China 8

I am going to begin this letter with a story from one of our students, and let him share one of his experiences with you:

Burning Rubber in Zhaoqing
September 21, 1999
Matthew Hillestad

It was 9:00 p.m. and I was growing impatient. Thirty minutes had passed and the bus I was waiting for still hadn't come. "Duibuqi, Nar shi shiyi gonggongqiche?", (Excuse me, where is the bus eleven?) I said with my best Chinese accent to the only other person at the bus stop. As I said this I pointed to the bus schedule written in Chinese characters. The man looked to his left, and then to his right, and then at me. He became nervous with my "Wo bu dung" (I do not understand) response and walked away quite suddenly. I then tried to ask a lady walking with two small children, but when they saw me one child stopped wide-eyed and the other shrieked and grabbed his mother tight around her leg. Awkwardly standing there, with the unsettling feeling of being Jack the Ripper or some similar such monster, the high pitched beep of a motorcycle horn and a "ello, 'ello", were a welcome distraction. Turning, I saw a typical Chinese taxi, a young man on a small motorbike. I showed him the Chinese characters I always carried for just such an emergency. His eyebrows went up, down, and together while he stroked his chin and studied the address. Then the light came on and excitedly his head bounced up and down as he motioned me to sit.

Scarcely had I planted myself, and we were off with a slight squeal of the tires. He passed me a helmet that looked as though it had seen pavement at least once. In fact, the rim of the helmet was flapping such that at the speed we were going, it flew off my head and acted like a small parachute trying to stop a racing car as it trailed behind with the string wrapped around my neck. Quite conscious of the indignity of my appearance to the many eyes that watched us flying around on the back roads of Zhaoqing City,  I did my best to put a mildly interested expression on my face and to hang on. My driver chattered away in the local dialect and seemed dead set on impressing me with his superior driving skills. We stopped for nothing, be it a pedestrian, fellow motorbiker, or a bus. In America, fingers would have been erected, fists would have been shook, and horns would have blared.  However, in China, no one even grimaced as we shaved three pedestrians, drove against oncoming traffic to get to the front of a long line of vehicles waiting to enter a intersection, ran the light and somehow defied the laws of physics when we seemed to pass right through an oncoming bus. I was surprised when coming to another intersection, he pointed at the road sign and I think he asked if it was the right one to take. "Shi" (Yes) I said calmly, not wanting to reveals my complete ignorance of everything that was happening and not wanting him to think that somehow passing through an oncoming bus was in anyway a new experience for me. He nodded and turned.

Relief flowed through my body when we finally left the city on the old familiar road that stretched a lonely path out to the university. This was short lived however, because soon I experienced the speed this little bike could attain. Drawing up to the school gates the helmet's cord around my neck slackened and air once again flowed through my lungs. So inspired I felt by the driver's incredible skill that, after emphatically shaking his hand, I went over to the little store outside the main gate and bought him a coke. I know maybe it was wrong to encourage his driving habits, and I really hadn't been in any hurry to get back to the college, but at that moment I was feeling a strange bond with this young, chattering driver. I would like to think that it was a similar kinship to that felt between two soldiers who had survived all the odds and knew only the other would ever truly understand. The night of having been the fastest thing moving in Zhaoqing will surely stand out as a highlight of my China experience.

Matthew

I hope you enjoyed his experience. I will begin by going back a little bit in time. Mrs. Hou invited me to visit her class of first year English students (it is their first year here, but they have had six years of English before coming to college) on Wednesday, October 13. She wanted me to talk about my home and school back in America. I went to her class and found the chalkboard decorated with a nice welcome for me in colored chalk, however Mrs. Hou was no where to be found. She showed up about 5 minutes late with many apologies, but even better -- she had brought me a bouquet of flowers! Her students had taken up a collection in the morning, and had asked her to stop and get some for me! This is only the second time I have ever received flowers for teaching, and both times was in China! I like China! I had brought many pictures to class with me detailing my family, friends, and school; and as we went through the pictures they learned something about Weddings (yes, honey I stole some wedding pictures), what a city home and yard is like, and what a country home is like. They learned something about Easter, Thanksgiving, and, of course, Christmas. They learned something about families, and, one of the big ones for them was to learn about what the life of a college student is like back in the United States. While I have shared these pictures with many students who have come to my apartment to visit, those have mostly been the second-year students, who scare the first year students away. So, this was the first chance for most of them to see these pictures, and it was a delight watching 40 faces light up as they scrutinized them carefully. They noticed things in the pictures that I had never seen before, and the biggest reaction always comes when the students see my nephews Greg and Stephen, and they exclaim with excitement, "They are Chinese!"

On Tuesday evening (Oct 19) I was invited by Mrs. Guo to teach her first-year English students (again, that means they are first-year students here, but they have had 6-years of English prior to getting here). Only, Mrs. Guo didn't want me to show pictures. No, Mrs. Guo wanted me to teach from the textbook -- modal auxiliaries! Can, May, Must, and Should were the night's lesson. After reading through the British text I quickly decided to forge on my own and wing it. So, I talked about the students and how they are going to graduate from school, by talking about their ability (what they can), their Obligations (what they must do), gave suggestions (what they should do), and talked about what they would need permission to do (what they may do). The 1+ hours flew by so quickly. What always amazes me about these Chinese students is that, individually they are so soft-spoken, but collectively they can sure make a lot of noise (when you ask them to repeat a sentence).

Wednesday morning (Oct 20) I visited the other class of 2nd year students (I teach the other class regularly on Friday afternoons). It was a surprise for them. They have been begging their teachers to have me come to their class for a while, so Mrs. Krim asked me to come and talk about American culture. Mrs. Krim started the class, and then told them that she had to leave for a minute. She walked out, and I walked in! They were initially confused (I don't think they think of teachers as having a sense of humor), but, they quickly figured out what was happening and I was greeted by a warm round of applause (I can't imagine my classes back home greeting me that way). I brought my pictures again, and we had a ball talking about home, work, school, leisure activities, etc. etc. The second-year students are a bit more relaxed in class than the first-year students, so they feel freer to ask questions. Again, it was a wonderful hour and a half that passed way too quickly. I have now visited all the English students in their classrooms, and would like to make some observations about teaching Chinese students English (perhaps there is some expert out there who already knows this and has assimilated it into their teaching methods, but nevertheless, it is an observation I have made in my very short time of being here).

First, I think it is fairly obvious why learning Chinese is difficult for English speaking people: the characters and the tones. Chinese is a tonal language, and you can have the same word (in alphabetized pinyin), but it can have four different meanings depending upon the tone that you give it. For example: ma could mean mother, horse, hemp, or to scold depending upon how it is pronounced. We are not use to making the distinctions in the tones of our words, and so the Chinese are always correcting us (especially when we call someone's mother a horse). But, what makes English difficult for the Chinese to learn is their distinction between initial sounds and final sounds. The initials are b, c (ts), d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q (ch), s, t, x (ss), z (ds), ch, sh, zh (j), and, and the vowels. However, none of these sounds ever appears at the end of a word. So, the Chinese have no words that end with a "b", or a "p", or a "d". Chinese words end with a vowel or an n, or an ng, So, words like "take", "of", "call", "cup", etc are very difficult for them to pronounce very the same reason that we have difficulty with tones, these sounds are not found in their own language. This is just a simple observation I have made about language difficulties. It should also be noted that these students, in addition to studying English, also must study Japanese. And, if that isn't hard enough, most of these students grew up speaking Cantonese, but since Mandarin is the official state language, they must also study Mandarin as well!

Now back to more adventures: Wednesday afternoon we were invited over to Xi Jiang University (Xi means West, and Jiang means River, and this is the river that Zhaoqing is located on) to meet with their first-year English students. There were two classes; one from 3-4 PM, and the other from 4:30-5:30 PM. Jackie, the teacher who invited us, is Chinese. She was born in Hong Kong, but has lived all over the world, including the last four years at South Bend, Indiana where she attended Notre Dame. There is another teacher at Xi Jiang's named Cathy who just graduated from St. Ben's in Minnesota. I have visited with Cathy before, but this was my first time meeting Jackie. The students were so glad to meet us! They are studying about American education this week, so we focused our discussion on that.

At 4, we concluded the discussion, and were suppose to get a break before the next class showed up. However, they wouldn't let us go, until finally, the next group of students arrived and literally forced them out. Because of all the excitement, we were invited to their Welcome Party on Thursday evening for the new students in the English Department. I had to leave at 5:30 because I had an appointment with a group of Chinese students back at our college. Many of the other American students stayed behind for dinner and fellowship. I got back to school just in time to meet my students. These students are from the Oral English class I teach on Friday afternoons. I decided that as part of class participation that they have to "Go Out with Gordy". So, I broke them up into groups of 5 or 6. I did it arbitrarily, so that students were not just going out with their roommates (they have to interact with different students). The rules are that they have to tell me their stories: their passions, desires, about their families, and their hobbies, etc. They have to take me somewhere. We can either go out for dinner, to a park, sightseeing, shopping, or anything that will give us a chance to talk. And, another rule is that I treat (of course, the fail miserably on this part, "You are the teacher, we will pay your bus fare!"). Well, Wednesday night the students (Ada -- Hu Xiao Fang, Yoko -- Chen Qiao Ling, Bobby -- Liang Zao Bo, and Stella -- Kang Ning Ning) took me downtown to eat at a restaurant that in English means Fat Fat. But, then they changed their mind and we ended up at a place called The Texas Cowboy -- only one of two western restaurants in town (the other is Kentucky Fried Chicken). We had pizza and chicken wings. We had a nice conversation, but they wanted to do more. I told them that we had done plenty to fulfill the assignment, but they WANTED TO DO MORE! We ended up going to a karaoke bar, and I karaoked for the first time in my life (fortunately the bar was empty). We sat around and drank tea, ate peanuts, and we played this game of dice (don't ask me to explain it, because that would require that I understood what it was). As time kept passing, I kept telling them that we should be getting back to the college. They assured me they would have me back home by 10 PM. When 10 finally arrived, I said "last round" (for the dice game). Well, we ended up leaving finally around 10:15 and I got back to school at 10:30! But, it was a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know the students better, and for them to practice their English.

Thursday afternoon I met with the second group of students. They are: Joanna (Zheng Xiang), Penny (Chen Xiao Chan), Louisa (Xian Shao), Dennis (Zeng Qing Rong), Dinee (Qiu Xue Ying), and Sunny (Chen Cai Xia). They were going to pick me up at my apartment at 4:00 PM. Since I had to leave for Xi Jiang's Welcome Party at 7:00, I thought I'd tell them right away, so that we didn't end up out all night. They were taking me to see the Plum Monastery, which was built in 996 AD. It is a Buddhist Temple, and, I would have to say, it is the most impressive temple that I have seen in China. It looks like a temple, and it looks 1,000 years old. The other temples we have visited look as if they were built for the tourist industry, but, while this one now has many modern additions (like electricity), it still has that "ancient air" to it, that makes it feel like a holy place. For one thing, there is a plum tree that was planted when the monastery was built, and there is a collection of relics from as far back as the Tang Dynasty (600-900 AD). The temple closed at 5:30. At about 5:20 a tour guide found us just as we were about done seeing the temple. He was a graduate from ZIE, so he got real excited about showing us the temple. He took us back through everything providing the story for everything in the temple. He didn't speak any English, but the students were wonderful translating as much as they could. The guide kept smiling at me, and was really intent on my understanding what he was saying. After 5:30 his boss came and yelled at him to get us out of there. But, he yelled back, and he was intent on giving us the tour! He was yelled at several more times, but he kept on going. Finally, at about 6:20 he finished, and let us out the gate. We scrambled but we made it back to school just in time for me to meet the students who were going to take us over to Xi Jiang University.

There were several students from our school to take us over to Xi Jiang's, and there were even more Xi Jiang students that met us at the gate when we got off the bus to escort us to the party. As any party in China, the party consisted of performances -- seventeen on the program. There was dancing, and singing, and instrumentals. There were even a couple of comedy routines. Matthew was volunteered to participate in one song, "I am a Teapot". I don't think he knew what he was getting into, but I'm sure most of you can guess if you know the song. The final performance was to be a song by all the English Department teachers, and the foreign guests (that's us). It was a Carpenters' song, Yesterday, Once More. They must be tone deaf at Xi Jiangs, because they loved us, and I can tell you that I'm not quitting my day job! But, it was a nice evening (even though I missed dinner, but one can always eat), and even though I went to bed dead tired, it was a good tired.

Friday morning I got up at 5 AM because Mrs. Hou had invited me to go watch Qi Gong and Tai Chi at Cheng Dong Park downtown. She was going to pick me up at 6 on her motor scooter. However, Thursday evening I discovered that Rachel was also invited (Rachel is our advanced Chinese Language student and Mrs. Hou is her teacher), as well as Mrs. Krim. Well, I knew that 4 of us were not going to fit on Mrs. Hou's motor scooter, so I was a little puzzled, but I figured everything would work itself out. And, it did. We ended up taking the school bus. Like a lot of things in China, the school buses work just the reverse in the United States. In the US, school buses make several stops to pick kids up, and then drop them all off at one school. In China, there is one stop to pick the kids up (there are so many school kids that live on campus with their parents that the school has its own school bus), and then the bus drops them off at several schools. So, we bummed a ride with the school kids.

Unfortunately, that made us a little late in getting to the park, but there were still many people (mostly older) doing their thing. Some were doing Qi Gong, some Tai Chi, some were sword dancing, and others were just out to get fresh air. But, I don't think many foreigners visit the park that early in the morning, because everywhere we went, we drew stares. At one point we even got to meet Mrs. Hou's mother-in-law. Mrs. Hou lives in the neighborhood, so she took us to a local restaurant for breakfast. She highly recommended the Pork Blood Porridge (she said it sounds bad, but it is really quite good. So, being the gracious guest that I try to be, I let her order me some (Rachel and Mrs. Krim played it safe and went with the egg and vegetable porridge). The porridge wasn't all that bad. They form the pork blood into little gelatin like cubes. And then it is served in a rice porridge. They say it is good for your heart and blood, so, my theory is that if it is good for me, I'll eat it. What the heck. I probably mentioned, in a previous letter, that some students had taken me out for dinner downtown once. I thought they said they had ordered pork butt. But, as it turned out, it was the same thing -- once again a demonstration of the problems of communication that can occur.   Mrs. Hou also ordered us some fat noodles stuffed with meat, some fried bread, and some Dim Sum. It was a very filling breakfast (especially since I didn't eat dinner the night before), and then Mrs. Krim and I went back to the college (on a city bus), and Mrs. Hou and Rachel continued on a "field trip" as part of their class time together.

Friday evening (Oct 22) some of the Chinese students organized an outing for a river boat cruise on the Xi Jiang (West River). We all went, along with Forrest, Mrs. Krim, and about 20 Chinese students. It was a delightful cruise! Lots of tea, karaoke (I sang the first song, and then bowed out), and fellowship. In fact, what I liked most about it was that I was able to spend more time with some of the shier Chinese students, who, because of our outings on Wednesday and Thursday, felt more comfortable talking with me. The ones that stand out in particular are Penny (Chen Xiao Chan), and Dennis (Zeng Qing Rong). We stood on the back of the boat, and talked about this that and the other thing. It was fun listening to them talk about themselves, their lives, and their hopes. There are not many boys in the English Department, and none of the boys have come to my apartment to chat, so it was especially delightful to talk to Zeng Qing Rong. He told me about his brothers, and mother at home (about an hour by bus from Zhaoqing), and that his father has to work in Guangzhou. Dennis makes it back home about once every two months, and he tries to time it so that his father is home at the same time. His family is so proud of him being in school, and he has hopes of teaching English, and someday, traveling to an English speaking country.

Saturday was housecleaning day for me. About every two weeks I hit it hard. I got up early and started with laundry. There are two small washing machines downstairs in our classroom. But, rather than use them, I try to do a little laundry every day. I usually wash what I wore the day before. I do so using a small 3-gallon tub. I put a little laundry soap in it and fill it with water. I add the clothes and scrub the dirty spots. Then I let them soak for a while before dumping the water. I rinse two or three times, and then put them on hangers and hang them on the line in the back of my apartment to drain (I have a small sink area outside in the back like a balcony -- yes, I have to shave and brush my teeth outside, and there is a girls dormitory next door, so they can all watch. Fortunately, I have a bathrobe!). After they have dripped dried for a while, I move them to the line outside the front of my apartment where the sun can help dry them. Well I had about three days worth of clothes to do, so I got an early start.  After I got all my laundry done, I dusted and then mopped the floor. Usually there is a strong breeze in the morning, so if I mop the floor in the morning, and then open the doors, I get a nice breeze zooming through the apartment that dries the floors in no time! I had all my housework done by 8 AM! Then I headed off to the market. Mrs. Guo had invited us to lunch on Friday (her husband went out of town), but we all had to bring something American. I didn't have time on Friday to go shopping downtown (I teach a class on Friday afternoons, and then we had the boat ride Friday night), so I thought I better come up with something. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found! There were cuts of meat that, given an oven, I could have baked, but unfortunately, nobody has an oven here! There are just propane burners and woks. So, anything I would have gotten would have ended up cooked Chinese. Mrs. Guo said no matter, there would be plenty of food, and I told her that after we get back from our two week trip, I would cook her an American dinner (that gives me time to find a grate to put in the wok -- I think I can then use it like an oven), and, since Denise is meeting us in Beijing, she can bring me some goodies from home). Rita and Pam had gone to the store on Friday, and they made pineapple and coconut jello! Scott brought pop, and Robert brought Oreo and Chips Ahoy cookies. The Japanese students made an egg dish that was like an everything omelet. Mrs. Guo, of course, made a feast herself, and while Pam rolled out the dough Rita and I and the stuffing to make jiaozi (dumplings). Mrs. Guo also had sweet potato soup, spiced beef, fried bean curd, some fish and a couple of vegetable dishes. Her son, Li Bo, of course, wanted to play with the jello (he is eight, and I don't think he'd ever seen it before). He took a taste, rejected it and asked his mom for a cookie. The cookies were on the far side of the table from where Mrs. Guo was sitting, but she nonchalantly reached across with her chopsticks and snatched one from the plate. It was the first time I had ever seen an Oreo picked up that way, so I thought I'd try it. The problem though is that you can't twist them and eat the middle first with chopsticks (well, okay, I think Mrs. Guo probably could). Well, we ate like kings! It was a nice meal, and afterwards a nap seemed like the best idea, but I had journals to read (from my Friday class), so I retired to my room and read those the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday evening turned out to be rather quiet. I think it was the first evening that there were not hoards of students around. Many had gone home for the weekend, and the others must have had other plans. Jen was invited over to Xi Jiang University to watch the "Titanic" (she had never seen it before). Matthew went downtown with a group of students. Rachel and Scott went with still others. Rita went with Mrs. Krim to visit a hosiery factory. I worked on this for a while, and then Pam and I ended up chatting in Robert's apartment with Robert for a while. At 10:00 I e-mailed my beloved bride back home, and then retired for the evening.  Unfortunately, I don't think my students made it to bed as early as I did. There were several Chinese students who came by knocking on doors, but there was no answer. Finally, two of them, Maggie (Mao Zhan Na) and Lily (Su Xiao Li), invited me out for lunch. I met them at 11:30 and we headed off to the canteen. The school's canteen is open 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You have to buy a meal card (it works like a debit card), and you can get as much of pretty much anything you want -- unless, of course, it is American food. You just bring your bowl, point to what you want, and in minutes you are saying "tai baole" (too full). Well, of course, everything in China is changing. About a month ago, a "fast food" canteen opened up right behind the old one. It seems to be the hip place to be, and I think it is open longer hours. They serve Chinese fast-food, and I think they also serve pizza and hamburgers (at least they have pictures of the stuff on the walls). This is where Mao Zhan Na and Su Xiao Li decided that we were going to eat. That was fine with me -- why not try it. At the fast food, your meal card is no good. You must pay in cash -- mei won ti (no problem).  You can get the 3 yuan meal or the 4 yuan meal. Oh, I'll splurge and get the 4 yuan meal. (it's an extra 12 cents). They give you a meal ticket and you go up to the food counter. Guess what, it's the exact same food that you can get in the other canteen! The only difference is that here it is served on a plate (and since it is fast food, you get a tray, of course), and you can get a Coca Cola with it. I thought it was pretty funny.  But, we had a wonderful lunch. The food was good, the company and conversation was even better. We talked about America. We talked about China. We talked about Denise. We talked about schools. It was a pleasant way to spend the middle of the afternoon.

After English Corner on Sunday night (Oct 24) we were invited to a party hosted by one of the first year English classes (Mrs. Hou's class). When we arrived at 8:30, they had the room all nicely decorated, and peanuts and fruit set on the desks (which were arranged around the perimeter of the room), and they had a music system in place (for karaoke during performances, of course). I had told the students that I was going to play a musical instrument. But, I showed up empty handed (actually, I had brought my camera, and a Phi Theta Kappa poster to give to the class). Everyone was worried about my musical instrument (I assured them everything would be okay). When it came to my turn in the program (which was sooner than I had expected), I sneaked my Kazoo out of my pocket and let them have it with a round of "Edelweiss" (everyone knows that song here). Wow, as I had expected, none of these students had seen a kazoo before, so they were quite fascinated. Later, our whole group sang "My Favorite Things" (keeping with the Sound of Music theme). Jen won a banana eating contest (she was the fastest to eat five that Rita had to peal and feed her while Rita was blindfolded). Robert, Matt and Rita, competed in a ping-pong catching contest in which one person threw the balls behind them, and the others had to catch it with a wastebasket on their head. I think Robert caught the most, but I'm not sure.  All the performances were wonderful, and afterwards we gathered into groups for pictures. All the students wanted their pictures with certain individuals. Mrs. Krim took so many pictures that her AA batteries began to melt! Mrs. Hou must have taken 3 rolls of film before she ran out. I went through a whole roll of film, and, in fact, that is what ended the party was everyone ran out of film (just think, in America the party ends when the beer runs out).

It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend, and I am now writing on page 8, so it seems like a good time to say zaijian, and conclude China 8.

Zaijian,
Gordy