Updates

It's been a while since we posted any pictures. But here are some of recent happenings. The picture and video are from a recent scavenger hunt we did with students. One of the tasks was singing an English song.

The other three pictures are from my trip to Shaoxing with some students a few weekends ago. Unfortunately, the best moment of the trip--when one girl fell into a lake--was not captured on film!

Whew!

Those slow weeks upon first returning to China are long gone! We've both met all our new students now; and for whatever reason, this year's students are much more eager to do... well, anything! We've already been making lots of new friends, and after only one class, Amy was invited to travel with a few girls to a nearby canal town. Matt is really enjoying teaching again this year and is still finding time for Chinese study about 6 hours a week.

Funny stories from our first few weeks of classes:

Amy was told by a student that she was pretty, but not cool b/c she didn't wear her sunglasses during class.

In a slight misunderstanding, Matt was thought to be 38 years old by a number of his students!

The rumors that we have a child named Levi are circulating again... No matter how many times I say "nephew," there are always a few who choose not to hear.

Matt has a male student named Daffodil.

Amy got temporarily locked inside a nearby college campus in their attempt to contain the swine flu.

The Swine Flu Scare

Today was Teacher's Day in China, which was lovely. I received lots of well-wishing messages and, even, a box of chocolates from one class. Usually, our universities give us a gift, as well... This year's present? A thermometer.

Swine flu fears had begun here even before we came home this summer. And, at one point, we were fearing getting quarantined at the airport. But all was well, and we haven't heard much about the infamous flu until this week. And suddenly, it's made a big comeback (the fear, not the actual flu).

Estimates from our city say that 1 student (that's right... 1) has swine flu and up to 20 students have shown flu-like symptoms. Not that they actually have the flu--just the symptoms. Seriously, in a city that has a student population of 250,000, I don't think that's so serious!

But apparently, I am wrong. For the past two weeks, people have been restricted from entering our campus unless they could prove they were a student or teacher here. If you were a student, but forgot your ID card, you were subject to a health check before entering. Other schools and businesses are taking similar measures, and students are sporting surgical masks to class. Soap has even made an appearance in the public bathrooms (the one good thing out of this)! Our friend at another university is required to send his supervisor a daily text message of his temperature reading. And now, I've been given a thermometer...

We are easily frustrated by the strange reactions to this virus. But at the same time, I guess when you have a country of 1.3 billion people living in close quarters, things spread quickly, as they learned with SARS a few years ago. Not to mention that health care is often at a bit of a different standard than some places. (Check out this story that happened in our city.) I just hope it all goes away soon--mostly, of course, for the public's health safety, but also for our sanity.

The Pig

The farmer that Matt stayed with last week raises pigs and sells them at the market. As a gift, he gave us a cured ham. It was so kind, and we are really appreciative. But being give an entire hind leg of a pig presents some problems... Like Matt having to carry the 20lb. leg while traveling across the country (he had hoped to travel light). Not to mention that we have no idea what to do with a whole leg of pork! The ham is delicious... similar to a country ham, but not as sweet and with a better flavor. It's just a LOT of meat! So far, we've shared a bit with some friends, stir-fried it with onions and peppers, and used it in some chili. I'm thinking of baking the ham with some apples later this week. Any other suggestions? :-)

Village Life

Newspaper accounts of China are quick to print stories about the fast development of cities, rags to riches stories, and the plight of the urban poor. Little is said about village life, so I was anxious to see it for myself. A friend of mine, who also happens to be one of the official minorities that total 8% of the population, invited me to his home in the Southwestern province of Yunnan.

While there, I was truly humbled by the attention and hospitality showered me by everyone with whom I came into contact. I believe that I was the first Westerner to visit my friend's village--a party of Japanese researchers had visited it early in the year to observe farming techniques--and I was definitely an object of curiosity. The people gave and gave-sometimes far in excess of their means, and certainly more than I needed or deserved. At one point, a chicken was prepared for me, and the liver was reserved for me (and I despise chicken livers). This offering was made even worse because the gallbladder was still attached. But that was not the only culinary delight offered me--guinea pig is apparently highly valued in Chinese medicine, and the meat is extremely expensive. My host family raises guinea pigs for sale, and took the excuse of my visit to try it for the first time. It wasn't too bad--but it was difficult to know which part of the creature I was eating. To be fair, I think my fellow diners were also a little surprised that wealthy Chinese would pay so much for the opportunity to eat a rodent.

All in all, I think the people of that village gave me plenty of insight into hospitality and generosity of spirit, even if my friend later informed me that they believed they had not done enough. The trip definitely was perspective altering in regard to those materials and items we classify as necessary to modern life. Some people do seem to cope without morning coffee or a flush toilet--things that I am certainly loathe to give up.

I will write a little bit in a day or two about some of the pictures and areas we visited after we left the village.

In the meantime, click on the photo below to see a slideshow of more pictures:

Things Looking Up

Matt returns back to our city of Thursday afternoon after his 10-day trip to the Southwest. The first week was a bit rough, but this week has been great! He and his friend have really enjoyed exploring business opportunities there and have met some great people that have been very helpful along the way. I'm excited to hear more of his stories when he returns!

Around here, it is the first week of school, so campus is booming again! It's a great change... even waiting in long cafeteria lines is no big deal after 2 weeks of a deserted campus! Even though it is the first official week of class, most of my classes do not begin for another couple of weeks. So I've really enjoyed the extra time I have to catch up with students from last semester. It is great to see them again, and I'm looking forward to meeting my new students soon!