Cigarette smoking is a great way to lose weight! (not really)

My new friend whom I still don't know the name of informed me yesterday that the best way to lose weight is by smoking cigarettes. When she was talking I was reminded of how great a commercial it would be for cigarettes if they were still made. She told me that when she was in college that she was really fat and lost 50 lbs by smoking.  I think I was in shock that someone was actually telling me that smoking was a good idea. I responded with the fact that smoking is really bad for you and can cause many diseases. My roommate and the girl just looked at me, shrugged their shoulders and kept smoking.

Observations:

One: The "bells" that dismiss the students in the schools I work at are actually not bells at all, but rather, a 10 second Chinese song that sounds like something elementary children would skip around the room and clap to. It's quite different than hearing a bell in American schools. I don't know if it's because i am used to it or what, but when I hear a school bell go off, I immediately think of "hurry, gotta get to my next class!" Here, it is much different. Even when the music goes off I am often confused if class is really over because 1) there are no clocks in the classroom 2) No one stops me from teaching to tell me class is over  and 3) sometimes kids just blow whistles in the hallway and I don't know what that means. I feel awkward ending class each time because everyone waits for my cue to get out of their seats, when I am used to the rude way students in America end classes by getting ready to leave before the professor stops talking. Also, what must make things easier for students here is that the teachers switch classes, not the students. This may explain why the students are in no hurry to leave their classroom. The added factor of giving teachers actual respect must also be a part of it.

Two: The use of physical punishment is still alive and thriving in schools here, which makes me extremely uncomfortable. Although I have not seen it at No. 11 middle school, I assume it exists there as it does in No.7. Every time I am in the midst of a lecture that almost always turns into a beating with wood panels, I get this tight knot in my stomach. Although I really have no idea what these kids did wrong, I just keep thinking of what would happen in a situation like this in the Seattle School District, particularly the elementary school where I worked for three years. I remember the countless times I have called the office to get security guards to escort a student out of the room because they would not leave. The way each culture (American and Chinese) disciplines their students and/or children is so different and I keep thinking CPS will bust through the door, but alas they do not. Do they even have a CPS here? If so, I wonder what the conditions must be in order to take away a child.

Three: Today one of my students asked, "Do you like KFC? I like it very much, that is why I am so fat!" It was very cute. It also made me think of how open they are here to talking about their own bodies. I know not many people would be comfortable enough with their bodies to say this in America, let alone a 7th grade girl just entering puberty. Actually, I wonder if puberty starts at the same time as it does in America, which is getting younger and younger. My seventh grade students here look much like American third and fourth graders. I showed a picture of some fifth grade students I tutored at home to my roommate and she was so surprised that they were not in high school because they are so much tall and older looking. Even today when I walked into a new classroom of students I had to think carefully about if I was in the right classroom or if this was actually a second grade class.