What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

This morning, I went to a restaurant and asked for a bowl of rice and some tea. My emergent Chinese is mostly incomprehensible to the locals. I received spaghetti with vegetables and a bowl of warm milk.

Really tough communicating in this culture.

Not everyone involved with my coming here uses the English alphabet well. I understood I was to come to 'Nanning.' Only when I arrived at the wrong airport did I figure out that someone involved with the invitation got the spelling wrong by one letter-- I was supposed to be in Nanjing, hundreds of miles away. For a time, I was lost in a country where I don't speak the language and don't even know the alphabet. The airline people were very helpful, and I am now working at the Oxford Academy of English in Nanjing, a city of 7 million (see below.)

Morning commute

Cars do not dominate in this country. China is a nation of bicycles. One sees hundreds of them as people go to work. Many people walk, and you even see an occasional rikshaw, though they are rare. This is the morning commute in Nanjing, the city of 7 million people where I will be working.

In Transit

In the past month, I'd made so many preparations for this trip that I passed from excited anticipation to obsessive boredom. At last, I'm on my way. The Detroit Airport is very cosmopolitan. Travelers who loiter in the coffee shops on layover speak Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and Indian languages which I do not recognize. A beautiful red monorail whizzes back and forth. The picture doesn't do it justice.

In an unfamiliar airport, it takes awhile to get one's bearings. I'm carrying a compact but heavy backpack and a "lightweight" computer, its case made bulky by all the peripherals and CD's I've stuffed in the bag. I hate to put these things down, even for an instant as the items they contain are essential and expensive. It was a challenge signing on to the Internet-- the airport system is not user friendly. Tokyo is the next stop on my itinerary. Negotiating airports does not get easier when one does not know the language, so the two hour layover in Japan should be an adventure.

The Beijing hotel where I overnight has confirmed pickup as has the director of the school where I'll be working.

Joys of Technology

In the Fall of 1996 just ten years ago, during a tutorial with the late Carl Mills, I shared my consternation that the UC library had no card catalogue. Very patiently, this distinguished linguist taught me to use an online library. Then he asked if I had any other questions. Furtively I responded, "What's email?"

So much has changed. About half the stuff I'm taking to China is electronic technology. A laptop, a projector, a digital camera, and all the peripherals. Today, Joe and I practiced Google Talking to each other, and tomorrow afternoon I have a Googledate with Ben. I've succeeded in making our phone ring using Yahoo Messenger. For someone my age, technology is something of a foreign language. I was totally clueless during the faculty "leadership" technology course I took in 2003. But now I wonder how I taught without electronic technology. It's a language. And as with other languages, you learn it when you need it.

A Reason to Travel

Preparing to leave the country makes a person very conscious of family ties. I've sent "snail mails" to my husband, to each of my children, and to my son-in-law, and also to Emily's in-laws. Stamped letters that come in a mailbox have a charm that emails lack. Amazing how quickly they started seeming archaic.

Leave-taking also makes us aware beauty in the place where we live. The Appalachians are beautiful.










I thought I had packed everything when I realized I didn't have puppets. Joe is an accomplished puppeteer, and watching him, I realized they'd be useful for teaching foreign language. People listen to a puppet more readily than to a teacher. They will risk making a puppet sound silly rather than be vulnerable themselves.

















Somehow, we squished the bobcat and snowy owl puppets into my loaded suitcase, the owl's body partly covering the bottle of wine (yes, wine) I was advised to bring as a gift. Many thanks to Marie and Dennis Cope for helping us obtain it. I have absolutely no idea how to distinguish a good wine from a bad one.

All Sorts of Obligations

I doubt I'm any more likely to draw my last breath while traveling in China than when I'm muddling through life here. But getting ready for a major trip compels us to get our affairs in order. For the first time in many years, I replaced my license plate well before the deadline. And Joe and I finally got around to updating our wills-- something we haven't done for thirty years or so.

Luggage Limits

Who would have thought? The Chinese have rather different ideas about luggage limits from ours. On a Chinese airline, travelers are restricted to one suitcase of modest dimensions, and its weight may not exceed 40 lbs. In addition, the traveler is permitted one carry on bag, not to exceed 11 lbs. My nifty combination laptop and data projector combo, for which I purchased a wonderful rolling case , weighs over 15 lbs. Language teachers live by their pictures. I can't give up my data projector-- how else am I going to show the students pictures?

Solution: Half my suitcase is devoted to the data projector. The laptop goes in a lightweight canvas bag, and that's my carry-on. Ship the dictionaries I was planning to take via priority parcel post. What about clothes? I'm taking the minimum. Guess I'll be doing lots of laundry.