Black Wednesday

 

Two years ago, when I started my first semester at the University of Iowa, I had a black Tuesday. On each Tuesday, I needed to teach five sections for the First-year Chinese class. Four sections were in the morning, which stated at 8:30 am and finished at 12:30 pm. I still remember, I needed to act like a tape player on Tuesday morning, repeating the same materials for four times. After teaching, I had two hours to take a rest and prepare for the multimedia class in the afternoon. At 4:15 pm, I had to quickly move from the information arcade at the library to Phillips Hall to teaching the fifth section of the First-year Chinese class that started at 4:30 pm, kept repeating what I taught in the morning for one more time. At 5:20 pm, when the last Chinese section was over, it didn’t mean that I could call it a day. I had a Statistic class from 6 pm to 9 pm. I found that it was barely possible for me to have enough energy to keep awake in my night class.  

 

However, my nightmare returned this semester. I had a black Wednesday this semester. As a first-year PhD student, I am also a part-time teaching assistant working for the Chinese Language Program and a part-time graduate assistant serving as a curriculum coordinator at the Confucius Institute. In addition to work, I am taking three courses this semester. Unfortunately, all of them are on Wednesday. My Second Language Acquisition Theory class is in the morning. After that class, I have to stay in my office for 3 hours and work with some students for their individual sections in the lunch time. The heavy-workload Speaking Acquisition class is in the afternoon, which finished at 5 pm. I have one hour to take a breath and grab a bite for dinner. The last course, which is related to the theories and research about teaching Chinese as a foreign language, starts at 6 pm and lasts for two and half hours. I gradually realize that it is more difficult to concentrate and stay up at night when people get older. Therefore, it is easy for me to get lost in class and feel drowsy asI am getting older.

 

I know, life is not easy, especially for a novice PhD student. I need to seek a balance between academic study and work. I believe, pressure can be a driving force for me to grow up. Life is challenging and tough, but it also means the more I encounter and suffer, the more I can learn and develop. 

 

~ Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. ~ (Romans 5:3-4)