Yesterday we went to the Panda Preserve in Chengdu.  It is a huge park reserved for the two kinds of pandas, red and giant.  Few people know about the red panda, native to China.  It looks like a giant raccoon, except it is reddish brown.  The sign said in English, “The red panda can be somewhat fierce.”  I thought, “I can be somewhat fierce myself, depending on the situation.” There’s a special place for the pregnant females, away from view.  We saw a newborn in an incubator.  Three people dressed in blue scrubs wearing masks, were setting up video cameras near the incubator. We saw the baby roll over. Which was more interesting, the animal in a high tech incubator, or the people filming it?  Hard to say.

It was a hot day, after so many days of cool rain.  The giant black and white pandas were all indoors in air conditioned comfort lying on their wood platform beds sleeping. We stood in line, then entered the enclosure with the crowd, and got a slim view of the two pandas in that building. We’ve traveled thousands of miles, not for the purpose of seeing the pandas, but hoping to see them anyway. The drive would have been about an hour and a half, but we were caught in a traffic mess for at least an hour, so we got to the park around 11 am instead of 10.  We had only an hour and a half to be in the park because of the time schedule for the school van.  So, I can say I did see two giant pandas and some red pandas.

The park is impressive with about 400 varieties of trees, including gingko, magnolia, and willows.  I also enjoyed the rose garden.  The roses were feeling the heat too, but they gave their fragrance, perhaps because of the heat.

After the park, we went to McDonald’s for lunch, the bus driver’s choice.  Most of us on the team don’t eat at McDonald’s in the USA, but at least for me, when I’m abroad, I think of it as “the taste of home.”  This particular store had a “McCafe” which must be new; I have never seen it before. This is a special section for brewed coffee and tea, and it has muffins and cheesecake!  Looking for the “upscale” market, I guess.  I brought some muffins home for Sunday, and I must say, they were a treat.

Today, Sunday, we had another “cultural experience” by attending a local church.  It was interesting even though we do not understand any language.  Perhaps we heard a word or two that we recognized.  The speaker had been talking for well over an hour, and the heat was increasing, and the audience was showing signs of “disconnect” when a little girl, perhaps eight years old, starting walking through the sanctuary.  She appeared to be looking for someone.  She was wearing a red dress, and her distinctive feature was that she had five inflated balloons attached to her hair, three red, and two pink.  She went right up to the front of the church, and walked in front of the speaker’s lectern.  Within a few minutes, the speaker wrapped up her message.   I had to wonder if the little girl might be the speaker’s daughter?

After church, we went to a noodle house, where no one spoke any English, but they were happy to serve us.  Our leader is the sort of man who points to something and orders.  He can eat anything and likes to live in surprise.  We are more cautious ourselves, so I got up and went to the kitchen and pointed at food.  It was a good place, and we all ate, even though we aren’t sure exactly what the food was.

We have just a few days left, some classes, a closing program, a dinner with the whole group.  Then, off to Beijing, and next Sunday at this time, we’ll be in the air on the way home!

Yesterday we toured the Dujiangyan water conservancy project.  It has been named by the UN as a “World Heritage” site, and thus, has become quite popular as a tourist site.

Over 2200 years ago, a governor named Li Bing stood on a high place and looked at the river.  Every year, floods devastated the whole area.  People characterized the river as a fierce dragon who killed their children.  Li Bing devised a plan to divert the raging water during the rainy season, and save it during the drier season.  He cut through a mountain to make a channel to divide the river.  He was quite the engineer.  He divided the water flow in a 60/40 % split.  He made spillways, not exactly a dam, but a way to open or close the channel according to the need.  His system has been in use continually all this time, although it has been updated with modern materials.  Li Bing was then honored for subduing the dragon.  His temple stands today, and people still burn incense to honor him.  His instructions are carved in stone.  Artwork depicts the projects, and the annual ceremony of releasing the water.

You can read all about this on various websites which describe it more accurately and with pictures.  Put in “Dujiangyan Irrigation System” to your search engine.  You’ll be amazed.

We spent several hours there, walking around the project and walking in the mountain paths.  It was cool and rainy, quite comfortable for hiking, and I was glad I had my hiking boots and wool socks.  (The best ever socks from LL Bean) We didn’t go all the way into the many temples up in the high places, but we saw some of the statues in the entryways.  This place is the “birthplace of Daoism.”    I don’t know much about that.  In fact, my general feeling here is that the more I learn, the less I know.

Our first week here is complete.  I have five participants in my class.  One teacher has only three.  Husband also has five.  We are thinking of our program now as a “Seminar” rather than a “Class.”  We have intense discussions about teaching, learning, English, and Chinese.  Perhaps this week, we’ll move to talking about life in general.

Yesterday we visited the museum commemorating the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and the rebuilding progress.  One of the displays included a small child’s backpack that had been found in the rubble.  I could not contain my tears.  The magnitude of the destruction is unimaginable, even with pictures and videos.  Dujiangyan is justifiably proud of the progress of rebuilding.  It is said that this city progressed 25 years because of the earthquake.  The school where we are now staying, had no damage except for a small break in the outer wall.  A Chinese young person told me people are somewhat resentful that this school had no damage, no loss of life, while many children in public schools died.  They see it as all about money.  Such is the collateral damage of a disaster.

This city is also known as the birthplace of Daoism.  The temple was destroyed in that quake, but it has already been rebuilt.  I don’t know if we will tour it or not.  Next Saturday, we plan to go to the Panda preserve.  I’m excited about that.

We’re enjoying our tiny room in our peaceful setting.  I feel like I am at camp.

Last night we visited with a young woman whom we met in 2004.  She invited us to dinner with her family.  She lives near our school here, so it was all so convenient.  Everything here is brand new since the earthquake.  It is said that this city advanced 25 years in the rebuilding following that earthquake.  Her husband’s parents contributed half the cost and the young woman the other half to get this apartment.  She asked if we do this in America, and I said not usually.  She said young people could never afford housing if their parents didn’t provide it for them.

This morning is the first day of our program.  The text books haven’t arrived.  The director has copied pages for the students.  There are two teams on this campus, so about 180 participants, of which about 40 are “ours.”   Breakfast served in the cafeteria from 6:30 to 7:30, team meeting at 7:45. Program starting at 8.

We had granola in our room, so we have a little bit of quiet at start of day.  Onward!

Think of a 1940’s “Mom & Pop” motel, the long building, two stories, with the covered walkway to the rooms.  Each room has a window and door facing that walkway.  We got here on Friday afternoon and were issued the keys, the little plastic cards that you wave over the scanner in the door latch–very high tech.  We walked up the stairs, waved the key at the door, and nothing happened.  We tried the other key, still nothing.  Our teammate farther down the way had already gotten into his room, so we asked him, “What’s the secret?”  So he masterfully held the key in place, each one, and then said, “There’s no secret here, it doesn’t work.”  We had carried the luggage up the stairs, it was hot and muggy, and we were at the end of a trip that had started at 4:30 am.  I took a look at the window, wiggled it a little to find it was not latched in any way, opened it, and climbed in.  It’s a standard modern sliding style window, a little more than waist high for me.  Thanks to my early ballet training, I could kick my leg high enough to get up to the sill and slide in.  It was tricky at one point because even folded up, as it were, I am larger than the 28 inch opening.  I opened the door and got the luggage in.

About 15 minutes later, our teammate next door said loudly, “Oh, NO!”  So I rushed out to see what was the matter.  She said “I went out and forgot the key.”  “No problem,” said I, and climbed in her window.  Later on that evening when she couldn’t get the air conditioner to work, I suggested she leave her window open since it was quite cool. She didn’t want to do that,   “I’m afraid someone could get in,” she said.

Since my Dear Husband had  gone back down the stairs and had not yet come back up, I climbed in the window again to get back in our room. When we met our school hosts half an hour later, they asked if we had gotten into our rooms and were starting to get settled in?  I said that it was relatively easy to climb in the window.  They were surprised that the keys didn’t work, since they had checked them the day before.  But the host apologized and said he would come up later to see what he could do.

What he did was attach a long length of synthetic fiber twine to the door handle and tie it securely.  Then he set the length of twine on the chair just inside the window.  In this way, I could open the window, pull the twine with one hand while pushing the door with the other, and this would be easier than climbing through.

Today one key has been found for the door to bypass the high tech battery operated opening system.  This key has been issued to my husband who said, “Now we can get rid of this twine.”  “Not so fast,” I said, “Since we don’t have exactly the same rhythm of going and coming, I think I’ll keep the string latch.”  High tech is fine when it works, but low tech works all the time.

We spent about a week in Beijing in training for our program.  We met with old friends from the program, and we met new friends in the members of our team. I tried to contact my former students, but to no avail.

We took that large red bag over to the headquarters of the program for storage until end of summer.  We repacked the four boxes we had shipped there, discarding some stuff, and consolidating into three plastic bins to carry home on the plane at end of summer.  When we packed for the last leg, my duffel was still over weight, so I discarded my towels and washcloth.  China has a strict weight limit in country, but when we return to USA, we’ll be allowed almost twice as much luggage.  On the flight from HK to Beijing, we paid about $100 for our extra baggage.  Well, it’s a move, not just a trip.

In Beijing we attended a Chinese church service.  A person stood at the door with a little counter such as we used to use in the grocery store, and counted the people going in.  When the hall was full, no more could come in.  I think there were three services held at that place, and people stood in line for at least half an hour to be sure to get in.  Everything was orderly and on the “traditional” side.  I didn’t recognize any of the songs, nor did we understand any of the language.  However, husband accurately guessed the text of the sermon by the presence of the punctuation marks.  We are English teachers, after all.   And we could tell by the form of certain things, what they were.

On 4th of July, we had a large group picnic and a time of singing patriotic songs at the headquarters of our organization.  Beijing has put limits on fireworks, so we neither heard nor saw any.  From our time in Huanggang I can say I have heard all the fireworks I ever need to hear, but I did notice the absence on that special day.

The training was intense, many hours of getting familiar with the new curriculum, and with the new section on “mentoring” a significant part of our summer work.

Thanks to all our mentors past and present.  We wouldn’t be here without them.

We’ve now arrived at our summer volunteer position.  Classes start Monday.

In the past two weeks, we’ve been to Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Beijing and now Sichuan Province.  Whew! That’s a long trip, take a look at a map. First we took a taxi two hours to Wuhan where we boarded the “bullet train.”  It traveled at a top speed of 301 kmh, or 180 mph.  We took the first class tickets.  That car was spacious, comfortable and full.  Everything was clean.  The large windows gave us a clear view of the countryside.  We had room for our luggage at the front of the car, and our seats were quite close to it.  We traveled a distance of about 1100 kilometers in about three hours.  Until the bullet train began in April of this year, this trip took about 12 hours on the ordinary train.

In Shenzhen, we met with dear friends who were formerly my students.  It is such an honor to visit with vibrant young people in the vibrant young city of Shenzhen. Thirty years ago, Shenzhen had 30,000 people. Today, it has ten million people, most of them young adults. It is the city of manufacturing in China. When Chinese people speak of “going out” to work, they mean going to Shenzhen.  “Urbanization” is the plan in China these days.

I asked the young people how exactly to get to Hong Kong.  I stressed that convenience was my priority.  One called her friend who recommended we take the boat.  To get to the boat, we’d take a taxi, then the boat, then another taxi.  “What are the time choices for the boat?” we asked.  She called him again.  “The boat goes only once a day, in the early morning.”  So, we would have to leave quite early in a taxi in morning traffic.  If we got there late, we would be stranded at the dock, having missed the boat.  So, we rejected that option, even though it seemed quite romantic. The next choice was taking a taxi to the border, then getting another taxi on the other side.  It sounded good to me, but the young people thought it was “too expensive,” so on to the next choice, the train. The young man insisted it was the easiest and least expensive. Although I protested weakly, that choice won out.  We are speaking now of the subway train.  In the morning traffic when everyone goes to work, we boarded the train with our excessive baggage: three large duffel type suitcases, a back pack for me, a carry on bag for husband, and two computers in carry bags, one having the printer as well. The doors open, people get off, then the throng presses in, the door closes, then the train moves.  Better hang on if you can find a strap or bar. The car is packed with more people than the designer had in mind.   We had a transfer point, and then went to end of the line which is the Hong Kong border.  The station is huge and we could barely find our way.  We were standing with all our stuff and I saw a woman with a little cart and her shopping boxes on it.  “I wish I had a little cart,” I thought, and immediately a man with a big cart approached us, loaded up our stuff and took us to where we needed to go.  It was a long walk, and by ourselves, we would not have found our way.  I began to ponder how much this service was costing us, and fixed on a figure I thought was reasonable.  Of course, there’s no bargaining after you have surrendered your stuff and it is strapped to a cart.  Our friends had told us “Everyone in Hong Kong speaks English.”  But, you see, we weren’t quite into Hong Kong yet.  So, when I asked “How much?” one of the few Chinese phrases I can say well enough to be understood in context, the man said the figure I had thought it would be.  Husband began to try to bargain, but I opened my wallet.  On the first train on the Hong Kong side, we figured out it was our stop just a little too late, and the bag jammed in the door, the alarm sounded and I was calling out, “I can’t do it” when I pulled the bag through the door and got off.  The Chinese woman who told us it was the right stop was laughing at us.  I guess it was hilarious.

It was a long and tiring day, and my shoulders ached from carrying the two computer bags and my backpack as I wheeled the large red shuttle bag.  Husband admitted that carrying my large duffel, as he wheeled his duffel with his carry on bag was just the limit for him.  As we tried to figure out the exit from the subway, I stood by a wall while he went up and out to see where exactly the hotel was.  Amazingly enough, it was right at the top of the stairs of the subway station!  We stayed at the Salisbury YMCA, right on the water front.  The first night we watched from our room the light show that plays every night.  Another night we went down by the waterfront to see it. I thought of other light shows, such as Stone Mountain Georgia, and I wondered about our modern fascination with electronic light.  What happened to watching the moon, for example?  We also went to the art museum there on the waterfront, free on Wednesdays, and paid a small admission to the special exhibit, titled “A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust: the Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong.”

As to the visas, it was a less than successful journey.  The school had sent the wrong paperwork, so we could not get the proper visas.  We now have tourist visas, and they are good only until July 25.  The original visas were good until July 10, so, we gained only two weeks with the Hong Kong trip.  The school will have to do something about this now, it is out of our hands.  This is our life: step by step, day by day.  In your life, you might think you know what’s coming next, but the truth may well be different.