connie's space

The College Youth of Countryside Farmers

           Today, I was walking the dog around our campus when a few of my students at the girls’ dorm invited me in for a sit.  It was hot outside and Little Flower was in need of water so I took them up on the offer.

            I was quickly offered a stool to sit on, papaya was cut up for a tasty treat and Little Flower had her water bowl to quench her thirst.

            Being together in such an intimate setting then allowed me to learn quite a lot about their lives at home and summer holidays.

A Farmer’s Life

            Almost all of my students are from remote farming regions here in Guangxi.  And almost all of their parents are farmers.

            Farmers account for 70% of the population in China.  An estimated 700 million rural farmers provide 60% of the food for the country with their average income being  $300 to $450 a year.  Those considered at the extreme poverty level make less than $120 a year.

            But among my students, I learned that many of their families have no income at all.  They live off the land with few appliances to help them in their daily rituals. Home-grown peanuts are pressed into peanut oil for cooking.  Vegetables grown year-round become the staple for meals.  Raised pigs and chickens are their protein supply.  Washing clothes by hand in nearby streams and rivers are a daily chore.  No refrigerators or air conditioners, of course, and in many cases, some households don’t have TVs. 

            Why not a TV?  Because a majority in the countryside don’t speak Chinese but the local village dialect or ethnic minority language of their people.  This province  especially has numerous minority peoples, including the Zhuang, Dong, Yi, Mao, Hui, Shui, Mulao, Maonan and Gin (who are a Vietnamese ethnic group).  For these people, TV programs to them are a foreign language.  And being illiterate, they can’t even read the Chinese subtitles on the screen.  National and world news to them are unimportant.  Just surviving in their village takes up all their energy and time.

Education in China Isn’t Cheap

            Not wanting their children to have such a hard life, these farming families do their utmost to send their children to school. 

            That’s not easy.

            The cost per year for our small 3-year vocational college is 5,000 yuan ($800) for tuition and 700 yuan ($100) for dorms. 4-year universities can cost even more.

              Students also have to pay for books (perhaps $40 a semester) and necessary national exams to graduate.

            The biggest of these national exams are the CET tests.

            CET means College English Test.  This series of tests is the national test for English as a Foreign Language here in China.  All students at the undergraduate level must pass the CET-2.  

             For the English majors at the vocational level, their requirements are to pass the CET-3.  If they’d like better opportunities in getting jobs after college, passing the CET-4 and CET-6 is likewise a good idea.

            These tests, of course, cost money.  Each time you take the test, it’s $7.00.  Quite a few fail and take them again, adding even more dollars to the cost of school.

            Then we have costs that involve the necessity just to live — namely, food.

            On average, a girl student will spend about $50 a month on her meal card, a boy around $80.  That certainly adds up over the school year.  Most I talk to just have bread buns, hard-boiled eggs, fruit and milk to cut down on their food costs.  These they get from sellers outside the gate or pick  up  from our small campus shop.

            Not a lot to sustain a person but it’s better than nothing.

The Summer Holiday Job Stories

            “How do you pay for everything?” I asked my group while munching on my papaya.

            Borrowing from relatives and friends was one answer.  Another was working during the summer vacation in the factories down south.

            Guangxi Province is very close to Guangdong (Canton), where “Made in China” factories thrive.  Most of my students work for 4-6 weeks during their holidays in these places to help their parents with the monetary burden of going to school.

            I asked about the conditions of the factories they worked at.   

            Basic non-climate controled dorm rooms for 8 (bunkbeds, a toilet, a sink) are provided for workers but purchasing food is their own responsibility.  They can either go to the factory cafeteria or outside. 

            Roommates are iffy.  If you don’t know them, best to carry all your money and valuables with you or expect your things to be stolen.

            As for the kind of work they did last year:  One student worked in an ice-cream factory, 10 hours a day (midnight shift) for 6 days a week.  This job she enjoyed more than others because the manager wasn’t around.  She and her workmates could eat as much free ice cream as they wanted.  Their pay depended on how many boxes of ice cream bars they packed.  300 a night was the average for her team, with each box holding 100 bars.

            That’s a lot of ice cream! 

             Another student worked in a toy factory for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.  Yet another in an electronic’s factory, 12 hours a day for 7 days a week, putting wires into computer mouse mechanisms.       

            Their pay ranged from 1,200 yuan to 2,000 yuan ($190 – $280) for 6 weeks of work. Hardly enough to cover the $800-plus our school requires.

            In one case, the girl said she quit due to exhaustion after 5 days standing 12 hours straight at the assembly lines.  Her pay?  Nothing.  Workers are paid by the month, not the week, so if you don’t stick it out those 30 days, you’re out of luck.

Hopes for the Future

            I asked about their hopes for the future, after college.

            Since these students are the first in their family to get a higher education, they’ll most likely be the main breadwinners after they finish school to help repay what was spent on their education.  It’s a big burden, especially since finding job is so difficult.

            In this area of the country especially, white-collar work is hard to come by. Guangxi is a poor province and city jobs are for university graduates, many who have connections.    Those that come to these small vocational schools in remote areas don’t stand much of a chance to succeed in China.  Despite having an education, they might still be stuck returning to factory work to help out their families. 

            But at least for now, they can enjoy an environment of learning and holding onto their future dreams.

Returning-to-Home Thoughts

            After an hour of visiting, Little Flower and I made our way across campus to my apartment.

             I was just thinking about my own university life where we complained constantly about all sorts of things:  The air-conditioning was too cold, the vending machines didn’t carry snacks we liked, there weren’t enough washing machines and dryers, or being broke and having to beg Mom and Dad for that extra $50 to fill our cars with gas.   Then more complaining about how little we were paid in our summer jobs, working as lifeguards, fast-food servers, office temps, babysitters, or check-out cashiers.  All jobs where we were making at least $5.00 an hour (in today’s world even more) and at most,  took in 5-8 hours a day in comfy settings.

            There was only one thing to think after listening to my students:  American students really don’t know how very lucky they are.   I certainly didn’t when I was in school, but I sure do now.   Too bad more of us don’t realize that sooner, appreciate our lives more and give some thought to others who aren’t quite so fortunate.

            Until next time, Ping An (Peace) from Longzhou.

Not Fitting In

            Isaac (Qin Haibo) is a bit strange.

            Even I could sense the oddness about him when I first met him.  It made other students shy away, not wanting to have much to do with him.

            He has a disturbing manner about him that isolates him and throws him into the non-conformity category.  Being a non-conformist in Chinese society automatically sets you up for being weird.  I can just imagine that his dormitory mates, who usually form very strong relationships with one another, pretty much ignore him. 

            He never eats with anyone in the cafeteria.

            He never walks with friends around the campus.

            He never plays sports along with everyone else after classes have ended for the day.

            Every time I see him, even outside the school gate for a shopping venture, he’s always by himself.

            But in our English Center, Isaac has found a home.

Our English Center:  A Haven for the Odd

             He began hanging out there last semester, hovering about.  Since we didn’t yet have English games, he just wanted to play Chinese checkers or Chinese card games  with whoever was available.  He came with a daily regularity that I wished my first year students would follow.  In fact, I often pointed out his attendance to those who always complained that their English was terrible.

             “How can I improve?” they constantly hounded me, as they always do to us foreign language teachers.

            “Go to the English Center and practice!”  I told them.  “Follow the example of a 2^nd year student, Isaac.  He goes every week.”

One Who Is Different

            Isaac is a second year Business English major who last year had our two Amity teachers from Sweden for his conversation classes. 

            This year, only the 1^st year students have a foreign teacher.  That’s me.  The others are left with Chinese English teachers.  They are quite competent in their subject areas but it’s still not the same as a native speaker.

            Isaac has a fairly good vocabulary in the language but it’s just speaking and listening that he can’t get a handle on.

            Nothing new for most Chinese.

              Like we Americans used to do in Latin classes years ago, language learning in this country is reading, memorizing words, grammar exercises and translation.  Actually using the language isn’t a key component in the coursework.

            But instead of practicing to improve what he needs improving on, Isaac’s one who would rather play games.  Whether Chinese games, Internet video games or English games, it doesn’t matter.  If it’s some sort of game activity, Isaac is keen to try.

             This most likely has been what  entices him to come the  Center every day.  That and the fact that he has nothing else to do since no one will hang out with him.

             In the English Center, you’re bound to find someone who’s willing to play a game, no matter how weird the person asking is.

            For myself, I can always count on Isaac for a round of Scrabble, which he took to like a pro, or Uno, the card game which seems to have a strong fan-base after everyone got the main idea how it’s played.

            While other students watch movies, Isaac eagerly bops about from person to person and, in his off-hand manner, commands, “You!  Play games. Scrabble?  Uno?”

            He snatches up the games and waves them about for emphasis.

            Naturally, those kind of bizarre invites draw him frowns and some amount of wariness. 

            If no one takes him up on his offer, Isaac has a habit of sulking.  He especially does this if it’s English conversation time in the Center.  That’s one thing Isaac just isn’t  interested in at all.  He’s not about to participate in something that he cares little about.

            “No!” he’ll say if we ask him to join us for a circle talk. “I don’t like.”

            He’ll sometimes sit in a corner to wait until we’re finished.  Then it’s, “O.K.  Enough talk.  Uno?  Scrabble?”

            Other times, he just takes off.

            Most Chinese have a leave-taking sequence of sentences: “I have something else to do.  I must go now,” “I’m very busy these days.  My classmates are waiting for me,” “I have a meeting so I must go.”

            Isaac, on the other hand, just disappears out the door with not a word.

            Yes, Isaac is a bit strange.

Grateful for the Center, not only for Isaac, but the volunteers as well

            Yet it’s students like Isaac that I’m so grateful we have our English Center for him to visit every day.  It’s the one place he knows he can count on to come and have community time with those who outside this one room keep him at a distance.

            And it’s also imperative for our volunteers to have practice in reaching out to those in their society who just don’t quite fit in. 

            At the beginning of the semester, some of the volunteers were a bit upset about Isaac. They said he was disruptive.  He was strange.  He spoke a lot of Chinese instead of English.  What to do about him? 

            So I had a little sit-down with the volunteers.

           I explained that this was Isaac’s home.  No one liked him much outside the Center and it was our job to be his friend.  Let him speak Chinese but just always answer in English.  Engage him in more game time.  It won’t hurt you to play a game or two with Isaac, even if you don’t want to.  Just make sure to welcome him with smiles, not frowns or stares, when he appears at the door. 

            A part of being a good volunteer in the Center is to encourage those who are embarrassed by their English or are afraid to speak.  We want them to  feel comfortable enough to try.  It might take awhile, but in the end, we can win them all over, even Isaac.

Property as Mission

            Recently, I received an email from Lola Linstad, one who’s very involved in her UMW unit (United Methodist Women).  She sent me a note about a recent UMW  meeting.  The four coordinators, herself included,  gave a special observance of Call to Prayer and Self-denial with the theme, “Property Makes Mission Possible.”   Their focus was how the things we donate, use or buy make mission itself possible, things such as equipment, building materials, office supplies,  and, as in the case of our English Center, donated  books, games, and DVDs. 

            We often don’t think about things as bringing about Christian mission but in my case, I’d say our English Center is the perfect example. 

            The donated property that many over the years have helped to fill the Center with have made it possible for people like Isaac, and our volunteers, to create their own mission in life. Whether it’s improving language skills, gathering for community time, getting to know the foreign teacher on a more personal basis, or learning life skills how to get along with others, this Center provides it all. 

            It brings blessings to all of us every day and I have no doubt those blessings will follow us, including myself, throughout our entire lives.  I know it definitely has made a difference in the life of Isaac.  I’m sure if asked, he’d whole-heartedly agree.

            From Longzhou, in our sweltering heat, sending you “Ping An” for your day.

Lean and Mean

            I’m one of those lean-meats kind of people.  Pork loins and chicken breasts are high up there on my protein list but in smalltown China, those are a bit tricky to purchase.

            In the open air meat market, which is the only place here to go for fresh selections, sellers expect you to eat like the Chinese.  In other words, everything goes, from jiggling, blubbery pork fat to every animal innard imaginable. Heads, feet, eyes, guts and skin are  goodies left up for grabs to the public.

            The Chinese eat it all.

            Unfortunately, the foreigner doesn’t, or rather this foreigner doesn’t.

            Trying to talk sellers into giving me just the best bits of a huge slab tossed on the butcher’s cutting block has been a challenge.

              From day one, it was walking the aisles to find one or two willing enough to help me out.  Among the pork sellers, I managed a fairly good rapore which landed me choice loin cuts but I still had to get the whole shebang by buying what the meat was attached to.  That left me dealing with back bones and extended rib cages once I got home.

             Thank goodness for the dog.  She reaps the rewards of my unwanted purchases by getting a small cooked bone every evening before bed. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’d be throwing out a great deal of still tasty, gnawable parts of a good pig.

Chicken Breasts?  Another story

            Pork loins are one thing but getting chicken breasts, I quickly found, was quite another matter altogether.

            No poultry seller was willing to destroy an entire chicken just for the foreigner to have the white meat.  It was either buy the entire chicken (freshly plucked, rubbery skinned, with neck, head, feet and all still intact) or buy a half a chicken or buy a fourth of a chicken with the delectable leg and wing awaiting the cooking pot.

            Since chicken bones are pretty much out for dogs, and dark meat was not something I cared for, that left me dealing with parts of the bird my pickiness  refused to eat.

             Throwing out good meat was just too sinful in my mind so I turned to the Chinese.  

            I tried giving my neighbors and colleagues the chicken parts not my favorites but after awhile, it was a bit embarrassing.  My Chinese friends didn’t understand they were doing me a favor by taking from me what was considered to them the most delicious and best part of the bird.  They felt overly obligated to return my generosity instead. 

            Things got a bit messy, relationship-wise, so I just gave up on buying chicken and stuck to pork.

Making an Inroad

            Thus it’s been  for 7 months now with me passing by the poultry section of the market and heading directly to the pork sellers. 

            When the swine butchers see me coming, their eyes light up.

           “Lai,  lai, waiguo pengyou!  (Come, come, foreign friend!)” they shout, holding up what they know I’m looking for, hoping that I’ll land at their stall. 

            They know I’m a great customer.   I load up every week or two on quite a lot to freeze at home for my daily use.  

            Always during these occasions, the poultry sellers look on with envy and frustration:   If the foreigner buys all that pork, why won’t she buy chicken as well?

            It was just by chance last Sunday that I happened to be in the market around 10:30 a.m., which is not my usual shopping time. What did I see, as I headed to pork stalls, but a nicely cut-out chicken breast waiting for purchase.

            A great find!  I snatched it up immediately, asking the poultry seller if she had more. 

            She shook her head.

            Could she cut me another one from the whole birds lining her table?

            She was very reluctant to do this, frowned and made a rather snotty facial expression that said, “Are you kidding?!  Not possible.”

            But the next seller over, seeing this was an opportunity, waved me into her cubicle.

            “You want this one?” she said, holding onto a hefty chicken and motioning she’d cut me what I wanted.

            “I’ll take as many as you can give me,” I replied eagerly.

            And that’s how it started:  I made an inroad with a poultry seller. 

            “Come back tomorrow,” she brightened.  “How much do you want?  One pound?  Two pounds?”
            “You prepare it, I’ll buy it,” I said.

            We set a time of 12:30 the next day.  She wanted me to come earlier.  That would allow her more time to sell the parts of the bird I didn’t want to other Chinese, shopping before lunch. But I explained I was teaching until noon.  That’s the earliest I could get there.

            She paused a moment.  She seemed a bit skeptical that I’d show up but agreed reluctantly. 

             If she set aside all this meat and I didn’t come, she’d be left having to sell it to the Chinese who most likely wouldn’t want just the breasts.  They’d want an entire chicken. That would mean throwing out what wasn’t sold at the end of the day.            

           Obviously, a great loss of money to her.

            From my end, I wasn’t going to let this prized moment pass by.  No matter what, I was going to make it to her stall at 12:30 the next day to show that, yes, the foreigner’s word can be trusted.

Sealing the Deal

            The next day was a sizzler, reaching high into the 90s.  After a full morning of teaching in a sweltering classroom, I was stinky, tired, and in no mood to go shopping.  The last thing I wanted to do was walk into town under that relentless southern Chinese sun to get chicken breasts.

            But my seller was waiting.   I had made a promise. I was obligated to keep it.

            So I sucked it up and off I went, trudging along the dusty, heated Longzhou streets, under the shade of my umbrella, to the outdoor market.

            What a big smile awaited me, along with 2 pounds of chicken breasts, after I arrived. 

             It was quite a noontime show, the foreigner loading up on her chicken breasts.  The other poultry sellers were full of regret, having missed out on what they now saw was a great relationship (and money-maker) between one of their own and the foreigner.

             The pork sellers, in the meantime,  kept glancing my way, now discovering that there was some competition involved here.

            Obviously, they’d have to work a bit harder to entice me over next time I was cruising the market aisles.

Same-o, Same-o Dinners Take A Back Burner

            After having pork for so long, chicken has been a great change of pace for me.            

           Now we come to a dilemma:   How to please both the poultry and pork sellers so they’ll continue to regard me as their special customer and leave the best selections out for my scrutiny.   

            Juggling between the two won’t be easy but I’ll figure it out somehow. 

            Until next entry, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.

Sweltering on the Weekend

            Friday noontime had me trekking into town for my weekly meat run at the open air market.

            12:00 to 2:30 p.m. is the Chinese siesta hour, where all students and faculty are crashed in beds for their afternoon naps after lunch.   And especially in this heat, as our temperatures now shoot into the humid, sticky, suffocating 90s, very few dare to venture out.

           But there I was, during our Friday siesta hours, meeting student after student coming back from the downtown stores. 

            What would bring them out at this time of day, missing naps and struggling through the southern China heat?

            None other than table fan purchases.

            I must have run into 10 sweating students, each lugging a fan they had just purchased to put in their dorm rooms.  With 8 to a room, no air-conditioning or ceiling fans, I can imagine how horribly hot they all must be. 

            The small household appliance sellers will certainly be making a killing this weekend.

             A small fan can do a lot to move the air around.  I should know as I have two of them in my huge, 6-room  apartment.  My sitting room has a current temperature of 86 so a fan goes a long way in keeping the dog and me somewhat comfortable. . . if we don’t move around a lot.

            Yes, I do have an air-conditioner but as is the custom in China, it is located in the bedroom for night use only.  It’s also quite small.  I’m usually lucky if it cools down the room to 75.

Saturday’s Playdate Gets a Bit Wild

            Despite the fans blowing constantly, that certainly wasn’t enough comfort for my Saturday playdate with the neighborhood kids.  As always, they appeared at my door at 3 p.m. for our 1-hour of  visit-the-foreigner time. 

            We have drinks and cookies.  We draw pictures.  We play games. We chit-chat and I try to get them to use as much English as possible.   Usually, the visits are very tame and quiet, depending on who shows up. 

            Yesterday, however, things got a bit wild.

            We started out at a calm, quiet pace. 

            Amy (Huang Yawei) was having her 11^th birthday so we celebrated with candles atop a muffin surrounded by Oreo cookies.

             She got the muffin and the rest of us had the Oreo cookies.

            The fan’s comforting  blow was just right until we started the mini-frisbee throw.  That pretty much ended the restful part of the visit.  The excited  kids began grabbing and snatching at the throw toy while running around the room. 

              Locking one another in the foreigner’s bathroom then became the next novel activity along with barking back at a very upset Little Flower, who was shut up in the back bedroom for safety purposes.  (Both her safety and our xiao pengyou‘s, little friends’.)

            4 p.m. couldn’t come soon enough for me, let me tell you!

            By the time the happy, exuberant band of young people left,  the apartment seemed to have heated up to over 100, with my patience index mounting to about that level as well.

            Don’t get me wrong.  I do like the Chinese kids to come by.  They are usually very well-behaved and never a problem but yesterday, the heat just got to us all.

Happy Mom’s Day!

            Before closing, I just wanted to wish our mom readers a Happy Mother’s Day.

           After yesterday’s 1-hour with the kids, I can certainly appreciate your tolerance level (and joy) in being a mom. 

From Longzhou, here’s sending a Ping An (Peace) for your special day, Moms.    

English Center Updates

            The English Center volunteers were becoming frustrated.

            Last semester, those who came to the English Center rarely checked out books, spoke in English or seemed to take advantage of the language opportunity set before them.  Instead, they silently watched DVD movies on the Center’s TV.  Sometimes, they put on the Chinese subtitles and didn’t even bother following English captions.

            This semester, things changed.

            After a meeting, the volunteers changed the schedule of the English Center.  Every day would be a different activity geared toward helping visitors use their language ability.   The new format would be:

            Monday – Game Day

            Tuesday – Movie Day

            Wednesday – Storytelling (reading aloud books or free talk)

            Thursday – Free Talk on Assigned Subjects

            Friday – Movie Day

            So this semester, we’ve had a change which has resulted in a different kind of environment for our English learners. 

            To support the Center’s new move, I’ve been visiting 3 to 4 times a week during their hours (4 – 6 p.m.) to help get things rolling.  Since there weren’t any games, I donated 3 Scrabble games, 2 Boggle games and 1 deck of Uno cards.  These, by the way, were sent to me by UMW units a few years ago.   I’ve been holding onto them for just the right place to put them.

            Our English Center was it.

            After teaching the volunteers how to play all three, they now are able to teach newcomers who show up and are looking for something other than movies to watch.

            Although the movie crowd wasn’t very happy, they still have 2 days to enjoy their films.  The rest of us can enjoy some quality language time doing other things. 

            So far, the volunteers think it’s a successful venture and will continue to the end of the semester.

An Evening of Patriotic Singing

            May 1^st marked the country’s Labor Day, which brought with it a holiday on Monday.  In honor of the occasion, the Student Union decided to host a choral contest for the entire school.   Every class could participate with the first song being an old Communist gung-ho favorite and the second being any patriotic number of choice.

             Elimination rounds took  place for 6 weeks with the finals held last Friday evening, the day before the national holiday.

            Out of the 15 classes chosen, I’m proud to say our Foreign Language Department had 7 choirs, one being the Thai language majors and the rest being English students from among the 1^st and 2^nd year students. Other participants were from the PE, Chinese and Management majors.

            Judges were those from outside the school to make the event fair.  Leaders from our Chongzuo school were invited to watch, including Party Secretary Li.

Attending the Contest:  Moments of “Ouch!”

            With nothing else to do on a Friday night, I went to listen to the choirs and show support for our English majors.  Vice-dean Liang Ling and I sat together for the entire 2 ½ hour performance. 

            We certainly enjoyed the grand show although, vouching for myself, often-times not the singing.

            Chinese equate happiness with loudness.  The louder you are, the happier you are, and this certainly carries over to Chinese choirs.  Even the TV professionals belt out songs with great gusto and enthusiasm with little attention paid to musical quality.  No dynamics. No parts.  No variations.  Just one, loud, in-unison, shouting “love-the-motherland, fight-for-victory, never-give-up” sentimentality.

            For our own choral contest, it was pretty much the same idea.

            Notes were flat.  Melodies were lost.  Lyrics were screamed.

            The loudspeakers added even more to the earsplitting numbers that deafened us at times.  The microphones picked up every little wail and screech that took place from our soloists.

            And, yes, there were many screeching soloists.  (Too many.)

A Definite Love-of-Country Atmosphere

            Despite what seems to be a horrific description of the night, it was the enthusiasm and excitement from the students performing that gave the night its star quality shine.        

            Everyone had worked so hard, practicing day and night for weeks to get this far.  They had perfected their movements, added signs and banners to wave at appropriate moments, rented outfits or had them made, and had taken the stage with pride, honor and a true love-of-country spirit. 

            The audience, too, was 100% behind their classmates.  Every choir member, every song, every choreographed movement was cheered and applauded.    

            Just sitting in the midst of it all, sharing comments with my colleague, Liang Ling, gave me a feeling of belonging to a very strong-knit community. 
            So what if no one was of  Tabernacle Choir caliber. It was just fun to share in the moment.

            From Longzhou, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your May Day!

            All day Saturday, the English Association volunteers we busy at work preparing for our first English language singing contest.  They had banners to display, backdrops to finish and runways to set up.  They had red carpet to put down, judges’ tables to prepare and competition score sheets to Xerox.  Lastly, they had to coordinate all the necessary equipment usage with the hired professionals.  The school graciously paid for outside help in setting up and running efficiently the sound system, lighting and even the event’s video taping. 

            In other words, this was a pretty darn big deal!
            Did the weeks of preparation, hours of meeting to discuss details, days of rehearsal time by competitors and our student MC’s pay off?

            Read on to find out.

Checking Out the Set-up

            Earlier on Saturday, Little Flower and I headed over to the outdoor stage area to take a look at how things were progressing.  It was 4 hours before the competition and everything was already in place. The stage was ready, the sound equipment guys were blaring songs to entertain those hanging around, lights were being checked, the video camera position was being readied and everyone seemed quite satisfied that things were ready to go.

Arriving at The Competition

            When I headed over to the stage area at 7:45 p.m., a huge crowd had already gathered. Students brought their own stools and sat according to classes, which had been orderly chalked off on the concrete so everyone would know where to sit.

            Our judges were showing up, four of us being English teachers and one being a Chinese music teacher.  Although he spoke no English, he was quite qualified to determine the musical talent and stage presence of those participating.

            I sat between Mr. Pan, now retired but living on campus, and Mrs. Zhou, a young teacher in her 20s who just recently had a little baby girl.

            I was very impressed by the care which the students had gone to make sure we had all we needed as judges.  We each had a desktop light so we see how to mark our scores.  We had the lyrics to the songs printed out for each contestant.  We had a list of the competitors, their names and songs. And we had slips that outlined what each category for scoring would be and the points we needed to assign.

            It seemed nothing had been overlooked, including a bottle of water if we became thirsty, pens and extra paper if we wanted to write down comments.

The Competition Itself

            As many in the audience didn’t speak English, we had 2 MCs – one to give the English announcements and the other to translate.  The two interacted very well together and gave the contest an extra zip with uplifting comments and clever contestant introductions.

            For the most part, our 20 singers did an excellent job. Everyone remembered their lyrics.  Everyone dressed in their sparkling best to look good on stage.  Most had good stage presence and belted out their songs with adequate emotion.

            Of course, there were those that stood out as being better than others.  Those singers were our top places.

             It was interesting that our winners did a duet, “Just One More Dance,”  with one girl singing the female vocal and the other doing the male.  I can’t say their singing prowess was so great. Lots of wailing and screeching, mostly off key, but their interaction with the crowd and each other, not to mention their intensity in emotion, put them over the top.

            Their final score of 9.53 out of 10 gave them 1^st place.

            During the halfway point, we had a drawing for prizes.  I was invited to the stage to draw the names and then ask a simple English question which the participants had to answer in order to win. 

            “Name one song in English,” “Name one singer who sings English songs,” “Sing ‘Happy Birthday’ in English” were just a few, all of them easy enough for anyone to answer, even if their English wasn’t so good.

            The final segment of the evening was to invite a judge to give constructive comments about the singers and their performances.  That was my job and is something I always enjoy doing.  It’s great fun to hand out praises galore and then slip into a few helpful hints on how to be better next time.  Chinese students honestly take such things to heart so it’s important to pinpoint exactly what went right, and wrong, to make everyone happy.

            Our contest wrapped up at exactly 10 p.m., which is certainly much earlier than I had expected.

             Obviously, due to perfect planning, the English Association members outdid themselves for their 1^st English Singing contest.   It was certainly a successful night, one which no one will every forget.

            I have a feeling that next year, I’ll be reporting again about another night of English song from Guangxi Normal University for Nationalities. 

            Until next entry, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.

What News of Earthquake Emergency Relief?  UMCOR in Action

            Those who are United Methodists will be pleased to hear about our UMCOR  efforts (United Methodist Committee on Relief) via The Amity Foundation.  Amity staff with supplies  reached the afflicted area in less than 24 hours after the quake struck.

            UMCOR always works through partnership agencies within countries that need help.  The Amity Foundation (which is the organization that I’m associated with as an English teacher) is our UMCOR partner.

            A recent article written by Diane Allen on our UMCOR website reads as follows:

            The earthquake in Qinghai (pronounced ‘ching high’) is one of China’s poorest provinces.  The quake’s epicentre occurred in Yushu County Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.  Yushu is situated on the Tibetan plateau, over two and a half miles above sea level.  According to Amity’s She Hongyu, Assistant General Secretary, it has a population of 90,000 of which 93 percent are ethnic Tibetans, 

            Both the high altitude, which can make breathing challenging for those not acclimated, and sub-freezing temperatures have made rescue and relief efforts especially difficult. 

             “Freezing weather, hard mud floors, 60 percent oxygen density, sleeping bags to be warmed up, is the true picture of the rescue situation in Yushu,” said She.  “Amity staff have been working in Qinghai non-stop, determined to help as much as possible.”

            Once at the quake site and in coordination with national relief efforts, Amity and its local partner in the area began focusing relief efforts in Longbao Township, 14,500 feet above sea level and about 40 miles from the hardest hit town of Jiegu, the county seat.  

             To date it has delivered emergency relief to nearly 4,000 thousand people in Cuoduo, Cuimei and Cuosang villages. 

            According to She, “Local buildings are mostly made of wood and low-level brick work.  Many of them collapsed during the earthquake.  Among the first batch of supplies were much needed quilts for the freezing weather at 1 degree Fahrenheit.”  Other immediate provisions included:  2,790 cartons of mineral water; 1,120 cartons of sausages; 517 cartons of instant noodles; 50 tons of rice; 25 tons of wheat flour; and 600 sets of bedding.

            Most of Yushu County’s population are traditional animal herders, living well below China’s poverty line, with incomes of less than $130 per year.

            Poverty is one of the key reasons people are so vulnerable in times of disaster. 

            The Amity Foundation has been working in Qinghai’s Yushu County for several years, with integrated rural development and environmental projects.  The organization was a key partner with UMCOR in responding to a massive earthquake in Sichuan Province in China in 2008. Nearly 87,000 people died in that earthquake.

A Recent Email from Ms She

            As an Amity Foundation teacher,  I have been receiving daily updates of Amity’s relief work  in the earthquake zone.   

            Here is one such email, which should make our Methodists very proud to be a part of such a swift, meaningful and life-saving venture.

Dear friends,

        By 10:00pm, April 19, the death toll in Yushu earthquake rose to 2039, 195 people are still missing, 12,135 people injured, of whom, 1,434 are severely wounded. (http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2010-04/20/c_1243493.htm)

        Ms. Tang  and Mr. Cui set off to Xining with the early morning flight from Nanjing and arrived in Xining at 2:00pm. Later this evening, together with Mr. Shu Junsong, they will be tumbling on the road to Yushu in two trucks fully loaded with relief materials.

        While the lowest temperature in Yushu rises to freezing during night, the place was swept by strong wind covered with snow. It goes without saying the tough weather added to the difficulty of relief work.   In sand, storm and snow, Amity team worked till 4:00am April 19 and distributed the 3rd batch of relief materials to 360 households in Zanian village, Longbao Township.        Materials distributed were:

8 tons of flour;

2 tons of rice;

2000 bottles of mineral water;

1000 cartons of beef sausage

         "People from thousands of miles away care about us, bring us food and drinks, you have given us hope for life", said the villagers in Zanian village where  people died and 50 people badly injured from the strong earthquake.

         Accompanied by the Principal of Longbao Township School, Mr. He Wen (Amity’s Assistant General Secretary) visited a number of schools collapsed in the quake to assess school condition and food supply . Amity will endeavour every effort in the reconstruction and restoration of the destructed villagers . Specific project items are to be decided based on the over-all comprehensive evaluation.

         Amity’s fund raising efforts started the day the powerful earthquake hit Yushu. By April 19, a total of RMB 1.49 million Yuan ($219,117) was received.

        Tomorrow morning, Mr. Wei Wei, staff member of the Church & Social Service Prog. will set off to Xining in order for those who have worked in Yushu withdraw and have a moment to adjust and replenish much needed energy and sleep.

 
She Hongyu
Assistant General Secretary
Director, Research & Development Centre

More Earthquake Updates

            Those interested in giving to earthquake relief via UMCOR can do so by visiting:

 http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/. 

             Those wishing to be updated daily about the efforts or donate funds through the Amity Foundation are also welcome to do so by visiting:

http://www.amityfoundation.org/wordpress/?p=1199

         From Longzhou, Ping An (Peace)!