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Priscilla Wieck’s Column:   “Walk With Me”

My mom, Priscilla Wieck, has been writing a weekly column for our local Marshall newspaper for 3 months now.  She has entitled it “Walk with Me” because of her daily walks around our small town with Lao-lao (Old-old), our Chinese Sichuan earthquake rescue Chihuahua.  Her thoughts, observations or activities of the day or week are carefully considered on these treks about Marshall.  She then chooses some of those to share with others in a column.

Her essays include all sorts of musings but I will share this one with you, to be published next week.  It was brought about by Obama’s recent visit to Hiroshima and his eloquently worded address in the Peace Park at that time.  She began thinking upon the world we live in and this is a result of her ponderings.  Hope you enjoy!  It gives us all something to truly think deeply upon.

And from China, Ping An (Peace) to all who read this.

Walk With Me  by Priscilla Wieck (Marshall Advocate Newspaper, Marshall, IL)

A couple of weeks ago, this newspaper featured an article about a Muslim family from Martinsville that is giving presentations about the Muslim faith to help people understand that not all Muslims are terrorists. I hope you took the time to read that article. The following week, this paper published a perceptive and thoughtful letter to the editor written by Bob Nelson. Reading both of these, I was reminded of a word portrait of a global village that I had seen published several years ago.

It is good to be reminded once in a while that we, as Americans, are not alone on this planet.  There are other people from other countries with other religions and other ways of life that live here, too. So the following is a version of the Global Village. It is the most updated one I could find. Statistics are always changing and do not take into account the current refugee crisis.

A Global Village–If the World Were 100 People

50 would be female, 50 would be male

26 would be children, 74 would be adults of whom 8 would be 65 or older

60 would be Asians, 15 Africans, 14 from the Americas, 11 Europeans

33 would be Christians, 22 Muslims, 14 Hindus, 7 Buddhists, 12 of other religions, 12 with no     religious affiliation

12 would speak Chinese, 5 Spanish, 5 English, 3 Arabic, 3 Hindi, 3 Bengali, 3 Portuguese, 2 Russian, 2 Japanese and 62 would speak various other languages.

83 could read and write,17 could not

7 would have a college degree, 2 would own or share a computer

77 people would have a place to shelter them from the wind and rain, but 23 would not

1 would be dying of starvation, 15 would be undernourished, 21 would be overweight

87 would have access to safe drinking water, 13 would not

The main thought that comes to me when I think about this global village is that we share this planet with millions of others and we need to start start learning to get along with and understand each other if the human race is to survive.

After the second World War, we all had visions of a peaceful world. We sang songs like “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and “One World Built on A Firm Foundation.” We truly thought the world was so tired of war that we would all live together peacefully forever. We believed that if the countries of the world would just pattern themselves after our country, all would be well. However, we forgot to take into consideration that not all the world’s countries wanted to or even can be like us.

Imagine this for a future: countries would sign peace treaties and keep them, the one percent of those who own most of the wealth would help out those who have nothing, dictators would stop killing those who disagree with their policies, war lords would stop fighting each other so that displaced people could return to their homes, wars fought in the name of religion would cease. Power driven governments would become humble. We would practice common decency to each other. What a world that would be!

Realistically we all know that will probably never happen. So what can we do to help make our corner of this world a better place? Maybe we could show a little more tolerance and understanding for others who are different from us. We could realize that it is not just about us.  It is about all of us together.

“In order to have faith in my own path, I do not need to prove that another’s path is wrong.” –Paulo Coelho

Our current campus, soon to be deserted in July.

A former post was devoted our new school campus, with pictures dating from May 2^nd when Peace Corp volunteer, Jackie Zubin, and I visited the site to check things out.

We trekked by replanted sticks of trees, clamored over dirt piles, hopped in and out of muddy ditches, maneuvered around cranes and bulldozers, explored dusty, unfinished buildings and inspected scaffolding rising high into the interior of the impressive circular library.

We did this all the while discussing not only the magnificence of it all, but also how in the world the school leaders could possibly have us move onto the campus right after finals on June 10.

As of yesterday, the plan among the school leaders is that “probably, most likely, almost certain but not quite sure” we won’t all be moving until after the summer session ends on July 8.  I have no summer session courses to teach and will be long gone by then (visiting the States from July 1 – Aug. 6) but the rest of the campus faculty will be extremely busy in the stifling summer heat of Luzhou boxing up everything (computers, files, textbooks) to stack into the moving trucks.

Students will be required to pack up all their things at that time, then load onto school trucks which will haul all their belongings to the new school dormitories where they can get settled in.

After cleaning their new rooms on their own, putting things into their individual wardrobes (not furnished at the old school) and storing their things, they are free to go home to enjoy their summer vacation.  They’ll return around Sept. 3 to start up the new school year on Monday, Sept. 5.

Departments will be moving at that time, one by one, into their new departmental office buildings. Jackie and I will pack up the English language books many have sent over the years and also movie DVDs for the hoped-for English Language Center. We’ll be placing these into carefully labeled boxes before we take off for our summer holidays. We could leave it for the staff to do but if we do it ourselves, we’ll ensure that the books don’t get lost somewhere among all the English department’s belongings. Or, worse yet, get left behind and tossed.

Eventually, the single teachers’ housing building will be completed. It’s hoped that we can move into our new homes in August, after I return from America.

Plans will most likely change, of course, according to how fast things are moving along on the new campus, but this seemingly well-thought-out schedule is solidly circling around the campus at the moment.

It might well come about.

Last Week of Finals

As of this next week, I will be finishing up my finals for oral English (freshmen) and teaching methodology (sophomores). After that, we have our closure classes where we meet for the last time in the semester. We sing songs, I give the monitors (class leaders) a special surprise gift for their help during the term, the students receive their grades for my course and all get to choose from the English language reward pencils which so many of you have sent this past year.

I have 250 students and thanks to your generous mailings, there will be a huge selection in the pencil tray for them to dig through and pull out. I’ve already piled the pencil box high with a variety of colors, designs and English phrases (“Well-done!” “Fantastic!” “Number One Student,” “Excellent!”) for them to pick from.

What a great way to end the school year! Thank you so much, for those who have helped. It makes their studies worth while and puts everyone in a good mood, especially if their grades weren’t what they expected them to be.

Until next report, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your upcoming Memorial Day.

All last week, text messages were flying between the English language departmental staff (including myself and Peace Corp volunteer Jackie) and our English major students.

“Are we on for Friday or not?”

The 10^th Annual English Language Play Contest was hovering over our heads with uncertainty.

While first and second year students in all 9 participating classes continued to diligently practice their skits, everyone was debating if the rains would hold off for Friday evening’s performances.  Since the play contest takes place outside, with a hired stage and lighting crew that sets everything up, we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature.

At this time of year, our Yangtze River weather is either encompassing us in unbearable, smothering humidity accompanied by a wicked  hazy sun or dousing us with downpours, drizzles, mists and sprinkles. It wasn’t until the last minute, May 13th Friday afternoon at 3 p.m., after a constant all-night and morning rain, that the skies cleared and a decision was made: The show will go on.

And on it did!

A Dazzling and Sparkling Display of Talent

This year, as always, an array of talent spread across the stage at our small college. Students who rarely say a word in our English language classes suddenly appeared before us as confident, energetic performers with acting skills that could put the professionals to shame.

Each class chose from English language scripts found on the Internet. These are usually abridged versions of various movies (we had the Titanic last year), Chinese or world-renowned folk tales, famous short stories, plays or books, or even animated Disney films.

Performances had a time limit of 10 minutes each, meaning that many of the scripts had to be downsized even more by the students themselves. This made for some interesting storylines, some of which were changed to fit the time limit and also to make sense. In other words, we had a few surprise endings, such as with Snow White, whose wicked queen (after poisoning the princess) had a change of heart and nursed her back to health. No prince was included to kiss away Snow’s deadly slumber, much to the disappointment of the nearly all-female audience. (Our English Department has about 15 boys out of  300 total English majors at our school.  This seems to follow the world trend for humanity teachers, who tend to fall into the female category.)

This year, the line-up was: The Cop and the Anthem (O. Henry), The Little Mermaid ( Hans Christian Anderson), The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant), Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austin), Cinderella (The Brothers Grimm), The Sound of Music (Rogers and Hammerstein), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare), The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry) and Snow White (The Brothers Grimm).

We also had an opening hip-hop dance number by our more agile students along with an intermission drawing for prizes: hotpot dinner and a free 3-hour karaoke hall rental at a local KTV business.

Before the final three acts, we also enjoyed a rousing performance of Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up” by an invited student male guest.

For the latter, I couldn’t help but begin an audience wave of cell phone flashlights to encourage our singer to really belt it out and give it his all. Once my light went up, swaying from side to side, Jackie and our Chinese teachers, who were beside me at the judging table, followed suit. The audience members quickly caught on.  Soon we had quite a “You go, Brother!” sea of energizing support waving him into campus stardom.

And it certainly paid off. Our efforts spurred him on to a bigger, brighter and more heartfelt interpretation of the song, with a idol-worthy fanatic cheers following when he took his bow.

We had a couple minutes of worry when sprinkles started toward the end but those held off just in time for the entire program to wrap up. This included comments given by one foreign judge (myself) and the Vice-dean of the English Department, “Lisa” Zhang, along with the anticipated moment: announcing the winners.

One first prize, 2 second prizes and the rest thirds were given as celebratory screams filled the air.   The last act of the evening was to witness proud class representatives bound onstage to accept the awards and cram their classmates together for pictures. (Note: Giving all participants an award is how the Chinese encourage contestants. Everyone gets a prize to boost spirits and show appreciation by the judges for a job well done.)

So . . . Who Won?

Interested in knowing who walked away with first place?

This year was The Sound of Music, Freshmen Class 1, chosen because of excellent diction and a very creative dance number by Maria and the Von Trapp kids. Their playful and clever choreography was accompanied to Julie Andrews singing “Do, Re, Mi.”

How could you possibly go wrong with Julie in your sound track?

For all participants, I must say broken legs abounded. Well done, everyone!

While the following pictures don’t do it justice, especially with my broken camera that refuses to focus properly, hope the below slideshow gives you a little inkling of our exciting Friday evening.

Until next time, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your weekend.

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I mentioned in the last post about the new campus, which Peace Corp volunteer Jackie (at my school) and I visited over a week ago.  We’d never been and were interested in seeing what we’d soon be moving into, since we were told that we should be prepared to move out of our posh apartments the 3rd week of June to move into the school’s faculty apartment building before July 1st.  (July 1st is when our lease finishes.)

Also prompting us to take a look was the fact that on our old campus, workers had already begun to dig up trees to transplant in the new location.

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“Ah-ha!” we thought. “Surely this is a sign that we really are moving and the new campus is on its way to being inhabitable.”

Every day for about a month, the school workers have been chopping off branches and sawing off deep roots of the worthy trees while the others will be left to thrive on their own.

I have seen this happen before, transplanted trees to new campuses in China.  A majority don’t survive as they aren’t watered enough or attended to properly.  They stand for several weeks, dead stalks, until the workers take them away only to replace again by newly dug up trees which, again, go through the same process of either dying or miraculously surviving.

I truly hope that many miraculously survive in the sizzling summer heat of Luzhou because after visiting the campus, it will be mighty bleak without them.  See for yourself in the slideshow below.

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Moving or Not Yet?  Good Question!

At present, the school leaders are still conferring if it’s possible for us all to move in just a month.  Seeing the above, I would say they will decide on a delay.  We are thinking perhaps after the summer holidays, and maybe not even until October.  Our school year ends on June 20 and will start up on Sept. 5.  We have heard no dates yet and are anxiously awaiting the news.

Until then, I continue to enjoy my 22nd floor view and the convenience of in-city life.  There are no groceries or practical shopping stores near our campus, only the long-distance bus station which is located directly across the freeway.  We can walk 5 minutes to cross the busy highway and be right at the ticket counter to purchase a bus ticket to anywhere in China.

When I hear more, I’ll let you all know!
Until next time, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) from  Luzhou

Today is Mother’s Day, although in my Chinese classroom, it’s really been a week of Mother’s Day activities for my students.  My Mother’s Day lessons focus on the history of the day ( how it came about and current Mom’s Day celebrations around the world), an article entitled “A Mother’s Letter to the World” and finally, we make cards for our mothers or a special friend/relative/teacher  who is a mother. (A few students have lost their moms to illnesses,  the mom has left them as children or they have strained relationships with their parent so I make sure to give another option.)

After cards are completed, the students take cell phone pictures and selfies to send to their moms.  Since everyone in China has a cell phone now, including even grandparents, it’s easy to send notes, messages, postings and pictures to anyone across the country, or even the world.

On one side, the students are instructed to write only in English.  On the other, it’s Chinese.  Here are a few pictures from our week together with one of my second year classes.

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History of Mother’s Day

Although I’ve posted this before, I’ll do it again here for those who don’t want to dig through previous posts to find it.  Here is our Mother’s Day History reading, a U.S. holiday that is celebrating 102 years now and has spread to many other countries as well.

The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece, honoring Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. Early Christians celebrated the festival in honor of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ.

In England in the 1600s, the celebration included all mothers. This was called “Mothering Sunday”. Besides attending church, children returned home from the cities with gifts, flowers, and special Mothering Day cakes that were important parts of the celebration.

Mother’s Day in the United States dates back to 1872. It was started by Julia Ward Howe. At that time, she was famous for writing the words to a patriotic song called the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”   Ms. Howe suggested there be a day for peace. She organized women to hold Mother’s Day meetings every year in the city of Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1907, Ana Jarvis (a school teacher from the city, Philadelphia) began encouraging people to establish a national Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis asked her mother’s church to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death. This day was on the 2nd Sunday of May. The next year, Mother’s Day was also celebrated all over the city of Philadelphia.

Soon, Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to religious leaders, businessmen, and politicians to ask for a national Mother’s Day.   By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state in America. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made it official by proclaiming Mother’s Day a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

This year in America, Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8.

In America, mothers are treated very specially.   Churches and cities sometimes hold a Mother-Daughter banquet in the evening for mothers and their daughters. Food is served and afterwards, fun activities are played and prizes given. Husbands and children (old and young) take their mothers out to eat at nice restaurants. Cards, flowers and small gifts are presented to mothers on this day as well.   Countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium also celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.

And now, we can add China to this list!  Enjoy your day, Moms everywhere.  Here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your special day.

It’s a 3-day weekend in China, with Labor Day (May 1^st) as a holiday with an added Monday of rest because our holiday just happens to fall on a Sunday, which is already a rest day in China. My weekend has been filled with visits to the countryside, to the old town Tong Tan where SP (Stairwell Puppy) has her home with her new owners.  (See below, 100-year-old old area of Tong Tan, next to the Tuo River.  Modernized Tong Tan is near the main countryside road.)

Long story short: I housed SP, an abandoned dog at our school, for 9 months at a veterinarian clinic and visited her every day during those months for walks. She was stuck in a small cage without any care from the staff during that time while I tried desperately to find her a home. Teacher Xue (whose English name is Snow) found her a place with one of her junior high students’ parents. They are farmers in the countryside, near a small town called Tong Tan which is about 1 ½ hours from Luzhou by public bus.

This was my 6^th visit to SP’s new home as I have been going every weekend to check up on her plus enjoy the adventures of getting there, which is quite a journey that includes bus rides, trekking through an ancient town, a ferry ride across the Tuo Jiang River (a branch river of the Yangtze), then walking trails and pathways through vegetable fields and rice paddies to finally arrive at the home of Chen Shanzhen (the mom) and Che Fukuan (the father) of the little 11-year-old girl , Che Liangyu, whose English name is Sue.

Here is SP (Stairwell Puppy) in her new environment after 9 months in a cage. One very lucky dog, well worth the time, energy and money to get her to this happy place.

And below, here is her new family home, far from the noisy, car-filled streets of Luzhou city.

Below, a photo of Sue (next to me in knee-length jean pants ) and her friends, taken yesterday on our walk with SP.

Hostess with the Mostest

I’ll post more pictures of my journey a little later but right now, I’ll just give a quick update about my dinner party which Jackie (Peace Corp Volunteer at my school) and I held in my lovely apartment home for some visitors.

A Dinner Party Explosion of Guests

I’ve always wanted to hold a dinner party in my lovely new apartment but never found the time.  I scheduled this one about 3 weeks in advance in honor of Snow and our united effort to find SP a home.

Originally, the dinner was to include  9 people but we grew and grew in number to end up eventually with 15.  Teacher Xue (Snow) and her Australian husband, Geoff, were hosting 2 Aussie friends (Bill and Daphne, in their 60’s) coming to China for the first time.  Of course, couldn’t leave them out.  Also visiting Snow were her two Chinese friends, Karate (Beijing acquaintance and freelance English language translator) and Eileen (English teacher from Shanghai).   This then ballooned into also attending:  Sanje (a graduate school Sichuan Medical College student from Nepal), Christine Liu (a friend of mine and former student of Snow’s), Christine’s little friend, a 12-year-old boy guest who wanted to meet foreigners, Angel Zhang (my former English student), and other Peace Corp volunteers who included Blake (in Luzhou at the Medical College), Joel and Junior (out-of-towners) as well as Jackie, at my school.

People Invited:  Above from L-R: Former student Angel, PC volunteer Blake, Aussie visitors Bill and Daphne, Australian Geoff married to Snow, Sanje from Nepal, Englishf language translator Karate, Snow kneeling with Little Beautiful Sister the Chihuahua, PC volunteers Joel and Junior, young boy visitor, Eileen Lu (primary school English teacher from Shanghai) and PC volunteer, Jackie.  Christine and I are missing in this photo.

On the menu: homemade vegie soup, rolls and butter, zesty macaroni salad, stir-fried dishes (courtesy of Blake, showing off his Chinese cooking skills to others), chocolate chip bars, Fannie Mae chocolates and a variety of drinks.  No one went home hungry and we all truly enjoyed ourselves, as you can see from the above picture.

Closing Off with New Campus News

Before ending this posting:  Updates, along with pictures, will be coming soon concerning the big school move to the new campus, which is coming closer and closer as the days go by.  I just visited the new school today.

Oh, my!

Huge and impressive but hardly at all finished with cranes, bulldozers, piles of dirt everywhere, no paved walkways, dirt roads, no electricity or running water, buildings completely empty of equipment or furnishings and, basically, the entire thing still under construction.  Help!

We are to move in 6 weeks, everyone and everything, right after the semester ends the third week in June.  I’d be a lot more comfortable in 6 months.

Even our 12-story teacher apartment building with 65 units is a mess with empty elevator shafts and filth everywhere.  The workers are still going floor by floor to finish everything.  We don’t even have an entrance area finished yet or walkways leading up to it.

The apartment walls are painted, however, and the tiles laid on the floor, at least in the first 6 floors that Jackie and I walked up.  I guess that’s a plus!

Until next report, here’s wishing you “Ping An” (Peace) for your day.

Time to say “Goodbye” (Me and my mom in the Marshall 1st UMC office)

It’s hard to believe but the time has come to say farewell to the Midwest and head back to China.

During my time in the States, I’ve kept up on weather reports from my area of Sichuan and those have been surprisingly frigid. Luzhou is considered sub-tropical, with our lowest winter temperatures hitting around 40, but this year I read several days in a row had dipped into the 20’s at night with a high of 36 during the day. Remember reading about my less-than-frugal use of electricity in my new apartment, with me spending a Chinese family’s month- worth of electricity in only a week? Sure am glad I wasn’t paying for electricity in China a few weeks ago or I’d have really racked up a high bill.

My upcoming travel plans have me leaving from the States for Shanghai on Feb. 6 (Saturday) and arriving on Feb. 7, Sunday, which is Chinese New Year’s Eve. I have never before traveled during Spring Festival Eve, which is considered the busiest, most hectic, and the absolute craziest time of the year to travel in China. Millions upon millions are packed into train and bus stations, not to mention airports, trying desperately to return home in time to start up the Chinese holidays with family on Feb. 8, Chinese New Year Day.  Hotels are booked solid as well, especially while people spend the night before continuing onward on their journeys home.  I’ve booked a Shanghai airport hotel online, one that I often stay at, but who knows if that booking will be honored or not.  I’m arriving late at the airport and it might very well be my room will be given out to the whoever gets there first despite  me already having room reservations.

This should be a very interesting traveling experience, one which I hope I survive with minimal headache.

I will do my best to report more once back in China but I will say that after the move, I was been having difficulty logging onto my website using the new WiFi Net services the school arranged for me. If you don’t hear from me for awhile, that’s the problem.

Until next time, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your weekend!