My Students

They are lovely; I don't think there is any other way to describe them.  They are gracious and kind and thoughtful.  They are like little puppy dogs, always happy to see me.  And when I am in their presence, they stroke my arm and lean up to me and they want to shake my hand, sincerely and vigorous and for a long time.  Mostly too long a time as I usually have to shake longer than is comfortable for me, then my shake goes a little limp (hoping to serve as a social cue) and then I have to assert myself a little and just yank away. After that, they go back to stroking my arm.

When we have a meeting, someone is assigned to come fetch me and escort me to the meeting.  Someone is assigned to serve as my translator as needed.  One woman is in charge of any power point presentation I may have.  One student is insistent that I get a phone so that she can call me to see if I am safe at all time.

When I walk through campus with them, they immediately go into guard duty mode and escort me through the campus as if i am fragile and could be damaged by the other students.  So they shield me from the other students and as necessary, push and nudge the other students out of my way. They reprimand all unknown students who accidentally bump in to me.  And then my students apologize and check to make sure I am not damaged.

When we are in the classroom, they listen with so much intensity that I almost have to laugh.  And while I am speaking, they nod their heads in unconditional, constant  agreement with me.  And then the class leader gets up and translates what I just said and there is a loud raucous of disagreement.  And there is all sorts of bantering going on and I can't follow what is being said.  So I just nonchalantly raise my hand. Then there is an immediate silence and they go back to sitting on their edge of their seats, listening intensely.  And it appears to me that no matter what is said in Chinese, we all seem to reach agreement in the end and we all think my idea is the best idea.  And so why wouldn't I think these people are lovely.

The Tea Bitches: Part II

I was up all night, so angry that I couldn't sleep.  So I decided that I would go to the police station in the morning and file a complaint.  I was not going to leave Beijing until some sort of justice had been served.

I was up, bright and early by 7AM.  It was till a little dark outside but I didn't care. I went down to the front desk and asked the staff member if she would call the police for me.

"No, I can’t" she tells me.

"Why not?"

“I don't know the number".

"Can't we look it up?"

 "I don't know how to do that"

"Well, we can look it up on the Internet," I suggested with a little tone.

"No, the Internet is broken for three days now."

"No it isn't. I used it last night and your system is on right now.  Can’t you look up the number for me?"  I am determined that she is going to help me.

"No, the police will do nothing about it.  It happens all the time.  Last week a lady lost $500.  Police can’t do anything because they didn't see it."

Finally, she relented and drew a map of where she thought the local police station is so I set out on my own to find the police.  But that was a wasted effort because I found nothing that remotely resembled a police station.  So I came back to my hotel in defeat but more determined that the staff woman was going to help me.

I implored her to help me but she was unmoving in her steadfast position that the police would do nothing.

"Get your manager," I demanded.

So she walked to the back room. When she returned, she told me that the manager was not going to come out because the police can do nothing.  Now I was furious.  In my loud voice, so that the manger could hear, I told her that she had a responsibility to help her guests and she should not he harboring criminals.   Then the manger appeared.  She said they had a night watchman who helped out the lady who lost the $500.  He wrote something on a piece of paper and told the woman to take it back to the shop and she got half of her money back.  The manager called the night watchman at home and he dictated something to her. She wrote it down, told me to go to the tea house right away and see if I could get some of my money back.  I asked her twice what was written on the note but both times, she just ignored my question.

So with note in hand, I marched off to the tea house with anger and determination.  As I opened the door I was greeted by a pleasant young woman and I immediately stepped in to my crazy mood.  I showed her the note and yelled that I demanded all of my money back.  She jumped in fear and I felt empowered.  She immediately called her boss and as she was talking to this woman, I was yelling in the background, "Tell her I am not leaving until I get my money."  I was immediately offered half of what I paid yesterday.  "No," I barked back loudly, “I am not leaving until I get all of it."

Just then he door opens up and in walks the waitress from yesterday.  She begins to greet me but then she realizes who I am.  Her coworkers call to her in Chinese to give her a heads up that a crazed lady is in their midst. She quickly throws out an offer for a 75% return on my money.

"No, I want it all.  I have already called the police and I called the US Embassy and I filed out a report on you."  That seemed to get her attention. "You no go to the police for this."

Then I noticed a police officer outside so I ran to get him.   He directed me to go to Tiananmen Square to get police help.  I came back in a police car and three police officers and I left with all of my money.

The Tea Bitches: Part I

 Leaving the walls of the Forbidden City, I was approached by two women in their late thirties.

 "Hello, Hello, You speak English, I speak Chinese.  Ha, ha, we walk with you and practice our English."

When I am in Asia, this is a request that is made of me a hundred times over.  I never say no but it is tiring to be interviewed by these people.  And it is equally hard to be polite when they distract me from my original plans.  So these two women, Jen and Tan, tagged along and asked me the same damn questions I am always asked. “You from America? You have husband? You have children?  Where your family?"

After about a half hour, Jen, asked me if I wanted to join them for a cup of tea, "It very cold today. Tea hot, good for you.  Good for you digestive system." It was cold and I was tired so I said yes and off we went to a nearby tea house. Jen seemed to know everyone in the place and they seemed to know her. We got a private room and Jen asked me what kind of tea I liked.  I asked to look at a menu and reached for the one on the table but Jen grabbed the menu and abruptly said, "No, this not ours.  This something different." She handed me a different menu and suggested that we try a variety of teas.  So a waitress in her 20s can in and poured us six different cups of tea and all of them were great.

Then the waitress came in and mentioned something about my credit card and handed me the bill.  I was a little confused but noticed that the second woman, Tan, looked away, almost in shame and then I knew something was up.  I looked at the bill and it was over $300.  Jen told me I could put this bill on my credit card.  I protested and said that this was outrageous but then Jen pulled out that original menu and I saw that all of the prices were grossly inflated. The three of them worked in unison on this scheme and I realized I was not going to get out without paying some sort of hefty price.  Then I heard the gurgle of the boiling tea pot.  Jen was holding a pot of hot water, standing right beside me.  I didn't think she would throw it on me.  But then I also didn't think she would try to take me for my money.  So I just angrily decided to cut my losses and get out unhurt.  There were three of them.  Now, they were all talking to each other only in Chinese and the waitress was growing impatient.

"I don't have my credit card with me.  I don't have enough money to pay for this." I tell them without confidence. "That OK", Jen says, "we pay half and you pay half.  You pay more because you college professor and we just lowly kindergarten teachers".  So they forked over about a third of the cost.  I paid the equivalent of about $200 and we quickly left after that.  Once outside, Jen asked if there was anywhere I wanted to go next.  I told her I had to leave right away; I wanted to get away from her.  She seemed surprised, but said goodbye.  I went back to my hotel, seething with anger.  When I was in the midst of the confrontation at the tea house, I just thought that I had to get out unhurt.  But now that I was away from them and safe, I was so angry with them and with myself.  How did I let this situation get so out of hand?  And when I reflect back, was I being cowardly or prudent?

The price of Coffee in China

My hotel in Beijing cost me $20 a night.  It cost me $10 to take a 45 minute taxi ride from the airport.  The bus cost 12 cents to ride and if I had a monthly pass, it would  have only cost a nickel.  I paid $1 to ride a train for an hour. A full meal cost about $3.  But a cup of instant coffee costs $6 to $7.  However, I had breakfast in my hotel every morning for less than $3 and that included all the coffee I wanted.

Thank You for Coming to China!

I gave my first presentation to my students on Sunday afternoon and when I returned to my apartment, this email was waiting for me:

From: Gloria
Date: Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 8:22 PM
Subject: Thank you for coming to China to help us!

Dear Bridget,

Welcome to China!

I really appreciate what you have shared with us. Sometime I tend to say "Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" as an excuse. As I mentioned, heart pounding and body shaking blocked me. But I know where there is a will, there is a way. This time I'm inspired by your words and determined voice-Yes, we can and yes, we will! I can't imagine who I will be 30 or 40 years later, of your age. However, I believe the actions I take today decide my destiny. Strive for a meaningful life! Yes, I can! Yes, I will!

Plus, I've volunteered to express China of my understanding on Wednesday. Hope I can help you to know more about China. Besides, I've got an account at the Linkedin website. Would you like
to add me?

Best regards!
Yours Gloria

Social Media in China today

Pre-Trip Discussions

Recently, someone who has given lectures in China told me that a member of the Communist Party was going to be in my classroom, taking notes on me, the whole time I would be teaching. Initially, I thought I would have fun with this person. But as I got closer to my trip, the idea of a person taking notes on everything I said began to worry me a little bit.

Then, a few days before I left for China, I went to a meeting in Arizona. I met a man who was advising me about my upcoming trip. He had taught in the USSR for several years. We were talking about the Communist Party and freedom of speech and how all of this would affect my teaching in China. I expressed my worry about the communist note-taker. “They can’t impose that much restriction” the man assured me. “There are just too many people to monitor. So they have to give the illusion of oppression. No government is large enough to monitor 1 billion people. So they do things to let people think they are being watched. They create fear as a way to control people”.

That made sense to me and offered me a moment of relief. But then, later that afternoon, I had a conversation with a woman who just spent 6 months in China. She was walking around a town and discovered that she had lost her purse. It slipped out from under her arm. Because her passport was in her purse, she went to the police station to report that it was missing. She was taken in to a large room that was filled with over a hundred monitored televisions. The police took out an area map and asked her to trace her path for that day. They assured her that they could find the purse by going back through their video and sure enough, her purse was returned to her within four hours. The purse had been picked up by a man who took all of the cash and credit cards but left the passport intact. He then threw the purse in an alleyway.

Maybe the Chinese government does have enough people to monitor a billion people. And maybe I had better watch what I say.