travelling day thirteen - where the ancient art of Chinese camponology is explored

Camponology is bell ringing.  Nothing to do with the great outdoors.  Today we saw lots of bell ringing.  We went to the Wuhan museum today which involved a very long taxi ride to get there - we chose a taxi with an even-ended number plate and he was not allowed to cross the number one bridge as it was an odd day.

Pines on the steps at the Wuhan Museum

At the museum there were many many ancient artifacts, including a complete set of amazing musical instruments that were preserved in a tomb from an emperor thousands of years ago.  They had created some replica instruments and we went to a performance at the museum - which the girls really enjoyed.  Thankfully.  Because before that there was serious museum fatigue happening.  There was a set of two toned bells - very impressive.

the bells the bells

bells in performance

China is also the place for very random sculptures from the ancient world - a crane sculpture with antlers took my eye.

 After the museum we went to the nearby East Lake - very much like a botanical gardens.  It was a beautiful clear day for Wuhan and the perfect temperature.  So we decided to go for a paddle on the lake in a ducky boat.  Of course.  Accompanied by icecreams.  We paddled all over the lake - the girls loved it.  Mucking around in boats is much better for young things than looking at old things inside a museum.

And check out what I had a turn on this afternoon (thanks to new friends up the street).

vrroommm vroommmm vroooommm.  If I lived here I would totally get an electric scooter.

Chris' cultural tips: Never forget tissues.
Tissues are handy things.  They are handy for blowing your nose, wiping mouths, cleaning up spillages, and a myriad other uses.  But they are even more prevalent here in China.  Especially the little pocket-sized packets.  In Australia the tissue section is dominated by boxes.  Here it is dominated by pocket-sized packets.  And there is a good reason.  There is no toilet paper in public toilets.

Apparently it sometimes gets stolen.  Or businesses are stingy.  Or something.  Whatever the reason there is no toilet paper in public toilets.  There is sometimes even no toilet paper when you visit people's apartments.  Everyone is expected to have a handy pocket sized packet of tissues for all toileting needs.  And if you think of the 1.3 billion bums in China that is a lot of tissue packets required.  So it is VITALLY IMPORTANT that wherever you go, never forget tissues.

travelling day twelve - food street revisited

Annika and Gabby went to the international school with our friend's daughter today.  We had to have them ready, lunch and all, to walk out the door to catch the bus at 7.30.  It took some doing - but it happened.  And they were gone until 5 in the afternoon (there was art club after school).  So we had a long day without children to fill in.

Hmmm what shall we do?

We decided to revisit food street after Saturday's not so successful visit in the heat and tiredness, and get a massage.

food street - so much food, such limited stomach room

squid on a stick

We ate:
- banana fritters on a stick
- lamb on a stick
- little doughnut things on a stick
- rice tofu square things with chopsticks
- fried meat bread on a stick
- meat in a wrap
- squid on a stick
- rice balls on a stick
which proves my long held theory that food tastes better on a stick (think about it - kebabs, lollipops, iceblocks..).

We passed on the crabs, fried tofu and snails.

This afternoon we also tried a Chinese foot massage.  Awesome.  Ticklish.  Invigorating not relaxing.

Speaking of food, one of the things in China I have enjoyed is the supermarkets.  In a lot of ways they are similar to Woolies or Coles, except for the tanks of live fish, crabs, turtles, eels and sharks that are placed in the middle of the fruit and vege section.  You grab a little net and select your edible sealife of choice, then they gut and fillet it for you in the middle of the supermarket.  It's a little bit of reality right there in the fresh produce section.

Chris’ cultural tip: Don’t drink the water

No-one drinks the water in China.  The tap water at least.  It is mostly untreated and unsafe to drink.  Most places that can afford it have water coolers, and the rest simply boil their water before drinking.  It is apparently so culturally ingrained that the authorities have said that even if they did start to treat the water no-one would drink it because they are so used to boiling it.  It is an interesting thought to trade off the expense and energy required to treat all treat all water, or have all the energy used by individuals boiling or buying bottled water.

Regardless you will see bottled water everywhere, both in water coolers and individual bottles.  And everyone knows everywhere – don’t drink the water.

travelling day eleven - a cold wind sweeps across Wuhan

Rest day today.

Rainy day today.

Grocery shopping today.

Puppet completion today.

Temperature dropped 10 degrees today.

Burns from the hot glue gun today.

Gabby lost her carry bag in a taxi today.

Made new friends today.

Enjoyed the food today.

Quiet day today.

Chris' cultural tip: It ain't a wedding without fancy dress.
We all expect to get dressed up for weddings in Australia.  But when we get dressed up we all sort of look the same.  And we also expect wedding photos.  But again they all tend to turn out the same.  Back home Catriona & I are going through another season of weddings.  We went through one when our peers where tending to get married.  But being involved in youth ministry leads to a whole bunch of connections and a whole bunch more weddings.  So we can safely say we have been through our fair share of weddings.  And really, they all tend to look the same.  All very nice.  All very fancy.  But basically from the same mold.

Not so in China.  Where we are staying in China is right next to a favourite local spot for wedding photos.  And we have seen that here in China they take the "fancy dress" part seriously (or is that not so seriously) for weddings.  When we first saw some wedding photos being taken we thought it was for a strange modelling shoot, but we have seen since that this was just one of a string of wedding photo shoots.  They may not take place on the actual wedding day, but apparently it is all the rage in China to get dressed up in strange costumes and have a photo shoot to celebrate your wedding.  Here are but a few examples of what we have seen:

All strange but true.

You can clearly see that it ain't a wedding without fancy dress.

travelling day ten - where I become an international puppet consultant

Mr Orange modelling with his unfinished monster mates

construction zone - hot glue is really hot

From a tiny hair brained idea to a full afternoon of fabric, foam and hot glue guns.  The Sunday school teachers from the international community had a wonderful afternoon of puppet making and learning about how to use this puppeting tool to tell stories.  It had become a Project with a capital ‘P’.  It was a real blessing to being among these people and teach them my small amount of knowledge about puppets, and to witness their creativity.  Mr Orange was turned inside out many times to investigate how he was made.  And I now have a contact in Wuhan who can tailor make more puppet bodies for me.

Look what we made!

We have been here just over a week, and I feel that we have been placed for a purpose at this place at this time.  I am leaving a little puppet legacy behind that will hopefully help more children and people engage and learn about the Kingdom.  

I also helped with Sunday school this morning at the weekly meeting.  We had a pitched battle with balloon swords between Jonathon and the Philistines (after a quick check on the net on how to make balloon swords!).  And Annika and I introduced the actions to three Colin Buchanan songs.  Fun times.

Annika and Gabby are making their own puppets to bring home tomorrow.  I am getting concerned about our luggage – I will possibly need to buy another bag!

travelling day nine - walking and walking and walking and walking

Today's plan was to visit on of Wuhan's most famous landmarks - the Yellow Crane Tower.

 

 It was an hour bus ride there - then about a three kilometer walk.  With toddlers.  But we made it.  And it was worth it to be at a site of cultural significance.  Even if I was not quite sure what the significance was.

Our lovely hosts Scott and Kerryn

from the top of the tower - smog in the city

Annika being pulled into random photos with Chinese kids

on food street

our kids were the star attraction on food street today

Also today I had the opportunity to give a talk to about 50 parents from the kindy regarding language and speech development.  I had researched Mandarin speech sound development (Dodd 2000), and talked about Blanks levels of questioning, as well as language strategies, stuttering hints, semantic webs, early literacy and bilinguilism.  My brain had a bit of a workout answering all their questions!  It was very exciting to see so many parents interested in language development - particularly translated from a foreigner.  What great opportunities are here.

Tomorrow we make puppets.  We picked up the bodies today from the tailor at the fabric market and they look awesome.  She managed to make 27 in three days. Bring it on.

Chris' cultural tip: Apartments are the norm in China
Apartment living is very much the norm in increasingly urbanised China.  People are moving to the cities in China at a phenomenal rate, and that means high density living.  We are staying in an apartment.  4 adults and 5 kids squeezing into an apartment about half the size of our house.  But it is all normal for urban China where even the fridges are half the Australian size on average.  Houses are rare, expensive, and basically for the rich.

The normality of apartment living was brought home to me today.  I was visiting a local fellowship.  It was meeting in an apartment on the 7th floor.  The meeting was all in Chinese so I was pretty much lost, so I decided to play with the only child there - a small girl about 3 years old.  We had no common language so we took to drawing on the whiteboard together.  One thing she did draw was a "house".  It was the international language of house drawing with a triangle roof, a rectangle chimney and windows consisting of a square with a plus through the middle.  The only difference was her "house" was far taller than our usual square ones, and it had a LOT more windows.  So it was obvious that even in the international language of house drawings, apartments are the norm in China.

Traveling day eight - the only blonde on a bus

Chris and I did a double performance at the international school assembly today.  It was great working on something with him – he is one talented person.  At home we are usually doing our own projects – he is involved in youth and I muck around in kid’s work.  But it was wonderful for a change to have a shared focus and work out together how to tell the story of Esther.  There was a puppet involved.  And a song that I made up.  And Chris playing the part of a reporter for "In Persia Today".  I even shamelessly used my children as stagehands.

I can hear Timothy (the three year old at the house where we are staying) still singing the song we made up!

We followed the school assembly time with milk tea – a Chinese favourite, and the local specialty Wuhan hot, dry, noodles.  We ate them sitting on the footpath and were the conversational topic for all the locals sitting around us.

Then I went to the kindy to do another round of storytelling and caught the bus to the kindy ALL BY MY SELF. I hopped onto the bus armed with 4 yuan and a little note with then characters explaining what stop I was getting off at. I asked a few people on the bus if they could help me, and a lovely gentleman not only got off the stop with me, he walked me all the way to the kindy and delivered me to our friends. I have been told that the whole history of China and the impression it gives is dependent upon whether you are kind to strangers on the bus. Or something like that. In any case, I have not met a Chinese person yet who is not friendly and helpful and patient - even though they may have lots of their own jobs to do.

Thanks helpful Chinese guy

On the bus trip back home I got off at the correct stop, and a cheer went up from about 8 people who helped me find the stop. Then I had to cross the major road outside the apartment block. It looked like a wall of traffic. I spied a local to follow, and started my 'ghost walk' strategy. This is when I realized the local I had chosen to follow was a young teenage fellow who weaved in and out of the cars. But I kept on him like a champion and crossed the road unscathed.

So now I have travelled around like a local. Yay! Feel a big sense of accomplishment.

At the kindy when I was doing some storytelling it was with a group of 8 year old boys.  And as with all 8 year old boys on a Friday afternoon they were being rascals.  I had learned only two phrases of Chinese before I came - and one of them was 'fong pai' (who farted?).  Needless to say, I heard this phrase amidst much giggling from the boys in the story time this afternoon.  8 year olds.  The same the world over.

rascals....fong pai?

travelling day seven - yes it is a market - a big, big, random market

The expedition today to the CRAZY market was successful - if you count success as Annika and Gabby spending pocket money on Chinese bitsy things and Chris actually finding something to buy.  It was like shopping in the street version of Crazy Clarks but with motorbikes and pushcarts and products everywhere.  I bought two lanterns that I thought would fold up - but just kind of become smaller.  They may or may not make it into the suitcase to come home.  I became better at bargaining as we went around the market, learnt important Chinese phrases such as 'how much', 'too expensive', 'I don't want it', and 'yes please I'll take it thank you very much'.  Annika even had a turn at bargaining!  For numbers I just used my fingers. 

We were searching for specific items at the market - a ukelele (we did not find one), long balloons (found a packet of 200 for $1), scarves (purchased) and gifts for friends (much list ticking from the girls).  And we also found random items - a pink puppet sized umbrella for dizzy and 140 ping pong balls for the eyes for the puppet making project (yes it has become a project) that I have going here.

to market to market

 

a normal intersection

trash can bread - mmmmmmmm

 

a rare slow moment in the crazy market

shopping face.  and 140 ping pong balls.

In other news here are some things about China that I have noticed;
- I have had a persistant cough now for a week - the Wuhan air has settled in my lungs
- I am missing the lorikeets at our house in Brisbane - there is a strange absence of animal life in this big city
- I love Chinese food
- friendships are more instant and intense when you are travelling
- we are being used for the Kingdom with what we know - this is exciting and a blessing, and you get the feeling that we are here for a special planned time
- we are not sick yet, and this is not from our strength

Tonight we also helped with an English conversation class.  This is always fun, and I really enjoy talking with new people.  Actually, I really enjoy talking.

Tomorrow we are helping with the school assembly for their daughter of the friends we are staying with, and I am helping again at the kindy with storytelling.  And Chris gets to watch the swannies game at a friends house.  We have settled in well in less than a week!

Chris’ cultural tip: It’s all a matter of taste

When you come to China you expect all sorts of weird and varied tastes, and we haven’t been disappointed.  From the bizarre to the delightful our palate is experiencing all sorts of new sensations.  One thing I didn’t totally expect though was how some things we know and love in Australia have their tastes changed to suit China.  You get all sorts of bizarre things like green tea ice cream Oreos.  To give you an idea here is a sample of the selection of the flavours of potato chips in the local supermarket, starting from the relatively normal to the… well you’ll see:

• American classic
• Texas grilled BBQ
• Mexican tomato chicken
• Little tomato
• Italian red meat
• Tomato seafood
• Lime
• Lemon tea
• Cucumber
• Blueberry
• And my personal favourite (though I doubt I will try some)…

So as you can see even the tastes of chips are tailored to suit the culture they are in.  And even though they may seem bizarre, considering China’s 1.3 billion people, they are probably selling far more of these flavours than our humble salt & vinegar.  Which just goes to show it’s all a matter of taste.