The Global Language Village (GLV) is my new school in Zhuhai for the next three weeks. I’ve almost completed the first week of the TESOL certification course. Each day starts at 9am and ends just before 5pm. Eight other classmates are with me for the long haul. Surprisingly, four of them are from the US. Betsy and Chris are west coasters from Oregon and Washington, and they’ve both heard of Evergreen so we’ve made some friendly jokes on that point of interest. Ron, in his fifties, is from Wisconsin and his background is rather bland up until this past week which marked his first international journey and third plane ride ever. Tom is from LA but of Chinese descent. Then there is Alex from England. He is the most animated of the bunch and has fulfilled my expectations of British slapstick comedy. Finally, Amy is from Malaysia and Dee is from Indonesia. It has amazed me to no end that this is my first classroom experience EVER in which everyone gets along famously. There is no odd man out.
Our new teachers include Brad from Australia and Jenny from mainland China. They balance each other because Brad presents the slow methodical teaching style while Jenny lets us loosen up and keep the jokes rolling.
With our tuition of 1,200 USD we are welcome to three meals a day in the GLV cafeteria. Everyone is impressed with the high quality and quantity of the cafeteria food. The only stipulation to the free meals is that we are strongly advised to sit with the GLV students who are learning English. They are all Chinese who are taking extra English classes for work, travel, and personal interest. They get to pick their own English names so you get some interesting ones like Yo-Yo. But in their eyes these names aren’t funny, just functional.
If I would have paid a couple extra hundred dollars I’d be staying with the rest of my classmates on campus. Actually Amy is the only other classmate opting for off-campus housing because her husband is also living in Zhuhai. Everyone else has flown in to take the class and then move on. They’re all jealous of my off campus arrangement because of the colorful experiences like rodents and cold showers. A few days ago Alex and Chris began our morning session with a story of a rat twitching on rodent paper in their apartment. They left a note for the maid to dispose of it. And Alex warned the rest of the class not to touch the rodent paper on the kitchen counter because he lost the skin on his forefinger that way. These kinds of stories keep us all in stitches.
This week I’m not the only family member with a big change. Aaron is nesting into his role as Mr. Mom. He’s been lectured by his lovely wife (along with a chorus of locals) about one thing or another concerning Maeli’s care. But tomorrow his short lived days as Mr. Mom will come to an end with Maeli’s first full day in a Chinese Kindergarten. Maeli calls it “church” because it reminds her of her former nursery classroom. She attended a half day today with Aaron by her side and tomorrow he will cut the leash so Maeli can spread her wings and fly.
As the British say, “I’ll carry on for now” and keep the stories coming if I can just convince my new teachers to lighten up on the homework.
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