It is difficult to access this site (aside from sending
updates to my son to post), so this will be brief.
We arrived late on the fourth of July. We spent 2 days in Beijing.
On the first day, we toured the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace. On the second day, we had a meeting at Dr Lu’s,
then walked through the neighborhood where he grew up and on to the park.
Much of Chinese social life
takes place outside. We saw groups
playing hacky sack, dancing, drawing Chinese characters with water, and could
have joined in any of these. It's a very welcoming culture. Then we had
lunch with the board of Golden Courage and an outstanding restaurant run by a Buddhist
chef. This lunch was all vegetarian,
though it neither looked nor tasted that way.
For the afternoon, I went with Diana’s family to the Silk Market. It reminded me of Canal Street in NYC, only with a greater
variety of shops. I had my first real
foot massage there.
On Saturday morning, some friends of Dr Lu took us to tour
the Temple of Heaven.
The echo wall was impressive – we couldn’t see each other, but could
hear our names being called. Just like
the park, we saw many groups engaged in dance, song, or games.
We had lunch at DongMei’s favorite porridge restaurant, then
boarded the bus for Yan Qing. We passed
3 different sections of the Great Wall, but it will be later in the trip before
we visit.
Diana’s family (Wayne, Quentin, Maya and Mrs Millett) and I
are staying in staff dorms at the school.
Joyce, Vicky and Phan, 3 of the office staff members, are also staying
here. The others in our group are
staying in condos that are about 15 minutes away by car, because there are only
6 air conditioned dorm rooms here.
Dinner was at the school.
Dr Lu oversees all of the GCI food.
It’s all organic and must meet his high standard. It’s a delightful in taste as well as
quality. Better than I usually eat.
The Golden Courage dorm is on a campus with the middle
school and a high school. The dorm
itself was built by the Chinese government, but the students are sponsored by
Golden Courage International. For the
program we’re doing this week, there are 90 student participants. Most of the students are 16. They’ve studied written English for multiple
years, but have had little oral practice.
On Sunday morning, we went to LongQing Xia Gorge. Absolutely stunning. http://www.kinabaloo.com/lq.html Part
walking, part series of escalator rides inside a dragon, and part boat ride
between enormous canyon walls.
Dinner was a formal event hosted by the mayor. The principal and several other school
officials also attended. I think there
were about 35 courses, but I lost count.
By far the best Chinese meal I’ve ever had.
Today, the program started with an opening ceremony. Current and former students performed
(singing and recitations), and there were opening remarks from Dr Lu, Diana,
the principal and the mayor. There was
a camera crew recording video for the TV station.
After lunch, we gave a pretest with 3 questions, to help
sort students into groups. This was our
first opportunity to interact with the students. Some said this was the first time they’d ever
met a foreigner. In general, their
speaking was better than their listening.
Even when we speak slowly (something that doesn’t come naturally for
me!), they had a hard time understanding.
The head teacher here said that this is very common for Chinese
students, where speaking is stronger than listening.
After class, I walked along the nearby streets for the
second time. I wish I had a few more
words. I am already greeted by the
people I met the first time. They ask me
to join their various groups, but I have only a few words of Chinese. The zipper repair man is my friend. I watched a group of women playing a card
game that I don’t know – they pulled out a stool for me. They invited me to play, but I couldn’t
figure out the rules just from watching.
I’ve asked Vicky or Joyce to go with me on one of these walks so that I
can communicate with these people.
We had a pleasant evening after dinner. Diana’s kids play football (soccer) with Phan
for awhile. Maya and I taught Joyce and
Vicky how to play bananagrams, with a slight variation. At the end, Joyce and Vicky had to pronounce
each word, and we explained the meaning of any they didn’t know. I taught them scrabble, as well. We ran out of time for Boggle. We played outside on a marble surface because
it was the best flat surface available.
This is merely a recap of activities. I’ve failed to capture the richness of the
cultural experience in this brief recap.
The interaction with the people who live here alone is a learning
experience. Through the program, we’re
also given rare opportunities to participate in important events, and we’re
exposed to a variety of situations and perspectives that we’d miss as mere
tourists.
I have over 1000 photos so far, but lack the time and means
to post them now. I’ll have to add
photos when I get home.
