The View from the Other Side Pt. 2

That evening I went with Doug to one of the places that he teaches English (private company) and sat in the two classes. The first was a group of 7 advanced students. They talked about education and technology. They said that first year

university students were banned from having computers because too many of them used them only for playing games, chatting and wasting time on the internet. They missed class and didn't focus on their school work. Interesting.

The second was called "Free Speech" and there were about 20 students. Doug had

introduced the topic of train travel as an ice breaker. The fact about the importance of correctness of the English used in public places and by companies and

governments was discussed. Much of the English used in China has been Chinlish

and is not international English. For example, the recording on the subway says

"next station...please be prepared for getting off." It was also interesting that the topic of how Chinese are taught to relate to others came up.

It was said by a couple of students that one is taught to devulge very little of

his or her thoughts and feelings, to lie about them, and to practice the art of

deception, particularly in business. I thought Doug did a good job in both classes. I enjoyed the evening and felt a little better.

The second day we went to the agent for the apartment that we had looked at which was not ready. It belongs to the professor from _______ that Doug met a year

ago. He had paid 500 rmb deposit on the condition that it would be ready to live in September first. We said it wasn't and we needed another place to live.

Only one person spoke a little bit of English. She took us to another place but

it was on a very busy street, very noisy, small, in a grungy neighbourhood and

therefore not what I wanted.

Doug had submitted my name a few weeks ago to an agency for finding English teachers. Someone called us yesterday on Doug's cell phone to meet them for a job interview for me. I think it was through this agency but it really wasn't clear.

We arranged to meet her in a park and she drove us to a location a few kilometres away. It was to a set of rooms in an office building that were being renovated, where we met her boss. Details were pretty sketchy about the job because only the woman spoke English and she was limited in her abilities. It appears that they want me to teach children age 4 - 12 after school and on Sat. and Sun. and that it will start Sept. 14. We will meet with the 'Big boss who is coming from Shanghai on Friday.

Then we went with our son and one of his Chinese friends to look for some bedding for him. We went by subway which is very modern and new, and then by bus to a

huge store and purchased a quilt and thin foam pad and a power bar for him and

2 pillows and pillowslips for us. It was great fun bargaining and very helpful

to have Peter with us. We dropped off our son's things at his new tiny apartment. The bedroom and tiny living room are quite nice but the kitchen was pretty grubby. The bathroom was very small with a sink, a toilet and a shower head over

top of the toilet. To take a shower, one would stand beside the toilet, turn on the water and hose themselves off. It is like having a toilet and a sink in your shower stall. But he is very happy about his place and it was a very reasonable price of 700 rmb.

Continued in Pt. 3