My incentives to go:
- I had to know the product.
At that time I had been a member in AIESEC NHH for 7 months and in the outgoing exchange group: sending Norwegian students abroad. I felt that I had to know what I was talking about!
- View of life
I wanted to realize that I’m very lucky and thought that by having “a taste of poverty” I would appreciate everything I have more. Another factor is that my parents came as refugees from Norway for about 25 years ago and I wanted to have an impression of their previous life in Vietnam.
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International network and get to know the Chinese culture
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Learn the language: At NHH I have 3 Chinese friends who are very close to me.
- I’ve been working every summer since I was 13 and urged to have a different experience and challenge myself by putting me out of my comfort zone.
So I paid the fee and from there it was no turning back!
My first encounter with China
20.09.2011 – 26.06.2011
20th of June I left Gardemoen and about 14 hours later I was in Beijing. I spent the first three days in the capital with Chen Cui and her family.
My first memory of China:
I grabbed a cab at the airport and quickly realized that the driver didn’t speak ANY English. At that time I only knew:
Ni hao (hi), wo hen hao (I’m good), nouwei ren (Norwegian), ni de pi guo zen hao kan (“Your ass is fantastic”), Tai giu le and to count after having a few Chinese lessons with my friend Li. I used the three first sentences, called Chen and gave him the phone. I managed to ask him to turn up the radio: some body language and a smile and you can conquer the world!
Eventually we got to the hotel and then the journey began…
Note to all future travellers: write down the name of the hotel in Chinese letters or learn some Chinese before you got to China!
The Great Wall, the silk market (had to bargain like a mad woman.), The Temple of Heaven, The Forbidden City and The Tiananmen Square: check, check, check and double check!
On the 24th I met Anna (EP – exchange participant) and Kerry from New Jersey, Kasia (EP) and Anastazja (EP) from Poland and Michelle from Canada. We went out for KTV (karaoke) with a group from Yale (VIP room and awesome surround system!). It was SO much fun!
New food and drinks:
Bao dse (white buns with meat), donkey baguette, mini - eggs, Mung bean drink and Peeking duck (PS: not all Chinese toilets can flush poop… Make sure to read the sign)”
After the first days I felt very much at home and loved the culture: the food was great and cheap and the city was alive at all times. At this point I haven’t been talking to any locals yet so I still felt like a tourist.
Tianjin: homestay and training
26.06.2011 – 01.07.2011
Sonia from the local committee and her friend in Tianjin picked me up on the train station and I was welcomed by a magician, Shawn, and the café owner at the café, Wendy. After some mind blowing tricks I went to my homestay. She’s the sweetest lady I’ve ever met!
The following day I met Bryan, the leader of the project, Adrian (EP from Seattle), Mohammed (EP from the States) and Joanna (my EP buddy).
We didn’t get any training but spent the next two days swimming (in most pools you need to wear a swimming cap. Oh yeah… I looked pretty smashing in a bright yellow one! Adrian and Wendy are my witnesses), doing yoga and Tai shi (6 O’clock in the morning!), eating delicious food, getting massage and getting to know each other. I also participated in an “English corner” with the locals and beat one of them in badminton. Hehe.
29.06.2011: this was the day I met all the EP’s and we had a small session in the hotel room were we practiced our presentation as the teacher and prepared our roll call (a dance for the opening ceremony).
PS: Tianjin is the 4th largest city and has the best soya milk ever!
Fuyang: the internship begins!
Teaching at the Middle school for student between 16-17 years
02.07.2011 – 20.07.2011
We got a tour around the high school and met Steve Rogers and Mike (coordinators at the school) and Mr. Lee (now it really started hitting me that I was in China).
At the opening ceremony all of the students were standing in a row and the view frightened me.
Tomorrow the lectures begin and we still didn’t know what we were supposed to teach them!
1 day as a teacher:
I was afraid. I was going to have 25 students in the two first lessons and 50 students in the last ones. What have you signed up for, Anita?!
When I got in the class room I wasn’t nervous any more. Since this was a summer camp I wanted them get to know each other, so after my introduction (I also showed them a video of my family I had prepared: they fancied it very much!) we played “my neighbor”.
To sum the two weeks up:
It was hard to decide what to teach the students at times. Especially when I found out that their school day starts at 8 am and finishes at 10 pm with 2 hours of break in the afternoon. And this is a summer camp people! From the beginning I wanted them to talk, learn and have fun. Hangman which turned into idiomatic expressions, charades, quiz, translations and “picture quiz” was some of the teaching methods I used.
I also wanted to “bring the world to them” so I had brought brown cheese, knekkebrød and Kvikk lunsj which they tasted. Some loved it, others hated the brown cheese. “This is delicious” or “what is this?!” they kept saying. I also tried, among other things, to have a role play and mixed the boys with the girls. They were going to ask each other on a date and go to a restaurant to learn how to order food. The relationship between girls and boys are totally different in China. To put it this way: if there are rumors that a boy and a girl like each other, they are together. I also tried teaching them pick- up lines.
“if you were a boogie, I would pick you first!” or “Did you just fart?...... ‘Cause you just blew me away” or “You’re the straw to my berry (you complete me)”. They didn’t get it and I stood up there for 2 minutes laughing before I moved on to the next topic.
Note to myself: you have such bad humor!
We also had PE and “enspretten” with asshole was a hit! A secret: they say they don’t want to dance but they really do!
The biggest challenge was the language and that we were just thrown into everything. We learned by doing and got to know their culture, situation and how humble they can are. A student gave me a mandarin one day and I was filled with joy. I loved how they addressed me as their teacher and how they always stood up whenever as an act of respect.
”Funny misunderstandings have occurred. One of my students argued with me when I told them that Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth.
The whole class was laughing. I'm gonna miss them!”
13.07.2011
Quotes from students
“You are great person, and we are very happy with you”
Uknown
“I hope that you will marry with your favourite boy”
Dick
“I hope you will more and more beautiful!”
Uknown
“You are the most outgoing foreign teacher I’ve ever met. And I enjoy myself when I’m with you and I regard you as my friend. So I hope you can be happy forever”
Miko Yu
I definitely had some of the best moments in that classroom.
“Being a teacher has changed me. I'm not afraid of speaking in public any more. I appreciate what I have. I'm so glad I'm… me! I'm stronger in a way, and this experience has been beyond my expectations.”
16.07.2011
Next stop: Chun an!
Teaching for students between 13 to 14 years old
20.07.2011 – 23.07.2011
At this secondary school in such a small town I realized how bad the school system really is. These students didn’t speak any English and the food was nearly as nourishing as the food we got in Fuyang. Here I could see the progression after each lesson and I felt I made a different.
I only had two hours of teaching a day but during these few days I really got to know them and I wish I could stay there longer. It was hard saying goodbye.
24.07.2011 – 29.07.2011
Shanghai
This was a trip for all of the exchange participants and we spent these last days exploring the city and saying goodbye to each other.
PS: it’s pretty much ladies night every day! (Find the right clubs and you’ll have free drinks and entrance and the clubs have great music, space and view!)
PS: I recommend you The Shanghai aquarium and to eat Ramen!
29.07.2011 – 05.08.2011
Beijing with my brother who came from Australia and we strongly recommend you to stay at a hostel!
Did the budget explode?
No, during these 7 weeks I only spent 9000 all together: transportation, food, gifts, shopping and sightseeing and the round trip flight tickets cost me 5000 kr. + the visa 500 kroner.
All in all: money well spent!
Looking back at it I realize that this was much more than just a project and it exceeded all my expectations even though the duration of the project was almost a week shorter.
If I’m ever in Italy, the Netherlands, Polen, Mauritius, the States, Canada or China I have a friend or two there; an international network in other words. And I’m actually going to Seattle this December to visit Adrian!
I expected to sleep on the floor but I slept at hotels, I expected to get to know people – I got lifelong friends, I thought I was going to just travel in the beginning and at the end of this project: we explored the cities and new places almost every day, I thought I was going to be a teacher – I also became their student, I thought that I was going to starve – that was the least of my concerns and yeah... I think you catch my drift
I strongly recommend you to do the same.
Thanks to AIESEC, the organization and all the great members for giving me this opportunity. I know for certain that this is one of the most powerful and happy experience I’ll ever have in my life. I’ve grown as a person and I’m sure this project also will help me get my dream job.
