My Spanish students are just at the point when we can begin to have a real conversation in class. So one day in class, I tried to suggest the idea of a Spanish conversation corner over a meal, since their schedules are so packed (class 6 or 8 hours Monday through Friday, followed by mandatory study halls for two hours every night except Saturdays) that any other time won't really work. They took the idea to heart, but it evolved into something that wasn't quite what I'd pictured.
It ended up being a student-run field trip of sorts. They found a restaurant close by to school, went and reserved the room upstairs for us, and pre-ordered the dishes. We met up at 4:30 to have time for dinner before they had to be back for study hall at 7 (o a Friday night! ugh) and the whole night was a huge education.
Fortunately Drew, an ELIC English teacher here who lived and studied in Mexico for a year, was able to come along to share in the joy with me. He also provided good conversation, as all the students were curious about him. We met up with some of the students and the Spanish teacher who speaks good Spanish and off we went to the restaurant.
The whole dinner was quite a cultural education for me. Liquor is fun and also competitive here in China, and the kids were imbibing huge amounts, yet still maintaining conversation in a language they've only studied for eight months. I tried to watch the interactions and figure out the cultural rules of all I was observing. I got toasted (I kept my glass full of Coke) I toasted others, and they toasted each other. We ate tons of great food (they had ordered all my favorite dishes) talked, toasted, laughed, took pictures (see my facebook if you're my friend for pictures) and generally had an amazing time. It was relaxed, people mingled, and for the first time in China I had what felt to me like a party with Chinese people. It was fun seeing the kids actually looking relaxed and free--free to move around, free to talk, free to smile and goof off. I regretted the central role alcohol played in this time, but appreciated the margins of fun the time offered to the kids.
Then 6:30pm came, the Chinese equivalent of midnight for Cinderella, and off they staggered back to mandatory study hall at 7pm. On the way back I tried to figure out the Chinese word for fun--but they could only come up with words for happy and interesting. No matter, fun is what it was!!
