Office Hours

This past Tuesday night I had my first office hours with the freshman. Their classes still haven’t started yet because they are required to complete some form of military training which I know little about.  This, however, did not stop them from coming out in droves to the foreign English teacher’s office hours. As I and the other 6 American teachers arrived I could tell there was energy and excitement in the air. It was palpable. As we all waited together in the hallway for room assignments one of the other veteran teachers was noticeably anxious. When asked if she would go in the near room full of freshman students, she quickly replied, “No, no, they will try to make me dance or something.” The man assigning apparent social death sentences in the form of assigned rooms turned to me and asked if I would take the room. I said sure. On the inside I was thinking, “Nobody makes Wes Proctor make a fool of himself by dancing except Wes Proctor… I fear no freshman.” Without hesitation or further discussion I simply opened the door and took a step inside as I would any other room. Then it hit me, the most raucous, thunderous, enthusiastic applause that I have ever experienced.

This was the unexpected that I did not expect. I waded through this absurd and unwarranted praise up to the podium. I turned to them with what I can only imagined looked like the stupidest grin on my face. If the situation could have provided I would have walked back out and taken a minute to laugh and say “What the heck was that about?!” But as it was I just stood dumbfounded facing my admirers. I guess most of them had never actually had an encounter with an American before which is weird to think about, not that it should be either.  Anyway, the whole experience was ridiculous.

 I learned that they viewed office hours as foreigners on display, and there are three things that they want more than anything: to see us dance, to hear us sing, and to hear us speak Chinese. I spoke some Chinese for them which I could tell was a real treat. Then, I was very clear that there would be no dancing, and I thought that I was clear that I would not sing, but they are crafty. They tried in several different ways. First, “Will you sing for us?” Second “Ummm, we are all here and there is not a lot to talk about, so umm it would be okay for you to sing” and finally an approach that had reluctant success, “Do you know the words to jingle bells?” I indulged them and was met with an applause that equaled my arrival’s. After a very long two hours my freedom was restored. Next time I will bring a Michael Jackson DVD dubbed over by an American translating.