Random Thoughts About Living In China

During the spring semester of 2012, I taught at Sias University in Henan Province, China.


Here are some of my random thoughts about things I experienced in China:

• I played a John Hyatt song for my students and one of them said to me, “Oh, you like crazy music?”
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• Emily told me that she doesn’t want to have a baby boy.  When she gets pregnant, she wants a baby girl.
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• When I stayed in Beijing, I paid $20/night for a hotel and I thought that was a great deal. Then the next time I stayed in a hotel, with another person, we paid $10/night each. Then I stayed in another hotel with two other people and we paid $7.50 each.  Last night I stayed in a hotel and it cost us about $4.50 each.  I think I have reached the bottom of what I will pay and tolerate in hotel accommodations.
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• According to a story I read in China Daily (March 30, 2012), the average price for a license plate for a car this year is 58,000 Yuan (about $8500), almost half the price of a new car.
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• I also read that the birth sex ratio is 117 males for every 100 females.
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• I spent the day with medical students today and they complete their medical training through a five year college program.
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• I visited a section in Zhengzhou where there are 10 universities in one area and about 200,000 are enrolled in these schools. All of these students have access to hot water between 6PM and 8PM only.  They wait in line with their big two liter thermos and fill their thermos and lug them up to their dorm rooms.  That is their hot water supply until the next day.
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• For some reason, the women get their men to carry their purses.
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• Most people in China are atheist.  And I have never heard so much discussion about integrity, honesty and goodwill as I have from the Chinese people that I have met.  They are very principled and it is very important to them to be honorable.
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• There is a law that does not allow the dead to be buried.  They have to be cremated because farm land has become too valuable so no land can be wasted.
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• My students think the Dali Lhama is a despicable person who is manipulating the world into believing that he is a man of peace, when in fact, he is a made of war and is trying to engage China in war.
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• We just finished two days of sports competitions.  All classes were cancelled and we had an opening ceremony, similar to the Olympics.  The school band first played the Chinese national anthem and then they played the USA anthem for the foreign teachers.  My students wanted to know why we cheered at the end of the song.
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• The school’s cheerleading squad has 200 members but they never cheer at any events. They did perform for the opening ceremonies and they took up the entire field.
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• One of my students told me that she learned in her history class that Gorbachev is in exile in the US because of his role in bringing down Communism in the USSR.  He is portrayed by the Chinese government as cowardly and an enemy of China and communism.
• When people sneeze in Chinese, no one says “God bless you.”
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• Most days, I don’t spend any money and when I do spend money, it’s only about $1.
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• One evening, around dusk, I went to turn the light on in my classroom.  Then I realized that the light was already on.
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• Key changed her name to Kay this week. Sun changed her name to Vita. I told the students that they are not allowed to change their names anymore while I am here.
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• There are some universal expressions used on campus; “it is a pity” is a popular expression.
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• The Chinese language has sounds that I have never heard before.  So when I walk though campus, I don’t hear words, just unrecognizable sounds.  One day, I was walking with my student and she said to me, “Do you know that man?”  “No”, I told her.  “Oh, he just said hello to you and you didn’t answer him.” My own language isn’t registering with me at times.
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• My students only know two worlds: China and the USA.  They have a slight bit of information about London and Germany.  But they never heard of Cambodia, Viet Nam, Laos, Burma, South America or Canada.
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• My student asked me if I owned a gun.  It is her impression that every American owns a gun and she can’t understand why we need guns.
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• My students tell me on a regular basis that they want to travel the world, just like me.  I ask them where they want to go.  They want to go to the US and Tibet.
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• We have a three day holiday this week for Tomb Sweeping Day.  Students go home to their families and honor the dead.  But in order to take this holiday, we have to make up all of our classes on Saturday and Sunday.
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• On any evening, students may be summoned to a class meeting at the whim of the class monitor.
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• The foreign faculty makes $5000/year.
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• Most of the employees in the university live in the dorm.  The foreign faculty dorm is filled with small apartments.  The Chinese faculty lives in the student dorms with the three bunk beds.  They don’t have six to a room.  They usually only have two adults to a room.  But the three bunk beds stay in the room.
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• There is a shopping mall near campus and it is named DENNIS.
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• The students address the Chinese professors as “Teacher” and they address the foreign faculty (AKA- The Americans) by their first name.
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• Middle school education was just recently mandated throughout the country.  But many of the farm children still do not go to middle school.
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• I still can’t get used to having people laugh when they see me.  Many times it is the first time they have ever seen a foreigner. Yesterday, while I was waiting for the train, I had to pose with multiple babies which made me very uncomfortable.  They all have those jumpsuits with the slits in the crouch so they can just eliminate when they want.  This saves a small fortune on diapers and solid waste.  Anyway, one baby wasn’t cooperating and crying and taking way too long.  He finally posed to his mother’s satisfaction and he didn’t wet me so I survived.
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• I was sitting on a stool, getting my shoes polished when one of my students came by.  She told me the shoe polisher wanted to ask me many questions.  I told her to go ahead.  My student translated and the woman giggled and told my student, “I don’t know what to ask?’
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• There is an abundance of foreign faculty who are conservative Christians on this campus.  I was told that Sias University purposely recruited this faculty group because the labor was cheap.  But it did not make sense to me.  Why would an atheist government recruit evangelicals?  But today at lunch, one Christian woman told me that the evangelical colleges in the USA promote opportunities for their graduates to teach in China as sort of a missionary calling.  It is her belief that the communist government looks the other way because the “spiritual people” do a much better job than the nonspiritual people.  She believes the spiritual people are more interested in the education of their students.  And the first step to enlightenment is education.
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• Tuition and board at Sias University costs each student about $1200/year which is three times more expensive than other universities in China.
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• I wandered in to an apartment complex that had several Ma Jong tables and they were all electronic.  So the players shove their Ma Jong tile into this hole in the middle of the table and then push a button and the blocks emerge from the bottom, all lined up and looking like the Great Wall of China.
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• Many Chinese people do not age well.  Years of harsh exposure to the sun ages they and many have faces as wrinkled as prunes.  So there is an expression often used to complement an older woman:  “I think you must have been beautiful when you were younger.”
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• One of the foreign faculty is a history buff and a photographer.  He has photographed over 57,000 photos of the ancient world. (www.garyleetodd.com)
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• One of the foreign faculty (from Ohio) has 7 children and they all practice Kung Fu. They performed at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
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• Every freshmen student has to take military training and they march around campus every day.
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• Some of the toilet facilities accommodate men and women together. And this only adds to my stress of using squat toilets.
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• The foreign faculty is forbidden to talk to the students about religion. The foreign faculty holds a religious service on Sunday nights and the students are forbidden to come to the faculty dorm at that time.
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• The foreign faculty were allowed to reschedule their classes on Thanksgiving Day and they were allowed to cook a tradition meal together.  However, it was a little hard to find turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin, and various other traditional foods.
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• Three forbidden topics:  Tibet, Taiwan, and religion.   And any discussion about Tienanmen Square is so forbidden that it is not even on the list of forbidden topics.
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• The Communist Party Secretary has an office right in the administration office.
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• This university is affiliated with Fort Hayes University in Kansas which is mostly an on-line college.  Several of the Sias students go there for graduate school, looking for the ultimate study abroad program.  I wonder if they are disappointed when they step off that plane and see the great expansion of the mid-west farm lands.
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• There isn't quite the police force here in my city as there is in Beijing.  But I do see video cameras in very odd places.
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• The campus is designed to represent the world. So we have Italian Square, German Street, French Street, Moscow Square and the castle.  Sometimes I feel as if I am walking around Disneyland.  Feel free to take a look at their website (www.siasuniversity.cn) but I have to throw out a little disclaimer, all of the photos have been greatly enhanced through Photoshop.  I am not on the campus that is displayed through the photos.
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• The president of the university built himself a huge mansion.  It reminds me of Monticello.  And it stays empty most of the time since he spends most of his time in California.  But when he is on campus, he stays in the dorm with us.  He stays at the end of my hallway and sneaks in and out through the back stairway.
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• Every student on this campus is learning English.  That’s 24,000 students saying hello to me every day.
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• When I walk the streets, the local people stare at me.  Sometimes, parents and grandparents will bring their children over to me to shake their hands because they have never seen a foreigner before and they want to talk with me. And when I open my mouth and speak in English, they laugh hysterically, as if my sounds are the funniest sounds they have ever heard.
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• The longer I am in China, the worse I am getting with my chopsticks.  Today I tried to use  them and I was so awkward. It felt as if it was the first time I had used chopsticks.
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• I was standing on a corner, watching an old woman collect plastic bottles from pedestrians.  I quickly took her picture and in the process, caught her attention. She came over and said something in a loud voice.  I thought she was annoyed with me.  But she wanted to tell me that I come from “a wonderful country”.  A long time ago, she met an American and he was polite to her so she thinks we are all polite.  She stared at me a little bit, checked me up and down, laughed to herself and then went back to her task.   She gets 1 yuan for every 10 bottles she collects.  So she gets 10 Yuan for every 100 bottles and that is about $1.75.  She told me she collects about 30 bottles a day. So she makes about 50 cents a day.  She is 80 and this is her daily income.  The government sends her 10 Yuan a month .
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• Today, one of my students noticed that I had blue eyes so she came right up to me to take a closer look.  We were just about nose to nose and I was a little uncomfortable with my lack of personal space.  And when she moved away, I saw that a line had formed and the other 8 students wanted to have a look as well.
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• There is a new building going up right next to my dorm.  Workers have been working from 630Am to 700PM, seven days a week for the entire time I have been here.  They must be behind schedule because last night, around 2:00AM, I heard a car outside.  It woke me up and I got up to see what was going on.  The car drove right in to the construction site and six adults got out of this small car.  Three of them were women and they were holding small children, swaddled in blankets.  They placed the children down on the ground in a corner of the exposed building and the six adults went to work, the front lights of the car serving as their only source of light.
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• A student offered me some food from her plastic bag.  “It is delicious”, she tells me. When I looked it, it was filled with fried chicken feet.  NO THANKS.
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• I had a wool jacket tailor made for me- $40.
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• We were in a hot pot restaurant and food just kept coming to our table.  A jelled block of something brick color arrived.  I asked what it was.  “Goat blood. It is delicious.
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• Selia met a man from Poland.  “Have you ever heard of Poland?” she asked me. I told her a little bit about Poland and she told me, “I think I have to teach myself about the world”.
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• I am at the airport, waiting to go home.  Our flight is delayed so tea is served to everyone.

Sunday Afternoon at the Beach- Jacmel, Haiti

Sunday, July 28, 2013- Jacmel, Haiti- We go to the beach for dinner on a late Sunday afternoon.  For the first time, I see the middle class, people who have expendable income.  There are over a 1000 of them, in the water, wandering around or sitting at tables.  Hundreds of people are romping in the water.  Small boys hold hands and safeguard each other from the tides and undertow. People are in bikinis and swim trucks.  I am the only one in long sleeves, worrying about sun burn.

The beach is a walking market. Men weave in and out of the crowds with steam pots.  For 50 cents, they will sell conch on a cup.  Five pieces and hot sauce just hit the spot on this breezy afternoon. Little girls pester us to buy chicklets and lollipops. A man sells beads for women’s cornrows.  Whiskey tables line the beach.  For another 50 cents, small boys chop open the top of a coconut with their large machetes.  Cool coconut milk runs down my chin and neck as I try in vain not to spill a single drop.

Some people have brought their portable audio systems speakers with them.  Adele sings “Rolling in the Deep” to all of us.  Couples are kissing.  We sit at one of the rickety old tables, lining the beach.  We order fish and beers.  For $3, a whole grilled fish is brought to each of us.  Lips, eyeballs, tails, bones and all are picked through.  We spit the bones on the gravel beach.  When we are finished eating, our waitress throws out plates, forks, bottle tops, fish bones and napkins on the beach. Shamelessly and heartbreakingly, the high tide will sweep this beautiful area clean. 

The sun sets but not the presence of the moment.  The breeze makes this oasis so desirable.  When it gets too dark to see, we leave and head back to the stale, heavy heat of the city.
For more stories about my time in Haiti, please of to Bridgetkellyinhaiti.blogspot.com

Sonia

It’s the first day of our Women’s Empowerment Group. There are about 30 of us cramped in the dark room. We are in the middle of introducing ourselves when she saunters in, interrupts us, turns her back to us and shakes her abundant rear end  with a confidence.  She announces that she has arrived.  Some women clap. She takes her seat and we continue with our introductions.

So begins my first of many interactions with Sonia, the self-appointed know-it-all of the  group.  No matter what the topic, she has an opinion that is stated louder and more quickly than anyone else.  Her statements often shut down the conversation because the word has been spoken.

We ask the women what skills they want to learn while they are with us.  They want to learn sewing, crochet, jewelry making, sandal making, embroidery:  all skills I do not know. But Sonia knows how to sew.  So she teaches us how to make purses. She teaches us how to crochet.  She shows us how to embroider.

I find a pair of knitting needles and offer them to her.

“Too hard”, she tells Sophianna, my translator.

I give her an illustrated instruction book. She quickly dismisses me

“In English”, she abruptly tells Sophianna.  She uses a tone that clearly delivers a message to me, “Are you that stupid that you don’t even recognize your own language?”  I quickly show her the illustrations.  She looks for a minute but waves her big hand at me and dismisses the idea again.

At the end of the class, I see her discreetly tuck the book under her arm.  She saunters off with the rest of the group.

The next day, I see her, sitting under the shade tree, waiting for our group to start.  She is holding one knitting needle which dangles about 4 inches of product.  She taught herself  to knit with just one needle.  I get her attention and laugh at her.  She laughs back and proudly shows me her work.  She tells Sophianna she saw an illustration that only used one needle so she thought she would try it.

I ask her if this technique is faster than her crocheting.  She says it is much faster and more satisfying. I tell her it will go even faster with two needles.  She dismisses me and tells Sophianna, No, is too hard” and walks away from me.

Free Eyeglasses

This posting is one in a series of postings found in  bridgetkellyinhaiti.blogspot.com

Sunday, August 4, 2013- a ten year old comes to the medical clinic by herself.  A man with gangrene limped in, hoping we can save his foot.  A man with cancer tells us he is resigned to his fate so we do our best to alleviate his pain.  All of these incidents are heartbreaking and just reaffirm why we are here.  All of these patients are so grateful for our help.  But their gratitude is overshadowed this week because we are reaching a critical mass with another service.  The big draw this week:  we have reading glasses, lots and lots of reading glasses.  We have 350 pair to give away and the word is out.  Old people are walking miles just for a pair of our plastic reading glasses.  People are arriving to the compound on motorcycles.  Whole families are coming to get a pair.

As we fit one man, he begs, “For my wife?”  We have to tell him to bring her in so we can give her the correct magnification.  “Ok, for my brother?” is the next question.  Again, we tell them to bring family members in.  And the next day, five of them show up eager and grateful.

For more stories about my time in Haiti, please of to Bridgetkellyinhaiti.blogspot.com

The Chinese Health Clinic

The Student Health Clinic (China) 

Sias University

Henan Province, China

March 2012

I had to go to the student health clinic which is two small rooms right next to the noodle shop.  I just knew I had a sinus infection and I needed an antibiotic but I was alone and didn’t know how I was going to get what I wanted.  I walked in to a waiting room but no one was there.  So I found a woman slouched over a chair in another room. She seemed to be napping.  She looked like the cleaning woman so I was not too optimistic that she would know any English.  And I was right. When I began to speak to her, she just laughed at me.  I stood at the doorway, somewhat perplexed.  And then a college student and her mother approached me.

 “Hello,” she said.  “Do you need help?”

 “Yes, I need some help with translating, if I am not too much of a bother.”

 “No, it will be my honor to help you.”

So the young woman and her mother walked me back in to the clinic and began speaking to what I thought was the wash woman. This woman was the doctor.  Another doctor came in and he decided to attend to me.  He took my pulse and checked my breathing.  And my new college student friend asked me all about my phlegm and sneezing and aches and pains.  And as she interpreted for the doctor and me, the other doctor and the mother added their two cents.  The mother thought I would feel better if I had a scarf around my neck.  She then proceeded to get up from her seat and zip up my coat.  

The two doctors confirmed about something.  And then the one doctor told the young woman, "Tell her we will use Chinese ways.  The hot water will help her.”  Well, I was certainly hoping for a little bit more than that.  He then told her that I was sick.  I had an acute respiratory infection and a fever.  So he order three boxes of medicine and gave me my bill:  $5 for everything.  And a cup of coffee in Beijing cost $6.

Magdelena

July 12, 2013 

 As we enter the gates of the Salvation Army compound, she is there, swinging around one of the poles. She is in her own world. But as Lynn steps out of the truck, she stops and squeals with delight. She limps over, barefoot on the hot stones.  They embrace and Lynn tells me this little girl has been here for the last four years. She looks to be about 14.  There are some mental disabilities.  She is a mute.  She is missing her front tooth.  She walks with a pronounced limp.  She has a limp left hand that is useless.  It is a dead weight.  She drools.  She is dusty but not filthy.  She is an orphan under her sisters’ care.  I can only assume that men have taken advantage of her.  She is so vulnerable.

She has no boundaries.  She stands next to me and slips her hand around my waist.  She rests her head on my shoulder.  Her wiry hair brushes my cheek.  I don’t like this contact.  It is too hot and she is too dirty for my comfort.  I try to squeeze away from her but she tightens her grip.  So I am left with no other recourse but to use some force to free myself.

“It’s too hot", I announce to everyone in ear shot.  I try to justify my poor behavior.

“She’s pitiful, isn’t she?”  I tell Lynn.

“I’ve seen her grow up.  I think she is precious”  she responds.  With that, in the blazing sun, Lynn gives her a full body hug and Pitiful squeals with delight.  I walk away, ashamed of my callousness.

For the next week, Pitiful is constantly at my side.  I can’t get rid of her. She waits for me in the morning.  She joins me at the women’s group.  She sits next to me on the bench and rests her head on my lap.  When one of the translators barks at her to get off, she slithers down, right next to me and leans on my legs.  I can’t get rid of her.

Sometimes when she is resting against my leg, she takes her one good hand and rubs my ankles.  Her dirty, dry hand feels like an exfoliate rag.  She looks up at me and I squirt her with my water spray bottle.  She giggles with delight. Sometimes she extends her hand to me.  She wants me to squirt her again and again.  I do and she giggles with delight.

If I sit on any bench other than the one at the head of the classroom, she limps over and grabs my arm.  With determination, she leads me back to the seat she thinks is rightfully mine and mine only.

She rolls on the floor at other times, oblivious to people and her surroundings.  Then she crawls back to me.  The women ignore her.  Sometimes they bark at her.  Sometimes she crawls away from this barking. But mostly she ignores them and slides in to her own little world.

I discover that she loves to cut things with scissors.  So I find scraps of paper and scissors and instruct her to cut.  This occupies her time for a while.  When she is finished, she wants me to inspect her cuttings.

Beth, our nurse, comes to our group to give a talk on birthing.  Midway during her presentation, she turns to me and comments, “She is in my way.”  Pitiful is resting quietly on Beth’s feet.

“Yea”, I tell her, “She’s Pitiful.  You’ve heard me talk of her. She won’t go away.  Just ignore her.”

But Beth is too distracted by her.  She finds it hard to concentrate.  So we find some paper and I wave scissors in front of Pitiful and she crawls over to me. Beth is now able to continue.

Today, mid-morning, I notice that I haven’t seen her yet.  This is very usual. She is always here with us. Where could she be?

“Has anyone seen her today?”  I ask the translators.

“Who?” one of them replies.

“Precious, I don’t see her.  I hope she is alright.” With that, I spot her, off in the distance.  She is swinging on one of the poles, in her own little world.

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Monday, July 22- As I leave the beach and head back to the compound, I see her. She is hoppling as fast as she can to catch up to me. I slow down my pace. As she approaches me, Precious gently slides her hand in to mine. We are now walking hand in hand. I slow my pace again so that she does not have to struggle to keep up with me. I look at her and wonder what she is thinking.  As for me: I think I have finally found someone who walks slower than me.

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Tuesday, July 23- there is only one bathroom in the compound and it is in deplorable condition.  It is only cleaned every third day.  The toilet does not flush.  And it is in an enclosed room with no windows.  So the smell is hot and offensive.

Most days I do not even go near the room.  But some days I just have to go.  Today is one of those unfortunate days. The big metal door pushes in to the small, dark, smelly room.  The concrete floor has swelled enough that it is now impossible to close the door completely. It takes all of my effort to drag that door to just a crack of an opening.  As I am struggling to push the door shut, I see Precious approaching me.  She acknowledges me with a wave.

“No, no, no”, I shout to her through the crack in the door.  “Stay away.  Go away”! 

But she ignores my request and now I can feel her breath on my face.  She stands there, staring at me. And I realize that I have to surrender as I really have to go.  But then, just then, her thin, long fingers slither through the opening.  With all of her might she struggles, to pull the door even tighter as she attempts in vain to offer me just a bit more privacy,

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Monday, July 29- I finally found out what is Precious’s real name:  Magdalena.  One of the new volunteers asked Max what her name was. It seems so funny that she has another name.  And it also seems so funny that I never bothered to ask any of the translators what her name was.
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Thursday, August 1- Madi, our 13 year old volunteer, comes looking for me.  She has just witnessed some boys beating Magdalena with sticks.  She called to them to stop and they ran off.  And so did Magdalena.  Now Madi is trembling with sorrow.

“I can’t believe it.  What should we do”, she asks me as she is weeping.

“I don’t know”, I tell her truthfully.  How do we intervene on behalf of this poor, pathetic girl who is viewed as mad, an imbecile, a burden to the community?  She has no allies but us and we are leaving soon.  So what can we really do?

Madi and I find a place on the street to sit.  I rub her back as she attempts to calm down.  She speaks with sorrow of the injustice of it all. I am filled with sorrow for Magdalena and for Madi.  Both young girls now know just how cruel life can be.

“It isn’t fair.  Why can’t they just leave her alone?   She isn’t hurting anyone”, she cries in a meek, sad voice.  The injustice is just too much for her to bear.

“This is out of our control”, I tell her with too much defeat in my voice.  “It’s terrible but really what can we do?”  Madi is right but I too am at a loss as to what to do.  I have been on Haiti too long.  Surrendering to the injustices of the world is coming too easily for me.

Madi stopped them today but tomorrow is her last day in Haiti.  Who will intervene on Magdalena’s behalf tomorrow and the next day and the next day?

We sit in silence for a moment.    We decide to target a few boys in the neighborhood who seem to be leaders, boys with good character.  We seek them out. We get them to commit to stand up for Magdalena. We speak to them with an urgency to help us.  Several of them agree.  They will not only refrain from ever hitting her.  But they will intervene on her behalf if anyone else ever tries to beat her.

We then decide to approach the leader of our women’s group.  We will ask her to get these women to stand up for Magdalena.  I told Madi that I had already approached them earlier in the summer about being Magdalena’s advocate. Madi’s sweet voice and heartfelt request should surely solidify their commitment.

With our plan now implemented, Madi feels some relief, some control over this sad situation.  She is breathing a little easier.  As we sit and watch the rhythm of the neighborhood, Magdalena shows up out of nowhere.  She slides right next to Madi and leans on her. She puts her head on Madi’s lap.  Madi now rubs Magdalena’s back.

I suggest we go back the compound.  So we all get up.  Madi takes Magdalena hand and guides her back.  I slow down and linger behind them so that I can watch and enjoy this moment of sweet, innocent humanity.

For more stories about my time in Haiti, please of to Bridgetkellyinhaiti.blogspot.com

Darwin, Australia

Darwin, Australia

March 2015

On this last day in March, International Women's Month, I am drawn to this photo of two Aboriginals sleeping on the streets of Darwin, Australia. When I was in Darwin last month, I mentioned to a young waitress that I wanted to see how the Aboriginals lived. She laughed at me and said, "Just go out on the streets and you will see how they live." And she was right.

A few days later I am talking for a woman from Sydney.  She is a dentist who travels to different schools in the country.  Right now, she is spending a month in Alice Springs, offering services to aboriginal kids.  “They are very different. They have a different concept about money.  It isn’t important to them.” She tells me.  

“What is important to them?” I want to know.

“Their families and being together and being outdoors. They love to be outdoors”, she nods her head as she replies.

That statement answers my questions I have had since I arrived in Darwin.  In Darwin and now in Alice Springs, I have only seen them in packs of people, of all ages, gathered outside on the streets and in parks, just sitting and chatting with each other.