time with me. Thus, lately, I have become under the barrage of students asking me: "Mr. Aaron, do you have free time? I want to make an appointment with you?" So pretty much now, when I am not teaching or doing team activities, I am spending time with my students. It is both a blessing and a challenge for me since I am not entirely the person who is recharged by being around people all the time. Plus, the longer they hold out and wait till the last minute the more chaotic my schedule will become. Even meeting with them 4-5 at a time really doesn't seem to make a dent when there are somewhere around 180 of them and only 1 of me. So if you think about it 'lift me up' because I am definitely running a race here.

Recruiting Students

On a side note. My university is known for sending their students home to recruit other students half-way through the semester. It is really the most peculiar thing that I have ever heard of a university doing. However, there is an incentive for students to go since the university will give them money if they manage to get a student to come to our school. The disturbing part - I find - is that the headmasters earn just as much or more if they are able to encourage students to leave and return home to recruit students. For the teachers here, it is something that we really can't make sense of.

As of now, it looks like well over half of my students will start leaving beginning the last week of April and continue till May 1st, which is a national holiday for them. The figures I have been able to collect - in asking my students to let me know if they are leaving or not - shows me that out of a total 180+ students around 130 of them might be returning home with an unknown return date. My BE3+4 class might actually be leaving in full force too. So I might possible drop from 4 classes to 3 in May if these statistics hold true. My other classes which always hover near 50 students each will drop drastically, having only 20 students or less in each class.