| 26 February 2010
I gotta hand it to the team at Bai Da Wei (and yes, I get a chuckle out of the name too), is that they don't just throw you to the sharks the day you arrive. We've had training sessions all day, every day, to make sure we're up to par with their teaching practices and standards. So we don't actually start teaching until Monday. We've been too tired to do anything but sleep - we haven't even unpacked yet. And certainly haven't explored at all. So let's talk about the school.
The school has 4 branches - Jin Gua Da Sha is the main school, and also where everyone lives closest to. It's about 5 minutes from our apartment. Remember how insane Italian drivers are? They've got nothing on the Chinese. Horns honking constantly, cars everywhere, and it's not abnormal to see a car drive up beside you on the right hand shoulder to pass if there's no space in the left lane. And we've got to cross 6 lanes of traffic TWICE to get to school. Then back again in the dark. And the crosswalks painted on the street aren't even a suggestion. Cars do not stop. Ever. So we get to play a real-life game of Frogger every day. It's always wait, wait, then one of us yells "RUN!" as we make a mad dash across the street.
Every day, the teachers arrive at the school, and there's vans that take us out to our respective branches. Watching our driver is like watching a dancer as he gracefully swerves in and out of traffic, deftly cutting off other drivers while listening to Chinese-techno music on the radio.
Kyri is the guy who hired us. He's a tall, very easy-going Brit who's been doing most of the organization and restructuring of the school. Wu Ming is the principle of the school, and decided Sam will now be known as Sammy. Yu Ming is the owner of the school, and always has a huge smile on his face. The thing I absolutely love about him is I often catch him doing the "UUHH??" that you see in Chinese movies when someone is caught off guard and does a double take, (usually in sync with a quick zoom out of the camera). Luke and Kris are the two student managers and have been around the longest. Frank is our go-to guy if we have any problems with our apartment, shopping, etc. "Little Brother" is an ex-military guy who...hmm... let's say if you were arrested and needed to get out of prison - he's the guy you'd call. Or if you needed someone's kneecaps broken.
Some of the new teachers stand out as well - there's Becca and Sylvain, who are another couple and Antoine - from France, who is achieving what A Pocket Full of Phone Numbers was meant to do - he has WALKED from France, all the way to China. Insane - and he's only 20 years old. He finished university and decided it was time to go for a walk... He's aiming to get around the world.
And that's the first impression of what will be a year here in Changchun.
Please, please, puh-leeze let the weather get warmer soon....