Hi!

I think I might start a blog because these emails are so long and I don't
want people to "feel boring" -- anyway, there are a few exchanges I've had
today and yesterday that I'd like to share:

Yesterday I had lunch with my acupuncture student friend. He told me lots
of really interesting things about Chinese medicine, but probably the most
interesting was talking about SARS. He asked me what kinds of feelings I
had about SARS when it came out and I told him that we were all worried
and alarmed. He said "oh! Actually, that was the happiest time of my
life!" That was because the kids got 15 minutes extra at recess every day
to limit their time cooped up together in class and lower the risk of
infecting each other. He said that every day before he picked up the paper
he'd pray for one of the kids in his school to have come down with SARS,
and then he'd look to see if the school was listed for closure. And his
dad found himself alone in a hotel in a particularly high-risk area in the
south on a business trip, and they told him he showed the right symptoms
and should go to a hospital -- but he was frightened that he really would
become infected were he to do so, so he stayed by himself and got lots
of sun and ate nothing but garlic that week, and according to my friend,
his dad just cured himself like this. Mind and body!

Today we had two very successful classes at Happy Camp. Remember how I
said I'd never touch the rubbish? Well, that's exactly what we had them
doing today, and I'm sure all of you would balk if you saw what happened.
I'll leave that for the next email because I need to go to bed, but for
now --

The kids love answering really simple questions (maybe our kids like that
too and I'm just inexperienced with this age group). Anyway, even the
thirteen year olds don't seem to get bored with teacher student exchanges
like:
"What is this?"
"A banana!"
"Do you like to eat bananas?"
"Yes!"
"Would you ever eat a banana as you stroll along the road?"
"Yes!"
"And what do you do when you finish your banana?"
(after a pause) "Throw the peel in the trash!"
"Is that the right thing to do my friends?"
"Yes!"
"Is that what you always do?"
"Yes!"
"And you'll keep doing that in the future?"
"Yes!"
...

We did quite a bit of that last week, but today we had them sort the trash
after they collected it. They could choose to put it in one of the three
bags we'd prepared, "Recyclable," "Non-recyclable," and "Hazardous".
...
"What's this?"
"A cigarette butt!"
"Can we recycle it?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
(Long pause, everyone thinks very hard, then one girl raises her hand)
"Yes, why not?"
"Because you can't sell it."

Actually, the kids were really good at sorting the rubbish into the right
bags. The ones who knew where to put the trash seemed to have it down pat,
while others had to think a bit about it, but in general they were pretty
accurate. It was fascinating, though -- with the exception of paper, which
as one boy pointed out could be used to make new paper, everything that
went into the recycling bag belonged there because you could sell it.

I'll see if I can find out more about the recycling system here before
delivering a load of rubbish to you (no pun intended, really!) but at
least it's clear that that the economic incentives of recycling here are
very high, and that's effected even the five and six year olds of this
little community. Whenever we held up a piece of trash and they thought
about where to put it, it seemed they were racking their brains trying to
recall whether they might find it on the street or whether it's something
their parents -- or maybe even themselves -- put aside for selling.

A Few Interesting Exchanges

Hi!
I think I might start a blog because these emails are so long and I don't
want people to "feel boring" -- anyway, there are a few exchanges I've had
today and yesterday that I'd like to share:
Yesterday I had lunch with my acupuncture student friend. He told me lots
of really interesting things about Chinese medicine, but probably the most
interesting was talking about SARS. He asked me what kinds of feelings I
had about SARS when it came out and I told him that we were all worried
and alarmed. He said "oh! Actually, that was the happiest time of my
life!" That was because the kids got 15 minutes extra at recess every day
to limit their time cooped up together in class and lower the risk of
infecting each other. He said that every day before he picked up the paper
he'd pray for one of the kids in his school to have come down with SARS,
and then he'd look to see if the school was listed for closure. And his
dad found himself alone in a hotel in a particularly high-risk area in the
south on a business trip, and they told him he showed the right symptoms
and should go to a hospital -- but he was frightened that he really would
become infected were he to do so, so he stayed by himself and got lots
of sun and ate nothing but garlic that week, and according to my friend,
his dad just cured himself like this. Mind and body!
Today we had two very successful classes at Happy Camp. Remember how I
said I'd never touch the rubbish? Well, that's exactly what we had them
doing today, and I'm sure all of you would balk if you saw what happened.
I'll leave that for the next email because I need to go to bed, but for
now --
The kids love answering really simple questions (maybe our kids like that
too and I'm just inexperienced with this age group). Anyway, even the
thirteen year olds don't seem to get bored with teacher student exchanges
like:
"What is this?"
"A banana!"
"Do you like to eat bananas?"
"Yes!"
"Would you ever eat a banana as you stroll along the road?"
"Yes!"
"And what do you do when you finish your banana?"
(after a pause) "Throw the peel in the trash!"
"Is that the right thing to do my friends?"
"Yes!"
"Is that what you always do?"
"Yes!"
"And you'll keep doing that in the future?"
"Yes!"
...
We did quite a bit of that last week, but today we had them sort the trash
after they collected it. They could choose to put it in one of the three
bags we'd prepared, "Recyclable," "Non-recyclable," and "Hazardous".
...
"What's this?"
"A cigarette butt!"
"Can we recycle it?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
(Long pause, everyone thinks very hard, then one girl raises her hand)
"Yes, why not?"
"Because you can't sell it."
Actually, the kids were really good at sorting the rubbish into the right
bags. The ones who knew where to put the trash seemed to have it down pat,
while others had to think a bit about it, but in general they were pretty
accurate. It was fascinating, though -- with the exception of paper, which
as one boy pointed out could be used to make new paper, everything that
went into the recycling bag belonged there because you could sell it.
I'll see if I can find out more about the recycling system here before
delivering a load of rubbish to you (no pun intended, really!) but at
least it's clear that that the economic incentives of recycling here are
very high, and that's effected even the five and six year olds of this
little community. Whenever we held up a piece of trash and they thought
about where to put it, it seemed they were racking their brains trying to
recall whether they might find it on the street or whether it's something
their parents -- or maybe even themselves -- put aside for selling.

The Migrant Community and Happy Camp

I've been going to Happy Camp all week, and it's been...an experience!First let me give a little background on the area --The migrant community is a twenty minute bus ride from where I live. It'spretty close to the heart of Beijing, yet it feels like miles out. When weget off the bus a little ways down we join a few people walking next tothe highway (three lanes, but of course the traffic is everywhere!) andit's *very* dusty. Off of the highway is a little dirt road, and that'swhere the community is.We've only walked down that center road so I don't know what's behind theline of little shops and dumpling stalls, but I think it's all where thepeople live. There doesn't seem to be any other main roads and this oneappears to be the hub of activity. You can see even before you start downthis road that this is a very poor place.I'll try to take some pictures so you can see because that's much betterthan me trying to explain what the place looked like, but one thing thatstruck me was the amount of rubbish everywhere. Two water troughs ranalong the road on either side and both were grimy green-black and litteredwith popcycle wrappers, watermelon and banana peels, plastic bags andother packaging...Every hundred meters or so is an open dump spot where people have dumpedtheir trash -- kind of like the contents and volume of a dumpster withoutthe dumpster to contain it. We saw a man picking through it with a shovelyesterday. Zhongna says it has to be sorted before it's taken away.Perhaps quite appropriately, she chose the theme of our part of thecamp to be "Protecting the Environment."Being in this community has given me a new perspective on what it means tobe "environmentally friendly" and made me realize that actually, thereisn't a whole lot these kids -- or anybody in this community -- can dowithout significant outside help. Let's keep with the litter example: inAndover, where everything is sterile and beautiful anyway, we can holdcampaigns telling people not to litter, to set up rubbish bins, toencourage others to respect the environment. We're just having the kidscontinue the generally good behavior that is already demonstratedthroughout the community.These kids here don't have that luxury. It's alot harder to dispose ofyour candy wrapper neatly when there's no place to put it and everyonearound you just throws theirs on the street. We teach our kids that eachperson can "make a difference", but our kids in Andover also have themeans -- if only the moral support.Before I realized where we were working I was brainstorming fairly generalactivities to educate them about the water cycle, the effects of CO2 andother greenhouse gases, etc. Then Zhongna mentioned something aboutteaching them good habits that they could practice on a daily basis toimprove their quality of living and so I started brainstorming things likethat. Most were just common sense stuff, the things I learned as a kidthat most of us just spit back out, like spitting out classroom ruleswithout giving them any thought -- turning off lights and not wastingwater, for example. I didn't realize how much I took these little habits-- most of all, disposing of trash! -- for granted until I came to thiscommunity and saw how extreme their condition was. Saving water is greatbut these people do that already, out of necessity.Even after the first day, I fantasized that we could do a lesson ondisposing of trash and afterwards get them to go out and collect a bageach or encourage them to set up trash bins -- that would work in Andover,right? But this rubbish is so dirty I wouldn't attempt to pick up any of itunless I was in a full body suit, let alone a pair of gloves, and we can'teven kit the kids out with gloves. And setting up bins requires quite abit of money which none of the kids or their parents have. So sincethere's no designated place to put the trash, and nobody has the means toeither clean up the mess or start a new, cleaner system, the whole placestays filthy and change is just too difficult. If anyone has somepractical ideas, please let me know!Anyway, enough about the community. We are working with Compassion forMigrant Children, a charity that helps the kids of migrant workers. I'mnot sure whether they give the kids education or what -- as I understand,there are four elementary schools in the community and most of thechildren can read, so I think they are getting some kind of formaleducation. CMC works out of a two room building and we're helping out withthe summer camp which they're putting on.There are four classes -- art, PE, theater, and something else. We'redoing the theater bit and other people are organizing the other classes.Each class has 25 kids and they rotate, so all the kids get to doeverything and we get the four groups for forty-five minutes each. Agesrange from 1 - 16, though most are between 5 and 13. Big range, huh!That's probably the most challenging thing.Second most challenging is that all 100+ kids are either inside thebuilding, just outside, or running in and out, and it's impossible tocontain them since there are no doors either going out or between therooms! As a result, the place is very noisy and very chaotic. Add the echoin the room and a couple of huge fans and it's nearly impossible to hearanything. Poor Zhongna has come out hoarse every time from competing withthe noise!The typical day has gone like this: we arrive at 9:30 and watch the othervolunteers deal with roll call, name tags, and herding the kids intolines. The children all live nearby so they kind of come and go as theywant or need to. Many go to the toilet in little groups -- it isbasically three cement holes in a shack outside and around the corner. Nostalls, no door, no flush, no sink. An American guy does Head, Shoulders,Knees and Toes with the whole group of 100. They love that and everyone isvery responsive and attentive. Then at 10:20 they split into four groupsand we take one.Although we're supposed to do the same class four times since they rotate,each one has been different. We were so surprised by the chaos of thefirst class we just played any game we could think of to get theirattention. We've been trying to increase the theater element as well asthe environmental theme, though that's been difficult!At 11:05 the first class is over and there's even more chaos as kids runin and out and back and forth between the two rooms and the little ones getconfused...ten minutes later the volunteers try to organize everyone intolines again, take roll call again, and figure out which little urchinswandered in from the street and really shouldn't be at the camp at all...Meanwhile Zhongna and I herd the kids away from the electric fans, takethe thirsty children to the water bubbler, find this little one's "oldersister" (usually cousin, actually, since most of them are single children,but it's very common to call good friends auntie, uncle, brother, littlesister, even mother and father...)Then we have the second class, which is just as spontaneous as thefirst. Zhongna is AMAZING with the children, though, a natural mediator.She can hold their attention so well. Probably the best class we didhad a food chain theme and the children first had to play twenty questionsto figure out what animal was written on the stickers we'd stuck to theirforeheads. As you can imagine, most of them didn't really get it and wentround saying "you're a tiger!" "you're a snake!" or just peeled thesticker off and looked right at it, but they liked that game. Afterwardswe told them to make a food chain and link arms with the other "animals"that either ate them or which they ate. They also liked that.The class is over at 12:00, at which point all the children have to lineup again, take another roll call, and then they all find their ways homefor lunch.It's actually a great experience and the kids are adorable. Interestingly,not a single one has been surprised when I speak to them in Chinese.Have a great day!Love, Leah

Hello Harry!

I went to the Xidan bookstore (the one we went to together) and it was somobbed you would not believe it. Even by Chinese standards it was packed!Outside they were packed and pushing their way in, and once inside thebookstore it wasn't much better. Throngs up the escalators, a crowd aroundthe cashiers -- picture it, lines twenty people wide and forty people longtrying to pay for their books, and the policemen trying to keep the crowdsin line with megaphones saying "for your convenience, please go to the(other three floors) to pay. The lines are shorter there. Thank you." Goup one floor and it's the same thing.I had found three books I wanted and decided it was ridiculous to stand inline just to ask if I could pay with a credit card. So I went into thebasement where the English books are and -- aah! nobody there! I wentright up to the cash register, paid with my card, and was out the doorwithin ten minutes (it took a while to push my way through the crowds onceI came back upstairs).The funny thing is, it wasn't anything to do with Harry Potter! TheChinese copy hasn't come out yet, so there were only a few people millingaround the English copies, but they didn't have the determinedI'm-going-to-be-the-first-in-the-world-to-read-this-book crazed look intheir eyes -- they were picking up the English copies as you might a newbrand of toothpaste you weren't so sure about.Sure, there were dummies of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and lots of postersand stuff up, but the clearest sign of HP was actually the tall foreignguy with brown hair, round glasses, and an Oxbridge gown standing outside.He was doing the Clairsey thing, passing himself off as a celebrity andhanding out fake signatures! I think if anyone from Shanghai saw him theywould reject this imposter...they've met the *real* Harry! :)Have a great day!Love, Leah

Teacher Training Day

Hello!Last Friday Zhong Na and I went to the migrant worker's community (WHOA!!Ask me about that later, there's a lot to say!) where a lot of schoolteachers had come to attend a talk on how to be better primary and middleschool teachers. The people giving the talk were from Singapore and theywere introducing different "creative teaching methods," as well as "eightdifferent ways that children learn" (some kids are stronger with wordskills, number/pattern skills, bodily skills, etc). Actually, it wasinteresting from my point of view because we just played lots of gamesthat I (and I'm assuming most American, or even Western kids in general)played in kindergarten, but it seemed new and fresh to most of the Chinesein that room! I think most hadn't exerienced anything but the rotelearning, teacher-as-diseminator-of-knowledge model and seem to go bythat. Anyway, we played stuff like musical chairs and red rover and thehuman knot and then a few games and exercises more targeted to what theteacher actually wants to teach -- for example, there was one really coolexercise where one of the leaders handed out paper and told us all that wewere engineers and had to design our own airplanes. Then he produced atarget and told us to come up and try to hit it. Of course the paperplanes went all over the place, so each person was encouraged to go back,make adjustments, and get back up to try again. The point: if you want todo something, you need to be clear about your aim, but even if your targetis clear, you need to be flexible, patient, and open to try different waysof getting there if you can't get it the first time. This little groupfrom Singapore wanted to convince us how effective these teaching methodswere by using them. They also walked everyone through how to design acreative lesson plan.Anyway, Zhongna came out of that workshop full of energy. She really gota lot out of it, but probably more confidence than new ideas, actually.Hua Dan uses similar methods of teaching -- ie, games -- but a lot morerole playing and exercises for improving self expression and communicationskills. I think Zhongna felt that she could lead a similar teachertraining workshop and even take it a step farther. And Caroline saysthat's amazing because just a few months ago Zhongna was terribly shy andnervous and hated getting up in front of people. To see this girl shoutingout answers and jumping up as the first, most enthusiastic volunteer thatday, you'd hardly believe she was the same person!Saturday I tried to find some stuff on papercutting for my dissertation.It's amazing how little people know about it and the lack of informationavailable so far. Everyone I ask simply says "go online."I'm still trying to find a breakfast spot. In the past there has alwaysbeen a great little place to have breakfast. I like getting steamed rollsfrom the street and eating as I stroll, but it seems that this area --which is basically a bunch of restaurants, ironically enough -- justdoesn't do breakfast at all. So on Sunday I set off to really scope thingsout. I found a little canteen on the campus of a medical school across theroad, which is a good place to eat if I'm alone and want something quickand cheap and varied; Chinese cafeterias are great because they have tonsof different dishes in tubs (there sure are a lot of people here to makefood for!) and you can get small portions of three or four differentdishes, plus rice -- better than if you go alone to a restaurant, wherethe food is more expensive, you can't see it before you order it, and theportions are too big to get more than one thing. Never mind thatrestaurant food is generally nicer! :)The only thing about this medical school canteen is that nobody lines up!That's usual for China, but still infuriating. Yesterday I stood smack inthe middle of the counter with my order ticket held out to be taken, andsomehow it was a good ten minutes before one of the food staff took it. Iwasn't pushed out of the way, it was like I just wasn't there at all. Onegirl came up behind me and and said "to go! I want it to go!" and thrusther ticket out to the lady behind the counter, who took it. Another guybeside me fluttered his ticket in the lady's face, and when his order wasfilled, his wife came up and did the same. I thought everyone was beingreally obnoxious (I'd still feel that way even if I wasn't waiting to beserved) but I guess that's just the way things are done here.On that note, there are tons of big character posters and educationalbulletin boards in all public places which call for people to be more"civilized" -- don't spit, don't let your breath get too bad, don't pushand shove, don't litter, don't let your bags clutter a doorway so thatpeople can't get through, etc. I also saw one outlining different customsof people from different countries. It's all in effort to encourageconsideration of other people and is part of a push to get ready for theOlympics next year. There are also electronic billboards and posters thatgive a countdown. 388 days to go...I'm going back to the migrant community now for day 2 of Happy Camp. I'llwrite more about that later.Love, Leah

Hello from Beijing!

Hi! My situation here is really great, completely positive (except for the redtape and visa issues, which I won't even go into). The group I'm working with is *so* nice, I love all the girls. Caroline is the one who is in charge of it all. She started Hua Dan (the theater workshop organization) in 2004 to help migrant women new toBeijing gain self confidence, self esteem, independence, and deal withother emotional and spiritual problems they might encounter in their dailylives (such as sexual harassment or depression, for example). She believesin using hands-on, really creative methods of teaching -- everyoneparticipating in team building exercises and playing lots of games. It'sreally fun work. And she's so young -- only 28! She grew up in Hong Kongbut she's English. She's been here for four years.Because there are only four (!) full time employees including Carolinein the organization, and because she doesn't have much money for funding,Caroline runs Hua Dan from her own appartment. And because two employeesare poor migrant workers themselves, she has everyone take turns makinglunch so that they can eat some real food (instead of instant noodles, asthey had been doing before she found out). So, this past week I've beengoing at 10am and then just before lunch one of the girls will go into thekitchen and make a simple lunch for the rest of us. It's so cozy and areally great place to work. My work day is supposed to end at 6, but I'vebeen enjoying myself so much, I've stayed several hours later eachevening -- even until 9:30 the other day!The three girls are organizing three different projects; I'll be helpingwith two. The first one (which I'm not helping with) is called the LoveProject, which includes sex ed, dating, healthy relationships, etc. Thegirl who is running this is a recent graduate from Canada and Hong Kongand she's bilingual, English is her first language. Her name is Cui Lynne.I've met her once, but she's in Hong Kong so we haven't been doing thebonding thing like I have with the other three.Zhong Na runs the second project. She's a migrant girl from ShandongProvince and is about 26. She and I have been planning the drama classesfor a two week summer camp for kids between the ages 5-12. We'll have fourdifferent classes of kids, and each class will have four forty-five minuteclass periods -- so, we've planned four different lessons and will do themeach four times. The theme is "Protecting the Environment." We've alreadymade a collage poster (not sure how that's going to be used, but Zhong Nawas saying something about them looking at the poster and choosing apicture, then incorporating that into the little skit or drama game we'llhave them do...) This email is getting kind of long as it is, so I'll givea more detailed update about that activities we've planned as they happennext week and the week after.I'm working with Dong Fen (only 23, from Yunnan province) on the thirdproject. We're calling it the Waitress project because we are targetingwaitresses. Why? There are so many restaurants all over the place (eatingis something everyone does, after all, and in this country it's common toeat most meals out because the food's so cheap and Chinese cooking methodsso complicated) -- so there are so many restaurants, and many of thewaitresses are poor migrant women, so the target group is really, reallybroad. The turnover rate is *very* high, and so I think Caroline and thegirls -- Zhongna and Dongfen were both waitresses themselves once --decided that this would be a good group to target. The aim is to empowerthese waitresses so they can cope better with life and be a bit moreindependent. And ultimately, Caroline wants to train up enough girls tokeep the projects going on their own, both in Beijing and back in theirvillages.Dongfen took surveys about what restaurant bosses and the waitresses mightwant from a training course like this. Many bosses said they wanted thegirls to learn some English for the Olympics in 2008, when tons offoreigners will be in Beijing -- but lots of the girls have no interest inthat, thinking it's not really useful for their lives as housewives. It'sgoing to be tricky presenting the project and getting people to come.First is the question of place. Hua Dan tried to do a project in the parkin the past, but had trouble getting the waitresses to come because theywere either so exhausted they didn't have the energy to make it, orbecause they actually had to work during that time. Dongfen wanted tobring some friends along to her training course but couldn't because theywere all working. So, we've decided to do this workshop in the restaurantitself in hopes that more waitresses will be able to attend.The second question is about motivation. We're hoping to find a good bosswho we can continue working with long term (I guess so we don't need tokeep finding new bosses to cooperate!) and also to provide a bit offunding. But in the past, if the boss thinks a training workshop is a goodidea, she'll force everyone to go, and who wants to be forced into doingsomething like this? Much better that the girls choose to come becausethey feel it is useful for them personally. Another problem is thatsometimes the boss will agree to sponsor the project but then takes themoney out of the girls' paychecks -- which is obviously something whichmust not happen!So, we're trying to find a boss with an open mind to these creativeprojects, and somebody who is flexible and encouraging. He or she also hasto agree not to be present during the workshops because people tend tofeel inhibited when the boss is present and it really throws off thedynamics of the group.This week Caroline will be away in Hong Kong and Dongfen and I have beengiven lots of different tasks to do while she's gone:-- Prepare an advertisement brochure and spiel to convince the bosses tocooperate with and sponsor us-- Make a little invitation card for the waitresses to introduce them toHua Dan, what this program offers and why they would want to come-- Create some surveys to be given throughout the course to gauge how muchthe girls are getting out of it (there's a long one which we'll give onthe first and last day, and then two smaller ones we'll give in themiddle)-- Take a field trip to the bookstore and look at different language booksto get ideas and inspiration for our textbook (this textbook is so cool!I'll explain more about it later!)-- Plan a good, creative layout for the textbook-- Find a place to print the textbook-- Start brainstorming some fun activities to help them practice and applythe stuff they've learned-- Make a certificate which the girls can take away with them at the end ofthe course and use as a type of qualification when applying for futurejobs-- Draft a contract between Hua Dan and the bosses that will try to keepthem from exploiting the waitresses or putting a damper on our work-- Go around to a few restaurants and try to convince the bosses.As you can see, I know exactly what I need to do but I've also got a lot ofpower and independence to go off and do it. Wow, so great! What adifference from working in that Pharmaceutical Company in Shanghai!When Caroline comes back we'll sort out the specifics of the course,because we are also waiting for an English teacher friend of hers calledKeith to design the English component. The course will be thirty hourslong -- about a third will be English lessons and two thirds complementarytheatrical games and exercises.Okay, I better leave it here. For next time: yesterday's trip to themigrant community, my flat and wonderful flatmates, the textbook for thewaitress project, and more examples of the kinds of exercises we're using.And Tengteng and Pengpeng's wedding is a whole nother story!!!As I said, I'll be responding to individual emails but I'm sorry if ittakes a while!Love, Leah