Musings

It has been such a long time since I have written I am not quite sure where to begin. So maybe I’ll try a little James Joyce and see how it goes.

On my many trips around Beijing I couldn’t help but notice the number of couples who wear the exact same clothing or colors when they go out together. At first, I just thought it was a coincidence; but when one of our house guests (

a college friend of Matt’s) noticed this too, I realized it probably was a trend. My suspicions were confirmed the

other day when I walked past a shop and found this set of T-shirts in the window. If you can’t read it, the shirts say Happy Family, with the same shirts in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes.

I thought this was particularly surprising in that it seems customary that most Chinese men and women do not to wear wedding bands. I asked a group of my colleagues at work about this because none of them wear wedding bands. I thought they were all single until one day, in the course of a conversation, one of them talked about her husband. Over a period of a couple of weeks, I learned that almost all of the wedding bandless women were married with children. I asked one day at lunch if the Chinese wedding ceremony included an exchange of rings because none of them wore rings. It turns out that there is an exchange of rings as part of the ceremony; but no one really wears their rings. One colleague said it showed i

ndependence. I guess I could have argued that independence and commitment aren’t mutually exclusive. I decided that that was a conversation left for another day. Maybe people wear T-shirts instead?

We’ve done a bit of site seeing recently. We took a rail trip to a city called Shi Du, which in Chinese means 10 crossings. It is an area of gorges with a river running through it and at one time, when the water levels were much higher, there

were 10 places to cross the river. Now, with water levels much lower and modern transport, there is no need for 10 crossings. We did cross the river on a rope bridge suspended about 30 feet over the water. A bit nerve racking as it was a windy day, the bridge swaying because of both wind and people traffic. The area is a day outing from Beijing to hike in the gorges, do some river rafting or bungy jumping. We did some hiking (no bungy jumping for us!)and found a quaint little restaurant where we had fish freshly caught in the river and grilled on an outdoor set-up right before out eyes. Some of the best food we’ve had in

China.

We took an overnight trip to the Great Wall when Matt was visiting and slept on the Wall

under the stars. We hiked a portion of the wall know as Simatai. It has refurbished areas as well as areas that are original. It was a demanding hike and if it had lasted any longer than it did (4 hours), I think we would have needed assistance to complete the trek. My upper thighs were sore for about 5 days following our trip! The steps on the wall are not necessarily uniform in height, with some rises 1 1/2 or 2 times higher than the normal step rise. Also, many steep slopes and incline ramp areas. Very few level areas. But we made it to the end and saw some incredible views and met some very nice people. The trip was organized by a group called China Culture Center. They have a reputation for providing good tours and they didn’t disappoint.

Pets have a position of prominence in Beijing. I suspect is has a lot to do with the one child policy; the elderly, in particular, are looking for an object for their affection. In our neighborhood, dogs seem

to be the visible pet of preference. Owners proudly walk their dogs (with and without leashes) that have been primped and coiffed, often in outfits resembling clothes in which you would dress a small child. The most interesting “outfit” I have seen is the ow

ner that had his dog’s coat died shades of green and yellow and sheered in a shape to resemble the shell of a turtle. (see photo). When I saw this ( I have become bolder in my photo taking) I asked the owner if I could take a photo. He beamed and posed for the following photo. When I showed the photo to some locals, they said they had never seen anything like it! Haven’t seen too many cats. I think they are kept inside which makes incredible sense given the traffic patterns (or lack there of) on city streets. This fall and winter, I intend to take pet fashion photos. I’ll keep you posted.

An Extra Curricular Activity

Being involved with a private school, I am finding, comes with benefits and obligations. In public education, at least in the US, for the most part, you decide what school your children will attend with your choice of apartment rental or home purchase. The realty market drives the advertising or promotion of a town and therefore its school district. In the expat realm in Beijing, or in any expat situation throughout the world, the decision of housing and schools can be made independently. Therefore, marketing becomes a core component of a private or an international school’s daily life. In a growing, competitive market like Beijing, there is a lot of pressure on the marketing departments and admission staffs of private schools to attract new applicants; very different than the mindset of relying on state and municipal tax funding for education. As a result, I find myself in the role of sales person for a good part of the day. I never realized how tiring sales can be!

Now for the benefits. Because of my connection to BCIS, Steve and I had the unexpected pleasure to attend a most unusual and special piano concert one Saturday afternoon. It was called “Love and Music Charity Concert” and it was sponsored by an organization called Little Angel Action Fund. The purpose of the charity concert was to raise money for music education programs for children living in the poverty-stricken western region of China called Qinghai. In fact, it was in this province that China suffered its most recent earthquake. The organization had been providing music instruction in this area prior to the earthquake; but the recent devastation makes any funds going into this area all the more important.

The international school I work for has been a supporter of the LIttle Angel Action Fund and, over the years, we have held fundraisers at our school to support their efforts. All the proceeds of “Spring in the City,” our annual spring fair which took place on May 8th, will go to Little Angel Action Fund.

Anyway, our Marketing Manager, Sabrina, asked if Steve and I would like to attend the concert because she had some extra seats... so off we went. It was a real treat. The event was held at a grand facility in Beijing call the National Center for the Performing Arts. It is a spectacular building, fondly known as the “egg” because of its shape, that is the premier concert venue in the city. It has a concert hall, opera house and theater. Steve and I had been there once before, to attend a Chinese opera, but in the evening. It turns out that many of the unusual features of the building are lost without the day light.

The concert began with an introduction of the organization in exhibition hall format with posters and displays throughout a room adjacent to the concert hall. Then a group of young performers (about 5-8 years old) came out in traditional Tibetan ethnic dress to sing for the audience. They were very talented little children who did movements with white scarfs, which are a symbol of health and longevity. After they finished their little performance, it was their job to move the audience to the concert hall. They did this by selecting members of the audience to whom they presented their scarves and held hands with them with the rest of the group following. Guess who was chosen by the main singer? It was Steve! The main little performer ran right up to him, presented him with her scarf, and took him by the hand as we all followed. We were all then seated in the concert hall. It was very sweet and special. It happened so quickly I couldn’t get a photo of it in process; but I did get this photo of them afterwards.

Now to the obligations. I find myself responsible for attending school events or functions on the weekends; like proctoring our diploma program scholarship test, working at our school fair, working at the expat show. While the events have not been onerous and have even been lots of fun, they have cut down on our weekend flexibility and mobility this spring. It’s funny. I was asked by someone the other day what places I had been to throughout China so far. In reality, not too many because of the number of weekend Steve or I have had to work. But, I am hoping, at least with regards to my schedule, that these commitments will be limited to the spring...hopefully not too many this fall and winter.