So on July 9th I woke up very early to go to this summer camp thing. I didn't really know what I was getting into, nor where I was going. We were three foreign teachers: me, a guy from California and a woman from the Philippines. We had 2 big tour buses and we departed for our destination. On the way, we visited boring military memorials of people nobody has ever heard of. I finally learned that we were going to HuangShan in Anhui, a place very famous for its beautiful mountains. When we got to HuangShan, I was really amazed by the beauty we could see through the bus windows. I wasn't expecting so much. We finally arrived at the resort we stayed at, a very peaceful place. And I had a clean hotel room all to myself! With a bathtub!
For the next 5 days, my job was to teach English to a group of 10 to 16 years old Chinese kids for 2.5 hours or less per day. And then I joined in the visits/activities. The first day we went to some moutain and then it was "party" time. The Chinese teaching assistants obviously don't have the same training as in Quebec about activities for kids. There was one game at a time for like 15 kids while the others sat there and watched. So they were running around everywhere because it was so boring.
On Wednesday we went to another mountain. There was a river going downt the mountain and I wanted to go swim in it so badly! Alas, it was prohibited and as a teacher I couldn't break the rules. In my class that day I talked to the kids about Canada and showed them some pictures. They really liked it. The evening activity was to write a letter to their parents. How fake hahaha. I realized that in Chinese I have the handwritting of a 6 years old.
The next day we went for a very short boat ride. Ours ended up being longer because our boat got stuck for a good 15 minutes. Then in the evening we sang some songs, more boredom for the kids. On Friday we went to yet another mountain, but we took a cable trail this time because it was so big. At the top, the view was really amazing. I was walking, looking at the beauty around me, and then it hit me: I only had one month left in China! But why couldn't I stay longer? I can skip 2 weeks of classes. When will I be in China next time? Might as well enjoy it while I'm here! I wanna go to Tibet with Chris in August. I want to see Charles again. I wanna spend more time with my Chinese friends! And I still have a lot of Chinese to learn. That's how I decided to extend my stay. In the evening, we had a bonfire. It's very different from our campfire. It's is more about being grateful for the good things. People walk/dance around it singing.
On Saturday we went to a small moutain again, but it was raining. Then in the evening was karaoke and awards ceremony for the best students. I think the camp must have been a bit boring for the kids because we had about 6 hours of activities planned each day and the rest was free time (like in their rooms), but all this free time allowed me to study for my macroeconomics exam. The teaching assistants were also very nice, and very good mothers always making sure I am ok hehe. The last day we headed back home, stopping on the way to visit a "famous" street. I think it was famous for the souvenirs you can buy there, but the kids weren't allowed to buy anything since we didn't have time. So this stop was really useless I think.
All in all this week was good because I needed to be back in the nature, although there were a couple boring moments.
On the 16th I had my macroeconomics exam, which went fairly well. I ended up with a B+ in political science and B- in economics.
But then, the nightmare started. Jingle told me we had to go to CIIC camp to meet the trainees because there were some problems. So on Monday evening we did like 2 hours of bus, subway and taxi to get there. Some of the trainees were very unhappy because they had been promised things that weren't the truth, so they had changed their flight to the next week, thus quitting halfway through their traineeship. Talk about crisis management. So we ended up sleeping at camp and met with their boss the following morning. We fixed some of the problems that were solvable and figured the best thing we could do was show the trainees a good time for the next 3 days while they were on break so that they would leave Shanghai with not such a bad opinion of AIESEC. That evening we went to Party World, a fancy KTV. It was really fun and we managed to get many AIESECers to come at the last minute. They're able to come together when needed to save the reputation of the organization they believe in.
But then on the way back in the taxi I broke down. I can't believe all the shit Chinese AIESECers have to go through (the shit they put themselves into really). It must be so hard for them: sacrificing your time and your studies to do AIESEC, but all you get in return is pissed companies and pissed trainees. I have never had to experience that in AIESEC in Canada. My trainees were always fairly or very happy, same for the companies. Of course they were some problems but never at the scale of in China. I don't think I'd have stuck in AIESEC for 2 years if AIESEC in Canada was like in China.
The following morning, the phone rang and Yash picked up. It was for me. I get up all sleepy and it's Charles, in Brussels, all excited to be in Europe and that everything is in French. I looked at my watch and I'm like "Charles, it's 5 AM!" "I know! It's 11 here! I'm in Brussels!" He's too cute haha. I couldn't be pissed at him for thinking of me in Europe, although he woke me up at 5 AM.
Then I had lunch with Linda (Fudan's new VP PD) to work on PD strategy, but I was so fucking tired. In the evening I hanged out with the CIIC trainees: we went to a couple bars. And then I got home and changed my flight to September 17th.
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