I finally had those dumplings everyone has been asking me about. For some reason, the question "Do you like Chinese food?" (which i hear a few times a day, and always answer with a big smile and a 'yeeees of course') seems to be always followed by "Have you tried dumplings?". So today after class I stayed on to help a student with his presentation, that I'm having the PhD students give (takes a couple of hours off me in terms of planning for lessons...), and he then took me out to dinner afterwords. We went to this little restaurant, famous for its dumplings, near the gate of the university. As usual, we had some cold starters that I could choose from a trolley, and then came the dumplings. And yes, now i can tell the students that I've tried them and yes, they are yummm-my. This particular restaurant has more than 30 kinds of dumplings, with meat, fish, vegetables, egg, mushrooms...you name it. Interestingly, they also had other interesting items on the menu, such as duck blood... Oh, and have i mentioned the famous donkey meat pastries?

This week I have been doing the evening classes every day from 7 to 9, and I have to say that it's tiring but I guess there's no other option but to stick with it and stop complaining. So far, I've just talked about myself and had the students introduce themselves and ask each other questions. The way they have done these introductions is interesting though, sometimes quite different to what i'd expect from European students. For example, today a girl launched into a long speech about the importance of studying and how they should all do it for the good of the country. Ummm, what happened to "my name is...?"

I'm trying to encourage the students to ask me all kinds of questions, and to comment on anything that is said. Too many students here just want to listen to the teacher and take his/her word as god's truth. Maybe it works for some other subjects, but for oral English, I really think they should just open their mouths and speak. What has made this more difficult in the evening class is that although i told then that they can ask me anything (though i will have the right to also disagree with the students), the teacher who is responsible for organising the class (and comes to observe every evening...) had told the students in the beginning of the first class that they should be very careful about what they say to me and what kind of questions they ask, so they would not offend me. One of the students came to tell me me this last night, saying that they were afraid of saying the wrong thing to me. The problem now is that as the other teacher is present in the classes, I can't contradict what she has been saying, at least I can't make it too obvious, or else she will lose face in front of the students. Oh dear.

After the class I don't get to come home straight, as the students will come up to me and ask me all sorts of questions. Sometimes I just haven't got a clue and wonder why they would think me an authority on these issues, but I try my best and answer their questions. Today I was asked for example: "What should I do with my life?", "Should I buy l'Oreal or Lancome moisturizer?", "Should I keep studying or get a job after I get my degree?", "Should I read classic novels?" So here I am, telling them what to do with their lives... I'm beginning to see that teachers here really have a special standing and are often considered to be all-knowing...I'm of course doing my best to maintain this image :p

Outside the classes, the life in the Ju Guang compound has been a little busier in the past few days. It seems that there is a wedding celebration going on in building no. 2 (I'm in no. 10): the little streets are filled with cars and mountains of flowers have appeared outside one flat. This has now been going on for some days. The old men who play Chinese chess just inside the gates are not too bothered, though. The scene remains undisturbed: two men playing and another ten standing around them. Of course, these ten others seem to always know much better how the two should be playing the game...