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April 30, 2007
Traveling Torture Machines
Yet again we were up early, mostly due to our ridiculous schedule of getting up at the crack of dawn and going to sleep with the senior citizens. It was raining quite a bit harder than the day before but there was still more to be seen so we embarked on a rather wet adventure for the day.
Deciding to stay dry for as long as possible, we packed up our stuff and hopped in a cab to the xinglong cable car, one of about eight different cable cars encompassing the mountain. Driving to the drop off point, the mountain was quite misty. By the time we got out of the cab, the entire mountain was engulfed in fog. It was really cool! As such, the cable car ride was slightly eerie but a one of kind ride. We could have been taking the gondola right into the side of a cliff and we wouldn't have known--you couldn't see more than three feet outside the windows.
We were let off at a suspension bridge that also looked like it led into the abyss. The fog was so thick that the sides of the bridge disappeared into nothingness. So cool! There were two people ahead of us who just disappeared out of view, just like the players in "Field of Dreams" disappearing into the corn. It was great.
We hiked up to a point called "Dragon's Head Precipice" and were rewarded with a view of more fog. Oh well. It seemed like it must have been amazing on a clear day. We kept hiking along and eventually made the turn back towards the main path. Right as we were walking through a confluence of two different paths, we were startled to see a huge monkey on the path. Kelly and Nick both screamed and I started laughing. Suddenly a Chinese guy showed up and said we had to feed it in order to have it move out of way and wouldja know it--he was selling some food! Though it appears this monkey was trained by the guy, we looked up into the trees and saw about three more wild monkeys just swinging around which was pretty cool. Only in China--this was the 2nd time now that I encountered wild monkeys on a hike.
Wet but invigorated, we finished the hike and hopped a cab back to town. We ate a feast and then got a bus back to Nanchang. The bus ride itself was fine, except for two things: first, the fact that the bus was driving through thick fog. We were driving down a rather windy path and I know I couldn't see more than ten meters ahead. I prayed that the driver had done this before. Second, and possibly related to the first, is that there were four or five people out of twenty who were vomiting for most of the two hour ride. Some made it into plastic bags, but a choice few decided that the bus floor was their best option.
Back in Nanchang we got Nick some coffee and found a restaurant for dinner. We finished just in time to get on the 7pm sleeper bus back to Guangzhou. Now, I've been on sleeper buses before and they are not fun. Basically, you lay down in a little area with a metal box, of sorts, where you put your feet. This "box" then becomes the pillow of the person in front of you. Though they should be a perfectly fine way to travel, they never are. They're built for people about 5'5" and always include old sheets and people smoking up a storm.
This ride was no exception. Actually, it was quite a bit worse than normal. About fifteen minutes outside of the city, we stopped at a gas station and picked up another ten passengers or so. Now, keep in mind that the bus was already full. This being the beginning of the national holiday, people will do anything for transportation and the bus/train companies know it. They had people laying down in aisles which meant that instead of three across with a bit of space between each person, we were five across, basically all spooning each other.
There were some friendly people around me that were nice to chat with for a while, but there was simply no escaping. There was one lawyer in particular that was LOVING the opportunity to chat in both English and Chinese and once he got going there was no stopping him. Comparatively, though, I had it much better than Kelly and Nick. Kelly had four university-aged guys all staring at her, blown away by her Chinese. Nick won the prize, though, for being right next to a father with a screaming baby who seemed to enjoy kicking Nick just as he was about to fall asleep.
Due to traffic, we were bumper to bumper for about three hours around midnight and could barely move. This, of course, meant that we were delayed in arriving back to GZ and a sleepless night slowly became a miserable morning. At some point around 6am I realized that there was a strange wet spot developing on my "bed" from some unknown source. Ummm, cool. We were supposed to get in around 6:30am but we didn't make it until 10am. We all decided that we had reached our breaking point and that we were never (by choice) get on one of those traveling torture machines ever again. It's funny when you get to the point that you'd rather be on a 40 hour train ride than a 15 hour sleeper bus experience.
To see some pics from the trip, check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600190983671/
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April 28, 2007
Lushan
We were up around 9 and I immediately went to fight the crowds at the bus station to buy tickets to Lushan, a very famous mountain range about two hours north of Jiangxi while Kelly found us snacks for the trip. Having just hiked Huangshan in Anhui a few weeks earlier, I was excited to get back up into the trails among the fresh air. The ride itself was painless and uneventful, other than the fact that we got to the base of the mountain and I thought we had reached our destination. In reality, there was another 30 minutes up the mountain, including a stop to buy admission tickets about two thirds of the way up. Before I knew it, we were way up in the stratosphere.
We got dropped off and once again checked into the first place we came to. It being the weekend for the big national holiday, most people were not yet out and about and thus we bargained down a triple to almost nothing--there was no need to look elsewhere. We dropped our stuff and went to find food. As usual in China, we picked a random restaurant along the street and had a delicious feast. You can never really go wrong when you ask the wait staff what's good, what's fresh, and what the cook does best.
After that we picked up a map and chose a random sight to hike towards. It was immediately apparent that there was much more of an actual town up in the mountains than Huangshan and it really changed the dynamic. There were taxis, shops, supermarkets, schools, parks, and everything else you'd expect from a small town, all in addition to the spectacular hikes and views.
Though it took us a few tries, we finally found the walking path to the "cloud watching pavilion," a pavilion at the edge of one side of the mountain. It was deserted and beautiful but it made us laugh because not only was the path hidden behind the gate of a private hotel, but it was also unmarked and without any rails preventing you from going over the edge of the cliff.
Back to the main path, we decided to ignore the drizzle and go down to the lake in the middle of the resort area. It was all so tranquil (other than the occasional tour group with bullhorns) but what I really couldn't get over was the quality of the air. It was so fresh that I felt like I could taste it--it reminded me of Spaceballs the movie when he has the canned "Peri-air." It suddenly didn't seem like such a ridiculous idea, after living in Guangzhou for two years.
On the way to a different walking trail, we randomly stopped into a tea store. We had originally stopped in because of it's shelter from the rain, but we were all ecstatic to have found what turned out to be a highlight of the trip. It turns out that the family running the place was growing green tea in the land behind the small house and processed everything right there. They not only picked the leaves, but they also dried them out out there through a process of using a brick oven and a wok, both of which we saw in action.
It was really interesting to talk to the family about what made their tea (and other teas on Lushan) different than others around China. First of all, few Chinese people drink green tea, mostly because it's not as easy to grow. The damp climate on the top of the mountain enabled them to grow the bushes there and they use a certain type of drying process to keep the leaves in bigger pieces, while eliminating stems. It was incredible to see the guy drying leaves out in the firing wok with his bare hands.
We eventually found the walking path along the ledge and slowly wandered along the side of the mountain, taking in spectacular views. In addition, there were a few humorous signs along the way with silly English translations, e.g. "Caution! Cliff!" My favorite, though, was the sign about the danger of the falling boulder, which appeared to be supported by a handful of twigs. Huh.
Right around sunset we made our way back to the main drag in town and were convinced to get dinner at one of the local restaurants. I gave her points for both persistence and humor--as we were considering our options, she came up to me and gave a slight wave of the hand toward her competitor followed by the comment (in Chinese), "Naww, you don't want that place. Much too expensive. Tastes like crap too." I don't know if she was right about the other place but her restaurant was definitely cheap and tasty! After the meal we made our way back to the hotel and all crashed around 9:30pm, exhausted from the hike.
Posted by awolfe at 3:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 27, 2007
Jiangxi
With my students taking midterms and the May holiday quickly approaching, I decided to fit two vacations into one this year. I rallied Nick and Kelly and we headed off to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province. Unfortunately, due to the proximity to the May national holiday, train tickets were tough to come by. We managed to secure 3 seats in the "hard seat" section of the overnight train. Riding hard seat is pretty rough but it was hard seat or bust so we decided to take it.
My two previous experiences with riding hard seat were all miserable but I was optimistic that with the right preparations we would be okay this time. We brought snacks, had three iPods at our disposal, had books, crossword puzzles, and even comfortable clothes. Beyond that, we even lucked out and had excellent seat mates in our little booth (three seats across from three more seats) who didn't smoke, weren't terribly tall (leg room is at a premium), and didn't pester us by trying to practice their English. Yet, despite all the things we had going in our favor, it was still miserable. It's just virtually impossible to get any sleep when you're in the hard seat section.
We arrived at about 7:45am and immediately went about trying to secure tickets back to Guangzhou for Sunday night. I swear, who ever streamlines the whole process of getting train tickets and makes it possible to buy roundtrip tickets is going to make millions. Anyhow, before we even got to the front of the snaking line for tickets, we saw the sign that literally every single ticket was sold-out, including the standing tickets for the hard seat section (the absolute bottom of the barrel). Stupid national holidays.
Plan B--we walked through the slightly overcast morning to the long distance bus station. Luckily, we had no problem getting three bus tickets for Sunday night. The next step was to find a cheap hotel for the night. We ventured across the street and checked into the first place we found that had an open triple for a reasonable price. I was too exhausted even to bargain so we checked in and immediately went up to take a nap. We all promptly fell asleep around 8:15am and would have slept until dinnertime if I hadn't set an alarm for noon.
We struggled out of bed and decided to start our day. First impressions--the city is on the upswing. Being in close proximity to the burgeoning cities of Guangzhou, Changsha, and Wuhan, it's on it's way up. That being said, for a provincial capital it seemed almost quaint and people were definitely not used to having foreigners around, especially those that spoke Chinese. I think we blew the minds of about 15 people when we stepped into a restaurant and ordered lunch.
Anyhow, after lunch we walked up the street to the People's Square, a public space with one big monument, and few sculptures, dozens of park benches, and room to fly kites. It was actually really nice and we meandered around for a bit taking some photos. Jiangxi happens to be important historically for China, as it was the location that the People's Liberation Army came together for the first time and fought a battle. There are commemorations everywhere citing this fact and people seemed proud of it. More specifically, the monuments were very Stalinist with rifles, bayonets, hammers, and sickles. Across the street, the Nanchang Exhibition Hall took this even more to an extreme with a gigantic red star at the top of a very drab building.
From there we hopped a cab and went to Teng wang ge, the "Jumping King Pavilion," a beautiful pagoda structure right on the river. The building was very reminiscent of the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan and I immediately began to see similarities in both the pagodas and the cities in general. We made our way up through the different levels of the museum and enjoyed some old art as well as some cool views of the river and the city. We even managed to catch a brief rehearsal of some traditional Chinese dancing at the top level.
From there we went on in the rain to find a cab and head to a museum commemorating the martyrs of the communist revolution. Sadly, it was closed for renovations. Not to be discouraged, we decided it was snack time. The closest place was a little joint with the English translation "See Me Here Cafe." Sure, why not. We ate some some local creations as well as some imported European food (i.e., French fries) and then decided to flee the rain in a movie theater across the way.
It turns out they had an English movie starting in ten minutes called "Tristan and Isolde." We have no idea if this was an old movie or a new movie, but none of us had ever heard of it. The good thing about that was that none of us had any expectations. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't half bad! There was some violence for the fellas and some romance for the lady so we all walked out happy. Can't ask for much more than that when you see a movie in China. After that we caught a late dinner and went back to the hotel where we all quickly fell asleep, still exhausted from the train ride.
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April 23, 2007
Crown's Master
This weekend I went to Hong Kong to say goodbye to a few of my friends who have finished up at their posts. It's amazing how fast time flies--these are two people who have been abroad only a little longer than me and now they're done teaching forever. Okay, so maybe not forever, but you know what I mean. We went to have dinner and have a little party, which was enormously fun. Though we were planning on heading right back on Sunday, a few others convinced us to do otherwise.
Right near CUHK (the Chinese University of Hong Kong) is the town of Sha Tin up in the New Territories. Amongst the mountains, skyscrapers, temples, and shopping centers is a beautiful horse-racing track. On certain Sundays throughout the year, there are big races involving horses from all around Asia. Having never been to a horse race, I wasn't expecting much. I'd seen highlights on TV and it looked like a whole big to-do for only about a minute of action. What was the point?
I have to say, immediately upon walking out to the grandstand, I was pleasantly surprised. It was exciting! We caught a race almost right away and it was pretty incredible to see the horses in motion. Seeing it on TV definitely does not do it justice. At all. The horses are magnificent. There's an unbelievable amount of power and grace in the animals and when they come around for the homestretch, everyone who's in the lower levels gets on their feet.
Sitting on the commuter train going to the track, I tried to educate myself a bit by reading the special racing section from the South China Morning Post. I learned words like "parlay," "impost," "paddock," and "quinella." I read a tiny bit about all eleven races of the afternoon and even decided to go nuts and place a couple of minimum bets. Despite being a complete greenhorn in this arena, I was convinced that this was a perfect example of when in Rome...
After the first race we saw, there was about thirty five minutes of downtime to allow people to bet and to get the horses into place. I perused the listings and decided that "Speeding Molly" was my horse. Though not the overall favorite, she was picked by one of the experts to have a breakout race. Race time came along and I was feeling good, feeling confident. That feeling lasted all of, oh say, thirty seconds. It turns out Speeding Molly was not on the same page as me and finished second to last. Upon crossing the finish line I took my betting ticket, ripped it in two, and threw it up in the air in disgust. I felt like like this was the appropriate action.
The thing was, I was hooked. I've never been into gambling before, but I could see how this type of wagering got addictive and quick. I wanted my horse to win so badly! I had ten Hong Kong dollars invested in that animal! I would not be embarrassed by one bad outing! I was going back to the betting office!
My next pick, Danzig Mountain, was also a major disappointment. I hadn't read the listings closely and after the fact I realized that the horse was running with a lame leg. I appreciate the guts and the dedication but seriously? A lame leg? Of course he was an also ran.
For the next handful of races we walked as close to the track as possible by the finish line. In the words of one of my companions, we were looking to feel the thunder of the hooves. It was pretty amazing. After the races, the top three finishers exit the track right in front of the stands in order to allow the spectators a congratulatory view on the way to the winner's circle. Just in case you were curious, it's true--jockeys are really small people.
Since it was starting to rain a bit and people had to catch trains home, we decided to stay for one final race. It turns out the 8th race of the day was the big money race with all of the biggest names and the most money. I had to place one more bet. I looked through the listings with a handful of others and decided that Crown's Master was my horse. Why? Well, the logic went like this- it wasn't the top rated horse but the top rated horses had been losing all day; rather, it was number four and that seemed like a respectable place to start the race.
We all gathered at the railing for the start of the race and once again you could feel the excitement in the air. As we waited I kept glancing at the betting board noting how much the odds changed right before the race--my horse fluctuated from 8.3 all the way to 9.4 before settling at 8.7, all in the space of about two minutes. Anyhow, the betting closes and the horses were off!
We were all screaming and cheering but my friend Andrew and I got into sportscaster play-by-play mode with our shouts, e.g. "Andthey'reoffandoutofthegatewithTattersallsoutintheleadbutCrown'sMasterclosebehind..." We were screaming a mile a minute and as they came into the far turn, my horse was in the lead! I started barking even louder and everyone else followed suit as they came into the home stretch. The horses were bunch in a pack up front so I started looking up at the massive TV screen to see which horse was in the lead. Right at the end I saw on the screen that Crown's Master, number four, was passed by number two and I was crestfallen. I was about to tear up my ticket when Kelly starts shouting even louder, "He did it!"
It turns out I looked away prematurely because I thought the race was over but Crown's Master burst out in front right at the line to take the win. As soon as I realized it, I let out an incredible whoop of jubilation and started dancing around in seemingly drunken acclamation. It was glorious. I'm guessing the Hong Kongers around me either thought I was nuts or thought I was a jerk but I couldn't have cared less. I immediately went over to the window and collected my winnings, asking in a hoarse voice to collect.
Walking out towards the exit with my money in hand, I was on cloud nine. I decided that I would never ever place another bet on horse racing because it could never compare to this experience. I was done. I had been to the promise land and tasted the fruits of victory but I knew wouldn't happen again; not like that, anyway. So there you have it. Just another day at the races...
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April 18, 2007
Cards, Comedy, and a China First
A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from my sister's first grade class in NY. They had been studying China and its language, history, culture, and food and wanted to ask a so-called "China expert" some questions. I promised to do my best and, luckily, they didn't throw me any major curve balls. Though I didn't know the exact year they started building the Great Wall, I was able to name the last emperor from the Qing Dynasty and explain the difference in education styles.
My sister can elaborate more, but she mentioned a few excellent remarks after I hung up. For example, they wanted to know the following: was I Chinese, how come Ilana didn't look Chinese, was she sure I was really her brother, and other scholarly gems. I suppose it makes sense when you're seven years old--someone in China should be Chinese.
Anyhow, in true first grade form, all of the students took the time to write me a thank-you card. They sent them in the mail about a week ago and I just got them today (which is record time for China Post). Reading the cards all done in crayon, I was struck by the genius of the first-grade mind. A few of my favorite lines:
"Dear Ari, How is China? Thank you."
"Dear Ari, Thanks for the answer."
"Dear Ari, Thanks for talking to us. Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love."
"Dear Ari, I barely have any space on this paper to say thank you." [it was a huge piece of paper]
and my personal favorite-
"Dear Ari, What is your best friend's name?"
You gotta love the thought process of a first grader. The cards also reminded me of a short piece I just read in a recent edition of the New Yorker that my sister sent me (thanks, Ilana!). Simon Rich is a great writer and he did a little article entitled, "The Wisdom of Children," which really made me laugh. It has nothing to do with China, but the first part goes as follows:
A Conversation at the Grownup Table, as Imagined at the Kids' Table
MOM: Pass the wine, please. I want to become crazy.
DAD: O.K.
GRANDMOTHER: Did you see the politics? It made me angry.
DAD: Me, too. When it was over, I had sex.
UNCLE: I'm having sex right now.
DAD: We all are.
MOM: Let's talk about which kid I like the best.
DAD: (laughing) You know, but you won't tell.
MOM: If they ask me again, I might tell.
FRIEND FROM WORK: Hey, guess what! My voice is pretty loud!
DAD: (laughing) There are actual monsters in the world, but when my kids ask I pretend like there aren't.
MOM: I'm angry! I'm angry all of a sudden!
DAD: I'm angry, too! We're angry at each other!
MOM: Now everything is fine.
DAD: We just saw the PG-13 movie. It was so good.
MOM: There was a big sex.
FRIEND FROM WORK: I am the loudest! I am the loudest!
(Everybody laughs.)
MOM: I had a lot of wine, and now I'm crazy!
GRANDFATHER: Hey, do you guys know what God looks like?
ALL: Yes.
GRANDFATHER: Don't tell the kids.
Anyhow, back to matters of the China variety, I had a noteworthy bus ride the other day
which proved to be a China first. I was sitting on one of the few older buses left in the city with wooden benches, big sliding windows, and no air conditioning, just half-reading the newspaper and half-daydreaming. We were stopped in a long traffic jam in an area with a lot of construction on the right side when I happened to glance up.
The guy sitting two seats up and across from me looked around at everyone on the bus and then in one swift movement, grabbed a pocketbook and package sitting next to a woman in front of him, pushed open the window, hopped out the window, landed on two feet, and sprinted full speed in the opposite direction. It was a pretty incredible feat--before I had even registered what he was doing, he was completely gone.
Not surprisingly, it caused a major commotion. Everyone on the bus was shouting, heads craning out the window to catch a glimpse of him running. The woman who got robbed was hysterical and the bus driver seemed to be amused by the whole situation. All I could think was, man--that took guts. He's got to be pretty desperate to pull a stunt like that because so many things could have gone wrong. What if the bus had started moving? What if he caught a foot on the window sill on the way down? What if he didn't land on two feet? What if the window didn't slide open quickly enough?
Chinese people always talk about how Guangzhou is such a dangerous city but until yesterday I had never actually seen a crime, other than the standard traffic violations. It doesn't change the fact that I feel completely safe here, though I suppose in the future I will be more diligent about keeping both straps of my bag on at all times. Then again, I'd laugh if a Chinese guy stole it. What's he going to do, sell my Chinese flashcards?
Posted by awolfe at 3:08 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 16, 2007
A Story
This past week I kicked off a small unit on ethics and morality with my students. This was one of my favorite things to teach last year and I had been looking forward to doing it again for some time. It's a perfect unit for the spring because at this point the students are comfortable enough to speak their minds without worrying so much about making a mistake or feeling embarrassed. I decided to start off with something new this year--a story.
After a brief writing prompt about the meaning of "responsibility," I handed out the following story to every student:
THE DRAWBRIDGE
As he left for a visit to the countryside, a jealous King warned his pretty wife: "Do not leave the castle while I am gone, or I will punish you severely when I return!"
As the hours passed, the young Queen grew lonely, and despite her husband's warning, decided to visit her lover who lived nearby. The castle was located on an island in a wide, fast flowing river, with a bridge linking the island and the land. "Surely my husband will not return before dawn," she thought.
After spending several pleasant hours with her lover, the Queen returned to the bridge, only to find it blocked by a madman wildly waving a long, cruel knife. "Do not attempt to cross this bridge, Queen, or I will kill you," he raved. Fearing for her life, the Queen returned to her lover and asked him to help. "Our relationship is only a romantic one," he said, "I will not help."
The Queen then sought out a boatman on the river, explained her plight to him and asked him to take her across the river in his boat. "I will do it, but only if you pay me my price of five gold coins." "But I have no money with me!" the Queen protested. "That is too bad. No money, No ride," the boatman said flatly.
Her fear growing, the Queen ran crying to the home of a friend, and after again explaining the situation, begged for enough money to pay the boatman his price. "If you had not disobeyed your husband, this would not have happened," the friend said. "I will give you no money."
With dawn approaching and her last resource exhausted, the Queen returned to the bridge in desperation, attempted to cross to the castle, and was slain by the madman.
DIRECTIONS: In the story above, there are six characters. Rank the characters (from 1 to 6) in the order of the responsibility for the death of the Queen.
1: ____________ (most responsible)
2: ____________
3: ____________
4: ____________
5: ____________
6: ____________ (least responsible)
The story in and of itself is thought-provoking, but I have found that it's also an interesting clue into basic cultural differences. Personally, I feel that you can make a compelling case for each character to be most responsible (which, I suppose, is the point), but across the board, almost every one of my students put the Queen as #1. When asked to defend their choice, they all said, "She disobeyed her husband. If she hadn't disobeyed, the rest of the story never would have happened."
It took quite a bit of prodding and leading on my part, but by the end of class I had at least one person in the room arguing vehemently for each of the six characters to be most responsible. It's extremely satisfying as a language teacher when you can just melt away into the walls and allow the students to engage in debate without any assistance, especially when it's completely in their second language.
Posted by awolfe at 5:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 8, 2007
The Long Road Home
We all woke up late and caught a meager breakfast before hopping on the bus back to Xiuning. After the ride back through the villages and tea fields we parted ways. Since everyone was coming from different places and leaving at different times, we were unable to have one last hurrah as a group. Four of us grabbed our thinsg and caught the minibus from Xiuning to Tunxi.
In Tunxi we bought our bus tickets back to Hangzhou and went in search of food. There were a few places right outside of the main entrance to the station, but they looked to be even below my less-than-stringent sanitary restrictions. We wandered around until we found ourselves in a back alley and then shocked a local hole in the wall restaurant by sitting down for a meal. Maybe it was because I was hungry, but their fried noodles and soup broth were some of the best I've had in a while. Yum!
Finally on the bus back to Hangzhou, I reflected a bit about the weekend and the amazing group of people I was with. It is always a pleasure to spend time with such an incredibly talented and ambitious group of people--something that is not easy to find. After leaving Wesleyan, there have been only a handful of times where I've looked around and thought, "Wow, this group of people can change the world," but that is definitely how I felt over the weekend. Listening to peoples plans and aspirations made me want to up the ante and redefine my ambitions. That is, there's no reason I can't be one of those people making a difference. I'm not entirely sure how that will manifest itself quite yet, but I'm excited to find out.
We made our way back to the Hangzhou airport and were forced to eat KFC for dinner. Sadly, it was the most affordable option and we were all on a budget. I guess it could have been worse. Anyhow, the flight itself was uneventful except for the fact that once again I managed to have my patience tested upon landing in Guangzhou. As usual, everyone bolted out of their seats and tried to grab their things from the overhead compartment as if it were a race. At this point I was exhausted from about ten hours of total travel and I was ready to be home.
One guy, in particular, forced his way from one of the last rows and started to push by everybody. I was blocking the way with my backpack (and body) and he started to shove right by. I didn't see him coming so he almost knocked me over, at which point I shouted at him (in Chinese), "Where do you think you're going?" He said something about having stuff up front which sounded ridiculous so I just ignored him. He kept pushing by so finally I let him go and bellowed out a few swears in English. Not my best moment, but I just really wasn't in the mood. As I've said before, we all have our good days and our bad days in China. He just caught me at the end of a long one.
If anyone wants to check out some pics from the trip, either click on the link to my flickr site over on the right or click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600068196823/
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April 7, 2007
The Yellow Mountain
We all met up at around 8:30am to hop on a chartered bus and head to huangshan, the Yellow Mountain. Anhui is one of the poorer provinces in the East due to it's rough terrain, but huangshan has been drawing tourists for hundreds of years. It's one of those places that gets painted and written about thousands of times every year. In fact, there's a good chance you've seen a rendering of it in your local Chinese restaurant. Needless to say, I was very excited.
The one hour bus ride took us through winding roads, small mountain villages, and huge tea fields. It was all so beautiful that we became entranced by the scenery and hardly spoke. At the foot of the mountain, we hopped off and went to buy tickets. Similar to most tourist sites, there are discounted tickets for students. Though very few of us were students, almost everyone had a university ID. The Yale kids all successfully used their outdated Yale IDs despite the fact that it had "VOID" stamped on the front. As Andrew said, "they don't know what the means." I managed to use my BU staff ID and was pleased that they recognized "university" on the card and didn't question me further.
The best, though, was the few people who didn't have IDs with them. The discounted tickets were half off which saved 100 kuai--well worth an extra effort. These few card-less kids borrowed IDs from those of us that had already paid and simply went back in line using the same card twice. I figured it would never work that Alison, a short girl with brown hair, could get by with an ID from Kelly, who has blonder hair and looks completely different. But I was wrong. I even contributed to the ruse by giving one of the guys my outdated university ID from studying Chinese last semester. Again, the picture of me looked absolutely nothing like him, but it just goes to show that all white people look alike to Chinese people. Can't really blame them though; it almost always works the same way over in the States, just in reverse.
Next we used some serious connections through the principal of the Xiuning high school to cut the line for the cable car. While it is possible to hike all the way up, it would have added hours on to the day that we just didn't have. So we took the easy way. Despite there being over one thousand people waiting in line for the cable car, we were led to the back staircase that Communist Party members and foreign dignitaries use. The design was genius--there was a wooden fence blocking us from view and we managed to go all the way up and directly to the cars without a single person in the general line seeing us. It made me wonder--how often are people cutting me in line when I don't even know it?!
The ride itself was gorgeous and brought up really high up. The mountain was enormous, with different peaks and gorges in every direction, so I didn't even remotely feel bad about taking the car up. Stepping out of the cable car, we were met by throngs of people walking shoulder to shoulder through the paths. We split into three groups, made a meeting time/place, and began our trek.
For the first two hours it was all about fighting the crowd. It felt like being on a bus during rush hour, with people getting smooshed into very narrow places. What killed me was the number of people who would just sit down in the middle of the trail, thereby blocking thousands of people from getting through. Even worse, though, were the big groups that would stop to take pictures and listen to commentary from a tour guide every five feet. What a mess!
After elbowing and shoving through people for over two hours, without warning the crowds broke. It was amazing--all we had to do was take one left hand turn and suddenly we were alone. It was completely inexplicable. From then on out, it was like we were on a completely different mountain. We were able to hear the birds chirping, gaze at breathtaking views, and meander through the path on our own terms. It was a welcome improvement.
The western steps, the path we were taking, was pretty incredible, though one of the more difficult day-hikes I have ever done. The route went along sheer rock cliffs with cut stone stairways taking you down into a massive gorge and then back up to the top of the mountain. At times there was nothing separating us from a massive drop, other than a thin piece of stone. Going up was also incredibly steep, even forcing those of us in good shape to take a rest every few hundred meters. I was also feeling some serious pain in my knee from what felt like a stretched ligament--hardly the time to be climbing up (or down) a mountain. All in all, though, it was an unforgettable 8km of hiking.
After about six hours of trekking, we made it back to the main tourist section and met up with the other groups for dinner. It being the top of a mountain, the restaurant we ate at was absurdly expensive. What's more, it wasn't even very good! We ordered a 40 kuai bowl of noodles that tasted like something out of a really bad Chinese restaurant in England.
As we walked out, I noticed that there were dozens of tents pitched out on the basketball court. Huh. It turns out there are a number of more "hard core" Chinese travelers out there who attempt to get a more rugged huangshan experience by camping. I'm just wondering if they see the irony of camping on the basketball court of a four star hotel.
Unfortunately there was a screwup in our hotel reservation and we were unable to stay at the top of the mountain. Instead, we had to make our way about halfway down to a hotel on a lower level. This ruined our chance of seeing the sun rise, a tradition on the Yellow Mountain, but there wasn't much we could do about it. In addition, the cable car was supposed to stop running at 4:30pm, forcing us to walk about two hours down in the dark. My knee was not excited about that prospect, but again, there was no choice.
Luckily we were only about two minutes in when I looked up and noticed the cable car still operating. We ran back up and literally caught the last car down, with us and all of the employees. While it would have been nice to walk down (under more healthy circumstances), it was surreal to take the car down in the pitch black--we couldn't see where we were going or where we were coming from, other than a few scattered lights hundreds of feet away. So cool!
We checked into the hotel and all plopped down into our rooms, exhausted from an unbelievable, yet grueling day. Though we hung out for a little while, chatting and watching soccer, I think we were all asleep by about 10:30pm. I don't think I've slept that soundly in a long time...
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April 6, 2007
Xiuning
I got up at the crack of dawn today and joined Kelly, her roommate, and her roommate's boyfriend to travel to Xiuning, a small town in Anhui province. Though not directly involved in it, I was tagging along to the Yale-China Spring Conference, a meeting of the fourteen Yale fellows spread between Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Changsha, and now Xiuning. Yale-China is in many ways similar to Princeton in Asia, but radically different in others. More than anything, I was just excited to see some friends and explore a new province.
Our 8am flight touched down in Zhejiang province's Hangzhou around 10am. As we rode in a cab to one of the bus stations, I was once again struck by how clean and organized the city was compared to most other Chinese metropolitan areas. We managed to time it just right to buy some instant noodles and hope right on a three hour bus to get to Tunxi, a town neighboring Xiuning. After one more bus ride, we finally made it to the high school at around 2pm. It was a beautiful school out in the countryside, but it sure wasn't easy to get to.
Unfortunately we missed observing a class but it was still pretty incredible to see the students walking around. I've always known it, but my students at Huafu are incredibly rich and privileged in comparison to almost everyone else, especially those in small countryside towns. These students were incredibly warm and inviting but were absolutely shocked to see eighteen foreigners all in one place. Who can blame them? It was almost ten times as many white people as they had ever seen.
While one group of fellows chatted about curriculum, I went with another on a cultural walk, of sorts, through the town. We cut over the one main road and were immediately met by cobblestone streets and open fields. It sure was a far cry from the skyscrapers of Guangzhou. Snaking through the farmland paths and waving to the workers, we eventually made our way to a crumbling Ming Dynasty watch tower overlooking the surrounding areas. It was apparent that this was the original tower and not a recreated version, since there was even a tree growing out the top.
We made it back just in time for a much-hyped basketball match against the faculty of the high school. I figured it would be a fun, relaxing game but as I walked over towards the athletic facilities, I couldn't even see the court because it was surrounded by about a hundred students. I made it on to the court and saw the opposing team dressed in uniforms! There was even a referee and scorekeeper to round it out.
The game itself was quite competitive and surprisingly even. We were a bit bigger but overall worse, in terms of skill. It back and forth with several highlights by each team until the end of the game. We were down by about six with a minute to go and started a full court press that turned into a few turnovers and easy layups. Just as we tied the game, they decided to blow the final whistle. I was initially annoyed (since I hate ties) but laughed afterwards when we realized that they wanted the game to end in a tie in order to save face all around.
After playing a little bit of low-intensity soccer with a bunch of students, we relaxed for a while up in the Yale fellows' apartment and then went to dinner. Dinner was a little hole in the wall restaurant across the street from the main entrance to the high school, on that one main road. It turns out the boys eat there a few times a week and have a close relationship with the owner, a guy named "Dennis" who spoke incredible English. About twenty of us crowded around one huge table and ate a feast of dishes made up by the local cooks.
I don't know how they managed to do it, but with only about twenty minutes notice, they cooked up dozens of dishes for us with meat, tofu, and tons of fresh vegetables. We also went through the ceremonial toasts and one of the Xiuning fellows toasted Dennis for being one of his closest friends in the whole town. I think I'd be best friends with the restaurant owner as well! That food was damn good and incredibly cheap--the sort of place I would be at every night.
After dinner we went back to hang out at the school for a little while but ended up going to sleep pretty early since we had to be up bright and early. The only hitch was that we were staying at pretty much the only hotel around--a quick 40 minute walk down the road. Forty minutes?! Yes, forty minutes. I guess that's what happens when you're out in the middle of nowhere.
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April 4, 2007
Reality Strikes Again
For the second year in a row I decided to do a unit about Reality TV with my students and it was a hit. After giving them a brief overview of shows like American Idol, The Apprentice, Survivor, and Big Brother, we discussed what made these shows different. Reality TV is hitting China pretty hard lately both in imported form and in domestic creations and students seem to enjoy the genre. Though I happen to loathe these types of programs, it does go over well in the classroom.
The best part of teaching Reality TV is that the final project. This involves the kids going up to the front of the classroom in groups and performing a 5-10 minute segment of a Reality TV show of their choice. Besides forcing every student to have a speaking role, it also lets the creative juices flow a little, which is always a bonus for these kids. As a teacher, you never quite know what will happen when you give students free reign to create or perform something from scratch; It's part of what makes teaching interesting and exciting.
This year I had several noteworthy performances that are blog-worthy. I explained the concept of the makeover and how many shows like to take people and give them new clothes, a new hairstyle, or, in some extremes, plastic surgery. I was actually surprised how many of my students had seen "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Anyhow, several groups took the opportunity to "makeover" other classmates and it was hilarious.
I had more than a few girls actually bring in makeup, jewelry, and even different outfits to change into. Most of the time they actually tried to do a good job but I had one group that took a different slant to the idea. This particular crew took a very pretty girl and tried to make her as ugly as possible in a five minute period. Needless to say, it was a riot. By the end she had hair braided on one side and clipped in front of her face on the other. She had purple and green eyeshadow, bizarrely dark lipstick, and a sweater that would make even a homeless person blush.
Somewhat along these lines, I found that for the second year in a row, I had at least thirty students pretend to be a member of the opposite sex. For some of the makeover shows, there were boys who were supposed to be girls. In addition, there were girls who pretended to be the boyfriends of girls getting makeovers. And no--it was not due to a lack of boys or girls. More entertaining, though, were those who pretended to be the opposite sex in imitations of "The Bachelor."
In these performances there were boys pretending to be girls dating boys and vice versa. Every time it happened, the students shouted out things like "kiss!" or "get closer!" and then laughed hysterically. The laughter didn't surprise me as much as the willingness by all involved to switch genders. I can't decide whether it would happen more or less in the States, but it's pretty funny.
Another one of my favorites was when groups did versions of "American Idol." Much like "American Idol" is a ripoff of a British show, China ripped off "American Idol" and created a show called "Supergirls." As such, it's a very familiar format to the students and one they all enjoy. For the second year in a row, I was thoroughly impressed with how many students were willing to sing without accompaniment in front of the class. It's not just the outgoing kids, either. I had some timid students get up there and belt out with a voice I had barely heard before. Again, sometimes you just never know. Once a kid is in the right situation he or she might just surprise you.
Without a doubt, though, the highlight of the entire week was one particular "contestant" in an American Idol performance. This girl had not previously made a name for herself, other than being completely lost in the crowd. With 360 students, I know all the really good ones, all the ones that struggle, and all the ones with strong personalities. It's the ones in the middle that often get lost in the shuffle. Sad, but true.
Anyhow, if I had to describe her, I would say that she's the quiet, homely type that probably doesn't do too many sports but always hands her homework in on time. She got up to the front of the class and without warning plugged her mp3 player into the speaker system and launched into a rap. I didn't know the song but it was definitely by an American gangsta-style rap artist and was complete with curses, sexual innuendo, and more slang than I would ever want to explain. I was *floored*. Usually I would stop something that involved so many four-letter words but I was just completely shocked! What brought it to the next level was the fact that her pronunciation was perfect--not an easy task, especially given how fast the words had to come out of her mouth.
She finished the song and I was flabbergasted. I have no idea where she found the song, how she learned it, if she had any idea what the words meant, or if she knew any other raps, but I was pretty impressed with her courage. A lot of the students seem either confused or disinterested, but I gave her a hearty round of applause.
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April 3, 2007
Why This Night Was Different
Last night was the second night of Passover, one of my favorite Jewish holidays of the year. While it's always a bit sad to be away from family on days like these, it presents an opportunity to make it special in a different way. Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals in the Jewish tradition and commemorates the exodus of the Jews from enslavement in Egypt. For the second year in a row I decided to hold a seder, the ceremonial meal held on the first two nights generally accompanied by a whole lot of food and wine.
One of the tricky things about this particular holiday is that there are about a million different rules and traditions regarding what you can and cannot do/eat/say/drink. I mean, I guess all of organized religion centers around those sorts of things, but Passover is ripe with symbolism and ritual minutiae. In order to help me in the gargantuan task of putting together a respectable seder, my parents went out and bought a boxful of essentials including matzah, soup mix, pickles, passover cakes, muffin mix, and a whole bunch of other goodies for the holiday. I was so excited to get the package... but it never came.
The Chinese mail system is generally reliable if not timely, but this time it really let me down. However, the show must go on! With the help of Kelly's cooking expertise, my mother's recipes, and some inventive ingredient-substitutes, I began to put it all together. Much like last year, I gained that much more respect for the Jewish moms who manage to throw together massive meals for hordes of people at the drop of a hat. I was cooking for two straight days and barely had time to make it all work. Though in my defense, I think this task would have been exponentially easier with access to a regular-sized oven and/or four burners on a stove.
On Monday night my six closest friends came over and I acted as head of the house to run the ceremonial meal. A few things stand out to me as highlights every year at the seder: number one--the afikoman. According to tradition, the master of the house breaks off a piece of matzah (called the afikoman)and hides it somewhere in the house. After the main food section of the night, the service cannot continue until someone has found the afikoman and it is consumed by all as a dessert, of sorts (yum! matzah!). As a child, this is always one of the most exciting events of the year because the winner gets a prize and you have free reign to run around the house searching high and low for something your parents intentionally hid from you. It's genius.
This year the search was a frenzied effort by everybody that went through every room in my (not-so-large) apartment. People were throwing drawers open, knocking books on to the ground, tossing blankets over shoulders, and generally causing mass hysteria. My roommate might never forgive me, either, since I hid it in his room in between a couple of sweaters (that subsequently got thrown to the floor). I'm not sure what it says about me or my friends that for about ten minutes we all acted like a bunch of eight year-olds, but it was pretty fun.
Number two--the wine. I'd like to shake the hand of whoever put together the haggadah, the book that leads all participants through the correct order of events for the seder. Before anyone has had any significant amount of food, they are required to drink two full glasses of wine. I don't mean little sips, either. I'm talking about chugging a full cup of wine in one go. This serves to loosen everyone up and make them less antsy about having to wait through several readings and rituals before getting to the main course. It also gets everyone of age really psyched about the night and makes the singing that much more inspired.
Number three--the food. I guess I'm pretty transparent by now but I'm all about the food. In almost every situation. And Passover seder food is amazing. While I can't say I'm a huge fan of matzah (can anyone be excited about floor and water baking for no more than eighteen minutes?), you crush the stuff up and add a couple of eggs and some oil and you've got the makings of matzah balls--one of the greatest additions to chicken soup. For my seder we also cooked up (from scratch) some herbed potatoes, broccoli tossed with a red wine vinaigrette, tsimmes, charoset, soy-honey chicken, coconut macaroons, and even a flourless cake. It was glorious.
By the end of the night we had each gone through at least four full cups of wine, done some rowdy singing, and each read about why that night is different than all other nights--the fundamental question of Passover. Out of money and energy, I couldn't possibly prepare another seder for the second night. Instead, I headed over to the Chabad synagogue here in Guangzhou, a branch of Hasidism (a form of orthodox Judaism) that is known to Jews worldwide for providing services and venues for anybody in need.
I have always had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Chabad. To sum it up, I love the fact that they are so hospitable, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. It's great to know that almost wherever I am in the world I will always be welcome among strangers for a meal and religious worship. I also very much respect the fact that they don't try to convert non-Jews. On the other hand, they have a habit of always making me feel like a bad person for not participating more and being a "bad Jew."
Regardless, I headed over and sat down at a table with a bunch of guys roughly my age studying Talmud, commentary on the Jewish bible. Chabad in Guangzhou is a small community made up mostly of businessmen from around the globe. At the dinner last night I heard a only couple people speaking English, but handfuls speaking Russian, Spanish, French, and possibly German. Overall though, the common language was Hebrew. As I've said before, my Hebrew used to be not half bad, but since learning Chinese, it's taken a serious back seat. My brain was in serious pain last night trying to construct even the most basic sentences. This, in turn, made me feel even more inferior as a Jew there since everyone else (and I mean everyone) was fluent.
Having never been to a Hasidic seder before, I wasn't sure how different it would be from the ones I grew up with. Luckily they were using a haggadah with an English translation so I could follow along without a problem. Unlike my family seders, the entire thing was done in Hebrew. This isn't a big problem but as is traditional, people around the table go around reading a paragraph at a time, especially in the section recounting the story of the exodus. I actually felt legitimately nervous when it came to my turn and I think I was sweating. I felt like the eyes of every Hebrew teacher I had ever had were staring at me as I tried to read at a regular pace. It all happened so fast that I'm not sure how I did, but I guess no response was the best I could have hoped for from my table-mates.
Also, as luck would have it, I somehow ended up in the alcoholic section of the table. There were about fifty people there in all and a good number of people were using non-alcoholic grape juice instead of wine. I'm not quite sure why, but I was wedged between two orthodox guys originally born in NYC who were quite intent on drinking wine. Apparently it is also orthodox tradition to not only fill the glass most of the way, but to actually fill it up past the brim so it spills a bit, thereby showing that you're drinking a full cup. And since I was certainly not one to argue with tradition, our corner of the table put back a serious amount of wine. We even had a little laugh after I noted that it must be the American way (the Russian guys next to us stuck with the grape juice).
Though I did feel a twinge of guilt at the end of the night when the Rabbi told me he hoped to see me again soon, I'm definitely glad I went. From a cultural standpoint, it was a heckuv an experience. It's also just nice to be in a foreign place with something that is magically familiar to all. I don't know how many countries were represented there last night but it seemed that everybody knew the same melodies and banged on the table in rhythm along with everyone else. Though I think I may always have some questions about a lot of the religious elements of Judaism, I know I will never shy away from the cultural aspects of the faith.
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