Last week, I was back in Fenguang.  The charity kept changing its mind, so I booked myself a room in the ancient town with a perfect view of the pagoda alongside the river on Saturday night.  I had just about given up on the charity trip happening when things came together on Sunday afternoon.  I changed from my hotel with the perfect view to the usual one in the newer section town that the charity usually uses.

Except when visiting the largest schools, we split into 2 (sometimes 3) groups to cover ground faster.  Sadly, 1 of the 6 students I sponsor was out of school the day we went there, but I got to see the other 5.  Since this was a rush job (we got all but one school covered in 3 days), we didn't do any home visits, but did get 2 home cooked meals at the family homes of 2 of the charity's office girls (most of the people in the office were formerly sponsored students from the FengHuang area).

As always, the schools were fun.  Just as we were leaving one school (with about 30 sponsored kids), someone asked me for an autograph.  Of course, if I gave one, I'd have to provide one (or more - I swear some enterprising kids got extras in the past and were selling them) and we were on a schedule.  Happily, I had previously had a chop made for just such and occasion and had actually remembered to put it on my pocket.  So, I managed to get everyone stamped once before jumping into the van and heading off to the next school.

Kid swarm incidents were smaller than usual.  I guess more teachers have caught on to the fact that I can disrupt a school just by showing up.

At one of the big high schools, a pair of non-sponsored girls walked up shortly after the mandatory group photo.  One was dressed differently and I swear her face looked like she'd escaped from an anime show.  She seemed really eager to speak, but literally froze when she opened her mouth.  I told her not to worry, since that's what happens when I try to speak some Chinese sentence I've carefully composed.

Finally, she started speaking.  I've seen some quiet kids before, but she literally was barely audible, but had very good pronunciation and grammar.  After a minute or two, she and her friend wandered off and I kept chatting with the sponsored students who hadn't yet left.  Then the pair of them came back.  She had a milk box from somewhere (no idea if there's a convenience store or vending machine in the building she'd come from) and gave it to me as a gift (while still speaking incredibly quietly).

One my my students at another school was very shy and had barely exchanged a word with me on previous visits, even with a translator.  Bronze Cat was at the vet while I was on the trip and my vet is very good at providing photos and videos multiple times per day.  She saw me checking a short video of Bronzy and suddenly we had something to talk about.  I ended up showing her pics of all the cats.

I was scheduled to depart Thursday morning, but made it back into the ancient town at about nightfall on Wednesday.  Fortunately for the local merchants, but unfortinately for my hope to quietly site on a bridge and try to write a poem or two, a LOT of people got an early start to the May Day holidays and the Snow Bridge area was packed.  I managed to find a quiet place just a little upriver (next to a tree I wrote a poem about), took a few pics, had a snack, and then headed back to the hotel.

Next time I'm REALLY hoping the charity trip schedule can be fixed a little more firmly.  Then I'll try to arrive a week in advance to get in some relaxation and bad attempts at poetry.

 Is that information applicable to ALL employees, regardless of Nationality? 
Or is it only for the Chinese people? 

Your co-worker might be both correct as well as in error, depending on the reliability of his/her information, and the employees to whom it applies.
You might want to consult your local Labour office.

 

It was a charity trip visiting some schools.  My presence may have caused a few minor disruptions, but nothing too bad.

As always, I get a few tongue-tied students who obviously want to talk to me, but won't speak even if I turn on my translation app.  This time there was one teacher in the same state. Once I got her on WeChat, she sent me a pile of questions.  I'm still not done answering them all.

Good point. It is what my friends say.

1. That is the strange thing:

a. Yes, our program is down to a few students. Layoffs make sense in our department.

b. However

- Our entire school is expanding
- There is about 50% turnover each year

Why not just transfer us to another department, at least for awhile.

2. Maybe they could hire cheaper replacements. There is always a teacher that will do it cheaper. But, why?