Kangding (7-12)

After spending the night at the hostel near the bus station, I boarded the 9:00 bus to Kangding, the first stop of my brief tour in Western Sichuan. This bus was recommended by the Kangding hostel owner as the best one, and he was right. The seats were well padded and comfortable with lots of leg room, and they reclined. Well worth the extra $5.

After traveling on the highway toll road for a few hours, the route changed to a road that went through the mountains and wound along a river. As the journey progressed, there were good views of the green mountains. 

As we neared Kangding, the high mountains were also visible in the background.

The bus arrived in Kangding at 6:00, and I hired a driver to deliver me to the hostel. The hostel is partway up a mountain; so there are lovely views of the mountains opposite and of the end of the valley and of the city below. 

After settling in, it was time for a short walk before dinner. I took a path to the left, the opposite way we had driven in, as it looked interesting. The path is a walking path along the side of the mountain with great views of the city and the mountains in three directions. It is a popular walking path for local people. One section has exercise equipment. 

There are a number of Tibetan Buddhist altars. I did well walking, considering the altitude (8,400 feet), slowing down only when it went uphill a little. I continued until the path went downhill on the other end.

When I took my bag off the bus, the bottom was wet. When I removed wet clothes to dry them out, I noticed that they smelled fishy. I was glad my room was on the upper level with a nice balcony so I could dry and air out my bag and clothes.

For dinner I ordered Tibetan potato momos, which turned out to be baozi, steamed buns with seasoned mashed potatoes inside. When I ordered the standard order of a dozen, I didn’t know what they were and thought they were small potato balls. So I had plenty left for breakfast.

Sunday I stayed in Kangding to see the sites and to get acclimatized to the altitude. Although I continued to be slow going uphill, which I am even in lower altitudes, I did well. I left the hostel at 10:00 for the first stop—Nanwu Temple, which is just down the road from the hostel. When I reached it, I was at the back side and the gate was closed. But I could hear the monks doing the Tibetan debating, which I remember from being in the Tibetan area of Sichuan on my previous trip. By the time I reached the inside of the monastery, the activity had finished. Finding an entrance was a bit of a challenge. (I met a woman later who wasn’t successful finding it.)After finding the direct route closed, I headed downhill. When I saw a small street to the right, I walked that way out of curiosity. It turned out to lead to the temple entrance. 

The temple complex is huge with several temple areas and living quarters for the monks. At noon, the Tibetan horn was blown and the monks rushed out. I wondered where they were going. When I saw some monks returning fifteen minutes later, I realized that that was the lunch call.

Next I headed to Jing Goa Temple, finding the entrance to which was also a challenge. It, too, was down a side street. When I saw an arrow with writing in it, I thought it might be pointing to the temple. What I thought was the temple entrance looked like the entrance to a construction site, but when I peeked around the corner, there was a sign saying in English that this is a cultural site. And it was under construction. 

The temple is 400 years old and is not in use at this time. It is in the process of being reconstructed.

Next on the agenda was going to Paoma Mountain, the mountain across from the hostel. I planned to take the cable car up and walk down. Finding the cable car entrance was the next challenge of the day. It wasn’t where it looked like it should be on the map. But I did find a restaurant and decided to eat and rest for a while. The server gave me a tablet with large photos of their dishes. I chose noodle soup with potatoes and a very few greens. Potatoes must be a staple here, as the restaurant had four dishes featuring them. After eating, I continued down the road looking for an intersection, but there were none. So I ended out walking to the end and then walking back on a different street. When I got near where I thought the cable car should be, I pointed to my map and asked. The man pointed me around the corner. At the next intersection, I used my phone to ask a man where the cable car is. It was across the street. The ticket office is one door of three in the building, and the cable car entrance is not visible from that street. The woman asked my age, and, when I showed her my passport copy, gave me the over 55 discount, which was nice. Then she pointed me to the museum.

At the museum, I was surprised to find an English-speaking guide. He was finishing a tour with other foreigners, and I was taken to join them. When they left, he showed me the rest of the collection. The museum is a typical Tibetan-style building but is larger than a house, as it was designed to be the museum. 

It has a good collection of thangkas. There are also saddles—including some from the U.S.

—and items related to farming, herbal medicine, and mani stones. When we were in the room with the mani stones, he told me that Chinese people are very disrespectful and sit on the holy stones for photos. I explained that they do that at special Chinese places, too.

After the tour, I took the cable car to the top of Paoma Mountain, a fifteen-minute trip. There are good views of the town and the temples. 

At the top, the park area has a small temple near the top of the cable car, a chedi, 

a huge standing Buddha statue, 

and another temple high on the mountain that is the main temple/monastery. It is in the process of being reconstructed. 

The paths between the sites are lined with prayer flags. 

The last challenge of the day was finding the walking path down. It wasn’t where I thought it was according to the map on the ticket. What I thought looked like a path down had a closed gate across it. So I went to the cable car ticket office and told the woman I wanted to walk. She came out and took me around the corner of the building where the stairs were. I enjoyed walking down through the forest.

Back in town, I went to the square to see the Tibetan dancing that two of the hostel staff had recommended. I had asked if it is like Chinese people dancing in the parks and squares and was told that it is Tibetan dancing but sometimes Chinese people join in. It was like the Chinese partner dancing but the music was Tibetan when I arrived. When I went past the square later, the music was Western. Perhaps they do a traditional Tibetan dance at 7:00 when the dancing starts, but I didn’t arrive until 7:30. In another small square, women were doing the popular aerobic dancing.

The walk up the mountain to the hostel seemed long, as I was tired by that time and it seemed like a long way up. A young boy said “hello” when he and his mother were near me. When we got to the top, I was happy to see the hostel’s sign, and the boy pointed for me to turn up the angled path. He was sweet. I arrived back at 8:30; so it was a long day. I was tired but not more than would be expected after walking around, up, and down all day.

Sunday night it rained heavily most of the night. So Monday morning was chillier and cloudy. But, if it’s going to rain—and it’s the rainy season; so it will rain—night is a good time. My plan was to walk up Julian Mountain behind the hostel to the pasture, but I was tired and considered rethinking my plan. However, after lying down for half an hour after breakfast, I felt OK, and off I went. I had been told that the trip up would take three or four hours. First it wound around a graveyard that goes up the mountain. Most of the graves are stone shelters above ground. Some are cement and some have a brick front. Those in the forest itself have plants growing on top and blend in well. The next section of the path goes through an area with lots of prayer flags strung between the trees. One section has Spanish moss hanging from the trees. The cloudy day made it seem mystical. Lots of moss-covered bumps are in another section. I really enjoyed walking through this forest. As the path nears the top, there are good views of the valley and city below.

From this side, the layout of Kangding seemed clearer than it had on Sunday from the other side. It is a long, narrow city in the narrow valley between the two mountains. Also, from the higher elevation, I could see how far the city extends. I also enjoyed seeing the temples on Paoma Mountain as I went higher and was directly across from them and as they became visible through the rolling clouds.

After three hours, I was ready to be at the top. I did OK walking uphill in the altitude. Although I was stopping more frequently, I was near enough to the pasture that I was determined to get there. And I did—after three and a half hours. By this time the clouds were rolling in and the surrounding mountains were covered by the clouds. (The German and Chinese couple I’d met on the bus had been there on Sunday and said that they saw the snow-capped mountains, which would have been lovely.) There were several horses grazing near the herders’ hut. I sat on another partial wall and relaxed and enjoyed being in the pastoral area. Then it was time to head down, which took two hours. I was tired when I reached the hostel and took a nap before dinner.

I do like watching clouds roll in and out, and there was plenty of opportunity to do that throughout the day. A mountain top would not be visible and later it would. Small patches of mountain peeked through the moving clouds. The cloudy day gave the experience a different feel than it would have had on a sunny day.

Leaving Chengdu Normal University (7-10)

I’ve survived Exam-Grading Hell. The exams were Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. I spent a total of 18 hours, not counting breaks, grading them on those two days. I was able to do them faster than I anticipated based on what Dale and Kasey had said about how much time it took. I did quick, holistic grading and got pretty good at it. After entering scores in the Excel program for final calculations, I learned that the written exams changed grades of only about twenty students, most of whom were in the lower part of range and dropped to the lower grade. The majority of students had the same grade on the written exam as on the oral one.

Wednesday one of the supervising teachers came to talk to me during the exam. I guess she had been told that I wasn’t happy with the arrangement and was having a hard time. Since she brought up the topic, I ended out venting all my thoughts and opinions about what has transpired related to the exam schedule--the rigid adherence to policy, lack of compassion to be flexible in special cases, not communicating the schedule early enough to plan around it. Since I was overstressed and lacking in sleep, tears came to my eyes while talking about the situation. She was in the U.S. for a year and understands the stress of leaving and the comments about rigidity. She thanked me for trusting her. It wasn't a matter of trusting her; she was the person available to vent to. I probably would have done it with anyone, but she is a teacher I have actually spoken to a few times. She said she will talk to the people who schedule about not doing this in the future, which may just mean that she'll tell them to put foreign teachers' exams in week 18, which would have been OK. I tried to emphasize that the need for flexibility also applies to Chinese teachers, not only to foreign teachers. I’m sure some of them also have special circumstances sometimes.

When I finished talking with her and returned to the room, it looked like many of the students were finished. Hannah said some were finished but it was too early to leave. Tuesday the monitoring cameras caught us leaving after half an hour and said it was too short. So Wednesday students finished and sat for half an hour so the time would look appropriate. I guess the camera could catch them sitting with their heads down or sitting looking ahead but not working on the exam. At least they were in the room. Also, the attendance paper they have to sign wasn't delivered; so Hannah had to go to get it when it wasn't there after 45 minutes. A good way to ensure that students didn't leave too soon. 

The students at that exam included my special office hours’ friends. They came to hug me before leaving, which brought on more tears--on both sides. We will miss each other. They will be the ones I wonder about over the years. 

Wednesday evening Maggie and Jenny came to cook dinner for me. Maggie wanted to do something special for me and brought Jenny along because Jenny is a better cook. I hadn’t seen Jenny since last year; so it was good to see her again. They arrived right after I finished one set of exams; so it was a great break between sets. I enjoyed the time with them.

Thursday morning I slept well for the second time since the exam news was delivered. It felt wonderful to have that day to myself; so I was glad to have pushed myself to finish the exams in two days. Mostly I cleaned the apartment, finished reading a book to leave in the office, and packed. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the apartment for a day before leaving. Kasey, Hannah, and I went to dinner together.

Friday morning Hannah and I went to the bank to send money to my U.S. account again, since most of my money had been deposited. Of course it took longer than we had planned. So we had lunch together. When I stopped in the office to invite Yang to join us, she clung to me and cried, partly because she was overstressed and partly because she will really miss me, as we have become good friends and I have been a support person for her.

Hannah walked back to the apartment with me and helped carry my bags to the office where a car would meet me to take me to Chengdu. Dale met us on the way and joined us. He had sent a message saying he’d hung a gift—a Chinese neck pillow—on my door, which was a big surprise. His note thanked me for my international teaching and resilience. (He seems to need to personally thank people for whatever they do.) So Hannah, Yang, and Dale saw me off. I was so tired that I slept in the car most of the trip. When I arrived at the hostel, I slept for another hour. Catching up and recovering.

Friday evening I met Xiayu for dinner, and we went to a Japanese sushi restaurant. It’s a small, relaxing place with delicious food. It was nice to have a final meal and chat together. We had originally scheduled Monday; so I was especially glad he was able to change to Friday when I/we could be relaxed together.

So I am officially finished with the university and ready to move on. I will miss my special friends. One aspect of leaving that is difficult is that I know I won’t see most of these people again and that most of them will not keep in touch. But we will be in each others’ hearts.

The university has some kind of official evaluation in September; so people are being required to work extra. Some for two weeks, but Yang thinks she may have to work for the whole vacation with no additional pay.

I learned that the government has a program in which it is encouraging students to join the army after two years and return to school after they finish their military service. The incentive is that their education will be paid for. 

Preparing to leave (7-4)

Two weeks ago a big bomb was dropped into my last few days at the university: they scheduled my written exams, which have been in week 18 the whole time I’ve been here, during week 19. This meant that I would spend my last three days before leaving doing nothing but grading 180 exams so I could turn in the grades before leaving on Friday, July 10. Other teachers could turn in grades up till July 12. I was not happy. I talked to Hannah who talked to the person in charge who said they couldn’t be changed. Then I wrote that person a letter explaining why the exams needed to be in week 18—they are subjective and, therefore, take more time to grade than the usual objective exams—and how this was affecting my schedule for leaving and said I hope that, in the future, she will remember this. Hannah said they talked again and that the department’s party secretary spoke to the department of instruction, which sets the exams, but that they wouldn’t change them. I didn’t really expect that the university would change the exam dates, given that this is a rigid, inflexible system, but I had to try. So, after a few days with a very bad attitude about having my last three days “ruined,” I adjusted enough to be social and friendly with my friends. My new plan was to finish everything I needed to do to prepare to leave the country prior to Exam-Grading Hell.

Shortly after receiving this news, I learned about the music department’s show by chance when a student invited Julie and the other foreign teachers to attend. I figured that, since it’s the music department, there would be really good music. I was right. It was a wonderful way to relax for an hour.

On Friday of that week, the four of us leaving the university—Julie, Sam, Omar, and I—were called to a meeting with the president. He thanked us for our work and encouraged us to recommend the university to our friends. We were given a nice tea mug. Fortunately, I had planned to mail one more box to the U.S.

On Sunday Grace and her friend Ali came to cook lunch. Ali was the main cook. While she cooked, Grace and I prepared the vegetables. My job was to take leaves off the stems and then to sit on the couch and relax. The meal was tomatoes and eggs, the leaves, soybeans, and rice and grain porridge. Although Ali was in my class last year, she was one of the students who didn’t talk; so I didn’t know her. It was good to get to know her, and I enjoyed the time with Grace, whom I hadn’t talked to for a few months other than quick greetings.

After lunch, I went to Peggie’s apartment to give her a few things and to see if she and her husband could help with getting set up to transfer money to the U.S. online. He was able to help with one part of the process. Then they invited me to stay for dinner. Again, my job was to remove leaves from the sweet potato stems and then to relax and watch TV while Peggie cooked. After eating, we relaxed together for a while before they drove me back. It was good to have time to relax and chat with her.

Monday Diao Min invited Dale and me to have lunch with her and her boyfriend. Meeting him was special because, even though they have been together for seven years, they have not met each other’s parents. I felt honored that she wanted me/us to meet him. She and I had talked before about their not having met each other’s parents, and she had explained that meeting parents is very serious in China and means that marriage will probably follow soon. They don’t plan to get married for a few more years, as Diao Min will get her Master’s degree. Then she hopes to get a PhD in the U.S. He also wants to do that.

A big project was to get set up to transfer money from my account here to my account in the U.S. A banker told me I could have a Chinese friend help. I knew that most of my Chinese friends know less about this than I do. When Peggie’s husband couldn’t help with setting up the account for transfers, I returned to the bank. That day I was lucky to have spoken to two students, one from Tunisia and one from Niger, at SUFE. When I went to the window, the man, who speaks Chinese well, came to assist. That made it easier for the banker, who has adequate English for the job but not much more, and I to communicate. With his help, I got my questions answered and learned a few things. Since I’m not Chinese, I cannot transfer Chinese yuan; the money has to be converted to dollars. I can only convert $500 a day, which seemed to mean I can send only $500 a day. She told me that, if I give the money to a Chinese friend to transfer, then there is no limit to the amount and it would then cost less because it could be one transfer. The next week I returned to ask if I can transfer more money if it’s already in the account. The woman I talked to told me that the first woman said I should have a Chinese friend help. I didn’t get a “yes” or “no” response to my question as to whether I could transfer larger amounts if they are in the account. When I tried to deposit dollars, she suggested I carry them with me and have my friend transfer Chinese yuan. I think we were both a bit frustrated with the interaction due to our limited common language and my limited understanding of their system.

After the first trip to the bank, I asked Hannah to be my Chinese friend. So, on Wednesday, I was able to deposit yuan into her account, and she was able to convert it all to dollars, using the total amount she is allowed to convert in a year. Then, after several attempts, as we were both learning this process, the money was transferred successfully. We were both very happy.

While we were working on the bank transfer, Roger was in the office. He gave me a necklace with a bead that means having a lot of money. I had told Hannah that we could eat dinner when we finished; so I invited Roger to join us. I even managed to pay for the dinner, with Hannah agreeing when I said she could buy a drink afterwards. 

When we left the restaurant, I remembered the cat café I’d heard about and mentioned it. Hannah, too, wanted to go there. So we found it. Bro Fat Cat has several cats roaming around. When they walked past us, they were not amenable to petting. Later, when we were leaving, they were sitting on the floor and were amenable to being petted. We had an enjoyable time relaxing together. It was especially meaningful to have some special time with Roger, as he was my first student friend during my first semester here. I still remember how excited he was to see a foreigner when I was reading on a bench one day. When I told that story, he laughed and said he remembers that, too.

Since Paul and I were both going to Chengdu on Thursday, I told him I’d take him to lunch as thanks for all the free computer assistance he has given me. We went to a Chinese restaurant he knew about and had a nice meal together. We were surprised when the broccoli we ordered turned out to be stir-fried pieces of broccoli stems—no florets. It was nice to have this last time together with just the two of us, as he has been a special friend.

The other purpose of my trip to the city was to do a little last-minute shopping, as I had a few items I wanted to buy. Since I was tired that day, I wasn’t in the mood to linger and did the shopping rather quickly and returned home.

When I went to see Mr. Huang, he gave me a big box of Chinese black tea. I was really surprised and touched that he had a gift for me.

Since I had Exam-Grading Hell looming over me, I cleaned the apartment last week. I figured that if I got the big cleaning done, I could just wipe over things briefly later. I also got busy packing and mailed three boxes to the U.S. I do have a hard time letting go of things I like or that have been given to me. And I really like a lot of the clothes. In addition, I have purchased many gifts. I had planned to leave some of the cold weather clothes. Then I learned that nights in Namibia are cold—50-60 degrees; so I decided that I’ll need them there. And I’ll need some in the U.S. because it will again be winter when I’m there. Each box cost $60 to mail, much less than the cost of buying replacements.

I finished office hours discussions last week. Few students came as they were busy studying for their exams. But it was good to see the ones who did come for a final time together.

Even with these activities, I had a lot of free time last week. Since I’d learned from students that they had free times when they could have done my exams, I still resented the powers that be refusing to change even one of the exams, thus making my final days even more stressful than the usual stress surrounding moving. When I had a lot of free time, I resented that I couldn’t be grading exams during that time. Knowing that I had to grade them all in three days added to the stress of moving and leaving the country that I have enjoyed living in for 2.5 years.