I had planned for a relaxing weekend on the fourth and fifth after feeling sick on Thursday and Friday, but life had other plans for me. After class on Friday, I was invited by a young woman to go see her 功夫 (gong fu; kung fu) class on Saturday and then by Arthur to another impromptu basketball game (Arthur being the guy who first invited me to play basketball a little while ago). Even though I was feeling quite under the weather, I agreed to both. Arthur and I planned to meet at 3 o'clock, but we ended up missing each other in an unfortunate coincidence. I wasn't at the basketball courts when he arrived, so he set out to my apartment. I left my apartment and headed for the basketball court, arriving at 3:05, but we took different routes. As a result, he ended up waiting at my apartment for 10 minutes then heading back to the courts, while I waited for 20 minutes at the courts looking for signs of him. When he finally showed up, we even managed to miss each other briefly at the courts themselves, even though I was standing right in the entranceway. I was facing the wrong direction, since he took a route I wasn't expecting and he somehow missed the tall white guy standing right in front of the one and only (small) entrance to the basketball courts.
We tried to get into a game with a few older guys who I am guessing are employees of the university, but they didn't want to play five on four (one of their guys left just as we arrived), so we moved on. We settled on a group of 4 guys playing two on two and asked to join. They happily obliged, and we started to play. The game was fast-paced and fun, with many momentum shifts. Arthur, unfortunately, is both short and not particularly adept at shooting, so he is a bit of a liability to play with both offensively and defensively, but he makes up for it a bit with enthusiasm, often harassing players and getting a few steals. We were losing until a couple of other guys showed up and we re-split the teams so that me, Arthur and the two new guys were on one team, with the other four on the other team. These new guys were also a little short compared with the competition, but they are much better shooters than Arthur. Once they arrived, the game became much more competitive with a much closer score. That is also when I hit my stride.
I've been noticing a general trend in my scoring abilities: I cannot shoot from under the net. I can do a driving layup, but if I catch a rebound under the net, I just somehow cannot score at all. Put me at any distance further than 3 feet or so and I will put the ball a lot, but right under the net and I am just an awful embarrassment. On the other hand, I am getting pretty good at positioning for grabbing rebounds. So, I grab the rebound and pass to the outside so that I can give someone a better chance at scoring than my dismal under the net performance.
Like I said though, I hit my stride when those two guys arrived. In about an hour of play, I scored 46 points, 36 of which came after the two new guys arrived halfway through. I even heard one of the guys saying in Chinese that I am a one-man team in a rueful sort of way, since I was hitting all my shots at that point. I don't think he knew that I understood him though. That felt pretty good. We ended up winning too, for my first ever basketball win. Hurray!
After the game, my total disregard for my body's poor health caught up with me. I was really sore and in extra pain as my fever raged into high gear. I should probably avoid playing basketball when feverish next time. I relaxed at home afterwards and was contacted by Yan Yi Shu, who wanted to get together on the following day. I had already been invited by my student to see the gong fu class, but Yan said he would come along to see that too. I agreed to meet him at my apartment at 11:30 the next day and then logged off my computer to go fall into an exhausted slumber. Not counting my rash, this is the third time I've been sick since I got here. It seems that Asian germs have got my number.
I woke up hazily some 11 hours later to the persistent ringing of my phone. It turned out that Yan had arrived early at about 10am. It was 10:30 when I picked up the phone. I told him to give me a few minutes to get dressed and then threw some clothes on before answering the door. I told him to take a seat as I needed to take a shower. That was a bit of a risky move for me, since I don't know him all that well and didn't know how far I could trust him in my home, but he sat there patiently while I took a three minute shower. Afterwards, we spent some time checking out some photos before heading out for lunch. He liked the pictures of the view from my country house, saying it's like a landscape from the movies.
For lunch, we went to a local restaurant that I've been to a couple of times and I took some pictures of the food, which I have attached here. The pictures are of a pork dish that is really similar to Chinese takeout I can get at home in Canada and a mix of hot peppers and beef to be put in tortillas (which apparently is just as Chinese as it is Mexican - who knew?). We had already finished the dumplings by the time I remembered to take pictures, so I'll have to get those another time. I just want to make the comment here that for those who say there is no real Chinese food in Montreal (or in North America in general), they are unequivocally wrong. There is definitely real Chinese food in Montreal's restaurants, but there is just less variety of food. Fried noodles, fried rice, sweet and sour pork, orange chicken, hot and sour soup, and every other dish you can think of are all here and all taste basically the same as in Canada. There are only a few exceptions that I can think of offhand that are found in North America, but not here: fortune cookies, General Tao or Tso or whatever chicken, and chop suey. Another great thing is that there is no tipping. You can even negotiate a discount on your meal!
After the meal, we headed over to the university's soccer field where the gong fu class was scheduled to take place. Unbeknownst to me, my student had sent me an email apologizing to me that there would be no lesson that day as the teacher was too busy to give a gong fu lesson. Thus Yan and I placed our feet upon the field of honour at the appointed time and were mystified. We looked around everywhere and could not see anyone doing gong fu.
However, we did show up at the time of the students' mandatory annual physical exercise exam, which provided perfect fodder for a conversation with Yan about the uselessness of certain Chinese rules and the virtues of critical thinking. Here's the main problem, as I see it, at the root of all other problems in Chinese society. This is my humble opinion, so if you disagree, please feel free to say so: the Chinese, from the moment they enter school, are discouraged from asking the question "why". They are discouraged from trying to understand why things are a certain way. They are taught that to question things is not acceptable. They are taught that they must accept what they are told and accept things the way they are. They are discouraged from trying to think of better solutions to problems, different solutions to problems, or any innovations whatsoever. In short, they are discouraged from using critical thinking. If a student asks their teacher: "Why is is like that?", the answer is invariably "No why!" as in there is no reason for you to ask "why", you must just accept my authority. This approach to education creates a distinct lack of critical thinking in the general population and affects every facet of Chinese society from very small problems to very large issues, including societal, political and economic decisions. Essentially, the majority of the Chinese population appears, possibly as an intentional part of the design of the education system, to be intellectually crippled in the sense of asking why, problem-solving of unknown or new situations and other critical thinking tasks. The implications are huge, but I'll let you sort them out for yourselves.
The reason this physical exercise exam is a perfect venue for this discussion is that it provides a great (non-politically threatening!) way to teach him about critical thinking. The first question, of course, was to ask why the students need to do this physical test. He misunderstood my question, so he replied that the students need to be tested for their physical prowess. I told him that wasn't my meaning and tried another tack. At this point, the students were running around the track, being timed. I asked him about how the teacher can possibly keep track of 200 students times with only a stopwatch and the students running in packs (let alone the cheating, which he sheepishly admitted to doing himself on the running test). He tried to tell me the teacher was very accurate and correctly assessed everyone. I called him on it and he admitted many students fudged their scores "and besides, the teacher will make them all pass anyway, even if they walk." This raised the obvious question: "If everyone passes, then why is it a test?" He said that since it is a part of the Physical Education class, there must be a test (in the Chinese education system, classes cannot exist without tests - no why). I asked how it could be considered a test if everyone passes regardless of their results. He had no answer and told me he hadn't thought of it before.
Next, I pointed to another part of the test: the long jump. Theoretically, if a boy fails to jump over two metres or a girl fails to jumps over 1.8 metres, he or she has failed this section of the test. Of course, everyone passes, so I asked Yan why even bother to do the jumping. I said I could understand justifying the running as part of a general way to improve student health, but who in the world cares how far you can jump? Is this useful for finding a job? A mate? I couldn't see any use for it. Yan told me that they must do all the things in the test because they are written in the "fitness manual" (he said "fitness manual" in the exact same tone and manner as a cultist might do in reference to their faith). I asked him if he'd follow what a book says if it told him that he had to cut off his own leg. He said of course not, so I asked him why he blindly follows what the fitness manual says. He told me he had never thought to ask why they must do these absurd physical tests to obtain a mark for their course.
Of course I can understand the value of gym class and the value of physical fitness tests, but I cannot understand basing the entire grade for a gym class on how fit you are or, even worse, how far you can jump or how much lung capacity you have. Year after year, throughout primary school, secondary school and university, Chinese students never question the validity of these tests. Of course it is not limited to just this physical fitness test. This is merely an example of the deleterious effects of a lack of critical thinking in Chinese society. Now imagine that this is the way most mainland Chinese people seem to react to everything. The worst part is that it is not their fault, it is the fault of a poor education system. Of course, I am generalizing here so I'll get off my soapbox now before I put my foot any further into my mouth.
After that, we went back to my apartment for a bit and I showed him Google Streetview images of Montreal. He was amazed first by the lack of people, and then by the lack of scooters disrupting traffic everywhere. He also marveled at the beauty of Montreal's old architecture, especially the churches, McGill and Old Montreal.
We got a little bored, so I proposed going out for a walk. Outside, we met Dave, an older guy from Chicago with an impressively large beard. He's been here for a few years now and has married a Chinese woman. We had a lively chat about life here and a little bit about business and economics once he found out I was an economist. I also found out from him that I am indeed supposed to have hot water in my sinks. More on that later. While we were talking, I noticed that he appeared to have a rather large quantity of alcohol in his bag. I asked him where he got it and he pointed out a little shop across the road. If I need to, I can now stock up on Qing Dao beer (or Tsingtao as it is sometimes marketed in the West) at 20rmb for nine 40oz bottles. Yes, for three bucks Canadian, I can buy nine forties. I've had Chinese beers before and while they are a little light on alcohol, they aren't too bad taste-wise. Caveat emptor, I am no beer expert, but you can be sure it is drinkable at least. Dave then recommended a little restaurant nearby, which I will try soon, that specializes in dry noodles. By the time Dave's wife shouted down at him that he needed to come up immediately, it was pretty much dinner time.
We weren't really hungry, but many of the smaller restaurants only make food for the dinner rush, so we headed over to the local noodle shop anyway and I ordered fried noodles, which he didn't want, so he ordered hui mian (the chicken broth and large, flat noodle soup with eggs and vegetables that I described in an earlier post). I told him he could try my noodles if he wanted and he really liked them. Apparently he had chosen not to order the noodles because the ones at his school cafeteria were awful. Over dinner, he told me that he really wants to study in Canada and that he wants a Canadian girlfriend. He asked me for advice on how to meet a girlfriend. I couldn't really help him too much, but I gave him what advice I could.
As we walked back to my place, he marveled to me that I had figured out a way to make social connections on the internet. He had never thought it could be used successfully to make new friends until he met me. I pointed out that he and I were a pretty good example and he agreed, asking for help on how to meet more people online. I told him a few pointers and he got started enthusiastically once we got back inside.
Later, he asked me if he could stay the night. I had previously offered this possibility to him because he was going to be an intern for the day again with the famous doctor of traditional Chinese medicine who works at a hospital near my apartment. Before turning in for the night, we had to go buy him a towel so he could take a shower and a toothbrush, since he didn't have one with him. After buying a hand towel and a toothbrush for a grand total of less than one dollar (6.5 yuan), we went back to my apartment.
I had to show Yan how to use the shower curtain because it is a dumb setup. The rod is too far away from the bathtub, so I showed him how to hang the curtain inside the tub at an angle. He said okay, then proceeded to remove his clothing. I turned away and walked out of the bathroom. This turned out to be a theme. It seems he is not really concerned about privacy. He used the toilet by going into the bathroom without closing the door and standing there in full view peeing. Again, I didn't look. It was a little bit strange for me, but I guess I can deal with it as long as I can let him have his modesty. I mean, I am not really a prude with people I know really well, but this is a guy I have met exactly three times calmly relieving himself in plain view. I suppose there is nothing wrong with what he was doing, but I guess this is what culture shock is all about.
He was really happy that my apartment is so well-heated (something for which I am also grateful), but I think I didn't make his sleeping any easier as I was coughing the whole night.
The next morning we went out for breakfast really early and had "hu la tang" (a spicy soup that locals eat for breakfast) with "you tiao" which is like a cross between chapati Indian bread and bread twist-sticks that some North American restaurants and pizza places offer. These are absolutely delicious foods, though Yan found them to be a bit too spicy.
After breakfast, I walked with him back to the bus stop where he planned to take the bus to the hospital. When we got to the stop, however, we discovered that his bus only runs from 10pm-2am. He was going to be really late, so he flagged down a taxi.
I got back to my apartment, sat down in front of my computer to begin writing about these experiences and was promptly sent an instant message from my student Sha Sha who wanted me to come watch the freshmen of the International Studies College's singing competition. Since my students consist of every single freshman in the College, I figured it would be a good idea to attend.
When I arrived at the competition, I was directed to sit down in the front row next to the judges, which provided me with a good vantage point for the singing. I had to wait half an hour for the competition to start though, and every one of the organizers came over to have a brief chat with me. They were far too busy to chat for long, however, so I mostly just observed. Someone handed me a program, but that was pretty much useless for me since I didn't know any of the songs anyway. Once the students filed in and the contest began, it was really fun to see all my students get up on stage and sing. All the students participated. This is not like Canada where if you want to skip a school event you can just choose to stay home. There is mandatory participation for all students in these types of events. Far from being disgruntled about it, however, my students really seemed to have practiced hard and everyone sang their hearts out.
There were varying degrees of talent, particularly in the conductor category. Some of the staging and musical direction were a bit off. I think the students should also have been banned from using microphones while singing, as the uneven amplification of voices when one student had a mic where others didn't caused what might have been a great singing display to instead come across as an awful aural cacophony. All in all though, it was definitely worth it to see all my students together in a non-academic setting. They were all truly having a blast and some of the groups were really good singers too. The songs all had a patriotic China theme (they call them 红歌; hong ge; red songs). I took a few pictures of the various singing teams and have attached a few of them. One of the girls also asked me to videotape her group's song called 大中国 (da zhong guo; Great China), which you can find here: http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/43295221-1841175235.html . In the linked video, you can see just about all of my students, both on stage and in the audience. There are also two other singing teams that were in the wings offstage, so they can't be seen in the video.
Two of my students asked me to hang out with them after the contest to cheer them up. They were feeling upset and sad because they believed they should have gotten a better result. One of them felt personally responsible for their team's loss, because she apparently had some problems with one of the judges. She believes that this judge was so petty as to penalize the entire team with a low score just because she and my student have had problems in the past.
We couldn't really think of anything to do, so one of them proposed going to "ktv" (karaoke with a television to read the lyrics from). Chinese people don't know that ktv stands for karaoke with television, so they just refer to it as ktv. If you aren't aware of what this means, it may be highly confusing when a Chinese person says to you: "Do you like ktv?" I scratched my head myself when I first heard it a while back.
Anyway, we set off south from my university towards the city centre and had an enjoyable walk down one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city. When we arrived at the ktv place, it was about 5pm and the place was offering a discount starting at 6pm, so we decided to find a place to eat first. My student asked an older man at the nearby intersection for directions and he talked about a good noodle place that he knew and waved vaguely eastwards. This is the thing when you ask for directions here: Chinese people are all willing to help you with directions, but many of them are either really bad at giving directions or they don't want to lose face by appearing not to be competent enough to answer you, so they just tell you something and vague and shoo you off in some general direction. It's like a triangulation process, or the game "hot and cold" that kids sometimes play. As you move along, you ask more people questions and the nearer you get to your destination, the more concrete and clear the answers become. It's unfortunate when someone who just wants to get rid of you sends you off in the wrong direction though. That can get confusing. Anyway, we had no idea where this man was sending us, but we walked in that direction anyway.
After about half a block, we encountered two professional looking young women dressed in nice suits who told us to try some restaurants on the next street over. To get there, we had to pass through a 胡同 (hu tong; traditional, usually poor and typically extremely crowded Chinese dwellings - hu tong literally means "alleyway" but comparing an alley to a hu tong is like a deserted yacht compared with a rowboat overflowing with people. I was a little bit hesitant to enter out of safety concerns. The hu tong had tons of people in it, mostly poor and I was carrying some expensive things with me. Zhengzhou is notorious for its pickpockets and thieves. Just last week, at two different universities' dorms, thieves broke into the rooms by climbing the outside balconies and climbing in through the unlocked windows in the middle of the night while the students were sleeping and made off with hundreds of laptops. To get your cellphone snatched while on the bus is also extremely common. These problems are not limited to Zhengzhou of course, but it pays to be cautious.
Despite my misgivings, we made our way into the hu tong and meandered down the main drag. I was getting pretty hungry by that time and some of the food looked pretty good, so I tried street food for the first time. I've gotten sick enough here without tempting fate by trying all the unlicensed street food in the city, but I decided to try a thick piece of flat bread which I saw made from scratch to finish (being cooked on the griddle in front of me) which I judged to be reasonably safe. It was covered in Sesame seeds and tasted wonderful. It was by far the best bread I have had in this country. I will probably go back there sooner or later for more.
My bread in hand, we made our way out the far side of the hu tong and onto the street the two ladies had recommended to us. We settled on a korean barbecue place. All the waitresses were dressed up in traditional 한복 (hanbok) dresses and the place was really beautifully decorated and it was huge. I ordered 비빔밥 (bibimbap), which was pretty good. The only (major) disappointment was that they didn't serve any 김치 (kimchi) with the meal. My students, on the other hand, ordered some kind of scrambled egg in a soup bowl. I tried it, but it was a little bit bland and tasteless in my opinion. My students enjoyed it though. Note these are all Korean characters in this paragraph, not Chinese (for those who weren't sure).
Our meal completed, we rolled out of the restaurant on our fattened stomachs and walked back to the ktv place. We rented a room, where I proceeded to sing karaoke for the second time in my life. Their selection of English songs is extremely limited, even for pop. Most of the English songs available were sung by Koreans, not Americans. The music culture here truly is different than in North America and heavily pop-oriented. So that's how I found myself singing an Avril Lavigne song which I did not know the words for and then several Lady Gaga hits. Chinese people love those two, and it's always the first question they ask about music: "Do you like Avril? How about Lady Gaga? Justin Bieber is Canadian!" I suppose the Canadian culture analogy would be to ask every Chinese person if they like Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Jet Li. I sang terribly as usual, but my students weren't any better, so we all had fun laughing. After an hour of singing, we packed it in and headed home.
The following day, Monday, I walked over to the student cafeteria near the building where I teach in order to get a quick lunch between classes, and overheard a guy complaining to his friends that his 卡没钱啊 (ka mei qian a! ; card doesn't have any money on it) which meant that he wouldn't be able to buy food in the cafeteria, so as we walked inside as a group, I offered to buy him lunch. He accepted enthusiastically and so we went to order food. We sat down and he explained that he had no more money to put on his card until the following day when his parents would send him some money. I told him it was no problem and we just talked together for a while. It turns out he is on the editorial board for the school newspaper and he said he might want a chance to interview me in future. I can't imagine what kind of questions he would want to ask me, but it seems intriguing. We parted ways after lunch and he didn't take my contact info, so I figure he wasn't too serious about it.
After class, I went back home and as I was walking in the front door, I bumped into Bill, who was coming out. Bill is the Canadian guy whose apartment is immediately below mine. We had a beer together a while back and he had recommended a couple of restaurants to me. I found one of the places he recommended and I eat there pretty often, so I told him that and asked him if he had a moment to tell me where the other restaurants were. He said sure and we biked around the neighbourhood a bit as he showed me the sights. I find he has a tendency to choose small, cheap places to eat, but they all turn out to be decent choices even if they appear pretty dirty. The food tastes good and the owners are usually pretty friendly. On our way back to the hotel, I asked him if he also had hot water (as I had asked Dave on Saturday). He said he did have hot water and that I should call the hotel repair guy.
When I got home, I asked Vincent to call the repair guy, which he did, and the guy came immediately. After playing around futilely with my kitchen sink's pipes, he told me I was missing a valve and that I had to pay for it. I was pretty steamed about that. I didn't cross half the world so I could pay to repair their hotel for them. They figure I am a spoiled rich guy and should pay for any and all spare parts for myself, but in my contract, the agreement doesn't say anything about paying for renovations. I let Vincent have a piece of my mind and he told me the university would pay for it, which made me feel better. On the other hand, I was extremely proud of myself for communicating nearly flawlessly with the repair guy in Chinese. He had a thick Henan accent, but when I asked him to slow down his speech, he complied and we were able to communicate pretty well. That was very exciting for me.
Speaking of Chinese lessons, stay tuned.
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