Nanchang University

10.19.09

Four score and seven years ago (give or take a few), I taught English in a very sleepy Nanchang. This was before McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns and Walmart. In fact, the only western restaurant was “Happy Tom’s” which opened and closed in the same year.

So, our trip to Nanchang included a side visit to my old stomping grounds.

This is the “old” Nanchang University. The new campus is in a new “university city” almost an hour outside of town. (University cities are popular in China. The universities buy a bunch of farmland and build entire new campuses next to each other.)

This is the building where I taught. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was the exact same building because it has received such a dramatic renovation. My classroom on the first floor – third window on the right. Sigh.

I taught down this hall!

Behind the building is this courtyard where English Corner was held. English Corner is a place where students can gather to speak English.

For foreigners, English Corner can be a little overwhelming because so many students want to practice with a native speaker.  Often times, the students end up asking the same questions over and over. For the foreigner, English Corner can leave you with a very “broken record” kind of feel.

I can’t say that I was a regular at English Corner, but I was regularly inviting students to my home.

Next stop: my apartment.

We started walking towards the old housing on campus, but I was quickly a little lost. Nothing looked the same. We came to what should have been an apartment subdivision, but instead it was a large 2 lane road. I noticed a guard.

Me: Was this road here 10 years ago?
Guard: I don’t know. I didn’t work here 10 years ago.
Me: Well I did! Do you know where the old apartments are?
Guard: Keep walking.

Sure enough, we crossed the street and found ourselves in an old apartment complex. We meandered around a bit until I came around a corner and saw the convenience store!

I think that same furniture was sitting outside when I lived here!

Just across from the convenience store is the lane to my humble apartment. All of the apartments are now painted white. They were a lovely ash gray before.

What a surreal moment to be standing at the foreign teachers apartment complex with my Husband and son!

I lived in the third apartment where the red shirt is hanging. So many memories were flashing through my mind… the broken concrete floors, chipping paint, hosting students, the insane asylum padding on the door, and 3 parts of a pitiful red couch.

It was one of those sectional couches. I’m using the word couch very loosely. Think board and fabric. Definitely do not, under any circumstances, think cushion. Anyway, the Foreign Affairs Office only delivered three squares of the couch. Where the rest of the couch is remains a mystery!

Our living situation was very interesting. We had a guard at our gate to keep us safe. We also had our very own Nai Nai who was stationed on the first floor.  Nai Nai was very aware of our comings and goings. The daily mahjong games were always hosted at her pad.

Nai Nai also wrote people’s phone number on her wall – in pen. Shocking. I know! Brace yourself – she only wrote the number down. Not the names! Nai Nai was brilliant. Numbers were randomly splattered all over her wall.

Once, I remember that something was broken in my apartment and I needed our local repair man, Little Wang, to come and repair it. Little Wang was NOT little, but the FAO called him little because he was the youngest. Since I didn’t have Little Wangs number, I asked Nai Nai if she had his number. She searched around on her wall a bit and found Little Wang’s number.

Writing on the walls has its benefits.

She scored lots of clothing when I left.

All the foreigners lived in one building so we were like a mini-United Nations. My neighbor was from France (love you Laure!) with other neighbors from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Germany, etc. There were a lot of personalities!

On the right side of this photo is 1/2 the apartment building. On the left side is the Foreign Affairs Office. Yep, my house shared a wall with the FAO! What can I say? We were close. Talk about knowing if it’s a convenient time to meet!

The first floor of the FAO is where Nai Nai lived. She does not live there now. In fact, no foreigners live here now. It’s a good thing.

Schäfer scored a banana from one of the neighborhood Nai Nai’s. It was so fun to see him playing in the courtyard. When I lived here, there was a Malaysian family with three kids who lived on the first floor. I would often see their kids playing in the courtyard outside.

After a surreal tour of campus, that evening, I met up with one of my students!  In fact, when we first moved to Yichang Evelyn was one of our first visitors!  She’s so neat.

Being back in Nanchang with Evelyn was such a full circle moment for me. One afternoon, Evelyn and I went to a local park to hang out, talk, and take pictures.  While we were at that park, we met several families who were adopting children from Nanchang. I knew then and there that if I could, then I would adopt. I guess the moment sparked something for Evelyn too because since graduation, she’s been a local translator and guide for various adoption agencies.

On this particular evening, over a pot of TiKuanYin, we did adoption talk for 3 hours. I know the American Expat side of this process and she knows the Chinese side. There was much to discuss.

I think she might have started in our talk English, but I quickly switched to Chinese because I wanted to know for sure that my words and full meaning were being received. I’m always surprised when people who have excellent English allow the conversation to stay in Chinese.

10.20.09

On our last evening, we hosted a banquet for a few of my students who still live in Nanchang. The rest of my students live in Beijing or Shanghai.

Surprisingly, the evening was 90% Chinese and 10% English. It was so neat to see their personalities in their heart language. Sometimes, when speaking English, certain students can seem really quiet. In reality, when speaking Chinese, they are anything but quiet.

When I lived here, my Chinese was pitiful. As their foreign teacher, I also felt an obligation to speak to them in English.

Other surprises from the evening…

• they couldn’t believe that I was 23 when I taught them.
• we were together for China’s 50th and again during China’s 60th birthday.
• they have children the same age as Schäfer.
• I secured an invitation to their 10 year reunion in just three years!
• most of them have been abroad for 2-3 weeks.

We talked about: the size of our apartments, if we had a car, how much it cost to fly to America, qunar.com, other classmates, falling in love with our spouse, raising toddlers, what happiness looks and feels like, etc.

Jason does translation for a business and Andy is a teacher. This evening, Jason took a moment to express his opinion about the journals I made them write. I smiled and followed the conversation elsewhere.

Ellen and Christie are both teachers.

Ashley, Jason, Evelyn, Schäfer, Sandra
Andy, Ellen, Christie

Evelyn, Schäfer, Sandra, and Ashley who is a teacher.

My eager Freshman have all grown up.