Gassy Monk

Every year Americans celebrate their independence from the tyrannical, oppressive, capitalist & baby-killing British by lighting off fireworks, guzzlin' beers & thumbing our noses at...well, pretty much everybody. Actually, I don't know how many people think into it that deeply. Regardless, our former masters should be grateful to be free of the burden we call the US&A much in the same way parents might shed their children on an 18th birthday.

But I digress. The important thing is not that we remember our own freedom, but that we flaunt our freedoms for others to envy...right? But how? After several minutes of contemplation & finally a trip to the local foriegn goods market, it hit me: what better way to celebrate this occasion than to demonstrate how we Americans truly take advantage of our independence?

Thus, with a healthy dose of burger meat, enough beer to put down a large animal and, of course, some patriotic music to set the tone for the evening, we initiated the First Annual Nanjing Indoor Barbeque. This school played host to 3 americans, 1 brit, and more than 10 chinese teachers, workers & students, all called to one location in order to celebrate the July 4th holiday.

Alright. Basically it was an excuse for a party. Several of my students & fellow faculty members had said they wanted to try a real hamburger (read: other than McDs), so i started the search for a grill, some coal, and everything else that would make this party an enjoyable experience for my friends here. I'm not that keen on the holiday, really, but to show my people a good time is the least I can do after all they've done for me. In the end, it all came together, but not without a few complications.

5:30pm - First, it was looking like rain so we leaned towards having the bbq in a classroom. Then, a colleague on my dorm floor suggested we just put the grill in teh dorm stairway & open a window (and in the process subtly flaunting a freedom we in the US don't have!). Genius.

5:40pm - Then, the charcoal. Without any lighter fluid to smooth out a rough start, we had to get creative. That same colleague returned with some particle board, some cardboard that was more plastic tape than anything, and color-print newspaper. Was the environment to suffer for our party to continue on, unabated? Pollution schmollution. So, we made a stinky mess of everything, didn't get the coals lit, and then decided to try using some candles & wax as a catalyst instead. Um, it worked really well and the rest of the particle board was spared...

6:30pm - We start smackin' out burger patties & get things started. By now the other food we had around was pretty much gone, and people were ready to do what they really came to do: eat big fat grilled burgers and listen to good ol' american tunes. We had 8000 grams of ground beef. Nobody knows what that is in lbs, but it's a lot less, and it's imperative that the American government file a suit with the WTO against China's beef-gram subsidies that steal american jobs and suppress competition. Anyways, for the next 2+ blissful hours the guests chowed on burgers with the works: cheese, lettuce & tomato, sauteed onions, peppers & mushrooms, bbq sauce, ketchup, mustard.

Somewhere in that time frame the song "Proud to be an American" made it's way atop the playlist. The inspirational power of this song is unmatched (especially when paired with PBR - that's right, Pabst Blue Ribbon found its way to China and this small enclave of Nanjing), and instilled in David, Collen & I the urge to join in singing the sweet melody to our comrades. Reactions were mixed...not because of our performance, mind you, but because some couldn't understand the song lyrics enough to appreciate them!

10:20 - After the meal came the fireworks show. This was surprisingly limited given this country's claims as the Worlds Largest Fireworks Producing Country (according to official industry websites). But, we did have sparklers and a few fountains that left us Americans reminiscing about the good ol' charcoal snake.

Other things of note:
- the PBR sparked question from the one brit in the group, "so, what awards did this beer win, again?"
- the Hendrix version of the Star-Spangled Banner was, believe it or not, not well received.
- my love of Chinese teas, and a lack of bamboo rafts, were the only things that prevented a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party in our campus pond

Several text messages reached me after the party - mostly in the form of thanks for a new experience - from my chinese friends. In turn, many thanks go to kissyface David (see pic) and Collen (across from me in the candle-lit bbq pic) in supporting their fellow countryman. Wouldn't have come together without their spirit & skills with a wok. Here are a few glorious comments from David (who's an expat working here in Nanjing and an international affairs expert known for giving articulate speeches) ,"That was the best damn American BBQ this country has ever seen. I think our American-Chinese relations made a huge jump last night thanks to a massive pile of ground beef." East meets West. Finding common ground. That is, after all, what this party was all about, and in the words of our fearless leader: mission accomplished.

Labels: China bbq, july 4th

My 'family' is a surrogate family that has cradled & nurtured me since my earliest days here in Nanjing. Lots of connections with them: their niece was studying English in Nanjing before heading to college in Shandong province (she helped me with my chinese), and when Kate came out to visit in January we went over there, chowed half their menu items & hung out.

Tonight I went to my family's place and, again, hung for a bit. They let me cook up my very own tomato+egg dish, appropriately named 西红柿鸡蛋 (tomato+egg in chinese), and I realized how much of a snap it is. Why isn't this popular in the states? So easy, so fast. And tonight was all high-heat wok cooking action. Tomato + egg + ginger + garlic + green onion + salt + sugar + of course, MSG!

It was over in about 30 seconds. but it was a good time and the results were satisfying. In my dorm room there's only a hot plate, having a fully kitchen to do this in was nice.

Then, on the walk back to my school, I noticed that everyone around me was wearing pajamas. Everyone, not just kids, and they were walking all through the neighborhood in complete comfort. People prob think i'm a bit nutty b/c I had a wry grin on my face the whole way home. maybe I was just jealous - if there wasn't work to do I would put on my own pjs and join them.

Thats just another thing we, for whatever reason, don't see enough in the US. I'm pro community pajama party. Where do you stand?

Before coming to China, I had spent the better part of 10 years in SW Virginia, living in Blacksburg during college & working in Charlottesville. Here's a great picture (thanks, Todd) from the Beta Bridge in Charlottesville, VA, on the University of VA grounds. I've passed this bridge many times & never thought it looked so good.

I've tried to explain what happened at VT to my students & have encouraged them to read the US news to find out more. China doesn't really have a problem with gun violence, so it sparked a few questions (mainly, why did it happen?) and many sad faces. After informing them, the common response I get is, "Try to forget it," which hurts to hear because I think it's important NOT to forget, but to grieve & move on. To their credit, people mean it in the best way - they're basically saying 'I hope you don't feel bad for too long' - and it's served as a way to discuss some cultural differences between the US & China.

The events also created an opportunity to teach the words 'empathy' & 'sympathy'. When these Chinese college students were faced with the questions, "How would you feel if several of your classmates faced a similar situation" and "Do you feel safe on this campus?" it really hit the point home.

(I don't mean to be too morbid or seem inconsiderate here, but in a language exchange environment the subtleties can be lost. Sometimes it's better to be blunt or use simpler terms, and to make sure the students get closer to understanding the depth of what went down and how it affects the school & the entire country, I thought it best to evoke some emotion.)

The students at VT are the same age, and many have had their feelings of safety shattered, sadly. Perhaps it goes far beyond that. Gun violence is a very real social problem that exists in the US, and that is something that should be discussed. Even here, in this environment, in this country. Regardless of how much it hurts. I read some of the governor's comments about being unwilling to even whisper the issue of gun control in VA, to my dismay.

Labels: blacksburg, solidarity, VT shooting

It’s doubtful there is anything that could assuage the pain felt by friends & family of those that were lost, but there is something great to be witnessed in the millions of emails being passed around, the ringing phones & the personal efforts made by those affirming their relationships w friends & family (worldwide!).

To those who have visited Blacksburg, try not to let this catastrophe cast a shadow on the beauty that remains & the good times you remember, but do continue to sympathize with the classmates & family members of those whose lives were needlessly taken. They need your support more than anyone.

And to those that have sent me an email with your sympathies & your thoughts, thank you for your expressions of solidarity. Now, in the aftermath, I only hope that those much closer to this catastrophe have people in their lives able to offer them the same.

Labels: blacksburg, solidarity, VT shooting

and my camera is back in action. From now on I should be able to add a few pictures to my musings.

Excuse the lag in postings, I've been doing a lot of manual writing & just need to get it on the machine. More to come soon. Wishing you all a balanced yin/yang - Scott.

I had an opportunity to visit one of my former students in her home town of Gao Chun, a district of Nanjing. May was the outgoing English Club head, and she invited me to visit her & her family along with another student from my school, Tina, who is the current English Club head. Both are very skilled in English and just great kids.

Gao Chun doesn’t have much, but what it does have is old Chinese architecture & character. There is one main attraction for tourists, the Old Street (Lao Jie), which is home to some of the newest & oldest structures in town, and you’ll only find Chinese tourists in Gao Chun, which was a big draw for me. Like many Chinese cities, this one is becoming more & more modern every year. Fortunately, to date the influence of change has taken a relatively insignificant toll on the natural beauty Gao Chun has to offer.

The weekend was wet & cold enough to keep most people indoors and we had most of the sites to ourselves – a rare occurrence in a country with so many people. There were 2 scenic & memorable areas; one was a park & the other a Daoist temple complex with some ancient Chinese stone tablets & a 7-story pagoda.

I walked away from this experience with my first real taste of Chinese family hospitality. The fact that May & her family would go to such lengths to host a foreigner for the weekend is telling of their generosity & is exemplary of the Chinese culture. I realized that even asking for a bath was putting them out – they’d have to get more hot water just for me – and that this luxury I have in my dorm room is not shared by many families. I had heard of this, of course, but it wasn’t a reality in my mind until this weekend. May’s family is pretty well off and they didn’t have a water heater.

Other than that, hanging out with 2 college age Chinese girls on a weekend was pretty relaxing. They were drawn to the Internet & chatting when we weren’t singing songs, in Chinese, of course, or looking at pictures & talking about differences in Chinese & American culture.

Gaochun Dry Tofu (高淳 豆腐干子)

May’s family gave this to me before Tina & I left. Gaochun tofu is the best I’ve had here in China, so far. Other kinds are available in soups, as a standalone dish, or in other courses, but the stuff from Gaochun had the perfect texture & flavor to go with some spicy peppers. Not much more to say here; it made for a tasty lunch in between classes.

So, I’ve never studied this in a formal sense, but I’ve been thinking about nationalism much more since my arrival in China. I hope I’m fair in my consideration of this topic, although I acknowledge this is by no means comprehensive, & invite smarter & better informed people to comment. Lighter material is on the way after this post. I have several things I'd like to put up now.

Nationalism leads to a preservation of historical identity. When considered in this light there is less room for contemporary changes to influence social order. It means turning attention to the past as you move forward. In effect, this hinders the realization of a future based on the existing identity of a nation, in its place you find a bias towards the ways of the past.

Japan’s new PM, Shinzo Abe, recently pushed for a change in Japanese schools to focus more greatly on Japanese history, politics, etc., than it has in the past. This maneuver increases the likelihood of conflict with other Asian countries in the future because the sense of nationalism occurs at the expense of appreciating outside cultures. Foreign policy of this nature serves an insidious, internal political purpose and, to my knowledge, does not benefit a nation’s people in any moral or economic sense nor does it improve the international reputation of a country.

But to what end can such an Asian nation be punished by other Asian nations for taking such action? Does any one nation have the moral high ground or will to chastise the Japanese for making such a move?

Certainly China cannot comment given its history of nation building, when government was less than sturdy, and more recent permissions granted to citizens that demonstrate (riot) against the Japanese, while Russia carries no moral high ground & SE Asian countries do not have the political or economic power for their words to carry weight.

Many liberals in Japan were apparently irked by the Abe government’s proposed changes in curriculum. And while there may be some rewards for a weak government trying to shore up support & stability in the future, nationalism in this case seems nothing more than a policy substitute for a strong government short on ideas about material change. Incidentally, the current American administration has shown similar tendencies and my opinion of that is equally critical.

My insight on this subject is limited, but though I try to see how this benefits the Japanese (or American) people I just can’t. How do the citizens avoid making uninformed generalizations about entire nations when walls are constructed through the educational system? The repercussions can only come to fruition over time, making the effects of this new policy immeasurable, of course. This move just serves to increase the tension between nations.

I’m isolating one element of Japanese politics here, perhaps unfairly. Abe was just in China to mend relations soured by the former PM, Junichiro Koizumi, and the meeting was considered a political success in the press. To boot, maybe I’m looking past the obvious - maybe the Japanese have simply been too tolerant of other peoples for too long and this just brings things into balance! I wouldn’t want to make my own uninformed generalizations…

Sorry to be so dramatic, but I'm surrounded by military (students at the school, police on the streets, and events like the one below) & felt a colloquialism was appropriate.

My camera was dropped last weekend by one of my students during a local field trip to Purple Mountain. It's out of commission for the forseeable future - meaning no pics to accompany my rants.

China & US military cooperation coverage from NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6135356

This sound bite was very welcome news. It is this type of communication that is necessary between the US & China. This can only lead to more information, more clarity & greater understanding between the navies of these 2 countries. I hope to see more military collaboration in the future; this is a positive way to dispel fear & chip away at some big questions regarding intent (on both sides).

At an outdoor conference here in Nanjing, where I intended to find out some information about the city, I instead spent most of my time meeting some of the other Nanjing foreigners.

That was one goal of the Nanjing government officials in holding the event, the other being to entertain and not actually provide any information about the city of Nanjing. They left that up to the businesses that bought table space at the event. So, I learned about Nanjing from restaurants owners, bar managers, corporate recruiters & car dealers... There was only one local charity (a Christian foundation called Amity).

I was not entertained, nor did I feel well informed about Nanjing. Suffice it to say during the event I struggled to find ways of salvaging the visit and ended up talking with some of the guys decked out in full military uniforms. There were about 300 people at this event, and about 200 of them were military of some sort. Not the Chinese po-po, mind you, these people were foreign military (of course, there were no fewer than 30 Chinese police on the perimeter but they aren’t key players in this piece).

The majority were African & Middle Eastern. I met a few friendly Zimbabwean fellas; a couple of guys in their mid 20’s there to learn about computer engineering. Several Angolan guys were there on some sort of exchange. Several other African countries were represented though I did not see any Sudanese military. Other countries represented: Turkey, Russia (I think, could have been one or many of the Eastern bloc countries), and several from the Middle East but I’ve forgotten which countries in particular.

Anyways, being there I realized that China will satisfy its growing energy demand through deals & relationships with many of these countries. As you can read about in any newspaper, they also share military information. Thinking back on it now…maybe I was exposed to more information about Nanjing than I ever imagined possible!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to really explore that notion at the time. I was too distracted by my (unmet) expectations. I didn’t understand at that moment what was going on all around me – had I been more open to the possibility that I might come across such a hotbed of international relations I might have been able to really appreciate my situation.

The event was not for me. Not for the benefit of this type of foreigner. It was just one of many informal demonstrations of China’s growing influence in the world - and a basic networking session.

I shared my initial reaction with some friends; that I was dismayed about having wasted a few hours of my life & learning nothing about Nanjing as it was explained to me in the brochure. Only now, reflecting back on it, do I begin to realize how much I actually took away. Regardless of opinions on these matters, to stumble into it & see it first hand was eye-opening. I’m only glad I stumbled into reflecting on it, too...and won’t pass up the chance to learn more next time.

It feels right that the first legitimate post I make to this blog be about my students given they’re the reason I came abroad. Two weeks of classes are over now, and these college students seem like they’re already starting to feel comfortable with me. When we first met, many of them would shy away, giggle and avoid eye contact at all costs. And then there were the girls…

Last week we got past most of that but many students are still reluctant to speak out, and speak up, in class. This seems part due to cultural difference & part simply due to a lack of confidence. From what I gather in my short time here, the students are accustomed to lectures & drills with little focus on spoken, creative application of the language. I’d like to see this hesitation subside & hope that next week will see the most vocal classes yet.

My job is to teach Oral English. Right now I have more than 200 students in 10 classes, although this number will fluctuate throughout the semester due to the arrival of a new freshman class in October and the departure of all seniors 5 weeks later. Frankly, this does not mean a whole lot of classroom time because each class only meets 1 day per week (in total, about 10 hours). This does, however, make my schedule flexible enough to focus on extracurricular activities with the students: we play basketball, hold an ‘English Corner’ to practice language & a small group of us have already been on a hike. The age range is about 17 to 22 years, the abilities range from beginners to advanced, and levels of enthusiasm cover the spectrum.

The school, called the Nanjing Technical College of Special Education (NTCSE), is modest and is located in Nanjing, China (Jiangsu Province), a city of over 6 million people. With about 4,000 students and an offering of 10 majors, the school is one of many 3-year vocational schools in Nanjing. The organization I joined in the US, Volunteers in Asia (VIA, www.via.org), works with the school because of its primary purpose – to cultivate future teachers of special needs children throughout China. The teachers themselves have no disabilities.

Many students come from the countryside and a large portion of those expect to return home when they graduate. It is difficult to say how many of the students I teach in the English department will actually go on to become teachers, but it seems that a majority of the current senior class will & they’re excited about it. The younger students generally express a different sentiment – one of feeling locked into becoming a teacher against their will, facing few or no appealing alternatives. I’m still exploring this sentiment & will undoubtedly oversimplify it, but as of now I think 2 big contributors are: 1) students moving from a poor region to the big city & 2) the way the educational system is structured. To compete for high $ (or, yuan) jobs, the students need to score tops on a national exam that is taken around the age of 16 or 17. Their scores determine essentially everything in their life from then on out. Students at 3-year vocational schools are not the…um, cream of the crop, and that’s openly acknowledged here. The top scorers go to 4-year schools, have the best access to higher education & will get the top paying jobs.

So, generally, students see the wealth around them & do not feel confident enough to obtain it for themselves, leaving them feeling inadequate & incapable of changing their situation. This doesn’t describe everyone, but it is common. I need to refine this interpretation, but this is the world I’m in right now and I’m all caught up in exploring it; this is what it’s all about. More to come.

If anyone has comments, please either reply to this post or send me an email (sdicke@gmail.com), whatever. The whole point is to better empathize with my students & I’d like to hear other’s impressions.

A fellow VIA volunteer mentioned something in her last email that I’m going to poach here. There are a zillion things that I could write, but most seem insubstantial after the initial intrigue has passed. I learn something new every day and have nothing to show for it. I hope to capture the differences that seem important in this blog, only dabbling into the smaller things for their entertainment value.

I hope this finds you all well, and I'd like to hear from all of you. I hope to send individual emails as I make the time. To end with, here are some random things on my mind:

There’s a lot of holiday planning going on right now (National Day) in China. Everyone, nearly 1.3 billion people, will be on vacation starting Oct. 1.

Learn Kung Fu in your sleep! Bruce Lee haunts my dreams. Seriously, he’s been in at least 3 dreams since I got here. Lucky for him we haven't had to battle.

Buddha be praised: China doesn’t export all the good tea to England! India, you have my soul but not my cup.

Who will correct me if I start speaking in broken English?

VIA vols: sweep out the cockroaches, check for outbreaks of bird flu & spray some DEET, I'm calling/writing to make some travel plans & will contact you shortly. My people in the US & abroad: you’ve got a place to stay in Nanjing. Swing through sometime & let’s do anything but sing karaoke. Shanghai is close to Nanjing & is a useful travel hub for planes, trains & buses to Nanjing.

Hey all - this site is where you'll be able to find out about my pursuits abroad. Bookmark this page & check back every couple weeks or so.