A Special Chicken Soup

You know you're becoming more integrated when:

You find a chicken foot in your bowl of soup at the lunch cafeteria and you're genuinely excited about it. Not that I was ever turned off from them, but I've grown a liking to chicken feet and fish head. Healthy, nutritious, and at our school cafeteria, and exciting bonus on some days!

That was just one of those moments where you step back and observe yourself slowly adapting to a completely different set of cultural standards, norms, and perspectives.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Gong Kai Ke

Last week the English dept. at my school invited me to teach a "gong kai ke" or an open class. Basically, it's a class taught like any other of my English classes, but it's filmed on video and observed by any and all teachers interested in observing. This is generally followed by some feedback, which is culturally very different than our American "constructive criticism," but I was expecting the unexpected so did just fine.

My co-workers kept asking me "are you nervous?" And I wasn't really until they asked me. I guess its a much bigger deal and more pressure for them than for me. But then again, when you're a foreign teacher teacher a language that students barely understand (which is the only language I can communicate in with them), things are pretty much a high pressure situation every day.

I celebrated my successful class that evening by going to bed early. I'm just that awesome and that exhausted from the experience.
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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

The Problem with Too Many People

You may have read this in the news recently, as this event has become international.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/22/world/asia/china-toddler-reaction/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn#

Last week, a little girl was the victim of a hit and run in China. 18 people passed by before someone finally came to help. 18 people. This is a country swarming and oozing with individuals, all of whom are fully capable of helping someone in need. Why didn't anyone help?! Read the article as it has some interesting thoughts and theories on this.

One of my thoughts is that this country is so bustling and crowded, there is a complete lack of individuality or personality. This and the feverishly intense pace of development and capitalism in the "great leap forward," have guided this country's social values and norms. Living in a country is the best way to truly learn about how things work. As I'm now rounding my 3rd month here, the "exciting haze" has faded away and I'm beginning to really understand how life is here.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Problems with direct translation

Last week, my students were describing what they do to celebrate their holidays and time off. They mentioned hanging out with friends, but kept accusing their friends of eating "white food and white drink."

It wasn't till Chinese class a few days later when I learned that "bai chi, bai he" (literally meaning white food, white drink), means FREE food. So, with this new information in mind, I went back to my English classes and taught my students a new and important vocabulary word:

Freeloader: One who constantly partakes in "white food and white drink"

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Are Bilingual People Smarter?

I just read an interesting article discussing whether or not people who speak 2+ languages are more intelligent.

Apparently, bilingual people are more able to multitask and switch mental tasks (ie. music to math) more easily than others. This is probably because these people train their brains how to rapidly switch communication methods in both words and actions.

So, since Chinese is my 4th language I'm studying, what does that mean? Either I'm super intelligent or just extremely confused. As of right now, I'm leaning towards the latter.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Open to interpretation

During my travels to Zhangjiajie, I came across this sign. My Chinese is still not good enough to read it, but I can make a few educated guesses:

1. Warning: Straddling guardrails may be harmful to male reproductive organs.
2. Caution: Perform gymnastic routines at your own risk.
3. Sexy and Raunchy Coyote Ugly bar dancing Strictly Prohibited.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Exploring around town

Two nights ago I went for a little evening stroll after dinner. This is a twofold operation: 1) Exercise, 2) Entertainment walking by shop after shop blasting Chinese techno and overly bored store employees attempting to attract customers by dancing and clapping off beat.

(BTW, do you know how difficult it is to clap and dance OFF the beat of techno music?! I mean, I know I'm the son of a music teacher, but still...)

During my exploratory walk, I discovered two new awesome things that my town has. First, there's a sweet arcade! I remember when I used to think arcades were super cool (no - not two nights ago) and they had Tekken 2 come out. Well, we have Tekken 6 here now and that's just too much ass-kickery for me to handle right now.

Speaking of kicking butt, the other awesome discovery was at my local book store. They see nun-chucks next to the monthly planners. Only in China... But seriously, as neat and high tech as the Nook is, Barnes and Noble could really reach a huge untapped market segment if they put nun-chucks on their shelves too. For reals, guys! I'm talking about a 3rd of the world's population here. And did I mention that their nun-chucks?!

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

I live next door to a genius

It's true. His English name is Jack, he's in middle school, and his mother is another English teacher here at this school. Everyday we hang out and talk in a strange mix of English and Chinese, 50% of which I understand (which is NOT always just the English part).

Yesterday he brought his chess board over, so I thought I'd give it a whirl knowing that it'd been over 5 years since playing that game. He also brought over his Rubik's cube, which he solved 10 minutes into our game, then proceeded to put me in checkmate several minutes later. Hmm, let me count the ways I feel incredibly stupid right now...

But today I got him back - meaning I won. He still solved his dang cube during the game though.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

A Geeky Theatre Moment

There are few people who are (and should be) as excited and ecstatic about Royal Shakespeare's new season: 37 plays in 37 different languages. WHAT?! That's just too much theatre excitement at one time. It's also encouragement to continue working on my Chinese, as that's one of the 37 presentations being produced in London.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/27/world/europe/uk-shakespeare/index.html#

If you happen to be in the area during these performances, GO! It's going to be a mindblowing international cultural, artistic, and linguistical experience.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

As Seen On TV

Last week, my dad was in DC for business. He happened to have a taxi driver who was from the Gambia, Senegal's little neighbor and just 20 minutes from where I lived while in the Peace Corps. Wanting to make casual conversation my father mentions, "my son was in the Peace Corps in Senegal and speaks Wolof."

Taxi Driver responds "That's the language I speak and I saw your son on TV!"

Back in March 2011, I was a featured volunteer on a documentary about PCVs in Senegal. Well, this video spread to every part of the globe where Senegalese and Gambians live. DC was one of those places. My dad's coworker told the taxi driver "Congratulations, you just met the father of a famous PCV."  I'm not sure who was more excited about this encounter, my dad or the taxi man.

Personally, I'm sad I missed out on this moment. I miss speaking a language I can hold a decent conversation in - and funny enough, Wolof is one of them. Taximan, if you happen to stumble upon my blog (which is certainly a random possibility), Jamm ak jamm.

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

Zhang Jia Jie

So you know those cool mountains that float amongst the clouds in the movie Avatar? Well, I went there.

It was an intense 15 hour train ride there, but worth every miserable moment to visit one of the most amazing and beautiful national parks on earth. Seriously, it was that amazing. The thin and cold mountain air with a light mix of rain also reminded me of home.

Unfortunately, I did not see any blue aliens or dragons around the area, but I did almost get into a nasty thrown-down with some Chinese tourists who behaved and sounded very similar to a pack of six legged wild dogs.

Check out all the pictures on picasa: www.picasaweb.google.com/TheByronYee

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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China

National Holiday (Guo qing kuai le!)

First of all, Happy National Day! In honor and celebration of when this amazing country formed the People's Republic of China. The government also decided to declare a national week long holiday to encourage travel, tourism, shopping, and a boost to their own economy. And when 3 billion people in one country have a vacation, it's certainly a showdown...

My buddies and I took advantage of the day off to eat food and drink local beer. So, it wasn't anything different, unusual, or epic at all. But it was all in the name of national day. I guess I can drink to that.


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Byron Yee
TEFL English Teacher - Shenzhen, China