Sichuan

The anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake was yesterday, which reminded me of an interpretive dance one of the elementary classes did earlier in the year representing China's initial state of peril when the earthquake struck and subsequent recovery. This clip is from the end of the dance. The students have grabbed their backpacks, and by working together, have overcome adversity and paved the way for a better tomorrow in Sichuan.

Hello Madda, Hello Fadda...

This morning I woke up earlier than usual. My host family does not consist of morning people, and I guess my mom sets multiple alarms every morning to help her wake up. The snooze, snooze, snooze, roll-out-of-bed method. Her first alarm was Alan Sherman’s “Camp Grenada.” My jewish, American grandparents would be very pleased.

Jingshan Park

Yesterday, Hannah and I went to Jingshan Park. Jingshan’s main feature is a man-made hill created from the dirt dug up when the Forbidden City was built, constructed to enhance the emperor’s good fortune (having mountains to the north creates good fengshui).
Jingshan is my favorite spot in Beijing. The park surrounding the hill is beautiful, there is a delicious bread stand across the street from the east entrance and the view of Beijing from the top of the hill is unparalleled – that is if it’s a clear enough day.

View of Southern Beijing:

风水

Feng shui is certainly an ancient practice in Chinese culture; the earliest evidence of feng shui dates back to the Hongshan culture (ca. 3500 - ca. 2500 BCE) (indobase.com). Feng shui thrived for centuries in China. Geomancers were called in to asses the land before a house was ever constructed. People even used feng shui to decide the site of a family member’s wedding and funeral. Up until 1949, the rich and poor alike followed the principles of feng shui – to the extent their income would allow.
With the invasion of European countries and Cultural Revolution, the practice of feng shui was drastically undermined to the point where centuries of history were discredited practically over night. In 1949 Mao Zedong forbid feng shui from the People’s Republic of China, denouncing it as a “feudal superstition.” Although the Chinese government no longer forbids the practice of feng shui, the effect of Mao’s decree is still apparent today. I received a resounding “No!” from my classmates when I asked them if they or their parents believed in feng shui. My host family even laughed when I told them we were learning about it in English class. “But nobody believes that anymore,” Molly said, bewildered. “Why would you study feng shui?”
Interestingly, in areas where the Cultural Revolution didn’t reach, feng shui continues to thrive as it did in the third century BCE. In Hong Kong, no one would think to build a public or private housing development without first consulting a geomancer to discuss its location and architecture. Failure to consult a geomancer can cause uproar.
Oftentimes, following a geomancer’s advice proves to be extremely costly, yet, in areas where feng shui is still practiced, architects believe the cost is worth the benefit down the road. The Hopewell Centre in Hong Kong, for example, sports a round swimming pool on the roof. A “pool of water,” actually, would be a more accurate description. No one swims there. The pool was built because the geomancer believed this round, multi-storied building resembled a candle too much for its own good. The building was destined to catch fire, he said, unless a pool of water was placed on top to prevent “the wick” from burning it down. There are so many such cases of feng shui forcing architects to add interesting structures to a building that the Hong Kong Office of Tourism arranges a daily tour of downtown Hong Kong’s many feng shui examples.
Although feng shui is much less common in Beijing than in Hong Kong, it is not inexistent. Teacher Gao Ying just completed a wooden deck in the south of her apartment. As a finishing touch, Ying and her husband decided to add a fish pound, fitting with feng shui principles. They had some extra money, so why not? But that is about the power feng shui currently holds among citizens of Chinese mainland -- a mere luxury, not even really worth striving for.

Promiscuous t-shirts

Today a kid in tenth grade, we call him Chipmunk, wore a shirt that read:
WORK
HARD
LIKE
YOU
BLOW
ME
BABY
In all caps, in large letters, on the back of his shirt. The front was a drawing of a naked, hairy, white man, with his pants around his ankles. Hello Kitty was on her knees giving him a blow job. When Becky asked him if he knew what his shirt meant, he smiled and placed his pointer finger over his mouth, "shhh."
I wonder if someone would be suspended at South for wearing that shirt.

Swine Flu

Today, after our weekly flag raising ceremony the nurse gave an announcement warning students and teachers about Swine Flu. She told Jingshan to pay more attention to any signs of sickness than one would usually, and not to hesistate reporting symptoms to one doctor or the nurses at school. Also, people should remember to shower and wash their hands often.
Last night, Hannah's host brother asked me to edit something he wrote about mainland China's prevention of Swine Flu. He said that mainland (he stressed mainland) China has learned from past epidemics like SARS and the Avian Flu, and that the government is constantly making steady progress in its prevention of future epidemics. He was not surprised that no cases of Swine Flu have reached mainland China, and that he did not believe any will. He trusts his government to protect China. If the government fails, however, "it is unquestionable that the Chinese people will unite and face the music," he wrote.

Molly

I have been living in Beijing for the last three months, studying and teaching at one of China’s most prestigious high schools during the day, exploring the city in the afternoon, and struggling to communicate with my host mother in the evening. My Chinese vocabulary and pronunciation has skyrocketed – I now feel like a total idiot for not paying attention to tones in Chinese class sophomore through senior year. Living with a host family has provided me unparalleled access to Chinese society. I have traveled throughout the country, and been teased for my “Beijing accent.” I have mastered the art of morning exercises and wear my Chinese school uniform proudly. I have eaten cocoons. In case you were wondering, you eat the crust and spit out the bug.
Never have I enjoyed day-to-day activities so much: uncovering new dumpling restaurants, chatting with the men and women at newspaper stands while recharging my cell phone, learning to navigate the bus routes, and shocking taxi driver after taxi driver when I catch and correct them – all in Chinese, of course – trying to cheat me of a few yuan by taking a longer route than necessary to the intersection outside my apartment. On the flip side, I have also never been so frustrated: sitting through class after class where not a single student raises his or her hand to ask a question, passing by the new exhibit on “China’s peaceful liberation of Tibetan serfs” where 100 Chinese are lined up to take pictures of panels preaching how Western media are not to be trusted, and being denied access to certain articles on nytimes.com.
But ups and downs like this were to be expected. Although there was no way for me to know all the specifics, for example, that eggplant would taste 20 times better in China than in America, that I would teach friends in class how to play Knock Out, that hatred for the Dalai Lama would be so immersed into Chinese culture, or that a sixth grader would introduce himself to me with the English name “Busdriver,” I knew I was signing up for the opportunity to live something new, and that’s exactly what I got.
What I didn’t realize until about a month ago, however, was that along with providing a new lens with which to examine the world, this exchange also provided me with a new family. More specifically, this exchange provided me with a new sister. It never occurred to me that my exchange experience actually began when Molly, my host sister, landed in Boston this September, rocking her emerald green travel pants plastered with a pink and yellow floral print. Looking back on the exchange, the only thing I’m going to regret is not realizing that this program had something to offer me the moment Molly and I met. My mind was so focused on all I would observe and experience in Beijing that I never stopped to think of everything Molly and I could offer each other. Over our sixty or so bus rides to and from school everyday the two of us have become closer than I ever dreamed of. I’m the only one she talks about boys with and that bizarre feeling of having butterflies in your stomach, and she calmed my nerves before I heard back from colleges.
In 20 days I will be back in Newton. I am ready to go back, but it will take some time for me to call Newton home again. Lucky for me, Molly is going to boarding school in one of Newton’s neighboring cities in September. I expect that is when it will start to feel like home again.