19/12/2003

It’s Friday afternoon, in two weeks first semester will be done, as a result, the work front has started to heat up a little. Having just finished marking and reviewing the second term test, I am into reviewing all the material and writing the final exam, trying to decide how best to torture! It a rather frustrating week, on one hand it has been rather nice to have been left alone by the powers-that-be from the Medical College. On the other hand it gets frustrating. I am in this alone, and I’m beginning to realize that my impression of the lack of understanding between the organizers and the staff (us) is more of a reality. The lack of communication between Les, Ivany and myself seems to compound things. My take is at the end of the journal entry in italics.

Aside from work things aren’t too bad. I was down in Hong Kong for the weekend. Dad was in town so we met up. Was a good couple of days, nice to get away from Shantou for a bit, but strangely nice to get back too! I flew down Friday morning after spending the previous week trying to sort out visas and tickets. Despite now being a part of China, you still need a visa to get into Hong Kong. I got in at about 9.30 on Friday morning, a little tired to say the least, for some reason Thursday night ended up as a gathering at my place, which didn’t end till all hours of the morning. I picked up my bags and crashed on the chair next to the carousel while I waited for Dad (he was flying in from Guangzhou and was expected about 10 mins after me). As I was just about to fall into a deep sleep he came round the corner! We checked through and started the day as every decent person should, with a McDonald’s breakfast. As always is the case with breakfast at Macca’s, the blob of yellow which was supposed to be some form of egg, could very well have been some custard that had been left out for a few days, and the piece of cardboard fried in some kind of fat for a long period of time could easily have been a hash brown (however I doubt it). Nevertheless it was food, so I wasn’t complaining (well... actually I was...). We jumped on the Airport Express and were at the hotel in no time.

We spent the day wandering around. A bit of walking, up to the peak to take in the views. Dad had a well-timed conference call in the afternoon which gave me perfect opportunity to catch up on some sleep. At about 6.30 we hit up the hotel’s happy hour. Free drinks until 8 (there should be more places like this). We met two other traveling businessmen, an Aussie and a Yank (ahem... American) and spent a good while talking to them, then made our way down to Morton’s for dinner. As they had strongly recommended, despite it being ‘a little pricey’. There in only one thing to say about that judgment: it was a gross understatement. If you ever find yourself with so much money in your wallet that you can no longer move around freely, go to Morton’s in Hong Kong. The food was great however. Dinner ended up lasting until about 10.30 after which we were both pretty much done, and so called it a night.

Saturday was more of the same, I was into the worst day of a cold and wasn’t feeling all the flash. Being as tough as I am however, we wandered around, had lunch at the Outback steakhouse (just to feel at home... cough-cough-bull-cough-$%^@-cough). It was a pretty good feed all the same. After checking out the latest developments in the world of electronics at Times Square it was time for Dad to start making plans to head off, he was due to fly out early Saturday evening. After unloading his cargo of goods (a footy, some chocolate), he jumped in a taxi and made tracks. I crashed for an hour an a half and then hit the streets again. The World Women’s Squash Open was in progress down on the Kowloon side of the harbour. So I wandered down there to take in the final. Carol Owens (#1 in the world) against Cassie Jackman (#6), I didn’t stay for the whole match as the wind was getting a little brisk and the match itself looked like it was going to go the distance. I then wandered around, had some dinner, picked up a few CD’s at HMV, then headed back to the hotel for about 10.30, by which time I was once again on the ropes. Watched a DVD (A View from the Top – Stupid, except from Mike Myers), and then switched off.

After a bit of window shopping Sunday I checked out and made my way up to the border to head back into mainland China. The border crossing was all fairly smooth, and in no time I was on an almost empty bus on the way back to Shantou. I got in at about 6pm, had a bit of dinner with Carol and co. at Hayley Cafe, and then made my way back to the ranch.

Apart from the trip down to Hongkers there hasn’t been a whole lot happening. Adam is shipping out on Wednesday (for two months), and Carol’s China term comes to an end Tuesday, so the faces are starting to change. Everyone on the University side is pretty busy with end of semester madness. There is an English Festival on at the moment which has had Adam, Ian and Co. up to their eyeballs. Another reason I’m glad to be on the medical side of things! Ian and Erin are both leaving the university for next semester. Ian to teach downtown and Erin back to America. They were both here on exchange from Whitman College in Washington, and due to a fairly unreasonable stance taken by one of the powers-that-be they are calling it a day, which has caused a bit of a stir. The main problem being that they were hired to be teachers, but upon arrival were told they would not be teaching due to their lack of qualifications. The fact that I am here teaching (no degree), with the medical college underlines the insanity that defines the politics of the English department here.

Anyway, that’s all I can be bother writing for now. Hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Sam

There seems to be the idea in the management (i.e. Frieda and co.) that Les is the head to the teaching department. However Les will not accept this. He is steadfast that he holds no management role and is only a teacher (which is what was supposed to have been agreed to when the contract was signed). The problems that arise are quite logical. Les was hired on the basis that he has a wealth of experience and will be able to design a curriculum for the program. I was hired as a foreign teacher who was to assist with curriculum design. Ivany was hired as the third teacher. The fact that there has been little communication (which has not been for want of trying) between the three teachers creates a problem. We are basically designing our own course plans for the year, all of which are totally independent of one another. The way things appear now, the wheels are never going to fit the car. It is rather frustrating, but being the youngest and least experienced of the crew, I don’t believe it is my place to start pointing fingers. Like I said, although it has been nice to have been left alone to teach, I would much prefer to have been given a guideline to teach to, as it is now I am just trying to pick useful topics to teach the students. The odds of what I am teaching smoothly corresponding with what has been/is being taught in the other two classes are (as you could imagine) quite low. While the overall level of the students English is improving, I think the overall goal of achieving a four-year medical English program is as far away as it was 4 months ago. Another personal problem that arises is that I am designing a curriculum to teach English, something I have no experience in, and while am I confident I can do the job, I do not believe it is what the planners had in mind. Ah well, it wouldn’t be any fun without a bit of drama eh?!