This was a fantastic week because my good buddy Bryan came all the way to China to visit Laura and I!
Once again, even the same tired old crap that I do in Foshan seemed fun. We went to some great restaurants and treated Bryan to the night market experience. A great memory I will always have is absolutely destroying a whole pot full of crayfish together.
It was a good week for Bryan to come as well since, surprise!, we had very little to do at school this week. We managed to give him a pretty good tour of the school on Friday, though. I wanted him to come to one of my classes and "test" the kids' English skills on a new person, but it didn't come to pass.
With his coming and now going, Laura and I no longer have any visitors coming this year. On the one hand, it's exciting because we're so close to being done, but on the other hand it is a little depressing. All of our visitors this year have really helped us get through some tough months, and Bryan was no exception. It's already halfway through the month of June over here! Time flies when you're having fun, and having company is a great way to have a good time.
We ended the week with a trip to Hong Kong. I was really excited to go back and to experience all the wonderful things HK has to offer. I was also hoping to experience some new things, and we managed to do both!
Just like the trip to Manila, this weekend was largely about food. Sure, we took Bryan to all of the major sights in Hong Kong (we did the boat ride, the walk of stars, and the top of Victoria Peak), but snack time was where it was at!
The highlight of the weekend was my very first ever Dim Sum experience. After waiting this long, I decided I wanted to do it right. We went to Tim Ho Wan, a Michellan Starred restaurant on Kowloon island. I can safely say it was the best Dim Sum I've ever had, but that would undermine just how delicious it was. The pork buns alone were worth the trip. Hell, the pork buns were worth this entire year in China.
This weekend also marks the first time that I ever used AirBNB. Brybry swears by it, but it was new to me. It, too, was fantastic. Staying in a real lived-in home is so much better than a hotel or a hostel. Cheaper and more personable than a hotel, but much quieter and less smelly than a hostel. I think I found my new favorite way to travel!
Aside from the Pork Buns and the Mountain Peak, there is not too much else to note about the weekend. We just enjoyed each other's company and wandered around the vibrant and awesome city. Another cool restaurant was Bao Wow, a place that made Eastern/Western fusion "Bao sandwiches" based loosely on the Baozi steamed buns of China. Amazing!
The bus ride to HK was a lot more interesting than the bus ride back. On the ride toward HK we ended up sitting next to some very chatty Hong Kong citizens who work in Foshan during the week. Their English was perfect and they wanted to learn all about us. It is always really great chatting with friendly and warm people in China, because it is so unexpected. Everyone has different experiences, obviously, and most of our coworkers love how "friendly the Chinese are", but for Laura and I the experience has been largely the opposite. Most people ignore us unless they want to gape and take pictures, and a lot of people are very rude. Friendliness goes a long way toward making me feel good in Asia, and it was a very nice bus ride.
We were sad to see Bryan go, but he had to return to the USA and go back to earning his PhD in something or another, and we had to go back to work.
I've been very active this past week since Laura was a wonderful girlfriend and bought me a new pair of shoes! It has been really great being able to run again and not be in constant pain from the flat and holey shoes of yesteryear. Laura bought them online and then had them shipped to Bryan in Boston, who then was nice enough to schlep them all the way to China. What a pal.
It is always a bummer to come back to the mainland after a weekend in Hong Kong, but this weekend it was especially hard. The knowledge that I have just one month left before I'm back in Hong Kong and boarding a plane out of China is constantly on my mind. Time is moving so slowly! I know I should enjoy the time that we have left, and savor the few things that I truly love here (like night markets), but I'm so very ready to take the next step of my life.
To make matters slightly worse, our next trip was very unceremoniously cancelled at the last minute. The weekend of the 19th was supposed to be a train trip to Xiamen city in Fujian province. I was very excited to see the famous Tulou round houses of Fujian and also the beautiful coastline of Xiamen. Unfortunately, even though we booked the train tickets through a travel agent over 2 months ago, she emailed us on June 5 to tell us that she forgot to buy the tickets, and that they were all now sold out. Luckily she gave us our money back, but she told us of her mistake way too late for us to re-book anywhere. Once again, the weekend of the 19th is a nation-wide holiday in China, so there are over 1 Billion people buying train and plane tickets and going to all of the scenic places in the country.
School wise, things have been winding down. The children are absolutely dead on their feet every single day now. I can't say that I blame them. The school system in this country is so intense, it's a wonder that the kids are able to accomplish it. They have school from mid August until mid July every single year. During the school year, they have class 5.5 days a week (including Sunday afternoons) from 7am until 9pm. Yes, they get a month off in February, and yes they get a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day, but it's clear when you look into the faces of these children that they are completely exhausted. It makes teaching hard because participation drops off, and even the best-behaved children become antsy, cranky, and disruptive.
Yes, we can compare test scores between China and the USA and see that China does better on things like Math, but I have to wonder if it is worth it. The cost is that these kids do not get any sort of childhood to enjoy and have fun, and that they are tired and miserable a large chunk of the time. And what is the benefit? They get *slightly* higher scores compared to other nations, but really the higher scores are not commensurate with the significant increase in the amount of time and effort that gets put into the system. They are working harder, yes, but not more efficiently. A lot of knowledge and learning is lost due to poor attentional skills and exhaustion.
This is not to say that the US is way better. We clearly have a LOT wrong with our school systems, that goes without saying. We could and definitely look toward other countries for ideas on how to improve our system, and we can even learn a lot from China, but I'm not sure that total emulation of their system is a good thing. We (and our kids) should work smarter, not just harder.
The weekend after HK, Laura and I took the FSOT. The FSOT is a test that is part of the application process to become a US Diplomat. While we were in Vietnam (way back in February already!) we met a man who is a current US Diplomat, and he spent some time telling us about the career. It is something that we were both very interested in, and one that we have been researching for a while.
The test is just a first step, and it's a difficult one. The Foreign Service department has one of the most difficult selection processes in the entire government. Apparently it is more difficult to get into the FSO program than it is to get into Harvard!
I can't talk about the test too much for confidentiality reasons, but it was challenging. I think I did well, however. The test took place at the US Embassy in Guangzhou. Laura and I kept saying to each other that it was nice to be back on US soil again. The grounds of the Embassy were really nice. It would have been nice to hang out there for a while, but obviously we had to be escorted out after taking the test.
Results on the test, and the news of whether or not we will get to move on to the next round of interviews, are at least 5 weeks away. I'll keep everyone posted.
My decision to pursue this career comes from one of the biggest things I have learned about myself this year. Even though China has had it's ups and downs, and has largely been disappointing, I have learned how much I love to travel. Traveling is something that is in my blood, and learning about other cultures and ways of life are just as important. A career like one in the Foreign Service would be a great chance to continue doing this and to make a decent living, while also being able to make a difference in the lives of a lot of people who need help.
But it's a long road, and a long way off. The future remains uncertain. For now I just have to keep working at this school and finish off the contract I agreed to.
Bring on the last month.
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