Bennerley Geography

So hopefully this page will become a page about my trip to China. I had intended to write about things as they happened and keep a bit of an online diary on the blog but I couldn’t access it whilst I was away and then completley failed to keep a written record of everything I did and the situations I managed somewhat effortlessly to get myself into and then somehow get out of.

So why did I go… aside from the week out of school and the half term week to use how I wanted to whilst I was in China. Well Bennerley School has been linked with Si Yuan Junior High School in Shanghai, which has happened through a link set up by Derbyshire County Council and with the help of the British Council. Hopefully this link will develop over the coming years into something that will really benefit everyone in the school.

So how does the trip start… so I’ve got a flight at about 7 in the evening on cup final day, it was the beer festival the day before and the Manics in Sheffield the day before that, add in trying to get learner marks and levels done and various other social events it became a pretty hectic week. So 10am on the day I’m flying I’m in Tesco queing to buy a suitcase as I’ve just decided I don’t want to just be lugging my rucksack rammed full around, and that a second bag would be a good idea, and people say I’m not organised. Anyway get to the airport really early in order to watch the cup final, what a waste of time.. so then its off on the flight to Paris and then on to Shanghai with a bottle of Champagne given to a birthday girl on the way to Paris by Air France and then confiscated by the French security people for their party later that night.

We arrive in Shanghai at about 4pm and I don’t feel tired at all, for the first time ever I had really good sleep on a plane apart from people literally climbing over me to get out of their seat. So this is when I get the first culture shock, waiting for the lift down to catch our bus there we are being patient and not rushing about and I realise that the Chinese people are hell bent on getting to the lift whether we are waiting or not, and that if there is floor in that lift not being used someone was going to use it whether it infringed on your personal space or not. Still though we made it to the hotel and got on with the serious business of getting scrubbed up ready for dinner and having a beer to relax…

Its about 8pm Sunday evening in Shanghai, which makes it midday back in the UK, I should be exhausted but thanks to my sleep I’m not, so I’m just a bit disorientated, and really hungry but aside from that I’m not doing to bad. Up we go to dinner, and we’re not in the restaurant, which seemed a bit strange. We find out we’ve been given our own room, turns out its not in case we cause a scene, instead its more of a culture thing. If you are in a large group you can have your own room with your own waiter where you can be as noisy as you want and aren’t disturbed by other people.

Now I’ve never eaten out in a Chinese restuarant, and only occaisionally had a Chinese takeaway but after being ‘told’ by Mr Jardine that I’d better not go to McDonalds I made a decision that I would try as much food as I could, the only major exception to the that rule was dog, I think if that had come out then I can honestly say I would have been sick.

Dinner starts coming in, and instead of everyone being given there own set meal loads of dishes get put on a revolving plate in the middle of the table and you help yourself. Sounds quite easy, if you’ve learnt how to use chopsticks before you’ve gone on the trip. Cue much amusement as I try to figure out how to use them. I got them working eventually but my issues with chopsticks became a source of much amusement throughout the visit. I can’t remember exactly what I ate that night, but I think I had everything except the tripe, I learnt a valuable lesson on soya beens, apparantly you have to peel them before you eat them. Why does nobody tell you this stuff?? The highlight of the dinner had to be the jellyfish, it was in small pieces and was surprisingly crunchy had a really strange texture to it and very little taste and there quite a few faces being pulled as that one went round the table.

Of course having a sleep on the plane seemed like a good idea, but trying to go to sleep on the Sunday night became a bit of a challenge, so we set off and failed to find a anywhere outside the hotel to have a quiet drink, we did however all manage to successfully buy water from a local shop and in the process annoy the shopowner as we all paid with 100 yuan notes. (This is probably about £8). At about midnight bed actually seemed like a good idea and with nothing I could understand on the tele I got my head down and tried to get to sleep to get myself ready for the week ahead.

I think if I wrote about the week in school as a day by day account I would probably get bored of writing, so this may become some sort of incoherent ramble, a bit like some of my lessons but at least theres some consistency.

On Sunday evening starting every day with Tai Qi sounded like such a good idea, a bit of exercise before breakfast, exercise at any time is usually too much of an effort. Never the less Monday morning I got kitted out in my shorts and geographer t-shirt and set about trying to co-ordinate my arms and legs moving them slowly and gracefully whilst trying to stare into the distance and forget about the fact that I probably looked more ridiculous that usual. Well this didn’t carry on, the Tai Qi that is, after the second morning of it I could barely manage to get up in time for breakfast, never mind exercise. I must admit though I did feel pretty good the days I did try it and with a less exhausting schedule I may well try it again.

Ok I know earlier I said I would try anything but dog, well I guess I kind of lied, because I made a slight exception for breakfast. I’m not entirely sure what the Chinese choices were but waking up and my body thinking it was about midnight made me lose any sense of adventure on the food front, and I don’t think I could have handled chopsticks that early in the day. So breakfast started off as donuts and crossaints, by the end of the week I think it was toast and tea, all of which I blame on… I’m not entirely sure, it could have been anything but I’m going to plump for the red hot chillis I was duped into eating on the third night with the line. ‘there not too bad, I’ve had a couple and they were fine’ only to discover with tears running down my cheeks and my mouth stuffed full of rice to take away the burning, that the chilli eater had swallowed theres instead of chewing them like normal people. I think my mouth recovered about 4 or 5 Ching Daos later, though the rest of me took a lot longer.

So what actually happened in the school. Well I spent 3 days in Bennerleys link school, the Si Yuan Middle School, before this though were taken around Shanghai to see some of the city. Beginning with the Water Factory and ending with a nursery stocked with beds for the childrens afternoon naps. Up to the age of about 6 students have a sleep in the afternoon, this means when mum and dad come in from work they can spend time with their child instead of them having to go to bed, is this a result of China’s one child policy with parents putting so much emphasis on their only child, or is it just a different culture. I for one would like an afternoon nap and can see the appeal, but then I guess we would have to stay at work later? One of the other interesting parts of the was a visit to an Eco Park. This was an area of land set aside where no building would take place and wildlife would be able to live relatively unaffected. In such a large urban area I expected it to be somewhere that people could walk around but people were not allowed in, the only way to visit was a small visitors centre with some information about the site, and thankfully a familar toilet (more of which later). The Chinese were really proud of this park, but it seemed a bit bizarre when considering the amount of smog and pollution over Shanghai. Small steps I guess but they all lead somewhere, and as we were shown in another museum there are impressive plans to make the city more sustainable.

Now I know everyone is intrigued by the toilets, the hotel, great no problem, major tourist places, great no problem. The school, whoa was that a shock. I’ve seen holes in the dirt as a toilet in Tunisia, this was just as big a shock. I walked in and there was a trench in the tiles with dividing walls but no door, I guess its a bit of a social event rather than a private moment. The other part of this is remembering to take your own paper with you, and I don’t mean to read. Of course walking round with a roll of Andrex would probably make you look a bit weird, so take a bag and hope its waterproof incase it rains.

Si Yuan Middle School, well I spent 3 days visiting the school, and I have never felt so welcome. Every classroom I was shown into I got a round of applause, that took some getting used to, and the fruit everytime we had a break, that first week has to have been the healthiest I had since I left home. The first day in school was really daunting, not knowing any Chinese except hello and thankyou, and I think Arabella, who looked after me whilst I was there was just as nervous as me but we got there in the end. So we started with a nice gentle tour of the school, seeing some of the lessons which seemed very prescribed. I got involved with one of the English Geography lessons where the students were learning about sustainability and another where they were on the rainforest, the students English was very good but I think they had spent some time practicing to make sure they knew what to say, still very impressive though.

It was after this point that music became a theme for the next couple of days. We were whisked off to another school for a musical performance by Junior children. Now when I was at school I had the Eastenders tune nailed on the recorder, and wasn’t bad at I would do anything for love on the piano by the time I was leaving school. I think these pupils had passed that already, and the instruments looked so complex to play. I had a go on one of them, the best way to describe it is like a xylophone but with strings, and several rows of notes to strike. These children were playing it with such ease, me on the other hand made it look like rocket science and had to be shown by a pupil much to every ones amusement, and even then couldn’t do it. That was just the start of the musical nightmare.

PE is a subject I have loved teaching this year, sadly taken from me for next year so no longer will my legs be gracing the staffroom. During the first day in Si Yuan myself and Lynn Davies from Highfield School were treated to a display of some of the activities that I guess are classes as their PE lessons. Lucky for us we didn’t have to face the sun, but oh how I yearned for a chair to sit down on and rest my weary feet. So we stood there in the heat watching Kung Fu, Tai Qi and Dragon and Lion Dances. These students must spend a long time practicing them, and they were all together in unison, row after row of students, boys and girls being led over a loud speaker with the teacher standing on watching from the front. To think that students all over China would probably be learning these same activities which seemed very regimented was fascinating. I think what made the Tai Qi so interesting was the fact that we kept seeing people in parks exercising in this way, and without worry of being mocked or ridiculed, something which I doubt could happen in our country. Somehow I don’t think I will be the person who is brave enough to go onto Granby Park in the morning to get my exercise.

As I left at the end of that first day in Si Yuan I was asked if I would teach a lesson the next day. Of course I would, I explained to Arabella I had lots of videos and pictures from Bennerley and I would like to share them with her students. So Wednesday morning I arrive with a pen drive full of pictures and videos expecting to go into a classroom. Oh no, that would be too easy. Into the hall with several classes of students, lots of teachers and a video camera. OK so not as easy as I would have liked but it was a bit late to back out at this point.