Ni Hao!Here's a continuation of our journey to Kaili...Kaili is known as the "gateway" to the many ethnic minority villages around the province. We had a contact through the director of the Summer Language Institute who was willing to meet us at the bus station when we arrived. Having a person who speaks and reads Chinese with us when exploring is really wonderful. Wang Shan could not have been more gracious or kind... plus we just had a darn good time with him!To get from Bijie to Kaili, we needed to go back through the capitol Guiyang and then continue east. The whole journey was due east. We did not know what kind of bus we would be on, but most of the buses are about 2/3 the size of our city buses and are open air vehicles. They can be very crowded and uncomfortable on a long trek. We were very fortunate to be on a modern cruiser type bus, with air conditioning, too! Most of the time, Chinese music videos were played on a small screen at the front of the bus. It was wonderful to hear the driver and the manager-type guy on the bus singing away with the songs.The driver positioned Nancy and I in the very front seat directly behind his head. We didn't know if he was being generous and offering us a good view or if he wanted to keep an eye on us, but either way the seating allowed for excellent positioning for taking photos. It is fascinating to watch the rules of the road unfold as you ride on a bus here.Our driver had one of the larger vehicles on the road, and I believe the painted line on the road is merely a suggestion. He wanted to keep moving, so he honked loudly on his horn every time he wanted someone or another vehicle to move out of his way. We frequently saw semi trucks and cars coming at us head on as he was moving into the "overtaking lane" of traffic to pass. There are also little pull offs every 1/2 mile or so for cars or trucks to escape into, if need be, when others are trying to pass.The only uncomfortable thing on the bus was the smoking of the driver and his friends who hung out at the front. It was a very people-friendly bus up front for the driver, as one friend of his could sit in a pull out seat in the entrance ramp of the bus, and another could stand behind a little pullout bumper behind his shoulder. The driver talked long and loud and had many good laughs along the way with his friends. We were on the bus from 10 am until 5 pm by the time we reached Kaili.
What a wonderful city! It is truly the most friendly city I have ever visited. We arrived during Sunday Market, so the streets were crowded with people moving around the market and eating. It is not unusual at all to see little kids of four and five years old just roaming about on their own. The market is also a place where one can go to get shoes shined, get a haircut, or even have teeth pulled. Pliers are readily available for this minor operation. Most cannot afford dental care, so we see many smiles filled with teeth that are either crooked, missing, or browned. The smiles, though, are so welcoming and so contagious. I could live in this city, without a doubt.Wang Shan wanted to treat us to some local specialty items... like the sour fish and the Yang Mei wine. We would never have been able to know about or find these specialties on our own because he knows the little tucked-away restaurants that prepare exactly what you want. He was determined that we try the sour fish and the wine, so we went to a little shop owned by a woman who brews the local fruit (a kind of red bayberry) into Yang Mei wine. She had a few 5 foot tall jugs in her storefront, let us sample two types, and then scooped the wine into plastic water bottles for the purchase. We preferred the fruity-er wine, as the other tasted more like ethanol. Then Wang Shan took us to another storefront where he picked out two fish. One of the fish jumped the net and landed on the pavement. Easily scooped back up. We were taken to a little private eating area up a very narrow , twisty staircase. Within minutes, a hot pot of sour fish was at our table. More later... have to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Language Institute now...
Ni Hao, Dear Blog Readers!
After careful consideration, Nancy (teaching partner) and I decided to journey off to Kaili for a few days. There was some miscommunication regarding the start teaching date here at this remote site, so we had a few days to ourselves.
We decided not to spend it here. We had not had any water for over 18 hours, and there is no sign that it is coming back on anytime soon. The Internet connection was only printing Chinese characters as I typed and the mosquitoes had about worn out our fly swatters.
I also needed to strike out to see if there was ANY bathroom alternative. The squatter toilet is difficult enough to manage, but especially when we were without any water for flushing (use your imagination).Creatively, I had rigged up a chamber pot for my bedroom. Part of me believes I was a singer and lute player during the Renaissance in my previous life, so the chamber pot didn't seem much of a stretch (although I haven't been in the mood to hum madrigals, I must admit). However, the chamber pot has alleviated several anxieties I was harboring once darkness fell. Mainly, I was frightened that if I used the squatter at night, I would be greeted by a rat that had swum upstream to check out the situation. I do wish I had a chamber maid to empty the chamber pot in the morning, but alas, I am she, too...
Speaking of squatters... I'm told that many of the tourists coming to China for the Olympics will be experiencing these kinds of toilets in Beijing, too. Well, good for them! As I become more accustomed to these squatters I am convinced that they assist in the development of strong thigh muscles, a sense of humor, and a sense of true accomplishment on a daily basis. Can you tell that I am developing an intimate relationship with waste matter? For those of you who know me, you know that I am not the least bit squeamish about talking about anything. For those of you who don't know me as well, try to become adjusted to my candor.
Anyway, we actually did encounter another type of toilet facility in and around Kaili. It's more of a trough, really, with about a width of 8 inches. No privacy here - you just find a spot, straddle the trough and squat. I have learned a strategy that the "best" position in the trough sequence is where the line begins. At the front end, which is slightly elevated, there is sometimes running water. This causes the waste matter to be moved to the lowest part of the trough... which is the end position. Think of living in a mountainous region. It is always advantageous to live at the top of the mountain, as everything flows downward. Just in case you wanted to know, there is no toilet paper anywhere. So, I carry little packs of Kleenex for occasions when I visit the squatters. Any tissue cannot be thrown in the trough or squatter, so there are always little buckets for people to deposit their wiping papers. This is another reason the squatters are so darn smelly.
I must admit, though, that the design of buildings and villages integrates these facilities in an excellent way, as they are always placed at the back of the village or train station, etc... We truly do have much to learn from Chinese practicality and design that simply makes good sense. Nothing is wasted here, and recycling is truly a way of life.
FYI: I think I have killed one hundred mosquitoes as I have typed this in the last few minutes. They are everywhere and now look like speckled wallpaper on the blue paint in this room. I beg forgiveness from my Aunt Dottie, who once kept a moth alive all winter by feeding it sugar water on a cotton ball. I do not want to kill these creatures, but they will eat me alive if I don't. Yes, I am taking my malaria medication and am grateful that I am on this regimen of pills. I now have a new appreciation for all those brave soul Peace Corps volunteers.
Because I am having some trouble sending longer blogs, I will construct a Kaili Blog in installments. Right now I need to plan a few things for tomorrow's first class. We meet our students and we will also be having a rather la-de-da Opening Ceremony with many of the dignitaries in the area. It is a good thing our apartment's laundry machine is up and running tonight. We checked to see if the water was on, first thing, when we returned from Kaili and our spirits lifted tremendously when that water shot out of the spout! We are now in the practice of filling up covered buckets with water when the water is actually working. The covers prevent mosquitoes from being privy to additional breeding grounds. We have been told that the water sometimes goes off for six or seven days at a stretch.
More tomorrow on our adventures in Kaili! Enjoy the cush of your Western toilet, the closeness of your soft bathroom tissue, the way the waste matter magically disappears, and the fact that rats are a lot less interested in sharing your bathroom.
Ni Hao, Dear Readers!It has been both a challenging and rewarding day in Bijie. The challenges are frustrating and overwhelming, and to be honest, left me in tears for a short time this evening. Here's what happening on the frustrating front...1. We have only squatter toilets in our apartment.2. The water keeps going out... about two hours this morning... and now for about the last eight hours.3. When the water goes out, the squatter becomes very messy and difficult to use (use your imagination to picture this scenario).4. It apparently rains a great deal here, and with the campus under so much construction, it is like walking through a huge mud hole5. There are many flies and mosquitos6. We are in a very remote site. Usually, there are weekend treks to attractions around the actual site, but there is nothing much within any reasonable distance to explore on the weekends. At other sites, the teachers are able to walk to town and relax after teaching, but the city proper is a 50 minute walk from campus, and walking at night is not advised.7. The key to our apartment is very difficult to use, resulting in our calling the facillitator to help us when we returned from a walk this evening.So, much is different than we thought it might be. On the other hand, there are some wonderful things happening too, which I will need to focus on to keep my spirit bouyant.1. Our actual apartments are quite nice. I am staying in the apartment where the Peace Corps volunteers usually stay. It is well stocked with books, movies, and encouraging messages to us as the current Bijie volunteer workers.2. Our facillitator, Tang Gang, is so very gracious and accomodating. He has many rules and regulations to follow, including getting us registered with the prefecture police because we are going to be here for more than 20 days. He worked very hard to get a computer and internet connection for me today, too. Unfortunately, the set up keeps switching to Chinese characters, so I am typing on Nancy's (my teaching partner) computer.3. The head of the kitchen on campus spent a while with us today, asking us what we would like to have prepared while we are here. We asked for no fish, because it tends to be prepared in a very slimy fashion in this region. We also asked for less oil and no lard. We also asked for no dog or cat meat. He about rolled on the floor laughing when we made that request. Tang told us he may try to disguise the dog meat by cutting it up really small and passing it off as pork. We have a wonderful joking, bantering relationship with Tang, so we do a lot of teasing back and forth. As we tease, we introduce additional American idioms to him, terms like "pulling my leg" and "messing with my head." We all had a good laugh after he teased us about the dog meat as he told me, "I am messing up your head, yes???"4. As we walked around campus tonight, we found a beautiful lily pad pond where students hang out, read, and study. We were approached by three young men who simply wanted to try their English out on us. They did a beautiful job, and they were so pleased that we understood their English. One of the boys told us we were the very first foreigners he had ever actually talked to. He was so excited that I thought he was going to jump right out of his skin. It took a great deal of courage for these young men to walk up to strangers and start a conversation. We are finding the Chinese people to be very friendly and very kind. The look of absolute joy on the faces of those three young men will, I believe, sustain me through all the challenging living details I chronicled above. Such joy...5. The actual teaching is being delayed three days due to registration for students beginning a bit later than scheduled originally. Nancy and I felt that we might go absolutely stir crazy waiting to get into the classroom with our students, so we are planning an adventure. We will take the bus from Bijie to Kaili, which is the gateway to the many ethnic minoritiy villages in the Guizhou Province. The bus will be very cheap, but it will be a crampy and sticky 6 hour trek. Once we arrive there, a friend of the director's will meet us and help us navigate the villages within a 2 hour range of Kaili. This area is especially known for it textiles and handicrafts, so I will be in embroidery paradise.6. My family in East Lansing is concerned about my bamboo saxophone purchase. They wondered at the folly of trying to pack a saxophone when my carrying space is so limited. However, this sax is basically a reeded recorder instrument that takes up very little space.7. We had a phenomenal Opening Ceremony Dinner back in Guiyang before we left for Bijie. Lots of short speeches by dignitaries, followed by numerous toast with a type of "spirits" they call Mou Tai, a 106 proof liquor dating back to the Han Dynasty. This spirit basically looks and tastes like lighter fluid. It is served in a very tiny shot glass with a stem, and after the toast everyone shouts "Gan Bei," which means bottoms up. The wait staff keeps your Mou Tai cup filled throughout the evening as people propose one friendship toast after another. This is a peace-loving, bridge-building group of humans who are involved in this cooperative endeavor between China and the United States.8. After the Opening Ceremony dinner, we we taken up the winding road of a mountain to a beautiful Tea House. The Tea House was actually closed, but one of our Ministers of Education made special arrangements for it to re-open late for us. We watched two young girls perform the tea ceremony, which has very specific parts. It was a lovely night atop a mountain that I will never forget.
9. Last night, in the pouring rain, we decided to wander out and explore the downtown region of Bijie. We roamed around the wonderfully colorful marketplace, which was alive with people. Some specialities here are a wide assortment of teas, potatoes, pig snout, huge slabs of lard, and chicken feet. We are a curiostiy in town, so wherever we go, people stare at us. It is funny to watch the first person in a group catch a glimpse of "the foreigners" - and then they quickly inform their friends by pointing at us and telling them to "look." For many here, we may be the first foreigners they have ever seen. A group of young girls followed us through the market, giggling and smiling back and forth with us.The poverty here is impossible to describe and heart-shattering to see. The faces of the people in this area seem old before their time, as much of the work involves very demanding physical labor. Many families have a cement slab front to sell wares, and they live on the back of the slab with their families. They work very hard to sustain themselves day to day.Since we will be traveling to Kaili in the morning, I may not have internet access for a few days. If the water doesn't come back on by morning, we will begin this journey unshowered. And so it goes... I will tell you about my Kaili explorations in the next blog.In the meantime, I hope you will take a moment to think about what you have in your life that brings you joy, what you have that makes you grateful. We live in unbelievably plush circumstances compared to much of the world. The challenges we face as we are here will be challenges only for a few weeks. The people who live in this region live with these challenges every day of their lives. This is their home...
Ni Hao from Bijie!
There is an old saying that cities, no matter where in the world, always give a more favorable impression when you enter them accompanied by sunshine. If that is indeed the case, we had most unfavorable conditions upon entering Bijie yesterday. It was nearing dark and raining quite heavily. The road coming into the University was under construction and a muddy quagmire. Carrying our luggage made us nearly sink up to our ankles in the mud.We had been told that Bijie was under quite a bit of construction, and that it rained a lot up in these mountains. However, the bleakness we saw upon our arrival is really impossible to describe in words. Imagine a plummeting feeling in your stomach, accompanied by a feeling of being overwhelmed by mud, and perhaps you will have a notion of what I was feeling. Nancy and I had the good sense to be able to laugh it off and keep up our spirits about the conditions, but there has been so much that has been disheartening over the last two days.We are about 4 hours north west of Guiyang, the capital city of the province. We are in a most remote site of the teaching program. Our facillitator here, who is in Foreign Affairs, told us that the Bijie prefecture is very much third world... and that this is the third world of any other place in China. The poverty here is breathable and very sad. This is a small area (about the size of 2 Michigan counties combined) that most of you have probably never even heard of, and yet it is home to over 7 million people.The Bijie city downtown and marketplace areas are very utilitarian, focusing on basic food and living needs. We stayed in a hotel last night , as our apartment was not ready. We were going a bit stir crazy in our hotel room, so we ventured downtown for a little exploration . We wandered into the market, which is a series of twisty streets filled with colors and sounds. The vegetables are just beautiful...
Ni Hao!
I am now in a very large Internet cafe, surrounded by teenagers who are playing many video games and wearing headsets to reduce the ambient noise. There is considerable smoke in the air, so I feel like I am in a cocktail lounge - minus the jazz singer. However, I will write some highlights and then elaborate if the Internet is still up and working...1. I am a failure with chopsticks. I can manage to stab the dumplings with the ends, but the very oily-based cooking here makes eating with chopsticks very slippery.2. Slurping is everywhere.3. As we walked out of our hotel in Guiyang, which is the capitol city of Guizhou Province in southwestern China, we saw several teenage boys beating another boy. He is surrounded by yells, kicks, punches. "There's a boy getting beaten up," I tell everyone. They keep walking. "Can't we stop and help him?" They keep walking. Nancy, my teaching partner, pulls me along, telling me I don't want to get involved in this. Everyone is silent. They keep walking. I am heartsick. This is the first moment I have wanted to go home.Later, Nancy, who was in China on this program 6 years ago, tells me that we really don't want to get involved. They are teen boys fighting - just let them handle it themselves. When I ask if we could have called the police, she says that I would've been taken to the police station, questioned, possibly blamed for the fight in some way, perhaps even arrested - and then would've had to settle the whole thing by paying money to the officials. I am a foreigner. They know I am here with money. Walk away, she tells me. I save my crying for later, when I cannot sleep. I am awake much of the night.4. I welcome the waking-up sounds of the city. As I look out from the 14th floor of this hotel, I discover how forgiving the night really was. We arrived about 9:30, under dark and rainy skies. Our eyes were mostly on the ground, trying not to slip on the tile and stone walkways, which were organized into colorful non-patterns on the entrance-way and alleys.
We are treated to a lovely dinner by the hosts at our individual sites throughout Ghizhou. Tang Gang will be my contact at Bijie and Pansy is the contact for Pam's site. They are most gracious and pleased that we have taken the long journey from America to be here with them. They negotiate a restaurant for us, as most places are closed for dinner by ten. We move through the very large selected restaurant, whose chairs are all covered in yellow tied fabric, and eventually arrive in a round table private room. Tang orders for all of us, asking if we want tofu, bacon, fish, beef, etc... The food comes one dish at a time. We have vegetable dish, cucumber soup (which Tang's Mama made for him when he was a boy), more vegetables, dumplings stuffed with pork. A very spicy noodle soup comes with a warning challenge from Tang that the red peppers in the broth "take courage to eat - be careful". There is a dish especially designated at each of our place settings for food we do not like. I find this to be very humane.I shared two stories from my childhood food ordeals with them at this time. My brother and I used to sit for hours sometimes, trying to eat all our red beets, eventually smashing them into our mashed potatoes to cover the taste. Also, I would occasionally give my dog, Happi, my once-a-week liver as she waited patiently next to my place at the table. The whole color-filled meal eventually appears on the glass turntable in the center, and we eat one bite at a time with our chopsticks, spinning the turntable for to sample more of our favorites. Don't worry, dear blog readers. I will not spend much more time on the food, but it is a huge part of interaction with our guests while we are here, and they strive to please us with the very best of their culinary offerings at every meal.
5. Today we went to see the Guiyang Bird and Flower Market. For those of you who know me well, I was in my element at this flea market style place. However, this seems to be a permanent market in the city. The banzai plants are plentiful and lovely. There are many varieties of birds, bunnies, dogs, fish, etc... I am very limited in space until I get to Bijie and unpack my teaching materials, so I am unable to purchase much of anything right now. I did find some balls and two flyswatters, both of which will be used to play icebreaker and vocabulary games when I meet my students later this week.6. I noticed numerous huge soccer balls atop many of the roofs here in Guiyang. I discovered they are actually water towers. This city, too, is a blend of the old and new, but many of the housing buildings are in disrepair and look as if they could crumble down on themselves at any moment. There is always laundry hanging in windows and out on balconies. There is a huge basketball court right outside my hotel window. It contains about nine courts so that many people can play at one time.I must end here for now, as I need to renew my Internet time. We have the Opening Banquet this evening. The people involved in this program are wonderfully kind and welcoming. I am very fortunate to be a part of this experience...
Ni Hao!
I have not viewed any television here in China yet, so I am getting news from the China Daily News, which is printed in English. The face of China is changing dramatically in many ways. Here are some highlights of recent news articles I read...
1. Li Fengzhi, a 60 year old resident of Kunming, was released from a local drug rehab center. Li first tried opium in 1968 when she visited a relative. Over the next four decades, her drug habit grew more costly and dangerous. Now that she has fully broken her addiction, she has no home to go to. So, Sun Jianhua, a local police officer, will help Li register for a living allowance and begin working again.
2. A boy previously sentenced as a "juvenile delinquent" took the entrance exam for a vocational school in Jiutan. The 15 year old boy is currently residing in a local correctional facility. Last November, he got into a fight with a classmate, and the classmate died. He said he had not intended to kill him. The boy was sentenced to three years of re-education through physical labor. To help him prepare for his life after he is released, prison authorities allowed him to take the exam, accompanied by a plainclothes police officer.
3. A group of students at a university in Guangzhou are upset about a ban on dogs on campus. The ban on dogs was imposed last week because of all the barking. Some students complained to the officials that this was an infringement of their rights. All students who have licensed dogs must send them home or put them in the care of relatives. Unlicensed dogs will be sent to the police station. Dogs without owners will be considered strays, and the security department will be allowed to put them down.
4. A woman in the Chaoyang district has been detained, and is the first person to be accused of endangering public security by trying to commit suicide. The woman tried to commit suicide after quarreling with her boyfriend. She turned on a gas stove in her home last Tuesday. Police were notified and took the woman to a hospital.
5. A new Ethical Code for Teachers is being drafted by the Ministry of Education. During the quake in Sichuan, a teacher ran away from the classroom, unmindful of his students during the quake. His running away triggered a public concern about the responsibility and rights of a teacher, the morality of a teacher, and the social values, offering insights for the building of morality and the rule of law.
In Japan, it has been ruled that when a quake takes place, teachers cannot abandon their students. If a teacher like the one in Sichuan Province is found out, he would be sacked immediately and can never gain a foothold in the society. The article also stresses that during the quake a good many teachers put the safety of students at the forefront. The man who ran from his students is said to "tarnish the overall moral image of teachers."
6. In Weng'an, Guizhou, 30,000 people too part in a mass protest action, torching government buildings and smashing burning cars. People were protesting the authenticity of a police report on a 17 year old girl's death. The girl's body was found floating in a river. Based on her reputation as a quiet, nice child who didn't hang out or play around, the community doesn't believe that the death was a suicide.
7. A Shanghai man stabbed five policeman to death and wounded five others at a police station in the district. He then started a fire at the gate. It was not clear how Yang, an unemployed Beijing resident, managed to fatally attack so many policemen inside a police station. Later... Yang told police that he went on the killing spree because he was angry with police for interrogating him last October over bicycle thefts.
My Internet time is again running out... I send my love to all of you in the U.S. and wish everyone a Happy Fourth of July (a day earlier on this side of the International Date Line)! I do miss the ease we have of using the same native language when we speak. However, many people here in China speak English very well, and communication is accompanied by signs and gestures, until we understand one another. I am learning a few new Chinese words each day. I am told I have a good ear for the inflections in the language. This is good...
They tell me
the Chinese don't show everything
at once.
This would be obscene.
The Chinese,
masters
of luring curiosity...
showing the head of the dragon,
but not the tail.
Here the four elements
of a Chinese Garden
surround you
carry you
envelop you
in one small alcove
at a time.
Greenery, rocks,
architecture, and water
flowing in a ying yang harmony,
balancing space and time.
I slow down here,
move my feet carefully,
grace my Western self
through this balanced space.
I keep my voice
close inside
like a whisper,
not wanting to startle
this space
where even the limestone rocks
seem to breathe.
There is one
tiger lily plant
amidst this canvas.
A small fire
between earth and sky.
Two mandarin ducks
mated for life
move among the goldfish.
The lattice work sculptures
offer small visions into the next tableau
of green plants, gray rocks, and flowing water.
They are said to
lick the scenery
beyond this space.
The portals
offer larger visions
into the next alcove.
They are said to
frame the scenery
beyond this space.
One sculpture
invites me
to massage my eyes,
my imagining.
An inkblot test
fashioned in limestone
instead of ink.
There is a woman
hidden within this rock,
and she is turning away from me,
yet still offering her hand,
luring me back into Yu Gardens.
There is no hurry here, ever,
and I take her hand and seek
one more tiger lily,
one more fire for my eyes...
- Marianne Forman
Ni Hao!Adventures in Shanghai yesterday are a vivid palette of color, sound , and movement. It is hard for me not to just share the most immediate experience with all of you, but I will do my best to keep things chronological. For those of you who know me well, speaking in a linear fashion, or even thinking in a linear fashion, is often a challenge for me. I tend to lean toward the tangential, and my thinking and writing are sometimes sprinkled with non sequiturs. Hang in there with me, and I will try to take you on this journey, with words, as best I can.Here are some observations and adventures from yesterday - a very full day exploring Shanghai...
1. Streets are shared by cars, buses, trucks, vans, people on bicycles and motor scooters, and motorized wheel chairs. Cars and people in vehicles drive within inches of one another, providing a constant flow of what appears to be dangerous movement. However, there is absolutely no "road rage" visible, and people seem to lobby for their motion space in a relatively cooperative way. Janice, our tour guide, tells us anyone who rides in the front seat "must have a strong heart." At one point, someone cuts off our driver and the back of his car collided slightly with the front of our van. Actually, as passengers, we didn't even notice this bumping had occurred, but our driver got out into the heavy traffic, as did the man driving the car. They assessed the damage, which seemed to be little to none, and the man handed our driver 100 yuan (about fifteen US dollars). We had been told that this was done so our driver would not make any trouble. In China, we're told that if a problem can be settled with money exchange, that it works well for everyone.
2. At the Silk Museum, we discover that the silk worms need the tender mulberry leaves produced by the hot, humid climate in Shanghai. We shared the "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush... so early in the morning" song with Janice. Her response was, "Why do you get up so early in the morning to pick mulberry leaves in America?" In translation, literal meanings take on greater weight when people are trying to communicate. We loved her question and her concern for our sleep.3. At the Silk Museum, we learned that silk worm feces are placed inside sleeping pillows to give the person a more restful night of sleep. Expect several sachets of silk worm waste as presents from Shanghai when I return... just think of them as lavender sachets that you can place inside your sleep pillow.4. The first Starbucks in China was the one here in Shanghai. They carry green tea frappacinos here. Lesson: always count one's change when making a transaction. I paid with a 100 yuan bill for a 31 yuan drink. I was given 29 Yuan in return. On the third try inquiring about the change, which should have been 61, the cashier said "my bad" and gave me the correct change. We think perhaps they count on foreigners to be a bit confused by the currency... and they are very right!
5. Met an absolutely delightful, animated man selling bamboo saxophones on the street in Old Town Shanghai. He made this recorder-looking instrument sound just like a soprano saxophone, ala Kenny G. He drew us into his musical space, luring us with American melodies on his reeded instrument. He had tenor and soprano saxes, one in the key of F and one in G. Yes, of course I purchased one... He used me as a model, talking about how I have good chin and mouth for playing this saxophone. He was alive with tunes and personality and even gave me a box of reeds for free.6. Men are not allowed to handle the delicate silk worms. Their voices are simply too loud (I imagine Americans would be instantly disqualified from working with the silk worms, too!), as the men are often loud and filled with alcohol out on the farms. 7. Umbrellas are used to protect from the very loud sun here. Chi, the woman I met on the plane, told me she was embarrassed to be returning home with something of an American tan. Women in China, she says, value their smooth light skin and keep out of the sun to preserve their delicate and beautiful skin.I will write more later... By the way, we are walking a great deal, and my recently operated on knees are handling all of this with grace and perseverance.
When I ask the young woman about her family, there is no mention of siblings. I've heard that the terms aunt and uncle are disappearing from the Chinese language due to the one child government policy. She tells me that her father is a retired engineer and that her mother has always stayed at home.She tells me she will see her "friend" when she arrives in Beijing. When I ask if this friend is a "boyfriend, " she giggles and giggles, saying she has recently broken up with a boyfriend in Ohio. She continues to smile easily, as she eats the Oreo cookies she likes very much. After talking for a couple hours,we finally get around to exchanging names. She is Chi Hu. The all-politeness that breeds on airplane aisles has transformed into an exchange where our faces are only inches apart. The personal space bubble seems much smaller here, and I immediately adopt this closeness, savoring the intimacy this provides, even between strangers that have become new friends.Everything transformed once we spoke our names. Chi is the last child in her family and she begins to talk about her siblings. She has 4 elder sisters and one elder brother, as the government's one-child policy began just after she was born. She feels sad for single children in China for they are lonely, spoiled by their parents, and don't learn cooperation in sharing.When I ask her is she plans to have a child (I almost said children), she tells me, "Of course." many couples to to America to have a second child, she says. Chi has just left her boyfriend in Ohio because he wanted to stay in America and she wanted to return to China. She's lost weight and has had no appetite for food -- and her mother worries about her, long-distance, in her own way. Chi says her friendsat home find it very unusual that she has lost weight in America. "Everyone who goes to America gets fat, " she says -- and she puts her hands to her cheeks and puffs them outward, creating a bloated face from all the fats and sugars in American food.Chi tells me that she is searching for her "Mr. Right", that she wants to marry at 27 and have a child at 29. She seems confident that she will be able to accomplish this time table. I show Chi my photo album, which I have compiled for my students in China. She asks to hold several pictures individually, holding them closer to her eyes. The black and white photo of Alicia, Audrey, Annelise, and Allegra draped on the couch, like dreaming angels, reminds her of a painting. She also likes the colorful picture of Annelise and Allegra running in the sunflower field. She tells me that they look like "little princesses - all in white".We part company for different connecting flights from Tokyo. Mine is a two hour layover. I expected Narita to be crowded with fleet-footed humanity, but I was surprised by the subdued quiet of the place. The laughter and talking volume of me and my traveling companions seemed, as a result, rather loud and out of place.
We three teachers who are on the Detroit-Tokyo flight together (Pam, LouAnn, and I ) find a specialty store filled with origami art. A few of my 8th graders last year would occasionally make origami flowers for me out of their candy wrappers from lunch. This store, however, had whole villages made of origami designs -- from the flowers to the people to the fireworks. There was even a dinosaur scene, which my daughter Allegra would have loved.
The toilets are especially fascinating to me and offer several options -- from those with bidets to squatters. All were immaculately clean, as my mother would say. There were buttons attached to the toilets that play music or flushing sounds. Not sure if these were meant to conceal bodily sounds, but the opportunities for potential bathroom entertainment seemed limited only by one's imagination.The waste receptacles are divided neatly into aluminum, plastics, paper, etc... Recycling seems to be a very natural and enforced part of life here.It is very warm in the airport, as the air-conditioning is not kept at the indoor chill we are accustomed to in the States. We need refreshment to cool down, so we settle on mango juice on ice. I even stretch out the crunching on the ice to help maintain the coolness. The juice, however, soon makes my stomach cramp and rumble, and I am off to another bathroom adventure. Nancy, my teaching partner, who we have met up with at Narita, reminds me that we should avoid unbottled juices and water - as well as avoiding ice. Apparently the juice dispensers aren't necessarily cleaned daily and sometimes the bacteria builds up. Ice is sometimes made from untreated water.And so it goes...I've had my contact lenses in for over 24 hours now so my eyes are dry and in need of rest. More later from Shanghai...
The flight from Detroit is in its 12th hour - cabin service time it is somewhere between midnight snack and breakfast -- and I think we are about four hours from Tokyo.My first event on this China adventure was to open the envelopes given to me by my younger daughters, Annelise and Allegra. I think their original intent was to have me wait until I arrived in Bijie, my teaching site - where I am fully certain that I will learn far more than I will teach.Annelise's letter was filled with questions and drawings, wanting to know how I like the food and what new animals I'll see in China. The questions are surrounded by the "I'll miss you declarations" that come from a place inside her that is completely pure. Allegra's letter was a colorful panda surrounded by x's and o's - a border full of hugs and kisses. Each one sent a love letter, really, in her own voice and own hand.The 2nd film on this long flight was The Bucket List, my second time viewing this very poignant film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I could listen to Freeman's voice forever. As these two men attempt to check off desires on their "bucket list" once they discover they have cancer, they take in something "truly majestic" - the pyramids in Egypt. Freeman's character, Carter, is faith-filled and is moved over and over again by the creator behind the stars in the sky. He talks of the two questions the ancient Egyptians believed they would be asked along their journey to "Egypt Heaven":1. Have you found joy in your life?2. Has your life given joy to others?I believe, as Carter does, that the answers to these questions are profoundly important - to ourselves as individual entities in this world, and to ourselves as a part of humanity that connects us. I've never created a bucket list, but I know my dear friend Therese has -and I hope she will share the contents with me someday. As always, she inspires me to live my life in a "carpe diem" spirit, the essence of which is the reality of how each of us answers those two questions about joy.In some ways, facing these questions with an honest heart is very much like the traditional "examination of conscience" which is an integral part of many faith traditions. But the "joy" questions are simpler somehow, scratching at the essence of who we are and how we live our days. To "find" joy is it necessary to "seek" it out, or are we wiser to patiently wait for joy to find us - like an unexpected butterfly landing gently on our shoulder? I am much more of a "seeker" than a patient wait-er. This is why I find myself, at this moment, on a plane to Shanghai. The journey entices me more than the actual destination.The two young women sitting next to me on the plane are from China, returning home after studying linguistics in the States as part of an exchange program. They find it wonderful that the U.S. and China have developed so many cooperative programs.They tell me how Shanghai is China's New York -and how "prosperous" the city is. They tell me, too, that I will enjoy the many ethnic minority groups in Guizhou Province -- and that I must see the famous waterfall when I am there.
What a wonderful city! It is truly the most friendly city I have ever visited. We arrived during Sunday Market, so the streets were crowded with people moving around the market and eating. It is not unusual at all to see little kids of four and five years old just roaming about on their own. The market is also a place where one can go to get shoes shined, get a haircut, or even have teeth pulled. Pliers are readily available for this minor operation. Most cannot afford dental care, so we see many smiles filled with teeth that are either crooked, missing, or browned. The smiles, though, are so welcoming and so contagious. I could live in this city, without a doubt.
