Someone walking into one of my classes last week might have thought they had stumbled into an Eskimo convention. My students were bundled up in winter coats, with some wearing gloves and woolen caps.
That’s because the room was freezing.
All my classes are in Building 4, which for some strange reason is the only one on campus that’s not heated. It’s been bitter cold in Zhengzhou this month, making rooms in that building feel like the inside of a refrigerator.
When my students talk, I often see frosty breath coming from their mouths. Some complain they have a hard time writing because their hands are numb. I wear my ski jacket the entire class.
It’s not a conducive atmosphere for learning.
Maybe our next lesson will be how to rub sticks together.
***
I get dozens of TV channels in my apartment, but I can’t understand any of them because they’re all in Chinese. What I don’t get is the one English-language station produced by state broadcaster CCTV.
That channel isn’t part of the basic cable package provided free to foreign teachers in my program. Since we’re all native English speakers, it would make sense to give us the only English channel. But, as I’ve learned the hard way, logic doesn’t always dictate decisions in China.
I’ve seen the English channel on other TVs in town, and it’s basically a clone of CNN. So I guess we’re not missing anything, after all.
