Tuesday, September 7 we were taken to a local restaurant for a traditional breakfast, what in China they refer to as Dim Sum. What this entails is bamboo bowls each of which contains about 3 or 4 servings of a special dish. So, if you have ten people, like we did, then you get about 10-15 of these bowls, and everyone gets a little variety of something to eat. There may be a variety of dumplings, chickens feet, pigs feet, barbecued pork buns, steamed rice flour rolls with shrimp, beef or pork, fried vegetables, steamed minced beef balls, fried dried noodles, etc. etc. Some of us are a little squeamish about the food (I won't mention names), but it's getting better. Robert and I were the only ones to eat the pigs feet, but Forest (student from last year who now works here) has been arranging smorgasbords for dinner all week so everyone can get a sampling of what they like and don't like (I was impressed on Wednesday night when everyone tried, if only a little, some of the seaweed soup at dinner).
But, alas I digress. After the Dim Sum we took the city bus to Seven Stars Crag Park. We met some of the Chinese students there. As we were walking around, some of the students decided they wanted to climb one of the crags (there are stairs). Keep in mind that the temperature was in the low 90's and the dewpoint was in the low 80's. I decided not to climb, but remained down below. However, after a few minutes I decided to try to catch up to the group. I caught them about 1/2 of the way up, and they were dripping wet, as was I! We made it to the top (about 350 feet), and the view was worth all the effort. After a few minutes a couple of us headed back down, while others remained to enjoy the breeze. When we got back down to the bottom we waited about 20 minutes for the others. I got a little irritated (we had other things to do yet, and there was the sound of thunder approaching), so I decided to go back up after them. About 1/2 of the way up, I stopped to catch my breath, and some Japanese tourists passed me. They were laughing at me (I was soaking wet with sweat) and they kept pointing up--if only I knew a few choice words in Japanese!!!! When I got to the top, my students were not there. Unbeknownst to me, there was another way down. The shower I took later was the best shower I have ever had!
Friday, September 10 is Teachers Day; so on Thursday the school hosted a Teachers Day celebration at the Fairy Lake Entertainment Center. It was an extravagant smorgasbord with an endless variety of dishes and bottomless glasses of pijiu (the Pabst Blue Ribbon kind) all provided by the administration (hint, hint). There were about 12 teachers being honored at this celebration. Mr. Wei (the Vice-President of the college) sang a cappala, and President Zhu danced for us. The ARCC students were asked to karaoke to that song from Titanic. There were others through the night that karaoked, until finally, I was asked to do a solo of "If you're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands." The problem was the words in the karaoke machine were in Chinese. Fortunately, I know the first two verses, and then Mr. Wei helped by prompting me from the back!
All the foreign teachers (there are some Japanese teachers here as well as Mrs. Krim and Forest) were presented with a large bouquet of flowers in honor of Teachers Day. I received an invitation from the dean of the Science Department (who doesn't speak a word of English) to come and address the science students (who also do not speak much, if any English) about the history and development of science in the west. I am to give an outline of my lecture to Mrs. Guo (gotta love her) who will come along and interpret for the students. I also received an invitation from the head of the literature department to come and speak to his students about Western Philosophy. I think I am going to be a very busy, but this is what I live for: to profess, or speak for, my subject matter!
Speaking of busy, the students started classes on Wednesday with their first class of Chinese language with Mrs. Guo. They worked on pronunciation, and, as Jen, stated later, "We were lousy." But, this bunch is eager to learn, and that they will do! Thursday morning they had their first class meeting for Chinese Culture. Mr. Lu and I designed an outline for the course that should deepen their experiences while they are here. And, of course, Thursday afternoon they had their first class meeting with me in the Leadership Development Studies Class developed by Phi Theta Kappa. So, they have their first assignments, and Chinese students, who are instructed to interview them as part of their English class assignments, are constantly visiting them.
Well, Friday was Teachers Day (it is now Saturday, September 11). I received a set of juibei (glasses) even though I have not had them in class yet. Later in the day (around 3) there was a Teachers Day meeting in which the whole faculty and administration attended. I did not understand much, as there was no translation, but I do know enough about Chinese customs to understand I was put in a seat of honor. The Chinese spend an enormous amount of time figuring out seating arrangements, and juniors always defer to seniors and honored guests. And then, if someone comes along unexpectedly, it throws the whole thing out of whack, and they have to start from scratch (the pecking order would never be as easy as everyone just moving down one chair. Anyways, the one thing I did understand clearly was at the end of the meeting everyone received an envelope with a Teachers Day Bonus! THEY GAVE ME 200 YUAN ($25), and I haven't even taught a class of Chinese students! (I like Teachers Day!)
After the meeting Mr. Wei (college vice-president) invited me to come see his office. It is not air conditioned (it was about 90 degrees with a dewpoint of 80), but there we sat drinking kung fu cha (tea), eating peanuts, and chatting in broken English and Chinese (his broken English is better than my broken Chinese) about wives, homes, the weather etc. etc. All of a sudden he jumps up, and wants to come visit my students! He grabs a box of mooncakes (I'll explain more about this when I write about the Autumn Festival) and off we go! We get to the dorm just as most of my students are leaving to go play basketball with some Chinese students (yes, it is still 90 degrees with a dewpoint of 80), but we stop them. Mr. Wei wants to go to my apartment for the air conditioning, but alas, I only run my AC at night, so we went to Rob and Matt's apartment. We broke bread (or mooncake), and then Mr. Wei and I followed them to the courts. Of course the Chinese students deferred to Mr. Wei when they saw him, so he got the ball. I think he and I ended up playing a short game of horse (ma), and I think I won. But, I had to meet the Literature Department Faculty in a couple of minutes. They had invited me to their Teachers Day dinner downtown, so I had to scoot.
The Dinner! Mr. Wei showed up at the dinner, and, of course, that changed the whole seating arrangement off. But, no matter, it was determined that I would be sitting at the table where the "HARD DRINKING" was going to take place. The women faculty, except for Mrs. Krim (because she is an American), and the junior faculty all ate at tables in the next room. The Chinese banquet is a very interesting affair. They set a plate that spins in the middle of the table (like a lazy susan), and then they put all the serving platters on this. You peck away at what you want with your chopsticks, as there is no real plate. If you want to set something down, you use your soup bowl (which is about the size of a tea cup. The dinner begins with soup which you eat with a spoon. Last nights soup was lotus soup. There is much symbolism found in the Lotus plant, for it rises from the muck at the bottom of a pond or lake, and emerges as a thing of great beauty, thus expressing hope for all. But, again, I digress. Everyone had a very small thimble sized glass set next to their plate filled with rice wine (high octane). There was much eating -- fish, chicken, pork, noodles, vegetables, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff?? There was also much toasting--ganbei! (down the hatch!). I told them that the difference between the Chinese and Americans is that the Chinese spend too much time talking about toasting (a guy could die of thirst by the time they get done deferring to the proper person to make the proper toast). JUST DO IT!
GANBEI!!!!!!!!
After it was all said and done, I now have several more gege (older brothers) and didi (younger brothers) which takes us back to the theme of my speech at the opening ceremonies (the whole sister college thing), but alas, I was winging it, so hopefully Zhaoqing will send ARCC a copy of the videotape. At about 8 PM, the party ended. Mrs. Krim and I walked to the bus stop, and hopped on the Number 10 to return to school. The Students were out with the Chinese students to watch the Musical Water Fountains, go to the disco, or night market, or ???
As I mentioned it is now Saturday morning, and we are off to Dinghu Mountain, and then tonight is another faculty party. A send off for Mr. Lu who is going to Anoka Ramsey! What I won't do for world peace.
GANBEI!!!!!!
It is Saturday afternoon at about 4 PM now. Just returned from Dinghushan (Dinghu Mountain). It was really nice. Much cooler than here, the temp only reached about 88 degrees. Mrs. Krim arranged to have a group of Chinese students meet us there. We went by van, and the Chinese students took the bus. Each of us was to be escorted to insure that we would make it home okay (we were all going to go at our own pace and return to school by public bus. I had 4 students latch on to me: Angel, Lilly, Sunday, and Besemei are their English names. I think they were thrilled when I stopped to examine the butterfly exhibit (they didn't seem like mountain climbers to me). Next we had to climb some steps to visit the temple (I thought they were going to die), but they were troopers, and they were willing to follow me wherever I wanted to go. At this point my compassion took over, and I thought, no I had seen enough for this day. We stopped to see the memorial to Sun Yatsen, a popular Republican/Revolutionary with both the communists and the Koumingtan, who helped depose the last emperor in 1911 and who lived in the area here. At about this time we ran into Mrs. Guo, who told the girls in Chinese that they must take me up to the top of Dinghu Mountain. My God, we made it to the top, and now I was not only certain of their impending death, but I thought I was doomed to die in the rainforest of Dinghu! Fortunately, there was a refreshment stand so I offered to buy these poor girls, a Coke or water (In China even Pepsi is "Coke"). They refused--too expensive in the park they said, they would wait until we got back to school. My thought was that we would never make it back to school! So I refused to move until they picked out a drink. The total for 5 drinks was 29 Yuan (about $3.40--you'd pay about the same for one Coke at the Metrodome). We drank our drinks, and walked down the mountain, engaged in interesting conversation, I helped them with their English, and they helped me with my Chinese. We had to take two buses to get home, and those girls paid for both of my bus fares! We got back to school around 2:30--after the school canteen closed for lunch. The girls invited me to join them for lunch. So we stopped at one of the local restaurants outside the school gate. We had some sweet and sour pork, mushrooms, a local green vegetable, and some dumplings. Oh yes, I had pijiu and they had cha (beer and tea). Again, they wanted to treat me, but I insisted (I know they don't have a lot of disposable income, most of their food money is tied up in meal cards at the canteen, they had paid for their bus fare out to Dinghu and even mine coming back, they got me home safely (a taxi driver wanted to drive me to Guangzhou), so I figured I better buy these girls lunch! The total bill was 37 Yuan (about $4.25)! I am sopping wet from sweat-- mountain climbing in this heat is down right ridiculous, and so I want to take a shower to get ready for Mr. Lu's going away dinner tonight (GANBEI!).
Tomorrow, after the party, I will finish this edition and e-mail it off, but, before I can jump in the shower I've got two 8 year old boys sitting behind me playing cards. I had my door open as I was typing this and they just walked in and started digging through stuff. One of them is Mrs. Guo's boy; the other is his friend. First, they found my flashlight and played with that for a few minutes. Next, they found my yo-yo, but when they found the cards, that was it! I think they are playing some form of Crazy 8/go-to-the-dump/poker/war. Oh well, it's fun listening to them.
It is now Sunday morning here. I am going to write about Mr. Lu's going away dinner last night, and then send this letter off! First, everyone wishes Lin and Fang the best!
Now for the dinner! The dinner was held on a boat docked on the Xi River (West River). It was a party just for members of the English Department (so only my closest brothers and sisters were in attendance. As we walked on to the boat, we walked past dinner! We ate snail, oysters, shrimp, eel, and a wide variety of other fish. I need, once again, to digress with some cultural insight. Aristotle would not be happy with the Chinese. They do not pay attention to the significance of genus and species. Ask a Chinese (at least those at ZIE) what kind of fish you are eating, and they will get a puzzled look on their face (that look of "isn't it obvious"), and just say fish. Same goes for bird, tree, vegetable (although they will tell you it is a "green vegetable" at which point you get the puzzled look on YOUR face). Back to dinner.
Of course, our friend the rice wine also attended and there were many toasts for Mr. Lu! (GANBEI!!) I did manage to teach the Chinese something new. After a "gentleman" goes "bottoms up" (GANBEI) he should turn his glass upside-down, to show the world that he is an honest gentleman and that he has not cheated on his GANBEI. This new method of toasting caught on and we quickly discovered who the cheaters were, but alas, after about the seventh toast the restaurant ran out of rice wine, and we had to finish the toasting with beer. The party broke up about 8:30 (the Chinese are very serious about their partying, but they don't drag it out). We were home by 9, and now I am finished with this edition of China.
Tonight we begin "English Corner"--I'll fill you in next time.
By the way tomorrow (Monday) is Denise's birthday! If you see her, please wish her well! I love and miss her!
Gordy