6--The last Week of August

The next day we had lunch at the school dining hall and were introduced to Dr. Li. He and another professor asked if they could come to our apartment in the evening, and of course we agreed. We decided that it would be better to eat supper at the dining hall and then quickly clean up at home. About 7:00 they arrived with Alisa and the elder Mr. Zhang who took turns translating.

Dr. Li is a professor at a university in Hunan province. But his function here, together with the other gentleman, was to inspect the school and our apartment to ensure it met ISO standards. He explained that he was on a provincial Education board or committee which among other things, is responsible to the ISO (International Standardization Organization) and was working with the school to ensure the educational standards were being met.

After a brief visit they asked to look around the apartment, including the bedroom. That had to be the day I didn't make the bed!. I whispered to Alisa that I needed a minute and quickly ran into the bedroom to tidy up. (Closets come in really handy for things you don't want them to see). They didn't really do a very thorough check in the bedroom, just glanced in, but they walked around the apartment to check what had been provided for us.

It's both comforting, the way that they are looking after us, and yet awe inspiring to think that we are involved in changes of the educational system that are of worldwide standards (we didn't realize that there were ISO standards for Education!). It was our intention to help out in a small way and yet we are beginning to sense that we have stumbled into something that is much greater and having a bigger impact than we ever could have imagined. We're just a small part of the overall picture, but it adds to the excitement of our adventure and has already started to impact our lives.

On the day of the party, Alisa had excused herself because she was not feeling well. I worried about her, and when I saw her in the lunch room she was not her perky self. Wanting to help her, I found a way to get her to come to our apartment. Then I told her I wanted her to watch me do Reiki (pronounce this Ray key) on Dick and then, if she wanted, I could do one on her. While watching me work on Dick, she dozed off to the music.

Then I asked if she would like me to work on her and I explained a little more about it. She said that she was a little nervous about it but she would like to try it. She preferred to sit on a chair, so I pulled out a kitchen chair and did a short session on her. Her reaction was wonderful: she said that at first she was apprehensive, but after the first touch she felt better and then every touch made her feel better still. I think I made points with her on this.

I asked if she knew about this technique, and she gave me the Chinese name, which I don't remember right now. I asked her if this was energy draining on the practitioners and she said "yes". Then I told her that this wasn't the case for me and that it actually makes me feel better when I perform it. She was somewhat disbelieving of this, I think, but she was grateful for the treatment nonetheless.

August 20th should be marked in the history books, because I made a phonecall in Chinese, well, partially anyway, to order a new water bottle. Alisa had taught me the phrase "Wo yao yi tong shui" which means "I want a bottle of water" and when I called, I first identified myself to the woman (who had been over a couple of times to make deliveries). She responded by saying "What's your name?" and I answered and then blurted out the Chinese phrase. She said some stuff in Chinese and I then said "OK?". About five minutes later, she showed up at the door with a water bottle, which she placed on the water "cooler" which gives us two temperatures of water:-- hot and warm. She had a little note with her that said "Here is your water" in English. She was trying to learn English at the same time that I was learning Chinese. Kind of a neat experience.

The only glitch we ran into here, is that she wouldn't let me pay. I think she assumed that the school would pay for our water all the time. But, the next time I ordered, we didn't get our water. I had to contact Alisa to find out why, and it turns out that Mr. Zhang hadn't paid for the first bottle because he didn't know that we had ordered it. The whole thing is silly, because we are perfectly prepared to pay the 3 Yuan per bottle, which we now do, of course.

We went for a bike ride to obtain some more things we had been trying to find. Dick wanted a clamp for the kitchen plumbing because the little plastic drain pipe keeps coming off the bottom of the sink. We looked in numerous places and he finally went into the store nextdoor to the grocery store where I had gone to pick up a few things. He then came in to find me and let me know that the man from the hardware store was taking him to help him find what he needed. I paid for groceries and then tried to follow them, but, due to the traffic lights, had lost them. I rode for a while trying to locate them, but then decided that Dick's a big boy and can find his own way home. It was hot and I wanted to get to our airconditioned apartment.

I had just got home when Alisa rang the doorbell. I told her that I was waiting for Dick to come home and was watching for him out the window. I knew he would probably be OK, but if he took too long getting home we might have to send a search party. Alisa had come to bring us incense that I had asked for, to use with my Reiki since I haven't seen candles here yet. A few minutes later Dick came home too and we all sat down in the living room for a visit.

Poor Alisa. After a frantic week of exams and then only a few days off and then trying to take in our classes during the third week of our teaching, but also having numerous other responsibilities, Alisa had succumbed to the stress of it all. She relayed whatever bit of news she had been asked to deliver, an answer to one of our questions, and then the tears started flowing.

She explained that she does like teaching and that Mr. Liu is a very kind man and she likes to work for him, but because of all the changes to the school, and also our coming here, there was a lot expected from all the Chinese teachers. It had gotten to the point where she really didn't enjoy her job anymore. She really hadn't intended to burden us, she said, but we all know that when the stress takes over, it has to come out somehow.

I hugged her and let her cry for a while and then took her into the kitchen and did another Reiki session on her. We took her out for supper and that's when she told us that her boyfriend has been trying to get her to move to Jinan. I told her that the way to make your dreams come true is not to wish for them but to decide that's what you are going to do. After all, that's how we came to be in China. So she said: "Next year I'm going to teach in Jinan". Good for her.

Now the new students have started classes, but we have not been told when we will begin teaching. We have asked numerous times, but there are so many things to take care of at the school, that we have to be patient. Starting August 21st, the school has employed some ex-military men to train the students. They learn how to march and also things like making the bed so you can bounce a quarter on it, keeping the dorms clean and other basic disciplines. We were told that the reason they do this is because a lot of the students are from small towns and farms and don't know how to do some of these things. Can you imagine a group of junior high school kids in Canada taking military training in school? Not a bad idea if you ask me.

We are again suffering a bout of digestive problems and are taking it easy. But, being cooped up at home can get to me, so we do go on regular bike rides in the afternoons. I discovered that knitting is alive and well in this country, so I went on the look for some yarn and knitting needles. I bought some pure wool; beautiful yarn! Decided to make myself a sweater for the wintertime. Apparently it does get cold here, but we figure that hardy Calgarians can take whatever they throw at us for "cold" weather. Still, it never hurts to have a sweater or two.

The washing instructions on the yarn gave us a chuckle. I have taken a picture of it so you can see for yourself. The last instruction is "plane unfold arid". In real English this would be "Lay flat to dry". This is what university professors in China have labelled Chinglish. It is an attempt at translation by use of the dictionary only, without the understanding of how these words are actually being used. It again reinforces how much the presence of native English speakers is required to teach them the correct usage of the language.

It has been extremely hot here for most of the time we have been here. We have had a couple of days of cooler temperatures, mid twenties, but for the most part it has been hot. And they call this fall! It is uncomfortable to go outside for any length of time, so we stay in the apartment a lot. We do have to get out on our bikes, though, before cabin fever sets in. So we try to balance it all out.

In the evenings we look out the kitchen window to watch the geckos hunt for insects. It is really interesting to have our own nature channel on the window and to see these small reptiles devour moth after moth, which seem like a pretty big meal for our little friends. This does explain why we have not experienced too many bugs in the house, although now, in the evenings, we seem to have a lot of visits from some sort of flying beetle. But they are no match for our fly swatter talents.

Due to the floods in Central China, we have been receiving emails of concern for our safety. That indicates to us that most people are not aware of exactly where we are. We are in the north eastern part of China in a province called Shandong. Our town, Huimin, is about 350 km south east of Beijing. We are much further north than the flood area, and have had absolutely no effect from the floods.

We are, however, experiencing some thunder showers and some strong winds due to the typhoon, Rusa, but we have been checking the weather patterns and it is headed for Shanghai, which is far to the south of us. We seem to be in a pretty safe corner as far as the weather is concerned.

On the 28th, we had a busy day. About 7:30 in the morning, the doorbell rang and the computer teacher installed a new cartridge in our printer. I was still in bed, we had finally found a way to make the mattress more comfortable: the quilts that I had planned to save for winter turned out to be goose down. So Alisa suggested we try putting them on top of the mattress, and boy, did that ever make a difference.

So now that I was up and we could print again, we realized that we were out of coffee. So we walked over to the grocery store and bought some more Nescafe instant (the only coffee available). We also picked up some more of the tarts that we have discovered. These are filled with various dried fruits and nuts and seeds. They are very tasty and make a great breakfast. We thought they might also make a great power bar for backpacking, etc.

When we got back, the elder Mr. Zhang was waiting for us by our door. He had come over to see if we had printed the photos of the four of us that we had taken on their first visit. We said we would print them right away, and did so. The only thing is that the pictures came out quite red. It turns out that now the colour cartridge is getting dangerously low. But he didn't mind the sunburned look on all of our faces, he said that his wife would really be happy with these pictures. We have asked Alisa if there is a way to get the email address of a photoshop in Jinan so that we can have proper prints made. Here in Huimin that service is not available.

It was another scorching day, so we did not have plans to go out. But, just before 3 in the afternoon Dick called me over to the kitchen window. There were all the students in full uniform doing marching excercises. And we noticed a panel of judges on the far end of the field. This warranted a closer look.

We walked over to the other end of the field and tried to take pictures from behind the fence. But then Mr. Zhang (the younger) motioned that we could enter the field and we did. We took pictures from all angles of the competition that was taking place. The poor kids were hot, but they behaved themselves staying reasonably still in their "waiting formation" while one of the platoons would do their demonstration of marching and so on.

After two more hours in the hot sun, they had all done their thing and the judging was revealed. Some of the kids came forward and received a certificate which they held up for all to see. The TV camera had already left by now, but that didn't stop the kids' enthusiasm.

We ate supper at the school dining hall that evening, and afterwards were approached by Jessica and Nancy. They asked if they could come over to our apartment on Friday after 3:00. We agreed.

Since the next day was only Thursday, we could do our own thing. (Sometimes we don't know what day it is, weekends don't mean anything here). Dick went for lunch at the school by himself because I didn't feel like eating much. I was frustrated at this point because they still had not given us much information about our classes. This is when Mr. Zhang told Dick that we were going to start teaching on Monday and that we would have a meeting in the next couple of days to discuss how it would all go. We were to have a teaching plan ready, which we have, and then all the details would be discussed. (Finally!)

In the afternoon we went downtown again. I had bought a bamboo rocking chair for the purpose of doing Reiki, and I needed some footstools and a quilted pad for it. We found the stools and also some house plants, but not the quilted pad. I would have to improvise until we could get Alisa to help us find it. We also bought some vegies and then, close to home, got some fruit. That's when Alisa and April stopped to say hello. We told Alisa we had tried to call her but her phone wasn't working. She was having dinner at April's that night.

We took our parcels home and I placed the plants in the dryer room for the time being. Just making sure that there aren't too many bugs before bringing them in the house. Then we decided that since we now have food to cook, we didn't feel like cooking it and went out to the little restaurant close to home. Alisa had prepared a menu for us with English names as well as the Chinese ones, so we could now order for ourselves by pointing at the items.

We had a good discussion about teaching strategies and setting criteria for the primary school students, which we found out we are teaching as well. All the while I was being scrutinized by the man sitting at the table next to us. They don't mean to be rude, we are just such a novelty to them that they want to know everything about us, including listening to us speak English.

We walked home in the dark, and had to be very careful not to fall in the ditches that have been dug over the last week or so. They are installing concrete pipes under the road before they refinish the road. So right now, everything is open and you have to negotiate your way over and around the little ditches. Dick "lights" our way using a little light on a keychain that he got as a gift from one of the stores.

When we got in the gate, we were met by the elder Mr. Zhang and his wife. They had tried to come to see us a couple of times that day, and they were concerned that we were out so late. Then they said that since it was Mrs. Zhang's day off tomorrow they would like to take us for lunch and would come to pick us up at 10:00 in the morning.

We were ready when they came for us, and we started to walk downtown. Dick took some pictures on the street, and we sauntered slowly to where our escorts were taking us. In this heat you don't go fast. We were met by a young lady who we recognized as another staff member of the dining hall (Alisa told us later she is actually the cook's girlfreind). We followed her and ended up in a photo studio. We were given chairs to sit on while we watched her have her makeup done. There were all sorts of professional photographs around the shop, and there were fancy dresses hanging up above the makeup area. These must be for use in the fancy pictures.

Then, when her makeup was almost done, Mrs. Zhang handed me a comb and said I should comb my hair. I had been wearing a head band to keep the hair out of my eyes, so I took it off and combed my hair. I still had no idea that we were having our pictures taken. Had I known that, I might have done some makeup too! But, you can't succumb to vanity when you are a celebrity. We had several pictures taken with different members of this small party. What a surprise!

After the group pictures were done, the cook's girlfriend went in for a private photo session, and then immediately washed the makeup off her face. Pretty much all shops keep a plastic tub of water handy, usually on a stand, and some soap and a towel. She scrubbed the makeup off and let it air dry. It is still so hot here, that it doesn't take long to dry.

Then we walked over to another restaurant. I wish we could read these signs, because we pass these places all the time and don't know what is inside. We had a plate of dumplings each, with garlic cloves on the side (you eat these raw) and of course the dark vinegar for dipping. These people also drink the vinegar from their little plates, a habit I have not yet developed.

After a satisying lunch, we all walked back to the school and from there Dick and I went home by ourselves. We spent some quiet time in front of the TV and computer, and then the two girls came over. We kept the TV on, so they could see some English programs, and they gave us pictures they had drawn. They laughed at Dick's hairy legs and the way he wears his sandals in the house. They also thought my little shoes were funny, but I told them I only wear them in the house. Nancy told me that her English teacher had told the class that they could choose an English name or change it if they already have one. She said she didn't like Nancy, so she wanted me to pick a name for her. We decided on Amanda. I also showed them the website for the Okotoks Junior High School, and they thought that Canadian schools are very rich.

Then, just before the girls left, Jessica gave me a round amulet with a horse on it. If you get it wet and hold it up to the light, it shines in a gold colour.

We thought that Alisa and Dennis would come over that evening, but they didn't come. I called Alisa and she didn't sound like herself. She said Dennis had gotten in late and was tired and so they would come tomorrow.

So they came over in response to our invitation for lunch the following day. They brought us a jar of coffee and some sunflower seeds. And Dennis had come through again for us -- he brought a number of brochures on electric pianos and keyboards for Dick. He gave us the price ranges, which aren't bad in comparison to Canadian money, but we would definitely have to wait before we could buy one.

We took them to the same dumpling restaurant that the Zhang's had taken us, and we enjoyed a tasty lunch. Alisa had told me before lunch that she had cried last night because they had argued about her job situation. Boy, does that sound familiar! So she asked if I would do a Reiki on her after lunch so that Dennis could see it. Of course I was happy to help any way I could. I feel really bad that she is having such a hard time right now.

The rest of the weekend was quite boring, actually (can you believe that?). We waited for the call to have our meeting, but that never happened. Oh well, we would just go in on Monday morning and see what transpires.

By the way, we have both aged a year since coming to China! According to the old Chinese tradition, your age would be calculated from the time of conception, however you would only celebrate your birthday on Chinese New Years Day, which fell on February 12, 2002. So if you were born on Feb 11, 2002 on Feb 12, 2002 you would celebrate your 2nd birthday. We are not sure about any celebration of actual birthdays but we'll find out.

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