Our Week in Xi'an

We have had an eventful week. Early in the week while we were preparing for classes we were startled by what sounded like a bomb going off outside our building. I ran to the kitchen window to discover a long line of black decorated Mercedes and BMWs lining our alley parked right beneath me. The bomb was a huge number of firecrackers announcing the arrival of the groom to pick up his bride. After sometime she descended our very dirty stairs in her white gown before being carried to the lead car to be taken to the restaurant for the wedding festivities (including more fireworks!)
After a full week of teaching we enjoyed a Halloween party with our branch on Friday night, to which we took a couple of fellow teachers. Costumes were in order so our friends, one with whom John works (from the University of Washington) and one from Germany (with whom John LOVEs to practice his German!)went with us dressed as "foreign teachers"--right from school. John was a debonair Chinese gentleman in his new ultrasuede jacket we bought for 180 Kaui (about $28) at the Muslim market, Conrad and his tiny little Chinese wife showed up as doctors (costumes readily available to Ning Ning, an opthamologist), and one fellow made do with what was readily at hand by gathering this or that (maybe from our stairwell--plenty there) showed up as "white trash."

Among the Brittons, President looked worse for wear as an accident victim of Xi'an traffic--bandaged from head to toe, Elisa was a charming chimney sweep, and their children were a butcher, a cereal killer,and a facial-mask beauty. I was a witch (so appropriate to those who think of me as one anyway:). Earlier in the day I had introduced my students to Halloween wearing my hat and cape while we practiced pronunciation of Halloween words, learned Halloween idioms, and played Halloween bingo before I made the students earn their Trick or Treat goodies by speaking hard words and sentences. They and I had a fun time.

The adventure for the evening began en route as I got to balance a pie plate of bean dip in a plastic bag on top of my head on a crowded bus. We arrived without mishap, climbed the upteem steps up to the Brittons' flat and enjoyed a warm evening of friendship.

John and I have decided to work each Saturday morning and then go out and see something in Xi'an each week so after my reading tons of student journals and John getting branch work caught up, while we were also having a new toilet installed thanks to our wonderful Mr. Chen. (We had put up with the old one's constant running since we came. Chen finally went to the school and requested a new one for us and arranged for it to be put in this morning). Oh happy day! We will give proper honor to this event by including a photo!

After the banging while our old one was literally beaten off the wall and from the floor, broken apart, and hauled away, the new one was put in place, we headed for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda park—one of Xi’an wonderful, ancient sites (the pagoda was built in AD 648). We went by bus (of course) hoping to see its Las Vegas style Biaggi-like musical water show that goes off twice a day.

We waited for what we thought was a 2:00 event, and waited and waited. We finally learned that it was at 12:00 and 8:00 pm so we missed it, but the day was not a loss anyway. The Chinese love to go to parks and wander around and visit with family and friends. We, and they, enjoyed the perfectly lovely autumn day, crisp and clear, with the sun shinning—a rare occurrence in Xi’an. We sat and watched people—while we were watched ourselves.

Until we went over to the Pagoda entrance itself (which the locals probably could not afford to visit)with its tour buses with an odd group or two of foreign visitors there were no white faces to be found but our own and we became a hit wherever we walked or sat. I suppose those who live up by our university get used to the foreign faces here and there but that wasn’t the case at the park.

One grandmother sitting not far from us encouraged her little granddaughter to come show off for us. The brave little mite came and sang to us “Ye like oranges, Yum, Yum, Yum” “Ye like banana, yum, yum, yum” and said “Hello, how are you” and then ran away to the protection of her grandma.
While we walked around the grounds a group of school girls and their teacher saw us and came running up with their cameras in hand to take pictures of us and then of them with us, then threw their arms around us while we hugged them back.

A young woman came up to ask if her mother and aunt could have a picture taken with us. We were happy to oblige them and then talked with the bashful young lady, who had graduated as an English major in July but had not found an opportunity to say one word of English to anyone in the last four months.

We talked at length encouraging her to do what it took to keep her skills (which were very good) and then got her email address to connect her up with a friend of ours in Australia who was anxious to be a pen pal to a Chinese young person who needed help with English.

We loved our day, came home tired but happy, grateful once more to have this wonderful opportunity in this remarkable place. Happy Halloween everyone! We can't believe tomorrow begins November.