It's all happening down at Dazu

I was planning on covering the food and culture in the next segment of my blog, but my adventures from this past weekend take precedence.

My mother always told me that my words have lost all significance because I am always using super laxatives to describe ordinary activities. I realize that's probably how everyone feels, and if that is the case, we have reached a real "boy who cried wolf" situation. I beg you to over look the exaggerish ways of my past as I try to convey two of the craziest days of my life.

My best friend John Murray and his girlfriend, Oi Yang (English name Bear) made plans to come to Rongchang to visit me for the weekend. John met a teacher from Rongchang at a seminar he was teaching in Bei Bei and told her he was visiting the town this weekend. The teacher, named Annie, ditched the rest of the seminar and rode back with John the next day so she could take us to her middle school to teach some English. Upon arriving, I got singled out to go speak in front of some of the younger students, leaving the comfort of my companions. In the course of about 400 meters, I hit superstar status. An absolute stampede broke out over the soccer field as hundreds of child ran to see the first American of their lives. In the words of singer song writer Big Boi, "I was a bee hive with everyone buzzing around me." Children were running out of their classes to catch a glimpse. It was absolute pandemonium. There is a probable chance that more than three children fainted. The teachers themselves were too star struck to enforce any kind of order.


I spoke to four classes that all went like this: I walk in to an uproar...I say "Hello"... large applause...I talk a little bit about myself then ask if anyone has any questions...the children ask usually in this order: "Do you have a girlfriend?", "Do you like China?", "Do you like sports?" "Will you sing us a song?"... I say, "Yes, if someone will sing to me."...the best singer in class gets peer pressured until they sing... Tone deaf Sean sings "Star Spangled Banner" with many more errors than Christina Aguilera...then the tallest person/best basketball player in the class comes up to see if they are taller then me, everyone laughs if I am shorter...one person asks to take a picture with me...chaos ensues for the next 10 minutes as everyone wants to be in a photo with me or have me sign their English notebook...the class gives me a gift and I do it all again in the next one. I asked one girl after a class to give me a Chinese name and she picked Wang, which translates to king. I know my ego is probably the last one that needs a good stroking, but it's just nice to get the proper recognition you deserve.

**Addition by Kassy: After we duped Sean big time into having to teach the students who had only been learning English for two weeks, John, Oi Yang, and myself walked over to another building. We were going to teach the older students who had been practicing English for a couple of years. We were escorted to a teachers' lounge where we all sat together and laughed at what we could only imagine Sean to be doing. During this time students would stop star struck at the door of the lounge and point at us and giggle. We would wave and they would go crazy. Then we were split up to each go teach two consecutive classes. I would walk in say hello and the kids would go crazy. They were so excited to meet a foreigner. They would stand up one by one and say "Welcome to our China" or "My name is....". They always asked what type of food I like, what my hobbies are, and if I like China. After we finished the introductions I would play hangman on the board. They had clearly never been able to play games in a classroom setting and thought it was a blast. Sometimes I would try challenging words like "blizzard". I can only thank John for coming up with the hang man idea, I know he did the same in his classes. Then afterwards they would swarm us and demand autographs and pictures.

Afterwards, all the teachers took us out to a super fancy restaurant were we feasted like the Wangs we are. The only unfortunate thing about the day, was that Kassy's camera erroneously has a button that deletes all photos that was accidentally pushed throughout the course of excitement. We made sure not to repeat the same mistake at Dazu.

The next day we woke up late and slapped together a plan to take a bus to Dazu to see the famous rock carvings depicting the Buddhist teachings. Our friend and colleague, Thomas Joyce, decided to meet us there and took a three hour bus ride from the Bei Bei campus. It didn't take long for us to realize that our plan had left plenty of room for error. Our bus didn't arrive until 3:15 and the last one back to Rongchang left at 5 p.m. Thomas didn't speak any Chinese and got dropped off at a different bus station, and we didn't have a passports so we couldn't get a hotel in the city.

Here is where John's girlfriend, a.k.a Virgil, took full reins of the situation and orchestrated the impossible. First, she had Thomas hand the phone to a stranger so she could talk to them to figure out where he was. We decided to leave the transportation/lodging problem for later as we hopped from bus to bus to shuttle until we reached the historic park.

Our entrance fee was steep, but well worth it once we got inside. I'm not one for high tech gadgets, but I could not have been more thankful for Thomas and his 4872894 pixel high resolution duel lens HD camera. I have never seen anything so awe inspiring. You will be able to see these stunning pictures at Thomasinchinar.blogspot.com soon. We also have pictures from Kassy's phone posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rongchang. As incredible as these pictures are they fail to capture the impalpable presence of something mysterious. I'm not overly superstitious, but the hallowed grounds definitely had an unearthly feeling that was magnified by the fact that we were the only ones in the park.

The reality of our situation came back once we left the park grounds. We were stuck between an incredible rock and a hard place. Oi Yang talked to someone who helped find us a driver to take us back to Rongchang. On the way back, a gambling game broke out between the driver and us. He could obviously tell our hand was weak, we were foreign and had no established way of getting back to our city without him. Realizing the gravity of the situation, he raised the negotiated price to take us back by 50 yuan. Because we were not in an official taxi, he could charge whatever he wanted and the price might keep going up. After we declined his price, he kicked us out in the heart of Dazu. The only exchange was a verbal one and my guess is that there were some expletives used by both parties.

We hailed down a taxi to ask how much it would be. Five is a poor number for travel because a legal taxi can only seat four. I don't know if someone put a Felix Felice's potion into one of our coffees that morning or not, but somehow the cost of two taxis was cheaper then the original price of our previous driver. We celebrated our successes well into the night. Hopefully our good fortune will continue as we all travel for National Holiday.

Editor's correction: In the last blog, I wrote that a Chinese stranger gave me a lime and a tomato to solidify our friendship. The lime was actually an orange with a green peel and the tomato was actually a persimmon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon.

And the people's choice award goes to...the Chinese

Bones in the Fish at a meal

I realize I've been a little slow on updates the first couple of weeks in China. To rectify this, I sat down and wrote for three hours yesterday about the best part of Rongchang...the people. Unfortunately, I'm not one for saving things (i.e. money, baseball games, important documents) and my computer screen crashed before I could post it. To top it off, it all happened right before I was suppose to meet someone for the first time. As I was sitting in the glumps bemoaning the loss of my labor, I heard a "Hello, how are"? I stood up, slapped a big smile on my face, and shook the persons hand thinking that he was the person I was suppose to meet. After our five minute conversation, we established that we both like ping pong, basketball, Rongchang, and that we are friends. The boy's companion, who didn't speak any English, wanted to confirm that we were friends too so he started reaching into his bag of groceries and handing me things. I did not want to seem rude and was excited to say what little Chinese I know, so I said thank you and accepted the lime. This brought a huge smile to the boys face and I soon ended up with a tomato and a bag of Cow Jerky in my hands as well. We exchanged numbers and gave enthusiastic goodbyes. My spirits were once again soaring, compliments of the Chinese people.

Gombai means "empty cup"

Part of the reason why the Chinese population is so huge is because it is not uncommon to live to be 90-100 years old. Over 40% of China's population is over the age of 60. The best thank you one can give to their parents is a one way ticket to China. The elderly are treated like royalty and have the right of way to just about everything. Every night there are town squares playing music for the elderly to go out and go dancing.

Friends (with benefits)

Usually, we encounter friends through a mutual contact. Our last group of friends we meet randomly at a coffee shop where the four boys said every English word they could think of. Depending of their English classes, Chinese students learn English with either an American or British accent. For some reason I think it is very comical for a Chinese person to say words like "mate" and "lad." The two that spoke the best English were twins (which is one loophole to having multiple children in a family without paying a massive fee to the government.) didn't have English names. The other two were named Loy and my personal favorite Danish.

The next day, I shot some hoops with the twins, where I quickly learned that I was severely out of shape. Compared to the Chinese, I am an amoeba. Being the tallest one on the court, I found myself playing the unfamiliar position of center. I was crushing it for all of about seven minutes until my proper box out form turned into me putting my hands on my knees while gasping for air. Furthermore, I am accustomed to playing with a net, which is in no way essential to to the game, but convenient for slowing balls down. I would watch the ball go through the hoop, but I wouldn't be able to get my hands up in time to prevent the embarrassing result of getting hit in the face.

We had fun with these lil' kids

After balling we met up with the rest of the group and I introduced them to the frisbee, courtesy of Reid S-S (I don't think I've owned my own frisbee for five years now). At first they though it was some kind of American plate, then a UFO once I threw it at one of them. Within five minutes of whipping the D(isc) around a 45 year man came and asked if he could play. It would take a onomatopoeia expert to phonetically describe the squeals of delight he was making as he misjudged every frisbee flight pattern. After what must have been at least 25 failed attempts he successfully caught one and let out a triumphant cry that completely rekindled my love for frisbee. By this time we had attracted about 50 spectators, the largest crowd I have ever played frisbee in front of. If someone was to open up a store that sold frisbees here in Rongchang, they would make a sizable fortune.

Our closest friend is a 30 year old woman named Maggie who can really throw her weight around (even though she is smaller then Kassy she can move mountains.) Last week we went to the cinema where she was able to get us a 30% discount on the the tickets and the movie changed to be played in English, both through a heated five minute argument that ran parallel to general manager Ron Gardenhire butting heads with an umpire. She has taught us some popular Chinese card games as well as the best hand game I've ever played (it's like boomba be with reflex time). We also have her to thank for showing us some of the most delicious restaurants in town including one that has pot stickers galore. The song "You ain't never had a friend like me" from Disney's Aladdin sums her up best.

Hey bay bay...hey bebe...hey Beibei

Tower of Freedom

Next! In China, that is the equivalent to the same value card being consecutively laid in Egyptian rat slap. China has no concept of lines. Yes they will be formed, but unregulated, similar to a first grade line if the teacher was blind. I experienced this at the Chongqing Medical Traveler's Center under the tutelage of Mr. Tian. Somehow he managed to get us checked and out of the building that was near its maximum capacity in less than an hour and a half. After the outstanding condition of my vitals were verified, Kassy and I boarded our first Chinese bus alone to go meet our buddies in Ja Fong Bei, the heart of Chongqing. If you've ever traveled with me, you will know that things do typically do not go as swimmingly as for Sun Yang. Unfortunately for us, the last stop of the bus was not our desired destination. So we had to hop off and pray we were close. Sensing our distress, a 19 year old boy named Jackson came to our aid and told us through fragmented English that he was also looking to visit the heart of the city and asked if we would like to follow him as he asked various people for directions. After walking about a mile, he took us to the Tower of Freedom. (Chongqing, a brief history- Was at one point the capital of China because its foggy consistency provided great camouflage from Japanese bombers. Once the war was over, the tower was erected in the heart of the city to celebrate China's independence from Japanese tyranny.) Even though we have only spent about 15 minutes with Jackson, we talk to him nearly everyday. Our favorite message came after Kassy told him that she was from Montana. He replied, "I'm delighted to hear you are from Montana, the treasure state mountainous region Gold and silver yellowstone national park rocky mountain. I like America very much, America is developed, advanced and beautiful country. I hope China keep perfect friendship and combination with America forever."

We tried to spend the first night in Chongqing in a hostel, but it was completely full. So we explored the city during the day and took a bus to the Beibei campus to experience some Chinese nightlife. Beibei is the main Southwest University campus and is much larger than Rongchang. It has as many students as the U of M(innesota). The people in Beibei are just as nice but are little more westernized (which means not as many gawkers). The next day was filled with fun, adventure, and headaches from the previous night.

Just as countries south of the border partake in mid afternoon siestas, China has a 2 hour shouxi (show-she) break between 1-3. Part of the reason is because of the heat, the other reason is that people to not want to tan. Unlike America, incredibly pale skin is perceived as a sign of remarkable beauty. China is 100% team Edward (twilight series). After a feast of a lunch, we decided to play some table tennis and plow right through the shouxi hour even though the temperature would have issued a heat advisory. Despite my HHP (Human Health and Performance) 122 Ping Pong class experience, I was throttled by a Chinese student named Will. After words/afterwards we went out to experience a Chongqing styled meal called hot pot. Basically, you can order anything under the sun to put it in a large pot of boiling hot oil placed in the middle of the table. It was the hottest meal I've ever consumed, thermally and spice wise. One negative thing about China that drives you completely nuts, is that beverages are always served at an irritating luke warm temperature whether its beer or tea. On this particular occasion, the room temp pepsi was no remedy for the hallucinogenic effect the food was having on me. All in all the meal was delicious, it just needed a costco size tub of ranch to come with it and a bottle of peptobismal.

We got back to Rongchang the next day through a free one hour shuttle ride that runs between the two University campuses every Thursday and Friday. Otherwise we would have had to taken a 4 hour bus ride. It was a terrific trip filled with many laughs and stories. This concludes part one of a Tale of Two Cities. Part two will consist of some great stories from our home town Rongchang.
  

Gettin' into trouble with Thomas Joyce and John Murray

I now have Internet on my laptop so I can skype when ever. Also I'm planning on having some of my students practice writing English by emailing friends in America, if you would like to receive a message or make a friend from across the world please send me your email address at 15inabucket@gmail.com. If I know your first and last name and you went to the University of Montana, your probably going to get an email anyway. Furthermore, a fellow teacher Thomas Joyce, the man who updates my blogs for me also has one himself at www.thomasinchinar.blogspot.com. His is much more informative, accurate, frequent, and gramatically korrect.

Yo yo ma im in China

I apologize for the tardiness of this blog, it appears that the Chinese government looks unfavorably at blogspot.com

Dear Reader,

Even with zee visa in hand, the road to China seemed to be laced with misfortune at every turn. Here is a game called two truths one lie and its pretty self explanatory
A. I lost my passport for about 25 minutes.
B. There was a cabin loss of pressure and those air bags that no one really listens about in the stewardess demonstration came down.
C. Our baggage got stuck in Beijing.

We met Mr. Tian (our boss) outside the baggage area and he arranged for our bags to come in the afternoon flight. So for the next few hours Mr. Tian took us around Chongqing, a city populated by 35 million. Mr. Tian took us to a fancy restaurant where I got my first experience of authentic chinese food. For all you Naysayers out there I tried 7 different mushrooms that meal alone and ate them no sweat (except for the fact that they were real spicy)
At this resaurant I realized two signfigant things.
1. I need to practice my proficiency with chopsticks (not the piano piece)
2. Chinese toilets are just holes in the floor upon which you squat over.
After lunch we continued to the Chongqing public cultural museum which was MAGNIFICIENT (see posted photos). Then we got to see why Chongqing is also known as Rivertown (see http://www.neatorama.com/2012/05/26/10-incredible-confluences-around-the-world/). Fortunately we will be returning here tommrow to get a medical exam.

Getting to Rongchang was like Daunte descending through the different circles of the inferno, but in this case, China. On the plane from Los Angelos to Beijing, I was part of the 30% cacausian minoirty. In Chongqing I certainly was unusual but not unheard of. In rural Rongchang, Kassy and I are two of three white people in the 200,000+ city. It a surreal experience unlike any other to go from Sean Scullin, 24 yro jobless suburban resident to celebrity status overnight. When people catch a glimpse of me their eyes go into animated symbols ($*!). I am Billy Pilgrim on the planet Tralfamadore, I am Justin Bieber in an all female high school, if these people were Jewish I may be pronounced the Messiah (For a complete description of who I am, listen to the song Guns and Cigarettes by atmosphere). If a pink elephant and I were placed in a room, not one of these people would pay the slighest attention to the offcolored enormous mammal.

My handsome (This adjective has been unanimously voted a fact by the entire city) appearance has the strongest effect on children. I am not very good at determining ages, but there is a distinctive difference in the reactions I get from children ages 2-6 and from 6-12. To the wee little ones, I am Sully from monsters inc, and I cause just about each and everyone of them to start bawling. Ironically, these childrens parents are obssed with thrusting these terrified toddlers in front of me and trying to make them shake my hand. The older kids are still a bit shy, but are absolutely mesmorized by me and they go into an uncontrollable fit of giggles if I look their way.

The food in China is unbelievably cheap and incredibly delicious. One dollars is the equivalent to 6 Yuan or Kuai (kwhy as it is prounced here). So everything is looks like its priced in American dollars but really its only 1/6 the price. So far Kassy and I have been feasting. Something that I found very peculiar is that it is much cheaper to go out to eat then to cook at home. This is a typical night at anytime between 5-7 "awww I don't really feel like cooking tonight let's just go get chinese food." Because we dont know how to read a menu or say anything we usually have to walk around and find people that are eating food that looks appetizing that way we can walk in and say "yao niege" (pronounced yow nayga). The first time we went out to eat by ourselves we sat down where no one was eating and just gave the waitress the thumbs up until she brought something. Turns out that ignorance is bliss, for she brought us the most scrumptious meal I've had in China. When the bill came to 12 yuan (2 dollars) I thought about slipping a five under the plate leaving a whoping 35 percent tip, but no body tips here and I thought that it might be taken as a gesture of pity instead of graditude.

A couple days ago, we meet our first Chinese friend Tony, who adores American culture, although has not grasped the concept of individuality. He wanted answers from Kassy to questions such as why do all american girls only like big muscles and black men. In China, if you find something that one Chinese person likes, you have got a market for 1.3 billion people. The movie the Titanic has dicovered this niche and has struck gold here. After showing us around town he took us to a Westernized fast food place in the main town area (it was actually the only food that I didn't really like and it was the most expenisive, an unheard of 4 dollars.) Afterwards we went to a place called KTV to sing songs were we proceded do have a very happy hour singing/shouting (in my case) karokee in a private room with strobe lights. People love to drink in china, but they don't have bars. So you either drink during a meal or at a ktv, usually you do both.  

Here are some other things that I realized I should have been writing about but don't want to exert the effort to explain them in full.     

In the first 4 days we were here, the rain didn't stop. The town next to the river area became flooded for the first time since 1981.

Our apartments are huge, if anyone wants to come visit me I can easily provide housing aww hell I'll even cover your food costs too. (we luckily have western toilets)

Driving is nuts, I shall talk about this more in the next posting, it's like everyone is playing mario kart and just went through a star.
Zaijian,
Sean

(answers a and C)