Zhongshan, Chongqing

the right bus station

The directions in the lonely planet China guidebook were mostly correct.  Even so, there were more than a few times when I was cursing this sentence: "It's possible, though, to visit Zhongshan in a day trip from Chongqing."  I left SISU at 8 am, and we arrived in Zhongshan at 2 pm.  The last bus leaves Zhongshan at about 4:30, giving us barely enough time to walk, eat, take pictures, and that's about it.  

Our trip got off to a smooth start with 4 of us optimistic PCVs finding each other, and then eventually the right Chongqing bus station.  Bus and train is how everyone in this part of China gets around, so bus and train stations are often together, or close by.  On our first bus from Chongqing to Jiangjin, we had assigned seats, thankfully.  This leg took 1 1/2 hours and included a giant bottleneck at a tunnel where 1 lane ended.  Drivers in China are impetuous, driving in any direction they feel like, swerving erratically, ignoring any and all traffic controls, and constantly honking.  The effect is chaos, and it's best not to watch.  Most Chinese passengers fall instantly asleep.  After getting through the tunnel, the bus stopped so the driver could wash it, seriously, while we waited.

push-back

The second bus, from Jiangjin, was a smaller local bus where there's an unlimited capacity rule, everyone will get on, everyone.  This bus required 5 passengers to get out and push the  bus back from its parking position and then push start it, running after it to get on, like push-start is just an everyday operation.

Another 1 1/2 hours later we were finally off the bus and down the hill to the ancient town of  Zhongshan, a once prosperous port town along the Sunxi River during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).  The town is now a well preserved street, 1132 meters long with 307 old wooden houses projecting over the river.  Villagers live in these houses, often using the front room for a shop or tea house, selling traditional food or crafts.  It was like stepping back in time.

cute baby doesn't care about the packed bus

grilled tofu

suspicious drink:
bamboo filled with some kind of alcohol 

playing mahjong 

gift exchange

noodles for lunch, always a safe bet

I got coffee in the gift exchange, score!

shop/house

sauces and pickled things

woven hats

temple

local knit shoes

greens for stir fry

someone had eels for lunch

making baby carrier backpacks

waiting for the bus back

ubiquitous baby carrier basket backpack

China Christmas

Ari, her "tree," and Chinese Santa

Arianna called saying she needed a Christmas tree, a Starbuck's candy-cane mocha, and someone who speaks English...could I meet her for some shopping.  The Sunday morning timing was perfect because I'm on a mission to find a few Chinese culture-type things to send home.

It's a hard time of year to be away from family and friends.

Christmas has arrived in China, sort of.  In Chongqing, it's an eye rolling commercial version of Christmas with stores throwing up a few gaudy decorations and playing sappy western Christmas music.  I asked my students if people celebrate Christmas in China, if they give and get presents.  No.

After the culturally devastating Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China was a religious wasteland, but not for long.  The dominate religion is Buddhism.  The next most popular is Taoism, followed by Islam, and finally Christianity.  The Chinese Communist Party is officially atheists, a holdover from Marxism, and party members cannot hold religious beliefs.  However, since 1997, the government officially supports freedom of religion.  Unofficially, government's position on religious freedom is something different, as any Buddhist can explain.
   
This week, the last week of class, I took the opportunity to teach about the history and traditions of our American Christmas holiday.  Part of the lesson included singing.  First, I showed them a singing "flash mob" at a mall, and then later in the lesson I taught them the Twelve Days of Christmas.  They loved it!  This is a very poor video of my 8:00 am class singing this morning.

One class gave me a very sweet Christmas card.  "Dear Ann, We were surprised when we first learned that you are a volunteer of Peace Corp.  We are much more surprised when we see your devotion to us.
During class, you teach us and lead us to find our ways to study. There are so many interesting activities that make we become active and united.  Attending your class is really a good pleasure for us all.
After class you talk with us, telling us things about America, things that we are curious about but not able to find the truth through the ones we know.
And you are so cute that we love you so much.  You show us a really amazing American teacher and the way of American teaching. We do like it.
Thank you for your devotion to all of us. We love you. May the joy of Christmas be with you throughout the year.
Wish you many good wishes for the holidays and the coming year."

Ahhhh, I'm all choked up, and I have the same wishes for them.  Christmas is in China, and at its best, it's about peace, love, joy, and giving, here and everywhere.

Gaokao effect

A student had just finished reading his persuasive speech in one of my Speech and Debate classes, causing me to give a big, exasperated sigh.  Maybe if he came to class, he would have seen the grading rubric, and maybe even followed the directions.  Then again, probably not.  Instead, he put together this hastily written speech:

     As a college student, maybe you all think I always skip classes because I think college students should be allowed to skip classes.  Our school regualation hand book says no.  However in my opinion college students should have the right to do so.  It is necessary here to state the purpose of students attending classes.  They do this to gain more knowledge and skills.  In most cases going to classes is a very good and irreplaceable way for students to obtain knowledge.  In some cases, however, students can benefit more if they skip certain classes.  Some do so because they are not in the mood of classes at that certain moment.  Some do so because they have a need for sleep that priorities them with necessary energy for important things later in the day.  Some do so because they need to do something else that they can only do at that particular time.  Of course if they are not very familiar with the content of missed class, they should make up for it.     College students are most over 18 years old.  They are not children any more.  They can make this kind of dicision.  They can be responsible for theirselves.  So college students should be allowed to skip classes.

When he finished, I asked for his written copy because I didn’t know what else to say.  I was thinking, “Why are you wasting your parent’s money and my time?”        

I found this explanation in the PC China material:

Everyone will have students that seem lazy and uninterested in studying. The main reason for this is all the preparations they did to get into college, specifically the “Gaokao” (college entrance exam),the end-all-be-all of exams in China for most students and their parents. It’s basically the only thing that matters when students are applying for college, so once they are accepted their time in college may be seen as a “break” after the gaokao. Students in high school usually study at least ten hours in school and maybe add another three or more hours of self-studying after class. Before that, from their early childhood, students are required to learn different skills like instruments, writing, math etc. during the weekends. Students of all different ages have to go to private schools after class to supplement their studying. Even though it feels like a break in college, they have more exams to prepare for. For non-English majors, they must take the CET-4 and CET-6, and for English majors, they must take the TEM-4 and TEM-8. These exams matter more than any others and have a lot of weight when it comes to graduating and finding jobs after school. These aren’t excuses for their seeming laziness, but if you want to understand a Chinese student’s school life, it all resolves around these exams.

PBS did a fascinating documentary on the Goakao.  I'm often asked about how American students get into college.  They are amazed when I tell them that US colleges and universities consider test scores, grades, extracurricular activities, jobs, volunteer experience, and so much more.  In China, it's one test score that will determine where a student will go to school and their major.  No choice.  

Many Chinese students want to study in the US.  I hear this all the time.

Most of my students come to class, work hard, and are a joy to teach.  

cash society

Can-do attitude + Internet + Credit card = China travel here I come!

Wait, not so fast.

First, I have PC paperwork to complete, with approval and signatures to gather from all around.  I feel like a Jr. HS student asking parents to go on a field trip.  But, the bigger hassle is money.  Not that I don’t have much because I’m a volunteer, even though that’s a stark reality, but that I have a foreign credit card.  As a true American, I’m willing to use my credit card to make my dreams happen.  That American value of consumerism totally conflicts with the Chinese value of saving money.  The problem: Chinais largely a cash based society.

I’ve read on the tourist websites that foreign credit cards are accepted at international hotels, fancy restaurants, and high-end stores, none of which are in my near or distant future.

Ty and Stu are coming in a few weeks, so I want to buy plane tickets to southern China.  My tutor, “Jack,” researched Chinese airline websites to see about prices.

Jack gets a Thanksgiving kiss from the French teacher

Jack is a 22 year old graduate student, about to graduate with a degree in English translation and interpretation.  He’s been hanging out with PCVs since he was a freshman, so he's very understanding of and comfortable with American ways.  I had only been in Chongqing a few weeks when I met him on a city bus.  He was bold enough to come up to me and start a conversation, and immediately helped me with directions.  His English is perfect.

The ticket prices sound great, much cheaper than I can find using kayak.com.  I called the airline, press 2 for English, make it through the reservation, only to get shut-down at the US MasterCard payment.  “You need a Chinese credit card.”

I have a Chinese bank account, with a national Union Pay debit card, but little money on it because of the volunteer part.  So, I reviewed my banking vocabulary, and went to the bank, thinking I can move money from my US debit card to my China debit card.  The bank teller doesn’t think it’s so simple.  I called Jack to translate, by passing the phone back and forth through the window slot, and pushing the patience of the teller.

I get sent to the ATM to withdraw CASH, ...whoa, I need a lot of RMB!  Of course, there is a too low RMB transaction limit, and I don’t come close to the amount I need.  While the machine is spitting out bills, I’m thinking about the PCV safety and security video of a Chinese girl getting stabbed at an ATM machine, and I’m thinking about the lesson on checking all bills 50 yuan or bigger to see if they are counterfeit.  Everyone check their bills here, counterfeiting is that common.    

With a fist full of unchecked bills, I go back to the teller who makes the deposit on my Bank of China debit card.  I think all is good, I head up the hill and to the phone for the airline tickets: same person, same conversation, and same outcome.  This time, the problem is my debit card is not established for online/phone purchases.  What?

Another trip to the bank is needed, but Jack is on a plane to Saudi Arabia.  Ever thoughtful, Jack leaves his friend “Michael” to tutor me while he is away for a month.  We go back to the bank together, and unbelievably, I remember my passport, a good thing because new forms are required.  The teller is obviously relieved to see Michael this time.   

In the end, I now have a small electronic device with numbers scrolling and changing every so often.  To make a purchase, I need to enter these numbers, my card number, AND I need to enter numbers from a text message.  Talk about security! 

Do I have the tickets? Not yet.

My sister emailed me a few possible airline websites with competitive prices and with an international credit card option.  I love and miss using my credit card.

missed class

My phone was ringing like crazy, and I’m irritably thinking, “I’m not picking up, stop ringing.”  There’s no voice mail here, so it’s a common practice to just keep calling and calling and calling.

I’m face down on a massage table with a blind guy a little too vigorously working on a knot in my lower back that I didn’t even know existed, and I’m wishing I’d studied some words I might need in this situation.  All I can remember how to say is, “Don’t push me,” useful for getting on the bus.  I decide to let it go.

Jason’s on the next table, half asleep, waiting his turn, occasionally rallying for a translation, “He says something about your lower back.”  It’s my hill running legs that need the work and my motivation to find a good massage place.

A few weeks ago, my tutor and I search for and found this place: blind massage, walking distance from school, really clean by Chinese standards, in a good neighborhood, no prostitution, and cheap ($5 for an hour).  I’m not willing to go alone, and I love Jason because he is always game for getting out and his Chinese is great.

Eventually, I pick up the phone.  It’s another teacher in my department, one who often communicates and translates school stuff for me.

She’s desperate, “Ann! Where are you?”

“Off campus.”

“You missed your class!”

I’m baffled, “What class?”  I used to teach a class on Friday afternoon, but it was changed to Thursday, during the lunch/rest hours, because so many students were missing it.  They leave early to spend the weekend at home.

“Oh, didn’t you get my message on QQ?  I sent it 2 days ago.”  QQ is a China communication lifeline, a website that kind of blends email, IM, facebook, google docs, and who knows what else.  I have an account, but I’m rarely on it for many reasons, but mostly because I don’t read Chinese and navigating it is really frustrating.

She continues, “You have a new class for 3+1 freshman students, reading and writing.  We have to reschedule it for Sunday.”  3+1 is a program where students study at this university for 3 years, and then go to the UK to study one year.  They get degrees from both universities.  It was the sophomore 3+1 class that I used to teach on Fridays.  I guess the scheduler is thinking that the freshman won’t leave early on Fridays to go home?

I respond with the PC trained part of my brain:  “OK”

Here’s the crazy part: these 3+1 classes have no curriculum, no scope and sequence, no book, nothing.  I’m amused because the dean this week asked me to do a teacher training next semester on reading and writing, exactly like she asked me to do back in September when I did a training on WICR.  Now, I’m not sure what she expects.  Apparently WICR wasn’t enough, and she told me the teachers want to observe me teaching this class.  Well, at least I’m on solid ground with experience teaching with WICR.

Another surprise came on Thursday when I was told I’d be giving a speech to the freshmen on Saturday morning.  Who knows on what topic.  The PC warned us about this possibility, telling us to have prepared at all times: a lesson, a workshop, a song, and a speech.  Maybe there were other things, but I don’t remember. 

A speech in the morning.  A new class in less than 48 hours.  Right.

my new best friend

The good news is I have a new space heater, thanks to my counterpart teacher’s guanxi.  I have a new used mattress, thanks to my own tenacious persistence and probably the little gifts I give the 2 workers who help me.  I have a lot more mold advice, thanks to my good friends and the PC China doctor.  I have a seemingly mold-free bedroom, but I’m suspicious.  It’s like finding one tick on you, and then you feel like you’re covered in ticks.  I’m eyeing everything, “Is THAT mold?” 

On my honey: "Everything new is fine.
Coffee is lovely without cups.
I am lonely without you.
Come into my heart, I do love it."

2 guys carried this across campus
 and up 6 fights of stairs

salvation from Judy