Sabrina’s: The best place for US citizens to get their American food fix.
An extensive stock of American goods can be found at Sabrina’s.
Sabrina’s has a wide range of American foods, for a price. Chips here run from $5 – 10 . . . a bag!
My Thanktsfiving Day dinner, Lusty’s Turkey soup, courtesy of my friend at Sabrina’s.
At Peter’s, the T-day menu is impressively . . . inviting and expensive.
Peter’s storefront invites diners to a Thanksgiving Day feast.
I’ve found living in the big city rather than small town Luzhou has a lot of perks. One of them is turkey for Thanksgiving.
Turkey is not a bird found commonly in China nor eaten here. I have only seen turkeys once in my 20-odd years of being in this country and that was several years ago in tiny Longzhou, my former teaching placement near Vietnam. A farmer had loaded onto his motorbike cages stuffed with flapping, squawking fowl of all sorts and 3 turkeys were in the midst of the feathery mess. I remember being so excited that I ran back to my apartment and returned with my camera for a picture.
I have no idea what happened to the gobblers, if they were sold in our village town or sent off to a bigger city for purchasing, but I’ve never seen any others since.
Because there is no Thanksgiving Day holiday in China, the only place to find turkey and the fixings of our traditional dinner would be in Western restaurants in bigger cities, where we have communities of foreigners. Along the Yangtze in Luzhou, we never had food establishments offering such things, but in Chengdu, Thanksgiving Day dinner possibilities can be found in abundance.
LIVING AMIDST THE FOREIGNERS’ HAVEN
I live in Sichuan University’s West Gate area, which happens to be about a 10-minute walk from the US Consulate. So aside from the foreign college students, we also have the American employees and soldiers not far away as well. This makes us a very lucrative business district for overseas’ guests.
This is why the West Gate touts numerous restaurants catering to foreigners’ tastes. We have Casa Mia (Italian), Vanilla Sky (higher end European), Peter’s Tex-Mex (American and Mexican cuisine), St. Paddy’s (British pub with snacks), the Bookworm (cafe with light sandwiches and pastas), just to mention a few.
TURKEY DINNERS EASILY HAD . . . FOR A PRICE
Quite a few of these have special holiday meals served up to the Chengdu community. The most notable dinners are at Peter’s, which has a traditional Thanksgiving Day meal served every year for lunch the day of and dinner the day after.
7 years ago when I was studying Chinese in Chengdu, I had the day-after full course turkey dinner at Peter’s for 78 yuan (about $10) and it was well worth it. Everything was homemade, including the stuffing and mashed potatoes, not to mention the pumpkin pie.
Last week, I excitedly high-tailed it across the street to Peter’s to check up on this year’s holiday turkey meal. I found out two surprising things.
First, the meal was a more elaborate affair than in 2006, adding mulled cider, cream of pumpkin soup, waldorf salad, turkey with yams, dressing, steamed broccoli, and cranberry sauce, along with pumpkin or keylime pie for dessert. That’s a lot of food for a person such as myself and I wondered if I could even eat it all.
The second thing I discovered was the price: a wopping 128 yuan, or $21.50 per person. Over double what I had paid before.
Something else new on the menu was the alternative Thanksgiving day feast, the main entree being U.S. Angus grilled rib-eye steak.
How much does one fork over for that one? 268 yuan, or $44.70.
Needless to say, I decided this year in China, a Thanksgiving Day dinner would most likely be a miss.
DO IT YOURSELF
A homecooked holiday meal can also be had for those Americans here with a fully equipped overseas’ kitchen (i.e., a conventional style oven, which Chinese don’t use or have) and money in their pockets to purchase all the required ingredients.
The best imported food store in the city is Sabrina’s International Food Store, just around the corner from me. It is often filled with those from the American school and the consulate looking for their U.S. comfort foods or curious Chinese trying to figure out what all those bizarre, foreign items are used for or taste like.
Sabrina’s has neatly stacked shelves of foreign goods, a majority American. The owner does a booming business among the expats. Chips, cookies, soft drinks, breakfast cereals, condiments (mustard, ketchup, relish), canned soups, cake and brownie mixes, baking goods (cocoa, chocolate chips, powdered sugar, Pillsbury flour) . . . . This store has it all, albeit for a hefty price. (Usually, items are double or triple what we’d pay in the States.)
And that does, indeed, include all that’s needed for a home-cooked Thanksgiving Day dinner.
Just last week, Sabrina (the Chinese owner) had huge shipments of canned cranberry sauce, pumpkin, instant mashed potatoes and gravy mixes stacked on the floor, waiting to be shelved. Also available were American brand frozen turkeys, which had to be ordered ahead of time to be flown in from Shanghai or Hong Kong.
And how much does a frozen turkey go for at Sabrina’s? Her posted sign announced: “Frozen Turkeys: 58 yuan per kg” which roughly converts to 28 yuan ($4.70) per pound.
Ouch!
Nor were the ones I saw ordered very small. I took a peek into the freezer section to see just how big these turkeys were that Americans were purchasing for the holidays. We are talking 20-25 pounders ready to be picked up, which brings us roughly at $94 – $117 a bird.
Double ouch!
Especially as this year, the average price in the States was listed as $1.36 a pound.
In other words: “Dig down deep, oh, ye Pilgrims in China.”
GOING NATIVE . . . ALMOST
Along with the rest of the Chinese, I was just about to forego any such turkey eating luxuries when one of Sabrina’s store clerks surprised me with a special gift. While I was checking out the aisles the day before Thanksgiving, Ms. Gao dug through her bag and pulled out a can from Britain, John Lusty’s Turkey Soup.
“The owner gave this to us because it wasn’t selling,” she said. “Take it! I won’t eat it.”
Ms. Gao and I have a special relationship due to her love of my former dog, Little Flower (LF). Every time we visited, she’d give LF bits of cheese crumbs from the pantry or let her lick the tiramisu plate after all the slices had been sold.
She and I both miss LF immensely. Without my little Chi around, my visits to the store are not as joyful or uplifting for either of us.
Ms. Gao’s holiday offering was a way to bring a little of that long ago happiness back: She in the giving; me in the receiving.
I certainly am not one to turn down free food, even if John Lusty is not a brand I’m familiar with. And let’s not forget how appropriate a food it was: Turkey! Even if it was soup, I’d be getting a wee bit of my holiday bird after all.
THANKSGIVING DAY, HERE AND GONE
Classes went on as usual last Thursday but I did enjoy my little Thanksgiving Day feast of Lusty’s soup. It isn’t anything I’d like to eat again but it was still very special, especially because of who gave it to me and the reason behind it.
Hope you Thanksgiving Day was just as meaningful and thankful as mine. From China, Ping An (Peace)!
Teacher Chen (center, in green vest) and our class (I’m in the front row, gray sweatshirt)
Why so?
In many ways, I’ve found it hard to keep my mouth shut when faced with teachers whose methodology mimicks years of a dull, yawning, very dreary teacher-fronted approach known as a standard throughout China. Students sit obediently and silently in their seats while their instructors systematically work their way through the chapters in the book. Even our conversation class, which I feel should be free talking on designated subjects, is reading set dialogues out loud and repeating vocabulary after the teacher for pronunciation practice.
This was always my students’ complaints about their junior high and high school English classes: Horribly boring with little joy in the room.
Falling prey to this during my time as a student at Sichuan University has been challenging so finding at least one teacher, Mr. Chen, responsive to some of my suggestions was really making my language study time seem a bit more fruitful.
But 2 months ago, there I found a very distraught 30-year-old Chen sitting at a student desk and pouring over a stack of formally typed papers.
“I’m not going!” he defiantly spoke aloud in English as he saw me enter. “I will just refuse to go. I don’t want to leave. This is very unfair!”
Being almost 20 years his senior, we’ve taken on the relationship of colleagues more than a distant student-teacher so all was revealed within the next 5 minutes.
CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHERS SENT ABROAD TO TEACH
Along with many other Chinese colleges and schools, Sichuan University has many partner educational institutions all over the world. Every year, teachers of the Chinese Language Department are chosen to teach Chinese overseas for 2 years or longer. America, Europe, Africa and India are just a few countries where past Sichuan University staff have taught.
Teachers usually sign up for such things and are told in the summer that they’ve been chosen. Teacher Chen had put his name in for an opportunity to teach in America last year but this never materialized. His name then went into the pile for India but after waiting all summer for the announcement, consistently asking his departmental dean about it yet hearing nothing, he assumed he wasn’t going.
Oh, think again!
CHEN SURPRISED BY HIS UPCOMING VENTURE
Mr. Chen’s marching orders came during the weekend and he was not too happy about it.
First, he was off to Shanghai in just a few days to attend a 1-month seminar course for all Chinese teachers going abroad to teach Chinese. After that, he’d return to finish out the semester before heading off to India after the Chinese New Year. He’d be starting up his language courses at a sister Indian university but for how long , he couldn’t say. 1 year? 2 years?
As all things in this country, there is never any exactness about such things. We foreigners and Chinese alike often say the only certainty to be had in China is that everything is uncertain.
Despite Chen’s fervent wish to get out of this, there really isn’t much to be done in such situations. My guess is Chen was chosen because he’s single, has excellent English (definitely needed in India, especially for teaching beginning Chinese courses), has 5 years of teaching experience and is a man. He told me he is the only teacher from the university to go thus he might be fairly lonely in his new position, being the only Chinese national around.
There were, of course, other candidates available but they were probably not single and were women. Sending a young female teacher on her own to a new, rather out-there, private college in India is never something a Chinese dean would do. America or Europe would be a different story but lately in India, there have been many reports of overseas’ women being targeted and raped. I can imagine this is a great concern to the university, exposing a member of staff to such dangers, thus caution in sending a strong, hardy male teacher rather than a female one.
Thus it was that after the October 1st holidays, my classmates and I lost our Comprehensive Chinese and writing teacher, Mr. Chen.
UPHILL STRUGGLE IN THE CLASSROOM
It wouldn’t have been quite so traumatic had it not been that Comprehensive Chinese is our core class. Unlike the other subjects (listening, writing, culture, conversation), this class meets every day. It combines all the skills into one and, in my estimate, is our most useful class.
We had great hopes that the replacement teacher would be just fine, maybe even better than Chen.
What a boost to our morale when Teacher Yuan arrived, a lively young woman who brought visual aids to class and in Day 2 entertained us with a silly language game which we all couldn’t get enough of. Even the Korean boys who sit behind me, mostly playing with their cellphones, perked up when a competition erupted on which side could get the most points. They were enthusiasticlly shouting out the answers like junior high school kids along with the rest of us.
But sad to say, Teacher Yuan had to leave us after 3 days due to what she said was “something else” of more importance.
After that, Teacher Li entered the picture, and we all suffered greatly for it.
Poor Li!
The woman glued herself to a chair behind the podium and that’s where she stayed the majority of our lessons, droning rapidly on and on from the workbook about . . . we never were quite sure. I did manage to suggest that she write on the board from time to time and she took me up on this, much to our relief. In fact, her white board organizational skills were, indeed, quite exemplary. Still, about 70% of the time, it was Li sitting, talking, and us trying desperately to follow what she was saying.
It became so bad that a majority of the class just didn’t show up for her lessons, or straggled in 30 or 45 minutes late.
I did speak to her after class once and found out that this was the first time for her to teach at our level. She also was a linguistics major in school, not really into teacher education, which certainly explained her inability to create a decent lesson.
I honestly felt she had great promise if only someone would take her under their wing as a mentor, but it wasn’t my job to do so. Besides, Teacher Chen would be returning. We could endure Teacher Li until then.
So endure we did until last Friday came.
TEACHER CHEN RETURNS!
Yes, our beloved Teacher Chen has returned from Shanghai!
He and I had a lively conversation during the break of all the woes we’d had to put up with while he was gone. Nothing pleases a teacher more to hear how a replacement was awful and his or her return is greeted with such joyfulness.
Yes, we were definitely joyful on Friday, I can tell you that!
So tomorrow, we begin our morning classes on a high note as Chen takes over once more. With his presence at the head of the class once more, we are all really looking forward to this second half of the semester, I can definitely tell you that.
UNBLOCKED AND READY TO REPORT FROM CHENGDU
And, speaking of looking forward to the rest of the school year, looks like we can all look forward to more regular reports from Chengdu on my website.
Yes, I have managed to gain a new Chinese friend who yesterday quickly put the computer back to getting around all those blocked websites. How many tales to tell to catch you all up on life in the big city is uncountable but I’ll do my best to pick out the most interesting ones.
From Chengdu, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your day and a safe, happy, upcoming Thanksgiving!
After over 2 months in the big city, Chengdu, this weekend found me alighting back on my doorstep along the Yangtze River at Luzhou Vocational and Technical College. And an even bigger surprise awaited me in my apartment, other than lots of dust and rat nibbles on my bar of soap in the bathroom. My Internet hook-up with the city is still up and running! Although my payment of 1 year is no longer in effect, it seems someone has forgotten to erase me from the system. Thus I get to actually post a blog from Luzhou since I am still struggling with this in Chengdu.
A WEEKEND VISIT of RELAXATION
Daily Chinese language classes at Sichuan University have been quite tiring, not to mention busy, so having a weekend away is wonderful. I am especially missing my holiday lessons which I’d be teaching at this time of year if I were still on a work visa.
Halloween has passed but Thanksgiving and Christmas are yet to come. Sitting here in my cozy school apartment, having just turned on last year’s Christmas lights still adorning my outdoor balcony security bars, brings back a lot of wonderful winter memories from 2012. Today’s Sunday worship at the Luzhou Protestant church, listening to Pastor Liao’s sermon and the choir, made me wish us all to speed ahead a year so I could once again be included in choir practices and the big Christmas celebrations yet to come.
I have actually made plans to return for Christmas and miss a few days of classes next month. At Sichuan University, only Chinese holidays are celebrated. That certainly does not include Christmas. While I could stay in Chengdu and easily attend the huge city church services there, I’d much rather be back in my home here with friends and Christians I know and care for. It is more meaningful and will truly make my holiday a bright and special one.
MY MOM’S 80th PRE-BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
Aside from China news, one bit from America I want to mention concerns my mom’s 80th birthday surprise, held at our hair stylist’s salon, Stephen’s.
Stephen Glendenning, in Martinsville, Illiniois, has been cutting my family’s hair for years, including my mom, myself, my brother and even at one point my sister-in-law. This summer, Stephen gave me the idea of having something special planned for my mom’s November appointment, already booked and ready to go. Her 80th birthday is November 23, which obviously places me in China and not in the US. What something special could be arranged for her even though I wasn’t there?
For my mom’s 75th, I had enlisted the help of my mom’s best friend, Karen Heighton, for a church afternoon reception with friends and family present. This was not a surprise but just a birthday gathering to wish her happiness for her upcoming birthday. I remember my mom had originally said she wanted no such thing, and certainly not a surprise, but after it came together, she was very happy that we’d done something special for her.
For her 80th, I asked if she’d like anything planned. She once again insisted there shouldn’t be a fuss, no reception such as 5 years before. It was just enough for cake at home and presents from whomever.
But this summer, talking to Stephen about making her November appointment something to remember, the birthday pre-party plan was hatched.
Directly across the street from the salon was a cake shop, Darcy’s. After visiting there, I discussed with Darcy herself what was needed. A cake was ordered with my mom’s photo, from when she was 3 years old, to be placed on the top. I also headed off to the Dollar Store to stock up on decorations and party favors which Stephen would be in charge of using for her special hair day. I paid for her cut, of course, and handed over the duties to Stephen for her November 1st party day in his salon.
Naturally, Stephen and I have been looking forward to this day since August. We’ve had a couple emails back and forth as November 1st came closer, both of us anticipating what a surprise this would be.
But leave it to my mother to decide, 2 days before the appointment, to change it to the next week. Fortunately for Stephen, she gave enough heads-up time for him to call Darcy to change the cake-making day to November 5 (Tuesday).
Whew!
Yet our well-designed scheme went into crisis mode a second time when my mom called again to change the date to November 7. The church chili supper was on Tuesday and she’d already signed up to help. Stephen managed another cake date change without penalty fees and, finally, my mom had her 80th pre-birthday surprise.
According to her reports, Stephen and staff hid behind the counter. When she entered, they popped up, showering her with confetti and shouting, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”
Stephen had decorated the entranceway wall with birthday banners. Her cake, ready to be shared with everyone, was positioned on a table nearby. She was requested to wear her party hat and lapel ribbon, “The Birthday Girl,” for pictures before blowing out the candles and cutting the cake. My mom also wrote in her email Stephen enjoyed the telling of the tale how the party’s many date changes had everyone wondering if ever the surprise event would take place.
Well, it did, much to my mom’s delight and everyone’s relief.
After many “thank you”s to Stephen for helping out, I did say that for her 90th, we’re definitely not going to try this again!
BACK TO CHENGDU TOMORROW
Tonight will be spent a bit with our Peace Corp volunteers, Angela and Geoff, to catch up on their new teaching lives here in China. After that, I will pack up things to return to Chengdu tomorrow. This week is review week for mid-terms so I’m not missing much on Monday. November 18 we start up again on new lessons before finals the week of January 13.
Time certainly goes fast!
Until then, I might be giving Christmas reports next month from Luzhou if the Internet continues to be connected. We can always hope!
From China, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for the week and your upcoming Thanksgiving Day holidays.
The past week has been filled with settling into my off-campus room in Chengdu, registering for the semester, applying for my permanent student visa and adjusting to big city life. It also means adjusting to the cold.
Upon landing in Chengdu, 3 1/2 hours north of Luzhou, the rain and chilly weather hit. The temps dropped from a roasting 92 along the Yangtze River to a “freezing” (at least in my mind) 63. All those summer clothes I had packed were useless as I shivered my way through a week of 24-hour drizzle, wet and cold.
Needless to say, I repacked my suitcase on Friday, returned to Luzhou for the weekend, left my summerwear behind and filled the luggage with fall and winter clothes. I also visited a bit more with the Peace Corp volunteers, having a potluck in my home.
The two assigned to this school are Angela (California, age 25) and Jeff (Florida, age 22). Their majors are not in education, meaning they are beginning teachers, so they had loads of questions about the schedule, the students and basically getting started in the classroom: the hows, whys and whats to do of teaching.
We were joined by Greg, in his mid-20s, whose Peace Corp placement at the Luzhou Medical College. Greg had taught 3 years in Korea, all ages of students, so he has a bit more experience to draw on than Angela and Jeff.
Welcome, new Peace Corp Volunteers! In my home, from left to right: Jeff, Greg and Angela.
I am so sorry I am not here to help our PC a bit more with their teaching experience but I’m sure they will do fine. Next year at this time, when I return to join them, they’ll be old hands at this. It’s just this first semester that will be the most challenging.
Final Note
I have as yet to connect to my computer to the Internet system in Chengdu. On this trip to Luzhou, I am still using the Luzhou server to post my reports so I thought I’d get in at least two before taking off again for the capital city. Might not be reporting for awhile until I get things set up properly.
Until next time, here’s wishing you Ping An (Peace) for your day!
Arriving at our Luzhou Airport. The airplane taxies right up to the building and off we go!
One of the highlights of this last trip to America was flying from and into our little Luzhou Airport.
I have never done this before in all my years working here, although taking off directly to Shanghai would have been a lot easier than traveling the 3 ½ hours to Chengdu. The reason I always left from Sichuan’s capital city was because Little Flower’s sitter was located there. I’d go by bus, drop her off with Mrs. He and then take off the next day on my journeys to the States from Chengdu’s International Airport.
But this time around, I had no need to travel to Chengdu with no Little Flower to care for. This time around, it was conveniently load my luggage in a taxi, pay the driver 50 yuan ($9) and in 15 minutes, I was outside of the city, in the middle of farmland, at a sweet little airport with limited departures and destinations.
The Flying Tigers and Luzhou
The history of this air transportation service is amazing.
The runway was built solely and painstakingly by Chinese hands in the very late 1930s, the first real runway in China that was not dirt and pebbles. It was specifically crafted with American backing for modern aircraft, and was later used specifically by the Flying Tigers whose planes were not able to land on such tough terrain as it destroyed the wheels of their aircraft.
As a reminder to those not familiar with the name Flying Tigers, here’s a little extra information which I found from the Internet:
“The 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, recruited under presidential authority and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters staff were likewise mostly recruited from the U.S. military, along with some civilians.
The group consisted of three fighter squadrons with about 20 aircraft each. It trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II with the mission of defending China against Japanese forces.”
This airport has a more personal connection to me because I actually know the daughter (Jean Woo) of the Chinese engineer who worked closely with the Americans to create this runway.
Jean Woo and her husband, Rev. Franklin Woo, are Presbyterians who worked many years with the NCC (National Council of Churches) as the China experts. Before their retirement, the U.S. part of Amity orientations were led by the two of them.
Jean’s father, a native to the country, was sent to Luzhou as the head Chinese engineer of this runway project. Believe it or not, I do believe he is still alive! Over 100 and now living in the States.
I have bits and pieces of the story, as told to me by Jean from her father’s memoirs.
The building was done by hand, including hauling rocks from the Yangtze which had to be crushed to make the foundation of the runway. Assembly lines were made from the distant river to the airport, and buckets of rock were passed along or carried by single haulers to where the heavy stones were needed.
Huge, concrete rollers that weighed over a ton were used to smooth over the runway layers. These were pushed by the Chinese laborers. According to Jean’s reports, several died on many occasions when the rollers accidentally ran over them.
Along with the laborers, as was the custom in China, the families came to live on the site as well. Hundreds of tents covered the area to accommodate the thousands who were building the airport’s runway. Both men and women contributed to the construction. Extended family members living there would be in charge of preparing meals. Children were racing about as well, playing and helping with chores. This was not a time when kids went to school, wartime and this being the lowest class of Chinese, those not educated and referred to as “peasants.”
The conditions of the camp were a problem. Many hundreds died of sickness due to sanitation and just close quarters. Disease spread quickly. This was something Jean’s father had to deal with as the Chinese overseer of the project.
More Details Unknown
I wish I had more details to share. Jean can easily fill in the gaps. I will have to contact her to receive more information.
I do know that Jean and Franklin visited Luzhou over 5 years ago when I was still here. They came during an Amity Foundation anniversary celebration, with a group of interdenominational guests, to visit Amity’s many social service projects in Sichuan.
When the city officials learned who Jean was, the grand-daughter of the chief engineer responsible for building the runway, the two were treated as honored guests. They received an impressive VIP banquet by the Luzhou mayor and then a private tour of the current airport. It was the highlight of their first trip to Luzhou, which will probably be their last. They are in their upper 80s now and it’s getting more difficult for them to travel overseas. How wonderful that they were finally able to see the incredible results of Jean’s father’s work after so many years.
My Own Exprience
My own experience of flying in and out of the Luzhou airport wasn’t quite as moving but knowing a bit of the history did give me a twinge of great respect and pride in the Chinese people for such an accomplishment.
While small, this airport certainly deserves to be noticed and written about, if only via my little article published here.
Until next entry, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.
The first “real” runway built in China, with distant Luzhou in the background. While restored many times, the foundation has remained as it did over 70 years ago.
You’ll remember my past reports of Mr. and Mrs. Old Man River (Zhen and his younger wife, Wu) who recycle discarded materials throughout the campus. With the rapid return of students, and our school garbage cans quickly filling with trash, they’ve been hard at work collecting all week.
And often trotting alongside of them, just like a loyal little canine, has been their trusted companion: a very large, white and yellow cat.
Yes, during my 3-year absence, the Rivers have adopted a feline, which I call Yangtze.
The River’s Tomcat, Yangtze.
Yangtze is quite the masculine Tom, prowling about the building late at night, often looking for the ladies and yowling for their attention. He enjoys hanging out in the Rivers’ apartment where he is amply fed. He always keeps Mr. River company outside while he sorts, stacks, piles and packages up all the recyclables for the day. He also follows Mrs. River when she goes out to meet her friends, a group of elderly ladies who sit on benches under the shade of trees in front of our nearby dormitories. Here the women enjoy gossiping late into the evening before returning home to prepare dinner. And here is likewise where Yangtze joins in their gathering, lounging at their feet.
Showing Gratitude, The Feline Way
In return for their kindness, as any grateful kitty will do, Yangtze often leaves little presents at their front door after his midnight outings.
Coming down the stairwell early morning on my way to the pool, I have been coming across those endearing gifties, dropped off right in front of the Rivers’ apartment door so as not to be missed: dead mice.
They are carefully preserved, without any disfiguring marks and the innards intact. After all, these are meant for his people friends, not for himself. Human consumption of his delicious prizes is utmost on his list thus the need for more thoughtful, less gory kills.
Coming down the stairwell every morning, I spy the Rivers’ front door . . .
graced with one of Yangtze’s many late-night, fully intact gifties.
The Sentiment Appreciated
I must say, seeing gummed-to-death mice on my way out to the pool every morning is not the pleasantest of sights. I certainly am not going to miss seeing that after leaving for Chengdu tomorrow for my language study venture.
But I am going to miss the sentiment involved.
I know I am certainly grateful to the school for all the kindness they have shown me regarding this new change in my position for the year. Keeping my things for me, allowing me to visit from time to time to check up on my apartment, and being willing to invite me to teach again next year are not extended to every foreigner. I am fully aware of that and have taken every opportunity to thank all the leaders and the college staff who have been involved in such generosity. Tea, American chocolates, copied photographs and small hometown items were my presents of appreciation given this past week.
I guess you could say that Yangtze and I are on the same page when it comes to saying thank you to people who have taken such good care of us.
I just made sure not to do it with dead mice.
From along China’s infamous Yangtze, before I leave for Chengdu living tomorrow, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.
NOTE: As some might know, my website is blocked in China. While people in China can read my entries, the photographs are blackened out and I am not able to post using Chinese Internet access. I have a re-router which allows me full access to do all that I need to on the Net but that is connected to the city’s system. While in Chengdu, I will need to change servers so it might take awhile to get things up and running. Hopefully, I can keep you all updated after that is accomplished. Just give me a little time.
The calm, quiet, peacefulness of our empty campus has disintegrated with the coming of the weekend.
The upper classman began trickling in on Saturday, streaming through the gates on Sunday and dragging their stored belongings back to dormitories on Monday.
Upper classmen drag their stored belongings back to the dormitories, with a little help from friends.
It’s hard work, lugging your things across campus.
Some students arriving by bus had their luggage from home picked up by campus trucks at the station and delivered to their dorms.
It’s still a struggle to haul all that to the rooms, especially if you’re on the 5th floor.
In this horrible heat and wicked sunshine, the girls’ have brought out their umbrellas for personal shade, speckling our walkways with soft pastels trimmed in lacey material.
How women in Asia love their pretty umbrellas!
A Schedule Appears!
Finally, a set schedule has appeared with the return of staff to our administration buildings this week. Teachers’ meetings will be held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Everyone must be in attendance for welcomes from the leaders, lectures on new teaching regulations and reminders of duties to students and institution. The Peace Corp volunteers will arrive on Thursday early evening, giving me time to meet them before I leave on Saturday for Chengdu.
During that Saturday departure for me will be the arrival of incoming freshmen all weekend and then throughout the week. Upper classmen will begin their classes on Monday but freshmen come a week later to take up military training for 2 weeks before they officially begin their coursework. I’ve written numerous blogs about this so take a look at past September entries if you want to review what that entails.
Even at Sichuan University, where I’ll be studying Chinese, freshmen have military training. Fortunately for me, that doesn’t include foreigners such as myself who enter a Chinese school for study.
Goldfish News: Being One-upped
Today, I find my clever, slippery intention of creating a campus mystery has been thoroughly and utterly crushed.
I’ve been one-upped by the school workers, or rather 20-upped.
A few hours ago, upon my arrival to the rocky fountain to check on my little swimming buddies, I was met by quite a sight: a very noticeable clump of large goldfish, making themselves quite at home in what used to be my secret plan.
No secret now that the school has one-upped me by stocking the water with a generous 20 carp (yes, I counted them) of considerable size. Puts my one inch, tiny, 16-centers to shame. Those biggies were at least a dollar a fin, maybe even a buck-fifty.
My miniscule lot are so miniscule you can hardly make them out in the water. Most likely, everyone will think my additions are the offspring of all those Moby Dicks seen brazenly cruising about.
So much for my mischievous fish prank.
Guess the campus mystery will have to be how so many big fish had so many babies in a matter of a day. Not the mystery I’d hoped for but I’ll take what I can get.
Until next entry, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.
Our formal schedule listed August 26th, Monday, as the start of school.
But I’ve been back now for 4 days and the campus is still vacant. No students. No administrators. No teachers.
Only the workers are busy with last minute preparations before students finally do arrive. New lamp posts are being fitted with fresh light bulbs. The sports field is finally getting that much needed haircut it so deserves. Buckling pavements are being fixed and dormitories are having a last going-over before being officially released for occupancy.
I have asked the gate keepers, the dormitory monitors, and the campus shop keepers when school will, indeed, start and I am getting the same answer: “Bu yiding (boo ee-ding). Not certain. It hasn’t been announced yet.”
Such is China, where last minute changes are always to be expected and everything is often an up-in-the-air affair. I’m sure eventually, the school website will offer students information on exactly when everyone is to arrive but for now, it’s “bu yiding.”
I will be here about 10 days before packing a suitcase and heading off to Chengdu for language study. I’m to pay tuition on September 3rd, take care of permanent visa business by Sept. 5, have a placement test on Sept. 11, a morning orientation on Sept.12 and start classes on Sept 15.
Before then, I’m hoping to meet the new Peace Corp members who should be arriving to teach at our school.
And what will I be up to, aside from swimming every day and weeding out my apartment of unnecessary items (clothing and old lesson plans)?
Well, already, I’ve been up to a bit of mischief
Mischievous Acts to Start Out the School Year
An empty campus and jetlag has emboldened me to perform mischievous acts, in the name of goldfish.
Let me explain.
The school’s library has a hidden courtyard which boasts a tall, majestic, Chinese rock formation surrounded by murky water. It could be considered a fountain except for the lack of liquid spew. The encased cement “pond” is only filled by a trickling plastic pipe.
Weeds, unkempt bushes and trash have filled the surrounding area since I arrived 11 years ago. It was also blocked off to the public. Most of us only saw this courtyard during meetings in the lecture halls, which exited into the open-air 2nd floor walkways that overlooked the thing.
But over a month ago, before I left for America, the courtyard was getting a facelift. All the weeds and shrubs were pulled out. Grass seeds were strewn across the plowed dirt. A walkway was laid and the water pump in the rock formation had been fixed to allow circulation and refilling of the fountain’s enclosure.
Touring the place on Monday, I saw the gate had been unlocked to allow easy access, trees had been planted and classrooms made out of the empty rooms lining the ground floor of the library.
The back of the library now hosts a lovely , renovated courtyard
The rocky sculpture, surrounded by water, is a nice centerpiece to the courtyard.
The new classrooms, the doors open, overlooking the courtyard.
Students having lessons entered and left via the now grassy lawn, an inviting scenic spot which allowed for sitting during breaks and meditation early morning or late evening.
Such a glorious transformation!
But something was missing: the goldfish.
No artistic, Chinese rocky formation surrounded by water is complete without goldfish. The Forbidden City has them. The many ancient, famous gardens located throughout the country have them. So why not our little Luzhou campus?
And who better to stealthily stock this newly renovated fountain than the foreigner?
The Luzhou Bird and Fish Market
So it was that Tuesday, after a very nice pool swim early morning, I was off to the bird and fish market of this small city.
Number 216 bus dropped me off in the back alleyways of old Luzhou where I wound my way through the crowded clothes stalls and the vegetable and meat markets before arriving at my destination: the bird and fish sellers.
Visiting this fascinating place is a nostalgic journey into ancient China. The few 100-year-old buildings left standing are located here with rickety wooden structures still existing, although probably not for long if modernization has its say. On one side, numerous birds can be purchased for a dollar or two (canaries, parakeets, Chinese indigenous song birds) and on the other, fish and fish supplies.
Looking over the many tubs filled with golden mini-carp, it was difficult to choose which shop to go to. I cruised the line of sellers, asking prices and checking the liveliness of what was swimming in the water, until I found a decent array of what I was looking for. I purchased 12 energetic goldfish for 16 cents each, about $2.00 in all, and off I went with my prize to stock the courtyard fountain.
My purchase: 12 goldfish about to have a new home.
The Release
On my way for the grand goldfish release.
With our campus still vacant, there was no one to discover my clandestine maneuver when I stealthily delivered our 12 fish into their new home.
The water awaits!
Time for our little friends to have a new home but . . .
it’s a secret! Don’t tell.
They clumped together in a tight school before finally darting away into the depths of the sunken mountainesque sculpture.
Enjoy your new life, everyone.
They were gone in a few seconds but certainly not forgotten.
I’ve visited them every day to find only one belly-up. (I quickly removed it.) The others are often hidden out of sight except for a brave three. These three breezily zip about, pecking at algae and chasing water bugs skimming the surface. Obviously, their new home is a huge hit.
Students Still to Come
Now that the fish are settling in, it’s time for students to arrive and likewise settle into school life once again. How surprised they’ll be to find the library’s courtyard not only a pleasant place to visit but filled with an enjoyable array of colorful goldfish to watch as well.
And therein lies the mystery of the Luzhou campus: Just how did those goldfish get into that fountain, anyhow?
Gee, I have not a clue.
From along the Yangtze, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.
As always, a month in the States flew by.
I received my student visa by mail 5 days ago so I’m all legal for a re-entry into China. My most recent newsletter was sent 2 days ago so those who receive that, be looking for it in the mail soon.
I’ve had a lot of highlights, including a cook-out at my aunt and uncle’s house to a few days ago.
Charles (Chuck) Wieck, my dad’s younger brother, at the grill.
The men of the family, enjoying bonding time. My brother, Paul, to the right, Chuck (center) and my dad (right)
The Wiecks, minus my aunt. Left to right: Chuck, me, Donna (my sister-in-law), Paul (brother, behind her), my mother (in green) and my dad.
Attending Prayer in the Spirit of Taize
Another highlight of my stay was when my mother and I attended a monthly prayer service in the spirit of Taize. The prayer program explained all of this, which was new for me and my mom. The following are excerpts:
What is the Taize Community?
Taize (pronounced tei-zay) was a village in France, the home of an international, ecumenical community founded by Brother Roger. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor who acquired a small farm in the village in 1940. He welcomed those in need to his home, working out a call to follow Christ in community that would attempt to live out the Gospel day by day. In 1949, he was joined by his first brothers.
Today, the Taize Community is composed of over a hundred brothers, both Catholic and Protestant, from more than 25 nations. They make a life commitment to live togetgher in joy, simplicity and mercy as a “parable of community,” a sign of reconciliation at the heart of the world.
As for the service, there are no rules but the 1-hour prayer time is composed of readings, repetitive singing, prayer and lighting of candles to remind us that even when the night is dark, Christ’s love is a fire tha never goes out.
Our Taize prayer vigil was at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in their 1876 church. The theme was “Drought,” with the evening’s donations given to Living Water International (www.water.cc). All services were focusing on the Year of the River, which is Terre Haute, Indiana’s celebration of the Wabash River. (St. Mary’s is located near Terre Haute.)
Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy of the evening, before and after, as a closing of this entry. Next reports will be from China, where I’m sure I’ll have lots of travel news to report.
From Illinois, here’s sending you Ping An (Peace) for your day.
My mother on the campus, in front of St. Mary’s 1876 church.
Church of the Immaculate Conception, St. Mary-of-the-Woods
We enter in silence before the service begins.
After the service, it’s my turn for a photo.
Mother Theodore Guerin, sainted a few years ago, is the founder of the college (1841).
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