Fuzhou - Last Day Of Teaching

9th July 2010

I've gone from a bimonthly report (two per month) to a bimonthly report (every two months) - confusing language, English! But I need to reacquaint myself with it because my next assignment finally takes me back to teaching English: this time in Dalian in the north-east of China.
Apart from spending most of my time with school work, there have been some miserable times and a spate of bad luck in the last couple weeks:

• The rain has been incessant ever since returning to Fuzhou: hardly a day has passed when it hasn't rained. More recently the heat has been turned up, often in the mid/high 30s degrees - the humidity is unbearable. Remember I commute 50km to/from school every day in horrific traffic conditions.
• Two weeks ago the electric bike gave up on me, on the way home; I walked it for about 10km before finding someone willing to repair it.
• A week ago my bike ran into a pothole at 40kph, I came off the seat and did a handstand while hanging onto the handlebars; unfortunately, the throttle bar came off in my hand and the accelerator could not be turned off! Fortunately, I managed to hang on with the left hand and apply enough brake to slow down.
• Two days later the new throttle bar came off again while I was walking the bike down a steep ramp at school - the bike fell over (with throttle open) and went into a spin on the ground, with me comically trying to catch it to switch it off.
• Up until two 3 days ago, the teaching opportunities offered by my employer were not very attractive and I was preparing to sit out the next semester.
• I had to cancel my return flight to Australia (Jul 5) as I was still teaching, only to be told that the next available flight (via my return ticket) was Aug 4!
• I had no buyer for my e-bike.

However, for every (negative) action there is often a (positive) reaction: in this case:

• My bike has been fixed and I have now found a buyer for it.
• A suitable English-teaching position emerged this week in Dalian - a city I've been trying to get to in the last year or so.
• A flight booking to Australia came up for Jul 21, arriving on the evening of Jul 22.
• To top things off, earlier this week I entered a competition on a World Cup sports show on CCTV News (a Chinese TV channel, in English, which broadcasts across China and to a number of countries). My name and winning entry must have been seen by millions of people, not that anyone cared, but I was very excited!

Below is the url for the "Photo of the Day" competition that I won earlier this week.

For those of you who are not soccer (football) fans, I need to explain the logic behind my photo caption:

Diego Maradona was the superstar player for Argentina when they won their last World Cup in 1986 against West Germany. In a quarter-final game against England he scored a goal after illegally touching the ball with his left hand. He later admitted to it and it came to be known as "The hand of God". In the competition photo it shows Maradona (the current manager of the Argentina team) waiving goodbye (with his left hand) after being thrashed by Germany 4-0 in the 2010 World Cup.

Hence, my caption:

"On this hand God giveth; on the other hand, Germany taketh away".

Move to 21.30 minutes into the video for the presenter's announcement of my winning entry.
http://english.cntv.cn/program/sportsscene/20100707/100550.shtml

One last bit of good news is that today was my last official day of teaching, albeit I still have a weekend of assignments marking ahead of me. It's not easy ploughing through 40 marketing assignments of some 30-pages each, but there have been some funny moments such as: instead of seeing a heading of "Physical Handling" a student wrote "Physical Hanging" - naturally it passed an MS-Word spell check; another assignment was about a perfume that the students invented, called True Love: their prototype perfume bottle was of a bamboo design with a couple of butterflies perched on the bamboo. (Refer "Perfume Story" attachment for the Chinglish, but beautiful, love story that was on the perfume box).

Finally, some photos of the many student teams presentations I had to mark:

• the students were asked to dress-up for the presentations
• I'm the short one in the middle
• I'm the short one again!
• Ah, finally someone my size

Well, after almost one year in Fuzhou I head home in a couple of weeks for my son's wedding, soon after which I will be heading for the beautiful (so I'm told) coastal city of Dalian. For you Melburnians, I'll see you soon; for those in China, I hope this summer's weather is kind to you.

Until the next report... Renzo

Fuzhou - Nothing Is Easy

11th April 2010

It has been a long time between reports: I've been back to Melbourne to visit family and friends, enjoy driving my car and riding my motorbike while enjoying some summer weather; even managed to go the international Superbikes race at Philip Island in Feb (refer photo).

Sad to say my return to Fuzhou hasn't been what I had hoped for: my new, experienced Marketing teacher colleague took one look at the facilities and students and after 3 days left Fuzhou, and us, stranded! I was relying on him to take the lead and make my life easier; as it is now, we have a fill-in teacher leaving me to sort things out!

When I was teaching a Management module last semester I created 200+ ppt slides in order to teach the main points in the student book. The previous year's Management teacher, who has that same module this year, is now teaching from my slides and says "they are fantastic". Perhaps all my effort last semester will live on... maybe I should have put a copyright on them!

With this semester's Marketing module I am obliged to teach from 369 ppt slides provided by NMIT in Australia, but I find that I need to correct some that are wrong and enhance many that I believe are confusing to the students. So, it's back to the same time-consuming effort as the previous semester - it appears nothing is easy for me in teaching Business modules! Oh, how I long to return to teaching English!

Back in March, after only 2 days of teaching I came down with laryngitis, totally losing my voice, and had to take 4 days off - leaving me with weekend classes to catch up. One amusing moment came when one of my new students enquired why I wasn't at school: to which I replied "I am at home with laryngitis" - her reply was "... is Laryngitis an Australian friend..."!

On the positive side I had an ex-student visit me for a few days where we explored some shops and a few restaurants. Yesterday I treated 4 of my better students to an interesting "meng guo" lunch. And, on the May 1 long weekend another student is going to be my guide to visit Xiamen: apparently a beautiful city, just south of Fuzhou and very close to Taiwan.

Hope all has been, and continues to be, well with you... Renzo

Fuzhou - Xmas And New Year

4th January 2010

I've been extremely busy with setting and correcting final assignments for the 2 modules that I teach, as well as having to create end-of-semester test papers. On top of that I am involved with a growing network of friends both within and outside of the university: they are also taking a toll on my time. Hence, the regular reports have been few and far between. I would like to quote my dear friend Roger who gave me an opportunity to enter the teaching profession at WUST:

"It is said that “Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them, but they are always there.” I am like that star hereby shining again after being obscure for a while and beaming the best wishes..."

to my family and friends, wishing you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2010. For those who may be interested, below is what I've been up to in the previous month.

I've experienced my first e-bike accident, albeit a minor one with no one hurt. A lady darted out on her e-bike from behind parked cars to cross a very busy street: there was no way possible that I could have avoided hitting her side on. I shouted at her and she looked rather sheepish. As I was still mobile I decided best to just keep going before a crowd started to congregate.

In the last month I have been taken to the only two five-star hotels in Fuzhou for dinner: one by a school in which foreign teachers were asked to visit for Christmas; the other by an American businessman who runs a factory, making sandals for export. I have now promised to take some friends there in the next couple of weeks. The surroundings and the food are top class in both hotels.

Xmas and New Year have been interesting in that the students have taken the opportunity to celebrate it with their respective foreign teachers. I played Xmas carols and DVDs to them and they wore santa hats, gave me presents and wanted plenty of photos, especially as it's now nearing the end of the semester - it's easy to understand how teaching can be a satisfying and enjoyable experience.

A couple of students have asked me to go to Xiamen and/or Macau with them following their exams, but I'll be too busy marking test papers before I return to Australia on Jan 26 (Australia Day). It will be a short visit as I will need to return to Fuzhou 4 weeks later to teach a Marketing module.

Attached are some school photos...

Regards... Renzo

Fuzhou - Busy, Busy, Busy, Exploring

5th December 2009

I've been very busy with preparing lessons for school, trying to inject some interest into what are fairly dry subjects; plus, the sheer number of students has put an additional strain on my time: I simply haven't had time to do much else. I now have to start creating end-of-semester exam papers, followed by marking some 400 of them!

Attached are a couple of photos of students who performed best.

As occurred in Wuhan last year, winter hit rather suddenly in Fuzhou - albeit nowhere near as cold as in the northern regions of China. Nonetheless, I have fallen victim to my annual series of a runny nose, followed later by a sore throat and now a cough that won't go away. Fortunately, I have met a Chinese ex-nurse who is helping me buy drugs (medicines) and who can introduce me to some English-speaking doctors (should I need one). She has also kindly volunteered to show me around Fuzhou.

Not much else to report other than I have joined a gym, I am exploring some decent restaurants and managed to go to one of Fuzhou's mountain-top monasteries with my volunteer guide (refer photos). I continue to fight the unbelievably chaotic traffic every morning and night on my e-bike: there's no way I could possibly explain all the totally insane things that I have seen bike riders do. Sadly I have picked many of their less-dangerous bad habits, as I like to "mix it" with them. My riding motto has become: "expect the unexpected".

Hope you are all well. To those of you in my "Chinese home town" of Wuhan: hope you are coping with the shortage of gas and keeping warm; those in Shanghai: as the countdown to Expo 2010 has commenced I hope you are looking forward to next May; and, to my family and friends in Melbourne: can you pleae send me some of that beautiful warm weather you are having, or at least save some for my return in late January.


Until next time... Renzo

Fuzhou - Things Have Improved

15th October 2009

Well, two weeks have passed since my last despondent email and things have improved... I get on well with the school administrator who looks after my every request: I now have my own classroom on the 5th floor where I have custody of the multi-media key (no more signing for it every day!); I have a new whiteboard as opposed to other rooms which still have chalk and old blackboards; I have even requested and been granted a remote control to operate powerpoint slides from the middle of the classroom, hence, no longer a need for the microphone. Moreover, all the teachers are getting new PCs to replace the existing very old and incredibly slow ones.

The weather has cooled down to a comfortable temperature and we just had an 8-day "National Day" break, even though we had to teach on a Sat and Sun either side of the break! As the traffic was incredibly quiet during the break I took the opportunity to explore some of Fuzhou on my ebike: I got lost a couple of times but managed to find my way home with a map, even though it was in Chinese.

I have bought some things to make my apartment more comfortable, with the help of a Chinese English teacher (in photo B01) who lives nearby. I have also met my young Chinese landlords who seem quite obliging e.g. they installed a TV digital set-top box for me (with 100+ channels) so that I could receive some Chinese channels which broadcast in English: I've been "touring" around China (via TV) and watching the Shanghai Tennis Open.

I've been trying different restaurants and have found a new favourite one across the road where the manager speaks some English: it's a little dearer than my previous favourite, as it's now costing me AUD$2 for an evening meal, but hang the expense! (haha).

As it's not worth buying a pedal bike this time around, and I desperately need to exercise, I have selected a modern gym which I hope to join soon, if the price is right.

I'm still very busy with school, having just set a mid-semester exam which the students will sit for next Monday and Tuesday. As most of the questions are multiple-choice and True/False type they will be relatively quick to mark, but I do have 400+ students!

Lastly, I have a request from anyone who can assist: I'm looking for some light relief for myself and the students on this module called "Managing Effective Workplace Relationships" which includes such topics as communications, leadership styles, trust, work performance, conflict resolution, negotiation strategies. Does anyone have any fun exercises that the students can do (eg we did Chinese Whispers), or better still, some John Cleese management-type videos that I could borrow? Anything on my other module: Australian "Occupational, Health & Safety" would also be appreciated.

As I type this email I am listening to my favourite internet radio station which plays very enjoyable and soothing classical music; it's a German station and every so often they have an ad which I don't understand, except that it's advertising something called "fart"; the bottom line of the ad is in perfect English and it says "fart - feel the difference!": with that I'll leave you, as I'm going for a short walk...


Regards... Renzo

Photos:

1. Yu Shan Scenic Spot: it dates back to the Warring States Era (475-221) BC. It's located on a hill which I can see clearly from my window.
2. me on the hill.
3. Westlake, some 10 minutes by ebike from where I live.
4. A temple located on top of another nearby hill; some 300 steps, after a steep path climb!
5. sight one on the way to the temple.
6. sight two on the way to the temple.
7. A shot of the sunset from my window (on 10x optical zoom).

Fuzhou - Settling In

29th September 2009

It's exactly one month since I landed in Fuzhou and I've been extremely busy, mainly with school and finding a suitable apartment.

To date, school has been a disappointment on a number of fronts:

• It is located some 25km from the city in a desolate area populated only by universities
• My office is located on the 5th floor of the building and teaching on the 1st floor, but no lifts!
• I have an 8:30am class Mon-Fri, requiring me to get up at 6:15am (not my style!)
• There is a school bus which I could catch which arrives at school at 8:20am, resulting in a rush to start class on time
• The bus does the return trip at 4:45pm; so I need to wait for that bus even if I don't have any classes in the afternoon
• I have a heavy teaching load: 15 periods a week, each period of 90 minutes
• Each class contains 50-60 students, requiring me to use a microphone or speak very loudly
• The classes are a combination of a lesson and a straight lecture: the latter being boring for me and the students!
• I'm teaching a Business course in English but the majority of the students understand and speak little English!
• I've been given a Student's book but no accompanying Teacher's book
• I need to create a mid-semester and an end-of-semester exam myself, plus some assignments (with no guidance)
• All my time has been spent at school or preparing school material at home... We now have an 8-day break (National Day holidays) where I'm hoping to get ahead in my lesson planning and estabish some material for the exams.

The good news is that I have found a small, but comfortable, apartment: it is brand new (I'm the 1st tenant) in the city centre, close to many shops and restaurants. As it is quite a distance from the school bus I have purchased an electric bike (which doesn't require me to have a licence). So now I commute to school by eBike every day (40 minutes each way). However, winter is coming...

The traffic in Fuzhou is by far the worst I have encountered in China - it is absolute chaos!

• Thousands of e-bikes share the roads and footpaths with pedestrians and pedestrians share the roads with motorbikes and cars: people happily and leisurely walk in the middle of the road oblivious to the chaos around them. I've seen 2 people, in peak period, having a chat in the middle of the road and if you beep them they don't even bother looking around - they just keep walking on the road while cars and bikes swerve around them!
• I have one of the fastest e-bikes (good acceleration and hits 60kpm): when doing 60kpm and overtaking slower bikes I'm suddenly comfronted with another bike hurtling towards me going the other way! - it's illegal but it seems to be accepted by everyone.
• Most e-bikes either don't have turn indicators or they don't use them - I've had a number of near misses.
• Traffic lights don't mean anything - you simply go through a red light if it's clear.
• Because you don't need a licence for an e-bike ANYBODY can put one on the road, regardless of their competency level. It's like dodgem cars at Luna Park. I've seen many bikers with a cigarette in their mouth whilst talking on their mobile. Today I was following a police motorcyclist who was all over the road while he was texting on his mobile!

I guess you get the picture, but in an odd sort of way all this chaos is part of the adventure and the excitement...

As always a heroine emerges who goes out of their way to help me: this time it's a Chinese English teacher who found an apartment for me and made numerous calls to the owner when things have gone wrong; she organised internet installation, my mobile card and bank account. It would be impossible to survive in China without such assistance.

My experience in Wuhan and Shanghai is that things look a bit bleak initially and then improve to the point of not wanting to leave... I hope Fuzhou has the same affect on me...

Regards... Renzo

Photos:

My apartment

Night and day views from 25th floor

A church directly below

View of a neighbouring university to Minjiang university

My e-bike on the grounds of Minjiang university

Shanghai - Going To Fuzhou

28th August 2009

I've been in Shanghai for 2 weeks now, attending a training course run by North Melbourne Institute of Tafe (NMIT). I've found the course rather easy and a lot of fun, especially as I was the only foreign teacher amongst 30 Chinese teachers, most of whom spoke some English. However, it was very slow going as the Australian facilitator, running the course, had to have most of her lessons translated in Chinese. The end-of-course presentations were a mix of English and Chinese. Hearty congratulations to those who made an effort to present in English but it was fun for me to read and listen to so much Chinglish - I certainly could not have presented in Chinese!!

There was one interesting case study which brought out the different culture between China and the West: it related to a manager who had to appraise one of his female workers. Although she was a good worker, the appraiser's boss did not like her and did not want her to progress in the company; so, what should the appraiser do? It was an obvious answer for myself and for the Chinese: I said I am obliged to appraise her according to her good performance - the Chinese teachers were adamant they should not give her a good report, as instructed by his boss! It appears that when in China, do as the Chinese do.

With my second stint in Shanghai I'm finding my way in and around the city reasonably well (with some help from my Chinese colleagues). I'm even recommending places to visit and street food worth buying to some of my non-Shanghainese Chinese colleagues.

Tomorrow I fly to Fuzhou to the big unknown, with only 3 days before I start teaching! It wouldn't be so bad if it was English: it's a Diploma of Business module about "Managing Effective Workplace Relationships" + Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) procedures. Oh well, it's all an adventure.

For those of you who like to see some photos:

1. Group attending Certificate IV training at ECNU university in Shanghai
2. Jenny, the Australian facilitator, and two future teacher colleagues from Fuzhou
3. Helen, a teacher in etiquette
4. Mao and motto welcoming teachers to ECNU
5. River running through ECNU campus
6. An interesting building on campus
7. A pond on campus

ECNU is a very large and beautifully green campus in Shanghai, with a river running through it and many ponds.

Hope all is well with you guys.


Regards... Renzo