Tag Archives: art

Happiness, it is a state of mind. You can create it.

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How happy are you?  Think about this a moment.  If you could rate your happiness on a scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being no problems, no regrets only pure happiness, like when you were a child and nothing bothered you, total bliss, and happiness. Try remembering that moment?  Do you have your number?  Is it a 10?  Ok how about a 9?  Maybe you’re not real happy and it is a 5 or 6.  Did you know happiness is just a “state of mind?”  And you can be happy by thinking happy thoughts?  Believe me it is possible.  I should know I am one who has had many heartaches and had to live through quite a lot of sadness.  So today I am going to teach you how to be happy.  What do you think about that? An art teacher, teaching happiness?

So what have you been thinking about in the last few minutes? Are you thinking about work, other people, colleagues, spouses, children or are you just stressed from the daily grind?  Why in the world did you click my blog?  I’ll tell you, you want a break from reality.  Today I am explaining happiness and how to achieve it.  So lets start with removing these draining thoughts from our heads and thinking about something uplifting and happy.   This can be hard to do but first I want you to think about what really makes you happy.  Can you visualize it, create a picture in your head?  Do this now.  Ok you have a happy thought, a place, a thing  or an event that is absolutely fabulous?  Now, what you have to do is remember this one thought and when you find yourself in the muck of misery just return to this happy thought.  If you can concentrate on a happy thought and hold it long enough it will actually pull you out of those miserable places your mind takes you.  It is all in your mind.  Quit being sad and miserable, it is only a thought away and that simple.  You just have to believe it.  So if you need some happy visuals here are some I like.  Use mine and attract happiness to you.

Shanghai– Jade Temple

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Shanghai is quickly accessible by the bullet train.  I was up early and in Shanghai by 9 am.  This was one of the best train rides ever, so smooth.  I remember riding the Santa Fe train between Dallas and Ponca City, Oklahoma as a child with my cousin Mary, my grandpa and grandma.  Back then the porters were African-American, this time Chinese stewardesses in purple outfits with cocked hats were our porters.   My new traveling friend Daisy made all the arrangements with her Shanghai friends showing us around.  What a delightful treat.

The view from the train was dank in color, mostly white, gray, beige and brick red.  Many factories with smoking chimneys dotted the landscape.  When there wasn’t a factory, I could see farmland in checkered squares of green.  All the land was in use, with apartment high rises filling in the gaps.

First stop the French Quarter, here the architecture was similar to the Louisiana French Quarter with a Chinese flair.  Then on to the art market, in a sectioned off alley way.  This was were I found my red bean in the “Love of my Life” blog. (If you haven’t read it, go read it!  It is short and terribly funny!) I also saw some nice art prints, mass produced acrylics and lots of fun cheap trinkets.  The alleys in the rain were more fun to photograph than shopping.  I took some artsy pictures.

Another taxi and to the Buddhist Jade Temple.  By now the rain is coming down in buckets so we eat in the vegetarian restruant located upstairs in the temple.  Daisy and Hazel, my Chinese friends had never eaten vegetarian mock meats so this was something new for them.  After dinner we walked through the temple eying all the Buddhas jade, gold and human.  I told the girls the story of the “Happy Buddha.”  The origin of my happy Buddha story is from being awakened in January 2010 by a ghost visit from Andy, my son who the previous October died from cancer.  He was in a long black rain coat, which I thought was odd but when you are asleep anything happens.  I got up and went to the kitchen to write this story down.   He told me in heaven there are many rooms and the one he was most excited about visiting was the “Room of Happy Thoughts.”  In this room he said all our happy thoughts are collected.  When we die we can visit this room and see all our happy memories from our life.  He said my room and his were full of happy thoughts.  He told me to make a happy thought and it would appear right before him.  At 2 am I had no happy thoughts.  He kept persuading me to think.  Sitting at the kitchen table, I looked toward the lazy Susan where the salt and pepper shakers are sitting.  Next to them was a tiny happy Buddha figurine I had bought at the Crow Asian Museum in Dallas.  I held it in my hand and said “Andy, look a happy Buddha, that’s a happy thought!”  Then without realizing it I visualized it to eight feet tall in my head.  Then I heard Andy, yell in my head, “You just scared the shit out of me!”  There is a happy thought –giving Andy a fright.  I think I am still laughing about this.  My room of happy thoughts is full of happy Buddhas!

As we walked up a flight of stairs to see the Jade Buddha, which I wasn’t allowed to photograph, we came to a wooden Buddha relic.  It was full of coins.  The idea is to insert a coin somewhere in the relic without it falling out and you will be prosperous.  The three of us did this and my coin is next to a “Happy Buddha.”

The Jade Buddha was in a lavish room and roped off.  As I stood there looking at it, I noticed two women ask the guard for a bottle of yellow colored oil and then payed for it.  They held the twelve ounce bottle between their hands in prayer fashion and said a silent prayer.  When they were finished the guard came and took the oil, walked to the alter, opened the bottle and poured it into a bowl with a burning flame.  The prayer was now in the oil and would be carried up to the flame and away in the smoke to the great Buddhas in the ethers.  It was a lovely way to pray.

Next we went to the Bund which is a walkway along the river.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful the lights decorated the buildings.  (Images that could be oil painted by G. Harvey)  We walked with our umbrellas up to a shopping mall that resembles old Chinese architecture.  Rain soaked we taxied back to the hotel and tumbled in bed.  Tomorrow the world expo.

High School Sports Event

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October 26, 2010

Friday was our high school all day sports event.  The students were bused across town at 6:20 am to the Sports Pavilion.  This pavilion is like Cowboy Stadium in Dallas for all the major sports events.  The high school rented it for $8000US, so cheap!   I think about renting Denton stadium for AHS graduation, in comparison.  The western teachers did not have to attend until 3 pm.  Some of us signed up to run a relay!  Yes, that would be me!

The week before the art club painted masks for the opening ceremony.  It is pomp and circumstance when it comes to ceremonies in China.  They like flags and each class had a huge individually created flag to march in with.  Students had different  T-shirts to separate classes and grades.   I had helped one group from the public school paint shirts in my room last week.  They were quite smart in design and I was given one.  My art club won first place for the most creative opening ceremony look!  Go Art Club!

Tess, another seasoned western teacher, Dan and I took a cab to the event.  Dan, Johnathan and I represented the IB teachers against the Chinese public high school teachers.  We are not in the best of shape for running a sprint, ok I speak for myself.  Johnathan is fast but after the hand off I jogged to the next runner, causing us to be in last place.  The public teachers had a couple ringers, like olympic runners that are teachers.

We won a lamp for our efforts.  That lit up my day!

Art teachers, art museums and the Pi Lu and Ling Gu temple

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October 14, 2010

In our school many of the rooms are set up, but they are never used. I see Chemistry labs, woodworking labs, art labs, taxidermy rooms, and so on.  Jonathan, my British colleague says it for ‘show.’  I found a couple of really lovely art rooms with sculpted busts, easels, spot lights and an array of still life items.  No one is allowed in them as they are locked and even double padlocked.  I asked if I could use the rooms, and I get answers like the IB program is taking over and this is for the government public school program.  Yet they sit unused.  Last week on my way to class I noticed this art room was unlocked.  I walked in, and low and behold there was a young man painting a 24x 60 landscape in oils.  His palette had an array of colored dollops of paint nicely organized in a rainbow of hues.  I was so excited to see a real painter and began to chat yet he spoke no English.  Come to find out, after I snagged my art student Joy to translate, he is the government public art teacher.  His name is John Ching Wong and a most handsome man at that.  He invited me to his second floor office, which had a sign printed Art Department Office in English and Chinese.  Finally I have found real art teachers.  Inside he and two colleagues had their desks.  The other art teacher Mr. Drew a short older man with a scruff of a beard shook my hand and pointed to a beautiful watercolor seascape with sculpted gray rocks in the foreground.  It was magnificent.  He painted it.  (Pat Wolf, my watercolor teacher from Taos and Ann Sauve, my Colorado watercolor buddy would be amazed at his expertise.)  I need to take lessons from him, now!  The third man was the music teacher and translated our conversations.  They found out I throw pots and were quite interested in having IB buy a wheel and kiln so I could teach them.  There may be some art trading going on in the future if I can do some negotiating.  When I see John now, he makes a point to say hi or wave.  I have art painting teacher friends!

The art museums in town are small but unique.  The contemporary museum houses many oil paintings of Chinese representational peasantry life, scrolls of traditional ink landscapes and calligraphy plus a variety of modern art.  They had two of the worst Picassos’ I have ever seen.  I hope they are on loan!  The old provincial museum across the street had a magnificent collection of serigraphs by a local artist.  They were a combination of decorative almost Aboriginal in design compositions of everyday Chinese life, some very humorous in bright colored opaque inks.  I would have bought a dozen of these, if they were for sale.  Anna my art student had accompanied me on my quest for museums.  We were fortunate to see a sign to the Pi Lu Buddhist Temple, and off we went many blocks through some dank alleys.   Walking by a beggar man with no legs leaning on a dirty sofa cushion on the edge of the street, I realized how fortunate I am.  Anna is Buddhist and this temple was a find for her.  She and I heard chanting and proceeded to the center of the temple.  As we walked in many people were kneeling on sloping pillows chanting and praying.  We watched and walked around the building then climbed all the stairs to the top to view the golden Buddha in the main room.  This was a site to see, the ceiling was lavishly painted in a bright colored design to enhance the Buddha’s presence.  10,000 Buddha’s restaurant was housed on this level.  The smell wafting from the door way was that of old fried grease and soapy dirty water.  We weren’t hungry nor would we be for hours after smelling this odor.  As we walked the bald Buddhist men in saffron robes made their way to the courtyard, I couldn’t stop staring at them.  They were intense at staring back at me as well.  Guess neither of us had seen anything so amazing.  Then many local women removed their long robes to unveil their street clothes and walked out and on their way home.  Was this women’s prayer day at the temple?  Anna had taken me aside and she showed me how to pray Buddhist style.  On your knees, hands together in prayer, bow placing your hands down on the pillow next to your knees, then flip your hands over and back up into prayer mode.  Do this three times and each time pray for something, like security, prosperity, happiness whatever you want.  It was a lovely way to pray.  She was excited to tell her mom about the temple and would bring her.

Taking photographs is an obsession.  Iris, another art student invited me to Purple Mountain for a photo shoot.  We met in front of the school last Saturday morning and to my surprise, her mom couldn’t come so her dad’s driver took us.  She presented me with a gift of green tea from a nearby tea grower, in beautiful golden tins.  What a treat.  We photographed Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum having walked some 350 steps to the top.  Dr. Sun Yat-sen is a revolutionary hero of the people.  He was instrumental in removing the emperors from the Chinese government.  Next we rode a charming little open air tram to the Ling Gu Temple and Pagoda.  A Buddhist temple yet no longer used as such, more like a museum with dioramas of the revolution.  Iris is a quick walker and hurriedly climbed the circular stairway to the top of Ling Gu Pagoda.  The sun was shining and many of our photos have wonderful cast shadows through arch ways and decorative windows.  Iris captured children sliding and climbing up sculpted walls.  I liked photographing the old people in their traditional clothing.  Lunch time, more Chinese family style food served at the food court near the temple.  Iris’ mom and dad met us there and we had the best eggplant, potato and green pepper dish along with seven or eight other dishes.  Another feast!  Iris’s dad wanted to know how long I had been using chops.  Six weeks, I replied.  He thought longer.  For me if you’re hungry and eat with sticks, you must learn how quickly so you can cram it down and not starve!  I am nimble with the chop sticks!

Pizza with the doc and Ice Skating with students

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October 17, 2010

A week and not one blog has been typed although many things have happened from going Ice Skating to seeing more temples, a mausoleum, meeting the other art teachers on campus,  going to art galleries and eating so much more interesting food.    My internet problems were resolved.  It was up and running on Friday.  Then I started messing with the computer and wham, I can’t get internet access.  So I am hoping Jonathan can fix this tomorrow.  So tonight I am typing and uploading some images for the blog tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Samantha my wonderful daughter, her birthday was today in Austin.  I did see her on Skype before I messed up the computer.  She had long blond extensions in her hair and was looking lovely.  Hopefully her birthday gift from China will get to America soon.

Today my landlord Dr. Wuzhong, his wife An Li, their daughter and I went to lunch on the east side of town where all the universities are located.  They wanted pizza, which was just fine with me, because after two months of Chinese food, a good vegetarian pizza was a nice change.  My landlord is a cardiac surgeon and his wife a nurse.  We drove by his hospital in the downtown area and he was very proud to point it out for me.  The doc speaks English and studied in Baltimore some years back.  He is very kind and loves his little five year old daughter.  She about wore him out today demanding so much of his attention.  To our surprise there was a three story Christmas tree in the courtyard of the strip mall where The Cheese Pub was located.  All of us wondered why a tree in October?  We saw two weddings on our way, one in a procession which the doc followed.  All the cars were red and his too.  He thought that would be fun.  Then we saw another one on a hill and everyone was dressed in traditional Chinese attire.  I couldn’t get a photograph as we were moving too fast in our other wedding procession.

Saturday was my day to take the students Ice Skating.  My role as sponsor is easy.  Esther, our CAS lead teacher drove us to the Sports Pavilion, which is a modern architectural pavilion with red wing like arches.  This is where the youth Olympics will be held in a few years.  The students took the metro and met us.  This “field trip” did not include a school bus, as the Chinese don’t use buses.  Everyone is responsible for their own transportation. Afterwards Esther wanted to show me the suburban sprawl. We drove looking at the continuous apartment high-rises that were recently built.  I noticed not as many people as downtown by my apartment.  It was quiet and nice, reminded me of Frisco in an odd way.  We went to the “Wanda” Mall which was large, new, clean and very western.  So many places to eat!  Esther chose a noodle shop.  We ordered a soup fondue pot full of noodles.  A large platter of many ingredients came for each of us.  Hers was seafood, mine vegetables.  What fun it was to cook our own noodle soup.  Afterwards she took me to Walmart!  Yes, I finally found a Chinese Walmart.  It was not like an American Walmart, as I couldn’t find buttered microwavable popcorn, or other western needs!  I did get a cozy alternative down blanket which I put on my bed, under my fitted sheet, to create some more cush.  I am sleeping better and actually slept in for the first time this morning.

More fireworks must stop writing and watch.  Ah—the life of being able to see miles from my windows.

A lesson in math for Texas 5th graders!

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Nan Shu Foo Zong is the name of the school I teach at.  This is the IB area.  The hallways are open air and we are up 100 stairs!  No elevator.

My colleagues at their desks working, or napping.  Lunch is one and half hours, so a “siesta” is accepted at lunch time.  My Tex-Mex language seems to pop up when I am trying to speak in Chinese.  the other day I asked for water and said “Agua Por favor!”  and someone commented was that a dialect of English, yeah if you are in Texas!  No it is Spanish and I am speaking it here and no one understands Spanish, nor my choppy Chinese.

My desk is right behind Peter, my Aussie colleague.  Looking out the window from our office you can see a wonderful highrise, that is my apartment complex.  I will be moving soon, this makes me very excited.  It will be a short walk to and from  school, no more taxi’s and city buses to school.  It will cut down on expense, the bus is 2 RMB and taxi is 14RMB.  How much is that in dollars?   A lesson on money:

The yuan (sign: 元; code: CNY) is, in the Chinese language, the base unit of a number of modern Chinese currencies. The distinction between yuan and renminbi (RMB) is analogous to that between the pound and sterling; the pound (yuan) is the unit of account while sterling (renminbi) is the actual currency.

A yuán (元) is also known colloquially as a kuài (块 – “piece”). One yuán is divided into 10 jiǎo (角) or colloquially máo (毛 – “feather”). One jiǎois divided into 10 fēn (分).

This is what I had in my purse.  If 6.7 yuan = 1 US dollars.  Can some one tell me how much yuan I have?  The large coins are 1 yuan each, the gold is .5 yuan and the tiny coin is .10 yuan.  IF you can add it up correctly I will send you a Chinese post card!  Why am I giving you a math lesson, because my friend Linda in Friendswood told me she has given my blog site to her friend who teaches 5th grade.  These students are reading my blog and learning about the culture for their English class.  I thought to keep them interested I would do some teaching from across the world to them!

Yesterday I taught the Chinese IB faculty about my life through a power point presentation.  I gave a show about my family, Thanksgiving and how we pray and eat, Christmas, a craw fish boil in Austin, going on vacation to Taos and the Native American Pueblo, Tahoe, Galveston, Wimberly, San Fransisco, and Durango.  I had pictures of pets, snow, my backyard and art studio.  Many of this was very foreign to my new colleagues.  The comments that I received in my email from the TOK teacher are this:

Susan,

Thanks a lot for the presentation, nice. What I found most amazing is :

1.  the muddy houses    very very simlar to the ones where people in Shan Xi province used to live. The only difference is ours are cave-like houses. But mud.

2. the claw fish   that’s almost the answer why you like Nanjing without knowing it. People in Nanjing are crazy about claw fish and it’s almost a scence in summer.
One table with a big bowl of claw fish, some people sitting around the table…

3. Budda

I can’t believe it.

One thing I am learning is we are all the same, but different.  The next thing I am learning is a good teacher is always a student.  This student (art teacher) is learning more than her little Rolodex brain can hold.  I feel like it is spinning and information cards are flying out.  Anyone still have a Rolodex?  Does this tell how old I am or just that I have an antique vocabulary.

Speaking of antiques, I made mention to Jonathan (British colleague that has lived here six years) I can’t find very many old architectural buildings or antiques shops.  He told me the Chinese government had the people destroy all the old artifacts years ago and much of the old architecture is destroyed for newer buildings.  I’ve seen more Asian jade art in the Crow Museum in Dallas than I have found here.  I will keep looking, it has to be here.  Religion is non existent.  I have seen the Buddhist temple, no Buddhist tho and one Catholic church.  In Texas there is a Baptist church on every corner like McDonald’s!  My new Chinese friends don’t practice religion, that I can tell.  School will meet this and next Sunday for regular classes. (Remember we have a funky holiday next week and we work weekends for the weekdays off)  I will have to Google my church in Dallas to read what is going on, and listen to the podcast to get my religion fix or go to the Buddhist temple and light incense and say a prayer.  That is a nice way to pray.  I will let the wind carry my prayers in the smoke from my incense to God.  Like I said all the same, but different.

A Chinese holiday or holidays Chinese style!

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Woke up to torrential rains and a massive headache.  Could it be the barometric pressure causing my head to spin?  Up early and out of here, need to catch a taxi before everyone else gets going.  Umbrella in hand, rain jacket on and Keens on feet, a hike to the taxi stop and then a 20 minute wait.  I get a female taxi driver and off to school we go.  Michael fixes me a strong coffee for my headache, maybe I am caffeine deficient he says.   He maybe right!  How nice to have a man fix me anything.   What wonderful colleagues I am working with.    By noon I’m back to normal.

After classes the IB coordinator and I check out the Art Supply shopping district!   Oh my a new “hog heaven” for me, and some one tell mom it is right next door to the antique vendors.  We need to take a day and go shopping.  Yes, next day off I will return for an art and antique expenditure day.

Speaking of next day off — we have three days off next week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  It’s a holiday, or maybe not!   To get this holiday, we teach our Wednesday class on this Sunday and the following Saturday and Sunday we teach our Thursday and Friday class.  Someone explain to the Chinese that we don’t give up weekends for three days off in the middle of the week!  Maybe it is like a “Chinese fire drill”—- were things get lost in translation and everyone does things “bass ackwards.”  Oh well, guess that holiday will be my art and antique shopping day!

I realized today that most all my students wear glasses, no contacts!  I suppose Lasik is out too.  No makeup on women, no bleached hair, no manicures or pedicures– no nail polish on anyone, but my little toesies!  (No manicure shops for that matter)  No need for botox, or stomach stapling, no one has wrinkles or is overweight.  People are healthy looking here, all this walking and biking, no wonder.  Most Americans would have a coronary within a week of living in this environment.  And by the way, they don’t like Air Conditioning or cold anything, including water and beer.  Even yogurt is hot.  The weather is somewhat like Galveston, hot, humid and gritty.  I always said I was the one person that liked Houston weather, well here I am on the same latitude lines!  Must admit, I like it tho.  Daniel told me today he drew a picture of the sun and put it on his desk!  He misses the sun with all the overcast, smoggy, cloudy or what ever these skies are days!   I’ve always liked warm, just need to get use to no AC!  That is hard.  I am too Americanized –soft!

High School

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August 28, 2010 I like the school, even though it was raining when I arrived. The Taxi cost about $1.50 to take about 4 mile, can you believe? And I thought I would walk, not! Gated and two or three guards at the entrance, very secure. There are many buildings, including a fine arts performance hall and sculpture in the garden. The IB area is housed with one of the public school buildings. I have an office overlooking a grassed roof, go figure. The Art room greeted me with really bad graffiti on the walls, needs a mural to cover it. (Thinking of you Keleigh Brill) The art teacher that left, forgot to clean up! What a mess, looks like I will be pitching stuff on Tuesday and setting up the room for Wednesday first day. The room will be cool when it is straightened, only problem, no AC! (That was an oxy-moron) They are getting me a secondary art room with AC for those sultry days. There is a couple computer labs and a lecture hall. Quite up to snuff, I would say. Some of the hall ways, ours happens to be on the 5th floor, are open air. It is lovely, after you have puffed up the five flights.

I met my western colleagues, an American, Brit and Aussie! We all have such accents. I answered someone in Spanish and that was funny, they thought it was a dialect of English. My Chinese is just 2 words at this point. Have much to learn and it is mind boggling. I am going for latte with the western teachers today and looking forward to chatting.

My back is really sore, could use my inversion table or a good massage! (Where is Susan Cline when you need her?) Casey said to buy an egg crate, hope they have those here.

My space bags worked great but now that I am opening them, everything is so wrinkled, need to buy an iron next. And I need about 100 hangers, I have 6 in my closet.

For those of you interested in my bathroom findings…. The high school facilities are a lovely Prussian blue tiled hole in the floor, at least each hole has a door. I inquired about faculty restrooms and a regular toilet, and since I am the only female western teacher they may accommodate me with something. Maybe a five gallon bucket with a lid! Culture Update #1: Always carry toilet paper on you, as there is none in any of the bathrooms!

Need to take some pictures today. The university has historical architecture and some being renovated. They are using scaffolding made of bamboo that goes up maybe ten stories. It looks like an accident waiting to happen. I was told there is a Buddhist Temple behind the campus, that might be my first photo excursion.