Chinese Basketball and Suman Relatives in CHINA!

June 24, 2008- Tuesday

We woke up early enough this morning to go out for a jog. Ashley lead us past where Mrs. Mao lives and we went and did our normal “around the block” route. It is so interesting to be outside in the early morning like that. People are all over the place as always, but they are greeting the day in full force. Some are ridding their bikes to work, others are walking. Many of the elderly are out exercising. From what I’ve read, crowds of elderly people gather in Beijing’s parks and indulge in tai chi. Although the discipline has its origin in martial arts, for most people it is about making sure your joints don’t seize up. Some people are practicing aerobics. Others are merely walking around. Some are using wands, swords, and flags to practice movements. I think the whole point is that they are just getting out and doing something. Staying limber, so to speak. And, from what I have heard, after they do their morning exercise, they stay in the parks and hang out. It seems like a neat way to embrace life if you ask me.

Our first class for the day was Mrs. Mao’s. She talked to us about different types of Chinese art and tools used for it such as silk paper that is supposed to be able to last for up to 1000 years. She told us what different types of paintings are meant to embody and lots of art history. She also told us about the infamous Beijing Opera and tried to prepare us for what we will be seeing when we visit there later in the trip. One of Mrs. Mao’s students joined our class at the end and talked to us about what happened in China in the 1980’s like when Proctor and Gamble came to China in 1988. She said this brought many jobs to China and that many students want to work there after college.

For lunch, Ashley, Juan, Lauren, Johanna and I went to the sushi place on one of the big streets nearby. This is about the third time in my whole life that I have had sushi, but I love it. Oh the little wonders of study abroad! This particular place has a bar of seats and a conveyer belt of sushi choices that pass while you are eating. Ashley and I tried a few different types. We tried shrimp, salmon, and California rolls as well as some other sea food balls. It was really good and very inexpensive. I think we paid about $4.00 each, and for what we got, that is a sweet deal compared to American prices. We learned in class that the Chinese like to make their food really elaborate looking. A beautiful fruit dish passed by on the conveyor belt and we tried that also.

We had agricultural class that afternoon. Nia talked to us about how most farmers only graduate form middle school and only a few graduate from universities. She eluded that government investment in agriculture is not enough. She told us the Agriculture is the foundation of manufacturing and commerce. Her statement was, “Food is the God of people.” Agriculture supplies people with food and industry with raw materials. It is also a source of foreign exchange which she said is very important. Since December 2007, China has imported a lot of pork from the United States as well as other agricultural products. Ag is the employment and income of 60% of China. We learned about some history of the country like how in 1969 professors were sent to the countryside to have some “political education.” This was because in 1968 urban youth were sent to the countryside to “learn from the farmers” and therefore, there were no students to teach. They were allowed to return in 1977. In 1978-79 the rural reform began, transforming central planning to household decision making. This stimulated farmer incentives. In 1982-1983, the commune system was abolished. The commune system was where farmers worked for a union or a commune rather than their own operation. They were paid the same no matter how productive the land was so they had no incentive to work hard or any ownership in the process. This class went on for 3.5 hours before it was finally over.

After class we were to play a scheduled basketball game with some Chinese students. They provided us with five jerseys to share amongst our group and when we showed up on the outdoor court they had a score board set up with a scorers table and refs. They also brought out a office type water system. We played two twenty minute halves rotating in most of us, but Mark stayed in the whole time. We stayed right with them, but ended up losing by two points. Mark told us to play zone defense and once when we were on offense, Johanna wasn’t moving to the ball and when someone asked her about it she said, “I am playing zone defense!” We all laughed. The Chinese were really impressed when a girl would make a shot and they would basically move out of the way when a girl went up for a shot, like they were afraid to block her. They didn’t have any girls on their team until half time when Helen came out. They really cheered for her when she did well too. I guess it is not common for girls to play sports here.

When we finished basketball, DongFang told us that we had a message from our relatives, Mick and Nora Suman, who are missionaries here and we had contacted about meeting up with them. Ashley had been emailing them, and ironically they are heading to the states on Wednesday for seven weeks. They are working in a province far enough away from here (yet still in China) that they had a connecting flight in Beijing. Ashley had given them DongFang’s number and they said they would call when they got in their hotel. Since we were in basketball, DongFang told them that we wouldn’t be available for an hour or so. When she told us they had called after the basketball game was over, we rushed around and took showers. DongFang had given them our hotel room number to call, but they didn’t so we took turns waiting with her by the front desk phone as she tried to reach their hotel. Ashe was with her when they finally got a hold of them. They said we could come to their hotel and DongFang wrote down in Chinese the name of it so that we could show the taxi driver. Mick was really impressed with DongFang’s English and asked how long it would take for us to get there. DongFang said it would probably take an hour by taxi to get to the hotel they were staying at by taxi. Mick acted concerned about us coming because the area was somewhat bad and it was already 8:00 p.m., but we hurried and finished getting ready and left.

It did take about 45 minutes to get there and the taxi driver dropped us off in the middle of a street and pointed to a hotel. We thanked him even though he didn’t understand us and we didn’t’ understand him. The street reminded me of many roads, streets, and adventures we went on in the Dominican Republic. Beijing is a modern city and we have seen so much business, commerce, and modernization that I had almost forgotten what it must be like in the slums. I think that our trip to Inner Mongolia during the fifth week will expose us to more of the third world life. We walked in to the hotel he had pointed at and showed the lady at the front desk our slip of paper that said the name of the hotel in Chinese. She made a motion to go out the door and around the back of the hotel. We did just that and did the same thing at the next hotel. At first they thought we wanted a room, but luckily someone spoke some slight English and we were able to explain that we only wanted to visit some friends. As they did at the hotel where we stay, they checked our passports and eventually showed us to their room. We knocked on the door, and there they were.
We sat and talked to them for about an hour and a half which was really nice. They talked to us about their sons who are both in New York and that they were going to go visit them for a long while when they got to the United States. They also asked about our parents, grandpa, and other family members who are in the Willshire area. They told us about their experiences teaching English at a school in their providence. We asked them how they cooked/found American food in China and Nora said she has been able to do some pretty creative things. She said she makes everything from roasts to pizzas. The told us about some of the work they have been able to do, like teaching their students about Christmas and Easter in conjunction with teaching them English. They said that right now they live on the fourth floor of a high rise apartment building so they are in good shape, but next year they will move and have an elevator. They explained that in the different Chinese provinces they cook different things and that they were excited to get some Beijing Chinese food. They asked us about our program here in China and the different types of things we were doing and seeing. We even talked to them about how they met and the fact that they have been married for 37 years. They wanted us to go out on the road and get a pop, but we said that we should probably head back to campus since it was pretty late. They walked us out to the street and after waiting a while we were able to flag down a taxi driver who was willing to take us to the address we showed him on the card. We said good bye and hugged and they encouraged us to meet up with them in August when they are in Indiana

We are starting to recognize the surrounding area really well. As the taxi driver got within a short distance of campus we were able to tell him where that we needed dropped off soon. He pulled up right next McDonalds and since we hadn’t had dinner yet, we decided to have our McDonalds adventure then. We went in and I just wanted to get some French Fries and a drink. The cashier pulled out a sign that allows you to just point to what you want. I pointed to a picture of French Fries and a drink at the medium level. What I got was a pop, a smaller drink, and French fries and it cost me more than what Ashe and Jess got with their cheeseburger value meals. Mine was 19.50 yuan which is about $3.50. Oh well.

On our way back to our hotel we passed many people out and about as we always do. One particular group of people was clearly Chinese but we heard them speaking impeccable English. Before we could comment about it to each other, they had already said, “Hey guys,” and came over to us. We talked to them for quite a while. They asked us what we thought of China and we said that everyone is so nice and they said they wished the outside media depicted it that way. Two of them had studied in Canada and one in Australia so they were totally up on the language. They gave us their phone numbers and told us to call them if we had any questions. I think these people could teach us a lot and show us more of the country more easily than us listening to any teacher could.