Observations and Broken Ankles

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The highlight of the week for me was venturing into rural Qingyang again to do some follow-up observations for the previous training in Zhenyuan. On Thursday a national volunteer and I caught a car (long distance taxi) to Meng ba and observed four lessons in the primary school. Remember, it’s cold here (We’re talking -10ish) so each classroom has a tine ‘pot-bellied’ stove with the flue leading out of a window or a hole in the wall and a wooden box for coal. In some schools the rule is that teachers must leave a window open because of H1N1. Thus it remains quite nippy inside never mind outside. Needless to say students and staff always keep their coats on some have hats and gloves also (and doubtless, thermal underclothes!).

Following a banquet lunch we repeated this at Meng ba chu zhong (middle school) before retiring to our hotel for the evening. The night was still young so we decided on a walk. We wandered up the main street and chatted to the owner of a yi kuai dian (the equivalent would be a pound shop in the UK) from the south of China before heading in the other direction. As we approached the opposite end of the street at about 9.30pm, hoards of students appeared. I’d forgotten - they were senior students, just finishing school! We started chatting to one student who had good English, with the other 50 or so gathered around us. He described his busy, monotonous life but you could tell he remained optimistic about the future. Eventually we parted company and headed for ‘home’. A bout five minutes later he came running up to us to swap QQ numbers (similar to e-mail) as he was keen to communicate and improve his English further. To get on in China you need an ‘edge’. You need to stand out or know somebody who does. It’s survival of the fittest. He then suggested we run along the street with him. ‘Why ?’ I asked. He explained he does it every night to keep fit.

The next day we traveled to another town, with similar conditions, in Zhenyuan for more observations and feedback before catching a (faster) car back to Xifeng.

Sabine, in the meantime was working with the Biology teachers to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. Matters of a sexual nature are not openly talked about in China and so despite the teachers agreeing to do a variety of activities about the topic, only a few of them in the end were true to their word. Never mind, it was a start!

The end of the week saw us on another bike ride. This time we found a lake, in Xifeng! After trying to find the ‘other’ market in the town, we unexpectedly came to the edge of the plateau. In the valley below we spied what looked like water. This was enough. After locking out bikes to a tree, we wandered down the track to discover more. At the foot of the hill were a mini lake, now frozen solid and a few buildings, some for overnight stays in the warmer months. Maybe this was a summer resort of sorts. The place was deserted except for a ‘guard’ dog - an undernourished Alsatian chained to a stake in the ground. After a brief look around we wandered back up the track to collect our bikes and head into town.

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