Dao Xian

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Saturday the April 18th we received a 9am phone call from an echo outside our window. Our foreign affairs officer Solar, standing outside our door wanted to take us for an outing. We have now learned an outing can be anything from mountain climbing to a fancy dinner. We were not to be let down.

We were hustled out the door grabbing what we thought we might need and changing into what we thought might be appropriate. We waited half an hour for our mini van to arrive and hopped in. Off we go…one block later we stopped. Another teacher came out, ok I thought. Then the other teachers got out of the mini van. I assumed to say hello. We all piled out onto the sidewalk. An hour later we got into the school car and a crowd of other teachers piled into the minivan. Off again this time the real deal. During our siesta we discovered we were headed to Dao Xian, which is the next town over about an hour drive. There are two schools with foreign teachers and they were taking us over there to meet the two that worked at one of them. We pulled into a much larger town and then into a much more urban school got out and were herded to a conference room with a strip of Astroturf on the table as a centerpiece. Everyone fondled it out of amusement as we waited. The other two teachers were at this moment being searched for, as they had no idea we were coming or who we were. We were sent on to the restaurant they would meet us there.

Most restaurants have single table rooms, which can seat about 8 to 10 people so it is common to be split up if your group is bigger than that. Our teachers had wandered off to another room. We had lunch with the Dao Xian foreign teachers, two young girls from Utah, who had skipped out last minute from a semester of college to come teach in China. They said they were most surprised by all the squatters in China. It took us a moment to figure out that they were referring to, the Chinese style toilets. Between squatters, authentic Chinese food (no orange chicken here!) and general homesickness they were ready to be on their way back to the States.

Nearing the end of the meal the Utahans took their leave. This left us with two teams of support staff. They say that they are unable to communicate without rice wine, which they like to do out of shot glasses with excessive complementation. It starts off with simple gratitude one on one but this can get out of hand if each teacher wants to toast you individually which is where they are headed. So the trick is to toast the whole table so you get an 8 to 1 turn. After a bit of this we went to the other room where again we were new to the table so the whole thing started over again. Where I was repeatedly told that I was creating better relations between China and the US. After several rounds we finished up there, then Solar and one of our English speaking friends Clock wanted to take us to the moon cave outside of town. Into a car and then a drive out to the countryside.

After 30 minutes of driving through fields of rice and tobacco in a swaying car with rice wine bellies we stopped at a pullout. From there we got out and started walking on a small footpath towards a hill. Shortly we could see the entrance to the moon cave. It was a rather unassuming hill giving it even more an air of mystery for what the cave may be hiding. We walked up to a huge arch in the rock of the hill. Clock said it looks like a moon. He had enacted the buddy system of Chinese drinking which is a buddy can take shots for you if the situation calls for it and so this was drawled out a bit. When we got to the other side we went up a path that took us to the top of the hill for a vista point of the surrounding countryside. We got our fill and headed back down. From there we went through a few more large arches. Each getting the admirative comment it looks like a moon. We popped out on the other side of the hill breathed in more scenery of a misty day and then headed back through the arches. Back to the car and back to the town. Half way back we veered off on a smaller dirt road for a few minutes and came to rest in front of what looked like quite a fancy place with a police officer outside. We thought oh maybe this is the moon cave. It turned out whatever it was had just closed and they weren’t letting anyone else in.

So back in the car and back to the city. We gathered up the other teachers who had been playing cards at the restaurant the entire time and headed back to Jianghua. We got back after dark and I was sleeping most of the ride as I am narcoleptic in warm moving vehicles. We got back to town and as we weren’t moving as fast I woke up. We stopped and let out the vice principal a block from school. Then just when we thought we were home the driver turned down the next street. A few blocks later we dropped off Solar. Oh I thought they get dropped off first whatever, then I realized we weren’t going back to school yet. They took us to the main street of town and the car pulled up on the right side of the street. Besides the driver the only other people in the car the vice principle and Solar had already abandoned ship so I thought maybe we should try too. I knew from past experience if others started ducking out then there was something to duck out of. I wasn’t really ready to undergo any more rounds of compliment. So when the car stopped we hopped out and started walking home. The minivan was on the other side of the street and the card players were headed in. I thought we might make it. Alas one of them saw us slipping away and came running after us thinking we were lost.

We were saved. They escorted us back in and told us to order. Then the card players all stepped out leaving us alone in the room. We got Clock back to do the ordering. When the food came in the card players came back ate tried to do the rounds, which we had to turn down, so we all left. Back home another adventurous day.

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Comments

[Jenn]

Great Pics!
Some amazing pictures, Pookie! And I love that you and Steve are saving our international relations through alcohol consumption! Someone should tell Hillary :D