The Value of Many Stories

I returned to my site this morning from Chengdu, Sichuan, where our Peace Corps China headquarters is. About 80 volunteers gathered there for a few days this week to attend our Close of Service (COS) conference. This is where we learned the logistics of ending Peace Corps service and received our final medical and dental exams.

It was the time to say goodbye to many Peace Corps friends, as we won’t all be in the same place again. Almost all of us will slip quietly out of the country over the course of June, July and August. I’ll go back to Chengdu on July 6 to complete my final paperwork and exit interviews. After that, I’ll be free to do… anything. But, the office can only process up to five volunteers like this each day, so I’ll see very few other PCVs there. We all agree this process of leaving Peace Corps individually is fairly anticlimactic. The lack of ceremony will be unsatisfying, but that’s how it’s done.

We also reflected this week on the past two years. So much has happened. I feel I’ve lived a life within a life here in China. There are so many experiences, challenges and victories that I won’t be able to fully articulate to anyone who hasn’t also lived here. But, I want to! I desperately want to share this experience that has been so formative for me. There was a lot of conversation during COS conference about how to distill our massive adventure into a few manageable thoughts.

The thing is, we know most of our friends and family will be interested in our Peace Corps service, but many of them will not know how to be. It’s just a huge conversation. So, they’ll ask broad questions like, “How did you like living in China for two years?” It’ll be an overwhelming question, so we’ll give broad answers, like, “Oh, it was great. I loved learning about a new culture.” That will be that, because they don’t know how to ask specific questions, and I don’t know how to describe it well using anything less than a novel.

So, over the last week, my friends and I have asked ourselves questions with the hope of forming some clear and simple thoughts, to which other people can relate. We’ve searched ourselves for lessons learned, changed views of the world, how being different (or, the same) has affected us, how our ideas about China have changed, what we expected to be easy but was actually difficult, and vice versa. I haven’t come up with eloquent responses for these things yet, but they are slowly forming.

We talked about the value of the “elevator talk.” (Imagine you have 30 seconds to pitch a business idea or describe a crisis to someone who knows nothing, but has a lot of money to invest. How do you use the time to best catch their attention and make them interested in the details?) I’ll be thinking about how to distill aspects of my Peace Corps experience into a few sentences, so that it can pique a person’s curiosity and encourage them to listen to the longer version.

Today, I watched a TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie called The Danger of a Single Story. Her talk made me think about how I should present my time in Peace Corps to those who know less about China. Here are a couple quotes from her, which I found especially appropriate for my return to the United States.

The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.

The danger of the 30-second elevator talk is that it may allow people to only see one story of China. I want to present a full, realistic picture, not just a caricature of the most frustrating,  challenging or bizarre moments. One of the main purposes of Peace Corps is to authentically exchange culture. I hope I’ve done a good job of this in showing American culture to my students and Chinese friends. Likewise, I hope I give Chinese culture a fair representation as I recount the time I spent here.

If you ask me about China in the next few months, please know that numerous stories comprise my experience here. Many of them seem contradictory, but together they reveal a country that is ever-changing and complex, as is America.

Catching Up

During the first week of this semester, I had my students prepare questions and interview me in groups. This was both to give them a chance to ease back into speaking strictly English in the classroom, and to give us a fresh way to catch up after the two-month break. (I’m a little self-conscious about showing a slideshow of all the interesting things I did—and the exotic places I went—over vacation. Most of my students didn’t leave the province.)

So, each group prepared a list of questions about any topic at all. Each question could only be asked once, so they were instructed to think of interesting, unique questions. “Don’t be boring,” I said. If a question was repeated, the class had to answer it. It IS listening class, after all.

I’m including some of their questions here, as witness to what burning questions my students have. After a couple of classes, I had the presence of mind to add the condition, “If you ask me a question, be ready to answer it yourself.” It only seemed fair.

Do you want a Chinese husband? Uh, well.. Hm, that’s a good question. It would be very hard to be married to someone from another country. One of us would have to live very far from our family. (In other words, no. Please tell everyone else to stop asking, too.)

What’s the most important thing in your life? Whoa, that’s a great question. God and my family.

Do you adore Obama? Uh, well.. Maybe not “adore,” but I think he’s a good man and a fine president. Do YOU adore him?

What plans do you have for our class this term? More realistic language material, including radio programs, TV shows and news stories. Also, more free conversation in class. (I was surprised at this question, because I thought it showed more proactivity than is usual for these students. I think it’s rare here for a student to really question the teacher’s plan.)

Why did you decide to be a volunteer? So that I could travel, learn about another culture and help people.

What qualities are important for a volunteer to have? Flexibility and courage to risk failure

What is the difference between American and Chinese students? There are SO MANY differences. One is that Chinese students are usually very formal and respectful toward teachers, while Americans have more casual communication. Also, American students like to have class discussions, while Chinese students tend to be much quieter. (That was a gentle way of saying that sometimes I feel like I’m addressing 40 adorable, little brick walls in my classes.)

What do you do when you’re sad? I go for a walk, read a book, listen to music… If it’s really bad, I email my family.

Teacher, you look thinner this semester. How do you keep fit? Ha, well I’m not sure that’s true. I went home to America for two weeks and ate a lot of food there that I can’t find in China. So, you see, I really shouldn’t be thinner. But, thank you anyway. How do YOU keep fit?

When you went home to America, what did you tell your family about us? We talked a lot about the differences between American and Chinese students. Also, we talked about how different romantic relationships in China are from our own.

How many kids do you want? Uh, well, there are three kids in my family, and that worked pretty well for us. Maybe two or three. (This is an awkward question, and I think I bit my tongue to keep from asking it in return. The fact that foreigners can have as many kids as they want is kind of a big deal.)

How do you adjust to an unfamiliar place? I try to make friends there. It’s easier to feel comfortable in a new city or country if you have people you can talk to. (I asked the student how SHE adjusts to a new place, and she said she tries to find people like her—from her own hometown, for example. Then, I felt like a hypocrite, because I also do that. I gravitate quickly toward other foreigners here. We all do.)

Teacher, I noticed you never wear high heels—why? Because they’re uncomfortable and dangerous. (It’s true. When I asked two classes a couple of weeks later if anyone had ever sprained an ankle, more than a few of the girls said, “Yes, because of high heels.” I’m often the least fashionable one in the room.)

Looking Forward

Tomorrow marks Week 4 of this semester—my last in China. It’s hard to believe the wide range of emotions I’ve already felt has just taken place in three short weeks. My heart and mind shuffle between extremes with unsettling swiftness. Today, I’m excited at the thought of leaving China and beginning the next chapter of life. Tomorrow morning, after teaching my favorite class of freshmen, I’ll be sad at the reality of leaving them so soon. I guess the culmination of those two is a pretty good place to find myself.

Some things to look forward to this semester:

1- Women’s Group
This is my second semester meeting with a group of 10-12 girls (mostly from one of my sophomore classes). I’m looking forward to even deeper conversations this term. Last week we took a multiple intelligences quiz together and talked about different learning and teaching styles. This led neatly into an amazing conversation about different personality types, and the propensity to feel pressured by society to possess the “right” kind of personality. I feel just about giddy when I think about how much more confidence some of these girls show now than when I met them a year and a half ago. I’m sure that this group will be one of the most rewarding and meaningful parts of my Peace Corps service.

2- Teaching Club
Since most of our students are English Education majors, Erik and I have decided to hold a club to introduce some teaching practices. This will be a time to systematically share some of the Western Teaching Methods that everyone here is so excited about. It’ll also be a time for students to practice teaching English in front of a group. The midterm assignment for my sophomores last semester was to group-teach a listening activity to the rest of the class. The majority of students told me that this was really challenging, but also a great opportunity to build confidence and become aware of some of the difficulties of handling a classroom. So, my hope is that this club will continue in that vein. Aside from a short internship in a middle/primary school right before they graduate, our students don’t get any other teacher training before they become teachers themselves.

3- A Plan!
In addition to finishing my Peace Corps service well, my top goal this semester is to make a plan for the fall of 2012. I’ll return to the US this summer, and then… what? Lately, I’ve applied to a whole slew of year-long volunteer positions with different non-profit organizations. Most of the positions focus on a few different areas of social services, including youth counseling, ex-offender reentry, and job/life skills training. Some of them also have volunteers living in very intentional spiritual communities, which seems like a nice way to transition out of two years in China.

My expectation is that I’ll spend about a year gaining experience in various areas of social service. Then, in fall of 2013, I’ll enroll in a Masters of Social Work program somewhere. Hopefully, the interim year would give me some clarity and vision for how to proceed professionally.

 

Ask Dr. Susan

Amy, Tina, Anna and Cherish

A couple of months ago, I started a women’s group for students in my sophomore classes. It wasn’t my idea. It’s something many Peace Corps Volunteers in China choose to do (as we’re all expected to have secondary projects, in addition to our teaching responsibilities). Each women’s group takes different form. Mine is more or less a discussion group, which varies in structure. Usually, I’ll present some information on a topic (such as ‘beauty in advertising’ or ‘important women in history’), and then the group will discuss freely.

Originally, the group was open to all four of my sophomore classes, but so far consists of about 10 girls from Class 1. (Not coincidentally, that’s the same Class 1 from my last post—Jack’s class. Class 1′s character is especially motivated, as a whole, and they’re eager to participate in things outside of class.) To be honest, I’d expected wider involvement at the beginning. I’d even dragged my feet a little bit in getting started, because I wasn’t sure how to organize a large group of this kind. Thankfully, though, the group is small. This means that we can meet in my apartment on Wednesday nights, instead of in a cold classroom. It also ensures that the conversation is more in-depth and interesting. Shyness and self-consciousness aren’t large factors in this group’s dynamic.

At our first meeting, I’d asked the girls what kinds of topics they were interested in talking about. They shouted out things like boyfriends, gossip and careers, about which I felt I had some room to speak. But, they also mentioned things like solving conflict and handling emotions. “Oh dear,” I thought. “What do I know about emotions?” So, in a moment of sudden inspiration, I told the group that my mom is a psychologist—and an all around nice lady—and that I would love to introduce them to her via Skype so that she could address some of those complicated issues. They freaked out. I’m pretty sure the very thought of meeting my mom over the internet encouraged some of them to come back the second week.

So, after a month of Wednesday night meetings, it was time to try something new. Last Wednesday we compiled a list of questions to present to Dr. Murray. Among them were:
- How can I become a strong, independent woman?
- How can I be more confident and overcome shyness?
- What’s the most important thing to consider when choosing a boyfriend? (Appearance vs. love; money vs. character; love vs. duty to family, etc.)
- What should I do when my parents have a conflict or fight?
- What should I do with relatives I don’t get along with?
- How do you (Susan) teach your children?
- What’s your attitude toward discipline?
- How strict should parents be? Should they hit their children?

Even brainstorming this list of questions around my coffee table made for an interesting discussion. We all got increasingly excited about the upcoming Skype call. I sent the list of questions to my Mom, highlighting a few of what (I thought) were the most pertinent. I also jotted down some quick explanation of where these questions were coming from. There’s a lot of cultural context that makes a 19-year-old young lady ask, “How strict should parents be toward their children?”

Finally, on Saturday evening nine girls came over. They brought grocery bags full of vegetables and meat, and proceeded to prepare a feast. Like most other times students have come over to cook dinner, I wasn’t permitted to help much. I chopped some potatoes, and showed them where dishes were stored, but that’s it. They didn’t need me.

NINE girls cooking in my tiny kitchen

Soup with eggs, tofu, mushrooms tomatoes, and greens

Gan Guo Zhu Rou – Pork, tofu, and potatoes all fried together with hot peppers, garlic and ginger

Hui Guo Rou, or Twice-Cooked Pork

After dinner, we dialed Mom. Each of the girls introduced herself, then my mom spent a few minutes doing the same. She talked about her education path, starting a family, and how raising three kids was the best preparation for becoming a licensed counselor. (Not sure what I think about that.) We ended up talking for about an hour and a half about the group’s questions.

Of course, some of the girls were shy, but a couple of them really embraced the opportunity, asking lots of follow-up questions to what Mom said. I sat next to the computer and acted as mediator when the internet connection was unclear, or when one person couldn’t understand the other’s English. I also found myself emphasizing points my mom made that I thought the girls might need to hear a second time in order to resonate with. As I’ve learned over and over in the last year and a half, one person’s common sense is another’s revelation.

There were several things my Mom said that I know hit home with my students. When she talked about how to choose a boyfriend, she told them that one of the biggest mistakes people make in this area is choosing someone too quickly. She told them that people should work on developing their own character first, then worry about having a deep relationship. In response to this, one student Kathryn told me the next week that she was not going to worry about having a boyfriend during college. (We’ll see if that conviction sticks, but I was happy she’d made such a strong connection with the discussion.)

The Boyfriend topic is such an important one for these girls. They’re 19 and 20 years old, and are pulled between really wanting a boyfriend, and being told by their parents that they should just concentrate on their studies right now. In light of that, I found myself trying to drive home for the girls what my mom said about a person’s character being indicated by how he uses power. If a man uses his power for good—to serve people, be generous and protect others—then he is a man of good character. We can trust that he will probably treat his wife in the same way years down the line. But, if he uses power to take away the dignity of others and serve himself, then we should assume that he would act similarly toward his wife. We all try to give good first impressions, but we should look long and hard—at different people and areas of his life—before deciding that a guy is a good, safe choice.

Another cool example of how the girls benefited from this conversation relates to what my mom said about parents’ conflict: when parents disagree, we should do our best to honor them both—but stay out of it. It’s not the child’s responsibility to take sides or fix things. (Again, this might be common sense for an American, but families are woven thickly together here.) After the conversation, Kathryn told me that this situation had happened in her family last year. She’d tried to do what my mom suggested, but felt a lot of guilt for not being more involved with the family’s struggle. Now, after talking to my mom, she felt relief and validation about the way she’d responded.

I’m so thankful that we were able to have this conversation, and I know that everyone involved walked away feeling a little high. Thanks for waking up so early to talk to us, Mom. We’re looking forward to doing it again.

Writing Competition—and Making a Point

Last year, I wrote a post about the founding of a student-led English club, and my invitation to participate in it from time to time. Jack (left) was a freshman last year, and is the “monitor” of his class, which means he’s the official liaison between the administration and his classmates. He initiated the idea and so became the official leader of the new “English Association.” He’s done a great job, as far as I can tell. Already this year, he’s launched weekly English movie nights, an evening of lectures from the foreign teachers (Erik talked about western music and I talked about American college life), and his organization was instrumental in running a smooth English speech competition last month.

Another of Jack’s events took place a few days ago, and once again, we foreign teachers were asked to take part. It was an English writing competition, meant to help students prepare for the upcoming College English Test. The much dreaded CET tests all Chinese college students on English reading, writing and listening skills. It’s a pretty big deal. Students might not be able to graduate or get a good job without a CET certification, so they spend a lot of time worrying and preparing. In light of this, Jack’s competition simulated a CET writing session. Students were allowed 30 minutes to write an essay about a top-secret prompt, given by Erik and me.

Our choice? “Write a composition on the topic of cheating in the classroom.”

Read the article (or skim it—it’s a little long) The China Conundrum: American colleges find the Chinese student-boom a tricky fit to understand why we thought this would be an interesting topic for our students to think about. Cheating is widespread and unchecked in schools here. From the beginning of a Chinese student’s school career, they’re allowed to believe (if not outright taught) that it’s ok to use other students’ answers on tests or homework. There are a lot of reasons for this, perhaps the main one being simply that this is a collective society. Individual thought, work and success are not really valued. The group is more important. There’s also the pervading thought, “if someone has already done the work, why should I waste time redoing it?” This reasoning, of course, overflows into higher education and even professional arenas, like scientific research. While plagiarism in the West is condemned and punished harshly, it’s nearly ignored here.

As a teacher, it’s frustrating to watch my students continually invent new ways to fake their ways through homework, tests and projects. As a westerner, it can be downright appalling. Knowing their propensity toward cheating, I’m sure to include very specific guidelines when I introduce new activities and assignments. But, the truth is the little cheaters can be very creative. They’re good at finding shortcuts.

For example, I recently had my sophomore students work in groups of three or four to complete a midterm project. Their task was to teach an English listening activity to the class. They had 15-20 minutes to do whatever they wanted. Anything. I’m a really lenient teacher. All they had to do was find SOME way to practice English listening, which is what they’ve been doing in my class for the last two and a half semesters. I mistakenly thought it would be difficult (not to mention unnecessary!) for them to cheat on this assignment, since I didn’t care where they got the material, or what they talked about, or even how complex it was. They just had to stand in front of the class for 15 minutes and let their classmates exercise English listening.

I gave them some guidelines, of course, and told them what areas I’d be grading them on, but left them with a lot of freedom to do what interested them. Many of the groups did a great job and taught very creative, fun activities. On the other hand, some of them turned it into more of a performance than a lesson. The groups gave their classmates questions ahead of time, which they would use to test their listening comprehension. I wouldn’t be surprised if they also handed their classmates the answers. So, after reading a text or playing a song, the group would ask, “What did you think of the (whatever)?” Then, several of their classmates would take turns standing up and (sometimes very obviously reading from a sheet of paper) give fairly lengthy, articulate and moving answers about the song’s theme and implications for our lives. I know my students. It takes more than one listen to get them to talk about theme. And, they’re very good at memorizing speeches.

So, in this environment, foreign teachers have a dilemma. How much do we try to change such deep-rooted habits? We come in as foreigners, with foreign ideas of what “academic integrity” is. But, this Chinese system of “using other people’s work” has existed for a long time, and many people don’t think there’s any need for change.

My solution (for now) goes something like this: Never mind the education system at large. My job is to teach a few hundred English majors over a span of two years. That’s a small scope of influence, but I’m just one person. So, my classes are an opportunity to learn and practice correct English, but I’m not interested in policing the students who don’t care. I share my thoughts freely about things like plagiarism. I take off points for cheating, though the grades I give my students matter very little. (Standardized tests like the CET are much more important.) I’m incredibly available to the students who want to spend extra time talking with me. Meanwhile, the others will continue to cut corners, feed their classmates answers and learn very little. I think China’s hope has to be that the former group will gradually outnumber the latter.

Update: Here’s another good article about cheating in Chinese schools. This one is written by a former Peace Corps Volunteer who served in the same province as me.

Class 1 on Halloween

This week, I filled the regular “American Culture Point” segment of my classes with a brief introduction to Halloween. I showed photos of jack-o-lanterns, decorated houses, costumed children AND adults, Halloween movie posters and lots of candy and cookies. I prefaced each class’s discussion with the question, “What do you know about Halloween?” The general silence, interspersed with occasional allusions to painted eggs and one mention of “that flower that hang above the door” (mistletoe. we talked about it last year.), assured me that my PPT would not be delivered in vain.

I teach English Listening, so after presenting the photos, we did a dictation exercise about the origin of Halloween. In other words, they had to fill in some blanks while I read aloud. At the end, I asked them to write a short response. They were to 1) give me their opinion of this outlandish American holiday and, 2) tell me if there are any festivals or traditions in China that share similarities.

I’m passing along a few responses from my favorite class. They’re 4-year English Education majors, so students in this class tend to have higher English levels than most of my others. In addition to that, though, the personality of this class is just pleasant. They’re motivated. They laugh at my jokes. They do what I ask. It’s not uncommon for our triweekly Office Hour to be filled with only Class 1 students. I look forward to their class each week, and usually leave feeling like I’m doing a decent job here.

For your reference, I won’t do much to edit their responses. These quotes are pretty representative of students’ English levels at a mediocre college in western China.

Most students had mixed reactions. They disliked the scariness of Halloween, but most liked the candy and carved pumpkin side of it. They called trick-or-treating “funny” and the children’s costumes “lovely.” Coppy (boy) had an especially blunt answer, which is hard to come by here. I think Halloween is a very boring festival and I don’t like it.

Mike’s response made me giggle a little. I think Halloween is very horrible. It makes me scary. I’m afraid of Halloween. I daren’t see horrible movie. I don’t know why American like to see horrible movies or hear ghost story. He’s kind of a timid guy, so I guess I’m not surprised.

I totally agreed with Cloud’s (boy) practicality. I think it is a very bad day. Because more people will be spent so much money to buy some clothing which only for this day.

Syron captured well the difference between American and Chinese senses of humor. I think it’s very different from Chinese culture. We think something is related to ghosts, witches, vampires are very serious and dangerous. We seldom play some jokes or tricks on this. I might be more Chinese in this respect.

I got excited when I read this one. At the same time, Halloween is the reflection of America diverse culture. Although people’s views on the festival vary from person to person, the public should pay moderate attention to it, because it’s a cultural phenomenon! Yes! I’ve tried since the beginning to emphasize that America is a huge country with lots of different people in it, very few of whom resemble anything that makes it from Hollywood to China’s mainstream.

Many students referenced one of two Chinese holidays as having common ground with Halloween: Tomb Sweeping Day and Ghost Festival. On the first, which falls in April, people go to the graves of their relatives and tend to them. They offer food and incense to the dead relatives and burn fake money (or paper representations of anything else) as offerings. Ghost Festival happens in July or August, and is very similar to Tomb Sweeping Day. Perhaps the main difference is that the deceased are believed to come visit their living descendants then, instead of the other way around.

Yes, there are something similar in Chinese culture. Such as “Tomb Sweeping Day,” people are thinking that the ghosts will come in earth in the day. And they often fire many paper like money to their relatives who have died. – Nancy

In China, there is a holiday that a little similar to Halloween. On July 14th every year, it has another name that called Ghost Festival. On this day, we also need to get together and to think of our grandfather’s father or mother or our relative who has died. And the most important thing is that we must burn much paper money to them. So that let them live comfortable in the other world. – Eudora

Finally, here’s a great perspective from Smiling. I always appreciate her unique thought processes. She’s different from most of my students—a critical thinker, really creative, interested in music and arts, incredibly witty, perceptive to the relationships and nuances going on around her. I like her thoughts on how cultural differences influence parenting styles.

Halloween may be help children to imagine and think of something carefully. Although some parents will help them, but it’s a good way to let their parents know them and make the relationship between parents and children. It’s a good way to let kids be more brave and happy…This is a different way for parents to play with kids. Compared with China, it’s more funny and helpful. They also love their kids, but mostly they just use strict ways to educate their kids. It’s a limitation for children to their hobbies. I think it’s really different.

Mei Li Xue Shan Trek, pt 8: Best Campsite Ever

After coming over the pass, we came downhill through this valley and arrived at a small farm. There were two buildings in site: a house (below, blue roof) and a small building where snacks and drinks were sold (to the left of the house).

In my opinion this was the best campsite we had. We set up tents just a few meters from the river, where there was a good amount of clear, flat, grassy land. The woman in charge there allowed us to cook inside her shop, which aroused quite a bit of curiosity.

Preparing our pasta dinner in the farm's small store

We were pretty interesting

After dinner came one of the best parts about this particular campsite. Since our hiking trip in Sichuan a couple of months prior, Jason had developed a powerful need to milk a yak. Finally, the chance came. After dinner, a few people emerged from the house with buckets and began the evening milking. There were a couple dozen yaks tied to the ground awaiting their turns.

Yaks on deck

Before milking, they feed the yaks tsampa, or roasted flour, to keep them occupied.

The nice people consented to letting a couple of incompetent foreigners give it a try.

Yaks kept licking the back of this guy's head! It was so funny, and neither of them cared a bit.

Here are a few more shots of the best campsite ever:

The next morning, a couple yaks (whom we affectionately called Buford and… Buford’s friend) made a great display of bravado for us.

Showing off

Christian chasing a yak away from their tent, one of many times.

Enormous