Off we go

Of course it has just occurred to me that it is almost time to say goodbye to this blog and all of my readers! It has been an interesting exercise for me to try and capture some of our experiences this way, and we are amazed at the people who don't know us but who have been tuning in anyway. So thanks for your interest. I hope that some of you are crazy enough to give this a try. For the kids and certainly for ourselves, it has been a great ride, and none of us will ever see China, or the US fin the same way again. Now its time to figure out how to integrate it all into our "normal" lives, a daunting task from where I sit this morning..

I am sure I have at least one more post inside me...but 3 airplane rides, a night in a hotel and a 7 hour ride to my folks stand between me and access to the computer again. And I think I will find myself quite preoccupied when I arrive in Michigan to see my mom. So I guess it is time to sign off for now.....all the best! (Check back in a few days for a post script:)

The last day

This is actually from Saturday evening, when we went to dinner with some students who have been quite close to Michael this semester. We had a great meal in a Hunan-style restaurant...I am missing the food in China already..

After the kids went to bed Saturday night, I met my classmates for what turned out to be a very fun but very late night out. This is Melanie, me, Mike and Tom..

Last Sunday at church...I forgot to get Fr. John's photo today, but this is our Deacon Joseph who is waiting for ordination.

Looking at a philosophy book with the deacon..

And in front of the church...we will miss this little place terribly. I have been so spiritually lifted up by this community this year. It is really hard to put into words. I have gotten a feel for what it is like to be a Catholic in China today.

Back at the building, a goodbye to Sophia's favorite guard..

And checking out with the housekeeper, who has made our lives easier by her hard work.

Finally dinner with Vicky, our tutor and now good friend. The food was terrific, I just can't keep eating all these yummy dinners with friends.


And finally a very sad goodbye....

Huan Huan's birthday party!

Helen will turn seven years old tomorrow, the day we leave Xiamen. Yesterday was her birthday party, a bilingual high-octane event in our apartment. Four classmates and 2 American friends (adopted from China) rounded out the guest list, and at least I had their Mom, Julia to talk to during the festivities. We made jewelry, ate pizza (with silverware -- very fun to watch the Chinese kids) ran wild in the apartment and played some games.

Thomas and Kate (no not the other Kate -- she is back in the US already) hung out and tried to act cool at the little kid's party. But really they were as wild as anyone else.

Played a popular children's game -- like "drop the handkerchief"..I forget the name in Chinese but Helen can sing the song.

Also an American-style relay race, which deteriorated into an "every man for himself" event.


And a Hello Kitty cake..sure will miss the elaborately decorated cakes you can get for $5-10.

Huan Huan with Xiao Mei Mei and her twin brother.

And one last good bye to Rouwen on the way out. Helen was happy to distribute some toys to her friends, but her beloved pink bike went to Rouwen. Her mom and I could not hold back our tears over our two girls and their international friendship...I think Helen is starting to get it that I am tearful at these times because I realize that things will never be quite the same, even if keeping in touch is an option thanks to the computer age.

Friday' s events and thoughts

Schedule for Friday...last tutoring session with Vicky, during which we learned no Chinese but shed a few tears (still seeing her on Sunday for dinner)..shop, lunch with classmate who I got to cut class to go shopping...we had the Xiamen version of spring rolls off a no frills lunch counter (see above). These lunch counters are the Chinese equivalent to the diner, usually a one woman operation (but the food sits out so a good idea to eat early, as we did!)
Afternoon -- pack and sort through 8000 tiny slips of paper in every drawer of the apartment -- did we really only live here 1 year?!?! Congratulate the kids on their last day of school (check back to the graduation post -- I posted Helen's "cap and gown" photo...

Dinner with Vivian, Helen's tutor, and her parents. Her mother is the principal of the Kindergarten where the girls attended. (Note to my readers in Philadelphia and Illinois -- I told her to expect some more American kids! Her reply "Good...do their mothers want to teach the kids some English?!?!") Vivian's father is a professor in the Education department.

They showered the kids with presents and brought Huan Huan a birthday cake.

It was a very pleasant way to send the evening...but a Chinese banquet every night for a week!...anyone here can relate to how tiring that is! And the food is so tempting, hard not to overdo it! Finally some good byes, until Vivian decided that the dress she gave Sophia was too small and she would have to exchange it and come over tomorrow afternoon!


Vivian's friendship has been very significant for Helen, hard to put into words...I like that she got to know such a smart and enthusiastic young woman on her own terms, and learned some Chinese in the bargain, although they did more playing than studying!

So we are now at the 48 hours to departure point. I am constantly thinking about things I would like to blog about, but too busy to sit and write them! I am working on finding some things to look forward to in the US..little things such as Mexican food, knowing what everything says, having a yard I can send the kids out to on their own, etc. Of course looking forward to seeing my friends and family, especially my mom...

Also looking forward to some other things, such as a free press (which I will never take for granted again!) and atmosphere of openness and even the argumentative nature of Americans..I am longing for it! The focus in the public sphere in China is social harmony by whatever means necessary...and while we get irritated in the US with polarization in the political sphere, I am really looking forward to hearing more than one point of view on the nightly news. The fact that Americans political figures can vehemently disagree with each other, but everyone assumes that power will be wielded peacefully -- this is a very, very big deal. I really get that now. Which is good since the presidential campaign is in full swing and you all are probably sick of it already.

One thing about leaving China, even though we are hoping to return, is that China changes so fast that we might not recognize it by the time we come back! It will be so interesting to watch and see what the effect of the development of the Chinese economy will have on the daily lives and political life of the country and the people I have come to know. As I have portrayed quite consistently in the blog, I am awed by energetic and hard-working nature of the Chinese people, and by the amazing transformation of China in the past 20 years....so curious about where it will lead....I guess we will just have to come back...

OK -- back to packing and Saturday's social agenda, which includes a birthday party for 6 little girls and another farewell dinner in addition to MORE PACKING (is it all going to fit...hmmmmm?)

Huan Huan's graduation and Ann finishes school

Graduation portrait -- check out the lipstick!

Here is Helen with her "graduating" class of 2008. At the school there are four classes this size graduating this week -- wisely they were not all at the same time!

The show they put together for the parents featured some singing...

hilariously macho dancing by the boys..

some lovely dancing by the girls...

and some fun. The children played musical chairs in front of the parents...and guess who was the big winner....!?!?! Our Huan Huan! She loves being first in anything!

Then the teachers asked me to lead the children in some of our favorite English songs, and the teachers surprised me with a gift.. a glass music box in the shape of a piano, the symbol of Gulanyu ("the piano island").. Quite beautiful, but necessitating the re-packing of an entire suitcase!

Huan Huan with her best friend Rouwen...If you look back to the September archives and compare..they look quite grown up!

With some of the "better" English speakers...some of them were also my students off campus last semester, and one girl had lived in Canada for a year. Some of them sat at Helen's table this year..

And Xiao Mei Mei, another good friend, and a boy (Helen knows the girls' names, but not all the boys)

The hardworking and dedicated teachers, Cai laoshi, Pan laoshi and Wang laoshi. I have enjoyed getting to know them so much...and I know that Huan Huan will not forget them. They worked very hard to make her feel included and try to teach her Chinese.

Here is our sweet girl on her special day....



After lunch I went to class, for the last time today, I am just too busy to go tomorrow...in fact you may be wondering, how do they do any packing with all the special meals and events going on ? Wang laoshi, in the black dress, is explaining something to Martin, an American who just finished high school last year. Its our break time, and people are moving about a bit.

Here's Mike, from Nebraska by way of 2 years in Taiwan, and my role model for spoken Chinese along with some of the girls form Indonesia, who make up most of the class..

And here is Melanie from the Philippines, who is learning Chinese to complement her PhD work in anthropology. She is my best friend in the class, and I am going to miss her!

And here we are..Yi Nian Shang 一年上"E" Ban : 1st year beginning class, section E. Missing is Tom from Colorado, Kahder from Jordan , and my Japanese class mate.

But Khader had just skipped our class so I caught him on the way in to his next class. Here we are in front of the Overseas College building. It was strange to say good bye and leave class, because I have spend a lot of time this semester with these folks, struggling through Chinese (although I struggle more than many do). It seems a shame to miss the final, but you can't control everything, and studying would have been hard for me with the kids done with school anyway. Still hoping to see some classmates Saturday night, when we have some tentative plans to go out and have a drink.

Now back to packing and organizing this place...

Farewell Party for Students and Colleagues

The final exam for my American Philosophy course was actually back on June 12. While I had as many as 25-30 people attending at the height of the semester, there were only a handful of students actually registered for the course - only a handful of students brave enough to risk being graded on their English abilities as well as their philosophy.

Here you can see how seriously they are approaching this test.

The following Sunday we had invited the students and faculty from the year to one of our favorite restaurants - a Buddhist vegetarian place called Da Fang that used to be on Siming Nan Lu but moved during construction to Nan Hua Lu, still very close to campus and the temple. In their new location they have also given themselves the English name: Generous Vegetarian Museum [!!!].

While there were no wax statues of Gandhi inside, there were these three philosophy professors - next to me Zhou Jianzhang, Chen Jiaming, and Cao Jianbo. They are the "foreign philosophy" or "western philosophy" faculty members of the department.

Besides the faculty and family table, there were two tables of students. This was the quiet table posing with me.

And this was the loud table.

Here we see the quiet table in action. They didn't eat as much. The loud table cleaned all the plates and ordered more beer.

Of course Sophia was a big hit. Here she is with her dinner partner Chen Jin Dong. He is actually a Finance student but sat in on the classes all year.

And here she is on the lap of Yuan Xueyan - the only student who was registered for all the courses that I offered at Xiamen University.

Here is the group photo - about 30 people in all.

It was a very lovely evening. I received several presents, including a traditional fan, Fujian tea, Yunnan tea, a scarf, postcards in a handmade paper booklet, and two stamp books - one of which took six years for the student to collect all the stamps!

Well, that's it. The classroom is empty and the teacher is leaving for America.

Shopping spree and more goodbyes

Yesterday Michael and I took a couple of hours out of packing to do some shopping for those things we had wanted all year...like a wooden tea tray, more tea, paintings, and some little gifts for family and friends. And I went to the fitting for my qipao -- you may know the Cantonese for it : cheongsam -- which is my reward to myself for losing a fairly substantial amount of weight this year...hope I can keep it off when I go back to the land of the minivan....

We are getting calls and emails all the time now from friends who want to take us out for goodbye dinners..we called out dear friend Tian for a last trip to the patio noodle restaurant before Tropical Storm Fengshen blows in 5 days of rain for our final week here (at least it was downgraded from a typhoon since its was originally expected to come right through the Taiwan straits...)

Tian is like family....I can't even fully explain it. The kids nicknamed him Uncle Tian back in Beijing in August (he is the guy that Xiada sent to escort us to Xiamen). He just fits with our family perfectly -- is friends with each of us in our own way. We can talk about anything with him and get an interesting and thoughtful answer, plus he is very funny. I am trying to convince him to aim for grad school in the US, but what I really want is for him to move into the guest room so we can keep him...it was supposed to be our farewell dinner, but he said..you are still here for 4 days -- I will see you again before you go.

Same for Vivian, Huan Huan's tutor. She came last night for her last visit, but now we are having dinner on Friday! Huan Huan is quite close to her, and I really think of her as a role model for her. Last night we practiced what Helen will say if she is asked to speak up at the graduation. Not sure if that will be expected, but I wanted her to be ready. Here is what they planned: "Wo shi Huan Huan xiao peng you. Xie Xie laoshi. Xie xie xiao peng you. Wo ai nimen. Huan ying dao Meiguo lai" 卧是欢欢小朋友。谢谢老师。谢谢小朋友.我爱你们.欢迎到美国来! (I am Little Friend Huan Huan. Thank you teachers and little friends. I love you all. You are welcome to come to America!)

This is getting harder and harder. I am tearful at least several times a day, which is embarrassing, but not unexpected to those of you who know me and what a weepy mess I can be. I was contemplating some words that one of my priest friends from undergrad days used to quote... "Fall in love with the world, and it will change everything." We let ourselves fall in love with this little corner of the world, and now leaving it is like a little death. Maybe we will return some day, probably keep in touch with many folks, but this life that we have lived here will be lost to us and that moves me to sadness. But I am also so delighted that it worked....we had a dream and now it has come to completion, and I am grateful that God has been so good to us!

Part of the weepy mess is also the even greater loss that is waiting over the coming weeks. While I would love to make these final weeks last, and I am going through the days quite deliberately, I am always thinking about my mom and dad and wanting to rush back as soon as possible so as not to miss any more of my mom's final days. I think there is a lot of peace there for my family, too -- we are too religious not to be able to see the joy in deliverance from suffering--but it will be very, very hard to let her go.

Last English lesson at "Miao Miao Ban"

Not sure if I have posted this photo before. This is the front of Sophia's school. Its about 2 blocks from our building, which has been helpful since she is not a morning person.


Monday was my last visit to the class for English, which I have been doing about twice a week for 15 minutes. and I also brought some American flag stickers and some Smarties , the quintessential American candy, which Aunt Laura was kind enough to deliver to us. Here we are doing the hokey pokey...

And the "babies on the bus go wah wah wah!"

Sophia and her hao peng you 好朋友(good friend) who always sits with her.

Sophia with the great Chen Laoshi -- the lead teacher and a very gifted one, too. Sophia talks about her all the time.

And the best ever -- the candid Miao Miao ban 苗苗班 class picture with the English teacher (me!)
Teaching in the girls' classes was a suggestion of the former Fulbright mom who was here, and it was a very good idea. It was a big commitment in some ways, but it got me into both girls' classes, meeting the teachers regularly (especially important because Huan Huan took the bus) and the classmates and some of their parents got to know me, too. Plus I found I used a fair amount of Chinese to supplement the lessons and give directions and explanations. Tonight we were walking on the campus and one of Sophia's little classmates sang "hello, How are you?" by himself for me on the street in front of his mom -- so great! I am proud of the English the class mates in both classes have learned this year.

Thomas turns 12!

For Thomas's birthday we planned a classic party -- pizza at Pizza Hut and a movie with his friends. Logistically, the planning of this took more time this week than my Chinese homework. There were numerous conversations in Chinese with the hostess at Pizza Hut, the movie theatre (trying to determine --is the movie in English? what time is it showing? do we need advance tickets?). Then the fun of getting directions out in Chinese and English to the Korean and Chinese parents. Then the text messages at 12:10 --"Where are you?" from a cab full of Korean pre teens. But it was all worth it when we had assembled and the fun began. Thomas unwillingly wore a crown...

The activity was make your own pizza..

And of course the traditional birthday cake. That's Bailey, a Canadian and the only other boy in the 6th grade who is a native speaker of English.

After pizza we went to the "International Cinema" to watch Kung Fu Panda in English with Chinese subtitles. Here is some lobby kung fu...the movie was appreciated by the audience, with lots of laughs. I thought the names were funny: Master Shifu (shifu means master, so: Master Master) and Wugui (means turtle) and Po (means to break something...)

Thomas with his friends..Daniel (who also brought his sister to the party?!?!)

And James

And Jason

And Kevin...

We saved the presents for home, Chinese style, and were a bit mystified when Thomas received folders and notebooks for presents?!?! Maybe Asians have a different birthday custom...

Can you guess which gift is from the Canadian? I felt a little sorry for Thomas, so even though we had a deal that he is getting his present from me back in the US -- I went and bought him a $5 knock off Gameboy game up the street which we bestowed after dinner.

The timing was right for this to be a good bye party, too. I am glad it worked out -- one more birthday party to go..on Saturday. In the mean time, we pack!!!

Michael's Trip to Shenyang

After I finished in Nanjing (see the previous post), I flew directly to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. This is as far north as I had ever been in China. It is further than Beijing and the province is sandwiched between Inner Mongolia and North Korea. The area is called 'Dongbei' meaning 'Northeast' and that stands for the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. Another name for this area more common to Americans is 'Manchuria'.

Shenyang is the 'capital' of Dongbei and the biggest city in the three provinces. However, it is a large, dirty and very polluted industrial city which has seen better days. Reminded me of my home city of Detroit [sorry if that bothers anyone].

Here is a shot of the campus and city from the lecture room of Dongbei Da Xue - Northeastern University.

Yes, it's that attractive in real life as well. The interesting feature of Shenyang is that it is the city that the Qing Dynasty originated from. During the late Ming Dynasty, Nu'erhachi was a chieftain of the Nuzhen tribe in Jianzhou. He unified all the tribes in Dongbei and declared himself 'Khan'. He began building this palace in 1625.

It is similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing, but a lot smaller. Like that palace, it is also called 'Gu Gong' which means 'ancient capital'.

The building above is the main palace and though my camera is not powerful enough to capture it, the roof tiles are ringed in green - an unusual color for an imperial palace - to remind them of the forests that they come from in the Northeast.

Below is the throne room with some impressive dragons reaching out over the throne entrance.

In another part of the palace grounds, Nu'erhachi had built houses for his eight brothers. I thought that they were kind of small for princes, but maybe the emperor wanted to keep them a little cramped.

The structure below was the most interesting of the whole grounds. It was to be Nu'erhachi's office and it is built in the Mongolian style. Although it is made of wood, it looks like one of those big Mongolian tents.

And a shot of the workspace of the emperor. Kind of makes you wonder though. He doesn't seem like a guy who did a lot of paperwork. The workspace might have been a little open so that Nu'erhachi could bring a sword out easily. Just musing.

The columns were impressive, with dragon designs on each one. There are eight columns, one for each direction: East, Northeast, etc.

And the "office chair". As I said, not really designed for essays or policy analysis.

This palace was used by the early Qing emperors and was their main residence. After they conquered Beijing in 1644 the court moved there as the main residence and the Shenyang palace became a secondary capital. The Qing emperors who visited Dongbei would stay here until at least 1829.

The picture above is a room for religious rituals. The Qing practiced a kind of northern shamanic religion and this room there was a table for killing a sacrificial pig, pots for boiling it, and the boxes on the table above for making the offering. A guidebook says that the ritual also involved pouring boiling water into the live pig's ear in order that its screams would attract ancestors. Nice. Not many vegetarian Manchus I'll bet.

The palace was completed by Nu'erhachi's son, Huangtaiji, who inherited the throne of Khan in 1626. He conquered much of northern Asia but died just before they would take Beijing in 1644. That would occur during the reign of Huangtaiji's son Shunzhi. Shunzhi was deeply in love with one of his concubines named Donggo. Some accounts say she was Mongolian, others that she was part Manchu and part Han. In any event, below is a Mongolian style baby basket.

The story is that Donggo had a child that died of smallpox when it was very young. She became so distraught that she died a month later. The emperor, Shunzhi was then distraught and died soon after that. Well, some accounts also claim he became a monk.

Below is a simple pole with a feeding bowl on it. It was constructed by Huangtaiji [or one like it was!] to honor crows as divine birds who helped him gain power. The bowl would always be filled with corn and meat so that crows could feed.

It seems that Huangtaiji was felled in battle. Crows would surround the corpses on the field and eat the dead soldiers. As Huangtaiji was covered in crows, his enemies left him for dead. When he recovered he inferred that the crows had saved him and he was duty bound to offer sacrifices for them.

Below are some steps that number 28. This is supposed to be significant - as everything is in China. Maybe there are 28 different festivals during the year, something like that. In any event, Chinese people can be very particular about photography - "okay, now you will take a photo here". Notice, it was not in the form of a question.

So here was my guide and interpreter Gong Xiao Li. She teaches English at Dongbei University.

The building below has an interesting story - at least I thought so. It was the library so it was painted in the "cool" color of black ... the library caught fire and the manuscripts had to be sent to other cities such as Xi'an, Beijing and Nanjing.

So much for the ancient theory of colors!

Here is a interesting sign. It has two languages - on the right is 'Chinese' or better 'Han-zi'. On the left is 'Manchu' or 'Man-zi'. People here will often say that the Qing were not Chinese, by which they mean that they were not Han. Early in the dynasty, the Qing hated the Han and discriminated against them both politically and culturally.

There were several signs in the temple that had three languages: Han-zi, Man-zi, and Mongolian. But the signs were very old and worn down. The run down quality of the signs and my weak camera meant that I came away without any clear picture.

We left the Imperial Palace and went to an 'old' restaurant in Shenyang. In fact, it was an old chain. The family restaurant was started by Bian Fu in 1829. He sold dumplings in Shenyang city and the family has never stopped.

The title is just Lao Bian Jiao-zi Guan [Old Bian's Dumpling Restaurant]. The food was pretty good, but the guy with the water kettle below was too much. He walks around pouring water into people's tea cups but the stick on the end of the kettle has to be 4 feet long.

It was fun to call him over and fill up my teacup. However, it was also a little disconcerting - maybe a little Freudian. Hey guy, get your stick off my table!

And a plate of fried jiao-ji for lunch. Yum.

Below, a simple street shot in Shenyang.

And below a picture of one of the many women who walk around Shenyang with scarves over their faces. At first I was frightened a little. What are they up to? Is it some kind of religious practice?

Actually, they just do it to keep the dust and sand off their faces. Shenyang is both dry and polluted, so there's a lot of particles whipping around.

Below is Huangtaiji looking very military. This is the North Tomb where Huangtaiji is buried.

It is a fairly extensive system of buildings - most of which are being painted and redone for the Olympics [Shenyang is one of the sites for the soccer games].

Below you can see both the main buildings and and the tomb which is actually the big mound with a tree on top. Huangtaiji is under that.

Most of the structures were built in 1665 by Huangtaiji's grandson Kangxi. [That's Sunzhi's son and Nu'erhaichi's great-grandson for those who are keeping track. What? No one?]

Below is the altar on which the emperors would come and make sacrifices to their ancestor Huangtaiji.

Below is a dragon head water faucet. Water would come flowing out of the dragon's mouth into a well.

We were told that this was the origin of the Chinese word for faucet - which is shuilongtou, or literally water-dragon-head.

In the evening we went to a restaurant that served some typical Dongbei food. The food was kind of bland - but I think that was the restaurant and not the cuisine.

Below is my guide Gong Xiao Li and her husband Liu Wen Chao.

At night they took me to a park where about 500-700 people had gathered - and gather every night - to dance, play music, fly kites, etc. While many people were ballroom dancing or modern dancing, the main attraction was the old timers who do a dance every night in a style they said was yang ge or the song of the spring shoots. It was so dark that my camera could not record much video.

Michael's Visit to Nanjing

I have just returned to Xiamen from a week away. I traveled to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, then to Shenyang in Liaoning Province. I'll write up the Shenyang trip another day.

Nanjing was a really wonderful trip. The city has a long history as an on-again off-again capital of China during many different dynasties and periods for the last few thousand years. Maybe most famously during the Ming dynasty and then in the early 20th Century during the rule of the Kuomintang.

My hosts were Nanjing Normal University and the students of Professor Chen Zhen, who had invited me. Below are the identical twins Xu Bei and Xu Ting - both studying philosophy in the MA program here.

And it was even their birthday while I was there! They were a little surprised that I could easily tell them apart - but I've had practice at Canisius distinguishing identical twins.

The student below is Wu Zhen Yu. He will begin graduate work in Hong Kong next fall. He applied to two universities and two programs. He's accepted for anthropology but he got wait listed for philosophy. He is hoping the philosophy spot opens, but if not he has a position.

My advantage was having him as a guide at Nanjing Museum because he was a museum studies major as an undergraduate. Very handy! His knowledge was quite deep, and when he wasn't explaining some intricacies of Chinese history and artifacts to me ... well, then we argued philosophy [John Searle's Chinese Room Experiment was a hot topic for a while].

I have only given you a few of the many amazing features of the museum. Below is a suit of jade [that's correct - a suit made out of jade] to bury the emperor. The emperor has been taken out, but the suit is still here.

You can see that the pieces of jade are sewn together. The thread is made out of silver. As we Americans might say, "very cool".

One reason that I was on a jade theme is that I bought a jade bracelet for Ann on our anniversary last week. The bracelets below, however, are a little more pricey. These bracelets are actually 5000 years old [that's 3000 BC] and come from the ancient culture that occupied Jiangsu Province back in the day.

That evening I was taken to Fuzi Miao - or, the Confucian Temple. Below is the gate leading into the area of town containing the main buildings.

Below is the temple lit up at night. Seems a little kitschy for a Confucian, but I didn't plan it. That's Kongzi [Confucius] in the front of the shrine.

This is the shrine area to make sacrifices to Kongzi and all the other famous scholars of the past. Down a few streets is the hall where the examinations were given. Scholars from all over the surrounding areas would come for these major examinations and how well they did on the exams would determine their level in the official bureaucracy. This is one of the highest level temples in the country, so it would be for higher level examinations.

Below is a recent scholar whose exams are only a little less harrowing. This is Qiao Chu [and Kongzi], another MA student at Nanjing Normal U.

Qiao Chu was most helpful to me during the whole trip. He rarely left my side and kept up a running discussion of philosophy and history, both western and Chinese.

The next day we headed out to Zijin Shan - the mountain on the city's eastern side. The most prominent site on the mountain is the mausoleum of Sun Yatsen [which I discovered is a Cantonese name - in Mandarin his name is Sun Zhongshan; this is why almost every city in China has a main street named Zhongshan Lu].

The usual phrase used for Sun is "the father of modern China" and he is revered by people of every political stripe. Below is statue of the seated Sun.

Inside was his crypt with a large marble figure of Sun laying over it. No pictures allowed out of respect, but Qiao Chu and I had our photos taken when we came out.

Here is shot of the steps up to the monument from our perch by the mausoleum. It was quite impressive.

By the way, the blue tiles all over the roofs of the gates and structures stand for the Kuomintang - Sun's party. Although they became the enemy of the CPC , it is all tolerated here because it can be considered Sun's party. In that aspect, it is accepted.

We then moved over to another part of the mountain to a museum dedicated to Sun Yat-Sen. There was a lot of information about his life, with documents, photographs and various artifacts of interest. I learned a lot and was able to fill in some of the massive gaps that take up most of the area in my brain called "Chinese history".

Above is the desk, chair and books that Sun used.

After the Sun Museum, we moved further across the mountain to Linggu Temple, a Buddhist monastery that was being completely redone. Maybe the temple is old, but it seemed as if every brick that I saw was new. We climbed to the top of the pagoda you see below.

The mountain was quite nice, and the view was good, but unfortunately ... Nanjing has much of the common Chinese disease of massive air pollution and the whole area was in a kind of gray haze.

I took this photo for Ann especially. I knew that she would have loved it. She always checks out the Guanyin monuments as Guanyin looks out for the misfortunate, including the orphaned girls of the land.

In this altar she is standing in front of a kind of diorama with tiny figures mounting up the wall - most of which are old people and small children seeking help.

Finally a shot of some philosophers. My final dinner in Nanjing with my host - on the right - Professor Chen Zhen. He got his PhD at Wayne State University, so we had some Detroit chats.

On the left is Professor Chen Ya-jun, of Nanjing University, who not only researches in my area of American philosophy, but was both a student and professor at Xiamen University for many years.

This was one of my best visits in China. My hosts - both students and professors - were lively, interesting and very hospitable. It was an honor to be their guest.

Open House at Sophia's "Miao Miao Ban" or "little sprouts class"

This afternoon was an open day at Sophia's school. While her school is under the leadership of the same principal as Helen's larger school -- this smaller facility at our end of campus has only 3 classes. Sophia's is in the youngest, the "little sprouts". When we arrived they were just waking form their (2-3 hour!) nap. Its no wonder she does not go to bed at night very easily. My picture of the sleeping room was a bit blurry, but it has little bunk bed cribs and is quite full. Sophia is on the floor level with no one above her I was happy to see.
I snapped some photos of the play room and decorations..


These are the washcloths they tuck in the back of the children's shirts whenever they are on the playground -- they, like their cups, are sticker coded for hygiene's sake.

It's a hudie 蝴蝶theme (butterfly) this month!

Here is the afternoon snack -- rice porridge with plums and beans and a banana.

Big kids clean up after themselves.

Building with her friends in the free play room.


And clean up time!

At the end I switched to the video camera to record some little songs and games..Sophia and one of her "hao peng you" (best friends) were very huggy during the singing, and it was clear to me that Sophia enjoys the class and is well loved by the children and teachers, who are very professional and offer a very high quality curriculum.

After this week, only one more week to go until the end of school for the kids. I feel really good about all their school experiences this year -- excellent teachers for all three, and even Thomas has ended up feeling some sense of belonging and now loss as the year comes to an end.

This blog is starting to come to an end as well. Some of my fellow bloggers in China are getting ready to leave and I was glad to find a way to check in with them now that the proxy server "anonymouse.org" we all have used to read blogs is being blocked by the Great Firewall of China. My new proxy sever is "proxy bolt" -- working pretty well.

Michael is on his lecture tour and in Nanjing today -- Shenyang tomorrow and home on Saturday. I will be relieved to see him, as my mom is getting worse and I am thinking we may move our departure up a couple of weeks. Please pray for my family, if you are the praying type -- that we may have the gift of some time together back in the U.S.

Fun with my classmates

Never got around to posting about my night out with my classmates to celebrate one of our teacher finishing his masters degree...we went to "KTV" as karaoke bars are called here. My classmates sang in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as well as a few English songs.

I tried to hold up my end with "La Bamba" and got Emily to join on the chorus. (who I had brought along with Nick and Laura, as a cultural experience)

Here we are in the language lab. My listening teacher had asked me what "Lucky Charms" were, having heard about them in a movie -- so I had Don and Laura bring some.

I provided the milk and bowls, and we had a class treat -- which also pleased Martin, an American from Kentucky who is young enough to still like the stuff..

Here is my teacher -- he has been a great dispenser of cultural information about China as well -- he is also curious about us which is fun.

Below I tried to load a video I have had for a while, but was not sucessful -- it features a small group skit with my best friends in the class -- me as the secretary, Tom as a disgruntled student, Mike as his friend and Melanie as a waitress in a restaurant. Together we make up the elders in the class -- as everyone else is college age (although these guys are also quite a bit younger than me!). I will really miss the camaraderie of the class when its time to go...

The winds of change blow through our neighborhood

I know everyone is always hearing about how fast China is changing. Our local experience of this is the destruction of the shopping street and produce market near the south gate of the campus. The university has owned the land for a while, and now plans to widen the street, build parking and add some green space. I will be the first to admit that it is a very congested street, because at our end of it, just outside the gate, is a bus terminal for about 10 city bus routes. There is also a taxi stand and a vehicle entrance gate for cars entering the campus. When the temple next door has a busy weekend, you can hardly get down the street, cars park on the sidewalk and it gets a little crazy. So a wider road and some parking makes sense, right?

The problem is -- it does not make sense to me anymore after living here. Cars are the enemy of modern life. Not having a car for a year has done more to improve our quality of life than almost any other factor. We walk and bike more and are in much better shape. A wide variety of very fresh produce has been available only a few minutes walk away, much better quality than the supermarket (a 10-15 minute walk away). So we ate more vegetables and fruit. There was almost every daily necessity on that street -- bakery, optometrist, clothing, restaurants, books, office supplies, crafts, shoes...even the "scarves in winter, umbrellas in spring, swimsuits in summer" store.

Here is a shot of the street on a slow morning before the destruction began.

You could buy money to burn for the dead at the temple...




Or all kinds of trinkets form the temporary vendors who wold set up on the sidewalk..last fall, you could not get down this street on a Friday night because of the crowds of shoppers.



Here is my favorite clothing store, where I found some clothes that even fit me! Below is the entrance to the wet market...


As you will see in the video below..the "wet market", called so because it had meat and seafood in addition to fruit and vegetables, was not the most hygienic-looking place. Now that the demolition has begun, more than one displaced rat has been seen leaving the premises. And I never could bring myself to buy the meat they display on pieces of cardboard at the butcher's stand, even though I realize it is probably fresher that the supermarket's supply (no role models of food handling there either). But you could buy eggs, tofu and simple groceries in addition to produce. You could haggle with the vendors if desired -- although after a few weeks of shopping there I was getting the "regular" price -- so ridiculously low that I would never haggle. And over the months I had struck up an acquaintance with several of the vendors, who would try to speak Chinese with me as my vocabulary improved, who gave me tips on which fruits were fresh, how to prepare vegetable I didn't recognize, and put up with my pantomiming when all else failed...(how do you act out "cilantro"? as it turns out, it is possible!)

Now, most of them are gone, and as the demolition progresses up the block, every day there is less to buy. My favorite one -- Deborah will remember the "clean vegetable lady"-- told me she had no other place lined up to sell produce and so would return to her village an hour away. My "fruit family" (mom, dad and cute new baby) were still hoping to stay in Xiamen and set up someplace new. But in truth, it seems the city is trying its best to "clean up" its image by driving out these markets and replacing them with shopping centers and supermarkets. And while I like the convenience of those places, I liked shopping on my little street even more. I know that many of the locals feel the same way--especially those without cars, which is still most of China. I wonder if Chinese urban life will end up like the US -- where we drive all day and shop in the suburbs. I hope not! And with fuel prices the way they are, it seems like a doomed prospect.

Anyway here are some "after" photos for you...


what's left of our KFC..believe me, the students are hurting without it!

The bulldozers begin...


Behind the rubble is the campus.

This last picture has that urban blight feeling, doesn't it? But actually I took it to illustrate "nap time" when all the workers stop after lunch for a nap, right wherever they are...

Finally -- a video tour of the market that is gone, and a slice of life in China that is fast disappearing..

Field trip to Hakka country and tulou

So what is a round house, or earthhouse (图楼tulou in Chinese)? They are earthen dwellings meant to house whole families, even whole clans in some cases. The Hakka people were migrants form other parts of China and were not welcomed by the local people. So for safety they lived together in these fort- like homes...even with their own wells inside. They are made from rammed earth reinforced with bamboo and held together with glutinous rice! In Fujian province there are over 10,000 of these dwellings in all shapes and sizes, some with interior buildings. I happen to think they are quite beautiful to look at. Back in December the university had taken us on a field trip to see some. We decided to book a minibus to take Don and Laura and the kids to Hakka country, along with a couple of friends, out to see some of the most famous tulou --about 3 hours from Xiamen in the Yongding and Nanjing districts of Fujian province. The Fuxing castle (above) is the largest tulou still standing...build in the 1600s and able to house 400 people! Each family would have their own room in the tulou....

While a lot of people have moved from this clan to the city to work, they return for holidays to the village.

This woman showed Helen how to draw the water from the well,

And how to wash the clothes by hand, which amazed the girls.

I just love all the arches and angles in this tulou--great for photography (and great that Aunt Laura with her fine camera was here to record some of it!) The main reason I wanted to bring our family here was to show them a bit of life in rural China. And I find the architecture more interesting than just visiting a village. Chinese tourists don't really come here -- they don't understand why we would be so interested.

Our next stop was the Tianluokeng tulou cluster..a small settlement with 5 tulou close together amidst terraced rice paddies.


Our whole group except for Laura behind the camera..the extras are Mike, an American classmate of mine, and Alex Li, one of my teachers from the Overseas College.

The farm work is done by hand with animals here as in many parts of China. Wheat farming (in the north east and central parts of China) is slowly becoming more mechanized but rice is still labor intensive.


To me this looks like a man enjoying his vacation! No banana trees in Denver, I guess!

Tea growing on the hill sides--the best teas are grown at the top of mountains...this is more my level of tea, on a little hill!

This is a much smaller tulou, actually oval shaped, with few interior structures, but a big working and living space in the courtyard surrounded by many rooms.


The girls were invited to drink some tea -- it was actually quite good tea, but I have to stop buying tea everywhere I go -- I have a ton!



Plenty of animals around too, including the universal sight of a napping cat!

Nick bought a hat off someone for 5 kuai, so then everyone wanted one!

These are tiny plums drying in the sun...

And the tiny lady who was selling them along with other snacks.

In the village was a Daoist temple. At first we thought it was locked, but Michael was persistent and we got inside.


The interior of a square tulou -- quite common and easier to build.

And we finish off with Helen and some goslings...

That's the best of my photos while the Coloradans were here --. On their last two days in Xiamen we laid pretty low -- to the beach and shopping downtown. They have arrived safely in Xi'an and some friends of our there have set them up with a driver and student to show them around.

Now that their visit is over, the countdown to leaving really begins...we have some good bye parties/birthdays to plan and A LOT of sorting and packing to do over the next month. I am happy that another Fulbright family will be coming to Xiamen (with three kids!) and maybe I can leave them some useful items vs. throwing them away are trying to find a home for them.

The goodbyes are already beginning. Thomas's best friend is leaving school early and will be gone before Thomas's birthday party, which he is disappointed about. And every time we did something with the family last week I wondered...am I doing this for the last time?!?!?

Today is our wedding anniversary, and I of course must mention my wonderful husband of 16 years! Can't believe it has been that long...and how fortunate we are to have each other on this adventure...

Back to the blog-- more adventures with company

I know I haven't been blogging much this week, but we had a bit of a computer scare and I have been spending my little free time backing up all our documents and photos in the event of a crash. We removed some new software and are crossing our fingers! To catch up, on Sunday we took Dona and Laura and the kids to Gulanyu to church and for some serious souvenir shopping. It was the day of the holiday (Duan Wu Jie) and a few other people had the same idea, so the ferry was packed, and the Coloradans got a taste of life in a crowd.

A hot, sticky moment in the church yard..

Followed by some local Xiamen cuisine in our regular Sunday lunch spot, although we were such a large group that they sat us upstairs next to the drying laundry. Nathan is sampling some octopus.

And Mary is demonstrating her skills with chopsticks...

Nick and Sophia were constant companions this week.

Part of the gang in the traditional tourist photo spot. It was an exceptionally clear day by China standards, muggy but lovely.

We shopped for trinkets, pearls and of course, tea. We are having the usual Fujian style tea tasting.



Mary got a Chinese outfit and posed with Helen for a photo, although we discovered we had been had when the closures began coming unglued! Since we could not find any festival festivities, after a nap at home we headed up the beach road to a restaurant we had been wanting to try..."under the big tree sea food place". You order your food by pointing it out inside the restaurant lobby...



And then you eat it in style outside on the patio under the lights with the ocean near at hand...it was terrific!

This morning we have just said goodbye to the gang as they head up to Xi' an and then to Beijing. Hopefully they have had enough of a China orientation to survive-- and Nick has mastered a couple of phrases. In Xi'an our good friends are setting them up with some drivers, etc.
I have lots more photos of their visit, including our trip to see Hakka tulou, which I will post later or tomorrow. In the mean time, my apartment is a disaster and I have so much catching up to do!

Sublime to serene: from the Temple to the Botanical Gardens

Yesterday was reasonably clear and overcast, so we headed next door to the temple. Here we are at the back gate of the temple, and if you look close you can see a corner of our building peeking at the upper right hand corner. I have grown accustomed to the proximity of the temple, the gonging, the smell of incense, etc... Not to mention the beauty of the mountain (Five Old Men Mountain by name) which we can easily gaze at out or windows. The lily pond in front of the temple was in full spring time glory.



Doesn't Emily look so grown up in this picture?

Nanputuo Temple


Roof detail...much of the temple has been restored and repainted while we have been here -- just magnificent.

Emily at Guan Yin's altar...the goddess of mercy. This image is a Bodhisattva with many many hands (for helping the suffering).

People ask me if we get too much unwanted attention when we are in public. At a tourist destination such as the temple, undeniably the answer is yes. Sometimes the requests are made so sweetly or enthusiastically that we can't say no -- then a scene like the one above ensues. When someone touches her or is too forward, she usually lets out a bone chilling scream that knocks them for a bit of a loop . So I guess she can handle the paparazzi herself for the most part.

Back on topic -- I finally found the oven in the temple where they burn the "hell money" people bring for their ancestors and deceased love ones to use in heaven ( I have also seem paper clothes, houses and cell phones, too).


We were happy to find our favorite monk to meet the family. He naturally ushered us into his office (its a cave, if you recall) and plied the kids with candy, Buddhist medallions and this time started giving us Buddhist scriptures in Chinese to read since I told him I am learning to read Chinese. While I am not ready to read them, I did finally look up the character painted on the rock behind the altar the monk tends -- is the character for Buddha, not surprisingly. He got very excited and showed us around a bit, trying to get us to understand different sayings painted on rocks, even calling a friend to translate (but she said -- "I can't say it in English")
.

We headed up the mountain, passing some caves on the way -- many filled with all shapes and sizes of religious images brought by pilgrims.

At last -- the top of the mountain!

And over the top to the other side and into the 10,000 Rock Botanical Garden with some goofy children.


It began to rain, so we "escaped" to the desert buildings -- the most impressive collection in the garden, in my opinion.

These were both too unusual for Aunt Laura to pass up photographing.




Helen with the "corn on the cob" cactus she found.

Finally a tired group heads back to campus by bus.

Today, being the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is a holiday called Duan Wu Jie. In English we call it the Dragon Boat festival, although racing dragon boats is only one of the activities associated with this festival which celebrates the life and death of a faithful and devoted government official long long ago who drowned himself after realizing that corruption had destroyed the nation he helped to build. In addition to the dragon boats, its customary to eat zongzi -- glutinous rice mixed with dates or pork and wrapped in palm leaves...see photos below. The people wanted to make some rice offerings to the honest official, but had to wrap them to keep the fish from getting them! My friend's mother had made us some delicious zongzi.



Unfortunately, not much was happening in the way of festivities, because the dragon boat races had been canceled due to mourning the earthquake victims, according to some friends of ours.

Just a note on the photos -- all the good ones were taken by Laura with her stupendous camera. The best was when she captured on film something I have been trying to photograph all year -- a baby in split pants. In lieu of diapers many Chinese children wear these pants with the hole in the back until they are old enough not to need them. Amazing.

Lots of eating, shopping, and Helen takes Mary to school

Since the recommended treatment for jet lag is sunshine, the Colorado folks spent some of their first day at the beach, which was not at its cleanest with the tide coming in.

Then lunch at my favorite restaurant, Cai Jia Po ---spicy noodles (both wheat and bean based) and mango smoothies!

After lunch they napped and I went to class. We re-gathered for dinner at the restaurant next door, including our friend Tian who helped us order lots of interesting dishes including sea worms for Nick and a whole fish for the rest of us.


Friday morning we hit the second hand market (and yes , Mom we got you another clock -- for just 200 kuai). Laura and Emily got silver dowry bracelets and Nick emerged as the big shopper and best bargainer of the day.


While we were shopping, Mary was having a day as an exchange student to Helen's class for the morning. Getting on the bus...

And when we arrived to pick them up, they were finishing lunch -- rice porridge, fish some vegetable and xigua 西瓜 (watermelon) for dessert.

Laura took this picture of the room where Helen's class naps in their bunk beds, but we brought the girls home after lunch. On the way we had a bit of a campus tour, including a good view of the oldest buildings on the campus.

Its Saturday now, and we just got back from a long but satisfying morning at the temple next door and on the mountain. Will try to get that blog post going later tonight.

In other news, we have heard from the family who is coming to be the Fulbright family in Xiamen next year ...and they even have kids....hurray! At least we can pass on some of the stuff we can't take with us to someone who will appreciate it! Although it makes are leaving all the more real. I realized today at the top of the mountain that we might not make that hike again, and the things we are showing Don and Laura and the gang -- this may be our last visit in some cases. After they leave we will really begin the countdown in earnest. How else can I cope but to try to begin anticipating some things to look forward to? But I am not really ready to let go of my life and projects here, such as learning Chinese, teaching and tutoring in English, and trying every day to be open to at least one new experience or idea. I guess maybe that last bit is a notion I will have to take home with me.

The Colorado folks have arrived!

Actually they arrived yesterday evening in time for dinner and are "roughing it" in our building, which is convenient. Of course hosting visitors means were are eating very well in all our favorite restaurants. Tomorrow my little niece Mary, age 8, is going to school with Helen. The rest of us will head to the antique flea market and I will try to bring my camera this time! (sorry no photos today but we mostly walked around and they went to the beach) The family seems to be surviving jet lag pretty well except for Nathan who is a little sick but recovering. Anyone who has made that crossing can appreciate what an arduous trip it is. I am dreading it next month! We have lots of plans to visit sites in Xiamen while they are here, and it is also a chance to do things we have been putting off -- the time is flying by and maybe there are some things we won't have the chance to do again. After a week here they will also visit Xi'an and Beijing.

I promise photos tomorrow. Today you have to be content with this graphic:

Hockey fans...I think you know what this means, (especially any Ottawa fans who might be reading this!) Go Red Wings!

Weekend Update

Michael here for the weekend update. On Friday evening we had our last dinner with our friend Gary, who left on Saturday morning with his students - heading off for a tour of Beijing before returning to the states.

As Gary was leaving, Helen's friend Rouen came over for a play date. She immediately put on the pink princess dress that she loves [we hope to leave it with her when we finally depart].

And of course, Sophia has to do whatever the big girls are doing - including dresses, umbrellas and ubiquitous V sign.

The girls all made 'American cookies' with Ann - this being a rather new experience for Rouen. Since very few Chinese people have ovens, they do not have much of a recent tradition of baking your own cookies, breads and cakes. Rouen was sent home with a plate of chocolate chip cookies for her family. And thanks to our visitors who brought the chocolate chips! We remember it was one of the Marys but cannot recall which one.

After her play date, Helen had her last paper cut class. Here she is with her teacher.

Actually the last class was a final exam, although we didn't know it. Helen arrived late to discover the exam (make 5 paper cuts in the class time) but was able to make 4 paper cuts and was graduated to the next class. Hurrah! Unfortunately, we will not be around for the next course. :(

Here is the indomitable Huan Huan with her teacher and some of her graduating class with a background of rather colorful paper cuts.

In the evening we had a babysitter [she was supposed to come the night before so we could go out with our friend Gary, but she couldn't make it], so we went out Saturday to dinner and some strolling around with our friends Jason [who teaches English at Xiada] and Melanie [who is a fellow student with Ann at the Overseas College].

Upon our return home we were greeted by our old friend Wushu the lizard who, it appears, had not left but had crawled up the wall.

We were glad to see him and took a few shots of him before he scooted off into our huge pile of shoes by the doorway.

On Sunday we went off to church, but first we all checked our shoes thoroughly in case we squished poor Wushu. Our lunch after church is usually rather quiet, with the exception of our children in the restaurant. But this Sunday - because it was officially Children's Day - almost every table in the place was filled and with small kids at almost every one. It was a noisy but enjoyable lunch.

Helen actually had another play date with Rouen, this time at Rouen's house. Since Sunday was Children's Day they went to Bailuzou Park where there were various festivities [we have been promised pictures].

Around bedtime, my student and one of our babysitters, Fu Qinqin, came over with a big bag of candy for the children. I think that her boyfriend sends candy over from Korea, but she doesn't eat it. So she stocked it up and brought a big bag over on Children's Day.

She also brought over a traditional food for Dragon Boat Festival. It is flavored rice with pork in the middle, then wrapped in bamboo leaves or reeds and tied with a string. Her mother had sent them with her from Zhejiang Province.

We are getting ready for our next batch of visitors: my brother's family. They are to arrive on Wednesday afternoon after many flights. So we wish them well as they prepare for their cross Pacific journey.