Quick Update from the "Net Bar"

Not nearly as much time as I would like (but hey, for an incredibly long winded person, what else is new?), but I'll post some quick updates.

1) Matan sent me a wonderful article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7373235.stm . I saw both of those objects at the Yin Ruins yesterday when we went with Sam and Mike. The Yin Ruins were completely stunning and fabulous. I've read a decent bit about them, so seeing them was really exciting. I would love to be more long winded with this one, but you're going to be spared. The article actually sums up why Anyang is famous really well. It is incredible to think that such an ancient culture was producing such detailed things.

2) Having Sam and Mike here was great. They met us in the park (we were there with the students) and the school took a bazillion pictures. False advertising, I think: they had 4 westerners, not 2, so it looks like more of us were at their school... There were many, many, many posed pictures that are clearly going to go up in some office or on some banner or something.

3) Yesterday Kitty, one of the "English" teachers, gave me a lift home on her electric bicycle. I'm a klutz normally, as you know. Her bike is made for a little Chinese woman. I am big and tall and have a massive boot on my right foot. So, as you can imagine, balancing on the back of her bike was not a walk in the park. I was also wearing a skirt. Hopefully I didn't flash all of Anyang. I thought I was going to die repeatedly, but it was really fun. The way we rode in the middle of traffic was flirting with danger like it would never be allowed in the US.

4) Today was the last day of class. It was hard to see the students go. Harder than last time, I think, because they're older and I bonded with them more. My idea of what it would be like to teach kids here was not completely correct. It's hard to explain why, but the bottom line is that kids are kids, wherever you go. Yes, these kids had never seen a westerner, and yes, the facilities are poor, and yes, they don't have much opportunity, but if you put them in a room with a bunch of Americans, they would get over their differences pretty quickly and just go out and play. I think I pictured the kids being in awe forever and always being really well behaved because they'd want to please me. To an extent that is true, especially at the beginning, but really: kids will be kids. And it sounds so simple and logical to say, but for some reason I expected something slightly different.

Ha, and this is me trying to not be long-winded.

5) I have almost slipped up about four times and called Anyang "home." It feels like home whenever we return from a weekend trip.

6) I took many more photos of the school (the toilet trench pictures are coming soon) today and it made me really uncomfortable. Taking pictures of what has been a part of our daily routine for the past month somehow distanced me from my surroundings. It made me a tourist in a place where I don't see myself as a tourist at all. I'm a part of the school, and taking pictures of the rooms and facilities made me feel like I was gawking at them. I often openly gawk when I go places for a weekend, sure, but taking pictures around my school meant gawking at the people I have befriended and the place I have come to love (well... like a lot, anyway).

7) My English skills have dramatically decreased. I teach English, but I can't speak to normal English speakers now. All my English is oversimplified for Chinese learners. If I try to speak at a normal pace, I say things that make pretty much no sense. Fantastic.

8) Today I gave the kids some parting gifts and things... mostly I compiled the work they had done these past two weeks and made it into a pretty book (kind of), but I also gave them each a CD with all the songs we stretched to each morning. They were thrilled. When I think about where they'll be in 5, 10, 15 years, I also think about where the things that I give them will be. Maybe 20 years from now, one of them will still have that CD and play it for their grandkids. Maybe it will be that person's prized possession. How many villagers will listen to my music in the next month? Year? How many CDs will end up on the street as trash? How many will end up in other peoples' hands? I sound like the cultures in Papua New Guinea that see gifts as an extension of themselves. But to an extent, that is how I feel. It's like trying to think about how much my 8 days teaching these 27 kids will influence their world, their friends, their friends' friends', etc. How much influence do I have here, really? I'll never know.

9) We leave Anyang on Friday for Zhengzhou, where we take the overnight train to Shanghai and arrive there early on Saturday morning. We have Satuday and Sunday to roam around Shanghai, then we leave for home on Monday.

10) There are plans in the works for me to hang out with Tasha, one of Angie's (my roommate at Cornell) best friends from Colorado. She's interning in Shanghai for the summer. It should be really fun!

11) I fantasize about going up to the headmaster right before we leave at Zhengzhou (he is driving us back, requirements of Orbis), punching his guts out, screaming swear words at him, beating him to the ground (again), then spitting on him. Repeatedly. Rob and I could hoc some excellent lugies.

12) I thought I was ready to leave Anyang, but ending is really sad. Helen and I are going to spend the day together tomorrow... I'll miss her a lot. I'll also miss the teachers, the school, and my kids (of course). Rob and I invited all the teachers to lunch tomorrow. They have been so, so friendly, even though with almost all of them there is a massive language barrier.

13) It's hilarious that I consider this a "quick post." I think it's because there are no pictures involved (those will come when I'm back in the States. They're always more fun than just text)...

14) My dad sent me another interesting article. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/sports/sports-olympics-media.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Now that my computer is broken, I will almost definitely not have the internet again until I'm home. I may have to wipe my computer and reinstall Windows... cross your fingers.

Until next week!
Zai Jian!
(Goodbye!)