A semester in Xi'an

Excerpts from an email home. 25 June 2015.

Well, Ive finished a semester Xi'an. I must say Ive gained a bit of insight into the (at least international student's) education system here.
Its not that great.
Its not that the quality or content is lacking, rather (something closer to my heart..): morals and ethics.

For all of China's restrictions and regulations, the international student's department is incredibly laxed. Cheating is not only rampant and obvious, but, it appears,  perfectly acceptable. Take weekly '听写 (lit:listen-write) tests (think of primary school spelling tests) for example. I think they should be re-named ''写写' because half the class will have their textbooks open and be copying the words. The teacher strolls around the room and turns a blind eye. She strolls because shes not allowed to sit whilst teaching - thats the rules. She's not allowed to sit... but we're allowed to cheat??

One day during '听写  I got so fed up that I took out my camera and started taking pictures. Some classmates gave me amused looks - I smiled and snapped their photo. I snapped people playing on their phones, people wit textbooks open, people sharing answers.

Cheating is one thing, punctuality and class attendance are another. Our class had 20 students.. these last few weeks we would start at 8am with 5-6. On a good day, this number would swell to perhaps 12 or 15 over the next few hours, on a bad day it would remain at 5.

On a positive note, my chinese is improving to the state where I think I am not longer mistaken for retarded, but from Taiwan, Kunming or Hong Kong (?is their chinese so bad in those places, I wonder..?!)


I managed to do a bit of hiking as the days got warmer (and are now too hot!), the most notable being 'Mt Hua Shan' - unlike any mountain you've seen (the crowds are also unlike any you've seen (or want to see)). There was even an ATM at the summit! (only in China!) On the way down I couldnt restrain myself and (jumping the 'no swimming' sign), had a little swim in the river (the cleanest water Id seen so far)... my chinese friend was shocked and said it was the 1st time she'd seen a girl 'bathing' in natural water...

The day of my exam one of our scungy dorm cats cut its leg - deep enough for me to dream about stitching it up. No such luck (opportunity! Exams come first!) - in the end I brought back some supplies, and on the kitchen bench (with girls cooking pancakes in the background!) me and A Yi (dorm mother) cleaned and injected this unappreciative patient, whose howling nearly turned the pancake girls nauseous.

So whilst I'm not sure about the pancakes, both the cat and my exams turned out fine. The cat because (as every vet knows) animals will heal with/without/in spite of treatment, and and exams because they were a bit like glorified homework without the use of a dictionary.  I did, however have trouble reading the exam regulations listed at the top of each paper....I have sat many an exam where l have not understood the exam questions, but never until now been in one where I haven't been able to read the rules!

And as such continues my strange life here...

Ｃｈｅａｔｉｎｇ　ｉｎ　Ｃｈｉｎａ