Almost Famous

Living in China is probably as close to being famous as I'll ever get. This is particularly true in Chengxian as there are very few foreigners. If you'd like to know what living in my little town is like, just look at this picture. Michelle, Tomas (the Swedish volunteer,) and I all go to the local middle school to do some extra volunteer time there. Last week, the school (called "Yizhong") was holding its annual arts festival and had a large assembly after class. We walked up to the back of the crowd. Suddenly, there was a whole lot of whispering and then, well, this is what it looked like:The school administrator is introducing the dancing group at the arts festival and *nobody* is paying attention! Between this and the requests for autographs, one could easily get a big head. There isn't much anonymity here and anything we do, regardless of location, is reported back to us by our students, the school administrators or our friends.

Some examples for your perusal. All have happened within the last few weeks:

I recently had my MP3 player stolen. I decided that I would get a new one at a local store and I asked a student to go with me so she could help me answer technical questions that I had (my vocabulary isn't that good yet) and help negotiate a price. The next day, no less than six of my students told me that it was a "pity" about my stolen MP3 player.

We have a large 5 gallon water heater that we use for drinking water, my instant noodle bowls and Michelle's hot chocolate. A few days ago, I had to replace the empty bottle with a new bottle of water, so I went to get more. The guy in the water room *insisted* that he carry it up the six flights of stairs to my apartment, despite my repeated pleas to do it myself. I must have told him 20 times that I could carry it, but he would have none of it.

At the local stationery store Michelle and I went to pick up a few supplies for her tutoring sessions and my calligraphy class. While we were there, we began looking through the ice cream selection the shopkeeper had in a small freezer. We chose two bars and I got out more money to pay for it. The shopkeeper refused to take the money, so we had a back-and-forth with the money before he told us that we must accept the free ice cream. I felt bad because this guy doesn't make a whole lot of money and we were literally eating at his bottom line by taking it.

I strongly feel that it is important to remain gracious in the face of the sometimes overwhelming attention. It can get very tiring, but I remind myself that most of these people wish me no ill will and are only curious about me. If I get upset and treat them badly, it will only cast a negative view of Americans and this is what I want to avoid if I want to count my time here as a success.

I think that upon my return home, going back to a life where I blend in with the rest of the culture will be quite a big change. Perhaps I will look fondly back on this period of time in my life as the time that I was a rock star.

Photos:

Pic 1: All of the high school students looking at us as we tried to watch the arts festival.

Pic 2: Best friends. Girls who are close friends will hold hands as they walk down the street. These three were just coming back from dinner I think.

Pic 3: This turned out quite well. I took the photo from a car window on our way through town. The boy saw me from inside his home as we were at an intersection.

Questions and a Bad Heart

On occasion I try to teach my students various tongue twisters to help their pronunciation and idioms to help them get the feel of the English language. The students particularly like idioms and they are fun to teach, so we go over a few of them now and again.

Today, in the middle of my lesson, right after the last tongue twister, a student asked me about the shootings that took place in Virginia. I was floored as I wasn't really expecting this. They wanted to know what happened and why.

So I took a deep breath and explained what I managed to read about the incident, how I felt about it and what I imagined Americans might be feeling right now. There was so much swirling around in my head. I felt really awful inside about the terror these people must have experienced. I felt confused about the events and tried to get as much information as I could about it. It is how we deal with news like this as Americans, isn't it? We figure if we learn the numbers, the facts, the possible motives, we might be able to understand the senselessness of such an act. This macabre need helps us cope with tragedy a little bit, and the press is only too happy to oblige, but in the end it doesn't help much.

Separate from dealing with sadness of the shooting, it was also really difficult because the initial reports I read said that the person might have been a Chinese student and even went so far as to mention a possible home of Shanghai. I was feeling very worried that I might have to defend what I am doing and the Chinese against people who were hurt, angry and perhaps irrational. While this info was later discarded, I also became very worried about retaliation and hatred in line with what happened after September 11th. Sometimes, in the heat of anger, some forget to see people and only see a South Korean, an Arab or some other group rather than the individuals who caused so much pain. So far, this kind of retaliation hasn't happened and I hope that it doesn't in the future.

Earlier today, a teacher asked me about what happened at Virginia Tech too. She asked me how the student got the guns and whether all Americans had guns. It is very hard to describe America's relationship with guns to someone who lives in a country where it is illegal to own one. I told her what I knew and that I really didn't understand why this had happened. She said that America sounded very dangerous with all of the guns. Then she also said that some years ago a teacher had done a similar thing and killed twenty students in a high school. When I asked why, she said that she didn't know, maybe he just had a bad heart.

On the same day that Americans are trying to make sense of such a hurtful thing, a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines was found dead, most likely murdered. News like this hits particularly hard because of where we are and what we are doing. It is hard to be away from home and it is such a shame that a person had to die after she volunteered her time to help so many people. The government of the Philippines has worked very hard to help and they are doing everything they can to ensure that justice is served, but her death is another cloud in an already dark sky lately.

The last idiom that I taught my Oral English class today was, "Keep your chin up." I explained that when a difficult situation happens, people say this to help others stay positive in the face of their troubles. Perhaps in these confusing and sad times it might be useful.

Wherever you are, I wish you peace, safety, and that you find consolation.

...and keep your chin up.

May You Find Your Tomato

So the cold shackles of winter were suddenly ripped off in a week and a half of gloriously warm, if not hot, weather. After living through our first winter in China, enjoying the warmth again was something that we thoroughly appreciated. I went out and played basketball with my fellow English department teachers, Michelle started to play badminton and go on forays with the other teachers and life was pretty good.

Since then the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it has become much colder and even rained a little, so we are back to the long underwear and trying to keep warm again. Our small taste of spring was exciting and we know that it is just around the corner again, so there is hope. The crops on the terraced hills surrounding the university are sprouting colors and the trees are blooming. We are in a very rural part of China and, thus far, spring is turning out to be my favorite time of the year here. Students are asking us to join them on small outings around the countryside and we are looking forward to seeing these things. Much like in the U.S., springtime in China is full of hope.

The puppet shows were a hit. The students really enjoyed performing and getting away from their textbooks and I was able to get a small glimpse of culture by watching the shows. There was a tendency to infuse the puppet shows with moral tales. While hand puppets are relatively scarce around here, puppetry and China are not strangers. In virtually any large city you can find a puppet show (usually in the form of colorful, translucent shadow puppets.) These shows often depict stories from Journey to the West as well as morality tales. The student shows often paralleled these themes. Here are some (verbatim) examples:

Students: Kacey, Lydia, Mark, and Pauline

Mark has been losing his temper in class and hurting his classmates. His teacher calls home and informs his parents about the problem. His mother (Kacey) informs the teacher that she will talk to Mark about his temper.

Kacey: Mark! Come here!
Mark: Mum, what's the matter?
Kacey: Here are some nails. From today on, whenever you lose your temper hammer one nail in the fence in our back yard. OK?
(Hits in nails and the first day he used 37 nails in all.)
(After several weeks)
Mark: Mum, less and less nails now I hammered in the fence day by day.
Kacey: Very well dear if so. From now on, as long as you don't lose temper all the day, pull out one nail from the fence.
(Few days went by. All the nails had been pulled out.)
Kacey: Follow me, Mark.
Mark: To the back yard?
Kacey: Yeah, Mark. You did a good job. But you see with too many holes in the fence it no longer the fence originally looks like. It is just like that after you lose your temper towards others. Your words just like the hole the nail made. The streaks may remain in people's heart. As a matter of fact the hurt you made by your words is the same as those you hurt on people's body.
Mark: I remembered. Believe me, Mum!

Some of the stories were just endearing to hear, like this excerpt:

Students: Jilly, Naomi, Peter, Wanda

Caterpillar A and Caterpillar B (their names) are sitting in a tree together.

A & B: (singing together) We are insects! We are insects! We are so happy! We are so happy!
A: How beautiful today is!
B: Which is more beautiful, the weather or me?
A: Of course you!
B: Are you fawn with me? (I think they mean "fooling" here.)
A: No, I am not. As an insect, I am very honest.
B: I know I am very beautiful, but you needn't be so honest.

The story goes on and one of the caterpillars is struck in the head with a bottle and they lecture the litterer, a boy, of the dangers of polluting the environment.

Many of the stories play out the daily lives and insecurities of my students, some more overtly than others. This one involves two of my students: the tom-boyish Suzanne and her friend, Vivian, who have rented an apartment together in real life. Campus policy says that they must sleep in their dorms, but students rent rooms to cook food (The other options are the cafeteria, which most students dislike, and eating at restaurants or food vendors, which can get expensive,) watch TV, and relax away from the school setting. Their story takes place in their new apartment, where they are cooking for their friend, Alex. You'll notice there are some verb tense problems here too, a common problem among Chinese who study English.

Students: Alex, Suzanne, Vivian

Suzanne: Oh, sorry Alex. Welcome to our house!
Alex: Thank you! But you can cooking?
Suzanne: Maybe you don't believe, wait for a moment, we can began to eat.
Vivian: Yes, Suzanne is a good cooker. You can taste what she does.
Suzanne: Ha, ha.
Alex: Suzanne always look like a big man, but today she becomes a woman! Ha, ha!
Suzanne: Alex, what did you say? I'll kill you. I'm a girl!
Vivian: Ha, ha.
Alex: Ha, ha, sorry...
Suzanne: OK, we can eat now.
Vivian: What about it? (She means, "How does it taste?")
Alex: Delicious! Oh, so delicious!

Love is a frequent topic of the puppet shows as (A) most of my students are girls and (B) it is a somewhat new thing among the students, who are forbidden to date or like one another in high school because of the rigors of studying for the national college exam. College is the first time they are away from their families and, thus, able to pursue relationships with one another. The age-old problem of the poor kind-hearted boyfriend versus the rich one shows up often as parents are often on the lookout for the status of potential suitors. Like any parent, they want to make sure their children have stable lives. This played out in quite a few puppet shows too:

Students: Dawn, Diana, Doris, Nadia

Jack met Julia in a tea bar. He professed his love and Julia fell for him. Jack then tried to call Julia without success. Finally, he spotted her in the tea bar again, with another boy, Robert.

Jack: Oh, darling, you're here. I called you many times, but it was always busy. What did you do in these days? I miss you very much, so I came here.
Robert: Who are you? Why did you call her darling? She is my girlfriend.
Jack: Oh, no dear! Please tell me why! I'm Jack. Have you forgotten me? I'm your real boyfriend.
Julia: Keep calm, sir. Let me tell the truth. He, Robert, is my boyfriend. He really love me. He can give me what I want. But you're poor, can you give me what I want?
Jack: Dear, please believe me, I also can give you everything as long as you love me.
Julia: Don't be silly. I never loved you.
Jack: Oh, my god. Why is love so cruel? My heart has been fragmented. I'll never believe anyone, never, especially the woman.

And that's the end...poor Jack seems to have suffered some emotional trauma there.

I don't really need to give you text of the last one. Summer, Mint, Crystal and Marissa decided to write a love story. One person, named Tomato, owned a dog named Potato. Another person, named Potato, owned a dog named Tomato. After receiving a bath from his master Potato (the dog) manages to woo Tomato (the dog.) They share their dog food with one another and go off to play together. Tomato (the person) goes looking for his dog and while calling for him manages to get Potato's (the person) attention. All of the Potatos (Potatoes?) fall in love with all of the Tomatos (Tomatoes??) and they all live happily ever after. All of the students loved this story and there was quite a bit of giggling too.

Wherever you are in the world, may springtime give you the energy, hope, and desire to go out and explore. Who knows? You might even find your Tomato...

Photos

Pic 1: A cartload of live chickens heading for the market. When you live this far out, sites like this are not unusual. In the U.S. we live so far away from where animals are processed that we forget that this sort of thing even happens. It isn't unusual to hear squealing pigs being butchered and other assorted noises at the markets.

Pic 2: Our tutors! I finally have a picture of them up here. The one on the far left is my tutor. Her name is Zhao Ying and she is all of 4'10" but she keeps me on my toes. She isn't afraid to tell me that I need to work harder. She's fiesty like that. Next to her is Michelle's tutor and Michelle. We all went to hot pot together. It was a great way to practice our Chinese and have a good time too.

Pic 3: We went on a hike to a memorial to the poet Dufu in a nearby canyon. This small temple was on the way, so we stopped for a few minutes to take a rest and look around.