The Test

After we returned to Zhengzhou, Owen asked me if I could help with something. It seems there are a few Associate Professors that are trying to get promoted to full Professor. Part of the requirements are for them to pass and Oral English test with an expert. If you have been paying attention here, you would remember that I am now an official “Foreign Expert”. They wanted ME to give these people an oral test and grade them towards becoming a Professor. I agreed. I arrived at the assigned building at the proper time and was greeted warmly as I was escorted into a big conference room. I see 3-4 chairs in line on my right, a small table in front of it and just one chair on the other side facing the 3 chairs. I sit in the center chair, take out my note pad and pen and wait. Not 1 minute passes and I see my boss, Kate, appear and say hello. She is very nice. I thought she just happened to see me here and came in to say hello. WRONG……….. she was my first candidate. My boss was my first candidate, the first person I had to consider for a promotion and a raise, a very big step in her life. Not TOO much pressure here on me….ya think?? I’m hoping they want a real honest, unbiased grading on these candidates, because that is the only way I can handle this. She sits across from me and I start some dialog with her. I have spoken to Kate many times and I know her English is good, but I never paid real close attention to her wording and pronunciation before. Kate appears very professional and confident. After about 5 minutes, I noticed about 2-3 very minor errors in her dialog, while I’m sure I made at least 10 errors myself. I thanked her for coming and she exited the room. Here comes #2, a woman about same age as Kate it appears. I introduce myself to her and ask her to please be seated. She is very pleasant also. A few minutes on conversing and she is excused. Number 3 is a man. He is very cordial, and a bit nervous. If he only knew how nervous I was…. I just sweated so much that my “Sure” antiperspirant is now “not so sure.” The process completed I handed in my score pad, thanked them for asking for my judgment on this and I too exited. I’m feeling more accepted, more a part on this University “family” every day.

Last evening I received a phone call from one of my students named Bighead. He told me there was a big party on campus now to welcome the Freshmen to the University and into this family they have here. These kids are very serious about this as a family. Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors all volunteered to do some sort of talent as entertainment for the Freshmen. Some sang songs well and some not so well. Others performed their version of popular TV game shows, while a few even played instruments. Every single act was greeted with a huge amount of enthusiasm from everyone. Several of my students performed as well. About 5-7 more of my students saw me there and came to stay with me and explain what was happening on stage. Too Wild (Starry), Lainey, Muffin, Rebecca, Bighead, Rock and a few others were all happy to be standing with me. They were unaware that I was happier to be standing with THEM. I was taking pictures of several of the acts. All of them were great. As the end neared, Starry told me there would be dancing now. (Oh..as usual, Starry made the little boys cry) I thought she meant there was an act on stage with students dancing. She said “NO”, there will be a rabbit dance for everyone to join in. she and the others all asked me to please dance with them. I tried very hard to say no and stick to that answer. I could not. The look in their eyes when they asked me showed how sincere they were about wanting me to dance this crazy dance with them. It was a cross between the “Hokey-Pokey” and a “Conga Line” of rabbits dancing and hopping all over the basketball court. Freshmen – Seniors, even one crazy American foreign expert were all hopping like crazy people holding the shoulders of the person in front of you. I have a big smile on my face from just telling you about this. I promise you, it is something I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Lee and I went to the Zhengzhou zoo today. This not like any zoo I have seen. I will not be writing much about the zoo as it depressed me to see it. It is old and not at all like a modern zoo where the animals roam in large areas. These were small metal cages not near large enough for the animals to exercise. The people can get right up to the cages and touch and rattle them, also unsafe. The only picture I will show is the one that was worth the trip. I’m sure you have seen the walls were you practice climbing? I think the American TV show “American Gladiators” was first to make this wall popular. You have a harness on in case you fall, you get lowered slowly and safely. There was a smaller, softer version for children here. It looked inflatable. I was watching this little boy climb, and I could almost hear him saying to himself…”I hope I don’t fall, I hope I don’t fall, I hope I don’t fall.”
A few days later a student took me to the “People’s Park” here in town. We arrived pretty early. It was slightly cool and a very nice day. I saw people having a great day with their family, friends, strangers, and even one Laowai (foreigner) namely ME. I came across a group of people and I could hear music from the center. I looked closer and saw four men seated and playing instruments. These were very old, traditional style instruments mostly. On the left was a man seated and playing a sort of percussion instrument. It consisted of two pieces of wood. The item being struck was round, about a foot long, and two inches in diameter. It was tapered in the center and wider at both ends, possibly hollow. The other was one inch in diameter, 10 inches long and used sort of like a drum stick. The sound changed depending on where the piece of wood was hit. The next man played a sort of drum. It was about 10 inches wide and was rounded on top, not flat like most drums. It was on a frail looking stand that held it at the proper height for a seated person. It too made a hollow, wooden sound that was surprisingly loud for such a small drum and a very thin drum stick. The third instrument was the only one not true to Chinese tradition. It was a Casio electric key board. The last one was closest to where I was. It was a sort of, hand made, vertical violin. It even sounded much like one to me. The musicians looked to be between 40 and 60 years old to me, but the way people age in appearance here, they could have been between 100-150 years old for all I knew. After just 2 minutes watching, one of the audience offered me a seat which I smiled and accepted. I could hear him mumble Laowai to the others, as if they were not able to ascertain that from my height, my weight and the fact that I was the only foreigner in the whole park. A man and a woman were singing while this band played. I thought they were part of the group, but they were not. They were just 2 people that wanted to sing. After a few minutes, they stopped and a big Chinese man with a very high pitched voice stepped up to sing. This was like a “Sing Along With Mitch” happy hour here in the park and I found it very interesting. I took a few pictures of the people in the audience too. Some caught my attention. I saw three men standing in sort of a row, but each slightly behind the other, all had faces with character. The angle I had looked great. I raised my camera to shoot, and the center man moved behind the first one and I could not see him. Bad luck I thought so I did not shoot. It just did not look as good with only two. As I lowered my camera, the second man reappeared. I raised to shoot again, and he hid from me again. Coincidence? I think not. I tested my theory 2 more times. I raise my camera and he disappears. Now it’s like a challenge to me. I WANT that shot. With my camera lowered, I look at the three men, then look to their left a little and get a very surprised look on my face. All three turn to their left to see what I was looking at. (nothing was there) When they looked back, I was camera ready and got my shot. After 30 minutes we made our exit with smiles from the whole audience.
We walked through the park and I saw many other groups of people doing the same thing. It seems it is a very popular activity here in China. One group found a nice spot in the wooded area, in a small clearing, right on the bank of the river. From the distance I was, it was a beautiful sight.

Last week was National Day here in China. The school was off for a week (with pay). I always did love holidays. I spent a few days here in Zhengzhou, then Lee and I went to Xian. That is a city 7 hours on the train west of me and it’s pronounced she-onn. It was a pleasant train trip. We had what are called “soft seats”. The other options are bottom sleeper, middle sleeper, upper sleeper, stratosphere sleeper (really high), hard seats and no kidding…standing. You can guess that the standing riders pay the least. They actually do stand for the duration of the ride, 7 hours in this case. Whew,,I can’t imagine standing for a 7 hour ride. Some stand a lot longer too on other train rides. I took a few pictures of some children on the train seated near us. At Xian we exited the train, left the rail station (VERY crowded) and tried to get a taxi to our hotel. Zhengzhou where I live is considered a medium city with only 7.8 million people. Xian has more. I’m not sure how many more, but most of them were around the train station for sure. About an hour later we arrived at the hotel. Getting our keys at the desk, we soon located our room. Very nice. Lee and I talked a bit about what we will see and do here and what time our train goes home on Sunday. She told me she did not know yet as she only bought one way tickets, not return tickets too. I paused a moment to let that statement sink in and settle down inside my brain cells before I said anything at all. I sad, you mean we do not have any tickets to get home? This is one of the busiest travel holidays of the year. Everyone in China is traveling somewhere. We had a weeks notice to get the tickets TO Xian and we almost couldn’t get any. How were we supposed to get some for home? I was nervous. I had to be at work on Monday morning. We had to be home Sunday evening. Lee said no problem, we can ask the front desk for help. They always do things like this. She called them as I sat anxiously waiting for the translation of their conversation. Just from the look on her face and the way she said “oh”, I knew things were not going well. She hung up, turned to me and said they can’t help. There are no seats for Sunday. I could feel the blood rapidly leaving my face for all parts south. Stay calm Joe. I asked her in as calm a voice as I could muster. “Now what”? she said, no problem we can call a travel agency and they could help for sure. Another call, another pause, another “sorry honey, no seats for Sunday.” My face was actually cold to the touch from lack of blood flow to my whole head. We just spent 30 rmb (Chinese dollars) for the taxi from train station to hotel. I said I’m going back to the train station now. We are either buying tickets there for the ride home on Sunday or I’m getting tickets to go home NOW. Another 45 minutes in a taxi to the train station and another 30 rmb. We went to three different ticket purchasing windows always being told “not at this window, go there instead.” I was getting very tired, my leg was killing me from all the walking and now we were told you can’t buy any here but you can at another location a few meters up the street. I found out something all Chinese people seem to have in common. If you ask them how far it is to anything, a restaurant, a toilet, a train ticket purchasing facility, anything at all….they tell you in meters. “It’s only 20 meters that way”, “it’s only 150 meters this way”, etc. One thing they do is all of them are wrong. They seem to have a problem with the number “0”. They are always off in their estimate by at least one “0”, maybe two. If they say it’s only 20 meters up the street. You can be sure it’s at least 200 meters away, possibly 2000 meters. I’m not kidding. It happened to me at least 50 times already, or was that 500 times?
We walked the 20 meters we were told it was to the place to buy the tickets, there was nothing there. We walked another 20, then another and another. We passed the 200 meter mark and was closing in on the 1000 meter mark. I got Lee to ask someone else and I swear, they said “it’s only 20 meters up the street.” Another 200 meters and we were there. My knees were really talking to me now. We went to the window and tried to buy the tickets. Five minutes later, I was holding two tickets for soft seats on Sunday afternoon’s train home. I felt much better. We found another taxi and went back to our hotel again after another 45 minute ride and another 30 rmb. Next time I will be holding round trip tickets before we leave.
Next morning we were up and heading down to breakfast. The hotel was very nice, but believe it or not, the beds were even harder then mine was at home and I thought that was impossible. We had a real nice breakfast in the hotel. Now we needed transportation to the sights we wanted to see, the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Emperor’s Tomb and the Great Mosque. We were approached by a few drivers soon as we left the hotel front door. Lee can do many things great, she really can. She is also the best I have ever seen at getting a good deal by bargaining with the locals. Whenever I shop with her, we get from 25-50% off the first price. She got a driver to take us all those places and back to our hotel for 200 rmb for the whole day. Seeing as the Terra Cotta Warriors was about an hour drive away, this was a good deal.
We arrived at the site of the warriors. It was a beautiful place. The first warrior was accidentally discovered by a farmer digging a well on his property. The government started digging and found many more. They built big buildings right over the excavation sites and turned them into . There are three buildings now and they keep finding more warriors every year.
After that we went to see the first Emperor’s tomb. He is the one that had all the Terra Cotta Warriors made. The tomb was OK. Ordinarily it would be OK, but this was National Day in China so there was celebrating all over. They had special performances scheduled for here at the tomb too. There were dancers and actors performing here today and it was beautiful. One part, the actors fought with Martial Arts and ancient weapons like they did thousands of years ago. The show was impressive. After the show I saw the actors all go to a small field to one side of the property. I wanted to go see them. The driver and a female employee from the tomb both said no you can’t go over there. I saw no signs or fences, so I said oh yes I can. Off I went. There were about ten of the actors there relaxing on the grassy area. I walked up to them and attempted to talk. They spoke no English and I spoke no Chinese. As soon as I raised my camera, they all knew what I wanted. I motioned as to them doing some of their stunts. One guy came right to the front and was ready to perform. He ran up, jumped and did some very impressive maneuvers in the air before landing. I got some good shots of them. I also motioned that I wanted a group shot of them, Lee and myself. They were very obliging.
A little bit later we were off again. This time we were going to the Great Mosque, the biggest and oldest Mosque in all of China. We drove a while then the driver let us out and pointed “that” way. We started to walk up very narrow alleys crowded with people walking and lined on both sides with many hundreds of small businesses peddling their wares. There was every imaginable a tourist might want, in several colors and different sizes. Toys, trinkets, nick-knacks as well as some very interesting items were all there. The alleys were like a maze, criss crossing and intersecting other alleys. It seemed to go on and on forever. The people were interesting to watch. Most, if not all, were Muslims. There is quite a large Muslim population in China. I took many pictures of the people in these alleys. They ranged from small children to older men and women. I love people watching. We made it to the Great Mosque just as it closed so we saw very little of it but we were more impressed by the alleys and shops there. I could go back and spend hours in those alleys, and probably a lot of money too.
Our day was getting closer to ending. It was about time to head back to our hotel in Xian. When we arrived, I paid our driver and we said our good byes. We changed our clothes, rested a few minutes, then off again. We were going to the center of town to eat and see what special events were planned for here. Lee found us a real nice restaurant and after dinner we walked around a bit. It seemed the city planned a big music event right here. There was a VERY big area, maybe 50X100 meters, that had holes in the graoud in a pattern. The holes were maybe 1 inch wide each. These were a real big water fountain. People were starting to line up around the outside of this fountain area. Lee and I found some seats there ourselves. Soon it was very very crowded. It was getting dark. Someone said it would start soon, but we were not sure exacting what. All the fountains spewed water all at the same time for a few seconds. It was a test. Soon, it got very dark as all the lights went out. Music started to play. The fountains were connected to the music as it played. Different patterns and series of fountains shot water high into the air in time with the music. It was quite a sight. There were lights on the water fountains too. You never knew where a fountain would go off, or when. The show lasted about an hour. Lee and I both enjoyed it a lot. There were firework displays too. After it was over, we walked around the town center. There were many people with their wares spread out on the ground, for sale. Jewelry, kites, children’s toys and many other items. It was like a mini fair. Everyone tried to get your attention and to get you to buy from them. We bought several items as we walked. Another taxi, and we were back to our hotel again. Sleep would be very welcome tonight, hard bed or not. The next day we were up, did a little sight seeing in town, then got our train for home. when we arrived in Zhengzhou, I think everyone that had left Zhengzhou, had arrived the same time we did. It was a mad house. Hordes of people. It was difficult to walk. We made our way up to the street and looked for a taxi. There were so many people in the street for a taxi, it looked like a concert. It was wall to wall people. I think every taxi in the city was here and it was not near enough. It took us over an hour to get a taxi, but we finally made it out of there and back home again.
Time again for the next blog. Here is the link to take you there http://my-china12.blogspot.com/ I hope to see you there.