Thursday, November 27, 2008

On Their Minds

This last week there was an art exhibition at my school. I am not sure what grade level(s) the art belonged to, but it was on display in the area of the junior students (grade 7 and 8). As I casually looked at some of these works, I thought to myself that some of it was pretty decent, but the more I looked, the more involved some of this work became. A quick detour:

Some of you recall the big earthquake that happened in China earlier this year. For those of you who don’t, Ill sum it up: a 7.9 earthquake shook southwest China. It decimated towns, and killed over 60,000 people, and left hundreds of thousands missing, injured, and/or homeless. The earthquake was so strong that it was felt in Beijing and Taiwan. There are cities where over 80% of the buildings were destroyed. One of those cities happens to be near what is considered the capital of Southwest China, Chengdu. Chengdu is the city where I live. The city nearby that was demolished by the earthquake is named DuJiang.

DuJiang was one of the cities that had the highest death/injury tolls, and left the majority of structures there in ruins. Reconstruction is under way, but many of the people there are still living in temporary shelters.

Now, if your short term memory is not as bad as mine, you will recall that I began this post talking about art. Lets go back to that. As it turns out, a fair number of the students that attend my school call DuJiang home. The more I looked at some of the art, the more I realized what these children had been exposed to. Truly, this must have been a traumatizing experience for them, as is shown through their art. I cannot know the intensity of the emotions that lie beneath their skins, but I truly feel sympathy, as children should never have to live and see what some of them have lived and seen. It is a harsh reality in which we live, and children ARE exposed to such tragedy (daily in some places which are ravished by war). This week, I have decided to show you some of their art. I apologize for the bad copy art, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. Click on the image to go to an album with more images. I’ve used flickr for this album, as it is easier to deal with when it comes to albums.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Ups and Downs

We all occasionally feel the need for home. I think it is something innate within us all. Whether we come from some little country home, or a big city bustle, if we have gone away, we always have moments where we remember the good things of home, and wish, if only for a few minutes, that we could return to that place in our memories.

It could be that these moments happen more frequently when you first move away, and given that I've only been away for about 5 weeks now, I find it hard to speak of how I will feel in the long run, but I have definitely had a few of these moments. Sometimes I miss the sunshine, other times its a good burger, and occasionally, I even miss the traffic in L.A. (which is VERY different than Chinese traffic)

So what do I do when these moments arise? Do I pack my bags and head home? Of course not. Instead, I search for something that is related to home. On a sunny day, rare as they are, I bask in the light when I'm not teaching. Soaking in the rays of warmth as I play my guitar. Some days, I turn the television onto the English channel and let it talk away in the background. Sadly, there are times where I give in to the devil known as McDonalds, just so I can have something that is truly like home (although its not QUITE the same).

On the other hand, the longer I am away, the less I have this feeling of the NEED for the comforts of home. The more accustomed I become to the daily differences of China. Differences like the weather here (which is a big one for me), the lack of availability of non-Chinese foods, and the lack of English speaking people. Now, I realize that form some people this can be very daunting, but for me, it just sometimes sucks. So to ease the difficulties I face, I tend to fall into habit. In a way, I am creating comfort zones. I will visit the same restaurants, as I know that I like the food there, and I know that they know what I want to order. I will stay at the same hostel when I go into town, as they know me there (part of it is also that its the best hostel in town and the people that run it are the best). These little things make my life here a lot easier to deal with on a day to day basis.

One of my more usual activities in China, is going to a bar near the heart of Chengdu. The name of the bar is Lotus Palace, and it is an awesome environment. As most of you know, I don't really drink alcohol, but its not the spirits that attract me; it's the vibe. The people that go to the Lotus Palace are usually... upper middle class. The entertainment, which includes American rock, hip hop, and country covers, Chinese singing (which gets the crowd really going), belly dancers, and fire juggling behind the bar, is top notch. But most of all, its the friendliness of the people in attendance that I enjoy. People are always trying to start up conversation, and regardless of the language barrier, you end up having a great time by conversing using your hands and broken "Chinglish". All in all, I'd say the place is great, although somewhat on the pricey side. Anyway, I'm through with this post. They say a picture is worth a thousand words (although market rates beg to differ [photos are worth far less than that. I previously worked for a magazine, which pays $.25/word which yields a photo to be worth... $250 if we go in accord to the old saying. This magazine tends to pay $75.00/photo; significantly less than the value attributed by whomever made the saying up {possibly Fred R. Bernard?}. /sadface]) so I will leave you with an image from my Halloween at the Lotus Palace. Enjoy.

Photobucket