It’s been a while since my last entry. Since September, there have been two Chinese holidays (Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day), two western holidays (Labor Day and Halloween), a Parents Day, Chinese teacher speech competitions, and midterms. I’ll start with the updates before moving on to the classic student “oopsies.”

I’ll start with a big improvement that has been plaguing us here at this school for over 1.5 years. When we ordered packages for the school, they would be stored in the security guard room at the main gate. When the security guards decided they no longer wanted people’s packages to clutter up their guard room, the school decided to put up the tent behind the guard room with two shelves. This seemed to be OK for a while, but there was the issue of people’s packages getting opened up or stolen before we could come down to get them. Eventually, the school recommended that we respond to the couriers ASAP to try to prevent this. However, it’s not always possible to go down immediately when the courier arrives, and whoever was thieving from us knew this. I suspect that the thefts probably happened at night when it was easier to go under the cover of darkness, even though there is a camera showing the tent. It’s also possible that some people’s things were taken before they arrived at the school and that the courier either didn’t notice when delivering them or just didn’t care. Then there was the issue of the elements breaking down the tent. Eventually, it turned into the mess you see below.

A few people proposed the idea of allowing people to order things to their off-campus apartment or mentioning that some businesses not too far away would allow people to order their packages to be sent there and held for a small fee. Some people expressed a willingness to do this, but this didn’t pan out as an effective method. Finally, the school wised up and installed a “Hive Box” storage locker unit. After it was installed, I realized that I had seen these in a few other places around Guangzhou. It turned out to be an effective method (although if anyone orders packages that are bigger than the locker can hold, then they will be placed next to the lockers). They are also electronically operated. The courier sends you a text message with a code to enter, and this will open the locker that was used to store the package. It also has a QR code that you can scan, so you can follow the Hive Box account and open the locker by scanning the QR code with your phone.

The only problem that occurred (briefly) was when students started to pile up their bikes in front of the storage lockers. Now there is a sign (in Chinese) stating “Bikes cannot be placed in front of the lockers,” so now this is not a problem. Phew! Finally, one problem was solved.

In September, there was also a Parents Day. Parents would come to visit in the afternoon, and the students would perform something for their parents in class. The homeroom teachers would also go over important highlights and discuss the students academic and behavioral achievements. During the last period, the students and their parents went to the gym to play games. Here is a video I took of their performance.

The Chinese are quite sentimental, and I could see a number of mothers crying tears of joy and affection. We in the west most likely wouldn’t be this “sappy” about something like this, but that is just one of the many differences between the Chinese and westerners.

Something else that was changed or updated was the teacher photo board with both the local and western teachers. On everyone’s photo is their name and a quote from them. This was put together two years ago, and since then, many of those teachers have left. While looking at the new board, some teachers noticed some interesting and funny mistakes. After reading some of these errors, one begins to wonder if there wasn’t some kind of planned sabatoge by the people who put it together.

(left): Better than what?! I know the suspense is killing me. The full quote should be “Great questions are better than easy answers.” I’m glad I could bring closure to you all.

(center): Teaching children to love…learing? I hope they meant learning.

(right): What more can I say? This was the teachers’ favorite “oopsie” of all.

Speaking of oopsies, here are some more of our students mistakes during dictation and creative writing.

Uh oh, I can sense the anarchy building!

Very cute; we definitely learned more than just letters and words. Apparently, it’s not just adults who don’t like to take surveys.

For Halloween, the school put together an afternoon activity. This activity really had nothing to do with Halloween and instead involved the students bringing in candies and toys to sell to their peers (that is a big thing here). The only thing Halloween related to this activity was that they did it wearing costumes. I believe they also do it during Christmas time, too. However, never one to let an opportunity go by to indulge in classic Halloween behavior, I dressed up in the “scariest” thing I could find from the website “Baopals.” It proved effective, too. While walking around and trying not to trip over myself, I could see through my sweat-inducing costume the number of kids who stopped to stare at me or just ran away in terror.

While browsing for costumes, I came across a funny ad. It’s true what they say about pretty much everything in China being a knock-off. I just didn’t expect them to try to knock off this…

Later in November, while invigilating for the English part of the midterms, I noticed this on the wall in the classroom. The spelling may be off and the “Stretch Armstrong” legs are not quite to scale, but the sentiment is right (and sort of cute).

Something else I only recently noticed in our own classroom was the sticker that was in one student’s cupboard left from the previous class. I have no idea what my student thinks of this or if she even understands it. I assume (and hope) not.

I’ve seen a number of kids (boys) who point the middle finger at each other, even the young kids. They know that in the west, this is a way to tell someone off. Kids here (and their parents) really are clueless as to what is appropriate and what isn’t.

On the other hand, when you encounter something super cute, you must take the opportunity to appreciate it.

Each month, we also decide on who is a “reading star.” That person will get their picture taken and receive a certificate in front of their peers. The reading star from our class for October is Annabelle. Normally this high-level student is a cheery little thing, but for some reason that didn’t show in her reading star photo.

That is all for now. As always, if something interesting and relevant happens, then I’ll let you know about it. I will leave you with this footage to help motivate you whenever you feel you need some more pep in your step.