Happy Easter everyone!  Here in Kunming, the only thing that tells me it’s Easter, is the calendar, and  of course the sublime  Passion music Howard had played for us all week.  I have not made my traditional “paska” or Easter bread, and I don’t think we’ll have ham or leg of lamb for Easter dinner! There are no chocolate bunnies, no fluffy little chicks, or brightly colored eggs to be seen anywhere.  There are some naturally colored blue, green and speckled eggs at the market.The fermented eggs don’t look too good! I’ve enclosed a few pictures for you.

Easter eggs – or not!

Some kind of fermented eggs! Smells awful!

More fermented eggs – definitely not chocolate!

Some of these eggs are very blue – a little hard to see – not precoloured for Easter!

This is a weekend I would love to be back home in Canada to celebrate with family and friends, but we are enjoying a quiet weekend at our home here and going for long walks. I  must say, I think one of the biggest adjustments for me has been our lack of social life here, coming from a fairly busy one at home! And Kunming,large and lovely as it is, is definitely not an “international” city the way Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo or Taipei are.  Having said that, I think the young people are the same everywhere. I marvel at the fashion statements of the young beautiful girls here – high heels the likes of which would make a podiatrist cringe. That  coupled with very short shorts or mini skirts make them seem much more elongated and fashionable. Then add to that the  heavy empty eyeglass frames , and voila, they’re ready for Vogue Magazine.
Most of the girls in my classes wear the heavy spectacles without the glass!  They also love their bling!

Speaking of my class, there are always some delightful or unusual surprises. Last week, I had asked each of them to bring an English article to read to the class.
Not all had done their homework, but the ones that had came up with some unusual readings. Mostly, they had no idea what it was they chose to read, and one of them even had perused the internet for something to read, and had come up with something pornographic! She had no idea!  Needless to say, her “reading” was somewhat briefer than the others!  
 Then we got to talking about university admissions, and how the system works here. When students apply to a university, they have to write an exam, which shows their English proficiency (or lack thereof), and a political questionnaire. This is standard across China. Then each university has its own admission standards and practices. It’s difficult to ascertain exactly what those standards are, but everything is written. I had 5 drama students in my class on Thursday, and  I was told that most of their studies are restricted to writing  short plays or dramas and talking about the theory of drama and how it’s done. Some of these students hope to become professional actors. They all  insisted that they do not perform plays or practice acting. So my question was, how do you know you want to be an actor or even if you’re any good at it? This baffled them, they’d never thought of that. Next question from me – “What are the requirements for graduating with a Bachelors Degree?”  They were unanimous – 20,000 words. In addition to taking the required number of courses,  they need to write a paper which has 20,000. words! The number of words was strongly emphasized.  Their question to me was, how many words for a BA in Canada?  How many words for an MA?  Okay, all my academic friends, how many words does it take??  Interesting… 

Today we spent part of the morning at the market again, and I couldn’t resist sending you this lovely picture of 3 little boys enjoying their snacks while their parents were busy vendors! They are obviously not siblings – the one child per family is very strongly adhered to!

Talk to you again next week!

Maggie

Well it’s been quite a week again! We left home a month ago today! In some ways it seems much, much longer. I am now becoming familiar with  all the confusion, the  lack of understanding (my lack), and the rich, pungent smells and sounds of a foreign city!

I must say I love living in the middle of a busy metropolis – yes there are lots of honking horns, etc., but it’s life!  People seem to be “happy”, and  I know that sounds trite, but we sense a  contentment  and enjoyment of life, the driving materialism in modern China not withstanding. If you smile at people, they always smile back!  We are fortunate that our bedroom faces an inner courtyard, which is fairly quiet so  there’s no excessive noise.

The highlight for me this week was meeting my English students for the first time. My first class was on Tuesday, and I had 30  eager, expectant faces looking at me, and wanting me to produce for 90 minutes! Sometimes they say things which take me aback – how do I respond to ” We are so happy to meet you, and you are so much more glamorous than we thought you would be”.  Really? Glamorous? I wonder what they were expecting!!

 Then on Thursday, I was anticipating to meet the same 30 students, but instead I had 40 new ones! Apparently the 30 on Tuesday had enjoyed it so much, that a whole new batch of students went to the administration, requesting to take my course.So  on Thursday I was greeted with 40 new students! The administration decided that they would make 2 classes  because of the high numbers, so the students could only come once a week instead of 2 times as they were expecting.
  I can’t begin to tell you what a rich experience this is turning out to be – and I’ve only had 2 classes! The students are all post graduate, quite a few painters, some of  them are traditional chinese painters, some modern,  a number of design students drama (actors) students, composers, pianists, singers etc. Their knowledge of the English language is all over the map, but they are all eager to learn. But really, I am the one who is learning so much. It’s a conversational class. We talk about everything under the sun.

 They are all without exception, from a one child family. Shocked when they learn I have 3 children. I asked them, so what happens if there is an “accident” and your parents have another child. They said there is very harsh punishment, and “you don’t want to know”. I didn’t pursue that any further! They have many questions, and the trick is to redirect the questions to them and get them talking.

Most of the students have English names which they have chosen for themselves. A few said they had an English name but couldn’t remember it because they never used it!  One of the sweet shy girls asked if I would give her an English name – what an honour and responsibility. So next week I have to have a name for her. I must mention Candy. When I asked her why she named herself Candy, she said, because candy is sweet, and children love candy, and I want to be teacher to sweet children!  Very sweet indeed!

As I said we cover many topics. We talked about important events that happened in the world, and one of the events that was mentioned was the tsunami last year in Japan. They all agreed that it was horrific, but one girl  was vehemently outspoken saying she didn’t feel sorry for the Japanese, because they had tortured and killed her great grandmother in the Chinese Japanese war. Whew!  Next topic!!

We talked about travel, and where would they like to travel if they could go anywhere in the world. Surprisingly, (or maybe not), very few wanted to go to North America. Mostly, it doesn’t register on their  radar! I was deeply moved by one young design student who, when asked where he would most like to travel in the world, he said in a very halting English, he would like to travel in “time” he wanted to study “human, and Why am I”. And he pointed to his head and said ” I can’t say word”. And I said, so you would like to study philosophy, and he jumped up, and said “yes, I could not think of word”! 

There are many hilarious moments of “misunderstanding”, and we all have a good laugh about it and carry on. They are all very respectful, always stand up when they answer a question, and many come and shake my hand after the class, and thank me. I am totally exhausted, but exhilarated after such a session, and on Thursday I pretty well lost my voice!

We are eagerly anticipating our first Canadian guests this weekend – it will be wonderful to see  familiar faces, even though they are staying for only a very short time.
I do miss my friends and familiar things, but I feel so very fortunate in experiencing this baffling, not always easy, but exotic and endlessly stimulating  world!

Love to all,
Maggie.

Getting to know a new culture is difficult. It seems to be a process of one step forward, and  two steps back! Sometimes I feel as though there’s a complete absence of any logical thinking skills I possessed previously!  Even the simplest tasks and transactions  seem to be more difficult in a foreign country, and can be quite funny! Attempts by said foreign country to help us understand, leave me confused! See picture below, posted at the Bank of China!

Then there is the matter of “Weltanschaung”, individualistic versus collective culture. China’s main stream culture is one of collectivism, which has been honored by Confucianism for thousands of years, and in recent history, Communism. This can lead to interesting and confusing dialogue  between the lovely people here, and two type A western interlopers!  Eventually we do get to understand each other, even with the language barrier which exacerbates everything. I must say, the people are quite wonderful, and very willing to help if they are able.

Yesterday was another glorious sunny day, and after having tried out my new little whirlpool washing machine, we left the house of neccesity after all the sheets and towels were draped on everything in sight. You guessed it, no dryer! The shady boulevards surrounding the idyllic Green Lake Park, which is not more than 10 minutes from where we live, have become a favorite haunt for us. This time we found a beautiful, peaceful little patio where we enjoyed a leisurely drink. After a while we heard some singing, so we followed the sound, and to our delight came upon about 50 -75 mostly seniors, their heads shaded with hats and parasols singing lustily from some kind of song book. Obviously these were old traditional chinese folk songs. Quite delightful. I think Howard took a video, so you might be treated to that in his next blog.

An interesting dinner last night. We decided to try a new (for us) restaurant just down the street. The all-chinese menu, did have pictures, so we pointed to what we thought looked reasonably edible, and ordered. Had a lovely spinach and garlic dish, a version of Peking duck, eyes, beak and all (nothing is wasted!)
The third dish was a complete surprise, and we eventually figured it out to be SNAKE!!!!! It was hot and spicy with lots of peppers and ginger, but those round, shiny patterned, scaly looking skin biits were a little off putting. Definitely needed a beer to wash that down.
Beautiful sunshine again today, and if Howard is feeling up to it, (he has a cold) we will head to the Bird and Flower market. I’ve had enough of meat markets for a while (see photo below)!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Zaijien, (good bye),
Maggie

ps. For those of you who are FB friends, I still cannot access facebook, but I can receive messages, so bring ’em on!

Really? It’s only been a week? Well just a little more… Time has stood still, it has sped up incredibly and it has also just plodded along at it’s usual pace.
Robert Louis Stevenson said, ” There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” How true!  After a week  of  trying to learn and absorb, there is still so much to become accustomed to, new sounds and smells, and yes the smells do take some getting used to! As does the noise – there is constant hustle and bustle – signs of a vibrant and bustling city! 
Some reflections on the past week:
– Domestic  – things take a lot longer here. I can’t just get in the car and go to Zehrs! I can’t even read the labels in the stores. I don’t know if I’m buying toilet cleaner or fish sauce. I don’t recognize most vegetables, and the cows hooves are not at all like a leg of lamb at home – the toenails are far too long! (See attached photos).
 Finding good wine is difficult. And then of course, we have to haul everything up 5 flights of stairs! Thank God Howard is a willing and  reliable Sherpa! There is a large store called Metro, similar to Costco about a 20 minute cab drive away. Problem is, it’s all in bulk, and I really don’t need 50 rolls of toilet paper! But everything is available, so I’m grateful!
Water – Today we got a new washing machine – can’t wait to try it out!  There are no clothes dryers – only wash lines. We have 2 small bathrooms, what we did not know was that one  of them is solar powered, so if the sun is shining, we have hot water! Yay!  The other one is heated electrically, and even has a bathtub which I look at longingly, but won’t use it on the advice of Adrienne Clarkson (former GG) who at a party in Toronto several weeks before we left said to me “Maggie, woman to woman, do NOT have a bath in China – just shower!” So probably singing in the shower with an open mouth is out as well!  In fact we can’t use the tap water to brush our teeth. But we do have drinking water, so no problem.
Taxis – wow , it’s tough to get one, even though there are many of them, and they are very inexpensive (a 20 minute ride is about $3.00). Of course there’s NO language communication, so it can be interesting. I do have this wonderful app on my ipad,  I type the name of where we’re going, and it translates it into Mandarin for me, and I just show it to the cab driver!  It certainly worked this morning. Last night, it took us 45 minutes to hail a cab from the Kunming Theater where we went for a concert. Had a great driver last night who sang as he drove, but also periodically hurled large amounts of spit out the window. I was glad there was no wind!

Kunming Symphony Orchestra did a concert last night – unusual programming  of 2 viola concertos – by William Walton and Bela Bartok respectively. Both violists were from Beijing and were fantastic.
But the big , very pleasant surprise was the orchestra!  They are fabulous! Not recognizable from 1999. So, needless to say, Howard is very excited to be working with them in May. We met a few of the players later – most of them are new from when we were last here, but there were a few who remembered Howard, They were so warm and friendly. Howard will be writing more about the music I’m sure in his blog, so if you want to check it out, go to www.howarddyck.com 

Yunnan Arts University – located in this new planned city of Cheng Gong, and one hour away. We go out on Tuesdays and Thursdays  right now. We leave the house at 2, try to get one of those elusive taxis, and have about a 10 minute ride to where we get the bus that takes us to the campus. Howard has now had a rehearsal with both the choir and the orchestra. He has his work cut out for him. The choir shows a lot of promise, and will do very well. The orchestra which is newly formed, is going to be a challenge. Not exactly a silk purse yet – more like burlap! However the kids are keen and seem to love working on the Beethoven Symphony # 1.
These rehearsals begin at 4:40 pm, and go till 6:15 pm  -no breaks. And the choir stands the whole time! They are so keen, it’s a joy to observe. We’re usually home by about 8 pm, ready for a late dinner.

It looks as though my role at the university  will be more  expanded from what I originally thought. I will be spending time with post graduate students during the times Howard rehearses, and engaging in conversational English. That’s what  they are primarily interested in, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Today  was/is a beautiful sunny day again. As I sit here at my computer  in our bright living room listening to one of my favorite operas, Parsifal,(it is Saturday afternoon after all) I am  grateful  for this experience, but overwhelmed by the sensory overload of this place. It is both exhilarating and exhausting!  I still feel I have only taken one small step of the thousands left to take! 
Till next time,

Maggie

Yesterday driving home on the bus from the university, the bus stopped for gas at a service station. The name of the station was “Easy Joy”.
I thought, how apt for our sojourn here! I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said “I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad”.
Well I certainly don’t feel at home, but there is this wonderful feeling of joyful abandonment harkening back to student days in a foreign country many
decades ago. Sometimes at my age,  I feel more like there are some things I would rather  have done already than to have to do now!
Every day brings new experiences, new joys. The sun has been shining (I’m a sucker for sunshine”), and we’ve been able to explore  a little more of the area. 
Just a few minutes away is a lovely park (Green Lake) where we spent a good deal of the afternoon on Monday.
Yesterday morning we were awakened by children at the school across the street singing “Old MacDonald”, and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” – in English!
Talk about a collision of worlds, Chinese pupils paying no attention to political polarities, and singing these songs with joyful abandonment.

Yesterday was our first day at the University! That too, was a joy! I should mention that it’s about an hours drive to the university in a brand new city called Cheng Gong.
With Kunming ever expanding and space being at a premium,  at least 3 of the universities in Kunming are building new, vast campuses in Cheng Gong. It’s very strange to see a new city being built so quickly. There are hundreds of high rise apartments, most of them still empty. The drive to the campus is on new highways, most of them 6 lane with wide boulevards, and thousands of young saplings and shrubs planted on them. The light standards too, are each equipped with solar panels and small wind turbines. Kunming prides itself on being a “clean city”, free of  much of the pollution that other Chinese cities are plagued with. From what we’ve seen, I would credit them with only partial success.

I think Howard has probably told you about the choir rehearsal in his blog, so I won’t repeat.  It was fun to see how much the students enjoyed their first rehearsal, and there was a genuine groan when it was over – they wanted to go on! Their  English skills are not as good as  we anticipated, but it’s amazing how universal a language music is, and the communication worked very well.
Until the choir  knows the notes better, I won’t have too much language coaching to do, maybe they’ll be ready for me in a few weeks.
After we got back to Kunming, our lovely Olivia took us out for dinner, another winner food wise! I should say that Olivia is a charming young woman who works at the university, and has been assigned to be Howard’s translator, and just generally look after us.  She is one of the few who speak English. Very helpful for us!
Later this morning we will wander over to an outdoor market about 10 minutes away, and see what kind of fresh produce we can find. At this point, Howard is at the university 2 days a week, so we have lots of time to explore!
As someone once said, “too often travel, instead of broadening the mind, merely lengthens the conversation”.
I don’t want to be accused of too lengthy conversations, and it’s time to go out and broaden my mind!
So have a good night everyone, and Howard and I will have another day of “Easy Joy”!

We love to hear from you!

Maggie