Swimming, Badminton, and others...

Hey Yall-

Before I dive into the different sports I enjoy playing in China..I wanted to let yall know that my meeting with my Oral English Council went well. They all showed up..I won't lie that I wasn't a little nervous about it just being me talking with myself about how to improve students' Oral English..but everyone came and so far so good..We've got English Corner set up for next Thursday..I am sure I will go into more detail about English Corner in a future blog, but I'll tell you now that it is an interesting experiece..All the volunteers have different opinions about it that run the gamut from "love it" to "worst thing ever." We also have a movie night in the works..the problem is getting a big enough room with the right equipment..it should work out..I tried to do a movie night last semester, but that only lasted until we moved to the new campus and then there was no room for the students to have it..so now we are just working on getting a room reserved..we will see..

Now to the main topic..These past almost 9 months in China, I have been keeping pretty healthy with a wide range of athletics..I have of course played basketball here..it is really popular here, especially with the younger generation, thanks to Yao and Yi..but it doesn't really keep me interested..there is also taking walks and running..Running is a little difficult because it usually involves dodging people on the street and even more stares from those who I am trying to avoid...Walks are always nice, especially after dinner..I haven't been able to enjoy walks lately because of the cold weather, but soon it should be nice enough to go out in the evening..but in the end..a walk is a walk..and I need more..so that brings us to my two favorite sports to play in China: Swimming and of course Badminton..

Swimming is an adventure in China to say the least..and my first experience was no different for everyone involved..I was invited by my Chinese teacher's boyfriend and we were joined by another volunteer here in Guiyang..When I was in high school, I never had to go through that "shower after gym class thing"..so changing in front of a large group of guys has always been pretty foreign for me..until now! After you've seen 100s of naked Chinese guys and been naked in front of them, it's just "whatever" now..

The good thing is that when you are naked in the locker room, this is the only time Chinese people don't (or at least pretend not to) notice you..Well back to my first experience..After me and the other volunteer changed (my first time-I survived) and went out to the pool, my fellow foreigner decided to do some stretches before swimming..and one of these stretches involved bending over and touching his toes..and during this stretch something interesting caught my eye..No I wasn't checking out my friend, but some old ladies behind him were and they were staring very strongly and smiling to each other and overall seeming to enjoy what they were looking at..so I decided to take a glance..and what did I see? My friend's bathing suit had a nice sized hold in a really revealing place on the backside of his bathing suit and those ladies were getting quite the show..Now at this point you need a little background in Chinese bathing suits..Imagine the kind that Olympic swimmers wear but instead a little shorter, and then you will know how much of a free show those ladies got..

Now I've taken a lot of heat from other volunteers and anyone who has heard this story for the action I took after noticing my friend's bathing suit malfunction..I decided, in what I thought was the best thing for my friend, to say nothing and tell him later..In my defense I thought he would feel embarrassesed and not feel comfortable swimming..and also..it was really funny too..My favorite part later during the swim was when he stopped me and said that he kept feeling water getting into his suit and not knowing why..it took a lot for me to keep back the smile..

After the swim, while we were all showering, our language teacher's boyfriend told him "Ni de you yong ku you wen ti." 你的游泳裤有问题。At that time his English was really poor, so he told him in Chinese..now he didn't hear him at first, but I did and couldn't help laughing..After saying it again, the other volunteer realized what was wrong..The translation is: "Your bathing suit has a problem"..And after this point I came clean and told him I knew..And since then I still get crap for not helping him out..but I still believe it was better not to tell him..You all can be the judges on that one..Either way it was still really funny..

Now stories like this don't happen often, but swimming in China is still always interesting and also more than just swimming..It should be called "Swimming and at the same time trying your best not to get hit, kicked, or drowned by everyone else around you." But I don't know how to translate this, so we just call is "You Yong." 游泳。The pool I go to is fairly small and is just a decent sized rectangle with no ropes, lanes, or any kind of markers..so anything goes really..people swimming in all different directions, at different speeds, and overally trying their best to swim into me..It is a good workout though..I go with two teachers at my school and usually swim for about and hour and then go to the steam room for about 10 minutes..definite Peace Corps experience huh? But this is my site and I like to do what Chinese people do..So I will keep going each Wednesday..keep getting stared at..and keeping dodging people..Oh and one more thing..I have not been brave enough to try the Chinese style bathing suit..I'm still using American style..which always gets funny questions from Chinese people..They think that I'm wearing shorts..not swim shorts..just regular outside shorts..I then tell them that it's an American style bathing suit..Don't think they'll ever be able to accept it.

And along with swimming, my other favorite thing to do is play badminton..one of the dominant sports here, along with ping pong of course..And if any of you saw badminton during the Olympics, you saw that China owns the sport..And do they ever..they are amazing..And anyone who hasn't played it before might think it's a fairly easy and laid back sport, but it is the complete opposite..it is a workout that kept me soar for a week after my first time playing competitvely..My favorite part is that it is so different from the sports I played in America and always keep challenging me..I try and play once a week, but this isn't always possible..So I play as often as possible..As soon as I finish this entry, I am off to a different college to play with a teacher..So let me finish up now so I can go and catch the bus..No really great stories about badminton..but people get really excited when they see me play and then get to play with me..It's been about 2 months since last time I played because of vacationing, so I am sure that I am going to be soar after tonight..

Alright..take care everyone..

Back to School!

Hey Yall-
I have been back in Guiyang for about 2 weeks now from vacation and I have been waiting for that feeling to start writing again and I finally got it about 5 minutes ago as I was hanging my laundry to dry.

After my trip to Yunnan, I had one day to rest and then it was off to Thailand for about 16 days. Overall it was a great trip (check out the pics)...beaches, warm weather, good food, and overall really relaxing. The highlights included swimming in warm ocean water, riding an elephant, visiting the Peace Corps Thailand office and meeting the volunteers, and getting to know more about the Thai culture and people.

The last one had its difficulties because Thailand, well at least the places we went, were very touristy. Seeing a lot of foreigners was a big change from the last 8 months. Most of the time if I see a foreigner in China, it is another volunteer, or at least another teacher working here. One girl in our group made a comment while we were riding a train that she was getting culture shock because of all the foreigners. This feeling never really hit me, but it did take a little bit to get used to no one staring at you and making comments to their friends as you walk by. It was nice in a way, but at the same time, there were times in Thailand that I really missed China and the people. The Thai people were very friendly and welcoming, but at the same time I am sure that none of the Thai people will remember meeting or talking with me. Doesn't matter now though because I am back and doing what I love..teaching.

I just finished my second week and so far so good. I am teaching 6 classes of freshmen Oral English and 2 classes or Sophomore Writing. My students are doing well, but I don't think they studied a lot of English during their break. When I spoke with some of my students last week I saw some of those same funny expressions that I saw when I first met them last year..and that face means: "Who is this crazy foreigner and why is he speaking to me? And what is he saying?" It's a great face and always makes me laugh..But I think most of them are over it, now that we finished our second week and everyone is getting used to being back.

This semester I am really going to push my students hard. Last semester we had a lot of interruptions throughout the year that made it difficult to consistently keep my students working hard and speaking a lot of English. The biggest thing was changing campuses, which I have written about earlier..but that's over with and this semester has a lot of potential. One thing I'm really excited about is my Secondary Project with my students. All volunteers have secondary projects with their students. Some examples are: English Corner, Movie Night, Weekly Dinners, Sports/Outdoor Clubs, Women's Clubs, Drama Performances..the list goes on. Each volunteer has different ones depending on their preferences, students, and schools. Most volunteers examine what their students need/want and then go from there..also what their schools allow them to do..My secondary project for this semester will be a club called the Oral English Council (OEC). I'm just as excited about the cool name as I am about forming the group..The group's goal will be to find as many ways as possible to improve students' Oral English and give them more opportunities to speak English. I had my students elect one student from each class (8 students and me form the group) and they will work together with me to meet these goals. The students were of course really shy to elect this person, but they finally did it after lots of encouragement and I am really happy with the 8 students I have. This past Friday during my last class I had to really encourage one of my boy students to do it because I had 7 girls already and we really needed a boy. He finally said yes, so as of now the OEC's members are: Lily, Peggy, Ally, Ashley, Crystal, Becky, Missie, and of course Zach. Our first meeting is tomorrow afternoon and the number one thing on the agenda is getting English Corner started again. I will keep you updated on how this group does..

As I said before, some of my students obviously did not spend much time studying English over the break..and one example stands out the most..I ran into one of my 3rd year students from last semester (not teaching them now) and I started by asking how her break was, how is her family, etc...And she had a really difficult time during the conversation. She had really good English last semester, but after two months of no English she needed some practice to help her remember. The funniest was when she asked me, in Chinese, "How to say 'yesterday' in English?" I am sure she knows all of the words and how to say them..she was just nervous because we hadn't talked in a while..The bad part is, because she is a 3rd year student, she is not going to get many chances to study and practice English. Our 3rd year students will graduate this semester and then they will start working (hopefully). So this semester is mainly spent looking for jobs.

I had been in contact through email with one of these students during the winter break and just this past week he asked me if I wanted to come with him and his classmates to a job fair on March 25th. I of course said yes because I am really interested how these students do as they look for jobs and eventually start teaching. I don't know their chances, but from what I've heard, most of these students will end up going back to their hometowns in the countryside to teach.

I also got a call from a different 3rd student as I was starting to write this entry and we talked about her looking for a job. She hasn't had any luck yet..she had visited a job fair a couple of weeks ago and she said: "No one wanted to hire me." I don't know if she's going to the one in a couple of weeks, but she seems pretty set on returning to her hometown to teach. I am really interested in these students' futures because it is my goal next year to visit these rural elementary and middle schools next semester and see where it all starts..because these places are where almost all of my students started out learning English..Additional side note..shortly after I got off the phone with this student, one of my funny freshmen students called me..and the first thing she said was, "What are you doing?" It was actually a little accusatory..but still funny..she just wanted to say hi and tell me that she'd just ridden by on a bus near where my home is..she felt like sharing..total time of conversation: about 20 seconds..

Alright..that's all for now..time to get the laundry down and go and search for some dinner. Take care.