I went shopping (with the TA- we'll call her Li) the other day and got a really cute skirt and blouse. The women here have some really cute clothing. They also have some hideous clothing. "Ma'am, are you sure that a tight sequins-and-lace shirt is the thing for a femme d'une certaine age, if you will?" They also have some cute shoes (think Camper), but a lot of them run around in 3" heel boots all day. It's a big step above foot binding, but since when is comfort a bad thing? My feet's happiness is sponsored by New Balance. I generally dress like a college student.
The new plan for making local friends is to invite the new TAs over. The school hired three girls from the local teachers' college to work here for the summer. It's hard to make friends in Zunyi. No one gets a good education and then moves to Zunyi. And of course, no one speaks English. The people at the photo scan place are nice. They seem really intelligent. As I mentioned on the Bo page, they gave me Adobe Photoshop 6.0, but it was all in Chinese and a pain to use, so they gave me Adobe Photoshop 7.0, which has a language option. It's great. (God, now I feel like one of my kids: "What's this?" "It's a robot" "It's great!")
They are doing renovations in the apartment next door. It has been going on for *days*, starting at 8am and finishing at 8pm. Why so long? Because they are doing the whole thing with hammers and chisels. Yes. And some guy built a little brick wall and then tore the thing down. Because it sucked. I have never seen such terrible brick laying as I have seen here. It's actually pretty funny. A little while ago a brick wall was built in front of an empty lot near my house. Terrible. Then it was torn down and rebuilt. I don't know that the new wall was any better, but they let it stand. Ironically, the brick laying done for the stairs in front of my bank was yet another terrible job. There isn't the same "time is money" attitude here that there is in the US. People have lots of time. It's not like they're going anywhere. And unskilled labor is so cheap, it makes sense financially to have a lot of unskilled laborers come in and do the job, rather than have pay people to do it right. Of course, that is assuming you don't really care about the final product. Many people in the countryside around cities come in during the day with their baskets and sticks and for almost no money will carry stuff for you, or do odd jobs. They work really hard for almost no money, but then spend the rest of the day sitting around hanging out with friends. So, they're not too lazy, they're not too hardworking; they're just poor. There are also the basket people who go around picking recyclables out of trash cans. As a full-time job.
Things seem to be going a bit better discipline wise. This past weekend, I had someone come into my bad classes and announce my new policies: if I catch a student with a toy or book, he or she will give it to me and get it back at the end of class; if a student misbehaves/talks I will write his or her name on the board- if it happens again, the student will stand outside for five minutes; if this happens three times in one day, the school will call the student's parents; if a student refuses to leave when I tell him or her to (the kids have a problem respecting foreign teachers) and a Chinese person has to come in and tell the student to leave, then we will call his or her parents after only two times; hitting is grounds for automatic ejection. In one class I kicked out eight or so kids, most for hitting. Then in another class, one of my bad students turned out to be really smart, after I moved her away from her friend. I had given them English names in the beginning of the semester (unless they told me they already had one- she hadn't), but she told me yesterday what her "real" English name is.
For the record: I like Zunyi. I like it better than Paris. It's quaint. Also, there's no evil old lady here. Teaching is actually okay. My week is an emotional roller coaster. On Monday I'm thrilled to be off and to take advantage of the city and park. Ditto for Tuesday. Then Wednesday has me feeling a little stressed about teaching, and Thursday and Friday are stressful as I dread the approaching weekend. Saturday and Sunday are fine, if tiring. I've got to work on Thursday and Friday.
Did I mention that Jenna found brandy?
Duan Wu Jie is held in memory of Qu Yuan, an old Chinese philosopher, possibly from circa A.D.1000. He wrote many aphorisms about the plight of the peasants, and was dedicated to helping the poor. He sent these aphorisms to the emperor,
with the hope that he would come to their aid. However, the emperor was a very selfish man and declined to help the people. He was afraid that Qu Yuan would try to incite them to overthrow the government. Qu Yuan, devastated that his appeal fell on deaf ears and that he was unable to help the people, drowned himself in a river. Later, the townspeople went out in boats on the river and threw in "chi zong zi" as an offering to Qu Yuan, so he would have something to eat.
Interesting language note. There is the same difference in Chinese as there is in English between "bad boy" and "bad man." "Ting(1) hua(4)" means to listen, often used to indicate a child who listens to what his or her parents say. Apparently, I am this, but Jenna is not. I denied this, but then thought about it for a second and remembered that Jenna plans to go to Bangladesh, which is against the deal she made with her mother (the one involving her mother covering the minimum balance on her credit cards until she gets home). Someone has to be the wild child. At present, I have no plans to go to Bangladesh.
How is the weather in DC? It has been unseasonably cool here, I think. A lot of days in the 60s, and it's supposed to be sub-tropical. Sub-tropical in the mountains, but Jenna said it was sweltering when she arrived last August. There's still time.
I plan to go to the photo scanning place today, so hopefully I will have some more Xinjiang pictures up soon. Also, the Bo Hanging Coffins and the grottoes at Dazu.
Yesterday was my TA's last day. She was really helpful, and spoke English really well, and was just really competent. She's the one who was leaving b/c she was tired of dealing with foreigners. I am not happy to see her go. This is part of the reason for the friction mentioned in Journal 8.
That said, Jenna and I do get along most of the time. It's nice to have someone going through the same withdrawals that you are. Sample conversation: One of us, "You know what would be nice? If there were some American guys here." Other, "Yeah, who ever thought we would be sitting here extoling the virtues of American guys?" "Anything but Chinese guys, really." [Word.] "Someone who will actually offer to carry something, even if I don't need it carried." "Ooh, ooh! And not smoke or spit!" "Or sit around gambling all day and spend all night drinking with his friends." "Yeah..."
So, yes. Accepting all American (actually, any non-Chinese) guys. We have a long sofa and you can have your own bedroom. We need a houseboy.