I was leaving work on Tuesday afternoon after my Chinese lesson. As usual, a group of teachers walked to the end of long road that leads to the entrance of our school. At the road is where we depart for our separate ways – my roommate and I walk home, a couple teachers grab a taxi, but the majority jump on the metro located directly outside the zoo and our school – Line 10. However, for some reason, the metro was closed. Now it doesn’t happen all the time, but it is not unusual for a station to close temporarily or a line to close for maintenance. I didn’t think much of it, except for the fact that it sucked because I was planning on taking that line out to the French Concession for dinner that night. We began our walk home while a couple other teachers gripped about having to spend more money on a taxi because they couldn’t take the metro. Shortly thereafter, a Chinese assistant teacher from our school informed me that the line was not closed for maintenance, but because two metro trains collided and many people were hurt.
My heart sank, and I immediately thought to myself, I can’t tell my mother. The one thing she always told me was not to ride the metro. Of course her worst nightmare had come true, and right in my backyard. Almost the entire metro system was shut down for quite some time as they pulled hundreds of people from the wreckage, and began to sort out the issues which caused the crash. I went straight home and began a little bit of research about the crash!
Come to find out, this was not the first crash, and unfortunately, it will probably not be the last. Of course there are always issues with new technology and whatnot, but the entire Chinese metro system is somewhat of a controversial subject around here. Not only are the metro lines in Shanghai fairly new, but people believe that the government is trying to develop the system too rapidly and they are cutting vital corners. Officials say that the accident was caused by a signal failure on the operating system during peak travel times causing one metro to glide right into the path of another.
Although the Shanghai metro systems carry nearly 5 million people daily, many people express distrust in the government and the system for a lack of concern for safety, and many refuse to use the metro system.
I can’t say that I have not been shaken up by this a bit. I mean, not only do I use the metro on a very regular basis, but I ride line ten specifically nearly every other day. The metro system is quick and easy, not to mention extremely inexpensive. Where I live is rather far outside of the city. A taxi ride into the city would cost at least 50 Yuan during the day and 100 Yuan at night, while a metro ride to and from is around 6 Yuan.
Anyway, I was hesitant, but that weekend, I just had to ride the metro. I was meeting some friends out in Yu Yuan for dinner, and I was not about to pay 60 Yuan for a taxi ride by myself, so I bit the bullet and jumped on the metro alone. All of the sudden, just as we approached the same sight of the crash less than a week before, the train comes to a stop in the middle of a tunnel. A man’s voice comes over the speaker to make an announcement, but of course only in Chinese. I look around me at the faces to read their expressions, but no one even flinches. There must not be a problem – yet! I waited, and waited, and waited. The same voice makes the same announcement over and over and all I get from it is “…wait a moment…”. We waited in the dark tunnel for nearly 15 minutes (which felt like an eternity) for whatever reason before we began moving again. I believe that I prayed the entire 15 minutes.
Clearly, I am not going to stop taking the metro. I understand that things happen, but believe me, I am much safer in the metro than in a taxi, and the odds of a car accident are much greater than a metro accident (especially with the way people drive here).
I know, I know, I haven’t blogged in a while… I guess it is different this time! When I first got here, everything was so new and different and exciting that I couldn’t wait to go home and call someone or blog just to share my experience. This time around, it is no longer exciting. It is my life… routine… the norm. It is still kind of strange to think that this is my life. Sometimes I look around me and think, “I can’t believe that I live in Shanghai... I can’t believe that I have been here for 8 months already… what was I thinking?” Don’t get me wrong, I am still thankful for this opportunity and I am still enjoying myself, but the honeymoon is long over… now this is just reality. Anyway, since so many people have shown an interest in my blog, I will at least fill you in on what has been going on in the last month…
School has been keeping me pretty busy, but in a good way at least. Although Rainbow Bridge is at least 1000993u402934 times better than Morgan Rothschild Academy, there is still a lot that I am learning and still a lot that I am confused about. It is kind of complicated, but I will explain a little bit (not that you really care, but then again, you are the one choosing to read my blog). The program that my school uses is called PYP (Primary Years Program) and it is an internationally recognized educational curriculum based on ‘Units of Inquiry’. The idea is that teachers plan out big ideas and concepts but the students guide the learning. While the idea of it is fantastic, it is extremely complex! It is very specific with the way teachers plan, the formats of their lessons, the display boards on the walls, and the way that children are assessed.
PYP doesn’t begin until Preschool (age three), but because my children are Pre-Preschool (age two), we are still expected to plan and teach in a PYP ‘Units of Inquiry’ kind of way. The kicker is that because I am not technically a PYP teacher, the school is not paying to have me PYP trained and certified (even though I want to be). In conclusion, I am really kind of lost in regards to the whole PYP thing… I mean really, it is tricky. Our first day of orientation, they told us PYP is difficult to learn and even more difficult to follow through, and it usually takes teachers at least a year to get the hang of it and feel comfortable. I guess I just don’t understand how they expect me to teach in a way that is so difficult without the proper training. Sorry, I am beginning to rant now…
Anyway, the school is pretty great so far (aside from the PYP thing). The people are mostly awesome and we get along well. The school is much larger than MRA, and it actually runs like a legit school. I mean there is paperwork, a classroom budget, a handbook with real procedures and policies, and even an HR office! You may think that those are just standard things in any school, but after working for 6 months in a school teacher’s hell, even two steps up would fell like heaven!
Oh did I mention that my classroom has cockroaches and a mouse. Apparently the school has had a rat/mouse problem since they built a metro line running right underneath the school, and as for the cockroaches… well they tell me it is one of the ‘perks’ of working at the zoo! Awesome! I have to bomb my classroom every night before I leave to kill all of the spiders, bugs and cockroaches. In the morning, I have to have Ayi come in and collect all of the dead cockroaches that are belly up on my carpet area! I am also constantly bleaching my room because of all the gifts the dang mouse leaves all over. At least I never see the mouse though. I would probably jump into the rafters of the classroom, like I did the first day I found a live cockroach running around in the toys I was putting away! Eeeeek!
Well anyway, on to the best part of my day… my kids! They are pretty fantastic! I have a class of 14 (soon to be 16) international two year olds. Here is the line up – Ava is from Singapore but speaks English. Alison is Chinese (with an American passport) and speaks Chinese. Aurora is from Norway and speaks Norwegian. Catie is half Korean and Half Dutch and speaks Chinese, English and Korean. Clement is French and speaks French. Yi Ting (English name Dian Dian) is from Taiwan and speaks Chinese. Ella is from Sweden and speaks Swedish and a little Chinese. Greg is French and speaks French and Chinese. Morgan is Taiwanese and speaks English and Chinese. Yue (English name Queena) is from Hong Kong and speaks Chinese and English. YiLin is half Chinese and half French and speaks Chinese and French. SeoBeen is Korean and speaks Koreans. Beliz is half German and half Turkish and speaks only Turkish. Warren is half Taiwanese and half Korean (with an American passport) and speaks Chinese and Koreans and Scott is half English and half Korean and speaks English and Chinese.
Now if you were paying attention… that is 14 children, 9 different nationalities/countries and 7 different languages! Of my 14 children, I can only carry on a conversation with three of them – Scott, Morgan and Ava – about two others at least understand a little bit of what I am talking about (enough to follow basic instructions) and the rest, I might as well be yelling to an astronaut in space!
On the Brightside, I am learning new languages! Every time a new kid is dropped off in my class, I get a list of survival words in their native language. I can now say, “No”, “Stop”, “Sit down”, “Line up”, “Eat” and “Bathroom” in about 7 languages! Sometimes I get really frustrated. I will give a simple direction like don’t put play-dough in your mouth and the kids all look at me like I am an alien! Not only do I have to be extra patient with them because they are two years old, but I have to be patient and animated so that my ESL children somewhat understand what I am talking about. At least they are starting to get our daily routine down. They know when it is time to line up and clean up and eat lunch and play and whatnot…. It is everything else that we are working on… sharing, no hitting, kicking or biting, safety with materials, etc.
Now do you see why I am so busy? I am at school at least until 5:00 everyday sending out emails to parents (for daily communication) doing lesson plans, prep work and whatnot. Then Christina and I usually walk home if it is not too hot. The weather has been cooling down a bit, so I actually enjoy walking home. It is about 3 kilometers, but it is relaxing and gives me a little time to unwind and chill out from the long day. We usually like to grab some street food on the way home for a snack. Christina is still a little cautious with her street food, but I am much more adventurous these days – still no meat, but I like the bread, flour, egg and veggie stuff. Then in the evenings, Christina and I usually make dinner together! It is fabulous having a roommate that actually loves to cook as much as I do and she has been teaching me a couple new things. Now that we actually have cooking supplies, dishes and silverware, our dining experience is much more enjoyable.
We are pretty romantic… we cook together, sit down and have our meal together, and even drink our Gatorade and coke out of wine glasses (we are classy, I know). Then after dinner, we clean up, do some dishes and pack out lunches for the next day with our leftovers. We get along really well (very pleasing). We can have a really great time together, but we also do separate things a lot too. We have mutual friends and separate friends, and it just works. It is actually kind of funny because people never realize that we are roommates, and people always assume that we don’t get along because we are not together 24 hours… but really, that is why I think it works so well!
Let’s see, what else is new… I have an Ayi, or a housekeeper and she is FABULOUS! We had one before when we first moved in but she was pretty awful and she didn’t show up several days so we had to fire her and get a new one. This new one is great though. She comes twice a week for four hours while we are at work, so we come home to a nice and clean apartment J She does our floors, bathrooms, makes our beds, washes the dishes, does our laundry, etc. Let me tell you about how spoiled I am… yesterday Ayi came and cleaned the apartment. I came home to a spotless apartment (which just makes my night) however, I am crazy anal about my clothes and my closet! All of my clothes need to be folded in a certain way, and everything needs to be hung up in a specific way – all facing the same direction, organized by sleeve length; short to long, separated into shirts, dresses and pants. Now anyone that opens my closet door would clearly see the anal retentiveness, but apparently Ayi did not, so all of my stuff was randomly put away backwards and out of place, and all of my clothes needed to be refolded to my liking. I began to complain about having to redo it before I had to smack myself and say, “How I am complaining that my AYI did not put away my laundry to my standards!” lol
Well anyway, so I think that is about it for now. I will have to post soon about the hiking trip I took a couple weeks ago and share my experience in Hongzhou! But for now, zaijian!
