Great, kid. Don't get cocky!

"You work too hard." That's one of a handful of phrases that I keep in my pocket, reserved for any kind of situation where I can get a few giggles from an unsuspecting Chinese person. Other phrases that I have picked of for the same effect include but are not limited to: "My name is Bruce Lee", "I'm so full I'm going to explode", "I want to eat fried ice cream" (only works in the winter), and "Robot."

While its great to know some fun phrases, my desire to learn Chinese has grown further than just being able to get by. My current knowledge allows me to get around relatively easily and to handle almost all of the day to day challenges like shopping, finding things, and eating out. But when it comes to getting past the initial 3 or 4 questions after meeting someone my knowledge becomes severely limited. On top of this I can read only a tiny bit and cannot write at all. To me it seems like the entire country is playing a big game of pictionary rather that using an actual written language. What I really desire is to be able to interact with people who don't speak English on a deeper level and to experience and understand the culture more clearly. It's for this reason that I have decided to make learning Chinese this semester a higher priority.

With these clear visions in my head I got up early and went to my first Chinese class at 8a.m. last Monday! I was determined to start this semester out on the right foot, setting up good habits to follow throughout the rest of the year. Unfortunately, the Chinese class was starting this week and I had showed up a week to early to a building of empty classrooms, much to my dismay. However, my resolve was not to be deterred and I managed to crawl out of bed early again this morning and attend my first Chinese class, the real thing this time. As I peeked into my classroom the first thing I noticed was that once again there was nobody else there. This is even more strange in China when its common for students to show up as much as 30 minutes before class. Unlike the last week though, the other classrooms all had people in them but they were for the higher level students. With a little hesitation I went ahead and took a seat, determined not to be discouraged by this somewhat surprising outcome. As it turned out, not too many students were taking the first level Chinese course this semester and by the time 8 a.m. rolled around only 4 students were seated in the class. The group was comprised of myself, an older New Zealand gentleman whose Chinese was way worse than my own (that bad), a younger Asian student from one of the -stan countries (Uzbekistan?), and a Russian girl named Kyashavenka (yeah, you try saying it). Needless to say it was with a strange combination of awkward interactions and poignant silences that we awaited the arrival of our teacher. And wait we did. After close to 25 minutes of waiting, a young woman arrived and between breaths told us in broken English that the other teacher was either: A. Having a baby or B. Watching his wife have a baby. A big mistake among Chinese speakers when talking in English is confusing he/she, this makes for some disconcerting dialogue. After these minor hiccups the rest of the class went off beautifully. It was a welcome change to have my teacher position suddenly reversed again to that of a student and I really enjoyed learning Chinese in a more formal setting as opposed to just repeating things I pick up from people.

The best way I can describe the start of this semester over the past two weeks is busy, busy, busy. Going from almost two months of zero responsibilities to a full teaching workload and campuses crawling with students has resulted in a (expectedly) drastic change in lifestyle. I have all new students this time around and have made some big changes to the courses I am teaching which have required a heavy amount of planning in these beginning weeks. The Baoding team and I have also begun to coordinate having English Club events on both schools campuses once a month. These English nights are full of songs, games, skits, and end in a lecture about a topic of some interest to the students. Our first one of the semester occurred last Friday at Jon and Ryan's Financial College and it was a blast. A few of my favorite moments were:
1. Singing "Country Road," an obscure favorite among the entire country of China.
2. Dressing up like a Kung Fu master named the Magic Master Magical Master of Magic.
3. Hiding my head under a box to scare unsuspecting students in a game of "Name that thing!"

The night really was a fantastic success that all of us were honored to be apart of. It feels wonderful to be able to host events for people are as fun and grateful as our students. When we told them that we would be holding another English night the following month, their excitement was almost palpable. I am excited to hold the same event next week for the students at the campus of Hebei University.

This semester is looking to be full of promise. Though last semester was more of a learning experience than the current one will be, I have lived in China long enough to know that one must always expect the unexpected here. One can only be so comfortable on the other side of the world (and in a place that calls sitting toilets "western").