So obviously this means that I finally was able to get a visa to the mainland this week, however...they unfortunately only granted me dual entry due to my student status and only staying in Macao two months. So this means I can only enter China twice, one being this recruitment trip (which is fine, because IFT paid for my visa which was $150US) Now I only have one chance to visit the mainland, so no Yangshuo and the awesome climbing, no Beijing and the Great Wall, and no Huashan for the world's deadliest hiking trail...those will all still be here when I come back. I will be heading for Shanghai on Wednesday for the Shanghai Expo, better known as the World's Fair! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I had to take advantage of it. Can't wait, but I'll discuss that more on another day.
The trip to Guangzhou was fun, there were supposed to be three of us going, however Oriana (the experienced one) fell ill, so it was just Eri and I. Eri has only been here for less than a year. So he was scrambling to ensure everything was in order and get instructions from Oriana. I am happy to report that the trip went without a hitch. There was not a lot of excitement for most of the trip, just arriving and checking in with the exhibition coordinators. After that we just grabbed some dinner and returned to the hotel to rest up and watch the world cup...why USA, why? There was not a lot of excitement for most of the trip, just arriving and checking in with the exhibition coordinators.
This was a HUGE exhibition! The hall it was held in was about the size of three football fields. I was not sure what to expect, but I was not prepared for the number of people who would actually attend. The phrase herding cattle was absolutely necessary for this event. I do not
know the exact numbers, but I will guesstimate that there was in excess of 100,000 people that came this event.
The terms helicopter parents or lawn mower parents do not even come close to describing what some of these parents were like. They came in holding their children by the elbow, leading them around asking all the questions, it was a sight to see. Many times I never even saw the students, the parents came without their students…seriously. (In a conversation last week I had found that this is common in Chinese culture, quite often the parents choose the school and the students have no say. Also, this is similar with dating. Apparently they have large dating events, except the singles do not attend, their parents do. The parents meet with other parents to decide if their children are compatible for each other.) These parent were vicious too, there was no sense of line or anything. You could be in the middle of talking to someone, when another parent would just push to the front of the line and start asking you a question while you were answering the other person. It was nuts.
Now, this was by no means every single parent. There was a good number like this, but the majority of parents were there with their child. They followed their students around to schools the student picked, let the student ask some questions, asked some good questions themselves and it was very much a mutual relationship. Overall, this was very similar to a US college fair, just on a far larger scale. Most interactions were similar to that I would expect to have had at a fair in the US.
I am pretty sure I was the only westerner in the entire exhibition; I never saw another during my time there. It was fun too. I was this goofy white guy with long blonde hair. I definitely stood out. Some people would completely ignore me, while others would approach just to say hello. Some would try to look at me or take pictures of me without making it obvious. The majority of my time was spent handing out our publications, as I did not speak Mandarin. The table constantly looked like this. Everyone was surrounding Eri, who spoke Mandarin, and I was on the side with no one to talk to…so I had time to take this picture because it was funny.
A few brave souls every so often (usually girls) would approach me, giggle a little and ask about the school. Usually phrased as “Can you introduce your school to me?” It caught me off guard the first time someone asked me and I had a little chuckle, but once I got used to it was easy and I slowly built up my sales pitch. They would come in waves; once one person began to talk to me a whole group would form to listen to my replies in English. Overall it was a great time. Towards the end as things began to quite down, there was a group of students who hung around, because they just wanted to talk. They enjoy speaking conversational English. It helps them to practice. This was great, I could tell they really enjoyed getting to have a conversation in English and I enjoyed it too!
Overall the day was a great success, but we were starving so we headed off for some food…and I finally remembered my camera so I could document what I ate. So here we go!
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