American Values

After Friday's class a number of students came up to me and asked if the teachers would talk more and in particularly if they would talk about American culture. Their main point was that they don't often get a chance to hear native English speakers and that by giving them a lot of group work we were letting a golden opportunity for them slip by. So I decided to try to put together a program for today that would allow for a lot of speaking on the instructor's part but would also tell them something about American culture. I had a number of ideas over the weekend, including going over the top ten American films as listed by the American Film Institute. But the lesson I finally decided upon was based on what I dubbed "American Values." In short, I took seven questions from actual American opinion polls. The issues were: abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, evolution, gay marriage, burning the American flag, and global warming. After explaining the vocabularly in the poll questions I had myself and my fellow teacher debate these issues, him taking the right wing positin (calling him Mr. Right) and me taking the left wing view (calling me Mr. Left).

The goal was then to have them to discuss these issues, vote on the opinion poll questions and compare their answers to the American answers. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to fit everything in. In particular, I did not have time to tally all the answers and they did not really get enough time to discuss all of the questions. In addition, I am not sure that they understood all the questions because the language really needed to be simplified on some of them. Not surprisingly, they took very different position on evolution than the American ones, with almost all ascribing to a view that God had no role in evolution. They were also overwhelmingly in favor of capital punishment and against flag burning. But on other issues their views were not so monolithic. There was a surprising tolerance for some recognition of gay marriage, not quite as high as on the American poll where it was nearly fifty percent, and there was a real concern with global warming and a near even split on euthanasia. For a number of reasons it was impossible to get a clear read on the abortion issue.

But I think the most interesting thing to come of the discussion was I hope that they had a chance to see that there is not one distinct American opinion. They often ask questinos "what do Americans think of 'x' and it was important for them to see that there is a real division in American opinion. At least I hope that is what they got out of it.

Language Note

Here's something to think about. First, there is an actual word in Chinese for "the day after tomorrow." It is houtian. There is also a word for "the day before yesterday." It is qianbian. This is the only language I am aware of that has specific words for these concepts. But this is not the interesting thing. The interesting thing is that the word fo the day that is in the future, that is, the day after tomorrow, is the same word for what is behind. The idea here is that we cannot see what is in back of us, just as we cannot see the future. Conversely, the word for the day before yesterday, that is, the notion of something in the past, is the same word as the word for what is in front of us. The thinking here is that just as we can see what is in front of us, so we can see the past. This is the opposite of what we would expect. We would expect the word that refers to what is"behind" us to be the word for the past, just as we would expect the word for what is "in front" of us to be the word for the future. But it is the exact opposite. Nothing is as it seems.

Gan Bei

We had a course in "banquet etiquette" today, that is, how to behave at banquets. We've been told that banquets are a fairly common occurence. Perhaps as often as once a month people from your department and from the university will get together for dinner, and there is a certain protocal you need to follow and certain rules that must be observed. For example, you wait to be told where you will be seated; you don't start in on the dishes (which are put on a sort of lazy susan) until the guest of honor begins; you should bring the bowl you are eating in up to your mouth rather than leave it on the table. Indeed, there is an interesting system with the bowls. Essentially, you are given what we would consider a very small bowl to eat in. Much of the food is taken off of the plates on the lazy susan and consumed. There is a small plate to be put under the bowl that is to be used for scraps and such.

But most of the discussion on banquet etiquette concerned drinking. Drinking is a big part of any banquet, and if you have read Peter Hessler's "River Town," which is his account of two years spent as a Peace Corps volunteer in China, you will know that this can get out of hand. It becomes a matter of face to drink when you are being toasted. The only problem is that there are a lot of toasts and that the local alcohol you are being toasted with (beijou) is rather strong. So you really have to watch out. The beijou is served in what I estimmate to be one-half ounce shot glasses. The trick is to empty of few at the start of the banquet (the traditional toast is "Gan bei" or "bottoms up," which means you are supposed to empty your glass. If you don't it is taken as quite an insult. So the trick is to do a few of these at the start of the banquet to prove your merit and then sip slowly the rest of the banquet. It sounds good in theory, but we will see how it works from practice.

The picture is from the practice banquet that we did today.

haiku

Today I had them write haikus. A haiku is a poetic form that has three lines: the first line is 5 syallbles, the second line is 7 syllables and the third line is 5 syllables. This exercise built upon a previous excercise where they wrote about their favorite natural place. So the poems were mostly about nature. As well I told them to bring in a picture of their favorite place, which many of them did. The students had to stand up and recite their poems and talk a little bit about the place they wrote about. I'll just let the students speak for themselves.

(1) Beautiful cloudline/Floating under the blue sky/Gives me happiness
(2) Beautiful garden/Trees turn green, flowers come out/Loving the garden
(3) A colorful lake/Set in a charming picture/Feel in the heaven
(4) A charming tulip/Turning out wonderfully/Attract you and me
(5) An old white dragon/Swimming in the vast blue sea/Singing happily
(6) A beautfiful sea/Like a diamond in thesky/Attract all of us
(7) A majestic peak/Sticking up into the clouds/will make me come back
(8) A beautiful plain/Happily plays my daughter/Like a butterfly
(9) My husband and I/A pair of mandarin ducks/Bathe in the moonlight
(10)A lovely river/Paradise of all people/Happy and joyous
(11) World of fairy tale/Charming and dreaming for me/until forever
(12)The falling leaves/Dancing in the heavy wind/Disturb my feeling

A Day in the Life

Some people have mentioned that they haven't heard much about Mr. and Mrs Z lateley, so since not much of note went on today I thought I would catch you up. Actually, there is not much to tell here. Things have fallen into a routine. Mrs. Z is out the door by a little after six a.m. for her morning walk. I usually manage to struggle outside by 6:20 or so for a thirty to forty minute run, and if I don't go to the track but run around the campus I usually cross paths with her. There are actually quite a number of folks out walking at that time, some of whom are doing a slow shuffle (actually just a bit slower than I go these days) while there are actually one or two going at a pretty decent clip. Anyway, I get back in time to take a shower before breakfast. Breakfast has been a challenge. I think I may have mentioned this earlier. It originally started as a bowl of boiled milk, a hard boiled egg and some white bread. I managed to get the milk replaced by soymilk and then started searching for a cereal. I found some corn-flake like stuff, but then found something a little more substantial in the form of a type of instant oatmeal. I had hoped to eliminate the egg but have not found a way to do that succesfully. I think they would feel they weren't feeding me if I didn't eat that egg. It would be like I was not getting a complete breakfast. So I eat my egg every morning but vow never to eat another egg again as soon as I complete the homestay. So to get back to my schedule, I eat breakfast and then have to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink in front of everyone (During one room cleaning Mrs. Z saw my toothbrush and immediatley put in in the kitchen where of course a toothbrush belongs) and head out for the day.

I don't see Mr and Mrs Z again until I get home around 5:30. We were eating at around six but the time seems to have switched until right around 5:30 when I have time to undress and lie down for a few minutes before Mr Z calls me to dinner with "chu fan" (eat meal). Dinner is nothing fancy but is generally pretty healthy consisting in a lot of vegetable dishes. I have learned to be careful with what I eat because if I express an interest in anything I am bound to see it or some version of it again, and again, and again. This has generally worked out pretty well as they see that I like tofu and a lot of vegetables and that is what the meals have sort of evolved into. The only strategic mistake I have made in this regard is expressing an interest in "nan gua" (pumpkin), which is great for Halloween but I wouldn't recommend for dinner

After dinner we take a nightly walk of about an hour. The problem is I never know when the walk is going to begin. At some point after dinner and before it gets dark Mrs Z says, "we are going," and literally within 15 seconds they are out the door. So I must be on constant alert after dinner awaiting this signal. Afterwards I do some work or sometime head out for the evening if something is going on. But during the week I am generally pretty wiped by the time the walk is over.

And that is pretty much it here in Zhung Guo.

Your favorite place

Well, today was the first day of teaching with the new class, and to keep it as easy as possible I used a lesson from a lesson plan book that the Peace Corps provides. This one is actually part of an environmental course and the lesson was focused on the notion of "My favorite place." So you start by talking about how you love to travel and then you talk about one of your favorite places. The idea is to get them to think about, describe and talk about their favorite place. I chose Southern Utah and showed them pictures on my computer from a recent camping trip down there. They were quite taken by the beauty of the place, for good reason. Then I talked about why I go down there and what it means to me and then I asked them to come up with their favorite place. First I paired them with another student and they had to interview the student about their favorite place, asking such questions as "What is your favorite place?" "Why do you go there?" "What do you do when you are there?" Then they were put in groups of four and asked to introuduce each other's favorite place and fill out a couple of group questions. Finally, each group reported to the class. Many of them named places in nature but more than a few talked about cities. There were definitely some places worth tracking down. Anyway, the lesson went fine, though nothing spectacular. I am going to link it with a lesson in which they are to write poetry about their favorite place.

HOT: The heat has returned. After a brief respite scorching temperatures and high humidity are the order of the day. I went to put on a shirt I wore last week and found it caked with salt.

Suan nai: It is a running joke. There is a little mom and pop shop on campus where I used to buy yogurt (suan nai) but the last couple of times they have been out. Still, I walk buy their every day and ask the wife of the owner "Do you have yougurt" (Yo mei you suannai) and she recognizes me and smiles and says "Mei you' (Do not.) It has gotten to the point where she simply says "Mei you" when she sees me.

Interesting language note: The word for 'yogurt' is the same word for 'garlic,' though with a different tone. However, the word you say when you can't agree on a price with a seller is the exact same word and tone as the word for garlic. This could be confusing if you were bargaining about garlic.

Class Cancelled

Well, we had a brief respite in the heat wave over the weekend, but the heat has returned in full force as of today. They tell me it's been the hottest summer in thirty years here. But I can no longer complain about it as much as I previously have because as a result of the heat, classes have been cancelled at the college we were teaching at. I am still not sure of the exact reason why, but it seems there was some concern about having the students come back to classes (which they don't usually do at this time of year) and to crowded dormotories in the midst of a record heat wave. Sichuan Teachers College was running a full slate of courses in a special three week session to get their students ready for some upcoming exam, but they determined that it was not worth the risk. Consequently, my life has gotten a whole lot easier for the time being. Instead of being hauled across town and back and having to walk across the campus for lunch, we get to stay on the campus of Chengdu University, take a leisurely 2 1/2 hour lunch, hang out in an air conditioned room and do class preparation. But as a result, I no longer have a class of my own but am now team teaching with another volunteer. In one sense I am pretty sad about all this. I was just getting to know my class and had laid the groundwork to do some interesting things. On the other hand, I now have a lot less work and a lot more time. Still, I miss having my own class and have never been a particularly good team player. And it's especially hard when you are walking into someone else's classroom. We have tentatively resolved the situation by having one of us take the lead each day. So I am currently plotting out tomorrow's class and will let you know how it goes.

Like a Rollling Stone

Today, I told my students I gave in (at least for one day) to student demands for "music and movies." In the first half of the class, we analyzed "Like a Rolling Stone." I brought in my computer and played the song off of that and wrote the lyrics on the board. I told them this was by the greatest American folksinger and was recently voted the greatest rock and roll song of all time, in order to let them know this song really does contain part of the American soul. We actually worked our way through the first chorus and after I explained some language: "bums," "dime," "in your prime," "doll," "kiddin' you," hangin' out," "scroungin'" and, of course "rolling stone." It turns out there is a saying in Chinese that is roughly the equivalent of "A Rolling Stone gathers no moss." And we talked about that saying and what it means and how it relates to the song. It took a little work to get them to understand the story of the song and even more to get them to consider the question of what a rolling stone in and whether it is good to be one. Most of them came down against being a rolling stone, a wanderer, and wanted to be in one place. But I felt we could have had more discusison on this point actually. But I stopped discussion and I told the class that this was my favorite song and asked the students for theirs. This was probably the best idea I've had this whole week, and they really enjoyed telling me their favorite songs, and even a few volunteered to sing after I led the way. I didn't know many of them, though most were AMerican songs. "Country Road," by Bob Denver, "Yellow Submarine," by the Beatles and the theme song from Titanic were among the ones I recognized. That was the first part of class, which went pretty well. The second part, which consisted in showing some of The Sopranos did not go so well in part because I had to show it on my little computer screen and in part because, well, I just don't think they got it. Organized crime, mafia, etc., were simply foreign concepts that I had trouble explaining. But as I said, if you want to understand America, I think you really have to understand the role of organized crime in American moves--but that is a subject for a different class. I tried to bring it around to a discussion of whether a bad man like Tony Soprano could be happy. But again, that discussion did not get off the ground.

One difficult thing is we have classes of twenty or less right now, and only a single class, and when we start teaching we will probably have seven classes with forty or so students each (the normal load is for each class to meet once a week for 90 minutes). So anyway, when I'm not sleeping, I will be doing some lesson planning. Zai jian.

Teaching in China

I asked students to write anonymous comments today. Here are a few of them (unedited): (1) Could you tell us something more about real lives of Americans; (2) I hope we can watch some movies or listen to music in class; (3) teach some easy and usually use's sentencs in daily life (4) Give us more information about you country or the country you know such as your country's people festival; (5) I want to see a movie; it is very interesting; (6) we want to see some American movies, just like criminal horiible comedy miracle and legendary; (7) please give us more information about your country such as festivals, customs and daily life; (8) we want to see some movies, listen to music.

And sometimes the bear eats you

Not a great day teaching. In fact, a pretty bad day. I thought I had a good lesson for the first session laying of the parts of an argument and the relation between premises and conclusion. A lot of stuff on the board for them to take in and practice on. But at the break one of the students said that everyone "wanted to play games." This is how most of the volunteers teach, by getting the students to play games and such. I said, "If you want to play games, go to the park," which he did not seem to get. Fun activities are important but as well they really need to develop their English skills and I just don't see how games are going to do that. The different skill level is problematic as well: The better ones seem bored and the lower skilled ones just don't get anything. But when I asked the higher level ones to formulate a simple thesis it was clear they could not do it and so had no idea of what was going on. So while I know I have to do other things besides lecture, I just don't think games are the way to go. The second part of class was an unmitigated disaster. I had planned to put them in the same groups they were in yesterday to get them to argue against the very thing they had argued for yesterday. I realized at the break this would not be a good idea and I would have tried something different except one of the supervisors came in to observe so I decided to stick to the plan which I knew was awful, and was right. They were like, "we just did this yesterday," which in fact they had. At least I console myself with the fact that my instincts were solid.

Matters of Value

Another fascinating day in the classroom. I'm sure this will soon get old and especially when we are teaching 7 or 8 such classes a week. But for now it is new and fascinating if exhausting. The lesson today was to get them to realize the difference between what I call "matters of taste" such as 'what's your favorite food' or 'what sports team do you like' and what I call "matters of value"involving issues such as religion, politics and ethics. I listed a number of "value propositions" on the board and broke them into groups of two and had them discuss the propositions and present reasons for their positions. The point was to get them to see the whole process of argument and how one goes about providing reasons for one's positions. The overall scope of the course, I explained, was to get them to begin to understand how one can go about engaging in discussion on matters of value, which is what most people want to talk about. If you want to get to know someone, find out what they think on matters of value.

Each group could choose its own proposition to talk about, and in the end only four of the ten propositions were discussed: (1) whether one needs to be married to be happy; (2) whether women should stay home or go to work (3) whether suicide should be illegal; (4) whether marijuana should be legal. The interesting thing was that they split pretty much down the middle on all of these issues, which came as a complete surprise to me because my fear was that there would be a uniformity of opinion. But there was more diversity of opinion in this classroom then in my one in Utah. Go figure.

First day of school

Wow, what a day. The first day of teaching. This is just to prepare us for our full teaching load, but what was supposed to be a mock teaching experience turned into a real class when we were assigned to teaching a group of Junitors at Sichuan Teachers College. How to describe it? Like being thrown into the water and learning how to swim. Sure, we prepared a practice lesson plan and sure I've been teaching for nearly twenty yearss--but nothing like this. A classload of students who do not speak your language as their primary language and who expect you to help them speak better. That at least is the class, Oral English, and it is about the most basic class you can be given to teach. Also about the furthest thing from anything I have taught in the past. Twenty students--most of them girls. I started by telling them a little about me and then getting their information. They all have been given English names at this stage in their college careers. Some standard like Wendy, Yolanda and Eileeen and some not so standard likeKoala (like the bear), Ameko and Moon. And one male studeent is named Valient. The class did not start off so well as I went around trying to get them to tell me their names and something about myself. Most of them spoke so softly I could hardly hear them but when I went down to talk to them one on one the other students started talking. We were warned that this could be a real problem in the classroom, alhtough I think I handled it pretty well. That took up most of the first 45 minute session. For the second 45 minute session I put on the board a top 5 list I got from a web site which stated the top 5 things for a westerner to do before coming over here to learn english. After giving them the list which included things like learn to eat with chopsticks and watch some chinese movies, i asked them to add to the list. Here are some of their answers: 'learn the language,' 'learn something about the city in which you will live,' 'learn something about the culture and simple greeting sentences,' 'learn to eat local dishes and don't always go to KFC.' Well, discussion that took up most of the second session. And though it might not sound like it, it was pretty exhausting work. And I've no idea what I will do tomorrow. Please feel free to e-mail me any suggestions.

Language Lesson

When it’s this hot, and this humid, and you’ve been doing this much all week, including Saturday language class, well, you don’t really feel like doing much on Sunday. So that is what I’ve done all day, nothing really, at least nothing that would take me out of the apartment. I mostly studied language and worked on my lesson plans for the first day of teaching. One thing I would pass along about Mandarin for those who don’t know it is that it is tonal, that is, the same syllable can mean something entirely different depending upon how it is pronounced. Basically, there are four tones: a flat, high tone; a rising tone; a combined falling and rising tone; and a falling tone. So, for example, ma in the 1st tone means “mother,” in the 2nd tone means both “hemp” and “numb,” in the 3rd tone means “horse,” and in the 4th tone means both “scold” and “sweat.” So the picture is of me in my room working on my language homework. As you can see, I’ve figured out how to work the self-timer on my camera. The highlight of the day, besides not moving from the apartment, was watching the big volleyball match against Italy with Mr. Z, who it turns out is quite an avid volleyball (“piuqui” pronounced peeyew chewee). After each point I would count out the score in the local dialect. It was good practice. In case you were wondering, Italy won three games to none.

The Mountain is Far Off

We had a Saturday language session today. As I've said, the there are 20 of us here, but the language classes are in groups of four. So you get to know your fellow three group mates pretty well. Thankfully, we all get along and seem to enjoy each other, which makes the four hours pass a little more quickly (if that's possible). The attached is a picture of my fellow language classmates with our teacher, who we call Zou Laoshi (Teacher Zou). We have all been given Chinese names, which we will carry with us throughout our time in China. The way they go about forming it is to take something akin to your last name as your Chinese family name, and then they just give you something for the equivalent of your first name. I should also say that in China one is always introduced by one's family name first. It is a real sign, I think, of the importance of the family in China, that you are a member of a family first and an individual second. Anyway, since there is nothing close to Vernezze in Chinese--there is not even a letter 'V'--they gave me as my last name "WU." "W" is about as close as Chinese comes to a "V." As for the first name, well it's "Yuan Shan," which they tell me means "far off mountain" or "the mountain is far off." There are a couple of ways you could interpret this, I gather. Either that you have ambitious goals, having set your sites on a mountain, and that you have a long way to go, because the mountain is far off. Probably somethingof both of these apply.

Sichuan Teachers College (East Campus)

Just so everyone is clear on the situation, there are a total of 60 PCVs (you should all know by now what those initials stand for) in Chengdu. This is the sum total of all the PCVs in China. Currently we are split into three different groups, with roughly 20 of us on each of three campuses in Chengdu. In about six weeks we will be sent out to universities throughout Western China. There, in groups of one or two, we will will teach a full load. One thing that I did not know is that our classes will meet only once a week for roughly two hours (two 50 minute sessions with a ten minute break) and that we will be teaching seven or eight courses a semester. Fortunately there should only bet 2 or 3 preps.

Anyway, I am at Chengdu University, which of course means nothing to you. But in order to prepare us to teach in a Chinese classroom, for the next three weeks we will teach a single class in the afternoons (in addition to 4 hours language study in the afternoons). Originally, they were just going to recruit Chinese students to study with us in sort of mock classes. But it turns out one of the other campuses has some actual classes going on during this time and so wants us to teach some regular Chinese students in real Chinese classrooms. So half of us will be taking a bus in the afternoon to Sichuan Teachers College (East Campus). We were brought over there today--about a 10 minute ride in a small van--in order to get to know the campus and to see our classrooms. We were also scheduled to meet with an assistant dean in the program we were teaching in. The visit seemed to be going fine. We'd had lunch, toured the campus, got another briefing from Peace Corps folks on teaching and then the 10 of us were brought into an adademic meeting room. I expected the meeting to be pro forma and that the assistant dean was going to thank us for coming to his college and disrupting our normal schedule. Instead he proceeded to drill us on what we were going to teach while we there. His students needed instruction in speaking English, and he wanted specifics: what topics we were going to go into and how we were going to go about improving their speaking. He seemed a little taken aback by the y0uth of the group, I think, and wanted some reassurance (at least that was my read). It took a few minutes for everyone ro realize what was going on and then I think we were all taken aback. I mean, we had been asked to prepare one lesson plan, and I don't think that fact would have satisfied him. As someone whose been in his share of academic meetings, I spoke up first. I said I had taught at universities for 20 years, had published two text books, and I was going to draw on material from my critical thinking textbook and apply the elements of critical thinking to the art of conversation. I think he was satisfied, or perhaps he simply did not understand what I said. In any case, he proceeded to press the rest of the room on this topic without getting anything like the answer he was looking for. It was my understanding when we left that he did not even want us assigning his students grades, which is probably fine with everyone here. And I wouldn't even be surprised to find our performance at Sichuan Teaches College (East Campus) cut short. I guess we'll find out Monday.

diarrhea dialogue

Anyone who thinks there is anything romantic about this whole experience would have been disabused of that notion rather quickly after today's lecture from local health professionals entitled "Diarhea dialogue"--a 90 minute lecture and slide show presentation on all the bacterial and parasitic forms of diarrhea we have to look forward to during our time here. Diarrhea is no joke. Annually 2.2 million people, mostly children, die from it, primarily from dehydration. The easy stuff is the bacterial variety, beginning with your basic "Montezuma's revenge" type diarrhea. Then there is salmonella and shigella. None of these are particularly pleasant and have symptoms ranging from loose stools, headache, body ache, fever/chills. But they are not the primary concern. The primary concern is parasitic diarrhea. There is amoebiasis or amoebic dyssentary, giardia, staphylococcus food poisoning and, perhaps most dreaded, ascariasis or roundworm and tapeworm. Some tape worms can reach 30 feet and essential line the intestine and the great thing is there is a good chance you will not know it is there. All of this information was presented with graphic slides, and it is not hard to imagine why they wait till they get you here to show give you this information and don't present it at the recruiting talk.

We have in our medical kit top grade Oral Rehydration Salts which we are to take after the first loose bowel movements. The strategy is not to stop yourself up as it were because that just gives things time to spread around the system rather than get dumped out of your body. We were also given the formula to make our own oral rehydration salts in case we are in a place where we don't have access to the packaged stuff, so the adventurous among you might want to take notes: To one liter of water add two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of salt. If you can throw in a little baking soda, all the better. Shake and try to choke the thing down 8 ounces per hour, at least.

This is serious stuff and the danger here is real. On site we will have to use a distiller for all the water we will drink. Indeed, all of us will get this and for some of this it will get pretty bad. The good news is it probably won't kill us and that if we are careful and take precautions we can go a long way towards limiting our risk. It's probably not too much to bring your own chopsticks to a restaurant we were told. The good places not have reusable ones, but there are a lot of places that will and the risk is just not worth it. Wash your hands a lot. We were told to sing "Happy Birthday To You" twice while handwashing and that that should make sure you have washed your hands for a sufficient amount of time. Don't eat anything you can't peel, boil or wash in bleach and water.

When the doctor presenting the talk had finished she said to the hushed crowd, "Enjoy your lunch."

Jay Katz/Ultimate Frisbee

The big events of today were a visit from the Regional Director for Asia and the Middle East, Jay Katz, and the game of Ultimate Frisbee. I had not heard of either actually until recently, and was impressed by both. We had been prepped for the visit of Jay Katz, the Regional Director for the Peace Corps in our area and told to wear our best dress--or else. So after language class we were marched into the conference room where we were first introduced to our Chinese families. There we sat around a conference table while he talked about the importance of the work we were doing here in terms of both the good we are doing for our Chinese students and for Chian/U.S relations. He obviously had read over our resumes and as each person went around the room he greeted them warmly by their name and would throw out a comment or two about some of us. He called me "the philosopher." I wondered for if as well as my academic resume he had looked at my police record. Anyway, he spoke about the workthe Peace Corps is doing, and how he there are plans to open up programs next year in Vietnam and Cambodia. Recently programs were shut down in Nepal, Bangladesh and one oof the "Stans" (Uzbekastan). He is a very humble man and his talk was a needed boost to the kids. I think a lot of folks are wondering what they are doing here so far away from home and need to be reminded of why they are here in the first place. One comment he made bears remembering. He talked about what a personal experience this service is here and how when you return home for the most part people are not really going to want to hear about it and certainly won't understand it. I think a lot of these kids have in mind regaling their friends with stories and the fact is that is simply not going to happen. But this is a good thing because what you get out of this is actually not the stories you tell (because there are very few things people want to listen to less than other people's travel stories) but the way this experience transforms you internally.

As inspiring as the talk was, I derived at least as much inspiration from the game of Ultimate Frisbee we played this eveining. Eseentially like football with a frisbee, the game is played by advancing the frisbee by passing it to a member of your team, and you turn over the frisbee with an incomplete or intercepted past. I am not sure the Chinese knew what to make of these crazy Americans running up and down a field throwing this small disk, but we all certainly enjoyed it, not the least because I think for a moment we could all forget where we were an immerese ourselves completely in something so totally home grown.

Lao wai

One of the more interesting aspects of being here is the reaction we draw from the locals. It's not that they've never seen a Westerner. But we are in Western China, far away from the throbbing pulse of Shanghai or Beijing, and we are an unusual enough as to evoke a reaction. Usually it is just a prolonged stare, I mean a really prolonged stare. But children are much less shy about their reaction, and it is not unusual to come across a group of children and hear the response "lao wai, lao wai," which literally means "old foreigner."

This is on my mind right now because I've just returned from my evening walk wth Mr and Mrs Z. So far they have been religious about it, heading out every night after supper. But tonight more than other nights I seem to evoke this reaction.

It is not said only to the old or middle aged among us but is a reaction evoked by even the youngest PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). And it is not meant in a derogatory manner but is simply an honest response the kids have to an unusual situation. Chengdu is about the most metropolitan place we will be at and many volunteers will be sent to places where they may well be one of a few Westerners many have ever seen, certainly that the people will have any contact it. So this attention is good preparation. Usually we come across mostly college students on this campus, and they are actually pretty nonchalant. But tonight we seemed to run across several groups of children. In fact there a couple of times I did not catch it and Mr Z would laugh and say "Lao Wai, lao wai," and then point to the children.

Tonight I bumped into more of the students out with their Chinese families. A couple of them were at the pingpong tables being humiliated by six year olds at the common area with
baskeball courts and a couple of dozen ping pong tables. Heading back I saw one of the woman running through the crowds with her walkman and I shouted "lao wei, lao wei," and Mr Z really seemed to get a kick out of that.

It's nothing to me

The week is filled with language class in the morning from 8-12 and teaching praticum until 5 or 5:30 after lunch. It keeps me busy, which is good, but doesn't make for the most eventful of days, which can be good as well. So wen not much happens, I will throw in a few observations that you may or may not find interesting. Yesterday, for example, I had my introduction to Chinese mah jong. Mrs. Z is quite a devotee, and after lunch she had the restaurant bring out the game. I should say people tell me that the game is something like a national obsession, and people think nothing of playing the game for six or eight hours at a time (or longer)--and of course it is played for money. I won't go into the details of the game except to say it played with domino type tiles that are classified into three types and numerical sequences. There are a few similarities to gin rummy actually, which is one of the reasons I was able to catch on relatively quickly (although I would not have been able to compete seriously without the help of the restaurant staff who took quite an interest in the whole process). And just like you go down in gin rummy once you've filled out your cards, so in mah jong when you get your tiles in the proper sequences (with runs and triples just like in gin rummy) you declare victory. But one interesting difference between going down in gin rummy and mah jong is that while in gin rummy one person wins and everyone else loses, but in mah jong when one person goes down as a result of a tile he's picked up from another person, the person who put down the tile is the loser and as for the other players, as Mrs Z said "it has nothing to do with them." They don't win, but they don't lose. Only the poor chump who put down the tile that gave the other person the winning tile is the loser. I do not think there is any parallel in any American game I've played (and I've since found out this concept is unique to the Sichuan province). How to interpret this? My best explanation is that it is a way to save face for more people than the standard system of winners and losers. That is, in a four person game only one person loses as opposed to the standard way in gin rummy or any group game really where the three others lose. And it is really quite a differece, I can tell you, a difference you feel once you understand the concept although you can hear it as well in the tone of the voice of Mrs. Z when she says "You lose;he wins; it's nothing to me."

To go up a mountain is difficult

I I

thought it would be a quiet day, this Sunday, the day of rest. I did my tai chi with the retirees in the square, and they even insisted on giving me the sword to do sword tai chi and there was almost an international incident as I nearly poked the eye out of one of the participants. Afterwards I went for a run around campus and was planning on taking it easy when Mrs. Z said, "We go to ancient city," and before I knew it we were on the street outside of the school wainting for a bus, the four of us, Mr and Mrs Z and their son Zeng Xiang, who is responsible for me having internet in my room.

It has been remarked before that there is an irony in that the verb in Chinese that goes with "bus" to mean "ride the bus" is the word "sit." The irony is that one rarely sits on a Chinese bus. I had heard this tidbit of linguistic wisdom on chinesepod.com, but hearing is one thing, and experience is something quite different. And so this morning both the bus to Loadai (?) and the bus to the Golden Dragon Great Wall were wall to wall packed. About ten minutes into the trip Mrs. Z said we were going to see the "Limited Great Wall," whatever that meant. Forty five minutes and two bus trips later we found ourselves in front of what is known and the Goldne Dragon Great Wall. At least that's what they told me the sign in the background reads. Young Z informed me there are many Great Walls. He also said this was the first time he had been here.
Mrs. Z bought a bag of peaches from a lady selling them at the entrance. I looked at the temple on top and could not fathom that we could make it all the way up there. I mean, I was sure I could, but the 90 degree heat and roughly equal percent humidity would take their toll. But I had doubts about Mr and Mrs Z. Thankfully, there were breaks every couple of hundred yards, places where you could stop and find shade and get a cold beverage. " Whenver we stopped to take a break at one of these places (which was quite often, given that Mr Z was having some trouble with heat), poeple would take notice, Mrs. Z would say something to explain my presence and a few folks would chime in with "Hello" and seemed to get a kick out of my limited Chinese. It took close to two hours and most of the bag of peaches but we all made it up to the Buddhist temple at the top.

The title of this post comes from the fact that at one of the stops there was a rather heated exchange over the sheng shan nan, shia shan rongyi (to go up a mountain is difficult, to go down is easy), with some folks thinking that it should be the other way around and that it is in fact difficult to go down a mountain. It seem a no brainer to me, but on the other hand, their may be a certain hidden wisdom in the other interpretation.

Back on Line

It's been a while but now I am back on line: So here is a summary of the last few days:

Thursday 7/6:
And so it begins, the next part of the journey: the homestay. I think everyone was anxious, no one more than me when I was told that my homestay family had been switched at the last moment. Now, I was told, I would be staying with a husband and wife with a child. I was told the child was two or three but it turns out that child is twenty-three, and I am not sure if he lives at home.
Anyway, we drove to a campus on the outskirts of town and were greeted by a sign hanging on a building which read "Welcome U.S.-China Friendship volunteers." There we were escorted into a room where the Chinese families were together awaiting us. Just as we were wondering who we got, I am sure they were wondering who they were stuck with. I was already traumatized because I had once been rejected. There were a couple of short speeches and then we were asked to find our families who were holding up a sign with our names on it. Since mine was a last minute replacement, I was not even sure they would be there and the fear seem to be confirmed when I continued to search fruitlessly while other volunteers joined their happy families. But at last a woman in her fifties came up and asked my name and I confirmed it and soon we were out the door and headed to her apartment.
The woman is an English teacher, the man a Chinese teacher who speaks not a word of English but seems to delight in pointing out objects to me and having them repeat their names in Chinese. Dinner was vegetables and meat stirred in a wok, potatoes and come sort of red cabbage served in the following manner. The boiled potatoes are placed in a big bowl with a serving spoon, while the pork/vegetable dish and the cabbage are place in separate bowls. We are each given a bowl of rice as well. We take out the potatoes withe the serving spoon but just reach into the pork/vegetable and the cabbage dish with our chopsticks. After dinner we walked around the campus. After the hectic pace of Chengdu this place was a refreshing scene. It is hardly rustic and idyllic but it is clean and orderly with paved streets and pathways. The university is a city as it were all by itself and its confines seem at least for now to be fairly pleasant

Friday, 7/7
It’s my first breakfast, and I don’t know what to expect. Mr. Z is in the kitchen boiling some milk and pours me out bowl and then instructs me on how to hold the bowl to drink it. On the stove some eggs are being boiled in a wok and I am just glad they are not fried. There is some white bread on the table. It could be worse.

Class starts at at 8:30 with what was officially called a debriefing session in which we were to air our opinions about the first night of homestay. I think a lot of people were freaked out, no more so than by the fact that for many people (myself included) by some of the non-Western bathroom accommodations. But soon it is on language class. I am assigned to a group with the only male teacher, who immediately takes the four of us into a small room and writes on the board the Chinese for various phrases like: class is starting, open your books. I can tell this will be a disciplined classroom, and not just from the military haircut this young man is sporting. I end up going out to lunch with the teacher and another student, a young woman who seems more than a bit freaked out by this place. The teacher does the ordering, and I end up with a bowl of "fire noodles." He tells me how to order it so it isn’t hot, but the phrasing escapes me right now. I will soon have to start learning menu Chinese. They gave us a sample menu in our Peace Corps kit, but I've been told (and had this confirmed by actual experience) that this menu is not much help at the type of places (cheap) that we'll be eating at. At the end, the teacher tells me to say to woman who served us, "Lao ban, mai dan" (boss, the bill). And it seems to amuse everyone at the place. After lunch it is back for another couple hours of language and then a discussion about the difference between Eastern and Western classrooms. We are given a handout comparing Confucian and Dewey values, but no one knows who John Dewey is. So we watch a video of PCVs in action in the classroom and of Chinese teachers. The difference is, not surprisingly, striking. The Chinese teachers are much more lecture and call on students, while the PCVs practice what we refer to as "feminist pedagogy," which means of course group work and trying to entertain the students.

Dinner is the same concept as yesterday: A big dish and two or three smaller ones along with a bowl of rice. This time it is tomatoes, pumpkin, very thin sliced potatoes and ginger. I’m sorry, but I still can’t given over this shared chopsticks thing. After dinner we take another walk around campus.On it, Mrs. Z goes over the way a Chinese grade school teacher meets class, including the words (which I can’t recall now) for "stand up" and "hello teacher," and they seem to get quite a kick from me pronouncing them. Mr. Z continues his practice of pointing to objects and saying "zhe shi shenme" and waiting to see if I know the answer.

Saturday 7/8:
I should appreciate this Saturday off because the next two or three Saturdays it’s four hours of language class. Mrs. Z has invited me to her Tai Chi class which meets in a nearby square at 6:30. When we get there the square has only a few people in it and she looks confused but we find out things start at 6:40. I am invited, against my protestations, to join the class. I studied Tai Chi a while ago and know it is a very intricate, regimented and choreographed series of movements. Nevertheless, I join in and try to follow along with the movements of the other participants and not make too big of a fool of myself. We do three series of exercises and then its time for Tai Chi with fans which even I won’t attempt. Afterwards, I go for a little run around the campus.

In the afternoon I find the library and internet access, which is good. I also find a local grocery store, which is not so good because I can’t help but fill up on a lot of junk food–oreo cookies, m&ms, a big box of Nescafes with cream and sugar, ice cream. I’ve probably undermined all the detoxing my body has been going through since coming here. I can see why the Chinese are healthy generally speaking. It is a very natural diet, no processed foods, no sugar. I make a note to try to stay away from the grocery store for the remainder of my homestay.

Vaccinations

I'll keep this brief because I have to check out in ten minutes. Today I received the first round of vaccinations. I think there are about twenty shots in all but I get to miss a few because of previous vaccinations. Most notably, I've already been vaccinated for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, so that saves me about five shots. Today I received the first of three rabies vaccinations and the first of three vaccinations for japanese encephalitis. I don't know which one they put in my left arm, but it hurts like hell. This is the part they don't tell you about in the recruiting video.

Alia iacta est (The dye is cast)

While, they certainly made it suspenseful. First they called our names and gave us little slips of color coded papers with our names on them. Then, they explained that each of the three sites is coordinated with our final placement. That is, our placement will broadly be in the region assoicated with the site. So for me it means I will be slated to go either to Chengdu or Chongqing.
But for the next two months the campus I am at is supposed to be in a relatively scenic place on the edge of the city. Also, all of the apartments are on the campus in the same compound, so it means we won't have far to walk. The interesting part will be dealing with our new Chinese family. There are a number of rules. For example, we need to tell the host family when we are going to be home each night. We are supposed to eat with our Chinese family and are provided with two meals a day during the week and three meals a day on weekends. We pay for any phone calls and have to negotiate regarding the internet. And we are responsible for our own laundry. But I gather most places they tend to do your laundry in part because the Chinese do laundry every day and can't stand to see laudry pile up, so they will probably offer to take yours. I won't refuse. I gather also that Chinese take showers at night and they are thrown off by the American habit of taking a shower in the morning.
We were given the name of our family, and all I know is that I have a husband and wife. Some of the volunteers have kids and grandmas in the household, and one even has a dog. The level of English we are told can vary significantly, and not much more is required of the host family than that they can speak basic words. So that should be interesting. Well, gotta pack. It will be nice not living out of a suitcase finally.

The upcoming move

Today we beging to prepare for the first big move since coming to China. Up until now, all sixty of us have been together, and most of our days have consisted in group meetings on some topic or other in a large conference hall at the hotel. And the hotel is a very nice one. Not plush, but nice with all the amenities you would need. But starting tomorrow we will be split into three groups of twenties and sent to one of three campuses around Chengdu. In the morning we will have language classes (in small groups) and in the afternoons we will do teacher training activities. So esseentially we say good by to forty people tomorrow. Also, tomorrow we get sent off to our host families. That will doubtless be the biggest shock since so far we have been living in hotel rooms but now we begin the process of integrating into the community by spending eight weeks living with a chinese family. There will be only one person living with one family, so I am looking forward to not having a roommate (although my roomate has been an especially nice and accommodating and good-natured young man). On the other hand, it is going to be quite a challenge to live in someone else's house for eight weeks. We have to let them know of our comings and goings, we eat breakfasts and dinner there, and I believe we are to speak only Chinese in the household. As to where we will ultimately be placed for the next two years, we will not learn about that for another eight weeks or so. But in my interviews, it's become pretty clear that they want me to teach at one of the more presitgious campuses, and, as they say, like in the states these are in the more metropolitan areas. So my guess is that I will either end up in Chengdu or Chongqing. But as I said we won't find this out for another two months.

Happy Fourth of July

We had a Fourth of July "barbacue." For about two bucks each, about thirty of us wandered over to a nearby restuarant and received more things on skewers that I thought was possible to put on skewers. Afterwards, a few of us discovered that the stand next to the hotel sells beer (pijiao) as well. At first we tried the local brew, which came in a large bottle for 2.5 rmb (about 33 cents). For a follow up we tried the Budweiser. It was the Fourth of July after all, so we should have an American beer. But at about half the amount it was doulbe the cost (6 rmb/80 cents). We sat on the steps and watched people walk by. The two women cleaning the street seemed to get a kick out of the three of us sitting on the steps, especially when we put the empty bottles in the trash. Well, that was my Fourth of July in Chengdu.

The blog can stay

A couple of things.

1. It's official. The log can stay. I had to get my blog approved by the Peace Corps country director. There are certain restrictions. For one, I have to make clear that this is not associated in any way with the Peace Corps, which I've done with the disclaimer statement on top of the blog. For another, we can't use the Peace Corps logo. Also, we need to watch what we write so that nothing comes off as negative towards our host country. Finally, we are not to reveal our location for security reasons.

2. In case you were wondering, here is what we are here for: "To support Chinese development efforts and its integration into global society by increasing and improving the quality of English education and cross-cultural learning opportunities for teachers, students and local communities."

a peace corps medical kit

Here's what's in a Peace Corps medical kit, in case you're interested:
1. Non-aspirin pain reliever
2. Ibuprofen
3. Pseudophedrine
4. Benedryl
5. Pept-Eez (like PeptoBismol)
6. Antacid
7. Sepasoothe throat lozenges
8. Cough drops

Creams and Lotions
1.Hibiclens (Antiseptic skin cleanser)
2. Antibiotic Ointment
3. Anti-Fungal Cream
4. Hydrocoritsone
5. Bug Insect Repellent
6. Sun Screen

Other
1. Aquatabs (for water purification)
2. Oral Rehydration salts
3. Electrol Plus-- Sodium Free Heat Stress Relief

When the kit was handed out, I couldn't help thinking of the scene in Dr. Strangelove, where Major Kong hands out the emergecny kit after announcing we've just been bombed by Russia and it includes thinks like gold, cigarettes, nylons and prophylactics, and he remarks how a guy could have a pretty good time in Vegas with all this stuff. No such luck here!

welcome to china

Sunday, July 1
First day in country after what seemed like forever on a plane. The only thing worse than a plane ride to China is a plane ride to China in a center seat. The picture is taken in front of the hotel we are staying in in Chengdu for the next five days while we do PST (Pre service training).
If my stomach does forgives me for today, well, I promise to try to take better care of it in the future. For breakfast there was not much to be done. There as a buffet laid out. About the only thing recognizable was some greasy fried eggs. The rest was pretty much anyone’s guess. Let’s just say it was not Grape Nuts. At the morning meeting we were greeted by the country director for China, who noted among other things that the National Director of the Peace Corps was stepping down and a new one was to be appointed. Let’s just hope it’s not Michael Brown.!Lunch was incredible. Eight of us at a table with a Lazy Susan and they just kept piling dishes onto the table. We must have seen about twenty of them before it was over. My favorite was eggplant just soaked in oil and a couple of different dishes of greens. There was nothing too terribly hot. They are probably trying to lure us into a false sense of security. The afternoon session brought us back to reality as we were given our medical kit an overview of all the things that can go wrong with the body while on duty out here. It seems we are going to get a whole week instructions on diarrhea, but I think I already know how to do that.
Got out a little bit in the afternoon and just got stuck in a pouring rain. The weather in Chengdu I gather is cloudy most of the summer. I asked one of the pcv’s (peace corps volunteers) what he would think of being based here and he said that if he wanted Seasonal Affective Disorder he would move to Portland. So those four years in Seattle may come in handy. Air quality wise, the health officer said we are at the base of the Himalayas and so air masses tend to get stuck. Hence, the air quality is not as bad as it looks for a lot of the mess is low lying clouds mixed in with particulate matter. Well, I’ll know more when I get my first run in. At the evening banquet I found out that we were doing it all wrong at lunch. In brief, you are given a little bowl and a little plate at these banquets, and you are supposed to put the good you eat in the little bowl (or else just grab it from the lazy susan with chopsticks). The plate is for stuff you don't eat, like fish bones. It also seems that the no-double dipping rule is not followed (despite my attempts to enforce it at lunch), as people readily take the chopsticks that have just been in their mouths and stick it in any old plate).