A typical day spent with my students…
Despite the students here being so busy and having weekend classes,there have only been two weekends so far that I havn’t been invited somewhere with them. This is one of the reasons why the time seems to be going so quickly; a little while ago I had plans for the next four weekends and so quite often I am already thinking about the next month and so on. It also gives us a chance to see how good our students are at English and it has also helped me to become closer with my classes. I have a small group of students that I socialise with, and it’s always nice to see those friendly faces while teaching and they pass on the message to the rest of their class that the teacher is a normal person!
Usually if we are spending time with our students they take us to their home town; those who live in the town or the nearest city like to take us on a Sunday afternoon. Yunnan is the poorest province in China, so they are always eager to show us places that display traditional Chinese culture, or the areas that are being developed. Due to the poverty there is barely anything Western so when people see us they are curious, fascinated and sometimes unsure. Two students have taken me to their home to meet their families and on both occasions I was the first foreigner they had ever seen. They tell me their are still excited I went to their house but what I noticed most was that they made such an effort to make sure I was happy there.
Yunnan is famous for its mountains; the school is built into the hills and the town and city are surrounded so wherever you go there is one to climb! Our first experience was in Yuxi (the closest city) which seemed easy enough from the bottom. However climbing hundreds of steps only to be told you are on the “top,but there is the very top to climb to next” is tiring in the heat! However we were then treated to a refreshing milk tea. Milk tea shops here are more frequent than coffee shops in England. They are exactly what they say they are; a fragrant tea or syrup mixed with milk and ice cubes. However they have caught onto the milkshake and smoothie trend so you can always grab one of those too. The next weekend we were invited to Eshan (our local town) and when I asked what was planned she said “we will climb the mountain and then drink the milk tea.” Since then I have climbed five mountains and consume a milk tea almost daily. At first it surprised us that that was a typical thing to do but as I think about it, I suppose it’s the equivalent of us in the West going to a park or gardens and then having coffee.
One day that sticks out to me is Easter Sunday, and I think if I write about this it will give you a pretty good idea of what life is like here and how lovely our students can be. I woke up feeling slightly homesick as Easter is one of my favourite days of the year and always spent with my family. Eve took us the flat she shares with her mum for breakfast and we ate almond cake/bread with jam and milk. She had bought us a knife and fork and it was so clear she was trying to make everything as familiar as possible for us. She then presented me with a bar of galaxy chocolate and apologised that is wasn’t a real Easter egg. Few students here know anything about Western religion and so to be considered by her family was very touching. We then of course climbed a mountain and had a milk tea but it’s worth it when you know how much effort the student has made to make sure you enjoy the day.
We were later invited to her Grandmother’s house in the Muslim community just outside the town. It had a very peaceful atmosphere and felt very different to the rest of the town. There we met Eve’ s mother, her two aunties, her uncle and young cousin and we were taught how to make traditional Chinese dumplings. Eve is the only person in her family who can speak English but we still felt so welcome and we all attempted to speak to each other!
It’s always interesting when you are able to see Chinese families on a typical day and we feel lucky to be able experience ‘real life’ in China. However it’s when I’m chatting after class with my favourite students about Leonardo DiCaprio or the Katy Perry Movie that I feel like I’m making real friends, and I know singing along to Taylor Swift and cheering on the teams at the basketball games will be my fondest memories. It’s a nice surprise when a student lets you borrow Chinese OK! magazine or asks if you like Victoria Beckham and while I miss lots of things sometimes this is exactly what I need to feel at home.
