Visit From BYU

This week our BYU directors of the China Teachers Program arrived in Jinan.  Jamie and Geneil spent most of the week visiting classes and checking out our "living arrangements."  They also met with university officials to coordinate communication, get feedback and resolve concerns.  We learned that the university was very happy with our teaching performance and wanted to invite us back for another year.  We wondered a little about that since NO ONE has been in our classes to observe.  Apparently, the report from the students has been favorable. 

Since Jamie and Geneil were here, we were fed well!  There was a luncheon with school officials, a dinner for us hosted by BYU and we had dinner with the Jinan BYU teachers before we attended a concert together.

 This was after the lunch sponsored by Shandong University.  Ji Rui is the Deputy Director or The Department of International Affairs.  He was accompanied by five other members of the international office staff.

The BYU China Teachers Program sponsored this dinner.  It was held at the Hanlin Hotel, where 5 of our group live.  It was nice spending time with Jamie and Geneil Ballentine, executive directors.  (They are the couple in the middle of the picture)

The concert was at Shandong University of Arts, which is not part of our university.  One of our church members has a mother who is a former Chinese opera singer and she had a solo part in a chorus.  Plus there was everything from Chinese musical instruments and dance to an "act" to rally nationalism for the Communist Party.  We understood that the President of the University as well as the University Secretary of the Communist Party were seated behind us.

Kathy's mom is in the middle, front.  She sang a part by herself and in spite of her age, (75), her voice was strong. 

This particular number was originally created and performed by the Beijing Opera during the early years of China's experience as a communist country.

The highlight of the night featured an all-girl group playing traditional Chinese instruments.  Their performance was exceptional. 

This dance number was quite unusual

On Wednesday Stan was asked to present some information about our hometown during a student international festival.  He wasn't really sure about the event and what they really wanted, but he prepared a ppt as requested.  When we arrived there were about 200+ students in the room!  It was decorated with balloons and rock music was playing.  Most of the presentations were skits, songs or dance numbers by various foreign student groups on campus and it was all in Mandarin.  There was one Australian exchange student who talked about his city and said he didn't understand a word of Chinese.  We wondered how he could attend classes here??  Anyway, Stan, feeling very "awkward" in these circumstances, quickly presented some facts about Hillsboro and then taught them  a "native American" camp song!  It actually turned out ok and he didn't make a complete fool of himself. 

This is picture of Stan's forehead and some of the students attending the Foreign Student Union Party.

We continue to learn many interesting things from our students.  They are remarkably open about their opinions and are not afraid to criticize government policies or practices.  One topic currently in the news is the "One child" policy.  In one of our writing assignments a student wrote,

"As the second child of my family, by birth violated the ONE CHILD Policy so I was sent to the countryside as soon as I was born and then brought up by my grandparents til I was 7."

 

At the recent CCP 3rd Plenum, a revised one child policy was announced.  Now if one marriage partner is an only child, a second child will be allowed.  Since 1979,  couples generally could only have one child unless both were only children, they had a disabled child or they had a girl and lived in a rural area.  Each province makes and enforces its own rules.  Many of our students have at least one sibling, although some of their parents had to pay a "fine" for the privilege of having another child.  Some "fines" are about $500 US, but can range up to $50,000!!

While we were touring in Beijing the previous weekend, our tour guide answered some questions.  Here are some interesting "tidbits' about life in China.
1.  Because of the pollution problem, car purchases are limited in China.  There is a lottery to get a registration for a vehicle.  They can cost $13,000!! Only about 20% of the applicants are successful. Some people get a license plate even if they don't own a car!  Then, they will have the registration if they get the money to purchase one in the future.  A Chinese manufactured car only costs about $5,000, but we have seen many BMW's, etc. on the streets!
2.  Mandatory retirement age is 55 for women and 60 for men, although there is some discussion about raising the limit.  We rarely see "senior citizens" working, except for sweeping the streets.  Most are caring for a grandchild in their retirement.
3.  Housing costs have skyrocketed in the past 5 years, especially in the big cities.  Modest condos can cost $1 million in downtown areas like Beijing.
4.  A recent college graduate with a BA can make $800 a month, but if they are in a large city, housing costs are quite high.
5.  When a couple decides to marry, the groom and his family is expected to help the couple get started in their life. 
1970...groom must have a bicycle, sewing machine and watch
1980...groom must have a motorcycle and color tv
1990...groom must have a computer, gold ring or necklace and a cheap car
2000...groom must have a condo, diamond ring and a fancy car!
Parents often give their life savings to the couple to buy a condo or help finance a loan.  Currently, privately owned housing will need to be returned to the government after 70 years.  (Since 70 years has not passed yet, no one knows if this will be enforced).  Before 1990 there was no private ownership of homes.  Apartments were provided by the government as part of your job and you often got "promoted" to a nicer place.  Where ever you lived at the time of your retirement was your permanent residence. 


Here are some pictures from our trip to Beijing that we did not include in our earlier post:

 

 We stopped at a China jade factory where they showed us "authentic" pieces of art.  The artisan is carving a "happy family ball."   It begins with a solid piece of jade and then is carved, through the holes.  Inside are a series of smaller and smaller spheres all quite intricate.

This ancient Chinese ship is carved totally of jade.  It is not one piece, however.  Nancy didn't think we could "cart" it home in our luggage.

 These are a few additional pictures of the Great Wall

 

At the entrance to The Great Wall are these Chinese characters written in Mao's handwriting.  It states something to the effect that "you are not a man until you climb the wall."

 These were taken at the Summer Palace and they feature the world's longest corridor???  This wooden framed corridor extends several kilometers and includes paintings of famous scenes in Chinese history.

The lake and buildings near the Summer Palace

 

This one was taken in the Olympic Park.  This is the "Water Cube."

 

Tiananmen square.  Notice - the air was clear.  No smog.

Also, Tiananmen Square and the Communist Party headquarters

 

There were many soldiers marching in the square that morning; no weapons, but plenty of "presence."

 

 Inside the Forbidden City

 

 Forbidden City

 

Inside the gardens of the Forbidden City is this unusual rock formation. 

  It is called the "Accummlated Beauty Hill."  Individual pieces were transported to the site and then put together to create an artificial mountain with a cave.  Included is a giant fountain with water flowing out of dragons mouths.  The emperor and his royal family would climb to the top one time each year to enjoy the scenery.

Beijing

This has a been an exciting weekend.  Friday, after our classes, we jumped on a "high speed" train to Beijing.  Many of our BYU China Teacher colleagues were going to spend the weekend there checking out the sites.  Their tour began Thursday evening, but we couldn't get away until Friday afternoon.

This was our first experience traveling on a fast train.  It was like traveling by air but with 50% more leg room and no turbulence!!  The train speed was between 300 and 305 kilometers per hour.  We were "cookin" down the track.  There really wasn't much to see besides farm land and city buildings but then again, we were going so fast, we didn't see them clearly anyway.  It was a nice experience.  We thought we might take the train east to the coast and Qingdao or south to Nanjing or Shanghai some time for a weekend.  (We have BYU teachers in all those places).

Nancy posing in front of the train after we arrived in Beijing

 The train  was full of passengers, but you can see

 it is quite spacious and new.

  We enjoyed the high speed train!  

We arrived in Beijing around 5 pm (rush hour) on a Friday night.  You think traffic is bad in Portland, or Philly, or LA?  We were told to get a cab and have them take us to the theater where we were to see an acrobatic show or to the restaurant where the group was having dinner.  We knew where the theater was located, (Google maps) and saw that there was a subway stop there.  Instead of taking a cab, we got onto the subway, made two transfers and arrived at the restaurant the same time the group did.  (They had been stuck in traffic for hours)  Subways run on a very strict schedule and we knew that it would have to be much better than traveling on surface streets.  The subway, however, was also VERY crowded.  We were not sure if we were going to get on at one spot.  We had to cram ourselves, with our luggage, into a sardine can.  We were lucky that Nancy wasn't crushed by the closing door.  Though crowded, people were pleasant to us and we really had no problem negotiating our way around Beijing.

The acrobatic show was unbelievable!  We have often heard how great the Chinese acrobats are and we had seen an act on our cruise to Alaska a few years ago.  But this show was incredible.  The final act consisted of 8 gas powered motorcycles driving around in formation and doing extreme maneuvers in a round metal cage on a stage.  We just couldn't believe that they did what they did.  The other acts were equally impressive.

Pictures of the acrobatic show didn't turn out so well. 

Saturday morning we boarded the bus and went to the Great Wall which is located some 30-40 kilometers north of the city.  It took most of the time on the bus to just get out of Beijing.  The weather was clear, (NO SMOG), but quite cold.  There was a strong wind blowing in from Siberia so we had to bundle up.  We didn't bring our Winter clothes but had enough to keep us from freezing.  Hiking to the top of Tower #8 at the Badaling access point of the wall warmed us up.  Only six of us took on that challenge.

Tower #8 is at the very top

We enjoyed spending time at the Great Wall.  It is a very unique site and we also felt a bit of awe as we thought about what we were doing and just where we were at that moment.  We understand why the wall is one of the great "wonders of the world." 

One thing that we have learned here in China.  There is no such thing as a slow day.  No matter where you go to visit a tourist site in China, it is crowded.  Go to the grocery store at any time, it's crowded.  Want to walk down the street, it's crowded.  Go eat somewhere, it's crowded.  Ride the bus, its crowded or very crowded.  And, the Chinese do not get in a line.  You just maneuver your way to the front.  Our tour guy said, "Do not be considerate, or you will miss the train!!"

A few other highlights of our weekend included:  walking across Tiananmen Square with many marching soldiers and several people lined up to see Mao's tomb; walking through the Forbidden City built in 1406 and used by several emperors and concubines until 1925; visiting the Summer Palace, an imperial retreat with gardens, lakes, paintings, etc.; an evening stop at the 2008 Olympic site to view the "Bird's Nest"; eating Peking Duck; strolling through the Silk Street Market; and just generally enjoying visiting with other BYU teachers.

Tiananmen Square with Mao's photo on the entrance to the Forbidden City

This is inside of the Forbidden City.  One of hundreds of buildings

Forbidden City

Also, Forbidden City

This picture was taken at the Summer Palace on the lake.  That is not a boat behind Nancy, but a stone structure that looks like a boat.

Also part of the Summer Palace

Olympic "Bird's Nest" site of 2008 opening and closing ceremonies.  It was very cold that evening.

One another highlight for the week;  our heat was turned on in the apartment!!  We thought it would be minimal, but we are a cozy 73 degrees!!  Plus the only spot to store our toilet paper is on the radiator.  So not only do we live in a "gated community" (see previous blogs) but we have heated toilet paper!!

Another GREAT Week!

We have now completed our ninth week of classes.  We wish we could say that the planning and evaluating are getting easier.  One would have to use a microscope to see the progress.  We do enjoy the students and the challenge.  To teach them something that will improve their writing and speaking does keep our blood pumping and the neurons firing.  At our age, it means we are still alive.  At least we can be grateful for that.

 

Nancy and I share one Junior English Translation class.  She has them for Oral language and I have them for Writing.  We have to coordinate our lessons so we don't duplicate things each of us wants to share.  In our lesson about Halloween, "I was instructed" to NOT show the pictures of our grandchildren because it was her turn to brag about them. 

 

This is our Translation Class.  The "bunny" ears is something you will see in almost every picture, without exception.  Why??? Who knows?

 

We spent the weekend reading Journal Entry #1.  These were 1 1/2 - 2 page essays on the topic, "A Place I Will Never Forget."  This was a descriptive writing assignment and we wanted them to write from memory.  We were hopeful that it would represent their own thoughts and not something "borrowed" from other sources.  (Plagiarism is a major problem in China.  We might address it in this BLOG at another time).   Overall, their ideas, organization and voice of their compositions were quite good.  The problem is word choice and grammar.  They may have wonderful ideas, but when they translate them from Mandarin thought into English it turns into "Chinglish"!! Here are a few samples of the phrases we see frequently on papers, plus a few sentences from better papers...all unedited.

 

..."the host of the café bar would give us a topic that was remarkably relevant to us and the guests would sacrifice their opinion on these topics."

 

..."the whole inner scene of the station accompanied by sweet broadcast voice twittering around my ears from time to time.."

 

...."my grandparents removed to a larger house a few years ago.  But they still kept the lively flowers..."

 

.."sometimes my classmates and I together drew something lovely on the blackboard at the back of the classroom and it was happy."

 

..."at this moment a spectacular building erects there...."

 

..."When I was little, I spent most of my enjoyable time in the tiny hole of a willow.  Functioning as a silent companion, the little secret base has played a rather important role during my early years..."

 

...."In the middle of the room is my big, cozy, warm bed where I can fully relax myself.  It also had its own stories.  When I was at home, in the mornings, my mom often come to my room, lying under the quilt with me.  Then 'mom-daughter chatting time' began.  We talked about everything, but mainly about my life.  Sometimes when we mentioned something interesting, our laughter would swirl in the room.   Those were the rosy memories I would never forget.  However, I bet my father must envy us at those moments, for he found himself unable to chime in the mom-daughter conversation, and the only thing he could do was to make breakfast." 

 



Since we wanted to take a break from grading writing papers on Saturday, we joined our BYU friends, Wayne and Libby Clarke, for a tour of their "

neighborhood".  It was a very rainy, dreary day, but we felt that we were in Oregon and just sloshed through the puddles!  We first visited a partially covered cultural market.  Displayed were items like furniture, decorative rocks, pet turtles, beads, carvings, nuts and children's toys.  Several vendors were packing up when we arrived due to the weather and lack of crowds.  (Sorry, but we forgot to bring out the camera since we were trying to dodge downspouts!!)

 

We then found an underground civil defense bunker which is now a very long narrow aisle "mall" of small modern clothing shops selling sweaters, coats, pants, etc.! It was about 3 blocks in length! The prices were better than in a formal Chinese shopping mall, but not so good to tempt us to buy!

 

We were so hungry that we headed for the local Pizza Hut for lunch.  (I think we wrote about this earlier on the blog, but now we have a picture!)  From the photo you can tell it is no ordinary Pizza Hut.  There are waiters and waitresses and many items on the menu besides pizza.  Plus there are half price specials everyday.  Stan had a bacon, rice, mushroom dish for $3US and a smoothie with vanilla pearls.

 

Notice on the table behind the Clarke's.  NO chopsticks!

 

After lunch we headed for a special "baking shop" the Clarke's had discovered.  This store was a "goldmine" of hard-to-find baking items like cocoa, spices and other specialties.  We are not sure how much the Chinese actually cook.  Generally, those in the city probably don't cook that often and they certainly don't bake.  It's very cheap and easy to purchase meals from the street vendors or local restaurants and bakeries are on every corner.

 

The shopping was so "demanding" we needed a boost.  We wandered into the DQ and tried out the Chinese version of the Oreo Blizzard.  We felt like we were back home for just a moment.  They really are quite close to what they should be, just not so creamy. 

 

 Nancy with Wayne and Libby Clarke at the DQ.

 

 

Friday of this week, we are taking the "high speed" train to Beijing.  We will be joining many of our BYU colleagues there to explore the city and see the Great Wall.  Nancy was unable to change her Friday classes to another day, so we will be traveling alone and meeting the others in Beijing Friday evening.  We will miss a few of the activities planned but will take in most of the major sites.  It is quite easy and inexpensive to travel to Beijing so we thought we might return in the Spring and do our own tour. 

 

We have never experienced a "bullet" train.  We understand it reaches speeds of 190 mph.  It is less than a two-hour trip from Jinan.  We are looking forward to it.  We'll take some "blurry" pictures to post on this blog.

 

Halloween

Halloween is not a major or even minor celebration in China.  Our students generally know a little about it and some have activities and parties with a Halloween theme.  However, most don't do anything special.  And yet, when we went to buy groceries this week, there was a section of the store with Halloween costumes and other related items.  Children were there encouraging their parents to purchase them something.  We both did a culture lesson in our classes where we actually wore a costume, (that we purchased at the grocery store), and described some of the activities associated with this holiday.  In particular, they seemed to enjoy seeing photos of our sons, Ryan and Tyler, in their Halloween costumes in times past.  We sang the "Halloween, Halloween, lots of fun on Halloween" song and practiced the "art" of really scaring someone.  We also taught them how to carve pumpkins and encouraged them to gather around a candle in the dark of their dorms and tell spooky stories.  (We practiced those in class, too!)

Though most Chinese don't celebrate Halloween, we learned that the apartment complex next to us was carving pumpkins on Wednesday night and the children were going Trick or Treating on Thursday.  There are two professors living there who are from the US but are married to Chinese women.  They started this tradition a few years ago and it has grown every year.  Those in the complex who want to participate allow their name and apt number to be posted on a list at the entrance to each stairwell. The children then know which apt door to knock on.  Our friends, Brian and Sara, who live there, invited us to participate.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the little Chinese boys and girls in the costumes knocking on doors and reciting, "Trick or Treat" in English.  It was definitely a unique experience.

 This is Brian carving a small Chinese pumpkin

 and his son Toby "assisting."

These pumpkins turned out really well, especially since it was a challenge carving such small pumpkins.

 This is Sara and Toby waiting for the Trick or Treaters to arrive.  Brian is in the back working on his costume.

These guys dressed up like Chinese children.  They learned

very quickly the result of saying "Trick or Treat" and did not hesitate approaching every door.

 This is Toby and his "Monster Tree" dad, Brian.  The maple leaves

 on the trees here are humongous.  Brian frightened the little ones

 without saying anything.

To the right are Brian and Sara's friends, Ben and his son Alex.  Ben's mom lives in Forest Grove and his sister and husband live in Gaston.  It's a small world.  Both Brian and Ben are professors here at Shandong University.


We have an outdoor track very close to our apartment where we either walk or run mornings when we don't have classes.  There are hundreds of people there starting at 5 am until about 8.   Nancy has befriended a women who also runs nearly every day and now looks for her so they can jog together.  Her English name is Julie and she is working on her PHD and is doing research in Microbiology.  Her English is quite good and helps make that morning run a little more enjoyable.

Nancy's new friend, Julie.

After our church meetings today at the hotel, we had our dinner with our fellow BYU teachers. We were about to return to our own apartment on another campus when a group of Chinese students came to the hotel lobby.  One of our BYU teachers had spotted them in the hotel looking for  "English foreigners".  They were participating in an English class and had decided to speak English all week.  They wanted to practice their English with native speakers and were delighted to find out about 11 English speakers upstairs! We talked with them for almost an hour.  They were interested in universities in America, etc.  We also sang a song to them and they sang one in English and one in Chinese to us. 

The students are studying architecture, engineering and political science, but all are interested in improving their English. 

Believe it or not....a vendor on a bike with all those balloons.  Since the balloons are "light", I guess balance is not an issue!