Dance

Richard and I came to China to teach English so what were we doing teaching a group of eager students to do the fox trot early yesterday afternoon?

Like many social media sites, WordPress is blocked in China. I’m delighted that I can continue posting to my blog via email but one thing I haven’t figured out how to do is include links to previous posts. You may, however, have read the one entitled Sunday afternoon in Zhongshan Park that I posted a couple of weeks ago; the one that talked about me dancing in the park with a Chinese gentleman. Pictures of that event quickly circulated amongst our students who were clearly delighted that we would so willingly engage in the activities of their culture. Hearing about this and learning that we love to dance led one of our fellow teachers to suggest that we should consider starting a noon hour dance club for the students. Jesse, a retired science teacher, already offers a rocket building activity twice a week.

We loved the idea and so did the kids. With Bradley’s help, Richard started searching out and downloading appropriate music. Bradley, a bright 23-year-old, is one of my students that we’ve quickly developed a great friendship with. That’s him I’m dancing with in one of the photos.

Though our schedule is much lighter, our English immersion students are in school from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. They have a two hour break at noon though which leaves plenty of time for a quick lunch followed by a dance class. Ten students showed up for our first class yesterday; five guys and five gals. Perfect, we thought, until we discovered that even though they go to school together every day, most of them were too shy to dance with a member of the opposite sex! They had no problem partnering up with someone of their own gender though and the classroom was soon ringing with laughter as they tried out the steps.

We started with the fox trot because it’s relatively easy but over the coming weeks we’ll be adding the polka and a couple of different waltzes to their repertoire. We’ll also introduce them to the jive. I can imagine already how much fun that will be!

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Our students are encouraged to spend time with us outside class so that they can practice using their English in a variety of different situations. One of my classes has taken this to heart and we’ve already been out for several meals and activities with some of them. Last night I taught one of the girls the expression “win-win situation” because it is exactly that. They have the opportunity to develop their language skills while we get to experience things we’d otherwise having difficulty accessing because of our lack of knowledge of the language and the culture.

Yesterday was a perfect example. We met Vicky, a native of Dalian, for lunch at a restaurant near her home and experienced spring pancakes for the first time. Spring pancakes are essentially small, thin tortillas that you wrap a variety of stir fried foods in. A little bit messy but very delicious.

Afterward, we walked to Zhongshan Park together. The focal point of the park is an old Buddhist temple. Having seen many of these in other Asian countries we could easily imagine its original splendour but unfortunately, it’s in a sad state of disrepair and people were scattered about the steps and plaza selling a variety of rather junky looking wares.

Behind the temple is what could easily be a beautiful park. Vicky was embarrassed by its unkempt appearance but I could easily imagine how much better it will look when the bare trees burst out in leaf. It was the vibrancy of the many people enjoying the park that delighted me however! Clusters of men gathered around poker games while one group played a form of checkers. Musicians playing a variety of traditional and modern instruments played in different spots throughout the park and on a wide open plaza overlooked by a bronze statue of Sun Yat-Sen, a revolutionary leader of the early 1900s who became known as the founding father of Nationalist China, people were dancing! We stopped to watch and particularly admired one very graceful couple. When the man noticed us watching, he left his partner and approached us. Extending his hand, he asked me to dance and dance I did! The steps were new to me but he was a skilled leader and I soon picked up on the routine. What fun! Richard and I love to dance so on Vicky’s urging, we took to the dance floor together when my Chinese partner returned to his lady.

Moving on, we came upon what at first appeared to be a children’s playground. Upon looking more closely, however, we realized that it was actually a collection of exercise equipment for adults. Of course, I had to try out a few pieces! We also enjoyed watching a man working out on the parallel bars. His routine made my 20+ push ups each morning look quite pathetic!

After leaving the park, we took a bus to a shopping mall where we’d arranged to meet a fellow teacher and a couple more students. We relaxed and chatted for an hour or more in a lovely coffee shop before walking to another restaurant for supper. Three more students joined us there. There were now nine of us and seated in a private room around a circular table, we enjoyed another feast and more visiting before finally making our way home.

It was definitely a winning day!