Flowers are abundant in “OZ!” Here are a few I have found in the back yard.
To my surprise, I am back in China! Surprised because the time flew by. What a summer! I enjoyed seeing friends, family, past Allen high art students, college roommate, Plano high school friends from the 70’s, watercolor art friends, past teacher friends, and it just goes on and on. So to all my loving friends, family and new friends…Thank you for a beautiful summer. Those of you that welcomed me in your home, thank you so much for a bed, sofa and meals. I love you all.
Texas is my home or was my place of residence. Now it is just a vacation place. I love seeing my friends and listening to what they have done over the past year. It’s a hot summer, sweaty and at least 100 degrees daily. Randy treated me to a baseball game at Ranger Stadium. It’s been years since I’ve seen a game. Last one, Houston Astros, when Nolan Ryan was pitcher. That will date me! Baseball is a typical American event, everyone sporting red, white and blue T-shirts with TEXAS printed on the front. Hot dogs are $1 and beer is expensive at $8. The stadium is packed with 36,000 hot sweaty fans. The Minnesota Twins win 7-2. Darn! Best part is the American patriotism and culture!
AMERICA!
What a country, the land of abundance! I cannot tell you how happy I was to land in New York, get my feet on American soil, see a real western restroom with toilet paper and seat covers! Yea haw the land of plenty, not like the squatter toilets of China.
I was not expecting the culture shock and trying to settle back in. America is over-sized, mega-sized and revolves around the owning and hording of stuff! The amount of belongings seems to limit ones relationships. Homes are large enough, but the stuff is overflowing and no room for people, not like China. Relationships in China are cultivated in the tiniest of environments, with the littlest of stuff. My beliefs on how to treat people has been enhanced in China. Watching the Chinese grandparents care for their grandchildren and my colleagues care for me I came to value relationships more. Seeing my family and friends after ten months was the utmost on my mind. Being alone only made my heart grow fonder.
A week with my children on the lake rejuvenated my soul. A trip to Galveston, the beach, biking the canals, walking in the sand, swimming in the salt water, photographing the stormy clouds, and seeing art on the strand filled my face with smiles. Visiting with my friends, reminiscing over stories of life past and ideas for the future are filling this Texan girl with memories to savor during the next teaching year in China.
Here are just a few moments in time to remember and enjoy.
This last couple of weeks have been jam packed with activities. Here are photos commemorating these events.
My 10th grade students created an IB extravaganza performance to display their wonderful talents. One evening I had dinner with my Tai Chi friends and master. They gave me a RED tai chi uniform! I am a part of the group now and am the only one in bright red! Friends, Marty and Jim Hartman from America met me in Shanghai. We explored the Yunnan Gardens and chatted non-stop.
This weekend is Dragon Boat Festival. We celebrate with steaming rice dumplings, ‘Zong Zi’ in Chinese, and salty duck eggs, ‘Xian Ya Dan’ and green bean cakes, ‘Lv Dou Gao’. Our school gave us a box of duck eggs, which I thought I might like, but when I bit into one, it was very gritty with a red oily yoke. Not something this vegetarian really cares for. The rice dumplings are fun, as they are wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied with threads, very yummy.
Life in China is one adventure after another.
Early morning is quite interesting on my city block. This is a typical morning on the way to and from Tai Chi. My Tai Ji Quan master is Mr. Zhou, a retired engineer married to the music teacher. Mr. Shen and his wife Mrs. Cai are retired clerks from the school. Mrs. Liu, a geography teacher; Mrs. Qian, a sports teacher and Mrs. Shi is my friend, whose daughter translates to English for us. They each have grandchildren.
Anger! Ever just get so angry you could yell, scream, spit? Well I’ve been thinking about anger and how it affects a person whether you are the receiver of the anger or the mad man dishing it out!
Anger is something I haven’t seen too much of in China or experienced in the office. Yet the other day I had a person just dump a load of emotional drama on me. He felt the need to tell me why he disliked women in a most rude and disgusting fashion. I found I needed to stand up and say “Hey don’t talk like that to me”, and you know what happened…. “He said I insulted him!” Whew isn’t that interesting? So when you stand up and say you don’t want to hear that kind of language you are insulting the person throwing it out of their mouth. Needless to say that was the end of that relationship.
Yelp I just moved on. It became clear this was a “red flag” and one should steer clear of this person. Some people are mad at the world, at their choices in life, their relationships from the past, and they can’t seem to bury the hatchet and find peace, love and new relationships that are meaningful. Thank god for that lesson and the blessing of seeing an angry person that is no longer taking up space in my life.
Life is full of happiness, sunshine, great students and wonderful meaningful relationships. I am so glad I can see the good from the bad, and even better to leave the bees nest alone. We all have lessons to learn, mine is to stay away from angry men.
My students on a photography shoot yesterday and these are the happy moments in my life!
Saturday we took a hike into the hills around Xuyi. Hiking in China is very different than the US. Here many folks like to walk, in long lines up and down the mountains. Therefore the Chinese pave a walkway throughout the hills, to the Buddhist temple, the peacock holding area, the archery area and little tea house. I found a fun gun range and shot a laser rifle at balloons. The Zorn boys would be proud of their Annie Oakley mom as I shot and killed many colorful balloons. The true Texas did come out at that moment! The Buddhist temple was lovely with smoke wafting above our heads from the incense. Ascending the flights of stairs, there are three temples to pass through. Upon reaching the top, there is a wonderful elevated golden laughing fifteen foot Buddha as the finale. Interesting how three is a spiritual number in many beliefs.
Lastly lunch at a waterfront cafe overlooking the lake at the bottom of the foot hills. More crawfish, baijui, a dish of hedge hog, and eggs that once cracked have a boiled baby chicken in them. (yes I about threw up!) Thank goodness, they always order half veggie dishes. As we are leaving our host, the architect and his wife gave each teacher a huge box of assorted Chinese processed foods. They are very interesting bags of stuff I can’t eat or even want to try, but I am very thankful for this lovely weekend, good friends and fresh air.
Images from China! Enjoy….
Just a day in my life…..
