China Gray

Down and In             After hiking up to the peak and enjoying the view from the monastery, we wanted to head back down the mountain part way for the path to our campground. The walk down was quick, and once again we skipped the monasteries off to the side in hope of getting to the campground before sunset.             Back at the trailhead, we could see a long bus in the distance, and we ran. Matt feared it might be the last one down. Walking would take hours. To our luck, someone on the bus noticed the two foreigners running and the bus stopped a dozen meters further down the road. We got on and went to the few remaining seats in the back of the bus, sat down, and the bus headed out. Three minutes later, it stopped.             We didn’t know the cause of it, but a long stretch of cars stretched out beyond our gaze. Down the road, we...

            I woke up in a bed not my own ; one that stretched beyond the reach of both my arms and legs. After rolling left to right to stretch my tense and aching IT bands, I made the journey to the edge of the bed and finally to my day’s clothes. I slipped on a lightweight, breathable, gray Patagonia shirt and a pair of zip-off khaki pant s. The scent of yesterday’s sweat kissed my nose . I pulled the belt firmly and folded the waistline beneath it. I stepped on his scale, waited for the reading, and stepped off again. 55 kg (121 lbs). I’ve lost almost 10 pounds since coming to China.             The bed, the room, and the scale all belonged to Matt, another Peace Corps Volunteer serving in one of the smallest PC China sites: Longnan ( 陇南 ) in southern Gansu. With a population of 2.5 million and a sparse 250 people per square mile, it’s hidden in a mountain valley and...

One year of teaching in China just came and went with the suddenness of a few congratulatory text messages and nostalgic pictures. The arbitrary mark in my service, while brief, was still notable. I thought back on the past year and enjoyed recognizing all of seen, learned, and experienced. The depth of my foreignness and the breadth of my ignorance of been constant breeding grounds for life lessons. The most important of which was recognizing the hazy borders of the plane on which I stand.             Toward the end of last semester, I took the time to write out a description of my student’s lives. I wrote it as an outsider. I saw so much and understood so little. I had to deduce intentions and explanations according to perceived patterns. Looking back, and with an understanding derived as much from conversation with my students as from those observations, I see the fault lines of my own prejudice—deep canyons that not only form...

Sorry for the delay. My internet has been very bad lately. I've been trying to post this for a week. As a result I am going to post two parts today. This is the second part. Part Three: The Classroom The classrooms all these diverse students wander through on a daily basis vary drastically in atmosphere and organization. In one class I visited, the teacher took on an ultra-strict persona. While she was introducing the material she walked around class. If any student misbehaved, a flick of her wrist and the student would stand up in shame, head lowered for dramatic effect. But 20 minutes into her class the students were organized and behaving. The same teacher, 30 minutes into class, set aside the ultra-strict persona to pick up one of more firm encouragement. She stopped making students stand and really focused on correcting any English errors. She, herself, jumped back and forth between English and Chinese. Whenever a single English word had different pronunciation ...

Sorry for the delay. My internet has been very bad lately. I've been trying to post this for a week. As a result I am going to post two parts today. Part Two: Standing Tall Broadly speaking, my students are in class for about six to eight hours between 8 am and 9:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Each class is two 45 minute segments with a ten minute break between. Prior to their 8 am class, most of my students go from bed to the running track for an hour or so of mandatory exercise. Between 7 am and 8 am the lucky majority run off to the cafeteria for breakfast. The standard entree seems to be two round pieces of bread that look similar to English muffins, though larger in size, with a saucy collection of meat and veges in between. In Chinese; “肉夹饼.” I’ve come to know the standard breakfast as the semester has progressed and the morning hours shift to other uses. As a natural result, breakfast is brought to the morning class, which I teach Monday through Thursday at 8 am. I wond...

After speaking to my mom on Thanksgiving day, I've decided to post this longer piece in parts. She didn't like the already month and a half wait. At this point, I've written enough for three parts, but I expect to add more.  The Life of a Student:  At a Polytechnic Vocational School in Tianshui, Gansu, China Part One: Think of the Thoughts I haven't Had Yet Over the course of this past month I have taken extra effort to see my students in all of their colors. I’ve striven to observe their habits during class and their moods throughout the day as I encounter them on campus. When I see them engaged in an activity, I stop and watch. I ask them about what they are doing, or, more realistically, they proactively explain what they are doing. With an ecstatic smile a student might pull by my arm to a seat so that I can watch or listen as they practice their class’s song, or a new dance routine, or their special talent for the next event. Their enthusiasm seems...

It was just last week that I begun teaching class. After three treacherous days of nothing going wrong and waking up at my normal time, national holiday began. Since I teach all freshman, I didn’t teach any classes the first four weeks at site. Instead, all my students were busy practicing goose stepping, military chants, and doing countless pushups as part of their freshman military training. This is all part of a regiment of social cohesion exercises that begins in middle school. The first chunk of time at the start of your first year in middle school, high school, and college is devoted to these military drills. They range in length from one week to five weeks, getting longer as you get older (though the exact durations vary between schools and provinces).  So the first four weeks I spent “integrating” into the community per Peace Corps goals. It was my conscious mindset and I made new friends. Kinda. The first new friend I made is also a teacher on campus. She also...