Two dinners in two days

Wednesday I ended up using Zeneta's bicycle to get to work. I will say it; I do not like her bicycle as much as mine. There are little differences and make the one I got a better choice for me. As it happens, the last time that her bicycle was ridden was by Suzanne, when the bicycle was purchased and brought home. There were two large, adjustable, issues. First, the seat was too low; the second has to do with something that seems to be a Chinese preference in bicycles. They seem to run with lower air pressure in the tires than I am used to. As I have stated, in general, they do not ride very fast. So, the tire pressure was, what I would consider to be, low when adjusted for 100Lb Suzanne, then it sat for a couple of weeks, then I got on it. I can assure you that the tires were very low.

I ended up going out and switching the chain from her bicycle, which she does not seem to use (the reason that she wanted it was so that if the rest of us decide to go somewhere by bicycle, she will not be left out), to mine. So, I am up and running again.

Wednesday evening, instead of going to class, I went to an office meeting of the English department. Zeneta, Collin and Bronee were also present; however, because they teach in a different college of the University, Michelle and Ken were not. Remember, a typical University, as in the United States, contains many colleges.

We found out three things, one was the correct name for the college that I am teaching at, Xinyang Normal University, Haurui College. The second was that we are going to be moved. It seems that the college has finished renovating a set of flats, that they own, and we will be moved into there. It appears that we are currently using flats that are owned by a different college. The third thing that I discovered was the Collin, Bronee, and I, are expected to, each, address the incoming freshmen class at a full college assembly on Sunday. If anyone can think of anything interesting or useful to say, I would be interested in hearing it.

We were also talking to one of the junior teachers in order to develop a better understanding of the local prices and wages. As a college graduate and teacher, she makes about 1100 Yuan per month with about a 5000 Yuan bonus per year (Sort of made me feel bad for having counted my salary in front of her a week before; however, she was the one that insisted that I count it after being paid). Rent typically runs from 85 to 200 Yuan. After hearing those numbers, Bronee than asked about how much our flats would rent for. We were told that they would rent for about 250 Yuan per month. Our flats are clearly considered premium accommodations.

After the meeting, where the Chinese English teachers translated for us, we went for a walk around the college. As I said, there is a library under construction; there is also another class building under construction. The other class building is scheduled to be completed in late October. When it is completed, I am under the impression that, we are to move in to it. We have been told that it will have full Internet, audio video, and projectors in every classroom. I have chosen to stick with my, usual, "I will wait and see," attitude; of course, visibly, I remain very optimistic. I did find it to be a bit funny; I asked how the buildings are heated. In response, I got a totally blank look from the teacher I was talking to, Leah. I asked her if that silence meant that the buildings are not heated. She smiled and nodded.

Ventilation in the classroom comes from two sources. The first is the time-honored method of opening the windows. The second is the overhead fans.

To describe the class buildings in a bit more detail, they are four to five floors tall. Each of the upper floors has about twelve classrooms. The lower floor is, almost, entirely administration and teachers rooms. There are no elevators. All movement is by stairs. There is a bell (and a loud one at that) on each floor. The typical classroom has about fifty to sixty chairs, which are attached to the floor, arranged behind a long desk that runs the length of the row. In the front is a raised area with a lectern and a chalkboard.

After our walk through the college campus, where we were shown where we were to speak, we began walking to dinner. The same driver, as had driven us to the meeting, found us and drove us to the restaurant. This was another very nice place on the university grounds. The university is a very large place and has several very nice restaurants. They are the type of places that, unless you know that they are there, you would never find.

The dinner itself was excellent. It was served on another of the tables with a rotation center. The rotating center is a great way of allowing everyone to get what they want without having to reach, or asking others to serve for them. Many of the young women, who work at the college, were invited and, of course, the Chinese had another of their rice wine (Sake) challenges through the constant toasting.

I was put in a bit of a situation when the president of the college came over and began talking to me about pollution and industrialization. My concern was that my words, when they made it through the interpreter, who was drunk, would still be as polite as I intended to be.

Shortly after that, Zeneta insisted on leaving. So, we ended up leaving the dinner early and walking back to our flat. I felt a bit awkward about the, obvious, social error of being the first to leave and leaving early. So, the next day I went and told several that were there that we had a very good time and that Zeneta had just not been feeling well, which she had also stated as she insisted on leaving.

The next day was a usual full schedule day with six sessions to teach. Zeneta went to the office and ordered some water along with doing some shopping. While at the office, Zeneta took pictures of several of the people in the foreign exchange department.

That afternoon I went to the Diagon Alley for lunch. The dumpling guy was there. So, I got dumplings and a pita sandwich and headed back to the flat.

My last class of the day had very few in it. And, only about four of them had seen the movie. However, I was able to get some volunteers to show the movies at lunchtime. This may make it possible for each movie to get two showings. This would allow all of the students to make it to at least one.

I ended up just summarizing the movie. Then we did a nursery rhyme; they seemed to like it. I ended the class with showing some of the pictures that I had on my iBook.

When I got back to the flat I discovered that the other teachers were planning a dinner out. I quickly stated that Zeneta and I would also be interested in going, after working a full day; I was not in the mood to cook. We went to a very nice, upstairs, place. The food was great and there was a lot of it.

Zhengzhou and back again

Saturday ended uneventfully. We showed the movie, "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves." The students enjoyed it; however, I wonder how much it really increased their knowledge of England and western culture. It did give us the opportunity to discuss King Richard and the Crusades.

On Sunday we began a new mini-adventure. Zeneta and I had to travel to the provincial capitol of Zhengzhou, about 400Km from Xinyang, where we are working.

The reason that we had to travel was to get our medical examinations. In order to receive our residency permits we, and all other people moving into the province, are required to take a medical examination. We still do not have the results from the examinations yet. The person who traveled to the examination center with us, Julia, remained behind in order to get them as soon as they are compiled.

We first took a taxi from the college to the train station, where Julia had already purchased tickets. She was a bit put out that we, soft westerners as we are, insisted on seats for the five-hour train ride. However, she did get us seat tickets. We were then admitted to the VIP lounge, on the very basis of being westerners and this allowed us to board the train first, when it arrived, assuring us of seats. It seems that, like everywhere else, they over sell the tickets and the people that cannot find seats, and are left standing or sitting on the floor, are refunded the difference, in cost, between a seat ticket and a standing ticket.

I spent the ride continuing to read, "The Dice Man." It is not a very good book and I do not recommend it. However, there are not many English books to read and I still have not located a charger for my palm pilot, which I use as an e-book reader. Zeneta was starring out the window; however, with the tree cover that is next to the train tracks, there was little to see. Our guide, Julia, sat, rather perturbed at the man next to her that insisted on encroaching into her space, and also stared out the window.

I am continued to be amazed at how good of cognition that their tracks are in. The ride is, consistently, smoother than trains in the U.S. even with the better suspension technology used in the U.S. rail cars. A couple of other things that I have noticed is that all of the rail ties are concrete. In addition, the entire track that I have traveled on, to this point, has been, at least, double track. This allows trains to pass without either needing to pull onto a siding, or even slowing significantly.

We arrived rather late and did not do much that night. We first tried to get a cab and found them to all be spoken for, so we walked over to KFC and got some take away for dinner, in the form of a meal bucket for about 53 Yuan, and then returned to search for a cab.

The cab took us directly to our hotel, which seemed to be near the center of the city. The hotel was undergoing renovation. As a result, I was not able to get any pictures of the outside. I did get some pictures of the room itself. I also tried to get some pictures of the bathroom. The room was a standard two-bed hotel room. The beds were both twin size, as they were at the hotel that we stayed in when we first arrived in Xinyang. The Air Conditioning unit was the same as is used in the rest of China, that we have seen so far, This was good as it was a rather hot night and we both wanted the AC turned on, and there was no need to ask how to use it. At the hotel we paid 300 Yuan for the night and were refunded one hundred and seventy Yuan the next morning.

The bath was a semi-wet bath. By this I mean that there is no real barrier, on the floor, between the shower area and the rest of the bath. As a result, when a shower is taken, the floor in the rest of the bathroom gets wet and drains through drains located throughout the bathroom.

We finished the KFC bucket; I am glad that I got a lot of food that night, as the next morning I was not to eat until my blood had been drawn. And then settled down with the expectation of a need to be up at six AM. As it turned out, I had understood Julia to have said that she would meet us at seven AM and what she had said was that she would call us at seven in order to insure that we were up, in order to meet at eight AM.

We then took a cab to the examination center. This time we got a sane cab driver, something that seems to be an exception in China; unfortunately, he did not know where we were going. To that was added a detour that interfered with access to where we needed to go. The detour was due to construction. I am constantly amazed by the amount of construction. Buildings are going up everywhere. Be it new office buildings, housing, roads, or expansions to factories; there is constant building. This was particularly noticeable in Zhengzhou where the skyline was constantly filled with construction cranes. Even on the campus where I work there is construction. There is a new library, a couple of class buildings, and another dorm that are all currently under construction.

We first went to a place where Julia made copies of our passports. Then came the examination.

We started by filling out several forms, many of which were, or seemed to be, exactly the same. We also attached copies of our photos to several of the forms. I am seeing why we were told to bring at least six passport photos, each, with us when we came to China.

Also at the examination center were other Chinese who had recently traveled outside of China, or were preparing to travel outside China, and some who had recently entered the providence. There is clearly a lot of concern for the spread of AIDS, and other diseases. There were also a number of military recruits, in uniform, there, receiving their induction physical.

The examination started with a blood draw. At that point we could eat if we had brought any food with us, so we munched on some M&Ms. After the blood draw I started to have my usual reaction, probably a result of my, very low, blood pressure. I will compliment the recruits for immediately seeing what was happening and making room for me to lie down on a couch in the hall where I could elevate my legs.

In a few moments I was fine and continued to the room where we were weighed and measured for height. Then, normally, would come the blood pressure and pulse check. However, with my having had a problem, they had us sit in the, yet another, VIP lounge, for several minutes. We then proceeded to the check where I was found to be at my usual 120/70 with a resting pulse of 52. While this was being done, the doctor listened to my heart and made some notes. We then went to an ECG, which was done quite quickly.

This was followed by a chest X-ray where I was expected to remove my shirt and undershirt; I will admit that the recruits had flatter bellies than I did. They did not request Zeneta to remove her shirt for this stage.

This was followed by a sonogram. The technician, in this stage, spoke reasonably good English. She reported that there was nothing unusual to report. The test then ended with the urine test.

In all, it went very quickly and had no real unusual tests. It was a reasonably through physical and was done very efficiently with us walking from one test station to the next. We paid in cash at the beginning of the examination. This was not a surprise as all business in China is done by cash.

The idea that all business is done by cash is, in itself, a bit of a surprise. There are no store courtesy cards, or any other method of tracking purchases or payments. Most of the shops do not even want to receive large bills for payment. This untraceability, in this modern age seems odd; where tracking people through purchases is possible, and common in the U.S. (after all, tracing parking tickets was how Son of Sam was caught) it is something that is, simply, not done in China. Even the offers, by the University, to hire Zeneta, which were refused, were presented as under-the-table arrangements.

After the examination we then took a cab to a very nice restaurant. The décor was fantastic and the tables were very private. The food was expensive, by local standards; however, it was no more than a meal at McDonald's would have been (yes, we did see a McDonald's in this town). I have included a few pictures of the restaurant and the couches we sat on there. I also included a picture of the bathroom. This is an excellent, and clean, example of the types of toilets that are available here, once you get out of the hotel rooms that have been modified to cater to westerners. I am still working on my balance (I have yet to fall… eww… yuck…).

We then began to head back to Xinyang. Instead of returning by train, the way we had come, we returned by bus. The reason for this decision was that there were no tickets left for seats on the train. The bus ride had several surprises. There was no VIP waiting room at this bus station, so we waited in the general waiting area. We were then boarded on the bus first and placed directly behind the driver.

This bus was very much like any, nice, intra-city, bus that you would find in the U.S. Zeneta commented that it was much nicer than the Greyhounds that she had ridden. There was a large screen in the front of the bus that showed movies that entire length of the trip. There was a second driver on the seat across the isle from us and the stewardess sat on a jump seat near the door.

The ride itself was a straight run from Zhengzhou to Xinyang with no scheduled stops. A couple of stops were made, along the freeway, to unload passengers. These stops went very quickly as the stewardess quickly unloaded their luggage form the lower storage area and the bus was quickly moving again. There was also one, almost stop, made to change drivers. I call it an almost stop because the bus did not stop. The driver simply slowed, put the bus in neutral and stepped out of the drivers seat and the other driver stepped in. The driver change went quite quickly and smoothly.

It was the road that surprised me. I did not expect an interstate highway of that quality. I was impressed by what I saw. I had first thought that the reason for the quality of the rail system was due to a decision to focus on quality rail instead of highways. What I saw was a highway that rivaled Interstate five, through the valley, at it's best. While the lanes were narrower, they were very well maintained there were three of them, a passing lane, a carriageway (driving lane, spelled, "darriage"), and a breakdown lane. The highways are toll roads with a ticket being given as one enters the highway, then the toll is paid upon exit. The bus we were on, and the heavy trucks, seemed to exit several times pay the road toll, and get right back on the highway. I believe that this was a form of time stamping. There were clearly more trucks and buses than automobiles, chauffeured Volkswagons' being very common here.

The speed limits were as follows: sedans 120Km/h, buses 100 Km/h, and trucks 80 Km/h, with a minimum speed of 60 Km/h. I saw two police vehicles on the entire 400 Km trip. One was a radar/photo van and the other was in a car, a Volkswagen Santana, (which is the same as a Quantum. It is a fairly popular large car here) ignoring the horn blowing death race that was going on around him. Other traffic rules that are clearly posted are prohibitions from driving while fatigued, talking on the cell phone while driving, dumping waste, and extended driving in the passing lane, the last one seemed to be regularly ignored except when passing in the breakdown lane (Yes, in a full size Bus). Yes, the signs were in English as well as Chinese.

I also noticed the lack of on/off ramps. The highway passed many villages that had no direct access to the highway. These villages had small roads going through them with one or sometimes two lanes. It appeared that the local, village, roads then connected to the highway at the major off ramps and rest areas. The rest areas, typically, had fuel, a market with food shops and housing for the staff. These were situated about every 100km.

When we arrived in Xinyang the stewardess insisted that she walk us to the cab zone and place us on a cab. I knew where we were and was interested in walking around for a while. However I did not want to appear unappreciative of the effort that she was making. So, we got in the cab, and even though she had already told the driver where to take us, I showed the driver the card for the University. He took us straight to the University and I was back in time to ride straight to the film showing that I had arranged with Collin. Collin had also covered for my class while I was gone.

The next day, Tuesday, about the only eventful thing that happened was that I broke the chain on my bicycle. I was going up a hill and Pop… pop… and then no pedal action and the chain was on the ground behind me. I will go back to the shop where I got the bike and see about a new chain, I think it should still be under warranty. I may see if it is possible to get a heaver chain. The only other possibility is to prepare myself for the purchase of a bike with a derailleur and selectable gears. They do exist, they are just not as common, and much more expensive. The only holdup on going back is that Susanne is the person that I need to go with, seeing as she was with me when I purchased the bicycle, and she has been working very long days lately.

PSB and missing class

Saturday, September 16, 2006

16 Sep 06 As I write this my neighbor Michelle, is playing Canadian band, Nickleback, loud enough for me to listen to. It is interesting. This apartment arrangement does have the effect of creating community. We do quite a bit with our neighbors; not only the westerners, but the others too. Yesterday we were assisted, for several hours, by the neighbor on the third floor. Yesterday was one of my slow days, I only have two classes on Friday, and both of them have an hour and a half of class time with a break in the middle. The first one is at 15:00 and the second is at 17:00. About 11:45 I was preparing to ride off in order to get something for lunch seeing as Zeneta was having some leftovers from the night before. I received a phone call from Mr. Lu, the administrator, asking me if I had any classes in the afternoon. Of course, I told him that I did, he then told me to wait by the phone. I got another call from him in just a couple of minutes. I was told that I needed to be in the office at 15:00. I pointed out to him that this conflicted with my class schedule. He told me to just tell them that I would not be there. This casual attitude that the administration has to the classes seems odd to many of us. Earlier the South African had been helping them, the administration, work on a poster and reached a point where he had to leave for class. As he got up to leave they asked where he was going; they seemed put off that he was going to leave them so he could go to class. In their mind, the poster was more important than the instructor being in class. I had also had an incident on the previous day, which I will relate, that also showed evidence of this odd attitude. The reason that I had to miss class was that Collin, Bronee, Zeneta, and myself all needed to go to the Public Security Bureau, (PSB). It had to do with obtaining our residency permits. It is essential that we receive these permits within thirty days of entering China. As it is, our visa is a single entry visa; this means that if we were to leave China we would have a hard time reentering. Once we are residents we will be able to come and go, from China as we please. Before I went to the meeting, I rode to my school and wrote a set of instructions, for the students, on the chalkboard. I also tried to inform the office of what was happening. However, the people in the office all clear out for lunch between 11:30 and15:00. This trip to the PSB was another exercise in, "hurry up and wait." We arrived a few minutes early, which surprised Mr. Lu. He commented, "oh' you are very timely!" The way that he made this comment made it clear the timeliness was not something that is generally expected. We then waited for the person who was to assist us at the PSB, Julia. She had to do some processing on our paperwork before we left. We were needed to be there in order to do things, such as sign the foreign expert documents. I also used this time to sign the official copy of my contract and to clarify the process by which I am to pay my utilities. It was then another suicide taxi ride across town. We took two cabs and were able to see Bronne, in the cab ahead of us, react as the cab she was in and a muni bus competed for the same space and time. The bus finally chickened; however, it was a close call. Or, it can be seen as just another cab ride. We then arrived at the first place, where Julia went inside and we sat in the cabs for about ten minutes. Then with no explanation, as to what that had been about, we hurried back across town to the PSB. When we got there we sat and waited. Julia had a form for me to sign and we gave her 400 Yuan, each, to give to the PSB for our paperwork, then we left there and walked a couple of blocks to the police photography department. Zeneta was surprised there because the photographer demanded that she pin up her hair and remove her glasses. The one that seemed odd was when they took Bronee's picture; they demanded that she remove her earrings. At that point we were done and we started walking to the Xiya supermarket. Xiya is the largest chain of supermarkets in the area; and, as I understand it, can be found throughout China. On the way there I saw the first thing that I was expecting to see in a communist country, a bread line. Of course, considering that it was free, I am not surprised that there was a line. Keep in mind that there are also a large number of bread shops. Of course, the bread shops are not free. In fact, bread seems to be kind of expensive. A loaf of bread is about five to six Yuan; or, about twice the cost of my usual lunch with two entrees. The bread here is also very sweet, I have yet to find any sourdough. Before going to the Supermarket, we made our once-a-week visit to KFC. It seems that Friday evening is the time that families with children show up there (and yes, there are a lot of children to be seen everywhere we go). Michelle and Zeneta had a good time trying to communicate with the children that came up to them. The staff there tried to shoo some of the children away, they were under the impression that the children were disturbing us. However, more children always came back. The day before this was a normal day at school. As I stated in the previous dispatch, I had intended to begin exposing the students to more Audio material in the form of radio programs. This was an utter and complete failure. The simple facts were that the students were not ready for such complex narratives, spoken at normal speeds. I only had one class before lunch; so, I had the lunch period to try to think of something to do with the time I had intended to spend with the radio program that would benefit the students. I decided to use rhymes. Michelle had a collection of sixty nursery rhymes. So, I borrowed a copy of those from her and planned to use them in class. I then rode off, as it was time to go. The first part of the class went fine with a review of the movie that we are watching. I had planned to use the rhymes after break. So, at break I set up the speakers and tried to test the rhymes. It was at that point that I realized that the rhymes were in windows media audio (WMA) format and I did not have a player to use that format. I was not able to download anything because the college is not set up of Internet access in the classrooms. Basically, plan and plan B had failed and the students were returning from break. It was time for the one shot secret weapon from my arsenal. It was time for Puff the Magic Dragon. That is right, I sang the chorus from Puff the Magic Dragon. I them played the song, and then I had the class sing the chorus as the song played a second time. The first time I sang the chorus I was obviously hesitant to sing in front of the class and when I finished the class applauded my attempt. In order to assist the students in the singing, I had written the words to the chorus on the board. I was caught a bit unprepared when some of the students asked for the rest of the words to the song. I didn't know them; however, I was able to tell the students that I would download the words and provide them at a later date. I have since converted the WMA to AAC, I have no trouble with AAC and MP3. I also worked out the process of the file conversion so that I will not have the trouble in the future. All I all, It seems that the song went over pretty well. The trouble is is teaching a class called Audio English and in providing them with material that is easy to comprehend. They have great vocabularies. However, they have never had the opportunity to listen to English speakers or to speak to a native English speaker and try to be understood. Today I, mostly, sat around the apartment and worked on this. I also added some pictures to the page, I hope you like them. I started reading, "The Dice Man," by Luke Rhinehart, it was in the pile of English books. I was told that the typical Chinese university has a large stock of older English books. That does not appear to be the case here. I also went with Zeneta to take come pictures around building, "One," on campus. I loaned my copy of, "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves," the one with Morgan Freeman, to another teacher. He is doing English Literature and is currently reading Robin Hood with his class. So, he is going to be showing the movie in the projection room (the class room with a projector). Some comments from the old blog site: Kalush Dad "This trip to the PSB was another exercise in, "hurry up and wait." We arrived a few minutes early, which surprised Mr. Lu. He commented, "oh' you are very timely!" The way that he made this comment made it clear the timeliness was not something that is generally expected. " The Chinese seem to tihink that anywhere with in 1/2 hour of the set is on time. That makes the thought of showing on time a little odd to them. Posted by Kalush on Sep 16, 2006 9:37 PM [Remove] [Reply to this] Robert Crawford Yes, I realize this. I muttered to Zeneta, a few moments later, "of course were on time, were Americans." You can be sure that Mr. Lu did not hear the comment. However, yes, it is a very differnet treating of time. The only thing that seems to be on time is the classes. This is because of the bell schedule and the trumpet/bugle schedule that is played over the loud speakers. I am pretty sure that if a person learned the different tunes that it would be possible to do without a watch or clock. Interestingly enough, this is sunday and I have not heard the trumpet/bugle yet today. Posted by Robert Crawford on Sep 17, 2006 8:16 AM [Remove] [Reply to this] Serena and the GGs GREAT picutres!! somehow I am suprise that it is so clean.. well I am suprised at everything you write since I don't know a thing to do with china. It is interesting if they are not usally on time then what do they think about the US when they come over here and we are all about time? Thanks for the post! Can't wait for the next one. Ohh and it is interesting about you missing class and them not really caring if you did or not. Thanks for the post Serena Posted by Serena and the GGs on Sep 17, 2006 1:10 AM [Remove] [Reply to this] Robert Crawford It is not so much this trip that the attitude about missing classes surprised me, it is another incident. This trip was essential. I must get my resident permit. I already have my forgien expert certificate (something like a H-1B), but I must get the residennce permit if I am to stay in the country more then thirty days. The class attitude incident that surprised me happened a day earler. It was class break and I was setting up my speakers for the song. Julia, the administrator who is my office comtact, showed up. She wanted to tell me that the President of Mc Quary College, where I teach, wanted to have a meeting and a meal with the english teachers at 17:00 next Wednsday. I pointed out that I had classes at that hour. She just shrugged and said, "give them some exercises or something." Considering that I can not copy off worksheets, or anything else, the, "or something," is limited to what I can fit on a blackboard. It just shows a strange attitude to the classes. It is no wonder that not all of my students show up for class. Posted by Robert Crawford on Sep 17, 2006 8:30 AM [Remove] [Reply to this] Johnny WOW, this is a change, I'd be partying (as a Student) if my english teacher were missing every few days ;) it';s great to read your Blog.. Posted by Johnny on Sep 18, 2006 8:20 AM