Mid-Semester Life

Things are humming along, as they tend to do in the mid-semester mark. The flurry and excitement of the break and new semester has worn off, and the end of the semester is just a bit too far away to get worked up about yet. But life goes on in its quiet way, and actually, I like the unexpected meetings, the nights out, the helping the students with their projects.
After being in China for almost 5 years, there are not many major surprises or shocks anymore during the semester, but there are pleasant moments. Here are a few:
Running into students in the darndest places
On the bus to Hangzhou to see the dentist, I sat down next to a middle-aged guy, put on my headphones and settled in for the hour long ride, when I heard someone come over to my seat and ask to sit next to me. I look up and it’s Jorsen (One of “my boys”) who was on his way to a job interview. We sat and chatted and when we arrived he said he’d stay with me until my appointment. (In fact he slightly chided me for not telling him or some other boys in his class because he thought someone should come with me the whole day.) We went to a store to get a bottle of water and a snack first, which he tried to pay for, and then he sat with me until the dentist called me in.  As a strong independent woman, I certainly don’t need constant care or companionship, but these guys have been really attentive to me lately, and I’m beginning to accept it as a sign of love, not babying. Plus, it made the day more fun.

 
Shopping with my co-workers. Angus, from Australia, had only ever been to Walmart so I took him along one day when I went to a cheaper, local supermarket. He ended up buying packs of chocolate, steamed bread and slices cheese. He confessed he doesn’t own any cooking equipment, or even a cutting knife, so he just eats cheese on bread, or eats out. For those of you living in China you know how bad the cheese and bread here is, so the fact that he hasn’t keeled over and died from malnutrition is a surprise.

Dumpling lunch! My friends who live right above me often make homemade dumplings. I make fun of them because when they chop the pork filling I can hear them hammering away at the cutting board (the walls aren’t thin here, but something about chopping on a cutting board goes right through the whole place). Because they are nice, and because they know I can hear them, they sometimes invite me for dumplings too! Yummy.

Lunch with my friends. The good thing about going to Hangzhou for doctors appointments is I get to see my friends. Luckily there is an amazingly delicious restaurant right near where my bus is, so I get to spontaneously meet my friends for lunch. Double yum.

Hanging out with my students. I used to treat my students as kind of a precious thing. Like, “professional Becky” in front of them, and “casual Becky” with my friends. But a few years back I took a group of students out to a club (and maybe got them a bit tipsy) I realized I didn’t need to separate the two parts of my personality with them. So now when we go out on the weekends there are almost always a few students or chinese friends with us. It helps that my current group of co-workers (my favorite group in the 5 years) also like hanging out with chinese people. (It might sound strange but often the foreign teacher create a tight clique and don’t go out with their students because they act a little too crazy. Or because they want to keep distance between themselves and their students.) So this year I’ve got to spend a lot of time hanging out with people, seen them a bit more than just “students” and have fun.

 
My best friend Color! Not much to say here, just happy that we got to hang out during the recent 3-day tomb sweeping holiday. I feel lucky to have been able to see Color a lot recently since he is so busy working.

I know people think living in China is crazy and exotic, and maybe for the first year it is. Everything is new and different. But now, it’s just daily life. But it’s a good daily life, so I’m not complaining.