Dancing in the Park

Chinese people are shy or so they would have you believe. A Chinese friend and I were walking in the park when we happened on a group of women doing a form of line dancing. It was so cute to see the synchronized kicking and shimmying and sliding. If it weren't for the distinctly Chinese music I could have mistaken it for some variation of the Electric Slide. After gawking for a few seconds I reasoned that this would be a good way for me to try fit in so I jumped in and started flapping around.

My friend said that it isn't like Western culture where people get really into their dancing. But I explained that it isn't common for people to dance and/or sing in groups in the park in the parts of America that I'm familiar with. Maybe I just don't know enough about Western culture to be dispensing that kind of information. Maybe things have changed in the five months since I've been here and people are actually like the characters in Sound of Music or High School Musical.

Hair Story

My sister asked me about my hair in China. So I'll just write a little regarding that 话题。

Hair styling can be quite an experience. While the prices are very reasonable there are, of course, limits. Many women and men in China have straight jet black hair so the hairstylists, used to working on the hair of their countrymen, are perhaps not familiar or comfortable working with other shades and/or textures of hair. A friend from Italy went into a salon to dye her naturally brown hair blond and after three attempts left the salon with GREEN hair. Another friend who is of mixed race (Black and Hispanic) was turned away at the door of the salon because the stylists knew they weren't up to the challenge. What about me?

I am black and my hair is not chemically processed so my hair is in its' natural state. That is my hair can be described as nappy or curly or kinky or whatever adjective ending in "-y" you think would fit here. Due to my hair's natural state and due to my overall cheapness I didn't frequent beauty salons back in America. It's good that I learned to "care" for my hair myself because their is no way that I would be able to walk into a salon here in China and have someone competently work something out with my hair. People gasp at my skin color how much more so my hair's texture.

In the winter I did two strand twists on my hair. Now in the summer I often wear my hair in an afro or in a bob and from time to time in twist outs. The twists are a "favorite" of the locals as I have had students ask to touch my hair and perfect strangers molest my hair while out in public with this hairstyle. Also, as mentioned in a previous post, a taxi driver also mentioned that my twisted hairstyle looked as if it belonged in an art museum.

Being here is actually kind of liberating hair wise because my hair can be what I will so poetically refer to as a "hot mess" by Black American/Jamaican standards while being regarding as a work of art here in China. It's all still a learning process though as I try to balance my desire to express my individuality with my desire to assimilate as much as possible into this, a new culture. While all things are lawful not all things are advantageous and I find that certain hairstyles might be more shocking to the locals than it would be in the States. It's important for me to not let a silly thing like choice of hairstyle further separate me from this people and culture when I'm striving to be all things to all people.

Pledge Perspective

Last post was rubbish! I was just miserable and my shoes weren't comfortable.

The girls here dress so cute and I thought that I needed to fit in and wear cute shoes but I now realize that no matter how I dress I'm never going to fit in so I might as well be comfortable in my strangeness.

Today I bought some Pledge and a mop to clean the wood-ish floors. Now the floor is shiny and new looking just like my perspective on life.

Had guests from another city this past weekend. It was an international affair. I met a Trinidadian-Swede. A real beauty she is-inside and out. Played soccer and basketball with Africans, Mexicans, French, British, Chinese, etc. Got hit in the face with a basketball. Lovely, lovely times.

I had a job interview last week also for a university teaching position. It's teaching Math (my forte) in English. The interviewer said he would let me know his decision this Monday. On Monday I got an e-mail saying that he couldn't let me know the official decision due to unforeseen circumstances but he would let me know ASAP. I'm not too anxious about whether or not I get it. If I don't get it I'll just keep on begging. If I get it then that's one less stress but I'm sure a lot more will take it's place.

I will take pictures of this place someday.

I am going to post later about my hair and about music lessons. I want to start back playing the saxophone...

ina da lates!

-Me.

Frustration and Bursts of Optimism

This is neither a forum for me to rant nor to share any extremely personal stories. I just wanted to share stories with those of you back home who were willing to read my take on what it's like to live in China. Because I've wanted to keep it all positive I don't post when I'm feeling frustrated. That's going to change.

It's only been 3 1/2 months but already I'm finding that life here can be hard. Maybe I don't have to worry about some things like a car note and insurance but there are still pressures from without and from within. It can be extremely hard to find balance.

Many of the foreigners I have met have come here to China in order to improve their Chinese language skills. Most, however, find that they work so much that they never have time to study Chinese or they study Chinese and have to struggle to pay their bills. I'm in the latter group. I have yet to find anyone who has been able to balance both. Add to that the injustices of today and the uncertainties of tomorrow and you would have to have superhuman strength not to succumb to the occasional bouts of discouragement and/or frustration.

After facing rejections, inconveniences, slights, prejudices, etc. I stay content and more than happy with the decision to move here by finding reasons to smile. This week my reasons are:

1. the older Chinese man I met in the park who wrote me a note telling me that because I said "早上好" to him and his friends that meant that I was Chinese just like them;
2. the fact that I could read the note that the older Chinese man I met in the park wrote to me;
3. my 6 year old student telling me he loves me and giving me a hug;
4. making new friends;
5. my classes;
   
6. my teachers;
7. setting and reaching new goals;
8. supportive family and friends;
9. HOPE

等等等

There is so much to be happy about.

"We have joy, inner peace, and contentment that is rare." - my peeps

Tomb Sweepers Day (清明节）

我每个星期一到星期五都上汉语课。但是今天因为清明节我们没有课。很多中国人的看法是清明节是非常重要的节日。

Every weekday I go to Chinese class but today I went to the park. I wasn't "sculling" school. Class was canceled due to it being a major Chinese holiday. It's Tomb Sweepers Day a.k.a Qing Ming Jie (清明节). Let me 给你们介绍介绍清明节。

清明节had its origins around 600 BCE and was originally started to honor both the return of the Spring season and the dead ancestors of the Chinese people. In ancient times, people celebrated Qing Ming Jie with dancing, singing, picnics, and kite flying. In addition, colored boiled eggs would be broken to symbolize the opening of life. Sound familiar?
The following information is taken from http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/qingming/qingming.html:

"With the passing of time, this celebration of life became a day to the honor past ancestors. Following folk religion, the Chinese believed that the spirits of deceased ancestors looked after the family. Sacrifices of food and spirit money could keep them happy, and the family would prosper through good harvests and more children.

Today, Chinese visit their family graves to tend to any underbrush that has grown. Weeds are pulled, and dirt swept away, and the family will set out offerings of food and spirit money. Unlike the sacrifices at a family's home altar, the offerings at the tomb usually consist of dry, bland food. One theory is that since any number of ghosts rome [sic] around a grave area, the less appealing food will be consumed by the ancestors, and not be plundered by strangers."

I spoke to a Chinese 朋友 to get his views on the festival. He told me that after 春节 （Spring Festival) this is the most important festival to the Chinese people. I asked him why he thought it was so important. His answer was that Chinese people love and dearly miss their dead ancestors and this day makes them feel a little bit better about their death. It helps them keep the hope of maybe seeing their dead loved ones again alive in their hearts.

People here maybe more than many others have a yearning...

Marcy Marce Loves the Kids

My title, it's a Martin reference...

Anyways, it can be a little hard here getting work. Harder than I expected. As far as I know, in China, as my fellow bloggers have noted, there is nothing resembling an Equal Employment Opportunity Commision (EEOC). So obtaining employment at a local company might have more to do with looking the part than anything else. As Frank said in his post, Cody Joins the Darkside, some of us don't look like "typical" westerners so it's a little harder for us to find suitable employment. It's not impossible to find. It's just harder. You just need to have patience, persistence and most importantly Providence (or guanxi, 关系) and as I've said before － my very big family has got a lot of 关系.

With the help of others I was able to find a job as soon as I arrived. I work 4 - 5 hours a week and make enough to cover all of my living expenses while here. My work is great! I still teach English, American English, to children. It really isn't hard work. My students range in age from 2 - 13. The younger ones are the cutest things in the world and their parents are so great - so far. They have a lot of energy and can be a handful in class but they look cute while terrorizing me and that more than makes up for it.

Please meet some of my kids. We went to the park to fly kites and play games. These are the kinds of things they pay me for.

My First Ride on a Motorcycle (摩托车) !

Here in China there are many different modes of public transportation - public bus, taxi (legitimate and bootleg), tricycle, and motorcycle. I've tried all of them.

Buses actually run more efficiently here than in any other city I've ever lived and are much cheaper. In my home city of Miami it was a little difficult and time consuming to take public transportation. The same went for Tallahassee and Atlanta.

Here in China buses run every 5 minutes (for some reason though they are still always crowded) and to travel from one end of the city to the other will only cost 2 Yuan ($0.2927 US) if one doesn't have a bus card. I do have a bus card though so it only costs me half of that, about $0.15 US, for the trip.

When I first moved here, 3 1/2 weeks ago I took taxis everywhere because I didn't know my way around. Nowadays, I'll take a taxi only out of necessity because it can cost more than 5 times the bus fare. I'm trying to save as much money as possible and actually like the bus riding experience so I've weaned myself off of taxis. I'm learning to maneuver my way around the city using the bus. It's understandable if I make mistakes from time to time as I sort it all out.

One of my many mistakes happened last week. I was running late for work (as usual) and had completely missed my stop on the bus. I therefore found myself late and lost. I was desperate for a taxi but there seemed to be none passing. A man pulls up on a motorcycle and offers to take me to my destination for a small fee. I didn't want to ride on his motorcycle so I tried to sike him out and tell him that I didn't understand - 听不懂! (ting bu dong) He looked at me and said 你听懂! ("You do understand me!") How did he know I was faking it?!?!?! I looked down, shrugged and said 对我听懂。多少钱? ("Yes, you're right, I understand you. How much?") as I hopped on the back of his 摩托车.

I can be such a dork. :-) I can't pretend to be ignorant when I should and I am ignorant when I shouldn't be. No matter. I'm alive still and only out 10 元。

汉字

Where to begin? I had the flu or something this past week. I went to school anyway. I hope I didn't infect any of my classmates.


The third week of classes is just beginning and it's quite exciting to see how much progress we've made in just two weeks. I can read many billboards and bus schedules that are all in 汉字 (Chinese characters). Very important.

I was speaking to some security guards at a complex where I work. I had to sign in but I was getting their commands confused and in desperation asked them "Please, don't you speak a little English?" The guard looked at me and responded, with a smile, "You are in China now, we speak Chinese." 他说的对。He's right. I'm in China. I need to speak Chinese. The quicker I learn the better things will be. So then I'm happy that my decision (or someone else's decision because this is truly a good gift and perfect present) to attend school has been working out so well.

Thanks!

A correction - In my last post I said the taxi driver told me I looked Mexican. After yesterday's class I realized that I heard him wrong. What he said was that I, because of my hair, looked like I was from 美术馆 (Pinyin: mei3 shu4 guan3, Pronunciation: may shoe gwan). 美术馆 means art gallery. It was a compliment. I'm so ignorant.

I don't know how much longer I'll keep up blogging. I don't know how long I can keep YOUR interest in this trip to China. But I just want to thank all of you that took the time to read and/or comment. It was much appreciated especially when I was all alone. In a way, I was using YOU. Anyways, thanks again for caring. If only a little.

Bye bye.

Class is in Session - 上课！

我们星期一上课。

We started class on Monday. I am now enrolled as a 汉语学生 (student of Mandarin chinese) at a university. The classes are great. Everyday for 3 hours from 8:40 in the morning until noon (we get two ten-minute breaks) I sit in a classroom with 5-10 other students and we get barked at in Chinese. If we speak in English we have to give our 同学 (classmate) 10 Yuan. My textbook is 90% in characters so I'm learning a lot of those which is such a plus.

Last Friday I arrived at the administrator's office for an interview and placement test. We talked in Chinese about Jamaica and Miami. We talked about my inability to sing and my love of exercise, even though I never do it. I got a new name - 卫云涵- that means that I'm a person with a lot of interesting things in my soul (or something to that effect). I like it. I waited until I could see that they liked me before I let them know I really didn't have any money to pay for classes. No problem, they said, you can pay in installments. Yippee! Somebody, definitely worked that out for me.

I have a part-time job that will help with the tuition. The job consists of me teaching kids from 2 - 13 years of age English. More on that later. I'm going to join a gym. I bought a mat for the bathroom floor. So much interesting stuff! Just way too much to write about. If you want to know what it's like to be here in China, you really have to come here and see for yourself. 真的！

Interesting exchange: I took a taxi to work. When I feel like it I make an attempt to practice my Chinese with the taxi driver and so we started talking a bit. He actually initiated the conversation and asked, "Where are you from?" I told him I was American. He said "You don't look like an American." I asked him what made me different. He said, "Americans don't have hair like you." I told him that many in America have hair similar to mine. He said, "I think you're a Mexican, show me American money." Eventually he saw a dollar bill and finally he believed.

A New Home

After nine hours of traveling I arrived home to a new roommate and closet space. It's been quite an adventure! One of the most interesting experiences was standing in the queue for the taxi at the airport. A "hustler" walked up to me and asked me in English where I was going. I showed him my destination's address written on a sheet of paper in Chinese characters and he looked at me and offered to take me to my destination for 100 元(Kuai). I looked at him and said "100 元?! 我的朋友告诉我45元少不多.太 贵了!" Basically, I said that my friend told me it should only cost 45 Kuai. He was too expensive. He looked at me, muttered 45 元 to himself and walked away. The legitimate taxi lady ended up taking 45 minutes and 50 元 to get me to my new home. It's nice not to get hosed in Chinese.

My apartment is PHAT! Do people still say that?

My new apartment is 19 floors up and has a very nice view of the city. There is central heat. There is a Western toilet. I have closets. There is a stove. It's a really nice apartment. 看一看:

Keen Observations

When I told my Chinese friends I was coming to Linyi many asked "Lin - what?" Even to many native Chinese Linyi is a small, "insignificant" town. I was told that if I could survive Linyi then it would be a cinch for me to survive in any other city. I'm not so sure about that but I do know that life here wasn't extremely difficult. In fact during my first (nearly) two months in China, while living in Linyi, I've learned and experienced quite a few things.

• People in China aren't uniform and come in different sizes so clothes shopping here isn't impossible.
  
• I've been able to meet people that I hope I was able to help in some way. I might have even made friendships that could last forever.
  
• My oral Chinese hasn't improved tremendously but my reading and writing skills have taken off.
• It takes the isolation to reinforce how much you need your friends.
• Remember to laugh at yourself and your mistakes.
  
• Remember to be kind and open with the locals. When they stare smile and say "你好". A kind word goes a long way in breaking down barriers.
  
• Don't be quick to take offense. If you aren't careful you'll mistake curiosity for rudeness, shyness for coldness, and bad English for bias. :-)
  
• Good remedy for homesickness is to remember for whose sake you left your land, house, mother, father, brother, sisters (one who's pregnant), niece and nephews. It's hard to be gone but it's rewarding to be here.

And the final and perhaps keenest observation has been:

• Squat toilets aren't really that bad. In fact I have to ask, what's the big deal with Western toilets anyway!? The faster you learn that it's necessary to hold on to the little inside knob at the bottom of the stall door, the happier you'll be.

Transistions

In ten days I will be leaving Linyi. As a result I find myself making preparations to move once again. Because Linyi's airport is so small there are very few direct flights to major cities and absolutely none to any minor cities. This means I would have to purchase two full-price tickets to get to where I'm going. The total cost would be a little more than I can afford right now. Getting to my final destination will require me taking a 5 hour bus ride from Linyi into the city of Jinan. Sleeping overnight in the city and then flying out of the Jinan airport the next day.

Because this is a domestic flight within mainland China the luggage weight requirements are significantly less than they were for international flights. I spent $200 on over the limit fees coming into the country (I was weighed down by such things as a year's worth of hair products) and I would rather not waste money like that again. I've been trying desperately to use up much of my hair products, toiletries, etc. since I discovered that I could buy these things cheaply in China and wouldn't have to lug them around with me all over the mainland. Despite all my best efforts I will still have to use an on the ground courier service that will take 3 days to ship most of my luggage from Linyi at a total cost of 50 Yuan.

When I arrive at my new destination I am scheduled to begin taking day courses in the Chinese language at a major university. I'm also scheduled to begin working days at a high school. There's a bit of a scheduling conflict.

The university has a dorm room reserved. The high school provides housing for teachers. In addition, my friend and I are supposed to move into an off campus apartment together. There's a bit of a housing conflict.

If I go to school then I can't take the job and can't afford the apartment. If I take the job then I can't go to school. Besides, I wouldn't want to pay for an apartment when I have free housing.

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing.

Visitors

Earlier this week I was able to entertain out of town guests that came into town just to see me! Hee hee! I feel so special!

The visit began on Monday. After a class field trip to the supermarket where we taught them more useful words I went to McDonalds and met up with some girls that I had met previously on my Qingdao trip. The girls brought two more friends, a couple, and we all had a very good time getting to know one another. Their English was poor and my Chinese was tragic but our shared language was pure.

Note: That's not a picture of the girls but it's a picture of me - happy.

After the couple checked into their hotel we went to eat dinner at a swinging restaurant, that is their seats were actual swings. We shared a meal that consisted of four dishes, including Pizza, and cost a total of 75 Yuan (a little more than 10 dollars US).

The next morning we had a breakfast party that included simultaneous singing in English, Chinese and Japanese. Tres, tres cool. Then my guests were off. A short but very positive and satisfying trip. Again it was one of those times where I fought to hold back happy tears.

One other great thing about this trip was that I got more clarification, direction. Something I so badly needed and wish I had actually gotten sooner. No matter. If it's not me it's the stones right? Well, still, I wish it were me.

A Day in the Square

My apartment is about ten to fifteen minutes walking distance from the school where I've been teaching. The school and my apartment are in what are considered prime locations in Linyi because of their close proximity to The People's Square (人民广场 ).

The People's Square is a gathering point for many individuals. At nights there are individuals doing Latin and ballroom dancing in the Square. On Saturday and Sunday mornings there are groups of older women and men engaged in some sort of synchronized exercise that involves waving around swords and scarves. I think it's Tai Chi but I never care enough to stop anyone and ask. Usually I'm running late for something so I just pray nothing they're swinging hits me and I keep on footing it. The point is the 人民广场 is an importang gathering point for many of Linyi's citizens.

Because it's a holiday season in China and public school's are not in session there are even more people gathering in 人民广场 than normal. Many parents bring their children to 人民广场 for cheap amusement. The school's managers decided capitalize on the increased activity in 人民广场.

One manager told me that we were going to go 人民广场 to drum up some interest in the company. "What exactly are we going to do?" I asked. She told me that I should stand in the Square and allow people to stare at me then I should begin playing with some little kid. Eventually people would get interested and start to gather. Okay, I said. Sounds easy enough.

I went to the Square, saw a kid and started to throw a ball around with her. Soon, just as my manager predicted there were more curious kids coming over to play with their parents following close behind. Eventually a crowd of perhaps 40-50 curious onlookers gathered. The crowd was a mix of children, parents, college students, etc. who watched while my fellow teachers and I played Red Light, Green Light; Simon Says; Monkey See, Monkey Do; etc.

It was actually quite fun.

Yesterday, my manager had another bright idea. The younger students would take a trip to the supermarket and assist the foreign teachers with their shopping.










We introduced the children to such useful English words as:
1. gourd
2. men's thermal underwear
3. grater
4. ladle

You get my point.

Part of the appeal of this field trip was to drum up more interest in the company. The campaign was successful to some extent as we started with 13 students and ended with 17 kids that just decided to leave their parents and join the English lessons.

Interesting stuff.