Mr. Wu and the Air Conditioner

Last month Mr. Wu replaced Miss Summer as the Chinese librarian at school. The HR director brought him to the library and introduced him as Mr. Wu. She added that as of this morning he will be using the English name, Edward. Edward is 37 years old, but if you told me he is 47 I would believe you. Many years ago he majored in English at Beijing University, but as he says with a modest chuckle, he hasn't had any reason to use it since then. At first Edward was very quiet. "The new librarian doesn't make any noise" I heard one of the students exclaim to his teacher. Over time he has become quite assertive. He watches over the books like a bank guard. And his mannerisms are a bit odd. When he walks, he shuffles and leans his body first to the left and then to the right as he half runs, half walks to his destination, while his arms and legs fly off in all directions like they are on springs. Mr. Wu is a good worker and I really appreciate his efforts.

We have had a string of exceptionally hot weather here lately. It was 96 degrees today, so I put the air conditioner on early in the day. When I came back to the library from teaching a class around 2 o'clock, it was scortching hot in there and I noticed immediately that Mr. Wu had opened all the windows. "Mr. Wu," I asked. "Is the air conditioner still on?" It took him awhile to understand my question, but finally he replied, "Oh yes. It's open. I think we need some air to move." Open is the Chinese word for everything that is currently running--lights, motors, classes, etc. That did it. I had lived through 6 months of winter with all the doors and windows in the school open. I had worn a coat, leggings, and scarf for the better part of 5 months, along with all the other teachers, just to keep from freezing to death. I had run around shutting windows in the bathrooms whenever I could sneak in to do it. I had complained about the waste of energy, renewable resources, money...all to no avail. I was fed up with this Chinese disregard for energy conservation, or was it ignorance? "No!" I said loudly, with more than a little exasperation in my voice.

Then I proceeded to deliver a lecture. I'm not sure Mr. Wu caught everything I said, but it did me a lot of good to get it off my chest. "It's 96 degrees out there. It WAS cool in the library when I left. Now it's extremely hot. Hot air expands into cooler spaces. All that hot air from outside has filled the library. Go ahead and fill the library with hot air if you must. BUT, we are NOT going to run the air conditioner at the same time. We are not going to waste money, energy, and non-renewable resources trying to cool the outside. The hot air is rushing in here at a rate many times faster than we could ever possibly cool it. Either you shut the windows and leave the air conditioner on or you turn off the air conditioner and leave the windows open. I don't care what you do! But, we're not going to do both!!!

Poor meek little Mr. Wu. I hope he isn't too traumatized. As soon as he was free to do so, he closed all the windows. He didn't say anything more about it. He's a good soul.

Clear Window Sticky Paper

Scotch tape, that is. Tou ming jiao bu or zhi or tiao, depending on who is translating or what you want to say. Mr. Edward Wu Da something said it should be jiao zhi, which should mean sticky paper. When I told this to Didi and Ice, they laughed and asked, "jiao zhi, what is that?" So, I'm glad I didn't try jiao zhi out on anyone. They said it should be jiao bu or jaoi tiao. I don't remember what bu means, maybe cloth. Doris, the girl in the supply room (ku feng) at school, says it's tou ming jiao bu. As long as she knows what I mean when I really need it, that's the crucial thing.

But, if language defines the way a society thinks, how people interpret the world around them, it's worth paying attention to this word tape. The first two words, tou ming should be clear window, otherwise known as transparent. Next comes, jiao, which I guess means sticky. Then it's a matter of interpretation what noun to use (sticky what?). Mr. Wu called it sticky paper. I have no clue about bu, but my understanding of tiao is that it stand for long things, like string or wire, and can be used for lots of similar stuff. For example, when I bought 8 meters of cable so I could put one of the speakers for my shelf set in a different room, I asked for tiao. Wo mai la bah mi tiao. I'm pretty sure that means I bought 8 meters of cable. At least, I said that to a Chinese friend, and he appeared to understand just fine.

Point is, we English speakers tend to generalize and are prone to abstraction; we are also in a hurry. It's enough just to say tape. That's quick and easy. In China they ask for clear window sticky paper, or string, or something long. It takes a lot more time to digest that picture. There is a lot to visualize. Every word is a picture, just like their writing or drawing, however you define the characters. Every part of the word is very concrete except perhaps for the all-purpose word tiao; even that is concrete and pictorial once you understand that it represents long, stringy thingies. And every picture has to be processed by the mind's eye. The process is slow. I have many opportunities every day to watch the process evolve before my own frequently impatient eyes.

Thinking, reading, talking, imagining, and philosophing in pictures must profoundly influence a person's interpretation of the world, their world view, in ways that we cut-to-the-chase Westerners find difficult, if not impossible, to understand. I'm sure it has already been said by far more educated minds than mine. Check it out if you're still interested.

World View...that's the apartment complex where we live. Kandu...supposedly it means something like world view. It dawned on me one day that if kan means look, du must have something to do with world, but I don't know what. Bill says it's capital, this makes sense since Beijing is the capital of the middle kingdom, center of world civilization. Here's one I do understand though. Kan shu literally means look at book. But the translation is read a book. So, all those years we pretended to be reading in class but were really daydreaming? Hey, here in China, the kds really are reading, or kan shuing that is.

Outside My Window

My apartment surrounds a courtyard and is on the 16th floor. Looking down at the ground, I see many trees and several shorter structures, so I was surprised the other day just before sunset to to see this kite flying outside my window. I grabbed my camera, opened my window, and got a couple shots before the kite went down; the string had become tangled in the branches of a tree.

April in Beijing

April has arrived, and with it, summer, with the temperature hovering around near 80 every day. The forecast shows no signs of change until late next week. Much of March was cool, even cold, so this is pleasant and welcome surprise. Summer in April suits me just fine.

The school recently put up 4 basketball hoops, so last week-end I went to Walmart in Wangjing and bought a basketball for four dollars. It isn't exactly round, but it has plenty of air, and for 4 bucks it's pretty good ball. They did have some quality balls for about 25 dollars in case anyone wants to know. I have put in about 6 hours of practice shooting and ball handling in the past few days. After a couple hours I started to get my shot back. Tennis has started up again too. I've been out twice and we have the court for 2 hours again tomorrow.

The air is extremely dry here, and the wind often blows dirt into my eyes and pores. The dirt and pollution give me a sore throat and wreck my sinuses too, so I've been going to the gym at night to work out a bit, which I follow up with a long, hot shower. The steam helps clear the dirt out of my respiratory tract and lets me breath better.

The Chinese have long been famous for their many kinds of tea which they claim will keep a person healthy. Whether this is true or not, I have finally learned that it is necessary to drink lots of hot, steamy liquids in this part of China. Not only have I taken to drinking hot tea (I bought some strawberry, raspberry, cranberry tea that I call Triple Berry) but I also make a hot broth made from chicken bouillon with fresh squeezed lemon, garlic, parsley and dill.