Well I have been very busy. I had my first week of teaching! I didn't start until this week (even though school officially started at the beginning of September) because I have all freshmen and the freshmen go through a month of political training before they start their classes.
This training consists of the students doing drills, marching and shouting slogans all day long.
Sometimes you can't help but feel bad for them as they are on the field ALL day long no matter how hot it is. Notice all the water bottles at their feet and this day wasn't even that warm (well for Nanchang), only about 85, but of course with about 80% humidity! Remember Nanchang is one of the 4 famous furnaces of China. We are actually the #3 furnace so it gets really hot and humid! But the "training" is over and classes have started so I have been enjoying my first week of teaching.
3 of my classes are on the 5th floor (no elevator), so a nice little jaunt up the stairs where I am rewarded with a beautiful view! As you can see on the right is an arrow that shows my apartment so I either walk or ride my bike to school. I love it!
I have 5 classes (approximately 200 students!). I love my students and know I will have a lot of fun teaching them. Each class has it's own distinct personality and it has been a pleasure getting to know my students this week. I have a great schedule. I teach Tuesday's. Thursday's and Friday's from 8:00am to 9:50am and on Wednesday's from 10:10am to 12:00pm and 2:00pm to 3:50pm. I always have a 3 day weekend and if I want to leave right after class on Friday I could be on the train by noon and effectively have a 4 day weekend! Of course while I only have 10 class hours a week, I do spend a lot of time with my students out of class. Everyone lives on campus (including me) and so we run into each other all the time, which is great as it gives the students a chance to practice their English and me a chance to practice my Chinese. I like to play basketball with my students and will eventually have students come over to my apartment (in small groups of course because as nice and big as my apartment is it's not big enough for all 200 at once!) and we will watch movies and practice our English/Chinese. The students are so eager to learn and really appreciate us as teachers.
Since I am in the Business school (The School of Intercultural Studies or SICS), all of my students are either Finance majors or Accounting majors. It is interesting to note that the students do not get to pick their major. Their majors are chosen for them based on their test scores. Additionally, the university that they go to is also based upon test scores. JXNU is considered to be a good university and SICS is considered to be one of the best schools within the university, so I am lucky to have really great students.
Here is a picture of one of my classes. Not everyone is in class yet as it is not quite time to start (there is still 15 minutes before the start of class but most students come early). Each class has a little over 40 students and as you can see from the picture there are a lot more girls than boys. If you notice the boy in the yellow shirt in the front row to the left, his name is Phillip (well his English name is Phillip, which since it is an English class everyone was given an English name if they didn't already have one.). He is the class monitor and was quite a ham. When I was introducing myself to the class he asked me why I came to Nanchang instead of Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong (the three biggest tourist cities in China) and I told him, "Why would I go to those cities when we all know Nanchang is the best!" Of course the students loved that and everyone cheered.
I feel very lucky to be here and am having a blast. I am learning so much and my adventures never end. Although I just started teaching this week I am already on vacation! This coming week is National Day (like our 4th of July) and Mid-Autumn Festival so I have 10 days off. The university had a reception for the foreign teachers where they gave us moon cakes and took us out to dinner. I will have to share the pictures I took of all the wonderful dishes we had but that will have to wait until another time. I must go to bed as I need to be up early so I can get ready for my trip. Yes, I am going to go on a trip this break. I have been invited to Wuhan and am looking forward to my first trip out of the province. Wuhan is in the next province (state) over.
Finally, I want to share a picture of my residency permit.
I am officially a resident! Without this I would be considered an illegal alien, which is kind of funny to me since in California we have so many issues about illegal aliens. But fortunately I have my permit and I am good to go. We have to renew it once a year but the university takes care of that for us. This is a great university and they do a wonderful job taking care of the foreign teachers and so I feel lucky to be a part of such a wonderful community. I love my job and I really appreciate the great experiences I am lucky to be having.
So stay tuned for the next installment about all my wonderful adventures!
Until next time,
Zaijan!
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