Home again!

Well, it's Saturday morning, June 23 and I am home after some random sleep on my own wonderful bed! Once I remembered the details of how to sign into my blog, I am happy to see that my blog isn't in Chinese...and that I can finally post on my own (thank you Lois for bringing my experiences to my friends during these last six weeks!). Right now I don't have a lot to say - I'm in the blurry beginnings of my jet lag experience - moments of alertness followed by the inability to compose a coherent sentence... I actually unpacked my suitcases in the middle of the night when I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep and then earlier this morning I went through some of the huge amount of snail mail. So much junk mail...I'm going to investigate how to cut down on that. Traveling encourages me to find ways to simplify... OK..I'll be back...I think I need a little nap! :)

Leaving China

(written Friday, June 22)

It's Friday morning in Beijing and I am about to check out of the hotel and go to the airport. It has been a great final week in Beijing. Highlights include a performance of Peking Opera - a traditional opera form very much unlike anything in the west, but very fascinating in terms of make-up, costumes and a unique singing style, not to mention the inclusion of acrobatics. We also went shopping at the well-known Pearl Market - it was a experience that I'm glad I had and I bought a few things. However, one thing I will not miss upon leaving China, is the endless calling out, "lady, come look see," or "lady...." followed by a plea to buy whatever they are selling.. It will also be nice to go in a store, look at the price and know that is what I need to pay. The constant negotiation/bargaining gets tiring even though you can get the price lower, though it is clear that prices are purposefully set high, so you never know if you got a good deal...I will not miss this! :) My flight is almost 13 hours..I will leave on Friday and arrive in Chicago at the same time also on Friday. I will probably write a few more blogs within the next week with a couple overall reflections of my time in China, so stay tuned...and I look forward to finally being able to access my blog!

Transitioning back to Beijing

(written Sunday, June 17)
How can it be a week since I have written? I had a pretty laid back ending to my time in Yengisar. We had lunch with a Uyghur couple who lives in the building and we had a pretty interesting conversation about a wide range of topics, some more sensitive than others that I'm not free to share on this public blog. We also went to the market and bought a whole chicken from the guy who had just killed it and took the feathers off! The market is an interesting place: the Uyghur women get all dressed up wearing fancy dresses and high heels with their heads in varied stages of cover, depending on the mandate of their husbands. Keep in mind, the market is outside and usually has a gravel or dirt "floor" with various umbrellas for shade. It is a lively place where friends greet one another and a good opportunity for the women to socialize among themselves. I also got to meet some of the Uyghur women who run the stores near the apartment - such delightful women who were welcoming to this stranger. I also got to see the farm that keeps James busy - what an amazing place - they grow many kinds of fruit and have an irrigation system that conserves water, just directing it at each tree (it is an Israeli irrigation concept). On Thursday afternoon, we made our way back to Kashgar and spent a little time at the bazaar doing some shopping, had a quick dinner and went to the airport. After an uneventful flight, I arrived in Urumqi about 10:30pm and I got in the line for a taxi (important tip - never go into a taxi with someone who walks up to you, who is not in the taxi line-up - usually it means you will pay much more!). Anyway, I'm waiting in line and this driver comes out of his taxi and takes my luggage ahead of the other Chinese men in front of me. He put the meter on (something else one must be diligent about) and I gave him the card with the hotel's name in Chinese (I had stayed in the same hotel a week earlier) and then as we were on the way into the city he takes his phone and shows me an amount of 200 for the cost and says OK? I said No and then he shows me 150 and I started loudly saying "dabeow" (the word for meter) several times...so after he figured out I wasn't going to pay him an outrageous amount, he took a very long, indirect way to the hotel and I paid 37 RMB more (about $4.50) than I ended up paying to the driver the next morning with all the rush hour traffic back to the airport. It really made me mad, but I was glad to be safely at the hotel, arriving about 11:15pm. I had a quick sleep and was back at the airport by 10:30 the next morning. I had an interesting experience checking in -there were no English signs to indicate exactly where to check in, so I got in one line and when I got to the front, the agent indicated I had to go to another line - so I get there and when I get to that agent and she weighed my suitcase, it was 2.5 kg overweight (mind you, it was exactly the same when I flew from Kashgar to Urumqi, but no one said anything. So she said I had to pay 70 RMB extra for the weight. I told her I would take a few things out - I knew exactly where the heavy stuff was and started taking stuff out until I got to .5kg over and then she waved me to stop (because by now there was a line behind me, but I didn't care ...the inconsistent treatment drives me nuts here, so I decided to take my time!). Anyway, after that, I had to rearrange a few things so I could get all my stuff as a carry-on or in my purse. One other thing I have learned in all my airline travel in China is that it pays to be close to the front of the line when one is trying to board, because the Chinese bring a lot of carry-ons (they do not get stopped for it) and they don't put stuff under their seats, so overhead bin space is at a premium. The other thing that happens is that as soon as someone decides to start a line to board, magically, a whole group of people start to crowd around and push their way to the front, so I decided to be at the beginning of the ever-widening line, so I was one of the first ones on the plane (there is no boarding order for any plane I have been on - it is a free-for-all! Because of that it takes a while to get everyone on the plane and seated because it is completely without order. So we take off and I'm looking
out the window I was sitting by the window) watching us leave Urumqi and head away from the mountains and then I am reading the paper and about 20 minutes later, I look out and notice that we are now much higher above the ground than we were even though the plane has made a couple attempts to get through some turbulence of going through the clouds. I started thinking to myself that something was wrong with the plane because we were not where we should be after almost 30 minutes. Then, sure enough, some Chinese is spoken and there is a lot of muttering and a couple women are loudly almost crying a couple rows behind me and then the English translation comes on and they say we are turning back to land in Urumqi due to mechanical problems. Well, I started praying, for a whole host of reasons - I was supposed to meet my friend Kristen at the Beijing airport who was flying in from Manila to meet me and I had absolutely no way to contact her - and then I thought how far out Urumqi is and there are no extra planes and I started thinking about other times in the States when I had been on planes that had mechanical problems, but fortunately, once we arrived back on the ground, there was a whole team of people there to
work on the plane, and they announced that we would be ready to take off in 30 minutes, after which they served us lunch and we barely finished eating and the plane was ready to fly. It was pretty incredible. Furthermore, the weather had cleared by then and I had the most incredible view of the snow-capped mountains as the plane easily rose to its cruising height. We were an hour-and-a-half late to Beijing, but aside from Kristen"s three-hour wait for me after being up since 2am the night before, all was well. We got to the hotel, went to KFC for supper (have I told you Kentucky Fried Chicken is everywhere in Beijing?), talked for a while as we unpacked and then got a good night"s rest. Our hotel is right in the middle of the central, commercial area, not far from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It is a fun place to be and quite accessible to a lot of places. We walked a lot on Saturday and saw the Drum Tower, climbing the 69 very steep stairs to the top. It was so worth it, as there were about 25 huge red Chinese drums, (and by huge, I mean they were bigger than I am!) which they played for a couple minutes every half hour. I got it on video - it was SPECTACULAR! :) We also did some shopping and had dinner with our Beijing tour guide for our Wheaton trip - it was great to see her again. This morning we attended a huge International Church in Beijing, there were probably about 1,000 at the service - I couldn't see them all in the balcony since we were in a theatre. There were people from everywhere in the world - Africans, Indonesians, Filipinos, Koreans and other Asians, Caucasians - you have to have a non-Chinese passport to get in - and you have to show it at the door (it is against the law to have Chinese come to church where there are foreigners...). Anyway, they have services in English, bilingual (English and Mandarin), Cantonese, Filipino, French, Indonesian, Japanese and Russian and they have an African Outreach Ministry that also meets on its own. It was a meaningful service and it made me think about the great variety of church experiences I have had in the course of my time here (which I will elaborate on once I get home..). Then this afternoon, we walked around near our hotel, looking for some places in our guidebook we wanted to see. There is so much change in Beijing, lots of tear-downs and renovation, some because of the Olympics and others just because this is a growing city. We did a little shopping but ran out of steam - it was pretty warm so we had a late dinner and a quiet evening. Tomorrow we will head out early while we have some
energy and before it gets too hot and go to the Forbidden City. We have plans to go see some Peking (Beijing) traditional opera, visit the Bell Museum, the Pear Market and a few other places in the days ahead. It is supposed to cool down a bit, which would be very welcome, as the temperatures are in the low 90's.. OK, that's all for now!

Another view of China

(written Sunday, June 10)
It is quite possible that this is the most remote place in the world I have ever been! We had a good flight - 1.5 hours from Urumqi to Kashgar. The airport in Kashgar is pretty basic - no ramps - just up and down the stairs in and out of the plane with a walk across the tarmac. It was a 90-minute drive from the Kashgar airport to Yengisar - a good portion of it on really bumpy - though fortunately paved - roads. Kashgar has about 400,000 people and Yengisar is a much smaller - about 15,000; it is a more remote city, surrounded by barren desert-like land with occasional trees and farmland adjacent to irrigation canals. I have noticed that there is a sameness to the cities I have seen in China in terms of layout, as they all have wide roads - the roads are the same in Yengisar, Kashgar, Urumqi, Nanchang and even Beijing (though Beijing also has expressways). On the main roads
going through each city, there are four lanes (2 on each side) plus two lanes (one on each side) for bicycles, people walking, donkey carts, tricycles carrying heavy loads, and any other mode of transportation one can imagine. I should also mention that people and bikes often wander outside their designated lane, just as sometimes in the bigger cities, taxis in particular magically form a third lane. So while there are many fewer people in Yengisar, the roads seem really wide and in Beijing everything is so crowded. Another similarity I've observed is that all the housing looks about the same on the outside, especially those built around the same time. It is all housing built by the government and many of the buildings are six stories high - the limit for buildings which do not have to have an elevator. If a building is 7 stories or more, there must be an elevator I was told. So many of the housing units (except for Beijing) are six stories and one gets lots of exercise going up and down them - a challenge when it is really hot. Speaking of hot, it is extremely hot here; there is no way to measure the temperature or know what the weather will bring, but it feels like it is between 95 and 100 during most of the day, though it is a very dry heat. Since there is no air conditioning, I am thankful for the fan in my bedroom. It cools down a bit in the evening - probably around 70 with a breeze at times, but it is not advised to leave the windows open all the time, as the ever-present dust and sand easily makes its way inside. I am staying in a guest apartment on the 4th floor - one floor above my friend's apartment. I had a funny experience the first morning I was here - I could not open my door to get out of the apartment as the doors are unlike anything I have seen. They had showed me how to use it but it did not open and I tried and pushed and tried to maneuver the handle in every way I could. There was no phone but fortunately I have access to their wireless so I sent Carolyn an email that I couldn't get out. Eventually she got the email and came and opened the door from the outside. Then she came in to show me how it was done but the door got stuck again and she had not brought her cell phone with her so now the two of us were stuck inside. So she emailed another team member who lives a couple stairwells over in the same building and fortunately she saw her email before going to pick up her kids from morning school. So she came over just as Carolyn gave a hard judo kick to successfully open the door! It was funny, though before Carolyn came, I kept thinking... I am a prisoner in this Communist building and I can't get out! :) Thankfully, the door has worked fine since the judo kick and I do have a temporary cell phone in case anything else comes up! There was no water the first morning and the power has been out twice (including now as I write this!), but
the bed is the best one I've had in China so I am sleeping well. We went to Kashgar
yesterday and visited the largest mosque in China and a famous tomb of an Islamic family with connections to the Chinese dynastic line (the granddaughter was a concubine of one of the Chinese emperors). We also heard some Uyghur music in another restaurant and I also got some help in finding some recordings of Uyghur music. Then today, after meeting together with the four team members and resting a bit, we went to the Sunday open air market; Central Asia is known for its markets. There were many, many people selling tons of stuff from vegetables to metal trash cans, shoes, purses, clothing, knives, tools - you name it - it is there. The experience in this large market included lots of sounds (horses, donkeys and motorcycles pulling carts, as well as the sound of taxis honking endlessly trying to get through hordes of people) and then there were the many different smells, which cannot be adequately described in words! I saw my first camel cart (a camel
pulling a cart full of stuff), although I saw two camels in Kashgar just resting in the plaza in front of the mosque. Donkey carts are common here; I was told that the ride from Yengisar to Kashgar can be accomplished in three days on a donkey cart (the donkey needs to rest). I was glad we got there in just over an hour in a truck! Donkey carts seem to be used mostly to haul goods or people within the town or between Yengisar and some of the smaller outposts around Yengisar. So now you have a brief picture of this part of China - so very different from my other experiences in China. There is not a lot to do here so it has been nice to have some time to visit, write and enjoy a little down time.

Xianjiang Province

(written Wednesday, June 6)
While it is shortly after 11pm in Beijing, it is actually two hours behind here in Urumqi, which is the capital of Xianjiang Province - the most western province of China. Urumqi is notable for the fact that it is the farthest inland city in the world. Even though the country is officially on the same time zone, practically speaking Xianjiang operates two hours behind because of the obvious differences living four hours west of Beijing in terms of daylight. The Uyghurs (there are 9 million of this minority people group in this province) pay more attention to the rising of the sun than the Beijing government people... so on some places you see the business times listed both in Beijing and local time. While the ticket for our flight to Kashgar says it leaves at 20:55, the flight actually leaves here at 18:55 - something I wouldn't have known if I was here by myself!

The flight out here was fascinating as the make-up of the people on the plane was so varied, so many minority peoples. This is such a different China - yet it is still China. My friend and former student from Wheaton, Carolyn, met me at the Urumqi airport last night. Today, one of Carolyn's contacts took us to a Uyghur restaurant with live traditional Uyghur music and dance - and then Carolyn who speaks Uyghur quite well went up to the three musicians who are actually from south Xianjiang - near Kashgar - talked to them about their instruments and introduced me as her teacher and it was really cool. They respect teachers a great deal and were fascinated that I wanted to take video of their music so I could share it with my students back at school. Then after our conversation with them, we walked down the street to the Xianjiang Arts College; we heard all the students practicing and easily found the music building. We wandered a little further and heard a large group rehearsing so we slipped in and heard a dress rehearsal for a concert tomorrow night (which we have to miss because of our flight to Kashgar). It was a Uyghur orchestra - very, very unusual. All traditional Uyghur instruments (several varieties of string instruments) plus western cellos and basses, 4 Uyghur flutes, one oboe, a girl playing timpani and 3 dap (frame drum) players. They played some arrangements of western orchestra music and some music written by a Uyghur composer. It was amazing! Afterwards, Carolyn approached the conductor, one of the faculty soloists and the director of the music division and spoke to them in Uyghur and got into a wonderful conversation. The conductor is Uzbeck and has only been at the college two months and he started this orchestra and it is excellent. Carolyn said one can find Chinese orchestras but a Uyghur orchestra is so unusual and she was excited for the opportunity for these young Uyghur music students to get this kind of training and experience! They invited us back to their rehearsal tomorrow (I will bring enough tape this time - we had no idea this would happen!). And we had a picture taken and they want a copy of it. It was just an amazing day - both Carolyn and I are feeling exhilarated by the opportunities we had today.

We are staying in a 5-star hotel, for a pretty small amount of money. We have a corner room on the 26th floor so we have a great view of the mountains and the city (except the windows need washing). As Carolyn said, you can tell this is a 5-star hotel because there were rose petals in the toilet after they cleaned it! :) Never saw that in our student-oriented hotel in Beijing!

It is such a different feeling here - everything is in Chinese and Uyghur (Arabic script). When we are in the taxi, it feels like we are in the Middle East in so many ways. The only English is in a few places run by Americans. Last night we had dinner at a Texas/Mexican place and Mexican food never tasted so good - the quesadillas, rice and beans were a welcome change!

Tomorrow night we fly to Kashgar and then another hour drive to the town of Yengisar, where Carolyn and James live. It is then another 20 minutes to the farm where James works as a manager. So I will have a full range of experience of China! More to follow...

Some random thoughts...

(written Saturday, June 2, 2007)
Time just seems to fly these days as our days are quite full. We are finishing up our Chinese history classes - I have learned so much and most of it has been connected to the many sites we have visited. On a totally different note, I am happy to report that my voice returned once we got back to Beijing-go figure! I'm feeling quite fine these days. We have had wonderful weather. It was really pleasant in Xian for half of the time and really hot for a couple days. It has been unusually cool in Beijing the last few days with a little rain. We have only had one really wash out day of rain a couple weeks ago and that day we were out and about visiting tombs and we all got completely drenched - even with our umbrellas - it was quite a challenging day. Otherwise it has been warm with only a few really hot days. Fortunately, the two days we needed our best weather - for the Great Wall and another high site in Beijing, we have had our clearest best two days! The pollution has been remarkably absent; winds have kept the air pretty clear with a few exceptions. On the food front, I have pretty much mastered the art of chopsticks. I can count on one hand the number of times I have used a fork since coming here. I have also had a wide variety of Chinese food - really good Chinese food is amazing. I'm even getting used to a spinach (that's my closest guess) dumpling for breakfast everyday along with some brown noodles, spiced up with an occasional egg or fried bread. I'm thankful Starbucks is close by, an 8-10 minute walk counting the challenge of crossing the crazy streets here. Starbucks has free wireless so I go every other day or so and then get some real coffee; something that is not easy to find in a country of tea! Speaking of the traffic, I must say a few things about the traffic here. I used to think that Manila, Philippines was the worse traffic situation I had ever experienced. I still think that is true, but Beijing comes really close. No one pays attention to the signs; cars, buses, bikes (there are thousands of them here!) all keep moving even if there is a red light. It's kind of a survival of the fittest! Even when the green walk light comes on to cross a street, you still have to expect bikes, taxis, etc. to be coming so you always have to look. And when you are in a taxi, it's just best not to look at all. I can't imagine how all the visitors for the Olympics will manage when they are here. There is already so much traffic; I can't fathom how the city can handle an influx of people for the games. Fortunately most of the Olympic venues are out away from the center of the city. We have driven past the Olympic construction sites and they have a way to go - but I guess Greece finished at the last minute. The other thing that is difficult to get used to is all the smoking. So many people smoke - and it is really annoying. Even today, someone was smoking in the hotel elevator; it's just crazy! There has been a lot of talk - on the one English TV station and in the China Daily, the English newspaper we get everyday - about the smoking issue. They are encouraging the idea of having a smoke-free Beijing in time for the Olympics, but that would be the biggest challenge of the games themselves! Well, I think I'll stop now with all the little random thoughts that I haven't addressed up to now.