Visiting a Local High School, Eating Sushi, and Seeing a Roehm in CHINA!

June 20, 2008

I woke up in the middle of the night and got on the internet. At about 7 o clock we went for a short run. We then came back to the room and got ready quickly, so that we could go and get Starbucks. It is probably a half a mile away. We were able to get some iced coffee and head back to class, which was to start at 10 a.m. During our morning runs we have noticed many people out and about. Today when we came back out around 9:30 a.m. it seemed like EVERYONE was out and heading to work. The other day when we saw employees standing in lines outside and the boss giving directions I thought it was really strange. This morning we saw about 50 employees of a department store doing the same thing. I asked the teacher about it and she said that it is an idea they got from Japan and South Korea and they really think it is good. They started doing it in 1995. She said it is somewhat of a pep rally, determining if everyone is on the same page and getting people to realize we can do this and we’re in this together. The way she talked indicated that she thought it was a good idea.

One thing I have noticed about the men here is that rather than sitting on the ground or on some steps to talk to someone, they squat like a monkey with their butt almost to the ground and their knees toward the sky and there chest resting on and between their legs. It is quite the sight. I have yet to take a picture, but I want one BAD!

We thought that we were exactly on time to class, coming right at 10 oclock, but Mrs. Mau had already started. Yesterday, she had us each write down things we wanted to learn about from her as she is our history, customs, and culture teacher. What a great teaching tactic!!! We learned about this in my Agricultural Education courses and during my student teaching last fall. Give the students an opportunity to express what they want to know and not only will they get to learn the things they are interested in, but you can frame the lessons so that they feel like they have ownership in what they are learning- like they developed the curriculum, not you. She touched on each of our questions and said she would discuss them further throughout the time here.

She talked to us a lot about famous landmarks as well as back alleys and the set up of homes. It was rather fascinating. She went over by about a half hour, so we had class for three hours straight, but that is why we are here, to learn. She explained to us that women in the past in China were expected to stay home, similar to the United States. Also, in the fugal society, the parents would select a man for the women to marry. Furthermore, the husbands could marry many different women. Confucius thought that women should stay home and look after the children. She explained that for many reasons it is good when a family has a son. The Chinese are only allowed to have one child and it is common for married couples to move in with the man’s family, so a family with a daughter would basically not see her but once or twice a year after she got married. She said that in the rural areas, if you have a daughter you can have another child in five years. She said in the cities, the married daughter works to visit her parents at least every other week. Her quote was, “A daughter is like clothes in winter to keep parents always warm.” Hmmm.
She explained to us many more things including that in 1966-1969 all people in China were to have chairman Mao’s book and read it everyday. For some reason at that time, all students were free to stay home. High school students were able to travel free of charge from train rides and dinners. Starting in the 1970’s all students after graduation went to the countryside to learn and get experience from the farmers. Those who were recommended by the farmers could go to the university. I think that this no longer happens after graduation, but is part of high school and the farmers do not make recommendations it is just to visit the countryside and see how hard they have to work. Mrs. Mao also told us that she will have us to her home in small groups for a meal to introduce us to some different types of Chinese food. She explained that China is changing everyday in more ways than one. From viewpoints to construction, they want to be responsible members of globalization. She told us about many famous streets and buildings in Beijing.

She also talked to us about a famous characteristic of Beijing-the set up of the alleys. We have been walking on many alleys as we go back and forth from campus to the outside world so we have witnessed some of this stuff first hand. She said that sometimes four houses are arranged together so that there is a courtyard in the center. The houses just keep getting passed down from generation to generation so the family shares the courtyard. She said usually the elders live in the one with the most sunshine. I don’t know if they rotate when the generations shift or how they make it work like that. She said the advantages of this concept are total privacy except from your relatives, protection from the dust and noise, and that it is harmonious, calming, and sensitive. We don’t live near to anything of this concept since we are in a pretty developed area, but I think we are going to see some of this stuff later.

As soon as class was over we headed to the basement cafeteria restaurant. As with many things in China, you have to push your way to the front of a small crowd of people and then communicate to the workers what you want. I pointed to two vegetable type dishes and some rice. Here in China, they give you way too much to eat every time you get something. I went to the cooler and picked out an iced tea then paid for it with my meal card they have provided for us.

After lunch, we prepared to go on a field trip to a local high school! This experience was awesome! The drive there was quite the adventure itself. We had to drive on multiple lane roads and cross all kinds of traffic to get where we were going. The bus is nice and has excellent air conditioning and even though the driver cut a few other cars off and we seemingly had some close calls, we made it there just fine. The principal of the school gave us an excellent tour. At the campus, there is both a junior high and senior high. It has a cafeteria, dorms, and auditorium as well as an amazing display of stuff animals (taxidermy) such as a garaff, lion, and fox. There are 3400 students total, 200 of which live on campus. At lunch time they get 1000 students through every half hour. He told us that lunch time is very noisy and there are two floors of space to eat. The gymnasium was big, but didn’t have much seating room for spectators. Students in China have 9 years of compulsory education and then they go to high school or vocational school. To go to high school they have to pass a big examination. The students all were wearing sweatsuit like uniforms. It was pretty hot that day and I asked if they could wear shorts and they said they could but they wouldn’t want to. The students go to school from 7:20 until 4:00 p.m. We have heard that they are lucky to have this schedule because some schools go from 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m. because they allow the students to go home for lunch and sometimes that takes a while.

The best part of visiting this school was the opportunity we had to speak with the students one on one. Each OSU student was matched with three or four students from the school. Excellent English just poured from their mouths as they asked us TONS of questions. They asked about American movies and American music. They asked about jobs in America and how often we have to study. This was one of the first glimpses I had at how diligently they have to study. They do not have time for much fun because they study so much. Everything is so competitive here because of the large population so they have to be sure to get good grades and learn enough so that they can get a good score on the examination for high school and the University. It is crazy. Since each family is only allowed to have one child in China, they do not have brothers and sisters. I asked them if they consider their classmates brothers and sisters and they said they do. I had my ipod along and so I played some American music for them. They knew more about American music than I do, they scrolled right through my artists and kept asking if I had this or that song. It was nuts. They told me that they like to watch Disney movies and it helps them with their English.

After leaving the school we headed back to campus. Most people were really hungry left right away to go to the sushi place near campus. I stayed behind with Paige and we went to pick up Sarah, world food prize student from Iowa, who is here researching for the summer. We arrived at the sushi place and as I had asked them to, they had ordered me shrimp and salmon rolls. They had most of us sitting in a small private room to eat. The sushi was so good! I hope we get to go back there soon. Even though some people are allergic or do not eat sea food they have other stuff, so it should be a place we can go to often. It only cost us about $3.50 and that is cheap for sushi!

Our next plans were to go to a movie at the IMAX theater near by. We had an hour to kill until then. Some people didn’t want to go to the movie and I was indifferent as long as we did something. We started walking on some busy side roads and found an establishment that looked like it had some Americans at it called Mystica. We walked inside and up to the balcony. There were about twenty law students from Indiana University who were celebrating the last night of their study tour. We told the guy nearest to us that Jessica, Ashley, and I were from the Ft. Wayne area, but in Ohio south of Van Wert. This guy said he was from Defiance. He said that is mom was from south of Van Wert, a town you’ve probably never heard of, Willshire, Ohio. We exploded. He said that is mom was a Roehm. She is Joyce Roehm, sister of Roland and Duane. We told him that we knew the Roehm kids and Betsy. Gamble. Small world, eh? Later, we got a picture with him. We sat around in there for a while, and then one of the law students who was sitting in an awkward position before came over to our table and asked if we had said earlier that we were majoring in Agirculture. She did her undergrad at Purdue in Ag Economics. She agreed with me that it is hard when you are with a group of people who are not interested in agriculture to ask questions, but that it is a priority to go ahead and do it anyway. There is so much to learn. We are sure our tour mates want to tell us to shut up when we ask tons of questions pertaining to agriculture and other stuff. She gave me her info and I am going to add her on facebook. Also, she told me about their program, which sounded very interesting. They go to IUIndy. I also talked to several of them who did there undergraduate degree at IU main campus in Bloomington, which is where I lived last summer while working for GM. One guy’s inlaws are from Bedford.

Eventually, we headed for our hotel. It was so odd, it was about 11:30 p.m. and we were heading home, but hardly anyone was out. In America, the nightlife is just getting started around this time. It does get daylight at about 4:30 a.m. here, but I have no idea why people were inside so early. It is possible that people there is a cerfew. What made us really suspicious of this was when we walked home and were by the gate that is literally 20 feet from our hotel entrance and it was locked. Everyone had to climb over or go through the fence over/gate/door. Ashley and I ended up being one of the last three to cross over along with Juan. Juan started to climb and got scared of the heights. She said she ain’t doin that. She said, “I walk ‘round.” We didn’t want her to walk at night by herself, so Ashe and I went with her. We thought we were going to have to walk clear to the North gate and then all the away around to the East gate. We ended up finding a little bit shorter route, but still were probably walking for twenty minutes before we got back to the side of the fence our hotel was on. DongFong said that only that gate closes at night and that we should be able to get in from the gate on the side near the Friendship Hotel. Everyone had waited for us outside the hotel to get back. I thought to myself, “If these people were going to wait or were so concern for that matter, why didn’t some of them crawl back through the opening of the fence and walk with us three girls? We were not in harms way at all but it was still dark outside and were in a big city. Oh well.