On to Weifang

Weifang started like any other trip to a city in China: with a terrifying experience with random Chinese dudes stuffing me into their cars at the airport and silently driving me to where I need to go. In a way I should be thankful… these cigarette-saturated parking lot crawlers have always looked after me. Haha!

Weifang is a city in Shangdong province. It is a beautiful urbania (yes, it’s my blog I can make up my own words if I want) full of colorful lights, wonderful river walks and bountiful shopping malls. Truly, the city dweller’s paradise. Like most cities in China, Weifang has a beautiful haze that glosses over the city like an over-powdered donut. Mmm pollution is beautiful:). The view from my fifth floor room in the Oceanwide Hotel captures a fantastic red sunset cast over the miles of impoverished apartment buildings scattered through the city.

My first day as a teacher began Sunday when a meeting, conducted by the school officials, was held to instruct the foreign teachers on how to act and what to expect from the summer camp. By this time, I had met about half of the group of foreigners via the hotel breakfast and the bus ride to the school. In contrast to the village in Hainan, all of the foreign teachers were just that- foreign. No English-speaking Chinese volunteers. However only about 1/3 of the group is actually from a native English speaking country. Most are from South Africa, but a few are from Russia, Poland, Scotland, England, and Australia.

And what an interesting group it is.

Within the first 5 minutes of the meeting, a woman took it upon herself to demand color printing- stating that “my flash cards need color, without my flash cards my classroom is boring. You can’t take away the fun in the classroom.” As a very recent former student I can say with absolutely confidence, if a teacher relies on flash cards to make the classroom fun, the class isn’t going to be fun. (The school officials actually bought a color printer because of that 20 minute argument, by the way). The meeting degraded from there, eventually settling into a nice consistent chatter of confusion and chaos. This was partially due to poor organization and leadership but also to the outlandishly stuck-up expectations of the foreign teachers. People demanding things left and right, it snapped me back into the real world. The village was calm, slow, and people did what they could and that was enough. No washer? Wash your clothes in the sink. No paper in the class? Come up with a fun game to get them engaged. It was a culture of adapting and being content. Now I am surrounded with a group of proud teachers that will compromise very little for their own needs. Like my very wise mentor has said many times, “no expectations are the best expectations.”

Regardless, these fanatic people are not in my classroom, it’s just me. I have two second grade classes: one class of angel scholars and one class of talkative inmates. More on this later.

So far this week I have had the freedom to explore this city in more detail than I will ever need. I’ve spent hours walking along the river listening to old people chatter away on a bench, musicians playing Chinese folk songs, and the low drone of thousands of scooters zipping in all directions. I’ve mazed my way through 20-story shopping malls, permanent fair rides, and street vendors. I’ve seen homeless people. I’ve seen people wearing 10,000 dollar suits. The city life is fast, dirty, clean, chaotic, and brilliantly organized. Much of what fascinates me is not the enticing promises of what the city has to offer (shops, food, bright lights, etc) but the way these promises interact and manipulate people. It’s not very different from an American city and offers its own insight into the wonderful world of capitalism.

As much as I try to separate myself from the allure of the city, I did find some hidden gems specific to my own interests (there’s something for everyone I suppose). I stumbled my way to a shop with a saxophone hanging on the wall. There wasn’t much else but a man sitting at a counter inside. I went in and asked about the sax. He didn’t speak English but pointed to another man outside and said “boss.” Hmm alright. I introduced myself and told him that I played saxophone. His English was much better. He explained that this was a tutoring agency for children to learn piano and drum set. He went further to explain that there was a black man that comes to Weifang every once in a while to jam out with him and that it would be awesome if I joined with my sax. Uhhhhh….. hell yeah! He was so incredibly nice and welcoming. I asked if I could use this shop as a quiet place to practice my saxophone and of course he said yes. It was a fantastic feeling to be able to meet someone totally different from me and connect so suddenly. I may never see him again in my life but I will always remember his kindness.

At night I embrace the city in a much different way. Drugs, smoking, and alcohol.

Of course “drugs, smoking, and alcohol” is slang for “sipping on orange juice in my hotel room until 1 am and falling asleep on my laptop.”

Regardless, I have made many many friends, seen many cool places, and gained insight into the diversity and simultaneous continuity of people.