Week 4 – We’re residents!

Big start to this week as Monday was St Patrick's Day! Initially, I suspected that nothing much would come of it as Northern Ireland seems to be too small to be on China's radar and they don't generally celebrate our holidays. Thankfully, I was very wrong.

Canton goes green

Our friend, Julia (a former exchange student from China who studied at Stranmillis last year), invited us to a St Patrick's Day celebration at the Canton Tower, needless to say, we were curious. We arrived that evening to find that the Canton Tower had been turned green for the entire day and some festivities were being held beneath it. The first of these that we witnessed was a Scottish man playing bagpipes (close enough). Once everything got going, there was a great atmosphere that actually did remind us all of home and fill us with laughs.

The first surprise of the night came in the format of a local news reporter hearing that there were some actual Irish people at the event and swiftly coming over to interview us individually about the event and how it compared to life back home.

The second surprise came in the form of two guitarists performing on stage. This was normal enough in itself, it was when Julia went "Adam, you play guitar, you sing, why don't you get up?", Now I admit, I really do miss my guitar back home but this was a proper event and I was not up for getting up in front of around 100 strangers and singing. Julia decided to ignore me and get the manager who was delighted to hear that there was an Irish guitarist and insisted that I performed. So I did, performing "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show and "Ooh La La" by The Faces. I figured I might regret it later if I didn't and looking back, it was great fun and a great end to the night. I am very grateful for the opportunity to play music whenever I can.

"Music is the universal language of mankind" - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lloyd getting into the spirit!

Me, hurting people's ears.

The next day, it was arranged for us to meet a class of about 30, extremely excitable English major students. They were fantastic, they had prepared a big presentation for us, sang to us and played some games – they were so grateful for the chance to talk to us. We have agreed to prepare something for them next week in return – hopefully we can match their performance and atmosphere!

This week finally saw us getting our residents permits after weeks of going between offices and filling out forms. We are now official “Foreign Residents of China”. This opens up a few doors for us as it gives our visa multiple entries – maybe a cheeky trip to Hong Kong in the near future!

Class ended this week with a field trip with our culture lecturer – Henry. He took us to his sister in laws’ tea house “Taetea” and bought us all some very fancy tea – we even had our own personal tea brewer/pourer! This was our last week with Henry and he pointed out that “This is real culture – tea with friends!” – looks like we aren't so different after all! 

This man knows how to do a lecture!

We love tea!

Thanks for reading, guys!
Adam.

Week 3 - “Wo zhou Yadang” (My name is Adam)

Week three for us, brought us deeper into the real side of China, past the bounds of tourism with new friends, a new language and a solid base of banter.

As usual, the week started with free time on Monday and Tuesday, I feel that we are still settling into a routine and searching for ways to best use the time we have here. For the most part, these days were spent going over our readings for the week and bettering our badminton skills during the day and exploring the city during the evenings.

This Tuesday, however, was a little different for Jayne and I. A few weeks ago at GICF (our church), we expressed an interest in joining a small group/bible study, well, it was arranged and we now have a small group! It consists of about 10 people from all over the world, all of whom were so welcoming and encouraging. I am very excited to get more involved and see where this leads!

Lloyd and Siobhan honing their skills

Wednesday brought a new class-based challenge for both Lloyd and I in Language Teaching Theories and Practices as we learned that the course came largely from a Primary Education perspective. Lloyd and I are both Post-Primary Technology and Design students and are used to teaching pupils how to operate heavy machinery without maiming themselves, so, when we were asked questions in relation to pupils understanding and learning of phonics, we were certainly out of our comfort zone. Having said this, our lecture is very understanding and accommodating and being out of our comfort zones is probably a good thing.

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”  - Brian Tracy

We work better with coffee

Thursday was a greatly anticipated day and was met with an equal measure of excitement and apprehension as this day brought about our first Mandarin lesson.

Over our several weeks travelling about China, I had managed to pick up a little Mandarin such as “Wo yao zhege” (I want this) and the numbers 1-10, however, when I entered the class and our lecturer addressed us in Mandarin, I realised – I know nothing!

Despite our lack of knowledge, Mei (our lecturer), was amazing. She had never taught English speakers before and yet she managed to bring everything down to our level and come up with new, engaging ways for us to learn. We have only had the one lesson with her but I feel confident that we will learn a lot from her over the next few weeks. Language is so important and I feel that it is something we are lacking in back home and need to develop.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”
‒ Nelson Mandela

Learning characters

The week rounded up with Jayne, Lloyd and I trying out the church that Chinese residents are permitted to go to. It was so encouraging to hear some of the testimonies of people there and realise how lucky we are to have access to religion back home. We take a lot for granted.

I normally like to end with a funny picture but there weren't many this week, so here's one from a week or two ago - that elephant had moves.

Thanks for reading guys,

Adam.