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October 29, 2006
No, Really--Sit Down
As for my students hustled out to the track to compete in the annual all-school track & field meet, I decided to take advantage of the three day weekend and head out to Xiamen, second largest city in the coastal province of Fujian. Fujian, known for its tea and pearls, is a neighboring province of Guangdong and, thus, a logical choice for a quick 14 hour overnight train ride. I convinced Kelly to come along and we were all set for a quick weekend vacation.
Upon arrival, Xiamen looked almost exactly as I had heard--it was clean, bright, modern, and amazingly quaint for a city of over a million people. Having been occupied by the Portuguese, British, French, and Dutch, there was beautiful colonial architecture everywhere. In truth, it was a bit weird. Kelly remarked that it looked remarkably similar to Havana. As in Cuba. Cuba? China? Same sentence? Sure, why not.
Our friends and guidebooks all agreed that the place to stay in Xiamen is actually not in Xiamen at all, but rather a quick four minute ferry ride away on the island of Gulangyu. They were right. Gulangyu was a foreigner's residency for almost two hundred years and, as such, reflects the colonial styles of its former residents. The grounds themselves are devoid of any trash and the island is incredibly peaceful, mostly because there is not a single automobile there (people either walk or use electric golf cart-like vehicles). After finding a cheap hotel overlooking the water, we went in search of some Xiamen seafood.
Being right on the coast, Xiamen is known for it's cuisine from the water and almost every restaurant boasts of having the best. I suppose this makes sense--no one's going to claim they have the 3rd best. What's interesting is that virtually every single restaurant on the island, regardless of size, price, or quality, all keep these tubs outside their main entrance which hold the night's offerings. Kelly and I walked into one place, glancing at the various creatures as we went to sit down. We asked for a menu and the waitress looked at us a little funny. Yup, it turns out we walked right by the "menu."
Though they had a small form in print, you were pretty much supposed to check out the tubs and just pick out your meal that way. There's no choice in method of preparation--the chef just does what he/she thinks is best. It's actually quite liberating! So we picked out some shrimp, some mini clams, and reluctantly passed on a tasty-looking but overpriced flat fish of some sort. We were not disappointed--it was all incredibly fresh and the taste reflected that. Yum!
The next morning we set out to see what Gulangyu had to offer. After a quick breakfast from a cute old Chinese couple running a western-style cafe, we headed over to "Underwater World," Xiamen's aquarium. Having never visited an aquarium in China, I was excited to see how it shaped up. First thing's first--there were some bizarre fish in that place! I suppose it's not surprising, given that I'm halfway across the world, but there were so many unfamiliar creatures that at times they almost seemed fake. I'm amazed that some of the richer and more industrious aquariums in the States haven't worked out a way to import some of these crazy looking things. Very cool stuff.
Second, most of the tanks were painfully small. There were some rather large fish/mammals swimming around in tanks smaller than my bookcase. It's sad in the U.S. as well, but this seemed even more cruel. Even worse though, was the quality of the tanks. It appeared that the water was really murky and/or downright dirty for quite a few of the exhibits, sometimes so bad as to obscure whatever was on display. I'd be willing to throw in a few extra kuai on the admission ticket in order to step up the cleanings around there. By far the worst part of all was looking at the exhibit with the tortoises. Visitors had thrown in tons of loose change, presumably for good luck, and the entire bottom of the tank was covered with coinage. Just to top it all off, though, there were a couple of empty plastic water bottles tossed in.
Third, they let you get right up close and take flash photography of anything. This was cool for me, in that I had fun taking some shots of cool-looking fish, but I just can't believe it's good for the fish to have the flashes and lasers from digital cameras constantly bombarding their cages. Call me crazy.
Fourth, it was immensely entertaining to attend the dolphin/seal show in Chinese. They did pretty much all of the same tricks as they do in America, except the M.C. was speaking in Chinese. I can't quite explain it, but it just seemed entertaining to have the trainer chatting away at the animal in Chinese. Furthermore, I'm not sure if people just had no concept of protocol, but the guard on duty kept having to go up to people and tell them to sit down. Of course right as those people sat, people on the other side of the "theater" got up and walked right up to the edge of the pool. Did they not notice or did they not care? Not sure.
Upon exiting the show, we decided to it was a good time to head back to the mainland (or main island, in this case) and explore. After eating a tasty lunch of Brazilian Barbeque, we hit up the train station to secure our return tickets (yes, it is *still* annoying not being able to buy roundtrip tickets) and caught a taxi out to Nanputuo Si, a temple originally from the Tang Dynasty about 1000 years ago. While I know a number of foreigners who get easily "templed out" after seeing so many, I still enjoy entering the temple grounds and seeing the various deities and holy structures. This temple, on the far south end of the city, did not disappoint me either.
Much like other temples I've visited in China, there are the busy areas in the front of the complex where people walk by the statues of the four warrior kings guarding the main Buddha figure. This is interesting, but I usually enjoy exploring farther back where there are smaller buildings and quieter areas where the monks spend time looking at scripture and meditating. This particular temple had an interesting grotto that contained, literally, hundreds (if not over a thousand) of small figurines. I'm not entirely clear as to what they were representing, but they sure did look interesting.
I'm going to blog the rest of the trip tomorrow, but if you're ansy for some photos, click on the flickr link (on the side) for some cool pictures...
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October 24, 2006
Reeducation
I find that in the last few days I have been undergoing a reeducation on several different levels. I'm sure there has been copious amounts of research as to why the brain forgets things, but I simply don't get it. One can spend hours and hours learning something, but yet sometime in the future, be it a few hours or a few decades, you will most likely forget it. Why is that? I am quite jealous of those few special folks out there who have photographic memories and retain large sums of information at the drop of a dime.
My reeducation began a few weeks with my tutoring. Last year, I was working with two Korean boys to help them with their basic English to get admission into the American International School of Guangzhou. The boys did gain admission, which it turns out has been a blessing and a curse. As ELL (English Language Learners) students, they are hardly at the level of a native born English speaker, yet they are expected to perform at such a level in the classroom--not an easy task.
So this year I have been working with the boys on their homework, be it editing essays, explaining texts, or basically answering questions. Recently I have been reading Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Inidians" with the younger boy. First off, what a read! I went through a few of her books when I was younger but only remember seeing "Ten Little Indians" on the stage adapted as a play. The book is great but certainly not easy for a 13 year-old who has never really read English literature before.
It's been a challenge to try and explain not just the vocabulary, but also all of the literary terms. I mean, really, how many people can *actually* explain the difference between a simile and a metaphor? But even more difficult is explaining some of the western cultural things that we all take for granted. For instance, the first person to die in the book remarks that he thinks the legal life is too dreary and that he is for a life of crime. He then raises his glass and downs a mouthful of poisoned coffee. The teacher's worksheet asks the students to explain the black humor of the situation.
After some rumination and dialogue with coworkers, I've decided that it must be a completely American (or at least Western) concept to regard human suffering as "absurd rather than pitiable," or to consider our existence as "ironic and pointless but somehow comic." Somehow I don't think Confucius was quite on the same wavelength. I tried every way I could think of but no matter what I said, my tutee just didn't find it funny.
The older boy is in his freshmen year of high school and is immersed in the world of Biology. This has been a serious test to my memory when he asks me questions like, "does facilitated diffusion still count as passive transport if it uses the energy of embedded proteins in the phospholipid layers of a plasma membrane?" If he said it fast it would almost sound like a foreign language to me. Yet as any teacher will tell you, the best way to answer a question is often to force the student to answer his/her own query. So I ask him to define each term, sometimes going back to the book, and in the end he figures it out himself. Good thing, too, since it has been approximately ten years since I studied that stuff. I will say this, though, I had SO much fun helping him design his "edible cell." Is there anything more fun??
Reeducation has also found its way into my Chinese classes, as I have found myself rememorizing characters that I had seemingly learned earlier this summer. I know that you will slowly but steadily lose any foreign language if you don't use it, but Chinese seems particularly prone to this with the extra wrinkle of characters. It's embarassing to stumble over a character from months ago, especially when the teacher explains that it's a simple combination of fifteen strokes. Sure it is.
To go along with my earlier entry on lifelong learning and the educational cycle, I have a small reeducation story regarding a staff member here at my school. There's an older woman in the copy room that always smiled while helping me last year. It was common for her to make side comments to the other women in the office as she put together my handouts (they *never* let you use the machine yourself), at which point they'd all laugh. This year I was determined to listen in and figure out if they were laughing at me. Unfortunately she switched over to Cantonese once she figured out my Mandarin had improved so much. But that's besides the point.
This woman sits in the copy room all day and insteading of gossiping or listening to music, as I expect many workers in the states would do, she diligently spends every free moment practicing Chinese calligraphy--a painstaking process. As such, she spend countless hours attempting to improve her strokes and make her artwork more beautiful. I inquired as to why she was working so hard and she told me that she was trying to learn this skill and be able to show her work to others, as well as teach those who wished to learn. Wow. That's pretty impressive coming from someone who could just as easily never study anything ever again. I only hope that I will also be eager to learn new skills forty years from now.
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October 17, 2006
The Jetset
This past weekend I think I officially entered the realm of the jetset. The American Heritage Dictionary defines jetset as "an international social set made up of wealthy people who travel from one fashionable place to another." I'm neither wealthy nor is Guangzhou especially fashionable, yet I can now say that I went to Hong Kong for a dinner party. That's pretty fashionable, right?
Some of my friends were holding a bbq and 1980's-themed danced party so I decided to head down at the last minute on Saturday. After all, who can resist the draw of Wham and Duran Duran? As it stands, it's extremely convenient to head down to HK, simply by taking the train down to Shenzhen, walking across the border, and hopping on to KCR (the light rail that goes down into the actual city). As expected, it was good food and good company which makes for a splendid night. As I was on the train returning on Sunday morning, I had one of those metacognitive moments when I realized once again how lucky I am. More on that in a second...
Crossing the border on the way back into the mainland, we had a couple of interesting thoughts regarding the customs process. First off, the form you have to fill out seems distinctly Chinese in a few ways. The space for your given name is really only enough to comfortably write about five letters, yet they require you to write your first and middle names there. Basically, you have to write as small as possible and squeeze it in so that the whole thing becomes incomprehensible. Furthermore, the space provided for your Chinese address has in parentheses the English, "Hotel." In other words, they expect that all foreigners who come in are going to a hotel. The concept of a foreign national is just a bit too much to consider, apparently.
The other noteworthy realization, which I've noticed every time I've been to and from Hong Kong, is that for some reason the process of checking in or out on the mainland side *always* takes twice as long. I can't quite figure out why because it's always the same number of people walking from one station to the other, but somehow the lines go on and on and the customs officials seem to take much more time, without actually scrutinizing the passports any more than the Hong Kong side. I have no answers for this one.
Once back in Guangzhou, the good thought/feeling I had about my place in the world was amplified even more at dinner. There is a side street right near my school where I often walk to go to restaurants or the 7-11. Every once in a while I'm walking back to the school gate, look up, and am just amazed and where I am and what I'm doing. Sunday night was one of those nights. For some reason this little street seems quintessentially Chinese for me: it has a bunch of really good, inexpensive restaurants, it's a little bit dirty, there are always people selling fruits/vegetables/flowers/bbq on the side of the road, there are a handful of slightly over the top flashing neon signs, and, perhaps most importantly, I've never seen another white person there in my entire time here.
Part of me worried a bit about hitting the proverbial "sophomore slump" in my second year abroad, yet it's times like this past weekend when that seems completely unfathomable. I am lucky enough to teach some of the brightest young minds in this entire province. I have the luxury of taking a train on a whim and ending up in Hong Kong, one of the coolest cities in the world, in under two hours. I live in arguably the most vibrant city in southern China where there are spots like the aforementioned street in which I can walk into a restaurant and have the waitstaff greet me with, "Laoshi hao!" or "hello, teacher!" In other words, I'm a lucky guy.
On a completely unrelated note, I saw an absolutely bizarre sight last night that still has me perplexed. I was walking out of the grocery store with two friends when we happened upon a rather peculiar individual. Now, this grocery store happens to be contained in the basement of what is billed as the largest mall in all of Asia. The mall is extremely high priced and has all of those stores that I have never heard of but carry high end clothes, leather, electronics, etc. So anyhow, we're walking out the side entrance and we see down the sidewalk a man dressed in a nice suit crawling along with his head down. Umm, huh? All three of us sort of paused and stepped on to the road in order to let him pass. He didn't look up once; just continued to drag himself along through puddles and dirt. None of us had any idea what to say or do so we let him go without a word. I still can't figure it out though--clearly he's not homeless if he's dressed in a nice suit and shiny leather shoes. He didn't appear to be injured because he didn't even attempt to look up at us. So, basically, I have no idea what was going on. Life in Guangzhou--never boring!
On a small technical note, thanks to the know-how of illustrious PiA-er Even Pay, I have now added a link directly on the side of my blog to my pictures website. I recently uploaded the rest of my pictures from the summer in Beijing, as well as a handful of shots from my recent trip to Hainan Island. Enjoy!
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October 10, 2006
To Hainan and Beyond
Another vacation has come and gone here in China and it wasn't half bad. While I braved the massive crowds on the buses and trains last year in Hangzhou and Shanghai, this year's quick one-hour flight was decidedly more comfortable. At one point last year I remember talking to one of the second year fellows, noting that I had yet to fly domestically. He gave me a look and said, "Don't. Once you do, you'll never want to go back." He was right.
While it is minorly disturbing that they have to shut the air conditioner off during take-off in order to muster enough strength to get airborne, the seats are comfortable and it's a heckuva lot quicker. Touching down in Sanya, the small city at the southern end of the island, we immediately noted that the place was reminiscent of Florida. Having not been to Hawaii, I can't verify the veracity of the "Hawaii of the East" sobriquet, but it sure was tropical.
We hopped in a cab to head to the hotel and took in the scenery. It was gorgeous. Once we got away from the gaudy decorations and advertisements near the airport, the mountains, palm trees, and coastline were quite impressive. The air, too, was noticeably cleaner than Guangzhou. No surprise there. We passed through some smaller towns and I noticed that while the tourism industry is flourishing, it doesn't appear that anything else is coming close.
We were lucky enough to book a five star hotel for a very reasonable price. Having never stayed at a five star, I didn't quite know what to expect, but I rolling onto the property of the place, I was impressed right away. The (man-made) waterfall and perfectly manicured greens were beautiful. It was exactly what I was looking for--a nice hotel located right on a nice beach. That's what vacation's all about, right?
We checked in and headed up to the room and checked out the view of the ocean--brilliant. Exploring the grounds, we determined that the multiple fresh water pools and immaculate beach were even better. I certainly had no complaints. Though the restaurants were expensive, the food was amazing, and did my personal best to make sure that the all-you-can-eat buffet made no money off of me. Nine plates later, I think I represented well.
One thing interesting about the five star hotel experience was the class difference in the clientele. As expected it was almost all Chinese people, as well as a few caucasians to fill out the room. What was different was that these Chinese were the absolute upper crust of society. In order to afford the rooms there, you had to either luck out with a good deal online (read: us) or simply have a ton of money. People were dressed well and even displayed common western ideals of etiquette. Not once did I get shoved aside in the buffet line. People were (generally) kind to all employees. They didn't stare. Nobody would have dreamt of spitting on the floor. I hate to admit it, but it was a welcome respite.
I had to laugh, though, at what I have named the "Vacation Suit." Starting the first morning at the free breakfast, I looked around and saw almost half the room wearing identical hawaiian shirt-like outfits. I don't mean that everyone wore the same pattern; rather, every couple had matching suits. The combination of the matching outfits was just too much for me--it looked absurd. Kelly and I joked about buying a set but I backed down. No way I was spending money on something that chintzy. And I don't even have style!
Being on vacation also turned out to be a catalyst for going on a reading binge. I finished four books during the week and am almost done with a fifth. Of course this has meant that my Chinese study has taken a back seat to page turning, but waddaya gonna do. A brief rundown:
Mao, The Unknown Story (Jung Chang & Jon Halliday)- this somewhat controversial book came out about a year ago and I have been meaning to read it ever since. Wow--what a read. In the interest of not rocking the boat too much I won't get into any major details, but once again I am astounded by the actions of such a powerful dictator. I think my impressions may be somewhat colored by having read the initial review by Kristoff in the NY Times last November, but he made a good point in saying that some of the arguments need to be verified a bit better. It's tough to read historical scholarship that isn't really well footnoted, but regardless, the book brings to light some information that simply can't be ignored. Lets just say that if more people in China read this, they might not be so happy about still having the Chairman's portrait up in Tian'anmen.
The History of Love (Nicole Krauss)- This was another *incredible* read, in a totally different way. While it helps if you know some basic hebrew or yiddish, the book is basically an interwoven story of families, writing, and, of course, love. I'm not a cryer but this one definitely made me shed a tear. It's a beautiful story that is told in an equally beautiful way. I highly recommend it.
The Lion's Game (Nelson DeMille)- If any of you are into easy read mysteries that involve a main character who says all the things I wish I had thought of first, this is for you. While I think it is actually the weakest of the John Corey series so far (definitely read Plum Island, followed by Night Fall, both awesome vacation reads), it's still a very entertaining read. I was discussing the book with my roommate and he brought up an interesting point-- reading any book about terrorism that was published pre-9/11 is really an eye-opener. I guess it's true that we were all a little naive before. It's not always easy to recognize the more subtle changes, but something as simple as the attitude in writing is clearly a world away. Sad.
Dance, Dance, Dance (Haruki Murakami)- This is the sequel to "A Wild Sheep Chase" and it is another good story. Sheep Chase was the first Murakami I had ever read and I went on a small Murakami spree afterwards. I said it once and I'll say it again--I think Murakami is one of the most creative writers in the world today. What an incredible talent! This book once again dips a bit into the surreal but in a way that seems completely realistic and appropriate. Definitely worth checking out.
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October 3, 2006
Language Study, the Return
It didn't take long. By the end of the summer my brain was fried and I needed a break in a major way. I was ecstatic to be moving back to Guangzhou and starting up a new school year. I was excited to get into the swing of teaching. I was amped to not have an overwhelming number of characters to study every night. I loved the prospect of not waking up at 7:15am everyday to get to class.
It didn't last long.
Apparently my brain gets bored easily because after about four days back in Guangzhou, I was dying to be back in the classroom. I think this is due to a couple of different reasons-- Partly it was because I started to recognize how I had, actually, made progress and wanted that to continue. Partly it was because I also realized how long I still have before I can be considered competent. But mostly it was because I was, and am, just a big dork and am addicted to school.
Before my classes started over here at the high school I ventured over to the university next door to sign up for evening classes again. Last spring I enrolled in what turned out to be a surprisingly useful course about oral Chinese and I wanted to continue. I figured this time around I could convince the instructor that I could actually read and learn characters and mold the course a bit more how I envisioned it. Unfortunately I got to the office and was promptly told that there wasn't enough demand so they cancelled the night classes. No demand? I know, that's what I was psyched about--another two person class! So it was back to the drawing board.
I contacted my teacher from this past spring and asked if she had any friends who were interested in making some money by tutoring me. Being a grad student at the university, I figured she could get me at least a few names and numbers. She came through with one for me which I figured was enough. At this point I had my own textbooks and figured I just needed someone to look over my shoulder and pronounce the characters I didn't know.
The first meeting I had with my tutor was a bit awkward as for some reason she expected me to be paying her an absurd amount of money for her services. She wanted seventy five kuai an hour which some businessmen might be able to afford, but not on my salary! I also happen to know that the best campus job she could get would pay somewhere around six or seven kuai an hour so I didn't feel bad about offering thirty five. It's not like she was going to prep for it or anything.
Anyhow, we had three lessons over the course of those first two weeks and something was just lacking. I was frustrated with what felt like a lack of any progress and didn't know how to solve the problem. After some meditation on the subject, I decided that I was discouraged by the realization that there was no way I could continue to improve at the same rate when I'm teaching. Clearly the only way to improve at the same level as an intensive six-hour-a-day language program is, well, to enroll in another intensive six-hour-a-day language program.
Now, obviously, that wasn't an option for me so I decided to bite the financial bullet and do the next best thing. The university next door offers day classes for foreigners that meet every morning from 8:30am-12:00pm and despite the absurd price tag, I registered. Thankfully I managed to finagle a deal with the director to pay in monthly installments since I'm teaching here on a Chinese salary and, this being an institution that is all about making money, he was down. While I would only be able to attend about 3/4 of the classes, I just knew that I needed to pile on as many hours as possible in a formal classroom setting. I needed a trained teacher and classmates.
I didn't quite know what to expect on my first day, but as I began the walk to class, it occurred to me that once again, for the 22nd or 23rd year of my life, autumn rolled around and I was heading back to the classroom. There was an article recently in the New York Times about how the start of a school year is like a fresh start and how those outside of academia are lacking this opportunity every year. I couldn't agree more--I feel very liberated and excited every fall walking into the classroom, ready to take on the challenge of a new subject or theory. It works perfectly with my heritage as well. New Years may be January 1st, but as a Jew, I can't help but identify with the holiday being sometime in September. It just makes sense.
Anyhow, once I entered the classroom, I was somewhat surprised to see that I was one of only three caucasians. The room was filled with a mix of Korean, Thai, and Indonesian twenty-somethings, rounded out by two Russians. Woah. Again, I shouldn't be surprised. If you're American and come to China to learn Mandarin, you certainly don't come to Guangzhou--you go to Beijing or Shanghai, certainly not to a Cantonese-speaking province.
The classes themselves are fine, but definitely a far cry from what I was doing this summer. I am in the B level class, basically the intermediate level, and that seems appropriate enough. However, out of a class of twenty five or so, only about eighteen show up everyday and of those eighteen, only about eight actually seem capable of speaking up. At first I was put off by this, but the teachers recognize everyone's level and really only call on the eight of us so it makes it feel a lot smaller. A bunch of them are miles ahead of me in terms of their writing, but that's really not my purpose in attending class. If I can improve my speaking and reading and pick up some writing along the way, that's just fine by me.
A few things about the structure of the class really stand out to me. First, the student ID I got makes me laugh every time I see it. In the states we get a laminated ID with our picture that also tends to function as a dining card, laundry card, library card, and potentially also as a key to buildings. My student ID here is this little pamphlet in which they glued in my picture, wrote in my name and gave it a few official looking stamps. In the words of my new roommate Nick, you could rip out my picture, put his in, sharpie in his name, and no one would ever know the difference.
Second, my teachers both do this thing where everytime they hand back our homework notebooks, they make an announcement about who did a good job. This could be a good idea, but the way they do it, they go in rounds. The first few names are the top. Then they pause and say that slightly worse were the following. Then there is another tier below that. Then they basically say that everyone who's name they didn't mention did a poor job. It seems to follow the pattern of my high school when after every exam they post a list on the wall of everyone's name and their score, from highest to lowest. In other words, it's public knowledge just who screwed up and who didn't--a far cry from the privacy of grades in the states. Sure we might ask each other, but generally it's not up on the wall.
Third, we "conveniently" learn about Chinese history and culture in almost every lesson. This could be really interesting, except that we everything we get really fits more under the banner of not-so-subtle propaganda. Everything is about how China has the richest history, has the most beautiful sights in the world, has the best food in the most varieties, the friendliest people, etc. Now I suppose if I were learning English in the states I would also be fed something similar about America from ELL textbooks; however, I can't help thinking that it would transcend this level of inordinate opinion regarding China's merit and superiority. Sometimes it's just a bit much.
I have a little time to rest my brain again though as this week is my first vacation of the new year. Woohoo! While last year I braved the crowds for a whole week through Hangzhou and Shanghai, this year Kelly and I decided to have a bit more of a relaxing week and are heading off to the beaches of Hainan Island tomorrow. The place is known as the Hawaii of the East so I have high expectations. Then again, having never been to Hawaii, I guess I'll be happy with just about anything...
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