A Year Working for the People's Republic of China | The People are the Heroes Now
On the second day of pre-orientation – what, you thought one was enough? – we finally meet some of the teachers who have taught at IK-12 before. We don’t meet them immediately, though. First we have to survive another episode of the Red Tea Show. Red Tea asks how we enjoyed yesterday’s session, which elicits … Continue reading Meeting Culture
After we sign our contracts (again), we are routed to an auditorium in the corner of campus. There’s a large stage, rounded at the lip, and rows of red folding seats. The curtains are also red. IK-12 is strangely built. Most of the structures are drab, hulking, inartful, and run down; and the classrooms are … Continue reading Are Our Kids Tough Enough to Be Dead Poets?
Most knowledge is not power. I once translated “Your Love” by The Outfield into German, and I still can’t speak German but I still remember the chorus of “Your Love” (by The Outfield) in German. This knowledge is value-neutral, as the kids say, but there are also a lot of things I know that I … Continue reading International Contract Law
When my alarm goes off, it is gray. I am in a bedroom mostly barren. My suitcases are open on the fake wood floor. The walls are just off-white: the color doesn’t seem to change in different lights at different hours. I’ve slept now two nights in China. I have not drunk water or eaten … Continue reading Player Physical
After I return from Chinese Wal-Mart for the third time in 24 hours, the word comes from on high: French 75 says we’re going out. I’m staggering with exhaustion, but not opposed: I haven’t seen anything of Shanghai besides the airport, International K-12, and the wet market. I want to know where to drink to … Continue reading Never Ask Why
Shirley Temple and I head off to Wal-Mart. Yesterday, I didn’t know where I was on campus. Today, I’m starting to get tired of retracing the same ground. Shirley is very excited to be here. She talks fast, and in bursts. Low, though – not a monotone, but not terribly expressive. She has a sort … Continue reading And You May Ask Yourself: How Did I Get Here?
I wake up the first time at 4:30am. I remember I’m in China. I remember this because my stomach is broiling itself. It gurgles audibly. I don’t have to piss. I’m not nauseous. It seems my body woke me just to alert me to intestinal chaos: it nudged me in the night to say, “Bro, … Continue reading Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
The van pulls around the corner. The byway extends: shops and stalls and low, spiked apartments off the street. Clothes line the spikes – ragged banners of the conquered. At the edge of the avenue, we turn to a guard gate; a complex of steel and concrete. The driver pulls in. This is International K-12. It’s … Continue reading Morning and Evening, Part II
I wake up saying something. I’m not sure what it is: Last I remember from my dream I was turning corner after corner climbing long, gray stairways until I found Tracy McGrady sitting on something like a throne surrounded by his posse cum court. It was definitely Tracy McGrady – my brain was as surprised … Continue reading Morning and Evening, Part I
It’s June 30th, 2017. This means I’ve lived in Philadelphia for nine months to the day. But I grew up in Florida, so today feels a lot more familiar than my new home: It’s in the middle 90s, Fahrenheit, and the streets are wrapped in fat, hazy air. Going outside is just about swimming. But … Continue reading The End is the Beginning is the End
