Work and Fun

School
This week I met for the first time, the junior computer majors, who haven't studied English before at university (47 students in one class). Generally their English is not very good; some are quite hard to understand and many don't know basic structures. Most have never talked to a native speaker before so they are also quite shy. I've been doing my same introductory lesson half a dozen times so I'm getting rather sick of it, but it works. Most of the students in this class do not have English names so they will have to choose ones by next week.

Names have been a source of amusement for me. Most names are common English ones, and some have translated their Chinese names or chosen names that sound somewhat like their Chinese names. Chinese people like nature so there are nature names such as Iris, Violet, Strawberry, Cherry, Seed, Park, Rainbow, Sunshine, and Sunny. One girl decided to name herself "Snow" on the day that it snowed which was February 26. It was the first time that it had snowed in Xi'an this year and kids especially were thrilled. Some other names are quite odd and very random: Symphony, Change, Once, Naples, Dare, Ellipsis, Bland, Fain, Echo, Eleven, and Shadow. They did an activity in which they asked each other how they had chosen their names. “Google” said because he knows everything. I took mug shots of the students so I can try to learn their names.

I have 3 preps, 6 different classes, and 12 hours a week. I finish at noon on Thursdays so I have a nice long weekend to go places.

There are big water dispensers all over the campus with both hot and cold water, and everyone here seems to prefer warm water. Students carry big colorful thermoses and also water bottles. One girl had a bunch of flowers floating around in her water bottle, I asked how she drank without getting a mouthful of flowers and she showed me a small strainer at the top of the bottle under the lid.

Breakfast consists of deep fried bread, steamed buns, and filled buns. There are bunches of salads with veggies, tofu, seaweed, and noodles, which I'm trying to get used to, hardboiled eggs, and several kinds of soup or porridge, none of which taste of anything. No tea, but now I can make my own from the hot water dispenser in my office. For lunch there are more veggies, rice, and chunks of meat or fish. The first class starts at 8:30 and carnival music plays 10 minutes before, then bells for the beginning and end of each class. I have a very nice desk and chair in a lovely spacious office with three other English teachers including, Jean, the woman who works for the U of Nebraska. We get along well, and I think we will become good friends. She taught in China in the 90's and also in Vietnam and New Zealand. There's a radiator in the office so it's very comfortable. I just got a computer, but it's all in Chinese so they are going to change the operating system to an English one.

Everyone carries little packages of tissue, which serve multiple purposes: nose blowing, toilet paper and napkins. Public toilets are everywhere and are generally quite clean. All public toilets and the ones at school are squat toilets so I figure they're good for building leg muscles.

Parks
The park where I walk in the afternoon serves another function in the mornings; it is the community center for the elderly. At the moment in the winter, it is very busy from 8:00-10:00, but in the summer people come earlier since it is hot. There are hundreds of people participating in different activities. Mostly Tai Chi, but also a kind of Tai Chi with swords, exercise dancing, even ballroom dancing. Men play with tops on cords, fly kites, and a group of people sings and a few play musical instruments to accompany them. Music is everywhere blasting away. Birdcages are hung in trees so the birds have an outing with fresh air. People walk backwards for balance and to use different muscles. (Now when I walk the track at the university, I do one lap backwards!) There is also playground equipment used for stretching, strengthening, and giving ones self a massage. (Even in my neighborhood there is adult equipment that people use.) Others play badminton and then a kind of racket and ball game where people hit a ball back and forth with great finesse.

On Saturday I had lunch with a Chinese friend of a friend, the director of Global Volunteers, and she told me I could walk home from downtown in less than an hour. I walked along the city wall for a while and then home. The wall, in its present form, with a moat around it, is from 1568. It encircles the downtown area (14 km.) It was a beautiful sunny day and lots of people were out, playing ping-pong, badminton, card games, singing and playing musical instruments. Lots of people were using playground equipment. There was also someone doing calligraphy with water on the pavement. My favorite park close to home was filled with parents, kids and young people. There is an amusement park area that was busy, and people were out on the small lake in paddleboats. It was noisy with music blasting, lots of vendors selling junk, mainly for kids, and food vendors right outside the park gates selling lots of goodies.

Food on sticks is popular because there is so much street food: pineapple, fruit, such as strawberries, and hawthorns lined up on a stick and then dipped in a sugar syrup, hot dogs, shish kabobs of meat, vegetables, or seafood (all the same kind on one stick), and a specialty in the Muslim Quarter called Eight-Treasures Pudding which consists of glutinous rice rounds dipped in chocolate, sugar, peanuts, and sesame (not sure what the other four“ treasures” are). It was interesting.

So life in Xi'an is good. I'm getting organized and am figuring out routines. Yesterday there was a blue sky, maybe the first time because it's usually grey with clouds and smog. It actually felt like spring since the temperature was in the 50's and the sun was bright. Women were even selling ice cream.