Shopping in China

Our idea of fishing?

Going to the grocery store in China is a whole new world. The rice and lentils were out in the open. One time we were watching a lady who works there. She was mindlessly sifting through the rice with her hand. I could not help but think of all the food we eat everyday and where it has been. We saw live snakes, frogs, and fish living in the tanks at the market.

This is what the street market looks like wherever we go. Always, always, hot!

River Trip On the Bund

Wewent on a river sight-seeing trip down the Yellow River. There is a portion where on the one side you see the old China. It is called the Bunn. On the other side is the new high rise buildings . It was raining…as always here… Some local people asked if they could take our picture. We had a lot of fun trying to communicate. We took lots of pictures and had a ball. There were lots of lighted buildings, however my camera could not focus on them. I had to put in the Aurora building though. I miss Aurora.

Trip down Li River and Reed Flute Caves

July 24, 2008 Thursday
Way told us about some of the history of Guilin this morning. One of the things he talked about was the Flying Tigers, American pilots who came and helped defeat the Japanese in WW2. Jane Lister’s dad was a Flying Tiger so it was real fun for her to hear they are still famous in China for helping them at that time. He told how the Flying Tigers painted their planes with sharp teeth and pictures of their girl friends. Then we all sang the song Way said the Flying Tigers sang…”You are my Sunshine”.
He told us a little of the minority that lives in Guilin, the Chong and the Cowpat (my interpretation of the way the said the words). He explained what they are famous for and some of the customs of the mountain people. They are wonderful singers and they come together often for festivals and celebrations. They sing, echo, and harmonize, and are famous for the musical abilities. They are famous for the herbs they create for illness. He explained that they don’t have doctors and they know how to heal diseases with the herbs. They grow a lot of rice here. Their houses are made up of many floors. The first floor is for the animals, the second is for the people and the third floor is for storage.
We went on a 3 ½ hour tour on the Li River. It was fascinating how young kids would paddle these canoe boats up to our boat and try to sell their homemade crafts to us. They would open the window of our boat to get our attention. We had to be careful to keep our valuables away from the window so they would not be taken. We had lunch on board. It was interpreting how they cooked our food on the back of the boat. We saw several smaller boats, with local farmers, paddle up and sell the cooks their live chickens for our lunch. It was hard to eat it after that. We saw several water buffalo along the way and some fishermen with the cormorants. I took lots of pictures.
When we stopped we got to go shopping a little bit and found a few items to barter. It was really fun.
The last thing we did before dinner was went to a famous (everything is famous in China) teacher university and got to watch a demonstration with Chinese art. It was good too. Then we came back and went to another hotel for dinner. Tomorrow is our last full day in China.
July 24, 2008 8 AM.
First we went to the Flute Reed Cave. The people used these caves to hide in when enemies came after them or in the WWII when the airplanes would bomb the area. The entrance used to be so small only very little people could enter. Now they have made the entrance much bigger, put in electricity, and good steps to make it all save. The reason it is called Reed Flute Cave is because when villagers were hiding in there there was nothing to do but play music. The flutes would echo through the caves entertaining all who were there. This cave is 500 meters long and amazing. They estimate there are hundreds of caves this big in this area. These caves were discovered (again) over 100 years ago when a boy lost a water buffalo. The whole village went looking for it because it was so valuable and found it crying in this cave. I remember how Tempenogas cave impressed me so long ago, but it was very small compared to this. It was amazing. If I needed to come to China to live, Guilin is where I would choose. It is green and beautiful, with hills and valleys, mountains and rivers.
They then took us to the pearl factory where we learned all about fresh water pearls and sea pearls and why sea pearls are so much more valuable. Of course I did not buy anything, because I cannot afford such expensive things.

July 23, 2008 Wednesday Guilin

I think the best day of all was today. We checked out of the hotel by 8 AM and were on our way to the airport. We had to go through security 2 times, checked our bags and went through a security again. We got on a plane and left a few minutes before 12 noon. We had lunch on the plane and arrived in Guilin (Qui-Lynn) by about 2. It is a beautiful little city (6000, 000 people) in the southern part of China. In fact it is only 500 Kilometers (I think that is about 300 miles) from Vietnam. When I think of all the American history that took place so close to here, it is amazing to me. It is subtropical and full of Limestone Mountains. The have lots of rice paddies that they plow with water buffalo.

The new guide (Dave) or he likes to be called Wei, told us about so many interesting things. They have fishermen who fish with cormorants. These are birds with the ring around their necks that you see in children’s books. He explained that they have to train the birds. They make sure when they are ready to fish the cormorants are hungry or they would not do the fishing. They go after the fish (which they can’t swallow) and bring them back to the fisherman, who then feeds them.
Wei told us there are lots of snakes here, some of which are poisonous. One kind of snake is called “5 steps”. Can you guess why? Because the person gets only 5 steps before he dies.
We went to a huge park where there is a famous rock formation called the camel. It really looks like a camel. He told us that in 1993, Bill Clinton gave a short speech right in front of that rock. We all wondered what he said, but Way did not know. In the same park we saw 2 pandas in a cage. I was glad I got to see them because last time I saw them in Beijing, I did not get a good a good view and it was so crowded in the zoo. There were two monkeys in the trees putting on a show for us. It was very hot.

We also saw some pandas in the park.
Then we went to a place called Folded Brocade. It is 400 steps to a view of the whole city. It was wonderful because it cooled down, and a little breeze came up for a very pleasant climb. However once we got up to the top, it began to pour….literally. Lighting and thunder and huge drops of rain soaked us in minutes. We tried to stay in some shelter but we were all soaked. We all came back to the bus refreshed and happy. I think it was because it was not sooooo hot after the rain.
Anyway, the day was wonderful, and we all feel really good. Nobody is sick now. (Knock on wood).

July 22, 2008-Tuesday... Hongshu

What a busy day! All day long…from 8AM to 8PM….traveling and visiting different sights. It was so hot today.
We stared with a boat ride around West Lake. (Henry said there are a lot of West lakes in China. That is interesting to me because during the Cultural Revolution in the ‘60’s the west of anything was very evil here. Now there are lots of lakes with that name.) The lake is only 9 miles around and is only about 5’deep. It is a natural fed lake and fish do very well in it. It was just funny to me, because in Alaska, we have so many lakes that are spectacular. But they are very proud of this lake and have done a lot to make it a huge tourist place. I told Henry he needed to come to Alaska to see our lakes.
Then we went to a tea plantation called Dragon Well Green Tea Plantation. It was actually very interesting. They produce green tea and we learned all about the benefits of tea and why and how we should drink it every day. It is even mixed with some flowers to cure diabetes. She talked about how you use green tea for facials, to clean your stomach, it is a natural fluoride, and how it absorbs oil if you put it in your meat to cook. Mike may wonder when he gets the credit card bill for $90 at the tea plantation. JonMarie wanted to buy some and for some reason her credit card would not go through, so I used mine. She paid me later in American money.
We went to lunch…surprise! Chinese food!
After lunch we went to the Leifeng pagoda. It was interesting. There was this bid hill where there were carvings dating back 1600 years. There are 338 Budhas carved in the mountain side. The best part was a Chinese young man heard us talking and stopped to talk. He answered several questions about Buddhism and we started a conversation about politics. He was so kind. He took our emails and wants to email us when he gets home to Beijing. He seemed very intelligent. I asked if I could ask any question about his government and if he could answer his opinion without getting into trouble. He said he could and wanted to know my question. I really did not have one. I just wanted to know about his freedoms. I did not feel comfortable going into detail with him because I did not want to get him in trouble. I do hope he writes. He was very pleasant.
Last we went to this place called Square Bamboo Corner. It really does grow square. It was so weird to touch it. We heard some very talented musicians play in the Yellow Dragon Garden and heard and Opera singer singing. Henry told us an interesting story about the name of this place. He said that there was a little dragon who wanted to grow up to become an adult dragon, but he made some mistake. So he was kicked to this small village. He was put in charge of fire control. A big fire started and he was killed trying to put it out. When he died, only his head was sticking out of the cave. Thus the name, Yellow Dragon Cave. Afterward we went to dinner. I did not think I was hungry, but ate anyway. Every meal is a special occasion here. I feel bad we waste so much food.
We were suppose to get to go shopping again, but did not have time. I have really not spent much money
Interesting facts: Because of the Beijing Olympics they are trying to clean up the air so they are doing several things.
1. They have closed down several factories that produce pollution.
2. Drivers, from now until the Olympics are over, only can drive every other day. According to their license plate number the police can tell who is supposed to be on the road. They are being very strict about it.
It is very funny because when I was here two years ago, the air was so bad and they said it would be cleaned up for the Olympics.
3. Girls cannot inherit land…just boys
4. For so many years families have prefered boys to girls in China. Henry was telling us today that it is now the girls because they are so much cheaper than boys. HUM…

July 21, 2008 Monday

Went to the “Leaning pagoda of the East” today. It is 2,500 years old. Called the Crouching Tiger. There was an emperor who died and his son had him buried here. He had all the workers killed so that no one would know how to get to the grave to disturb the grave. Soon after this burial a white tiger was seen close to the grounds. They think this may have been the emperor himself having come back as a tiger. Thus the name “Crouching Tiger”. It is leaning and they have put supports to help it temporarily fix the problem. It was beautiful all around.

We went to a silk factory and saw how the silk worm is raised, fed, etc. I really wanted to buy some silk comforters, but they were too expensive to ship home, and I do not have room to bring them home in my suitcases. I was really discouraged.
Then we drove to Hangzhou about 3 hours away. It is really a beautiful city with 7,000,000 people in it. It has a beautiful lake in the middle of it and is surrounded by mountains. We went up in a high pagoda for an amazing view. We are doing more sightseeing tomorrow. Everyone is tired and I think I speak for most of us that we would just like to sleep in and relax a little. But we must be up by 8 and ready for a full day tomorrow.
Interesting Facts:
-In China they have a very good public transportation system. They can get a pass for $20 a month and ride wherever they want to go. If you are over 60, any bus ride is only 10cents.
-Because of high gas prices, they are now asking every rider in a taxi to pay the driver one more RMB than the meter says. They are really hit by the oil prices too.

Tour Guides

Each time we got a new tour guide, it was great experience. We had Henry most of the time. I think Henry was a great tour guide, but I think he got tired of us whining and complaining...never me of course. Some of the things he said seemed to be the line that is fed to the tour guides to tell Americans and other foriegners. For instance, once he said that they really do not have a homeless problem in China, because it is against the law. To me that was silly because I had experienced several people, including families, sleeping in the park, under bridges, or other places. I don't believe for a minute that the Chinese government can take care of all the homeless masses. He also told us many other things that I felt brushed over serious problems in their society. However he did teach us a lot, he took care of us well, and he made fun of his government the way an American might.

We only had George for a day. He took us around Nanjing and he really funny. He told us about his family and taught us a lot about the history of Nanjing, where we were staying for the month.

Wei (with Lisa)was our favorite. He took us around Guilin. We had to say goodbye to our tour guide, Wei. We all liked him so much. He sang “Mountain Home” to us. We all joined in and all wanted to cry when he said, “No matter where we travel in life, the best trip is always back home.

Artists

We got to go to a calligraphy class while we were there. We were supposed to have two more calligrphy classes but they were canceled. I felt honored to be in his presence. He was wonderful.

The man with the fans was at the Confucius Temple painting the most beautiful designs on the fans. I bought one, not because I needed it, but because he was such a great artist.
We met the most interesting artists. The man in front of the water was an amazing man. I have no idea how old he was but I bet he could tell many stories from his life in China. We must have sat with him for 1/2 hour talking to him through a kind Chinese lady who could speak English. I sat and looked through his charcoal, very intricate drawings. I asked if I could buy one and he said no. He spends all his time going from one beautiful spot to another, drawing for the joy of creating. He was so humble and gentle. I wished, at that time, more than almost anything that I could get to know him and learn much from him. It was a very sweet experience.

This was an art professor at the college. She did this painting for us in about 20 minutes and wanted about $100.00 American money. It was good and wonderful to watch, but none of us could pay that for it.

Children in China

Because there is a "one child per family" policy, most children are raised as a little princess or a little king. They are very loved and cherrished. Most of the time the mother and father go to work and the baby is left home with grandparents. Many times when we saw children, it was with their grandparents. They are the cutest babies I have seen. (Except mine, of course!) Everywhere we went they wanted to take our picutures with their babies. No matter what language you speak, everyone loves the babies.

Teaching

July 7
July 7, 2008….Monday
Lisa and I woke up at 5:30 and went for a walk. It was not so hot this AM and it was very interesting to see all the people (especially the older people) out in the park. Some were just walking, others doing some form of Tai Chei, and others were running or just sitting on the benches. We only walked about 20 minutes, just enough to get back in time to shower, eat breakfast in the hotel, and then be ready for the bus at 7:40.
We got to school about 8 AM. The teacher/helper came to our workroom to pick us up and took us to our room. My first room is room 107 where there were waiting 28 beautiful little children. I have never worked so hard in my life to put on a wild show to keep their attention. To truly understand the picture you have to visualize stark cement rooms, no room for cute things on the walls, uncarpeted rooms (which made them very loud) and then add to that the fact that the children looked at me like I was crazy and that they did not understand what I was talking about. Some of them are better behaved and more prepared than others. I have a morning class for 3 … 35 minute periods and then a 2 hour lunch break. Then I have a different class for 3 … 35 minute periods. By the time we got back my voice was going and I was so tired.

July 11, 2008

Another day of teaching. After the morning class, I was very discouraged. Today there were 31 kids and they were just awful. The sixth grades only have 16 in there classes…and those kids can understand English. It is so hard to get them to do anything when they just don’t understand what I say. They just talk over me. None of my tricks worked today and I just felt defeated. All my “song and dance” did not work. The afternoon class was much better however and I left feeling better.