A day out hiking with the teachers

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Jerry and I have six days off this weekend due to the students sitting for mid term exams and then the Labour Day holiday break. The students have been very stressed this week and some have come to me in tears asking for help - they are very worried about failing their exams but unfortunately there is not much I can do to help them except give them an encouraging word or two. I have found teaching difficult the last ten days, particularly at the old school. I actually walked out of one class after a group of students were very rude to me and wouldn't settle down - I went back 10 minutes later and they were perfectly behaved after that - no doubt they got into trouble from the rest of the class! A lot of the problem has stemmed from the strong anti-Japanese feeling around at the moment. Even though the Chinese government haven't reported it on their main news channels it's very easy to find out news via the internet. There is a lot of hatred against the Japanese people in this area at the best of times. One student stood up in class last week and said he wanted to be a soldier when he left school so he could point a gun at the Japanese and kill them. Very upsetting but we can't really comment - you just try to change the subject pretty quickly. We are often asked about the situation in Taiwan and what the Australian Government thinks of it. Unfortunately John Howard's trade visit to China last week had him appearing on the same internet news pages as the Japanese Prime Minister which didn't help. A lot of the restlessness in class this week has also been pre-exam stress as well. The bell has just rung for their first exams - they will all sit for six today and two tomorrow before they go home (bags full of homework to be done by their return) to return Tuesday evening.
Last weekend the Grade 2 teachers decided to take us mountain climbing. We left the school at 6.30 am in a hired bus, collected Mel (Renee didn't come) and headed off to a local supermarket for a noodle breakfast. The bus drove south out of the town through tiny villages and very pretty country. Many of the fields were being planted with rice seedlings. It is back breaking work as they spend hours bent over from the waist, calf deep in mud and water, pushing the tiny seedlings into the mud. The rice crop takes about six months to grow and will be harvested in September and October. Around Guangshui the fields are still full of vegetables but we did notice when we were out walking the other day that some farmers have started planting rice as well. The rice crop must follow the harvest of spring vegetables.
All the Grade 2 English teachers had come for the day out and they are a happy group. We stopped at one small town at the local market so the teachers could buy vegetables. We were the centre of attention and were totally surrounded by the locals. The teachers wouldn't let us go too far - I think they thought we might have been swept away in the crowd! A lot of the old men were wearing the navy blue Mao suits, a remnant of old China which we see regularly being worn by the old men in the poorer areas. The women have all stopped wearing it in favour of more colourful garments though. Most of the elderly Chinese have beautiful faces, full of wrinkles and clear bright eyes. They would have some fascinating stories to tell if we could only speak to them.
We collected the local head teacher and some of the English teachers from the Junior Middle School and headed off up the mountain. We had a great walk - the climb wasn't too steep - as most of the way we walked along the ridge of the hills. The views of the surrounding terraces were fabulous and we walked through pine forests most of the way. All the trees had plastic bags attached to them which was collecting the pine oil, and there were bushes of white wild roses everywhere. The Chinese love taking photographs - never of the scenery, only of each other and us! - so we were constantly asked to pose for photos. That part of all our days out does get a bit wearing after a while.... They took over 100 photos in three hours - I've got them all downloaded onto my computer to prove it!
When we reached the top of the mountain we found it strewn with rocks. The rocks had been taken to the top of the mountain by the locals to build fortifications against invading armies. They sheltered up there from the Japanese - one of the teachers who grew up in the neighbouring village said the old people of his village talk about being on top of the hill and watching the Japanese Army marching through the valley below. Today the rocks are used by the local peasants as an income as they harbour centipedes which live under them. The farmers use hoes to turn over the rocks and collect the centipedes (by hand and they are very poisonous) which are then sold for one Yuan each. They are dried and used in herbal medicines. We spent some time watching a group of people collecting them.
After our hike down the hill - you never seem to go back on the same path which is great - we arrived back at the bus wandering what they had planned for us next. It appeared that we were to visit the local school and talk to the students there. We spent an enjoyable half hour there and were upset when they pulled us away from the students for the inevitable photo session with the schools head teacher. The students were lovely, though very shy.
Their teachers had lined them up in rows in the midday sun - they were so hot as they were very heavily dressed - waiting for us to address them. We didn't want to lecture them so asked if we could talk to smaller groups of them in the shade. Thankfully they agreed.
Lunch was at a local restaurant and wasn't the best meal we had ever had. We weren't overly impressed with the food and had to sit with all the head teachers and staff from the other school (who no doubt picked up the bill). They weren't really interested in talking with us but thankfully accepted gracefully the fact that we didn't wish to drink beer and ordered us orange cordial (Chinese orange juice) instead. Our own teachers were having a merry time in the next room. At the end of the meal they bought round a 'special' porridge and insisted we tried it. It nearly made me gag - it was slimy thick rice gruel and was stone cold! The teachers (all men) were spitting and blowing their noses onto the floor as we ate. A charming meal!
After lunch we headed off to visit Jargon's village and meet his parents. Jargon was the teacher who had 'kidnapped' Jerry a couple of weeks before. A short walk through the fields led us to his family home which was very poor. His parents are in their late 60's and still farm 3 small plots of land. The land is owned by and allocated to them biannually by the Government. They can now keep most of what they earn from the land however unlike the old days when the Government took it all. All the teachers came with us and were totally exhausted by this stage. The Chinese teachers have no stamina and are always complaining of being tired. They are amazed that we can teach even two lessons in a row, let alone four, as they are tired and need to rest in their staff rooms after teaching one.
We were greeted in the village by all the young children and introduced to the village elders, including a 94 year old lady
with two teeth who was sitting on a tiny low wooden stool under a tree. She insisted on standing up every time we approached her and supported herself on a tree branch. We were taken to Jargons home where we were offered seats. All the children tramped through the house into the small garden behind to peer at us around the door. When it appeared that we were going to be there awhile - everybody seemed to have settled down for a snooze - we decided to go outside and talk to the children. They were an absolute delight though their knowledge of English was very basic. Jerry stamped all their arms with his kangaroo stamp (which they loved) and taught them all to play music on pieces of plastic. Jerry amazed me as he was jumping around like a kangaroo and teaching them songs. I saw quite a different side to him!
Jargon came out and told us that he normally only visits his parents house twice a year - a couple of days over the Spring Festival and half a day for the Tomb Cleaning festival. They live no more then three quarters of an hour apart. I asked if his parents ever visit him in Guangshui and his answer was "I invite them to cook for us when we are busy!" We read that Chinese respect their elders but I think they mean their very elderly (over 80 years). The younger parents (from 45 years onwards) seem to be at the beck and call of their children - wives leave husbands to come and live with their children to cook, clean and to care for their grandchildren. Our school is full of grandmas minding children every day. We've been into houses where the parents never get introduced to us or are given a seat at the dining table and their bed is usually in the children’s room. It's as if they don't exist. Because there is no pension fund in China the parents have to rely on their children to support them in their old age and therefore they accept this offhand treatment.
We enjoyed our couple of hours in the village with the children. Jargons parents house was interesting - his grandmother had died at the age of 94 a couple of months before - and there was an area in the house on top of a cupboard set up as an altar with her framed photo and a very gaudy silver and coloured paper house, plus lots of incense sticks. They pray for her spirit daily and on the first anniversary of her death they will burn the paper house on her grave. Under the altar in the cupboard was a hen laying eggs! We have seen a few funerals since we arrived here. The family tie strips of white fabric around their body and carry big round wooden wheel shaped plaques which are covered in shiny tinsel and brightly coloured paper shapes. The funeral goes for at least 24 hours with lots of fireworks let off regularly and music played. They carry the coffin through the streets and bury the body on the highest ground on or near their plot of land they can find. It seems to remain as a earth mound, topped with an upside down clay flower pot, for 12 months before a stone is mounted on it. The coffins are very large, quite ornate, red in colour and appear to be very heavy. We are constantly walking past burial areas and graves when we walk in the fields.
Leaving the village to the 'goodbye' chants of the children we headed to the local police station where we thought we were having dinner. After waiting there for nearly an hour (where we even started to feel drowsy) we all piled back into the bus with the local police chief now on board as well. We still had no idea what was happening next but obviously we weren't eating at the police station! Half an hour later we realised that we were back in Guangshui and Mel was given about two seconds warning before she was unceremoniously left outside the local supermarket to find her way home. The bus continued, leaving Mel looking relieved that she had escaped the evening meal. However it appeared that the other female teachers had rebelled and said they were too tired to eat out and had asked to be taken back to school. Jerry and I were invited out but no pressure was put on us to accompany the male teachers when we pleaded tiredness. We left them at the restaurant where they
were all to be the guests of the police chief and the postmaster from Guangshui who was waiting inside for them.
Jargon told me that the police chief's son was in my Grade 2 class number 17 which was the class Jargon was in charge of. No doubt that young man will pass his exams today! Contacts and paybacks are an important part of how things work here - you rub my back and I'll rub yours. So ended another fun day out! Next day we had another wander through the fields with the girls to finish another weekend in China. Jerry has been having treatment all week with a doctor who has been massaging his neck which has been stiff and sore since his work accident last year. He is feeling much better and is very pleased with the treatment he has been having.
Not a lot more news - I read an interesting article in the 'China Daily' (an English language newspaper I read online) saying that the Education Department had just approved an internal legislation to change their teachers marriage laws to match other government office marriage laws. It appears that since 2003 other government offices have allowed their staff to get married without obtaining the permission of their department head. As of now teachers can marry without permission of their head teacher.
There are eight teachers marrying from our school this weekend. They are taking advantage of the few days holidays. We have been given red packets of lollies this week and didn't know what they were for initially. However they are given to fellow workers as wedding tokens.
This weekend we are off on a tour of the Three Gorges and to spend an evening in Wuhan - we need to stock up on peanut paste, raspberry jam and brown bread again!

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