Amelia's first birthday

Tuesday, we celebrated Amelia's first birthday. The Laterza family invited us to celebrate at their home. So off we went.

We took the bus to the light rail station where we met Kenny, a coworker of mine.

For dinner Mrs. Laterza made Fajitas. What a heavenly feast!

After dinner, Amelia opened her presents.

She got a doll, building block playset, shoes, and a new dress.

Her favorite gift was definitely a toy cell phone from Valerie Laterza.

Then we sang happy birthday and presented Amelia her cake, another masterpiece of Mrs. Laterza's creativity.

Amelia wasn't quite sure what to do with a cute Pooh cake and seven people standing around watching her, but she soon figured out her role as the birthday girl. She gave us lots of laughs as she 'oohed' and 'ahed' over every bite.

Her preferred method of eating was to eliminate all middlemen. Forks, knives, chopsticks, and even hands were too cumbersome. She just stuck her face straight in the cake and enjoyed.

She even shared some with Daddy.

Everybody enjoyed a piece (or two) of cake. Josiah even took a break from his cars to indulge.

Then Mama took over and cleaned up her Princess.

She emerged wearing her new oufit: shoes, tights, dress, and all.

Everyone had a wonderful time. The Laterzas were so gracious, and the fellowship was sweet.

Teaching English in China

Everyday at about 7:00 A.M., you can find me waiting for the bus that will take me to my job. I teach English at a Chinese university in Beijing. I enjoy my work. It's challenging but not draining. It's fun and still rewarding. Let me tell you a little of what it's like to teach English as a foreigner in China.

My Experience

China is a huge country. No one can visit a few places and claim to have experienced all of 'Chinese culture'. In reality China has many cultures. Each region and province is quite distinct from the others in how they live and operate. I have discovered that schools are the same way.

Each school offers a unique experience. If you hear someone's horror story about teaching in China, take it with a grain of salt. That horror story was one person's experience at one school in one part of China. The same advice holds true when you hear about another person's dream experience in the ideal situation. It's good not to use one person's impression to form your whole opinion of modern China.

While everyone has different experiences in China, I do consider my situation to be pretty typical of the basic life of a foreign English teacher in China. Reading my account will help you better understand what it is like to be here. But please keep in mind these experiences are only mine.

Finding a Job

China requires that all its students have a certain level of English to enter and graduate from college. As a result many, many schools are interested in using foreigners to give their students an advantage in English. So for a native English speaker, finding a teaching job in China is incredibly easy. A quick internet search will produce scores of schools looking for a foreigner to come and teach. That is what I did. Knowing I wanted to begin my life in China in the Beijing area, I searched for schools in Beijing that wanted foreign teachers. I found over sixty schools ranging from kindergartens to universities advertising for teachers, so I created a database of those schools.

The difficult part was sitting in America having no idea of what life in China was like while wondering which school I should choose. I read online that I might be able to come to China on a tourist visa and then switch to a working visa after I found a school. This seemed sensible to me as I would be able to check out a school firsthand before committing to a year-long contract. I applied for tourist visas for my wife and I.

The day I arrived in China, I sent out a mass email to all the schools in my database explaining my situation along with my resume. Within hours I began getting responses. Our method we ended up using was pretty simple: check out the schools that interested us, pray a lot, and make a decision. We were shown around several schools, looked at the living quarters, given offers and treated quite well. In the end we settled on a private middle school in the suburbs of Beijing where we taught our first year. Looking back, the whole process for us was, by grace, simple.

Private Schools vs. Public Schools

Every year 8 million high school graduates in China take the National College Entrance Examination. This huge number does not include the millions of young people (mainly countryside kids) who never finish high school for various reasons. Only half of those who actually take the exam will be eligible to enter even the lowest level of public colleges. Needless to say, this one test is extremely important and the source of tremendous anxiety and pressure for high school students.

The result of the exam dictate the level of college a student can attend. About the top half of the participants are eligible to attend some form of public higher education. There are many levels of public universities and colleges. For the top few students, a bright future awaits them with opportunities to attend the best public universities in the nation. The lower a student scores the dimmer the prospects are of attending a reputable school. Stories abound of students who are admitted into better colleges because of bribes and relationship, but in reality the vast majority doesn’t have the right connections to attempt this. So the lower end of those eligible to attend college are only eligible only for smaller, less well-funded schools, which are administrated and funded by a city or maybe provincial level rather than on a national level.

For those who fail, the future is very grim. There is an option to go back to high school for another year and retake the exam, but that means paying a lot of money and enduring for a second time an unimaginably grueling senior year. Up until recently, the only other option was to enter the workforce in some menial vocation.

About ten years ago, a new phenomenon in modern China began--the private college. These institutions can offer certificates similar to diplomas, but they cannot give out actual degrees. Many are really vocational schools. For those students who failed to get into a reputable public school, these private schools offer at least some form of higher education. Obviously, the students in private colleges are more prone to having poorer study habits. They often are more interested in enjoying the new-found freedom of college life than in diligently studying.

Tuition fees vary widely, but typically they run about the same as public universities. Public schools are obviously non-profit and are also usually supported by public funds. Private schools are not. Their purpose is, of course, to make money. Inability to offer true degrees, desire for profit, low tuition rates, and low student academic levels all combine to insure that the quality of most private institutions remains inferior and their reputation remains lower than public institutions. However, private education is the best, if not the only, hope for many students who want to go to college but scored low on the college entrance exam.

The college I've taught in for the past two years is a private university, the Beijing University for Science and Technology. It attracts students from across China through an intense recruitment campaign, which mainly promotes its location in Beijing. Most Chinese have a deep-rooted idea that education in Beijing must be better than education outside of Beijing. So even if the school is private, at least students can say they are being educated in Beijing.

I teach in two departments of the college, the English Department and the International College. The English Department is quite large, and the tuition fee is pretty low. These students will have a foreign teacher only once a week for an hour and a half in a classroom with seventy other classmates.

On the contrary, the International College is very small, only about 30 students in all. These students are divided into three classes. Their tuition is about five times more than the average program. More than half of the classes are taught by foreign teachers. The students in this program usually come from somewhat wealthier (or sometimes sacrificial) families, and they have dreams of going abroad after a couple of years.

When choosing to teach in a private school, I was obviously choosing not to teach the cream of China's scholastic crop. I went in with my eyes open. I chose a private school for several reasons. First, the boss at my school had a good reputation for working with foreigners. Second, private schools generally pay higher. Third, the school, students, and parents know the level of the student, so less is expected, and therefore fourthly, progress is more appreciated than might otherwise be the case. Lastly, at this point in my third year at this college, I'm used to it. I know what's expected, and they seem to like what I offer.

The Campus

The Beijing University for Science & Technology, or Bei Ke, is located in a small, dirty town located between central Beijing and Chang Ping, where I live. Each morning I leave my apartment, and walk to a bus stop down the street. After a twenty-five minute ride, I get off in Sha He, an industrial town full of bustle, dust, and grime. It still has the feel of being an old style town, kind of like a town in the old Wild West. People there have absolutely no qualms with publicly throwing their wrappers, bottles, and trash into the street.

Getting off the bus, I hut down a three-wheeled taxi to take me to the college. For five grueling minutes this motorized bike putters along realigning my back with each bump. We pass a railroad yard, cross train tracks, then several factories all while dodging cars and trucks that are flying by. Finally, we swing left onto the road that leads to the college. Handing the driver his two yuan ($0.25), I head to the front gate.

The college is a mixture of old and new. A few years ago, the college was started by converting old factory buildings into a college. Recently, the college has been expanding like crazy, building at least six large buildings since I've arrived. When I arrive in the mornings the place is usually already swarming with students heading to their classes.

The classrooms are very basic. Sometimes they are lacking in cleanliness. Decoration, which should be designed by the students, is usually sparse. In America students usually go from classroom to classroom for their different classes. At Bei Ke, the students stay in the same classroom for all their classes while the teachers rotate.

I have a little office, which I shared last year with one other foreign teacher. This year there are seven of us using it! It has two desks, a computer, a fan, and some chairs and stools. Fortunately, when I need to use the office, there aren't too many others who need it at the same time.

Like most places in China the bathrooms leave much to be desired. The usual smells are horrendous. However, at Bei Ke students are officially not supposed to smoke, yet most of the boys do. So they often use the toilet as their safe haven to indulge. This brew of odors makes the restroom a rushroom--quick in, quick out. The commodes are typical Asian squatty-potties rather than western style, and they take some getting used to. All in all, I don't frequent these facilities anymore than I absolutely have to.

Housing

Every full-time foreign teacher has the option of living in an on-campus apartment. During our first year in the school, we stayed in one. Having heard quite a few stories of awful living conditions in other schools, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our six-floor building was newer and therefore clean. Our apartment contained a spacious bedroom, small living room, small kitchen, and small bathroom. It was air-conditioned, had a western toilet, and never leaked. While we lived on campus, the school never charged us for electricity or water. Once the internet connection became ridiculously slow, the fee for that was also waived. So we had it quite good.

For some mysterious reason, our school refused to allow us to live below the sixth floor. Lacking an elevator, this made life a little interesting especially since we had a one-year-old son to carry up and down. For the first seven months, the washer was on the first floor. So my precious wife made trip after trip lugging laundry and our one-year-old up and down those stairs. After she became pregnant with our second child, the school graciously bought her a washer for our apartment! That helped a lot. Though the walking kept me in shape, I never quite learned how to enjoy the jog up. I do know this: there were 102 steps from top to bottom.

After a year of living on campus, we were able to rent an apartment in the Beijing suburb of Chang Ping about an hour by bus from Beijing and forty minutes from my school. Though we like our new arrangement much better, we will always have wonderful memories of our time in our little campus apartment.

The Students

Being over six feet tall and white in China, I do get quite a reaction from students when they first see me on campus. Unaware that I speak a little Chinese, students will usually freely comment about their opinions of me and my height. At the beginning of each new academic year, I feel like a minor celebrity on campus. Before long, the students get used to me, and shrieks and giggles turn into polite smiles and greetings.

Being American has been quite an advantage for me. Being from California gives me even more clout. I've met other foreign teachers who will even lie about their origins to get the extra respect, so I feel very fortunate to be able to claim such popular places as my origin.

The students respect me from the start because I'm the 'foreign teacher.' However, maintaining that respect is the hard part. It requires teaching good lessons and genuinely trying to do my best. The students are normal people, and when they sense I'm doing my best, they seem to respond with giving theirs (at least while I'm with them). Teaching a good class with students obviously paying attention and enjoying the material taught is very rewarding.

I'm not in China to teach English. I teach English so I can be in China. However, I enjoy teaching more than ever. Though I still have a long way to go, I can honestly say I've gotten better at it. I am constantly looking for and implementing new ideas. For as long as I'm teaching English, I want to continue becoming a better teacher. When I've 'arrived', I'll let you know.

My Week

Being a private school, Bei Ke wants to get good teachers from public schools. To accomplish this, my school has classes Wednesday through Sunday. The goal is to attract teachers from public schools to earn extra money teaching part time on their weekends. Mondays and Tuesdays are supposed to be my 'weekend.'

At the time I signed my first contract with the school, we were attending Beijing Baptist Church every Sunday. I informed Bei Ke that Sunday was my day of worship, so they gave me a contract to work Wednesday through Saturday. Basically, I've been blessed with a three day weekend every week!

I'm contracted to teach twenty class periods of forty-five minutes each. However each class is actually an hour and a half long, so I teach 10 of these classes per week. Wednesday and Friday, I teach two classes in the morning (8:00-9:30 & 10:00-11:30) and one in the afternoon (2:10-3:40). Thursday, I have one class in the morning and one in the afternoon. Saturday has two classes in the morning. Once my classes are finished for the day, I'm free to go.

Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I have several hours between morning and afternoon classes. Wednesday's time is used for study and prayer. Thursdays are 'date days.' I take my wife out to lunch. I love Thursdays. Fridays, I usually have lunch with the other foreign teachers to catch up with their lives and find out any important information nobody bothered to tell like class changes and so forth. This is followed by another long session of study in the office.

Once my last class is finished, I enjoy a feeling of accomplishment as I walk off campus to a catch a three-wheeled taxi. This takes me to Sha He's main bus stop where I wait (sometimes patiently) to catch the orange 21 bus to Chang Ping. Twenty-five minutes later, I get off the bus, take a short walk, ride the elevator to the ninth floor, and open my door to the wonderful comfort and joy of wife, children, and home.

What is RSS?

If you would like to keep up-to-date on our family without having to daily check the website, you can use a RSS reader program that will automatically check if there are any new posts to check out.

To understand very simply what RSS is, go to http://www.whatisrss.com/.

There are many readers available--often for free. I use Google Desktop to track my RSS feeds. However, another free choice is Feedreader.

Adventure to Jilin

Late Sunday evening, John Nasett (Uncle) and I boarded a train at the main Beijing Train Station headed for Jilin. To get there required an all-night train trip, so we travelled "hard-sleeper", which was actually pretty nice. We arrived at 8:00 the following morning after a remarkably good night of sleep.

The purpose of our trip was one of exploration. Both of us had heard something about the project Hyles Anderson College has been doing there in North China by helping to start a school, and we wanted to see it for ourselves and learn what we could. Since Uncle and I both don't teach classes on Mondays or Tuesdays, we had just enough time for the adventure. Our plan to get home was to take the night train back on Tuesday evening arriving in Beijing around six in the morning and going directly to teach our classes.

I was reluctant to go in the first place because I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get train tickets to go back home. In the end, we decided to just go for it. Upon arriving in Jilin, we immediately went to buy tickets. Sure enough there were only "hard-seat" tickets available for Tuesday's train. We couldn't miss our classes, so it looked like we'd be sitting all night in a crowded train car on little, squished seats. Bro. Nasett suggested that we should at least check plane ticket prices.

On the way to the travel agency, the taxi driver tried to cheat us by not using his meter and then asking for 20 yuan. That was an outrageous price! We gave him 5 yuan, which he didn't argue about. I wonder how many other foreigners are likewise cheated and never know it?

In the travel agency, we were informed that the cheapest ticket to Beijing on Tuesday evening would be 1,100 yuan. (The train "hard-sleeper" would have been about 260.) That was too much for me! We checked at a second agency but were told the same price. Though I was ready to track down an internet cafe and find something cheaper, Uncle went ahead and purchased both our tickets to leave at 7:00 the next evening. What a blessing!

Now we were faced with another problem. We were informed that the airport was an hour and twenty minutes away from the city! Our choices were to take a very expensive taxi ride or use a free bus service provided by the agency. The choice was obvious until we learned that the bus to airport left at 2:00 in the afternoon. That meant we would have to sit for four hours at the airport. Having just paid so much for our tickets, we were compelled to chose the free bus service.

Our next challenge was finding the school, which we knew to be somewhere in the countryside near Jilin. Fortunately, I had noticed on the school's website something about being on bus #9's route. On a wim, I scanned my map of Jilin and found that very bus line! (What grace!) We found a bus #9, verified with the ticket lady that that bus actually did stop at the school, and settled in for a forty minute ride.

In the winter, Jilin is miserably cold. However, we found that in early September it was beautiful, and the weather was comfortably cool. As we made our way out to the school, Jilin's modern highrises gradually turned into rolling hills and farm fields. Before long, we arrived at our destination. The ticket lady let us know it was time to get off.

The bus pulled off as we stared at the main gate. I had tried to call the school the week before to ask about coming, but couldn't get through. Uncle had sent an email to the address on the website, but apparently it had gotten buried in a pile of spam resulting in no reply. As a result, we stood there knowing we were probably very unexpected. We weren't quite sure how we would be received. We walked through the main gate toward what looked like the main entrance.

We need not have worried. Entering the building, we were warmly received by everyone we met. We found the whole property very bright, clean, and modern. Everyone we met including the students was dressed sharp: the men were in ties and the ladies were beautifully modest. The entire time we were with them, we saw the whole team display a wonderful, good-natured attitude that made their work and lives look fun and purposeful.

After they allowed us to participate in a foreign teachers' Chinese class, Dr. Conner, who we'd just met, brought us into his office. He spent quite a bit of time filling us in on the school's situation and allowing us to ask questions.

An hour later, we made our way to the kitchen area for a simple yet delicious lunch. That was where we really got to know Tim Sober. After lunch, Mr. Sober graciously took us by bus to a nearby little town where he lived. We checked into an inexpensive hotel (220 yuan per night. Not too bad!), which turned out to be far better than either of us expected. After dropping off our stuff, we were shown a little around the town of Feng Man. We then walked to Tim's home where we met his wife and two daughters. The Sobers live in a normal Chinese appartment, which they've been able to furnish and decorate very nicely. The whole time we were with the Sobers, we got to talk about their purpose and philosophy in China as well as there life and experiences so far. I don't think they had one complaint about their life in China.

That evening Mr. Sober and Mr. Williams had an appointment, and they had invited Uncle and I to go along to watch and help translate. Early in the evening, a taxi van arrived to take us to the appointment. On our way, we stopped at the school to pick up Mr. Williams. That was were I got the opportunity to meet Mr. Yan, an integral part of the school and of all they are doing there. Being in a hurry to get to the appoinment, our meeting was short, but he had one strange piece of advice: go to the Brazilian barbecue restaurant.

In Jilin, we waited for quite awhile for the appointment to arrived, but alas he cancelled on us. So there was nothing left to do but to heed Mr. Yan's advice. The four of us obeyed and went to the Brazilian barbecue. Amen!

What a place! Housed in a five star hotel was this all-the-meat-you-can-eat restaurant for 49 yuan ($6) per person. Wow! Steak, chicken, steak, pork, bacon, and more steak, it was all good. Plus, the side dishes were excellent too. Mr. William's put us other three to shame by somehow shoveling down around what must have been four or five pounds of beef and other meats. I think he felt he was pretty close to Heaven. Along with the food, I greatly enjoyed our conversation, and it helped to clarify for me exactly what they are doing there. We left an hour and a half latter full and happy. Mr. Yan's advice had been very good.

At the hotel that evening, we had some stimulating talks, refreshing showers, and a good time of prayer. The beds were a little hard, but mine suited me just fine. I was asleep in a second.

Tuesday morning I awoke early to a beautiful day. After reading my Bible, getting ready, and listening for awhile to the mumble of Uncle's praying, we checked out of our hotel and headed to school. There we enjoyed sitting in on a staff meeting and observing a little of the teaching. During the staff meeting, I realized I had left my cell phone at the hotel and wasted an hour retrieving it. By grace, I got it back and still had time to listen in on a class.

As we were beginning to think about leaving, someone mentioned that Mr. Yan was planning on going into town, so maybe we could go along. Arriving at his office to inquire, we were invited by him to sit down and we began talking. After awhile, he suggested that we take a little bit of time and see the local reservior, which is huge. So we drove with him to the reservior and took a little boat trip out on the water. We then went hurriedly to pass out some fliers promoting the school in Fang Man before heading to Jilin City.

Mr. Sober, who had joined us after we'd passed out the fliers, suggested a Chinese restuarant for lunch. He chose well. The food was good, plentiful, and pretty. By the time we had to leave, I was pleasantly full in body and in heart. We had used our time with Mr. Yan to more fully understand him, his heart, and his ideas. I enjoyed hearing Uncle and him talk even though I may have butted in once too often with my own two cents of 'wisdom.'

At the travel agency, we said goodbye to our new friends and boarded our bus to the airport. On the way, I enjoyed a little of the scenery followed by a good nap. I was awakened by Uncle tapping me on the shoulder letting me know we had arrived.

The airport was brand new and people were scarce. Fortunately, we were able to get a flight that left a half hour earlier. We got our boarding passes, went through security, and settled in for the long wait. I had expected to study a little Chinese during the wait, but I never got around to it. Uncle and I spent the whole afternoon discussing what we had seen and what we had learned as well as many, many other topics. Time went by very quickly.

Before I knew it, it was time to board the plane for a quick flight back to Beijing and my beloved wife and children. The trip was short, refreshing, and productive. But by far, the best part of the trip was walking through my front door to enjoy the hugs and look into the eyes of my smiling family.

Josiah's first haircut without tears

Josiah and I have been going to the same barber for the past two years. The shop is located in the rundown, little town of Sha He, the same town I work in. The owners are a plump older woman who likes to talk and her husband who listens to her. When she speaks, I rarely understand much because she has a very strong Beijing accent, which adds 'r's to nearly every word. At least, my understanding has vastly improved from the first time I went there.

I chose this place because it reminded me a little of the basic 'regular guy' barbershops that I'm used to in the States. Most barbershops in China are similar to beauty salons in America with one exception--the men who work at them. For some reason the Chinese hairstyling industry has attracted the stranger elements of society into its ranks. This has become something of a subculture. The men are usually young and effeminate with colored hair, soft hands, braclets, sometimes nail polish, often face jewellry. Oddly, you don't often see these types of people in other segments of society--just at hair salons. This, coupled with the loud rock music normally played inside most salons, is why I was glad to find a simple barber shop to go to.

Haircuts are one benefit of living in China. Where I go, I pay 10 yuan ($1.25) for a haircut. This includes a meticulous haircut, scalp massage, and a hairwash. Not bad! Josiah doesn't get the massage or wash so they only charge 3 yuan ($0.35).

In the past, Josiah's haircuts were quite a chore. Even as an infant, he didn't like getting even a trim. To hear him in the barber chair, you'd think he was under severe torture. To manage giving him a haircut, I would sit in the barber chair with a barber sheet draped over me. Josiah would be sat in my lap with a sheet draped over him. Becky would get to work distracting, entertaining, and otherwise consoling her distraught son while his father held his screaming head in place so our patient barber could quickly cut his hair.

This summer I got the notion of giving him a buzz. Yep, I wanted his hair totally gone. However, I was a little concerned about the psycological effect it might have on him. So I came up with a simple idea. One evening I asked Josiah if he knew what a U.S. Marine was. While I showed him pictures from the internet, I proceded to explain that Marines were the best soldiers in the world. At each picture I showed him how each Marine had little or no hair. I asked him, "Do you want to be a Marine?" Gravely, he said, "Yes." I informed him that to look like a Marine, he needed to have all his hair cut off. He said ok.

The next morning Becky couldn't go to the shop with us and help me distract Josiah. So, I took him by myself. When we arrived, our usual lady wasn't there! Strike two. Having already travelled there, I didn't wanted to return another day, so I asked her husband if he'd do it. He agreed. After he finished with a customer he told us it was our turn. While I put away the camera I'd been playing with, Josiah walked over to the chair. When I turned around, I was shocked with the sight of my son already sitting stoically in the chair as the barber draped a sheet around him! I figured Josiah would probably begin crying once the haircut began. But he didn't! He just sat there with a serious look on his face as the barber gave him a short, sharp haircut. After seeing how good he looked, I decided not to insist on having his head totally buzzed. I just busied myself praising Josiah, complementing the barber, and taking pictures to prove to Josiah's mother that this all really happened.

Ten minutes later, we walked out the shop toward our bus as one proud father holding the hand of a very handsome boy. But still he was very quiet.

I tried to prob his little brain, "You look so sharp, Son. How are you doing?"

He just replied deeply and emphatically, "Josiah soldier, Dad. I'm a soldier."

So we walked off hand-in-hand to catch the 21 bus to show Moma...

Keeping up with family and friends

I have been told that there are many of you who would like to be better informed about our lives and how we are doing. So I've concluded a blog is the most effective and convenient way to keep in touch with those who love us.

We have just begun our fourth year in China! The first three years have come and gone so quickly that we still feel like newcomers. However, we have had many changes during these few years. We've jumped into life in a new culture. We've taught lots of English. We've attempted to learn Mandarin Chinese. We've adjusted to a new way of life. Our son, Josiah, was born. Almost two years later Amelia, our daughter was born. We've been able to do a little traveling. We've had our horizens broadened, our faith challenged, and our love strengthened. We've made many, many friends, both numerous Chinese and other fello expats from all over the world. We've made several short trips back to the States to visit family, see friends, and get recharged. We've learned to study. We've learned to teach. We've learned to economize and budget. Most of all we've learned to pray.

I hope these simple reports will better help you to understand our daily life, our current situation, and our purpose. We would love to read comments you'd like to make. If you don't know how to use an RSS feed, let me know. It will help you to know when I post new comments without needing to go to our webpage.

William