Luzhou (7-21)

I had arranged to stay in Luzhou for the weekend after the teachers’ training so I could see more of the city while I was there. Lisa arranged for teachers to be “on duty” throughout the weekend. I was told that I could call the duty person if I needed anything. Although I felt a little awkward about this, it was nice to know that someone would be available if I needed assistance.

Friday afternoon, after the teacher on duty helped me check in to the hotel, I settled in and realized how tired I was. So I relaxed in my room for a few hours before venturing out. The teacher had told me that there is a supermarket near the hotel to the right. I didn’t see a supermarket, but I found the street market and walked around it for a while. It’s interesting to see what is sold. Mostly clothes in this market and a lot of food on skewers, which I later learned is a specialty in Luzhou.

Then I headed to the river. I’d chosen the hotel because it is near the Yangtze River and I wanted to spend some time along this river. There is a walkway beside the river at river level and one on the cliff above it. The trees beside the walkway are in the water now. I learned on Saturday that the river is quite high—much higher than usual—because of the recent rain farther north. There were a few people walking along the river at this time—about 5:00. 

Several men were fishing—some with poles; some with the large nets I saw in Vietnam. At the confluence of the Yangtze and the Tuojiang Rivers, there’s a sandy area where children were playing. 

Someone was flying a bird-shaped kite that was so realistic that it looked like a hawk flying. The wing tips flapped as it floated on the air currents. I was fascinated and watched it for a long time but couldn’t see who was flying it. 

On the upper level at the confluence point, there are several areas with plants and trees. During the two hours that I was along the river, the number of people walking increased.

I was so tired that night that I slept for almost eleven hours. When I woke up at 9:00 Saturday morning and went to breakfast, a woman was mopping the floor. I’d missed my included breakfast. I returned to my room and relaxed for two more hours, as my energy level was still low. Jessica, who was my contact for Saturday afternoon, called in the morning to see if I needed her. I didn’t need her but would enjoy her company, as she was one of the teachers I had chatted with and felt that I had connected with. Since there isn’t much in the area near the hotel and I didn’t know how to get around the city or where to go, I was happy to take her up on her offer to meet me and take me some place.

While I waited, I decided I needed to get out and move; so I walked around the area near the hotel. I walked to the Bell and Drum Tower and the Bao’En Pagoda, an octagonal pagoda. Both are landmarks in the city, but both were (or maybe are always) closed; so you can’t walk up any more. They’re just interesting buildings to look at briefly. I was glad I hadn’t gone out of my way to see them, as they are only a couple blocks from the hotel. I window shopped and ate a dish of noodles and then returned to wait for Jessica.

We went to the Baizitu Square, where there are a cultural pavilion and an amphitheater. There we met two girls—Dangerous and Janie—who had just graduated from high school and whom Jessica had invited to join us so they could practice their English. The pavilion is a covered walkway along the Tuojiang River that has paintings depicting Luzhou’s history on panels across the top. 

One section has paintings of 100 children, three in each painting. It’s cooler in the pavilion, since it is covered, and in some places there’s a nice breeze; so some people sit there to relax. 

Outside the pavilion between the two sections, there is a section of the old city gate 

and there are five old brass drums. Long beans were drying on the drums. I was fascinated by this and by ones I saw later drying on top of trash cans.

After walking both ways through the pavilion, which is 650 meters long, we went to the Cultural Square. It features a huge, semi-circular amphitheater that faces the river and can seat 20,000 people. It reminded me of Roman and Greek amphitheaters. Along the outside at the top, there are eight pillars that have 100 children carved on them. Jessica explained that the children were for good luck to have many children in the past and for happiness.

Our next stop was a tea house, since it Jessica thought it was too hot to go anywhere else. There we had a pot of special tea made from young leaves and relaxed for an hour. Then we went to the supermarket, which, I learned, is a mall.

Jessica had to leave to go to a friend’s birthday dinner, but she arranged for the girls to take me to dinner and to another park. The menu at the restaurant had headings in English, but everything under the heading is in Chinese only. Things like that make me wonder why they bother with the English headings; it’s all show. 

The park is a newly built park that has a few ponds and nice paths with lots of trees. I enjoyed the girls. Both are going to university in September. They’ve been friends since primary school when they were in the same class. Dangerous went to a special foreign language high school in Chongqing while Janie went to a local high school. (As in Thailand, students stay with the same class all the way through elementary school.) They each tried to speak to me, and I could tell that they had thought about what they would say. After Jessica left, they checked words in their dictionaries. They’re very sweet.

The girls are enjoying their summer vacation this year because it’s the first time they haven’t had to take special classes to study for the university entrance exam. That’s what high school students do during school breaks. I had had some writing students mention that one difference between high school and university is that they had no free time in high school but now they have a lot of free time.

Jessica is 50 years old. She will retire in five years, since retirement at 55 is mandatory for women. Men retire at 60. She has a certificate to teach Chinese as a foreign language and hopes to do that after she retires. The government has a program in which it sends people, under age 60, to other countries to teach Chinese, and she hopes to participate in it.

After the girls delivered me back to the hotel and to my room, they went home, and I went to the river. Since it was 7:30, many more people were out than on Friday night when I was there earlier. I saw the man flying the kite. 

At the confluence, there were three groups of people dancing. I enjoyed watching all the people again.

Sunday morning Winnie met me, as arranged on Saturday. She brought her son along so he could meet me. He, too, just graduated from high school and will go to university. He didn’t say much, but he’s very nice. We walked along the Yangtze in the other direction. There was a lot of construction going on; so it wasn’t as enjoyable as walking in the park area. But I guess it’s a famous street. 

It’s tree-lined and rather nice—at least it would have been nice without the construction. 










On the way back, we stopped at the Wine Cellar of Luzhou Vintage. Winnie had never been there; so it was new to all of us. The sign at the ticket office mentioned that people over 60 can pay half price. Worked for us, as Winnie was paying for me. It’s a museum about the local baiju—liquor—industry, which started in 1573. One famous brand is called 1573. 

One building has displays of many special bottles. 

Another has the First National Liquor Cellar, the original site for making the liquor. A third has liquor being made, but it’s not open for visitation.  

In addition to the liquor, Luzhou is known for litchis and longan. Jessica gave me a bunch of litchis when we met on Saturday. They were delicious. I saw a couple men selling longans, but Winnie and Jessica said the main season is next month. We saw the trees across the river from the pavilion.

Lisa and Winnie thought I was leaving on Monday even though I’d told them both I would leave on Sunday. So Winnie and Mark stayed with me instead of passing the duty on to Lisa. We had lunch at one of the restaurants that feature the skewered vegetables and meats. You choose the items you want and put them in a basket. 

Then they are put into hot, seasoned water to cook and delivered to your table. Fortunately, the water wasn’t too spicy and I could eat the food. Winnie and Mark had extra dishes of hot sauce to dip their food in.

After lunch, we went to the bus station. Mark had called and learned that there is a bus directly to Wenjiang at 2:20. After I bought a ticket, I told Winnie that they didn’t have to stay with me, as it was only 12:00, and I could get myself on the bus. They then checked my bags, and I learned that we would walk around the shopping mall next to the bus station. It’s new and most places aren’t open yet and very few people were shopping there. It’s huge, and it seems that just about anything can be found there or will be there eventually when it’s finished.

They put me on the bus. Mark went on with me to make sure I was settled in a seat. Then Winnie got on to say good-bye. The young woman next to me was a delightful English teacher who just finished her first year of teaching middle school. Her English is excellent. She was a little apprehensive about speaking because I was the first foreigner she’d talked to. She had foreign teachers but never spoke to them outside class and didn’t speak much in class. She learned to speak from listening to music and watching movies.

I was really happy that I was able to get a bus directly to Wenjiang and didn’t have to mess around changing bus stations and buses in Chengdu. This was so much easier.

I was glad I had stayed for the additional weekend and had some extra time with Jessica and Winnie. With their company, I saw more than I would have seen on my own, and I enjoy both of them. I also enjoyed my time alone walking along the Yangtze River for the first time.

Teachers' Training (7-19)

I was in Luzhou for the Peace Corps Summer Project for two weeks. All volunteers are required to participate in a Summer Project after their first year. The project is to provide teachers’ training for rural teachers. Five of us, the others being from Group 18, were sent to Luzhou Vocational and Technical College. 

Getting from Wenjiang to Luzhou was an experience. Yang had told me which bus station to go to in Chengdu and had given me directions for getting there. Then I’d asked at the Wenjiang bus station and learned that there are two buses directly to Luzhou: one at 9:10 and one at 3:30. So I went to the bus station early on Monday. When I was at the ticket window at 8:40, the woman said “No.” Since I wasn’t sure if that meant no bus or no tickets, I asked at the information counter and learned that there were no tickets for the 9:10 bus. Using her translator, the woman informed/showed me that I could go to “five Gui Chao tea san and transfer.” I figured out that “tea san” was “station,” but I had no idea where that station was and knew it wasn’t the station Yang said to go to because that one started with W. Since I thought I needed to get to Luzhou before evening and didn’t know how to get to the W station from the bus station near the metro, I decided to go back and follow Yang’s directions; I knew they would get me to where I needed to be. Half way into Chengdu, I realized that “five Gui Chao” was “Wuguichao,” the station Yang told me to use. (“Wu” means “five” and the translator translated that syllable.) So the woman was sending me to the same station as Yang. But I still didn’t know where it was and was happy to be following the original directions.

A bus was leaving five minutes after I arrived; so I was lucky. Four hours after I left home I was on the way to Luzhou. Within five minutes of leaving the station, we were out of the city. The countryside we traveled through has a lot of corn and rice fields. We arrived in Luzhou in 3.5 hours, which was faster than I had thought it would be.

We had about 150 trainees divided into five classes. All were middle school teachers. On Tuesday, we did a brief assessment of their English level to divide out the top 60 to form two classes. We all noticed a clear difference between those classes and the others. However, there were a few who spoke pretty well in each of the other classes. But, in general, their English level was noticeably lower and they were less confident.

We saw each class for an hour a day; so the days were long day even though we had the standard 2.5 hours for the lunch break. Teaching the same thing five times in a day was wearing, especially on the very hot—about 97^o—and humid days. My topic was Methodology and Classroom Activities. I ended out mostly lecturing to give them ideas about how they can teach. Their classes range from 40 to over 70 students; so teaching is challenging.

On Tuesday of the second week, we had class photos instead of the first class. We foreign teachers were in the photos with every class. While they were being organized and after they were finished, teachers took the opportunity to take photos with us individually or in pairs. They were in the photo-taking mood. One time Lindsey and I were standing together and two or three of the teachers grouped over us for photos. We felt like the statues in amusement parks that people pose with and around for photos. They just kept changing people and formations while we stood there like statues. But they had a good time. When I asked a class later if they were happy, they said “yes.” When I asked why, they said because they had taken many photos.

Classes finished Wednesday with short classes on Thursday so they could practice for their presentations at the closing ceremony on Friday. It was good that they finished when they did because I had finished what I wanted to say to them. For review

on Thursday, I had them write three things they learned that they will use in their classes, three things that will help them improve their teaching. After discussing with a small group, they each stood up and told the whole class. They all took this seriously, and it was interesting to hear what they said. Many mentioned the lesson organization, reading skills, and planning that I had discussed in the last two days. Many mentioned the activities I had mentioned. Some mentioned vocabulary notebooks, writing, and speaking English most of the time. I was pleased that they felt like they had gained something to take back with them. Even if they don’t actually do all that they said they will, the seeds are planted.

Each class gave one of us our gifts: a hand-made paper umbrella and a piece of silk. The trainees had collected money to purchase these. They were given to us on the side by one of the teachers in the class. It was so different from Thailand where such gifts are given on stage with great ceremony. Winnie had told me that we would be given an umbrella and a garment. Later I learned that they had intended to have a dress and something for the men made for us but that there wasn’t time to take our measurements and have them made; so we got the piece of silk to do something with ourselves. The umbrellas are oil-coated paper that is an old traditional craft. The paper is soaked in oil, which is why they have a slight odor. They came in lovely silk-covered boxes. 

In addition, Lisa, the woman in charge, gave us the photos of each class that were taken on Tuesday.

Thursday night we were taken to dinner. The five assistants joined us as well as three people from the local education department. We went to a restaurant with a large table in a private room. The lazy Susan in the center moved around automatically. Several dishes were put on it, and we watched them go around for half an hour while we waited for the officials from the local education department to arrive. Then they opened the dinner with a toast, and we began to eat. As the dishes go around and pass you, you take a bite from the ones you choose. More dishes were brought (and completed ones removed) until we had over 25 different dishes. They included shrimp dumplings, roasted dog, cow stomach, small fish, pork, pork dumplings, a few vegetables, ginger, bamboo, a sweetened tree root, a sweet melon, and a few bowls of soup-like dishes. Many were spicy; so they were not for me. But there were plenty that I could eat and enjoy. We had buckwheat tea and wine along with the food. 

Lisa and some of the teacher assistants walked around and toasted/thanked each of us. Other toasts were made. When a toast is made, the people or, for a general toast, everyone, raise their wine glasses and then drink a bit. Since the wine was a strong red wine, not to my liking, I had very small sips followed by some tea. Worked for me.

Friday morning we had the closing ceremony. The morning began with a whole group photo that included the local dignitaries. Afterwards, we proceeded to the auditorium for the program. Two classes did short plays. Two groups read poetry. The rest sang. We also sang. The teachers enjoyed themselves. Then the local officials spoke. Dan said they spoke for a long time. Since I was used to such speeches in Thailand that were much longer, I thought they were fairly brief. 

We foreign teachers were given a large bouquet. They were lovely but seemed excessive since we were all leaving and couldn’t take them with us. I left mine in the lunch room for the cooks. Others left them in their rooms for the building caretakers. Certificates were given to the class monitors who later gave them to the teachers. They were in folders with the certificate on one side and a class photo on the other. I thought this was very nice. Everyone, including us, was also given a laminated photo of the whole group that had been taken earlier. 

One of the groups that had presented a play had used fans and gave each of us a fan after the program.

After the program, we had our final lunch. Then Lisa arranged for someone to take the others to the bus station and me to my hotel.

The school treated us very well. We each had a room to stay in. We were given three meals every day, which were prepared for us and served in a special room. Breakfast was a typical Chinese breakfast—porridge (only rice cooked in water, no flavor)—with a couple vegetables to put into it along with bread and sometimes eggs. Lunch and dinner were several dishes and fruit. Although it was very oily, the food was good. In addition, they provided fruit each afternoon.

The campus is not very attractive. Buildings are the typical white tile buildings in this area. They are crowded together, and there’s not a lot of green space. It made me appreciate the beautiful campus in Wenjiang even more. 

Bathrooms in the classroom building have open stalls that have a half wall and no door. There is a long trench with a hole in it over which you squat. Water flushes automatically every so often to clean the trench. It’s an old campus; whereas that in Wenjiang is new. I was told that this school will move to a new campus in several years.

                                                                                              

Chishui Danzia National Park (7-15)

On the weekend between the two weeks of teachers’ training in Luzhou, the school sent us on a trip to Chishui Danxia National Geological Park in Guizhou province. The plan had been for the five of us and one teacher to go with a guide in a van. However, Saturday morning a larger bus, the most comfortable bus I've been on, showed up. So they called the assistant teachers to join us. Winnie, my assistant, said she was called at 7:55. The original departure time was 8:00. It was nice that they could be included. Two brought their sons, and one brought her husband and daughter.

It took a little over three hours to reach our first destination. The road went through beautiful farm country. Crops in the area are corn and rice. I enjoyed looking out the window and taking photos. 

I wondered why the tops of the corn plants were still there, as the tassels are removed in the U.S. I learned later that the fruit there is what is used to make the local liquor.

Our first stop was lunch. Then we entered the park, which is known for its waterfalls and the Danxie land formations.  We walked through the bamboo forest where there are also many tree ferns, which our guide told us have existed since the dinosaur times. 

We walked along the beautiful path, passing several waterfalls, for two hours to get to our destination—

a waterfall in front of a small cave. We could walk through the cave behind the waterfall, which was remarkable. Then we took the park shuttle back.

After returning to the entrance, we went to another section of the park where we walked to the Danxie land formations. This was a shorter walk and took only forty minutes.  But it was uphill and had a lot of stairs. 

The teachers’ husband who was with us became my assistant. He carried my bag, as well as his wife’s, and held my arm to help me move up the stairs faster. I was surprised what a difference his support made. 

The formations are red rocks, which the sign called the "Danxia Wonders." I wondered if they were cliff dwellings, as there were some of what looked like ruins.

After viewing the rocks, one can pay to take a slide down, but we opted to walk.

After dinner, I started to go for a walk, and, of course, Winnie joined me. The other Volunteers wanted to swim in the river but were told it was not safe. When they went down to river, some of the Chinese teachers joined them and stayed as long as they did even though they didn’t seem to want to be there. We were not to be left alone. Winnie and I had an enjoyable walk looking at items in the shops, especially some beautiful paper umbrellas. Winnie bought me—and herself—a small fan.

When we returned, the hotel’s show had begun. The guide had said it was an extra expense that we would have to pay for ourselves. Since it was 120 yuan ($20), no one planned to do that. Winnie said the usual price would be about 100 yuan. But, when we walked past, there were people standing in back of the benches; so we joined them. After a while, someone gave us two stools. And later some of the people on the benches next to us left and the women still sitting there told us to sit with them. So we did. Thus we saw the show without paying.  The show featured the area’s Miao minority people. (I remember seeing them when I was in China 25 years ago.) There were several dances, but between the dances, they did audience participation. They picked people from the audience to go up and sing. I was glad I hadn’t paid for that. But I did enjoy the dances.

Sunday morning we went to another section of the park to go to the famous large waterfall. On the way we encountered a rock slide that made the road impassable for buses. After waiting for half an hour, we were told that we could walk. 

Because we were walking, we were able to enjoy the scenery and several small waterfalls. Winnie and I walked for 45 minutes. We were behind the others because she walks very slowly. Then the bus came by, and we rode to the park, which took five minutes. Because many buses were stopped, many people were walking, and it was very crowded at the entrance. We took the shuttle to the starting point to walk to the waterfall.

The walk there took us 45 minutes, since Winnie is very slow. 

Shizhangdong is famous for being one of the biggest and best waterfalls in China. 

By the time we got there, people from our group were leaving. So, because of that and because Winnie didn’t want to stay longer than a few minutes, we did not get to go to the back of the waterfall. Since we had gone downhill on the way to the waterfall, we had to go back up. We met some others from our group who were returning from closer to the waterfall. Among them was my assistant. I really appreciated his “lifting” me up the stairs. At the top, he bought me an ice cream bar while we waited for the shuttle.

We had lunch at a local restaurant and headed back to Luzhou. Again, I enjoyed the lovely farm country.

Winnie was my roommate and buddy. It reminded me of when I went on the trip with teachers in Thailand and Khun Toy was my buddy. Other than when we sat on the bus, we were together all the time. This was my first experience spending so much time with a Chinese person. She walks very, very slowly. The other volunteers said that all Chinese walk slowly, but Winnie was way behind the rest. The second day I had stopped for a photo and, when I was leaving, I saw her approaching alone. Everyone else was ahead; so I waited and walked with her. I was surprised that the other teachers had left her behind because that would not have happened in Thailand. I wondered if they thought she and I were together, and, therefore, it was OK to leave her behind or if that’s typical culturally here. She said many times that we were slow because I take a lot of photos. That is true, but I’m fast. We were slow because she walks slowly and because I had to take many photos of her in many places. Sometimes I wasn’t sure which of us was taking care of the other. It was annoying when she poked me in the arm when she wanted to talk, which was sometimes often. This was not a gentle pat to get my attention; it was a hard poke. It was also a little annoying when she said every time we went out that the country air is fresh and good for our health. But I understand that her English is limited and she was trying to make small talk. She’s a nice person and I like her. It was good to have someone to hang out with.

The two 15-year-old sons of teachers introduced themselves and chatted very briefly. One took photos of me for me. He told me he thinks people my age are charming; we have a lot of knowledge and experience. Hard not to like him.

The area is known for mushrooms and many places were selling dried mushrooms.

It was a good weekend outing, and it was really nice of the school to provide it for us. I enjoyed the opportunity to see the countryside and to walk in the forest and to hang out with Winnie. This was my first travels in the countryside; so I especially enjoyed seeing more of the countryside.