Cruising Right Along

Our last posting featured our trip down the Yangtze River.  We were not completely finished so we thought we would add a few pictures.

 

 

 

While on the boat we passed through three major gorges.  The scenery was breathtaking but would have been even more impressive if it wasn't raining.  Like the Columbia Gorge, when it is socked in by low clouds and rain, it is hard to fully appreciate its grandeur.  I have included one picture from the internet so that you can understand what we are talking about

 

 

The Three Gorges project began in 1993 when it was voted on by the Peoples Congress.  600 of its members voted NO.  It was controversial from the very beginning.  For one thing, the project displaced 1.3 million people.  They lost their homes and their livelihoods.   Many of their historical sites are now under water.  Many people had to wait over 10 years to have another apartment built so they would have a place to live.  The older generation suffered the most.  The younger generation likes the new cities that were built and the better living conditions. 

Some of the older generation is still trying to find a way to earn a living.  On our way through the gorge, our boat docked at a small village, (30,000), so we could take a shore excursion.  We were taken upstream to a floating dock where ancient wooden boats were tied up.  20 tourists were packed into these rickety old boats and some very "senior" men rowed us up the river.  We learned that many of these people were farmers, but when the dam was built, they lost their livelihood.  The turned their attention to tourism but they are really out of their element.  But, in a way, it is like farming.  During the tour season there is much to do.  During the off season, their income is little.  It is meager anyway so they still struggle make a life for themselves.

 BYU teachers enjoying the boat ride.  Our guide sang a song to us also.

 

Our boat passed through the 5 large ship locks at the Three Gorges Dam during the night.  We decided to forego some sleep and at least witness the first lock.  It was impressive.  In total, we dropped 300 feet to the water level below the dam.

 Each lock can accommodate five quite large boats, depending on their size.  A "baby" elevator for small pleasure craft is still under construction.

The dam is the world's largest capacity hydroelectric station

 

We had a long wait (8 hours) at the Wuhan airport before returning to Jinan.  Most of the BYU teachers had earlier flights so the bus took everyone at the same time.  Unfortunately, our flight did not leave until after 11 pm.  We got to bed in Jinan about 2 am and had classes to teach at 8am.

Since returning from the Yangtze river cruise, we have had a pretty routine couple of weeks.  We are still spending long hours preparing our lessons and endeavoring to present meaningful things for students to do and write about.  In writing we felt we needed to spend some time learning how to write like a journalist.  Often our students fail to answer some of the basic who, what, where, when and why questions.  So, we gave them some examples of good  and "bad" writing and had them take a position on something they cared about and write an "editorial."  They had only 20 minutes to write but most did quite well.  We have found that in general, when students write during class, their work is better than if they had weeks to write and rewrite, edit, etc.  One major issue in English writing by Chinese students is translation.  They will want to use a certain idea, but when it is translated into English, you have no idea what they are talking about.  It has been helpful for us to ask them to "write like you speak" and to not think so much about it.  When they do this, it is much more natural and understandable.

Along the same line, we had them write their own OBITUARY.  This was a little strange for them because they would have to predict when they were going to die.  For the most part, the Chinese do not talk about death.  There is a element of superstition that when you think about it, it will happen.  What we wanted the students to do was to capture the "essence" of their future life and what they hope to achieve and become.  It was wide open and we hoped they would get creative.  Some did, but the majority took the road that they didn't want to brag or put anything in their obituary that was unrealistic.  Most of our students seem to be satisfied with an unexciting life or at least they can't predict the future or define exactly what they want it to look like. 

One Friday night Nancy and I were asked to be judges for a "dubbing" competition.  We had no idea what that was until we arrived.  Students choose a video clip and then "Dub" their voice into the piece.  They were required to do one piece in English and another in Chinese.  We were to evaluate their pronunciation and how well they synched their voices.  It was interesting.  We were glad to help.

Afterward, we learned that one of our BYU teachers, Zina Cox, was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot.  We were scheduled to attend a special trip to an outdoor "wild animal" zoo in the western part of Jinan.  It was an all day event and we had paid about $16 each to attend.  The Cox's were going with us.  In light of the circumstances we cancelled and spent Saturday visiting Zina in the hospital and doing ??? 

Walking into the hospital was like walking back in time.  It felt as if we were in the 1950's.  The hospital room is sterile and absent of furniture.  In China, if you go to the hospital, they provide little amenities.  There is no food service.  Family or friends must bring in food for the patient.  There are no towels, $100 box of Kleenex, no soap, shampoo, etc.  The nurses still wear the old fashioned uniform with the classic nurses's hat.

 Zina had to lie down with her foot elevated.  She was in the hospital for ten days!  Fortunately, the BYU teachers are acquainted with a neurologist in Jinan and she insisted Zina be near her office so she could visit and "supervise" her care.

 After visiting Zina, we took Lily out to dinner at Pizza Hut.  This is the second time she has been there.  The first was last year with John and Roselyn Kuzmich.  Up to that point Lily had never used a fork.  We had pizza and she ordered a smoothie.  (She had never had one of those.  The Chinese shy away from anything cold to drink)  It was a stretch for her, but she admitted that she really liked it.  She also enjoyed the pizza.  How could anyone NOT like pizza?  It is so much fun spending time with her.

Lily insisted on taking our picture at Pizza Hut.

Just had to take a picture of Stan doing dishes after our church potluck.  Kathy (Canadian Chinese) and Lulu from South Africa are assisting.

 

Our friend, Brian, invited us to join him for a ride in his new electric vehicle.  It is considered to be the same as a bicycle so we road on the sidewalk along with pedestrians.  It is a "slick" way to get around.

 

 It is a family tradition to have cinnamon rolls on Easter morning.  Nancy decided she would try to figure out the metric quantities for the yeast, etc. and we shared them with our church "family" in between the break for Sacrament meeting and Sunday School.

One of our BYU couples, Jim and Wendy Purnell, had to leave Jinan for three weeks since his dad was extremely ill in Canada.  (He has since passed away.)  They will return May 2.  Consequently there was such a small church group for Easter Sunday, (Zina Cox in the hospital and Schauerhammers back in Utah for chemotherapy)  that we decided to forgo our usual potluck after our church services and join the foreign teacher Easter potluck celebration.  Many African students from Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, etc. also attended and say some beautiful Easter songs, some in their native languages.