End of the semester (1-16)

The semester is officially over. Since I finished my grades and paper work last week, there wasn’t much to do this week. Mostly I stayed home and relaxed and prepared to leave for my winter break holiday.

On Wednesday all of us except Dale went to Chengdu, where Sigve joined us, for a “good-bye” outing with Sean and Ian. Although both wanted to stay here for another semester, the university didn’t want to keep them. We had lunch at a Cantonese restaurant. Highlights were shrimp dim sum and lemon chicken. 

After eating, we went to People’s Park to hang out. There we had tea at one of the teahouses, which was relaxing. 

Several Chinese plum trees were blooming along with yellow-leafed trees. It always feels out of place to see leaves that are just now yellow.

Next we walked around Kuan Zhai Xiangzi (Wide and Narrow streets). I hadn’t been there for over a year; so that was nice. I especially enjoyed the narrow streets, as they are quieter. 

I also enjoyed the sculptures in the walls again. We finished the afternoon at a quiet bar before returning to Wenjiang.

Now it’s time to leave for the six-week break. I was feeling uncertain about this trip for a while, but now that the time has come, I’m excited to embark on this adventure to Indonesia and India. New things to do and places to see will be interesting and exciting.

Happy New Year (1-5-2015)

New Year’s Day was a three-day holiday—Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with Friday’s make- up classes on Sunday. On Wednesday, Michelle called to let me—also Hannah, Kasey and Dale—know that Mr. Jiang, the new deputy president, would take us somewhere for New Year’s Day. Paul, Sean, and Ian were also invited but were spending the holiday in Chengdu. I had been looking forward to a quiet day at home after three days of final exams, but such is life. Kasey and Dale felt the same way. And I knew that Hannah had Carol visiting and would have planned to spend the day with her. But I also knew that it would be fine once we got going. And it was.

When we met, Mr. Huang and his friend Luke were also in the group. Since there was room in the cars and it was a fun day, Carol was also invited to join us. The destination was Luodai, an ancient town I had already visited but the others hadn’t. 

As we approached the entrance to the tourist street, a man thrust a baby monkey onto my arm. Soon several people were taking photos. The monkey was happy enough as long as the man kept feeding him bits of fruit. When Mr. Huang arrived after parking his car, he asked me “How much?” I told him the man had just thrust the monkey onto my arm. I hadn’t processed that he wanted money. Mr. Huang took care of that by offering a small amount. The man wasn’t happy with that, but Mr. Huang spoke firmly, I think explaining that I hadn’t asked for the monkey. It was cute, though.

When we got to the main street, unsurprisingly since it was a holiday, it was already packed. There was no leisurely walking down the street, as we had to be constantly watching what was going on with people around us. 

Shortly after arriving, we stopped at a place known for special noodles. Hannah explained that these are called “sad noodles” but didn’t know why. We had four kinds of noodles and a leafy vegetable. Three of the noodles dishes were cold. Most were a bit spicy for me, but it was fun to try them. As we walked down the street after lunch, Mr. Huang bought a few snacks for us to try. When we were looking at hanging cooked geese, he bought one for us to try. It was quite tasty.

Next we went to a special farm area known for fresh food, including “wild” chicken and other meats. I think the proper description was “farm-raised” or perhaps “organic” as the animals were in pens; so they weren’t wild or free-range. There we had chicken hot pot cooked with fire. The pot was set into a brick stand that had a fire to cook the dish. The chicken was good, but it was all on bones—too many small bones with not much meat on them for my taste—and was challenging to eat. The water it was cooked in was a little spicy for me. But most of the others enjoyed it and it was fun to try something new.

After eating, we walked around the farm area for that restaurant and saw chickens, ducks, deer, goats, and pigs. Green, leafy vegetables are grown between the trees. 

On the way out, we passed a flower market. We’d seen people buying and carrying branches with yellow flowers along the road, and there was a woman selling them beside the street. Mr. Huang bought a few bunches and gave one each to Dale and me since we were in his car. Luke explained that they are Chinese flowering plums (not for fruit) that are a symbol for strength and endurance because they bloom in the winter. They have a lovely scent and can be used to make tea.

Last Sunday I met Xiaoyu, my former Peace Corps program manager and now friend, for lunch in Chengdu. We met at the Shangri La Hotel because it is near his home and he knew it had a nice dim sum buffet lunch. He was correct. We were given a list of items and could check as many as we wanted, as all are included in the price. Needless to say, we ate very well. 

The hotel has several huge Christmas trees. When we were talking about the trees in the city, Xiaoyu said that there were fewer than in previous years. Interesting. We have always gotten along well, and it was nice to meet and talk with him as a friend outside the office.

Afterwards I returned to the area near IFS/Chunxi Road to visit the monastery in the area. It’s in the process of being reconstructed; so there’s a lot of construction going on. But it’s still a quiet respite from the busy shopping streets. One of its highlights is a tall, ebony statue.

On my way out of the area, I came across Santa riding along advertising something. He lives on in China well past Christmas. Students thought he was for New Year’s, as they tend to merge Christmas and New Year’s, and I remember last year seeing Santa images and Christmas trees until the Chinese New Year, which isn’t until mid-February this year. 

He is also featured on panels advertising the students New Year’s shows. I’ll be out of the country and won’t be able to observe if Christmas decorations continue as New Year’s decorations again, but I’m guessing that they will. 

The new Chinese year is a Year of the Sheep/Ram. Symbols are already appearing.

Final exams are over. Last Monday I gave oral exams to half of three classes for 7.5 hours straight. I had a short break planned between two classes, but the first one took longer than I’d planned and the next class arrived early. Tuesday I had exams for seven hours, but I had a break for an hour and a half, which I really appreciated. Wednesday I had exams for only two hours. Sunday I finished the last three classes for a total of 7.5 more hours with a lunch break. I had learned from last year’s experience to take hot tea. Usually, I was OK with the rooms for about an hour. Then it was time to put on the hat and a glove. My scarf was good for warmth and to wrap the ungloved right hand while students talked. I was glad I had my warm boots and tights. I was ready this year. 

Merry Christmas (12-26)

Christmas has come and gone, and it was good. A lot of students sent text messages or qq messages (China’s answer to Facebook, which is blocked). Other students said “Merry Christmas.” A few students gave me gifts. I found it nice that they made the effort to acknowledge our foreigners’ holiday that is not their special day. A tradition in China is to give apples on Christmas Eve, as apples represent peace and safety. This is a little different from what I was told last year: that the Chinese word for “apple” is similar to the word for “silent,” and Christmas Eve is called “Silent Night.” It’s “peace” that the word is similar to. I also received several apples. After Kasey’s lecture on Wednesday, they had students stand up and say something nice to her as a gift to her. Then they showed a video of fake job interviews that turned out to be for the job of being a mother. After that, they asked Sean and me to say a few words about the meaning of Christmas.

I prepared a PowerPoint about Christmas for my classes, and they all enjoyed that. In my informal evaluation, “culture” was one of the topics mentioned as being most helpful to the students. This would refer to the holiday PowerPoints; so it was nice to know that they found them helpful.

On Christmas day, the Foreign Affairs Office had their lunch banquet for us foreign teachers. It was the usual 23 courses—some new and some old favorites. Special this time were French fries served with bacon on top, fried chicken that was surprisingly delicious, and mashed potatoes Chinese style with bits of pickles mixed in and gravy over them. It’s nice of them to have special Western foods for us. Many toasts were made for a good new year. 

We were each given a special gift: a framed, silk embroidered picture of pandas.

In the evening, we foreign teachers had a private dinner in my apartment. Paul and I did the planning, and Hannah and I did the shopping. 

Like at Thanksgiving, most foods were purchased ready to eat. At Paul’s request, we had lots of meat—duck and two kinds of pork. He cooked carrots, and I cooked mushrooms—Thai style with three kinds of mushrooms for good luck. We also had bread, cheese, mashed potatoes, gingerbread cookies and cream puffs. Dale brought a bunch of fruits and cakes to give as gifts, and we ate some of the cakes, too. Yienfanh joined us and gave us candy—jelly bellies and chocolate—from the U.S. I served chocolate from the U.S., too. Hannah, Vivian and Hannah’s friend Kathy from out town also joined us, arriving with scarves for each of us and candy for all. So it was quite a meal. While eating the desserts, we watched “Elf.” It was an enjoyable evening eating and hanging out together. Since it was Kasey’s and Sean’s first Christmas away from home, I was especially glad we did it.

In the past two weeks, I attended and enjoyed the student shows of the computer science department, combined history and tourism departments, and the education department. 

The history and tourism show had more skits than most of the shows, which seemed appropriate. They were fun even though I couldn’t understand the dialogue, as many were a little humorous. It was also fun to listen to the students respond with enthusiasm when something happened or when their friends appeared on stage. 

The education department’s show was described to me as a gymnastic contest and was held on the sports field. 

Whole classes performed routines and marched in and out in sync. Teachers served as judges. It was fun to watch their precision and see their costumes. 

Facial stickers were common features.

This was also a time for live classical music. Xavi, my former teacher student, invited me to the annual concert given by the younger—under 40— teachers. He was accompanying a few of them. The concert was a nice mixture of vocal and instrumental performances. Afterwards, I was invited to go on stage for the group photo. 

Xavi also asked to have a photo with me.

Last Friday Sean, Paul, and I went to an orchestra concert in Chengdu. One of Paul’s friends plays the bass in the orchestra. We rode into the city with Sigve and then had dinner with him and his daughter at an Italian restaurant. 

I had eggplant parmigiano that was quite delicious. This was my first Italian food since coming to China almost two years ago.

The concert was wonderful. According to Paul’s friend, the violin soloist was one of the best in China. He was truly magnificent. It was just nice to be at a live concert again.

Then on Sunday, Hannah, Sean, Ian, and I met Paul in the city. We met at a new mall near Chunxi Road that was still being constructed when I was there with April last year. The top of the building has a small park area with grass and cute sculptures and a few restaurants. 

We had lunch at Let’s Burger, which has an interesting variety of burgers. I chose a rice burger with cod. The burger was sticky rice patties instead of a bun. These reminded me of the grilled sticky rice patties I like in Thailand. I topped it off with a milkshake. Although the food was good, it is quite expensive; my meal was 140 yuan/$23. So it’s not a place I’ll be frequenting, but it was fun to try it.

The theme of the mall was The Little Prince. On the top, there was a room with quotes from the book, and there were a few statues of The Little Prince. 

The Christmas tree was a Little Prince theme. There were sheep around the tree for the upcoming Year of the Sheep/Ram. Paul said that the theme changes frequently.

After eating, we walked around the new shopping area behind the mall and along Chunxi Road. We found several other Christmas trees around the area and enjoyed the fox characters.

The surprise of the week was that my package from the U.S. arrived just three weeks after it was mailed. Kasey saw it at the post office when she picked up her package and let me know that it was there. The school hadn’t received notification yet. So I may not have known about it if Kasey hadn’t seen it. That made me wonder if last year’s package was sitting in the local post office for weeks before they notified the school “again” but the school had not received anything.

I attended the last yoga class of the semester on Monday. Since no one else attended, I had a private class with Kelsey, whose English name I learned that night. She spoke English most of the time, and I taught her the names of a few body parts. It was nice that she is now comfortable enough with me to use the English she knows.

The metro construction is now visible. They’ve put net viewing “windows” so that we can now see the construction.

Show Time (12-12)

It’s the end of the semester and year. So it’s time for the students’ end-of-the-year/New Year shows. Since April and I went to several last year and enjoyed them, I’ve been looking forward to the shows. We’ve seen student groups practicing nightly for over a month. So far, I’ve been to three shows.

The first show was on Monday and was put on by the National Flag Association, the translation given by Hannah. I think it may be the group that raises the flag each morning among other things. Students were from a number of departments. One of the performances was a fashion show. 

Others were various dancing groups.

Next was the Chinese Literature Department. I saw only the last third of that one because my lecture was that night. But I was happy to see a couple of the dances with students in costumes, as I enjoy those.

Thursday was the Foreign Language Department’s show. 

We foreign teachers were asked to perform. We did a routine with “Singing in the Rain.” Paul and Dale sang and performed while the rest of us were their backup. Like the students, we’d been rehearsing four or five times a week for a month. It went well, but we’re all glad it’s over. 

Other performances included yoga, 

a Tibetan dance, 

modern dances, 

a couple skits, 

and a scene of a play in English.

Last week I decided to have my teeth cleaned at a local hospital instead of going to the clinic in Chengdu that Peace Corps uses. I’ve walked past the hospital and seen people in the dental chairs many times. I had Yang write a note for me so they would understand what I wanted. It worked out well. The young man spoke a little English; so getting started was easy. He cleaned my teeth and then told me that I had a hole. I had three choices for filling the hole: 80 yuan/$13, 100 yuan/$17, or 200 yuan/$33. I chose the best and most expensive. It took about 10 minutes to complete the process. He didn’t do much drilling and used a topical liquid to numb the nearby gum. Cost for cleaning: 100 yuan/$17. After I paid and he wrote the information in his book, he asked for a photo with me. I had to laugh.

Last Saturday’s good deed/adventure was to see a race car. Fat Cat, one of the girls in the automotive service class had asked if I would go to see her racing car. I thought she was talking about remote control racing cars. When I met her on Saturday, she took me to the automotive service department’s building and showed me the used Japanese racing car that had been donated to the department. She was quite excited. About fifteen students and a teacher were examining the car. Photos were taken. Then it was time to take it apart. Fat Cat left my side then to participate. She was very excited. They were taking the car apart to see how it was put together because they will be building a racing car themselves. When I left, she went with me to show me the classrooms. Although I have no interest in this subject, it was nice to share her enthusiasm and nice that she wanted to share it with me.

While I watched, a boy from Sean’s class chatted with me. One of his questions was “Do you think China can overtake America’s economy?” I said I don’t know and asked what he thought. He said he thinks it is possible. The next day I saw an article stating that China is now the number one economy in the world, having surpassed the U.S. by about half a percent.

The yellow-leafed gingko trees on the hill near the library are a popular spot for photos these days. When I was there taking a few photos, a group of girls decided that I needed to be in their photos.