Settling In

We have been in China for two full months.  We have learned and experienced so much already.  We don't think we can say that the time is just "flying" by, but we can say, "there is never a dull moment."  Lesson preparation is still a major priority, but we think we are getting a little better at it.

The weather is starting to change and we notice our apartment is quite chilly most of the time.  We understand that we cannot expect to have heat in our apartment building until around the 15th of November.  For now we just bundle up when we need to, use a small space heater and go on with our lives.  It has been mostly sunny during the day, but at night it gets cold.  Our classrooms are not heated, but they haven't been that bad.  In fact, we think they are quite comfortable, but our students are all wearing their coats.  Stan was the only person in his class that wasn't wearing a coat this week.

We are starting to learn the names and personalities of our students.  We learn so much about them and about China in our "on-the-side" conversations before class, during the break, after class and during "English Corner."  (These are student-led group discussions usually held evenings during the week or on weekends).  We were invited to one on Friday night and spent the entire evening asking students questions about their experience as Freshmen.  They have the same thoughts and concerns as US students.  Their circumstances are quite different, however.   (dorms, eating arrangements, dating, activities, etc.)  Students in China are generally required to live in the dorms their entire university experience.  They have the same roommates all 4 years and are often in the same classes all 4 years.  We wondered how they could stand each other all that time.  They don't see it as a problem.  "We just work out our differences."  It was also interesting to learn that their curfew is 11 p.m. ALWAYS, even weekends!!  They have to check in when then enter the dorm.
 
Most of the students in our classes are girls.  One thing that has been mentioned often is the lack of boys on campus.  In China, there are 30 million more boys than girls, but on our campus it just isn't so.  Most parents would prefer that the girls not have boyfriends while they are at school, but that traditional thought has been changing.  Still, marriage while in college is quite rare.

Our big adventure this week was finding the WALMART! Another BYU couple lives nearby so they were familiar with the area.  Walmart is similar to stores in the states and several products were labeled in English.  Nancy even had a sales clerk approach her and talk to her in English!! During the same trip we were taken to a "western" store, 'Ole!  There were products that often are not in other stores...for a very steep price.  For example:  a very large mix master was 9000 yuan (about $1500 US).

Saturday evening some of the BYU teachers plus Lily (our young adult Chinese friend) came to our apartment.  Many had never been here and they wanted to see our interesting RV shower/bathroom combo.  (Nancy recently learned that a BYU couple in Shanghai has only a hotplate, microwave and refrigerator for their kitchen....and the only running water is in the bathroom!!)  She decided that her kitchen double sink with hot water makes up for any other apartment issues!

Anyway, after the 60-second apartment "tour", we all went to a cafeteria type eating place near us - famous for Jingren Pie (like an enclosed pita bread with various fillings).  Then we watched a DVD with excerpts from a Chinese opera that was in Jinan.  Several BYU teachers attended last week because they were given free tickets, a DVD of the performance and interviewed on TV.  The opera hopes to go on an international tour in the future and was looking for some publicity with foreigners.  (We were tutoring that night so we missed out on the music and beautiful costumes.) Following the DVD we played a dice game. (Zilch or Farkle)  Lily had never played it before, but she was "gambling" her points away along with all of us by the end of the evening!

 Stan with popcorn in hand, Libby Clarke, David and Zina Cox, Lily

David Cox and Zina Cox, Lily, Sue and Steve Schauerhamer, Wayne Clarke

 

Journal Entry #2

We don't really have too much unusual to report for this week, unless you count spending 10+ hours grading journal entries from our writing classes!  We asked our students to write about "My Name". Some had to contact a relative to find out the meaning of their name!!

In China, children are given a surname and a given name.  However, they are listed in the opposite order than in the Western World.  A surname is usually based on Chinese ancestors or a region where the family lived. Wang is the #1 Chinese surname belonging to millions of people!!  The given name can be suggested by parents, fortune tellers, aunts, uncles, dictionaries, grandparents, etc...  For example:  Deng Min (Deng is the surname from Henan Province and Min is the given name meaning smart and quick minded.)

This is a sample of Deng Min's journal entry without corrections or editing.....

"I have always been wondering why mother give Min as my first name, so common and plain.  I thought maybe it's just a casually given name....My mother said that, because of malposition, it took almost six hours to give birth to me.  The surgical technics and instruments were not as advanced as those nowadays.  She worried that six-hour-stay in low oxygen condition may influence my intelligence.  So, she gave Min as my name, hoping that I could be as smart and healthy as other kids.  After hearing this, I suddenly remembered the long scar on her lower abdomen, and I don't wonder why now."

We enjoyed reading the unusual history of our students' names as well as some funny incidents that happened.  Some examples:
1.  Perhaps students had "boyish" names, which embarrassed them because they were girls!
2.  Maybe their name was difficult to pronounce and so they were teased or their name was confused with another Chinese character.
3.  When parents went to register their child's name with Chinese officials, sometimes there was an error and the entire meaning of the name changed.  Ex.  The name went from morning and seagull to small Europe!

The most common complaint was that they did not like their own name.  Some students even petitioned their parents to listen to their concerns and were successful as teenagers in upgrading their name to something "pretty and beautiful"!

 In process.....

finished!!!

We also agreed to tutor two nine year old girls in English on Monday evenings on a trial basis.  They have had English instruction since kindergarten, but the curriculum is generally memorized vocabulary from a Chinese speaker.  Their parents want them to improve in their pronunciation and "increase their interest". Thank goodness for the information and games on the internet, as we certainly did not bring elementary English books with us to China! We had an introductory meeting last week and managed to communicate with hand gestures and drawing on a whiteboard.  We hope this will be a way to interact with some Chinese families, although the parents have very limited English skills themselves.  One of their colleagues at the SDU Law School acts as our "interpreter" when needed.

Lisa and Sunny

Over the past few weeks we have become acquainted with Brian, Sara and their 3 year old son, Toby.  They are expecting another boy in January.  We met at a foreign teacher potluck and they live in the apartment complex next to us.  Brian is an anthropology professor from the US and his wife is from Taiwan. Both speak Mandarin and English and they have been very kind to us; ordering our water, having us to dinner, taking Stan to get a haircut, and explaining where we can find items at the store.  They spent most of their summer in the United States and admitted it was difficult to return to China this fall for their second year of a five year contract.  However, like all of us, adjustment comes after a few weeks and you learn to appreciate the setting and culture of this country and its people.

 Brian, Sara and Toby Harmen

Today our church attendance at the Hanlin Hotel doubled!!  Normally, there are 11 BYU teachers, one Chinese national who has a foreign passport, her 8 year old son who is a US citizen and a female black medical student from South Africa.  At our meeting this Sunday, we were joined by a foreign Arabic teacher from Sudan and by 14 others from the United States who are here in China for a medical conference and humanitarian service.  There was an emergency room physician, an oral surgeon, a dentist, etc. It was quite the gathering, especially trying to feed that many people for a potluck in a hotel "suite" following our church meeting.

Crisp autumn air seeps through our windows in the morning as the temperatures cool to the mid 40's.  (We are trying to practice using action verbs like we are teaching our students!!)  Window cracks are stuffed with towels and plastic bags decorate the holes around the air conditioner and stove gas vent.   However, we are grateful we are not sweltering in class any longer! We get stares when we wear short sleeve tops to class while the students huddle in their coats. Nancy even had one student question if she ever gets cold! We actually hope that winter postpones its appearances as we understand heat is almost nonexistent in the classroom.  Meanwhile, we are grateful for the days that are smog free and sunny.  We watch "city workers" sweep the sidewalks as each leaf falls to the ground.  We wonder what they do for a job when all the leaves are off the trees!

The "Silk Road"

We returned from our "Journey to the West" on Monday, but we have been so swamped with catching up in our classes that we just haven't had the chance to post anything on this blog.  We did, however, have some marvelous experiences along the "Silk Road" and enjoyed very much spending time with our BYU friends who are scattered all over China.

Lily, our young adult friend of the Jinan BYU Teachers, accompanied us as well as a US couple visiting in China plus another couple who are teaching at a prep high school. This was the first time Lily had been on an airplane so she was very nervous and excited.  We enjoyed having her along and she helped with bartering in markets, translating and taking a group of us on the overnight train since we had to divide onto two different trains.

Lily's first airplane flight.

Nancy and Lily at the International Market Place in Urumqi

The so-called Silk Road is the route early trading caravans took to reach China from the Mediterranean  and for products from China to reach western Europe.  It follows a corridor through major mountains and deserts to the West of Xi'an, the capitol of Shaanxi Province.  There are interesting cities along this corridor that date centuries before Christ.  Many of them are an oasis in the desert or are communities in valleys and basins of the Gobi Desert.  We learned that Gobi isn't really a desert but a barren high plateau wasteland with little precipitation and less vegetation.  It is surrounded by rugged mountains and depends on glacial run-off for water.  It is very desolate, isolated and is one of the furthest places from Beijing.

Our trip began by flying almost six hours from Jinan to Urumqi, the capitol of the Zinjiang Province.  This province has some of the most unique minorities, the largest being the Ughur (or Weegar) people.  They do have a different look from the Hun Chinese.  We visited a remote Ughur village and saw the Pachikli Grottos on the cliff that had paintings by Buddhist monks.  A donkey cart took us to an ancient city.

Urumqi is a "small" city of 2+ million in the "outskirts" of the known world.  We stayed in this "primitive" hotel downtown.  It was really nice.

This part of China is heavily influenced by Islam and borders many Islamic countries, including Afghanistan.   You can see that influence in Urumqi.

This area of China is known for its dried fruit.  These represent a few of the varieties of raisins available.  Most are quite good.

We traveled by bus to Turpan, where our guide insisted that the raisins were the sweetest in the world!  There were many varieties....black, golden, red, etc. and all are a different level of sweetness.  They were tasty!

In Turpan we were "educated" about the Chinese legend called, "Journey to the West".  It is a fictionalized account of a 16th century Buddhist monk who actually went to India to get the scriptures and bring them back to China. The route was roughly "The Silk Road."  The myth part includes his disciples of a Monkey King, the pig, the horse and a friar who have various personality traits that represent Chinese values and an individual's path of enlightenment.  They encounter various challenges and demons along their trip. 

 Near "Flaming Mountain" is this sculpture of the Monkey King and his associates on their adventures through this area of China.

Also, near were these grottos carved out of the side of the hill with elaborate frescos painted inside by monks thousands of years ago.

 

We were told that this unique staircase on "Flaming Mountain" was built so men could prove that they are real MEN.  It looked very tempting, but we didn't have time to give it a try.

A unique experience for us was taking an overnight soft sleeper train from Turpan to Dunhuang.  We shared a 4 bunk compartment with another couple from BYU.  We were warned that this was a night to sleep in your clothes and try to avoid using the restroom on the train.....we agree!!  We were glad we had a reservation for such "accommodations".  It was the National Holiday Week, celebrating the 64th anniversary of the PRC, and many people were on vacation.  Most travelers had to stand in the train for the entire 9 hours!!  We were actually surprised that the "soft" bed actually felt better than the "hard" Chinese beds in the 5 star hotels!

 Here we are in our "soft" sleeper car.  Notice our "pajamas?"

This is Nancy at the train station AFTER our night on the train.  Notice she is still wearing her "pajamas."

Our tour guide planned the next day to be "dirty".  We had slept in our clothes with no morning shower and concluded the day with a camel ride in the Gobi desert at Sound Sand Mountain.  Fortunately, the camel did not spit in our face!  However, the ride was quite jarring and many of us were ready to get off after the hour ride.  Near the camel rides there were huge sand dunes in the area and many young adults were climbing them and then "sliding" down the dunes.  At the bottom of the dunes was a beautiful small Crescent Moon Lake which used to be 50 feet deep.  However, the water table is changing and it is now only 3 feet deep and may just disappear.

 Nancy wasn't quite sure of this experience.  Notice, she is

 still wearing her "pajamas."

 

 There were over 700 camels in service that day.  We felt like were really were in the desert.

 

Stan posing with his camel friend

 

 Behind Stan is Crescent Lake, part of the oasis near Dunhuang.

This is also at Crescent Lake

In Dunhuang we visited the Mogao Grottos, a UNESCO site.  It was very crowded and we had difficulty keeping our group together.  The caves were carved out of the side of the mountain and one contained a very large 80ft. Buddha.

We finished our trip by flying to Xian, a city with a well preserved ancient wall and the site of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors.  The first emperior , Quin Shi Huang, who unified China in 221 BC, had 7,000 pottery warriors created for his tomb.  They were unearthed in 1974 by farmers digging an irrigation well.  There are several large buildings which house this exhibit and it is an ongoing excavation site. 

Mrs. and Mr. TerraCotta

In Xian we attended a cultural dancing show about the Tang Dynasty.  We also sampled many kinds of dumplings with various fillings (chicken, seafood, veggies, pork)  at the Dumpling Banquet.  Stan said he does not want to eat another dumpling for six months!  We are not sure if it was the dumplings or a virus that sidelined Stan and  a few others at the end of the trip.  It was a true miracle that Stan was able to fly back to Jinan.

T

The dumplings really were good but after 20 or so, well...

One teacher said his pedometer indicated we had walked 47 miles on our "vacation"!

Well, after the trip, it was back to the classroom.  It is interesting that students are reluctant to volunteer answers or questions in class, but if they have a concern they will definitely approach you in private.  After Stan gave a lesson on avoiding some of the various "mistakes" we had noticed on a writing assignment, one girl challenged him.  She said that the Chinese way is to use quotes, sayings and write flowery descriptions.  (Stan was encouraging them to be more concise and give their own thoughts, especially in a personal essay.  Plus he said, their audience is now an American teacher and they are writing in English not Chinese!)

Back in the saddle again

Nancy had two students who "lifted" paragraphs out of a travel brochure or from Robert Lewis Stevenson without citations.  One student said that it was an "honor" in Chinese culture to use someone else's words.  I said that in English and in the US, where many want to study, you "honor" someone by giving them credit for their words, not using them for your own!  We will see what happens on their next assignment!

Our university sponsored a trip to Mt. Tai on Saturday, which is about two hours south of Jinan.  It is a sacred mountain where three religions have temples represented in one place...Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.  Many people come to the mountain to reach heaven and receive a blessing.  You can actually hike the 6,000 steps to the top, but we opted for the bus and gondola ride.  There were still plenty of steps to climb after using those modes of transportation.  The air was clear and blue at the top, but unfortunately we could not see Jinan because of the smog.

 Apparently it takes the students about 12 hours to summit

 and to come back down. 

 

 This our group for visiting Mt. Tai.  Notice the Oregon shirt.  Danny is from San Diego but likes the Ducks.

 Nancy near the summit.