Winter Fun

Our final weeks in the semester have arrived with astonishing speed. Soon many of us will be doing traveling in-country or visiting other countries nearby. My friends and I have toyed with the idea of going to Vietnam for the holiday season and perhaps catching some sites in China along the way.

In my classes I have begun gearing up the students for our final, giving them review lessons and testing their comprehension. For the greater part of the semester I had been giving them a different lesson every week, each based on a subject I believed they needed to improve. This week I had chosen stereotypes and we had gone over many different aspects of the meaning and words used to describe how stereotypes arise. In many instances I challenged students to provide examples from their daily life. Of course few of them had any experience with race but ethnic and gender discrimination was not by any means unknown to them. I had a few interesting responses. One of my students mentioned that she was tired of people telling her she was supposed to be a housewife, a common role for women in modern China that is slowly fading away. Another recounted frustrations with parents who would not trust her with making responsible decisions. In not just one class I was caught off guard by ranting students angered that vampires are treated so unfairly by humans. Why didn't people understand that under that hard shell exterior some vampires were actually nice? It was a reminder to me that my students had an unhealthy obsession with shows like vampire diaries, and it was useless to do anything but nod your head and thank them for trying.

As I have mentioned before many of my students are females preparing to be high school English teachers. Though many if not most wish to pursue work in a big business or to travel abroad for foreign teaching, few of them are willing to take the risks involved with finding a private sector job. For this reason many students have revealed to me feelings of being trapped or driven into a narrowly defined life. In my talks regarding stereotypes I often encountered student feelings of helplessness, and our discussions revolved around collectivism versus individual independence. My attention was peaked several times when students responded to a few of my simple words of comfort, such as every one has their own experiences and their own individual problems, so it is normal to feel alone and confused at times even if your friends are not. I caught several students looking at me blankly, either because they didn't understand my words or the meaning behind them, but I was happy to see that several were deeply interested in the discussion.

This past weekend I spent some time in Chongqing, one of China's directly controled municipalities (直辖市）, that lies in central China. The city is large, very large, and for that reason (among others) it is also perhaps one of the most polluted. But the city offers many amazing sites including an opera house and a city center packed with enormous skyscrapers and western restaurants.

I was there visiting my friends Richie and Katie, a young married couple living together as PC volunteers. Due to the size of the city it was host to quite a few Peace Corps friends, all serving in and around the city. We spent the days touring around the center city and observing areas under construction, one of which was only in its initial stages. A trench a mile wide and several thousand feet deep was being dug by individual construction workers, each resting on a drill that was loosening up the earth. I was astounded at the size of it and the mishmash of workers making seemingly miniscule attempts to dig such a massive hole. But as with many of the most miraculous works in China, construction feats are often conducted with blinding speed and an army of workers.

At night we visited other volunteers. Our activities are usually surreal, with Chinese friends and faculty gathering with American volunteers for beer pong or drinking competitions. In our defense we do not have these gatherings often so we do not feel ashamed in mixing a bit of American alcoholism and traditional games-beer pong of course being one of them. And our Chinese friends were more than willing to join in. Other activities usually include clumsy dancing to songs we used to hate in the states and random drunken tests of strength that end in someone getting hurt. I'm usually disappointed if I dont get at least one bruise from the antics, and chastise myself by trying much harder to "enjoy" myself the next time.

This last week my students will conduct their finals in a play. My Christmas plans are likely to be a return to Chongqing, where I can celebrate with several of my friends and enjoy some semblence of a Christmas here in China. I have high expectations as many of my closest Peace Corps friends will be there with me.

I hope that this Christmas season is filled with happiness for all of you back home. I wish I could be there with you but alas I am not able to return from this side of the world. Please wish everyone a merry Christmas for me!

Happy Holidays!
祝你圣诞节快乐！