August 31, 2002

I love Beijing!! It's so damn good to be back and seeing and hearing more of the familiar again! Anhui was great, but in Beijing I know where to go to get things, where to go for fun, and maybe most importantly it is a place where I can understand so much more of what people around me are saying. In Anhui they speak a local dialect and it may as well be another language sometimes because to my ear it sounds so different from Beijinger speech. This difference is not unusual as there are many different dialects throughout China, and even Chinese citizens have difficulty understanding each other if they visit a far away province. For those interested, in Beijing they speak Putonghua which is the official spoken language in China, and this is what I am learning at the university.

How about some descriptions of what things were like in Anhui? First off, the people I met there were beyond nice and friendly. Sometimes I felt that the attention paid to me, and the great amount of effort made to make sure I was comfortable and happy, were too much!! There was/is no way I could return the favor to my satisfaction.

The city of Guo Yang is a small one by Chinese standards and I really couldn't tell you an even approximate number of people that live there. What I can tell you is that the influence of the countryside and farming is quite apparent. Not surprising considering the fact that surrounding the city are countless farms and people tending to them. In Guo Yang you see many people selling fresh fruits and vegetables, so much more than I ever saw in Beijing. Food was everywhere! Also, in Guo Yang, I saw things like pesticide commercials on TV, some of which were more than a little humorous. I could write an entire journal entry on them alone! Anyway, some of the interesting visuals of the countryside include the large numbers of small tractor/ ATV- looking equipment driving through the back roads. These things are zipping and bouncing along all over the place, and they all look so much alike in terms of color and general condition, that it's a wonder the people don't often confuse someone else's for their own! Speaking of the people, you can sometimes see the difficulty of a farming life written on their faces. Many look simply exhausted and as you pass by vehicles and equipment you often see passengers sleeping in the most uncomfortable positions imaginable, and along with that they are relentlessly being jostled about because of the bumpy roads. It's tough seeing that sort of thing and it really made me feel ashamed at how much easier my life is than theirs. Still, although you see many signs of weariness, you also see on many a person's face a look of strength and determination, and this made me feel a little better. Another interesting thing I often saw were large mounds of grain on the edges of the road, sometimes so much that you have to avoid driving through it! I think they are put there for easy pick-up and sometimes maybe even for the purpose of drying. All in all quite different than Beijing!

Unlike Beijing, there's not a large number of different places to go in Guo Yang for fun. The most popular thing to do in the evening seemed to be going to the central park to enjoy the food, music, and the company of friends and relatives. It made for very nice scene along with the lighting and glow of surrounding buildings. In the center of the park there was a large fountain and children were always splashing and having a ton of fun. People in Guo Yang go out in the evening to meet friends etc. much more than in the United States. In comparison, we are a bunch of homebodies! There's simply more of a communal spirit and if you think about it, it makes sense. Unlike back home where people move all the time, many people in Guo Yang are life-long residents and fiends and family are always around. It was a nice thing to notice and it's too bad that's not more the case back in the U.S.. One other thing that I noticed in Guo Yang was the large number of individual shops, each about the size of a garage back home. Everywhere you looked you would see the first floor of most buildings occupied by them, so there would be just rows and rows of them all along the city streets. One kind of unusual thing is that some stores right next to each other would sell the exact same type of product. Examples include paper supplies, or elaborate and beautiful funeral wreaths. Why is this the case? Wouldn't they want to try and sell something different or move to another location? You would think so, but maybe one reason is it makes it easy for people to compare and find what they are looking for without hopping all over the city. I dunno.

A couple nice places I visited while there includes Laozi Temple and a Gong Fu (Kung Fu) school/academy. The Laozi Temple is named after the teacher of Confucius. If I remember correctly, it's told that his mother was pregnant with him for years and years until finally giving birth. Whoa, poor woman!! The temple has a large statue of Laozi inside as well as a number of tablets with his teachings on them. Laozi is credited with being the father of Daoism. lf I remember correctly, the main point of view is kinda like "go with the flow", and one should react to things in a natural and unplanned way. These are some of the essential teachings of Daoism (Dao=the way), and he is the founder of that school of thought. I may be wrong on some of this, and it's certainly much deeper than I could ever describe. It's really interesting given Confucius' own teachings reflect self restraint and performing things in accordance to morality, laws and duty.

My last days teaching at the San-San school were absolutely wonderful as some of the children gave me some small gifts and asked if I would be coming back someday. Really pretty touching stuff and I will never forget how cute and nice most of them were. Also, I appeared on TV again, this time in the classroom teaching, and later attending a small performance by some of the younger kids. Again, I never got the chance to see myself on TV. :( Anyway, on my last day all the students gathered to say farewell to Happier, Victoria, and myself. It was similar to the welcoming ceremony in that all the students were in attendance while the three of us walked around waving to all of them. As we did so, they were chanting something I didn't recognize, but I think it was something like goodbye and good-wishes. Absolutely fantastic!! To any San-San student reading this, "Good luck with everything!! I am going to miss teaching you!!"

Unfortunately, this will be my last journal entry for a month or so as my doctor has warned me in no uncertain terms that I must limit my time being on the computer. Seems that my many years of working with computers and then having fun with them as my most enjoyable hobby has taken its toll on my body. Let this serve as a warning to anyone reading this!!! Computers are fantastic, but they can also cause a lot of pain and discomfort if you use them as much as I did!!! Well, with that I am going to end here. Check back in about a month for a new entry. By that time I will have begun my second semester at the college and may have a story or two about what's been going on.