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Post by joe on Nov 9, 2006 18:03:29 GMT 7
It occurred to me spontaneously a few days ago that I have the technology. Five or so years ago a foreigner in a small town was a rock star. That kind of crap has dropped off considerably in this small town. In that past I drew a crowd and from that crowd, over time, generated an English Corner of considerable talent and interest. But I don't have the same drawing power as I once did, at least not among students. So I'm going public.
The idea is this: a reasonably well illuminated location, decent through-put of people, and a regular time once (maybe twice) a week. Hang out. If my past experience is any guide, it'll take time to develop, and there'll be a fair amount of monkey watching to put up with. (And anyone with enough gumption to speak up will make appointments they'll never keep, demand phone numbers they'll never use, and suggest several different ways to throttle the fledgling social event, the most obvious and relentless one being, "We should go somewhere quiet were there's less people", which isn't actually a come on--that's why a thing like this needs through-put, and to start with can't be done inside at some advertised location.)
I wonder if it'll work out before it gets too cold.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Nov 9, 2006 18:53:15 GMT 7
Public English corners can be damn cool. Go for it. Start spreading the word and let it grow on its own. It does take patience...you get a lot of the same "Which is more derlicious- pissa or hamboorger?"- type questions. But you do meet some awfully hot babes nice people at these things. If you're getting people, when it gets cold you likely won't have too much trouble getting some shelter somewhere. Uhhh...ANY of you can do this, if you really want to....  |
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Da Dan
Barfly
the weather is here............ wish You were beautiful
Posts: 105
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Post by Da Dan on Nov 9, 2006 21:27:21 GMT 7
I'm interested in learning where Any public City English corners are in any city  as the big guy says, you do meet some awfully [glow=red,2,300] hot babes[/glow] nice people at these things... Often in a new city I find mefelfs wondering when & where the English corners are there, the kind that are in a central location & open to all. Good place to learn cool places to go & also is a good topic that makes them talk as I'm not interested in where I've been but want to find out where I'm going. Does Suzhou have one? I'd like to se the girls type of people at the Shenzhen ones.... |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Nov 9, 2006 22:31:39 GMT 7
Suzhou has perhaps the best in China, at least from a language perspective. You can go and actually have intelligent high-level conversations there. Some babes, too. Unfortunately, it competes with Cheap Beer and Taco Night at Harry's.  |
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Post by joe on Nov 10, 2006 15:47:21 GMT 7
I feel I would be remiss if I did not spread the simple joy of unalloyed English amongst the heathen clamouring just beyond the school gates. They come with burning torches at night, and speak in some kind of guttural jangling gargle.
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Post by joe on Nov 10, 2006 16:55:04 GMT 7
On second thoughts, truthfully the answer is the faculty are black crows and the students are kids. I'm angling to meet regular people, speaking some Chinese and some English. I know they'll have been just as relentless in their attempts nail life down into security and responsibility, but having hung out with civilian adults lo this last year before I came back here, I have learned there is a great deal more to Chinese life than the apartment the school lets you buy. Gonna check out what's what in this burg.
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Post by joe on Nov 14, 2006 17:30:59 GMT 7
Day One: Trail Run
I had planned to turn up at the big public square at 7. I rode my bike for thirty minutes too long that afternoon and I was still eating supper at 7:15. I arrived at the square around 7:30.
It's big, and opens onto the lake. It's a collecting point for people at night; and also during the day if it's windy enough for kites.
The front end of the "square" is a long paved mall leading down from a main street. It opens onto the lake, and splits into two walkways around the water. I wandered down the mall and decided to perch on the edge of a garden feature some fifty metres away from the lake. The wall of the garden thing provided a knee high seat. I got jiggy with the Zen.
Waiting in public is an exercise in Zen appreciation. Zoning out into the zone. I watched the guy with the long paintbrush draw characters on the tiles in some watery liquid. People followed his progress backwards. I watched the guys doing desultory high kicks around the master. I listened to the distorted beatbox playing tinny renditions of pop songs for the old women to make out their Chinese line dance to. Watching, basically. About 20 minutes worth.
Two small girls walked by. One held eye contact, so I said hi.
Bam!
Within a minute I was mobbed.
A gaggle of 17-year-old girls surrounded me. They came from a nearby senior school. And they weren't language students by any shot.
One crowd drew another. Soon the inner ring of girls was surrounded by an outer ring of weather beaten men's faces, a brown suit brigade. This kind of thing would have completely freaked me out a few years ago. It would have freaked me out that night too if I hadn't some rudimentary Chinese and some rudimentary crowd control ideas.
They called me "laoshi" which made me feel old. We chatted as best we could. I occasionally asked if anyone could speak English. Only the one boy in the class, taller than all these small girls, could. They delegated him translator and he did his best, with a lot of wistful gazes into the distance while he processed and didn't quite get out what others had said.
Some other kids turned out. A boy from the university with a diamond stud in his ear. A geek from the university with a cringing manner, but probably the best English of them all. A woman with her toddler. She turned out to be a teacher of Chinese at a middle school.
I spread the word. Come back Thursday, 7pm.
We'll see.
After 20 minutes the girls had left, not without digital snaps of themsleves pressed up against me. Luckily one of their number was a bit of a punk and she said in a thick accent that it was time to go. I encouraged them to hit the road. They did.
Then finally I stood up and towered over everyone left, and said it was time to go home. They departed swiftly.
I went home drained.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Nov 14, 2006 23:38:53 GMT 7
Sounds like an auspicious start. Sometimes those non-English center-of-the-crowd moments can be really cool if things are right...
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Post by con's fly is open on Nov 19, 2006 18:19:47 GMT 7
Good on ya, Joe. I've been hankering for another bout of English cornering... but for the fact that it clashes with Teacher Taco Night.
Something to think about in Phase Two is to invite specific folks to a teahouse, and have a dinner party-type thing, letting folks mingle whilst you play the social butterfly. Depending on your social appetite, you could get seperate scenes going for different types of crowds.
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