Dogs

Dogs are increasingly popular in China. Maybe this is because the government limits family size so severely. Traditionally, the Chinese ate dogs and raised them as livestock, but today the practice is frowned on by many, though still occurring. Old people walk beloved canines in the park and doll them up with hair ribbons. In cities, dogs may not legally exceed a height of 14 inches, though I am told this law is often violated. Just as married couples are limited to a single child, there is a limit of one dog to a household. Everything is regulated, it seems.

In some communities, there is growing concern about rabies, since most dogs have not been vaccinated. In a centralized authoritarian system, such problems are addressed with dispatch. I have read that in Beijing, dogs are being rounded up en masse and killed as a public safety message

Coffee anyone?

Coffee shops are springing up all over China. Unlike tea, coffee is not grown in China, so it's luxury. Coffee is Western and considered trendy; it is marketed as "the drink of achievers." The Chinese drink coffee in tiny cups with delicate handles. They take their tea straight, but coffee they lace with cream, and they dump in lots of sugar, stirring with tiny spoons. The beverage tastes like candy.

There is a pretty coffee shop on the first floor of the foreign teachers' residence (above). Often, when students stop by to see me, I invite them to have tea or coffee. They always choose coffee, which they profess to like. As we talk, my students smell coffee; they stir the coffee; and they cup their hands around the delicate coffee cups. Seldom however, do they actually drink the coffee.

Fact and Opinion

In the Chinese system, much emphasis is placed on the difference between "right" and "wrong" ideas. My students (above), seniors in the school of interpretation and translation, did not know the difference between fact and opinion. We spent time discussing this distinction, which they found to be quite a revelation. It is at times like these that I am truly glad to be a teacher.

Below: The knot of China

Open Minds

More than ever, I appreciate Cherokee Church (below).

There's a reason why I am a United Methodist.
House churches abound in this community. I attend one, and we occasionally go to a larger church downtown. The latter is heavily regulated by the government.

I miss my Sunday School class, where we carefully reflect on the issues of the day rather than seeking over-simplified solutions from the Bible. I miss David's thoughtful preaching. Most of the church-goers I know here are Fundamentalists. Though flexible enough to deal with China, they are theologically right wing. Generally, we respect each other, though the differences sometimes make for awkwardness.
Every time I open the Cherokee website, I am touched by this slogan: Open Doors, Open Minds, Warm Hearts.

Abacus

Generally, the calculator has replaced the abacus in Chinese shops, but I saw one in use the other day while shopping for slacks with a colleague.

It's very hard for me to get fitted-- though my weight has dropped, I'm not built like a Chinese woman. My friend and colleague Han, a professor of computer science, knew just where to go. I purchased three pairs of slacks, very trendy, for just over 200 yuen (about $25). The pants had to be shortened, but alterations were done on the spot at no extra charge.

The True Foundation

James Madison High School from which I graduated in 1965 has been featured in the news lately. As of January, three of its graduates all from different parties will be sitting members of the US senate: Chuck Schumer (NY), Norman Coleman (MN), Bernie Sanders (VT). Ruth Bader Ginsburg and several Nobel Prize Winners also graduated from our school. Overcrowded and even shabby, Madison has always been an excellent high school for ordinary kids from not-so-priveleged families. Over the main entrance is an archway (above) into which were carved the words "Education is the true foundation of Civil Liberty"-- James Madison.

I fervently hope that teaching people to use their minds creates an atmosphere of freedom. In just two months I will leave behind students and friends who do not enjoy the blessings of liberty. In class, I try very hard to encourage divergent thinking-- looking at things in new ways, thinking "outside the box" so to speak. For those raised in the disciplined but authoritarian Chinese system, it is difficult to examine problems in new ways.

Madison was a large, competitive and frequently impersonal place.In my time, there were 5,000 students crammed into that 5 story Brooklyn building. It must have been a tough place to teach. I wonder if our teachers suspected how successful many of their students would be. As I work here, I think of them, and I remember this poem which I learned in an English class many years ago.

Gratitude to the Unknown Instructors WHAT they undertook to do They brought to pass; All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade of grass. -- WB Yeats

Hymnal Online

At the house church I attend, we do plenty of singing, but not the hymns I know best. Last week, they sang one that began “I may never march in the infantry...” I knew the tune from camp, but the words I’d learned were completely different: “Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts; mutilated monkey meat, little birdies’ dirty feet…”

Back in the US, the only time I ever looked at the United Methodist hymnal was at church. In an offhand way, I always liked it especially since its revision, but it was never a big part of my live. Now, I listen to the Methodist Hymnal online just about every day.

At one time wondered what sort of dorky person would actually listen to hymns online. Things look different over here.

www.hymnsite.com/abc.sht

Message from Roz

At the moment, I am not able to send attachments, so for awhile there will be no pictures. I will continue to post text to the extent I am able,with the assistance of my good friend Dennis Cope.

I don't think we fully appreciate America's freedom until we go elsewhere. Freedom is precious. We should guard and cherish it.