The O's Odyssey to China: From Bicycles to Scooters

Well Ok!!! This was a very interesting week in China. As I said before I am going to try and categorize the blog into the three sections of teaching, adventures and then a summary of the week for things that don't fit into the other two categories.

TEACHING: Well after three weeks Paul, Cecelia and I have not quite settled into our schedules. For

The first day on Campus

those of you that don't know, Paul came over to bum around China while his wife and daughter taught. But both of them went home and Paul stayed and is now teaching at the school. He has a Bio Chem degree and has never taught in a classroom before. He is doing a great job teaching oral English and is very innovative. The kids love him. He is big and full of life. The kids are not used to such an outgoing and large personality.
Cecelia is struggling with the concept of language acquisition at her level. She is using her expertise and is frustrated with some of the teachers in her program. They are supposed to be teaching English, but are very unorganized with the way they go about it. She is trying to organize them and train them to do it in a way that will help their kids be more successful. She also has to do staff training as well as teach her normal classes. Her schedule is really disjointed which is also frustrating.

View of one part of the National School

As for me, I will admit I have the easiest schedule. I am the slacker. I have ten classes and a photography club. I have also been asked by the staff to train the teachers in Cecelia's section to use more English in their Math lessons. I am supporting Cecelia by training the staff to use the vocabulary in all of their subject areas. It is a very Whole Language approach, but it is the IB model that they are supposed to be using and don't. Even though this is an IB Program, the model is used rather loosely. The ironic thing about training staff is that in my interview I was asked if I felt like I needed to come and change things. I told them I was coming to learn and experience their culture. I was looking forward to just teaching and prepping for Math class. I am also being asked to prepare a presentation to develop a golf program for the school from grades 3 through High School. The PE staff went to a training during the summer for golf, but are very nervous about presenting to parents in the spring. I will hopefully alleviate some of their concern with the additional training that I am going to give them.
Despite the crazy schedules and the training that we are doing we still have to appreciate the fact that we are only working about 25 hours a week. Also the one unique experience that we had this week, was teaching on a Saturday. The reason that we taught on Saturday, is that we are now on break for eight days for the mid Autumn Festival. This festival is like Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July wrapped into one. I will share more about the festival later.
The girls are doing well in school. Claire has settled in and is enjoying the variety of classes. She is enjoying Physics, Mandarin and her Design Class.
Taylor is settling a bit better. She had many classes in Mandarin and was very frustrated. We have changed her classes and she now has more work in English. Her dad is her math teacher now. She is not quite sure if things got better or worse for her. Mom is supplementing English with Book reports and California history projects. She also has Mandarin class and really enjoys movement and badminton.

ADVENTURES: Well this week began with me and my quest to find golf facilities to work on my golf game. I have found a wonderful golf course and driving range about 7 km from our home. The first time I went out to the resort, I took a rather precarious ride in a motorized ricshaw. It was fun, until the guy drove out onto the four lane highway. Your life flashes pretty quickly before your eyes when a semi truck is bearing down on you doing 70 km an hour and you are in nothing more than a glorified folding aluminum lawn chair with wheels and a motor. Once I arrived, I checked out the course but didn't have a ride back. I ended up walking the 7 km back to the house. Heck I need to stay in shape anyway. Shortly after this crazy experience we purchased inexpensive bicycles in the local village. I purchased mine for about 17 us

The bike from the Wizard of Oz

dollars and then bought Cecelia, Claire and Taylor's for slightly more. We enjoyed puttering around the village on them. The only problem with them is that puttering is about all that you can do. On Monday, I took Cecelia's bike and threw my golf bag on my shoulders and headed for the driving range. I figured 7 km on a bike would be nothing. Boy was I wrong!! Here I am riding Cecelia's bike, looking like the mean lady in The Wizard of Oz that becomes the wicked witch. I was laughing at myself because her theme song kept running through my head as I was riding. Half way to the driving range one of the pedals broke and left me with only the spindle. A little further down the road the left crank arm fell off the bike. I put it back on and nursed it to the nearest bike shop. I spent 80 rmb on new pedals and fixing the crank arm. Cecelia's bike only cost 180 rmb in the first place. I finally made it to the driving range and had a nice hour practicing. It was rather hilarious when the porter cleaned my clubs and then grabbed them to take them out to my vehicle. The look on his face when I pulled Cecelia's bike up was priceless. The ride back was just as adventurous. I felt confident that I could get back in a reasonable time with new pedals and a fixed crank arm. It was a rather uneventful ride back until I got

Uncle Paul and Tay riding his scooter in the neighborhood.

back to the village just outside of our complex. The crank arm fell off again and the seat on Cecelia's bike began to break. On top of that, I rode right into a thunderstorm that had formed near our house. I took shelter in the overhang of an ancient temple building at the park near our home. I tried to put the crank arm back on while I waited for the thunder and rain to subside. There was a slight let up in the rain and thunder so I started off again. Just before I got home the crank arm fell off again and the rain began to fall in sheets. When it rains here, it doesn't sprinkle.

The Oetinger Biker Gang out for a ride on new scooters!!!!!

It either comes down in sheets or nothing. I was totally soaked by the time I reached the house. The underlying thing that you need to know about this story, is that my brother Paul had been trying to convince me to by an electric scooter, but I didn't want to spend the money. I figured having bikes would help us stay in shape and would be cheaper.
I went down the next day and bought new scooters for Cecelia and I. We have enjoyed them immensely the last part of the week. We happily rode our scooters to the driving range as a family yesterday. It was amazingly fun.

Our Italian Villa in China!!

SUMMARY: This last week the weather got cooler after the thunderstorm that hit on Monday. It has been anywhere from 74 to 80 degrees with
very little humidity. We continue to explore our environment and are amazed by the way that they do things here. We bought a couch this week at a placed called Furniture City. Furniture City is so large that it is hard to describe. Paul and I compare it to about 10 malls in America, all filled with furniture. It is so immense that I almost got lost just going to the nearest ATM.
The food is still amazing. There is a place in the village close by that we call Muslim Noodles. It is run by a couple of really nice Chinese people named Wan and Julia. They are both Muslim, thus the name. When you order a dish that includes flat rice noodles, Wan makes them fresh for you when you order. It is an amazing sight to behold and the food is unbelievably good. Especially when the cost is only about 2 US dollars.

View from the deck on the fourth floor.

Paul, Cecelia the girls and I went to a restaurant that only had Chinese characters on the menu. Between Paul and I we ordered a potato dish that had beef on it. We think it is a special dish that isn't on the menu. Paul says that we know just enough Mandarin to be dangerous. Fortuneately in this case our Mandarin worked out. I wasn't so lucky at the grocery store yesterday when I tried to ask the price of three ice teas and ended up having them deliver a case of the teas to me at the check stand. We are still diligently working on the language.
One of the amazing things that we keep saying to each other is how amazingly beautiful and diverse this place can be. One minute you are in the midst of high rise apartments and then the next you are in the middle of a rural area in which they grow citrus fruit and beautiful pink Plumaria. It is a unique and wonderful place and we feel blessed to be experiencing it. We keep all of you close to our hearts and pray for you often.
I am adding a couple of extra photos this week of our house and school to give you a little perspective on where we live and work.
Next week I will give a summary of how the holiday week went.