Yunnan Stories 云南故事

Today I observed another fellow’s lesson. A newbie as he is,his passion and vitality is what I pretty much envy. Counting him in, I have sitted in on no less than 10 teachers’classes up to now.It is beyond doubt that I have learnt a lot from these observations.

In gerneral, you need make a special appointment with the teacher you wanna observe. It’s also ok you go to his or her office during the break between 2 classes—-Normally, they agree on the spot.These teachers are just so amiable,easy-going and confident－－－more than glad to show their authentic and natrual teaching styles. Nevertheless, they are rather modest,insisting you should leave some advice after the class ended. Through this blog,I wanna make a review of the lessons observerd in the past 3 months.

The fellows I observed were more than meticulous in imparting their knowledge, not only orally but also on the chalkbord. Occasionally,they cracked a reserved joke to liven up the tedious class. Most of them had the relaxing expressions and soft eye contacts with the students. "Any questions?" is the sentence I heard the most in the observations.

The students. Yes, the students were the most attentive in the world. Especially the girls. Hitting the books means almost everything to them. According what I saw, these lovely and honest kids kept joting and joting for fear they would miss any single word.Infrequently, sporadic responses were heard, which was probably the only interaction.

Yes, it was far from an interactive or dinamic classroom, bringing me to 20 years back—–shockingly familiar. Basically,there is no communication in classes between teachers and students, nor was there  among the students themselves. Maybe the teaching pattern was suitble for the local situation.That’s why in such atmosphere, I didn’t see the expected boredom but their hunger for learning.They were just so easy to please—–All too often,a silght digression from teachers was enough to relax or stimulate these lovely kids.

To top that off, I made a rough estimation about TWO TIMES in the clasrooms—one is the speaking-english time and the other is student-speaking time in a 40-minute class. The former was around 10 minutes,of which 99% was spent in reading aloud the materials. The latter was miserablely little 5 minutes or so, of which nearly zero was speaking English in the real sense. To be a teacher-centered class or a student-centerd class, that’s a question.The both are hard.

That said, I am by no means targeting something or somebody in this post cause I DO have the same problem here. Instead, I respect my fellow teachers and their teaching strategies. I like the local kids and their never-ending fighting moral. I only wanna seek a possibillty on how to hit two birds with a stone. That is, can we make our students smarter in learning English, in a more efficient way?

Dunno how many days our dorms have been cut off from Internet. Previously, we had been out of water for 10 days in a row. Just imagine the smelly compus and town in general. The day before yestday, the power was off. The students seemed to be happy—–They didn’t need to go to the evening classes. And we had the first candle-lit dinner with two  reporters from Honghe Daily, who interviewed us on our life as volunteers.

Due to the fragile hard enviroment, some baisic supplies used to be cut off very often. Now the situation has been improved a lot, but still leaving much to be disired. Yisa, where I am staying, means a short-of-water place in Yi(彝)languge. In fact, it is not only Yisa but the whole county that has the problem. No wonder every household has a water cellor and prepares tons of candles.  I dread the water-cut days the most among all the inconveniences—-Without electricity or internet, we can resort to candles and books respectively. The others just seem like a piece of cake since we have gone through the worst of the worse.

It is comforting that not all the town has no accsess to the net. The netbar boss is happy that I am his regular, even arranging me an exclusive computer. Still, I will kiss goodbye to it as long as I can surf in my dorm—–only for the productivity.

The other day,I ran into a little girl on my way to a student’s home in the mountains. She, sitting on the ground, looked up and smiled sweet to meet my greeting. Around 4 years old , she was no longer a toddler. I bent down and tried to help her up but she seemd reluctant. Instead of rising, she extended her arm and wanted to grab my digitcam, thinking it was a toy or something like that. A naughty and lively kid, I figured.

At the point when I took a snapshot, a boy , supposed to be her brother, came over and carried her sister on his back. All of a sudden, I knew she couldn’t stand on her feet and had to rely on her brother. From the talk with the boy, I also learnt that he had never been in school for a single day, helping his parents to attend her sister who suffered from polio. Out of sympathy, I insisted he recieve 100 yuan but he declined. The brother,with a sad and embarraced look in his eyes, didn’t say anthing while the innocent girl giggled and looked exited at the beautiful paper. In the end, the brother,with his handicaped sister on the back, bent his head and hurried to the direction of their home, silently and heavily.  It was a distressing sight.

What a contrast between the looks in their eyes!－－－the bro’s is unsuitablly melancholy against his age while the sister’s is pure and even beautiful. Will we be able to read the purity and beauty in her eyes when she grows up a bit more?

The people in the photo (from the left) are my shanghai school’s Party secretary Mao, me, Fengxian Education Board’s three leaders—-section chief Tang, director wang and and another section chief wang.

The day finally came, to which we had been looking forward for a while. 

Yesterday director Wang and his party of 10 people came over from Shanghai to see us and they left this morning. It is so exciting to reencounter our folks 3 months later not in our hometown but in a place which is more than 3000 kilos away. We talked a lot and had tons of group photos. It was clear they were as thrilled as us. After a visit to our dorms came the unforgetable dinner party, where everyone drank and chat in a friendly and warm atmosphere. Our Honghe hosts even sang many songs for all the Shanghai friends, among which was the most classical ‘Welome to Honghe" . Amazing.

Our leaders made light of trudging for thousands of miles to see us in person, which in itself was a great acknowledgement to our jobs here and gave us enormous encouragement.  We knew they were very concerned about our life here from the intimate conversations. Before leaving, they sent us some money and asked us to take care. In return, we reassured our leaders that we wouldn’t fail to live up to their great trust.

Bon voyage.

Last week I went to see a student, who lived in the 5-hour-away countryside. The first 3 hours was a bus ride to a small one-street town, where I was told the road ahead was impassable. With the help of locals and a draft map, I managed to make it to Li’s home(my student) before noon. Li is a sensible and clever girl. She was ill and absent from school for a week. My visit was mainly to help her make up the missed lessons.

After lunch, I bumped into Li’s nextdoor maternal uncle, who was dining with his mom. With open arms,they invited me to join them. After a small talk, I stepped into their world bit by bit. The 43-year-old host, surnamed Wang, was still in singlehood while his mom hadn’t been remarried since her better half passed away 12 years ago. When asked why he didn’t find a wife, this honest man smiled and hinted that I should have a good look around. Yes, I saw. The house (no, it was at best a hut) was scantily furnished.  No any electric appliances. A bag of chemical fertilizer placed in the corner maybe was the only stuff that was worth money.

Wang added that he,as the only son in the family, should support her old mom, who was in poor health. Last year’s stroke almost paralized this poor old woman. Now she can only do some simple housework like cooking while her son grows a mu(亩) of rice paddy. Occasionally,the only breadwinner would go to town to do some odd jobs.

"We are not the most poorly off in this village and the life is much better than before. My only wish is my mom stays healthy and happy for the rest of her life." This middle-aged man said.

This was taken on my way via Yuanjiang two months ago. I redicovered it when sorting out a large pile of photos. Forgot the name but I know the picture just doen’t do justise to this cute village.

All the houses are built with the charecteristic red soil, firm and beautiful.  Nearly a hundred years’ weathering has changed the original red to what you see now the light yellow. The most amazing part is that every small household can be connected to each other through the roof. The roof serves as a dring yard and a road leading everywhere, where you can even take a non-stop bike ride around the whole village. Take the gental slopes if you wanna go up and down.

Pillowed on a hill, this waterside village in itself is a large household.These industrious and ingenious villagers treat each other just like siblings. They, having shared the woes and joys from generation to generation, live an enviablly harmonious life.

Just look at it, isn’t it amazing?

The other day, I met two countrywomen in the street, who were selling the firewood in the market. I was taken back when they told how heavy each bundle was. 100 jin at least, my god! Seeing my suspicion, one of them unloaded hers and let me have a try. Until my back was bent down did I find I couldn’t stand on my feet no matter how I struggled. Futher inquiries and I knew they were Hani(哈尼）ethnic minorities and had trudged 4hours along the mountain trail. The firewood was sold by jin(斤） and a bundle was worth around 10 yuan. They would carry them back home if there were no buyers.

4 hours’ toiling up the rugged mountain trail with an extra-heavy load is only for 10 yuan. But wait! I was also told this kind of a market was open only once a week, which means they would have to wait another week to try luck if no deal was made this time.

Along the mountain muddy road were more and more people advancing toward the market, with more budles of firewood and even cattles. I couldn’t help but crossing my fingers for them, hoping them to sell at a good price. Such market must have existed for thousands of years, If I am not mistaken. Would their business always thrive even though they just make peanuts? What would they do if they couldn’t make the both ends meet?…….I dunno.

Maybe my previous fear about their fate was unnecessary. They are a tough breed after all, for which I could do nothing but show deep respect.

Remember the first day I entered the classroom in Yunnan and was stunned by the masses of clouds floating near on the opposite mountains, repeating to the students that the seneries were just too beautiful.

Now having stayed here for over 3 months, no longer will I see it as a spectacle as I did in the past. Nontherless, I enjoy the ubiquitous sea of clouds for its visual pleasure. It still excites and appeals me if it emerges. Often than not,I would lean against the courtyard wall and  look down at the cloud-covered valley, thinking of nothing.

It is a vast arid plateau where I am now. Under the combined action of altitude and  temperature difference, the hidden tiny waterdrops evaporate into banks and banks mist when heated by the sun at dawn.  Thus, the sea of clouds cames into being, everywhere and everytime. What you need keep in mind is: the cloudsea here happens more often though it can’t be compared to Huangshan’s(黄山）         

Waked to a sunbeam resting on my desk and I pulled open the door，stepping into the courtyard.It was empty and quiet and I realized the school was still on vacation and my buddies hadn’t returned from the long journey. So I was on my own again today. Inside was a bunch of homework and a pile of messy bedding articles while outsde is the attracting warm sunsine and refreshing air.All those seemed to imply what I should do next.

About 3 quaters later, a midium scale removal started. What added to my courtyard was a cup of tea, a pack of cigarettes, a wet towel, a pile of komework,an armchair,a small short stool and all the beddings. Now I sat down and began to correct the homework comfortably with the stool as my leg rest. I put the wet towel on the head to keep cool and resist the glaring light, which reminded me of the arabian keffiyeh. What you might not expect was that I only wore a pair of beaches—–I hate my pale flesh tone and I wanna get tanned!

To relax the sore neck, I would reward myself a good rest. It involed bending backward with my neck socket resting on the chair back, enjoying the above blue sky and white clouds. It also include taking a long pull at my cigarette and deep sip at my tea once in a while. Forgot how many times my tea was refilled and the towlel redamped and the cigareetes relit in the process of work/rest. Occasionally, I  sank into a weird trance, in which I was vacationing somewhere in the Midterranian. What a lazy and cozy morning!

Two hours passed, my skin got browned, quilts got sterilized from the 5-star UV, tea drunk up and work was done. Everything was again indoors including myself, where I took a sound nap. Maybe I was mesmerized by the sweet flavour of the sun collected by my bedclothes.

I got an email today from one of my bog’s readers. What follows is the original text(see the highlighted part).

hi there,

i came across your blog, which was very well-written. much to my surprise, though, you are a chinese native who teaches english in yun nan. at my first glance, however, you are an english native who struggles with chinese learning. either prediction, i still admire your consistent passion and efforts which have been put into langugae learning. i myself wish one day to master english well enough like my chinese. having been overseas for many years now, my passion for this language never fades, this is also why whenever i come across with some chinese folks who use brilliant english, i cannot help sending my compliments to them.

cheers,

anna banana

I am flattered. But I wanna say, " Thank you, Anna, you’ve made me so very happy."

These days I’ve recieved some feedbacks from my readers on and off, either through email or skype. It is good enough that you are reading my blog . What also flatters me is that some readers say I am great because I am undertaking a lofty cause and my English is comparative to a native’s because  anyone can do the both, if they insist. Yunnan is not as backward as what you imagine, nor as beautiful as what you hear. What you need is to take a plunge and have a personal experience.  Life here is never boring and won’t be put in the shade by as boring as some foreign life to say the least ——-NO possible languge barrels,exnophobia, or dull food, etc but you can still experience the culture shocks, enjoy the hospitality and have a sense of achievment at the same time. Of course there does exist abject poverty in some parts but the unsophisticated people maintain their dignity—upbeat,friendly and happy. You can learn new things here everyday and will surely find volunteering in Yunnan really pays off as I do. The exeperience is unique and priceless.

As for my English, there is much to be disired. I have am also long suffered from China’s grammar-oriented a victim of the current morbid English education system, which teaches you nothing but totally useless craps. Two decades of learning English in School turned out to be a merciless fact Iyou have to face—–I am you are a loser in and out when it comes to serious listening,reading, writing or and speaking. It is not as absurd as shamless. So my lesson is: Don’t you ever learn English for the sake of learning, which is either evil tricks or mental masterbationand the key only lies in practice, which makes perfect. Ludicrously yet fortunately,that is the lesson I didn’t know before caming to Yunnan and blogging.  There is a long long long way to go before my English looks decent but I am finally on the right track. I am learning to take English as nothing else but a tool,a daily part of my life even though I was all thumbs with the sophisticated tool at the beginning. Just enjoy the process!

Thank you, anna and my dear readers.Thanks for stopping by!

Finally escaped from my cozy nest(dorm) and took a hasty trip to Jianshui(建水), where I met my e-friend Yang, a third-year student in Jianshui Normal School. Yang, a son of farmers, is cool and ahead of his time with brilliant ideas, whose major and ideal are IT and being a teacher respectively. We got to know each other from QQ and clicked at the first sight. Born and grown up in the isolated mountains, this Yi(彝)lad has never stepped out of Honghe Prefeture, not to mention Yunnan. He dreamed of finding a teaching job in the developed coastal region and then returned to repay his hometown 2-3 years later. "I just wanna broaden my outlook and toughen myself up first. What we lack most here is the advanced thought, without which,rooting out the poverty is completely a daydream." Yang expained. He is a credit and hope to his family, who have had a hard life on the barran land for generations .

Yang kindly took me under his ample wing and showed me around his compus.The trip was so fantastic, like turning the clock back to several years ago. Due to a weekend, the compus looked like an open field, big and quiet. The students were in twos and threes, basking on the lawn ,reading by the pond, hanging out the washing to dry….reminding me of my own college days. Environed by the tall trees are the various architectures, simple-designed but elegant—— a good place for schooling. Strolling down the tree-lined trail,I just felt so carefree and joyous, like walking down a memory lane. Lucked out with a clear sunny day,I feasted my eye on the beautiful scene, bright blue sky and gentle breeze. I hate most Shanghai compus, morden but cold. "Only if I could study or teach in your school! I envy you." I smiled to Yang when we passed by his classroom. I would not imagine that Jianshui would have such a good place if Yang hadn’t told me. Thanks, Yang, good luck to you.

After luch, I headed back to Yisa. Another painful endless turns and turns on the rugged mountain trail. Fortunately,I didn’t shoot my cookies because I swallowed an anti-carsickness pill in advance. It was already pitch black outside when I returned, exsausted, after 5-hour-long incessant jolting and bumping. A nightmare to me as the ride on the rough mountain track is, I must admit the visit to Jianshui Normal School is really wonderful.

At last,Li(the student mentioned in the previous post) came over at noon and we had a good talk.

To break the ice, I expressed my apprieciation to his wishes of helping share his family’s burden by wishing to work early at the expense of dropping out of school.  Once anxiety relieved, he was more willing to accept my explanation that he was not truly responsible neither for his family nor himself because quiting school is as much as killing the goose that lays the golden egg, abasolutely a foolish act.

As for the diploma thing, my analysis goes like this: The whole nation and society would be in disorder if diplomas could be issued irresponsiblly as what he imagined. Such certificates would be two a penny and such practice would be a grave crime. After hearing that, Li felt embarrassed for his requirement was purely ludicrous.

Anyway, Li is a poor kid whose situation is worth pitying. So I assure him that he just feels free to ask me for help to catch up with the class. And it’s beyond question that I will give him special favor on his schoolwork. Lastly, I sent him 200yuan,asking him to buy a mp3 to practise English listening because in my computer is stored a lot useful materials.

Li was silent throughout the talk except nodding once in a while but it was definetely a successful heart-to-heart communication. His smile of contentment said all itself. I just felt he was quite another man when he left my dorm.

Today, I recieved a strange letter after class. No sooner I was to leave the classroom than Li (better not reveal his identity here)ran over and handed me this sheet of paper. Astonished and rather upset at the moment of reading it and I am now still in denial. Mainly two unexpected things. One is that he wanna quit school, the other is more ridiculous—–he wishes me to get him a graduate certificate!

Here are Li’s reasons: 1)He together with his younger-and-brighter brother comes from a one-parent family and wants to reduce his mom’s unbearable financial burden. His mom, without steady income, just finds it too hard to support two kids’education at the same time and agrees to his idea of dropping out. 2)He finds it too tough to catch up with the class because of his too weak foundation in the junior stage. Therefore, he concludes it is just a waste of time and money to continue staying in school since there is almost no hope of going to college. 3)He thinks a high school diploma will help land a job, and assumes that a deploma is easily obtainable even the student in question doesn’t go to school at all as long there is some connection with the ups. 4)He thinks the principal will issue a diploma if I put in some words since the principal is also from Shanghai.

Li’s letter, started with a compliment to my teaching, puts me in an awkward predicament. One thing for sure, I won’t support his idea of quiting school at any cost, and I won’t be naive enough to report his case to the principal,either, becauce the diploma thing is simply out of the question. I know the kid’s practice is too juvenile despite his commendable motivation, but something should be done to save the boy———His family’s burdon should not be his burdon and his confidence in study should be rebuilt. I know it’s easier said than done but what do you think I shall do. Poor kid.( By the way, it’s only the very beginning of Grade One, some two years away from the graduation. )

Hongxiao(an affectionate form of address to our principal, Literally meaning a principal surnamed Hong.) is definitely a legend, setting a great example for Shanghai voluntary teachers. He is the first elected principal from Shanghai to Yunnan with a three-year contract. Only a man of transcendental love and courage like him can make such a resolute decision. More importantly, the school has taken on a brandnew look since our Hong took the post. The changes are obvious, positive, and productive, among which the most convincing and prominent is that Honghe No.1 High School achieved the best result in the previous admission exams in its history. You can imagine how many efforts our Hong has made and how far-reaching his series of reforms are to local education. To be honest, I have never seen such a vigorous teacher who is both enterprising and devoted to the lofty cause. We are lucky and honered to work with such a good principal, a man who gains wide respect due to his efficiency, affinity and especially his charisma. As a celebrity, Hong never puts on air, calling us buddies, which makes us feel at home. We are happy to coorporate with him for another 8 months before we return to Shanghai in July, 2007.

Lao Sun is also a character and personality, dinamic and considerate. He ofen comes up some brilliant ideas and put them into practice with enormous patience. His dorm is decorated by a bunch of baubles， with a feel of what he proclaims A HOME AWAY FROM HOME. Sun is witty and kind, which can be reflected from an anecdote. The other day, he bought some chestnuts for his students, telling them to eat and aim high because chestnut is pronounced almost the same as "aim high" in Chinese. Actually, Lao Sun has tons of anecdotes. Here are some in the form of FAQ. 1,Who goes to sleep latest? Sun. 2,Who dislikes rice noodles? Sun. 3,Who loves snacks best? Sun. 4,Who has the most ideas? Sun. 5,Who likes badminton best? Sill Sun….. An interesting dude, overall. (Thanks, Sun, for the umbrella you send me for free, by the way.）

There is a Zhang and Zhu living together with a TV room in between. Both are maths experts so they have the most common language, a little similar to two pods in a pea. Zhang is a good-humored person , who can make and take a joke. Zhu appears more steady and taciturn, a good poker player as well as a good cook. The red-cooked pork we ate twice was both his work, not yukky.

Ms Fu is the only female aid teacher here, sharing with us the woes and joys here in the remote moutainous area, leaving behind the comfort zone and the dazzling urban life. Cool. (Thanks, Fu, for rescuing my air-dried clothes from the sudden rain the other day.)

The sixth is me.

The student-hit-teacher incident I heard the day before yesterday was proved last night  by Longxing,  who came to my dorm for a shower and  then we chatted for a while. Naturally, our chitchat is never short of the topic of class teaching. He wanted to be the best teacher, buiding the most interactive class. He proceeded and expressed his appreciation to some collegues including Miss Gao for her rapport with the students. I noticed that his eyes twinkled and his face lit up when taking about his students, without a single negative comment. During our chat, an intersting"pressure cooker phenominon"was also touched, related to aforementioned news. It was concerning some inexperienced teachers, who expect too much of their students and turn the class to be a pressure cooker unwittingly. Tragically, the teachers in question , who undertake the thankless task, put all the blames on the students. It’s too late when it explodes.

Young and laid-back as he is, Long possesses all the passions and gets a kick out of being a teacher.  Enlightened and moved from time to time by Longxing, I’ve striken some inspirations which will be useful to English teaching, not harmful to say at the least. In a word, I should continue the student-centered approach, making the class a happy place with more smiles and encouragement. Can’t be careful enough even though there is slim chance of "turning into a pressure cooker". After all, that’s only a bottom line, which  is far far away from your pursuit.

Let me start with my sneakers.

Last night, my sneakers came in handy for the first time in Yunnan, and performed very cool—-after being laid idle for over two months. I hadn’t worn them for a single day until then. They, wrapped tight in a plastic bag, would stay inside forever,if I had slept well. They say exersise  does good to sleep, offering my sneakers a chance of relizing their values. Hopefully, jogging will be a cure to my insomania. So yesterday marked my first day of jogging in Yunnan. (Originally, the sports shoes were brought to Yunnan mainly for climing mountains, by the way.)

Time to hit the sack but I was not sleepy at all. Outside was a cloudless night and beneath were my sneakers. In 10 seconds, I changed the shoes and hit the road. Excited to be surrounded by the tender night when jogging around the soot track. Along the way was intoxicating tranquility. Lucky for me, a weirdo who had rarely run before,to make a good start. Nearly forgot I was exercizing, for the near terraced houses and far mountains alternately kept attracting me, relaxing me and encouraging me. What a silhouette!  Never expected my first jogging to happen on a plateau in the starlight. It simply hit the spot. Will I be hooked on it?

Three laps finished, I worked up a little sweat and felt a Never-experienced-before relaxation. A hot shower and some reading later, I switched off the bed light.

Come to Yunnan and enjoy jogging!

Just now watched a basketball match between two classes while having my lunch at the canteen doorway. A really close and keen fight. These days witnessed the students’ craziness about the school-organized tournament. Some classes even set up a cheering squad, and in the distance, you could HEAR girls’ loud acclamation for their own class’s wonderful performances. Every movement, whether it was a turn, a snatch, a shot, or a slamdunk, thoroughly revealed these mountain-born kids’ brilliant stamina. It was such a good show, nobody I think would sit on their hands. I felt the school did a good thing, venting their redundant energy, bringing to full play their talent in sports and more importantly,cultivating their sense of coorporation. Sometimes, I really admire these active-on-the- arena big boys, swathy,agile and full of vitality.

Speaking of the match, a busy figure popped up on my mind. Longxing, a young teacher who just graduated two years ago, was occupied with the rear service for his men on the spot, including preparing the drink,looking after the students…. I saw him but not vice versa. Anyhow, he worked his butt off yet still with a smile and a sence of his unique humor. It’s Sunday today, so a lot of class teachers didn’t  have a day off Monday through Sunday. Don’t forget they have exessive teaching load—20 classes a week is a common occurrence, 30 is not a big deal,either. Long is one of them, with only one day to rest in theory. Class teachers here will do a lot of home visits to their classes, and this extra job seems to be completed only on Sundays because the Saturdays and evenings are all used to solidate the students’ study. Longxing is no exception but exceptionally good at his job. I didn’t know him until he sat in on one of my Engligh lessons recently. He is a geography teacher but shows enthusiasm in all the subjets especially English. I don’t know where he gets so much energy but at least one thing I know is that he is very popular among students. Maybe it’s his rich knowlege, humor that matters, but what rules I think is his love in teaching/students.  Definitely, one part of my Yunnan life is being moved–  by a number of Longxings EVERYDAY.

Felt refreshed after the no-class afternoon spent shopping and having my hair cut. Now I owe my present relaxation mainly to the 2-hour walk. Yes, I spent too much time indoors, either in the classroom or my dorm. Something should change since I felt a little under the weather for a couple of weeks.

Didn’t feel well recently, but I couldn’t pinpoint what was the culprit. Perhaps it was my hair or long-term loss of sleep. My hair was uneven and sometimes in a mess after a sleep , thus making me feel uncomfortable.  A visit to the barba’s looked inevitable, and it did make a difference. Now I felt much better. In fact, each haircut would put me in a good mood for a few days because I appear  more vigorous.

Also bought a box of sleeping plasters for my annoying sleeplessness. I suspect the problem was rooted in the blood cause my mom suffers from the refractory insomania.  I would give the plasters a go whether they work or not, since there are no other better options at hand.

Anyway,the walk outdoors did buck me up again. Hopefully, I should do more exercises instead of spending too much time at the desk.
 

My students have been performing much better than before these days. Nothing else can make me feel happier than that, I suppose.

Just returned from class,grabbed a bread and I began to recollec some details which I think were worth writing. To activate their enthusiam, I made up loads of mini tests. To take the class for example, I wrote some new words on the chalkboard and erazed them very soon, requring my students to spell them correctly. I said, "You are on the best stage for instant memories. I am gonna to test how fast you can memorize a new word."  Their sense of competion being aroused, the class immediatly turned active and productive.  Following generous applause was my timely praises to those winners, and so the whole class lit up. Zhanghua, who rarely listened in the past, was happy as hell when I said, " wow, you are so great! Will you share us some secret to your magic instant memories?". 

Another example was also related to instant memories. I asked them to number each line of a long text shortly after we learnt it. Then they were asked to point out which line contained the several words I said. All this was to further practise their listening and reading in a more amusing mode. The fastest was the winner. These improvisational minitests proved very popular among my students.

I will make up more mini-tests or mini games in the future as long as they are helpful to teaching and learning. And more importantly for me, I like the feel that my students take me not only as a teacher but also a friend.
 

Today, I bought 10 ball-point pens. Guess what I would do. You’ll never figure it out, for I gave them to my students who failed in the English examination they took 4 days ago. I think I have done something meaningful, of which I am proud .   

For the last 2-day weekend, we 6 English teachers worked our butts off  over the a large pile of testpapers, grading, counting, and documenting and so forth. What we got repaid was a depressing  result—the whole 10-class grade’s average was only 55 of the full mark150. You can imagine how poor their Enlish are. In fact, I was told early before that English is the worst subject in Honghe No.1 School. A lot of pressure and I must try my best to live up to their expectation.

The average mark for the class I teach was 58.8, ranking the second place with the margin of 0.5. Like all the other 9 classes, some students show little interest in this course and almost give up because they find it very tough to catch up due to their too weak foundation in the junior stage.

Could see the obvious panic written on their faces when handing out the papers yesterday.  Instead of exerting any more presssure , I underplayed the influnce of the marks by directly analizing the papers in a calm and relaxing mode. I still felt something different should be done immediatly though the two sessions went smooth. The following is what I did today.

Put the pens on the teacher’s desk and said I would reward some students. Guess what? The students with the top marks didn’t seem to pretty much care, let alone the rest. Perhaps they were too used to such situations and the prize was no more than a crappy 5-jiao pen, anyway. What’s the big deal? 

But things didn’t stop there when I said: "This is only 5-jiao but it doesn’t matter only if it writes well. Right?"  I got the first yes.

Next is "I will use it as a gift to those who failed in this exam". They began to wonder.

Third sentence : " This gift is to show my sorry to my flunked students because you have since long ingnored by me, therefore it’s my fault that you didn’t pass this time. "  My flunked students became a little moved.

Fourth : " I will lower the benchmark for pass to 40 given that this exam is too tough because only 30 students out of 500 got the mark 90 or more. "   Those "still flunked yesterday" couldn’t get more excited  because they "passed" the exam maybe for the first time.  They lost a pen but they have found confidence!  

Last word is to those all who " have passed" : "Do you mind my rewarding my flunked students?"  I got the happy and the only "NO" with the loudest from those who were still failures yesterday.

The next 1 minute was a brief rewarding ceremony taking place in the aplause.

This works like a charm, at least temporally. I like to see my students’s confidence to be boosted rather than undermined.

This is a park-alike compus, really gorgeous. Eveyone I suppose would suspect they must have entered a senic resort when coming here for the first time. Really fantastic, with big trees, huge mountains all around, exquisite pavolion,and the MOST magic feel–like you are amounting the highest peak.

The first sentence I said to my first class here is " wow, you have got the most jealous seneries " . It was just from my bottom heart. You’ll see my feeling when standing in my classroom. Outside of the windows are huge emerant mountains covered by huge wifting clouds–absolutely a natural living Chinese painting.

In fact, the seneries here are ubiquitous, contantly changing on every turn. Our school is situated on a hilltop, which enables us look very far. On top of that, the air quality is unbelievably perfect and the sky is intoxicatingly blue. The other day, I asked a local about the distance from the opposite mountain and was told it would be a half day by bus. So unimmaginable cause I could see the villages!

Just imagine the feel of being surrounded by the oncoming clouds when stepping outdoors, the feel of strolling around the compus at the dawn, and the feel of enjoying the birds’ singing when lying on your dorm’s bed. No wonder I always suspect if I am here on vacation or at work. It’s just so amazing

It was said that this year’s tourism fair was so far the grandest in Honghe’s  history.  We could n’t wait to see it and particularly the famous long-street banquet when we got the news.

You could immediatly felt the festival flavour in the air as soon as stepping out of the compus. Seeing so many people flooding  every corner of the town and we all expected it to be the most ceremonious fare. What attracted us first was the various ethnic minorities wearing their most beautiful attire, which was dsazzling colorful. Naturally they constitued the most wonderful senic belt along the streets.

Kept taking photos with the locals on our way and we felt so lucky to catch such good chance only after a month here. All we saw could be called a feast to us for we had never witnessed such unique situation. Snapping and walking, we finally arrived at our destination.

It would be for sure our most unfortable sence in our  life.  Alike every vistor, we were instantly besieged by the overwhelming hospitality at the gateway. First took a sip of the wine held in a tiny bamboo cup ( Just imagine when half dozen of pretty girls surrouded you competing to serve you a toast with so swweet a smile) and soon we fould ourselves drowned in the sea of hospitality. Sanwiched by too long long lines of welcoming ethnic groups, each guest I believe would felt he was the king. Lining the road in the order of various ethnic groups, they happily danced and sang for every guest, with the bizzard instruments, dazziling ornaments, crazy rythms, touching voices and so on.

The climax was the long-street banquet. Hundreds of dinner tables were joined togerther, forming the most spectacular banquet in a zigzag or other forms. It was held in front of the county stadium, where a large variaty show took place. We could enjoy the meals as well as the exciting programmes, including  the most charateristc multiple-voice folksongs. Also intresting was our spontanious man waves in response to the team who toasted and sang along the tables from time to time. That really added a lot to the aready tasty banquet. Following that was bonfire, around which people sang and danced joyfully hand in hand no matter they knew each other or not.

What an a fantastic feast!
 

In the 10.1 golden week, we paid a homevisit to a student and took the oportunity to have a good time in Dayangjie–reportedly, one of the five most beautiful ancient villages in China.

(stay tuned) 

2006 marks China’s 22nd Teachers’ Day. It is also my 12nd AND probably my most unforgetable one.

What I mean by" most unforgetbale" is that I experienced the most unique banquet here in Honghe No.1 high school. As usual, the teachers and staff could possibly recieve some good wishes or hand-made cards from sudents like everywhere else. And in typical fashion, we attended a celebration where schoolheads delivered some speeches and organised some programmes. That was nothing special and I expected that something different should happen here. This is Yunnan after all , and this is my first Teachers’ Day spent in a place which is famed for its richest minority cultures in China.

Sure enough, I saw a most spectacular teachers’ banquet in my life . When arriving at the site,we shanghai teachers were all awed and very very excited to see such a huge feast. It involved so many activities such as countless toasts and cheers plus dances and songs. Oh, I forgot to mention that the banquet was held on a basketball court. There were 50 tables in all， which were lined in order like a chessboard. Needless to say, the court was packed to the brim, for all the teachers and staff including the retirees and their kids plus some big guns from town. This was our own fetival, anyway.
            

Adotted on the aisles between the tables were the rice high piled in the bamboo-weaved baskets. We had 8-9 dishes per table plus baijiu and eveyone beamed. It was not only a physical feast but more like a feast for our eyes at that point. So without any imposed hints, Me and the other shanghai teachers understandingly fished out our digicams.
  
The most fun part was when some local teachers approched and sang us their folksongs . The voice was really touching and the liric was that moving. We were not so much intoxicated by the wonderful music as the irresistable hospitality.

Our school canteen rocks!

Totally diffrerent from that in Shanghai but it is suprizingly to my taste. 

In the morning, I would come with a large bowl of rice noodles. very tasty and cheap, only one yuan. As for lunch and supper, there is large room to select my favorites, ranging from pork,fish to eggplants and cucumbers. All are home-style dishes, so nothing special except that they tend to be spicy. I am not picky so Yunnan dishes are ok with me .

In front of the canteen is a basketball court and a big patch of green land. The students like to eat there due to the packed canteen hall. Eating in the air has its perks, one is the fresh air and one is a free watch of the basketball matches—baskeball is their best love here( I should remember to make an update about the crazy sport here). Apart from eating in the canteen hall, Sometimes I sit at a stone table or even squat. The more casual way of eating HERE reminds me of my childhood,and it hits the spot!

Half Jin of rice is 5 jiao and vegedish is 2.5 yuan while meatdish is much expensive, ranging from half yuan to one. It’s not unusual that many kids only eat 1 yuan’s worth of meal, still with a lot of combinations of the dishes. For many students here, it rules that you feel no hunger punch. It is good  that the school canteen searves noodles and dimsums all the year around, which adds to your already rich menu.

Ok, canteen time now. More later.

All the 6 Shanghai teachers live together in a bungalow, which is ideally seated on a secluded corner of the cumpus. We all have our own dorms and the northernmost end is mine, where I could enjoy the most sunshine thanks to the tree-free doorway

The school was considerate enough to get everything ready for us ahead of our arrival, even complete with an electric mosquito repellent heater. We were glad not to worry about drinking water and bath water. And the most satisfying is that we could have access to Internet plus an exclusive sitting toilet, which I supose sound a bit extravagant in some sense.

I take full advantage of the eletricity-powered heater, public and super convenient. There are two of its kind only several steps away from our dorms. I would treat myself to a hot shower whenever I  feel need to relax. Those who are familiar with me would take a double take upon reading this post  because I used to be such a lazy man when it comes to bath. More often than not, I would laugh at my extensive love in taking the scaldingly hot shower here. Maybe it’s related to one stuff. The small top window of the shower room is sweet, from where I could see the blue sky when looking up. I am excited to be immersed in the dual enjoyment—one is hot shower,the other is sunbath on a fine day.  I dunno whether the little window’s appeal really takes the upper hand. But there is no doubt that my old habit would resume back home.

At sunset, everything  grows horribly quiet, except for the chirring insects. Some things I find hard to tackle. First, it’s gickos,ants, moths ,rats or even snakes. They have been acompanying me dutifuly through many many sleepless nights. Then it is the butchery somewhere below my dorm,where pigs are gathered and butchered around 4am for the market.  lucky for me if I missed the punctual howlings which sound so unsettling and loud enough to awaken the dead. Suffocatingly silent as it is in the evening, I find myself  too busy to care about those annoying or distracting stuff. This is my dorm plus office, anyway. I am here not to waste time.

One thing for sure, I could easily handle the occasional solitide(if there is) in my own special way.  It involves a lot such as playing cards,  moving my desks and chairs around regularly, surfing  the web,  grading  testpapers and making teaching plans, writing blogs and so on.

Yisa is the capital of Honghe county, where I am temporally working as an one-year-contract voluntary English teacher.

The very first visit to this small moutainous town is so impresssive that it will never escape from my mind in the days to come.

After Jianshui(建水县）was a 3-hour-long laborous trek, which should account as my first adventure. The big question mark of"What is our destination like and how soon will we arrive " haunted me all the way. The road ahead becoming tougher and tougher, my heart felt heavier and heavier while my eyes opened wider and wider. The carved-along-mountain trail looked scary though the roadside seneries were overwhelmingly appealing with various valleys unfold one after another. I must admit the matter of three hours witnessed my tremendous stress mixed with matchless excitment. The cliffsides were steep enough to made me freak out as hell even at a peek. Again, there were tons of danger zones where piled fallen stones almost blocked the narrow trail. At this point, I would looked up and down repeatedly and neverously to wach out for the possible crash.

No sooner our driver made it to a safe section than I  conjured up a fary land for the far-far-away Yisa, for I believed only saints could choose to live in such a secluded wilderness.  The altitude was increasingly high and it seems that you have reached a no-man’s land, except for oncoming vehicles accasionally appearing around sharp bends. 
                
Simutaniously, beyond words was the idyllic wonder. The spectacular terrace was spreading downward from under your nose till some invisable point far far below, where it converged with other various equally vast rice paddies. Another greatest part was when we arrived at a roadside market where I saw some real-life ethnic minorities for the first time .Previously, I only saw them on all kinds of medias, who have got distinguished characteristics such as extra-colorful and silverware-adorned costumes .  I was thrilled to watch them touting and bargaining in the husssle and bussle. Very very exotic and really really cool .

Finally, our stunning "walk on the wire" came to an end. But I felt dizzy during the last upward bends that were  sharper and more intense. I was even puzzled when the driver told us Yisa was only a minute away and I was yet to see its tip. The very very last second, after a super sharp turn, Yisa, proudly dominating all the valleys we had conquered like a mysterious castle high on one of those peaks, presented itself without any reserve before its exsausted and eager visitors at the last moment,only in its own special way ——sudddenly, suprizingly and dramatically .

One oddest thing here in my current school is that almost no students  wear glasses! (Have a look in person here in Honghe No.1 High school and you’ll see what I am talking) I still remember my initial double take at such odd scene during my first class here. But I didn’t take a serious notice until the recent experience of hunting through the only two main streets for a pair of new glasses only to be told there were no optician’s at all. I even had searched some back alleies door to door before I suddenly found myself in an almost eyeglassless world. I was taken back,  cause it’s just too sureal. How come of that you can’t find an eyeglass store in a town as a county-government seat with population of over 20′000 ? Maybe I had asked the wrong person or missed the the right location .So one day it would be very likely for me to ask some radom student who happened to wear glasses where he/she bought them. Luckily,my frame-loosened spectacles have nothing serious and I could make do for a couple of months.As a guy who is heavily short-sighted ,I have been always vigilent keeping my baby from any possible inextricable losses such as being crushed under the pillow before I purchace new ones back home in winter holidays .

So questions arise apart from my minor complaints.Why do these kids have brighter eyes? (Actualy, the adults here have got the equally enviable eyesight ) Do they have more scientific eye-employing habit? I know shanghai students have way too much exposure to computer’s radiation. Yet the same problem of excesssive eye-employing also does exist here and the case is even worse based on my spot observation.It is not unsual that students here show far more enthusiasm in study and even sacrifice eye-excercising time with aquiecense from techers and sometimes they have to read in dim light.  Thus they are more like bookworms in the eye of some peers from so-called developed coastal regions. Another possible answer could be seeked from the following fact.  Here in Yunnan, people are bestowed the better natural enviroment with greeneries everywhere and more visual space especially in rural areas , which is good for eyesight beyond any doubt. Meanwhile, I suspect whether the unique Yunnan diet has something to do with their better eyesight. I am gonna ask a local in the know for the truth since my curiosity is picqued.

Time flies! Half semester has unnoticably slipped away before I realize that it’s now high time to blog some stuff for future’s memories. The past 2 months is , after all, way too busy and eventful to me,who had been dreaming of stepping onto this magic soil of Yunnan one day. 

Now I am in a classsroom, watching the students sitting their first full-scale exams of their senior high school stage. They, aged around 16, are mostly from poverty-stricken areas, which could be easily told from their plain clothes, swarthy compexion and especially how they value the  tests.  Basically,these good-as-gold kids would all sit out every 2-hour-long exam,wasting no time and trying their best to achieve every single possible score. They wanna live up to their hard-earned tuition fee and opportunity of further study.

Seeing this, I, as a volunteer from the relatively-developed coastal cosmopolitan city , cannot help but recalling my Shanghai students and sharing some views here. you’ll never know what a spoiled and previleged life you are living .However, it is saddening that many of you ,addicted to net games, are not in the slightest awarenese of the fact there are still considerable number of your peers here in Yunnan who don’t even know how to use computers. Ironically, you spare no effort indulging yourselves in the other extreme– virtual cyber space. In actuality,I like to "monitor“(or "acompany", more actually) these Yunnan kids during their exams, for there is almost no bother worring if they copy or cheat .Cheating here is still a rarity and regarded as a shame rather than a "pride" somewhere else.

So what i am doing during the two hour is nothing but handing out papers on time and then  awaiting them to hand in on time. In between is just my apprieciation of their hard work and accasionally the outwindow’s beautiful seneries ,which are mainly made up by the lavishly green rolling mountains. Therefore,invigilation here is no longer a gut-wrenching close watch but simply one of my alternative relaxations .