Their English has been improving steadily. In general, we were brought here to teach them about language and culture abroad in hopes that they will eventually be prepared to study or practice medicine in other countries. We are paid to teach and live with the students.
Mainly through conversation, we try to teach our students to ask questions about the world. They were not very comfortable with this at first. I have continually been told that students here are taught to accept what the teacher says and memorize, memorize, memorize! Always in preparation for tests, critical thinking has never had a chance to bloom. So we try to teach this, open the minds of our students and allow them to ask questions and formulate opinions about the world. It is a slow process, but it is rewarding as we are able to have deeper and deeper conversations with them.
Also, we have taken the students on more leisurely activities, such as trips to the downtown of the city (it is about an hour away by bus ... the university is outside of the city proper). We also went, two weeks ago to a nearby city called Chao Zhou which is one of the more historical cities in the area.
Here are some pictures from the bus ride. We were given use of one of the medical college buses. The red emblem you see in the first picture is the school logo. Shantou University, or Shantou Da Xue in Mandarin (lit. Shantou Big Study). The two students here are Timmy and Cherish:
Helen, a sweet, sensitive soul:
Jana (nickname usky), my partner in crime and Christine, a very eager student who loves to laugh!
And Elizabeth, a former STU medical student who came from America to study here. Although she was not honest about it at first, it appears now that she had a very serious auto-immune disorder, perhaps the cause of her loss of hearing (she now uses cochlear implants to hear). She left a few weeks ago because she had fainted twice and needed medical attention. It turns out she was not honest about much of her medical history and had told her aunt (a good friend of the dean here) not to tell anyone her full medical history.
Timmy again, and Ron - both really eager and bright students:
Our first stop was a ceramics factory. Chao Zhao is very well known for ceramics and has been in the trade for many centuries. In the main lobby, there is what one might call a ceramic fresco of a very famous painting in China. It is quite large - maybe 50 feet long or something like that.
The majority of the collection for show is on the upper level, the first sight of which is the largest ceramic plate in the world:
A couple of ceramic Dragons. Dragon is long in Chinese:
I'm not sure on the complete story on this one. Some of them are cannibals, I believe ... there's a long story, anyway, the craftsmanship is certainly impressive:
"Anti-american and support Korea Design", A kettle from the fifties:
Interesting the correlation here with western modern art. Quite reminiscent of picasso in some ways.
Impermanence?:
Whoops! Where did that come from? The students forced me to!
A couple of views of the famous Guangxi bridge. In the middle of the bridge are a series of pylons that can be detached from the permanent parts of the bridge, allowing larger boats to pass through the center:
There were a few local people fishing off the side of the boardwalk as we walked past:
Next we travelled to a buddhist temple. Most Chinese, it appears, are not religious. Most students, when asked, will say that they have no belief and will ask, sometimes with a hint of incredulity, about why so many people believe in God in the West. Of course, in the past, religion in China was very important - Daoism, which had a profound effect not only upon culture, but also upon Chinese Medicine, and later, Buddhism, from which both Mahayana and Zen Buddhism were largely developed.
One rings the bell three times. I was told to make a wish. Apparently, this is largely what people think of when going to temples - an idea not dissimilar to Christian prayer - where one uses religion as a medium for the granting of wishes.
This is Wanny - a student with a calm, inquisitive mind.
In Chao Zhou there is a small great wall. It was originally used as a means of flood control. The yellow marks you see on the wall were the levels to which the river had risen in the past. I had asked whether the average level of the river had changed, and could not get an answer; however, if the level has not changed much, the flood must have been a rising of the river by at least 10 metres or more:
This is Sarah in the front - goofy kids :P
Here is Sarah buying from a street merchant selling fruit:
Smile - one of our more enthusiastic students - and a lover of peace apparently. Just joking - the peace sign is used all the time in taking photos as it was in Thailand, I'm not sure whether this is an immitation of a Western habit or not.
A chopping board and dishwasher. I have not yet been sick here and was not in Thailand either, but food poisoning is a common malady for travelers. The food was delicious nonetheless!!
A little puppy which we dubbed the "Sprite Dog" After one of the students tried to feed the dog Sprite, and he drank it.
Last on our stop was a visit of a monument for a man named Han Yu, an ancient poet and writer in China. Apparently, he was a military officer, as were many of the early writers since they had need of being literate.
Jana and the students above the Han Yu Monument:
And here I am, Lan Tian (my Chinese name, meaning blue sky):
The Guangxi bridge from above:
