AYC Program Review #2: A year in Nanjing

It took me a long time to realize what a stroke of luck it was to be placed in Nanjing. Being placed with 13 other AYCers,  in a large city, with sizable expat population, was key. The strong community I formed here helped me celebrate the good times and weather the bad. That’s not to say there weren’t moments of homesickness and depression, but half price burgers and drinks cures a lot of ills. I came to China to experience something different and for me, different has been the operative word during my time here. Some differences are really cool, all fireworks are cheap and legal, others are more troublesome, your passport is required to book train tickets, but nothing works quite like you think it should. I encourage those who are looking for some excitement to give China a try. I don’t think China is part my professional future but I do speak mandarin better than my friends back home. Your time in China will be hard, but I think the experience is worth the difficulty. How many other chances will you have to drop everything and live halfway across the world for 9 months?

- Andrew Paulson, Nanjing

Contest Winners!

Congratulations to the AYC Photo-Essay and Video competition winners! We will be showcasing all of the submissions for the contest over the next few weeks, so be sure to check-in here to see what it’s like living in China with AYC! You can view all entries here: on.fb.me/1kesX7P

Photo-Essay Contest

The Winners of the 2013-2014 AYC Photo-Essay Contest:
 First Place Winner: Andrew Ebanks (picture on left)
Second Place Winners: Isaak Tarek, Lindsey Pointer, and Arielle Strafford
Third Place Winner: Brecken Byron, Jessica Gourdet, Jaline King, William O'Brian and Linda Wang

Video Contest Winners

The winners of the 2013-2014 AYC Video Contest:
First Place Winner: Michael Peterson (picture on right)
Second Place Winners: Mackey Landy, Richelle Gamlam, and Kirsten Ourada 
Third Place Winners: Victoria Evans, Evan Deal McDaniels, Ilyse Liffreing, Daniel Ward, and Rachel Smith  

Teacher Tuesday: Double Coverage Jaline King and Jennifer Cox

Jaline and Jen both studied Chinese in college, and both women had spent a few months in China before joining AYC. Jaline is particularly attracted to Chinese as part of her heritage: her mother is Chinese, although as a fourth-generation American, she can no longer speak the language. Both women knew before they arrived that they would remain in the country another year or two.
When they were placed in Hefei Number One High School, the school did not quite take them seriously. Rather than giving Jaline and Jen classes to teach, the school gave them small groups of students to practice conversational English with in the hallway. But the two quickly proved themselves, bringing quiet students out of their shells and pushing confident students further. “We made it clear they couldn’t just give one-word answers, they had to expand their thoughts in English,” Jaline says. “If they didn’t want to talk, we’d ask them, What do you think?” Noticing that the students’ written English skills lagged far behind their spoken ability, the women set up a writing lab for the kids, both to go over basic English writing skills and to edit college essays. “We’re so happy our school supports our ideas, since we know that’s not always the case in China,” Jen says.
 Next year, the women think they may stay on at Hefei Number One, where they have made so many connections and so much progress. Although life hasn't always been easy – the women mentioned flushing their toilet with chopsticks – they have carved out a niche for themselves at their school.

Take a look inside a classroom lesson by one of our acy teachers

lindsey413:

vwconversion:

Lindsey doing another song with her class.  She was teaching them the words for mountain, grass, flower, river, etc. - in anticipation of Earth day - and made up new words to a song she knows to go along with it.  Here’s part of it.  They loved it!  :)

Making a good old song ESL friendly!

“I love the mountains

I love the river blue

I love the tall trees

The sky over me and you

Boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da!

I love the sunshine

I love the moon too

I love the flowers

The grass under me and you

Boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da boom-dee-a-da boom-de-a-da!”

Great anecdote from AYC'er Lindsey Pointer in the classroom! Check it out!

Fact Friday: The Importance of the Mountain Village in China

Most Americans, even ones that have never been to China, know the prevalence of counterfeit goods（known in Chinese as 山寨产品 or “mountain village products”) on the Chinese market. Those of us that have been here have seen it on a daily basis: phone buyers have to beware of accidentally buying a Nokir, Samsing, or Suny-Ericcsun phone, sports apparel stores are full up with Naike, Hike, Like, and Nilce products. Even Chinese brands aren’t safe: try telling the difference between identically designed products from 康师傅 and 康帅傅 or 脉动 and 脉劫. The word mountain village was originally appropriated to express the concept of knock-off goods because it conjures up images of poverty, small-scale production, and geography that makes imposing the rule of law difficult. It was first used in this way in the 1970s, primarily in Cantonese, but quickly permeating into Mandarin as the phenomenon spread. 
Intellectual Property issues have been a thorn in the side of western entrepreneurs for decades, but Chinese take a more nuanced view towards the counterfeit industry. In a country where copying has historically been seen as a way to learn from the masters, some people prefer to focus on the potential long-term benefits to the economy that can be attained by learning to make top end products. The sociologist Ai Jun has even argued that copycatting is a necessary stage in the development of a market economy. Others see it as a hotbed for innovation: the periodical New Weekly wrote “grassroots, adaptable, open, innovative and low-cost, anti-authoritarian, anti-monopolist, anti-mainstream — these are the hallmarks of the mountain village economy.” Perhaps above all, it is egalitarian — making modern conveniences and luxuries available to a far wider audience while creating economic opportunities for people otherwise excluded from the system. Whether or not this view is correct will be put to the test in the next decade as China continues its efforts to transition to making higher quality consumer goods. Until then, stay alert to avoid accidentally buying an aPad the next time you’re in the electronics market.

Teacher Tuesday (double cover): Instant Friends

                                                                       AYCers Ashley & Nika 

Under different circumstances, Ashley and Nika aren’t sure if they would have been so close. Ashley is extroverted and adventurous, while Nika is more cautious and thoughtful. But in fact they are a perfect pair, exploring all Ningbo has to offer. They board buses with no destination in mind and wind up all over the city. Together they have developed a “Ningbo bucket list,” which includes such items as attending a soccer game, picking fruit, and cheering at a Chinese basketball game. (They completed the last one quite easily – one of Nika’s friends from home plays for a Chinese team.)

Ashley and Nika teach at the Haishu Foreign Language School in Ningbo. Haishu was only built three years ago and the campus feels like the set of a CW drama, with beachy colors and lots of flowers even in winter. Since the girls work together, they often sit in on each other’s classes and give each other tips, or make lesson plans together. On Fridays, when Ashley’s classes are particularly rowdy, Nika watches and lends moral support. “It was one thing for me to tell her about it,” Ashley says, “but it was completely different for her to see it. I felt supported.”

All in all, though, the two feel comfortable at Haishu. Between the appreciation they get from the school and their strong friendship, Ashley and Nika are growing roots in Ningbo.

Fact Friday: The Four Classic Novels

There are four novels in Chinese literary history seen as so excellent they deserve their own category: the 四大名著. In chronological order these are 水浒传 (Water Margin or Bandits of the Marsh, Ming, 14th Century), 三国演义 (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ming, 14th Century), 西游记 (Journey to the West, Ming, 16th Century) and 红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber, Qing, 18th Century). Each one offers a window into a different aspect of Chinese society. Water Margin deals with political ethics and the margins of state power, with people on the periphery of the Song state gathering in difficult terrain where state power is hardest to enforce (a common theme in Chinese history), then resisting and overcoming the state before eventually switching sides to help the state ward off the invasions of neighboring dynastic forces and fight rebels. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes a tumultuous period in Chinese history after the dissolution of the Han Dynasty and includes some of its most well known characters: Zhu-Ge Liang, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Guan Yu among many others. For those wishing to understand what “cunning” means to the Chinese, the Romance should be the first choice along with Sunzi's Art of War (孙子兵法). Journey to the West describes the pilgrimage of a Tang Dynasty monk to India to bring classical Buddhist texts to China. The monk is accompanied by the Monkey King Sun Wukong (shout-out to our Lianyungang AYCers!), half-man half-pig Zhu Bajie, and the monstrously ugly Sha Wujing. This a must-read for those interested in the impact of Buddhism on Chinese society, and the 80’s TV series made from this novel is one of China’s most entertaining and most accessible series.The Dream of the Red Chamber details the complexities and subtleties of Chinese emotional life. The story, which involves a staggering cast of nearly 40 main characters and over 500 supporting characters, describes the decline of an aristocratic family. If your Chinese reading skills aren’t quite up to snuff, these novels are all available in translation. 

Fact Friday: Learn About the Lunar Calendar

Though China has officially followed the Gregorian calendar since the rise of the Republic of China in 1912, many of the most important festivals (including Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Qingming Festival, etc.) in the Chinese calendar are observed according to the lunar calendar, known as 农历 in Chinese. To this day, crops are planted by the lunar calendar in most places, and some Chinese people prefer to observe their birthdays according to the lunar calendar (you can calculate your lunar birthday here if you so desire).

The lunar year is made up of 12 months of 29 or 30 days, with extra “leap” months (闰月) added to about seven of every 19 years to keep it in time with the astronomical calendar. The earliest known written records of observation of the lunar calendar date back nearly 4,000 years to Shang Dynasty oracle bone carvings. Given its age, it is unsurprising that the system of marking time will contain a lot of 汉子  (hanzi, characters) you’ve never seen before, including the rarely-seen single character word for 20: 廿. If obscure characters are your thing, try checking out the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.

Lastly, many of you may have heard that in China this year is 4711, a system which takes the reign of the mythical first emperor of China as its year 1. While some communities of overseas Chinese use this calendar year, none of the mainlanders surveyed in our unscientific poll had ever heard of this.

Happiness of Spring in Yichang, China

lindsey413:

Spring has come to Yichang! We were blessed with two beautiful sunny weekends in a row, during which I was able to fit in three great hiking excursions to a few cool new places around Yichang (including Wenfo Shan- a sacred Buddhist mountain with a temple on top) and a trip out to the countryside with a few of my third grade students, Kay Kay, and Salina to see the beautiful Oriental Cherry trees in bloom. My classes the last two weeks have consisted of various excuses to take the kids outside for some time running in the sun, and mandatory classroom dance parties. To top it all off, my mom sent me the most amazing care package full of all sorts of vegetarian-surviving-in-China-goodies and I’ve been eating like a granola chick queen. So things have been pretty dang good! 

The spring has always been my favorite season. In part definitely because of my birthday, but there is also something about things warming up, coming alive again, that awakens me. Winter was difficult here between the inescapable cold outside and inside and barely ever seeing the sun through the smog and fog. For a girl raised on 365 days of Colorado sunshine, it just wasn’t easy. But at last, the sun has returned! 

Sun worship makes a lot of sense to me. Of course there is the joy when it rises each morning, and the woeful longing of “please don’t go!” when each evening I watch it disappear behind the hills, leaving traces of light strewn across the Yangtze river. Then there’s the vitamin D factor and whatever happy chemicals are released in your brain as that sunshine soaks into your skin. But there is also something else about it, something about being in sunshine evokes a sort of liminal space for me. The penetration of the sun’s beams melts illusive boundaries of my skin and I catch a glimpse of that ultimate unity with the universe. Suddenly it is all too clear that I can just be. And better yet, I can just be happy, I don’t have to wait for anything to make me feel happiness, because it is just a choice I am making. “If you want to be happy,….” becomes “If you want to, be happy.” 

As always, John Denver says it best. Sunshine almost always makes me high! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybeke7_d1zE

And here’s a song called Happy that I played during first and second grade dance parties last week! Great video too!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

Check out participant Lindsey Pointer’s post about the happiness of Spring in Yichang, China!

Teacher Tuesday: Meet Kiana Jackson

Kiana Jackson is an AYC teacher from Kennesaw, Georgia, who like all of us, has taken the leap from the US to China to teach. Placed at the England International Foreign Language School in Jaimusi in the Heilongjiang province, she is teaching English to multiple ages, specifically kindergarten and 9 -11 year-olds. Unlike many of us, she and her coworker Jonathon are the only foreign teachers in the town. On top of that, the school that she works at is up-and-coming, meaning that they just recently moved into their newly renovated school and are working to enroll more students. So though at the moment her classes are small and intimate, she faces the possible challenge of having to readjust to a bigger class size. The biggest hurtles for Kiana have been the cold weather, the language barrier, the lack of mac and cheese. Despite these obstacles, her positivity shines through as she maintains an enthusiasm about her new environment and the personal growth this experience will generate. Read more about Kiana’s story and steadfastness in getting to China here.

Fact Friday Holiday Edition: Ghost Festival

The Ghost Festival here in China is something of a long lost relative of the Western Worlds Halloween. What is shared is the idea that on certain days the human world and the spiritual world overlap, a belief which has deep roots in Chinese cultural history. Four holidays in the traditional calendar are known as 鬼节(gui3 jie2) or Ghost Festivals. Ghosts are “hungry” in Chinese culture so they will be offered food, alcohol or cigarettes as appeasement. During one festival in particular, Qingming Festival, Chinese take advantage of their proximity to the spirit world to send swag to their ancestors in the afterlife by burning paper offerings in the likeness of BMW’s, townhouses, iPads and of course fake hundred dollar bills. 

Teacher Tuesday: Meet the Barnes Family

Robert and Annemarie Barnes work at the Wuxi International School as Pre-K teachers. Along with teaching their students, meeting neighbors, and exploring Wuxi, they are also raising two children, Althea and Robert ages 4 and 2. Annmarie teaches a small class of 7 students all with varied language skills. “Since I work at an International School, I have students from Korea, Taiwan, America, and China.  They all have different language abilities, ranging from only English with no Chinese at all, to only Chinese with almost no English at all.” Still she says that she loves teaching in an international school and it is a profession that she could see herself in for a long time. Robert and Annemarie seem to be making Wuxi their own through biking adventures and taking their children to dance in the public square, as well as befriending their neighbors and enjoying homemade dumplings. Annemarie cites the language barrier as her greatest challenge, as well as her never ending struggle with WiFi. Despite the challenges, the entire family continues to power on and learn Chinese as well as they can. The children are learning in the Wuxi International School and Robert and Annemarie are learning as they go. The Barnes’ are truly a family immersing themselves in China and loving it.

Fact Friday: What to know about Chinese license plates!

There’s a lot you can tell about a car by its license plate. In general, the character represents the province where the car is registered, while the first letter represents the city of registration. Many abbreviations are straightforward, others represent historical toponyms (湘 for Hunan, 粤 for Guangdong, etc.). The provincial capital is always A, with the second largest city as B, and so on. A high proportion of cars with A 00 after their province character are black Audi A6s with tinted windows, the car of choice for high up officials.  License plates with red characters at the beginning denote cars belonging to the armed forces: WJ is for the military police, 空 is for the airforce, 海 is for the navy, and other characters represent specific army bases. Police cars have a red 警 after them.

The Chinese and the Americans aren’t so different: just like in the US, you can get vanity plates. Lucky numbers 8, 6, and 9 are popular, especially in strings. Some people also go the dirtbag route and get the number 250 on their plates, a Chinese insult implying lesser mental capabilities.

Priority applications close March 31st

Teach, travel, and change the lives of children in China! Spend a year abroad teaching English with the AYC program. Priority applications close March 31st, native mastery of English required. Click here to apply.

Be kind and vote in AYC's Video and Photo-Essay Contest

sillylaowai:

Please read Andrew Ebanks’s submission to this photo essay contest where he uses a fun acronym, “QLAPPp” to catalog his experience in China. Vote if you find it amusing! 

“The beauty of the QLAPPp is that it’s something that, once you learn it, it stays with you forever.”

Welcome to the first ever AYC program Video and Photo-Essay competition, open exclusively to AYC 2013-2014 participants. We are looking for videos and photo-essays that demonstrate what it feels like to uproot from a western life, and completely be emerged in a new culture and lifestyle. The video or photo-essay should demonstrate the story of coming to China as a foreigner or a teacher, and/ or something meaningful you have learned in your time in China. The video should be between 3-5 minutes, while the photo-essay should be between 500-1000 words with at least 5 photos. Prizes: The first place prize for both competitions is a free trip to Hong Kong, including free roundtrip airfare, 5 day hotel stay and a free ticket to Hong Kong Disney! There will be 3 second place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free trip to Yunnan including free round trip airfare, and a free 5 day hotel stay in Yunnan. There will be 5 third place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free 500 kuai high speed railway ticket. Prize packages include 3 star hotels, 2nd class train tickets, and economy class plane tickets. Please read the Terms and Conditions area to find out contest details and guidelines. Feel free to submit any questions that you may have about the contest to the official teachers AYC page, or email them to ayc.ni@ameson.org. Submissions are open until March 1st at midnight, and voting will open on March 3rd. Any entries submitted after that will not be entered into the competition. We can’t wait to start receiving your content! Good luck to everyone! Best, AYC 2013-2014 team

Be sure to check out Andrew Ebanks’ contest entry!

First Ever AYC Awards

The first ever AYC awards were given out last week and seven special participants were chosen for their teaching skills, unquenchable thirst for China knowledge, and ability to make American culture comprehensible for their students. Congratulations to these winners of the Outstanding Cultural Ambassador award for 2013-2014!

Samantha Coughran (Ningbo)
Gillian Chu (Shanghai)
Daniel Ward (Changzhou)
Ryan Cobb (Guangzhou)
Caitlin Evans (Wenzhou)
Stephaine Lawrence (Nanjing)
Brian Luckett (Guangzhou)
Rahul Rastogi (Shenzhen)
Trey McMillon (Yangzhou)
Noemi Melecia(Yuncheng)

PS - The awards were handed out at a major meeting with the FEB about next year’s AYC program. Due to the teaching success of this year’s AYC participants, several provinces across China have already committed to providing hundreds of hassle-free work visas for next year. Yay! Heilongjiang province alone asked us for 200! Yay again!! You can read more by clicking on the photo.

Dear America ...... I love China

blissfulkiss:

Dear America,

I can remember vividly the words my music teacher told me. Ms Ng, a Chinese American woman, one day in my fifth grade class said to me, “Jessica, do you want to be a teacher? I think I can see you becoming a teacher.” That memory came spiraling back hard as ever as I looked over…

Check out another entry from our photo-essay contest!

AYC's Video and Photo-Essay Contest

kmatikcinchina:

Welcome to the first ever AYC program Video and Photo-Essay competition, open exclusively to AYC 2013-2014 participants. We are looking for videos and photo-essays that demonstrate what it feels like to uproot from a western life, and completely be emerged in a new culture and lifestyle. The video or photo-essay should demonstrate the story of coming to China as a foreigner or a teacher, and/ or something meaningful you have learned in your time in China. The video should be between 3-5 minutes, while the photo-essay should be between 500-1000 words with at least 5 photos. Prizes: The first place prize for both competitions is a free trip to Hong Kong, including free roundtrip airfare, 5 day hotel stay and a free ticket to Hong Kong Disney! There will be 3 second place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free trip to Yunnan including free round trip airfare, and a free 5 day hotel stay in Yunnan. There will be 5 third place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free 500 kuai high speed railway ticket. Prize packages include 3 star hotels, 2nd class train tickets, and economy class plane tickets. Please read the Terms and Conditions area to find out contest details and guidelines. Feel free to submit any questions that you may have about the contest to the official teachers AYC page, or email them to ayc.ni@ameson.org. Submissions are open until March 1st at midnight, and voting will open on March 3rd. Any entries submitted after that will not be entered into the competition. We can’t wait to start receiving your content! Good luck to everyone! Best, AYC 2013-2014 team

VOTE FOR ME!!!! HELP ME, HELP ME!!!!!

AYC\'s Video and Photo-Essay Contest

lindsey413:

Welcome to the first ever AYC program Video and Photo-Essay competition, open exclusively to AYC 2013-2014 participants. We are looking for videos and photo-essays that demonstrate what it feels like to uproot from a western life, and completely be emerged in a new culture and lifestyle. The video or photo-essay should demonstrate the story of coming to China as a foreigner or a teacher, and/ or something meaningful you have learned in your time in China. The video should be between 3-5 minutes, while the photo-essay should be between 500-1000 words with at least 5 photos. Prizes: The first place prize for both competitions is a free trip to Hong Kong, including free roundtrip airfare, 5 day hotel stay and a free ticket to Hong Kong Disney! There will be 3 second place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free trip to Yunnan including free round trip airfare, and a free 5 day hotel stay in Yunnan. There will be 5 third place winners for both competitions, and the prize is a free 500 kuai high speed railway ticket. Prize packages include 3 star hotels, 2nd class train tickets, and economy class plane tickets. Please read the Terms and Conditions area to find out contest details and guidelines. Feel free to submit any questions that you may have about the contest to the official teachers AYC page, or email them to ayc.ni@ameson.org. Submissions are open until March 1st at midnight, and voting will open on March 3rd. Any entries submitted after that will not be entered into the competition. We can’t wait to start receiving your content! Good luck to everyone! Best, AYC 2013-2014 team

About a month ago, I wrote a photo essay comparing living in China to popping out of the womb (and it even rhymes!) for a competition through Ameson. If I get enough votes, I could win a trip to Yunnan, which would soothe my aching mountain girl heart. If you have a minute, please check it out and vote. Thank you!

Check out Lindsay’s post for the AYC photo-essay contest!

Tip #2 for China: Bus Crowding. Brought to you by Ashley

chinastrugglebus:

Let me tell you something about bus crowding in China…. it’s absolutely ridiculous. Now, I’ll start off by saying that Haishu, Ningbo is a lot smaller than larger metropolitan areas like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. And we do not have a subway station. So the bus is the way to go. Usually, I…

Tip #2 for living in China: forget everything that you know about personal space on the bus. This current AYC'er thoroughly explains the crowded bus epidemic during rush hour time. Ladies and Gentleman, this is an example of what the bus is like everyday during Rush Hour. Heed her words, and know sometimes you may have to nudge an old lady to get out.