圣诞节快乐 and 新年快乐! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I hope no one reading this is convinced that I have suddenly acquired some new-fangled Chinese skills. This would not be the case. However, since I'm writing from the future and since 2013 is already here, who knows what will come of the new year.

I won't dwell or reminisce too much about 2012, other than to say I'm a wee bit glad it's over. It was one of the most... full... years I've probably ever had. I'm tired, but the time has flown. Teachers at our school usually feel like the first semester is never ending with no Christmas/New Year holidays and multiple 6-day work weeks between October and January. However, this year the sand has slipped through the glass at a ridiculous rate. It's January 1st. In 3 weeks I'll be on a plane south. And next year will move me out of the PRC's northeast down to the sprawl of Shanghai.

Yup, I'll be on the road again this summer, but China seems to have kept it's grip. MM (my endlessly delightful lady friend) and I have both acquired jobs at an IB school in Shanghai for the 2013-2014 school year, and we'll be packing up for the move south in coming months. Although I had my heart set on SE Asia, Shanghai will be an excellent stepping stone and will hopefully provide me/us with more experience with which to pursue jobs elsewhere in the world. And I'll be able to get my fill of fake China shoes and hockey jerseys. If anyone is interested, start putting in your orders now!

For the timebeing, I need to stop procrastinating and begin facing the endless pile of papers in front of me. Only 3 more classes remain in the semester and I need to get a move on.

To all the fam and friends around the world, much love from China and I"m hoping that 2013 brings ya'll a bucket of happiness, a wagon of good health, and a dump truck full of prosperity. Make sure you're in Western Canada in July. And don't hesitate to book a flight so you can come and visit. All the best...

T

With great power comes great responsibility (I'm not the one with great power)

Participating in the democratic process through the media is a challenging thing. As an audience member wanting to join in, one has little power to choose what is published and what isn't, what voices are brought to the forefront of a discussion and which are ignored. And even when someone chooses to present an alternative perspective, the writers at the newspaper have the ability to edit, omit, and spin whatever words come their way. This is the nature of the beast, and I put my hand in its mouth.

I didn't actually get bit. In reality, I got what I wanted: publication. Of course, leaving my words in the hands of someone else allows room for  comment, editing, and a careful portrayal of the words which were sent out. This I knew and expected. And it's what I received. Regardless, for those people who took the time to read my complete response, thank you. I feel strongly that the articles are not representative of my school reality. I do not work for a perfect system, but I've seen a great deal of improvement this year and more hope is on the horizon. Our students don't deserve the bad press, nor do our teachers.

After my first email (with the letter seen previously), the writer at the Sun responded with a link to further stories which are also very critical of the company I work for. I sent a follow up email the same day  which was a little bit more strongly worded. Of course, she used all of this email and less than half of my original letter. However, I don't regret sending it. It makes some points that otherwise would not have been shared.

The link to that article is at the bottom of this post, and my most recent letter to the aforementioned Education columnist is below. I edited it quite a bit from the letter I'd planned earlier in the day. Hopefully I won't add any more flammable fodder to an unreasonably well-stoked fire. Thanks again for all the support.

My final correspondence to the Sun:

Thank you for printing part of my correspondence on your blog. It's unfortunate that you didn't point anyone toward the positive comments from 10 or more current or former ML teachers, two former students, and more than one non-ML teacher which can be found in response to a number of your articles; it was to these comments I referred to in my letter, not simply the few emails you received directly. However, you printed important parts of my letter and email, which I appreciate. It's good to see that a little balance found its way into the column, even if these alternate perspectives were perhaps portrayed negatively.

I hope that the graduates from our program who work hard to legitimately earn their Dogwood Diplomas aren't hurt by your articles. The same goes for the dedicated teachers who invest their time in the students of our school. I am sure that wasn't your intention; however, it's a potential reality because of the way you've chosen to develop your articles.

Thanks again for your time.

The article can be found HERE.

And for those who are still reading, consider sending a letter yourself one day. Putting pen to paper is still a powerful expression of the democratic process. Even if you can't tether spoken words to your tongue to pull back in times of embarrassment, saying it is better than silence. 

T

My letter to the Vancouver Sun

As promised yesterday, below is my letter to the Vancouver Sun editorial staff. J.S. is the Education writer for the Sun, and recently wrote an article about the company I work for. I will admit that I have my own criticisms of the system that has been in place, but things are continually improving. The accusations made in the article are unbalanced, are an example of poor journalism, and represent the views of a disgruntled employee who had a number of reasons to complain publicly that were not connected to the reality of her job. I've never been one to keep my opinion to myself, so I responded. The content of my letter is below if you're interested. The link for the article in the Sun can be found at the bottom of this post. Read if you have time and have any interest in keeping journalism in western Canada balanced.

T

*          *           *           *

Hi,

I am a BC certified teacher working for the Maple Leaf International School in Dalian, China. I teach high school English in the BC program and recently read your article and the related blog posts about the school in Tianjin. As I'm sure you've guessed, many of our teachers have read it. 

I first want to say that I thought your article seemed to be missing a great deal of information about the school program accused of academic dishonesty, and you did a good job of making it seem like the Maple Leaf program and the BC offshore programs were in dire straits.

Shannon Davis, the principal complainant, is not a BC certified teacher, doesn't work in the BC program or even in the BC high school, and doesn't teach any BC curriculum. She is an ESL/EFL teacher at the middle school, which is independent of the BC program. My first year with Maple Leaf was with our ESL Middle School program in Dalian, and I was never directly connected to the BC academic program at the high school until I applied for a transfer. I worked with 4-5 other foreign teachers, but I was under the jurisdiction of the Chinese school program staff. The curriculum taught was locally developed, as are most ESL programs overseas. To an outsider this difference can seem irrelevant. However, when you're criticizing a Ministry-certified off-shore program, you should be making a differentiation between certified BC teachers in academic courses under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, and those teaching ESL/EFL/ELL. You do mention that one BC teacher was involved in the complaint, but the person goes unnamed and it is unclear if they are merely lending support to Ms. Davis or if they are making accusations toward the BC program. There is a large difference between the two.

Did you inquire into the reasons for the complaints? Did you attempt to contact other teachers not named in the emails to see if they supported these accusations beyond those who have left? I don't know Ms. Davis, but I would expect that other people beyond the two mentioned in the email would have something to say. I have been working with Maple Leaf for a few years and my dealings with administration in our program have always been professional, and they have never pressured me to increase or inflate grades. I know pressure comes from students, parents, and sometimes from non-BC staff for English grades to be higher, but at the end of the day, our students in the BC program are made accountable by the 40% provincial exam mark in English/Communications 12, which is graded in BC by a group of experienced, trained, and non-Maple-Leaf-affiliated teachers. Furthermore, the accusation of inflating grades would typically refer to report cards and transcripts; however, the middle school (where Ms. Davis is/was an employee) doesn't issue report cards until December. If the accusations were made weeks/months ago, how was Ms. Davis being influenced if the teachers never provided reports to students/parents? Likewise, if her immediate supervisors were forcing her to "give inaccurate grades", in what way did this happen? An ESL curriculum developed for middle school students would obviously be much different than a fully-integrated, BC certified course.

You refer to Ms. Davis by name. You also said that "a couple of the teachers who shared their stories with [you]" were "fleeing China with a plan to write a book about their experiences." Not to nitpick in the details, but using a word like "fleeing" implies that the teacher is in danger of some sort of repercussions beyond losing her job. Refugees flee genocide. Criminals flee a crime scene. If these teachers were leaving, they did not "flee". If people want to leave this job, the door is there. If they are let go, there would be a reason.

I'm curious, too, about the details relating to the school "harass[ing]" them and creating "an unsafe environment". Some detail here would be helpful. Making such statements without specific evidence or detail allows readers to create any sort of myth they choose. I know this rhetorical strategy is effective to sway the minds of your audience, but doesn't it take away from your professional sense of integrity?

As to the inclusion and reference to the audio tape of the staff meeting, you include a single, frustrated quote from Mr. Ryan Waurynchuk, the Tianjin high school principal. You say that it was "possibly the most interesting" piece in the puzzle you were trying to assemble. The thing I found interesting was the reality that the quote doesn't show him being offensive, demeaning, or unprofessional.  If Ms. Davis wasn't the one taping the staff meeting, don't you think you should tell readers who it was and explain why they don't step forward to share their grievances publicly? In contrast, it is extremely unprofessional to send a recording of a staff meeting to a newspaper without raising concerns in the proper and expected way first. If a BC teacher was taping this staff meeting, he/she would be stepping outside of profession expectations; teachers are expected to discuss problems and bring issues to administrative bodies before taking them to the next level.  Also, if you're going to imply that there was something untoward said in the meeting, why not quote it? Why hide behind the veil of insinuation?

My final point is again related to your intimations that all BC off-shore schools were under fire from the Ministry; you do so in one way by referencing your own article from last year in a related blog post on the Vancouver Sun website. I read last year's article. The accusations in the current article against the BC program refer to the practice in the school of inflating grades to get kids into universities. However, the article you reference from last year stated the following: "Alberta's inspections are much more robust [than Ontario's] and although Cosco didn't review B.C.'s inspection process, she concluded, based on interviews with staff, that they are similar to Alberta's." Wouldn't this show that the BC off-shore schools are actually "robust" and rigorous in meeting and maintaining the standards of the Ministry according to your own references?

Inspectors from the Ministry check planning and curricular documents from the department level (overviews and calendars developed by departments) down to the individual teacher (term, unit, and lesson plans showing both long-term and short-term planning and assessment) to make sure everything is in line. These documents are developed in conjunction with the Ministry-created Prescribed Learning Outcomes for all courses. And this happens every year—schools in BC are inspected only every 5 years. I wonder what your motivation is in criticizing a BC-accredited program that is faithfully maintaining teaching standards in accordance with BC standards.  The effect of your article could have ramifications for our students, who legitimately graduate with a BC Dogwood diploma; they could also negatively impact the hard-working teachers who plan to seek employment elsewhere in the future.

My sincere hope is that future articles are more balanced and more thoroughly researched than this current article and other related blog entries.

Articles referenced:

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/11/23/teacher-distress-at-a-b-c-certified-school-in-china/

 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Teachers+allege+grade+inflation+contract+violations/7603331/story.html

Participating in your democracy

Although I currently live in a place where democracy isn't effectively or widely practiced, and the governmental style is one of control rather than discussion and debate, I've always felt it necessary in my life to share my opinion when I felt people were out of line and speak up publicly when things needed to be said. More will come tomorrow, but I'll be sending a letter to the Vancouver Sun regarding the education reporter's most recent article concerning accusations of grade inflation, intimidation, and academic dishonesty in a BC off-shore school. After sending it, I'll post the text of the letter here on the blog. Stay tuned...

T

A Challenge

Friends,

A good friend and colleague, has made a small challenge. As you know, I'm currently growin' a Mo for Movember. He is a reluctant supporter, but he said he'd donate $60 if I shave HALF my moustache this week while allowing the other half to grow for the rest of the month. However, $60 isn't enough to ruin the beauty (and make me feel okay about alienating the delightful Miss M).

My challenge to you: Donate. If my total donations exceeds $600 by Friday and my colleagues raise an additional $300 for my MoSpace, I will do it and look like a fool for the final week of the month. Any supporters out there? Making me look ridiculous is just one more reason to donate. Rally your friends... call your parents. Make it happen. 

http://mobro.co/TMoRAK

My message to MM today via Facebook

This is a message I sent to MM today over Facebook... it may get me into hot water, but with the taste sensation exploding in my mouth, I simply don't care.

"So, our friends think we're competing with each other and attempting to one-up each other over the food we make on a nearly daily basis. I tried to go on the defensive and explain to them how absurd they were being. Then, as my southern-style chipotle and black bean chili simmered on the stove, and I thought back to my amazing pre-lunch indulgence of homemade Greek salad (two kinds of olives, a bucket of feta, and more sauce than Granny shakes her wooden spoon at) and my lunch-lunch of red Thai curry (of which my student from Thailand said, "smells just like Thailand!"), I thought they might be right. And I'm winning."

Don't judge me too harshly. But do, please, come by for dinner sometime. It's only a short flight to DongBei.

T

My, how far we've come

There are so many moments in my life that I wonder about the state of the world. I could wax nostalgic about better days in the past when people weren't cruel, when people didn't encourage bad behaviour, when people didn't do miserable, awful things to each other. But I know I'd look the fool. The "good old days" weren't necessarily better. It's easy to say, "That didn't happen when I was that age." Reality check: it did.

The difference now is about how widespread the misery can be made. Today, we're wired. Andriods, wifi, laptops, apps, data, continual and constant feedback and information being sent around our Twitter-verse. Google+, Facebook, blogs (guilty as charged), micro-blogs, newsreels, rss feeds, and a whole host of other jargon-filled technological indulgence allows endless access to an audience for bullies, predators, criminals, and miscreants of all colours, shapes, and sizes. Small, ridiculous vendettas can become the stuff of personal ruin and cause enough damage to warrant a psychological breakdown. 

The story of Amanda Todd goes far past that of bullying. When I read the article on the CBC the other day, I was sad about how cruel kids could be to each other. I thought a great deal about this last year during "the incident" and how helpless I felt to stop it. Bullying can be many things, but the story of this poor girl is so much more brutal and despicable. Sure, bullying was a part of it, but that's only one facet.YouTube took down the video she posted around the time of her suicide. However, this isn't something that should be hidden, and the video is back online. You'll see by some of the comments that there are a tonne of despicable vermin on the internet who think it's funny/helpful/righteous to continue to show ignorance and hatred toward this girl, even now that she's dead. They put blame on her and express the belief that she was responsible for this herself. But this isn't simply bullying... it's victimization, continual and widespread. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej7afkypUsc  It began with an event of sexual coercion and predation which turned into blackmail and a snowballing course of emotional and psychological abuse over months and years. A foolish decision made by a seventh-grade girl turned Amanda Todd into a pariah who was victimized, blackmailed, and emotionally/psychologically assaulted by someone who decided that, since she wouldn't give up more of what he wanted, he was going to do his best to ruin her. From there, it was all downhill. And in today's day and age, it's impossibly easy. After this episode of villainy, Amanda Todd began victimizing herself and never found her way out of a very dark place. The post-assault bullying that took place at school after school was beyond cruel and impossible to imagine. Beaten, shunned, ostracized. I regret every moment where I was a beast by making fun of those who I deemed "below" me. And please read THIS ARTICLE.

I'm not so pessimistic to say that only bad things come from our wired world. Fundraising, peace campaigns, education and so many other facets of the modern age are helping to fight against ignorance, racism, bigotry, and connect people in ways that were never possible before. But within the walls of this glossy new world, the dark reality is too hard to ignore. We have become not only an impatient people seeking immediate satisfaction and immediate feedback, but we've also created a beast that can exponentially enhance both good and evil in ways that are hard to fathom. Does the good outweigh the misery? Not when a young girl turns to suicide as her only hope.

T

Even when they don't get it right...

... they get it right. This was what the barista heard when I ordered my americano and provided my given name. Although not technically accurate, it seems apt all the same.

It's all about the little things in life. From Kuala Lumpur and the rest of Asia...

T

Constant departures...

3 ferries (66km), 3 flights (7846km), 3 trains (923km), one sailboat ride (about 20kms), 2 buses (1281km), multiple car trips (approximately 2134km), 2 bears, multiple eagles, one skunk, countless gophers, one osprey which outfished me, a mama moose, a gaggle of deer.

This was my summer in a numerical nutshell.

I've had big travel dreams for years. In the spring of 2000, when I made my first trip out to the west coast with the family, I knew there was something more to this desire to see everything I could lay my goggled eyes on. It didn't take long to realize that those desires were going to be expanded from seeing Canada to stepping foot on as much of the planet as possible. For what other reason could I justify the thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours that I've spent on flights, trains, buses, taxis, ferries, tuktuks, motorbikes, and rickshaws? Work? Not really... I can find places to teach at home if I desperately wanted to. Nope... there was something more there the whole time.

I've talked about it before, but part of it was definitely linked to the heavily-accented stories told by my grandmother as I grew up in the prairie lands. Often the rest of the family got bored or uncomfortable when, inevitably, the stories would turn tragic and would rekindle a deep sadness my grandmother felt. I'm certain there was a sense of abandonment there too, leaving and ensuring her own safety, all the while knowing that more people would suffer under the newly-communist former Yugoslavia, just after the war was "won" against the Nazis. One could spend a lot of time debating what it means to win a war.

Luckily for me, I didn't come from poverty and other than giving up the requisite trips to Disneyland that my more affluent friends and acquaintances seemed to have taken care of before the age of 15 (when I say "give up", I mean I didn't exactly have the opportunity and my McDonald's earnings sure weren't being saved to make it happen). I came from a family who did, however, think I was crazy for embarking on my Europe excursion and they still believe (after I've been overseas in China for going on 4 years) that I'm nuts for living on the other side of the Great Firewall of the PRC. But they know... they see the glint in my eye as I get ready to hop on a plane, and they can sense my oncoming and ever-enduring verbal diarrhea when I talk about the flights/people/adventures I've experienced. This life isn't for everyone, but it sure is for me.

My Canada trip took me across 6 provinces, from one coast to another, and into different beds nearly every few days. I was exhausted when I returned "home" again to Dalian and it was wonderful to retreat into my place of comfort again. I got to see Canada's most beautiful cities all in one (expensive) fell swoop and my life continues to be more rich because of it. When I finally got back to China, I noticed that the techno music hadn't gotten any quieter and people don't spit less often, but I have grown to love the land of the People's Republic. As with experience in novelty, one can grow tired.

Thus, here I am, enjoying free Wifi at Starbucks on Victoria Road in Singapore. No firewall, no spitting ($1000 fine if you do!), and no problems just being. Other than trying to sort out the free Wifi system they offer to all locals. I'm down in order to pursue potential jobs for next year with my lady in tow. I'm hoping for some good luck. For now, though, the cosmopolitan surroundings I'm indulging right now will suffice, It's easy to get lost in all the accented vernacular here, but I'll indulge nonetheless.

As always, from the road (which is ever-changing), much love.

T

Curious incidents...?

This is a story from a few weeks ago that is simply just too good to not re-tell...

I'm just arriving home on a Friday night with a couple friends in tow. We're planning to enjoy a few sodas before embarking on a night out with a bunch of the new teachers. MM is at my apartment getting some things ready.

So MM notices this weird wet spot on the floor in my bedroom, and since we'd both been gone all day, this is strange. She decides to investigate. She sniffs it. She touches it. Neither of these sensory endeavours yield information. Still uncertain, she decides to lick her finger so to taste the substance making up the mysterious wet spot. She's still confused... she mentions the fact that there's a wet spot on my bedroom floor. I'm thinking that it may have rained during the day and it came in the window. We hang out for a couple of hours, then head out on the town. Because we're busy, we forget about it. Coming home later, I step in something wet but I'm too tired to deal with it. It's late, I'm exhausted.

In the morning, I wake up with a start, I hear a loud sound coming from outside. Nope... inside. It's not just any sound... it's barking. It was the sound of a dog barking. Like, 10 feet away from my bed, in the hallway. In my apartment. The dog is barking loud. I get scared, put on some pants, and investigate. No dog. I go out to the patio. No dog. Then, though, I see the girl next door on her patio. Her pet pug is on the patio with her. I go back inside. I see a puddle against/beside the hutch in my entrance.

I then realize one of the consequences of living on the top floor of an apartment building in China, where apartments have connected balconies. A dog had been using my apartment for a pee/playground when I left my patio door open. I also realize my girlfriend licked dog urine.

T

Year #4 and another long hiatus

As per usual, the time seems to disappear without notice. In a mere two days, October will be over. Just last week it was summer, but yesterday we got our first taste of the cool north wind funneling down from the hinterlands of Siberia. And somehow, barely after being able to remember the names of my new students, I'm hopping on a plane for my first holiday of the year.

My new job as Department Head has been, well, full. I'm the head of English 11, which has about 12 teachers between Intro to Lit and English 11 classes. I've got a full load of English courses myself that are keeping me plenty busy, and since we've already sent home our first round of report cards, the month of September was anything but quiet. Multiple meetings per week with my department, the admin, and our new English coordinator... regular and ongoing emails with department colleagues, coordinating teaching strategies with the other grade levels, and trying to keep up on my marking/planning. It's hard for me to believe that in just my fourth year here, I'm considered one of the "olds"... full of wisdom, knowledge and guidance. What is the school/world coming to?? 

My new assignment also brought me a change of venue over to the Girls' Campus. This has been a weird but fun adjustment. I find myself much more calm in the classroom and the constant spitting in the hallways and lack of interest in the classroom aren't nearly as evident. Whether it's because of the DH job or that my classes (including my homeroom) are all taught in the same classroom and I don't have to share with anyone else, I'm not exactly sure what the reason is, but I know that things feel much better this year. I even have a couple of my old middle school students from 3 years ago in my English class. My decorating talents pale in comparison to my Zhou Enlai homeroom (top students in the grade), but the girls just take care of everything and make it awesome. The girls can be loud and boisterous and they like to laugh. I'd come to assume that it'd be like pulling teeth to get them talking. Nope... definitely not the case. I even feel like I'm finally starting to figure out this teaching thing. Who knows? Maybe I'll make a run at being a decent teacher after all.

But enough about work. It's vacation time! The wonderful MM and I are leavin' on a jet plane for Kuala Lumpur and Singapore for the next week. It wasn't exactly a financially frugal trip, but the hope is that we'll come back with more potential for jobs for next year in much more tropical, much more beautiful locales. Your duty (for those few readers who read this nonsense), is to cross fingers, say prayers, or burn some incense to inspire some good luck to float our way.

I have a post from the summer that I'll post soon about my travels, and another one about an an unexpected incident of a mystery animal in the nighttime. Those will come soon (quite possibly during layovers en route to the tropics). Until then...

T

I'm still alive (and a shout-out to Momsy)

As has been the trend this semester/year, distractions, busyness, and a general sense of contentment and fatigue have kept me from this place I used to frequent oh-so-much. A distraction is coming in the form of a, well, friend, and between playing baseball (I'm now an official member of the Jinshitan Jays, and have been starting at 3rd or 1st base the past few games) and practicing for volleyball and running tutorials and organizing my badminton club, I haven't had a tonne of down-time. And it's finally spring! And I'm only 7 weeks to Canada! So much is happening and there's so much to think about that, at the end of the day, neglect you (4 or 5) dedicated readers of my life.

I also just returned from a fantastic little vacation to Korea, and since returning I keep thinking to myself (a la Liz Lemon), "I want to go to there," again. Clean, fun, coffee EVERYWHERE, and some amazing entertainment at the baseball stadium (two games and the best fans ever) made it a destination I want to return to. Who knows... maybe even as a place of employment.

For the timebeing (knowing full-well that it's a few hours too late), I just wanted to wish my mom, Gran Mrak, Grams Miller, and all the other amazing women and moms I know that they're awesome... Happy Mother's Day!

Now, though, I must dash. More soon (I promise)... from your deadbeat but upbeat friend from across the street (and across the pond).

Much love from Chinaland.

T

Happy St. Paddy's (not St. Patty's)

At 1am last night (this morning?), my phone beeps and buzzes on my bedside table. Text message. I've been in bed for nearly 3 hours. I know, quite the impressive outing on St. Patrick's Day. I roll over, check the message and see that it's from my big bro back in Canada (obviously he's having trouble calculating the time change... I received one from him at 4am last week). It's a slightly random message to say Happy St. Patrick's Day, but he wanted to make sure that I knew it was "St. Paddy" and not "St. Patty". Thinking this was slightly ridiculous, the next day I show the text to my lady-friend MM (who is about as Irish as they come in Canada), and she concurs. Not really explaining why that's the case other than "Patty is short for Patricia, duh!", I argue with her. I was suspicious that it was a bunch of bollocks. We banter back and forth and I abandon it because I really have no idea which is right. And an Irish girl should know, right?

As I turn on my computer and check my emails/facebook, I realize that my brother has proof via interweb. I hate admitting he's right, but it seems that he is. And MM is quick to point this out. Not a surprise there :)

So if you want to know why it's "Paddy" and not "Patty", go here: http://paddynotpatty.com/

My family has a wee bit 'o the Irish in us, so I make sure I mention this bit at our gathering last night. Hopefully good luck will find me.

T

New days

A big blanket of a blue sky is filling the windows of my office. My officemates are chipper, although one of them is buzzing and tapping and is being a bit crazy from a caffeine overdose which hit him just before 3rd block. I just finished my PE block out on the field (teaching Chinese kids BASEBALL!) and was able to comfortably don a hoodie and scarf while my winter jacket sat idly nearby. The Ides of March have arrived, but not with dark omens... if anything, they bring brighter days as spring slowly springs into the greater Dalian area. Every year here, I wait (im)patiently

The fallout from Friday has been a mix of good and bad. Countless students have approached me asking if I'm okay, a couple classes have had conversations focused on the fact that they were worried about me and that they were happy to hear that I was alright, and the staff/admin at my school on both the BC and Chinese sides have been extremely supportive. Everyone seems to have made positive decisions in regards to what happened and I continue to feel safe and comfortable at work. On the flip side, I've run into a few problems with students here and there (I'm not sure how much is related to last Friday, but I'm working through the issues one by one), and my weekend away with the hockey guys didn't really help my immune system. Knowing that I was already feeling a bit sick last Thursday meant that my ingestion of a tonne of greasy food and too much, well, soda, allowed for the arrival of a fever on Monday night and forced me to take Tuesday off from work. I was at work on Monday. And I was back again yesterday (Wednesday). And I'm here today, on the road to recovery, mentally, emotionally, and physically. It's been a good day so far and I keep counting these little moments of contentment as victories. I live a pretty amazing life most of the time, and although I've been forced to face my share of rough water in recent years, I know that my life is full of amazing people and fantastic experiences.

I was asked via email if I was able to find a teachable moment in the midst of what's happened. I don't know if I have. It's tough. It hasn't been a collective tragedy for people to get behind and work together to sort out. There was no school assembly, there was very little discussion as a school, and although the students all know what happened, it's hard to guage how they're feeling about everything. Whether it's language or cultural barriers, especially for my grade tens (which is 75% of my teaching load), I'm not sure what's will come of all of this. Have I been able to connect with a few kids lately that I hadn't connected with previously? Yes. Have I become more aware of myself and my teaching habits and how I treat the boys? Most definitely. Do I think I'm to blame for what happened? No. Regardless, an opportunity is here, and once things settle, I think I'll begin to use it to make connections that I may have been more willing to neglect in past days/weeks/months with the continually hormonal boys I teach. I'm definitely more eager to build more bridges today than I was only a week ago. Just like everything, we get caught up in our own personal dramas and we neglect so much of what matters.

My office continues to be full of laughter, as it is almost every day. I have a ridiculously eclectic group of friends in the confines of these four walls and we're constantly howling with laughter. And there's the sunshine. And the scent of spring riding the wind. And the emails/phone calls/messages from people all over the world. And my cold is slowly disappearing. Did I mention the sunshine and two hours of baseball I get to play today? Yep, there's that too.

Thanks for all the messages, prayers, and worries that have been shared this past week. I'm doing well and I'll continue to do well.

I hope that my more humourous stories of China and the world will find their way back here soon. Until then.

T

I didn't expect this to be my first post-travel blog post.

I don't know how to begin writing this down. Two days detached, it seems surreal, like a dream, or an acquired memory from a long-forgotten movie. Like when your parents tell you a story about you as a child, and as you continue to hear the story you begin to believe that you actually own the memory. But it remains hazy, as if seen through the fog in a steam-filled shower before work.

Friday morning, I believed that my biggest problem was the fact that I had only had one cup of coffee before my first class at school and that I'd forgotten my computer's power cord at my apartment, thirty minutes away. I thought to myself, "This is not a good start to Friday." Luckily for me, I had a weekend planned with the hockey boys in Shenyang and fully expected to add to my stats sheet. My hockey playing career only started last spring and I hoped to lace up some skates for two or three more shifts with the Ice Dragons.

Again, as I think about how to actually go about telling the story I get stuck. I think about a million details that are irrelevant and even as you read these words, I'm fully aware that I'm having a hard time getting to the point. Thus, I'm going to write it in the simplest way possible. Just so you know, I'm fine and so is everyone else that was present on Friday morning.

A student, one of my students, pulled two knives on me at the end of a PE class on Friday morning. 

I know this seems ridiculous and impossible to believe. However, it's true. I still have a hard time getting past the reality of it. I did not get hurt/injured. No students were hurt. The student was disarmed by a group of teachers in the gymnasium. He likewise was unhurt.

After a blow-up earlier in the class (he was asked to sit on the side after refusing to participate, and then subsequently left the gym and was found in the campus restaurant), I spent about 10 minutes speaking to him, calming him down (he was extremely upset), and gave him a choice to return to class or to return to the main campus and wait for our VP who was in a meeting. He chose to head back to campus so I watched him walk across the street, enter the teaching building, and I returned to my class. He returned to the gym about 15 minutes later. There were approximately 80 students in the gym (3 other classes were there), plus my students were in the adjoining ping-pong room. I was speaking to another student in the main gym area just as the period was winding down. He strode across the gym calmly and approached me and the other student. I asked him to wait nearby, finished my conversation, sent the one student back into the ping-pong room, and confronted the boy, asking him if he'd had a chance to talk to our VP. He then pulled two knives out of his pockets and screamed that he was going to kill me. For a split-second I had the urge to laugh, thinking of how absurd the whole thing was. However, after looking at his eyes, looking at the blades (shiny, sharp, brand new, one in each hand), I took a step back. He took a step toward me. He kept coming so I ran and he pursued me across the gym. I was able to get a badminton net between us. In the next few minutes of making sure the teachers understood the severity of what was happening, we tried to contact our VP/Principal with no luck. Another teacher intervened, the other remaining teachers moved students out of the gym, and I ran to the second floor to get our principal and VP. After getting them out of their meeting and returning to my own class to get them sequestered, I returned to the gym and the boy had been disarmed by two teachers, our VP and a number of the Chinese staff.

As I sit here reflecting on everything that happened, I think a thousand thoughts. And I'm sure you all have a million questions. Had I had problems with the student before? Well, yes, but it had little to do with me. He's a student who's extremely "young" emotionally. He has also, from what I can gather, been the victim of bullying. Some of this happened in my class and he had a blow-up a few weeks ago. I got him calmed down, told him that I'm here to talk and support him and promised him that if I ever heard about any incidents of bullying that I'd help him and take care of it. After calming him down and allowing him the option to speak to his homeroom teacher, I had a lengthy discussion with my class about bullying, respect, and working together. I talked to a few individuals in this class as well, making it very clear that bullying wouldn't be tolerated. This was weeks ago and there was nothing that I could see that made me think it was continuous or on-going. He didn't bring it up with me again.

Did I think the boy was dangerous? No. It's still hard for me to believe it happened. Where did he get the knives from? Likely some sort of regular market. The knives were more or less brand new paring knives with very sharp blades. Not big, but big enough. 

And yes, I'm fine. I'm stressed, I'm a bit anxious about what my classes are going to be like on Monday morning, but yes, I'm okay. I don't know what's going to happen with the kid. I don't know what we, as a school, will do about this. I know that I'm not the only one who has experienced these sorts of things. And I know that I haven't given up hope in humanity. Not completely, anyway.

As a special word of thanks, to RS, RH, and DN, the other PE teachers in the gym with me Friday morning, you guys had my back and looked out for the kids. Thank you for that. Also thanks to all my coworkers and particularly to MM who has done everything possible to make me feel better since it happened.

On we walk.

T

Lazy blogger

It's Saturday afternoon in Penang, Malaysia. I've had more downtime this year than any previous vacation, but I can't seem to find time to write anything of interest. I've got some stories, but they'll come soon. 

I'm off to Phuket, Thailand tomorrow to do my PADI open-water diving certification (and hopefully a couple days in Krabi for some rockclimbing), and sadly I have to return to work in 2 weeks. As always, though, this is a pretty awesome life I get to lead. More stories, pictures, and information will be posted when I'm back. For now, I'm in need of something that is bursting with chilis. Much Asia love, all. For now, food calls.

T