The Last Supper

Last night was our last meal as a group of 26 hardy voyageurs. Today, several students have already left for home, and the rest of us are starting our independent travel phase. Jim and I are heading for Cambodia this afternoon.

Here are the photos from our last meal together in China. I need to especially recognize our two Chinese companions: the man is Mr. Wang Jun and the woman is Miss Chen Christina. They have lived these last four months with us. Ms. Chen met us in August at the airport. They taught us to use chopsticks, to get around in Beibei, answered all our questions, and became our dear friends. We will miss them! (Connie)

Quadrangle Homes

For Chinese Literature this year, we were asked to read a Chinese masterpiece called Dream of Red Mansions, or Story of the Stone. It depicts a family of highest rank in China during feudal society. It follows the Chia family, comprised of an grandmother dowager, her sons, their wives, concubines, and servants. And, they each had many hundreds of personal servants! (I drew up a family tree just to keep track of the characters.) While reading it, I had a hard time imagining what this "mansion" must have been like physically. It depicted the mansion as actually a series of buildings, set among tree-filled courtyards, rock formations, and streams.

I found out. On our last day in Beijing, we visited two 'quadrangle homes' on very different scales. A quadrangle home has rooms set around a common courtyard. It is a very traditional, rapidly disappearing style of Chinese home in Beijing.

The first was the home of a Prince that was the model for the home described in Dream of Red Mansions. It was simply beautiful! On a nice day, I could have wandered there for hours. Set in the middle of Beijing, it has courtyard after courtyard intermixed with the "natural" (man-made) amenities mentioned above. I hope you can get a sense from these two pictures I'll post.

The second was a private home of a 6th generation Han family that has now opened their home for visits during the Olympics. Their home consisted of one quadrangle. Traditionally, the grandparents live on the north side (in order to get the sun in southern windows), the servants live on the south side, the sons on the east, and the daughters on the left. In the picture, I'm sitting in their courtyard.

I did smile at this information contained in information about quadrangle homes; it said, Happy the man with sunshine, fishbowl, pomegranate, a fat dog, and a plump wife. I would say Jim has it made! (Connie)

Shopping Fever

Thursday, December 11, was our free day, although it turned out to be anything except "free". We had no scheduled tours and were on our own. Jim and I decided to spring for a Western breakfast, but while I enjoyed the bacon and fresh fruit, it wasn't worth the extra expense. Then, we and some students went to see Mao's body under glass at his Memorial Hall. There was a long, continuous, reverential line.

The rest of the day we went shopping at both Silk Street and the Pearl Market. These are multiple level stores that sell almost everything - especially name-brand knock-offs. I have a tendency to "love bargains" in the first place, and when you can bargain items down to 10 percent of what the sellers originally asked, the hunt is on. Jim called it "a fever."

I bought some bags, pearls, and a Chinese silk jacket. Jim bought some silk ties and two pairs of pants. I'm ready to go back again, but thankfully, I am out of both time and money. (Connie)

Summer Games = Olympian and Emperial

Today was the 21st birthday of the twins in our group, Amanda and Linda Phan. They are pictured here at our first stop of the day - the 2008 Olympic Water Cube. We explored both that facility and the Bird's Nest. We all liked pretending that we were Olympians.


We spent the afternoon at the Summer Palace - a massive, beautiful oasis, man-made for the pleasure of the emperor(s) and his family. It snowed lightly on us while there, and as the place is meant for warm summer days and nights, we spent a lot of the time hopping from gift shop to gift shop to keep warm.

My favorite spot there is the Long Corridor which is painted with scenes from history and folklore. What images; what colors! (Connie)

The Great Wall

Today we visited The Great Wall. We were fortunate to have a December day in the 40's (Fahrenheit), with a spot of sunlight. All of us were eager to see one of the seven wonders of the world. Actually, the Chinese know The Great Wall as Chang Cheng, or "the long wall". The original wall was first started over 2000 years ago (220 B.C.). We saw one of the recently renovated sections (which was easier to climb/walk), and were charmed with how the wall undulates across very rugged terrain into the far horizon.

One "special" moment was when several of us danced on the Great Wall. Of course, there is a story behind this... In our Chinese language class earlier this fall, our teacher had students draw slips randomly from four piles. The first pile contained whom you had to invite; the second was the location; the third was an activity; and the fourth was the time. The student then had to use their Chinese to issue the invitation in front of the class. One student, David Camerino, was unfortunate enough to draw these instructions: He needed to invite Jim to dance with him on the Great Wall at noon. The invitation was extended and accepted. So, for days, Jim has been teasing David about dancing with him at noon. As it turned out, several of us joined in. (If you can't tell, we are doing the macarena.) Those participating are: Nakita, David, Valentin, Connie, Jim, and Bibi. (Connie)

We're in Beijing

We are in Beijing! We spent an early morning in Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square. For some reason, I expected to see a huge banner of Mao Zedong on one end. Actually, his picture (which is smaller than I imagined) is across the street from the square.

Later, we spent a full afternoon inside the Forbidden City, so named because it was off limits for 500 years. The Forbidden City was home to two dynasties of emperors. It's truly palatial; I found it hard to even imagine what it would have been like to been a concubine or servant here during the emperor's heyday. It is said that the last emperor would yearn to leave its walls, and would sometimes climb up to the rooftops to see what "the outside world" was like. (Connie)

Serendipity

While here, I am teaching a seminar course to our students regarding intellectual property and technology. We have explored many aspects of copyright law, how it has changed through the years, and how technology has generated many issues with the law. Among the activities we did in class were several mock trials of relevant American court cases. Of course, this topic has a great deal of relevance in China so I have tried to add some connections to China.

In BeiBei, an area frequented by the students (and us) is called the underground market. It is a basement of a building covering an entire city block. Inside is a maze of hundreds of little stalls selling anything and everything including lots of clothes, household items, paper, notebooks, pens, bedding, DVDs by the thousands, etc.

One day a couple of weeks ago, we wandered into an area of the underground market where we had not been before and found a series of stalls selling books, mostly used. Since the titles are all in Chinese characters, I had no hope of reading the titles, let alone the books themselves. But being a book lover, we still scanned the shelves until I found the only book that had an English title on its spine:

Connie immediately bought it for me for my birthday, but I am donating it to the "lending library" we are leaving behind for next year's group of students from CSB/SJU. (Jim)

Beibei Good-bye

When we came in August four months seemed so long, but the time has flown by. As I write this, a going away party is being hosted by our St. John's, St. Ben's students for their Chinese friends - and for themselves. There are smiles - and there are tears.

I am thankful that our students have made us proud all semester long. I am also thankful for the friendship that the Chinese and other international students have extended to all of us. Both sides have benefited. Many, many friendships have formed - and memories for a lifetime.

I am also thankful that our students while here lived in an international dorm. There are Chinese students living there, who are studying for an English exam in January that determines whether they are eligible for study abroad. Many of them are eager to chat with our students. Most of the students in the dorm are from all over -- across Asia, Africa, Europe. That international living experience has taught us as much as, if not more, than the classes themselves.

Many of these students have come here on their own - and I give them lots of credit for their moxie. Early in the trip we met a young woman who had just graduated from high school in Bangladesh; Shaz immediately became 'one of us.' Then, we met her friend Kunduz who is here from Kyrgyzstan. We hope to see both of them in Minnesota as students of St. Ben's in the future. They would be real assets! They are each only 18 years old, but possess wisdom and poise beyond their years.

Shaz and Kunduz are seen here with another visitor from a long way away. He lives at the North Pole, but did make an appearance tonight at the Beibei good-bye party. On Sunday, we leave for a week in Beijing. But, we will be taking the people of Beibei along with us in our hearts. (Connie)

Games

Everyone who knows Jim and me knows that we like to play games. Back home, we play bridge weekly. And, for over twenty years, on New Year's Eve we get together with friends and play board games until we fall off our chairs.

Chinese people also love their games. The three that are visible in every Chinese town we have visited are: mah-johnng, rivercards, and this form of "checkers". (I have only seen what we call Chinese checkers - played with marbles - once in four months.)

I have learned to play a simple form of mah-johnng, and have purchased a set of my own tiles. I have not learned to play river cards. The most common game you play with these cards is called "Landlord" which sounds like a game that I hate that Jim likes called "Sargent-Major." I am told the game that looks like checkers is actually more like chess.

Table tennis is still very popular in China (there are public tables in most park areas), but I understand that badminton is taking over as the favorite Chinese game. You will often see at least three generations out playing badminton together.

We also have badminton experts in our group. Lee Moua was a varsity player; you can see her form on the first picture. Amanda Phan is so good that she can play in high heels. And, then, there is Ethan.... (Connie)

A Clean Sweep

You would think that with the spitting and the young children going to the bathroom on the street (see earlier posts on spitting and toilet habits)that China's streets and sidewalks would be filthy. Not so! They are all quite clean. The reason is that every inch of street, every inch of sidewalk has a sweeper assigned to it. They are out there sweeping every day. This includes freeways. The image I will always carry in my mind are the freeway sweepers mildly walking down the freeway sweeping the road while cars, trucks, semis, motorcycles go whizzing by them.

I am fascinated by the brooms as well. Most look handmade, and they vary greatly. Some are made of sticks; some of "straw," and some street sweepers even use what I would describe as feather dusters!

My fascination with the brooms took an early unexpected turn. I bought a new broom and hung it as a decoration in our apartment on the wall. Every Chinese person who enters our apartment looks at the broom hanging there and giggles. (Of course, I'd do the same in America if someone hung a broom on their wall.)

The most courageous will ask, Weishenme? "Why have you hung this broom on the wall?" I answer that when I bought it, it had been newly made out of hay, and I loved the smell and the folk-art look of it. Hanging it on the wall made our whole apartment smell wonderful (to me, the old farm girl). From their funny looks at me, I don't think my explanation went over. (Connie)

Traffic

Traffic in China can get quite interesting. There are far more cars here than I imagined. They have been building roads as fast as they can, but the traffic is much thicker than I thought, even in BeiBei, a tiny city (by China standards) of 150,000.

Overall, it is much more sane from my perspective than India. I don't think I could drive in India. Here it would be a challenge, but I think I could do it. People generally follow traffic rules and somewhat pay attention to lanes. There are some unwritten rules however that one would have to master. For example: First makes right. If you can get your nose in front of someone in a lane, you then have the right to proceed. This applies to both lane changes and when entering the flow of traffic. There is usually no hesitation when coming out of a side street into busy traffic. If you can squeeze the front of your car into a lane, you have then claimed the right to that lane.

It is fascinating to watch the logical extension of this when a bus decides to make a U-turn on a busy road, especially when you are inside the bus! The driver simply starts in the rightmost lane or even the side of the road after dropping off a passenger and then slowly edges its way into the right lane until traffic can't get around the bus and has to stop. Continue onto the next lane in a similar manner until that lane has no choice but to stop, and then continue on into the lanes going the other way until the U-turn is complete! Usually, the four lanes will wait patiently, but only when it gets to the point that there is no choice. If you don't make it all the way, no worries, you just back up as needed still blocking all the lanes of traffic.

Taxi drivers are the most impressive as they squeeze into slots you wouldn't think are possible. Often they will straddle lanes looking to see which will have the advantage, but this has a risk as other cars, particularly taxis, will straddle the next lane and nose in front and claim the lane. I have seen this happen from both sides simultaneously.

I think much of this is just an extension of foot traffic which makes sense given the short amount of time cars have been prevalent. If you think about navigating a crowd of people such at a crowded fairgrounds, you tend to follow general flows but don't worry about "lanes." If there is a gap, you usually have no qualms about slipping into that slot. And if you are entering a big flow from the side, you just slide into whatever little slot is there! (Jim)

Footnote from Connie: My most amazing bus ride occurred when there was a traffic jam ahead, but our bus driver wanted to go straight anyway. So, he simply went into the far left lane of traffic (into oncoming traffic) and proceeded down that lane for awhile. When that became problematic, he went up on the sidewalk! I'm sure the pedestrians that day were not expecting to see a bus bearing down at them. I was glad I was IN the bus!

Thanks for Johnny Bread!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. The St. John's and St. Ben's students are hosting and cooking a Thanksgiving meal for their teachers and friends, bringing this American tradition here to Southwest University. All in all there will be over 50 people there.

The students in charge have taken this on with gusto, trying to get as close to a traditional Thanksgiving feast as possible. They made apple crisp today, and it's not easy peeling apples with cleavers! They have purchased many, many pounds of potatoes for mashing tomorrow. We're also having green beans, squash, stuffing, and chicken. Jim is in charge of making the gravy. Keep your fingers crossed.


One student, Kevin Kirwin, had the idea of pleading with the monks at St. John's to airmail us some Johnny bread mix. ("Johnny bread" - a multi-grain, dense bread just made for butter and honey - is a staple at St. John's.) His email must have been compelling; the monks agreed to donate the mix! The International Office came through with the $50! mailing charges, and everyone's hopes were high. But, day after day went by with no package!

Someone up there was looking out for us though. (For the Schnepf family, I think Mom and Harriet were working extra hard on this one!) The bread mix arrived today, Wednesday - the day before Thanksgiving. I think Kevin ran to the post office to pick up the package. We mixed it up, and made Johnny buns.

All of the quality control taste-testers declared them ready to go for tomorrow's feast. We are thankful this year for Johnny bread! (Connie)

Kindergarten Visit

Our apartment is adjacent to a pre-school. Children often attend this school for three years, including their kindergarten year. Our bathroom window looks out at their playground; at 8:30 a.m., classes of children do their morning exercises there. Jim and I have watched them many a day.

Last week, we got a chance to visit the kindergarten in person. We visited several classrooms. We sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Happy Birthday" to a boy celebrating his birthday.

I was struck by their drawings. Sorry Nick and Emily, but I recall many drawings my children did at this age, and often members of our family would be missing a head or leg. But, their drawings seem to be quite precise. (And, I love the dark hair on all the children.)

Our students enjoyed the opportunity to play; I know Marty really got into it.
(Connie)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today (Nov. 24)is the beginning of International Student Week at Southwest University Beibei. We were asked to make "typical American food" to hand out as food samples on this opening day. But, what is typical American food? (Most of what I like best has come from other countries.) And, we needed to provide 200 to 500 samples, so whatever we made needed to be small.

We considered tiny hamburgers, but couldn't locate a grill. We considered S'mores, but couldn't find marshmallows. So, we decided on chocolate chip cookies. (Can you tell that Jim played a role in this decision?)

Now, you need to know that almost no Chinese home has an oven. Our apartment does not. Neither do most restaurants have an oven, as few menu items are baked. Luckily, the restaurant for foreigners on campus has one, and we were able to reserve it for Sunday afternoon.

As a rule, the Chinese eat very few baked goods, especially items with sugar in them. We knew we had quite a task just to find the ingredients. In Beibei, we found white and brown sugar, nuts, and flour. We went to Chongqing (an hour away) and found butter and chocolate. But, in neither place could we find two very important ingredients: baking soda and vanilla extract. Once again, luck was on our side and a neighbor of ours who is an American married to a Chinese woman had both. The soda was in the familiar Arm and Hammer box, only it was dated 2006. The vanilla was his own brew: two vanilla beans soaked for several months in a local alcohol called bijou.

So, Sunday afternoon, we baked. One of our Chinese friends came to watch cookies made for the very first time. She asked twice, "Would most Americans know how to bake cookies?" We felt pretty confident answering "yes."

Here are a few pictures. Our chocolate chip cookies (made with chopped up chocolate bars) turned out very flat. Our mini-Monster cookies based on Sue Knauss' recipe turned out just right. Our friend pronounced them "delicious!" (Connie)

My Doctors - Beibei, China

Beibei's weather is either hot and humid, or cool and wet. Not the best weather for me, but the warmness of the people make up for it. Maybe because of the damp cold, I have had a continuous cough for weeks. As a consequence, I've had some interesting medical adventures...

Doctor #1. I consider my massage therapist my first doctor. I happened upon him when John and Cheryl were here. I was looking for a relaxing massage; I found an acupressure professional. I've now gone to see him about six times. Without any words exchanged, he always hones in on what is wrong. My first visit, he attended to my neck which has always been weak. He has used both traditional massage and "hot jars" to soften up the knots there. Now he has been working on my Achilles tendon - and often spends time on my lymph system. He thinks he's going to help me get rid of my cough. The cough sticks around, but my neck and Achilles feel better!

Doctor #2. Since I cough a lot in class, my Chinese acquaintances try to help. One brought me some herbal packets. Another went all out; he guided me to his own doctor. His name is Doctor Li. He used to work in the campus hospital, but since retirement has focused solely on traditional Chinese medicine. My friend was with to interpret my symptoms.

Dr. Li took my pulse in several places on both arms. He looked at my tongue. Then, he started writing out a prescription. It contained twenty items! And, when I took it to the counter - a counter unlike those you've encountered - they spread a big plastic mat on the counter. Then, they went into bins, drawers, and doors and brought out those twenty items. There were herbs, metals, mushrooms, grasses, branches, and roots. I was told to cook this prescription and drink the juice (which I did). You can see what the kettle looked like before the "prescription" was cooked.


P.S. I still have the cough. (Connie)

Sunday Market - in Beibei, China

As our time in Beibei, China nears its end, I realize that I have written more about our travels to other places in China than about Beibei itself. I need to rectify that!

One of my favorite things about Beibei is its Sunday market. Early on Sunday, the streets are packed with people from nearby villages. Here you can find the usual fresh fruit vendors and meat vendors, but you'll also find people selling everything else as well - medicines, pets, socks, snacks, etc. You can buy homemade baskets and brooms. You can buy portable wooden toilet seats on legs (very handy for use with your typical eastern toilet). The plants are particularly impressive; you can buy wispy orchids or large, potted trees.



Some of my favorite items for sale are not even products, but services. On the street, you can get an acupuncture treatment. Just sit down on the stool. You can get a haircut. Or, you can get your teeth examined and "new" teeth inserted. (I put new in quotation marks, because almost all the teeth appear to have been pre-owned.)




By noon, most vendors are sold out. (Connie)