Ric Swenson on thu 21 jun 07
Hi all, A Chinese conversation is reflective in nature. Even though my Man=
darin is still quite rudimentary, I've noticed that in listening to Chinese=
conversations many phrases are repeated back to the speaker by the listene=
r and then verified by the speaker ("hao da" (ok) or Du wei (yes). Having=
a friend translate a large menu verbatum has helped me order in restaurant=
s but I seldom eat alone. Usually a fellow teacher or some students go wit=
h me when I go out to "food alley". ...a small street near campus where you=
can find all sorts of good ethnic delicacies. A good meal for two might c=
ost as much at 10-20 yuan ( $1.00 USD =3D 7.7 yuan RMB)Children's Day last =
weekend. I took pictures of my favorite kindergarten students ( the one's w=
ho come to class in a special group on Sat and Sun mornings) and gave them =
8 X 10 color photos. They loved them and cost me little to have printed. =
Two fellow teachers ( Art History teacher and thermal energy teacher (kiln =
theory) and I went to visit the local orphanage and brought them games, boo=
ks and food and some clothing and towels, etc. They live in a clean place,=
but most are hard to adopt out because they are teenagers....and the litt=
le ones are disabled. They loved our visit and I plan to go back to visit =
them when I can. About 20 total kids there. A hard life, but they smile a =
lot anyway. This week the Chinese high schoolers had their big chance. 10 =
million took the college entrance exams. It might their only chance to make=
it big in life, so there is intense competition. The best will attend Pek=
ing U. or Tsinghua U in Beijing ( the Harvard and Princeton of China) other=
s will make it into lesser colleges, but still have much better job opportu=
nities than those that don't make the grade. The college entrance exams are=
now in their 30th year...since restarting in 1977 after the disaster of th=
e cult. revolution of 1966-76. Since then, 36 million have taken passing ma=
rks and graduated from institutions of higher learning. The numbers increas=
e each year, as the colleges grow and new ones are started. The weather her=
e can be described in two words now...birkenstocks and shorts. I've made fr=
iend with the Peking U. Prof. who is her studying 17th C. Porcelains of Jin=
gDeZhen. She is a wealth of expert knowledge and maybe the world's expert =
in her particular field of work. She shops Monday mornings at the antique =
fairs and can spot a real work from a fake in a nanosecond. Had to break do=
wn and buy tubes for my bike tires the other day...the bike is 30-40 years =
old and works fine, but the roads take their toll...so to speak. Cost me 24=
yuan for both tubes, installed. 3 down and four to go in the way of final =
tests to be given. Where does the time go? I was stopped this morning by on=
e of the WVU profs...herding a group of students to the JCI / WVU studios h=
ere....He said he was in Anchorage recently and saw some of my pieces in th=
e Anchorage Museum. I was pleased and delighted to hear that two of the ha=
lf dozen pieces I have there are in a current show. Also he saw the work o=
f fellow Alaskans Alex Combs and Al Tennet. I share this computer with sev=
eral other teachers and some grad students. Rashid (Robbie ) is a ceramic =
Engineer from Usbekastan and Sy is a ceramics major from Myanmar. There is=
a program this term for VietNamese students and also for Koreans. Korean g=
irls are very noisy.... but funny too. Just watched TITANIC in Chinese. Hm=
mmmm. glad I knew the plot. The mosquitoes here are very small...but pack a=
big punch. Nothing like the giant mosquitos in Alaska. I use a small ele=
ctric odor device to keep them in check. I have 5 (count 'em FIVE) scrabble=
games for my students to use. They love the game and even the three Korea=
n high school boys that I tutor on the weekends have come to love the game.=
They know little English...so it helps them develop their vocab. I lugge=
d the games from Atlanta to China in my luggage. The customs people were ve=
ry curious and I had to try to explain their use when I passed through Shan=
gHai . GO SPURS! First game was theirs!! and won four!! I was fortunate t=
o live in San Antonio during their 2003 and 2005 winning seasons. Ginobli=
is my favorite NBA star. Most Chinese, of course, favor Yao Ming...unders=
tandably. NBA is BIG stuff here. They know all the players and love the g=
ame. As I sit here, I can hear about 50 players out on the court in front =
of this dorm...and it's HOT now. I don't know how they can play in this 90=
degree heat...but they do...until well after dark most nights. Zao shang h=
ao is GOOD MORNING. Just learned that one today. Mostly folks just say Ni=
Hao (literally "you good"?) I pay 6 yuan for 10 liters of fresh drinking w=
ater, lasts me about 3-4 weeks. People don't like cold water or iced water =
here. They believe it is bad for the system and if taken with a meal, cause=
s the oil in the food to harden and cause digestive problems. Hey...who kno=
w? True? You are always offer hot water or tea when you visit an office o=
r someone's home. They also believe if you walk backward that you will lose=
more weight. I see many walking on the school's athletic track backward. =
It's a different culture in some strange and curious ways, but who knows? =
Maybe they are right. About 400 days until the Beijing Olympics - 08-08-200=
8. JingnDeZhen Ceramics Institute is spending 100,000 RMB to send a ceramic=
s show to Beijing now. I saw them loading the trucks this AM. Teachers and =
students works. The crates are works of art in themselves. I bought a coup=
le beautiful new handmade bamboo large baskets the other day. 10 yuan each=
. Craftsmanship at it's best for a totally utilitarian object...totally fun=
ctional. Three foot long curved handles. They are used in pairs with a yok=
e over the shoulders to carry fruits/vegetables/babies in the rice fields, =
or even to catch fish in the river, etc... Saw a 'five step snake' the othe=
r day....it bites you.... and then you live for five steps....yikes. I nev=
er did like snakes much. Transportation of greenware pottery and sculpture =
here is almost always done by yoke and platforms over the shoulders of a wo=
rkman...or on a small two wheeled cart...pulled by a workman. Slowly and ca=
refully from maker to glazer/decorator. Finished wares are packed in straw =
and loaded in carts or small pickup trucks and carried to retailers/shipper=
s. I saw a man today pulling two six foot high sculptures of some Chinese m=
ythical figure in greenware up the street. I am continually amazed. Joey Zh=
ao, a recent grad in sculpture from this institution has been accepted at C=
arbondale and will leave soon for the states. It took him 7 months to get h=
is visa. It's not easy for Chinese to leave P.R. of China yet. I wish him =
the best! I will go to Beijing in July to spend a month at Peking U. ( I ca=
n rent a dorm room there for 100 yuan per month...as a teacher in China.) =
I will travel from there to the west after I have spent a month absorbing T=
he Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc, etc... This is the year of the PIG. I =
understand it is a very good year to have a baby in China. I see a great n=
umber of pregnant women in the streets. In the streets, daily I see huge du=
mp trucks carrying clay and petunce (spar) from the mines to the clay maker=
s shops. Many trucks of prepared clay also transverse the roads. This week =
is DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL. There is a myth about a famous poet/writer who wa=
s disgraced and jumped in the river. The people were outraged by his death =
and in tribute threw rice in the river so the fish would eat the rice inste=
ad of his body. Now there are special rice concoctions wrapped in corn lea=
ves that are eaten during this time in his honor. Boat races are held in th=
e river in JingDeZhen tomorrow. The strawberry fields that we passed all th=
is term on the bus going to the new campus have suddenly been transformed i=
nto rice paddies. Water buffalos pull the plows through the paddies and ri=
ce is planted quickly. A 100 day cycle of plant to harvest. I love the pat=
terns of the fields and the ever changing green color that display as the c=
rops mature to golden yellow in the Fall. Housing starts to encroche on th=
e rice fields in most places where urban meets rural. They are building a n=
ew hospital near the New Campus. Scheduled to open in 2008...the sign says=
. Lots of different info. here. Stream of conciousness? Happy potting! Ric =
=20
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