Hamlet

What a phenomenal night!

For those of you remember my first semester here, you might recall that things at Guiyang University were such a challenge for me.  As the only Peace Corps Volunteer here, in a pretty isolated community, I constantly struggled to develop relationships with students/colleagues outside of class and met resistance at every angle, as many colleagues/students were afraid that, if they befriended me, they may get into trouble as the department was worried about motives and safety. 

Tonight –during my last week of classes at Guiyang University—a great honor was bestowed upon me. I have become so accustomed to life here that I often forget what that first semester was like and take for granted the blessings that have taken place here since that first, rough semester. When I had the idea to take students to Dave's students' performance of Hamlet (mentioned in previous blog), it didn't even cross my mind that the school might not approve.

Last week, when I asked permission to get a car and to get approval for students to return to their dormitories late (their dorms close at 10:30 and the performance, an hour and a half away, wasn't scheduled to end until 9:00 pm), I was really disappointed when they said no.  Then, of all the blessings in the world, yesterday afternoon the department called and said that they were able to get approval after all, they were giving us a car, and students would be trusted to my care. My colleague (who called) then confided to me how amazed he was at this approval: apparently teachers at our school almost never get to take students outside of campus on outings that the school didn't plan (because of students' safety), let alone allow a foreign teacher.  I am the first foreign teacher they have ever given this kind of approval to, and one of the first teachers in the entire university.  My colleague then said that he was fairly certain they would assign an additional (Chinese) chaperone to accompany us for additional safety of the students.  But they didn't! Instead they completely trusted me, allowed me to accompany 8 of my students on a road trip to Guizhou University, where the car dropped us off on our own. 

And it was such a remarkable experience! Guizhou University (GuiDa) is the best school and the only "key university" (one of 211 "best" schools in the country) in Guizhou province.  It's located a little over an hour away from our campus, and it was many of my 8 students' first time going there.  When we arrived, we walked around together and explored the school grounds, then joined a few other Peace Corps Volunteers (my students' first time being with foreigners that weren't their teachers) for dinner. It was great getting to chat with the students, as it was my first time spending time outside of class with a few of them so I really got to know them better.

The performance of Hamlet was, without exaggeration, absolutely phenomenal.  It was incredibly professional, the acting was superb (better than the acting of many native English speakers I've seen), and Dave, who had never before directed a show (and had little drama experience himself) did an outstanding (OUTSTANDING!) job directing and blocking the performance.  Before attending, I was worried that my students would be bored or not understand the show, but they were completely at the edge of their seats (literally… a few of them recorded the show on their cell phones) for the entire 2 hour production.  When it ran 30 minutes behind schedule, I was worried that they would be anxious to get home (they had an exam scheduled for 8am the next morning) or want to leave early.  On the contrary, they were enthralled even throughout the entire role call.  Afterwards, leaving, they all gushed praise and admiration and talked about how impressed and moved they were during the entire car ride home.  One of my boys, Carter, who doesn't takes school very seriously and I've never seen be sincere about anything (I love him and think he's great) turned to me in the car and, the most serious I've ever seen him, said "thank you FeiFei, this really moved me. No other teacher would have done this for us. I was really impressed." and then spent most of the car ride staring out the window, deep in thought.  When he and all the other students were safely back in their dorms, he sent me a text message: "I am carter. Thank you. I learned so much from the performance. I think english is an important thing for me. i waste two years. but now I want to study hard. thanks a lot! good night!"

What a special experience! I am so, so, SO grateful for Guiyang University and the Foreign Affairs Office here to give us this kind of unique approval.  After what felt like such a rocky entrance to this school, this was such a fantastic way to go out (in my final week of classes!).  Hopefully, in years to come, other foreign teachers (and teachers in general) will be allowed to do similar activities. :)  Ahhhh how I will miss this place!

What a phenomenal night!

For those of you remember my first semester here, you might recall that things at Guiyang University were such a challenge for me.  As the only Peace Corps Volunteer here, in a pretty isolated community, I constantly struggled to develop relationships with students/colleagues outside of class and met resistance at every angle, as many colleagues/students were afraid that, if they befriended me, they may get into trouble as the department was worried about motives and safety. 

Tonight –during my last week of classes at Guiyang University—a great honor was bestowed upon me. I have become so accustomed to life here that I often forget what that first semester was like and take for granted the blessings that have taken place here since that first, rough semester. When I had the idea to take students to Dave's students' performance of Hamlet (mentioned in previous blog), it didn't even cross my mind that the school might not approve.

Last week, when I asked permission to get a car and to get approval for students to return to their dormitories late (their dorms close at 10:30 and the performance, an hour and a half away, wasn't scheduled to end until 9:00 pm), I was really disappointed when they said no.  Then, of all the blessings in the world, yesterday afternoon the department called and said that they were able to get approval after all, they were giving us a car, and students would be trusted to my care. My colleague (who called) then confided to me how amazed he was at this approval: apparently teachers at our school almost never get to take students outside of campus on outings that the school didn't plan (because of students' safety), let alone allow a foreign teacher.  I am the first foreign teacher they have ever given this kind of approval to, and one of the first teachers in the entire university.  My colleague then said that he was fairly certain they would assign an additional (Chinese) chaperone to accompany us for additional safety of the students.  But they didn't! Instead they completely trusted me, allowed me to accompany 8 of my students on a road trip to Guizhou University, where the car dropped us off on our own. 

And it was such a remarkable experience! Guizhou University (GuiDa) is the best school and the only "key university" (one of 211 "best" schools in the country) in Guizhou province.  It's located a little over an hour away from our campus, and it was many of my 8 students' first time going there.  When we arrived, we walked around together and explored the school grounds, then joined a few other Peace Corps Volunteers (my students' first time being with foreigners that weren't their teachers) for dinner. It was great getting to chat with the students, as it was my first time spending time outside of class with a few of them so I really got to know them better.

The performance of Hamlet was, without exaggeration, absolutely phenomenal.  It was incredibly professional, the acting was superb (better than the acting of many native English speakers I've seen), and Dave, who had never before directed a show (and had little drama experience himself) did an outstanding (OUTSTANDING!) job directing and blocking the performance.  Before attending, I was worried that my students would be bored or not understand the show, but they were completely at the edge of their seats (literally… a few of them recorded the show on their cell phones) for the entire 2 hour production.  When it ran 30 minutes behind schedule, I was worried that they would be anxious to get home (they had an exam scheduled for 8am the next morning) or want to leave early.  On the contrary, they were enthralled even throughout the entire role call.  Afterwards, leaving, they all gushed praise and admiration and talked about how impressed and moved they were during the entire car ride home.  One of my boys, Carter, who doesn't takes school very seriously and I've never seen be sincere about anything (I love him and think he's great) turned to me in the car and, the most serious I've ever seen him, said "thank you FeiFei, this really moved me. No other teacher would have done this for us. I was really impressed." and then spent most of the car ride staring out the window, deep in thought.  When he and all the other students were safely back in their dorms, he sent me a text message: "I am carter. Thank you. I learned so much from the performance. I think english is an important thing for me. i waste two years. but now I want to study hard. thanks a lot! good night!"

What a special experience! I am so, so, SO grateful for Guiyang University and the Foreign Affairs Office here to give us this kind of unique approval.  After what felt like such a rocky entrance to this school, this was such a fantastic way to go out (in my final week of classes!).  Hopefully, in years to come, other foreign teachers (and teachers in general) will be allowed to do similar activities. :)  Ohhh how I will miss this place!