Halloween in Beibei

Tonight we celebrated Halloween by hosting a party for the Waiban, our teachers, the other international students, and our Chinese friends. A subset of the students planned, organized, decorated, and hosted the whole thing. They had a mummy wrapping contest, bobbing for apples, showed a horror film, and had music for dancing. Many students came in costume.

My only contribution was walking all over Beibei today to try to find a pumpkin. I ended up carving a very large squash instead! The Chinese guests referred to it as my "pumpkin lamp." Jim and I also caused a stir by dressing up. They were impressed with my pirate costume, but Jim stole the show as Sarah Palin! He even had her accent down pretty well.

Fun was had by all. The Chinese students - and African students - were especially interested in the American tradition of Halloween. Several asked me to tell them stories about what really happens. So I told about children going door to door and saying "Trick or treat." I talked about haunted houses and haunted hay rides. I talked about people of all ages putting on costumes and having parties. I talked about 'soaping' windows and throwing toilet paper on trees as some of the "tricks" that kids would play. I think they got the gist of what I was saying, but several had fairly puzzled looks on their faces! I guess I would too if I were hearing about it for the first time.

Happy Halloween! (Connie)

Bad Things Come in Three

We've had a spate of bad fortune this week --- three trips to the emergency room in seven days! (And this after we have had such good health). One reason I thought I'd write about the incidents is their comparison with the costs of the American medical system.

Last Friday afternoon, I accompanied one student who had been having severe stomach pain to the hospital on campus. She was seen by an admitting doctor, seen by a specialist, had lab work done, and was given three prescriptions. It took about three hours, and it cost 50 yuan (or about $8). Kathleen seems to be better.

Then Sunday night Jim was called at 10:30 p.m. as a different student was being taken to the hospital by ambulance for severe stomach pain. Jim jumped in a cab and met her at the main hospital in downtown Beibei --- Jui Yuan, Hospital No. 9. He came home about 2:00 a.m. only to receive a call that they wanted to operate. He went back to the hospital where they operated at 3:00 a.m. She had a perforated appendix which was about to burst (but hadn't). Josipa was discharged today. Her hospital stay of five nights, the surgery, her labs, and her dismissing prescriptions came to about $1000 US total. (As a comparison, this is less than the co-pay we paid for Emily's hospital stay of one night!)

Jim and I were invited to eat at a local Chinese host's family on Tuesday night. To make conversation, I mentioned that some people who are superstitious think that bad things happen "in three" and mused aloud who might be next. Did I find out!


Last night, while the students were decorating for the Halloween party they are hosting tonight, a plaster ceiling tile fell onto the head of Heather. I have always heard that head wounds bleed profusely; I can now personally attest to that fact. Blood gushed everywhere. So she, I and Ethan hopped in a cab and went to jui yuan for another emergency room visit. She required three stitches in her head, but the worst part for her was that they had to cut a swatch of her hair off right in front, as she has long, dark hair. On the plus side, her head is completely bandaged up, making a "ready-made" costume for the party tonight. (I know, it's not funny, but we teased her by saying she'd do anything to make Halloween gore more realistic.)

If bad things happen in three, we should be safe from here on in! (Connie)

Mid-Term Exams in China

Chinese teachers are used to giving only final exams. In our case, Jim has asked each of the teachers to use additional assessments, so that a student's grade is not dependent on only one grading point. In all cases, the teachers have been responsive. So, this past week has been "mid-term" exam week. We've had exams in Chinese; an essay due in Chinese Literature (I'm not proud of mine); and a wushu mid-term exam.

In calligraphy, I smiled when our mild-mannered teacher sweetly told one student, "This is not beautiful." My smile disappeared when he told me, "You should go back to drawing lines."

In wushu, the students were to demonstrate a tai-chi series of moves, and up to three animal routines. They were impressively in sync, as can be seen from these photos. Where am I, you ask. I didn't participate as I didn't want to bring down the grade of any group I was in; there are some moves that I physically cannot do. (Or, maybe I was demonstrating the animal of "chicken"!) (Connie)

The Button Bargain

When our friend Cheryl was here, she searched for Chinese buttons. We couldn't find any. But on a recent trip to Leshan, I happened across a very old man selling buttons on the street. He had three cookie sheets full of buttons set up along the sidewalk by a park. He was on a VERY short stool, and had another one by the buttons. I sat down.

I started looking through his buttons. A crowd formed; several saw the kind of button I was picking out and starting digging through the buttons to help me find more of the same. Pretty soon I had 26 buttons that I wanted to buy. "Duoshao?" It was at that point that I asked how much they would cost. "Ershi wu yuan," the old man said (about $4). I shook my head. He thought I didn't understand, so he pulled out the bills to show me. "Wo dong," I said, "tai gui." (I understand, but too expensive.) I offered 5 yuan ($.75) - and the bargaining was on.

A larger and larger crowd formed, watching this American woman sitting precariously on a tiny stool bargaining with this older man. At last, he is at 15 yuan and not moving, and I am at 10 yuan and not moving. Jim, who was ready to move on, decided to split the difference and pulled out 12.5 yuan to settle the deal. I didn't see this and made a final offer: 12 yuan. He accepts. We smile. As he puts the buttons into a small bag for us, Jim decides to hand him 12.5 yuan anyway (an extra 7 cents). The crowd takes a collective inward breath, and emits loud muttering. ("Huh-uh. A deal's a deal.") The old man hands back the .5 yuan.

(This would have been a great video clip but unfortunately, our videographer was not along and both of us were so caught up in the moment that neither of us thought to take a picture.) (Connie)

Jin Dao Gorge

On a beautiful Saturday (October 18th), we took a group trip to a nearby gorge. The gorge has its own King Arthur legend where a villager found a golden knife buried in a stone inside a cave and easily pulled it out. He went on to become a great general. The village and the gorge came to be known as Golden Knife Gorge (i.e. Jin Dao Gorge).

The bus dropped us off at one end of the gorge and we followed the river through the gorge where the bus picked us up; a fair amount of walking, but mainly downhill. (At one point we descended what is called the "thousand step ladder." There weren't really 1000 steps, but it felt like there were.)

At some points, the gorge widened and contained crystal clear, blue pools of water. (Most other water in China has been very silty.) Several of the guy students took this opportunity to go swimming, which the few Chinese tourists who passed by found very entertaining. The students described the water as chily but refreshing.

Elsewhere the gorge was very narrow, with us walking 50 feet above the water while the cliff rose a 100 feet above us. For a long stretch (close to a mile?) we were walking along a walkway that juts out of the cliff, with rickety board slats covering the walkway. Occasionally, we would see a place where the walkway used to be somewhere else and was now broken with rotten boards. Fortunately, none of us fell through to the waters below.

At one point when we crossed the river from one side of the gorge to the other, we saw a family of ten to twelve monkeys below in the riverbed. The students stood and watched the monkeys from the bridge, and the monkeys watched the students. Connie and I continued on and were about 100 yards downstream where another bridge again crossed the river. I looked back and saw the head monkey take offense at something, bound up the bank and suddenly land on the bridge. I don't know how 20 students could vacate that bridge as fast as they did, but they were off in an instant! Fortunately, the monkey did not chase them further. (Jim)

Da-Zu Carvings

Dazu is about 160 km southwest of Chongqing. In 1999 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I knew that Dazu contained carvings on the side of a mountain, but I never expected the sheer number or size of them!

Dazu contains thousands of pieces, large and small. Some carvings are huge - as can be seen on this group shot of us. Others are intricate, and reference such topics as evolution, family life, "heaven" and "hell."

They are not protected. As a visitor, you are right there - with many thousands of hands touching the statuary every day. But, then I realize that they have been here since around 1200 A.D. so maybe I need not worry. (Connie)

Toilet Habits

For those of you who haven't been in China, young children often wear no diapers. Each outfit is just like ours, with the exception of a split crotch seam. Parents hold their babies, allowing them to go to the bathroom on the street. I have heard that they toilet-train much earlier than in the West.

On a recent trip to Dazu, an area containing an impressive set of lifesize carvings on a mountainside, I smiled to see a carving of a small boy with 'split pants.' Thus, I know that this habit has been a tradition here for at least 800 years. (That's how old the carvings are).

Most of us have also gotten used to the eastern "foot pad" toilets, although one student said recently that she'll forever "worship at the shrine of the Western toilet." I heartily agree with her. (Connie)

Shampoo and a Haircut - Six Bits

Jim and I are getting used to extremely low prices. Yesterday I got my first haircut in country. She did a nice job - and it cost me 8 yuan, or about $1.25 US. Jim had his beard trimmed for 3 yuan. (Now I know what it's like to sing, "A shave and a haircut, six bits.")

Most of the St. John's/ St. Ben's students don't convert yuan into dollars anymore when considering prices. They think of yuan as dollars and get upset if they have to pay more than 10 yuan for lunch or dinner (about $1.50). Last week, Jim and I went out with six students for supper. The entire, very good meal cost us 91 yuan, or about $13 for the eight of us, and, no one went home hungry.

The best "bargain" in Beibei is my massage place. I have gone for a massage twice; each time he has charged 25 yuan for a 60 minute massage. He really practices acupressure - and he seems to know just where you hurt. The first time he spent the majority of the time on my neck and right shoulder which is where I carry my stress. On Saturday, Jim and I had walked for 4 hours before I arrived, and he spent the majority of time on my shins, feet, and toes. How does he know??

Jim had a massage while on our trip to Sichuan province a week ago. It was fine although it cost twice as much. Imagine paying $7 US for a one hour massage (but I guess we all splurge once in a while). Our sense of prices are certainly getting distorted! (Connie)

John and Cheryl visit Beibei

Our friends, John Mallo and Cheryl Larson, visited us over the weekend of September 26-30. Because we were here, they decided that this was the time to visit China. Of course, you don't just "drop by" in Beibei, China. After visiting Beijing, Xian, and Tibet, they took a 4 1/2 hour uncomfortable train trip from Chengdu. They got off smiling late on a Friday night.

On Saturday, we all took the cable car up Jin Shan mountain near Beibei (a hard thing for John, who has slight fear of heights). Cheryl and Jim hiked up to the pagoda on the mountain top, while John and I visited the Botanical gardens lower down.

I was fortunate to be by a Buddhist temple at 4:30 just as a 'service' began. They started with ringing a large metal bell. They lit incense sticks and blessed all four directions. They anointed the front of the temple with an oil. They prostrated themselves in front of an image of Buddha. I sat on this mountain hillside, listening to their chanting for a half an hour. In some respects, it felt very familiar (akin to St. John's). In others, I really was "half a world away." (Connie)

The World's Biggest Buddha

We were in Leshan China over the weekend. It's a beautiful city at the junction of three rivers.

It is most known for its Grand Buddha. Carved into a mountain side, it is the largest Buddha in the world. Started in 713 A.D., it took 90 years to complete. Eight people, sitting around a table, can picnic on the nail of his big toe.

Can you see the people next to his eyebrow? (Connie)

Emei Mountain on National Day

The students, Jim and I have just returned from a week of traveling to Sichuan Province. Tourism has been down by 60% since the earthquakes there, so we thought we'd encounter very few people. We were wrong. We went during the week of National Day. October 1, the day China celebrates its 1949 start as a country, is the equivalent to our 4th of July. Four million people, as measured only by those who went through travel agencies, were traveling in Sichuan Province that week. I think all of them went to Emei Mountain at the same time we did.

Emei Shan is one of China's four revered Buddhist mountains; it is about 9500 feet high. We packed some overnight things in backpacks and started on the bus ride up the mountain. The road was so congested we couldn't get close to the point where we were going to catch a cable car to the top. So, we left the bus stranded, and walked and walked - straight up. It was only about 2.5 kilometers, but I was definitely the last one to arrive at the top. An active monastery is there, adorned with a golden Buddha whose faces look in all directions.

We slept overnight in a spartan setting, before being awakened at 6:30 a.m. It is considered extreme good fortune to see the sun rise; we did not. While overcast and raining, it was still an incredible experience, following waves of umbrellas undulating up the stairs in the pre-dawn dark and mist. Many people were carrying lit candles.

After breakfast, half of the students walked down the mountain to the bus below. This walk is about 15 kilometers, and I did take the cable car this time! It took the hikers over 5 hours - and, their legs are still wobbly! The strong-kneed students who walked all the way are pictured above.

Last, I can't fail to mention the monkeys along the way down who demand food for passage. Several were quite aggressive and jumped on the packs of at least three students. No one was scratched, and all loved the monkey bandits! (Connie)