ChinaTeacher

China’s National Holiday takes place October 1-7 and to make the most of my upcoming holiday, I have rescheduled a few classes so I can have 10 days to enjoy the sights in and around Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

I traveled alone, which can be both good and bad. It started off great – I sat next to 2 Chinese businessmen on the plane from Hangzhou to Chengdu – they speak no English whatsoever. But, I brought my ‘handy-dandy’ dictionary with me, so I enjoyed a wonderful ‘chat’ with the man next to me!

On exiting the airport, I found the cooler weather in Chengdu so refreshing after so many months in stifling heat back in Hangzhou. The taxi touts pounced on me as soon as I exited the doors, but I successfully found my way to the Long-Distance bus and paid just 5 RMB to get to downtown Chengdu. My destination was the Long-Distance Bus Station where I hoped to catch a bus immediately for Leshan, approx. 2 hrs away.

You know, it’s hard to avoid getting cheated in China. Despite all my research and my ‘less than adequate’ knowledge of Chinese, they still got me! I arrived in Leshan okay, and then a nice lady lured me over to her ‘taxi’ for my ride into Leshan town. But，once I accepted her offer, I found myself climbing into a ‘pedicab’ for the ride, not the taxi she pointed to (so clever!). I only consented to the pedicab because I realized she was going to have to pedal me all the way into town – lots of legwork for her because I’m no lightweight! It was a long ride for her so, to be honest, I tipped her as well.

My hotel, the infamous Taoyuan Hotel was just ‘adequate’ – the first room they showed me was quite dirty, but not to be undone, they showed me another room which was adequate for 100 RMB. I only stayed there because the location is very central. The ferry docks for boats taking you to see the Leshan Giant Buddha are just across the street! My advice to others would be to look around for a ‘cleaner’ hotel.

The time I set aside for Leshan was quite short so, after settling into my room, I headed out to the Ferry landing. I’m glad I arrived here just before the holiday – not too many people around yet. I met up with others on the boat, a tour group from Taiwan and another tour group from Malaysia. I had a great chat with a girl traveling with her family from Taiwan. Later on, as we approached the Giant Leshan Buddha towering over us, I had a great talk with a young Malaysian fellow – turned out that he is a tour guide who was taking his clients on a trip through China, with a local Chinese guide. I took tons of pictures of that towering Buddha, and he took several of me with the ‘big guy’ in the background.

It is hard to describe how immense this sculpture truly is. My research tells me it took 80-90 years to carve the Giant Leshan Buddha into the side of the cliffs – the sculptors even went so far as to carve drainage holes throughout the Buddha sculpture so water drains away without damaging the buddha’s surface. And the patterns carved into his robes and hair were all designed to drain water down and away from the Buddha as well, very clever indeed.

Leshan Town is much bigger than I expected there is a ‘new’ town adjacent to the old town center which, thankfully, has been left as is.

During my afternoon walk, I came upon a Nursing University right in the centre of town! Choirs of nurses were scattered throughout the campus, and appeared to be practicing for a singing competition. They kindly allowed me to take some pictures, but then of course I had to reciprocate – I felt like a celebrity! The girls were so excited to see me as they only have one foreign teacher on staff, from Australia, with whom they can practice their English. I stayed for a short time, answering as many questions as I could.

Just around the corner from the university, I found the infamous Yang’s Restaurant which is mentioned in the travel guides, and also on the internet. It has moved again, to 186 Baita Lu (2^nd floor). Mr. Yang welcomed me to his restaurant, more of a family restaurant, it is quite small and is part of his home. Mr. Yang has excellent English and has tons of stories to tell. He showed me albums of photos showing the people he has met and the tours he can sell me. Over dinner, we chatted about his experiences and he again told me about his tours. Unfortunately I was not staying in Leshan long enough to take a tour so, not wanting to take too much of his time, I thank him for his hospitality and continued on my way, I am sure that a tour with Mr. Yang would focus on some of the ‘untravelled’ areas around Leshan. Maybe another time.

I spent that evening strolling along the river road enjoying all kinds of entertainment along the way. There was a huge National Day performance on one of the many water-side stages. In the distance there was a huge group of women performing exercises to music – I thought it was another performance. Just outside my hotel, next to the water, were perhaps 100 people singing as a choir – the sound was so beautiful that I simply had to stop for a bit.

Most tourists who come to Leshan, do so in tour groups, so it’s not uncommon to see 20-50 foreigners parading along the streets, shopping, buying fruit, taking photos etc. Few seem to have the time, or flexibility to stop and try to engage the locals in conversation. But, this is what I like to do the most! In Leshan I met so many people, old people, university students, children, you name it. And, because I was traveling alone, people’s curiosity would get the better of them so that they often attempted to approach me. 

(Photos – Look for My Links on the right side of this screen and click on Photos!) 

I knew I liked teaching, but…. I forgot just how much!  My first week back in the ‘seat’ was really great.  I have 8 different classes this Semester, and they are all new faces to me, but not the school.  Half will graduate next June (2008) and half in (2009). 

However, I quickly discovered that these students already knew all about me!  It appears that I have developed quite the reputation here at my university, so much so that many Chinese English teachers are lining up for the opportunity to observe my teaching.  And students I don’t even know are greeting me on the streets around campus!  It’s a great feeling indeed, because apparently my old students are the ones who are praising my skills.  It’s wonderful to know that my teaching really is making a difference here! 

Monday, September 10^th was TEACHERS’ DAY, great timing so early in the semester – they haven’t had a chance to hate us yet!  I was greeted by my classes with CHEERS, flowers and greeting cards. It’s a wonderful way to start off the semester!

The arrival of our university students heralded the return of some of my favourite Autumn street snacks: the old man hawking ‘baked sweet potatoes’, fresh roasted Chestnuts, and BBQ’d skewers of meats and vegetables, especially Corn on the Cob!  Yummy!  Most items cost just 1-2 RMB (30 cents).  Life is good!

I’m finding the Chinese English teachers much friendlier to me this semester too.  Already I have had lunch with two of them; turns out that the daughter of one took a class with me last semester (and I never knew!).  And, this morning I was approached by a staff member who told me our University’s President would like me to make a list of my favourite Chinese foods so the lunch room can be sure to have something special ready for me each day in case I don’t like what’s on hand.  The President met personally with the cafeteria manager to suggest this idea. We have over 600 teachers and only 4 English teachers, and he is worried about ME!  Can you believe such a thing?!  I feel quite flattered about so much attention and effort being paid to me. 

I’m also making the time to form friendships with some of my former students from last year – many of them don’t have Oral English on their curriculum this year, so I’m hoping we can meet every so often and talk in English.

One of my students spent 20 days in TIBET this summer.  I am so jealous!  Her pictures are absolutely outstanding!  We met for dinner the other night where she presented me with the most beautiful framed photograph of Potala Palace in Lhasa (check the link for photos).  Turns out she has also traveled to China’s northwest, which is my dream destination – The Silk Road!  We naturally will have lots to talk about in the coming weeks!

And last night I was invited by another ‘former’ student to a dinner meeting she was having with the Broadcasting Department of our university.  Yes, every university has their own local radio broadcasting station, and she is a new member, whose responsibility will be to do some ‘story-telling’ on the radio each day.  During our meal, I was asked my opinion on everything from “how to learn English”, “how to teach English more actively” to “what title should we give the ‘story-telling’ program?  Well, several hours later, with a full belly and several business cards less, I headed home to my apartment, secure in the knowledge that I will receive some calls over the next few days asking me to ‘review’ some English content before it goes out over the radio waves.  It’s a good thing I LOVE what I do!