100 days, give or take

Hello again, gentle reader. It is now spring, and my fellow volunteers tell me there are about 100 days left before we COS, which is Peace Corps-speak for "finish our service and get out of Dodge. " In honor of my last 100 days, I plan to blog, if not every day, then at least with greater frequency than the last months have seen.

Spring comes early to Sichuan, thank goodness. Last night I had the pleasure of listening to a rare weather phenomenon in these parts--a thunderstorm. Heavy rain, flashes of lightning and great rolling peals of thunder. As a Minnesotan, thunderstorms were always part of the normal climatological soundtrack of spring and especially summer. But in this subtropical paradise, they are surprisingly few and far between. The surrounding low mountains in Luzhou give the thunder extra oomph, causing the sound to reverberate and magnify. It really is lovely.

This week is Week 5 of an 18 week semester, and I'm kicking off my Environmentalism Unit. Last year I did an odd "Green English" lesson once in a while, but in my last semester I wanted to be more intensive about a subject that is not only relevant for my students' requisite standardized tests (Chinese English majors are subject to a battery of national exams throughout their college careers; often it seems like their focus is more on studying for the exam than it is on being present for the school's curriculum), but also immediately applicable to their daily lives. As is well publicized in the West, China's pollution is...searching for the right adjective...staggering? Appalling? Depressing? Galvanizing? I have found it all of the above.

Using my fellow volunteers and the Internet as lesson planning resources, I've got several weeks worth of material. This term I plan to have my students assess and reflect upon the changes to the environment that they have seen in their own lifetime, as well as learn about the buzz issues of the day, all of which are topical in China--global warming, alternative energy sources, coal usage, desertification, air and water pollution. We're also going to watch An Inconvenient Truth--I was able to find a copy with great Chinese subtitles, thus (hopefully) rendering the science-y material accessible to my students. I'm really excited to see how it goes.

This term I'm probably my busiest ever, and by that I mean my most active in the community. I teach two different subjects, Oral English and Writing, and plan six different lessons a week for Freshmen, Sophomore and Junior English majors, as well as a group of doctors at the Affiliated Hospital. I've also gotten back on track with my lecture schedule, doing two a month on topics related to American culture. The first two were on Great Women in History, and last week was Beliefs and Religion in America.

The second was especially interesting for me, because the Chinese I've encountered have always shown a great interest in knowing how Americans think, what we value and our thoughts about God. There seems to be a general notion that all Americans are Christian, which I guess isn't surprising considering that nearly 80% of Americans state that they are. However, I tried my best to reinforce the idea that although the US is undeniably a Judeo-Christian culture, it is also a multicultural society with freedom of religion. Due to technology issues, the substantial Powerpoint slideshow I'd put together wouldn't run, so I was forced to do it the old-fashioned way, on the chalkboard. This was not only trickier for me, but also more difficult for my students to understand without accompanying text and pictures. I was therefore pleasantly surprised at the thoughtfulness of their questions during the Q&A. For example, "Is America divided along religious lines?" From a very pragmatic student, "If so many people believe in Jesus, what does Jesus do for Americans?" About Church & State, "Do you think it is possible for a nation to have [people of] more than one religion and still live together harmoniously?" "In China, [government] officials cannot believe in religion--what is the situation in America?"

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the Party instituted an official policy of atheism. The only religion in the country was supposed to be that of the Party, socialism. (In fact, one student stood up and stated "I believe Marxism is the only religion! Religion makes me hallucinate!" I replied, "Sounds fun.") Fearing persecution, most religious activity went underground and today the generations that came of age in Communist China are largely atheist or agnostic. I have had several Chinese people--professionals and students, alike--tell me that they "believe in nothing." I don't think they mean to say they are nihilists; rather it seems to me that they are searching for something to believe in besides Marxism, the Party or capitalism. It is a poignant struggle. Chinese society has changed at such breakneck speed in the last three decades, it makes me wonder where they will go in the next one. What, if anything, will people attach their faith to next?

[Note: Today China has stated a policy of religious tolerance, but evangelizing for any religion is illegal. The New York Times has reported on a recent surge in religious activity among young people in China, if you have Times Select, you can read about it here.]

Alright. I must be off...more from Luzhou soon!