Brandon's Update

My brother is in China doing God's work, and I couldn't be prouder.  I can't claim to have anything to do for his passion for outreach and travel, but I did give him a little push in the Asian direction.  Here is his first email update he sent out a few weeks ago...

 

To My Friends and Family,

This weekend marks one month since I landed in the Beijing airport. The month has mostly been one of settling in and finding a routine, but has certainly been as unexpected as one might anticipate moving to China should be (if it is possible to anticipate the unexpected).

The flights went very smoothly and I arrived in Beijing on the 25^th after leaving on the 23^rd. However, the plane was delayed 20 minutes or so. Just enough time to cause an already short stop in Beijing to be near impossible. And impossible it was for a dozen or so Americans who were catching the flight from Beijing to Wuhan. I had to wait 18 hours to catch the next vacant seat to Wuhan. While I slept very well on airport benches and my luggage, my spine spent the better part of the last month recovering from the experience.

I arrived at the Wuhan airport after a two hour long plane ride with all the amenities (including a meal at 3 in the afternoon) that put their US counterparts to shame. The university official in Wuhan treated me to my first real Chinese meal, KFC. I was then taken to my apartment which is on campus and only a ten minute walk from classes. The apartment is well furnished and spacious for a guy used to sleeping on a couch.

Over the next week the university organized little trips for the foreign teachers (numbered 28). They took us to a nice restaurant that was built on a lake. The restaurant had a glut of all the stereotypical Chinese decorations that would seem comically over the top if it were in the States. Afterwards they took us to the Hubei Provincial Museum where they showcase a 200 two-toned bells set from the Qing dynasty and had a show using replicas. At one point during the museum trip I was walking around with two blonde foreign teachers from my university. One Chinese man walked up to us and pointed at his camera. We thought for a split second he might want us to take a picture of him at the museum. You know, like in the States. Well it turned out he wanted to have pictures taken with the foreigners. This facilitated several more less courageous Chinese visitors to stand in an impromptu line to take pictures with the foreigners. Fortunately for me I have black hair and am not too interesting, so they let me slink off to the more static exhibits.

Teaching began on the week of the 3^rd. Courses are only eight weeks and I only have 14 courses throughout the semester. Coming in the teaching aspect was something I was very comfortable with, however teaching English in China is very different than secondary science. The Chinese collegiate education typically has the professor reading out of the text while the students may or may not pay attention. They then are expected to memorize and regurgitate that information on the final exam. As such, the students are completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable with speaking in class under any circumstances. As my only goal is to facilitate a greater fluency in speaking English, 50 blank staring students unwilling to speak in class has caused me to adjust my teaching style.

As I have only 14 hours of classes a week, I have quite a bit of free time. I’ve spent that time reading, studying and exploring my area of the city. Within walking distance there are three different malls, and countless shopping strips. I have been impressed with how modern my section of the city seems to be. One of the malls contains a KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and an iMax theatre currently showing Batman and Bourne Legacy. However, some of these bear little resemblance to their US franchises. This last weekend I splurged on a meal by going to Pizza Hut with a fellow Harding graduate at my university. It was a little different than I remembered. Upon entering a hostess showed us to our booth with a chandelier. We were then given small cups of water. My friend sipped it and realized it was A: hot water and B: scented like perfume. We were unable to determine if it was for drinking or rinsing our fingers, so we abstained. They then gave us a menu of fine wine selections and finally the pizza menu. Sort of. The first three quarters of the menu was composed of various steaks, pastas and some French dishes. Alas, at the very end we found our stuffed crust pepperoni pizza.

While the malls usually have picture menus so you at least can get something you know will be edible, but most of the street shopping requires a good deal of Mandarin skills to get something without homicidal bones included. Probably the most important thing I have learned so far is how to show numbers using hand gestures. I cannot understate how crucial this has been to me in many situations. The hand gestures for 1-5 are as we might do in the States. However, 6-10 are way different. Six you use only the pinky and thumb in a ‘call me… maybe’ form. Seven is touching all of your finger tips like a hand puppet. Eight is using your thumb and index finger like you are pointing a gun. Nine is a fist with the index sticking out like a fishhook, and ten is crossing both index fingers like an ‘x. It is amazing how much one can communicate using these gestures, pointing and various Tim Allen-esque grunts.

By far the most heartening times have come at “English Corner.” Every Tuesday night each of the foreign English teachers must meet at the foreign language department to converse with any students wishing to practice their English. Generally I have four or five students speak to me at a time about anything under the sun. The university has some representatives there, so one has to be intelligent as to what topics one broaches. This does not bother the students one bit, as they drill me with all sorts of questions from my understanding of how mosquitoes reproduce to other more sensitive areas. This has served as a wonderful way to meet inquisitive friends.

“Hoping” that your work is going well.

Warmest Regards from China,

Brandon