Saturday August 24
Today I'll just write about the day so far. And it's only 8:10 am
The day starts early here. We got up just after 4 and there was very
little action on the streets or in the courtyard or track. Breakfast that
may be a pattern, and our only western food of the day, porridge cooked on
the induction stove, sliced peach bought fresh yesterday at the fruit
stand right outside the window, soft bread and marmalade and black tea.
About 5:15 I set off to explore. the city as alive. Construction on the
overpass about 800 metres away had started. Street sweepers out clad in
overalls, reflective garb and with brooms made of branches. Lots of cars.
The stores were opening and the breakfast stands doing a lively business.
There is very little English signage and I do not have a paper map.
However my destination was clear, Jilin University. Using a roundabout
route I got back to the main gates where we had been yesterday by about
5:45.
People everywhere. Students arriving for the fall term, adults and students
n out walking or jogging, a small group doing tai chi to recorded music,
another man doing tai chi alone n a parking lot, yet another man in the
same parking lot just standing and clapping rhythmically and loudly. The
library is huge with big windows and it looks like that students almost
camp there. I saw one man curled up beside a potted plant and piles of
books and snacks and clothes on the study tables.
There is a standard size track with stadium seating along one side. Just
outside the track are some serious looking swings and slides and many sets
of parallel bars like those used in men's gymnastics. Everything is fairly
old, but swept.
There were probably 50 people on the track, mostly walking or jogging, in
regular clothes. A group of men practising a martial art of some sort. And
along the end about ten individual students, books in hand, practising oral
English. In there stands there were three groups of about 20 students, each
with a leader, doing choral readings from a text.
I sat om a ledge to listen. Very soon three students approached me. The
bravest (Bruce) spoke first. "Excuse me, can you please tell me how to
pronounce this word?" It was 'deliverance.'
The ice broken they eagerly chatted and after a while there were about 8
students talking. So very sweet and gracious.
"Are you practising for a test?"
"No, if we just practice for a test we will never learn well. We practice
all the time."
They gather every morning at 6 am to read English aloud for an hour.
"Chinese students all over the world work hard and study hard so that they
can be successful. Our teacher says that speaking English is a bridge to
the world."
I wish that I had brought to China a bag of those pins we hand out on
Canada Day. They were interested in Canadian education and that my little
granddaugher is named "Beautiful Phoenix."
Back past yesterday's market. One man sat beside a cage of black lab
puppies. Fruit stands galore and lots of food. Wish I knew what it was but
there is lots of time to learn. Such contrasts: piles of garbage and run
down buildings with very smartly dressed people coming out of them, around
a corner suddenlty a beautiful garden,
Back to our college by 8. David is busy preparing his lectures for Monday.
School work is our main focus today as well as learning how to use our
little washing machine and coming up with a schedule for keeping our little
apartment clean. And maybe some music. We are working up a few tunes for
flute and guitar.
Kieran Forde just dropped in for a vsit. He is the coordinator of Academic
English and the man who interviewed us via Skype in July. He said that we
may have more information about our courses later tonight. No problem.
All for now.
Love, Liz/mum xo
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