Weekend Outing (4-13)

I decided to have a weekend outing and go to Stone Elephant Lake, which a student had told me about last year and which is famous for having lot of flowers. I invited April and Yienfanh to join me, but neither could; so off I went on my own. Since I wanted to leave Chengdu early Saturday morning, I stayed at a hostel Friday night. And, since I was staying in the city, I decided to go to the Chinese opera for tourists, as April had gone with other friends a few months ago.

When I arrived in Chengdu, I decided to treat myself to a delicious milkshake at Grandma’s. Once there, I also decided to treat myself to a pizza, since I’d wanted one a few weeks ago. It was a good start of a nice weekend outing. 

While waiting to go to the opera, I took a walk along the river. It was the clearest day I’ve had in Chengdu: the river was calm, and the air was clear, and the sky was light blue. The distant Bridge of Restaurants was clearly visible and reflected in the river. The evening sunlight on the buildings was lovely. All of this made it a brilliant time to be there.

I chose to go to the opera at Shu Feng Ya Yun Teahouse. It costs a little more than the one at a theater, but I had decided before that I wanted to go to a teahouse. My companions, who were from another hotel, at the opera were a couple from Belgium who were in Chengdu visiting their son who lives and works there. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with them. Our seats were at the back of the economy section; so we could stand up to see and take photos, which was nice. We were given a traditional covered bowl of tea, which was refilled later.

While waiting for the show to start, we noticed some of the performers walking around on the side and went to see—and photograph—them. Later I realized that some of the people taking many photos of each other might not have been performers but may have been people in the VIP section who could try on costumes as part of their show package. Even so, it was fun to see the costumes up close and to photograph them when not in motion. In the same area, performers had finished putting on their makeup and were sitting and waiting for the show to begin. We could take photos of them as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It included a good variety of traditional performances. There were a couple opera excerpts 

and a comedy in which the man is punished by his wife and has to walk around with a small bowl with a flame in it. 

One man played the traditional two-stringed erhu and another played a Chinese trumpet. 

A woman told a story using a puppet held above her head. 

A man did amazing hand shadows. 

And, of course, there was face-changing, and a man spit fire—so quickly that it was hardly noticeable. The face-changing was fantastic, as the performance was only about face-changing; so there weren’t other distractions. Using the camera’s telephoto, I could see it well. The whole show was wonderful. I may go again sometime.

Saturday morning I left early for Stone Elephant Lake. The bus left at 8:15 and arrived at 9:45. Since a lot cars were also arriving, we were dropped off at the gate where cars pay to enter and walked the last bit. There were already a lot of people at the park. When I saw that the tulips had already died, I was disappointed to have missed them, as I’d read that they bloom until mid-April. Clearly these had been gone for a while. 

Thinking I’d missed the blooming flowers, I took the walk through the forested area. I always enjoy such walks, and, as I have often found on such paths, there were hardly any people. I do enjoy the road less traveled. When I exited the wooded area, I arrived at an open area that it was full of flowers. By this time it was 11:00, and more people had arrived. 

There were fields of irises, poppies, multi-colored flowers, and purple flowers. It was magnificent. Each field has paths through it so people can walk through them and take photos, which, of course, everyone was doing. 

I even asked a few people to take photos of me for the record.

There is an area with several stone elephants. These were crowded with people having photos taken on and around the elephants. 

Not surprisingly, the symbol of the park is an elephant; so there are signs featuring elephants.

After wandering around the flowers for about an hour, I moved on to the next section. I followed the path to a suspension bridge. On the way, there is a view of the old Stone Elephant Temple, which the park is named after. The temple itself is not open to the public at this time. 

There are also views of one of the long fingers of the lake that looks more like a river. On the other side of the bridge, the path ends and there is a lovely view of the lake and more of its fingers. 

When I went to take photos, the women at the railing decided that it was time for photos with the foreigner; so, as always, I obliged.

Since the trail ends there, I had to backtrack to get to the trail to the boat landing, as I had decided to take the boat ride. As is common in China, the line was a mass, but we all got on boats. 

It’s nice that the boats are oared and hold only ten passengers. So it was a lovely, quiet ride for half an hour. The young woman across from me spent about 90% of the time taking selfies, which made me wonder why she had paid for the boat ride. When it ended, I realized that we were at the area across the suspension bridge and I had to walk back the same way I’d gone before.

Now I’d seen everything and it was time to make my way back to the entrance. It was 2:30 and the flower fields had even more people wandering around. I was really glad I’d arrived early and had been there when it wasn’t so crowded. 

At the ancient town area of the park, an orchestra of old men was playing. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the second song was “Jingle Bells!” In April. In China.

On the way out, I came across more tulip fields, and these had just died a few days ago and still had dried flowers. Looking carefully, I even found a few tulips still on their last days of blooming. The hills were covered with these fields. 

In one area, a man and a couple boys were flying kites. On the other side of the tulip fields was a field of clover.

In addition to being a beautiful park to walk around, it’s a lovely place for wedding photos. A student told me later that the park is a popular place for wedding photos. I saw two couples being photographed and two others getting ready. Unlike in the U.S., photos are taken before the wedding.

When I exited the park at 3:00, people were still entering. I found the bus back to Chengdu and didn’t have to wait long for it to leave. Back in the city, I made my way to the metro and then the bus that goes to the bus stop where I get the bus back to Wenjiang. At that bus stop, I heard my name, and there was one of my male students. He sat with me on the bus and we chatted a bit, which was nice, as his spoken English isn’t strong and I’d not really talked to him before. We arrived at the campus at 8:00. It was a long day, and I was a little tired. But it was a wonderful day, and I was glad I’d made the trip. It was the first day in which I haven’t worn a jacket all day. Spring has arrived.

Sunday I met April at Carrefour and we went to the park across the street for a couple hours. When I returned, I was walking in the local shopping area and encountered a few students who were in my class last year. They invited me to join them for dinner, which is a rare occurrence for me. We went to what they call a tofu restaurant. There’s a pot in the center of the table with gas below it. Broth, chicken, vegetables, and fresh tofu are cooked in the pot. Everyone has their own sauce dish, which is nice because I could have a not-spicy one while they all had the spicy sauce. The girls will graduate soon and look for jobs teaching. A couple of them don’t really want to be teachers, but that is their major, probably determined by their test scores. They want to work in Chengdu, but there’s a lot of competition for jobs in the city and a B.A. is required. Since they are in the three-year program, they will get a certificate, not a degree and so are not eligible to work in the city. They will probably return to their hometowns. We had a good time eating and chatting. And the food was delicious. I ate at my first such restaurant a couple weeks ago, and they are now one of my favorite local foods.

Wednesday we all went to a special English Corner held by the education department. It was good that we were there, as they didn’t have many other activities. We were the main entertainment as participants in the games and the guys were asked to sing. It’s good PR, and it’s a little fun.

I found the new location of the local farmers’ market. It’s about the same distance from the university. I was glad to find that the vendors still have a place to sell their goods and to find that it’s still close to home.

Peach Blossom Festival (4-6)

Two weeks ago the Peace Corps group (Yienfanh, Chris, April, who is an honorary member of the group, and I plus Carl) went to Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu. It’s the oldest and largest in town. And it’s free, which surprised me. 

I especially enjoyed the architecture of the large temple. 

And the grounds are lovely. 

After walking around the monastery, we walked around the old, reconstructed neighborhood outside it. It’s full of shops, of course, but was pretty low key. 

There were a lot of bicycle vendors in the area.

Last Monday Paul and Dan were “invited” to play basketball with the university president. It was really a command performance. Neither had played basketball before, but both managed to run up and down the court and look like they knew what they were doing. And both had fun. Some of the teachers play weekly, and sometimes the president joins them. Paul and Dan are now expected to join them, too. I was invited to take photos, which I happily did.

On Monday afternoon Jane called and informed us that the waiban would take us to see the famous peach blossoms in LongQuan on Tuesday. I’ve learned that it’s traditional to take a trip around the Tomb Sweeping Festival to celebrate the coming of spring. Our classes were cancelled for the occasion. We traveled in one of the teachers’ buses, which was a bit much as there were only 8 of us in it. (Two were in Mr. Huang’s car and two met us there.) I guess the school van wasn’t available. 

When we arrived in LongQuan, we had lunch at a nice restaurant. It was the usual wonderful 15-dish banquet. These are always fantastic, and I continue to be amazed at the dishes I haven’t encountered before. 

One new food for me was jellyfish, which was not a favorite but was interesting to try.

After eating, we walked up the mountain to view the peach blossoms up close. Unfortunately, the peak blooming was the week before. During that time, the whole mountain is pink with blossoms. But there were enough on the trees for us to enjoy. 

And the views of the mountainside were magnificent. And it was just nice to be out in the fresh air and have the informal gathering with everyone. 

One highlight was an old man who was sitting beside the road taking the metal out of plastic containers to sell it for recycling. 

We walked past two graves in an orchard. When I took a photo, Peggie said that no Chinese person would do that because it’s bad luck. I explained that for me it’s culture, which was OK.

After walking for 45 minutes, Jane said we should head back to be sure we got there in time. We arrived back at the restaurant at 2:30 and waited till our 4:00 departure time, as the driver wasn’t in the bus. That was frustrating, as we could have enjoyed more walking. But, all in all, it was a wonderful day.

My new class of psychology majors finally met last week. The girls in the front apologized for not having been there the week before because they didn’t know about the new class. It certainly wasn’t their fault. They had expected Sigve to be their teacher, as he teaches the other class of psychology majors, and were surprised to see me. When I suggested going to the Foreign Language Department and telling them that the class wants Sigve, not me, they were aghast and said, “We want you.” It was fun to tease them a bit.

When I went to the office last week, there were two huge, new potted plants. They really are trying to make it nice. This week there were three new chairs along the end wall, perhaps because it has been noticed that I have the large discussion group on Monday. It was nice for the girls not to have to move all the chairs and to be able to leave a couple for other people who might come in to work.

I added office hours on another day and five girls, two from the psychology class, showed up to talk. I was surprised. I’m happy to be there and enjoy chatting with them.

Spring flowers are out on campus and in the park along the river. I love seeing them as I walk around. 

I also enjoy the newly green willows along the river.

The food market I go to for vegetables and fruit is gone. Two weeks ago it was closed. Last week the buildings were being dismantled. I’m sad about the closing, as I enjoyed shopping there and had a several vendors, such as the tofu woman, I bought from regularly. Some vendors have moved into shops across the street, but most are gone. I wonder what has happened to them, where they will sell their goods now. As for me, I can go to the street market near the back gate. Most things I buy are there, but I liked the layout of the market.

This weekend is a three-day holiday (Saturday to Monday) for the Tomb Sweeping Festival. For me, it's a four-day weekend since I don't have classes on Friday. Traditionally, people go to the cemetery to clean the graves and honor their ancestors. I learned that some take paper money, and even mahjong, to burn to honor them. Most of the students do not go home for this holiday. After braving the hoards of people traveling last year, I decided not to do that again and am having a very quiet weekend at home.

Recent Events (3-21)

Big news here is the arrival of the new teacher we have been waiting for. His arrival meant that I could finally be given the additional class I needed to satisfy Peace Corps’ expectations. So Peggie gave me a class on Monday. Unfortunately, since Sigve, who is Norwegian and has a Chinese wife, was the last to arrive and Peggie didn’t know that he would be commuting, his schedule has early morning classes four days and he has no day without classes as the rest of us do. I happened to be there when Peggie gave him his schedule. Nice Jackie offered to take his evening class instead of the Monday afternoon class until I noticed that it is a chemistry class. Then outspoken Jackie took over and made the observation that Dale had that class last term and had nothing good to say about it. I also observed that teachers who had evening classes last year said they were horrible. So Peggie called the department to see about changing the time. The only time offered as available was Friday afternoon from 3:45 to 5:30, which doesn’t work for Sigve because he has to pick up his daughter. So Peggie asked me about that time. Still being outspoken, I responded that I don’t have classes on Friday and don’t want to add one at that time and would prefer to have it Thursday evening.  The situation was left to be settled later. I was not proud of being outspoken, as it is considered rude here. But, unfortunately, it happens sometimes. I emailed Peggie to apologize and say I would take the Thursday evening class and it would be OK. If she had given me that class initially, I wouldn’t have liked it, but I wouldn’t have liked it privately, not publically. Monday she informed me that they had told Sigve that he has to do the class on Friday, and they are trying to find a new time for it.

So Monday afternoon I went to my new class and no students were there. I texted Peggie, knowing she has class all afternoon. She called me to tell me that the department had changed the time of the class to Thursday afternoon without telling her. They didn’t think about the fact that the teacher might not be available then, which I’m not since I already have a class at that time. Tuesday I learned that the class would be Wednesday morning. Again, no students were there. Peggie said she had told the department to tell the students but thought they probably didn’t do that. Maybe next week.

At English Corner last week, there were only about 15 students. The classes assigned now have electives that evening. When we divided into groups, for the first time, I had more than the guys. It was fun to observe that. Afterwards, Bennie, who had been in young Dan’s group, came over to walk out with May and me. She told me that, although he is handsome and nice, I am special because I’m a woman and some things can only be talked about with women. It was nice to be appreciated and to have recognition that our Monday discussions are valuable to them. I have enjoyed them.

Bennie and May are part of the group of five girls who have been coming to my office hours to talk. Grace and May came regularly last term, and Bennie and Olivia came once. Now they have deepened the level of discussion and have spoken openly about their ideas. Last week they started talking about the recent missing plane and the sadness that so many people died in the crash. This became a discussion about “What would you do if you know you will die tomorrow?” Then the topic changed to my having told them what a lover is in class, since our current topic is romance. Girls have often mentioned that they want to find a lover when I know they mean a boyfriend. So I took the opportunity to explain the difference. They were aghast. If they learn nothing more this term, they will remember that. From this the discussion went to romance to divorce to having an affair to the injustice of girls, and not boys, having to be virgins when they marry to gay/lesbian love and marriage. I was surprised at some of the topics as they came up.

This week two girls from other classes joined the discussion. After a short general discussion about their weekends, the topic of friendship and love was brought up. Everyone participated. I was really pleased that they integrated the new girls so well and that the discussion was student led. I only made a few comments.

I have noticed in general that students are more willing to participate in class this term. Three of the classes had me last term. Since the other class had Dale, they are used to having a foreign teacher who expects them to talk. During the break, some students are chatting with me now, and more say “good-bye” at the end of class. Students are also participating in class for the new teachers, since they also had a foreign teacher last term. It’s nice that there is a carry-over effect and they don’t need to be shy and hesitant to speak again this term. And several have come to the office for assistance. I am meeting with Grace and Eddy on Wednesday evening to work on speaking. They thought the group would be larger, but no one else is interested.

The other recent drama was about students who wanted to join the work-study program to work in the U.S. this summer. Bennie, Olivia, and May came to talk with me about that. Olivia was sure she would go, as her mother had agreed. The other girls talked to their mothers while we were together, and both said “no.” May said she is from a small town and no one has ever gone abroad. Although money is not an issue, Bennie’s mother wanted her to focus on her studies and not work. Both girls were very disappointed. Bennie’s mother came to have dinner with her that night. On Monday she reported that her mother had agreed that she can join the program next year. Olivia had discovered that she is not eligible this year because her ID has her age as 17. She was born when her mother was 18 years old, and, at that time, it was illegal to be married under age 18. (The new age for legal marriage is 20.) So, when they registered her (which wasn’t done at birth at that time)  when she was five years old, they recorded her age as being four so it would look like her mother was an appropriate age for being married when she was born. Now she is legally 17 even though by birth she is 18. We laughed about that. So both girls plan to participate in the program next year, and everyone is happy.

Saturday I went with Grace to watch her play in a ping pong competition. Five of her friends also went along. She was the only person on the team who had her support group with her. It made her feel good to know that she has such good friends, and she was very appreciative of my going. The event was at the Communications University, about a half hour walk from here. 

She played in the singles competition in the morning, and, in the afternoon, she played in the doubles competition even though she had never played doubles before. The school team won second place. Although it was a long day, I was glad I went. In addition to supporting Grace, I got to chat with the other students, most of whom haven’t talked to me much. At the end of the day a couple of them asked questions about things they didn’t understand about English, which was nice.

The teachers’ classes started this week. When we were given the textbook and told that it was the second half of the book we used last term, I observed that it wasn’t because it starts with Unit 1 on page 1. It was frustrating. Later I noticed that an activity told students to read the selection on page 86. Our book goes to p. 75. So that was frustrating until I turned the page and there was the reading on page 8. They had changed the unit numbers and all 75 page numbers so that it looks like it is the beginning of a book. Only in China! I have the intermediate class again, which I enjoy. However, the English level of these teachers is overall lower than of those last term. Two men were in an elementary level class last term and are clearly still at that level, but they don’t want to go down to a lower level even though they can’t do much at this level. I guess they think they finished that level and want a higher one.

The yoga class has started again. I learned that there are three classes and 105 students. I hadn’t realized that there was more than one class last term. They placed me in the class with the bilingual teacher, which is nice for me and gives the girls practice listening to English. I’m happy to be back in class.

The multi-media cabinet has been open in the Thursday afternoon class for two weeks now. Peggie said they told the man to open it for me. So it’s ready to use when I arrive, which is good.

Spring is finally here. Temperatures have been in the 60s and even low 70s during the day and in the 50s at night. Winter clothes have been put away. Magnolias have bloomed.

Sunday April and I rented bicycles and had an enjoyable ride around the area for two hours.