TGIF Sendoff

Yan Yan left to go back to Hunan today. While I know I will get to see her again next month when I go to visit her, this could be her last time for her to see Jin Yi. Because Jin Yi will soon leave to begin graduate school in Australia, we decided to have a goodbye party for Yanzi. (In addition, we also like Yan Yan!) So Jin Yi came back from Tanggu after a hard day at work just to see Yan Yan, even though she would have to turn around and take the 6 AM bus back to work this morning. Unfortunately, we got a late start on things. We went to Kisseling but it was just about to close. Then we went to a Thai restaurant nearby but it was too smoky. Then we went to a Mexican restaurant but they had just stopped serving food. Finally, we decided on TGI Friday's:



There aren't many non-fast food American restaurants in Tianjin. This is one of the few. We all had a good time, and they got to try lots of new foods: calamari, fajitas, steak, etc. Fun to introduce them to new food, but hard on the wallet. Many Chinese restaurants are cheap -- you can eat a good meal for less than $2 per person. Foreign restaurants, like TGIF, charge American prices, so it cost more like $10 a head. Not too bad in the US, but expensive for China! That's why the restaurant has few Chinese customers. Most of the people eating there are laowai (foreigners). I joked with them that soon they would be laowai, as all of them are going abroad to graduate school.

Here, Yan Yan leaves my apartment for the last time. She actually lived here with a roommate and took care of it for me while I was gone to Tibet and India in January and February so perhaps this was a sentimental parting for her.



After moving out of the girl's dorm...



...we raced to the train station. I helped her get one of her large bags on the train. It was a good thing too because the train was very crowded and she had many bags. I would have had trouble, by myself, getting all of those bags onto a train this crowded:



Here she is looking at me after I got off the train...



Goodbye Yan Yan! You have a wonderful personality and you will be missed (until I come visit you in Hunan!)

Pick your Battles!

Ethical dilemma: When is it worth it to fight, to confront others and make a scene? When should one back down? I think I often fight on minor issues when I should just accept things. In addition, I think sometimes I am too cowardly to fight. Knowing when to act can be confusing. And when one does feel a confrontation is justified, it is essential to go into with a Christ-like attitude. I often try to win at all cost - and although I may win the battle, I sometimes lose perspective and lose the war. I tend to forget that "our battle is not against flesh and blood."

The contract that guides my work here as a teacher in IBI at the university states the following in Section III-D: "D. The time for the IBI class must be 3.5 hours per day from 8:00 to 11:30 with the actual time adjusted to the school class schedule. The classroom instruction by the teacher is 2.5 hours daily and self-directed study by students without the presence of the teacher is 1.0 hour daily Monday through Friday mornings. Students must be enrolled only for the IBI program during the IBI class hours."

During the year, I received the following email from the IBI director: "The specific teaching time for the teachers assigned to the English Department at TFSU beginning September 2005 is as follows.
08:00 to 10:00 classroom instruction time (lecture and class activities)
10:00 to 10:10 break
10:10 to 11:40 self-directed study"

I enjoy teaching very much. I believe my students also enjoy attending my classes. My goal is to challenge the students academically, while keeping the mood of the class fun and lively. I make an active effort to interact with all students, often going out of my way to talk with the shyest of students during the breaks or towards the end of class. I feel that if the students see me as a friend and advisor they can trust rather than a strange foreigner with nothing in common with them that they will be more likely to pay attention and interact during class.

I prefer teaching and challenging students as much as possible. I love watching them learn. I am passionate about my teaching.

The contract with the school - which guides how I should teach is obviously in direct conflict with the instructions from the director. The contract states 2.5 hours of instruction/lecture time is required. However the director dictates less time. His comments, since he is not around to see what I am doing, were based on the "reporting" of my "teammate", who has told me on many occasions that he likes spending time with students but does not enjoy teaching class. I can tell that too. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who claims that he is passionate about his teaching. I honestly believe he would agree with that.

So what should I have done? The contract certainly does not claim that 2.5 hours is a maximum. My argument is that I can teach 2.5 hours and hold additional hours outside of class like I have been doing. Perhaps it does not seem like a big deal, and in actuality it might not be. Over the past 6 months, I felt the director of the IBI program was deceitful and disingenuous. One trivial example of this is the email quoted above. He never told us anything about the teaching times in September even though he deceitfully claims that is the case. Honestly, my actions were less than honorable and I justified my deceitful actions toward him based on this. I was wrong in doing so. Regardless, I had lost faith in him, and so I decided to stand up and fight with him on this. I admit that I had not treated him with respect on prior occasions. Much of my actions towards him were made out of anger and my lack of faith in his leadership. I had started writing letters of resignation twice before -- once in early September and once in late November but was talked out of such action after discussion with students and my parents. I felt that doing so would be cowardly and a betrayal to the school and students. I couldn't bring myself to do that.

Why, you might wonder, would the director have a contract claiming we would provide 2.5 hours of lecture time when he argues that class time should be only 2 hours in a separate email to teachers? There are two reasons for this -- 1) SAFEA, the organization that oversees foreign experts (teachers) in China requires a minimum number of hours to qualify for a Chinese visa. What is this minimum? You guessed it -- an average of 2.5 hours per work day. 2) The second reason is in marketing the program to Chinese universities. The schools are shown cost figures of cost per hour of instruction. By claiming 3.5 hours of class time (and 2.5 hours of instruction time), the director can make a better argument to the school. However, at the same time, the director has trouble recruiting and keeping teachers. Turnover rates are high, the US job market is strong, and next year (2006-07) he will have the FEWEST number of teachers in his program since the mid 90's. Trying to keep teachers happy is another goal of his, and he is willing to do this at the expense of students and Chinese universities. I called him on it. I said it was disingenuous and deceitful. I also said he should inform the university and SAFEA of what he's doing or change his ways. I admit, I enjoy teaching and wanted the extra time. 20 minutes per day x 5 days per week x 17 weeks = 28.3 hours of additional teaching time. That is a significant amount of time. I will admit that I was not perfect. I was really bad about grading papers and exams in a prompt time frame. I have admitted my fault and have tried to improve. What infuriates me about the director is that he shows no remorse for his actions and accepts no criticism. Or, if he has, he has not made that apparent to me. I fear that my temper got the best of me while dealing with these issues. I found it quite difficult to respect the director (which Biblically I feel I am required to do) when I feel his actions his actions are incompetent and not deserving of respect.

Pray for humility for me. Pray for me to love even when others are wrong. Pray for me to realize my faults, seek forgiveness, and change my ways when I am wrong.

I did share with students some of the issues involved in the conflict regarding my teaching. I did not solicit responses or ask for them to complement me or compare my teaching style to any other person's. However, several of them did contact me and pay me some complements. Some of these comments were received by email -- others by SMS. Unfortunately, I have lost many of the comments sent to me. But below you will find some of the comments received. Obviously, people's opinions are often biased and justify nothing. There is a right and wrong, and that is not decided by a majority of opinions. Nevertheless, they are encouraging to read. Names of students are listed so you will know these are authentic responses.

Without further ado, here they are (in alphabetical order):

Chang Hong: "You are the best teacher in my life."

Chen Yu: "We are lucky to have you this semester and we love you. The book we have is really boring. We did not like what ******* taught. We also thought we were wasting time to have *******'s class."

Dong Lingyu: "Actually i like your class very much, it's fun, exciting, and more useful."

Gao Zhifang: "Thank you so much for teaching us! You know that i plan to graduate school to study finance. Your teaching help me alot. Before the course i study by myself and i had some not understand like call and put option. you made me understand. i still remember the day i had fever and i asked your permission not come. i think ******* will not be so nice. we all love you."

Guo Liping: "You are the most wonderful teacher i have met. I will be proud to tell my Chinese friends about you. Actually all of us like your class better than ******* . Your class is more interesting and you do not care about trivial things."

Guo Lijuan: "I really cherish the carefulness and energy that you put in us. You are good firend for me. i will miss you. you are really good friend."

Guan Xin: "You are an excellent teacher."

Huang Zhen: "Mr. Green you are a good teacher. all of us think so."

Huo Xiaoling: "We all like your class rather than *******'s. for that class is too boring just like a traditional Chinese teacher, no creativity. i think you should teach like you do. we are all behind you."

Ji Yingying: "You are my friend (and also best teacher, at least in my heart). Being a teacher, you do what a teacher should do; moreover, you do far more for us. He is jealous of you, for we all like ******* better than him."

Jin Yi: "I really have learned a lot from you during the last four months, not only the law, marketing and economics, but also some good ways of thinking. You are a very good teacher. Do you know when we admire you most? It's when you explained to us a very complicated concept or something that we had no idea before using very easy and understandable words and examples. I can figure out that you really have put a lot of efforts to make everything easy for us. We appreciate that. And you have never got angry with us and always tried to make friends with everyone in our class. You have never left those who are very shy aside and always tried to make them take part in every activity."

Li Lan: "You are the most devote teacher I have met. I always feel very sorry about occupying your time with those silly questions (the things you have taught in class). As I known, Americans hold very strong conception of time. However, you presented to be so generous and patient and, never laugh at me with those silly questions. Remembered once you missed the chance to meet Lin junjie (the singer of Jiang Nan) only because I was asking questions about options. I was encouraged by your devotion and usually after class I will learn more by myself via the Internet. It is surprising that I got the highest score in IB course, which is the course I am afraid of. Mr. Green, I owe my accomplishment to you and I think you deserve it. Sam, it is my great honor to be your student and now your good friend. I cherished the time I spent with you. But now, the IBI class becomes more rigid, and it requires nothing but memorizing and taking notes. I mean the IBI class might be less challenging."

Liu Xiaojun: "We love you so much."

Lu Min: "All those days we spent together have brought me so much happiness, which I will remember and cherish all my life. We love you."

Nie Mintao: "All of us know which one of you two is better. i have always thought that you are the best teacher."

Ren Zhiqian: "We all love you. Thank you for what you did in the past semester. You will never walk alone."

Sun Yi: "Frankly speaking, all of us enjoyed your class far more than *******'s! What i said is not comforting you. actually *******'s classes are indeed boring."

Wu Dan: "You are the teacher I like most and friend as well. I had a very happy time that you gave to me. Your teaching style is more favorable to us."

Wang Xinjie: "Last year before I took your class, I knew little about law. After your class, I decided to switch my focus. I have just been accepted to law school at Yunnan University, and I owe that to your excellent teaching."

Wang Xu: "Words failed me to sufficiently convey my love and gratitude for you. you are so dear and special... I like your teaching style. I could not have had such a memorable semester without you. You are our best teacher and friend. we all love and cherish you so much."

Wang Yi: "You give us a lot of pratical knowledge and have done your best to make us happy and knowledgeable. Your teacing is more effective. And the information you gave us is useful nd practical which is the very thing we lack. I don't want to flatter you or say ******* is bad. My point is you are as precious as gold and gold will release light wherever it is."

Wu Yinqiu: "You know that we all like you more than ******* and I believe ******* knows that."

Wang Yue: "To me you are a very good teacher and friend! Dont let this make you down."

Xia Qian: "Without your efforts, I'm not able to be a good student and to know so much about international business and marketing. Thank you! You are a very competent teacher. No matter what, you will be my teacher and friend forever.:)"

Xie Juan: "I cherish the IBI class because your teaching style. if even you teach like *******, the class will be boring. Actually i only take game theory etc as useful things I had learned. If you teach like *******, that will be no different between chinese ordinary class and IBI. To make things worse, students will be more likely to drop class because they can learn by themselves at home. Teacher are afraid of knowing more than them. do you know story of cat and tiger? cat teach tiger all execpt climb tress to prevent tiger eating."

Xie Zhixia: "You are our teacher and friend. you are closer to us, know how we think and what we want to learn."

Yan Bing: "I'm working happily everyday. Now I use a lot of knowledge that you taught me in your lesson. I'm so lucky to have been your student."

Yang Mingzhe: "You are the best teacher i've ever had."

Yuan Shuai & Wang Yingjun: "You are a good teacher. We like the way you teach us. We will always support you. we all love you."

Yang Yuting: "I understand you so much. Don't be frustrated. you are really a good teacher. i really learned a lot of things from you and to be honest, we all think you are better than *******."

Zhao Yinan: "Thank God to give me such a good teacher and friend like you. You are the most interesting guy i eer met. i like you very much."

Zhang Lidan: "You gave me more in way of thinking, you treated me as equal and let me believe nothing is impossible through efforts."

Zhang Jing: "As your student, i admire you as the best teacher. As your friend, us will be by your side to support you.

Zhang Peilong: "I have a bad feeling after leaving your class. Your teaching us so useful information. I will miss you."

Zhang Xinyu: "Realize the fact that all of us like you much more than *******. We like the way you teach us and we like stocks and options. We are tired with his endless boring book teaching and homework. We will always support you and be your friends forever."

Zheng Chenxi: "I like the way you teach. No matter what happens i will always respect you as a teacher."

Zhou Ze: "Thanks a bunch for teaching us bonds and options. i love that. Maybe one day i can make a fortune through what you taught me. thanks for your jokes. we love you. I do not know how to express my feelings. i will say we all like you. You are the best teacher I have met. We all admire your adaptability and easy going. I told my parents you are the best teacher."

OK, wow, what great comments. I'm really something, right? Definitely, I was greatly encouraged after reading these. It does really makes me feel proud. Wait a second, shoud I feel proud? I must be careful about that. Judging one's teaching ability based on the comments of students is tricky. Students can sometimes like the teacher who gives them the easiest tests, the best grades, the most breaks, the least homework, etc. Of course, I can say objectively -- that I did give the hardest tests, the lowest grades, the most homework, and had the most hours of class. In the past, I have held extra makeup classes at night and even came back to Tianjin early to teach 2 extra classes during November 2004 when I was given a one week break from teaching (but students were still having classes at school). Still, I must consider these comments carefully and hold them in perspective. I'm not great -- God is great and He has created each of us with special skills and abilities. If I am a talented teacher, it is because God has blessed me. And even if I am not, God loves me anyway!

For those who are interested, I also received a comment from the TFSU administration via email. I cannot go into detail about the email, but will provide a quote from the administrative assistant in the department where I worked, Fan Wen. She said: "We really feel regretted that u are not working here any longer."

In concusion, I have made many mistakes and I admit that. Thank God for His forgiveness and love. I'm praying that I can let God better direct my actions in the future and that I can always act with love and humility.

TFSU Graduation!

Yesterday was the graduation ceremony at Tianjin Foreign Studies University. This was an exciting day for me as the first 64 students I taught at TFSU were graduating. Graduation at TFSU is much different than at universities in America. Only a few select students (those going to graduate school at TFSU or elsewhere and those with guanxi) get to attend. The ceremony is held in the small auditorium at the western end of the famous TFSU building. Here is a photo of the room right after the ceremony ended:



At TFSU, the English department makes up almost half of the university. For this reason, the English department held graduation exercises in this large room in the teaching building where students and faculty could watch what was happening at the official ceremony with President Xiu Gang on a large screen.



However, this room is not large enough to seat all of the graduates, but since many graduates were not informed of their option to attend until the day before the ceremony and had already left town, there were plenty of seats available. I was able to get a seat next to Cao Wenping, Zhu Shu, and Ma Tong:



Two of my students who were able to take part in the ceremony were Sun Yue and Liu Chen. Here is Sun Yue and her mother:



An here is Liu Chen...



Graduation is a time for reflection. A time to reflect on the past and a time to dream about the future. There is happiness in the achievement of a goal, fear in what lies next, but also sadness as friends will soon part ways. I realize that yesterday may be the last time that I am able to spend time with these students, who have befriended me and taught me so much about China and myself. Thank you all for all you have given me. God has truly blessed me with great students and friends.

Grad Party #2!

Today is graduation at Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU) and so last night, in order to celebrate, I invited a few seniors over to my apartment for dinner and a party. Considering that during my tenure at TFSU, over 90% of my students were female, I had a good male turnout -- 3 of the 4 senior boys I taught came over!

We were going to cook dinner, but we were all too lazy! So we bought food and ate it at my apartment. Sorry, I do not have many exciting photos of the event as we are all busy. Here is a great one of me!

Yang Wenyan, me, and Zhang Peilong:



Later we talked and discussed what the future holds. Their lives hold so much promise, and their families really expect a lot out of them. Several of them stayed all night at my apartment - we played spades and hearts like madmen. We used multiple decks of cards, various rules, etc. It was card playing heaven. We had a blast.

Graduation Party at TFSU

The seniors will graduate next week, and last night we held a party at TFSU in the large banquet room on the 3rd floor of the student dining hall. Unlike the party Wang Ruixue organized on June 11, both me and Leon attended.

Feng Fan/Sun Yue in foreground; Leon talks to me in the background:



Yan Yan, Pan Ke, me, Jin Yi, and Feng Fan:



Liu Borui, me, Xia Qian:



Zhang Jianli, Fang Xiuhui, me, Cao Wenping:



Xia Qian, me, Xie Yu, Ma Ziyue:



Afterwards a few students came over to my apartment to continue the fun. We had a fun night of playing spades all night. I was really amazed at their ability to stay up all night. I must be getting old -- I was getting really tired but they kept pushing me. Unbelievably, we played all night! I think the final score to one of our games was something like 2,036-1,952. Pretty close! We also tried to play monopoly but we didn't get too far into that.

<

Zhang Peilong's New Life

After the amusement park, we rode the subway out to visit Zhang Peilong. He couldn't join us at the park because he had to work -- on a Saturday! But we still got to eat supper with him...


Afterwards, he showed us the building where he works...


And also the apartment provided by his company (but shared with a few other guys)...


Here's the group photo. Aren't they a great looking bunch, each with a bright future ahead of them!


It was a long day in Beijing, and all of us were exhausted by the time we got back to Tianjin. But it was fun to catch up with everyone. Thank God for such wonderful friends. Thank you all for the memories.

Beijing's Disney World

I just got home from Beijing. Today (or technically since its after midnight - yesterday), I went to Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing with some of my closest friends. Here's Jin Yi and I on the train to Beijing. The photo was going to be made on the count of 3 and on 2 I put small pieces of paper on each side of her glasses. It caught her off guard and she didn't have time to take them out before the photo!


Here, Feng Fan, Yan Yan and I ride the Beijing subway out to the park...


The park had several different admission options. You can pay a gate entrance fee and then pay per ride (usually 10-20 RMB each) or you can buy a combination ticket. There are three different combos. We bought the most expensive one, so our total admission cost US$75 (600 RMB). That's a little gui for China, but we did get access to a lot of rides. We rode almost all of them.

Do you have faith in the people who build Chinese roller coasters? Here we go...


The park has a castle like Disney world...


See the ride above that's going round and round? Here's Jin Yi after she finished riding it.


Actually it wasn't that bad. Just ask Yan Yan & Pan Ke....


or Feng Fan.


Just like in America, theme park food is really expensive. So we brought our own! Li Lan is enjoying one of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made last night.


Here we are going through a maze of mirrors...


And, of course, we had to drive the bumper cars! Here Pan Ke and Jin Yi bump into each other...



Feng Fan and Jin Yi are riding a roller coaster that looks like a worm and crawls through an apple. Here we are exiting the apple...


Some of us also drove cars around the racetrack. Jin Yi, who has her drivers license, decided to teach Yan Yan how to drive. Unfortunately it didn't go so well! They got stuck in the railing on the side of the track and had to wait for the maintenance guy to free them!


Then we left the park to go meet Zhang Peilong, who had been hard at work on a Saturday while we were having fun. (See next post)

Tanggu Surprise

Yesterday Pan Ke, Xiao Ji, and I went to Tanggu to surprise Jin Yi in her office. Tanggu is in the Tianjin municipality but it is not part of the city proper. It is acually about 60 km to the east of Tianjin on the Bohai Sea (which comes off the Pacific Ocean). Jin Yi had no idea we were coming to visit! Her expression here said it all...


Jin Yi works for a small company with a Korean boss. Her boss was back in Korea this week visiting his relatives, so we took over the office! Actually, Jin Yi still had to get some work done so we tried to stay out of her way. Her boss called her twice a day from Korea to see how things were going.


Xiao Ji pretends she is the CEO:


From the photo, you might guess it was supposed to rain yesterday. No, there was no rain predicted. These umbrellas are the Chinese version of sunscreen!


We went to visit the Dagukou Fort in Tanggu. After arriving there, we decided the fort is not worth the effort to reach it! Actually, I think the girls all decided that before we left the office! Here is Yan Yan at the fort.


Here is a boat in the port of Tanggu...


Work desk by day.. and card table by night. Yes, we played several hands of cards around this desk. Here's Pan Ke.


We hadn't planned on it, but Jin Yi convinced us to spend the night. The office is actually an apartment in a luxury apartment complex. Her office has two bedrooms. One of which is Jin Yi's. The girls all slept in one bedroom, and I slept on the couch (as the other bedroom had no bedding). Here is Jin Yi's bedroom. The 4 girls shared one bed!


Pan Ke and Ji Yingying rode the Teeter Totter (part of the senior citizen's exercise equipment in the apartment complex) as we were leaving this morning. Guess who weighs more? Poor Xiao Ji!


We came back to Tianjin today on the light rail, which was the first time Pan Ke, Yan Yan, or Xiao Ji had ever ridden it. (We had come to Tanggu by bus.)