Three months in and things here are going well. Teaching is a huge part of my daily life and Ive had some really funny lessons. I try to make my lessons as interactive and involved as possible, the students here work so hard and so late that I feel its nice to give them a bit of a break from their textbooks. Lessons start at 6 30am and go on until 9 30pm, and our student friends are always walking around with a stack of 12 heavy textbooks. When I compare the standard of living of these kids to western students at home, its almost hard for me to comprehend.
The best lesson Ive had so far was a music lesson I did where we listened to and discussed different types of music and instruments. The students got really involved (which doesnt always happen, however hard I try!) and even the class troublemakers joined in. My students have been trying to get me to dance and sing for them for the best part of the last 3 months, and I finally caved and did a little Irish dancing on the condition that they then did some dancing too. After a round of applause in one of my classes, three boys came to the front and danced an amazing Michael Jackson routine! The students here dont get much of a chance to learn to dance because most of their parents just like them to study, so its always cool to see talent like that. Turns out theyd learnt to dance from videos on the internet.
One of our closest friends here, a grade 3 student called Philip, is one of the lucky students whose parents dont mind him going to the local dancing class so long as it doesnt interrupt his study. Sometimes we go with him on a Saturday afternoon and join in the break dancing class. Its kind of cool the way in which you walk through the dusty, packed market with dead dogs hanging from shacks and various birds in cages, walk up some stairs along a narrow concrete corridor and arrive at this brightly lit dance studio with big sound system and mirrors for walls. The dancers are great too; the first time we went to the dance classroom we met the teacher, Michael, a National champion in popping. W e went out for hotpot with the dancers in a very odd restaurant covered in paper mache trees.
One week Jane and I found out we had a few days holiday which was a nice surprise. We decided to head down to Ning xian where two other volunteers live. As it is such a small town, its hasnt got a train station, so our only option was an 8 hour bus journey followed by a half our taxi to get there. The bus journey was eventful to say the least, firstly breaking down an hour in (all the men got off the bus and helped to fix the bus) and secondly when something smashed into the front window screen, cracking it, on the motorway.
It was interesting to see another Project and school, Ning xian is a much smaller town than Dingxi and you can see the effect this has on the people there. The students are a lot more reserved and the volunteers have to teach from a textbook too, whereas we just make up our lessons ourselves. The classes are smaller and so much quieter, which in some respects is a good thing compared to our loud classes, but I also think sometimes students gain more from a louder class, theyre not shy to speak English out loud and be confident.
Overall, in these past three months Ive done so many things I never thought Id be doing. Sometimes I can get homesick and miss my lifestyle back home, for example its going to be great having a hot shower again. On the other hand, even though Im here to teach, Ive gained loads of experience, met great people and have learnt to just go and do what I want to do without unnecessarily worrying about it. If youre thinking about doing something you want to do, just go for it!
