Nov.02, 2008

We went to the meeting hall at 11.a.m. This time Mr. Cai Changjie, executive chairman of Chinese Education Institute, hosted the meeting with some vice chairmen. Mr. Cai chiefly emphasized that we not only stood for Chinese but also for Indonesian Chinese. Other vice chairmen expressed some wishes and hopes.

At 3 p.m., we wore formal suits with shirts and ties, going to the meeting hall. A man section chief and a woman section chief of National Education Department of Indonesia, headmasters of the schools which would accept volunteer teachers, some teachers from Chinese education institutes all over the country and all the volunteer teachers presented the meeting. The man section chief read the contract between the volunteer and the school, which we could hardly understand. While the woman section chief spoke, Mr. Cai Changjie interpreted and we could nearly understand. The third step of the meeting was for the volunteer and the headmaster signed the contract and had a photo taken. Sure enough, my headmaster was of noble character and high prestige, only he wore a Muslim hat. After we got to know each other, we didn’t talk more because he couldn’t speak Chinese, only NI HAO, XIEXIE. His English was not better. After signing the contract, we went to have lunch. It was said that National Education Department of Indonesia feasted us, but just a buffet in the dining hall. During the meal, some people were playing traditional Indonesian music, I went to take some photos after the meal.

After the meal, I went outside to the hallway to make a phone call. First I called my wife and told her that today I was assigned to a school and tomorrow I would leave for the school. She asked me where I would go and I told her I was to go to a senior high school in a county in East Java. She asked whether it was in the city. I had to lie and said yes. While I was making the phone call, I felt I was emotionally vulnerable. Tears would fall down. Later I called my daughter, but she didn’t answer. I phoned my younger brother and he answered. He told me not to worry about our family. I was moved to tears. Then I called my elder sister and told her that I was fine and that I would go to the school tomorrow. My daughter replied to the message I had sent to her before. I got excited because I had asked my wife to inquire about international call fee. They said if you wanted to have international long distance landline, you had to hand in 1000 yuan for deposit. If you wanted your mobile phone to make international calls, your service charge would change to Global Tone and it could be open for use after 3 months. Now it was good. I could send and receive messages to and from my home country. I told this to my colleagues and they sighed that communication monopoly was serious. In Indonesia, with a sim card you bought, you could call globally and the charge was reasonable. If you call your friend in China, it costs you 650RP. If you use MENTARY card, it is cheaper, only 450RP.

Returning to the bedroom, all were discussing the contract signed today. We didn’t get the Chinese version which they had assumed us before. The contract with Indonesian schools had only one copy and we didn’t have copies for ourselves. In the contract, we found it missed the item for communication fee. We asked the teachers of Chinese Education Institute and they said it was divided into other items. In fact, adding all the items up, we only got 100,000RP more. But communication fee before we came was 200,000RP a month.

That evening, I was asked to attend a meeting by Chongqing Team leader ZGM. They wanted me to be the leader of the ninth group. I said that my school was in the countryside and there was no network, the transportation was also poor. It was unsuitable. They said that they mainly regarded me as a steady person, not eager to make a showy display of my abilities. My other group member were CMK,ZWY, WKR in East Java, ZJJ in Bali and SSQ, SYL,XJY in Yogajakarta. It was a big group with a large scope. The tasks for group leaders were to call members to inquire their work and living conditions. I was thinking that I myself needed to be cared and my conditions would sure be poorer. Certainly, the surprising news made me realize that I was not too much weaker than others.