Waiting for Marriage

The theme of the last two stories was about a Chinese woman and an American woman who waited 14-45 years for their fiances.  Due to historical events, in the story "The Woman who Waited 45 Years," the Chinese woman waited for her true love and wasn't able to marry him after finding him because he had heard that she had died and had married another woman.  Set in the late 1800's, in the story "The New England Nun," while waiting for her fiance to return, the American woman became accustomed to her peaceful life of solitude doing the things she loved to do and decided not to marry, afraid that her life would change drastically in an unhappy way if she did get married.  Since she was loyal she would have kept her marriage promise to the man, but learned that he was in love with another woman; therefore, she was able to get out of the promise she had made to marry him. I asked the students, "If the American woman had been Chinese in the late 1800's would the ending of the story "The New England Nun" have been the same?" I expected a straightforward answer.  No it would not have been the same.  The Chinese woman would have decided to sacrifice her peaceful happy solitary life to get married.  Instead the students' detailed answers surprised me: 1.  The Chinese woman would choose marriage because if she had refused the younger fiance, she would have been forced to marry anyways probably an old man; therefore, the younger man was the safer choice even if she wanted to live alone. 2.  Since her fiance was in love with another woman, he would have kept his promise to his fiancee who had waited 14 years for him.  In addition he would have married the other woman.  Since Chinese men in the 1800's could have two wives, the three people could leave peacefully together, the two who were in love and the woman who wanted her peaceful life could just live separately from them but still married as the first wife. 3.  The woman who refused marriage would have died.  What?  Died?  If the woman didn't marry the man, society would assume that she was a bad woman because the man didn't marry her.  Society would assume that she had cheated on him or had done something scandalous.  The judgment and criticism of society would have driven her to death. Learning the students' ideas made me realize how little I really know about China and its history.  I felt like I understood China, but have realized that I only know China in a big broad stereotypical way as a foreigner living in this culture for 2.5 years.  The subtleties? The more I live in this country, the more I realize how little I know about it.  On the surface, I see the China that doesn't want to lose face, but underneath is a huge hidden underworld of unspoken secrets and ideas.

Spinning in Darkness

Tonight at the gym during the spinning session, instead of feeling like I was bored living the ins and outs of my day to day habits, I felt like I was in a movie, working out and taking a class after work.  It was a wakeup call to the monotonous daily rhythm I have gotten into, a rhythm of feeling like I've experienced all that Chinese culture, my Chinese city and university can offer me.   Spinning felt so surreal like an out of body experience, like I had been transported to a strange combination of the gym and dance club from the TV show Queer as Folk.  The trainer turned out the lights leaving only a green glow in the blackened room with a few atmosphere lights still pulsing.  The room turned into a dance club, strobe lights and upbeat techno music blaring, but instead of dancing, ten of us stood up and biked for an hour with the trainer using a microphone headset to yell at us.  It was super fun.  I was grinning the whole time!   I think having a gym membership, taking fitness classes, and playing sports are some of the things I live for.  If I can earn enough money and have the free time to do physical activity, I think I will be happy in America. After lifting weights, I made an incredible discovery.  Looking out the sixth floor window of the women's locker room, I saw that on top of a four story building there was a skating rink with about 10 people braving the freezing temperatures to roller skate.  Wow.  Cool. Sidenote:  I've never exercised at night.  I am an early morning runner and gym goer.  Last night though after yoga, I was unable to sleep.  I felt like I had just drank a gallon of coffee and felt buzzed, energized, ready to do something instead crashing into bed.  I stayed up till 2 am.  I hope tonight's spinning class has the opposite effect and puts me to sleep.

Free Membership

In graduate school, I went to the gym every morning to lift weights.  Then if I didn't have rugby practice, in the evenings, I would often be at the gym wearing nerdy white shoes playing squash.  Then I joined Peace Corps and it has been five years since I have been able to go to a gym.

In Africa, I tried to use buckets of water, bricks, and other things to create a homemade weight room, but it just never really interested me like going to a gym.  When I first arrived in my Chinese city, I tried to find a gym.  I found one place where all the weights were shoved into a corner with cobwebs.  Then as the city grew, as more fast food chicken restaurants, coffee shops, and pizza joints opened, yoga classes and gyms also started popping up; however, they were expensive, about 1/3rd of my living allowance per month.  I couldn't afford to go to the gym.

Guess what!

Today I got a free membership to a new gym in town.  

It is awesome!  

I am ecstatic!  

There are tons of free weights and machines.  They also have evening classes that I can attend for free:  yoga, spinning, kickboxing, belly dancing, step aerobics, core training, and jazz dance.  I am so excited.  Today I went to the gym twice, once for weight lifting and the second time for a yoga class.  In the weight room, I felt super macho as many of the puny guys were lifting half of what I used to be able to lift back in Seattle.  In the yoga class, I felt huge, a chest of muscle, compared to the tiny narrow wasted, flat, skinny armed women.  I don't care though!  I am SOOOO happy to have received a free gym membership.

Tidbits

So... I've been busy. Last week the Science Club recycled paper.   Then over the weekend I went to Xian to visit some of my Chinese friends who are studying at different universities.  One is a visiting scholar doing research on positive emotions.  She is staying in a super nice private dorm room with a private bath, a flat screen TV, and free Internet.  Another is a post graduate student studying translation.  She also has a nice dorm room with three other roommates.  They sleep on top bunks and under the bunk is their closet, desk, and bookshelf.  Plus they have a private squat toilet too.  It was nice to get to see different universities compared to the one I am teaching at.   I heard about some Americans studying Chinese at a university in Xian.  They complained that the teacher didn't like it when they tried to answer the questions on their own.  The teacher would say, "Copy it out of the book, exactly the way it is written in the book."  They also were unhappy that a student from Korea held the book in her lap during an exam and received a grade of 98 while the non-cheaters only got a 92. Then this week Peace Corps made its annual visit to check on the new volunteer. Then I've been busy with work.  I had to type out 6 final exams and grade 30 essays.  The end of the semester is approaching and there is a lot of preparation and grading to be done.  I have about 360 finals I need to schedule and grade, about 250 written exams and 110 interviews. Next semester I will be teaching Freshmen Oral English and Sophomore Writing.  Then I guess I will be back in the USA again.

World AIDS Day

Today in front of the basketball courts, a student organization sponsored the signing of big posters, a poster display about AIDS/HIV and the handing out of red ribbons.  The Tree House held a scavenger hunt quiz.  A VSO volunteer working at a nearby middle school provided the idea and quiz that she too was using at her school.

Papermaking Procedure with Minimal Supplies

With about ten students, the second meeting of the Tree House English Science Club was successful.  We learned about saving trees and reducing pollution by recycling paper.  For three evenings, the Tree House has become a papermaking recycling factory. I scoured the many papermaking websites to learn the technique.  The Pioneer Thinking Website and The Illustrated Step-by-Step Guide both called for a wooden frame and a blender; whereas, the Recycling Paper at Home site called for a mortar and pestle.  My students were a bit amazed that I had never been taught how to make paper, but that I independently studied how to by myself.   With my limited Chinese vocabulary, looking for materials in the open market can take a whole afternoon.  Plus since I am trying to save money for a winter holiday trip, my pocketbook is pretty empty.  I needed to find the cheapest bare essentials.  Here is the procedure I used for making paper without a blender or a wooden frame using hands as a mortar and pestle. Materials: paper wire mesh bucket sponge cloth rolling pin Procedure: 1.  Instead of scissors use your hands to rip the paper into tiny pieces, the tinier the better. 2.  Add water to just cover the paper.  The water paper mixture should be a thick sludge. 3.  Let the paper soak for at least a day, stirring and mashing the paper between your hands.  Add water if the sludge is too thick. 4.  Cut the mesh into the shape of paper that you want to make. 5.  When most of the paper seems to be broken down into sludge, add more water to the mixture.  (Use less water if you want thick paper and more water if you want thinner paper.  Experiment with this step to get the desired paperweight.) 6.  Holding the mesh taunt emerge the mesh into the sludge then pull out the mesh picking up fibers. 7.  Let the water drain. 8.  Place the paper side onto a piece of cloth with the mesh facing up.     9.  Using a sponge, remove excess water.   10.  When enough water has been removed, carefully remove the mesh leaving the wet paper on the cloth. 9.  Cover the wet paper with another piece of cloth and use a rolling pin to roll over the paper to remove more water. 10.  Let air dry.  When the paper dries, it will easily peel off the cloth.

Knitted Short Sleeve Pullover

Last summer I knitted the Plain and Simple Pullover by Veera Välimäki for my previous sitemate.  Today I finished one for myself.

Knitted Dissected Rat

Here is another picture of the rat with felted internal organs.

Rat Guts

About a couple of months ago I knitted rat, pattern by Emily Stoneking.  Today a student from knitting club worked on filling the insides with organs.  I might re-make some of the organs and felt them.  I'll send a melange of organs to my biology teacher friend who wants to use it for his dissection class.  He can assemble the rat to match his preferences, a do it yourself rat dissection kit.

Short Story Class

Last year within the first month of teaching, 120 seniors stopped coming to my English short story class.  I am still not clear about the reasons why:  dislike for reading, lazy, mentally checked out as seniors, looking for jobs, teacher wasn't strict enough, knew that the class was ungraded so what was the point? This year though I am teaching juniors.  Sometimes I have all the students attending.  Sometimes maybe I am missing 15-20 students, but overall I have at least 30-65 students sitting in class wanting to learn.  Thank goodness!  No more wasted time lesson planning to arrive to an empty classroom. Again this course is a non-graded class; therefore, I have not felt a great pressure to teach a lot of stories.  Instead, we spend a class period doing an activity to understand the differences and similarities between American and Chinese culture, spend a class period reading the story, then the next week answer questions and discuss the story.   Because last year, the few seniors who did attend the class preferred stories about China compared to the stories about the west, the students this year compare two stories, one from China and one from the West that have similar themes. The first theme was about universalism, cultural relativism, and ethnocentrism. The second theme was about stereotypes as well as discrimination of fathers for their children: gender and racial.   The third theme was about women waiting for 10-45 years for their fiancees to return. The fourth theme will be about charity and honesty. So far the students and I have learned about the differences between the rituals surrounding pregnancy in China compared to America.  For example, pregnant women rarely directly tell their co-workers that they are pregnant.  Instead everyone guesses that the woman is pregnant as she grows in size; whereas, Americans have baby showers.  Chinese pregnant women go to the hospital to deliver their babies sometimes even a week earlier than American women.  Doctors in China who deliver babies are always female.  Babies will sleep with their parents, sometimes even until they are as old as six, compared to the American walkie talkie method where parents sleeping in another room can hear the baby. The next thing we learned about was the differences and similarities between dating practices in China and America.  From our discussion, it feels like there are more similarities than differences.  We find dates the same way:  through friends and classmates, parents' recommendations, strangers you might meet in the self-study room or out in the city, internet.  We basically do the same things on dates:  restaurants, shopping, walks, go to an internet bar and watch a movie together.  The one thing that shocked students was the number of people I have dated.  They feel like they'll probably only date 1-3 people before getting married.  Anymore than that seems kind of outrageous.  Also, the students were uncertain of how to tell when they are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.  One student said, "When we kiss it means we are official."  Another student said, "When the bf or gf introduces us as a bf/gf to their friends it means we are official."  One big difference was that on a first date, do not bring flowers or a gift.  The students said, "If you don't know the date very well then bringing a gift is being too familiar."   So far, I have found the class to be rewarding.  Not exactly sure what the students think, but I do know they still prefer the Chinese stories to the western ones.  They understand the Chinese ones but get lost in the language and ideas in the American ones. For example, two stories about gender and racial discrimination were set during the mid 1800's early 1900's.  One student asked, "During that time why do white people feel so superior over black people?"   I replied, "Remember it was during the time of slavery."   Then the student asked "But all people are equal.  Why did the white people think so differently?"   I replied, "In the Chinese story, how could a father prefer sons to daughters?  The reasons behind discrimination is often not a very straightforward answer.  We can list all the cultural reasons like sons can carry on family names and inherit the business, or because people lived differently and spoke different languages one group of people could think their lifestyle, way of thinking, advances in technology make them superior.  The why though, why do people discriminate and create a culture of discrimination where only sons can carry on family names or black people will be slaves is complex." The students feel that the western stories are too difficult and they haven't learned anything.  Of course, as the teacher, I know that the feeling of confusion, the feeling of being challenged and pushed is beneficial in the long run even if the students cannot see it today.

White Baby Dolls

Baby dolls found in my local Chinese toy store.

The manager of the classroom building who lives in a tiny narrow room under the stairwell often has his grand-daughter with him.  She is a serious, shy girl who rarely smiles as she plays on the ground floor as I go to and from class.  The other day she was the cutest three year old loving mother cradling her blond haired blue-eyed baby doll.

In Africa, if a child was so lucky to have a baby doll, it was usually created from corn husks or was a store bought white one.

Do white baby dolls dominate the world doll market?  If so, why?

When I was seven or eight for my birthday my parents special ordered a Chinese baby doll from a woman who sewed by hand babies from around the world. They got both me and my brother one, a doll with slanted eyes, white skin, and a tuff of black hair. Many of my dolls though were given to me by my grandmothers.  One gave me a collection of Barbie dolls much to the dismay of my mother who did not think these full figured, skinny, long legged blond haired women were appropriate for a girl of six.  My other grandma stood for hours in a long line to purchase an orange haired Cabbage Patch doll with pig-tails.  They even bought my brother a boy one.  My aunt on the other hand sent me an awesome Christmas present, a Chinese doll with black silky shoulder length hair, blinking eyes and handmade clothes.

However, I am not sure if as a kid I was particularly aware of the race of my dolls.  What mattered most to me was what could the doll do? What accessories did the doll have?  Did it have pretty clothes, bottles, a backpack that it could be carried around in?  Could it drink a bottle of water then wet a diaper?  Could it cry and blink its eyes?  Could it say Mama?  Was it life-size?  Was it heavy like a real baby?  Could it walk?

As little girls does it matter if we play with dolls that look like us?  Is it important to play with a diverse group of dolls with different skin colors, eyes and hair?  Even though it may only be a subconscious message that little children are unaware of, white dolls are a message, "White is beautiful."

Discussing the quote by Martin Luther King "We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish as fools," a student in the English short story class wrote in her essay, "As we all know everyone likes beauty.  If there is possibility each one would like to be white skin."

According to an American study done fifty years ago by a psychologist Kenneth Clark, black girls chose white dolls over black dolls.  In 2005 a young American teen filmmaker, Kiri Davis also showed that this was true today.  Are girls' viewpoints about beauty influenced by the dolls they play with or by media images?  Maybe the domination of white dolls in the doll market across the world is just a result of the bombardment of media images.  White is beautiful; therefore, white baby dolls are preferred and will sell.  Even in a country of a billion Chinese people, the toy stores carry white baby dolls, very few are Chinese ones.

Favorite Teacher

During the break, my sophomore listening students asked if they could vote for their favorite teacher, a competition that the student union was holding.  In the English only classroom, the leaders went into Chinese mode, handing out ballots and my ears turned off until I caught my name being spoken, "Jennifer Laoshi (teacher) has only been a teacher for 3 years.  It isn't enough.  So you can't vote for her."  That moment was one of those instances that sums up my experience in China:

1.  Wow I can understand Chinese.

2.  Wow the students like me.

3.  Chinese rules are frustrating.

Later in the Tree House students told me, "We are so angry today because we had to vote for our favorite teacher.  The student union gave us a list of three teachers to choose from.  We had never had those teachers before and didn't even know them very well."

RELO Grant Money

We applied for a $1000 grant from the Regional Language Office in Beijing and learned today that we got it.  We will be buying a computer and digital cameras so that the students can improve their English writing, listening, speaking, and computer skills by creating a creative writing zine and a Tree House yearbook as well as by starting a livejournal to do a blog exchange with students in America.  The computer will also be used to manage the thousands of books that the Tree House English Resource and Community Center has.  In addition a subscription to the magazine Highlights will be bought.

Fishing Simulation

Today's first science club activity was a great success.  I had forgotten what it is like to teach science.  I taught chemistry in graduate school and then taught math, physics, and chemistry in Africa but had to use French in a pretty challenging classroom.  Teaching a low level environmental simulation in English even to students who are learning English as a foreign language was wow... easy and super fascinating. During the first part of the simulation where students were not allowed to talk, they quickly emptied their pond of fish and no one was able to feed their family after two fishing seasons.  It was interesting to see that when there were only two fish left in the pond, no one wanted to take them even though it meant that they would live and be able to keep playing.  Another observation was that one group tried to fish all at the same time which created a competitive atmosphere where actually no one was able to use their straw to get any fish out of the bowl. During the second part of the simulation where students were allowed to talk and strategize, one group decided that everybody would only be allowed to take two fish which created a balanced sustainable fishing season that could go on for years.  They were a very organized group and would take turns to fish instead of trying to fish all at one time.  The other group didn't really strategize and realized too late that soon their pond would be empty.  Eventually a student from the group with the empty pond moved to the sustainable pond.  By adding an extra family to feed, the pond quickly ran out of fish.  I found it fascinating that the group with the sustainable pond let the newcomer fish first, but once they all realized that the newcomer would create an imbalance where the pond would soon run out of fish, she no longer was allowed to fish first.   The group that made rules about fishing and then had an extra mouth to feed was able to fish for 6 seasons.  The other group only fished for 3. The students came up with the following strategies to protect resources for the future: Communication and cooperation are necessary. Rules and regulations are needed.  ie.  kick out the greedy people Education helps people realize what the rules are for. The students recommended the following to help protect our resources: Trees will disappear if we keep using wooden chopsticks, so bring your own chopsticks to the cafeteria. Re-use plastic bottles and plastic bags instead of throwing them away.

New Knitted Mittens

I recently finished knitting these Broad Street Mittens by Janis Cortese.  The weather though hasn't been cold, but soon it is bound to turn super chilly.  Plus I am going to Harbin for a few days during winter break.

Science Club

In August I spent a month in the USA for home leave and was inspired by a fellow RPCV from Africa.  He is a biology teacher and told me about a fishing stimulation he used in his class where the students explored the ideas behind the tragedy of the commons.  What happens when there is a common resource used by many people?  What strategies can be applied to protect common resources preventing the overuse of limited resources? This Friday the first meeting of science club will be held and the Chinese students will do the fishing stimulation.  A group of four students will have access to one pond of of sixteen fish (candy) to fish from using straws.  Each student must take two fish or their family will starve and die.  Without talking, the students can fish for one minute which represents one year.  When the minute is over, the fish left in the pond can reproduce.  For every fish that is left, one baby will be added.  There can only be a maximum of sixteen fish in the pond at a time.  Then the students will fish for another year. I wonder will Chinese students fish differently than American students?  In American schools after several years of fishing, usually students will empty their ponds of fish.  At my university, students have a habit of living in dorm rooms with eight people, of eating communal meals, and of copying each other rather than doing their own thing.  Sometimes I feel like the students are a collective with a single mind.  At knitting club instead of each student eating an orange, eight of them will share one orange.  I always feel guilty eating my own orange when they give a slice to everyone.  Plus China's one child policy is an example of using government regulations to try to prevent the exploitation of their limited resources, sacrificing for the greater good.  Another thing is, privatization is new in China; although, land is not privately owned in China.  It is owned by the government.   Will these things influence the way the students approach fishing their ponds?  Will each student copy each other and ONLY take two fish every year?  Will they without talking to each other see what the greater good is and only take what they need not to starve?  We will see on Friday. If you are interested in doing this with your students, here are some websites with the Fishing Stimulation Labs: PBS Fishing for the Future Summer Research Program for Teachers AP Tragedy of the Commons Stimulation

Following Dreams vs Tackling Fears

Recently I came to the conclusion that it was time to tackle my fear of returning to the USA as well as my fear of getting a job to become the responsible adult with an income who is saving for retirement.  Even though PC will allow me to serve seven years, I decided to let go of the dream of discovering a new country and a new culture to return to the USA. A friend recently said, "Jennifer follow your heart and your dreams." Tackling my fear is not following my heart or my dreams.  It is in my opinion for me selling out.  Do I really want to return to the states, live under the roof of my parents or generous friends, send out hundreds of resumes and cover letters to start down a career path? What about my dreams of living the adventurous lifestyle?  Working on a fishing boat, doing a bike tour of China, doing a temp job tour through all the cool American cities, being a lifetime volunteer, living in Antarctica, Alaska, Mongolia, or Africa?

Halloween: Ping pong

Thursday night Tree House workers recommended this game where students race by blowing a ping pong ball from one cup of water to the next.  It was an exciting competition.

Halloween: Apple on a String

This game was a hit.   Saturday night's cooking club students commented that the Halloween party was like being a bride and groom at a Chinese wedding.  Usually the newly married couple has to play games before being allowed to enter the bedroom.  For example, at the same time they both would have to bite into a Chinese mantou (steamed bun/bread). This week's cooking club had a huge hurdle to overcome.  At 5 pm there was no water.  At 5:30 pm there was no water.  Finally at 6 pm we decided to buy bottled water to cook a huge spicy Chinese hot pot of potatoes, pumpkin, rice noodles, eggplant, leafy greens, tofu, imitation crab, hot dogs, and pork blood disks.  At 7:30 pm there was still no water so cleaning up was left for the next day.

Halloween: Pin the Eye

Pin the eye on the Jack-O-Lantern was a fun game for students who didn't want to get their faces wet; however, the students made the game less challenging by allowing each other to feel their way around the poster before sticking the eye on.

Halloween: Bobbing for Apples

This semester I've been busy and haven't been able to devote much time towards activities in the Tree House.  Every evening I am interviewing students in the library leaving little time for anything else.  My new sitemate as well as the Tree House workers have been working for the past two weeks to plan Halloween:  organizing four games, deciding which ghost stories to read, rehearsing a skit about the headless horseman, buying candy and apples, practicing the Cupid Shuffle, carving pumpkins, and planning the movie.  I haven't had to do anything except advise by answering questions and asking questions back. Tonight's Halloween party was a great success!  With over sixty students in attendance, I didn't have to do anything except walk around and enjoy the festivities.  The students led the games.  The students explained Halloween.  They told stories and did skits.  They washed apples, gave away candy, and set up the movie.  I just had to show them how to bob for apples successfully.  Over 30 apples were won by students unafraid of getting their faces wet.  Stay tuned, next three blog posts will be photoblogs of the games that were played.  Find out which games you too can use at a Halloween party in China with great success.

volleyball, high heels, pumpkins, musicals, male vs female

The morning started with leaving the now heated apartment to walk past the back gate food carts towards the vegetable vendors.  I tried a new thick pizza like breadstick that was sold by weight and skipped my favorite crepe filled with a fried egg and crispy fried dough.  I then bought five small pumpkins for 16 RMB ($2.50). Ten minutes before PE class I learned that I had a package of books waiting for me so I ran from the mail room to my apartment and then to the playground for Tai Chi class.  With the sun out, it was a pleasant day to strengthen my legs where by class end my muscles started to shake. My afternoon songs class watched The Sound of Music because we had learned two songs from the musical the class before.  Plus the Chinese teacher who usually teaches this songs class always shows this particular movie, so I decided to use his song sheets and follow his lesson plan.  I was pleasantly surprised that the students loved the movie and thought it was deeply meaningful with heartfelt opinions about family and friendship.  Would American college students appreciate this musical or would they just think it was boring?  Is it a timeless masterpiece? I then had to run to volleyball practice.  The English department is participating in the school wide teacher's volleyball tournament.  I practiced with women who were all dressed in their professional teaching clothes with high heel boots.  No one told the teachers that they would be practicing after today's teacher's meeting. Next was an hour of interviews with students from my listening class.  Two students spend thirty minutes making small talk, reading news that they got off the internet and then discussing the ideas mentioned in the news.  Today we discussed retirement and bombs hidden in packages. At the Tree House, students carved jack o lanterns, practiced their Halloween skit about the headless horseman for tomorrow's party, and chatted in English.  Tonight we talked about differences as well as the pros and cons of being male and female.   According to the students: Pros for being male  choice, opportunities, no pain from childbirth Cons for  being male  heavy load of responsibility for family, job, and money; bad temper  Pros for being female  can have children; don't have too much family, money and job responsibilities Cons for being female housework, cleaning dishes, housework, few choices, lots of time and money to be beautiful  Now I am tired.  It is time to read one of the new books I received in the mail.

Electrical Explosions

The first time I heard about an explosion was about a year ago through gmail chat.   Sitemate:  Umm....Jennifer, my water heater in the bathroom just exploded. Me: Oh that is scary. Then I got to hear an explosion for myself.  The other week my PC provided water distiller that removes heavy metals and minerals went POP, with a nice flashy bright explosion.  Now I am truly cursed.  I helped my sitemate carry her HEAVY water distiller back to Chengdu when she COS'd (close of service) and now I have TWO of them to return to Chengdu.  The PC medical officer sent me a new one. The third explosion was today.  As students were standing up to do the Cupid Shuffle, we heard an explosive POP and the glass from a florescent light bulb dangerously rained upon the four of them.

Tangle of Yarn

The cold weather has driven knitting club from the green garden into my unheated flat.  Plus it gives the students an opportunity to use the computer to pick out which knitting patterns they want to learn how to read and to knit.  So far most of the girls want to knit scarves. After two hours of knitting club, then there is cooking club.  This past Saturday students made LONG noodles.  It was pretty incredible to see dough being pulled into long strands right there in my tiny kitchen.  It was even more incredible that I got to try to pull some noodles.  Mine tended to snap before they got too long.   Aren't you excited?  I will be returning to the USA with the know how on making homemade Gansu noodles. PS.  Happy Halloween.  Tonight I dressed up as a Tuareg alas with no camel.  Tree House Halloween Party will be next Friday.

Homeless

My apartment is in a long building.  The building has four entrances where each of the five floors only have two apartment doors.  There are a total of 40 apartments in the building.  I can only get to my apartment through one of the four entrances.  Each entrance opens up to a narrow concrete walkway and a brick wall. The other night, I finished at the Tree House at 7 pm then went to dinner.  At 8 pm I arrived to the concrete walkway to find construction workers laying a fresh layer of rocky cement.  They said, "Come back tomorrow.  At 6 am you will be able to enter your apartment." What?  What about now?  Where will I sleep? I went to my sitemate's flat and spent a night in her guest room.  I got up at 5:30 am to return to my apartment, but no.  The construction workers had been working through the night and there was a fresh layer of the smoother cement laid. I went to the university's garden and sat in the dark.  I went to the basketball courts and did Tai Chi.  I ate a sandwich for breakfast.  At 6:30 am I went to the playground and watched the students do two minutes worth of morning exercises before they all ran off to breakfast.  When the sun rose I returned to my apartment complex and waited to see what the other occupants of the complex would do about the wet cement. My downstairs neighbor returned with two kettles of hot water and said, "Follow me."  I went through his first floor back porch, into his apartment and out a door that led to my stairwell.  Wish I had known that yesterday evening.  Could have slept in my own bed. Deciding not to return till late afternoon because I wasn't sure if my downstairs neighbor would be around to let me into the building, I got ready for singing class, wore my PE clothes for Kung Fu class and packed my down vest full of money for a hot pot lunch with my Chinese tutors.  At 2:30 pm I returned to the newly laid walkway to find footprints imprinted all over the freshly dried cement.

Why haven't you been posting?

Usually I am pretty good at posting regularly plus writing this blog is like a way for me to communicate with the outside world, but lately I've been feeling a bit in the mood for self-isolation.  I've got a lot of things on my mind:  teaching, student interviews, what to do next in my future after PC, daily interactions with students, hardly any time to be by myself, a leaky faucet, writing a RELO grant, relationship issues and so on.... But today I felt like giving a brief update.... Weather Last week I was wearing a short sleeve shirt to play soccer.  It has suddenly turned cold.  Even had a dusting of snow yesterday.  Today I wore a hat, gloves, 3 top layers plus a down vest, and two pairs of pants.  Even running around playing soccer, I did not shed any layers.   P.E. Class I am taking PE three times a week.  Tuesday is soccer.  Thursday is Tai Chi.  Friday is Wu shu (kung fu).   I personally do not like playing soccer with the girls.  They run away from the ball.  They giggle, walk, and hide from the teacher.  The boys are more fun to play with.   Two years ago I tried Tai Chi and thought it was boring.  This year though it is more interesting and challenging.  I never imagined moving so slow could make me exhausted so that I would fall asleep at 8 pm.   Wu shu is still my favorite, but I already know the moves.  I am just helping the other students learn the moves since the teacher shows them to the class three times and then says, "Go practice." Tree House The Tree House as always is super busy.  Every evening I have an hour's worth of interviews with my listening class students.  Cooking club and knitting club have been successful.  One girl already finished one scarf and is on the way to knitting one for her mother.  Writing club is less fun this semester because we are preparing for the TEM4 writing portion of the national exam.  Science club has two experiments lined up but we're waiting for the Halloween party to be over.  Almost all of the 200 new books have been labeled and we're writing a new grant to get a computer and digital cameras to start a yearbook, a zine, and a blog to exchange posts with students in America. Teaching I am tired of teaching the same students for listening.  I had them last year and I have them again this year.  My bag of tricks is empty, but for some reason they still enjoy the class.  Maybe because they are worried about the TEM4 and I am giving them a lot of practice exams instead of using the book. Songs class is fun.  I like singing.  Any suggestions of an easy song to teach?  We have gone through almost all of the children's nursery rhymes. Short Story's Class is fun.  We are moving slow have taught only one story so far but at least I have a classroom full of students compared to last year.   Today in preparation for reading Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby," we discussed racial stereotypes.   Americans have a stereotype that Chinese people are good at math and science.   Why do you think Americans believe this? Because during the ancient days of China, Chinese people invented 4 of the great inventions: papermaking, gunpowder, compass, printing.  (both classes answered the same way) What are some examples of this stereotype not being true?   I am not good at math and science. Americans have a stereotype that Chinese people are competitive. Is this a positive or negative stereotype? It is a negative stereotype.  It is bad to be competitive.  We should live harmoniously. Lifetime Volunteer I think I have decided to return to the USA.  Why?  Because I have gotten stagnant living my easy life.  Ever since undergraduate, graduate school, and then PC I have not had to worry about anything.  All of my basic necessities were taken care of.  I have never had a real job.  I think it is time to try a new adventure, to step outside of my easy life box where I am provided for, and try working for a living.  Plus it is good to stir things up and attack those things you fear. For all those out there, hating your job afraid to quit, why not try being a Peace Corps Volunteer?  And for me out here enjoying my life in China as a volunteer, afraid of living in the USA and working, why not try getting a job in the states?

Privileged Lifestyle

In response to the most recent blog, "Lifetime Volunteer," a recent anonymous commenter wrote, "In a way you are living the upper class lifestyle in these countries you are in, because you have an upper class standard of living provided to you (compared to other host country nationals), and you have more money than they do to spend indiscriminately, on travel, on clothing, on food and so forth." I agree with the commenter that as a PC volunteer, we have a different standard of living than the host country nationals.  In Africa, I was lent a two room house for one person; whereas, the people living in my village had tons of people living in each house.  I had good medical care provided by PC and I received a teacher's salary that was the same as the local teachers.  My money went a longer way because I wasn't married with a family.   In China, I am given a nice flat with lots of amenities, good health care and actually I receive half as much as the teachers at my university.  Chinese university teachers make 3000 RMB.  I only get 1500 RMB, but again I don't have a family to support so 1500 RMB is plenty. As a volunteer, it is a privileged lifestyle.  I do not have to worry about health, food, clothes, water, shelter.  It is all provided for me.  That is the type of lifestyle I want, one where I am not working to death to meet my basic needs plus having some extra pocket money to eat a special treat.

Lifetime Volunteer?

This volunteer who has been in Peace Corps for five years is trying to decide if she wants to do another two year tour in another country, for a total of seven years. Are you crazy? Why would it be crazy to be a lifetime volunteer?  For those who are interested in careers, climbing the corporate ladder, saving for retirement, raising a family, worrying about health and health care, being married, then yes I can see why being a lifetime volunteer could seem like a crazy idea. Nuns, monks, and priests are lifetime volunteers.  Are they crazy?   I prefer donating time rather than money especially since I don't have any money.  Then go and get a job!  Earn some money and start donating.   I am afraid of money.  Because I have never had a salary higher than $20,000/year, I am afraid of how a high salary might corrupt me, turn me into a materialistic consumer with debt, trapped in an unhappy life of daily habits.  But is this desire to be a lifetime volunteer stupid and irresponsible?  (Please if you have an opinion, answer the question in the comments or an email.) Over the past five years, I have lived an adventure.  I have met so many different people.  I have explored the lives of humanity, the desires, needs, wants, beliefs, and joys of people in different parts of the world.  I have lived the customs and traditions of a variety of cultures.  I have lived different lifestyles.  I have spoken different languages.  I have been a teacher and a student.  I have been cheated, angered, frustrated, and worried.  I have faced the challenges of learning who I am. About my desire to be a lifetime volunteer to explore the world, Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) states it perfectly, "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Thief

Yesterday at 5:30 am, a student friend of mine woke up, left the door unlocked to go the W.C. and when she came back, her purse had been stolen, 400 RMB, bank cards, an her I.D.  The thief entered her room while her sleeping roommate was still dreaming, escaped to the fourth floor, dumped out the contents of the purse, stealing the valuables and then abandoning the purse.

Football Practice

Today was soccer practice.  My class has about 44 students and 22 footballs. What did we do today? 1.  Spent about 20 minutes practicing hitting the ball as many times into the air without it hitting the ground.  I rarely can get past three kicks. 2.  On a mini rectangle field, about a quarter of the size of a basketball court, 20 people ran back and forth dribbling a ball from one end to the next, running into each other while trying to avoid each other.  The teacher would weave in and out of students and kick balls out of the court.  Then he walked to a tree, broke off a whip, and motivated students to avoid him while they were dribbling the ball back and forth.  This was a tiring drill.  I need to get into shape. 3.  Spent about 30 minutes practicing kicking a ball back and forth between two people.

Burnt Out

To all those experienced teachers who have been teaching for years, do you ever burn out? Six days a week I am spending at least 6 hours a day lesson planning and teaching English learners both in the classroom and outside of the classroom.  Some days like today, I was engaged for a total of 8 hours:  4 hours of teaching, 1.5 hours of Chinese corner, 1 hour of TOEFL training, 1 hour of listening class interviews, 1 hour in the Tree House.  Even on Saturdays and Sundays I am engaged with English learners.  There is writing club, knitting club, and cooking club.  Plus I have a list of other activities to start like begin corresponding with a school in Alabama, start science club, plan a Halloween party, a dance party, write grants, and do a site exchange so that my students can take part in a photo club.  It takes a lot of patience and energy to be a Peace Corps volunteer with a plate full of secondary projects and to stay engaged with students who are studying English as a foreign language.  Then in my free time I am still somehow engaged with students because I am taking PE three times a week.  Tuesday is soccer.  Last week, we did sprint warm-ups.  I felt they weren't long enough, since I enjoy sprinting till I puke.  Then we did some dribbling drills, but then spent an hour trying to hit the ball into the air as many times as possible without the ball hitting the ground.  The most I was able to do was 7 times. I've never played soccer before.  Is this skill of being able to hit the ball into the air many times important?  Thursday is Tai Chi.  I attended class last week, but it was sign up day.  I left early not having the patience to wait for thirty students to inefficiently sign their names to the roster.  Friday is Kung Fu.  It is fun, but leaves my muscles sore.  PE is fun yet it is another social event.  This introverted loner is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of socializing she is doing this semester. It seems stupid to be complaining about my 30 hours of being engaged with students plus the 8 hours a week of lesson planning and grading, but I am feeling burnt out.  Is it because I've been in Peace Corps too long?  Been in China too long?  Or is it just because this semester I am feeling tired, a typical challenge that all teachers at some point face during their careers? The end of my time in China is fast approaching.  Should I try to transfer back to Africa?  There are openings.  Africa sounds more appealing than America.  I need to find some convincing reasons why I should return to the USA.  I did have a realization the other week.  If I start job hunting, I will be applying to be an academic advisor for international students.

Tree House Booth

After all of last year's activities: nature festival, women's club, knitting club, western dinner party, western dance, reading competition, writing club, Chinese corner, yoga, and movie nights, the Tree House English Library and Community Center really formed a close knit group of students.  This year the Tree House has been full and noisy; however, freshmen English majors as well as non-English majors have not been visiting. We decided to advertise the Tree House by setting up a booth between the basketball courts and the clinic.  Friday was a perfect sunny day to sit outside and tell people walking by about the English library and community center.  The Tree House volunteer workers were friendly and took initiative to explain the benefits of visiting the English only space. On the other hand, us foreigners scared the poor students away.  We would enthusiastically shout, "Hello, welcome to the Tree House.  Come look at the pictures."  The students would immediately steer clear of the booth and walk faster towards the opposite end of the street trying to get away from the English.  Thankfully not ALL of the students were frightened away.

Landscape

October 4:  We rode the horses to a mountain and went straight up the thing.  We did not use the easier switchbacks to mount a 13,800 ft peak. I am tired of writing about the trip, so here I stop. If you want to read more about the the Tibetan horse trek, my travel companions have also been blogging and posting pictures about the trip: An American From Paris in China Bull in the China Shop

Our Yurt Mother

October 4:  The host mother got up before the sun rose and I spent a few more minutes in the bag before climbing out.  I wanted to see what she was up to and wanted to help her carry water up the hill if she was doing that in the wee hours of the morning.   Our yurt mother has five children.  They don't usually live in the yurt except during holidays.  Instead they live in town with their grandma so they can go to school.  How do they travel from the yurt to town?  They walk.  It is at least 2-4 hours by horse.  Her husband is also a horse trek guide and was out guiding seven people visiting from Beijing.   As the pink of the morning sun sneaked its way over the hills, our yurt mom, gathered poop from the tied up yaks.  She carried a basket on her back and used a pitchfork to fling dung up and over her head, poop landing in the target.  I wanted to help her with her chores but thought that me trying to fling poop into a basket would be extremely inefficient.  I'd likely be chasing poop from here to there as I missed the target.   Plus are yaks friendly?  I watched from a distance.   After collecting poop from about 50 yaks, she started to rake horse droppings.  I was able to do that chore while she went back inside and started preparing breakfast. A recent reader said that link of the fall from a horse video didn't work.  She has recently been editing a short movie about the trip.  Here is the edited version.  Here is the raw version.

Yurt Home

October 3:  After a long day of riding horses and basking in the sun, we rode up a hill and arrived at a yurt where we would be staying for two nights.  Half of the yurt was the kitchen with a pile of dried yak dung in one corner.  The other half of the yurt was used as the living room, eating area, and bedroom.  It was a big empty floor space covered with a canvas that could be changed according to need.   They had a solar panel on top of the roof, a battery, and a light bulb.  Even nomadic yak herders have to have have a way to charge their cell phones.   The were no wells.  The mother had to walk down the hill to the somewhat empty river and haul water back up, not on her head but strapped with a cord to her back while holding two smaller containers in both hands.  There were no pit latrines, just vast grassland.   In the unheated tent, we were tightly bound into sleeping bags and heavy blankets weighed our bodies down.  I could not move.  It wasn't the hard floor that was difficult, but the constricted prison of a bed I was in.  I felt like I had been swallowed by a snake and couldn't escape.  Seven us filled the empty space and we looked like a can of sardines, all packed in neatly. One of my travel companions took a video of my fall off a horse and posted it to youtube.

My Fall off a Horse

This is why I fell.  My horse like the one in the picture DID NOT want to cross this dangerous sink hole of mud.  The land was like the swamp of sadness in the Neverending Story.  My horse was the first to go across but absolutely refused while two other horses pushed forward to successfully reach the other side.  The third horse also made it across with a rider in a fit of laughter falling to one side being caught by our guide.  The straps of his saddle broke from the bucking that the horses had to do to jump out of the knee high dangerous leg breaking mud. My horse was being forced across when my attention was drawn to the laughing rider ahead and the next thing I knew my horse bucked several times and I was eating dirt.  Luckily since the horse sunk to his knees, I was already close to the ground, didn't have a very long distance to fall.  Plus mud is soft.   For some reason, I just love hitting the ground, tackling people, being hit back, doing physical feats of BAM.  Maybe I should have been a stunt woman. If you want to watch a video, I can send it to you.  It is a 1.9 MB file. The other two riders made the wise decision to dismount and walk across while their riderless horses were forced across.

1st Day Second Stop

October 3:  After lunch we climbed back on the horses and rode to a new gorgeous spot that had a natural spring coming out of the rocks.  While the horses munched on tall grass, we enjoyed the sunshine and beauty of the landscape.  We filled our water bottles and added iodine tablets. When I was twelve, I received a brown pony with white splashes for Christmas.  Her name was Lady and she loved water.  Whenever we came to a puddle, she would lie down and start rolling.  Since I didn't want to get wet, I would lose the reins, hop off and find dry land.  Then Lady would hop up and run home with me chasing after her, me having to walk the rest of the way.   That wasn't the only time that Lady would have me off her back when I wanted to be on her back.  One time we were galloping on wet asphalt.  She went down and I went up and over her head landing on the black crash pad breaking two fingers.  I guess I was never good at staying on a horse. Would I be able to stay on a horse while riding in the grasslands of the Tibetan region in Gansu? As late afternoon approached, we climbed back on the horses, rode from empty fields to yak filled fields and I had my first "fall."  My horse suddenly stopped, bent down, started scratching its knee with its head and then proceeded to lie down and start rolling in some black dirt.  Not wanting to be crushed, I quickly found a way off.   Stay tuned.  That roll in the dirt was just a warm up "fall."

First Stop Lunch

Morning of October 3:  As usual I got up early and took a walk in the misty city running into a massive dead dog in a trash pile then a dead orange kitten under a tall prayer wheel.  Death was not a good sign.  At 10 am we would be getting on horses.   We had a very quick horse riding lesson, loaded up the ponies with handmade saddlebags made out of rice bags that were filled with sleeping bags, rain ponchos, and fresh vegetables.  Then we started out into the grasslands of Langmusi riding through town like cowboys.  By lunchtime the misty gray cloud cover had burned off and we were eating rice covered with egg and tomatoes in a tent under blue skies. After lunch, we hiked up a small hill before riding off again. Photo:  In the left hand distance below you can barely see you the horses and the tent.  Because my body was trying to feel comfortable and confident on a horse, during the first day it was hard for me to take photos while riding a pony.

Yak Burger

Oct 2:  After checking into the hotel of dorm rooms with beds, we went to the horse trek office to fill out paperwork where we signed our lives away.  If we were injured, they would get us to a hospital, but we would have to pay the bills.  We received a 2 minute culture class.  Do not comb your hair in the tent.  Because there are no tables, the floor will be the table; therefore, do not step over people's food.  Do not hang and dry your wet socks near the fire.  The guides will find a more suitable place. With a couple hours of daylight left, we explored the city.  The guys paid 20 RMB to visit the monastery and we gals explored the surrounding hills.  My favorite thing to do in a new city is to walk and explore rather than pay and explore.  Just being in a new city is good enough for me.  The town is a mix of tourist shops and hotels plus worn down houses with large sun windows warming enclosed front porches and houses with wooden roofs that have survived the brute force of winter. When the sun set, we went to Leisha's Restaurant on the main street because it was advertising a Yak Big Mac.  In China, people share dishes.  In America, we want our own, so we debated a bit whether or not to order the large 20 RMB yak burger or the extra-large one.  The owner made the decision for us and said get the large one.  We ordered four and a plate of delicious thick french fries.  Each yak burger was HUGE.  Only two of us finished.  Yes I was one of them.  The other two probably ate about a 1/4th of their sandwich.  If you are a group, I would recommend ordering one and trying the other dishes.  Order family style.  As we were working our way through the burgers, more and more delicious food was being brought out to the packed house of diners.

Langmusi

Photoblog Theme:  4 day Langmusi Tibetan Horse Trek (Because I can't edit my blogs to create a large photo post about this year's National holiday trip, this week's blog theme will be about my trip to the Gannan Tibetan Automonous Prefecture in Gansu.) October 1:  At 6:00 am, I walked to the bus station with a pack full of knitted goods and a newly bought jacket with a warm sleeping bag strapped to the back.  I caught a bus to Lanzhou and endured seven hours of Hong Kong gangster movies, sound at full blast. October 2:  Four of us boarded a full bus to Langmusi.  We were wary of the 10 hour trip; however, only after 7 hours in a daze of confusion, we were thrown off the bus in the middle of nowhere, and received finger gestures of which direction we should start walking.  After two miles under a bright blue sky and warm sunshine surrounded by rolling hills and open green, golden plains, we arrived at a one lane town surrounded by houses, mountains and Tibetan monasteries.   Our reserved 60 RMB/bed had already been given away, but we were thankfully led to a much cheaper place.  The thin hard beds were only 25 RMB and the latrine was on a floor between the first and the second, an open balcony with a view of the town along with two concrete troughs opening into the river below.  A bucket with a spigot was hanging on the wall as the faucet to wash one's hands.

National Day Holiday

I am on vacation. Check back in a week for pictures.

Teaching News

I am teaching an English Short Story class to juniors and after three weeks of teaching, I have realized that my content level is too high.  I get really excited about teaching content classes because I have this great desire to get the students thinking about diverse ideas and hear their opinions.  I want to have an intellectual exchange of ideas.  I want to stop talking about the weather, food, dreams, daily activities, etc...  But I forget that English is their second language, and it is hard to express more complicated ideas in a second language.   Today I taught a three paragraph essay written by a Chinese scholar about the different way Chinese people and American people feel and think about home.  It had a lot of implied information rather than directly stated information.  The students said, "They did not understand the article at all.  It was too hard."  When the level of a class is too high, it becomes frustrating for both the students and the teacher.  I need to pick easier material.   In my other junior Short Story class, I gave them a choice between two teaching methods.  Because the class is so big, the first method I decided to implement focused on writing, reading and thinking.  The second method I could implement would be focused on reading and oral English activities, if the students' promised to ONLY speak English.  If they really want the second method I guess I can endure the noise that 70 students talking out loud would create.   I told the class,  "We will take a vote.  If you agree say aye in a normal voice.  Do not shout."   I stood in front of them and said, "If you want teaching method one please say aye now."  A loud thunderous aye resulted.   I then asked, "If you want teaching method two please say aye now."  A loud thunderous aye resulted. I asked, "How many of you voted twice?  You have to choose one and only say aye once for the one you want."   I took the vote again and had the same result, two loud thunderous ayes.   Finally, we did it by a show of hands.  About 40 students wanted the first teaching method and only 10 wanted the second.  Why did the voice vote not work?  (Check out this blog posting from a former China PCV about choice in the classroom.) In my second class the voice vote worked fine. Tonight in the Tree House, one of the discussion questions was If you could change one thing about yourself, what would you change? The girls answered, "I want less oily hair.  I want a slimmer figure.  I want a prettier face.  I want to be more outgoing.  I don't want to change anything.  I like myself the way I am." The boys answered, "I want to change my major.  I want to be successful so my parents can work less.  I want to have more of my parent's good qualities."

Chinese Burrito

After a morning of lesson planning, for brunch I had black bean, peanut, and rice porridge along with this greasy, spicy yumminess.  I got a care package full of books and sat and read for a couple of hours.  I started reading Asian Americans by Joann Faung Jean Lee.  It is a book of profiles and interviews.  Reading about other Asian American experiences made me realize that the reason I have so many identity questions isn't a result of being adopted but is because I am Asian (Chinese) in America.  I am not the only one who asks these identity and culture questions about how and where do I belong, but many other Asian Americans wonder about it too.

Corn Cake

How does one translate names of Chinese dishes into English?  You don't?  This is a corn cake topped with sprinkles.  I personally did not like it very much, too oily and flaky. Today was a quiet Saturday. I spent the morning lesson planning, washing two loads of laundry, mopping the floor with the laundry rinse water, packing for a trip to Gannan, knitting a glove, and eating chicken noodle soup.   Then my sitemate, a visiting friend of hers, and I rode a bus to the South lake full of dead fish and ate at a restaurant that claims to cook countryside food. I had a Chinese lesson, ate ice cream and then felt the sole of my shoe flop off.  I have worn these shoes for over six years and China is the perfect place for them to fall apart.  I walked to the back gate, sat down, and a guy glued everything back together and put on new heels all for $1.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Here is a chicken noodle soup that I prepared yesterday and got to enjoy today.  Those are tofu pillows floating on top.  Bird soup reminds me of Thanksgiving leftovers and the Christmas in Guinea when visitors traveled to my village.  My friend killed a couple of chickens that were given to us by the chief.  As I was scrubbing chicken pieces with soap and water, grabbing a chicken head scared me half to death just like the time I put a ladle into a Chinese banquet soup suppressing a scream when I pulled out a whole dead turtle- head, shell, feet, and all.     It was a perfect day for soup, cold and rainy.  Now that I have become a sweater knitter, I appreciate cold weather.  Today I pulled on a warm sweater, dug out a cowl, and stuck my wool sock covered feet into a sleeping bag.  As a knitting addict, I am not sure hot climates are for me anymore.   Tonight was the second night I got to go to a live concert of Polish and Western music.  Four voice harmony is so beautiful.  Showy contrasting dynamics played on a piano are wonderful.  Acapella blues make us all smile and tap our feet.  The intense, room-filling weeping of the erhu touches the soul. I realized that the bigger the audience, the louder the music has to be.  Pop and rock music play for crowds of thousands at full blast.  Classical music is meant for smaller audiences.  It feels like a music for the privileged few who has the money to purchase the limited expensive seats.  In China, the audiences are HUGE and audience noise is loud.  To drown out the cell phones, the kids, the commentary, and the conversations, the performance volume is turned up.  This is why I need ear plugs whenever I go to a Chinese concert, whether it be a dance performance, opera, a play, singing or traditional instruments.  Tonight's choir of twenty foreign guests was hard to hear.

Mutton Stew

Today I woke up late around 9 am to a runny nose and thought it would be a perfect day to make a chicken noodle soup with Chinese characteristics- a chicken's head, feet, tofu, and bean sprouts.  As the stock was simmering, I got a message that my waiban (foreign affairs officer) had invited us to lunch.  We spent 3 hours eating a mutton stew.  It reminded me of one of my last meals in Africa, a mutton head stew which I tried to carefully maneuver as not to pull out the eye socket with an eyeball still attached.  I didn't mind the brains, but an eyeball?  It just seemed so squishy and round making my mouth shudder at the thought of popping one with my teeth.  In today's stew though there were no brains and no eyeballs.  It had large chunks of bones from the leg.  Too big to eat with chopsticks, we were given plastic gloves to keep our hands clean and plastic straws to suck out the marrow. Tonight there is a concert being performed by a visiting choir from Poland.  I wonder what kind of music they will sing.  The Chinese choirs that I have listened to often perform traditional and politically patriotic songs.

Mid-Autumn Festival

This is a mooncake.  Today is Mid-Autumn Festival and people gather to eat mooncakes and look at the moon while remembering family and friends. Tonight we had a party in the garden under the moonlight.  We sang Chinese and English songs.  We played games like tag except you can't be tagged if you can say a three character Chinese phrase before they tag you.  We also played a game where the mother hen has to protect the baby chicken from the eagle where the eagle has to try to tag one person while the other person tries to keep the eagle away.  We ate mooncakes and watched the moon against the moving clouds.

Noodles

I live in a part of China where the staple is noodles instead of rice.  When I first arrived in this town, I loved noodles, ate them all the time, but now I am tired of noodles because there is nothing nutritional in them except for whatever nutrients come from white flour.  Very little meat or vegetables are added to the noodles here.