Last days in Jingdezhen

Home in Glen Ellyn with English headings on the computer once more after a blackout of a few days with no internet access in Shanghai. We sneaked in to OHare safely just ahead of the storms.

The last days in Jingdezhen were busy and rewarding. There was a closing ceremony that was not just a bunch of Key Education People seech-ifying, but the students presenting songs and stories in English which made us very proud. Their confidence in speaking improved so much! They sang farewell type songs they could find in Karaoke including "I'm a Big Big Girl," a love song from the Titanic, and a never to be forgotten rendition of Auld Lang Syne. And one last reminder of what it is all about: the Hicky Pukey!

Parting gifts are important to the Chinese as is toasting with Chinese wine which just let me say is not Chablis! Moonshine comes to mind. The "drain the glass" cry is "goomba!" Gifts usually reflect the city speciality so are often silk scarves, jade neaklaces, etc. Remember Jingdezhen is the porcelain catial of China - in fact the term "china" we use for all sorts of pottery things here is actually an English misinterpretation of the original name of this city. But porcelain does not often come in a size Small - our gifts included coffee sets, bowls, large vases and - for me - a 25lb Laughing Buddha. Interesting packing challenges!

Many pictures and tears and a sense of having made a difference for 60 teachers that will spread far wider when their school resumes in the fall.

Endings and Celebrations

We finished teaching today - the mix of happy to complete what we started and sad to leave such wonderful students.

In another attempt at a Deep Culture experience, we staged a mock western wedding - meaning American, not with a cowperson theme. A little short on men, we had a groom - who actually wore a suit - a best man who brought the lighter for the unity candle - and a father of the bride who insisted on have a question asked to which he could answer "her mother and I do." Seems he saw Father of the Bride...The other groomspersons were female as were the 4 clergy, 8 bridesmaids, mothers and sound technician. And the bride - who skipped class to get her hair cut and wore the perverbial sparkley 3 inch heels. Just like for baseball.

Everyone arrived early and we started on time. Fortunately I had 2 cans of Coke for lunch so we had enough pop tops for a double ring ceremony. The vows were every bit as lovely as any other wedding, the best man lit the wrong candles only once, the sound system got a glitch and played I'm a Big Big Girl in a Big Big World as the bride started in, but it was replaced by Pachelbel quickly. Of course there was a wedding cake with caucasian bride and groom on top, punch, cookies and the Hicky Pukey. A international event to rival the Olympics.

Then one of the classes invited us to dinner. We had a warm up hour of the two most popular activities: Majong and Kari-ok-ee. Then a variety of unknown dishes from an unseen kitchen. They were very gracious - lots of toasting and laughter and everyone tried to speak English.

We may lose the computer tomorrow, and we leave here on Saturday for Shanghai where I will seek out a business center or internet cafe.

worth the whole trip...

...and learning chop sticks and the heat and long teaching days for the moment a student asked me today if I could teach him the "Hicky Pucky." That's what it is all about!

World shrinking observations

T-shirts with English on them here say incomprehensible things. Today two girls had on "Fashion Yashion" shirts. Many have random words like "garden, evening, moon" in what might have been a sentence but lost something. The best one lately was "Brimming Hum." A large city in AL? Spilling over with song? No one has a clue what their shirts say and even if they can read the words they do not know the meaning. Just the shapes look nice. Makes me wonder what we are advertising in the US when we wear shirts with unknown Chinese characters...local Shanghai used car dealerships?

Today I compared experiences on the topic of dating. The law in China forbids any male under 22 and any female under 20 from marrying. The class is all professionals who thought dating should start after college and marriage at 25 is fine. One child by age 30 and that phase is over. About 1/2 the married class members still live with the husband's family so grandma does all the cooking and cleaning and child care while both partners work. The few college students and HS graduates in the class think the dating age should be younger - 17 or 18 with marriage at 25. Times are changing as the world shrinks.

Catching up

The Share the Computer Plan means I missed a day - but not an adventure!

Crossing streets in China - I have finally figured out that none of the cars, buses, pull carts, motobikes, or bicycles really WANT to run over pedesterians. I actually have seen no accidents of any kind and the cars are not dented. However, they only want to miss you by the closest possible margin. And "close" for them is way inside the personal space I normally reserve for Bob. I find a pack of Chinese at a crossing - preferably with a male baby or a large load of soft materials - and shadow them.

Language - I conducted 8 transactions today with no Chinese/English problem. Universal language: money. All retailers - and I was in stores made out of storage units, tables set up in alleys and then upper scale malls - have pocket calculators and are happy to show you the price in the kind of money I have in my pocket. I bet this is how Bill Gates deals with them, too, but with bigger calculators.

Today the teaching topic was literature. They were each to tell me a Chinese children's story in English. Some were almost familiar: Little Red Cap, Snow White and the 7 Pygmies. Some I attributed to others: Dog and Reflection, Fox and Crow, Crow and Jar of Water. (Did Aesop get them from China or visa versa?) Some were new:

1 - A rat and her baby were out one night when suddenly a cat appeared in the distance. The rat mama knew she could not out run the cat so she began to growl and bark like a dog. The cat ran away. "See," said the mama rat to the baby rat, "That is why you should always learn a foreign language."

2 - A man brags to his friend that he has the smartest dog in the world. When he gives the dog, money, the dog goes to the store and brings home the newspaper. The friend wants to try so he give the dog money. Hours later there is no dog and no money. When he asks what went wrong the man asks, "How much did you give him?" The friend answers, "$5." That's the problem, " says the man. "If you give him that much the dog will go to the movies."

3 - Up on the mountain there was a temple and in the temple lived an old monk and a young monk. One day the old monk told a story: Up on the mountain there was a temple and in the temple lived and old monk and a young monk. One day the old monk told a story: Up on the mountain there was a temple and in the temple... (continue until the baby is so bored it falls asleep).