Coming Home from Spring Fest. (February 25, 2007)
When we got home we were pretty groggy and all that happened we didn’t notice anything different about our apartment until the next morning.
Before we left we gave a key to our barber friend downstairs. We always let him use our washing machine because as a barber he has to wash towels everyday. One day last winter I saw his chapped hands and insisted he use our washer. He was previously using cold water in the dead of winter and his hands got so dry they bled. So we left him a key. Our computer room has a lock , so I put everything valuable ( trust which isn’t a lot!, just some alcohol< I didn’t want his son to get to) I locked the door and then hid the key in my closet drawer.
As we were leaving I can remember several of Joes students over at our house wanting to wish us goodbye. The students were there as I locked the door and I remember Joe wanted something out of the room so I told him where the key was, not even thinking that the students were right there and could hear me. Joe then took the key down to the barber and had the student translate that he didn’t want anyone in our place, just that he could do his laundry there. We love the barber so much so we never thought anything would happen. But as the next day went on we started to notice things were out of place as we had left them. First the computer room door was wide open. There were seeds and little fruit shells all over the floor and the trash can was full. On further inspection the our computer had several new games downloaded on it, and our American tv shows and movies had been erased. We had so many new Chinese download managers im surprised the computer could still run smoothly.
We then ventured into the kitchen to find dirty dishes, a pot full of moldy rice, our American food eaten. The on to the bedroom where the bed had been slept in and some boys clothes thrown on the floor. The out on the balcony hung some of Joes clothes , freshly washed.
We sorta freaked out and called our liason, she came over and we talked to the barber and found out that the student ( The chairman) and student that we have really come to be friend, had told him that teacher joe called and said he needed to fix something in our apartment. The barber didn’t know any better and he doesn’t know English , so he could call us or anything!, SO this student lived in our house for 7 days or more. He ate our food, slept in our bed, had friends over and wore Joe’s clothes and even went through my underwear drawer to find the key to the computer room! Two days after returning home we got a text message from the student wondering when we would get home. When we didn’t reply I think he thought we were far away so he tried to come over. The barber met him before he did and yelled at him saying you have some explaining to do. He came up to our door with a bag of our stuff ( that’s right folks he borrowed, or doesn’t that mean stole a bunch of Joes clothes including underwear, two backpacks, a belt and several other items) he came to give them back and Joe just looked at him and said I have nothing to say to you. And slammed the door.
In the days following we found out that our liaison actually had come by to drop somethings off ( I also gave her a key) and found the student living in my house. She didn’t even report it! She said she thought he was telling the truth and didn’t even think about calling us to confirm it. ( This is how much Students run the world in china). The next few days moved like turtles. No one seemed to care that this had happened or that our privacy had been altered. In China everybodies stuff really is everyones, so for them this was all just a joke. We would go into the office and after all the teachers heard the story it was like oh that’s so funny the students love you so much they want to be like you and live in your house. In America it was like I now have a stalker , please arrest him. But here its like ohhh ha ha ha. SO we were really upset, Joe even considered leaving. Luckily we got our boss from CHangsha into the conversation and he got them to change the locks. Oh did I mention that the student had his own key made??? As the days followed we were greeted with even more stupidity as I went to talk to our liason Mr Yen. He got fumed with me and said very sternly… This is your fault, Your fault! I looked at him and just let loose, I said don’t you ever tell me that it is my fault first and for most when someone else steals from me. It was so hard to speak slowly and use easy to understand English. I think the biggest thing was just being angry, it didn’t matter what I said he got the point. He seemed pretty floored that a women was yelling at him and after I explained to him that in America the police would be called and In china I should be calling the police , but I am looking out for what’s best for our students, he seemed a little shaken. I then just got up and left the office. I couldn’t believe he was telling me that it was first and for most my fault. I knew I shouldn’t have given my key to my barber friend, but when you say “first and formost” it implies it was all my doing.
After talking with our changsha boss, Mr.Yen came over and apologized. Except it was an apology directed at Joe and not to me whatsoever. I think there is still such a line between Men and Women here that that would just have been a step too low for him to go.
As the days molded into weeks, nothing was being done about this kid. Mr Yen even told Joe to just forgive him. Joe said he wont be allowed in my class, I will not teach him! Mr Yen said, but it’s the students right to learn! I thought Joe was going to explode his head turned so red! Finally after about two weeks it was agreed that the students parents would be called, the student would be put on probation ( which I guess is a big deal in Chinese schools), the student would be strongly recommended to leave the school and if he does anything in the next year he would be expelled. And he couldn’t be in teacher Joes class until Joe said it was ok. To us this seemed like nothing. This kid pretty much got away with it. Students get expelled in our school for going out and staying at the internet bar all day , Expelled for skipping class!, but this kid lived in our house and was getting probation!! Finally Joe and I decided, there was nothing more we can do, this isn’t our country, so we can’t say anything else.
Now we never see this student, he avoids us in the halls and even his friends are shy to speak to us. They all think we know they were in our house. I guess the ones that really don’t say anything are the most guilty. These are students that used to speak with us everyday, kids that we came to trust and enjoy spending time with. That’s all gone now. We feel a little hurt because they decided it was more fun to do this thing and risk getting caught then to have us be there friend. Its just all a little crazy.