House Party: House Arrest
I went to the post office yesterday and it wasn't there, so I decided to check DHL's website yet again. It had said that my package was in Chengdu on the 13th and it was the 19th. DHL's website... It said my package was currently in Senegal- China, PR. There is no city in China named Senegal, so was it in Africa? I hoped not, though that would have been really funny in a bad way. I got a call this morning from SinoTransportation in Guiyang saying that they had my package and I could come and pick it up. I'm going to head down tomorrow to do so. I just don't trust them to get it to Zunyi.
The conclusion of Jenna's suicidal student is on her e-diary.
Jenna's e-diary
I'm currently on break. Jenna's and my breaks are getting steadily longer. As we sit here muttering, "shut up kids. as long as you're quiet, we don't have to teach." It's all about the work ethic. And, you know, dealing with 20 kids yelling at you in a language you don't really speak.
The package mom sent me still hasn't arrived. The post office recommended that I come down on Monday to take a look, because, you know, they get so many packages from America, who can tell them all apart?
There are cockroaches in my apartment. [sound indicating just how distressing and yucky I think that is] They apparently don't have exterminators in China, but I have the name of an insecticide. It's weird, though. I don't really have any food at home. There shouldn't be any reason for them to be there.
Special thanks to Eric for sending me a postcard/package. Now, the rest of you, get on the ball.
I went to the hospital yesterday for blood tests, b/c I was feeling tired (as usual) and dizzy. The headmistress went with me and we wore masks to keep us safe (b/c the hospital is the disease-iest place in town). Now my face itches. It's really annoying. It's funny, HM gave me my mask and I tied it tightly, to minimize the amount of air that comes in from the sides, but she just tied hers loosely, so it was almost falling off. I told her to tie it more tightly, so she did. There were only about two nurses in the hospital wearing masks and they weren't wearing theirs very well, either. It's like the suit jackets that everyone here wears. I have seen some of the most hideous jackets in the world on both men and women. Ill-fitting, terrible colors, bad cuts... but they were wearing jackets. It's like they have a check-list. "Suit?" "check." Not, "Suit?" "check" "comments: smart cut, subtle pattern, flattering color." Same thing with the masks. They had the masks. What more do you want? Tie them tightly? Why? They were wearing the masks. For more effective protection? What? They Were Wearing The Masks. I don't see what tying it has to do with anything.
What else? I feel like I don't spend enough time talking about the little things in Zunyi. I walk down a little stone street on the way to school, with high walls on either side. There are some doors, and one leads into a courtyard. They have honeysuckle and small roses growing over the wall and when I walk by, it reminds me of being on the bike trail in spring.
There's a narrow alleyway that's filled with food stands and noodle joints. People sell a lot of things on sticks here. Tofu, meat, vegetables. So you go up to a stand and ask for something and they cook it for you. Most of the ones on that street sell chickens' feet. It's pretty funny to see. These claws on the ends of sticks. You just kind of gnaw on them. Well, I don't. Then you walk to the end of the alley and there are some good fruit stands. They have mangoes. Big ones and little ones. I had never seen the smaller ones before. They're the size of a plum, but oblong. Then you turn right, walk to the corner, and take another right. Walk by the stairs leading up to Jenna's apartment, by the bakery girl. She speaks a little English. She's friendly. Then by some more shops. There are a few young women's clothing shops. One that makes nice skirts. Think Tuleh maybe 4 years ago. Pass an alley on the right and come to the store that inspires me take this way (the long way) home in the first place. It's painted red and has gorgeous women's dresses. Cheongsam, but also other ones, and skirts, and blouses. They're pretty. Cross the street. Stop at bun place, where they say, "Hello!" Hello! always gets an exclamation point here. Cross another street (all street crossings should be made without being hit by cars. good luck) and walk by post office that doesn't sell stamps and doesn't send packages because of September 11, AKA The Post Office of Pathological Liars. Go past tea store, where they sell loose tea and really nice pots and cups. Pass batik place. Guizhou is known for batiks and this store has nice ones sometimes. Cross the street again (closed to cars during the day). Walk past yet another Communist Meeting site. Pass bedding store with pretty displays. Clothing stores. Girls t-shirt store with funny things written on t-shirts. Military/police supply store. Hotpot restaurants with fish and rabbits outside. Miao restaurant with kids in Miao costumes singing, playing a guitar-like instrument and doing a dance that looks like the Rockettes on Xanax. Pass hardware store. Stationary store. Turn right at the corner, and you are at my apartment building.
I sprained my bad thumb the other day and it's taped up and one of my kids pointed to it and said, "SARS!" The Chinese word is "Fei dian". When you turn on the news here, it's all you hear. There's even a SARS theme for the news. We're waiting for a music video. The music television here is great. Singing about how the peasants are the foundation of China and how wonderful the people are. We think Hu Jintao probably writes some of them. [In a state meeting] "Hu Jintao, what's that you're humming?" "Oh, just a little song I've been working on, 'I Love You (...and China, too)'." The guys here sing dumb, sappy love songs.
Jenna got a letter from a student the other day (either former, or recently skipping class) saying, as Jenna paraphrased, "My mother's a dangerous woman... I hate my life... I want to kill myself... my parents are very bad to me... I don't know what to do, etc." We're not sure what to do. I think we arrived at: Jenna meets the girl and says that she's worried, but isn't sure what to do, so she (Jenna) is going to tell someone, and urges the girl to come with her, maybe to the school. The problem is, we don't know where the girl is coming from (metaphorically). Jenna posted on the Lonely Planet's North-east Asia branch of their forum and has gotten many responses. Pretty much everyone says to talk to her. Some have pointed out potential problems should Jenna get involved (parents, police, etc.). The girl isn't a student that Jenna knows very well, which is also worrying. If Jenna were a close friend and a foreigner, the girl might be wanting to reach out for attention (which she is undoubtedly doing anyway), but as she doesn't know Jenna all that well, it seems like a more desparate attempt. Suicide is much more prevalent in China than in the US, where it is pretty much the worst thing you can do. Here it can be preferable to really dishonoring your family or being stuck in a life with no future. Much as I would like to tell the girl to pack up her things, leave in the middle of the night, go half-way across the country, and get a job in some town where her parents will never find her, that's probably not possible here. Sounds defeatist, but the gov't has a lot more control over the lives of the people and so do parents.
One person on the Lonely Planet site (a westerner married to a Chinese woman) told Jenna to tell a Chinese teacher at the school and leave it at that. Actually, he was all condescending and annoying, but he made some good points about the differences between China and the west. It's just his idea about a "Chinese solution to a Chinese problem," seemed to include the possibility of everyone turning a blind eye to what is going on. It can be hard for girls in China, esp. for ones in poor rural areas. There's not a lot of room for economic advancement, and even if they do well in school, their parents can't always afford to send them to college, so bright girls can get left behind and be stuck in dead-end jobs and dead-end lives.
We are currently accepting all advice. As it stands: meet with the girl, tell her Jenna can't handle it on her own and is going to tell someone else who can help the girl, see where things go from there. Obviously Jenna knows it's not her responsibility to save this girl, and many people on LP have told her not to feel guilty if the girl goes through with it anyway, but we would like to do the best we can. Jenna is going to ask her old TA (who no longer works for the school) for a Chinese perspective on the girl's situation. Maybe that will help us to gain insight.
No one in Zunyi is wearing masks yet. They say that there's no SARS in Guizhou and what they had previously thought was a SARS case was something else. Anyone hear anything else?