ready?........AND............. ACTION PLAN!

 

The Mid-Autumn moon festival delivered a bright full moon and several moon cakes.  Although I did not try the traditional pickled egg moon cake, I sampled a lotus moon cake, fig moon cake, and goose liver moon cake.  The savory cakes are generally favored over the sweet ones.  Some moon cakes cost only a few RMB while others cost hundreds.  My taste for moon cake is not mature enough to appreciate the expensive ones. 

My translator Ted spent the day with his family and attempted to arrange our trip to the Northwestern area of Hubei province.  The national holiday of China is from October 1-7.  Most people take this time to travel.  There are many beautiful parts to this area, but we are most interested in the lake area of Dajiuhu.  He and his family expressed concerns over the idea of traveling without the use of a travel agency.  In China, most people travel for this break time and the touristic areas are packed with visitors.  Supposedly if you don’t have an agency, it will be difficult to arrange travel and accommodations. 

Ted and his family have never traveled without the use of a travel agency.  They are quite apprehensive.  “This is just crazy!”  “How will you eat?”  “How will you drink water?”  Although we are not leaving the province and Ted can communicate with anyone here, Ted and his family have feared the worst.  Even after booking the train tickets on Thursday Ted was not sold.  Before picking up the tickets on Friday morning he mentioned several times how much better it will be if we use an agency.  “Everything looks expensive right now if we go on our own”  “With an agency you don’t have to worry about anything”  “They do everything for you”. 

That is the part that I don’t understand.  Most agencies will take you to shopping areas where the visitors feel obliged to buy souvenirs.  Knick knacks are not my forte. I enjoy picking my own place to eat and not being forced to travel from one place to another like herded cattle.  In order to appease Ted’s concerns we went to a travel agency.  The only deals they had for this time were unattractive and without meals.  It seemed like trying it on our own would be the way to go.  We booked a hotel and next Monday-Wednesday we will be taking out lives into our own hands and attempting travel without an agency!

The rest of the weekend was full of explorations in Wuhan’s botanical garden, and a Kenny G concert.  The concert was a gift from the department of international affairs.  The other foreign language teachers and I were whisked away by a night of smooth jazz with a few funky variations to keep the audience from falling asleep.  In China, Kenny G has quite a following.  He won them over by ending the night with an instrumental version of “My Heart Will Go On”.  As enjoyable as it was, I preferred the day at the botanical gardens.  They have many beautiful lotus areas and the largest area of kiwi fruit research in the world.  Membership looks like a good way to spend my weekends here for the next nine months. 

Speaking of which, this Monday marks my first month here in China.  Before the National Holiday I will present an action plan for the rest of the school year.  This will give the school greater clarity about the direction of its Montessori program and the development of its curriculum.  I look forward to seeing the changes throughout this year.    

My moon cake's bigger than yours

Giant moon cake compared to
typical moon cake

I am happy to live very simply while I’m here.  Last Saturday was not a simple living day.  It was a gorging day with the delightful company of Ted’s family.  In the morning he came to the apartment to collect me so that we could travel together to his Grandma’s place.  On the bus ride to Han Yang district from Wuchang, (my area to Ted’s), Ted pointed out some of the sights.  The overcast and smoggy day didn’t help with seeing the sights, but some of the buildings are so immense that you could see them in torrential downpours.  The memorials buildings and Yellow Crane tower are all in beautiful natural areas with lots of trees.  I certainly miss seeing this from my apartment view. 

When we got to Grandma’s place she had pomegranate, longan fruits, and peanuts ready for us to snack. Lunch was marvelous.  Grandma surprised me with a Budweiser beer.  She had two cans, and they appeared to be both for me.  After I told her I could only drink one, she mildly tolerated Ted drinking the second one.  At first he poured it into a bowl, but later he also drank from the can as I was doing.  Grandma served us cooked Chinese cabbage, baked chub with ginger, black fungus of some sort, spicy chicken, duck cooked in beer, and pork dumplings.  The dumplings were AMAZING, but after the first ten I was stuffed.  I could not eat another bite, but somehow this did not matter to Grandma.  She stuffed me until all of the dumplings were devoured, (I probably ate about 30 in one sitting). 

After lunch we went for a little walk and Ted bought a pair of 15 RMB ping-pong paddles with three balls.  We made do and played until Ted broke a sweat and had to stop for water.  I continued to play with an 8-year-old boy from the neighborhood.  Ted came back with water and then joined his grandma on the air walkers from the exercise equipment in the park.  The boy was good, but I was feeling on top of my game and pride would not allow me to lose. 

On Monday I met with the teachers for a workshop about establishing ground rules.  We all acted out various scenarios on what do to when a child misbehaves.  I could see that everyone had a natural ability to take on the challenge even though they appeared apprehensive at first.  I also participated and acted out a scenario with Ted.  Later on he told me than it had embarrassed him.  I told him that some of the best teachers are often great actors. 

Each day, (Tuesday through Friday), I worked in the classrooms during the morning work period.  The classrooms have many practical life activities, sensorial materials, and various math materials.  Some classrooms have additional language materials and others have more materials for geography and cultural studies.  All of the classrooms have art presented in different ways.  My goal this week was to help the teachers understand the benefits of a long uninterrupted independent work time.  Each classroom has its unique challenges, but I see that there is a greater desire for change than I saw last week.  In the afternoons I was able to meet with each teacher and discuss the morning. 

Although the days at work are long, (8-5:30), there is a two hour break in the middle.  This gives me a chance to go to the market or go for a walk around the campus.  I was very happy this week to find a few Eucommia ulmoides and a few Lycoris radiata in the middle of a green forest area.  There is also a small road lined with Eriobotrya japonica.  I can’t wait for these fruits to start forming!

Speaking of fruits around this time of the season, there are plenty of dragon fruit, pomegranate, and melons.  These fruits are great accompaniments to the traditional moon cakes shared at this time of year for the Mid-Autumn Moon festival.  On Tuesday I received the largest moon cake that I’ve ever seen for national Teacher’s Day, (Sept. 10).  It is filled with lotus seeds, nuts, and sugar baked in a simple pastry dough covered with sesame seeds and oil.  Another classroom delivered a bouquet of flowers with a tiny teddy bear in the center.  I gave each one of the teachers a dragon fruit in thanks for sharing their classrooms with me. 

Perhaps the sweetness of the moon cakes brings out the best in others.  As I walked Ted to the bus stop on Thursday an older man wheeling a cart of pomegranates lost a fruit.  A young man stopped to pick it up and delivered it back to the vender.  On Friday a young boy gave me his drawing of a robot.  I put it in my office next to my world’s saddest looking cactus.  Hopefully the cactus will perk up with a bit of care and some robotic protection.

After work I've been exercising in a local work out park.  There are small areas all over the city for people to stretch, twist, and move (just a little).  I’ve developed a way to run on the air walkers and break a sweat with most of the other machines.  The majority of the people I see using the equipment are either under 10 or over 60 years old. Both times I’ve gone to these places I have seen someone just hanging out on the rowing machine.  One woman took off her shoes and socks and picked the dead skin off her feet.  Another guy took a nap on it after finishing his cigarette.  I have the feeling that most people try to ignore me as I hustle and sweat.  I stand out all over the city, but in this park people act like I am just like any other person making the most of free city space.

Tonight I will travel with Ted and another teacher to the theater.  I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope it will have a lot of action.  It may be rude for Ted to translate during the entire show.  This week I look forward to finishing off the moon cake.

Autumn Tiger

 A week ago I landed in Wuhan. Not only do I feel settled, but I finally have a plan of action for at least the next month in school. My chopstick skills are improving daily and I’ve managed to cook a few meals in the apartment given to me by the school. It is one of the nicest places I’ve ever lived. In addition to having a sit down toilet, there is enough space here for a family, (note; if anyone wishes to visit, PLENTY of space and an extra bed here).

 Outside of going to work, the majority of my week has been filled with staring. Not like Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window, but more like a child at an amusement park. In a bustling city of 10 million, there’s a lot to see. There are lots of small open markets or kiosks selling cleaning supplies, fruits, and vegetables. You can also find niche small markets selling houseplants, guitars, or rubber stamps. The street food is highly entertaining. There are lotus nuts, oranges, chestnuts roasting in coals, beautiful slices of melon on a stick, street doughnuts, and other things that push me to learn at least the basics of the Chinese language. So far I’ve mastered, “Hello”, “Good Morning”, “Thank you”, “How are you doing?” “I am fine”, and “I am your father”. The last one I haven’t used publicly yet.

At the first weekend’s banquet there were 8 new faces from the school’s administration and Ted my translator. After a week of being in school I am starting to sense the personalities behind the faces. Everyone has been very kind and helpful so far. The first week’s task was to give the teachers a survey about their experience in Montessori training, observe in each classroom, and come up with a plan for the first month. From the survey it became clear that the Montessori training programs here are quick certification courses, (something like 5 days of training). Still, the classrooms are beautiful and the teachers are very well experienced in working with young children, (the youngest head teacher has 18 years of teaching experience and the most mature has 31 years of experience).

 Next week I hope to work each morning in one of the classrooms as we continue to establish the all-famous ground rules of respecting oneself, respecting the materials, and respecting others. At the school there are 19 classrooms and 4 of them are mixed ages, (from 3-6), with Montessori materials. My primary focus is the 4 classrooms and the 12 teachers in them.

 At school we get breakfast and lunch. Our breakfast is exactly what the children get, but our lunches are different. According to Ted, the children get nicer lunches, but so far I have nothing to complain about concerning lunches. To give you an idea of the food, Wednesday’s breakfast was cream of wheat (porridge) cooked in chicken broth with a few peas and carrots, a slice of sesame bread, and three quail eggs. On Thursday it was fresh Chinese dumplings with a sausage filling in a cabbage broth. Friday’s end of the week treat consisted of black bean porridge, slices of pork liver, and hot Chinese rolls, (man ho). All of this was bursting with flavor. Most food here is cooked from fresh, unprocessed foods and there are very few if any processed sugars.

Although I noticed different palms and cycads here, I was a little sad to discover that Wuhan is not in a tropical climate. They have four seasons, (similar weather perhaps to North Georgia for my American friends), and there have been a few days of cold rain. Tuesday was sunny and Miami warm. Ted explained that it is a little autumn tiger. Similar to the expression of “Indian summer”, this implies that a few summer days are still left before autumn truly arrives. This weekend I will travel to Ted’s grandma’s home for lunch and his parent’s home for dinner in the Hanyang district of Wuhan. Supposedly this weekend will also unleash its autumn tiger. I’ll carry my umbrella just in case.