Schell of a Man

[I'm having troubles posting photos at the moment. I will try to update this post when I get them working, but until then, enjoy.]

I've returned from summering in the states and slowly getting back into the swing of things. Classes started three weeks ago and I am glad to be back, though a little stressed out. I am currently teaching three classes this semester: Oral English, “The Society and Culture of English-Speaking Countries” and “British Literature.” The Oral English class is for first year students and it is the same as I taught last year. I am only teaching three classes of it (6 hours a week) and I will hopefully give them up once another foreign teacher returns from her time in America. I don't mind teaching the class, it just requires a bit more energy than the other two. It's a lot like a performance every week. The “Society and Culture” class is also the same as I taught last year (more or less), which means its primary focus is on Britain with a little about Ireland and Australia on the end. I really don't have to spend much time prepping for this since it's the second time through. Once I get to the bit on Ireland and Australia it will be slightly more involved as I have not taught those yet. However, the class that has taken up most of my time and energy has been the English literature class. This is the true pain in my side (as well as having the most possibility for inspiration). For starters, the majority of the book I am teaching out of is in Chinese. Only the excerpts are in English. So I have no idea what the book is saying about the writers or the text and it could (very well – knowing the Chinese school system) be contradicting everything I'm saying. Basically I have to write my own text book based around these samples. So there are a number of challenges.

I have taught two classes so far and both have gone surprisingly well. Both were on the topic of Shakespeare. The first class was Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate...”). I had a lot of fun teaching them iambic pentameter and having them recite the poem with me. It was also a thrill to see their eyes light up when I explained it's meaning to them. (The beauty of the Young Man brought to life in China 400 years after the sonnet was written.) The second week of class was on Hamlet, one of my favorites. I brought an umbrella to class to use as a sword and a melon to act as poor Yorkic's skull. I charged around the classroom berating a frighten (and I think confused) Gertrude and stabbing Polonius (a very Asian-looking Dane), hiding behind a window curtain, finally dropping in the middle of the class after being cut by a poisoned blade. It may have been more fun for me than for the students. However, the best part of this class so far has been the poetry. At the end of the first class I gave the students about fifteen minutes to write a poem (either by themselves or with a partner) where they compare a person with nature. Below are some of my favorites. (Don't worry, I got their permission to publish these beforehand). Some are hilarious and a few are very powerful (I think a few may even be about me!):

His body is strong as a horse
His eyes are like pearls
His beard is like a broom
His ears are like fans
His heart is like the open sea


Your nose is like a mountain
You are snow white
Your eyes are like two grapes.
Your eyelashes are like brushes.
Your legs are chopsticks.
You are like a bear.
You are a piece of paper.
You are like a bar of chocolate
Your clothes make you like a Christmas tree.


Her eyes were two springs.
Her eyebrows like willows
Her hair was like a fried dough twist
Her song like the sounds of nature.


The first time I saw you, you were like a beautiful flower.
But just allow to look from a hill.
The second time I saw you, you were like air.
I can't catch, but I can feel it.
The third time I saw you, you were like a dark day.
Your life, your face is a secret.
The last time I saw you, you were like ice
I can't remember you, and you forget me.


You were a dancing butterfly
Slip into my heart and never gone
Since then my heart open a flower
You were the water makes me grow up


You are the wind in Spring
When you leave me your voice is still blowing around my ears.

You are the sun in Summer
When you leave me your passion is still burning my heart

You are the fruits in Fall
When you leave me your rich love is still with me

You are the fire in Winter
When you are leave me your temperature is still in my body.


My life like a still river
With an ordinary heart.
No great happy and also danger.
Like a perfect art.


Sweet Cake
Shall I compare you to a sweet cake?
You are more lovely and more sweet
Your eyes like two black grapes on the fruit cake.
Your attractive lips are as red as cherries.
And your black-oiled hair strikes my heart.
My sweet cake, I am eager to win your affection.


Three's Company
I have new neighbors downstairs. My friends Andy and Mary (Palmer) Welters have come from Minnesota to teach in the same school as me. Mary is a wonderful cook so I haven't gone hungry, and Andy and I have taught some of the other Chinese teachers a thing or two about basketball—usually what not to do. The only bad part is that I have to move my tap-dancing rehearsals to a more reasonable hour. It's great to be able to escape my apartment and not have to leave the building. Before I would have to walk all the way across campus to find friends, now it's just down the stairs.

Just a note about the weather: I should mention that fall came. It arrived at about 2:30 am on Friday, two weeks ago. I say that only half joking; the seasons change here like someone simply throwing a switch. So different from Minnesota where you don't know if fall is really here until sometime after Christmas. Now the air is cool, but very damp. It is so different from last year. I remember standing in front of classes with a stream of sweat rolling down my back. Now even in the first week I am wearing a fleece jacket. I hope this doesn't mean we're in for an extra cold winter, last year's was bad enough. The sun didn’t show for the first two weeks I was here and it rained every day for ten days straight, but this last weekend was great and today the sun is shining. I guess I just have to be happy with what I get.

Next week is the National Holiday (you may recall last year I spent it in Shanghai with Bryan and Krissy). This year I am going to Beijing with the Brazilians, Alex the Swede, and my two Russian friends, Victoria and Olga. It will be the absolute peak of the travel season but the only time we can go. So if I make it back, look for a post on it soon.