China 7

Well, things are starting to get back to "normal" here since we returned from our trip. The weather is still incredibly hot, and the humidity is still incredibly high. Everyone says that it will start to cool off soon, but they have been saying that for a month. We just have to deal with it; we are, after all, located on the Tropic of Cancer.

Last Sunday, Mr. He offered us the school van to go on an excursion to Fungkai. They are four caves located there, and the scenery is supposed to some of the best in China. It is about a three-hour drive, and we left at 7 am. Matthew ended up staying behind. He had been invited on Saturday to climb the mountain behind Xi Jiang University. Little did he know what a job that was going to be. He left early Saturday morning and did not return until late in the evening. When he did return, he was sweaty, dirty, his jeans were torn, and he just plain looked beat. When he got up Sunday morning, he could hardly move. So, we set off without him. There were the seven of us, one of the Japanese students (a 76 year-old man who decided to go back to school and learn Chinese), Mrs. Guo (she was so excited as she had never been there), the driver (Mr. Fang, who is also a teacher here), and his wife.

The highway we took was fairly new, and according to Mrs. Guo, prior to its being built, the best way to Fungkai was to go by ferry up the river, and that meant an overnight trip. So, three hours by van is pretty good. The highway pretty much follows the Xi Jiang (West River), and so the scenery along the way was pretty impressive. On one side was the river, and on the other one got to see all the towns and villages, the sugar cane fields, and rice paddies, and lots of banana trees. Traveling along the highway is perhaps the best way to see how the people live and work. Once you get out of the van, all work stops, and you become the center of attention. But, while you're cruising down the road, they go about their lives -- I find it absolutely fascinating!

When we arrived at Fungkai, I think most of us expected it to be an outdoor tour. I did not even bring my flash for my camera. We were told it was a park called Shao-Guillen (little Guillen), and that the scenery was top-notch. We did not know that the scenery was going to be in caves. We managed to get an English speaking tour guide, but, because Mrs. Guo was with us, he quickly reverted to his Cantonese and left the translations to Mrs. Guo. Gotta love Mrs. Guo!

As we toured the caves, he pointed out the names of all the rock formations, some looked like dragons, some like fairies, some like waterfalls, etc. etc. (a good imagination helps). And, I kept thinking about constellations, particularly Orion the hunter, and for all the years I have noticed Orion in the sky, I have never once seen the form of a hunter in those stars. But, the Chinese, like us, in order to better understand the world around them, try to impose an order of their own on things to facilitate the understanding.  In one of the caves were hundreds of bats, which sort of freaked a few people out, but they weren't all that interested in us (although a few did buzz us), but mostly they just went about their bat business, doing what bats do in caves.  In another cave was a small restaurant that served a bean curd soup. Most of the students are tired of dofu (bean curd), but Mrs. Guo, and the driver's wife wanted some, so I ordered a community bowl, and everyone took a taste, but I got to finish it off. Mrs. Guo and I had a race to see who would finish our bowls first. She won, but she cheated! Toward the end she tipped the bowl to her lips and downed it, while I played fair and continued with my spoon. Well, one for the Chinese!

In the largest cave there was a scenic spot with a professional photographer to take your picture (6-Yuan). No one wanted his or her picture taken, so we were going to pass it by, but I could tell that Mrs. Guo wanted the picture, but just thought it was tai guile (too expensive).  I offered to pay for it for her, she hesitated, then I insisted, so she got her picture taken (another 3 Yuan to have it mailed), so for about $1 she got her picture taken and will have it mailed to her. Later, she mentioned that her husband had had his picture taken there on a visit a couple of years earlier, which made me feel glad that I had done her the favor.  After the last cave, we came upon a Ya minority village. They were having a performance, so we hurried over to watch. There was dancing, and then the bamboo pole dance, and then they were going to perform a wedding, but needed a volunteer for the bridegroom. There were enough Chinese men there that I thought for sure they would get a volunteer. Mrs. Guo insisted that I hurry and volunteer before someone else does, but I thought, no, I'm probably in enough trouble with Denise for having gotten married the Sunday before at the Miao village in Guizhou Province, so I stayed put. However, no one volunteered, so when they came to drag a poor soul from the spectators, Mrs. Guo kept pointing to me, so guess what, I got married again! They dressed me up in the wedding attire, and then my bride and I walked around the audience bowing before those assembled. Getting married in China is so easy!

Shortly after we left, again I didn't get my new bride's name, and we were off to lunch. Mr. Fang took us to a restaurant in a nearby town. He did all the ordering, so lunch was filled with surprises. Perhaps the biggest one was frog! I had never eaten frog before (how many times in the last weeks I have said, "I have never eaten before"), but, hey, we are in China!  So, I tried it. It wasn't too bad. I don't know that I'll look for it at Rainbow when I return home, but it was palatable.   After lunch we started home with a brief stop at a temple. Temples are the one place where one can see the wonderful architecture of Ancient China. The roof decorations and details are astounding. We stretched our legs, used the toilet, and then climbed back into the van for the ride home. Everyone was pretty tired, and it was a pretty hot day, so there was a lot of napping on the way home.

When we returned home, Matthew had four girls in his apartment that were waiting for me. They wanted to have supper with me in the canteen. I told them that I had had a big lunch and wasn't interested in eating just yet (it was 5 PM, and we had finished lunch at about 1:30). So, they sat down to look at my pictures from Kunming. As they were looking at the pictures, they asked again, "Do you want to go eat?" After about the third time, I thought, I'm not going to convince them that I am not hungry, so I grabbed my bowl, and we headed off to the canteen and then back to their dorm to eat. They are some of the nicest students on campus: Chelsey (Li Chun Li), Wing (Ou Hua Ying), Helen (Wu Pei Juan), and Nickel (Lin Li Quin). They are always smiling and so pleasant. I think they are also a big hit with my students here too. They are 99 class 1 students. That means that they are first year students who have returned to school after practice teaching or working. We ate and talked, and then I had to leave to prepare for English Corner.

For English Corner last Sunday, students were suppose to come with the name of their favorite English song. One of the things we were suppose to do was put together a list of the most popular songs to develop a song list for future English. We had everyone write down their favorite song; Forrest was suppose to tally them up. Then we broke up into groups, and every one took turns leading the group in singing their favorite song. It is amazing how quiet these students can be when you are talking to them, but when they start to sing, boy can they get noisy. While I haven't heard a final tally on what the favorite song is, I am certain it is the theme from the "Titanic." Yes, that movie was just as popular here as it was back home. The movie here was only two hours long (why couldn't we have gotten the cut version), and every girl knows every word and every note of the song!

Thursday night (Oct 14) was the "Bridges of Friendship" Party. This was the official welcoming party. The party was originally scheduled for Friday evening, and it was suppose to include the whole school body, but it was moved to Thursday, and to the 4th floor of the Music Building, so it was cut to just the faculty and students of the English Department, the two Japanese teachers, and the two Japanese students, and ourselves. President Zhu, and Vice-president Wei of the college, and other dignitaries from the city were also in attendance. The evening began with several speeches, including mine (I sent a copy of the text earlier). A student by the name of Vicky (Wu Wei Xia) translated it for me into Chinese (this was not necessary as this was the English Department, but she had prepared for this for the whole school body). This was a big honor for Vicky, and her father had even made the 4-hour trip from their hometown to see his daughter's performance. We had rehearsed the speech many times, my reading the English from my notes, and her reading the Chinese from her notes. But, at the party she showed up with no notes -- she was going to do it from memory and from what I said. Originally, I wasn't going to use notes either, but I thought, I'd better be safe so I don't screw her up. There was no need to worry! She was a pro, even nailing my asides. Her father should be very proud of her! Perhaps a further note about Vicky is in order.

Vicky, xiao Wu (young Wu), was the assistant to the five teachers who were here this summer, and while she has no official capacity as my assistant during my stay here, she has been an enormous help and has volunteered many hours of her free time to assist both myself and the students. And, if she can't afford the time to help, she finds someone who can. She is a good person and deserves more credit than the space and words that I have given her here. But, back to the party!

After the speeches came the performances. The Master and Mistress of Ceremonies were Bob and Emily, two second year students who did a wonderful job of putting it all together. There were 18 performances on the schedule, and boy did the Chinese students shine! There was a piano solo, a harmonica quintet, traditional Chinese dances, and some games. Shuman Ho, one of the Chinese English teachers at the school, demonstrated that he is a true "Renaissance Man." Shuman is the technical genius at this school. He is the school's "technology department"! He has been a great help to us. He has helped us get a computer line hooked up; he helped to configure the students' computers; he has helped the students purchase AV equipment, etc. etc. Thursday night Shuman demonstrated that he is more of a man than Bill Gates is! He performed two solos: one on an ancient Chinese instrument called the Gu Zheng (a twenty-one stringed instrument which is played on its side), and the other on a piano. He was magnificent on both counts!

But, again, I digress from the story.

The stories about this party that you likely want to hear about involve what we did. Scott and Rita participated in a "Name that Word" game with four Chinese students. It was sort of like charades, but, it was unrehearsed, and nobody, including the Chinese really knew what was going on, so it was ended quickly. Scott was also in a routine with Elane (a Chinese student) called a "Crosstalk." Crosstalk is an old popular form of entertainment in which the meanings of words are changed by changing the tone of the word (there are four different tones for every syllable, and the difference in the tone changes the meaning of the word). So, it is like a play on words. The Chinese found it incredibly amusing, so I figure there was something lost in the translation.

One of the big hits of the night was the song "The Chinese People" which Matthew sang, in Chinese with two Chinese students, Maggie and Watson. It is a real popular folk song. I was sitting between President Zhu and Vice-president Wei, and when they started singing, both were very impressed. Everyone was clapping along with the song, and the Chinese were very touched that Matthew had learned the song (he spent hours every day rehearsing).

Finally, the last act of the night was ours. Rachel, our student who already has a year of Chinese under her belt, perhaps gave the first choreographed speech in history. And, her speech was in Chinese. As she gave her speech, the rest of us built a "Bridge of Friendship." Poor Rachel, she was so nervous, that her hand holding her notes was shaking, but she was a trooper and just kept plugging along. The Chinese were on their tiptoes, clinging to every word. Rachel was really good -- she not only gave the speech in Chinese, but she sounds Chinese! As she concluded her speech, we were all in a line to do the "Hokey Pokey." The Chinese got a hoot out of it, but when you compare their talent to ours, it is almost embarrassing!

Which brings me to another digression to compare our cultures. Since the time of Confucius (480 BC), the Chinese have taken very seriously and worked very hard at cultivating the "Arts of Peace." Every one seems to have some artistic talent that they take rather seriously. We had a rehearsal for the party on Tuesday night. One of the Chinese girls played the violin, and I thought quite well. She was axed from the program because she wasn't good enough! She would be first-chair violin in ARCC's orchestra (even if we had one). Some might think that they have to do this because they are so poor, they have to entertain themselves. However, I think it goes deeper than that. I think it is a major difference between our two cultures on the value that is placed on the arts. This school's music building is situated on campus right out front by the main gate. ARCC's music building is situated in the far back corner of the campus, and until only recently, was disconnected from the rest of the campus. Again, no reflection on any particular decision makers about this, because I think it is cultural. America is a very pragmatic culture, and even the whole attitude about education is that it must produce employment. Anything that doesn't is considered fluff. One even hears students complain about having to take classes for the breadth requirements ("Why do I have to take an art class if I'm majoring in business?"). The Chinese, on the other hand, believe, and I think rightfully so, that a person is not fully human unless they cultivate the artistic side of their being. I hope, in their quest to become more modern, they do not lose this part of their culture. My further hope is that we, rather than think that we are purely in the position of teacher to teach China how to become modern, might pause and try to learn something from them also.

Enough of my cultural insights for now. Saturday (Oct. 16) the school had its twenty-second birthday party. They also invited all their "former graduates" (we taught them the word alumni -- who knows, next year they may have an alumni fund drive), which included the first 20-year class reunion. The party was held on the playground in front of the stage, and the entire student body attended. There were a few speeches (everything always starts with speeches), and then some performances. And if we thought the performances Thursday night were good (they were done by members of the English Department), these were performed by the Music Department. These were outstanding! There were dances and songs (this school has a 100-member choir). They had students ready at the front gate to greet the alumni as they arrived and escort them around campus. The campus had been cleaned and decorated, and one could tell that this was a moment of pride for the school! Mrs. Guo told me later that this may be the last birthday party for the school as there are plans for this school to merge with Xi Jiang University as early as next year. How sad if it is true.

After the performances, we had a meeting in one of the classrooms which included the English Department faculty (including myself), the ARCC students, and the alumni from the English Department. The current Chinese students in the English Department hung through the windows to listen in. Inside the classroom the desks were covered with fruit and nuts. Mr. Xiang presided over a very informal meeting about what we could do to make teaching English better, but mostly everyone ate. When they turned the fans on (it wasn't all that necessary as Saturday was actually nice and cool -- another first for our visit), it blew the peanut shells all over the room. No matter, as I discovered when the meeting was adjourned, that's why the Chinese students were there -- to quickly clean the room after we left. I sort of feel bad for the students, that they get stuck with so much grunt work (especially when it would be such a small effort on our part to do some of this stuff), but they see it as their duty, and they cheerfully do it. We are their guests, or we are teachers, we are not supposed to do those things. I like China!

The rest of the day was just an interesting day to wander around the campus, watching the alumni gather for pictures, to eat, and to observe all the changes to their alma mater. It was a delightfully cool day, with a nice breeze, and a very festive atmosphere. Mr. Wei, the school's vice-president, had been recently recognized as having one of the ten best-educated families in the province -- really quite an honor! He was even featured on the local news (which we watched in Chinese), and his son, who is studying in Beijing, will soon be taking a series of tests to see if he qualifies to do research overseas. Mr. Wei is quite excited, and we are excited for him.

Sunday (Oct. 17) was another holiday. It is the Double 9 according to the lunar calendar. It is a holiday to honor old people. To do so one must climb a mountain and fly a kite. Two students named Cherry (Chen Qiu Chan) and Ali (He Jian) had asked me on Thursday if I was interested in joining them. I have been really busy, and told them I wasn't sure (I am working on several lectures to present to the college, and thought I could use Sunday morning to catch up a bit). Well, they showed up on Sunday morning and I just couldn't say no.  Their English is not that good, and they have been shy about coming around.   It is so easy to fall into the trap of hanging with the students who do speak better English because life is so much easier. But, I often pause and think that the ones whose English is not very good are the ones who need us the most. I told them to give me a few minutes, and they said they would meet me at the gate. When I got there, they had two bags full of fruit for our excursion. I thought just what these girls need is to carry the extra weight up a mountain! We hopped on a bus (they paid for my busfare -- they owed it to me as I was giving them the opportunity to practice their English), and headed off to Seven Star Crag Park. We got off the bus and had about a two-mile walk just to get to the Park entrance. Any attempt on my part to carry the fruit was met with a quick snap of, "You are the teacher, we will carry it!" (I love China) We got into the park and took a quick tour of the "100 fairy cave." There are 100 statues that represent all the forces of nature. As we were leaving the cave, they asked me to tell them about the Western fairies and how they are similar and different. Boy, that took us into the whole Christianity thing, and how there is one God. As we sat on a park bench to eat some of their fruit, you could see their minds spinning as they worked on the idea of how one fairy could manage to do everything -- a new concept for them! Well, after eating some fruit (I had two of everything just to lighten their load) we headed up the Crag (a 400-foot climb). Fortunately, there is a path, and unfortunately everyone else in China seemed to decide to climb the same mountain. As we started our ascent, the girls pulled out bottles of water (yes, they had gotten one for me), and up we went. Going up we were in the sun, and, even though the climb was slow, I was grateful for the water. We reached the top, and there were throngs of people there. Even if no one was there, there was no room to fly a kite, but that didn't seem to matter. Our effort was enough to pay homage to the old. We descended on the other side (in the shade). We got to the bottom and stopped to eat some more fruit, and then took a leisurely walk around the rest of the park. At one point we stopped to take a group picture (they asked a man if he would take it for us), at which point everyone thought it would be a good idea to have their picture taken with an American! I must have had my picture taken 100 times with at least 400 people, who in their turn were incredibly grateful for the opportunity!

Shortly there after we returned home from our adventures, we parted company, Cherry and Ali went to their dorm, and I came back to my "home." I laid down for a nap and went to sleep thinking happy thoughts.

And, thus concludes China Seven.