I have always considered myself
very good at living in the moment – sure, I worry and I plan (I blame this on
my mother’s amazing ability to plan and organize so effectively), but I love to
keep things in the back of my mind and have fun for now! It’s difficult to not
worry about the future when I have so many things to think about, but my oh my,
you can’t help but just live in the present here. When you have a vacation
coming up, you probably won’t find out until like the week before. Exams? Oh,
those are in 2 days. End of school? Heck, we won’t find out until the month
before—if we’re lucky. This has been both a benefit and a burden these past
(almost) 5 months. I love it here and I love my students so much. I love
discovering new things and exploring, and I even love the mundane everyday
things because it just means that I see it more as a home here. I love how friendly
and happy people are and how simple life seems sometimes. I love how being here
has shown me just how much I love Canada and how I want to explore more places
at home too.
We are becoming less of a
novelty now and more a part of their community—this means they don’t
necessarily sugar coat things, but tell us how it is. My students tell me what
they think and feel more and sometimes I can really see we are making a
difference here. They tell me about their likes and dislikes and even though
I’m not always allowed to talk about certain things (politics, religion and
other topics are off-limits), I can listen and I think some of them just really
like to have someone who listens and cares. Of course, not all the students
like me or want to speak English, but I’m trying and I know I am so fortunate
to be able to meet so many great students and teachers.
The week before last, my topic
was Superstitions and I learned a great deal from my students about some of the
things people believe in China. It was another eye-opener to just how different
we can be, yet how similar at the same time. It was so interesting to hear
about the superstitions and I’ll tell you just a few of my favourites. It is
bad luck to wear a green hat and this symbolizes that your husband or wife
(more often it has been associated with wives) may go commit an adulterous act.
I thought this was hilarious with St. Patrick’s Day having just passed and lots
of people around the world wearing green hats! As well, a lot of their culture
is based around numbers and the words are often very similar and thus tied to each
other. For example, the number 4 is pronounced “se” and the word death is
pronounced almost the same, but with a different tone; therefore 4=death. 8 is
pronounced “ba” and is similar to “fa” which means to make lots of income;
therefore 8=money. 2 means foolish, 6 is good luck or happiness, 250 means very
foolish and 290 is very bad luck. After learning more about these superstitions
I can see just how much their culture is tied with numbers – the words for months
and days of the week are associated with which number in order they are, and
even the way their numbers are pronounced makes it simple (so much easier for
me to learn after I knew 1-10). The stereotype that Chinese people are good at
math actually makes so much more sense and though they may not all be good at
math, their language is certainly tied strongly with numbers.
We got to go dancing a couple
weeks ago as well with some of the teachers and it was so fun!! In Canada when
I think “go dancing” I think of either going to the club or learning how to
dance with lessons. Here we got to learn how to waltz! It was a big room full
of people all dancing ranging from beginner to expert and it’s only 2 yuan to
get in (which is like 33 cents). I didn’t know how to waltz or dance very well,
but one of the teachers has been going for 2 years and helped me to pick it up
as well as a couple other teachers. We got a lot of stares from people for
being the only foreign people, but I didn’t care because I was just dancing the
night away!
As well, I had a problem with
my computer screen and that was an adventure in itself getting it fixed!
Somehow the computer screen inverted the colours and after asking multiple
people at home, searching the internet, visiting the computer teacher, and
trying a vast array of confusing things (man, I’m really not a computer person),
it still couldn’t be fixed. We went to a few different places until we got directed
to a place they called “Computer city” which is every computer store you can
think of with booths in a small mall plaza. They didn’t speak English there,
but the guys who worked there were smart and opened up a translation website on
their own computer so we could establish what the issue was and how it could
get fixed. They said they would have to keep it for the night and then I could find
out what to do the next day. Anyway, long story short, there was something wrong
with my screen and it would end up costing me 450 rmb to get a new one. This is
just under $75! Alethea used to work for Best Buy customer service and she said
this was an amazing deal as normally people have to pay for installation,
screen, shipping, labour, and all the other fees they slip in there. The
teachers even told me that normally it would cost about 1000 around here. Oh
and hey, I got to keep the old screen too.. anyone want a faulty Acer netbook
screen?
I knew before I came here that
I wanted to do something working with kids and that has not changed. In being
here I see that I love being a teacher, and I don’t want to toot my own horn
here, but I’m actually pretty good at it. I doubt myself far too often and in
the past I will admit I’ve faced a lot of my own problems with the “if I don’t
try, I can’t fail” attitude. I think this trip has been valuable in showing me
that I can do more than I imagined if I set my mind to it. I want to be a
teacher—no, I am a teacher and I just need a job in Ontario. I forget sometimes
that I am still only 23 and I don’t have to have it all figured out just yet. I
still feel strongly that I want to work with children and I’m going to make
that happen. I got accepted to teachers college and I’ll be on my way to UOIT
this September; one more step in the right direction!
We really don’t know when the school year ends though and
we found out that we may be here longer than expected. Alethea was asking about
dates of when the school year will end and our company said that it may end
after our contract is set to be finished. Apparently in this case we are to
finish the school year even if it goes past our contract end date. I love my
students and of course I can see that staying until the end of the year is the
right thing and I wouldn’t think of doing anything else. However, I had some
tentative traveling plans for July and I would like to spend at least a few
weeks at home getting accustomed to life back in Canada. Ah, to live in the
moment and go with the flow right?
I think there is a balance
between appreciating the past, working for the future, and loving the present
and though sometimes it feels like I’m walking a tightrope, I’m learning to
find my own balance.
No comments:
Post a Comment