Where in the WORLD is Susan?

Here I am, no longer in China but A U S T R A L I A. The Fall months were excruciating with a terrible medical issue that proved the medical coverage in China was a piece of paper with a red chop mark, only. Then a bout of serious food poisoning to top it off and I realized time to move on. The semester at NSFZ ended with the most delightful IB Art students sending me off with a fond farewell from Lukou Airport. Thank you Rita, Cookie, Arno and Jane for the sweet gift and hugs at the International terminal. Keep making art, you are so talented.

Many friends gave me good bye gifts, dinners out, last minute trips and so many fond memories. Mr. Chen, you and your family were a blessing to have in my life. Spring Yan and Stone thank you so much for all the lifts in your car, the trip to Suzhou for a silk bed duvet, and spending New Years with your family. Lady Ma, my maid I will miss our Sunday mornings together and communicating not knowing each others language. I enjoyed having a tailor, Mr. Lin. He created a gorgeous Chinese dress and Capri’s for me. My wonderful neighbors across the hall, thank you for watching over me. Sarah, Fino’s mom thank you for helping me at Sentosa Gardens, first of all finding my 27th story apartment that overlooked the city and the Yangtze river. Secondly for bringing me food when I was so ill. Rita and her vegan mom, thank you for helping me mail boxes to Texas and introducing me to a wonderful Vegetarian Restaurant. Jane, Ellen’s mom for being a wonderful art friend and showing me Nanjing sites. Daisy and her sweet friends in Shanghai and Xi’an for all our vacation trips! Didn’t we have some fun? I love the picture of you as a concubine and me as the Empresses!

Nan Shi Fu Zhong and my wonderful Chinese colleagues friends, what can I say? My office mates, Sue, Jenny, June and Alice, ladies I could have never asked for better friends. The library and offices down the hall with Esther, Shirley, Serena, Maggie, Tracy, David, Emmy and Ms. Wang, the teachers that work all day and night! The upstairs admin and teachers, Stephen, Mr. Can, Jackie, Mr. Hao, Tess, and Guo, you did so much to make my life run smooth. Thanks for getting that latte maker! To Sophia, girl I could never thank you enough for all your expertise, care and patience. “Let all my troubles pass through the hollow places,” you said describing the stone Lotus you gave me. You are a wise woman. To Gong Yan, the leader of the tribe, love your teachers as they work hard for the IB program.

My best friends Michael from Britain and Peter from Australia, how can I thank you for you brotherly friendship? I adore you both, for the care, time and lunches we shared. You were there for me in so many ways. Friendship is something I treasure and I will love you both forever and ever! We were the “Three Musketeers!”

“There was something in the water,” as Americans say when everyone gets pregnant. Drinking Nanjing water is no different. Sophia and Jenny had boys last year! Tracy just had a wee one this week. Alice and Sawyer, next month it is your turn and what good parents you will be. I wish I could be there when your daughter is born. Serena will be next! Oh my, so many sweet moments I will share from afar. I will be waiting to hear from each of you about the wonders your children are creating in your lives.

Lastly to all the national curriculum art teachers that befriended me. The art teachers are inspirations. The graceful dance teacher next class over, what a marvelous dancer and kind soul. I learned Tai Chi from the retired teachers, they were so patient with me. Then the sweet janitor lady that gave me hugs daily.

My graduating Seniors, Joy and Iris of higher level– you are talented young ladies! Iris, Elaine, Stephanie, Tiffany, Karen, and Willson of standard level, isn’t it nice to be finished with your Visual Art’s CRB? Move on, go to college and stay motivated with art or whatever you want to be. Cheng Peng, you are now at SCAD! You busted out of China early and are the happiest I have ever seen you—become the artist you want to be. My Juniors—Angela, Ellen, Rita, Cookie, Arno, William, Peter, Kevin, Jane, Becky, Sam, Fino, Amy, and Moon! Kids what can I say? You are all on track with IB, almost all 7’s and each of you totally motivated with art. I will miss you guys and remember you the most! You were the teenage art blessings in my life. The 10th grade foundation art students, to the fifty of you keep speaking English daily, stay focused and motivated, you are the future of NSFZ!

Now that I have said my thank you’s to China, what am I doing? I moved to Australia, retired and am relaxing. It is warm if not hot here, I am barefoot and happy. Learning to “BE” and not “DO!”

Auld Lang Syne – The Burning Bowl Process

Happy New Years from my roof top.

New Years Eve is the time to purge your 2010 unpleasant happenings.  Easiest way is to create a “burning bowl ceremony.”  Start with a small sheet of paper.  List the old stuff you want to release and cleanse from your life and mind.  Spend some time as you recall these old thoughts.  Soon you will  free them into the Universe and transmute them into the light.  Ignite your paper and throw it in a bowl and watch all those bad moments burn up in a blaze of fire.  Be careful and don’t burn your fingers!   Take a big sheet of paper and write all the good things you want to attract to your life to replace the old things you just released for the new year.  Fold it, put it in an envelope, seal it, and write “Do not open until July 1, 2011”.   Then in six months open it and check your progress.

Happy New Years from the most beautiful roof top in the world, Nanjing China.

Love to all!

Student Art – Chinese vs American

Saturday I spent the morning watching our Chinese public high school teacher instruct his art class.  I was fortunate to see one student mastering the art of traditional Chinese painting.  He was working on chrysanthemums.   He had a blotter under his practice paper.  AH-HA that is the answer to working with the ever loaded brush and bleeding.  He painted one set of flowers on practice paper, which happens to be the paper I have.  Then he was given a paper with sparkles in it.  He painted the same composition again on this paper.  John, his teacher told him in Chinese to create more gradated values and I actually understood!  The third time he painted the flowers he used the same paper but turned it over to a plain backing.  This time he added more gradated washes laying the loaded brush on its side and quickly sweeping in a U-turn.  The brush tip was black creating a nice swish of gray to black.  All the students in the class were drawing from copyrited art, perfecting their skill.  In America this is something we do not stress.  I found the students were able to learn values, composition and how to lay down marks more proficiently due to the repetition.

Painting with a Bamboo Brush

It is about time I painted something!   I’ve been studying Traditional Chinese Ink Brush painting and find it intriguing.  I want art lessons from a real brush painter now.  It is harder than it looks.  I painted this bamboo picture using a liquid ink and bamboo brush on typical Chinese student drawing paper.  It’s simple and big.  Ink dried fast and looks ok.

Then I was given some bamboo paper from a colleague.  She brought it back from her home town one weekend for me. I unrolled it to find the sheets are 5 x 2 feet…  Large paintings!  The paper is as thin as tissue paper and I am wondering how this is going to take to ink.

My ink is in stick form and you grind it in a circular motion in a special vessel with water called an ink stone until you get your desired value.  Making gray in a variety of values is fairly easy.  I looked at some Landscape paintings on line to get the jest of painting.  The paper adsorbed the watery ink rather fast and dried real slow, something I am not accustomed too.  But the grays were really nice, just figuring out how to control the bleeding is gonna take some time.

Toilets in China

So many questions about bathroom facilities.   These are the little commodes and urinals at the the daycare connected to the high school in Suzhou.   I took a picture as I had never seen a tiny urinal…. It is unusual to see tiny toilets or any western toilets in China.

This is a basic  ladies rest room.  You squat facing the door, cause if some one opens the door you want them to see your face not your booty, so says Alice my friend.  You do not flush any paper products.  There is NO toilet paper in majority of bathrooms, so you bring your own.  The paper you carry comes in packages like this.  You carry a small pack of 10 little kleenex.  If you forget, you hope a friend has some.  Otherwise, well you can guess.  Personally I hold one over my nose when I squat, as the smells are usually horrendous!  A friend told me always lean forward or you might fall in.  I have heard some people have dropped their cell phones in there!  Good bye phone.  By the way this is a clean one at the school.

You will notice in my downstairs bathroom, it is tiled floor and walls with a drain in the floor.  Can be convenient if you have a water issue!  You see a white hose, that is the run out from my washer.  I also have a mop sink, very hygienic, don’t you think?  In my upstairs bathroom, above the commode or western lou I have a hot water heater for my shower.  Never flush the toilet and jump into the shower right after, the water will stop and you will be cold and wet for a few minutes until the water tank fills back up.  The water heater in my kitchen heats water for the kitchen and sink in the downstairs bathroom only.  No hot water for the washing machine.  This is the heater that ignites loudly when you turn the hot water on in the sinks.  It does get ever so hot.

Afternoon at Qingliangshan park

August 29, 2010 Saturday was a busy day. Met up with my American friends and my new British colleague for breakfast at a place called S.I.T = Sculpting in Time! Looks just like a 1950’s British cafe, very quaint. Another latte and pizza…. with corn kernels on it? But tasty! Then a walk around the area, found a place to buy pirated DVD’s. Thought I’d wait on that, not knowing it they would work on my Laptop.

Found a teapot art shop that sold one of a kind maybe antique Chinese teapots. They sold for over $1000. Just gorgeous. Stopped at the grocery and got some yogurt that doesn’t need refrigeration, with a fork, spoon, wash cloth and toilet paper!

Speaking of toilets, let me tell you more in my quest for the western lou, as my British friends are calling it! As we departed S.I.T., I found a hallway with sliding doors, ah they have men/women symbols on them, went to slid the womens door open and low and behold a Chinese guy was sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper. Did I squeal! So I just went to the Mens next door and used that one! Today I am carrying toilet paper.

The afternoon I spent at Qingliangshan Park, about two blocks away, across the street from the “Brain Hospital,” yes that was the name on the sign! Lots of men in their Chinese patterned Pajamas were walking around the hospital and in the park. I just figured they were airing out their brains! The park was old Chinese in style, with ponds and lily’s coming out of the mucky water. (Linda Giordono you need to know I thought of your Buddhist advice on life in the muck and the lily blooming from it! Alais I am in the land of the blooming lily’s! You know Susan means lily!) There was Calligraphy stones with characters on them around the ponds, and some locked buildings with sample Calligraphy on the walls. I think I saw a statue of Kwan Yin. Old men were playing cards, checkers and chatting while their bamboo caged birds sang little songs hanging in the trees next to them. How very charming that was to see.

Last night I went out on the town! Took me 25 minutes to hail a cab. Need to figure out what corner to stand on and how to jump out there without getting run over by hundreds of mopeds and bikes, ching-ching. Met up with Michael, the British Econ teacher and his two friends, John and Sue for a tea. Mine was a loose leaf, maybe a Darjeeling or Oolong but whatever it was defiantly a new experience. Came in a glass coffee mug, with a ton of leaves floating on top and would not sink down. Humm, trying to be the world traveler with my expert Brit tea drinkers I proceeded to drink this straining with my teeth. I think Micheal noticed I was not the seasoned tea drinker and advised me to add water to sink the leaves. Need to read up on teas! Next we are off to a Japanese restaurant for a Vegetarian dinner. These Brits were so sweet they all ordered vegetarian food so I would have plenty. The noodle bowl was tasty, great mushrooms and the broth was scrumptious. There was potato curry and a sliced cucumber dish. Sue had sake and the guys had Kiren beer I believe. I stayed with the hot water they bring you when you sit down. No booze till I get more comfortable, or maybe never with my past husband experience!

Just prior to leaving, tried another lou! Ok got to learn this squatting thing! (Patti remember you told me, squatting brings wealth. Now I know why the Chinese are fiscally viable.) Sue warned me not to lean back or I might fall in the hole! Geez that is not good, so keep my head forward and down. Thanks Sue. Then off for a coffee. Latte please! And another glass of hot water. We had a great conversation about politics, me and my Texas issues with these worldly Brits. Sue did show me where the western toilet was in the Costa coffee house so I would at least know my way around.

Homeward bound, asleep by 11pm and up for a new day. Did laundry in my shower and have it all dripping around the bathroom. By the way my hotel room has a western lou.