Journal: My Conspicuous Absence

Shortly after the recent speech contest, I learnt that I was among three contestants in the "society" category who made it to the final round. This might be something to be proud of if there were more than 6 contestants in that category in the first place and/or I had actually seen the quality of the competition. As you might recall, due to a mix up with the times I only watched the performances in the "student" category.

Truth be told, when I first competed I didn't even know that there would be a final round. And after the soporific first round, I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad about the news, especially since it was scheduled for a Wednesday...probably. In fact Maggie from the foreign affairs office at my college didn't sound very confident when she told me the date, nor did she know the time of day, so she said she'd call me later to confirm.

Wednesday is my busiest day. And not only do I have classes all afternoon, this week I also have dance practice in the evening. The teachers from my office are preparing to perform at a department-wide concert. We even have a qualified dance instructor, and since the concert is on this weekend I wouldn't want to let my collegues down by missing practice. The date that Maggie initially gave me was today's, but when yesterday came and went and I still hadn't heard from her I hoped that it was because she had the date wrong. Still, I thought I'd better check. So I called this morning, and found out that the contest was indeed on this afternoon, and at 12 o'clock I was supposed to ride there in a car with one of the foreign students who had also made it to the final. (It was the Australian, by the way—his accent is very strong, but he's a confident speaker and his speech was quite entertaining).

I said I couldn't go. I did wonder at the time if I would regret giving up this opportunity, but I figured that reaching the final was gratifying enough, and I knew that there were many other contestants better than me (Li Qingtao and I had already chosen the stand-out winner during the first round). Anyway, attending the final would have been just plain predictable, while choosing not to go was at least an interesting decision that I could write about in my journal. Maggie encouraged me to change my mind, saying that my classes could be rescheduled, but in the end she said that if I didn't want to go then she wouldn't force me. At least that was the gist—lately she speaks to me in chinese most of the time, and although I don't understand ever word I think that this development is more significant that any speech contest.

I thought that was the last I would hear about the matter, but then while I was giving a class this afternoon a person came to find me and tell me that Maggie wanted to speak to me. I pointed out that I was in the middle of a class, but the person said that it was important so what could I do but follow them to a nearby office. Apparently one of the contest organisers was concerned about my absence (the finalists in the "society" category having now dropped to two) and had contacted Maggie. So Maggie wanted to bustle me off to the contest right then and there, and this time her argument was that I was representing the school and it would look bad if I didn't go. It's funny, the school didn't seem to think I was so closely attached to it when they decided to categorise me as a non-permanent member of staff (read: foreign teacher) and double my monthly internet fee. All the same, according to what I know of chinese culture this did seem to have a ring of truth to it, but it was far to late at that stage for me to change my plans. Maggie asked me to explain my reasons directly to a certain Mr Tian, the head of the foreign students department, so she got him on the telephone. I've never met this guy before, but in fact I already dislike him because he keeps sending random people (his daughter among them) to sit in on my already overflowing classes without consulting me first. And now what I heard from him was: "If we make a promise then we should keep it, don't you think so?" I will leave it up to you to decide whether that was patronising or not, but I don't remember making any promises, and anyway it was my commitment to my students that I was more concerned about.

People I spoke to afterwards agreed that Maggie was exaggerating by saying that I would bring shame to the school by not attending. It was probably more that the converse was true: she and Mr Tian thought I had a chance of getting first place in the "society" category, which would have won the school some glory.

Yes, but they would lose face if the person that they had "backed" as such didn't show... And the glory for the school would be worth the loss of your services :) for the day. You know, Todd, I really enjoy the way that you write, I can picture it all, and sometimes, smell it. Keep it up!

lisa 11.12.2003 , 23:34

Hi Todd, don't let your school bully you into doing these types of things. The school may have leverage against it's Chinese workers but western workers always hold the edge here. I agree with your stance, the students are your first priority in a matter like this.

Dezza 16.12.2003 , 00:57

Mate... just grab that bastard and smack him one... gorn... you know you want to...

geoff 23.12.2003 , 14:41

Do what you want to do Todd, you always have! Screw them. Oh, and merry Christmas by the way :)

David Chan 26.12.2003 , 02:43

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