Well, as an easy starter, this was nothing short of a miserable four (or five? I've lost count) weeks, but finally it seems as though, if nothing else, spirits are lifting and I can finally truly laugh about all that took place and shrug it off to experience.
As you already know, I sprained my foot and ankle pretty badly early on. It has taken what seems like forever to heal, and only this week (Wednesday, yesterday) did I start to feel an improvement (I was able to get out of quarantine to get a new brace from Peace Corps on Tuesday, and the new brace made me feel instantly better). With a foot in less than par condition, no crutches, living on the fourth floor of one building and having classes on the fifth of a building on the opposite side of campus, I found little motivation (or physical strength) to leave my apartment and painfully hobble up and down hills, stairs, etc., so I canceled a lot of classes. This may seem like a great opportunity, providing me with much needed relaxation and free time, but instead it only hurt my mood as I felt trapped in my apartment, and after watching every episode of Prison Break, half the season of American Idol, lots of movies and way too much Facebook browsing, life felt a bit meaningless and, as an understatement, boring. The few days my foot did feel okay, I taught, and I did sneak out of quarantine twice, once to get groceries and another to celebrate a friend's birthday. For a person who survives off of taking walks, hikes, exploring new areas and socializing, being stuck laying around in one place was torture. We are still under quarantine now, but it seems it is getting a bit more relaxed; last weekend we didn't have to teach (not sure about this weekend yet), students are finding it easy to sneak out now, and there is currently only one police officer guarding the gate, whereas there used to be five. On Wednesday, with my foot finally feeling okay, I left for a while, and this weekend I don't plan to be on campus much, so I'm definitely much happier!
On top of the foot, quarantine, the other foreign teachers getting orders to leave this summer, and some of my favorite students getting Hepatitis A, I also witnessed the closure (still hurts to write about this) of my Uighur Muslim family's restaurant and haven't seen them since (if you want the specifics of that blog entry, which I never published, email my mom—lovely woman—and she'll give it to you; if you don't know her email address, email me and I'll hook you up) only to learn that the Hepatitis A didn't come from one of the restaurants (as was originally assumed). The Hep A, we discovered all too late, came from a water distribution company (that everyone in our area used to order from; thankfully, Peace Corps gave me a water distiller so I always have used that, but everyone else I know in Longdongbao, including the other foreigners, drank from this company) who didn't actually purify the water. Instead, they were just taking well water (water here is polluted with pesticides, remnants of human feces/night soil, unsafe metals, etc) and bottled it (because of the unusually harsh winter this year, the water has been especially bad anyway). Then, on top of everything else, I had a huge (what I believe to be) termite infestation in my apartment. The bugs were the icing on the already enormous cake (way too many other details to mention). While laying down grading journals one evening, I kept feeling random itches over my body. Finally, I looked up and saw flying dark insects everywhere. On my walls, my floor, in the air; it's like they all just appeared at once. They're gone (for) now, but at the time I felt like I just couldn't take anything more. Then, after spending an entire night single handedly carrying out genocide of the termites through uneasy, frustrated tears, I saw the necklace my parents gave me before coming here. It has a Mother Theresa quote on it "I know God won't give me more than I can handle; I just wish he didn't trust me so much". Things have been substantially easier since then. :)
In case you missed it in previous blogs, last semester I was asked (and agreed without much knowledge) to help teach at a middle school in Guiyang. It has yet to start, as there still was a lot of negotiation (which I was not a part of and had no knowledge of) between the school and my university, but the idea has been that I will be commuting to Number 10 Middle School (a pretty good school) periodically to teach their students Oral English so that, in turn, students from my university are guaranteed the ability to student teach there. It's very difficult for students from my university to student teach at good schools since students from better universities get priority. My students often are forced to go to the countryside, which is less than ideal for them as it doesn't help them get a job later on. So this deal between the middle school and my university brings success and "face" (the middle school will have a foreigner which will help student recruitment, the university will have a good middle school which will help student recruitment) not only to the schools themselves, but also to the middle school students who've never had a chance to speak with a foreigner, and to my university's students, as they'll have an increased chance at securing a job after graduation (as you can imagine, with the population here, decent jobs are few and far between) with having taught at Number 10 Middle School on their resume.
On Tuesday, my school dared to leave quarantine and take me to a meeting and banquet with officials from the middle school to finally finalize the agreement. I did, in spite of the fact that I do want to do this, feel a bit used and abused throughout the entirety, however. I agreed to this deal knowing, and okay with the fact, that I was a pawn, since giving my students the best opportunity is the most important thing to me. However, during this meeting/banquet ordeal, I definitely felt the annoyance at being used (this will, I'm sure, subside when I'm surrounded by students, rather than officials). We first went to the meeting at the middle school, where we (I should say everyone but me) was greeted and introductions and formalities were made. I stood on the sidelines, feeling rather awkward, unnoticed and out of place. When the meeting started, no one translated anything to me (and it was all far too official—and in far too deep of a dialect—for me to follow much), then there was some signing of contracts by the two schools' leaders (I discovered that the contacts say, amongst other things that I'm unaware of, that I will be committed to going to the middle school until I am finished teaching in China…) lots of photographs (there was a camera snapping every move I made during the entire meeting), and lots of flattery between the officials. Afterwards, we all went to one of the fanciest restaurants I've been to in Guiyang for a banquet. As with all banquets, we sat at a round table (and I, still confused about the seating arrangements, almost sat in the head official's chair AGAIN; the same official as last time I did that!!) there was lots of toasting, lots of exotic meats, and a great deal more flattering of any official of higher rank. I figured, since I'm the one doing the majority of (free) work in this guanxi deal, that people would at least give me a bit of thanks. Instead, I was told by one of the officials in my school that I should toast and give thanks to (individually) every person representing the middle school. With a bit of hesitation, I did do so, saying little more than their name followed by "thank you" "nice to work with you", a bit annoyed by the whole deal and leaving them to assume my Chinese was limited to not be able to say much else. No one toasted me (maybe it was because I almost sat in that guy's seat again...?). I know it's probably a bit immature of me to be annoyed by this, but in Chinese culture you always toast someone who has toasted you (toasting is a really big deal), and, as a foreigner, people are usually very eager to make me feel welcome. I know I'm less important than government officials, but most other officials I've met in the past act more humble and welcoming, in spite of their high status. And in this operation, I'm doing a pretty big favor here, so it would have been nice just to hear a "thank you" or get a smile/eye contact every now and then. On the upside, however, I did overhear them talk about (amongst other things, my foot/fall being a primary topic of choice) taking me on a trip to another city in Guizhou with the middle school students. That may be entertaining. :)
Let's see… other things to report. Ummm I am now helping my dean hire foreign teachers for next school year, so I've been recruiting (with a few potential success stories) pretty vigorously (anyone reading this want to come teach English with me? maybe not the best blog to ask that in...). I was also asked to be in a TV program promoting tourism in Guizhou. I'm not sure when that will happen, but it sounds exciting; it will be, as far as I understand, on a national channel so it'll air on TVs all over China. Today, I was asked by Peace Corps to help train our upcoming volunteers in understanding cultural differences between Americans and Chinese during the summer, and next weekend is May Holiday (International Labor Day) so we should have a three day weekend, if the Hep A doesn't get in the way, and that means I'll have time to take a little trip! Definitely looking forward to some things! Tonight I have my weekly party with Marilyn, Frank and Miah (once p/week we've been having a dessert and movie party after 10:30, in order to combat the frustration of being locked in the building at 10:30). All in all, it was a miserable few weeks, but things are returning to normal and I'm in the process of reclaiming the ability to honestly again say "yes! I AM happy here!" :)
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