One month already

It has been about two weeks since last I wrote, and books worth of experiences have transpired. So I need to be more frequent in my writings otherwise it will be very, very difficult to describe anything in detail. I will do my best.

I got a 45 minute massage from a blind woman for 10 kuai, about $1.25. Never slept so well in my life. It was after a day of sightseeing, jumping on buses and seeing where they went, getting strange stares, and finding my way back. It's a hit-or-miss way of sightseeing, but nevertheless interesting. One thing I saw that day was a group of children crowded around a woman pouring globs of honey on a hotplate. Next to the hotplate, there was a wooden spinner with pictures of animals. The kids would spin the dial, indicating the design of whatever animal it landed on. The lady put a bamboo stick in the mess of honey, and the honey slowly liquified and became the animal shape. It would cool and harden, leaving an animal-shaped honey popsickle. Fantastic.

Last Saturday I went to the nearby ancient city of Guandu. I had to take two buses to get there, and we ended up bouncing down a dirt road past cement factories and ubiquitous black-smoke belching blue construction trucks hurling to the next massive Chinese construction site. People were staring at me, asking me where I was going, if I was ok, but I was confident in my advice to check out "old Kunming"...which later turned out to be Guandu.

When I stepped of the bus, it was into a different world. The city "buses" here were horses pulling carriages lined with padded benches. I don't think it was for the tourists, either. The people looked like locals. I was very hungry by that time, and ordered some Chinese bread from a street vendor. Obviously not many foreigners come to this place. The girl working starting laughing so hard when I asked her the price that she nearly knocked over the money bucket. Her mother had to come out and help me.

After that, stumbling through the construction sites, I found the city. A few nice temples, ancient pagodas, tea houses. They were shooting a movie when I walked on the scence. Women were in traditional minority dress drinking tea underneath a 1000 year old pagoda. I also saw (not in the movie) a Taoist fortune teller (on the street) and a parked bicycle with a pigeon in a cage strapped to the back (got a picture of that). I explored some temples and ended up talking to some Chinese kids. Suddenly a great crowd of people were surrounding me, maybe 100 souls, watching me interact with the children. I felt socially unprepared in this situation...unsure if I should give a speech, offer some kind of message of peace, or tell a joke. Eventually I waved goodbye to the kids and parted the crowd and disappeared into another temple.

This was my first real week of teaching. The students are from all over China including Tibet, Xinjiang, Guanxi, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions. They are all graduate students, mostly city planning, landscaping, and horticulture majors. Their English ability varies greatly. I teach four groups two sessions each: oral English and written English. In my written English class, I had them write about an early experience in their life that impacted their development. I got some incredible results. Some have come so far...I will never complain about being "poor" in America again. One thing I really want to do with the writing classes is create an online magazine with polished works, as there are some true gems. Many Chinese are eager to share their culture and experiences with the outside world and I think the world is always developing more and more curiosity about this glorious, ancient civilization.

The students often choose English names, just as I have a Chinese name (Lai-An). Some names are Sellina, Andrew, David, Tom, Harly, Koby, Abu, Fly, Jojo, Mellon, Spider, Marble, Eleven, Duck, Volleyball, Tirumisum, and Carton.

They are highly motivated and often I see students coming to different sessions the same week, or students showing up that aren't even in my classes. People here really want to learn English, although it is difficult to get them talking. There is the Confucian respect for the teacher, and a reluctance to speak up in class. As my girlfriend taught me, in Asia the "banking system" of education is strongly established, where the teacher "deposits" the knowledge in the students' mind. In the West, I grew up in a much more decentralized educational experience that encouraged more interaction and experiential learning. So, as I always am trying to do in China, I must find a happy comprimise.

This coming week is Mid-Autumn Festival, or October National Holiday, celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 Oct 1949. The holiday goes further back though, and I've gotten about ten pounds of mooncakes from students and colleagues. Mooncakes are delicious soft cakes usually filled with sweet bean paste. The box I got from the Foreign Affairs Office is over the top, however, in packaging and delectability.

I have a week vacation for this Holiday so I am going to Xishan (Western Hills of Kunming) for Oct. 1 National Day, and then Guiyang to stay at a friend's house. During this trip I also hope to see China's largest waterfall.

Last night was a welcome celebration for the college freshmen. I expected to see a little music, and maybe some dancing, so I wandered up there by myself. It was a little dark when I got there (about 7 p.m.) and I encountered a man in a suit and tie at the entrance. I thought he was going to stop me since I didn't have an invitation or anything. Instead, he shook my hand, got on the walkie-talkie, led me down a red carpet to another man in a suit who led me to a seat in the second row, directly behind the "leader of the college." There were bowls of fruit and bottled water all around. The performance was over the top.

There were fireworks, ethnic dancing, a fashion show, a Cinderella play (in English), a Romance of the Three Kingdoms performance, a wedding cake (I got a piece, garnished with fruit and a cherry tomato), and celebrity performers. One performer jumped on stage, seemingly straight from the mountains, bearskin-clad, pierced ear, shaved head, bawling away in a tribal chant. One man brought down the house with his performance of "Labalabalaba" (don't know the real title but it's a raucous Xinjiang love song that I've heard many times here...heard it translates "pretty girls, come here, follow me"). I didn't catch his name but he seems to be known all throughout China (he won a national competition for the best young male singer). He ran down into the crowd during his performance and shouted, "Hello!" at me in the middle of his song. All in all, the gala lasted about four hours.

If this happens in obscure Bailong Village in Kunming, it gives me chills to think what they will pull off for the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.

This week I also helped judge the schoolwide English speaking competition. Once again, there were hostesses in red dresses, bottled water, and tons of flowers. This is part of the 2006 CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest (the biggest TV channel in China). The winner goes on to the provincial level, and then to the national level. The championships are broadcast worldwide. The auditorium was packed and enthusiastic, and the mood music was pumping. There were some fine speeches. The topic was "Unity and Diversity." I was especially impressed with the non-English majors for their ability to work on both their English and their majors. At the beginning, I was asked to give a speech at the end while the votes were tallied, so I furiously scribbled a speech between my judging responsibilities.

I talked about American music and the institution of the House of Blues (located in 17 cities across the US and Canada). The mission of the House of Blues is "Unity in Diversity"--preserving the great traditions of American music while fostering new sounds as well. I remarked I that I hoped the same thing for my country. I also talked about the unity of excellence and the diverse paths to get there, and the excellent speeches we heard tonight.

Oh, let me tell you about Chairman Mao, but please don't read on if you are easily offended. This is not the Chairman Mao that you see on the 100 yuan bill. No, this is a teacher at my college named Mr. Mao, from Vietnam Forestry College. He's a small man, about 65 years of age. He is deemed "Chairman" because of his prodigious drinking abilities. I briefly met him once, but didn't have much of an introduction (or warning). I saw him the other day walking, and he invited me to lunch, and to drink a "little wine." I thought he meant red wine, but when Vietnamese people say "wine," they mean "baijiu," Chinese firewater.

Soon there was a bottle of baijiu on the table. He poured generous teacups full of the stuff (this is 50% stuff) and started telling stories of living in Leningrad and Beijing (he speaks English, Chinese, Russian, and Vietnamese). Soon a couple other Vietnamese students showed up just as the first bottle was being polished off. "Chuc mun!" Another bottle appeared and then disappeared. I had to duck out. This man was half my size, three times my age, and five times my drinking ability. I saw him later that day, and was invited to supper, but told him I couldn't drink any more baijiu. I got off drinking a small glass of beer, but he was still going. No problem.

Long Live Chairman Mao!