Blogs from Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Asia - page 9

Today was our last day at Chengdu Waldorf School. We have been visiting the school here for the last 4 weeks. It was a sad and happy day – sad because we’re leaving but happy to be going back to Australia. In the Chinese History Main Lesson we had to present a timeline of what we have studied throughout the 4 weeks. Most of these had wacky designs, but a few were very good. We hung ours up on the wall and then we were finished. At the end of the day we had a joint concert with the Chinese students. Many acts from their school and our school performed. We sang Australian and Chinese songs together and also joined together for a drumming piece. The last performance was just the Australian students performing as a ... read more

The first lecture is over. That was last night. There were over 120 in the audience. It lasted a little over 2 hours. There were actually very few questions at the end. That was a bit surprising, but it was two hours without a break. People do get tired. Tonight is the second lecture. We'll see if the crowd remains constant. The weather has been fairly misty and overcast since the wonderful sunshine on Sunday. It rained a little on Monday. Monday and Tuesday were both stay in days for the most part. I was busy preparing for the lectures. I did go out after dark to have some dinner. On Tuesday night I found a nice coffee shop in my area. They has wifi and surprisingly good coffee. I had the best meal yesterday. It ... read more

On our first day of school we had no P.E. The timetable said that we only had three sessions a week, however luckily for us the timetable changed and we had four instead of three which made us all a lot happier. For physical education so far we have played soccer and European handball. European handball is like soccer and netball put together. There are soccer goals at each end of the field and you use a soft volleyball to play. You cannot move when the ball is passed to you, and when you are close to the goals you just throw the ball in to the goal and try to get it past the goalie. There is a soccer field down the road about a 3-minute walk away, and on the way there we stop ... read more

The actual name of the street is Golden Sky Road or in Chinese: Jing Tian. It is pretty much our hub and was our first real reference point besides the school. Several of us live within walking distance of this road; most are a short drive away but I am lucky enough to live on Hot Pot Street. The reason we call it Hot Pot Street is because on our 2nd full day in Chengdu we ate dinner at a local restaurant called Hot Pot. It is referred to in an earlier blog post. On Hot Pot Street you can find several mini marts, Burger Spice (our local burger joint) and a bakery selling sweet breads and cakes. We often go to these shops after school to buy a burger, biscuits, sweet bread, chocolate and ... read more

The Chopstick Problem To the Western mind, chopsticks epitomize the inscrutable Orient. Why on earth would any reasonable person use a pair of over – sized toothpicks when knives, forks and spoons are available? I have to admit that I have no answer to this vexing question; however, as China has become a world power, it is a problem that I feel must be seriously addressed. I propose to consider the primary functions of our Western utensils, namely: knives – cutting, forks - shoveling solids and spoons – holding liquids and examine how these three basic functions are carried out by chopsticks. 1. Cutting Forget it! You can’t cut an overcooked noodle with these things. The Chinese solution is to snag a few noodles (not easily done), place in your mouth and slurp as if your ... read more