Bacon!

I haven't written a whole lot about food so far. For the most part, I do pretty well, and am quite satisfied with the food here. Initially, I will say that almost all of the food which you find in China isn't much like the food you find at your local Chinese restaurant (be it take out or fancy). There are very few sweet and sour dishes, and one really big difference is the use of a lot of leafy vegetables. Most dishes are mixed vegetables and meat over rice, or mixed with noodles. I eat almost every meal at the cafeterias and the small restaurants on campus. I enjoy all the food, think it's pretty healthy on the whole, and there is plenty of good and relatively cheap fruit around. The main cafeterias leave a bit to be desired. On each cafeteria's second floor, though, they have opened it up to private businesses, so those restaurants offer good food at only a bit higher price. There are two main restaurants I eat at, one offering all sorts of combinations on top of rice, the other a sort of instant 'hot pot', essentially a pick your own ingredients, add noodles, and they boil it for you sort of place.

Occasionally, I will head to the street vendors outside the front gate of the university. They offer anything that can be made from a cart, which is a surprisingly wide array of food. My favorites are the fried dumplings. On campus, there are a few vendors that operate in the doorways/on the sidewalk of some of the stores on 'market street' (where all the stores and restaurants are located). They offer some pretty good options, many of which feature some combination of fried eggs, meat, and vegetables (they all use small griddles). All in all, there is plenty of variety, and with the occasional trip to PapaJohn's or McDonald's, I have very little complaints. On the other hand, we are quite spoiled in America, in that even in Des Moines, Iowa, there is an incredible variety of people and ethnicities, and thus an astounding assortment of restaurants. Not so in China. The food from the Hui and Uyghur migrants (those from northwestern China) provides the only a little to variety to otherwise pretty homogenous food. Now, the food is said to really differ among the many regions, some sweeter, some spicier, and so on, but (in my opinion) it all is still pretty similar.

Now to the bacon. One of the things which Chinese food lacks is large pieces of meat. There isn't a lot of meat in general (which is probably a good thing) due to cost. Even when there is meat, it is always chopped up or sliced very thinly. There is some relationship with this and how chopsticks work, but I am not sure about the cause and effect. So, no steaks, no real hamburgers, no pork chops, no chicken breasts, none of that (which for the health and the environment, isn't necessarily a bad thing). Well, last week, I strolled by a new vendor on 'market street'. As I peered into his offerings, I couldn't believe my eyes. Bacon. Real, long, strips of bacon. I was ecstatic and got right in line. He uses a griddle (standard operating procedure for the street vendors) and first grills a sort of pancake. One can then choose the fillings for the pancake, which are also grilled, and then put on top of the pancake, which is folded taco style. My normal order (I have been there almost daily for the past week) is a strip of bacon, a fried egg, lettuce, and a tomato-ish sauce. It's almost like bacon and eggs with some biscuits. Not quite, but pretty close, and getting close to some of the flavors I have grown up with is plenty for me. I have included a picture of the delicacy being cooked, and will post another as soon as I figure out what is wrong with my camera's compatibility.

Yoga Class

About three weeks ago, Xingxing mentioned she was going to take a yoga class this semester. She didn't really seem to be inviting me, but I could use the exercise and figured it would be a fun experience. Our college, in a surprising move away from its archaic education and social models, offers a few elective classes each semester, such as piano, yoga, and calligraphy. They of course charge extra for the classes (because if there's one thing the Chinese are good at, it's capitalism-I'm serious). After an hour meeting/conversation to decide when to have the class, and to tell us that we ought not eat before the class, we were ready to go. This meeting took an hour because the students have maybe 25 hours of class a week, and were busy almost every other waking hour with 'self-study' (see my library post for explanation).

Very early on in the first class it became apparent that this class would consist of just as much Chinese practice as yoga. For me, that is a great thing, despite my desire to learn and improve my Chinese, I don't often throw myself into exclusively Chinese situations. Moreover, due to the eagerness of the students to learn English, these situations don't arise too often.
Luckily I had studied body parts vocabulary with some of my tutors. Unluckily, my yoga teacher does not repeat words slowly and clearly for me, so even if she says a word I know, I usually don't pick it up. Phrases like 'slowly arch your back as you take in a deep breath' are way, way, way more advanced than anything I have learned yet. So, most of the time I am about ten seconds behind the rest of the class, as I just wait to see what the teacher does or the students near me. Of course, much of yoga is done with the eyes closed, in order to (supposedly) enrich the spiritual experience. I don't close my eyes in class, because of my aforementioned method; but I'm not really worried about the spiritual side of the class. I also know that my breathing is never aligned with the class, because even though I have learned inhale and exhale, I always seem to confuse them under the yoga class pressure.

I am the only non-Han (race) Chinese in the class. I am the only non-native Chinese speaker in the class. I am the only male in the class. I am the only non-college student in the class. So, I am a bit of a novelty or annoyance to the class, depending on the other students opinions. I have provided a bit of humor to the class, which I see as a major contribution, and the teacher hasn't seemed to mind. During a one leg balancing position, our focus was on the ceiling to get a good stretch. I maintained my focus and was balancing pretty well. My peripheral vision was essentially eliminated due to staring at the ceiling (as instructed). For some reason I didn't really notice the sound as everyone else relaxed (remember the teacher's instructions are completely lost on me unless they correspond to a physical demonstration). So the entire class chuckled as I continued to balance intensely as they all relaxed. This situation has repeated itself more than a few times. I am now occasionally sacrificing my concentrated stares to make sure I am still on the same page as the rest of the class. Overall I have enjoyed the class, it's good to be forced to exercise, and it adds to my rather open weekly schedule. Last class there were a few times when I successfully understood the teacher, albeit 'raise your arm' is pretty easy to pick up after 27 repeats (when learning the most difficult language for a native English speaker, I celebrate anything). I also tend to think my attendance probably has sparked more than a couple of conversations about the 'strange and different foreigner' back at the dorms after class.

In the kitchen...

As a way to fill some of my spare time, and make some extra spending money (which isn't really necessary), I have been working at a small side job this semester. It is similar to the extra job I worked at last semester, although this one was arranged through Cao Xingxing, a good friend on campus. I am teaching some mid and upper level employees at Buhler Changzhou, which is a division of Buhler, a multinational manufacturing company. Our classes are in the main office building, which is situated on a huge corporate campus that features factories, warehouses, a cafeteria/restaurant, and dorms. My class has 10 students (it's odd to call them students, as they are much older than I) and they work as department heads in engineering, quality control, and human resources. They range in age from about 25-45, there are two young engineers who aren't married, but the rest are and most have children. There is only one woman, a young engineer who was just recently married (my chances in the world keep dwindling). Because the company has operations all over the world, many of them email in English almost everyday. Additionally, they use English whenever people from the headquarters (in Switzerland) or other Asian branches come to visit or videoconference. So, the company wants management to work on their English. They want me to do speaking and listening, because, one can't revise or edit a conversation like he can an email.

I have to come up with topics, discussions, lessons, or questions to fill up the two hour sessions twice a week. So, on Monday I decided to talk about women's role in society, business, and the family. As we began class, I was disappointed to learn that the only female engineer was gone on a business trip. As our discussion proceeded, I became quite glad that she was gone. I don't need to write that China is a pretty patriarchal society. Almost all rights and societal positions which women have were gained in the last 50 years. Progress is undeniably being made towards equality, especially in the more developed and educated eastern provinces (the region where I live topping the development list). So, I was blown away with some of the things which the men I was teaching said. Now, these guys are great, funny, helpful, and very kind. But, they have also grown up in a culture that treats women in a much, much different way than mine. To preface, I readily recognize that the fact that my dad does the laundry and sewing isn't exactly normal for lots of American families, I can easily say that I don't (knowingly) have a friend who doesn't consider men and women equal. The men at Buhler happened to have a different opinion. I was told that women were less intelligent than men, less suited for government and business, and should definitely handle the majority (if not all) of the housework. I was floored. These are well educated, well informed men, living in the most developed part of China. They did recognize that women's role was changing, and a few even conceded that they would be okay with a female president, although not anytime soon. I shared some of my opinions, but mainly tried to keep the discussion going with more questions, so I could learn more. It was not as if I had imagined they would have a different opinion, but sometimes things you know are still surprising when you hear them come out of someone's mouth.

I felt much better after English corner the other night. There, when I discussed the same things with a few students, I heard a much different answer. I was with both guys and girls, but some of the guys were actually the most strident supporters of women's rights. I told them I was encouraged by their opinions, and told them to keep thinking that way. I encouraged some of the girls to be more assertive the next time someone asks them the same question. Another positive note from English corner was how willing some of the students have become to discuss somewhat sensitive topics. I think it is just that they are becoming familiar with me, and know that I like to talk with them and will hold my judgment when doing so. One student even brought up the topic of evolution and human development. He doubted that all of humanity/civilization initiated in the middle east. I told him that I did believe this, and the scholarly work I have read also agrees. Apparently he was reading a book and didn't like this declaration, instead thought that the Chinese people evolved/developed separately. He wasn't encouraged by my answer that since it happened almost 300,000 years ago, we will never know for sure. All in all, teaching English here is definitely a lot more than vocabulary and grammar, and is much more thought provoking than one might think.

Made in China

To start out, I will say that my living situation here is wonderful. I don't need too many things which aren't provided in my way too big apartment. But, from time to time, I buy this and that to satisfy some needs and wants. In general, when purchasing things here, I tend to think about what factory inspector I met on a train told me. He informed me that his job was to essentially approve the good, fault free batches for export the the U.S. and Europe. And those which don't pass the inspection...they stay at home. This is what I am buying. I am also pretty cheap (though nowhere as cheap as my students) so I think this only causes me to buy even lower value items. The low quality of products isn't a big deal, it is usually almost as humorous as it is frustrating.

The list of problems is varied, but not too long. My first cell phone had a lot of trouble connecting to the SIM card (but it was a Nokia, so I'll blame the Finns). A pair of headphones with an mp3 player lasted the bus ride home before getting very staticky. A peanut shell was inside a Santa hat, which was inside a plastic wrapper (didn't hurt the quality, but very humorous). My second hand bicycle was a total disaster. My brand new bicycle was misaligned, and the chain started sounding pretty rough after a week. It also has exposed screws on the pedals which either catch pants or scrape ankles. The bolts on my bicycle basket lack nuts...this was luckily an easy fix. After leaving my Nalgene at a restaurant when traveling, my first two plastic water bottles cracked when dropped. One drop was pretty high and understandable, the other was about four inches, a glass tumbler might have survived. My third water bottle in as many weeks is durable...but the lid leaks. An ill advised second hand cell phone has been anything but reliable. I will admit poor consumerism on this purchase, but after the poor performance of the Nokia phone purchased from the China Mobile store, I figured that a electronic street vendor was as good a bet as any. I was wrong.

Due to the lack of my phone to keep its clock running, I had a very embarrassing and unprofessional situation occur. I had set the alarm clock, but at some point in the night, my phone had reset its time to 232:16, and stopped. Needless to say that the alarm set for 7 AM didn't go off. So, I apologized profusely, arranged to make up the class, and bought the whole class treats. I also went to the supermarket to buy an alarm clock. Auchan, was the store of choice, a French owned supermarket which is close and a nice, good store. I bought the alarm clock, took it home, and realized it had no instructions. Danthemanstan helped me set it up, his random pressing of buttons being better than mine. All seemed good. There were only two problems, it talked and didn't show the time (the express purpose of a clock). The half hour announcements were only slightly annoying, but I couldn't figure out how to turn them off. On the other hand, the clock would randomly seem to go into a sleep mode, and the display would cut out. I couldn't solve this except by taking the batteries out and resetting it. So, I decided I would try what had maybe never been done before in China: to return it.

I went to return it with three very nice freshmen girls I met at English corner. They were math majors, but very enthusiastic about practicing English. They mentioned they were headed to Auchan, so I tagged along (they were quite glad to have me though). None of them had ever returned something in their lives, as was true with every other Chinese person I asked. They did think that it could be done, but weren't completely sure because of their inexperience. I explained the problem clearly and we headed into the store. They explained to the ladies at the customer service counter. It had been ten days since the purchase, which exceeded the limit of seven days, but they told me I could exchange it for a clock of equal or lesser value. So I found one, which the helpful associate even got batteries for to test. Then, for some reason, I had to go purchase it. So I did and then went back to the customer service counter. The three girls with me had been talking a lot with the lady, trying to get me the difference back (my exchanged clock was cheaper). Well, when we got to the counter, they gave me back the receipt for the first clock, and the full amount. So, I had essentially returned it. I was very confused, to say the least. After talking with the girls for awhile, it seems as if they had convinced the store to let me return the clock. But, the store would only allow this if I bought another clock. This was definitely good, as I got a functioning clock for cheaper than the original one...but I also had already bought a replacement clock for much cheaper back on campus. The girls knew this, but apparently didn't see any need to tell me this (if I knew I just had to buy any new clock to get my money back, I would've chosen the cheapest one on the shelf). Either way, I now have two working alarm clocks, so I shouldn't be missing any more classes. And I learned that apparently (if you are a foreigner or maybe not) the return policy can be easily negotiated. It's things like this that make living here sometimes frustrating, sometimes intriguing, but definitely worth it.

图书馆 (the library)

In my last post I made note of the humorously low number of hours I work each week. So, I made a promise to myself that I would put in a significant effort to learn Chinese this semester. There are many, many benefits to learning Chinese, not the least of which is being able to order my own dinner. And, my mind isn’t quite closed off to language learning, I figure I ought not waste my time here. A part of one of my learning methods has been to make flash cards of some of the most common and basic Chinese characters from a book that Steve loaned me. So, I decided to venture to the library to see what studying was like in China. Now, I had been there in the fall, but just to donate some of the books that I had finished. I haven’t browsed the English section, but was told it was sparse, so I am happy to give them some of my old books.

I first came to the library on a Sunday night. Normally a Sunday night is a big study and homework night, but this was the Sunday before classes started. The library was almost full. The night before classes started! At TU, the library (normal or law) was somewhat busy (never crowded) about two weeks every semester, the week before and of finals. Other than that, it was a place you could be guaranteed your own table, if not your own room, in which to study. Granted, TU only had 4,000 students and our school has almost 15,000. But, I was still a little amazed at how many students were here the night before classes started. I asked a few of my former students what in the world they could possibly have to study. Most said they were reviewing in preparation for classes, or were studying for one of the ever-present nationally mandated standardized tests. (More on the standardized tests later). “Reviewing for classes”, I was completely taken aback by this explanation. I considered myself a pretty conscientious student, although I was never an arduous studier. But, I never, never even considered reviewing in preparation for my classes at the beginning of the semester. And there were eight rooms with seating for 150 mostly full with students doing just this. There are three other large buildings with classrooms for studying (which aren’t as comfortable as the library) and some of the dormitories also have their own study hall. So the students at the library only make up a small portion of the studiers.

The library has actual chairs (not just stools), fairly spacious tables, stays a little warmer than the classrooms, and has free boiling water, so I definitely think it’s the place to study. My students cannot understand why I come to the library to study, as my apartment has heating, couches, and all sorts of other luxuries. I come here mainly to get involved in the student life, and learn more about their culture. The lack of an Internet connection is the other main reason. I (like everyone else) am unable to focus on one task when online. Tabbed browsing makes it pretty difficult to stay focused on whatever one may be doing, and with Skype, GChat, an QQ (it’s a Chinese thing), I am often doing too much chatting to get much done, which is fine. So, if I really need to get some blogs typed, or listen to my Chinese lessons, I will head over to the library. I laughed at myself about a month ago as I was typing on my quite modern and expensive MacBook with a pair of hobo gloves, due to the lack of heat in the library. I attract a lot of attention when here, which just adds to my bloated ego. Apparently not too many of the foreign teachers come here over the years. In fact, I remember hearing many students tell me about Clark, a teacher here last semester, who was famous for coming here to study Chinese.
Now, why are there so many students here? I can think of more than a few answers, not being a Chinese college student, can’t say that any of my suppositions is correct. Because there are a lot of students at colleges in China, and the demand for skilled and educated workers is still not incredibly high (China is still primarily a manufacturing economy) there is a lot of pressure to do well. This pressure is also high because most students are the only child, and thus carry all the hopes and dreams of their parents. Another reason is the type of education provided here. The focus in Chinese education is placed exclusively on test results. Teach for the test might not quite describe the system, it is more of a live for the test mentality. I was told that my final exam should count for no less than 70% of my final grade. I have 'worked' around this requirement. Some people may see this as important. I, on the other hand, know that multiple measurements always yield better results than single measurements. I also believe that multiple exams over time will result in actual learning, not just temporary memorization. Yes, I know that this is nothing new to Americans, but most of my students think it’s quite odd. Rote is the prevailing method of education here. It seems like there is a nationally mandated standardized test each semester of college for the students here. So, most of the library attendees are memorizing old keys to these tests. These tests aren’t cognitive ability tests, but rather subject tests. All six of the students I can currently see are reading and copying books full of multiple-choice tests. Clearly a lot of well-rounded, communicative, critical thinkers are being developed here.

The normal classes seem to be just as problematic. Patrick, a very witty and open-minded student I have met, was recently complaining about his study materials for his British literature class. He was attempting to memorize about 50 authors and all their works. I had never heard of a few of them, but I admit to know very little about literature. The page he was looking at featured James Joyce, (apparently the ‘British’ definition is liberal) who I think is not a bad author to be aware of. Patrick was expected to know five Joyce titles: Finnegan’s Wake, Ulysses, Dubliners, The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Araby. Not just one work, or even two or three, but all five, including Araby. Now, I went to a college that publishes the James Joyce Quarterly, and I have never heard of it. I have found out that it is a story contained in Dubliners, so why it was separate on his list...only China knows. Unless Patrick is soon on Jeopardy, I can see no way in which this knowledge would be useful. Remember, he was doing this for over 50 authors. He put it the best, “the students after their fourth year, many of them have difficulty finding a job because they have no practical application”. Upon questioning, he said in this class, they do no individual analysis of the texts, no response writings, no essays, and do not make any explanations or explications; but simply are told the interpretation of the text by the teacher and must memorize it. Then they are tested. If nothing else, this explains all the students at the library not writing or discussing anything, but simply staring at their books, memorizing the next test. As I have said, and many others have noted, I can’t imagine what these students would be capable of if their diligence and determination were combined with critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving.
(picture from: http://www.ucd.ie/library/index.html)

Back to school

The vacation has finally ended. It took a few nights in the library, but I have posted all the highlights from my eight weeks of vacation. It was a blast and was pretty cool to go from -25°C in Haerbin to 30°C on the beaches of Vietnam. I have been back in Changzhou for two weeks now and am teaching my new classes. The weather has been pretty miserable, cold and rainy, but it has been a joy to meet my new students and catch up with friends from the previous semester. One thing that reminded me of high school back home is all the new clothes the students got over Spring Festival. I have really impressed some students by complimenting their new jackets. They can't believe how I can know it's new, and I don't tell them that it's just a lucky guess.

If you have been reading this blog much, you well know that my work here is pretty easy, and incredibly small in amount. This semester is almost laughable. I have ten (yes ten) hours of class each week. Once again it's a three day work week, with Wednesday and Friday off. At TU, most professors had between 12-18 hours of class per week. But, they also had five or six hours of required office hours, and had to be spending a fair amount of time on research or some type of project related to their field. They also had to prepare pretty legitimate lessons for class (as they had at least some demanding, inquisitive students). I think this is probably average for most colleges across the US and the rest of the Western World. The Chinese professors here teach maybe 15-20 or maybe 25 hours a week at our university. They are expected to do some 'research', but according to the professors, this can be fudged or plagiarized, as is the modus operandi in China. Yet, they get paid 1/2 or 2/3 as much as we do. They are not provided with free apartments. I rehash this information to show how laughable (or luxurious) my work situation is. I genuinely feel a bit of guilt about this. I have told both Teddy, my advisor, and Connie, the language department correspondent, that I am willing to teach more. I know that some of the English majors would like to have an oral English class this semester (not all of them have it). There is not a shortage of classrooms on the campus. So, the only reason why we work so little seems to be because that's how it was done last year (and the year before, and so on).

As for the specifics of my 'work', I teach three oral English classes to freshmen and an economics course. The oral English classes have gone wonderfully so far. The students are obedient, eager, cheery, and some are quite funny. In just the second week of class, one of my students, Rabbit (don't worry, she sits next to Sheep) assertively called me over to tell me that one of the other students had spoken in Chinese, and thus broken my only rule: English only, only English. I told her that although I was happy that she was concerned for the educational welfare of the class, I have to hear the student speak in Chinese for his name to appear on the board. Now, Rabbit had earlier been the victim of my active ears, and her name was on the board already. So, I used the incident as an opportunity to teach the class the word snitch. Rabbit unenthusiastically recognized that she was telling on the other student to get another name on the board more so than out of concern for the learning environment.

I did a personality treasure hunt activity with the class and part of the reason was to learn more about them. One of the thing which astonishes me about the students here is their homogeneity. Jiangsu province is officially 99.6% ethnically homogenous, although it is really lower because of the many migrant workers, who are often not Han Chinese, but don't get counted in the census. Additionally, the students also seem to have had incredibly similar life experiences. There is a pretty wide margin in income between many students' families, but this doesn't seem to have significantly affected their lives. The treasure hunt game allowed me to find out a few things. Of the 105 or so students in the three classes, none have been outside of China. This is due mostly to the little discretionary income of most Chinese, and due to the fact it's not really easy for them to get visas (but not hard either). Additionally, like America, China is so big that domestic travel offers a lot on its own. I don't really see this as a problem, many of them want to go abroad and probably will as China becomes richer and richer (well some of China). Of the same 105 students, only four were born outside of Jiangsu province. Two in bordering Anhui, one in Jiangxi, and one in Hunan. Two of the students have since moved with their families to Jiangsu. So, 2 of the students are from outside the province. This geographical homogeneity is very different from what I experienced at TU, where just over half of the students were from out of state, and over 10% of them were international. Along with this, all of the students scored within a very close range on the college entrance exam (and were thus 'assigned' to this school), they have all been taught with the similar Chinese Communist Party approved books, and the vast majority are only children to married parents. I am well aware that the States are well known for being such a melting pot (or salad bowl) of cultures and ethnicities. But it, even after six months here, is still shocking to see the incredible homogeneity which my students exhibit. It is just one of the many things which makes living here so interesting and valuable.

Another very interesting thing is that by majoring in finance, I am somehow qualified to teach economics at the college level in China. Now, apparently the fact that economics is a social science and finance is a business college subject isn't a real problem here. Although you may doubt it, the word economics was all the information I was given before the first day of class. I teach this class twice a week, and it's very small, so I have already gotten to know the students pretty well. There are less than ten students in the class. All of the students have their bachelor's degree, and will be going to Coventry University in England this coming fall, to get a Master's in a business field. They currently attend a year long preparatory program, with almost full time classes getting ready to go abroad. Now the word economics could warrant four years of college courses or a five minute discussion. But I have become pretty used to the total lack of direction that the department gives us, so I am taking a quick walk through the history of major economists, and then will see if the students can apply some basic theories to modern situations. So, that's a pretty good summary of what I will be doing this semester. I have found a few things to occupy my extra time, although I still chuckle to myself every time I look at my schedule. My decision to come here was kind of a shot in the dark, but with a comfortable salary, free housing, and a pretty intriguing ten hours of work every week, I am quite happy with how it's turned out.

Trip to Tai Mu Shan (太姆山)

During one of the stopovers in Changzhou, all of the English teachers had dinner at the hotel with Teddy, to welcome Amy, the new English teacher. Amy is a bit older than the three of us, and has worked for a few years in the business world. So she adds a bit of professionalism and legitimacy to the foreign teacher crew. She’s from Newfoundland, Canada, which I’ve heard is kind of like the Arkansas or West Virginia of Canada, but is very well spoken and articulate, so maybe all the Newfie rumors are just that. She said at the dinner that she wanted to do something totally different before she is headed back to school for an MBA, and we all agreed that this university is definitely the right place for that. I have included a link to her blog on the right, so feel free to check it out unless you are too busy reading wall-to-walls. We also learned at the dinner that we wouldn’t be teaching until a week after we originally thought. So, Dave and I packed our sleeping bags and a tent and headed to TaiMuShan, a mountain near the coast in Fujian province, on China’s southeastern coast.

We traveled on the hard sleeper train, of course, and once again had a good time practicing Chinese and meeting people. After two quick bus rides we were on the trail at the mountain. None of the peaks are very tall; the tallest at only 917 meters, but the attraction is rather lots of caves, forest ridges, and karst towers. Before we got too far on the trail, we were called over by many members from a Chinese tourist group. Yes, they were wearing matching hats and the tour guide had a personal, portable microphone. Apparently Asian tour groups are typically Asian even in Asia. They were calling at us to take pictures, because apparently we, as foreigners, are just as photo-worthy as the beautiful landscapes. Soon enough we were in the caves, which were awesome. They were dark, wet, void of people, and narrow; mainly everything you want in a cave. They are decidingly not for the tall, wide, or mildly claustrophobic though. Dave and I were about the maximum body size that could make it through many of the caves. And I have never described myself as big (as big headed as I may be). We were crawling and squeezing most of the time, often pushing our backpacks through first or dragging them after us. Almost every turn put me into a Tommy Boy ‘fat guy in a little coat’ moment.

We skipped out on the tourist hotel prices and spent the nights in the tent. The whole camping concept hasn’t seemed to catch on too much here in China, so we would often hear other hikers gasp and talk excitedly as they passed our tent. The park wasn’t too big so we could afford to sleep-in in the mornings. Those we talked to at night adamantly proclaimed that it was much too cold to sleep in a tent. Yet, their houses/hotels had no heating, and many of the windows were open, so I fail to see how there could be much of a temperature difference. Dave would usually tell them that we were Americans and thus very strong people. Sad as it is, this ‘logical’ explanation was quite satisfactory. One of the highlights of the TaiMuShan park are all the unique names which have been given to many of the rock formations. “Cat catching mouse”, “frog chasing turtle” and “husband and wife” is a typical sample. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, very relaxing but also good to get some easy exercise. I appreciated the clear blue skies, warm weather, quiet trails, and the great sea and forest vistas.

Trip to Shanghai-end of Jocelyn’s visit

We came back to Changzhou long enough to have a pizza and beer party at Steve’s. We are really keeping the new PapaJohn’s in business. Steve’s wife Spring is in the hospital recovering from surgery, so we figured we would take some pizza over to make sure he and Michael (his son) weren’t starving. Steve claims to be able to cook, but I’ve yet to see him do more than garlic bread (which is actually quite good for a Chinese man). We may have started something bad, as Michael seemed to like pizza about as much as most 11 year olds, we even had to tell him to slow down a few times. After that the three of us headed to Shanghai. We made it from the train to bus station with only a little confusion (the main route was under construction, in our defense). There we waited for Cao Xingxing（曹星星), our good friend from the university. She lives kind of close to Shanghai, so she met up with us for a few days on her trip back to school. While waiting for her at the bus station, my parameters of the believable were once again extended. A man passed us carrying a box. This isn’t anything special, he was carrying the type of box which I see all the time on the train and bus, a box which used to have some plates, wine, electronics, or something, that has been re-filled and is taped and tied up. I never really thought as to what could be in the boxes. Well, live poultry now empirically fits into that category. As he was a bit past us, his box very strangely came undone on its own, and two chickens, yes two live chickens popped out. Luckily he was able to grab them, and then nonchalantly put them back in the cardboard box and went along. If there is one thing that the Chinese people and this culture as a whole do well, it’s that they always keep me guessing.

We had a good time in Shanghai. Some of the tourist sites were repeats from our orientation sightseeing with CIEE. They were fun in a different way though; as it was really interesting to see Jocelyn’s reactions to everything we saw and did. The way in which her reactions differed from mine showed in some ways how much I have adapted to life here. At times she was astounded or appalled by things at which I didn’t even bat an eye. Some things, though, incited very similar reactions, so there are certainly some things (like the public pushing) that I might be used to, but can’t yet ignore or accept. A very nice perk to having Jocelyn with us was that her dad’s business associates arranged a private car for us, so we saved out on the cost and hassle of some metro and taxi rides. Dave and I picked up some awesome (recreated) Cultural Revolution era propaganda posters with Mao and some other ‘comrades’ on the front. I think the best part about my poster, of Mao speaking to a crowd, are all the different ethnicities in the crowd. This country is 92% racially homogenous, and the Cultural Revolution wasn’t exactly about “acceptance”, so its propaganda level is over the top…exactly what I was looking for.

A very non-Chinese highlight of the trip was our dinner at a Mexican restaurant which Jocelyn’s dad’s associate recommended. There are many, many things I miss from home (hulu.com, reliable Internet, cheese) and Mexican food is definitely near the top of the list. Jocelyn had brought us a bag of Taco Bell, but day old Taco Bell just doesn’t taste the same as it does at 1 AM in the drive thru (no complaints though). So, getting freshly made Mexican food was exciting. It was no Mazatlan or Rio Verde (if you’re not from Clive or TU, then disregard the references) but it was good. I had a carnitas burrito that was delicious, and the Corona with lime was the perfect compliment. The meal was also fun because it was Xingxing’s first encounter with Mexican food. We ordered hard shell beef tacos for her, as a basic Mexican introduction, and I did have to show her how to eat them. She said it was all very good (probably sensing we would criticize any other response) but she was a little shocked at the fact the rice was red, mixed with beans, and full of spices. I will say that the Chinese might grow and eat rice like no one else, but the Mexicans sure make it tasty. We saw Jocelyn off the next morning and I think she had a great trip; I had a great time showing her around.

Trip to rural Jiangsu Province

Following our few days in Beijing, Bryan headed home, but Dave, Jocelyn, and I didn’t quite come back to Changzhou. Dave had arranged for us to visit one of his students, who lives in central Changzhou. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going, but there wasn’t anything close to a city in the area, so hopefully the trip would give Jocelyn (and us) a good chance to see the way that half of China lives. This is the half that doesn’t have laptops, cars, $200 cell phones, etc. Now, Jiangsu is one of the wealthiest and most developed provinces in China, but it still has its fair share of rice farms. We met Sally, Dave’s student, at the bus station in Baoying, and visited her high school (which was quite nice and very large) and then met her father. Her high school, like many in China (according to what my students tell me) had a few dormitories on campus. This is the common practice at the rural and semi-rural schools, because the daily trip is either too far or too expensive for the students, part of the necessity might also rise from the fact that many high school students (including her) have ten or twelve hours of class each day, this usually includes some weekends as well. In a kind of unique situation, her father and younger brother live together in a room they rent out during the school year. Her dad hurt his back working, so he is free to stay with her brother, and then they go back to the village on weekends and holidays. After Dave got his haircut and I got a well-needed shave, we took a taxi to the town near her village.

Sally and her mother proved to be wonderful hosts, her mother and grandmother great cooks, and her house a very good example of the way that close to half of Chinese people still live, and the way the entire country lived until about 30 years ago. Her house consisted of one main dining room, and then two bedrooms, each on one side of the dining room. The main dining room wall was covered in three posters of Chairman Mao (as he is known here) and some of his famous poems. There was a pretty nice TV in her parents’ bedroom, and her grandmother said that they have had electricity for more than 30 years. There was the obligatory barrel of rice in the dining room. The facilities were in an outhouse about two houses down. Her mom and grandmother (who lives in next door) did the cooking in a cookery in front of the house. In a contrast of old and new, her mom cooked the dishes on a gas stove, but kept them warm and boiled the water over a kiln like oven, which was fueled with rice stalks. It was an absolute joy to walk around the villages and rice paddies, breathing the clear air, enjoying relative silence, seeing untouched creek beds, and best of all, seeing the middle aged woman dancing on the town square at night. Once again, the hospitality of the Chinese people was bounteous and kind.