It is now almost a month that we have actually been in China. I will share some highlights with you from our first several weeks. We spent the first week in a temporary apartment. We had arrived earlier that anticipated, and the new flats were not ready yet. We were actually given two apartments, side by side; however, you reached them by different stairwells. One was on the 2nd floor, the other was down the stairs, outside, down another flight of stairs, then up 3 flights of stairs. We decided that we could survive very well in one apartment for the time being. We had a 2-burner propane stove, a small clothes washer that worked, a TV, a fridge and an air conditioner. The shower was cold, as no one could figure out the hot water heater. It was quite a wake up first thing in the morning, but because the weather at the time was in the nineties, and very muggy, it felt great.
After a week or two we were moved into our new apartment. They have taken one wing of a building and are fixing it up for foreign teachers. The fixtures and appliances and furniture are new, the floors are tile, and the walls are a fresh white.
However, we wouldn't fit into the standard bachelor-teacher apartment, so they gave us two apartments separated by a short stairwell landing. We have plenty of room, but we also have two fridges, two washing machines, etc. Every day we go back and forth twenty times or so. We use one side as kitchen, playroom, and living room; the other side is for sleeping. The apartment is quite close to the market and more-or-less overlooks a farming area below us.
Tim is teaching English to college students. I'm teaching English in the primary/middle school on the campus. I teach all grades, from kindergarten up through middle 3 (9th grade). We are both teaching about 16 hours a week.
The food is excellent. We were taken out to dinner the first night we arrived. There are lots of vegetarian dishes, and many vegetables we have never seen before. It was not too spicy, just very tasty. Around the restaurant there are many small shops, small food stores, noodle stalls, and odds and ends stores. The post office and bank are amongst them, as well as a cobbler, and seamstress and two hair salons. The university has a complete recreational complex with an olympic size pool, track, badminton courts, basketball courts, and football field (soccer in the US). Not fancy by any standard, but adequate. The pool is murky and about 2 meters deep. Taalan has gotten right into playing all kinds of games. Both children, but especially Tariqa with her long blond hair, are a source of constant wonderment to the local people. There have been foreign teachers here since 1985, but ours are the first foreign children that most people have ever seen.
Shortly after arriving, Taalan and Tariqa were playing at our waiban's home with her son. Since Tim and I had a free hour or two we decided to get haircuts before school started. As we walked up to the little beauty parlor Tim wondered aloud if they could also trim his beard. The shop was no bigger than 6' by 8', with the front open to the outside. There was one chair, and a shelf, as well as a small sink on the left. Tim decided to go first, brave soul that he is. He was draped in a haircutting robe. The hairdresser was a young, very pretty girl with a beautiful smile. Several of her friends had been visiting when we arrived and spent the time wandering in and out as she cut. Never have I seen scissors and comb move so quickly. Snip, snip, snip and one side was done, very short, over the ears. Waves were no problem; she just cut them off. On to the top and then the back. She did a beautiful job shaping the neckline. Voila! The haircut was done. Out come the clippers to trim the neck hairs. Tim looked pretty good.
She then started to chatter and point to Tim's beard. It was very thick and bushy, especially now he had his new haircut. "I guess she does do beards," Tim commented to me, and he nodded that yes she could trim his beard. With the clippers she started on the side I couldn't see. The clippers moved just as quickly as the scissors. Tim commented on how short she seemed to be trimming his beard. Zip, zip, zip. On to my side. Yep, she sure does do beards! Down the cheeks, over the chin, and the beard was finished. It was maybe 1/4 inch long and looked like something the moths have been feasting on. I was watching, trying hard not to burst out laughing.
More chatter and pointing. Wash hair now. Move to the sink, put your head forward into the basin, and have warm water poured over your head from a pitcher. Shampoo, rinse from a pail, the water running through the drain onto the street, a quick towel dry, and back to the chair for a blow dry and fluff. Out came a straight razor for finishing the neckline. Now, the beard. Much pointing and chattering at Tim's beard. Tim looked at me and asked if he should let her shave it off or if he should grow it back out. "There's not much to grow back, Tim," I answered. "I know, but I think I'm going to grow it back anyway," Tim replied. He turned to the girl and firmly shook his head, holding his hands up. "No! No shave off beard!" The hairdresser, knowledge dawning on her face that Tim had only wanted his beard trimmed, looked stricken. She turned and hid her face in her hands. "Tim," I said, "I think she was planning on shaving your beard off. You'd better let her finish or she will be very upset." Pointing to his beard and nodding his head, Tim gave her the go ahead to finish doing his beard. Relief flooded her face, and she gave a brilliant smile and promptly dropped the chairback flat. Tim lurched backwards when the chairback fell, ending up with his head hanging 6 inches off the chair seat. He scooched down so his head was resting on the headrest. Out came a damp towel, the straight razor, with a new blade, and shaving cream. Moments of intense concentration later, the beard was no more. There was, however, quite a nick on Tim's chin that wouldn't stop bleeding. Out came the staunching powder, but it did no good. She hid her face again. This time her friends came to her rescue with more powder and then one of them borrowed a roll of toilet paper from down the line of shops. They pulled off a great wad and started dabbing at Tim's chin again. It still bled. Tim stood up and said, "No problem, don't worry about it, it will be fine." He took a tiny snip of toilet paper and stuck it on his chin. There, everything is fixed. How much for the haircut? 4 yuan -- about 50 cents.
I then tentatively took my place on the chair, and in less than 5 minutes I was trimmed, washed and sent on my way. How much? 4 yuan. The saving grace came from Ruihong who graciously commented that Tim looked so much younger without his beard. Much better that the children's "What happened to your beard. You sure look strange," or my bursting out laughing every time I looked at him. Yes, she certainly does DO beards!
Driving in China is like no other experience I have ever had. Cars and any kind of vehicle you can imagine are abundant. There are bicycles, pedestrians galore, bicycle carts with 3 or 4 wheels loaded with any and everything from poles 10 feet long to bags of rice to board bundles to laundry. People on foot and motorcycles intermingle freely and at risk of their necks. We have only seen 1 traffic light coming through Changsha. In Macau there were traffic circles instead; here there are no traffic circles, no right of way, just a free for all at the 5- or 6-way intersections. All the moving objects converge on the intersections at will and en mass. Good will, overall size of vehicles, loudest horns, and most persistent forward motion decide who will prevail. Can order be created out of chaos? Somehow everyone emerges going where they want, unflustered, smiling, unperturbed, and in one piece.
The horns have a language all their own, from warning the bicycles you are passing them to informing the big trucks that you are going by NOW, demanding them to move out of your way, to shrilling your intention to stay in the wrong lane even if someone else is coming right at you. The lane dividers are only rough guidelines of your approximate side of the road. If there is more traffic going one way than the other, the traffic simply engulfs a third lane, leaving the lesser traffic with one. Crossing the street is a matter of short, running forwards for several paces and abrupt halts, accompanied by the horns announcing the presence of all vehicles. The loudest horn is not directly proportionate with the size. Despite the bedlam and chaos, we have never seen anyone upset or angry. Everyone remains unflustered and in very good humor, to outward appearances at least. It is part of life in China. I am just glad that I do not need to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Motorcycles consistently have louder and more unsettling horns. The worse thing that can happen to a driver is for his horn to not work. It then becomes near impossible to get people or vehicles to get out of your way. When overtaking other vehicles it is very hair-raising as they don't know your intentions, and they may just decide to pass someone else themselves at the same time you're passing them. Tim experienced this on one of his trips to Changsha. He said at one point it took forever to cover two blocks because no one would get out of the way of the car.
Yesterday was Mid Autumn Day, on the full moon near the equinox. Here it is cause of a wonderful celebration with friends and family. When asked, the students told me that it was a time to get together, eat mooncakes, and look at the moon, which is full and yellow -- what we call the harvest moon. The 3rd grade class invited Taalan, Tariqa and I to their celebration in their class. We were placed at one of the students' desks, which had been moved back along the wall of the class and faced inward. We were being constantly plied with all kinds of goodies. The children would come over and pour peanuts and candy and puffed-wheat snacks onto our desks. We were given many mooncakes. Some have a nut filling, some meat, some have the hard-boiled yolk of an egg in the middle and some a kind of sweet bean paste. All are sweet and very tasty, though we didn't try the meat ones. The children played games and in general had a great time. Taalan was included in a game where they had the children put a small basket on their backs, then the teacher threw pingpong balls and the children tried to catch the balls in their baskets. It looked like a lot of fun, and was also very difficult.
When classes were over and we had gone home and eaten dinner, some of Tim's students invited us to join in their celebrations. All the university students were gathered at the outside basketball courts. They were arranged in circles throughout the court. Each group had it own P.A. system, celebrations and music. We were with the first year students, who had just finished a month of obligatory military training. They were mostly in their uniforms, seated in a large heart-shaped ring. It was very beautiful, with candles set on the pavement in front of the students. The stars were bright and the moon very full overhead. The students all took turns singing, doing skits, and dancing. Many came over to visit and stayed to talk for a while. It was wonderful to see all the beautiful faces, reflected in the candlelight and to hear their wonderful voices. There was a sweetness and innocence in the gathering that is missing in so many of our youthful celebrations. Everyone was drinking pop and so happy. It was very stirring in my heartstrings.
Today we have been invited by the province of Hunan to a gathering of all the foreign teachers at a beautiful resort town of Yue Yang. It is a two-hour train ride from here. All expenses will be covered. I don't know if we will be going by ourselves or with our waiban.
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