China -- Never a Dull Moment!

Note:The pictures on this posting are ones that I was able to find on the internet. Hopefully soon Karen will send more. Sidney

I had a fairly normal week from Monday to Thursday. It was like the first week of school again because I had all new Oral English classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I like working on the old campus in the Continuing Education Department. The students seem more humble and teachable. I taught them about the United States and told them about my brother's experience with a mother grizzly bear in Yellowstone. I also taught them the song “Yankee Doodle”. They didn’t quite get the tune but it was fun any way. They had a little difficulty with the words “Yankee Doodle” and “macaroni”.

The weekend proved more interesting. On Friday it was Teacher’s Day in China and one of my classes had a short program for me. Later we went to the Muslim Market and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda Water Show. That was experiencing the real culture of China. Here is an excerpt from my journal:

September 10, 2010

“Amy, the class monitor, and the class had arranged a little program for me. First they all stood up and said, “Happy Teacher’s Day!” Then a young man named Bryan (named after Kobe Bryant; loves the Utah Jazz) gave a three-minute speech about the importance of teachers in passing on culture and knowledge (Party propaganda). He said he was nervous, but he pronounced the words very well—even words like “commemorate”. Then two girls got up and sang three or four Chinese folk songs some with dancing. It was so amazing! Unfortunately, I had no camera. Then Amy invited me to sing a song. I told them I would do it a little later on in the class. I was teaching them about the United States and George Washington, so I sang “Yankee Doodle” for them. They were kind and clapped for me. The last part of the program was a young man presented me with a red carnation. Red is an important color in China. I was very touched. This was the first time they had ever seen me, and they were wishing me a Happy Teacher’s Day! It was so sweet!

After my second class, a few of us got a taxi and visited the Muslim Market near the city wall. This is a set of stalls in the Muslim part of town where customers can bargain for different items. There were a lot of tourist-type items, mostly worthless trinkets. My friend took us to a stall where a boy paints pictures with ink and paper with his hands and fingers—the ultimate finger painting. I bought three framed pictures for 60 yuan each, all with a waterfall in them. Usually he sells them for 100 yuan without the frame, but he knew Mike, one of the other teachers, and gave us a good deal. We looked at some North Face jackets (not the real thing) and tried to bargain, but the clerk didn’t want to come down to our price. I need a coat for winter but I will look elsewhere.

Coming home was an exciting cultural experience. It was about 3:00 p.m. or rush hour and the buses were full. Two of us got on a crowded bus and held on for dear life. It was stinky because of the many bodies in a tight place and scary because of the number of pickpockets. I held tightly onto my bag. My money was in my pocket so it was okay.

The traffic here is outrageous. As far as I can tell there are no traffic laws per se. It seems to be a cross between Russian Roulet and Playing Chicken. The gutsiest (is that a word?) driver wins. When I pray that I will get home in safety, it is a real desire, not just a trite saying. We were scared to death on our way home from church today. I started praying out loud on the way home. The driver was crazy. Thank goodness for brakes that work.

I ate a sandwich and took a short nap and got ready for another adventure. This time there were six of us, all teachers, and we were headed to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the largest water show in the world, or so they say. (Apparently there is a video on You Tube if you want to check it out.) First, we had pizza at Papa Johns and it was very good—just like home. There are so many fast food restaurants in China. Then we strolled around the pagoda and got seats on the ledge around the water. There are several rectangular pools that go for about two blocks in length. We were there by 8:00 and the show did not start until 9:00. We were counting ourselves lucky for having a seat. Little did we realize that the closer it got to the show the more people would come and walk over us to get out on the steps between the rectangles of water. I was flabbergasted that they would let people out in the pools. Anyway, in spite of all the people, we could see some of the show because the water would shoot up very high.

The show consists of music, water shooting up high into the air, and different colored lights all in sync. They played classical themes and traditional Chinese music. It was spectacular! We were sitting at the second rectangle towards the top of the pools. At the far end was a huge cascade of water, like Old Faithful. Three of our group got up after the first few songs and left. I decided to stick it out because I might never get back again. About halfway through, most of the people on the steps left and we could watch the show without looking over people. I loved it! What a beautiful place with the ancient pagoda in the background and the water shooting up in time with the music. We walked slowly back to get a taxi and saw two groups of people dancing on the plaza in front of the pagoda. One group was doing the bunny hop. The other group, however, was doing ballroom dancing. It was wonderful. I have been told by other teachers who have been to China that this sort of thing happens a lot, but it was the first time I had ever seen it.”

We had District conference this weekend. This was the first time they used Skype to broadcast it to all the different branches across China. It worked very well for the most part. Instead of having church on our campus, we had to travel to the branch president's house. That was an experience because in order to get to his house, we had to walk up a dark, stinky alley and climb up six flights of concrete stairs in the dark. I was surprised when his wife opened the door and saw a beautiful apartment. Wow! What a contrast!

We also did a service project at a foster home in the morning. More from my journal:

September 11, 2010

“ We took a taxi to Star Fish Children’s Services, a foster home for children run by a woman in our branch named Amanda. She gets children from area orphanages who have cleft palates, spinal bifida, and heart problems. Amanda told us that she has about 50 children altogether. She hires nannies to take care of the children and has volunteers come in and help also. She rents three apartments in this building and is currently remodeling a house out in the country where she will be able to have all of the children together. She arranges for doctors to come in and perform the surgeries, and then she tries to get the babies adopted into families. Some of the men went out to the new place and were tearing down dry wall. We played with the babies (I mostly watched) and then worked on making crib sheets. Amanda only has one sewing machine so we cut out four sheets and Sue did the sewing on another one. We were able to finish one, only to find that it was too big. However, I figured that they could just tuck it under more and it would work.”

Today, Sunday, we heard firecrackers going off while we were waiting for a taxi. Apparently they set them off for different reasons. When they are building a new building, they set off firecrackers to scare the evil spirits away, at least that is the story I was told. Many of the weddings take place on Sunday, so we heard lots of firecrackers going off this morning. Pretty wild! We had District Conference then had a potluck lunch. Of course, the food was delicious. One sister made homemade bread—yummy! Another sister made chocolate chip cookies in a pan—just like home! They sure didn’t last very long. There were salads, fruit, and a meat dish. Guess what I brought? Right—store-bought cookies. I am not a cook. But I will have to learn—and soon.

We had lots of rain this week. I woke up to the sound of pitter-patter and it would rain all day long. It ended up being a blessing in disguise. We had blue skies with puffy white clouds for the first time since I arrived in China. It was wonderful! I am thankful for small blessings and large blessings.

Another Note: Please make comments on Karen's blog. Although she cannot log onto the blog in Xi'an, she does get your comments. Sidney