January 16th, 2007 Posted in Letters Home from China | No Comments » Friday, October 9, 2004
Richard and I have had so muchgoing on this week. First off, at the beginning of the week we had MidMoon Day. During the three-hour lunch break (which we have everyday) onthat day, we had a party with everyone in the company we work with. Wemade dumplings to eat, and had a large feast. It seemed like everyonegave us moon cakes. That night, we went to the park with some friends.We thought there would be some kind of celebration. But there were nofireworks or anything, we just hung out at the park. One of ourAmerican friends brought a guitar to play. After he started playing, wequickly had a whole crowd around listening. It was pretty funny becausethey all just wanted to hear the white man play. Richard thinks weshould put a band together and charge people to hear us play. Even ifwe only knew one song, people would probably gladly come because theylove anything American.
The fact that Chinese loveAmericans and anything American is pretty apparent around here. We havehad several people ask to take pictures with us. Since they don’t knowany English, at first we thought they were asking us to take a picturefor them. But we soon learned that everyone wants pictures with theAmericans. I am not sure why, I guess it is because we are sodifferent. I have never been so flattered as I am here. People tell meon a daily basis I’m beautiful. They especially like my eyes. I haveeven had someone ask me if my eyelashes are fake, they just can’tbelieve how long they are. Not everything is good though. I have had afew children tell me in English that my nose is very long or verypointy. I just tell them they have a very short nose. All the Chinesepeople have small noses and black eyes and hair. Richard showed hisstudents some of the pictures from Ginny’s wedding the other day inclass to teach family relations and they were in awe. They loved howour nieces and nephews have such blue eyes. The picture on our websitewith Robby and Jennie’s kids in the carriage shows Autumn’s blue eyesreally well (I think it is called “SavannahAndrewAutumn” under thefamily folder). Richard showed that picture on the overhead in class.When the picture can up the students were breathless, then they startedsaying “Such pretty eyes”. They just love American features.
From October 1 to October 8 was a national holiday for national day. We only had the 1st through the 5thoff though because we had to make Saturday and Sunday classes up thatwere missed during the holiday. The first two days off, we took avacation with other teachers to Wutai, which is a mountain range wherethere are many Buddhist temples. Wutai is actually one of the four bestBuddhist temple sites to visit in China.We took a bus there with some other people; which was actually quiteinteresting. There were some Buddhist monks on our bus that weretraveling to Wutai to live. We also had a tour guide who directedseveral games on the trip and talked a lot in Chinese about thehistorical significance of where we were going. We did not realize atfirst that she was the tour guide. We just thought she was theself-appointed entertainer and wondered why she thought she always hadto be at the microphone.
Much of our trip was spent onwinding mountain roads that seemed to climb endlessly higher. At onepoint along the trip we had to stop because somehow there was aheavy-duty coal truck across the road. On one side of the road therewas a large cliff, on the other side was about eight feet of levelground before the mountain continued upward. I am not sure how thedriver got himself into such a predicament because the only problemwith his car was that the battery was dead. While we sat in our buswaiting for something to be done we saw several cars squeeze around thetruck on either side. For a minute, it looked like our crazy driver wasgoing to try to go around on the side by the cliff. If he had done so,I would have gotten out to walk around the accident, it was too close.So anyway, the battery had gone out on the truck, but someone decidedit would be a good time to jack the car up and change a tire. SometimesI wonder about the logic. If a wheel was not off of the truck, the menstanding around could have just pushed it to the side of the roadopposite the cliff. Finally they did put the wheel back on the truckand jumped it so we were able to get around it. As we continued toclimb up the mountain, I looked down and saw that somehow the truck wasback across the road with people standing all around it, and a line ofcars was waiting for the truck to once again be moved.
Thetrip was very fun, but for Richard it was also very frustrating. Wefried the battery charger for our camera before the trip, so we boughtregular batteries for our camera to use until we could get another one.We did not realize that even though many good companies make theirbatteries in China,the batteries that are made FOR China are worthless. We bought abouttwenty-six batteries over the course of the trip and none of themworked. We even bought some Toshiba batteries because we recognized thebrand and thought at least they would work, but no, they were just somerandom cheap batteries with the Toshiba brand on them. We have a newbattery charger now that works great, but unfortunately, we don’t havemany pictures from our trip. Luckily, some nice people that went withus took pictures for us so we do have some.
The temples were reallyinteresting to see. There were several temples, but they were all verysimilar. They each had one or more courtyards with indoor shrines oneach side where there were gaudy statues made of gold, ivory, or otherfine materials. Each shrine had at least three gods in it and some hadanywhere from twenty to fifty protectors for the gods. People who wereeither superstitious or of the Buddhist faith bowed three times beforeeach god while burning sticks of incense. At each place theyworshipped, they were expected to give money to the gods equal to theamount of benefit they wanted to receive. For example, when they bowedto the god of talents, if they gave a little money he might help they alittle with one talent. If they gave generously, the god mightstrengthen their talents and bless them with added talents.
Most of the people in Chinaare not religious; they are just superstitious. They bow to the godsand give them money just in case they are real. At one of the templesthey also had a place where you could give food or drink to the gods asan offering. We saw some food such as apples and bananas, and tons andtons of Pepsi. It was pretty funny to see all the Pepsi given to thegods. Western culture really does have a big affect all around theworld.
Allthe temples also had an alter outside where you could burn incense tothe gods. People paid a ton of money to buy the incense to burn. I feltbad for some of the people here. They make so little money, and yetthey give so much money to these temples. Our cook, Mrs. Lee, who has adaughter and probably only makes 1000 Yuan a month, was very generousthroughout our trip. I think she really is religious and believes inthe Buddhist gods.
Atsome of the temples, the monks seemed greedy. On the way home from ourtrip, we stopped at one secluded temple where all the most honoredmonks go to sit in seclusion for years to meditate. I should mentionthat at this temple, several motorcycles belonging to the monks wereparked outside. One monk took our group through the temple. At eachshrine, he told our group about the gods there and told them to paymoney for the blessings they offer. At one point he explained how ifthey bought the large sticks of incense, which were branches wrapped indecorative paper, to burn to the gods they would be given protectionand good luck. The branches they sold were anywhere from 200 to 300hundred Yuan a piece. Some of the people in our group did in fact buythese sticks to burn to the gods. For people who only make 1000 Yuan amonth, which is hard to live on, this was a great sacrifice. To giveyou an idea, to rent an apartment costs at least 500 Yuan a month, anda person who makes 1000 Yuan a month has a hard time affording theirown apartment.
Themonk then took our group to a room where none of the Canadians orAmericans were allowed since we are Christians. There he told thepeople in our group that if they wanted their own guardian angles toprotect them, and if they really wanted good luck and protection theyhad to pay another 100 Yuan for a sticker that would be burned at thealter to the gods. 10 people in our group bought the sticker, but some,like Mrs. Lee were out of money because they had already given sogenerously throughout the trip. I wonder what they thought at that timewhen they were told that all the money they spent so far would not bevery useful because they were not able to give in the sacred room.Richard and I think a good business idea would be to have people pay uslike that and we will guard them ourselves. Mrs. Lee probably spent herlife savings on the trip. I think it is a good thing people here don’thave credit cards or some of them would probably be paying for the tripfor a long time to come as well.
Eventhough we do not believe in the Buddhist faith, Richard and I agreethat we think people like Mrs. Lee will be blessed in heaven for theirgenerosity and for trying to be faithful even though they do not havethe gospel in their lives. If they knew about Jesus Christ, many wouldlikely accept him as their savior and be as dedicated to following himas they are to their gods now. It will surely be a blessing to thepeople here when their country opens up to freedom of religion, andwhen Christian religious are given permission to teach.
Onefun experience we had on the trip was riding mules up to a temple onthe side of a mountain. There were over a thousand steps that led up tothe temple, but we decided riding mules would be more exciting. All theAmericans and Canadians rode the mules. There were five of us. My mulewas leading the pack up the side of the mountain, and was doing a greatjob, but one of the guides did not think he was going fast enough so hekept throwing rocks at him. The mule would jump a little when he washit and speed up. I, of course, was a little scared that rocks wereflying at us, particularly because the mountain was steep, and I didnot want my mule getting spooked. I just kept patting his neck andtelling him “Good Boy”. Regardless, we did make it up safely.
Richardand his mule were right behind me. With every step he took Richard’smule passed gas loudly. It was pretty funny because all the peoplebehind him were complaining about the smell. I was glad to be in front.At several points up the mountain people sold corn to feed the mules.None of us bought any, but we laughed about it because our mules didnot need any corn in the middle of the trip, especially Richard’s mule.How did they expect to sell corn to us when Richard’s mule hadapparently had plenty to eat? Maybe we would have bought some at thetop of the mountain when our trip was over, but no one was there tosell to us then. Someone needs to help these people with theirmarketing strategies.
Atthe top of the mountain, the local news channel was interviewing peopleabout their experience at Wutai. So of course they interviewed Richardand me. They also filmed us talking with our friends. We thought itwould be nice to get a copy of the news with us on it, so we paid themto send us a copy. Hopefully we will get that soon to be able to sharewith everyone back home. Oh, that reminds me. The Shanxi Province Newsrecorded me teaching last week and interviewed some of my students forthe news. We are supposed to get a copy of that as well.
Theother day at the market, we saw someone trying to sell two puppies onthe street. They looked so cute, and we just couldn’t resist, so webought them. The man was asking 80 Yuan for one puppy but Nick talkedhim down to 50 Yuan for both of them. That means they were less thanthree American dollars apiece. They are supposedly brothers, but theylook so different so they are probably mutts or not related. We namedthem Ping and Pong. When we first brought them home we realized theyhad worms, so we had to take them to the vet. We were amazed at howcheap it was. The vet only cost 6 Yuan for the medicine; which is lessthan a taxi ride, so while we were there we bought some food, leashes,a bed, and some other things. Since it was so inexpensive to go therewe did not mind buying a few things even if they were a littleoverpriced to keep a place like that in business. The puppies were sickbefore we took them to the vet, but now they are doing great and theirworms are gone. We are still being cautious until we are sure thoughbecause we don’t want to catch anything.
Wehave decided the puppies seem too young to be away from their mother.They are probably only one month old. They sleep all the time andrequire a lot of attention. They follow us around and always want to benear us. Sometimes they sleep in my shoes or lay on my feet. I thinkthey think I am their mom. Ping is the crazy one. He is very smart andhas a lot of energy. This morning we trapped them in small area to goto the bathroom and he was not happy. He started climbing on Pong’sback so he could climb over the barrier we had made. If we had notcaught him in time he would have probably made it. Pong is our cuddlyone. He almost seems more like a cat. He just wants to be held. He ispretty calm, and when Ping starts biting him or picking on him, he justsits there like it is no big deal. Pong is fun to hold because he justmolds to you.
Aswe were warned before we came, the government here is very whimsical.Over the holiday, they decided that school would now end at 4:00instead of six and that no classes could be offered in school thatparents had to pay extra for. That means our English program is out.Our classes are going to start right after school instead startingtoday from 4:30 to 6:30. So now we will only have two classes a dayinstead of four. This decision means a big change for the company weteach for. Students will only have half as many English classes now, soour company is trying to work out how to cope with the change. It willbe interesting to see how things work out. This change is also hard forthe parents. There are no after school programs or day cares for thekids to go to after school since there has not been a need for them inthe past, and most parents work until 6:00. If this sort of changehappened in America, there would be more than a couple days notice ofthe change, and the new policy would probably start at the beginning ofa new school year. My, how things are different in China.
Richardbought a bike today and rode it to school to pick me up. He brought thepuppies with him in the front basket, but decided that was probably notthe best idea because the puppies were scared to death. It is actuallya pretty nice bike. On the way home we all rode on it. The bike has aledge on the back for a second person to sit sidesaddle. I bet we wouldlook pretty funny on our bike to Americans. Richard was pedaling andhad a backpack on with a laptop inside. I was riding on the backholding our two puppies in my purse. I put them in my purse instead ofthe basket because it was chilly outside and because the ride issmoother. So anyway, I was sitting on the back with two puppies pokingtheir heads out of my purse. Here in China we look perfectly normaltraveling this way. The only reason people stare is because we arewhite.
Ihave checked on a few facts about China. Here they are. People in thecountry are allowed to have only one child, unless the first is a girl.If their first child is a girl they can have one more. After that,regardless of whether they have had a boy or not, they cannot have anymore children. In the city, only one child is allowed per familyperiod. If a person breaks the law and has more children than they aresupported to, they are punished either by heavy fines, losing theirjob, or imprisonment, depending on the situation. I have asked severalpeople what they think about the family laws. The most common responseI get is that they don’t like the laws, but that is just the way it is.Some even think it is necessary. There is plenty of land to live on inChina. That is evident when driving through the small towns in thecountryside. But most people want to live in the city because the valueof life is better.
Well,that is about all that is going on right now. Each time I write I thinkI have written all I possibly can and that I will have nothing to writethe next week. But somehow, I always have a ton to say every week. Ihope our letters are not overdone. We love y’all.
Love,
Richard and Lisa
