Looking Backwards...

Sunday, March 22, 2008
Anyone who has been paying any attention will have noticed by now that I haven't written in my blog since early February when we spent the 17 glorious days on Koh Samui. It feels like eons since then. Not only have I been swamped at work, but I've been fighting a low-grade infection for weeks which turned into a definite sinus infection 10 days ago. This past Tuesday I finally decided I need some antibiotic. One of the teachers who has lived here several years told me that I could buy some over the counter antibiotic at the pharmacy a couple blocks from my apartment. Hey, this is China. Whether or not the stuff is real or effective or harmful is not known, but since she swears by it, I figured it is worth a try. I've been on it for 5 days now and am not dead, I might even be a little better. One thing I did discover is that I also have an infected gum, maybe even an abscess. That, combined with the sinus infection have been enough to make me seek out real medical assistance starting tomorrow.

School has been another thing. After 6 months of trying hard, I still don't have a book order approved. Well, I did actually manage to purchase a small order from a local dealer. I did, however, place the big fiction order on condition that all goes well with the poor excuse of a business office they have here. I am beginning to understand that one obstacle is that no one knows how to set up shipping from the States, but tht is only a very small part of the problem.

Otherwise, we have started to implement the International Primary Curriculum ((IPC) at school and this has meant double duty for me putting together a huge book order in two weeks to support it and finding video resources as well. With the second term came new students needing ESL. Even though I didn't sign on for that responsibility, it was thrust upon me; so I now teach 2 full hours of ESL every day on top of my already too full schedule. Moreover, I am now being asked to sub almost every day. Needless to say, it is not possible to delivery a proper library curriculum to all the grade levels at this point. To top it all off, our Chinese librarian is fed up with the way things are at school and has quit. These are just the highlights...the details are even more discouraging.

So... Since I haven't had to to keep up with the blog, what you read from here on out will be looking backwards...starting with Shichahai, Thursday afternoon, personal leave with Dave.

Koh Samui Thailand

We are in Thailand on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, which is an inlet of the South China Sea. That is a mouthful, but it gives you an idea anyway. We are on a 17 day vacation from Beijing for the time of the Chinese New Year holiday. It is tropical here, so hot and sunny with some rain, but this is not the rainy season. The town of Lamai is a small town with lots of little shops but bustling with tourists, mostly from Europe and Scandanavia. We hear many languages being spoken besides Thai and the people we visit with are often from Russia, Switzerland, Britain, Sweden and Norway.

Our villa is called Samui Panorama...it's the topmost, over 190 steps up the long winding stairways past where the last vehicle can drive. It has beautiful views of the water and is about a 10 minute walk to the beach.

Since it is Chinese New Year, there is a bit of celebrating going on here...lots of these little Buddhist temples set up in people's yards...tomorrow is Kai Buddha day. Last night included a noisy party for the police but the worst noise comes from a fair at the local temple with VERY BAD singing that goes on until 2 in the morning...I mean terrible!!! They say we will have to endure it until the 27th.



After we settled into our villa, our hostess, Palm (pronounced Bom) took us into Lamai and showed us around, presumably so we wouldn't get lost when we went by ourselves later. Coming back we caught one of the colorful pickup trucks with benches in the back that serve as an alternative form of taxi. We got off at the market, about a 10-15 minute walk from our villa. We found that the best spring rolls come from the market, and the first few times we were there, we could buy a Thai dessert that is similar in taste to creme brulee, but much better. It is like a baked meringue filled with custard. These are cooked over a low flame in aluminum half sphere molds. We saw many banana trees on our way back from the market and I took this picture.

We have a tuckee, a sort of lizard, that greeted us the first night. Usually he hangs his head over the roof and stares at us while we eat and read, etc., on the porch. I think he comes down eats insects after we go inside. Every so often he "talks". It's a pretty loud sound.

The second morning we picked up Bill and Angie from the airport. While waiting for them I made the acquaintance of a couple from Russia who will be here for 2 weeks. The husband is a businessman and has friends in Minnesota who he has spent time with. We've had quite a bit of rain today even though the rainy season is supposed to be over. After eating out tonight we took a taxi home...not very far but cost $6...so taxis are expensive. We had to walk to the top of the mountain which is where our villa is...in the rain...and the dark.

While waiting for Bill to get a haircut, Angie and I sipped tea, and I managed to get some good pix while she watched Dave cavorting around in the rain outside.

These huts are a few hundred feet down the road from us. Some are in the process of getting new roofs which is interesting to watch.

Hibiscus bloom everywhere. This one is along the steps at Seaview Paradise.

Dave

On day 3 the four of us toured the island. First stop was the famous Grandfather Rock. Can you tell which one is Grandfather?

Bang Kao is another beach area. Home of the tamed monkey below.

One of the many beautiful and still isolated beaches along the coast. This beach is isolated but a vendor was stationed there selling a variety of food and drinks; I remember hot sausages.

Angie, wisely deciding not to cross over to the other side of the waterfall. What did Bill say to her to help her make such a smart decision?

Portable produce market. I took this picture through the front window of a van. This guy obviously uses his vehicle for his store. My favorite is the eggs riding on top.

After walking the length of the beach for a few hours we stopped for refreshments. This was the first day I took my camera out after it spent a week in a bag of rice following the dunking at the waterfall. This day it narrowly escaped a big splash from a wave.

Coconuts are everywhere. On a walk, I saw a 3 foot tall coconut tree growing out of one similar to this. If allowed to grow, I imagine this will do the same.

The day we toured the island our first stop was Grandfather and Grandmother rocks. By the time we'd been here ten days we walked there. This picture is taken looking back toward Seaview Paradise.

A Storybook Evening

On January 17th BIBS presented A Storybook Evening, the WINTER SHOW. For several weeks, all efforts had been devoted to making this perforamance as special, as impressive, as glitzy, as humanly possible. Lessons, as we know them, were suspended. From all appearances one could spseculate that no dollars, or RMB, had been spared either. "Evening" in the title is a bit misleading because it began at 1:30 in the afternoon, but not entirely so since it was almost evening by the time it finished.
5th Grade narrators reading stories whilewaiting for Santa on Christmas Eve
Sophia's Reception class performed Brown Bear by Eric Carle. They were a big hit. Soooooo cute.

First Grade acted out The Little Red Hen.
Third Grade: T'was the Night Before Christmas What a production!!

As GOPHER, I was up front, at stage level, which allowed me to take movies with my SONY Cybershot...the sound recording capability on that camera is amazing. Dave sat in the back of the auditiorium ( 21st Century Hotel) and he reports that everyone he could see thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 4+ hours.

The theme was based on children's books. I helped 2nd grade a bit with Sendak's Where theWild Things Are, but mostly I went a little off the deep end making my own video of the book using Window Movie Maker. I used the Battle Scene and Pine Forest for the music, partly because I had the audio with me, but mostly because it was perfect. I spent hours animating the clips, adding transitions and effects to the greatest advantage. After I did that I found and downloaded Peter Schickele's version of same, for which he had not only written music and narrated, but had it professionaly animated

Baby New Year

January 3rd...Giant Baby New Year wishes visitors to the plaza at Sanlitun success in the new year. After we left 798, Bill joined us for some fun at The Saddle Cantina followed by a stop at Franks.

Dozens of smaller Baby New Years line the perimeter of the plaza, each offering a different wish for success, prosperity, good fortune, etc., in the coming year.

Even the trolls were there. Perhaps they knew a few Scandinavians would be passing their way.

798 Art Zone

Saturday, January 3
Only 2 more days before we would head back to school, so we wanted find something to do Saturday. On the Beijing City Weekend website we found two exhibits at the Paris Beijing Photo Gallery at 798 Art Zone. It was a relatively warm day (relative to Minnesota that is), so we put on our leggings (in Dave's case that's longjohns), bundled up well, and started walking. Dave asked me to predict how long it would take to get there. I said half and hour, forgetting that was how long it took me to walk from 798 to Lido which is nearly a half hour walk from here. It took almost an hour. That was one very interesting hour as the streets were filled with people celebrating the New Year weekend too and enjoying the time off. I took this picture of the Chinese warrior with his red flag just as we were about to catch a cab to come back home.
Picture taken through store window. There were between 30-40 of these clay scultures seated in the window. I was able to avoid catching any reflections by stepping to the side and waiting for all the people to leave the scene. I think they are wonderful the way each child has his/her own personality. Last year I was able to photograph the Comrades' Choir at the same shop...probably not its name, but that's what I call it.

This is the 798 Cafe. I don't know anything about the food here, but I have eaten 3 times at the cafe next to it, and the food at that place is the best we've had in Beijing (that is if you don't count the dim sum at the Grand Hyatt Royale Court).

Paris Beijing Photo Gallery

Edward Butynsky

The Vegetable Museum

Liberty Leading the Legumes after Delacroix
Saturday, January 3, 2008 We walked to 798 Art Zone to see the exhibits at Paris Beijing Photo Gallery where we saw The Vegetable Museum, work by Lu Duoqi. I found it fascinating. Here is some of what she says about her work:
In the summer of ’06, I bought several kilograms of peas, and sat there quietly for two days peeling them, before stringing them on a wire and turning them into a skirt, a top, a headdress and a magic wand. I used a remote control to take a photo of myself in them, and named it Pea Beauty Pageant. That was my first work of vegetable art.
In the two years that followed, I often dressed up as a housewife, leisurely strolling to the market in a serious search for fun. I would often pace in front of the vegetable stalls, picking things up, thinking and putting them back, trying to figure out which positions made them more interesting. The different types, shapes and colors of the vegetables, with a bit of rearranging, can make for a rich source of imagery. Fresh, withered, rotting, dried, pickled, boiled, fried, they all come out different. I no longer needed a model, as they all became actors and even props. As a director, I directed them to restage La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, and called it La Liberté Guidant les Légumes. As a Chinese woman in this internet age, what I present to people is this kind of world famous painting. Against that fiery fried-egg backdrop, this woman who emanates onion smells from her breast and carries a spring onion spear in her left hand and a wood ear flag in her right, draped in a tofu skin robe, leads the vegetable people forward. The yam soldiers, with their bewildering little round eyes raise a cabbage banner. Having figured out what moving forward means, have they lost their momentum? Each of the potato-head soldiers has a different expression, not sure of their bearing, perhaps surprised, but that is definitely a completely unadorned potato. You wouldn’t know them any better if they were chopped into French fries and covered in ketchup, but when placed in the picture, they all appear unfamiliar and rich in facial expression. On the ground lies the body of a winter melon soldier, with rotting ketchup flowing out of his body like blood. The battleground is strewn with rotting vegetable leaves. This great story of history, this world-famous painting, here becomes completely absurd. How do you approach this famous painting, do you really know its historical background? Do you know what meaning the painter wished to convey? I believe that the world is the world as I understand it, and none other.
Napoleon on Potatoes
I am happy that I have found a way of life for women who love the home. I have found an environmental way of bringing work and life together. From imagination to reconstruction and postproduction, it burns through tons of boring hours. A housewife, who doesn’t have to get up in the morning, wakes up at two a.m. to fry up the carrot that just served as Napoleon’s head. As a medium that decodes time, photography is my favorite. Everything has a spirit, each vegetable, each person, and each second, under careful observation, has extraordinary meaning. What makes me happy is that when I see Napoleon on his Potato, I can think back to when I fried him up and ate him at two in the morning in the summer of ’08. Through photographs, memory becomes sentiment. I never leave the house, and when I do I rarely travel more than 15 kilometers. In a studio, with a knife, a box of toothpicks and some vegetables, I can make small sculptures and slap together big scenes, using a woman’s most effortless and thrifty method of fantasizing about the larger world.
The Birthday of the Eggplants after Marc Chagall
The Third of May2008 after Goya
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Pickled Cabbage after Rembrandt
http://parisbeijingphotogallery.com/main/juduoqiworks.asp
Ju Duoqi
The Vegetable Museum