More Scattered Sunshine

The best part of teaching in China is the students. Any teacher will tell you the same.

My personal challenge is to continue what we began here in China everywhere we go from now on. One doesn't have to travel 9,000 miles to do the right thing. We can all make a difference everyday, wherever we are, everywhere we go. I appreciate the reminder in this student's letter:

Today when you asked us to talk about the person who makes a difference in our life, I talk about you because you are the one of the persons who is changing me.

Every time I see you on the road or in our class room, I find you smiling and it seems that you are happy all the time .Your positive attitude is so contagious that after your class, I decided to put down the troubles in my life and to be a happy girl now .I feel that you are full of sunshine trying to impart the happy and active energy to us Chinese students .Thank you very much.

Still I’m sorry for our being “not active in class” which you once called it 'great Chinese silence' I’m sorry for that but I have to say that we are used to being silent in class with the Chinese educational methods .Nevertheless we will try to come it over especially in your class, just as you said No Fear in your class and be ready to Make Mistakes.

As a whole, I’m writing this email for expressing my thanks to you. Although I cannot speak English very well and sometimes lack the courage to communicate with foreigners like you, I want to say that I love you from the bottom of my heart.

Yours sincerely,

What's In A Name

All our students have a single "English" name in classes where they are taught by foreign teachers. It makes remembering them a whole lot easier because their English name is familiar and instantly easy to remember plus it helps  identify the student as male or female...usually.

While reading our students' autobiographies and talking to students, I discovered a difference between the names that are given in Western culture and how people are given names in China. We have lists of names to chose like Richard, Elizabeth, Robert, plus their nicknames, Dick, Liz and Bob.
But our Chinese students' names are very different. First of all, the surname or family name always comes first, instead of last like in western culture. So we would be Kuzmich John or Kuzmich Roslyn according to the Chinese name placement. The Given Name, what we refer to as your first name, is where things get really interesting. 

Naming a child is serious business in China. A name can shape their character and future happiness. And the names look nothing like we would recognize as an actual name in the West. Generally, their is no distinction between male and female in a Chinese name. And the given name will most often consist of an adjective and a noun, both of which bestow upon the child some kind of expectation, honor or noble description which he or she will then live up to during  life.

Here is how one student described how she got her name:

"Naming their little princess was really a big task during that period of all my grandparents and relatives firmly agreed that the meaning of the name can play an important role in deciding one's characteristic and future life. Therefor, each of them tried their best to find different source of materials not only from the Internet but also the encyclopedia, hoping to find a Chinese character which could contain all the well-wishing of the world. After a few days, everyone gathered together with their piece of paper which was filled with names, the one with the highest vote would be accepted. It seemed like a Chinese poem seminar. They discussed its deeper meaning and a good explanation, refuting others' and give own reasons. Before my mom gave her decision, the argument between my father and grandma became white-hot and neither of them wanted to give in. It was my mother's inspiration that moment that made all the people in that room raise their hands. My Chinese  name is endless internally wisdom and externally charming. Until now, when some praised me about becoming a guaranteed university student and going to be as a exchanged student next year, my mother would be so proud and explain to others just how lucky she was at that time to grasp the realization."

Tokyo Japan: Day 3

Had an equally impressive sight-sighting day as the previous 2 days. Visited Kamakura, Yokohama & Tokyo Bay. Outstanding sites included the 43 foot high Great Buddha and the 1200 year old Hasedera. The gardens in Japan are a marvelous and peaceful experience.







We arrived in time to see the Hydrangea Festival in all its glory. This is one of my favorite flowers. The hillside is covered in these glorious blossoms of every hue possible.

When you turn around at the top of the Hydrangea Festival hillside you can see the peaceful bay in the distance.

From my earliest memory this was the icon image of Japan. I was thrilled to be able to see it up close, in person. It has a very serene presence. Originally it was inside a building but that structure was long ago destroyed leaving it to weather the elements alone. Looks pretty good for being outside all these years.

Another Shinto Temple with the requiste hike. 

And after your hike, this fellow is all that greets you.

And the wall of wishes. 
Interesting to observe that such wishing walls in China are covered in red paper while in Japan it's all white.

Can you tell the difference between a traditional Chinese market street and a Japanese market street? 

Rain or shine, a Japanese garden is an oasis of peace.  This particular garden surrounds a Tea House where we witnessed a traditional tea ceremony; probably the most over-hyped ceremony in the world.
John and I drank hot water because we don't drink tea, and according to the folks on our tour we lucked out since the tea cermony tea (according to them) tastes like mud. This is apparently a well-known fact because just before the tea is served everyone is given a small piece of candy to suck on to help the unsuspecting tongue endure what is about to come.

A day in Jinan

Thought we'd share some photos of daily life in Jinan.


Here is the lobby of a Bank of China office. People are sitting on benches waiting for their number to be called. Because it is noon, there are only 2 tellers available since most bank workers are gone on their all-important lunch hour (or two).

Those youngsters in camouflage T-shirts are college freshmen. Everyone knows this because all college freshmen throughout China attend military training classes for the first 3 weeks of the first year of college. They wear formal camouflage uniforms and also wear these casual outfits for the entire 3 weeks. They attend indoctrination classes and physical fitness and marching classes. That is really hot work in Jinan in September.

Thanks to Sophia, we were able to finally open our Bank of China account since no one in this large bank office could speak English well enough to get the job done. Fortunately, we found an office closer to campus with excellent English speaking bank tellers; as well as a VIP counter for important customers.......like us?

Sophia also helped us subscribe to one of the country's government newspapers, CHINA DAILY. Since we were never able to watch TV in our apartment, we needed to find a way to be better informed about China from the Chinese point of view.  Our search took us to the back door of the China Post, the national post office system. It was a bit of a shock to walk past bags of mail and piles of parcels. No security problems here, I guess. 

It's always fun to come across Chinglish. This one seems to refer to either large potatoes or large French fries....not the weird potato king, himself. Sometimes it's not easy to figure out what the whacky English words actually say. The Internet is full of examples. We meet some foreigners who collect photos of all the Chinglish they can find.  While humorous and  at times frustrating, we're not quite that interested.

The best part of taking a student translator with us to conduct business is taking him or her out to lunch. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in China, after which students often take an hour nap. Classes don't resume until and hour-and-a-half or two hours after lunch.  Like Sophia, translators always take us to the most interesting places to eat; places we would usually never think to go. Here we are in one of the thousands of itty bitty eateries....much smaller than any restaurant. And they often spill out onto the sidewalk for the over-flow crowd.  

This place serves NOODLES in piping hot mini cauldrons.  The reason Chinese noodles are so looong is because they represent long life.

A surprise in the noodle dish was these small bird eggs.  We courageously ate them. Tasted pretty good, actually.

Near our apartment a market suddenly opened up. I was surprised to see this chicken vendor outside the new market what with the trouble China has with bird viruses and such. As it turned out he was only located there for 2 days and we never saw him or his chickens again.

He also sold pigeons. Didn't know it folks bought these birds to cook them or to lay eggs.

Here are some other views of the new market that opened up near our apartment.

Folks love to suck and chew on chicken feet, a Chinese delicacy.

Chinese waste very little, hence they leave the heads attached on their butchered chickens.

Making Chinese meat pies. 

These noodles must represent super long life. 
There are so many textures and thicknesses to chose from.

Fresh fish doesn't get any fresher than this. You select the fish you want from among the live fish swimming in the water.

More live chickens.

This old musician moved around a lot playing his Chinese lute for spare change.  We saw him several times in various places.  We always tried to support the local musicians.

On Saturday many stores go all out to attract business. This drug store is pulling out all the stops with an inflatable archway (very popular item among businesses during weekends and big sales), plus three kiosks giving medical advice and selling items.

At a nearby hotel we came upon some kind of celebration.  The Chinese are very proud of the fact that they discovered gunpowder; and they have been using it for celebrations, in the same way ever since.  Here you see the Roman candle/rocket launchers that make the place sound like a war zone. On the ground is a snake of firecrackers that could easily be 30-50 feet long. These puppies are so powerful that they set off car alarms. This is typical Chinese fireworks... close to the ground with a whole lot of noise for the purpose of grabbing attention and announcing anything from a grand-opening to a wedding or funeral.