Random Bits and Pieces (5-31)

Not a time of photogenic activities; so I've included some photos of flowers in bloom now.

I had my first Chinese massage. I’ve seen two new massage places recently in the shopping area near the school. One Saturday afternoon I was on my way to the snacks store to replenish my supply of chocolate covered toffee, and I passed one of the new massage places. Since I’ve been needing one, this was perfect. The woman was very good. She started on my head and then worked on the shoulders. From there she went down the front of the body. There was a lot of slapping and deep pushing. Then she did the back side. After that, she asked if I wanted my stomach massaged, which I hadn’t had happen before. At the end, she worked on my shoulders some more and another woman came to work on them. Interestingly, she didn’t massage my feet, which is included in the other Asian massages I’ve had. When she finished, they drew the curtains and put a blanket over me and let me rest on the table for fifteen minutes. When I was finished, she told me that my shoulders were in bad shape. At least, I think that’s what she was saying, as she pointed to them and talked, and it certainly was the case. I’ll be going back there; so I hope the business stays for a while. Cost for one hour: 40 yuan ($6.50).

Early summer fruits are in and they are delicious. Two weeks ago I had to have some cherries. I’d seen them at the market and they looked beautiful and delicious. So I had to have some. I was a surprised at the cost: 50 yuan ($8.30) for about half a kilogram. I guessed that the price sign was for about 100 grams, not the usual half kilo. When I asked Diao Min, she explained that sometimes for very expensive items, they list the price for one-tenth of the usual half kilo (50 grams).  But they were so tasty that I bought a small amount more later. Lychees are also at the market, although in very small quantities. They, too, are expensive (as they were in Thailand) but not as expensive as cherries. Mangoes are good now. I had bought a few earlier that weren’t very nice, but now they’re delicious. Peaches have arrived, too. They’re the kind that are white inside and are sweet. It’s fun to eat cherries and peaches after seeing the trees in bloom when I arrived.

A few weeks ago I started to think that maybe I should work on a “Chinese” identity. The clothes I brought with me are Thai. I love them, but they are starting to feel a little out of place. I started thinking about setting aside my “Thai-ness” and moving on. Now that warm weather is here, I’m seeing a lot of skirts that I like. I really didn’t see much that I liked before. The skirts I like are simple, mid-calf length, not the usually frilly, above-the-knee ones that are common but not suitable for me. Last week I found one I like at the night market and purchased it. Students and Yang liked seeing me wear it. Monday night a student asked me about wearing Chinese clothes. I pointed out that the skirt I'd worn that day was Chinese, the pants and t-shirt I was wearing were Chinese, and the shoes were Chinese made even though they were purchased in America. Pretty Chinese, I think. When I asked what was Chinese, she didn't have a quick answer. Her skirt was what I think of as very Chinese--layers of frilly fabric, very short. But, as I pointed out to her, it's a style for young girls, not for old women. She agreed.

Military training was the main topic of discussion at English Corner after the freshmen returned, I learned that the students were allowed only three showers in the twelve days and had only one uniform; so they had to wear it every day without washing it. The dining hall was about a mile up a hill. They had to sing a song loudly while they waited. One student told a teacher that the boys learned to use a rifle; girls only marched. Everyone had to quickly obey commands given by the trainers. Yang told us that the philosophy (the take-home message) behind having mandatory training like this is that if students can get through this, they can get through any difficulties they may have in life.

Megan invited Roger to come for dinner and show us his photos from the military training. He is very keen on the benefits of the training. From his description, I realized that it’s like a Scout camp in the group bonding that takes place from doing difficult things together. One of his friends had a camera that he used to sneak some photos of times when students were waiting to eat. He also had photos from a professional photographer who came for the final parade and posted his photos online so students could download them. They showed the students walking in formation with their legs and arms perfectly aligned. It was fun and interesting to learn more about this experience.

All four of us foreign teachers had a meeting with the department dean and Peggie to discuss our teaching and get feedback (feedback here is criticism) from the students.  When I asked which students they talked with, we learned that they met with the class monitors and assistants who are among the best students in the classes. We were told that the students like all of us. Then the feedback was that the topics of our classes are too easy. When I asked what students want that would be more challenging, they didn’t know. I pointed out that the topics I’ve used are the ones in the book I was given to use. When it was suggested that students in written English classes may want more corrections of their work, both Katy and I chimed in about the amount of correcting we do. Overall, it wasn’t a very productive discussion. Since I’m the only one staying, it’s also rather irrelevant for the other teachers, as the term is almost over. When Michelle asked about the meeting and I told her, she said we are doing the best we can and to “never mind.” I knew I liked her.

I have been aware that the good written English students knew how to write the format of the most of the essays I’ve assigned. But I didn’t know this until I saw their work. A few weeks ago one girl told me that they had done that type of essay last year (or term, I didn’t quite understand when). It has been frustrating, but I’ve done the best I can. Oral English is OK most of the time, but students may think the topics are easy because they’ve done similar topics in high school. But I/we don’t know that, and they won’t give any such indication to us. I’m not sure the topic is important as long as they are speaking English, but they may feel differently.

Weather has been very changeable. It gets quite hot for a day or two and then gets cool again. When it’s cool, I need a sweater in the morning and long sleeves in the evening. I have the windows open at night for a couple days and then need to close them at night for several days. Chinese people think it’s very hot when I think it’s nice weather but not hot. The fans were on in the classrooms for a few days and then were off again. At least they work. (Photo: going to class on a sunny day)

Emergency shelter signs have popped up in the last couple weeks. There are also new lighted signs in classrooms that show the date and time and can show a message if one is being broadcast. Post-earthquake changes, I think.

I’ve become friendly--smiles and simple greetings--with a woman who lives across from us with her twin boys and another woman. I’d been wanting to take a photo of the boys; so when the security guard, who has seen me photographing flowers, told me to take a photo, I was happy to do so. I gave a copy to the mother, who was happy to have it. A few days ago the father was pushing the stroller in the hall. When I commented that he must be the daddy, he beamed. Katy has heard that he works in another city. The mother worked in the admin office last year and is on maternity leave this year.

Quiet (5-17)

The past two weeks have been very quiet. The freshmen went to military training (which they call “training”) for twelve days. That meant that I didn’t have half of my classes for two weeks. Without them, there were a lot fewer students going to classes, which seemed strange. I missed the masses walking to class at 8:40 and 2:00 classes. Training is mandatory. One of my sophomores sent a note letting me know that she would be absent for two weeks because she missed training last year due to a problem with her wrist and was deployed to go this year. All the students described it as tiring—get up very early, run a lot, and stand a lot. And they weren’t allowed to take their cell phones.

Last week there was a volleyball competition between teachers in different departments. Megan played. I took photos, since I’m really bad at sports with balls. They appreciated my taking photos. One man saw me and came to chat using a teacher as a translator. He wanted to know if my university in America had such competitions. Then he suggested that I share the photos with my university. I explained that I take photos so I can share them with my friends in America. He was happy about that.

Wednesday Peggie told me that we had to write a syllabus for each class we teach, and I teach three. First she said they wanted it done by Friday; that became Monday quickly when I said it wouldn’t happen by Friday. And it was Monday for all teachers after they had a meeting. This was a new requirement for all teachers. She said the Chinese teachers had to write four syllabuses, as they had to write one for theory and one for practice for each class; whereas, we only had to do one syllabus for both. She translated part of one of hers so Katy and I would know what to do. She hopes she doesn’t have to translate ours into Chinese for the files; an English syllabus should be OK for the foreign, English-speaking and teaching teachers. That project took a number of hours. It is good that I have lots of experience writing things for the records.

Last week I was also given the textbook for the Oral English for business English majors class, the one that changed from writing class last month. I had been told when it was changed that, if there was a book, it would be given to me. No book was forthcoming; so I was teaching the same things I did with the freshmen classes. When Peggie asked what I was doing and I told her, she said she’d get the book for me. It focuses on English for purchasing and shipping products. I had to write the syllabus for that class for the whole term based on that book even though I’ll use it for only six weeks. It did get me familiar with the contents of the book, which are not topics I know about. Fortunately, the students know the topics in Chinese; I just have to teach them the English for what they know—and learn it myself.

Last Friday evening I went for a walk with a student. I enjoyed chatting with her. First, we stopped at Peggie’s office to give her some sports shoes she was borrowing from a student. While there, I remembered to ask how to get to the Green Belt area that I’d heard and read about. She and the other teacher, Ryan, decided to take me there on Saturday. They were on duty for the weekend. Since no teachers live on campus, they have to stay one weekend a month and one night a week in case there is a problem for which students need a teacher, a responsible adult.

Saturday afternoon Megan and I joined Peggie and Ryan for our outing. We took a bus to the Green Belt, which took an hour. I had no idea Wenjiang was so large. After getting off the bus, we rented bicycles for our tour. Bicycle riding is what people do there. Fortunately, I was able to borrow Katy’s helmet to meet the PC requirement that we wear one when riding. 

First, they rented tandem bicycles with awnings for protection from the sun. It was too unwieldy to operate easily. Megan had a hard time steering and I couldn’t see anything from behind her; so it wasn’t comfortable, fun or safe. So we returned the tandems and got single bicycles, which were much better. Since it was Saturday, many people were at the Green Belt; so riding was often a challenge. On the way back, we went on a path that few people were using. It was nice to ride and enjoy the trees quietly. Along the paths, there are many entrepreneurs selling food. 

We stopped for a snack on the way back. Ryan bought some fruit that I’d seen at the market, but, since I didn’t know what it is, I hadn’t purchased any. It was delicious. He and Peggie didn’t know the English name. Later I figured that it might be loquat, since a student had written about picking them from the tree at her home and they are in season now. I checked it out on the Internet, and I was right. Although Khun Yindee told me on Facebook that she has a loquat tree in her yard, I hadn’t seen them in Thailand. But the ones Saturday were so delicious that I bought more at the market.

Katy was ill for a week; so I ended out doing the lecture for her, but she’ll do the next two. I have gotten to hate the thought of lectures, since they take so long (15 hours for the last two on Nebraska and Chinese Influences in the U.S.) to prepare and it’s only a one-time performance. I told Peggie how I/we feel and suggested that in the future they have two lectures a month instead of four. She talked to the dean who said we should choose easier topics. Most of the topics are not difficult. It just takes a lot of time to gather enough information and photos for a 45-minute presentation and to prepare the Power Point so students will be at least a little interested and will be able to understand what we are talking about. Such a lack of understanding of what is involved is frustrating.

Katy’s birthday was Thursday. I cooked dinner for our group of foreign teachers and bought a cake. When I ordered the cake, I did it by pointing at pictures and choosing a size from models in the window. Since Katy’s favorite color is green, I thought it would be nice to have a cake with green frosting, but the ones in the size I wanted were not green. So I used my phone dictionary and pointed to the cake to indicate that I wanted it to be green, not purple. However, since this is China, and I don’t speak the language, what I think I asked for and what I get don’t always match. When I opened the box, I saw the purple cake (It has to look like the picture.) with a thin chocolate sign that said “Green: Happy Birthday!” Katy will remember this one. Ironically, purple is Megan’s favorite color; so it looked like the cake was meant for her. On the positive side, I knew that the woman I ordered from wanted to ask me what time I wanted to pick up the cake and was able to say “What time?” in Chinese so she could ask me and I could answer. 

The dinner was a big success; everyone loved my food. Megan commented that it was what she had thought Chinese food would be, not the greasy/oily food that is common here.

I am seeing Diao Min only once a week now. Twice a week was good to get me started, but it’s too often now. It takes me more than a week to memorize and remember the small amount of vocabulary I’m trying to learn. But it is nice when I remember and can do something like the interaction at the cake shop.

Emeishan--Part 2 (5-4)

Wednesday was the last day of the holiday (and the official holiday). I checked out of the hotel, leaving my things in an extra bag so I could go out for the morning without carrying everything, and headed for Fuhu Monastery, which is a half hour walk from town. When I passed a restaurant near the monastery, a young man asked if I wanted to eat and I said I had eaten. He started to walk with me, chatting in Chinese. I told him I didn’t understand Chinese, but he kept on talking like people sometimes do. When we arrived at the monastery, he paid for my entrance ticket while I was getting my money out. A couple minutes later, he said he wanted 20 yuan ($3.50). I wasn’t going to give him any money for walking me to a place I didn’t need help getting to and when I hadn’t agreed to have him accompany me. But he kept telling me he wanted the money. Then he left me and returned with a young woman who speaks English. She explained that he wanted money to be my tour guide. I certainly didn’t want a tour guide who speaks a language I don’t understand. When he finally understood that I didn’t want his services, he wanted me to pay for the ticket. I was fine with that but didn’t have proper change. He was able to get my 100 yuan note changed but only to 10s, and the ticket was 6. I had the young woman tell him I was not happy and eventually told him to keep the 10. The money wasn’t a big deal, but I wanted him to understand that he shouldn’t approach people the way he did. He was happy to have the money. When I told Diao Min about this encounter, she didn’t understand his behavior. I was told later that people purchase tickets for a friend to be polite. This obviously was not the case with him. I think he was just ignorant about how to deal with people and saw the foreigner—me—as an opportunity to make some money. He obviously wasn’t practicing his English.

So my entrance to the monastery was a little unpleasant. But, because of that, I met Jin, the young woman who had translated. After the young man left, she offered to be my guide for free. I wasn’t comfortable with this at first but ended out really enjoying her and learning a lot. Zhong is 25 years old and is a former English teacher. She’s not sure what she wants to do. She was at the monastery studying Buddhism for several days. She studied on her own and could ask the nuns for help if she had questions.

The monastery is actually a nunnery, as it is nuns who live there. We saw two people practicing tai chi in courtyards. Zhong said the man seems to live there, as he practices every day. But, since most people stay in their rooms, it’s hard to know who lives there.

The monastery includes the Ararat Hall, which was one of my favorites. The way to it is marked with a small sign that I might have missed without Zhong. It contains statues of 500 gods. Each one is different, and each one is for a different purpose, which is sometimes evident by the image. For example, some hold musical instruments and one has children sitting on its lap, which reminded me of Hopi Storytellers. (No photos allowed.) A few people were praying to different gods.

Next I headed for Leiyin Temple, which is up the mountain a bit. I followed a couple up the road until I caught up with them after five minutes and asked, pointing at my map, if the road went there. It didn’t. But a woman coming down the road was excited to see an American and walked me back to the steep stairs I had seen and hoped to avoid by walking on the road.

Up the stairs I went, thankful for my bamboo walking stick. 

Leiye in Temple wasn’t noteworthy, which was disappointing since I’d walked up all those stairs to get there. My map indicated that I could walk from there to Qingyin Pavilion in two hours, and a sign at the bottom had mentioned it; so I decided to do that, as it would still get me back to town in time to get a bus back to Chengdu. I kept climbing up more stairs than I thought I should be going up. Eventually, I asked two young men where we were on the map. One pointed to about where I thought I should be.

Later I came to the Chunyang Palace, which I didn’t think I was going to. Not far after that, there was a sign pointing the direction to a temple the name of which I didn’t recognize. Two men came along and I asked them where we were. We were indeed a lot higher than the path I thought I was on, and we were not on the one the other man had indicated that I thought I was on. (Perhaps they, too, weren’t where they thought they were.) They agreed that my best option for getting to town quickly was back the way I’d come. So down all the steps—thousands, I’m sure—I went. A woman selling meat on sticks had some with tofu; so I stopped to buy some. It looked good until she fried it in way too much oil. It tasted more like oil than tofu, but I figured the fat would give me energy.

I arrived back in town at 2:30, having had a longer day of walking than I’d planned. But I enjoyed having more time out in nature. I quickly picked up my things, and went to the tourist bus station. They had no more tickets to Chengdu. (Should have purchased a ticket the day I arrived, but I didn’t think of it then, and it wasn’t a problem in Leshan.) So I had to go to the bus station in Emei city. When I walked in, I knew that the long line was the one for Chengdu. I purchased my ticket and joined it. Within ten minutes, it was considerably longer. The young man in front of me said we’d be in line for an hour. Fortunately, he was wrong; it was only half an hour until we were on a bus that left at 4:30. As we approached Chengdu, traffic was bumper to bumper in a couple places with everyone returning from their holiday travels. We arrived at 7:00, and I immediately went to the bus stop to get a bus to Baihua, where I get the bus home. Usually the last bus is at 7:30; so I was a little concerned about making it but hoped that there would be later buses because of the holiday. While waiting for half an hour, only one available taxi came, and someone grabbed it before it got to where I was standing. There was a young couple that I thought was probably also going to Wenjiang, and I was right. When the bus arrived at the station, they got off and ran to the place where the Wenjiang bus waits. So did I. We were lucky. There was a bus. There were no seats left, but that was OK. I was just happy to be on a bus. I was even happier when a student got up and gave me his seat. I arrived home at 9:30, tired but glad to be home.

My legs were very stiff for the next two days. I’d done a lot of up and down walking and been up and down thousands of stairs. I knew they’d be stiff, but that’s usually been for one day. Going to classes on the fourth and third floors was challenging. I guess the old body takes longer to recover than it used to. 

Emeishan (5-3)

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were a holiday for Labor Day, May 1. Of course, we had to make up Monday and Tuesday classes on Saturday and Sunday. Pretending that Saturday was Monday didn’t faze me this time. I hardly noticed. I guess I’ve adjusted to the Chinese way of doing things. Or it was easier to do the extra classes following a week and prior to the holiday than to come back and do the make ups. Since I have no classes on Tuesday, it was like a normal Sunday, which was nice to have before leaving early Monday morning. My destination: Emei Mountain.

Since I didn’t want to have to wait at the Chengdu bus station for several hours, I left home at 6:20 AM so I could catch an early bus. A couple of my students were also waiting at the bus. They said the bus should come at 6:40, but it didn’t. Finally, at 7:00 the other bus came; so I decided to take it. As it pulled out, the first bus, which goes directly to Chengdu, arrived. But I was OK with that, since I knew I could change buses fairly quickly. Wrong. The first four buses that came didn’t even pull over at the bus stop because they were so full of students from the other university embarking on their holiday. When a bus stopped after twenty minutes, the several of us waiting for that bus made sure we squeezed in. Then it, too, was packed and didn’t stop until some people wanted to get off. At the bus station, the next bus left quickly, and I was at the long distance bus terminal at 8:45. I was surprised that there weren’t many people there, and I had a ticket in five minutes. I was a bit dismayed when the time on the ticket was 19:30. So I went to the information desk, where the people spoke English the last time, and asked about the destination and time. The woman told me that I could get on a bus then; the time on the ticket is the last time I can use it. So I could have taken an earlier bus the last time if the woman had explained that instead of telling me I could get on the bus five or ten minutes early. But it was all OK, and now I know. It’s good that the women at the information desk speak English. So I got in line and was on the way at 9:30.

We arrived in Emei two hours later and I took a local bus to Baoguo, where I was staying for two nights. Getting there required a bus change. When I asked, the bus attendant was nice enough to tell me when to get off, and she and the driver pointed to the road I needed to go to for the next bus.

After checking into the guest house, I decided to go to one of the temples on the mountain. I purchased the full ticket, since that included going to the bus stop for Wannian Temple. This was a mistake. I learned later that, at another ticket booth, I could have purchased a ticket only to that temple for half the price. When the bus I was on stopped at a big parking lot, I tried to get a bus back down to the temple, but that wasn’t possible according to the people helping me. I had to purchase the park entrance ticket (185 yuan or about $31) and get on another bus to the next level up. The trip from the start to that level took 1.5 hours. Upon arrival, I showed my ticket to a driver going down the mountain to the temple, and he told me to get in his bus. Half way down, he had a student translate and tell me that the bus didn’t go there; so I had to go all the way back down. Thus I rode the bus for 3 hours and didn’t get to see anything. I was a little irritated with myself for doing that. I could have purchased the half bus ticket and seen the lower temples that afternoon instead of sitting on the bus. But the views of the mountains from the bus were pretty good that day.

Back at the bottom of the mountain, I went to Baoguo Temple and enjoyed walking around it. 

Then I walked along the huge carvings of the story of the Buddha in the cliffs. By this time, it was evening, and the carvings were lighted up. There were also many tourists walking around the area.

Emei Mountain is one of four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. (This reminded me of the four Navajo sacred peaks in Arizona.) There are a number of temples on the mountain, and the Golden Summit Pavilion at the top is the main pilgrimage destination for Chinese Buddhists. Most of these were young adults, but there were some older people.

Tuesday morning I woke up early again so I could get an early bus to the top of the mountain—again. After a quick breakfast of noodle soup, I was on a bus at 6:30. This bus didn’t stop at the lower parking lot; it went directly to the upper level. To get on the bus, I had to show my park entrance ticket. Even though I’d asked if it was good for two days and the woman had agreed, I was a little anxious that they would want me to purchase another ticket when I hadn’t used the first one, but it was good. The young man next to me on the bus chatted a little. He was taking his friends to the mountain that day, but, since they were leaving on Wednesday, he told me I could call him, and he’d take me to the Leshan Buddha, since he lives in Leshan. I guess he hadn’t understood when I’d told him I had been there on the last holiday.

After getting off the bus, it’s a half-hour walk up to the place where you can take a cable car to the top. You can also walk up, but I’d decided that I’d ride up and walk down. Coats can be rented, as it’s cold at the higher elevations. I had my jacket and had had the foresight to attach the hood; so I didn’t need to rent one. There were shops selling souvenirs along the way. Panda jackets for children were popular. Brightly colored monkeys that hang around your neck were also very popular. Many adults, as well as children, were wearing them.

Monkeys are the park’s mascot. Traffic signs feature a monkey character.

On the way up, there were several places where there was a view of the mountain. It was misty, but some of the mountains were slightly visible.

Within a few minutes of getting in line for a cable car, the line behind me was twice as long. It only took half an hour to get into a car and be on the way up. Each car holds a hundred people, and the ride up takes about five minutes.

The mountain is 3000 meters (about 10,000 feet) high. At the top, it was misty, as it was in the clouds. One of the things the mountain is famous for is the Sea of Clouds. On a clear day above the clouds, you can see the clouds below and the blue sky above. I was told that you can have a photo taken that looks like you are standing on the clouds. This was not a clear day. 

The huge statue and the Golden Summit Pavilion were barely visible when I arrived. It was cold. The average temperature there is 3^o C (35^o F). I was OK with my jacket with the hood up, but my fingers were freezing. After a while, I could hardly unzip the zipper to open my backpack, and opening the camera slot to change batteries was very challenging. I alternated putting my hands in the pockets to warm them up a bit.

One of the buildings had gorgeous stone carvings for sale. Also stone jewelry. I ended up buying a bracelet with a lotus carved into each piece. The woman seemed to be indicating that it is good for sleeping, as she put her hands together beside her head and leaned it toward her shoulder with her eyes closed.

I spent about three hours wandering around the top of the mountain, walking through the temple and walking around to the various viewpoints. In addition to being cold, I was feeling a bit woozy. I was glad I had purchased a bamboo walking stick, as it was very useful. I tried eating and drinking, but that didn’t help much. I realized that it was probably an effect of the high altitude. This was confirmed the next day when I was able to walk a lot with no problems at lower elevations.

In one area there are a lot of locks hanging. Couples purchase these and have their names inscribed as a symbol of their long-time love and commitment.

As time went on, the fog lifted. When I left, the statue and pavilion were clearly visible. 

There was a bit of a Sea of Clouds, as the mountain tops were then visible above the clouds, but it wasn’t the famous one that happens on clear days. Many people stood there to have a photo taken. 

Also as the morning went on, the hoards of people had arrived. When I returned to the center after walking around the rim, the area around the pavilion was packed. I was glad I had arrived early.

When I decided to walk down, my thought was: how long can it take to walk down the distance of a five-minute cable car ride? Answer: an hour and a half. I read later that it is 3.5 kilometers. The path is paved with good steps. I enjoyed the change of trees as the elevation changed. 

One area was mystical with a lot of moss on the rocks and ground. Some of the places where the mountains were slightly visible in the morning were completely cloudy by this time.

Back at the upper level parking area, I got into a bus going to Wannian Temple. This one stopped there, and I was the only person to get out. There is a cable car from the parking lot to the temple, but I decided to walk when I learned that it takes about an hour. It was actually a fairly easy walk with not much change in elevation, and the altitude was lower; so I could walk easily. At one point, the path went through an area of tea gardens. I had seen these in the distance from the buses and was delighted to be walking through an area where they were close. After a bit, the path came back to the main path. Somehow I’d gotten off the main path and taken a short detour, and I was glad that had happened.

I made it to the temple in 45 minutes. I was glad I had made the trip, as the main building of temple is different in style from most. It’s the oldest of the mountain’s temples (9^th century). 

It features a bronze bodisattva on a white elephant. As I finished walking around, I heard banging and monks carrying big water tubs started running toward the entrance. We tourists followed to see what was happening. 

It seemed to be a fire drill or something like that. Two men had fire hoses and shot water at one of the roofs. Maybe they do this to keep the roof damp. Anyway, it was interesting.

By this time, it was 6:00, and I started down the mountain. After a while, there was a sign pointing a direction I didn’t think I wanted to go. I asked a woman which way to the bus, and she pointed the direction of the sign. Shortly after that, I knew for sure that I was not going down the same path I’d gone up on. But I was heading down, which was a good thing; so I continued. 

An hour after leaving Wannian, I arrived at Qingyin Pavilion. Since it was 7:00 and I still needed to get back to town, I looked at the entrance but didn’t go inside the pavilion. The area has a lot of locks with red ribbons. I learned that these are also for couples as a prayer for long-time commitment and love. I had also seen red ribbons hanging in trees, which are hung for the same reason.

Again I asked which way to a bus. Two young women were also going down and offered to walk with me. They were delightful companions. Both are sophomores studying fashion design, and both speak English well. They were staying at a hostel halfway down but walked me to the entrance.

We arrived there at 7:30, too late to get a bus back to town. So I started walking. It was getting dark, but I enjoyed walking along with only the clink of my bamboo walking stick for noise. After about twenty minutes, a car pulled over and offered a ride for 30 yuan ($5). It took 20 minutes to get to town. It was dark by then. I hadn’t realized it was so far; so I was very glad I had the ride.

Earthquake (4-27)

On Saturday, 20 April, I was lying in bed waking up when the bed started to shake. I knew it was an earthquake. After about ten seconds, the shaking stopped and all was fine here. When I looked out the window, I noticed that students in the nearby dormitory were outside. They weren’t there long; so I knew everything was OK. An hour later, Yang texted to say she would come out. Since everything was OK, there was no need for her to do that. And if things weren’t OK, she couldn’t do anything anyway. I was able to convince her that we were all OK and she didn’t need to come out. She takes her responsibility to take care of us quite seriously.

Megan felt small aftershocks Sunday evening, but I didn’t. Someone else reported feeling small tremors on Saturday that I also missed.

Since the tremors were slight and minimal, I had no feelings of fear or concern here. But students were very concerned and most that I talked with were afraid. They had experienced and remembered the much more destructive 2008 earthquake which caused the death of 68,000 people. The magnitude of this year’s earthquake was between 6.6 and 7. 179 or more people were killed and 6700 (Numbers vary in different sources, but they are close to this for the most part.) were injured. In comparison, it seems minimal, but it’s still an earthquake.

When I had students talk about their weekend in classes on Monday, most mentioned the earthquake and their fear. At English Corner that evening, many asked us what we were doing and if we were afraid.

English Corner was sponsored by the chemistry and math departments. However, their students didn’t plan the entertainment; so one of my girls took over that responsibility and organized some singing. Students from the other departments were required to attend and had to register. The two activities took most of the hour. Only about fifteen minutes were left for chatting, but we stayed longer to chat with those who stayed for that.

One consequence of the earthquake is that we now have about 950 high school seniors and a hundred of their teachers on campus. Their school was damaged, and, as seniors, it is very important for them to finish the term because they will take the national test that determines the university they can attend. They are living in the other side of our building. The students all have an ID card hanging around their necks. One day there were a large number of boxes outside the building. They had clothes and backpacks and other items for the students. There is an increase in the number of security men around the campus, especially in areas where these students can be found.

They arrived on Wednesday. When we were going to lunch, we noticed students at a table near the dining hall wearing red caps. One of my students was working at the table and explained what was going on. Students receiving red caps were volunteers to help the arriving students. On my way to the office for my office hour, I saw two of my students standing along the street with many others. They were waiting for the high school students to arrive. So I waited with them. Soon many buses came down the street. Students got off and went to their assigned area. Reporters were recording their arrival. Students I talked with were very proud to be helping. A few others wanted to help but had arrived too late.

As I started walking to the office, three girls called to me. They were looking for me and went to the office with me. One is in one of my classes. They wanted to talk to me to improve their oral communication. So we chatted for over half an hour. They wanted to meet with me every day. That’s too much, but I agreed to see them twice a week, one of which is my office hour. We’ll see how this goes. This was the first time anyone has come to see me during my office hour except the time a girl came to collect the umbrella she had loaned me. It was nice to put that time to use.

I had Amanda help me download a VPN on Sunday. Since I couldn’t access the website to do that without a VPN, she copied her program onto my computer and we registered me on her computer. It all went smoothly. So now I can post blogs and read Allison’s and download newsletters from my friend and the CLF. I can also access websites I have been unable to access for lecture research. And I can access Facebook. I was missing feeling connected with some of those friends.

My watch battery died. I decided that, since the face was very rusted after Vietnam last year, it was time to say good-bye to Mickey and get a new one. We went to Carrefour after the earthquake, and I now have a new Snoopy watch. I like it. Megan, Katy, and I got lost in the clothes department and each bought a few items. We’re ready for spring! My pants are size XXL and XXX. I guess I’m larger in China than in Thailand. I was pleased to find the special not white rice is also available at Carrefour.

Spring weather has come off and on. After a few hot days, the weather cooled down again. It has done this a few times. Then at the end of the week it got hot again (in the 70s). Yang commented on how it was very hot on Thursday. When I went to class, students said it was very hot. I asked if they wanted to turn on the fans. They said “no” because that might make it cold. It’s certainly not Thailand where fans were on all the time once the temperatures exceeded 70.