Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still. - Confucius: Be not afraid of mistakes and thus make them crimes.

I want to start off by saying I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to post in a while! It is a busy time for me right now getting used to my new life; meeting new people every day, dinners, mountain-climbing, exploring, and somehow I’m finding time for lesson planning and some applications for when I eventually make my way back to Canada! However, I am enjoying every moment and loving it here, so those of you that may have been worried – no need at all! I have learned so much about the culture already and even about myself. I really like this Confucius quote because I feel that being on such a big adventure leaves a lot of opportunity for fear of mistakes to creep into my life. I am learning that I can’t do this to myself though because I am capable of so much more. It’s ok to make mistakes; if I live in constant fear of my faults I would never experience anything past my front door and that would be a sad life indeed.

Just being here makes me feel brave. If you ever need a confidence-booster, come teach in China. Seriously, my students and colleagues are so full of compliments for me and Alethea it’s overwhelming! Everyone constantly tells us how beautiful we are, stare at my eyes (this is a bit uncomfortable sometimes), and touch our arms or Alethea’s nose. They ask to take pictures, have dinner with us, and a few of my classes even asked for my autograph! I told them I now know how Justin Bieber feels and they thought that was so funny. I never know if they actually think I’m funny or if they laugh at my jokes because they’re excited they understand them and I’m the teacher so they have to. The students really do make me feel more fearless and I think this comes out in my lessons. I told them that I like to sing and so many of the classes asked me to sing a song. In Canada, I sing mostly in choirs and the idea of singing alone in front so many people terrifies me; but here, I just go for it and they have encouraged me to sing for our New Year’s concert. Sometimes the staring and attention can be a bit much though. When we go shopping the employees are often too excited to help us much, or people at the bank stare and get close. The worst was when I went to go to the bathroom at the school. They don’t have stalls with doors, but just half-walls and squatters. They students stared at me and I was shocked by the lack of privacy so I decided to wait until I got home. Some things are very different here!

I think the students are enjoying my lessons so far and I’ve heard a lot of good feedback from teachers, parents and students! It has been 2 weeks so I have seen most of my classes twice now. At first, I thought it would be really overwhelming to get to know 1200+ students, but then I realized that I am going to be here for a long time so I will have more opportunities in the next 7 months to talk to everyone – and not everyone wants to/is able to talk to me. They split up the grades into lower, middle and upper levels and there is a definite difference in their abilities to understand and speak to me. I have to consider this in my lesson planning and the upper classes will probably be doing an extra activity every week as it takes much longer to get things accomplished in my lower classes. I’m very glad we don’t have to write or mark tests though because I think that would make this even harder for me. We are just here for the students to practice their oral and auditory English skills. We were given a few books to follow their curriculum as well so they can practice what they are learning in their other classes. For Senior 1, this past week’s topic was “Tales of the Unexplained” so we talked about Yetis, Aliens, and the Loch Ness Monster. We need them to practice their English in an engaging way so Alethea and I need to be creative with our lesson planning to get them involved. I had them act out how they would greet a yeti – one student was a human and one was Yeti. It was hilarious to hear what they came up with and I have been laughing all week with them. We also do extra lessons called “English Corner” where 1 student from every class is allowed to come to a more relaxed discussion time. It is up to me and Alethea to come up with our own topics that will facilitate more of a student discussion, so last week we talked about friendship and what it means to be a good friend. This week in class, the topic is “Wish You Were Here” and focusing on where in the world they might want to go and what they would need to bring with them, and English Corner will be “Follow Your Dreams”. I am really excited to hear about what they want in life – both with traveling, but also career-wise, family, or really anything that they want to share with me.

The food here is delicious! Most meals we eat at the canteen as we have a pre-paid card and it’s cheapest on campus. We scan our card and get a block of rice and we can pick 2-3 dishes of vegetables, meat, tofu, or different kinds of food. Most of it is really spicy, but it is so full of flavour and I hope I can learn some new recipes to bring back with me. No matter where we go for dinner there is always a foundation of noodles or rice so it kind of neutralizes the spiciness and makes it easier to eat. We have a few favourite places around here to go already – especially a noodle place right across from the school. They have a few things to choose from and it’s easy to point at what we like. The woman there is so sweet and always smiling, and she knows what we like already. We asked her name and I think it is Ni Hong Ni, but the students said they just call her Big Sister.

The students have exams every month so I had this past Friday off and Alethea has next Friday off. Since the Senior 1 teachers didn’t have lessons, they decided to go to Dongjian Lake on Thursday afternoon. So we bumped my afternoon lessons up to the morning and I went along with them. It was absolutely beautiful there and really nice to spend some time bonding with my fellow teachers. They are so funny and caring and they make me feel very welcome with them. We drove there (oh boy, driving is an adventure all in its own here) and it took about 40 minutes to get to a house by a part of the lake. It was a rare sunny day and I got some amazing pictures, and overall it was just a gorgeous day. We ate lunch here and then went to a sight-seeing area of the lake where we could climb one of the mountains near there. The water is so clear and almost has a blue-green colour to it and the mountains are covered in trees. It is breathtaking to see even from ground level and I think the teachers loved my excitement and enthusiasm for everything. We walked around for about 2-3 hours and had a chance to talk a lot. I especially talked with one teacher, Linda Liu, whose desk is beside mine in the office. I teach her daughter and she has many friends in Canada and the US so I could tell she has wanted a chance to really talk to me for a while. She convinced me to try some fish at the market near the lake and I am so glad! It is pretty unappealing to look at because it was literally just a fish on a stick and they eat every part of it, even the bones and the head! In Canada, I don’t like fish, but this was very tasty – I am here to experience everything and if that includes cow stomach and fish, I will try it!

I have to be careful about a lot of the things I talk about with the teachers and students though because I have rules that my company enforces. I am not allowed to tell them how long I am here because they think that if I am only here for a short period of time, I don’t care and I am just here to travel Asia. I do want to travel around Asia, but my main goal of coming here is to teach and to gain a new perspective in experiencing a new culture. I can understand that the company must have had some issues in the past, so when people ask I follow directions and tell them I don’t know yet, maybe 6 months or a year or until my company places me somewhere else. I am not allowed to talk about religion, politics, or money either, which makes sense. I just change the subject or ask for their opinion when they talk about these things. They ask me a lot of questions, but I am able to learn more about them when they do because they tell me a lot. Linda, Allen, and Kimmie (our Worlda visa rep) all told me about children in China and I was so curious about how they enforce the “one-child” law. Kimmie said they are stronger about enforcing this law in the big cities and will even make women get a hysterectomy or abortion if they have had one child already. In the country, they are more relaxed with this law, but it is harder for the 2^nd or 3^rd born children. Everyone in China has an ID card and it is either difficult or impossible for the other children to get one and be able to go anywhere. Coming from a family where I am 3 of 4 children, this really hit me hard. I am so unbelievably thankful for what I have and the fact that I am able to do so much as a Canadian.

The laws here are a bit hit or miss to be honest. They have laws, but often don’t enforce it in most places or only sometimes, and most people don’t listen to the laws. I’m not sure if this is because there are so many people and that makes it hard to carry out the punishments, or if I have just witnessed this with less significant laws. As I said before, driving here is an experience. They rarely wear seatbelts unless they are going by a checkpoint with cameras and fines, and their lane-changing is really creative. Basically, either they drive ridiculously slowly or they are trying to get around the cars in front of them by all means possible. Driving the wrong way is common, and they love honking. Every night, we hear a chorus of car horns from the streets outside the school. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and when they do have traffic lights it’s more of an option to stop rather than an obligation. The same applies to smoking; they have laws, but they are not punished if they smoke inside. However, I have seen some pretty angry policemen yelling at people, so I’m sure they do have certain things they are very strong about.

I wish I could explain better what everything is like around here. The smells, the sights, the tastes; everything is different and exciting and new. I am starting to get used to it here a little more and it is feeling more like a home. Alethea and I went out yesterday to explore our area more and found a few great places to shop and eat! A few students also took us out to walk around and see Beihu Park and then we got to go to their talent show at night. Even though we didn’t know much of what they were saying, it was great to see the students acting, singing, dancing, playing instruments, and performing poems; you don’t need a common language to appreciate the arts and there were some very talented people.

I am realizing more that even though I am afraid to make mistakes, there are people here that care about me and want to help me in any way that they can. I had to go to Guangzhou for the day on Friday all by myself to finish up my visa paperwork – train there and back, navigating the GZ metro, and taking a taxi once I was back in Chenzhou and I was so proud that I figured it all out without any mistakes at all! Seriously, I was glowing when we pulled up to the school at the end of the day. But I wasn’t so afraid when I knew I could call Linda, Miss Li (my Senior 1 English rep), the headmaster, Alethea, or anyone from Worlda. None of them would view my mistakes as a terrible offence, but would want to ensure my safety and well-being. Obviously I’m still going to be smart about my decisions, but I feel braver just knowing I have a support group here and at home in Canada. As well, the students are not afraid to try – in classes, on stage, and in all aspects of their life – so why should I be afraid? It is not a crime to make mistakes and I know I will learn from them, so I will not let that fear hold me back. Here’s to more accomplishments and fearless adventures!