An Englishman In China
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United Kingdom
January 26, 2010
Weifang
Way back in 2002 I travelled to Weifang with a student to meet her family。 At the time I was teaching at Yantai university, and the girl was one of my students。 Back then, in early 2002, Weifang wasn‘t much of a city。 Not many shops and roads。 the railway station was just a small, old brick-built building。
By one of those strange quirks of fate (coincidences。。 chance。。) in September 2007 I went to Weifang University to teach。 In the interim period (the time between 2002-2007), S un Xiaoui, who had been my student, had been to the UK to study and had visited my home a couple of times。 Now, by another quirk, she was a teacher at Weifang university - where I went to teach in 2007。
At that time in 2007 she met me at Weifang railway station。 she was the first person I spoke to in China。 Her first words were ‘Why are you so fat now?‘
And at that time i wondered where Weifang had gone? It wasn‘t the city I had seen 5 years earlier。 Now, it was a brightly-lit modern city with lots of big stores (shops)。 The old railway station had gone。 A new one was in the process of being constructed (built)。 the city was almost unrecognizable - it had changed
weifang main streets. dancing outside the railway station. River and bridge
The old steam train - a 'locomotive' outside of weifang train station.
When I left China in 2008, Weifang was still a fast-changing city。
January, 2010。 Teaching in Qufu and during the winter holiday there‘s nothing to do。。。 Ah, I’ll go to Weifang and see Craig, an American teacher I know。 I‘ll also see a couple of students who have always kept in touch (in contact) with me。 There’s also Sun Xiaohui, whose family I know。
So, the number 2 bus to Qufu bus station, then a bus to Weifang, five hours away。
‘XJ’ a 26 year old met me at the bus station and found me a cheap (inexpensive) hotel for a couple of days。 I knew XJ at Weifang - she used to visit ‘English corner’ at the university, even though she wasn‘t a student there。 XJ is a morose (gloomy-sad) sort of person。 At times she can be ’heavy weather‘ or ’heavy going‘ 。。not easy or nice to talk with 。。 Though as she is getting married in a few months I guess somebody thinks she’s ok 。。
There‘s also ’Sisi‘ to use her English name。
Lunch with Sisi, XJ and Craig
Sisi was one of my freshmen students in 2007。 Now, of course, she is in her 3rd year at Weifang University。 A small girl with waist- long hair。
Unfortunately Sisi has no home to go to。 When I taught at Weifang university, Sisi visited me often to watch television, use the shower, cook 。。。 she knew me and the teachers frm other countries。 a helpful girl。o
Sisi works ‘every hour God sends‘ - that just means she has jobs to earn money。 she works in the evenings, weekends and during the holidays。 Sisi has paid her own studies fees and everything else since she was 18。 Fantastic girl。 Very cheerful and happy。
I went for lunch with Sisi, XJ and Craig。 I have given sisi my digital camera as well, 。。 a girl like that deserves something。 She‘ll come to Qufu to visit me in a few weeks。 I‘ll pay for her to travel of course。
Weifang is still developing and changing。 In the 18 months since I left there it has continued to change。 new buildings 。。 new shopping areas。 Now, i notice there is a ‘Tesco‘ hypermarket。
Tesco hypermarket
Tesco is just the name of a supermarket chain - many supermarkets。 If you went to the UK you would see many tesco supermarkets。 ‘Hyper‘ really just means ’above‘ ’more than‘ or extra‘。 a hypermarket is BIG 。。 very big 。。 ’ more than‘ a supermarket。 Just like a hyperactive person is more active -energetic than a normal person。
I didn‘t see Sun Xiuaohui。 No doubt i‘ll get an email from her asking why I didn’t tell her I was in Weifang? But 。。 I couldn‘t contact her。
I travelled back to Yanzhou on the train。 Yanzhou is 12 kilometers from Qufu, and is the main statuion in this area。 Qufu has a railway station but not many trains 。。 and nobody uses it 。。
When i got back to my apartmernt in Qufu I received a text message from a Weifang student called Jinhong Guo, who comes from outer Mongolia, and is actually a classmate of Sisi。 Her English name is Dana。
Dana wanted to know why i hadn‘t told her that I had visited Weifang? I said that i thought she was at home 。。 in Mongolia。 And anyway, Dana and another of her classmates visited me in my apartment in Qufu just two weeks ago。 They slept in my spare bed。
That‘s when i realised 。。 a friend in England often just gives me a camera to bring to China。 In the past I gave a camera to XJ, one to Dana 。。 and now a camera to Sisi。 All the cameras I have owned are now in Weifang! Good job (fortunately) I have a spare camera。。
Time passes。 In a few days I will travel from Qufu to Shanghai and book into a hotel for the night。 The next day - Thursday, Feb 4th, I will fly to England for 2 weeks。 I‘ll be back in Qufu at the end of February。
Jining
Off and on (now and then。。 in total) I‘ve spent three years teaching in China。I come to China for a while and then return home to England for six months or a year, then return to China again。
From 2007 to 2008 I was at a university in Weifang,Shandong province。Most of my teaching time has been spent in Shandong。 Now, I‘m in Qufu, which is in Shandong province。。。
It‘s the winter holiday now。 All my students have gone home and last week Craig, an American teacher who I know at Weifang, came to Qufu to visit me for a week。 Rather than travel far we ‘stuck’ to local nearby cities – we stayed in more or less the Qufu area。
One of the cities we visited is Jining, where in a park we bumped into (met) one of my students called Anna,from Qufu。Anna is a freshman student。 She‘s not an English major – she is a Tourism major – and she has a very good vocabulary indeed。 She was visiting Jining for the day with her friend, Molly。
Of course in China when you stop to speak with somebody 。。 other people come and listen – and join in the conversation。And that‘s exactly what happened 。。 two other girls came to speak as well。 I don‘t know who they are, though they said they were from Rizhao which is a coastal city (sea side city) 5 hours from Jining。 They had travelled to Jining for just 2 hours。。。
Other people came to listen too 。。one of them was a man wearing a green coat。 He was sitting in the park just drawing pictures – a local artist, I guess – and came to listen and watch。 I know he didn‘t understand English! He even joined in the photos 。。
Also in the park was a man sitting on a seat playing a ‘set of pipes’ – a wind instrument。They were an unusual looking set of pipes which I had never seen before。 Though I am told they are very common in China。 Apparently they play them at a funeral (when somebody has died)。
That was a week ago。 Today, Anna and a different friend came to visit me。 I showed them how to make a cake。I even cooked lunch for them as they cannot cook 。。Chicken with 辣椒 -làjiāo In English,辣椒 is known as ‘Chili’ or ‘Chili pepper’ – hot and spicy。 I also used peppers that were not hot and spicy。 In English that sort of not-hot pepper is called a ‘salad pepper’ or ‘capsicum'
Qufu
When you first come to China it’s damn hot – and sweaty. It’s a different sort of summer from what you’d experience in England. China is hotter, of course, but it’s also very humid. Well, at least that’s my experience. I could say I was ‘sweating buckets’ or ‘sweating like a pig’ – I was sweating – perspiring a lot! It’s the time when you feel the damp patches under your arms become bigger .. until your entire tee shirt is soaking wet and the sweat literally runs and dribbles into your eyes.
My first day in Qufu started on August 23rd .. That was after arriving at 6pm from Shanghai airport and catching the fast train to Yanzhou, which is a 30 minute bus ride from Qufu. Qufu has a small railway station that nobody uses because there are few trains. Everybody uses Yanzhou railway station where the fast trains stop.
Yes, August 23rd. The university where I was going to teach was closed for the summer and I was staying in a Qufu hotel. The following morning I went out to explore the new city and encountered the heat of China. So I called into KFC to get a drink .. and the waitress spoke to me in English. Now there was a surprise! Her name is Xiaoxiao (‘showw-showw’) and she was working there part-time during the holiday.
Xiaoxiao is a third year pschology major at a different university in Qufu. She has a fantastic English vocabulary. In English we would describe Xiaoxiao as ‘sharp’ or ‘quick’ or even ‘bright’ or ‘bright as a button’ … or ‘razor-sharp’. It just means she is intelligent and very alert with a good sense of humour. She became a very good friend and often cycles from her university to visit me. She’s also knitting me a sweater – I bought the wool – but I won’t ‘hold my breath’ – I don’t expect the sweater to get knitted .. It was 2 months ago she started to knit it … Maybe it will be finished by the summer, when it will be too hot to wear it .. if it does actually get knitted!
Life is strange. Xiaoxiao was born on the same day as me .. within 30 minutes of my time of birth. When she told me her date of birth I thought she was joking and I made her show me her identity card. When I said I was born on the same date she made me show her my passport. Amazing. I bought her a necklace that has two fish swimming in opposite directions. That’s our birth-sign or ‘star sign’ .. ‘Pisces’ (means fish) – two fish swimming in opposite directions. You could also call it a zodiac sign or sign of the zodiac. But .. amazing .. the first person I spoke with in Qufu on my first morning here has the same time and date of birth. What a coincidence. I’ve never actually met anybody with the same birth date as me.
So what do you do in Qufu when you don’t know anybody and haven’t met any students because they are all on holiday? Well, you buy a bike of course and go out exploring and get lost .. The university I was going to teach at is 10km south of the city, in a rural area (countryside – remote – far away). I did get lost .. the photo shows two locals in a village trying to point out the way to Qufu …
Qufu is a small tourist city. It’s famous because of Confucius, who lived here. The Confucius places are literally just across the road from where I live. Within Qufu there is ‘the wall’ .. The wall is approximately 1km square and is the area that ancient Qufu used to be. The main tourist area is within the wall.
The main shopping street is called Gulou Nanjie, which is where I live. Nan means ‘south’ and jie means ‘street/road’. I am told that Gulou means ‘old drum’. I guess I live on south Old Drum Street. There’s a large shopping area just around the corner from where I live, called ‘Wumasijie’ which gets very busy.
Being a tourist city everything is ‘geared up’ (prepared .. focused .. ready..) for tourists. The shops all sell Confucius gifts .. tourists can travel around in horse-drawn carriages. During the summer the city within the wall is lit up at night, though now, during the winter the tourist things aren’t lit up by night. There are still tourists during the day of course, but not so many as during the summer months.
The university where I teach is 15 minutes away by car. There is a No6 bus that goes there, which takes about 35 minutes. Unfortunately for the students, the last bus from Qufu to the university leaves about 5.15pm. That means they can’t go out of the university in the evenings because there’s no way to return back to their dorms. I know they feel isolated and bored.
The university is small. Maybe 9,000 students in total. The past semester I have been teaching 1st and 2nd year tourism majors. The 2nd year tourism majors have now gone to different cities for 6 months work experience in hotels. I won’t see them again before I leave.
I was also teaching four classes of English majors. It was supposed to be Business English .. but I know that none of the Chinese teachers wanted to teach that, the students didn’t like it or understand their book .. which I thought was ‘dry’ (boring .. not interesting) so we did other things in the classroom .. like making banana sandwiches. New words like ‘slice’, ‘squash’ ‘jam jar’ … More realistic than dry and dull Business English. And after spending ages putting photos into this blog .. it didn't work! the Qufu photos to go with these words can be seen in a folder called 'Qufu' at http://qufulife.spaces.live.comMore entries: Weifang to the desert (1), From Weifang to Manzhouli, Time Passes Quickly (2), Brass Monkey, Dog Poo and Jump Start (1), From China to England, A couple of Riddles, Oops!, Weifang (2)
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08:53 AM Jan 26 2010 |
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Youth
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06:49 AM Jan 26 2010 |
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kkk26
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