I am a volunteer for a year and am supported by the "Centre for Mission and Ecumenism" in cooperation with „Weltwärts“. The "Amity Foundation" is a Christian NGO in China and handles the organizational part in China .
Preparation in Nanjing
With a few complications in Germany with Lufthansa and a layover in Hong Kong, I finally got to the eastern Nanjing (南京) and spent the first two weeks with 13 other volunteers in a hotel on the campus of the "Nanjing Normal University“. These few weeks were a perfect start for me to learn about the living conditions in China, to get a feeling for bargaining, to meet nice people, to learn Chinese or to go to church.
The first days in Nanjing we were on our own. Over the following days each group of volunteers from various organizations in Germany and the USA got to Nanjing safely. The first thing everyone had to do was to buy a Chinese SIM card and change money or rather withdraw. There were food stalls on every street corner or small motorized tricycles full of colorful fruits. Nanjing is the capital and metropolis of the Jiangsu Province and was the capital of China (南Nan = south, Bei 北= north, Jing京= capital) until the founding of the People‘s republic of China in 1949.
With nearly 8 million inhabitants, it was always easy to find someone to ask for directions, who could also speak the English language. After a few days time we knew which subway to take, where the shops were, how to get to church or where to eat in the evening.
On Monday we finally had our Chinese lesson, which took place every morning the following two weeks. Many volunteers have already visited a Chinese course in their hometown and were better prepared then others, who had their first Chinese lesson in China. I have less difficulties with my oral Chinese than my written Chinese. There is a character for each word, which significantly complicates the matter.
In the afternoons we either were taught on how to teach English in China by two professors or we did trips to Nanjing and the surrounding area. We visited the Nanjing Massacre Museum, met the most famous Chinese caligraphist, saw a soccer game: Iran versus Hong Kong, spent some time at the Sun Yat-sen Monuments, were amazed by the huge Garden of Ge and visited the Amity Printing Factory.
I went to church quite often in Nanjing, partly because of the church service I enjoyed alot, because I have accompanied the choir with my piano playing. Secondly, I participated in the theater play "Adam & Eve", where I had the role of Adam. I got to know many great people there from all over the world and still have contact with them.
Together with the other 13 volunteers I had a very nice time in Nanjing. We have experienced a lot together and grown together to a big family. I spent a lot of time with the other american Teddy, because he could not speak German and is a cool guy.
Teddy and Clara stayed in Nanjing and are working in 2 different schools over there. The rest of us twelve took a flight together to Gansu, a province that streches itself from central China to the north-west of the country. In Jiayuguan we were picked up from our schools and were driven to our new home: Yumen 玉门.
Yumen City
Together with Caspar, we live and teach at the "Yumen Middle School no 3", one of three schools in Yumen. Vincent and Max are housed at the no. 1 and no. 2 school. The other volunteers are in Jiuquan, a city of 800,000 inhabitants.
Yumen has about 30,000- 90,000 inhabitants, the residents are not even sure themselfs. According to Wikipedia, it has 200,000 inhabitants, no one knows what is true. The first few days Caspar and I spent a lot of time trying to clean our two apartments and make it more comfortable living. We bought new bed sheets, towels, cleaning supplies for everything, posters and much more. My apartment was so dusty, sandy and dirty that I spent 3 days in order to clean everything to my satisfaction. Lamps, water boiler, my bed, the shower and the sink had to be repaired and now I can live in my apartment, happy and glad.
I am also very pleased with my surrounding. Although Yumen is a small town, you can get everything you need to live: a 10-minute walk and you are at a next bigger supermarket, a vegetable grocery store is just 5 minutes away.
Yumen Middle School no.3
玉门 第三 中, one of two middle schools in Yumen, is a great school. Here the seventh to ninth grade students have classes. Each grade has 20 classes, each with about 50 students. The total amount of students is about 3000 at our school. The campus is surrounded by a high fence and the only way to get on the campus is through the one entrance gate, which is always guarded by a gatekeeper. There are four school buildings on the campus. In addition to that there is a main building, the cafeteria, two dormitories for the students and a house for the accommodation of teachers with a row of shops. Approximately 2,000 students have to sleep in the school dormitories, the others go home every evening. During the breaks, the children either play ping-pong, basketball on the 10 courts or relax out on the school yard. A huge paved surface is just outside the main building and is mainly used for school meetings. Every Monday there is the flag ceremony, fire extinguishing actions are performed, the new teachers are introduced or it is the dancing floor for the 7th and 8th graders! In morning at 10 o‘clock about 2000 students dance either infront of the main building or on the huge sport field, the other 1000 students run on the sports field in a circle, classwise. During this time music is playing outside, every day! I can already sing along to the Chinese songs, but I get the feeling that many children are getting a little more annoyed every day by the same music.
The school campus is also still decorated with many flower beds and green grass. In order for these to survive in the wilderness, they have to be watered regularly. The janitors are responsible for it and soke all flower beds in water, until it flows over and the whole street is under water. That is the sign to turn off the water. Apparently our the water supply comes from a dam about an hour south of Yumen in Changma (昌 马), I plan to go there soon.
My Lessons
I teach a total of 1000 students, spread over two weeks. Together I have 20 classes a week: 15 lessons of 45 minutes each in the ten seventh grades and 20 minutes in the eighth grade. However I only have them once every two weeks, so five a week. The lesson plan for the next 20 weeks I've already planned together with Caspar, because we teach the children the same topics, but each one prepares a different kind of lesson. This week I'm going to teach the 8th graders different celebrations all around the world. The 7th graders learn new vocabulary on the topic "My Body".
Twice a week I have a two-hour Chinese lesson with Caspar. During that we learn with the textbook "New Practical Chinese Reader". Writing characters is the most difficult part of all, it takes a lot of time. I practice mostly at home or in the teacher‘s office.
Teacher
Apart from home we spend the most time in the teacher's office. But this is not as bad as it sounds, because I always have something to do: I can sort out my pictures, prepare my future lessons, write my blog, study Chinese characters, read the online newspapers, educate myself though EDX courses online or just talk with the four teachers in our teacher‘s office. Each time students want to come in, they have to have to wait at the door until someone says "You can come in!“ I have already experienced that a teacher has really beaten up a student. I have never seen something like that in real life before, only in movies. But this doesn‘t happen that often and the teacher said sorry too.
Lydia and Mr. Yuan are the two teachers responsible for us. Lydia is an English teacher and always provides us with necessary information. If we need help or something is broken in our apartment, then she is our contact person and organizes everything for us. Mr. Yuan is, as far as I know, ranked higher than Lydia and can not speak English. He drove us to the capital of the province, Lanzhou (a 12 hour night train ride) to do a physical exam so that we get a working and residence permit. He has also help us apply for a visa for the whole year in Jiuquan.
Holiday
Our trip to Lanzhou, more a holiday than a physical exam, was great. We have convinced Mr. Yuan to stay one more night, so we had the chance to see the Yellow River, a national park in the mountains and we did some shopping. To save some money, I shared my room with Mr. Yuan. Caspar, Max and Vincent were in the other room. The climate in Lanzhou was rather damp and cool and compared to Yumen quite different. The first few days in my new home were terribly dry. You really could feel it in the eyes, on the skin, especially in the nose. You had to constantly drink something because the throat was so dry. We also had to use hand lotion all day. Meanwhile, I got use to the climate and it is not as bad anymore.
A few weeks ago I was in Jiuquan to visit the other volunteers. From there we went on day trips to Jiayuguan and Zhang Ye. In Jiayuguan we lookedat the Great Wall, visited a fort and we really rode a camel. In Zhang Ye there was also the longest indoor Buddha in the world to admire, 115 foot long. Also, we were at the Zhang Ye Dan Xia (丹霞 地貌), the most beautiful mountains I've seen so far. You could see mountains many miles away and you just could‘t believe it was real. The landforms of red sandstones and conglomerates were largely formed a long ago and it was just magical.
Last week I went on vacation with Miriam and Sara to Xining, a larger town about 10 hours by bus. The busride to Xining was more of an experience in itself and very uncomfortable, because we had to sit the whole ride. We also got to our destination at around 2 o‘clock in the morning and had to look for a place to sleep. The only place we found was KFC, the one western restaurant open 24 hours a day. Nevertheless, the holiday was very nice: we went hiking a few times, saw the most famous lake in China, the Qinghai Lake, outstanding temples in the well known city Ta'ersi and were accompanied in a relatively exotic, but comfortable hotel. The trip back was a sleeping bus this time, which was a lot more comfortable.
Food
When we got back in Jiuquan, I spent another night at Jacob‘s house, because we wanted to invite Jody to some German food. Jody is a very nice English teacher who has already helped us with several problems and often invited us for dinner. So we have made Schnitzel with fried potatoes :)
In Yumen Caspar and I cook every day. Our daily schedule on weekdays is almost always the same: In the morning Caspar makes either oatmeal porridge or mantou (a Chinese bun), for lunch we buy delicious food in the cafeteria for 5 Yuan (about 80 cents) and in the evening I always cook a vegetable dish, fried rice or noodles. I sometimes cook with meat too, but only if we find some good quality meat. Even without meat, It is still fun every time, trying out all kinds of Chinese spices, sauces and vegetables.
From time to time we make home-made green tea or jasmine tea and fill it into bottles to bring them to school or on trips. That is how we save a lot of money, because a liter of tea costs at least 5 yuan in the stores. We also boil water and filter it with my german high quality water filter. Now we have quite a lot of bottles in stock.
Special
Every day we not only cook together but also exercise daily to stay healthy. In addition, our school gave us ping-pong bats. Every time we play, there are at least 10 Chinese kids watching us. In almost every school break students play basketball or tabletennis outside. The seem very delighted when we ask if we can play with them. Since 3000 students go to school here, the 10 baskets are always occupied and the games are played on one basket.
Probably many of you know, that the toilets in China are just a hole in the ground. In most public toilets you have to squat. Luckily we have normal western toilets in our dormitory. In the school buildings unfortunately the toilets are really dirty, it smells real bad and you already notice 30 feet away, where the toilets are. Unfortunately the flushing power is not as powerful, so very often something remains in the toilet.
The garbage disposal is similar: It smells out there, especially on the weekend when the garbage is burned in the a container. This is the technique applied throughout the city.
If someone will visit me some day, he would think that everything is really cheap, for example tomatoes you could calculate the same price. For a pound of tomatoes you would pay about 1 yuan, in the US about 1 dollar. Vegetables in general costs very little, Chinese buns (mantou), clothes, cleaning products etc. are also favorable. What could cost more are dairy products such as butter or yogurt. Half a gallon of milk costs almost 2 dollars. Electronic devices are, if you would like to have the original product, just as expensive as in Germany or the US. Of course there is a fake for everything in China, which usually is a lot cheaper. Especially in markets, like the Rainbow Market in Jiuquan, you can bargain down everything and make lots of friends to get the best price.
Conclusion
I am very satisfied and happy in Yumen. Yumen is a small town, the noise really is very limited and it is really comfortable to live, especially in my apartment with running hot water and heating. I got used to the life in China very quickly, love to bargain on markets and strike out the best price. The people here are really friendly and I get along very well with everyone.
The best feeling one can have is when you have finished your lesson perfectly and the students learned a lot and really had a lot of fun. Everyone is smiling and when you finally say "bye-bye" all students will scream and want to have your phone number, QQ number or Wechat number.
Many have told me that they really had a lot of free time in the office, but I somehow always know what to do: learning Chinese is my first priority, then the teaching arrangements, blog, EDX courses, online newspaper, sort images, etc.
Sometimes we cook with the teachers or other Chinese people we met, which is great for the college time, because then you can already know how to cook! Currently I cook a lot of what I have learned from my mom, but soon I will go over to the real Chinese five- star cuisine.
If you want to get to know even more about what I have experienced on holiday in Xining, what I cook or just want to see a lot of pictures of how my life in China is like, visit my blog:
www.oli2china.weebly.com
I update the blog regularly and try to design it as clear as possible, so that you can keep track of it. Of course, I am always happy to read e-mails, messages, postcards or receive phone calls, Skype ... anything, anytime :)
You guys have a wonderful day and God bless!
Best greetings
Olen