On Sunday watch the 16th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship on CCTV with some students. They translate the commentary as it goes along, or at least when something interesting happens. The contest is won by the Russian team.
On Monday make some progress in marking the video presentations and one of the obstacles is identifying each face and voice on the tape; I haven’t seen enough of these students for long enough to know them all. Enlist the help of the political secretary of one of the classes.
On Tuesday go into town to John K to see Jiujiang’s new municipal library. On the way we stop at the CBC eatery which opened very recently.It’s a replica of KFC; same colour scheme, same style of layout to the bar, same menu but with a couple of extras thrown in, and the prices are only slightly less. It is located adjacent t o the fairground at Gantang Hu so it should do well. Further along the road, where Lushan Lu turns into Lushan NanLu, the road widens. It looks like the deck of an aircraft carrier, there are two very wide lanes for the motor traffic on each carriageway plus another lane, of equal width, on each side of the road used by cycles and hand-carts. If this were Britain crossing such a road would be perilous if not suicidal but here the traffic is relatively light and slow moving so we are able to stroll across the road, pausing now and again to let a bicycle or bus pass by, without any anxiety. There are only two roads in Jiujiang that I know of that are wider. Shi Li Da Dao has two traffic lanes and a cycle lane for each carriageway plus a segregated lane [big enough for two-way traffic] on each side of the road and Chang Hong Da Dao, the road which passes the railway station, has the same lane arrangement but wider, it is one expanse of tarmac. The library is quite easy to find and it looks to be relatively new but not particularly well maintained. John says the building was first owned by an American company and when their business in China failed they sold it to Jiujiang City. It is only a fraction of the size of the college library and many of the rooms are locked. The names of the rooms have been translated into English on the directions board and some have quite intriguing names ‘See Obstacle Reading Room’, ‘Multi-funnectional Room’. I would have loved to have known what the obstacle room was all about but it was locked.
After returning to the college I visit the Foreign Affairs Office bit find that still haven’t bought the ticket I asked for and last month’s salary is still not available. They ‘will try their best to get it tomorrrow’.
Spend the Wednesday afternoon with some of the Foreign Teachers and catch up on some of teh gosip. The latest arrival to the community of foreign teachers in Jiujiang, a man called Martyn that no-one seems to have met, has departed. He arrived at No.2 Middle School at Christmas time and was immediately put into the care of ‘minders’. When a Chinese school or college gets its first foreign teacher they become very protective and tend to treat them like china, after they realise the FT is human and can do things for himself he will have more freedom. It seems the minders at No. 2 school went right over the top and wouldn’t let Martyn out of their sight, for the first week he didn’t even have a key to his flat and after he found microphones in his apartment he called it a day. The other little surprise is the departure of Charles Lynn, a Taiwanese. The college has refused to renew his contract but haven’t given him the real reason why – bad reports from the students – they told him he was too late in requesting renewal [which is absolute bullshit, mine was signed last week]. His spoken English is poor, so it is questionable whether he should have been teaching English at all, but the students didn’t like him much and some claimed to be unable to understand is English or Chinese. He should have been shown the evaluation forms from the students and given an opportunity to act on it.
Friday evening is spent at the Lin Ping Hong with Valerie, from the Jiujiang Teachers College, and two of the employees from CCB who want to start an English school. Discuss marketing, staff, and other issues. The CCB people want to aim at a mass, low quality school, we think a more elite high quality school would be better. Low grade schools spring up all over the place but really good ones are hard to find. The nearest one we know of is in Shanghai.
On Saturday cycle around to Valerie’s flat. She asked if I would look at her laptop as it is having problems. Various experts from her college have had a look at it but none have done anything other than make it worse. After I arrive she tells me that Alex will be coming along sometime in the morning. This means I will have to grit my teeth and restrain myself from indulging in acts of violence; I have met him twice already, two many times, if you see what I mean. Alex rubs everyone up the wrong way, he has no manners, no social skills or cultural sensitivity and an unfortunate way of talking at people. He isn’t suitable for teaching language [not many English speakers understand him] and shouldn’t be working overseas. However, like many young nerds he does have some experience in playing about with PCs so we may be able to keep him sufficiently occupied to prevent him committing any social faux-pas.
In the afternoon Alex leaves and I stay talking with Valerie. She is 65, came from England then moved to Australia, lost her husband at a young age and brought up a family of 4 on a farm in the outback. She has many years of experience working in EFL and overseas, has been in China for several years and has many interesting stories to tell. She has some connections with an underground church movement in China and also has some knowledge of what happened to Martyn, at No.2 Middle School. It is an interesting story but, as yet, uncorroborated. Apparently there was some trouble in the province with another foreigner which made the government uncomfortable. The trouble-maker has been expelled and the matter quietened down but to avoid any repetition the provincial government instructed that all foreign newcomers to the province should be kept under close supervision – particularly those with any connection with the trouble-maker. Martyn may have had some connection with the man – possibly without even being aware of it. She also has some interesting insights into the background of other foreign teachers in the area, some of which are eye-openers, but she seems to be too upright, too open and too morally strict to be telling tall stories.
At the end of the afternoon I ride back to our campus and it is dark by the time I arrive.
