Category: General

Where to start?

Last night we attended a George Bernard Shaw celebration sponsored by the Foreign Language College. I can’t possibly describe it–you’ll just have to imagine “Pygmalion” performed by Chinese actors speaking English with both Cockney and high British accents. It was amazing!

This morning I arrived on campus early to give the final test, and I found students outside the library door, ironing their clothes. They were taking them off a clothesline, and had the ironing board set up on the sidewalk. Inside the library, there was a group of girls doing makeovers on each other.

I was relieved that for the final I was assigned a “TA” bouncer to keep the students from cheating. This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone in administration call it like it is. It was so quiet in the classroom that you could hear a pin drop. I haven’t graded all the papers yet, but it looks pretty much like I expected–a full range of scores.

This afternoon, to celebrate the end of our term, Andrea and I got massages at the TrueMart (Walmart) department store. I have never been hurt so badly by such a tiny person. It will be interesting to see how I sleep tonight; I’m just now getting adjusted to this time frame.

Tomorrow’s my last day. I’ve turned down offers from students and an old friend from the Branch so that I can finish grades, then just wander around and take final snapshots. On the technical level, I’ve successfully kept all my electronic toys charged and fully operable!

If I could just video the “aerobic” guy in the park for Adam, I’d finish on a real high note. I’ve been back several times, but never seen him again.

I’m looking forward to squeezing my grandkids…

I went to church today, and actually reconnected with people I knew here 13 years ago! I arrived an hour late, though, after a detour through the Catholic Church. The taxi driver dropped me at an unfamiliar site (one can’t drive in to the building, but must walk in from a main road.) When I showed the guard at the gate my map, he was as confused as the taxi driver. But then he mimed “praying hands,” I nodded yes, and he directed me to the second floor of a hotel. I knew it wasn’t the right place, but he insisted on accompanying me. And they were really happy to welcome me into the fold…but they were Catholics.

After church I enjoyed a conversation with a taxi driver who spoke not one word of English (OK, he knew “Obama”), and yet we discussed politics, China’s Expo next year, Japanese cars, and my age, and we shared a package of shortbread. At the end of the ride, he opted to “keep the change” (there’s no tipping in China.) Great fun.

If I haven’t mentioned it, both KFC and Mcdonalds deliver food here (on bicycles).

I met Susan and Andrea at Yuan Garden and then made them ride the bus home with me so they could experience more the conditions of the masses. They both kept asking, “Are we there yet?”

My leg is much better today, and I’m ready to tackle my last week of teaching. Time flies when you’re having fun.

I love the picture of the new baby, but I miss seeing Audrey’s sweet face on the old design, if you want my vote.

After a really busy week, I have no teaching responsibilities today. Instead, I’m correcting and grading 42 resumes and cover letters. It’s probably a good thing I’m staying in–my right leg is swollen, burning, and hurting. And just when I bragged to John about how healthy I’ve been. I’m kinda concerned about it because I’ve never experienced anything like this before.

That aside, reading the resumes is quite entertaining. I’ll share a few quotes: “So give me a chance for an interview, and I will give you a surprise.” “Operate masterfully with WP…”; “My ability to write English is out of the question”; “make some flash animations adroitly.” I love seeing and hearing our language used from another point of view. When John retires and becomes a transit consultant, I’m going to become a consultant for correct usage of English for advertising in foreign countries.

Tonight (Friday) I’m taking Susan and Andrea to see the Bund all lit up. Tomorrow my dean invited me on a day trip to Suzhou. I asked if Susan and Andrea could come along, and she ordered a larger bus to accommodate two more people. She (Dean Li) has been very gracious and accommodating.

I’m on the home stretch, just hoping I can remain mobile for another week.

I haven’t blogged for a few days because I’ve been really busy. On Mondays and Tuesdays I have 3-hour classes in the afternoon. It’s tiring to be “on” for 3 hours at a time to teach/entertain 42 students.

Today was just an early 2-hour class, so I returned to the fabric market. I ordered all female family members a new skirt. Jill’s features a golden dragon, Laurie’s a phoenix, Kristy’s an ox (2009), and Chelsea has a large yin/yang design. I hope you all like them, because there are no returns. The (big) boys are getting no souvenirs, just so you know.

In class today when I attempted to show a Powerpoint presentation on job applications, all that appeared were pictures of my cute grandchildren. (I guess that’s courtesy of you, John.) I told the monitor that the file was there when I tested it on my laptop. She was coming to this campus anyway, so she was able to hook up our two computers and download the proper file to a tiny card that she took out of her cell phone!

I offered to take her to lunch in the dining room. She ordered so many dishes that we were full before they even stopped bringing them. I haven’t spent that much on food in the prior week. But I brought back doggy bags (I hope no pun intended), and I’ll be set for several days.

Speaking of expensive, I ordered a double Hagen Daaz ice cream cone and was charged 59 yuan ($10)! I couldn’t believe it–I had previously bought a pair of shoes that cost less.l

I had been staring at the eyes of the monitor, Alpha, on the bus ride home. There was a blue ring around the brown pupil. She later confided to me that she has more money than her classmates because she sells contact lenses. She orders them online, then sells them on campus to the students. She didn’t explain why Chinese would want blue lenses, but she apparently does a booming business. (That and she knows how to work a free lunch…)

I continue to be amused by the Tshirt slogans. My current favorites are:
NEW BOY and JUICY COUTURE.

I really do love this place. The people are great–both and Chinese and the foreign teachers. Who has more fun than I do?

Ah, Adam, so good to hear from you. I see you’re still campaigning to be my No. 1 son. Thanks for the tutorial.

Yesterday we were invited to the Dragon Boat races in a nearby river. The various colleges of the University competed against each other. We cheerleaders had the same orange golf shirts as our rowing team, the College of Finance. I wanted to change teams and cheer for the guys with the cool shirts with Chinese writing and the intimidating headbands. We came in 14 out of 24.

While standing at the railing, taking pictures, they set off a very long string of firecrackers, right in back of me. Pieces were landing in my hair. I couldn’t get out of the way–they had me cornered. Pretty exciting. Riley would have loved it.

Then we visited an old “water” town, with canals instead of roads. We were treated to a lunch with 24 dishes. I tasted everything but the jellyfish, including: toad, eel, dried fish with heads and skin still on (I didn’t eat the head), and snails. Everyone else washed it all down with Chinese beer.

There’s a famous bridge in this village called Freedom bridge. Vendors had bags of goldfish they would sell tourists so they could “free” them into the water. Another first for me was a shooting gallery consisting of balloons attached to an outside wall and some type of BB guns for people to try their luck. I didn’t see anyone win, so I don’t know what the prizes were.

On the bus ride home I saw a huge tree moving down the freeway in front of us. It was so big you couldn’t see the truck carrying it.

Several foreign teachers arrived this weekend. They’ve all been finishing up finals at home. It should be more fun now. My next-door neighbor is from Paris, and reminds me of Buzz Marden. There are two professors from Weber State. I’m going to ask the IT guy to look at my computer.

John, I tried to call you just now (8 p.m. Sunday). Skype kept saying it was connecting, but never did.

I’m off to class now.

Mom,

If you’ll stop entering hard returns in your blog posts, they’ll fill up the presentation area more appropriately (like this post), instead of being all “long and skinny” (like yours).  Make your blog entries as if you were typing in a word processor, not a typewriter.

I know I could have given you this instruction privately, but it was more fun to tease you publicly.  My little payback for that fact that, because of you, I go through life cringing at grammatical errors and improperly placed apostrophe’s (<- like that one, which I’m going to do for the rest of this post…  and did you like the sentence fragment?).

Oh, and remember that ‘Shift-Enter’ get’s you a new line, while ‘Enter’ by itself create’s a new paragraph.

I hope your friend’s are reading this…

Adam

I just returned from a performance of the BYU

International Folk Dancers, and I’m so glad I

went.  They were wonderful, but I kept trying to

imagine Steve B. in the group, and it wasn’t

working for me. The new Shanghai
Grand Theater is magnificent–seeing it was worth the price of admission.

Prior to that Doug, Susan, and I rode the new

high-speed MagLev train and spent time in the

museum, making notes and taking pictures for

our report to John.

At People’s Park we found a huge gathering of

people milling around hand-painted signs

that were hanging from trees, propped against

 bags, etc.  I looked for some students to ask

what was going on, but the crowd was solely

middle-aged people.  I finally found an American

photographer who explained that it was the

Saturday dating service.  Parents write des-

criptions of their children for display, and

interested parties (other parents) make notes

of phone numbers, etc.  The singles were no-

where in sight.
It was a gray, humid day until it rain in
the evening.

I’ve determined that my email has been blocked from here. Because Gmail allows free advertising, anytime something appears about freeing Tibet, etc., it gets blocked. Mike R., you wouldn’t have any pull in this area, would you?

Yesterday was my longest teaching day–3 hours

in the morning and 2 1/2 in the afternoon.  Even

though I have the same 42 students the whole

time, we meet in different classrooms each day.

The FengXian campus is huge–total enrollment

for the University (all campuses) is 40,000.

Each day when I get off the bus I have to find a

new building.  It’s a beautiful campus, and very

modern, with the exception of the bathrooms,

which are still “squatters.”

Today’s class began at 8:00, which meant I

boarded the bus at 6:45 a.m., before they even

start serving the rice gruel.  But I’ve found a

French bakery, so I pick up a croissant and a

banana  the night before, which beats the gruel, 

hands down.

I spent the afternoon with friends from home.

Susan and I have taught together for many years.

Her daughter, Andrea, is here teaching nursing

at another university.  The dad, Doug, is here

with them only until Sunday.  We went to Yuan

Garden, ate dumplings and shopped for souve-

nirs.  Ran into a group of BYU students on a

whirlwind 2-week tour studying business in

Asia.  Fun day.

OK, Adam, I’m writing to you again here because

I want the rest of the world to know that I can’t

access my emails.   (And, also, I don’t know how

to make this private.)   To answer your question,

yes, I’m using the webmail access at the righthand

side by the blog login.  It says “This link appears

to be broken.”  I get the same message when I try

the other address you suggested.

So I can communicate with you guys on the old

site or on this blog, if you’ll tell me how to keep

it private.

Thanks for Andrea’s address; you’re in strong

second place….

Mom

And to the rest of the world, I’ll resume my

generic blogging in the near future.  Right now

I’m off to spend the weekend with my friends

from home!

Adam, my link still seems to be broken.  You’re

losing a little ground as my favorite….

Mom