Miscellaneous (4-19)

The big news last week was that my large—50 student—writing class was split into two classes and became Oral English instead of English Writing. This happened after I reported to Peggie that no one had come to the interns’ class for two weeks. So they cancelled that class and split the other so I would have the same number of teaching hours. I was also told that the students have another writing class with a Chinese teacher and that they wanted oral English. Easier for both them and me, as they won’t have to write papers and I won’t have to read them. When I was given the news, I controlled myself from sounding too enthusiastic. As I thought about it, I realized that, even though I don’t really like reading all the papers, mostly because it takes a lot of time and is really wearing, the students really get more feedback on their written papers because I correct their errors and make suggestions as to what they need to do to improve the written assignment. And I make them rewrite the paper with the corrections so they have to practice writing correctly. Thus they have a better opportunity to improve their English. With spoken English, I can’t correct every mistake they make; so they keep making them. I really like the smaller classes, as it was not productive to teach so many at one time. When I asked the classes if they like oral English, they said, “Yes,” but I got a loud “No” when I asked if they like writing. So, they are happy with the change. I think the reduction of homework is also a factor.

Last week I had my first Chinese hair cut. I had Diao Min go with me after our lesson to tell the woman how I wanted it cut. That worked, and the hairdresser did a nice job. As in Thailand and Vietnam, the hair cut starts with washing and a head massage. Cost: 12 yuan ($2).

I also had my first dental appointment last week. It was time for my six-month cleaning. I had asked the PC medical officer if they could recommend a place, and they did. The assistant even made the appointment for me. The clinic is a short taxi ride from the bus station. Since it was so close and traffic into the city was light, I arrived almost two hours early. So I walked around the neighborhood a bit. Near the clinic there is a grocery store which I walked into. I was excited to find “colored” rice. I bought some red rice, a mixture of different rices, and one that is between white and brown rice. I also bought a grain that is like amaranth. Since I find the Chinese white rice to be bland and tasteless, I’m now happily enjoying having rice that’s not white at home.

After shopping, I went to the clinic to read while I waited for my appointment time. Since they weren’t busy, they woman took me an hour early, which was nice. She did the cleaning and polishing well. Cost: 180 yuan ($30). When the PC woman told me the cost, I was surprised because, although it is considerably less than it would be in the U.S., it is three times the $10 I paid in Thailand. China is more expensive in general.

On the way to the bus station, I stopped at Qingyang Gong Daoist Temple, the oldest Taoist temple in the city. 

It is surprisingly large with a lot of buildings and beautifully landscaped grounds. 

When I was walking out, there was a woman with a stringed instrument. I thought she was going to play, but it turned out that she was only posing for photos.

Next to the temple there is a free park. Outside one gate there is a sign saying “Free Park” and “Free Park for the Old.” I’m not sure why the second statement needed to be made in addition to the first. The park has a few paths through the beautiful grounds. 

An interesting part is a small cemetery in which all the people died in 1949.

My lecture last week was probably the best and most popular one I’ll have. The topic was weddings in America. In addition to general information, I used photos from Christina and Jason’s wedding to depict the ceremony. The girls and even some of the boys were hanging on every slide and often oohed and aahed.

My Chinese continues to improve a bit. This week I read through the lists of pinyin words with Diao Min fairly smoothly. It didn’t take as much effort as it has in the past. And I’m remembering more and can even make a few sentences. I don’t have much opportunity to use it, but that will come.

Friday night some of the English Corner students invited us to a karaoke party. Meghan and I joined the ten students. (Megan and Katy were ill.) This was my first time to do this. There are places that have small rooms a group can rent for a private karaoke party. The rooms have comfortable benches along two walls and a table for snacks and drinks. Bottles of beer were on the table to be purchased. After a while, a couple students took some out and returned with soft drinks and tea. They also went out and purchased additional snacks. A new one that I’ll buy for myself was dried sweet potato strips. The karaoke screen is a large screen TV. It is controlled by a touch screen on another wall. Sound was quite good, and the songs had videos. It is much more sophisticated than the karaoke machines I encountered in Thailand. Songs played and sung were almost all English songs. Meghan quite likes singing karaoke and sang a number of times. 

I joined in along with the students when I knew the song and later did my own featured song, which made the students happy. I enjoyed hanging out with the students for about two hours. Not being a party person, that’s about my limit. When Megan told the students that we had to leave after three hours, they were disappointed. One girl told me it wasn’t time to leave yet. I realized as we chatted that they had reserved the room for four hours. They understood my leaving because it’s a young people’s activity and they know I like quiet time. I’m not sure how they know this, but I’ve been told by a few students that they think I like to be quiet. Several of the students walked us back to the front gate.  One of the boys held my umbrella for me, partly to be polite and helpful and partly because he’s a little taller than I. Although the attention and care-taking can be overwhelming at times, it is nice of them. Roger asked if I have grandchildren. I told him I don’t and that he and his friend can be my Chinese grandsons. They were quite pleased.

Leshan (4-7)

Thursday to Saturday was my first holiday Chinese style. Thursday was Tomb Sweeping Day, a national holiday. It is traditionally a day to honor one’s ancestors by visiting the graveyard and cleaning their tombs. However, as often seems to happen with such holidays, it is now pretty much just a day off. When I asked students if they cleaned the tombs, they said the old people do that. Everyone I know had a holiday, some with their families and some with friends.

The Chinese-style aspect of the holiday is that there were three days off—the holiday on Thursday and then Friday and Saturday. Since Friday was an extra day off, not an official holiday, we had to make up Friday classes on Sunday. Work places did that, too. No long weekends here.

I went to Leshan for the holiday, since it’s not far. When I got to the bus station in Chengdu, the room was packed with people wanting to purchase tickets. There were lines in the ticket office, but the room outside had a mass of people waiting to get into the room to get in line. I managed to get into a line fairly quickly. I asked a couple in front of me if that was an OK line for going to Leshan. The young man said all lines were the same. After a short time, they left because it had been announced that no more tickets were being sold to their destination. After half an hour, I reached the ticket office and purchased my ticket. However, the time on the ticket was 6:00, and it was only 11:00. So a seven hour wait was in store. I showed the ticket to the young woman at the information desk and pointed to the time, and she said I could get on the bus five minutes before the time on the ticket.

First I called the agency I used to book a hotel online because I was to call if I couldn’t arrive before 4:00. The woman said that the hotel would only hold the room after 6:00 with a credit card number. Of course I didn’t have my credit card with me. Eventually, I said I’d call the hotel and ended that conversation. When I called, the woman said she speaks English, but, if she was any of the women I met there, she didn’t speak English. After I explained my situation, she hung up, having exceeded her English. I was at a loss as to what to do when I remembered that I could text. That way she could read the message. Two minutes later I had a phone call from a man who spoke English well. He told me not to worry; they would keep the room for me. Several minutes later the woman from the agency called and said she had called the hotel and they would hold the room until 9:00. I was relieved. It would not have been good to arrive in a strange city with no room, especially during a holiday when many Chinese travel.

Fortunately, the bus station is near a river that has a green belt along it. I headed there to pass the time. I walked down to a Chinese-style bridge across the river. It was the “restaurant of bridges.” Along the way there is a pavilion with sculptures of women playing musical instruments around it. On the way back, a man was standing in the pavilion playing a stringed instrument; so I sat and listened until he stopped. Then I sat on a bench and read for a couple hours. It was a pleasant way to pass the time. I enjoy hanging out in the parks and watching the people there.

At 5:00 I returned to the bus station. When the sign with bus destinations didn’t have Leshan, I went to the information desk to have the woman—a different one than in the morning—read the destination on my ticket, as I was a little concerned. She confirmed that it was for Leshan and said I could get on the bus. So I did. I thought it was very early to be doing that, but half of the seats were already taken. After several minutes the bus left, and I realized that it was a 5:00 bus, but the attendant who took the tickets didn’t seem to care. When I talked to Diao Min about that, she said that the time on the ticket doesn’t matter but that if I’d tried a bus too early it probably would not have worked. Anyway, I was happy be on my way.

We arrived in Leshan at 8:00, and it took about twenty minutes for an available taxi to come. A man who spoke to me said he would take me to the hotel for 50 yuan, which I knew would be too much, but I didn’t have any idea what would be appropriate. Actual cost: 18 yuan. When the taxi stopped, he picked up the man a few feet away from me. Then he stopped to see where I was going and indicated that I could get in, too. After a couple minutes, two young women also joined us. One spoke English with me and made sure that the driver knew where he was taking me and that he should write the price for me. But it was on the meter; so I was OK.

At the hotel, the receptionist took my passport to register me. Another young woman standing there held up her phone so I could see “Wait a moment.” Soon a woman who speaks English very well arrived. She said the woman at the desk couldn’t understand what I said. But I hadn’t said anything. She had called her friend to assist when we did need to communicate with words. The woman is an English teacher and is a friend of the receptionist. After my day of waiting and traveling, I was ready for my room.

Friday morning it was raining. When I indicated that I wanted to eat, the receptionist pointed to turn right and then turn right again. On that street there were many cafes. After living in Thailand where everything opens very early, I was a little surprised when only a few places were open at 8:30. I found a man eating noodles and asked—mostly pointing—where he got them. He understood and pointed down the street around the corner. 

After eating, since it was still raining, I walked down the street lined with people selling fruit and vegetables 

and a surprisingly large amount of meat. I looked in a few shops and found a few items of clothes that I liked and tried on, but I wasn’t ready to buy them. By that time, the rain has lessened and I decided to take the boat that goes past the giant Buddha, which is what I was in Leshan to see. I looked it up on the Internet and tried to ask the receptionist to write the Chinese on my paper for a taxi driver. She made a phone call, and the manager came down to help. He was the man who had called me about keeping the room. His English is OK, and he was able to help. I had him write where to go to purchase a bus ticket back to Chengdu and to the boat and walking places to see the Buddha. That worked well.

By the time the boat left, the rain had stopped. So we were able to stand outside to take photos. The boats go up the river for about ten minutes, then stop for photos for about ten minutes, and then return. Our boat was the third one back from the shore. 

From the boat, you get a perspective of the whole figure, which is carved out of a cliff and is between two remaining cliffs. The statue is 71 meters tall and is the world’s largest Buddha.

After disembarking, I looked for a taxi to take me to the site where you can walk to see the Buddha. The first driver said it would be 40 yuan; the second said 50. Neither would used a meter. After walking along the river and enjoying the wall and a few sculptures, I found a taxi. Actual cost: 11 yuan.

The site has an old temple as well as the giant Buddha. 

After visiting the temple, I got in line to view the statue. I was prepared and had my book on the phone, as I had read that lines could be as long as two hours. 

It took two hours to reach the cliff road, the path down the cliff from which you can see the statue as you descend. It started to rain lightly during the two hours, but, fortunately, it stopped just before I got to the path down, as it would have been difficult to walk down, hold the umbrella, and take photos.

On the cliff walls there are several small Buddhas and other images carved in niches. 

The highlight, of course is the giant statue. It is truly awesome to see such a large statue close up. Seeing it from the boat was also awesome, but being right there was amazing.

Yang remembers that when she was a child, you could stand on the platform in front of the toes. I think the sign says that is not allowed, as no one was standing there and, if it were allowed, the platform would have been full of people having photos taken there.

I had purchased a ticket that included the monks’ tombs and a temple, but they were closed by the time I got there—about 6:30. There was one tomb outside the complex that could be seen. The tombs are in caves in the cliffs. 

The trail also goes through a former fishing village. When I exited the site, there was a big, empty parking lot, as this was the back entrance/exit. Tuk-tuk drivers come in to transport people, and I was happy to pay for the ride. He didn’t take me where I thought we were going, but he took me to a bus stop and a bus arrived just after we did. I took the bus into the city and then got a taxi back to the hotel. It was a good day.

Saturday was sunny and pleasant. It would have been a great day to be out touring, but I had to return. I had purchased a ticket for 1:00 so I could have a leisurely morning. I returned to one of the shops I had visited on Friday and purchased a shirt and vest. Later I found some jeans on another street. They turned out to be way too large when I put them on at home, but I like them and will puts tucks in the waist band so they fit better.

I liked Leshan. It’s a small city and is fairly quiet. It’s manageable. The air isn’t polluted. People were friendly even if we didn’t have a common language. Eating was challenging since menus don’t have English translations. When someone was eating, I would point to their food and order it. Twice I saw people eating noodles and pointed to them and asked “where” in English. They pointed, and I walked that way and found noodles shops. A little more language will make me feel better about at least trying to ask.

The hotel manager told me which bus to take to central station where I’d get the bus to Chengdu. While I was fumbling for my change purse with small bills for buses, a young man held out 1 yuan to give me so I could pay. I was glad that just as he did that, I found my purse, but it was nice of him. Several people were selling noodles and potatoes, and I decided to have some noodles. A young woman offered to help me and ordered for me. She had seen me on Saturday in the long line. She and her friend didn’t have to return to their university for classes on Sunday.

The bus arrived in Chengdu and went to a bus station as soon as it got off the expressway. I knew this was not where I had started and had no idea how to get back there. No signs had English on them. I was deciding what to do when a young man asked if I needed help. He had noticed that I was walking up and down the row of buses. He found a bus that stopped at the bus station I started at and knew how to return from. University students have been very helpful. When I got off the bus, it wasn’t near the original bus stop and I couldn’t see the bus station; so I didn’t know where I was. I walked to a busy street to find a taxi to take me to the bus station from which I return to Wenjiang. The first driver didn’t understand what I was saying in Chinese. I wrote it in Pinyin (Western letters) to show the second driver, and he said “Chinese” in Chinese. At least I understood what he was saying. (Diao Min explained that not everyone can read Pinyin. This would probably apply to taxi drivers who are probably not as educated as some people.) So I went into a clinic behind me where two young women weren’t busy. I tried to indicate that I wanted them to write the word in Chinese. Then I called Yang to have her tell them what I wanted, but she didn’t answer. While I was deciding whom to call next, one of the women looked at my notebook and saw other Chinese words and figured out what I wanted. She then wrote the name of the bus station in Chinese. The next taxi driver agreed to take me.

The line to get on a bus was more than twice as long as it usually is, and it took 30 minutes to get on a bus. The advantage of getting on at the station is that I can get a seat, and I did.

This was my first Chinese adventure on my own. I got to Leshan and back with minimal difficulty. Traveling in China is not as easy as traveling in Thailand or some of the other countries I was in last year. Fewer people speak English—at least here, but students I encountered have been very helpful and nice. I know little of the language, which also makes a difference. When I started traveling in Thailand, I knew enough to communicate basics. Many menus in places where tourists go had English on them. Here they don’t, which makes ordering food challenging. But I managed, and, for that I’m satisfied.

Interesting Games (4-3)

Friday I collected the first batch of longer essays. Previously, I had paragraphs, but these were 100-150 words. Since the next class would be after my holiday trip and I knew I’d probably be gone on Tuesday, my day with no classes, I decided I should read them all on the weekend. So Saturday I read one bunch of 25 and then took a long break for lunch and a walk with Megan. Then I read the next bunch, which made a total of 5.5 hours reading and correcting papers. My brain was fried. I took another walk, thinking I would do some planning when I returned. But I was so exhausted that I took a shower and read, having a really hard time staying awake until a good time to go to sleep. Then I slept for nine hours, which is rare. Sunday morning I read the last batch and was glad to have that process completed. It is wearing, which is one of the reasons I don’t like teaching writing.

My big weekend excitement was finding MS Office in English. When I was walking down a street Sunday afternoon, I noticed some DVDs on the counter of a shop and looked at them. And there was MS Office! I asked the man if he speaks English, and he does; so communicating was easy. He looked on his computer to see if he has it in English, and he did. He said it was in English and Chinese. I didn’t care what languages it was in as long as English was one of them. I returned later to have him put it on my USB. If it doesn’t work, it’s not a big deal, since my investment was 10 yuan (about $1.60), which is what I paid for it in Thailand.

Over the weekend there was a Fanta promotion along the walking street. Megan and I stopped by on Saturday to see what was going on. We were given a small Fanta and told that we had to play a game. They had a ping-pong table with a line of Fanta bottles as the net. The paddles were a small frying pan, a spatula, and a couple spoons. I made sure to grab the frying pan, as it’s larger and I need something big so I can hit the ball. It was fun for the several minutes that we played. Photos were taken, of course. Sunday I got another bottle of Fanta when I went past. Students were wearing the Fanta character costumes that day. I asked for one of the Fanta pens and was given one. My game that day was joining a couple girls who were throwing velco wrapped balls at another girl wearing a velco vest.

The excitement this week was on Tuesday when I made the trip to Chengdu to take my computer to the PC office so the technician’s friend could repair it. I took the city bus and then a taxi and arrived in 2.5 hours. The last half hour was walking from the west gate to the office near the east gate. The man tried to fix it in the office to avoid having Windows reinstalled, but he was not able to. So we went to a local noodle shop for lunch, which was nice. The noodles were good and I enjoyed chatting with him. Then he called his friend to pick up the computer later. The first surprise was when he said there would be no charge, as I was prepared to pay the man from outside the office. But it seems that he owed PC some service and I benefited from that. The next surprise was when the technician said he would install MS Office in English, as he had it at home. So he didn’t need my purchased copy. I was happy to have the repair job in progress.

Walking back from the bus stop along the river park that I enjoy, I came across a group of women exercising with rackets and balls—like hacky sacks. They have a racket like a badminton racket covered with rubber. They move it around keeping the ball on the racket. After I watched for a couple minutes, a man gave me his racket to use; so I joined in. I moved the racket to the music following the women. Then someone gave me a ball. Not an easy thing to keep it on the moving racket. A woman decided to teach me how to do it, and I got so I could keep the ball on the racket while making low arcs. I felt good about that and it was fun to try. 

When I got the camera out to take a couple photos, they got into that and posed for me.

One Month (3-29)

The big event last week was going into Chengdu to get my extended visa. Yang has been working on that paperwork and my initial entry visa expired last week. So Tuesday, she, Michelle, and I went to the Entry and Exit Department to take care of that. We took the student bus in and then took the metro, my first time to do the latter. It’s quite nice. One reason the school driver couldn’t drive us is that Tuesday was his day not to drive. Every week day license plates that end with two numbers cannot drive. For example, on Tuesday numbers that end with 2 and 7 cannot be on the road.

The office is opposite Tian Fu Square, a popular meeting place in the city center. At one side is a huge statue of Mao.

At the department, we went to the section for overseas/Macao/residents of China’s Taiwan. There we completed the application and got a receipt. This process took 45 minutes. While we were traveling, Yang got a few phone calls telling her to return as quickly as possible, which made her feel like they didn’t trust her to do the job and return when finished. So we had a quick lunch at a bread place like the one I enjoyed in Bangkok before taking a taxi to the place where we could get a teachers’ bus back. I also bought a loaf of brown raison bread to take home. Good bread is a treat. We arrived back at 2:00; so the whole trip took 4.5 hours. Not bad, considering that it took me three hours to get to the Peace Corps office.  

Yang returned this week to get my passport with the new visa. So I’m good to stay until the end of September.

English Corner last week was down to about 30 students. Peggie decided to move it outside so it will be more visible and to have games and activities because more students will be interested in attending. 

After my class Monday morning, two students came to tell me that they would play a charades game. After a minute I realized that they were organizing the game. More students were there at the beginning, but the crowd dwindled with time. The students had some topics to talk about, but the group with me and I didn’t hear them; so we weren’t discussing them. Some of them wanted to have time to chat with the foreign teachers and didn’t like the activity focus. One girl asked if I’ll be there on the 11^th week because her group is in charge that week. So I think the students have been assigned responsibility to organize activities, which is fine with us. We’ll see how it goes in terms of future attendance.

Amanda from Texas arrived last week. She’s with TTC and is replacing Kim. She got bronchitis in Beijing and had to stay there to rest for an extra week. She has a hard time even here with the air some days.

The class for teachers started last week. We each have twenty teachers from various departments. I enjoy them. They are eager to learn.

It was another quiet weekend at home. I went to the river on Sunday. As I was getting ready to turn back, I noticed that many people were sitting on the covered bridge and decided to see what they were doing there. A pleasant surprise was a group of people playing music. I sat and enjoyed that for a while. I don’t know what they were doing; there was no place for monetary donations.

When I was waiting to cross a street, a young woman on a bicycle stopped to speak to me. She then wanted to walk with me and chat some more. I was feeling a little put-upon, since I was wanting to read my book, but I waited for her while she took her bicycle home. She returned with a bracelet she wanted to give me. The she walked me back to the university. Her name is Lily. She graduated from university last year and is working for an export company. She asked if I am married. She does not want to be married because she read an article about the “risks” of marriage, such as the husband, children, and the husband’s family. Most of her friends, however, are married, and one has a six-year-old child. Her comment about that was that the mother is a child herself. Lily wants to be a business woman and, in the future, a manager like the two women managers at her company who are also single.

We are having lunch with Yang and Michelle twice a week now—a social lunch. It’s a time to chat and discuss any problems or questions we have. Tuesday we met in the dining hall, which is not ideal because it’s noisy and only four of the six of us can sit at a table. So I suggested that maybe sometimes we could eat in a restaurant where it’s quiet and we can all sit together. I knew the other teachers wouldn’t mind sharing the cost of good food sometimes. So Thursday we ate in one of the local restaurants, one we seem to gravitate toward, and had a lovely lunch with good food and conversation. All agreed that it was nice to eat out of the dining hall and that they are happy to share the cost. Thursday was especially nice because the school paid, which Yang said they can do sometimes.

After class Friday afternoon, I met a group of girls from the class who were going to the dining hall for a snack. They decided to invite me so we could chat. Of course, I accepted. While we were there, they decided to go for dinner instead; so we went to one of the local restaurants. They ordered five dishes that have chicken, fish, and vegetables to accommodate my preferences. All were delicious. We had a nice chat, and they all tried to speak with me. It was an enjoyable way to finish the week.

The computer man came to look at my computer on last Friday. His diagnosis is that it has a virus, which causes the extremely slow starting. Windows needs to be deleted and reinstalled, which is what I had figured. He’ll look for an English version of Microsoft Office. So, waiting again.

I’ve now been here for five weeks and taught for four. I’m quite comfortable here. Khun Yindee mentions that I have a better life here, but I don’t agree. It’s different, but not better. The teaching is certainly better than it was last year. Students are at least mostly quiet in class. Some are quite interested, but, as always, some are not. Although I’ve not taught an only oral class before, I’m feeling pretty comfortable with it and am getting into a rhythm with it. The writing is still a challenge. I don’t really know what they’ve been taught and am trying things out week by week. Writing has never been my favorite class to teach.

I don’t have local friends like I did in Thailand, but I didn’t have them in the early months. However, I don’t anticipate having friends like that here, and it’s OK.  I enjoy the students who want to spend a little extra time chatting. Roger, whom I met near the library, is a regular at English Corner and lectures and always greets me with a friendly smile and wave. His two friends do the same. It’s nice to have students who are clearly happy to see me.

After two weeks here, I noticed that Chinese people are looking like the norm. And the language sounds like a language with individual words, not a bunch of gibberish like it did at first. Not that I can understand it, but it sounds “normal.” I’m pretty good with numbers when people tell me how much something costs, which makes me feel good. One woman told a student who saw me and stopped to chat that I am amazing because I can speak Chinese. I had said the cost of the bananas, which is about all I can say. People do appreciate the effort. I felt good when someone called and spoke Chinese and I was able to say I don’t understand Chinese. He may not have understood, but I felt better having said it instead of just hanging up.

I don’t like Chinese rice. It’s too bland and tasteless—even more so than Thai white rice. As a result, I don’t eat much rice in the dining hall, and people comment that I haven’t taken enough rice. They pile a huge amount on their trays, three or four times  as much as I do. At home, I find myself eating more noodles than rice. And potatoes.

Diao Min’s tutoring helps. My progress is slow, which is no surprise, but I am learning a few things. I enjoy trying. Thursday we went to her campus to see if they have MS Office in English. They didn’t and one man said it would be hard to find it off campus. On the way we chatted about her English, which is excellent. She learned a lot from films and from reading. She wants to sound not Chinese, and she’s pretty close. She sounds like a Chinese-American most of the time.