School in China

To be honest we had no idea what we were doing when we moved to China. We made it though! Somehow we made it to China. However once we landed here the next steps were a complete mystery. One of the big issues was figuring out where Audrey and Paige could go to school. We naively tried "home schooling" for the first few weeks but that wasn't sustainable seeing as Mom works, Dad has work to do, and Reese and I had our own studies to focus on. So basically Audrey and Paige were left to fend for themselves as far as staying busy goes. Which means they watched movies. For like three weeks.

Well obviously this was not a very responsible way of educating the rising generation no matter how neat the life experiences they were having. So we started trying to find a school. Looking back it really wasn't so difficult. Open up the laptop, make a Google search for "best schools in my area" and boom a nice little map pops up with little red pins all over.

Just kidding it wasn't that easy. Turns out there isn't a whole lot of available information for foreigners about Chinese schools because—foreigners are not allowed to go to Chinese schools. We of course did not know this at that time. We couldn't do much research because what information is out there is in Chinese and the only way for us to understand that would be to A) learn Chinese or B) get mentally prepared to spend three hours taking screenshots, navigating through three different apps, then trying to decipher nonsense translations with your third eye. It's just not practical. We are of course working on learning the language so we asked our Chinese tutor—who at the time was coming every day for 2 hours (that's too much in case you're wondering)—if she could take a walk with us to a local school we had passed the other day. We were going to ask if they would be so kind as to allow our little girls to attend their school so they wouldn't be bouncing off the walls of our 100 square meter apartment every moment of the day. Well they said no. But they did give us a tip to another school just a few kilometers away that might actually consider enrolling them.

Off we went to Wickham International School. We met with the very nice looking principal and then after paying too much for tuition the girls were enrolled and would start the next week. What started off as ignorant bliss soon faded into an uncomfortable nightmare for both girls. "For lunch we would have a gross vegetable, shrimp with their heads on, and rice. But no not good rice. We stayed in the library because they didn't think we were smart enough for the Chinese tests. So we stayed in the library for half the day and read a bunch of books. We would only attend English classes and all the kids spoke to us in English. This was not very good for our Chinese learning. It was always really lonely. There were some good things though. The art teacher was a foreigner and she was so fun. We didn't have hardly any homework (because we didn't go to hardly any classes) and we got to participate in the talent show."

Well after a semester of that it was clear the negative far outweighed the positive and we were in need of some sort of educational intervention. Where to find such an intervention we knew not. All we could do was hope it would come to us.

Sure enough heaven intervened and through what can only be described as serendipity we learned of a Waldorf school located about twelve kilometers from our home. We weren't familiar with the Waldorf methodology but we soon learned this school was exactly what Mom and Dad had been looking for. The unconventional philosophy behind the school's curriculum is based on educating the whole heart, mind, and spirit of the child which is most effectively done through music, art, and physical activity.

Because the school doesn't administer any standardized tests the Chinese government doesn't recognize it as a viable education (perfect). Because of this, and to give the students an opportunity to farm, the school is located far from the city center in the suburban countryside. Audrey and Paige were the first foreign students to be enrolled at this school and everything except the hour English class twice a week is in Chinese.

Thankfully we live on the right side of town, it's just a forty minute scooter ride to the charming wood and stone schoolhouse. Of course in the freezing winter drizzles of Hangzhou that's a miserable forty minutes but Dad and the girls make the trip every morning and afternoon. When they started school Reese or I would take a shift so Dad wouldn't have to spend nearly four hours playing chauffeur everyday. However after a few too many close calls (always related to mom and dad by Audrey or Paige and never the driver interestingly) and an exciting fender bending experience, Dad resumed his full time duty of competent and well seasoned driver. I take full responsibility for Reese and I being demoted. Sorry tuk-tuk but why did you slam on your brakes to let a pedestrian cross the road? Don't you know they're the bottom of the scooter-lane-hierarchy? You sir are at the top. I had to slam into you so you'd remember your rightful place as the surprisingly lightweight box of aluminum and (probably now) badly damaged axels that you are. Boy did you fly.

Thankfully we've found a carpool that meets us half way because the China scooter lane is consistent with whatever statistical law that states: The more time you spend in it the more likely you are to die. Or something like that. Anyway the girls have a school now. They have a way of getting there every morning at 8:00 am and they have lots of neat stories to tell about what it's like going to school in China.

"Audrey tell me three words that explain what your time at school is like."

Only three?! Umm. Exciting, creative, interesting.

"Why those words?"

You don't know what you're going to learn the next day, or during Chinese drawing, or wood carving. You never know what you're going to learn but you know you're going to learn something new so it's exciting. School is creative because we make and build things every day. I'll tell you something interesting. Today in P.E. class we did exercises where one person stands in a squat and another person stands on their thighs. Then, while holding hands, we both try to stand straight. Its hard because they are really heavy and you have to keep perfect balance.

"Paige what does your normal school day look like?"

Well, first thing in the morning we stand in a circle, sing songs, and say good morning. Then we move our desks into place for the day. Chinese class starts with the teacher writing a song on the board and we have to copy it, then she draws a picture of what the songs is about. We have a snack. Things like seaweed, crackers, fruit leathers, half and orange, all sorts of things. Then we have English or German class depending on the day. Our English class is very easy for me, I understand everything she says. Everyday the schedule is different. Sometimes we have drawing class, other times it's sewing, or clay sculpting. Starting in fourth grade students get to do woodcarving and kung fu class. We also grow a garden, we grow lots of flowers usually and we build things. The third grade built a shed-house. It was tiring. And fun. We would all kind of fight over who gets to go on the roof because only four people can climb up the tree onto the roof at a time. The end of our day is really fun because everyone has a different job. We all help to keep the school clean. My job is to bring the vegetable pot upstairs for lunch and wash it. And I take turns with another boy carrying the snack at snack time. After we do our chores we sing our tea time song and enjoy chatting about a different subject. The teacher assigns us homework and then we can go home whenever we want. We wait for our carpool for at least thirty minutes but usually it's an hour. We get home at 6:00 or 7:00, do homework, then go to bed. Only to wake up at 6:00 the next morning and do it all again.

A Short Compilation of True Stories

Dictated by Audrey or Paige, recorded and filtered for proper grammatical phrasing by Julienne.

"Paige, tell us about how your acquisition of Chinese is coming."

很好 Hen Hao (Very Good)

I was really shy to speak for a pretty long time because I thought they wouldn't understand me. Now when we talk to them we just say "uuh uuh" (the Chinese affirmative grunt similar to uh-huh in English) and they say, "Wow your Chinese is so good!" When I first came here and we would talk at snack time I didn't understand anything people were saying but now I'm the one speaking and everyone is listening. I have so many things to tell them about America and other life experiences. Sometimes when I talk my friends have to translate for the teachers because I don't say it very clearly.

The other day a boy was being really goofy and I asked him "你干嘛-Ni gan ma? (WHAT are you doing?!!)" but I said it in English so I thought he wouldn't understand. It slipped out of my mouth and I was shocked when he understood. Then I realized I had said it in Chinese!

"What about you Audrey?"

It's really good. Sometimes I speak more Chinese than English. I sometimes say my prayers in Chinese and English "Please bless that the 天气-tianqi (weather) will be nice tomorrow" and then I'll be like, "wait how do you say tianqi in English? Oh whatever. God made all the languages He probably understands it's fine." And I sometimes forget English words. The other day I couldn't say "bully", it came out all wobbly "bullbly"

"Audrey, tell us about the time your friend got his finger cut off!"

Ouch

In the back of our school the students grow a big garden. Working in the garden is fun! We plant plants and right now we're working on building benches around the trees. By the gardening area there is a weed cutter that looks like a giant paper cutter. We cut the weeds so they can decompose and use them as fertilizer.

I was picking weeds when I heard I guy yell to me "Xia Yi cut his finger off!" Thinking they were kidding I went to investigate. I saw Xia Yi running to the office. Everyone was in shock and confused and wondering if it was true. The teacher explained to us what had happened. Xia Yi was pushing the weeds through the cutter while another classmate was moving the blade up and down. Xia Yi wasn't paying attention and his finger got sliced off. He was in the hospital for a month and now he is resting at home. His mom is worried he will fall behind in his studies so everyday after school a few students visit him and catch him up on what we're learning. Now I know to pay very close attention to what I'm doing and don't mess with things that are sharp! The school has since disposed of the weed cutter and is a little more mindful of safer ways for us to learn how to work hard.

"Paige tell us about your violin lessons!"

The Teacher Hits You if You Don't Do Things Right

The other day Paige came home from school obviously overwhelmed with a big stack of homework and lots of other things she would rather do. Amid her breakdown she asked for Dad's phone to use for her homework. She trudged back in a moment later, violin in hand, and shoved the phone onto the table while exclaiming, "That's how long my teacher says I have to practice every day!" We glanced at the timer ticking down on the phone...59:43, 59:42, 59:41  "And if I don't practice she'll get mad at me so sorry you'll have to plug your ears for an hour." She then proceeded to play a scale with intentional terrible tone while the rest of us laughed nervously.

Teachers beating students sounds like a China stereotype. One that we haven't actually seen to be true except for in the case of Paige's very tough violin teacher. Other than occasional "flicking and jabbing her claws into your fingers where the string is supposed to go, she's pretty good." says Paige. "She has different ways of teaching proper technique and I'm learning a lot from her." The school requires every student to learn an instrument but only violin and cello are provided as options. Audrey negotiated with her teacher (actually had to Dad negotiate with the teacher) that she could just learn the recorder like all the other students in her class instead of taking additional cello lessons. The free lessons provided by the school were fruitless seeing as she had no time to practice after school and there's no way we could haul that thing home on the (already maxed out with 3 passengers) scooter. Paige however continues practicing violin at home and once a week at school with her Tiger Teacher.

Audrey tell us about your class trip!

Oh That Was Fun!

We were hiking Tai Shan—a very tall mountain. We started around 7am and after three hours of hiking up man made stairs we made it to the top of the peak. "Cindy we made it!" I exclaimed. Cindy's eyes were foggy as she slumped up the last stairs. She pulled out a water bottle. "Pretend this is the mountain." she said. Pointing to a quarter mark on the bottle she continued, "We're here. We still have this much to go." I almost fainted. For the next eleven hours we marched up thousands of uneven stone stairs. It was just like in KungFu Panda. When we got to the top the view was so pretty. The stars reflected the shimmering lights that sprinkled the mountain sides all around us. I started crying I was so relieved I had made it! I was tired and sweaty and so so hungry. All I had eaten was beef jerky and at least eight bottles of water. It was freezing cold and snowing but I was so tired I didn't care. We waited for the slower hikers to arrive. Then we went to find our hotel among the large village on top of the mountain. Before dinner arrived on our table the teacher said "Eat dinner fast then hurry and get to bed because tomorrow we will wake up at 3am to see the sun rise." We all moaned in exhaustion. After we saw the sunrise the next day we went back to bed and slept till noon. Then we played card games, did homework, ate snacks, and talked. Over the ten days we saw lots of old sculptures, saw the sunrise on the beach, rode on a bus for like eight hours, went to a bird zoo, and went to Duck Lake. It has a lot of ducks. And a lot of feathers in the air. Sometimes it's hard to breathe because of all the feathers in the air. It was stressful on my body and mind but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

"So girls tell us your concluding thoughts about your school"

Audrey: I've learned things that I'll carry with me my whole life. I've learned lots of great skills like juggling and sewing and my Chinese of course. I love going to school every day.

Paige: I'm going to really miss this school when I have to leave. The people are fun to be around the teachers are strict but are kind and loving. The most important thing I am learning here is how to be myself. If you try to copy someone else it makes you look dumb. And even if you be yourself people might not like you, but soon you'll find a friend that loves you for who you really are.

"The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility—these three forces are the very nerve of education." —Rudolf Steiner