Imperial Dumpling Banquet

Mom and Dad leave Friday morning Oct 4 for Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.  We fly to Beijing on United leaving SFO 11AM and Arriving Brijing at  9PM Saturday night Oct 5.  We stay at the Otani Hotel, 26 Jianguomenwai  AVE.  Phone 10-6512-5555. We will travel in China with Ritz Tours.  We leave Beijing on Wednesday 12:45PM and travel to Xian.  On the way from the airport to Hotel in Xian we pass by the former Confucian temple and arrive at the Sheraton Xian Hotel in the late afternoon.  Kevin leave message at Hotel desk as to where you are and phone number or instructions as how to contact you. Remeber we are with RITZ Tours. Hotel is at 12 Fang Gao Rd.  Phone number is 29-426-1888.  On Thursday we tour the Terra Cotta Warriors and are scheduled to have a Imperial Dumpling Banquet followed by a stage opera. Friday noon we leave for Shanghai and stay at the JC Mandarin Hotel,1225 Nanjing rd. Phone number 21-6279-1888.

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Looking Over My Shoulder

heya kevin,

i have some strange man looking over my shoulder at your email...so i told him to bugger off and now he's sitting behind me still looking i think.

argh.  had enough of nasty old men.  so have you and sam found an apartment....whoops.  i mean has sam found you an apartment yet?

got to yangshuo today...had old men looking after me...and staring at me (one actually came into our cubicle of beds and stared at me for like 3 minutes...i was about to ask him what when he left) on the train from shanghai.

coming back?  who ever said anything about coming back?  :)  i'm going home to canada now.  woo hoo!!!  so excited about it you should come and visit me.  :)

bye for now

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Strict Diet and Customs

I wrote in my notebook that neither heaven nor hell is pertinent in the present. I went on wrote about the geography of China. I was writing this down because I had found this great book about Chinese Muslims in China. The writer, Isreali, made parallels between the religions strict diet and customs which allowed the minority to thrive.

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

N.B.A.C.H.G.

hey ya'll this here is my first mass communiquéé and i hate to do this because it's not the most personal way to send a letter, but if i repeat a story one to many times it looses it's life. so in the interest  of saving this stories life without electrical shocks i 've had to sacrifice its personal nature  i'm hoping that god, and the rest of you, will find some way to forgive me....please.

     for anyone that i forgot to tell; im in europe and have been for almost two months. i've lived in london for most of this time but this here adventure thankfully took me out of the grease pit and threw me into the fire.

     

      on just another london night, not unlike this one, i was wondering aimlessly through the heart of downtown as it beat furiously on in its erratic pulse. this evening i had my little old acoustic guitar and strummed mindlessly on it as i walked (ethan you know the no woman / wendy chords i always strum) looking generally for and at nothing in particular. somehow something in particular managed to stumbled across me and unknowing i became entwined in the beginning of a grand adventure. ok ok i'll get to the point and stop all this dilly dallying around. BAM!! a group of touristy folks walk by and one anonymous  female voice shouts out, "play us a song" well all of you know( or i think you do) that i can't play a song on this damn thing and use it mostly just to meet people. " I can't play a song" i shout back. lucky for me that stops the crowd and once again the guitar has reeled helpless victims into my clutches....HA HA HA(think of evil laugh).

    "oh come on, you have to know stairway to heaven" and the voice takes a face,  and it's beautiful!!

    "no, can't play that one"

 "then you have to know free bird. everyone knows either stairway or free bird" 

     "nope"

  one of the five or six people in the group steps forward and saves the day.

"i can play stairway" he says

not only that, it turns out he can play lyal lovet also so you know this guy is cool, but .....he's canadian so he can't be that cool and it makes it ok to steal his girlfriend. (that's for steve, austin and the N.B.A.C.H.G. if you guys can even remember what that is)

uuuhhhh where was i.......

 oh yea the girl,  how could i  forget. As phil plays stairway to heaven i strike up a conversation with the beautiful girl that went some thing like this.

" So Baby, i couldn't help noticing that your a sexy sweet little thing from america"

ok just kidding i don't talk like that at all. i said

"hey, your from america"

" yeah, i'm from california"

" hey, me too. what part?"   and yes i do start every sentence with "hey"( check the beginning of this message)

   "lake Tahoe."

   "hey, wow i'm from sonora. do you know where that is?"

 "yeah. i have a friend there"

 and... blah ...blah... blah

so far this is the general theme of every conversation here, because something like 40% of people in london are from some where else. where are you from...followed directly by "how long have you been here".. and then the amazing finisher "where have you been here" or  the startling change up "where are you going next"

any how i'm invited to walk with them on their little sonjour around town. only used sojour cause' i heard it today even though i hate this word. we walk around we talk around. she tells me that she just met all the folks  we're on parade with at the hostel, so i know i don't have to steal her from anyone. but damn i wanted to take her from the canadian and have my revenge for all that canada has taken from us. well some other time, but beware canada i'm on to you, i know your little game, oh yeah i know.

  As the night goes on i realize more and more that she digs me and this is culminated in a semi final maneuver where i walk everyone back home and she decides to say goodbye to everyone and walk the streets with me in the wee little hours of the morn. sun rise finds us chatting in the park, and me wanting to but being to much of a wuss to kiss her. luckily i know her and i see that if i wait she'll take the initiativee and that's always better. as the sun rises the she makes her move and soft lips touch mine. after a little bit of kissy face we walk around and talk some more we dig each other and all seems well. wait wait what's this at eleven o'clock  yes eleven in morning, this very morning of the sun rise she will fly to paris. aaaahhhhhhhhh i feel this new fire being smothered, she's slipping through my evil grasp. but what about love ,  sweet kisses america , baseball, apple pie, hippies , day dreams of european romance and all the other things i thought we had in common? how can she be gone just like that?

 sorry. that was my best attempt at building up drama and suspense. the punch line is..........

she asks me to fly to paris to meet her later that very day. hmmmmm we've only known each other one day; i have almost no money;  this girl is in love with me, i must carefully weigh... my... optio.......OK   i'll do it. still it seems unreal and far off in this daze of non sleep but the reality of it slaps me hard in the face at the internet cafe where she uses her credit card to buy me the ticket. time is running out, she has to catch a train and i have to shower and prepare for my flight. on our parting just a little kiss and a huge gap, we look at each other and realize that we are about to part  and meet again in paris no longer strangers. "am i crazy" is the question each of us must be asking ourselves, yes was defiantly my answer.

     and then there i go flying.

          i have no time to be shocked or surprised.

       i have no time for doubt or second guessing.

    i'm on a plane then im asleep then i'm in paris then i have to find our meeting place. 

my plane is late.  the airport is far from downtown paris.  our rondevue point  is away from the train station. im three hours later than our planed meeting. and when i get there she's not there, i wait and she's not there, i wait and she's still not there.

every minute seems an eternity and suddenly i have all the time in the world to worry to doubt to second guess. was she here but thought i decided to ditch out on her and take the free ticket to paris she bought?? did she change her mind and decide that it was a bad idea to run to paris with a stranger and stand me up??? am i stupid for being here???? ahahhhhhh

but then here she is and i feel good i feel great and life comes flooding in to drowns all the worry.

paris hmmm paris what a shit hole of an area that we stayed in. it was late night she had reservations at this hostel i had no place. so again we decided to walk around until late drinking cheep wine that tasted like gas. but around two an idea struck. the hostel has a deck right? and i have spiderman skills right? so why not climb up and sneak into your room? its two in the morning, tomorrow is french independence day, i'm drunk climbing up a two story gutter to sleep in a dorm with 4 paying strangers and still nothing seems out of the ordinary.

one nap gives way to another and were lying on a field in the shadow of the eiffel tower basking in the sound of fire works and sun. another all-nighter this time in the company of thousands of patriotic french. at four in the morning when we return to the hostel i walk right in and they assume that i pay to stay ,and i wonder why i almost fell off the side of a building yesterday getting in. sleep sleep sleep falafel falafel falafel "hey dewey, would you come to switzerland with me....please?"

how can i say no, oh yeah except for that whole almost no money thing that i have going on.

"I'll pay."  she says and tells me i;m an angel in disguise.

this is good this is too good this is mad wack crazy stupid good yo.

and the dream continues.

 this night we spent in a nice little hotel in a much hipper area of paris that's full of young people, clubs, bars and little eateries. the whole day however was wasted finding how to get a train to the jazz festival in switzerland that she wants to hit up.

wake up roll over. yep the world is still a perfect beautiful place and there is still a pretty face next to me. 

     we're on a train then another sleeping sleeping always napping the nature of my existence.

 so this is switzerland. ahhh the fresh air the alps the laundered money. yes all this is good.

i'm shocked they don't use the euro and i throw a few remaining euros in my back pack, little do i know that these will prove to be very handy in a desperately uncertain unforeseen future.

but now money seems to be nothing and the two of us throw around each others money like confetti. again we arrange a way to sneak me into the hostel for free. we watch free music we talk it up we eat hot food and look at booths selling festival junk to the needy masses. two days pass in this way and we decide to go clubbing on this second night but first to smoke a little hash given to us by a stranger in paris who played us a cd of his band and invited us to his up coming show. but no,    we had to go to switzerland.

 dwelling in the shadows

sitting on the ground

hiding from the eyes

 still somehow we're found

and not just found mind you we're out right caught

by none other than my best friend the cops.

before i even notice a hand reaches into my line of sight and pulls the pipe and hash from my hand. WHAT, i look up agitated. i think some one is trying to rob me but no the badge in his hand tells me otherwise. we get searched we get questioned we get dragged off to an interrogation room. yeah!!! boy howdy this a hoot.

after a lengthy conversation with the coppers where we didn't really understand anything because they didn't speek English and wow i didn't speak french. it came down to me getting a ticket for a hundred fifty swiss frances that some how (thank you so much mom) i was able to take from my account but  that left me with less than a dollar. that's it though, they release me no jail, no kick in the pants, nothing. well except for all my money. anyhow that night is ruined and we return to the hostel to sulk over our loss. the morning comes and reveals a sun it's the first that we have seen of that old chap in a few days and it really makes the festival take off. previously we had been standing in the rain enjoying a free two day shower. this night we see the most jamming dance music i have ever heard. it's this  crazy gypsies get down then back up again music. there are like two hundred people watching the band and for some reason i'm the only one dancing. i never dance. i can't dance. but here i am shaking my rump and doing the country music chicken wing dance. this music was so alive and bouncing i couldn't resist.

ok i'm almost done talking but i won't stop not just yet  not when my luck takes off soaring to new heights. while walking around i'm approached by the most beautiful girl i've seen , it hurts to look at her. "hey do you want tickets to the show tonight?" she asks. "uuhhhhhhhhh..yes?" i say as if unsure it's the right answer.

"i saw the two of you walking around with back packs and i thought you looked like you could use some free tickets to the show."

"thank you i would love this" i go on to tell her that this is a great final night for me after getting robbed by the cops the night before.

"oh that's so sad" she tells me and offers to get me stoned to make up for the bad luck of last night. i grab amy (the girl i'm traveling with) and the three of us find a secluded place to burn one down. a bunch of talk leads our new friend to ask us where we're staying tonight.  uh we have no place. "oh really, come stay with me on the couch at my place" man this just keeps getting better. we end up talking for hours and the show she gave us tickets to is over but we go back to her place and smoke some more and then hit the sack. morning finds me alone with fourteen dollars in my shoe. hmmmm... a little investigation and i find the girls chatting in the kitchen soon amy must leave to catch a plane to spain and i must find my way back to london. we have tea and a chatty time. i'm now in love with our hostess, despite her boyfriend, and want to marry her and have fourteen children who are forced to decide between careers as models or rock stars. but we don't always get what we want do we. just most of the time.

      it's time to part ways with my romance as Amy is given a ride to the train then off to spain. goodbye...parting is such sweet sorrow.....and all those other worn out statements. we will meet again in london before the end of an era.  the decision has been made i'll hitch hick back to london form switzerland the way i was meant to live this life. the fourteen dollars or swiss frances actually that are in my shoe were given to me by amy who was afraid that i would starve on the way home to london only because i was actually down to zero dollars. i spend all day with my new friends and stephen (the boyfriend) prints me out a map of the best rout to london from where we are then we drink beer and i convince him to show me a slide show of his year long trek around the world. we talk for hours then around five ot six i realize it's time to actually get this mission underway and ask for a ride out to the road. but no these people wont let me go.  they insist on  extending to me even more generosity then i can handel. i tried the "no no i'm fine you don't need to give me that" tactic i tried the old chinese thing i heard once where you say no to any gift two times to be sure that your not being helped out of courtesy but out of genuine interest in you, but no matter how hard i tried i couldn't leave until they had forced upon me fifty five euros, food, beer, and a bag of weed. damn these are good people.

          my luck rarely seems to stretch it's self thin and the first car that drives by stops and i'm bound for france. it's a mere two and a half days to the cost and the quickest ferry to england. my rides were fun, most of the people didn't speak english resulting in fantastic one sided conversations each of us saying a thing or two then letting the other talk with out a single thing actually being communicated. i see now how little language matters and how far you can get with hand signals and facial expressions. i make it to the cost it was easy. i'm down to twenty euros the ticket is 27. this is when i rifle through the pack hoping that some money had fallen from heaven and accidentally found its way into my back pack. WOW, it did. the euros i had forgotten when i arrived in switzerland, the pound and a half left from england and the swiss frances amy gave me all added up to just enough to push me past the 27 mark. the wine is cheep but im still abel to make out the white cliffs of dover through the haze in my head. oh yea i forgot that once i'm england i still needed money to reach london. only a small miscalculation, nothing a few hours of busking can't fix. busking is the english word for playing music or performing on the street for money. i take a bus. i land in london penny less with the security of a job waiting for me in the morning. i know in a few days i'll be rich and in love again . the world still hasn't lost it's gleam though i've lost  a few days of sleep and all my money. hell i couldn't really have spent a better week if i had planned it for years.   

 lots of details left out some intentionally some forgotten others to boring or lengthy, ask for them if you dare i might find some time is by busy schedule as a traveling salesman to tell you anything you might want to hear.

bye ya all

love dewey

ps by the time you read this i'll be in liverpool trying my luck selling paintings. themoney is good and the people are better. last week i made around $600 in four days so i'm rich again for the time being. later everyone.

pps i hope everyone gets my canadian jokes

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Three Day Horse Trek

Hi,

Yes, I am going to Kunming.  I've been in Chengdu for the last few days with Mark, Laura, Mary and Jo and we arrived in Songpan today.  We're off on a three day horse trek in the mountains tomorrow.  We're doing a language course in Kunming so we'll be there for a while.  Hope you're having a good vac.

Catxx

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Shit Load of Bombs

Cat,

Just bumped into Laury and he told me to send him an e- when I got to Kunming.  The only problem is I don't have his E-mail anymore...  Laury made it sound like you were going to Kunming.  If you have his e- send it to me.  Matt says he has it.  Anyway Laury came out to say farewell to Danny but they missed each other.  We had fun on the fourth of july (independence day) blew up some stuff.  Our buddy Mike bought a shit load of bombs.  I am planning on going to Lijiang, Dali and one other place I think.

Kevin

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

She’s gone

This entry started with a “happy birthday Joe” and a bunch of Chinese characters and a note from Nadja saying something akin to I love you in German.  I wrote “so she’s gone…” and continued by noting that this was the inevitable love entry “She’s gone” is clearly the title.  I went on to say that the real question is how did the Dwarf know about this line?  I have always been a bit incredulous about the Tleilaxu Haderach but I guess this is what they gleaned from him.  Isn’t loss of love the most inevitable result of knowing the future?

I noted that then (once again) I was without.  I noted that this was a little sad.  I went on to say that she was reasonable all the way up to the last minute and then she cried a bit and then at the last minute I saw in her eyes the truth—that it hurt.  This made me take her seriously and I noted that I was not willing to do that until then.

I scrawled the words RED SHIFT in red on the next page with this poem:

            I said no every day and now there is a Red Shift.

            It’s time to go they say; trapped in a time rift.

            It’s hard to walk when your foot keeps hitting a cane—better to be blind.

            Weekend, New Years and they’re gone.  Goin’ to mom’s; moving out; quitin’ the job.

            I’m leaving this fuckin’ town!  Wanna go skiin’ this winter?

            Every town I go to is just as dead as the last.

            No one stays cuz their goin’ so fast.

            Love is the sound of a car driving away

            and it seems like I am the only one to stay.

            I write and send and it all comes back alright.

            “Wish you were here,” they say,

            and alone I time the pass away.

            I kissed her and saw the red shift in her eyes.

            She was moving away from me at light speed then

            in an expanding universe so big it may not even be measured.

Here the justification changes and the writing is more prose than poetry.  I wrote,

“That was the day.  We tried to do it… failed.  Getting up with her is like no one else.  She went up finished packing.  I sat and read Children of Dune, went downstairs.  At one point did some fangjian shit.  ‘Wo mayo tongwu,’ that kind of shit.  Her computer was sittin’ here for a while.  Oh yeah she packed, I read, then we went to Ni Hao [restaurant].  Oh that’s right I was workin on the homework.  Danny gave me his guitar.  Christina gave me 800 yuan.  I asked Nadja if she wanted western food.  We ate small and quick: peanuts and chicken.  Jiao Yun Mogu Bing Feng Mifan.  She went to the Sea Star.  We saw four girls we knew.  I started typing my homework after she crushed me.  She bitched, ‘we don’t have enough time as it is.’  I went and got the film.  [She bitched at] Michaela and Ute… about TV’s.  Danny came with us to the RRS.  We got pulled over on the way.  I waited in a line too long.  I kissed her and saw the red shift, looked for Dan he was gone, gone, gone.”

This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

I Make Always Sense

I looked again at the black book and found a post for the 14^th of June.  I started out with “I make always sense” which was something that Nadja said to me.  Germans tend to get some parts of speech mixed up.  According to my other notebooks indicated that I did have class this day.

I went on to write that Nadja has this wonderful way of pouting when she doesn’t get her way.  I noted that I knew that things were a lot less spectacular than they seemed but my understanding of people is rarely linear.  I wrote that I felt a lot safer about my reactions to her because I had been with her every night.  I wrote that my nocturnal dreamland-time with her sort of negated the chain of action but that there was reason enough to act more “something” towards her.  I wrote that I thought that if we didn’t know that we could easily be intimate with one another then we would much more readily treat each other with a lot more tenderness.

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Fa Men Ta

I drew a map of Fa Men Ta.  This was a pagoda that my class mates and I went to.  I am pretty sure that we got a hand out in class and then we met near school.  We got into a van and I am not certain who was driving but once our teacher’s husband drove us on a van trip.  When we got there we were in the town FaMen.  I have memories of how the locals spread wheat out on the road way for the cars to break the chaff from the grain.  Inside the temple we saw a lot of stuff about the Finger Bone of the Sakyamuni Buddha.  I am not certain how the rest of the day went but I am pretty sure we went to another museum.  This one was on the side of a mountain or hill and there was a tomb for a princess.

This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Conversations and Communication

It starts with a note from my advisor: “Assignment #3 Conversations and communication - Talking about your topic - in Chinese!  DUE MAY 15 - please be on time, I will be leaving town May 19! (as usual I will remain in email contact, but my response to this assignment has to be done by then.  Your final paper will be due June 30.”

The details of the assignment are as follows:

--Restate the central problem/s of your research in one or two initial paragraphs

My project is concerned with opportunities and experience in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL).  Not only is this subject popular in English speaking countries like the United States but it is also extremely popular in The People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Chinese are remarkably interested in English and will do anything to learn.  I have spent many hours explaining idioms and phrases whose meaning may be just outside of their grasp.  I have also noticed that the people I have met in Xi’an are not only fantastically excited they are accommodating as well.

While it may be easy to find a job here though, it is a lot less easy to discover personal motivations.  For example with my first job, I initially felt less than adequate, even though I was assured that effort and punctuality were all that was required of me.  My lack of faith was fulfilled a week and a half later when Liu called and changed all of our agreements.  I was right, I am a terrible teacher and I should just quit.  Instead I stuck it out and I feel I have been rewarded with some great experiences.  I also have decided that this was not the whole story.  I think that Liu hired me because I was the second choice to another teacher who wasn’t coming through for him.  When he told me, “You don’t use the same style the students are used to.” He actually meant that I should quit and give all of my hours over to this other teacher instead of just the half that he took from me.

No matter how well I hide my motivations I am transparent in the eyes of my friends and family.  Understanding motivations can be like second nature to me when I am at home but it is definitely not the same here. I think that there is a correlation between culture shock and relative advantage.  With the above scenario it is obvious that Liu got the best deal because of the fact that I still know nothing about how he operates.  The fact that I have only met him twice is a testament to this.

--Update me on what work you have been conducting, noting new insights and new problems.

There is a responsibility attached to being a teacher.  A teacher is constantly exposed to discontinuous relationships.  It isn’t a job it is a lifestyle.  In the past two and a half months I have had two jobs, which have gained me a number of new friends.  For instance the kids that follow me home after class are great for finding out more information about teaching learning and working.  I have gained a lot of experience from teaching little children as well.  In fact, they all teach me a great deal—even the quietest students. I have the option of maintaining a relationship with these people after my jobs are over.  Shared interest is the mechanism maintaining a relationship and I think that it is important understand that this is a very important aspect of my own motivations for teaching English.

I have also acquired new English learning and teaching skills as well.  Liu told me that my teaching style is different and I would tend to believe him even though he may not have ever seen me teach and I haven’t a clue why it is different.  I have always leaned toward two styles of teaching though: CLT and the Rassias method.  When I first learned about CLT (Content Learning Technique) it immediately caught my enthusiasm because I have never had much interest in a strict curriculum.  Content Learning is best suited for tutorials like my classes and I think I have had a lot of success.  In one of my lessons I found that this could be done through breaking the class up into groups.  I had the first set of groups build a town on paper and the second group learned about it.  At the end of class we listed the towns and all of their attributes.  At the beginning the language knowledge in the classroom is heterogeneous.  All the students know words but they all don’t know the same words.  The role of the teacher is to teach the students how to communicate so as to make the pockets of unknowns available to a greater audience or homogenize language ability.  This is teaching learning.  If the student learns how to learn then the teacher is no longer needed.

The Rassias method is a little different.  This method is very attractive to me but I think that it will be a long time before I can even begin to use it in my classes.  An English teacher at Dartmouth, Rassias developed a method that was focused upon dramatically raising a student’s language acquisition.  This means more activity in class.  Rassias himself insists that the student should respond at least sixty times an hour—this means practically one response per student per minute.  This extra-ordinary achievement is currently outside of my ability but the meaning is clear: response is important and necessary.

--Make use of the improvements in your language capacity by including data from conversations/interviews in Chinese.

I am interested in teaching English.  Hence would it not make sense then to only speak English so that I may meet people who are interested in learning it?  When I meet people on the street speak to me in English I speak to them in Chinese because this is the language that I am studying.  This is really disconcerting to them.  Unfortunately, this is a good way to get them to go away usually.  I think that this is a major conflict of interest.  Remedying this problem has been a lot of work.  It requires that I not only pay attention to the interests shared with my students or potential students but the interests shared with you (my teacher Mary).

When I first arrived my language ability was poor but as time went on I discovered that I comprehended more of what was said.  I don’t know if this has a lot to do with the vocabulary I have learned though.  I think that it is place.  I have discovered the right places for speaking and I know the vocabulary required for comprehensible output.  While I may have learned a many language skills in the past two and a half months I think I have learned a lot more about where to meet new friends and make new relationships.  I was with a Chinese friend when I met the person who made my current job with little children available.  I was at English corner when I met the closer friends that I have now.  In fact, the majority of my Chinese friends are studying English.

The greatest reason for me knowing how to get around here has to do with my ability to speak English.  People know I speak English and are willing to give me stuff for it.  They just want a bit of my time.  I hate to admit it but I don’t mind this either.  Speaking Chinese can be extremely frustrating.  It takes a lot to keep myself from hiding away in the dorm like others might.  My teachers use English to explain things to the students in my class even.  It is entirely impossible to escape this.  ‘Escape’ is hardly the right word for it my situation would be nearly unbearable if I could not speak any English at all.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t learned any Chinese.  I am constantly aware of what is being remembered because of the fact that every day I am able to solve a new problem in my everyday life.  ‘Wang qian zou,’ a phrase I learned the other day, would have the perfect phrase to say to a cabbie that took a wrong turn on me a week ago.  ‘Pa shan’ which means climb a mountain, is a term I discovered the other day at Hua Shan.  Another thing I have discovered is that cab drivers always ask the same three to five questions, the same three to five questions that I generally am asked upon first meeting someone who cannot speak English.

--How do they feel about the nature, uses etc of your topic?

There are a number of different motivations for learning English and not all of them are associated with the desire to leave the country.  Generally speaking English is an extremely lucrative language.  People want to learn it because of the fact that so many popular products and important information can be better understood through its usage.  I have a couple businessmen in one of my classes and I even had a high school student or two.  Most of the students in my classes are involved in either industry or economics both of which have strong ties to the English language.  Actually, I would have a harder time thinking of something that is not strongly associated with English.

Of course there are a few students who really are interested in leaving the country though. One of my friends is planning on going to school in the US and she already has several friends who are in other countries.  While learning English is worthwhile for a student in China it is also extremely useful for students returning as well.  Almost every student in the country is supposed to learn English prior to College and all of these English teachers are Chinese themselves.  There are even national competitions in English in every province.

--Build a sketch of the total universe of how this topic plays a role in their lives.

English represents a great advantage, which says a lot about how it is perceived here in China. Aside from the fact that every student is already somewhat interested in English there is also a great demand for it in industry.  It is very obvious that the country is working hard to compete with western markets.  I have never seen so many buildings being built at the same time.  Xi’an is bustling with construction and from what I have heard from my other teachers this is not the only city in China that is doing so.  The automobile is a wonderful example of imported language.  Recently, I took a trip to southern Shaanxi, I didn’t know it at the time but the line that I took there was built only within the past ten years.  All of these things require help from other countries and if this is the case it means English.

--What kinds of special vocabulary you have had to develop to talk about your project?

--What words and concepts did you have to look up in the dictionary when you anticipated the opportunity to talk to someone about it?

Di’er yuyan xide (second language acquisition) is a term that I learned in the US but I didn’t know that the Chinese had translated it.  Along with content learning there are a number of other techniques for learning language that they teach at Humboldt; L2 acquisition is one of them.  Acquisition is an important term because it deals with the aspects of language that are generally overlooked.  Usually when a person learns language they pick up the majority of their vocabulary quite easily.  Linguistic researchers call this acquisition because the words themselves are never actually learned.  Rather the language learner hears the words and phrases co-opts them into their own language and them spits them out at later date.  If the usage is improper then it is discovered by a ‘native speaker and corrected, this is called learning.   Apparently the characters for ‘Xide’ are ancient to the point where the word is not used any more, meaning ‘acquire’ in the more conventional sense but I didn’t know this until one of my students told me this in conversation only the other day. 

--What sorts of special vocabulary have you picked up in conversation about your topic?

Crazy English (Feng1 Kuang2 Ying1 Yu3) is a very typical term here and is even the name of a very famous magazine.  I think I first heard this term in relation to Korean and they call it ‘K’richi yingyish’.  Crazy English refers to the fact terrible English is used everywhere.  The magazine’s author is a Chinese person who was interested in having an effect upon language change—which is most pronounced where languages meet each other.  I have noticed that Xi’an is filled with this stuff.  Almost every other store front in the downtown area has English written on it and about half is terrible and the other half while grammatical would never be said by any native speaker.

The concept of "native terms" means using words in a emotional or special way; packing in the meaning in a certain context (a different way of thinking about things).

I suppose I could call my friend Zeng Sa a black horse (heima) and the reason I say this is because of the fact that her English is incredible.

--What sorts of special metaphors or ways of talking about something occur in your topic?

I have a German friend who asked me if the rumors were true that I was interested in teaching English.  I found out that he wanted my help correcting a document he needed to hand in to his boss at Siemens.  The document he showed me is so typical of Chinese writing that I don’t even notice it any more.  Even though it is a German company, Siemens still needs to advertise its products in English.  He was given a document written by a Chinese person that he was supposed to correct.  It was a pitch for rail switches sold by Siemens’ joint venture partner and though it was well written it contained the type of vague flowery Chinese prose that is so typical of China.  I corrected the mistakes for him and even straightened out the language in such a way so as to leave the flowers intact.  He thanked me and then said that I might even be able to get a Job.

Zeng sent me a series of e-mails that had many emotional undertones in it and I found that her language became more flowery the more she expressed feeling.

--Describe ways to be friendly, establish rapport, explain what you are doing and why you are asking questions.

In my classes I have discovered that my students want to talk continuously, this is why design my lesson plans in a more student-oriented fashion.

--How do you express cultural ignorance, transposing what people say into your own words for confirmation and correction, and ways to encourage people to talk more, or with greater depth?

Because it is such a natural aspect of the human psyche, I have discovered that my ignorance can have both a negative as well as positive effect upon my situation and the fact that I am so stubborn doesn’t make this any better.   I went to visit a friend’s parents in Ankang and when we were eating I made a few mistakes.  I feel I have turned down a number of people in the interest of time only to discover that it may have been worthwhile to have actually spoken to them.  I met an African man a while ago and he made it clear that yes one could spend literally a whole year (or four in his case) without learning any language.  This is called fossilization.

--What are strategies for dealing with obstacles?

Obstacles come in such a diversity of situations that the only thing I can say for sure as a good strategy is patience.

--Are there questions you simply cannot express in the way you are thinking of them? Are you surprised by any of the responses?

I think that probably the most interesting set of responses is why people want to learn English.  This seems to be a hard question to look into because of the whole emigration issue.

This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

An Kang

I will return to the notebooks from 2002.  First there is the black book.  I found that on May first I went with Andy, Zeng Sa and Mathew to An Kang.  We also had my classmate Nina with us.  I believe she was from the Bay Area.  My notebook says that while we were there I learned some swear words.  This was an interesting bit in a weekend trip.  I will try to put the whole experience together.

I am noticing that the green notebook has letters and numbers listed together in it over and over again and I believe that this is because it was for my listening class.  In this notebook there is a gap between the 28^th of April and May 8^th that indicates I was gone for some time.  However, I think that it was simply a spring holiday.

I remember that four of us had to endure several hours on a train to An Kang standing.  When we got to the town Mathew met us and took us to his parent’s, who had a couple of extra rooms.  Mathew had come a few days earlier.  We later crossed the Han River to have lamb in town.  We walked around for much of that night.  My notes from May second show that Zeng Sa (Sam) wrote down the lyrics for a Beastie Boys song for me in Chinese.  This was funny.  The next day Mathew’s mom made us breakfast and at some point we went to see the dragon boat races.

This Notebook Analysis is part of retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Out on the Line

Kev,  I wouldn't call that girl trouble I would call it Kevin doesn't know what he wants trouble! I find that as soon as I think I found a great guy about 20 other great guys come along and there I am too confused to deal with any of them. I suggest stay with the German girl who hasn't stuck your heart out on the line. At least that is the safe way to look at it. Although I always want the ones I can't have it makes it more exciting! I don't see any reason to laugh except that it is Kevin we are talking about!!!!!!!

Good luck buddy let me know how it all pans out!  Jess

This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Girl Trouble

Dear JH,  So I am having girl trouble (again), You can't help me but maybe you can laugh at me. I met a cute girl two years ago. We saw each other for two months. She left for the east coast. I went to visit her in Colorado a month later. Things were a little sour then. I have been professing my love for her on and on since then over the e-.

Since I went out with her I have gotten together with a few women. All were lots of fun. The last one in Arcata also happened to be VERY insane.

Now I am somewhat involved with this German girl who is... She is VERY nice... She just took off for Gansu for the weekend. (which is much like going to Arcata from Sac) Anyway, the girl on the east coast is actually in Arizona now. She SEZ she wants to move to SF (WHY? I don't know.) Which is everything I have ever wanted... except... I am here getting together with a girl who is just as great a she...

This is where you are supposed to laugh at me and make a snide comment. Just like the times eh?

For about two months now I been in Shaanxi. (say it like this: Shen? Shee.) My classes are going to last another three. My teacher in Arcata has been planning a trip to Tibet. I don't know if he wants me to come though. I think I will be here till dec. Whatchathink?  from K.

This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.

Terrible Slang

Going through my emails I found one from dad that said he had received a box from me.  I sent some tea that dad said was a no no.  He said not to send agricultural stuff.  He asked about some art work that I had sent him.  I also got a bunch from girls I used to date.  Apparently my emails are formatted differently when they are received.  I sent some embarrassing emails to my friends too using terrible slang.  Dad sent another email about some of his friends coming to China on a tour but I didn’t go looking for them because I didn’t hear from them individually.

Around this time our advisor sent us an update on the course load.  She then sent another email saying that she was going to be posted in Beijing for about a year administering a CSU program.  She sent us some updates on how our program should provide more field work and provided us some work-arounds for making things happen.

A couple of days later I sent out an email to my ex-girlfriend and another friend.  He eventually replied that he had sent me a box of book.  I really appreciated that.  I also started receiving emails from people that I met in Xi’an.  One specifically was from Sam (real name Zeng Sa) who clearly wanted me to help her with her already wonderful English.  I apparently taught her the terms slacker and sucker.

 This is series is a retrospective of my life taken from emails that I sent or received on the First of the Month.