Sunday, August 29, 2010

Say Goodbye to Chengdu

I woke during the early hours of this morning with a sudden rush; loud banging noises could be heard from right outside my window. My mind raced with possibilities: either there had been an earthquake or the Chinese scaffolding men had begun their work. It turned out to be the latter. I couldn’t complain, however, for the first time in almost two months I was waking up in my own bed, in my own apartment and at my own placement site.

Chris and I departed yesterday with our own personal escort as members of the Yibin University Foreign Affairs office had personally arrived to take us back. With their help we lugged all of our possessions into a black sedan and waved goodbye to our fellow volunteers and the city of Chengdu.

It was not easy saying goodbye. Many of us would be at sites by ourselves, or with a site mate we did not entirely know. For two months we had shared many experiences with our fellow volunteers, sharing stories and confiding in each other’s frustrations while in a new environment. Many of us had become very close and it would not be easy to see that all slip away once more.

Our joint nostalgia was compounded by the fact that we had spent our last week in Chengdu together. All four groups, which had previously been separate, were joined together again at a hotel in center city. From Tuesday to Friday we completed many last minute seminars and ceremonial activities, including a swearing in ceremony lead by the Charge D’Affairs, or the Deputy Ambassador, of the U.S. Embassy to China. Also in attendance were the Ambassador for the Shanghai Expo and the Consul General of the Chengdu Consulate. During the ceremony, many of us showed off our Qi Paos and Tang Zhuangs, these being the male and female Chinese silk outfits used ceremoniously for centuries throughout China. My own Chinese silk jacket was black, with many golden dragons racing along the back and front. The cuffs were burgundy red and its collar extended slightly above my shoulders. Each color had its own meaning, though I had not personally considered it much before I chose it. Traditionally, however, black meant mourning, and I have had to explain several times that I chose it due to its popularity among Chinese pop-stars, and because I thought the color looked better than purple (sorry Fred).

The swearing in ceremony turned out to be an excellent time to ask questions to the honored guests. Soon after the Deputy Ambassador had read us our duties, many of us were anxious to inquire about the Shanghai Expo and U.S.-China relations.

“Have you had any heartening experiences during the Shanghai Expo?” asked one of the volunteers. “Every day,” responded the Shanghai Expo Ambassador. He then explained an instance when a very young rural girl had been videotaped inside one of the exhibitions. The girl had been given a new home in Shanghai after her home was lost during an earthquake. After her picture reached the web, Chinese netizens, a term used to describe the enormous amount of Chinese net surfers, soon dubbed her the prettiest Chinese girl in China. She later told the press that her favorite exhibition was that of the U.S.

I was anxious to ask my own questions regarding U.S.-China relations and soon after addressed the deputy ambassador on how he felt the Peace Corps had influenced relations between the two nations. I was surprised and honored to have three responses, one from the Deputy Ambassador, and two from the director of Peace Corps China and the Expo Ambassador. Each was passionate about the ability of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) to influence America’s understanding of China, and also of current Peace Corps Volunteers ability to influence Chinese understandings of the U.S. This was in fact one of the major reasons why Peace Corps was in China and it was nice to hear that it was having an impact on diplomatic relations.

Following the swearing in ceremony each of the volunteers and honored guests proceeded to a large dining hall. While there, Peace Corps volunteers heard speeches from the Deputy Ambassador and the director of PC China herself. It was the final ceremony before we left for our host sites and many of us seemed slightly on edge. The hall was filled with teachers, administrators, guests and volunteers. Even the local media had arrived and asked to speak with some of the volunteers. Since it was a Peace Corps event, and many of our statements as PC volunteers were expected to represent those of the U.S. first and ourselves second, we had to be mindful of what we said. In the end two people were chosen to speak with the press, and since I had the prettiest Qi Pao I got to be one of them.

The interview was hectic and we were bombarded with questions: “What will you do after you leave Chengdu?” asked the first interviewer. “What do you think of your host city? Why did you wear a Qi Pao today? Can you speak Chinese?” My friend Katie D’Souza and I answered each question honestly and with a mixture of Chinese and English. Later they would ask us to speak entirely in Chinese, but at first we were rather nervous and they didn’t entirely expect us to know how.

Katie ran the show and answered all the questions in stride. I observed her with my jaw slightly open, unable to comprehend how she could handle herself so well. When they eventually got to me I stumbled a bit but got my basic points across: “I am going to Yibin to teach English and to help Chinese understand American culture. It is also important for us to understand Chinese culture.” The interviewer nodded his head and thrust his microphone closer. “What did you think of Yibin? Is there anything there that you particularly liked?” I nodded affirmatively. “Yibin had lots of nice things,” I responded, “the head of the Yangze, Bamboo Forests and…um…oh their Bai Jiu, it’s number one!” They laughed and afterwards I had time to think over my responses. My god, I thought, shaking my head, even Chinese think my jokes are corny.

After the ceremony ended we all gave our hugs and kisses and said goodbye. It was emotional but it was the 21st century; most of us had Skype and cell phones, and could stay within instant communication.

Now, back at my apartment, I am currently wondering how to reorganize my life. I have some minor apartment cleaning to do but nothing overwhelming. My major concern is buckling down, creating new lesson plans and continuing my studies of the Chinese language. The students are filtering back on to campus, arranging their class schedules and moving into their dorms. In just a few weeks classes will start and I will be their teacher. I hope that here, at this new site, I can meet just as many amazing people as I did in Chengdu.

A clip from the banquet:
http://v.ku6.com/show/EGeHFKmNf4Quitac.html

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Journey to the South

Upon arriving in Yibin on Monday of last week, my fellow volunteer and I were pleasantly surprised to find a reasonably developed city located at the head of the Yangtze River. The heat was intense as Yibin is situated in a very humid/subtropical climate, but the nights were cool and such astounding temperatures are not expected to remain past August. We would remain there for one week, living with a Chinese host family and exploring the city.

My first impression of Yibin was that it was rather touristy. At least four sites were popular amongst Chinese-a stone and bamboo forest, a world class baijiu (Chinese alcohol) factory, the Yangtze and some popular cave areas. However the town is much more than that, at least in comparison to other touristy Chinese cities I have visited, and has developed fine schools and hospitals which appear to be boosting the cities growth as well.

My host family consisted of a 16 year old girl and her two parents. During the academic year the daughter heads to Chengdu to attend high school and has already achieved better English than my Chinese. Both the mother and father are professors at the city college where I will be teaching. The family was incredibly hospitable and I was grateful for all the kindness they showed me . Just as in Chengdu, it was nice to observe and become close to a traditional Chinese home.

We spent much of last week on the go. The family was anxious to show me any and all of what the city had to offer-the downtown shopping center, the baijiu factory, even Walmart, which they evidently believed was essential for us to be able to locate, and which I still can’t believe the city had.

As we toured the city I again felt like I was being given the royal treatment. The idea of me serving in the Peace Corps during the day and going to Walmart in the afternoon never entered my wildest imagination before I left, but I imagine that those luxuries would rarely enter my life during actual service. In fact visiting Yibin was a perfect time to reflect on how serving in this city would really feel, and what affect being alone and mostly isolated from American culture would actually have upon me. Besides one other fellow PC volunteer, only three other foreigners were known to live in the city-one British and two Japanese. For a city of roughly 1 million people, such a small number of foreigners indicated that we would be the subject of constant attention and countless stereotypes. I expected this, there are still a small number of foreigners in China overall, but it can get surprisingly nerve racking nonetheless.

While riding the bus through the city or strolling through the Yibin college campus, I chose not to dwell on the negative aspects of the next two years. The cultural barriers would just take getting used to, and anyway wasn’t this the reason why I came to Peace Corps in the first place? Two years is a long time, and I would learn so much during that period that frustrations would be worth the cost. I have no serious complaints and find myself lucky to have been placed in such an exciting city.

I returned to Chengdu yesterday, excited to see my PC friends again and ready to enjoy the last two weeks before our official completion of Peace Corps training. At dinner late last night, I gathered with my friends and each anxiously shared stories about their site. The excitement was palpable. We would finally be becoming Peace Corps volunteers in a remote city. After a full week without seeing them it felt strange to be back, and I had time to reflect on how few of these get-togethers we would have left. Our training was coming to an end. Our new journey was just beginning.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Arrival!

I know, you don’t have to tell me. You’ve all been obsessing about my blog and itching for some kind of update on my trip so far. Well, where do I begin? First, I suppose I should apologize for taking so long. Google is still restricted here, and as I feared before leaving, it has made accessing this blog quite difficult. I’m also incredibly busy with pre-service training which can take up most of the day.

It has been a month since we arrived. I am here with roughly ninety other trainees in Chengdu, Sichuan, where for two months we enjoy intense courses on the Chinese language and English teacher training. Due to the size of our group (the largest yet in Peace Corps 16 years in China), the ninety of us have been split into four groups of about 20-25. Each group attends courses at a university around Chengdu and is placed with a Chinese host family apartment not far from that campus. Normally, we have class from 8:30-5 with morning classes on Saturdays.

The city itself is quite unlike any I have seen in China. For one thing, I have never seen such a mishmash of dogs in my life. And not just one kind of dog, but any dog you can imagine. And then, of course, never the same dog twice. This is in bright contrast to Beijing, where, if any dog exists it is within two feet long and officially licensed. I won’t comment on whether Chengdu dogs are licensed or not-I don’t really know- but there is certainly some question as to the ownership of a few hundred-thousand? dogs within this city.

Chengdu is also located within a basin, making it humid and muggy for the better part of the day. During the summer it can become particularly brutal and profuse sweat is not uncommon after short walks. The women of Chengdu (very beautiful, by the way), have adapted by carrying brightly colored umbrellas as a shield. The men of Chengdu, however, have not had a similar reaction and can often be seen resting their shirts on their bellies to relieve the sweat from their stomach-I am not quite sure this has proven to be an effective method of relieving heat but to each his own.

After classes, many of the campus students can be found playing mahjong or basketball. My own campus, Sichuan Normal University, is quite large and students can also be found playing soccer or ping pong on the large sports field.

My host family is a family of three- a mother and father of mid-30’s, and a seven year old son. I find them to be incredibly hospitable and have no complaints. The family is middle-income and resides in a neighborhood apartment complex also containing a pool and interconnected gardens. The living arrangements are also well furnished and comfortable. Before you ask why I am so comfortable, being a Peace Corps volunteer after all, I should mention that Peace Corps China is not the typical Peace Corps experience and should not be compared to huts in Africa. Without going into too much detail, we are expected to be college educators and so are given living arrangements to fit into the community as such. As with any other site in the world which Peace Corps serves, China volunteers are given a meager income which allows us to live at the standards of other members of our community.

Also, most importantly, as of yesterday I am finally aware of my placement site-Yibin. Yibin is at the head of the Yangtze River and located 4-5 hours southwest of Chengdu. The city is known for its Bamboo Forest and several famous caves. I am very excited about my placement sit and could not have hoped for a better city. For those of you interested, I will finally be able to provide a specific address in just a few days.

That’s all for now! I hope this blog post was able to alleviate some of your extreme anticipations about my trip. I’ll attempt to be more frequent in future posts and include some pics of my future site.

Take care,

Leo